Design Statement and Road Map

October 08, 2017MWTaylorForum Discussion

Introduction

Today we are releasing the Design Statement and updated Road Map for Darkfall: Rise of Agon. This document was put together after many long discussions on how we were to achieve the new direction that we decided to take the game based on player feedback and our own analysis of the state of the game. We will be implementing a new road map page in the near future where members of our community can place points on what they deem takes most priority, ultimately helping to determine what features and new mechanics we focus on first.

Design Statement

What is Big Picture Game’s overarching design philosophy for Darkfall: Rise of Agon? The philosophy is centered around a few core principles:

  • Player Freedom: We wish to provide players the freedom to go anywhere in the game world and be able to choose from many different ways to play the game. In order to accomplish this there needs to be content available for a diverse group of players; from crafters, socializers, role players, explorers, politicians and those who enjoy the rush of combat. Our focus is to provide fun and exciting things for players to do and partake in within each of these categories.
  • Removing Obstacles: Content is often “level-locked” in MMORPGs. We aim to remove many of these obstacles to allow characters, whether new or veteran, the ability to jump into the various features of the game right away when logging on.
  • Casual Friendly: We aim to supply lots of enjoyable content and constant things to do for players to sink hours upon hours daily into the game. It is imperative though to design game features and content that can be consumed from a casual time investment as well. Gamers who can only afford to spend a few hours a week playing must be able to enjoy what the game has to offer. In order to accomplish this game features should not have unnecessary tedium or time constraints, and be obtainable by those with limited time to play.
  • Open-Ended Design: Instead of designing specific functions and tools that do one job and no other, we strive to design open-ended features, items, spells, structures, etc. This allows them to be used for all sorts of possibilities when playing the game. The long-term goal is to move towards a more dynamic system that allows users the freedom to place homes, buildings, towers and anything else where they choose, instead of in static, pre-chosen locations.
  • Immersion: It is important to us to provide an immersive experience in-game and a world for players to get lost in. This requires a combination of audio, visual and lore elements all coming together to enhance the in-game experience. In addition to this we plan to include players into the story of Darkfall: Rise of Agon. In-game developer ran events, competitions and community driven content such as fan stories will be incorporated into the lore of the world with ways for renown players to be recognized.
  • Social and Exploration: We want to give players the tools necessary to create their own exciting adventures, and ways to share those experiences with others. Implementing features, such as taverns and mini-games, will provide social hubs where players can find others to mingle with. We also have a massive, gorgeous, hand-made world with lots of room for adventure, and will be continually adding in ways, and reasons, for players to explore it.
  • Never Stop Updating: Big Picture Games was forged almost entirely by ex-players of the original Darkfall Online. As fellow gamers and long-time fans of the franchise, our desire is to continually add to and never stop improving Darkfall: Rise of Agon. We will never be “done” with the game as the world will never cease to have something we want added or features that we wish to polish and expand on.

Content retrieved from: https://www.darkfallriseofagon.com/news/official-updates/design-statement-and-road-map/.