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{{db|The company purported to be developing this product (Aventurine SA) recently had its page removed from Wikipedia due to not enough notability. If the company that is purported to be involved in this projects development is not notable enough to be covered then this product should not be either.}}




Revision as of 16:42, 17 August 2007


For the novel by Dean Koontz see Darkfall (novel)
For the novel by Isobelle Carmody see Darkfall (Carmody novel)

Template:Future game

Darkfall
File:Df-sized.jpg
Developer(s)Aventurine S.A.
Publisher(s)N/A
Self Published
Designer(s)Claus Grovdal, Game Design/Producer
Henning Ludvigsen, Art Director
Ricki Sickenger, Lead Tools/Game Logic Programmer
Kjetil Helland, Lead 3D/Client Programmer
Erik Sperling Johansen, Lead Server Programmer
EngineDarkfall Proprietary Engine
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
ReleaseN/A (To be revealed at a later date)
Genre(s)MMORPG, Online RPG
Mode(s)Open PvP Multiplayer

Darkfall is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) in development by Aventurine SA that combines real-time action and strategy in a fantasy setting. Expected to feature unrestricted pvp, complete looting, and a player skill dependant combat system, Darkfall is highly anticipated by the player versus player (PvP) community. [citation needed] Developers claim that the game is currently in private beta testing, and Aventurine had an internal goal to begin the external beta in Summer 2007 [1].

History

In early August 2001, Razorwax announced the development of Darkfall and launched its official website. [2] The Razorwax development team consisted of five members:

  • Claus Grovdal (Lead Design and Producer)
  • Ricki Sickenger (Lead Tools and Game Logic Programmer)
  • Henning Ludvigsen (Art Director)
  • Kjetil Helland (Lead 3D/Client Programmer)
  • Erik Sperling Johansen (Lead Server Programmer)

In October 2002, Aventurine S.A. was founded in Greece. The Razorwax team was integrated into Aventurine, and five other developers from Norway were hired into the company.[3] When the Razorwax team and the Aventurine team had their first meeting in Athens, a member of one of the teams joked that Razorwax should relocate from Norway to Greece due to the lower taxes and cost of living in Greece. Eventually, the two teams realized that this idea actually made very good business sense,[4] and by December 2002,[5] the relocation of Razorwax was finalized. In the same year beta was announced and sign ups began. After 6 months sign ups were closed and the original declaration of closed beta was retracted. To this day claims of beta about to start persist.

Tasos Flambouras (Associate Producer of Darkfall) stated in his July 9, 2004 status report that "Darkfall is still in internal beta" due to delays in development.[6]

In September 2005 the signup for the closed clan beta began. But the planned beta of Q4 2005 was cancelled. Developers have stated that before the beta, they would release a gameplay video [7] which they did in February 2006.

Aventurine did not have a playable version of Darkfall available at E³ 2006. In June 2006, just after E³, the Darkfall team started releasing weekly Questions and Answers through Warcry, in order to help newcomers to the community.

An announcement on July 11, 2006 stated that preparations are still being made to begin beta.[8]

An interview with the developers on August 25, 2006 indicates that Aventurine does not have a publisher for Darkfall, and has considered the possibility of self-publishing the game.[9]

On January 17, 2007, Aventurine announced that a fully functional and stable beta build is running on remote servers and that the game is being shown to prospective partners, distributors, publishers, technology providers, etc.[10]

On January 30, 2007, Aventurine release a video containing about one minute of ingame footage, showing melee combat, mounts (including mounted combat), spellcasting and naval combat.[11] The developers have stated that the combat will be similar to that of Mount and Blade.[12]

On May 31, 2007, Aventurine's 9th Developer Journal responded to some of the recent beta inquiries, and announced that their internal target date for beta is Summer '07. In addition, the main Darkfall site has continued to see regular updates to its Race, Monster, and Lands sections. Skepticism still surrounds the announcement due to the previously missed Beta deadlines however.[13]

On August 2, 2007, Aventurine stated that although the game is technically ready for beta, beta will not start until negotiations with possible publishers are completed [14]

Vaporware speculation

Darkfall has been dogged by speculation that the lack of definite information and publicity, along with the significant time the game has spent in development (since 2001), suggests it is actually vaporware [15]. Aventurine has stated that "The Darkfall community has demonstrated that it doesn't need constant handholding and reassurances," which may explain the company's "information blackout". The only known video of the game appeared to be an early stage alpha at best, however a recent video (30th January 2007) partially discredited these rumours, showing the game in a much more developed stage.[16]. Associate Producer Tasos Flambouras has stated that the company "had to pass up many publicity opportunities," and supports this position by stating that "our game can compete a lot better than our publicity can" [17].

Races

There are six playable races in Darkfall. Unlike other MMOG's, racial choice does not heavily influence your characters choices or progression options: 95% of the skills may be learned regardless of your race, the remainder are Prestige/Racial abilities. Each race begins play in their own homeland, and have their own unique storylines, histories, and racial alliances/enemies. The races are as follows:

  • The Alfar of Nagast: The Alfar are the cruel, hate-spawned cousins of the Mirdain. Abducted eons ago by their insane god-king Melek, these former Mirdain have been mutated and warped by his diabolical influence and his mother's Silver Circlet into fearless, rage-driven killers. Striking their enemies from the shadowy, spell-blasted lands of Nagast, the Alfar tear a bloody swath of destruction wherever they go, disappearing as quickly as they appeared. Gifted with an innate affinity for the magical arts, the Alfar are skilled spellcasters who draw their power from their volatile God. Due to this unpredictability, Alfar spells fluctuate in power, creating a slight variance in result with every cast. Alfar have a deep seated hatred for all other life on Agon; though they can join clans of other races, they are loathe to do so.
  • The Humans of Mercia: Judging by the current polls Humans will be the most played race in Darkfall. Humans in the game live very much like their real life counterparts did in medievil times, with a feudal system, and a constant power struggle between the King and the Church. Humans are allied with the Dwarves and the Elves, and are enemies with the Mahrim, Orks, and Alfar.
  • The Mirdain of the Forest Republic: The Mirdain are a sophisticated race of skilled diplomats and traders. They prefer diplomacy and subtle manipulation to direct conflict, but Mirdain are still brilliant tacticians whose expert troop movements and cunning ruses allow them to defeat enemies many times their number. Working deep from within their forest home of Mirendil, the Mirdain are a peaceful and cultured race in a world torn by war. The Mirdain are somewhat magically adept, and most of them are able to direct a modest number of spells. They are also skilled hunters, proficient with the bow from an early age. The Mirdain are strong allies to the Humans of Mercia and Dwarves of Dvergheim.
  • The Dwarves of Dvergheim: The Dwarves prefer to live underground, away from the troubles of the surface, but recently their capital has begun to expand upward and there are a few settlements on ground level. Dwarves are allied with Humans and the Mirdain, but enemies with Orks, Mahrim, and Alfar.
  • The Mahirim of the Tribelands: A fierce race of predators from the untamed wilds of the Tribelands, the Mahirim are a race which still seems at odds with their recent move to civilization; while they have laws now, they retain all the finely-honed instincts and predatory skills of their pack-hunter ancestors. Though they have recently evolved to walk on two-legs, the wolf-like Mahirim retain the ability to run on all fours, and can easily out-pace all other races on foot, and match other races mounts for speed. Given their long history of war-like tendencies and their somewhat arrogant nature, the Mahirim have few friends. They do however have a small degree of respect for the Orks, who are equally warlike and capable warriors.
  • The Orks of Morak: Until very recently the Orks used to roam the swamps like the Goblins do now, no permanent settlements, no civilization, spending their time either hunting or at war. But an evil deity has tamed the Orks and taught them how to build cities and enslave workers, the modern day Orkish society is built on the slavery of the goblin people; the goblins do all the manual work for the Orks. The Orks have also enslaved an evil cult of Dwarves who are kept in much better conditions and design buildings and weapons for the orks. The Orks believe that one day their God will rise from the Volcano and kill all non-orks, because of this they are enemies with the Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and Alfar but they do respect the Mahrim and can work with them.

Racial mounts

Each race in the game has their own mount which will be sold in that particular races shops. These mounts may be stolen and ridden by other races however. All races with the exception of the Mahirim have a racial mount, which are as follows:

Racial allies

While certain races have friendships and hatreds with other races in Darkfall, these are not strictly enforced upon the players, and it is possible for allied clans to declare war upon both their own race and their racial allies. Declaring war will prevent players from sustaining alignment penalties associated with killing friends and allies as well. It is also possible for two racial enemies to ally together. However, the NPC's will behave according to their racial rules, and thus will react with hostility to racial enemies even if they are allied with that clan.

Unique features

Darkfall is expected to have several features that set it apart from the majority of MMORPGs:

  • Unrestricted PvP, with no safe zones. Game mechanics will punish killing of racial allies. (see alignment section below)[18]
  • Complete looting. All items will be dropped on death, and can be looted by anyone who opens the corpse. Armor and weapons will be somewhat easy to replace.[19]
  • Inter-character and projectile-character collision detection. Projectiles (spells, arrows, cannonballs etc.) can be dodged. Players can be pushed or blocked by other players or by explosions.[20]
  • Manual aiming & blocking.[21]
  • Naval warfare, with the ability to sink player controlled ships.[22]
  • Dynamic, physical weather.
  • No radar or floating names (Player made clan banners worn for identification.)[23]
  • Ranged combat will be viewed from first person perspective. Melee combat will be viewed from third person perspective.
  • Friendly fire. If you miss with spells or arrows you may hit someone other than the character you were targeting. Area of effect offensive spells and healing spells can affect your friends and your enemies.[24]
  • Cities can be built by players[25].
  • Player built cities can be destroyed. Each player built city will contain a guildstone, which protects the buildings and defensive structures in the vicinity from attack. The guildstone is invulnerable, except when it has been weakened by a Gloomer. Gloomers can be built by players after they have built a siege fort next to the target city. The siege fort can be attacked and destroyed at any time, during or after construction. If a city is destroyed, a new clanstone constructed on the site is temporarily vulnerable to attack. [26]
  • There will be a limit on the number of players and NPC's that can bind to a clanstone [27]

Alignment

NPC's will enforce a system that makes random killing of players more dificult. Killing a player of your own race or of an aligned race, except during a declared war, will lower your alignment. Alignment can range from -100 (ultimate evil) to +100 (paragon of good). Players with an alignment score that is below a certain level will not be allowed to trade with or accept quests from all NPC's. Alignment can be raised by killing players of opposing races, or players of the same or aligned race which have an evil alignment.[28]

References

  1. ^ [1] Tasos journal on Warcry
  2. ^ [2] August 29, 2001 IGN Interview with the founding five members of Razorwax
  3. ^ [3] November 28, 2005 update with IGN
  4. ^ [4] August 27, 2003 update at mmorpgdot.com
  5. ^ [5] December 13, 2002 IGN article
  6. ^ [6] Status Report by Tasos- July 9, 2004
  7. ^ [7] February 27, 2006 gameplay video,
  8. ^ [8] Sensory Cues in Darkfall, July 11, 2006
  9. ^ [9] Womengamers.com
  10. ^ [10] January 17, 2007 Update by Tasos
  11. ^ [11] January 30, 2007 Gameplay Video
  12. ^ [12] Unnoficial FAQ.
  13. ^ [13] May 31, 2007 Dev Journal 9
  14. ^ [14]
  15. ^ [15] January 26, 2006 mmorpg.com interview with Tasos
  16. ^ [16] November 28, 2005 IGN update
  17. ^ [17] November 28, 2005
  18. ^ [18] November 29, 2005 'Alignment and Playerkilling', IGN update
  19. ^ [19] August 18, 2006 Death, Warcry update
  20. ^ [20] October 03, 2006 Tactical Overview, IGN
  21. ^ [21] October 03, 2006 Tactical Overview, IGN
  22. ^ [22] January 30, 2007 Gameplay Video
  23. ^ [23] October 03, 2006 Tactical Overview, IGN
  24. ^ [24] October 03, 2006 Tactical Overview, IGN
  25. ^ [25] Interview with Tasos Flambouras
  26. ^ [26] August 27, 2003 Darkfall Online: Interview Part 1 at MMORPGDOT.com
  27. ^ [27] January 22, 2003 Claus on the Darfallonline forums
  28. ^ [28] November 29, 2005 'Alignment and Playerkilling', IGN update
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