<!-- MHonArc v2.4.4 --> <!--X-Subject: [MUD-Dev] Re: UO: Second Age --> <!--X-From-R13: "Ybfgre, Dncu" <exbfgreNbevtva.rn.pbz> --> <!--X-Date: Fri, 23 Oct 1998 16:37:27 -0700 --> <!--X-Message-Id: 11A17AA2B9EAD111BCEA00A0C9B41793EDC220#forest,origin.ea.com --> <!--X-Content-Type: text/plain --> <!--X-Head-End--> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <html> <head> <title>MUD-Dev message, [MUD-Dev] Re: UO: Second Age</title> <!-- meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow" --> <link rev="made" href="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com"> </head> <body background="/backgrounds/paperback.gif" bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" alink="#FF0000" vlink="#006000"> <font size="+4" color="#804040"> <strong><em>MUD-Dev<br>mailing list archive</em></strong> </font> <br> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] <br clear=all><hr> <!--X-Body-Begin--> <!--X-User-Header--> <!--X-User-Header-End--> <!--X-TopPNI--> Date: [ <a href="msg00431.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00433.html">Next</a> ] Thread: [ <a href="msg00479.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00423.html">Next</a> ] Index: [ <A HREF="author.html#00432">Author</A> | <A HREF="#00432">Date</A> | <A HREF="thread.html#00432">Thread</A> ] <!--X-TopPNI-End--> <!--X-MsgBody--> <!--X-Subject-Header-Begin--> <H1>[MUD-Dev] Re: UO: Second Age</H1> <HR> <!--X-Subject-Header-End--> <!--X-Head-of-Message--> <UL> <LI><em>To</em>: "'<A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A>'" <<A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A>></LI> <LI><em>Subject</em>: [MUD-Dev] Re: UO: Second Age</LI> <LI><em>From</em>: "Koster, Raph" <<A HREF="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</A>></LI> <LI><em>Date</em>: Fri, 23 Oct 1998 18:30:56 -0500</LI> <LI><em>Reply-To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI> </UL> <!--X-Head-of-Message-End--> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-Begin--> <HR> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-End--> <!--X-Body-of-Message--> <PRE> > -----Original Message----- > From: Adam Wiggins [<A HREF="mailto:adam#angel,com">mailto:adam#angel,com</A>] > Sent: Friday, October 23, 1998 5:39 PM > To: 'mud-dev#kanga,nu' > Subject: [MUD-Dev] Re: OT, kinda, but yay :) > > > > I am holding UO: The Second Age in my hands... :) The new retail > > edition. Always nice to make it to the end of a product cycle! > > So fill us in. What's different? What changes did you make > after having > field tested the original so thoroughly? Er, hurm. OK, the areas which seemed to need addressing in UO after one year were numerous, of course. However, many of them were or wil be addressed as part of the standard upgrade and patch cycle. So that means that many issues relating to game balance, bugs, exploits, etc, aren't part of the second edition. You won't see measures against playerkilling in Second Age specifically, nor solutions for the excess of player houses, the popularity of certain skill combinations, etc. Such things get applied to the servers regardless of edition. That said, we identified a couple of areas to tackle: Existing customers needed new challenges. What we did: new monsters that were noticeably tougher, new lands and dungeons, some new AI on the new monsters. The communications infrastructure in the original was almost non-existent. No global chat whatsoever, not even a group-tell capability. What we did: we added a very IRC-like chat system that supports private messaging, conference creation, passwording, and moderation. We put it in a separate server altogether, required unique ids for it (we do not require unique names in UO), added ease-of-use things like commands menus, etc. Once we found that this window covered too much of the existing UO screen, we added the "Big Window" which allowed interface windows to be dragged off the view area. 3) UO is possibly more popular in a per capita sense overseas than it is in the US. Better support for players in Japan in particular seemed desirable (UO went to #1 PC software--not #1 game--in Japan on its original release), as well as Europe. What we did: 1) we added support for typing in Unicode, including the ability to type in the full Kanji character set using standard Windows Kanji controls. While we were at it we added more fonts for talking. 2) We integrated automatic translation software, as described in my other email. 3) We added pop-up translation for interface elements, and left this on the client side so that players could localize to more languages themselves. 4) We localized the pop-up help described below. 5) We localized the options menu (see below). Even though UO uses very simple click-and-point for just about everything, it's still not accessible enough for the average gamer. There was no support for in-game help, no tutorial, and it was fairly daunting. 1) we moved all the options for the game from a config text file into a localizable options menu. 2) we added pop-up help triggered by mouse hover. The help is pulled from localized Unicode text files on the server. 3) We created a standalone tutorial that has a "newbie wisp" that follows you around giving advice. The standalone tutorial uses, essentially, a mini-server and client integrated into one, and thus has most of the elements of the full game, including all skills, spells, creature behaviors, etc, except presented on a subsection of the map. The original landscape did not make as good use of the engine as it could have. What we did: Basically, I touched every screen of the map that the designers working for me did to maximise the use of the 3d terrain in the game. Emphasis was placed on making use of previously underutilized art sets such as jungle, swamp, arctic, and mountainous regions; and architecture, such as circular buildings and huts on stilts. Land space was utlized more effectively to give an illusion of more playable space with less actual area. The original landscape was growing crowded, given the popularity of player housing. What we did: we laid out the map in such a way that small clearings connected by narrowish pathways encourage clustering of buildings in small groups, rather than the urban sprawl that has developed over much of Britannia (for an example of how the urban sprawl happens, check <A HREF="http://steroid.cchem.berkeley.edu/~fields/main.htm">http://steroid.cchem.berkeley.edu/~fields/main.htm</A> and follow the link for the map). Players didn't group enough, and were very self-sufficient. What we did: we placed only two villages in the new lands. We supplied exactly two places to resurrect, but gave the ability to player healers. We made the creatures much tougher. We made the creatures more susceptible to certain previously underutilized player types (such as bards), and gave them abilities such as radiating cold causing area damage that require group tactics to fight effectively. We disabled the ability to teleport between the original map and the new map, requiring travel. We purposely made the new lands' geography intentionally misleading and easy to get turned around in without it being mazelike, and we use different sextant coordinates than on the mainland. The mapmaking skill is disabled in the new lands. > I would say that this is extremely on topic, given the heavy use of UO for > example material. (Assuming that's so, you'll probably want to change the > subject header!) > > Adam W. Well, dunno how useful the above is to people. Probably of more interest would be the exact mechanics behind getting some of the above done, and not the actual actions taken. So when you sending me a free copy of Revenant? ;) -Raph </PRE> <!--X-Body-of-Message-End--> <!--X-MsgBody-End--> <!--X-Follow-Ups--> <HR> <!--X-Follow-Ups-End--> <!--X-References--> <!--X-References-End--> <!--X-BotPNI--> <UL> <LI>Prev by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00431.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: PDMud thread summary</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00433.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: PDMud thread summary</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Prev by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00479.html">[MUD-Dev] OpenMUD: bus-based communications</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00423.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: OT, kinda, but yay :)</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Index(es): <UL> <LI><A HREF="index.html#00432"><STRONG>Date</STRONG></A></LI> <LI><A HREF="thread.html#00432"><STRONG>Thread</STRONG></A></LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> <!--X-BotPNI-End--> <!--X-User-Footer--> <!--X-User-Footer-End--> <ul><li>Thread context: <BLOCKQUOTE><UL> <LI><STRONG>[MUD-Dev] Re: PDMud, Gamora and Casbah</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM> <ul compact> <ul compact> <ul compact> <LI><strong><A NAME="00464" HREF="msg00464.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: PDMud, Gamora and Casbah</A></strong>, Niklas Elmqvist <a href="mailto:d97elm#dtek,chalmers.se">d97elm#dtek,chalmers.se</a>, Sat 24 Oct 1998, 23:31 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00467" HREF="msg00467.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: PDMud, Gamora and Casbah</A></strong>, Adam J. Thornton <a href="mailto:adam#phoenix,Princeton.EDU">adam#phoenix,Princeton.EDU</a>, Sun 25 Oct 1998, 01:45 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00473" HREF="msg00473.html">[MUD-Dev] OpenMUD: bus-based communications</A></strong>, James Wilson <a href="mailto:jwilson#rochester,rr.com">jwilson#rochester,rr.com</a>, Sun 25 Oct 1998, 02:51 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00479" HREF="msg00479.html">[MUD-Dev] OpenMUD: bus-based communications</A></strong>, Niklas Elmqvist <a href="mailto:d97elm#dtek,chalmers.se">d97elm#dtek,chalmers.se</a>, Sun 25 Oct 1998, 08:39 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> </ul> </ul> </ul> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00432" HREF="msg00432.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: UO: Second Age</A></strong>, Koster, Raph <a href="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</a>, Fri 23 Oct 1998, 23:37 GMT <LI><strong><A NAME="00423" HREF="msg00423.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: OT, kinda, but yay :)</A></strong>, Koster, Raph <a href="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</a>, Fri 23 Oct 1998, 21:29 GMT <UL> <li><Possible follow-up(s)><br> <LI><strong><A NAME="00442" HREF="msg00442.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: OT, kinda, but yay :)</A></strong>, Chris Gray <a href="mailto:cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA">cg#ami-cg,GraySage.Edmonton.AB.CA</a>, Sat 24 Oct 1998, 01:35 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00457" HREF="msg00457.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: OT, kinda, but yay :)</A></strong>, Jo Dillon <a href="mailto:emily#thelonious,new.ox.ac.uk">emily#thelonious,new.ox.ac.uk</a>, Sat 24 Oct 1998, 10:37 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00520" HREF="msg00520.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: OT, kinda, but yay :)</A></strong>, Adam Wiggins <a href="mailto:adam#angel,com">adam#angel,com</a>, Mon 26 Oct 1998, 19:11 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL></BLOCKQUOTE> </ul> <hr> <center> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] </center> <hr> </body> </html>