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PostPosted: Sun Sep 17, 2006 8:28 am 
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Young
Young

Joined: Wed May 31, 2006 5:19 am
Posts: 11
Shard Name: Aeon
Shard website: http://www.aeonrp.com
Custom map: Yes
Shard Admin: Ahriman
Server EMU: POL 096
Client versions: 4.0.5b (Works with UO Gold and Mondain's Legacy)
Shard Type: Full Roleplaying
Short description: At the time of this posting, Aeon is a shard in the making. It is based in a highly developed custom world, meaning both map and fictional backdrop. Making the world realistically diverse has always been first priority, so I can confidently say we accomodate a wide range of playing styles and goals. Aeon is nearing completion in all aspects (map, custom graphics, scripts), save for the building of towns and landmarks.

I've never believed in the term 'hiring' in reference to UO... it's always been a volunteer gig. Therefore we invite volunteers to visit us in our forums, or better yet, our irc channel, to determine whether Aeon is the kind of place they want to be involved in. The foundations of the shard are lain, we are now seeking manpower to build the walls.

If you visit our forums, you can find screenshots of currently completed building projects as well as our custom map. These should provide a strong example of our dedication to the project. Thank you all for your consideration.


Last edited by Ahriman on Fri Sep 29, 2006 6:32 am, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 6:22 am 
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Newb
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Joined: Fri Jul 28, 2006 7:40 am
Posts: 3
Very nice looking map and the screenshots on your forum look great as well.


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PostPosted: Mon Sep 18, 2006 6:59 am 
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Young
Young

Joined: Wed May 31, 2006 5:19 am
Posts: 11
Thanks Praxxus, I appreciate the comments and will pass them on to the staff.


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PostPosted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 8:57 am 
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Young
Young

Joined: Wed May 31, 2006 5:19 am
Posts: 11
Thank you to ryandor.com and staff for this advertizing space, we've gotten a couple of building volunteers since posting here. We're still looking for a couple more! Experience a plus, but not required.

Here are some previews made since my last post here;

Some of our finished building;
http://z4.invisionfree.com/Aeon_UO_Shard/index.php?showtopic=27
(expect an update coming soon, this thread is a few weeks out of date and much more has been done)

The custom map;
http://www.aeonrp.com/AeonNameMap2.jpg
(Also a little out of date; at this point, the dungeons area on the right is filled, literally to capacity.)

Also coming soon is a preview thread of our verdata, which I spent the last couple weeks working on every detail of. I'm proud of it and my staff is too, so I'll get some screenshots posted and see what you all think. Thanks guys.


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PostPosted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 9:22 am 
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Young
Young

Joined: Sun Jun 13, 2004 9:54 am
Posts: 16
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
nice map. I really like the details, and a map is all details.
Just seems very large... Gets hard to fill it all with content.


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PostPosted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 10:28 pm 
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Posting Whore
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Joined: Fri Aug 29, 2003 6:21 pm
Posts: 1434
Location: Colorado Springs, Co.
Very nice work indeed!

Now if we can just get a pool of custom shards who are willing to share their creations with the world. :wink:

Dev

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PostPosted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 4:37 am 
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Young
Young

Joined: Wed May 31, 2006 5:19 am
Posts: 11
Thanks a lot guys, Ill let the staff know reactions are positive.

As for the size, there are a few considerations that led me to make something so big... and it -is- rather big. Firstly we knew this would be a long developement; in fact its taken aout a year and a half, maybe two years... hard to say when the interest turned into the process. With that much time, I can assure you there are plans for just about every corner of the world.

The other concern with large maps is that a shard wont necessarily develope the kind of playerbase to fill them. I played UO for several years before starting this project, and I found that a lot of times the size of the world can be overcome simply by the fact that in a smaller playerbase, players often become more familiar with eachother, and quickly learn to use irc or a messenger service to let others know where the action is. I played for a long time on a shard using a full size map with a steady playerbase of only 15-20. I was never bored though, because we all coordinated to be in the right places at the right time, for hunting or roleplay. In the end, the huge world was no obstacle; just gave us a lot of choices of where we wanted to get together.

The other consideration is that, unlike most UO maps, there arent as many obstacles... seperate continents, rivers, mountains that span across the lines between towns, etc. These are all tricks that some maps use to make a small space seem larger. Our map will be developed in stages, and will occassionally be updated with new locations set across the open spaces, encouraging people to explore somewhere off the roads from town to town.

I dont mean to say youre wrong, Xavier. You only said it was -hard- to fill it with content, and you are dead right. Im just very excited about this long project now that its coming closer to an open shard, I relish any chance to talk about it.


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PostPosted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 8:28 am 
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Young
Young

Joined: Sun Jun 13, 2004 9:54 am
Posts: 16
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
Alot of maps out there have alot of dead spaces really, like just a big
forrest with just alot of trees, then some grassy area and a forrest again.
It gets damn hard to keep it all interresting.
Im the adventurer kinda guy, I love exploring new maps and finding
"hidden" places etc.
Dont get me wrong I think the map looks great!
Just a tip would be to try to eliminate dead areas, Im currently working
on redoing the ilshenar map abit and everytime I run around to get a look
at stuff I tend to find more and more new things, And that really keeps the
interrest up.

About playerbase and all, I work on Divinity and our playerbase has
gone down alot since our launch. And people complain alot that no one
plays because of the fact that they dont bump into people around every
corner. The div players arent as co-ordinated as those you explain, franctly
theyre mostly jackasses. Its all about creating a good community, Id
rather have a server with 10-30 good people than 200 jackasses.


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PostPosted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 8:38 am 
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Grand Master
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Joined: Thu Jul 17, 2003 8:54 am
Posts: 971
I think a large map can bring a sense of granduer and immersiveness, as long as its put together smartly and not just a bunch of empty space, unimaginably decorated.

I'm putting together a map right now that will be 4 times the size of the Britannia map. I look at the map as my canvass to creating a living, breathing world full of mystery and adventure.

I plan to have all players start the game, and live (at least initially), in the same populated area. On the other hand, they will have an entire unexplored world around them (one of our catch phrases will be, "A world so huge you may never explore it all!"). To top it off, I'm nerfing recall and gate so that people have to actually make an effort to travel and to see things. But there will be huge rewards for that as well!

Rather than having every thing in the world available everywhere, there will be some materials, items, creatures, etc. that you will only find by travelling to other locations.

Initially there will be one area populated by players. This way they can feel part of the city and feel a sense of belonging there. But I am hoping, as the player base grows, that they will start to expand to create new cities in other parts of the world.

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http://www.shatteredsosaria.com


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PostPosted: Wed Nov 01, 2006 6:48 am 
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Young
Young

Joined: Sun Jun 13, 2004 9:54 am
Posts: 16
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
When you say 4 times larger than britannia I emmidietly think of this
Image
Thats Raph Koster (Designer Dragon) holding up the original map for
Ultima Online, complete with all four continents of Akalabeth/Ultima 1.


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PostPosted: Wed Nov 01, 2006 7:15 am 
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Grand Master
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Joined: Thu Jul 17, 2003 8:54 am
Posts: 971
Very awesome! :) Thanks for posting that, I had never seen it!

Its surprisingly similar to the map layout I am looking at! 4 major continents and several isles.

I'm planning to have everyone start in a central city where all the housing and vendors are. Although I want a big world to explore, I also want players to be able to find each other and group together easily, I don't want 10 cities with 1 player in each of them. ;> I'm going to try to move toward a completely player-run economy where all items and resources in the game are either created by players, or sold by players (i.e., quest items and loot, etc.) When/if the player base expands a bit, I'll add more cities for players to occupy. The sole travel spell that I'm considering for all players would be one that lets you teleport back to the home city (one way), still debating that though.

I'm going to have one map as the world (no dungeon area) - and another map as the dungeon area. I might even put the dungeons in the same coordinates as the above ground entrance for added realism! :)

_________________
-= HellRazor =-
Shattered Sosaria is coming!
http://www.shatteredsosaria.com


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PostPosted: Wed Nov 01, 2006 12:24 pm 
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Young
Young

Joined: Wed May 31, 2006 5:19 am
Posts: 11
Good idea Hellrazor, it seems we've been sharing it. I am also going to be placing the majority of the underground on a second map, the underdark if you will. I've toyed with the idea of doing the second map as you describe, being of equal size to the world and having things placed geologically... but I'm not sure if I want my world quite so big as yours. As it is, upon opening the shard, the underdark will consist of only a town and a few tunnels. When and if the player base expands enough to demand it, I have quite a few plans for underdark areas that will open up as updates. I felt that if anything should be expanded and explored piece by piece, it should be the underground frontier.

As a sidenote, Aeon is still seeking builders! Come on guys, we've come so far... with a few good pairs of hands we'd be ready to open before long at all.


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PostPosted: Thu Nov 09, 2006 11:34 am 
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Master
Master
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Joined: Fri Oct 07, 2005 2:02 am
Posts: 246
Location: Russian Federation, Moscow
Heh, I've made geo-dungeons and continental tunnels (from one to another) on my shard, so there is no difference in path length, but terran can have natural obstacles like rivers and jungles, while subterraean have monsers full way ahead, hehe.
I dreaming about making a huge map, more than Brit-size, if there some handful way to make it and not to scar all the work by mistake... but it's make a headache in me, while i'm currently done with our map already... :cry:
I can be helpful in building work by my 3 year experience in hand-making of cities. There are samples of my works
http://maerun-world.pbnet.ru/ForsakenVillage.gif
http://maerun-world.pbnet.ru/ShadowsCityDesignSample.gif
http://maerun-world.pbnet.ru/LongbowMoongate.gif

Please mail me at gardik@bk.ru if you find this interesting.

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-Dark Ones Doctrine, 2001y (c)-


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PostPosted: Sun Nov 12, 2006 7:44 am 
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Young
Young

Joined: Wed May 31, 2006 5:19 am
Posts: 11
We're pleased to welcome Xenoth to our crew. There is still room for one or two more.


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