NCsoft's producer [An Jong-ok] introduced the various open-field content he tried in the new MMORPG "King Power and Freedom" in the Gstar lecture (this article was translated by Chanxiao, if there are any inappropriate, please indicate the source)
Started as a programmer, and later turned to planning because he wanted to make a good game, became fascinated by "Sword Spirit", began to do balance design from 2010 to 2014, copy design (as team leader), served as the producer of "Sword Spirit" from 2014 to 2017, and began to serve as the producer of "King Power and Freedom" in 2017.
In order for the game that nearly 200 development teams can enjoy interestingly, we have received a lot of feedback for games that are aimed at transcending regions and generations compared to the grand modifier of the next-generation MMORPG.
I studied the current trend of open worlds, a good game must have a good world, but I don't want to do exactly the same. So I set my goal on a game that allows for freedom, minimal rules, and creative gameplay.
So it's not so much the open world as the open field, and the principle is based on seamless world and three-dimensional level design.
In previous games, channels were set up to prevent crowd congestion, instant copies were set up to prevent certain groups from monopolizing content, and only important parts of the scene were produced, and no longer were necessary. This systemic change has its advantages, but it also has side effects. Channels are a means of avoiding competition, while duplicates leave the wild empty. In particular, in many cases, the final content of the end-game is used as a live copy. This leads to a disconnected community of players, undermining the essence of an MMORPG that players enjoy together. That's why I created a seamless world that was seamless from battlefield to quest.
West Leifus Abyss
The three-dimensional terrain is given a sense of life and vitality. The player feels comfortable in a flat place (left below), but can move freely against gravity through rope movements and avatars (right below).
Beast transformation and rope demonstration
Based on this, the open realm has three pillars (gameplay), environment, local events, and memorials.
In terms of [environment], factors such as day and night, rain, and wind have been added to make subtle changes in the territory. The daytime is set to 4 hours and the evening is set to 1 hour, and late night is considered a special time period. Because some players have a fixed online time, the time loop is set to not be divisible by 24 hours, so that players are not always day or always night
Day and night
The rainy and sunny ratio is set to 8:2 and lasts for 30 minutes once the weather changes. In other words, players don't know when it will rain, but if it starts raining, they know it will continue to rain for at least 30 minutes.
Compared to the original plan, the wind has weakened. Rain and night are easy to express visually, while wind is difficult and not easily perceived from the perspective of the scene. So this is achieved through the UI, increasing the long-range projectile and gliding range.
Previously analyzed wind UI display
The first change to the player is the player's skills. The dagger skill Ghost Dance Step increases movement speed at night, and the venom effect of poison blood changes depending on day or night.
The Lightning Chain is launched in the rain or when the target is wet, diverting electricity to the side to attack multiple targets at once, while Roxhi Courage shoots extra arrows when the wind blows, increasing damage.
When it rains, the buildings held by the guild in the Capture War will accumulate water in the lower places, making it impossible to fight in these areas.
Some Ancient Bosses have to wash off the terrain debuff with water, but when it rains, the fountain water level rises, making it easier to clean.
It was shown in the previous trailer
The water rises conveniently debuff
[Environment] also changes the ecology. Passive monsters are changed to active attacks at night or increase the regenerative power of plant-based monsters when it rains, and the stronger the monster, the higher the reward. In addition, depending on the day or night, the strength and drops of wild bosses may change.
However, we didn't want to play passively, so we gave a small number of players the ability to control the environment for 10 minutes. This skill, which can only be used twice a day, can only be used per day by the person who ranks first in a particular ranking. (The player will know who he is through the public screen of the system)
Sometimes some quests are only open when it's raining, but even if you use the Rain skill on a sunny day, you can forcibly challenge the quest.
[Local events] are emergencies that completely change the content of a specific region in a short period of time. For example, the Wolf Hunt is an initial level regional event, which is a ranked racing event that uses the format of a tournament and can also be PvP.
The number of wolf tails is displayed on the head, and if it dies, all the tails it holds will fall, so PvP will naturally unfold. There are initially 3 places to return tails, but they will gradually decrease over time, so whether to collect as many tails as possible to return them at one time or deliver them little by little is a choice.
Local Events are triggered every 3 hours and a schedule is displayed when the map is opened in the game. On the schedule, green is regional events, red is bosses, and regional events for matches between guilds.
[Memorial] is the direct interaction between the player and the world, the following figure presses the monument on the left screen to open the memorial, giving the player a feeling that the world can be changed (interaction), lighting up the content in turn (each content ends at a specific point in time) to prevent content monopoly.
Regional events such as wolf hunts are also unlocked through these memorials, which are only open regularly after all servers have captured a certain number of wolves in the Black Plains. Through the player's interaction with the world, it can give the feeling that the player directly changes the world.
Wild content is mainly divided into PvP and Challenge (PvE), and the typical competition is a capture battle, where guilds compete for the field items they can own.
Wild content is mainly divided into PvP and Challenge (PvE), and the typical competition is a capture battle, where guilds compete for the field items they can own. If the capture battle is aimed at small rewards, then siege warfare is aimed at large rewards. Siege warfare is basically the superiority of the defender, but as time progresses, players can use the Gao Lun transformation to destroy the city wall or run on top of the wall to disrupt the opposing camp, and a manned Gao Lun will also appear. There is also a secret passage that can only be used when it is not raining.
The challenge content can choose the boss RAID on the battlefield. For example, Sandworm Boss Queen Brandir, the boss design takes into account unpredictable raiders and possible occasions in PvP, and is not overly complicated.
But it won't be a simple meat shield to go up and resist, other classes to output. Formations and operations for each class are required. In Queen Brandil's mechanics, spitting larvae can also serve as PvP elements, and the queen periodically spits out larvae, which attach to the player and cause explosions. If the larvae are planted in places where the player is concentrated, the damage will be much greater. At the same time, it periodically digs sand to suck players in, and the boss must quickly evacuate the surroundings when releasing Quicksand Purgatory. If a larvae are attached to the player, the damage caused by an explosion between enemies gathered in a small space will be difficult to bear.
These modes are implemented in more forms in actual games.
In addition, the flying behemoth named Gigantrite is a mobile fortress that moves along a set route like a subway. With it, you can go to places that cannot be reached by ordinary methods, and you can even fight on it to start a contest between forces. Gigantrite appears every few hours and runs for 30 minutes.
Such a lively world, a world of interaction, a world of challenge and competition, are the world values that Kingship and Liberty strives to defend.
Reporter's question: The progress of the server with a large number of people in the memorial will be faster, and the server with a small number of people will not, if the content of the memorial is not open because of population differences, will there be a growth gap between users?
Answer: Divided into chapters, each chapter lasts for a certain period. For example, if you don't finish within the stipulated two weeks, you can move on to the next one. In addition, we are considering various ways to solve the imbalance based on the number of people, such as if you go to a server with less competition to get a decent reward.
Reporter's question: You said that you are ready for global sales, if it is a global integration, is there a device like Paradise W that provides translation or expression communication?
Answer: All technical parts of other games are grafted, including automatic translation. And even if it is a global one, there is a concept of a home server, and 3,000 to 5,000 people are set to the right number of people, so I think players will gather by region and language. Of course, there are also shared world territories, which may be implemented in the future.