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Haelrahv Limited Testing Phase
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The Official Haelrahv Message Forum Forum Index » Announcements From The Staff » Haelrahv Limited Testing Phase
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HR-Trevor
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Joined: 04 Oct 2002
Posts: 6683
Location: Louisville, KY

 Post Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2003 6:31 pm    Post subject: Haelrahv Limited Testing Phase
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Lo, folks. Smile

As any of our regular board readers are aware, Haelrahv development / release has been postponed because we are transitioning to a new game engine, the next generation RPGN engine that both Eaxia and Haelrahv will use. We are still in that process, and making good progress on the engine itself, though development of any kind within that engine has not begun since the engine is still being worked on.

Some of you have asked for us to reopen the game in the original engine, even if only in a limited sense.

About two and half weeks ago, I made a decision to re-open the game in the old engine in a limited sense so that we can both give you all something to do, as well as get some testing done for balance on various systems (combat, exp gain rates, income levels, etc.) So, we are going to be re-opening Haelrahv, again in a very limited sense, very very soon.

I want to outline a few very, very important notes about this test environment, however:

Firstly, much of what you will see you've seen before, but much of it is brand new. All players will only be able to access the OOC area and a new world area we have created, named Llanfair. This area is not part of the normal game world and is not connected to it, and it remains to be seen if this area will ever be accessible in the "real" game when it launches. However, Llanfair is of a nice size and has a lot of features, particularly when one realizes not one room of it existed less than three weeks ago.

Not all game features in the "real" game will exist. In fact, many won't. Some will exist from the start; others will be added after it; and some will not be put into place at all. Some examples of items that will not make any level of appearance in all likelihood are: Mercenary contracts, a justice system, stealing, many magic spells / psionics, courts/law systems, and most crafting systems.

Combat will not have all of the planned features of the real game, but it has many of them. Supported items include unarmed combat, aimed attacks, pulse weapons/firearms (in fact, a handful of weapons of every type), paired weapons, and more.

The death mechanics will be different than the real game, in fact, some options just won't be available and those are will undergo changes as a result of this test phase. I'll outline the death system and combat system more in another post.

As of this writing, -no- spells are technically done (some are, but I need to rewrite them with more efficient code) nor psionics. I will attempt to get some of them done before we open the test phase, but it's possible that will happen afterward.

Travel options will also be limited, in part because you will be restricted to the Llanfair area and can't access the other cities and such.

I have wiped accounts and characters from the pre-alpha phase and you'll need to re-register an account. All account and character names have been freed. All accounts will need to be verified with a valid email address, the verification code sent to that address will actually be used this time around, unlike pre-alpha. Players are restricted to one account each and while I admit it is difficult to catch those who are using multiples, should I find reasonable evidence of anyone owning more than one account for themselves, I will delete the additional accounts and associated characters and/or ban the player outright and all accounts. Fair warning!

If you wish, you can create your account now by connecting to Haelrahv, but you will not be able to play yet.

Finally, I have reviewed our membership on the message boards and based on level of activity both on the boards and in our pre-alpha phase, I have selected several people who will be provided access to the game a little sooner than the rest of the populace. This is a small token of our appreciation for your level of involvement in the Haelrahv project.

Feel free to post your questions in the reply to announcements topic.
_________________
"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something." -- Plato

-- Trevor Rage / Rich Mondy


Last edited by HR-Trevor on Tue Jun 17, 2003 7:00 pm; edited 1 time in total
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HR-Trevor
Boss Type Guy


Joined: 04 Oct 2002
Posts: 6683
Location: Louisville, KY

 Post Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2003 6:37 pm    Post subject: Combat Features.
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An incomplete list, but this should give you a basic idea of what combat currently supports in the testing phase.

Code:

- A limited selection of weapons:
  15 Bladed
  12 Archery
  11 Marksmanship
  11 Pulse Weapons
   8 Blunt
   8 Exotic
   8 Polearms/Spears/Staves
   4 Thrown
 
- Several types of ammunition:
  - 7 arrow (reusable)
  - 7 bolt (reusable)
  - 11 firearm rounds
  - 2 shotgun/spreadshot shells
  - 1 fuel cell (flamethrower)
  - 4 pulse cores
  - Most ammo types will stack automatically when placed in containers together.
 
- Several armed attack verbs:
  Attack
  Slash
  Bash
  Thrust
  Throw
  Shoot
 
- Several unarmed attack verbs:
  Punch
  Uppercut
  Jab
  Hook
  Spearhand
  Backhand
  Sweep
  Kick
  Roundhouse
  Knee
  Elbow
 
- Over 30 huntable creatures, levels 1-20:
  - 12 naturally non-aggressive but will defend themselves.
  - 10 unique attacks in addition to the ability to use the normal armed/unarmed attacks where appropriate.
  - ALL skinnable; 10 carry boxes/cash as well.
  - Several body types supported: humanoids, birds, quadrupeds, and more.
  - Use the same stat and skill system as players, no super hit point hacks!
 
- Utility verbs:
  BLOCK (use shield)
  DODGE (use evasion)
  PARRY (use parry)
  AIM
  COUNT (for ammunition/ammo using weapons)
  ACTIVATE/DEACTIVATE (to engage/disengage safety switches or turn on/off pulse weapons)
 
- Stances:
  18 stances (excluding the default 'self taught' stance)
  Racial and profession oriented stances
  Each has specific strengths and weaknesses that affect all combat
  Various skills, stats required to effectively use most
  Each must be learned in some manner before they may be used
 
- A large assortment of armor/shields:
  - 597 possible material/type combinations!
  - 30 medieval armor materials
  - 12 medieval shield materials
  - 15 conventional armor materials
  - 6 conventional shield materials
 
- Grouping:
  Experience bonus for grouping in general
  Experience bonus for grouping with Medic(s)
  Passive experience for group members who witness attacks
  "Smart" experience awards that take attacker and defender skills and stats into account
  Treasure/loot bonus for groups
   
- General notes:
  Paired weapon support
  All attack commands support aiming at specific body locations
  All attack commmands support 'remembering' last attacked target

_________________
"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something." -- Plato

-- Trevor Rage / Rich Mondy
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HR-Trevor
Boss Type Guy


Joined: 04 Oct 2002
Posts: 6683
Location: Louisville, KY

 Post Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2003 6:58 pm    Post subject: Death Mechanics
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I will outline here for you how death mechanics will work in the Haelrahv testing phase.

There are essentially two options available to you. The first and most desirable is medic intervention. Skilled medics can revive the fallen efficiently and quickly. There are level requirements associated with this ability however, and initially this won't be an option for anyone due to this fact. The only loss a character experiences other than time waiting to be healed and revived, is some temporary "death recovery time", which is explained in a moment.

The other option is cloning. A player may visit imaging centers to have a snapshot of their character taken. There is no limit on how often on can have this done and up until level 4+ the service is free. After that, there is a small fee for the service, but it shouldn't be enough to be a problem for anyone who has been actively making at least some money somehow.

When one is restored from an image, your experience, level, stats, skills, training points and such are rolled back to your last image. Obviously this means you could stand to lose a lot if you're careless and don't get imaged often. But thankfully, if you were imaged recently and were to die several dies in a short time span due to whatever circumstance, you will not suffer an effect liken to dying without favors (DR)/deeds (GS3) and suffer permadeath. In fact permadeath is impossible.

Characters will be imaged automatically without need of visiting an imaging center when they reach level 2 and again at level 3.

When one dies, they also incur a "death recovery time" penalty. Essentially, this penalty lowers all skills / stats for a period of time and this penalty must be "worked off" by gaining experience. Repeat deaths with an existing penalty WILL cause one to wrack up more and more of a penalty, so caution should be taken to avoid needless repeat deaths in a short period of time.

As you drain experience from your experience pool, some is also subtracted to pay off your experience debt. The rate at which you drain experience is not changed, so you are able to work toward your next level at the same speed. However, some of the excess experience in your pool is drained to recover from your death and therefore it will be harder to keep a "full" experience pool.

Finally, inventory dropped as result of a death will be placed in a protected grave. This is one of the facets of this system most likely to change in the future in the "real" game. The grave cannot be affected by others and the items within are safe. The fallen player has one hour to claim their grave items. After this, the items will find their way to a room in a pawn shop and must be bought back by the player at a cost, in bulk. Other players cannot buy the items. If the items remain abandoned for one week, they may be deleted, placed in treasure boxes randomly, or be available for general sale to anyone.

Items in your hand can fall when you hand/arm is damaged however, and these are treated differently. If you have dropped say a weapon on the ground and then die, the weapon will be placed in your grave if it is still on the ground. If it ends up elsewhere before you die however (in another room, another player's inventory, etc.) it is not placed in the grave and there is no mechanic in place to assist you in recovering that item.

As mentioned above, medic recovery still incurs the "death recovery time", however, it will be to a lesser degree than restoral from an image. Yes, we're actively pushing the idea of having a medic around. Wink
_________________
"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something." -- Plato

-- Trevor Rage / Rich Mondy
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HR-Trevor
Boss Type Guy


Joined: 04 Oct 2002
Posts: 6683
Location: Louisville, KY

 Post Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2003 4:01 am    Post subject:
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The test phase will begin sometime this weekend. That is all. Wink
_________________
"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something." -- Plato

-- Trevor Rage / Rich Mondy
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HR-Trevor
Boss Type Guy


Joined: 04 Oct 2002
Posts: 6683
Location: Louisville, KY

 Post Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2003 5:53 pm    Post subject:
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The Haelrahv Test Phase is now open! A few notes:

- Documentation is light, help files are slim, sorry! We'll do what we can.

- Lots of stuff doesn't work. Magic, Psi being the two biggest. But we'll have some of each soon. The engagement system is also not working yet.

- Some but not all of the things that DO work: Combat, Alchemy, Medic Healing Stuff, Foraging, Skinning, Spellsongs, and more.

- There WILL be bugs. Wink Probably many.

- A few maps are availale at http://downloads.haelrahv.com/maps/Llanfair/.
_________________
"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something." -- Plato

-- Trevor Rage / Rich Mondy
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