World of Darkness Previews

A couple of previews for World of Darkness have come out from EVE Fanfest 2013, and while the CCP MMO based on the much-loved White Wolf’s world has still a way to go, fans will likely appreciate these small signs of life.

Massively:

Development plans for 2013 include working on out-of-game web-based social tools, clothing systems, and PvE game environments. There are also plans to work on item creation, but direct crafting is probably not on the cards. As the presenter put it, “You’re a powerful, immortal lord of the night. You don’t want to stitch a shirt.” Though the game is still in the pre-production stage, CCP was keen to show off the tools it’s made to speed up the development process. “Some of these videos are a bit dry and technical,” joked the presenter, but it came across as more real and honest than another trailer or musings on theoretical gameplay.

CCP showed some interesting tools that it will use to rapidly develop procedural content like buildings and cityscapes. It’s not the gameplay fans were eager to see, but it was an honest look at the state of the game and it shows that development really is still ongoing. We saw a building going through the entire development system from basic block shapes to the graphically impressive final results, with plenty of eye candy to go around. As an indie game developer who specialises in shader programming, I can say that the video they showed of shader tech was genuinely impressive. Whenever World of Darkness finally does release, it’s going to look amazing.

Eurogamer:

“80 per cent of players in Eve run missions. It’s absolutely a staple of gameplay, even if it’s not an aspirational one,” explains McDonough. “What we’re making is not traditional PvE content – it’s not ‘talk to an NPC and consume this’ content’. There have to be hazards in the environment or you just have a PvP game, which isn’t what we’re doing. But it has to be player driven. We’re looking to have PvE content that maximises player interaction.”

In short, we’re not looking at a fixed personal quest type structure – and hurrah for that. One example of how this works is that while World of Darkness is focusing on vampires for launch (other White Wolf characters hopefully coming in due course) everyone starts out as a human. To become a vampire, you first have to be Embraced by another player, with their clan presumably having major effects. You can try to stay a mortal rather than become Kindred, though it won’t be easy, and there won’t be much content. At least, not for a good few years, when hunters might join werewolves and whatever other new additions CCP makes from the sourcebooks.

This opening doesn’t simply tie into Vampire lore though, but makes sure that every new player will need the help of at least one other, even if their plan is to try and survive on their own or stick in a small group off the radar of the world’s power-brokers. “That’s important to us,” says McDonough, “When you start interacting with other people, you gain a vested interest, and a social network. We want to build a society, not just have players.”

This being Vampire, there will be some social constraints as well as opportunities – the Masquerade for instance, which forces vampires to hide their existence, is in effect. McDonough wouldn’t be drawn on how the MMO will handle the inevitable naked players jumping up and down in the middle of the street yelling “Vampire! Vampire! I’m a bloody vampire!”, save that there will be systems in place, CCP knows full well that people will try and work around them, and that other players will be able to enforce social justice. There is permadeath in the game already implemented, though only in certain situations. Once again, no details, save that it takes more than just being ganked.