Endless Online 0.4.14 : Dev Post D-011
Storytell
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Dev Post:
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About: Another Aeven / The Experience
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'' A more detailed main story path ''
This update introduces the initial steps of the main story, revealing a little more about the current world: Another Aeven. And why the player is in it..
With the new main story rolling out, new players find themselves on a more guided trajectory of quests and tutorials that connect and complement each other, revealing the bigger picture* slowly. It's a story very close to the narrative of Endless Online as a game (...).
Current quest line: Import Completed -> Getting Ready -> Unlocked -> Sample -> Another Aeven
( more planned )
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About: Another Aeven / The development
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'' Introducing Scene Engine ''
It's exciting to test some new and upgraded quest systems that allow us to tell the main story in a better manner. Several new features have been added to support the narrative, including a brand-new scene-scripting engine that works seamlessly with the older well-known EO+ script (engine) format. Both systems work together to accomplish tasks that EO was never able to do:
'' New experience ''
The player can test and experience the possibilties of this new storytelling system in the first key moment: the basement of Club VV, featured in the quest 'Another Aeven'. But can expect this kind of quest behaviour in future key moments too (several planned)
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'' Building the mystery ''
Specific small details and quests have been added to complement the main storyline:
One example is the concerned Stronghold Chief (quest 'In The Dark'), troubled by the mysterious Aeven Group operations inside his stronghold. This side quest shows a subtle way to add details to the main story by making it available only after completing the chained main story quest 'Unlocked.' These are small details that complement the main story.
'' More guidance for new players ''
Another consideration was to use the main story as a base guideline for new players. An example of that is the inventor, who requires crafting a sampler, ensuring that the player completes the crucial Shady starter quest 'Toolshop Approved,' enabling new players to engage in mining and logging.
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About: The Bigger Picture
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'' Why not just use the old world? ''
Six months ago, we revive the old EO server project. from a new perspective to create a more balanced and logical gameplay. A world that respects the original abandoned work as best as possible, but also a world that tries to be more complete with added things that were simply missing..
You can see the respect for the work in the careful placement of remastered and old maps in approximately the same spots (like Anundo, Death cave, Stronghold, etc) ensuring that each map is logically connected and has at least some activities that make the maps meaningful. A lot of maps have been carefully reviewed and placed back in this process so far.
'' A healthy base ''
With the complete redesign of the start area/flow, expanded with the new pack of the main storyline, any new player will now enter a complete experience, reaching approximately Level 30. All in all, it's a solid and healthy game core that allows for building and expanding in the future.
It's worth noticiding that the old world is likely to be unlocked by the player at some point in the main story. Once the main story reach that stage, it will be a bit easier and logical to reintroduce most nostalgic items that many of us desire. These items will now be enriched with both their old and new lore, hopefully offering the best of both worlds.
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'' So many new stuff in Snowlandia ''
Most people will not recognize much lore in the Snowlandia continent. With all its new features like crashsite fishing, cold weather, falling snowflakes, cold breath, frost attacks, movement sliding, and brand new items with brand new stats (warmth) it's probably a shock to the most diehard EO players out there..
It's probably worth noting that this was done because the original world simply had only two snow maps of penguins wandering around, without any main idea, town or items. The Ice cave has been 1:1 copied with 2 additional maps (1 boss room)
However, with this latest installment rolling out the Yeti's, it's probably time to step away from Snowlandia for a while and focus other important features for the future.
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'' The roadmap of EO ''
The last 5 months have been a period of many flight hours for the upgraded engine, testing its stability, vulnerabilities, and new mechanics. Numerous new features are now running steadily. Additionally, future features that are already coded and running on the server have been thoroughly tested in the background:
- Items are already being tracked uniquely; there is a fully coded item system actively working in the background that allows for interesting things later on.
- Cosmetic pet layers are already coded and running; allowing even 2 pets at once. We just need to find a rewarding way to introduce them (probably through some new systems).
- Instruments have always been possible, even a saxophone was added; we just need to find a rewarding way to introduce them (probably through some new systems).
- All the old nostalgic items are in the database; we just need to find the right time and moment to release them.
In summary, there was no alternative approach other than the current one. Undertaking this task required a significant amount of effort by doing this too long before a release there would had been too big risks of failure. Compared to the approach of making small updates with test data and input from the community. Several features have been added directly due to player input. Ofcourse within the constraints of available time. ( there is simply too much then time allows )
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Some of the things in this new patch are:
- Small quest fixes ( Getting Ready )
- New main quests
- New side quest
- New snowlandia area + yeti npc
- Preludes - to underline key areas
- Weigth enforcement on fishing (anti-bot)
- Graphics Dialogs
- Scenery Engine
Curious about all the upgrades in the last 6 months? Take a look here
You can find a list of individuals who have generously contributed to the project by clicking here
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That concludes this post. See you in the next dev post !!
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The update is expected to launch this weekend (around December 23th)
Thanks for playing Endless Online!
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