I have a question for the Dev's about the lore not specifically but in the sense of how can they make the lore a very important part of the game mechanc's and not just something most players will scroll through to get to the next quest progression or task ?
Have you guys taken, or will you take any steps to make the lore something more than just a story something that will effect the direction of every character or race ?
Good question! I can see this sort of thing creating story arcs all over the place. I also think this would help with immersion. I really like this idea. I know it was tried to some extent with GW2 but that was a shallow system.
I am also curios to see what is said about this.
Good post!
Ox
Hey guys and gals -
This is a fabulous question, Crypton. I don't respond too much here at the moment, but I wanted to answer this because it's directly posed to the devs and it gives us a chance to peek "behind the veil" on a process that is critical to our world design, and also a creative passion of our team.
Lore informs everything we do in Pantheon. The first step in our zone building process actually starts with a document we call "Lore I", which speaks to the topography, scenes, mood, vegetation, wildlife, major PoIs, peoples, history, color palette and even font styles of that particular zone. It was conceived by John D, and allows him and his team to construct the landscape with intentional deference to the stories of the world. Joppa called it a "Lore-driven dynamic", and I think that suits the approach perfectly. From there I'm allowed to really brush in the color and texture of the past and current histories of the place, all pulled from existing or emerging aspects of the many narratives. Then filtering down to game design and zone pop, factions, mobs & NPCs are given legitimate PoIs, motivations, quests, loot, etc. The world is grown organically from the seeds of how it came to be. All the ancient histories get names and faces put to their current forms, the old and modern stories materialize into buildings, rivalries, economies and catastrophes.
In short, we don't want to force anyone to learn every detail of the world through quests text, or mandate they have to learn it at all to make any meaningful progress. But we do want the stories of the world to be inescapable: the very ground upon which you tread, the sight before your eyes and the moment you just shared with your friends, in delight or dismay. We want to reward the searcher, so it’s our responsibility to make living in the world a more authentic experience than merely visiting it -- with no extra time required in your length of stay. The details of the “world story” ought to be legitimate and obvious to anyone who cares to look. (Or perhaps not always so obvious ;)
Fabulous question. Hope I’ve answered it appropriately.
Simply one of the best questions and answers I've yet read.
On a 1-10 scale of excitement and impatience mine "goes to eleven".
*- Spinal Tap reference for those too young :P
In short, we don't want to force anyone to learn every detail of the world through quests text, or mandate they have to learn it at all to make any meaningful progress. But we do want the stories of the world to be inescapable: the very ground upon which you tread, the sight before your eyes and the moment you just shared with your friends, in delight or dismay. We want to reward the searcher, so it’s our responsibility to make living in the world a more authentic experience than merely visiting it -- with no extra time required in your length of stay. The details of the “world story” ought to be legitimate and obvious to anyone who cares to look. (Or perhaps not always so obvious ;)
Oh man, my excitement just went through the roof! This is how it’s supposed to be done. “goes to eleven", indeed” !
This is a fabulous question, Crypton. I don't respond too much here at the moment, but I wanted to answer this because it's directly posed to the devs and it gives us a chance to peek "behind the veil" on a process that is critical to our world design, and also a creative passion of our team.
You should get out here with us so to speak. I for one would love to hear this sort of insight. It’s awesome!
Ox
Istuulamae said:Hey guys and gals -
This is a fabulous question, Crypton. I don't respond too much here at the moment, but I wanted to answer this because it's directly posed to the devs and it gives us a chance to peek "behind the veil" on a process that is critical to our world design, and also a creative passion of our team.
Lore informs everything we do in Pantheon. The first step in our zone building process actually starts with a document we call "Lore I", which speaks to the topography, scenes, mood, vegetation, wildlife, major PoIs, peoples, history, color palette and even font styles of that particular zone. It was conceived by John D, and allows him and his team to construct the landscape with intentional deference to the stories of the world. Joppa called it a "Lore-driven dynamic", and I think that suits the approach perfectly. From there I'm allowed to really brush in the color and texture of the past and current histories of the place, all pulled from existing or emerging aspects of the many narratives. Then filtering down to game design and zone pop, factions, mobs & NPCs are given legitimate PoIs, motivations, quests, loot, etc. The world is grown organically from the seeds of how it came to be. All the ancient histories get names and faces put to their current forms, the old and modern stories materialize into buildings, rivalries, economies and catastrophes.
In short, we don't want to force anyone to learn every detail of the world through quests text, or mandate they have to learn it at all to make any meaningful progress. But we do want the stories of the world to be inescapable: the very ground upon which you tread, the sight before your eyes and the moment you just shared with your friends, in delight or dismay. We want to reward the searcher, so it’s our responsibility to make living in the world a more authentic experience than merely visiting it -- with no extra time required in your length of stay. The details of the “world story” ought to be legitimate and obvious to anyone who cares to look. (Or perhaps not always so obvious ;)
Fabulous question. Hope I’ve answered it appropriately.
yes you did, thank you. Its rare to see Dev's get involved but Im seeing it here more than the norm and that alone is exciting.