Transcript (by Youtube)


0s so I'm gonna step through this it's very
2s short compared to what we've had
4s previously it's not like 20 30 slides
6s but I thought uh I thought this would be
8s a nice little topic to discuss
10s and to get you back on
12s so
14s this is actually a slide that was going
16s to be part of uh
18s part of the uh
20s core gameplay Loop slide but I thought
21s it was relevant anyway to just sort of
23s leave in have a bit of a reminder of
25s where we are so far for those who are
27s joining in this conversation perhaps
29s they've you know been a holiday of the
31s last couple weeks or haven't been
32s following the discussionist thoroughly
33s but in terms of where we have refined
36s sailing right now
37s we decided to tackle navigation First
40s we released a really cool demo that
42s showed how gameplay would work on the
44s ship uh produced by the engine team
46s during their game Jam they decided they
48s want to tackle this and see how how
50s great they could make it just sort of on
51s the side fun and we were we were blown
54s away and we decided that this is exactly
56s the direction we want to go with sailing
57s and it is
59s in all honesty it was the developers or
62s perfect vision of sailing anyway the
63s idea that you have this set of
65s coordinates that are superimposed on
66s another set of coordinates and it just
68s kind of felt very cool real and old
71s school
72s um we also covered in the navigation
74s mechanics refinement uh our definition
76s of small large and colossal ships how
78s they work and differ from each other we
80s touched on some navigation variables
82s like sailing speed and turning speed uh
85s we touched on some navigational
86s mechanics such as wind current and also
89s address topics such as the world map and
91s scale
92s uh our response to what everyone has
95s said so far or sort of our perception is
97s that it was very well received we were
100s planning to action a bunch of feedback
102s uh on each stage of these are alignment
104s but we really didn't feel like there was
105s any clear feedback to action sure some
108s things were a bit more subjective and
110s we're obviously aware that we're talking
111s at a design level now and things might
113s change if this moves into development or
115s over time but from this stage of the
117s skill pitch we just felt like it was
119s very solid uh the tech demo did a really
121s good job of explaining it and sort of
123s showing people exactly the vision that
125s we were describing and then just the the
127s fact that we went with the interacting
129s with stuff on a ship just we got a lot
131s of praise for that feeling very old
133s school as opposed to maybe a more
136s gamified approach of turning you into a
139s ship which was upon a possibility until
141s we saw that again
144s but one of the things that has been
146s prevalent since the navigation
148s refinement discussion is that just
150s burning lingering question is sailing a
153s skill or a mini game how exactly am I
157s going to earn XP in fact we had so many
159s people still saying you should cover
161s this first I can't believe this isn't
163s obvious for sailing
165s um how have we gone months after hearing
167s about the sailing pitch and we still
169s haven't answered that question
170s and to me I think that this is actually
173s quite a complicated topic it challenges
175s the very fabric of what is a skill in
178s old school RuneScape what is important
180s for a skill so I thought that that's
183s what this presentation is about for a
185s little bit of a mod husky ramble into
187s delving into this kind of topic
192s so yeah uh moving on to the next slide
194s so I think that here are a couple of
198s definitions of a skill a versus a
200s minigame they're taken from the old
201s school RuneScape Wiki there isn't really
204s a hard fast definition you could look at
206s the definition of a skill in real life
207s that's not really gonna
209s translate well to a game because things
211s are gamified and a mini game isn't a
213s concept that is consistent from game to
215s game or
217s um like outside of our game or it's not
219s consistent like what that is it does a
222s term in real life either but what we can
223s do is just look at
224s an example of how the old school
226s RuneScape Wiki have to find it and
228s they've said that a skill is a player's
231s attributes that can be Advanced ready
233s skills are trained by repeating actions
235s that give experience in the skill until
237s enough experience is earned to advance
239s the next level
240s I think it's pretty straightforward
243s a Mini-Game small games in which players
245s or teams of players set out to complete
247s a certain objective
248s these games usually allow players to
250s gain experience and their items
254s and there's already a bit of an overlap
256s there
257s um does this mean that a scale cannot be
259s trained by teams of players they're
261s certainly an activity that players uh
264s participate in uh sometimes in skills
267s there is an objective Slayer very much
269s gives you an objective of slaying a
270s Slayer creature
272s um and
274s minigames allowing players to gain
276s experience well Skilling definitely
278s allows you to gain experience there's
280s definitely some overlap in the
282s definition between skill and minigame
284s and I think that's where a lot of the
286s discussion uh has sort of come from with
288s players Beyond different sides of the
290s argument is sailing a skill no it's a
292s mini game no it's a skill and that kind
295s of thing
297s looking at some of the skills I feel
299s like I'm teaching uh your granny how to
302s suck eggs with some of this but I
303s figured I might as well be thorough with
305s this we do have four character groups of
307s skills uh Gathering skills obviously
310s skills that are involve obtaining
312s resources or items from the environment
314s uh production skills involve processing
317s items obtained from Gathering skills
318s into finished products I think that's an
320s important distinction uh it's not just
323s about the the core gameplay Looper
324s production is literally about the fact
326s that you're turning something from
327s Gathering into a product I think that is
329s something that
331s is sometimes missed in a definition of
332s production
334s combat are skills that involve fighting
336s in combat are you self-explanatory and
339s utility skills are skills that do not
341s share a cohesive theme but usually
343s reward the player with a variety of
344s benefits
345s again these definitions were taken from
348s the wiki it's a bit of a copy paste
350s but
351s it does kind of utility skills are
353s definitely an outlier here right they're
355s not consistent between each other and
358s just saying they reward the player with
359s Benefits is big in and of itself
364s um
365s utility skill is something that we are
367s pitching uh sailing to be
370s utility skills just by their nature are
373s complex they are harder to Define than
375s gathering in production
377s and they tend to be more versatile uh we
380s have five skills that are defined as
382s utility skills in game
384s uh fire making is kind of like a
387s production skill but with no product
389s all the only reason you're doing it is
391s to provide a temporary benefit that is
393s objectively not that useful in a
395s temporary place you can fit from
397s um agility is a truly unique utility
400s skill I don't think there's another
402s skill that's quite like it but shortcuts
404s really are a niche reward
407s there isn't much incentive to train it
409s outside of those shortcuts stamina
410s potions May sort of run energy Obsolete
412s and once you get past 50 60 you don't
414s really see a very good return on your
416s time investment into the skill
419s construction is also kind of like a
422s production skill in terms of the
423s resources that you use from Gathering
425s kind of being turned into something but
427s it's not a tradable product which is
429s usually true for production uh flat
432s packs do exist they're just not really
435s thing that is used and but the focus on
437s construction seems to be all about the
439s rewards and quality of life I think
441s quality of life is something and the
442s sort of creation of a personal space was
444s a very important thing for it on launch
446s but it's definitely been powercraft uh
449s over the last several years an old
451s school RuneScape with more and more
452s quality life and more and more powerful
454s features
455s so much so that I feel like construction
457s really is just a means to an end to get
459s those quality of life Improvement
462s uh Slayer is kind of like a combat skill
465s I mean they're trained in almost exactly
466s the same way the only distinction is
468s that you've got you know signed to kill
469s it by a Slayer creature and the XP is
471s awarded on death
473s um and it also has a reward system
475s that's very much like a mini game and I
477s say that because there are a lot of
479s perks in Slayer that are rewarded purely
482s by you gamifying a process to earn
484s points based on your task streak and
486s which Slayer Master you do
488s in another world Slayer might have given
491s you the ability to automatically smash
492s gargoyles by just having smashed a ton
495s of gargoyles like if you've done it
497s manually or perhaps just maybe at
500s the level to kill the Slayer creature
502s plus five you now gain that part that
505s would have been a way of saying a player
507s has gained has become better at Slayer
509s and earned that perk but instead it's
510s just I spend points earned by by doing
513s this uh that itself feels very mini
516s gamey but
518s um
519s it's it's kind of in a weird utility
521s space
523s um thieving is kind of like a gathering
526s skill the only difference is that it's
528s not really about resources that are
531s turned into production elements it's
534s just about earning wealth and money and
536s through empties and chess and the sort
537s of loot is very varied like arguably you
540s could see from a gem stall and that can
542s feed into crafting kind of but like
544s that's not really about deming's
545s identity it's just about the it's
548s literally just selling like a dream and
550s a vision of being a thief and what that
552s would look like in old school RuneScape
553s but yeah very Gathering skill-ish
556s um very quick intensive Gathering skill
558s it's not like a clicking on a tree in an
560s instant on thieving for the next 30
561s seconds
563s um and I think one of the problems with
566s sailing at least from the pitch level is
568s that when you hear sailing it's a very
571s complex idea that doesn't have an
575s obvious set of repeatable actions or
577s something that players refer to as a
579s core gameplay
581s um some players have sort of filled in
582s the blanks and gone is it moving on the
584s sea like like just as if I was running
586s to places as a boat or on a boat or
589s um is it completing tasks like Slayer is
592s it doing agility courses at Sea I think
595s there's just a lot of confusion in the
597s term sailing doesn't give an inherently
599s obvious answer to those that hear it
602s yeah
604s um and I think that that's something
606s that Shamanism and taming both did
608s better at a pitch level
611s um
612s gathering in production were elements of
615s shamanism it would start selling itself
616s as a skill that combined elements of
618s both Gathering and production are just
621s very well described and defined Concepts
624s in Old School unlike the plethora of
627s utility skills that I've just described
629s um and I just think that that just meant
631s players instinctually knew how they were
633s getting XP and how they were traded
636s and while taming is a utility skill it
639s was already kinda
641s have it already kind of had a relation
642s close to Hunter that players are
644s pointing out you're interacting with
645s preachers in the game World
648s um but I think the truth is that taming
649s sadly just wasn't spoken about all that
651s much players were talking about
653s Shamanism and sailing and pointing out
655s the flaws and benefits of them more so
659s than taming uh so I think that uh
663s unfortunately it didn't get a deep
664s analysis from the players but I I do
667s think that it was just a bit more
669s inherently easy to understand the idea I
671s tame a pet and I get XP for taming a bit
674s I train a pet cool now I get experience
676s with whatever that training
680s uh moving on
684s uh looking at our existing utility
686s skills one thing they do have is I gave
688s a description already but they do have a
690s concise way of defining all the content
692s in the skill uh no matter what so
695s something to start off as a base that
697s can then be sort of extended upon buyer
700s making is is lighting a log on fire
702s thieving is pickpocketing an NPC or
704s stealing from an entity like a chest or
705s skull
706s agility is clicking on agility obstacles
709s or shortcuts construction is building
710s Furniture in your player and house and
712s Slayer is defeating an NPC assigned to
715s you by a Slayer
716s all of these activities clearly line up
719s with their name and what you would
720s expect when you hear the skill by its
722s name alone
723s and aside from Slayer which is like
726s while Slayer is a word in English it's
729s not really a term we use as a job title
731s for someone like you're a Slayer it is
734s really a sort of idea that's being
736s gamified and made as sort of a game
739s concept
740s um like like sort of just a made-up
741s thing in old school RuneScape but all of
743s the others have like a real life skill
746s as a base to build upon uh it just kind
748s of feels natural when you see it in the
750s game
754s moving on
757s talking about a skill we've kind of
759s covered like gameplay loops and how
761s utility skills and gameplay loops work
763s but uh progression is also a very
766s important part of a skill and you can't
768s just have gameplay Loops alone you need
771s to feel like as you are training the
773s skill throughout it there's just that
776s reason you feel like you're getting
777s better at it it's all meaningful
780s um progression is the reason you're
782s gaining XP for the most part uh I know
784s that you know just simply being 99 can
787s be the reward for a lot of players uh
789s but most of the time there are unlocks
791s along the way you're training to your
793s skill to a certain level to be able to
795s complete a certain quest to complete a
797s task on an achievement diary or to be
799s able to do content within the skill
800s itself
802s um
803s progression done well in a skill should
805s feel meaningful uh gameplay should feel
808s different at level one than at 99.
811s um a complete novice Slayer is fighting
813s like really simple creatures it's
815s something slayered as well and then you
816s unlock these Big Bad Bosses they're very
819s engaging gameplay it really extends that
821s idea from clicker monster and wait until
824s it dies to more engaging pieces of
826s content
828s um and some skills are better at this
829s than others uh fire making is
831s notoriously bad the idea you don't
833s really feel like you're a better fire
835s maker just because the logs are hired
837s here
838s um but the content is very similar
841s um and Gathering and production skills
842s just generally don't offer a lot of
844s diversity here maybe that's part of the
847s identity of a gathering and production
849s skill that it's just simple things
850s scaled up I I think that with Shamanism
852s we were trying to get at something more
854s complex but for the purpose of this
856s discussion in progression I think we
859s would just try and focus a lot on
860s utility at this point
863s uh but yeah summarizing this kind of
866s progression slide
867s um
868s progression is important and include
870s staggered unlocks from 199 a natural
873s escalation in the activities that are
875s being done and meaningful rewards and
877s incentives to train
878s uh sailing already has an interesting
881s premise from this out of the get-go the
883s idea of getting access to larger ships
885s gaining access to new content or being
887s able to sail across Waters that you
888s previously couldn't or even just gaining
891s access to new activities at Sea is
893s something that we've already seen as a
894s strong positive for sailing and
896s something that players have grafted to
897s it really does show that the core
899s gameplay Loop is something that needs
901s answering and progression is already
902s there as a solid idea
905s uh anything that players understand
910s moving on
912s um something that we've discussed a lot
913s internally is designing a skill in 2023
917s oh wow slide title let's say what is a
920s skill 2023 design until I copy pasted my
922s slides
925s anyway uh 2023 skill design
928s um
928s most skills
930s that were introduced at the time in old
932s school RuneScape were just introduced
934s through their most basic forms on the
937s skill launch and over time as the old
939s school RuneScape team we've made them
941s progressively more complex through
943s additional updates
946s um player expectations in 2023 are
949s substantially higher than they were back
951s in the day and I say back in the day as
953s to back when we were playing maybe as
955s kids and didn't really you know put much
958s thought into what a skill should be I
960s think that we're all substantially more
962s well educated than we were back then
965s and we mostly just train skills for the
967s rewards uh like I said we weren't too
969s analytical or critical of the journey we
971s knew when things were fun or when things
973s weren't there were definitely favorite
974s skills and not favorite skills or
975s definitely still Trends where players
977s might have you know not trained during
978s Craft
980s um despite the fact that we also thought
981s that running Essence to people at Alters
983s was really good money making when we
984s were just training ring craft for other
986s people uh
988s back in the day
989s uh but over the time as a development
992s team we've realized that that sometimes
994s just the most simple part of gameplay
996s doesn't work players have responded very
998s well to the idea of making skills more
1000s complex or introducing additional
1002s content with skills over time and
1005s sometimes the content that we're
1006s addressing is just sort of to look at
1008s Key issues or to make gameplay more
1010s engaging
1013s um the added complexity that I'm
1015s describing about 2023 skill design and
1018s what we're trying to accomplish isn't
1020s something that's unique to sailing ether
1022s with Shamanism we were already moving
1024s past the Gathering production elements
1026s and talking about the spirit world and
1028s the additional benefits and the way that
1030s it sort of interacts with the world and
1032s with taming we were considering things
1033s like pet raids and Dungeons and combat
1035s capabilities and how that would work
1037s with with pets Beyond just simply taming
1039s them and having them do things for you
1041s in the world
1043s so while this isn't something that we've
1045s necessarily outlined until now
1047s um our approach is for developing a
1049s skill in 23
1050s 2023 is to do both of these things we
1055s need to define a core game play Loop
1056s that is very important to the identity
1059s of a skill
1060s but we should also create content that
1063s uses the core gameplay loop as a base
1065s and expands on it to make the journey
1067s from 1 to 99 more fun and interesting uh
1071s than just that simple repeated Loop all
1074s the way for hundreds of hours
1077s that said
1078s we're not saying that we want to release
1080s a skill in this year
1081s um or in this day and age that is
1084s finished
1084s no skill should ever be finished and we
1087s should absolutely leave room for
1089s progression in the future we're just
1091s hoping to build something that is more
1093s fleshed out and uh engageable than a
1096s skill might have traditionally been
1098s released back in the day
1101s so summarizing this entire Point uh
1105s these these eight to nine slides that
1106s I've done
1108s um
1109s in order for sailing to be defined as a
1111s skill and not a mini game she was it
1115s must have the follow
1116s a clear and simple core gameplay Loop
1120s I.E a set of actions that can be
1122s repeatedly done to earn experience
1125s like that that is required
1127s optionally we can also introduce a set
1131s of activities that are extensions to
1133s that core gameplay that enhance the
1136s content and leveling experience beyond
1138s what the core gameplay Loop is
1141s however as a development team we do
1144s believe that this should be part of the
1146s initial launch like that this shouldn't
1148s be optional
1151s it should also offer a clear progression
1153s system that offers both unlocks and
1156s progression all the way from 1 to 99
1157s that naturally show Improvement in the
1161s skill for the player character that sort
1163s of natural escalation of content
1166s and it should also offer rewards and
1168s incentive to trade the skill where we
1170s don't want to introduce a skill that
1172s is just no reason to train except for
1174s the joy of doing the activity we do know
1176s that players are generally more rewards
1178s incentivized in this day and age
1182s and then finally while we need unlocks
1185s progression and rewards we should make
1187s sure that they are all meaningful and
1189s thematically fitting sailings identity
1191s all of the unlocks rewards of
1195s progression should feel like they're
1196s connected to sailing and not there just
1198s to artificially add goals that are not
1201s saliently
1205s um so yeah that's that's it great job
1209s husky
1210s um yeah I really really enjoyed that I'm
1212s not sure if we wanted to take questions
1214s or if we just wanted to chat for a
1215s little bit I know you have to leave
1217s in about half an hour or relatively soon
1223s but yeah I I don't know I I hope people
1226s found that interesting I think that
1229s as a development team we strongly
1231s believe that what we're pitching with
1232s sailing is a skill and we've seen the
1235s it's just a mini game thing come up a
1237s lot I think that
1239s oh there's a lot that goes into that
1242s discussion and what makes it complex I
1244s think that
1245s there are elements of dungeoneering that
1248s is often brought up as an example that
1250s definitely made it feel very mini gaming
1252s being very tied to a specific part of
1254s the world and you know wrote absolutely
1256s mandatory required other skills to do it
1259s and all these things they had a very
1261s convoluted sort of points reward shot
1263s based system I think all of none of
1265s these individually necessarily make
1267s something feel like a mini game but I
1268s think when you have a large amount of
1271s the content that's being talked about
1274s that has minigame like components sort
1277s of at the Forefront it's sort of like a
1279s ratio where
1280s 20 skill 80 mini game is gonna feel very
1284s many Dave
1285s like 80 skill and 20 minigame is still
1287s gonna feel like a skill so we believe as
1291s a development team that sailing is
1292s absolutely a skill uh in the game and
1295s fits the utility skill description and
1298s can have interest in progression systems
1300s that make it feel like a skill and all
1302s of our focus is on making sailing itself
1305s a fun and integrated part of the game
1308s and not just a means to an end to unlock
1311s islands and bosses on the other side of
1313s it
1314s um there's a lot of our design
1315s philosophy that's going into to that
1317s identity of sailing and I hope that when
1320s we release the the core gameplay Loop
1321s stuff uh in a week or so from now I hope
1324s that that will come across the players
1325s and they'll sort of remember the points
1327s that I I've sort of brought up here and
1329s sort of see how that is being directly
1331s Incorporated so
1333s and then to reiterate as well I saw some
1336s people in the chat asking like I still
1338s don't feel like this is a skill and the
1340s fact that they haven't been talking
1341s about core gameplay yet worries me uh we
1344s want to assure you guys that we will be
1345s talking about the core gameplay Loop we
1347s just need a bit more time to refine it
1350s and make sure that it's up to the
1352s standard that we want it to be before
1353s you guys can give your feedback on it
1357s um that's our main concern is we don't
1359s want to present something to you that is
1361s too overwhelming or doesn't have enough
1365s information in certain areas we want to
1367s make sure that's perfect
1369s um I do have a question for you husky
1372s um so as someone that created the
1376s Sepulcher which is a really really well
1378s regarded piece of content how do you
1381s feel when people make associations to
1384s sailing being like water Sepulcher like
1387s do you feel happy about that do you feel
1390s nervous about that how does it make you
1392s feel
1393s [Music]
1395s I mean I think I I
1397s there's two sides here there's obviously
1399s the part that's like
1400s people like getting it to agility is
1403s boring moving a ship is boring it's a
1405s polka made agility funds so let's do
1407s some poker at C and that'll make sailing
1408s fun right as like an analogy I I mean I
1411s obviously like that I enjoy that people
1413s do enjoy the content of Sepulcher that's
1415s the reason I am in this job is to create
1417s content that people enjoy doing and we
1420s look back and go yeah that was a blast I
1421s really I'm really glad they added that
1423s to the game uh but I think the terms
1426s like Sepulcher at Sea is just
1429s I think it's hard for me to think about
1431s what that means because I think the
1433s player motivation is saying make
1435s something uh more intricate more complex
1438s that rewards more precise actions but
1440s I'm also aware that we have a portion of
1442s the player base that wants to enjoy
1445s sailing without having to feel like you
1447s know they're they're drawing Venn
1449s diagrams and charts and mapping out
1451s literally everything to this really
1452s complex level a part of a skill that
1455s makes it good is that it can appeal to a
1458s lot of players and can have layers of
1459s optional complexity or steps that
1461s players can do to make addition to get a
1464s additional benefit but not feel
1465s necessarily required as part of the
1467s skill
1468s so bulker isn't everyone's cup of tea
1471s some people look at this and go oh it's
1473s really complex content I'm just going to
1475s stick to rooftops because I enjoy just
1477s mindlessly you know clicking around the
1478s rooftop maybe on mobile or doing
1479s something else or on the side while
1481s watching Netflix content I think that's
1482s something that we strive to do a lot in
1484s our game is offer these variety of
1486s training methods
1487s um but if people are talking more
1490s literally about Sepulcher on scene I'm
1492s not really sure if players are talking
1494s about the dodging of obstacles that are
1496s coming at your ship and if you get hit
1498s by them you teleport back to a safe spot
1500s I mean I'm sure we could introduce a
1502s variety of sailing like
1505s themed pieces of content that had
1507s navigational challenges and required
1509s very tight Mastery of precision of of
1512s your [ __ ] but I I don't think that
1514s that's something that should be included
1516s as like a from the get-go part of
1518s sailing
1520s so more like a additional activity
1524s Training Method rather than the only
1527s Training Method
1530s yeah um it's something where like
1533s something that'll come up a lot in our
1536s core gameplay blog is where we talk
1538s about layers of content where I kind of
1541s touched on it here where a Slayer boss
1544s is a natural extension of a Slayer
1546s feature and so it's a superior Slayer
1547s creatures like an intermediate step
1549s where you've got this initial gameplay
1551s Loop that has this thing attached to it
1554s that fits the identity of the skill and
1556s makes the skill more complex and they're
1558s not required to train the skill but
1559s they're additional layers that can go on
1561s to it so if if there were players who
1563s felt like I'm really going to enjoy
1566s customizing a ship building it for Speed
1568s building it for good maneuverability
1571s um and I want to navigate this piece of
1573s terrain really precisely I think that
1574s would be a cool piece of content as an
1576s option
1578s um
1578s available for those players I don't
1581s think that that should be like
1583s strictly what the skill is about
1587s um
1588s [Music]
1590s um someone asked since we're not
1592s approaching cool gameplay today what
1594s sort of feedback is going to be useful
1595s next week
1597s um from my perspective it comes down to
1599s number one do you like what we're
1601s presenting to you do you like the
1602s content
1604s um and number two
1606s what do you like the most and what do
1608s you like the least like what needs
1609s changing
1610s um so the idea is we present
1613s the cool gameplay Loop to you we present
1614s a number of training methods we give you
1617s more detail on how you can expect to
1619s train the skill what kind of intensity
1622s uh and XP levels that we're looking at
1625s and just let us know what you like and
1628s what you don't like
1630s um so we can take it from there really
1632s a lot of what we're looking at as well
1634s sorry it is just about present
1636s presentation of the information so
1639s um we need to present that in a way that
1641s makes sense and is easily digestible for
1643s every kind of player
1645s um which is what we're looking at now
1648s it's also like a lot more than that like
1651s where we're at with the core gameplay is
1653s that we're very happy with it and we had
1655s a lot of people asking questions
1656s internally sort of saying things like
1658s okay so I'm gonna set out for today and
1661s I'm gonna train sailing what might that
1663s Journey look like for me if I'm going to
1665s chase optimal experience rates or what
1667s might that Journey look like for me if
1668s I'm just interested in exploring the
1670s ocean what might that Journey look like
1672s for me if I'm looking to obtain new
1675s resources and I think that we want to
1678s make sure we've got scenarios like that
1679s that play that really truly describe the
1683s player's journey and experience logging
1685s in to do the content at least our vision
1688s of it it's it's really hard because
1689s we're talking about things at a design
1691s level that are like here's the direction
1693s we believe this should go in here are
1695s some concrete things that we do believe
1697s but it can be very hard to know like
1699s what specific types of content players
1703s are exactly going to want to go into the
1704s game there's there's absolutely going to
1706s be parts of sailing that will need to be
1707s pulled after the green light like hey
1709s we've got this content addition idea for
1711s sailing here's a description of it more
1714s thoroughly thought out now that we're
1715s we've got time to look at this specific
1717s activity would you like this in the game
1718s and we could absolutely get a lot of
1721s feedback on oh yeah I really like this
1722s one I don't like that one as much and
1725s get a feel for the community and the
1726s sorts of activities that they would like
1727s to do a big part of sailings uh sort of
1732s Allure to players and what we're really
1734s hyped about as well is that it it's
1737s opening up a dimension of the game world
1740s that players have just never really been
1742s able to access outside of dessert
1745s we're gonna fake it by showing an
1746s overlay of a [ __ ] moving and you're just
1748s really teleporting from A to B with a
1750s delay so naturally gaining access to the
1753s Sea comes with this really fun
1754s interesting sort of expansion of content
1757s and new dimension that content can exist
1760s in so while those things might not be
1763s necessarily directly tied to ooh this is
1766s a sailing training activity it still
1768s feels like we want to have activities at
1770s Sea that players can do as a result of
1772s having train sailing
1773s [Music]
1774s um absolutely
1776s um
1779s kind of like I'm not I'm not sure
1781s whether we can answer them at this stage
1783s but it's highly upvoted so
1786s um how do you feel about underwater
1787s content as a feature of sailing either
1790s at release or Post Release if it were to
1792s pass
1795s uh I really like the idea of underwater
1797s content
1798s um I'm not sure what form it would take
1800s like is for example would we create
1803s hotspots at Sea that you can dive down
1805s into and there's like little pockets of
1807s water and this is like say like as if
1809s you dived off the sea at um
1811s from uh Murphy and portazar like the
1815s like for the contributes do we just make
1817s like a little a map Zone 64 by 64 tiles
1820s that's like oh cool that's what this hot
1821s spot took you to and what content would
1824s be down there I think that the
1825s underwater content feels quite clunky to
1828s move around in for players right now as
1830s far as like unless they've got flippers
1832s they can't run and there's all that
1834s overlay I think that
1836s there's a lot of Nitty Gritty players
1838s play nitty-gritty details players might
1840s get into as far as oh they want to
1841s include in the world underwater content
1843s I don't like her current underwater
1844s content is implemented and and that's
1846s something I can't really comment on as
1848s far as I don't know if we did include
1849s underwater comment which we implemented
1852s like the rest of the content for
1853s consistency do we think that that
1855s current implementation fits the purpose
1857s of what we're trying to achieve doesn't
1858s need some fine tuning up and if we did
1860s fine-tune the underwater experience be
1862s better
1863s um is that something that we can bring
1864s back to the rest of the game world as
1865s well I mean already just on that topic
1868s it's not something that I've really
1869s thought about I know we've discussed
1871s underwater content a little bit
1872s internally but already that train of
1875s thought would make me think like ooh
1877s what if like you going underwater was
1879s like a part of a Content that was
1881s unlocked as part of sailing and then
1882s sailing because you're at Sea and you
1885s know being able to
1887s like interact with water is kind of like
1890s a part of like the content that we're
1892s releasing what have we like as part once
1894s you get to a certain sailing level or
1895s you do this thing for someone that's
1897s really selling content you get this
1898s unlock or ability you can take back to
1900s the rest of underwater content like
1901s that's already got me thinking about how
1902s this can feed back into other stuff
1905s um this is just a wild husky tangent on
1908s like how stuff like this could
1909s theoretically be integrated I've got a
1912s really good question here from Chris
1914s which is like I've never seen it as a
1916s mini game but my main concern is that
1918s sailing could feel more like a Content
1920s expansion rather than something that has
1922s to be tied to a skill is the progression
1925s system the main Drive behind it feeling
1928s more like a skill
1930s um or like what is it that we think that
1932s makes like sailing stand apart as a
1934s skill rather than a Content expansion
1936s which is a big topic yeah I I've seen
1940s this this topic come up a lot and I've
1942s put a lot of thought into it
1944s um it's something that
1947s you really have to dig down and think
1949s what would sailing look like if it was
1952s released as a Content expansion
1955s instead of a skill
1957s so already I'm thinking Okay so
1960s the progression to moving to different
1962s boats is that just something you
1964s automatically have access to or is it
1966s unlocked if it is unlocked how are we
1969s unlocking it without having a skill
1971s system you could probably look into
1973s things like a series of quests or some
1979s sort of meta faction sort of you know
1982s earning sort of reputation or something
1984s with the dock Master similar to like
1986s Zaya favor but like obviously probably
1988s better gameplay than say a favor
1990s um
1991s to eventually gain access to it maybe
1993s there's this overlay system like that
1995s and then what about the content at sea
1998s or the actual upgrading of the ship uh
2000s how are we tying that into it because
2002s like you could still use your other
2003s skills to like craft stuff on the ship
2005s but how are we getting that are we
2007s getting it purely behind say you're
2009s crafting or Construction level in which
2011s case there's a lot of players who are
2013s just instantly going to be able to get
2014s the best stuff on the best ship as long
2016s as they've unlocked it or maybe even
2017s immediately if there's no unlock at all
2019s I think there's a lot of charming
2021s content being a skill on launch because
2023s it sets people back to level one like
2026s it's the idea of introducing a new magic
2029s like skill or introducing a spell book
2031s you introduce a new spell book and
2032s that's cool because there's a solid
2033s reward space but players can already
2035s summon thralls after getting Arceus
2037s spell but despite never having done any
2038s quote unquote necromancy magic in the
2042s game right whereas if that was
2043s introduced as a necromancy skill you
2045s would have a more sort of staggered
2047s progression system and feeling like I'm
2049s getting better at this aspect of the
2051s game so I think to me if sailing was
2054s included as part of a Content expansion
2056s I would probably have the focus beyond
2059s the content at Sea and very less much
2062s less so about the aspect of sailing a
2064s ship aspect the sailing a ship would
2065s just be that vehicle to get to content
2067s something that I've described before and
2070s I really do think that cheapens the
2072s potential experience for the player to
2074s us even if sailing could theoretically
2077s be done as a Content expansion if you're
2079s just looking for the capability to get
2080s to islands and to do content on a boat
2084s um you're you're sort of looking at the
2087s specific content and not about the
2089s Journey of learning to sail it and the
2091s intricacies of sailing more so
2093s um that's just kind of how I feel about
2096s about that I think the content is
2099s undoubtedly heightened and made better
2101s by being a skill
2104s um just like if we introduce a pyramid
2107s plunder for example as an activity that
2109s was tied completely outside of training
2111s and it was just collecting artifacts
2113s from the tombs and bring it back to the
2114s mummy and you unlock level two at two
2117s thousand points and level three at three
2119s thousand points and stuff I think it
2121s just feels more flat
2123s um
2124s as an idea
2126s um I really do think that
2128s the excitement of skills and the journey
2130s is like such a a big Allure to me for
2133s like introducing a skill into the game
2135s at all
2136s um I think that
2138s too often
2140s players have a mindset of reaching the
2142s goal and once I've got the goal that's
2145s it
2146s um and all I want is the goal that's the
2147s most important thing but for me I've
2150s always seen this game as the journey is
2152s what's important and not the rewards
2154s right it's not about
2156s um
2157s getting every item from chambers of
2159s Zurich and then and every single raid in
2162s the game and then logging off because I
2163s now have all the items I have no more
2165s goals to get the journey to getting
2167s those items was the fun part so to me
2169s like that that really is what sailing is
2172s it's not about just gaining access to
2174s all this content at Sea and getting to
2175s explore at all as if it's like a big
2177s content expansion it's about that
2179s Journey progressing through the content
2180s and while you could have these
2183s that tie into each other one content
2186s relating to another or a series of
2188s quests or something I do feel like it
2190s lessens that experience as a whole
2193s great answer yeah I think like in theory
2197s a lot of things could work outside of
2199s being a skilled but they wouldn't have
2201s that added benefit of the types of
2204s support resource progression that a
2207s skill has
2208s so yeah
2211s um
2212s I've got a question from Cruel witches
2215s about XP drops I think we might be able
2217s to address this uh later on but do you
2220s imagine the XP drops is going to be
2222s single large drops or many small drops
2225s or a mix of both
2227s um does it depend on the Training Method
2231s for sailing
2233s where's the question sorry I'm just
2234s trying to find it just the end so the
2237s last one being asked me drops yeah
2240s um
2242s kind of a hard question to answer
2244s without
2245s sort of giving a sneak peek of core
2247s gameplay really and I'm very conscious
2250s about saying stuff now that can form
2253s opinions without having the full context
2255s of the document
2257s but what I will say is that
2260s it kind of depends on
2264s the Training Method
2266s we're like I think that that stuff is
2268s always contextually driven based on the
2270s Training Method um we have examples
2272s already in game where
2274s um
2276s agility is a good example compared to
2278s Sepulcher
2280s um you get a bit of agility experience
2282s for every obstacle you go through and
2283s then a little bit the end for completing
2285s the course whereas Sepulcher is purely
2287s just an XP drop at the end of it and
2289s that made sense contextually in that
2290s content because there weren't that many
2292s hooks to award agility experience in it
2295s I think that
2297s something
2298s that is more like a
2301s I think
2302s [Music]
2303s something that is like a gathering skill
2305s makes more sense to rewards you want
2307s whenever you like gather a resource
2308s whereas something that it was like a
2310s contract as far as bring me a hundred
2312s logs makes more sense to reward you at
2315s the end for getting 100 logs but at the
2317s same time like if you were getting XP
2318s for every single log along the way it
2320s could it would that example as a
2322s gathering scale would be more like get
2323s like 10 15 20 XP per log and then oh
2326s cool you got a thousand at the end
2328s um so I think that sailing doesn't have
2329s a clear answer on whether it will be a
2332s large drop or a small drop I think one
2335s of the the things people think of when
2336s they think of a small a large drop
2338s though is the liken it to the original
2340s sort of sailing uh content pitch that
2343s was back in the day where it was like
2345s hey you've got support and you go on
2346s this preset generated adventure and then
2348s you come back to port and that is your
2350s gameplay session as a whole and it was
2353s just you went out you did a bunch of
2355s stuff you came back you got XP at the
2356s end based on how well you did sort of
2358s similar to Dungey earringsley and to me
2361s that necessarily doesn't fit in sailing
2363s at all because our goal is not that you
2366s leave port
2368s um
2369s do a bunch of activities get no XP and
2371s then come back to four and you're
2372s finished our goal is to make the sea
2376s feel like this big living breathing
2377s thing with lots of opportunities at Sea
2380s and lots of options available to the
2382s players
2383s ending the coming back to Port is just
2385s finishing sailing for the day right so
2388s to me
2389s why would I want to withhold all your
2391s experience until you finished for the
2392s day or finish for the session if there's
2394s things you are doing that are sailing
2395s related you should get that XP while
2397s you're while you're doing it
2399s monster
2401s did we want to
2408s uh
2409s sure
2411s okay cool raise your hands guys if you
2414s have any questions
2415s um bear in mind we won't really be able
2416s to answer a lot until the cool gameplay
2420s blog launches hopefully
2423s um
2423s I'm looking at around a week's time or
2426s maybe oh just over a week so
2429s [Music]
2430s if you have any questions for a husky on
2432s what he talked about what is the skill
2434s the skill versus mini game debate
2437s anything like that raise your hand uh we
2440s will invite
2443s um
2445s do we want Alpha walrus back he's just
2447s raised his hand I feel like
2451s I feel like I remember you hi Alpha
2454s I'm back yeah welcome back what's your
2456s question
2459s um my question was kind of more just in
2461s terms of with the whole you know debate
2464s that people have with like skill versus
2465s a mini game I think a lot of the stuff
2468s that I see is that
2469s a lot of the content that's come out in
2471s the last few years to make some of the
2473s skills that people don't like that much
2476s be like oh well here's a mini game and
2477s now the skill is fun you know guardian's
2479s a rift or Hollow except for her all that
2481s so I think a lot of people are like okay
2483s fun equal minigame so now that you guys
2486s are trying to make a whole new skill in
2488s modern day that you're like okay we
2490s don't want it to be a horrible you know
2492s the highest you can go is 30k an hour
2494s kind of grind that you hate to do that
2496s people are just like oh well then the
2498s only way I can think of it being fun is
2500s a mini game well I don't want a mini
2501s game for a skill so I don't want it
2504s I'm just wondering your thoughts on that
2506s I think that we've done that a lot with
2510s some forms of content I think there are
2512s also examples where we have it herbivore
2514s I wouldn't necessarily Define as a mini
2516s game uh but it was a new Hunter method
2519s to make that more fun from Level 80. I
2522s think the Viewpoint you're making about
2524s players going oh if it's too fun it's a
2527s mini game and if it's boring it's a
2528s skill and then you've got players saying
2530s well we want fun and you've got players
2531s going well like you can't have the fun
2533s and it'd still be a skill and I think
2534s that's a a mindset that we're trying to
2537s challenge a lot especially with the what
2538s is a skill discussion uh because we do
2540s have players telling us two different
2542s things like I like saying it's not a
2543s skill unless I click something for 300
2545s hours and get to 99 and other players
2547s say well no I want this fun activity
2550s um I think that there's obviously the
2552s the sort of Boss things are probably
2555s they're kind of mini games but are they
2558s I think it's probably safe to
2560s say that their mini game S I remember
2562s having this discussion uh trying to have
2564s this discussion with players and also a
2566s bit internally but like
2568s the framing of content sometimes
2571s determines whether it's a like a
2573s Skilling boss or a mini game
2575s um if Guardians of the rift had a portal
2577s that you were damaging instead of
2578s charging a guardian and the portal maybe
2581s wasn't a portal but this sort of like
2583s um head it's like Abyssal head that you
2586s were damaging and it was like I don't
2589s know like spitting out these creatures
2590s you would suddenly get the idea of ooh
2592s that's got a personality and entity I
2593s see the target
2595s um now it feels like that's a boss
2597s instead of a mini game and it's all
2599s context is super important on that kind
2601s of thing so I guess I get the point that
2604s you're making I think that
2606s we've definitely tried to evolve on the
2609s the strategy of like people like still
2611s refer to Guardian services like
2612s runecraft Todd which
2614s I I could see where temporals has
2616s similarities in gameplay with the
2617s collect resources put them into object
2620s that shoots boss we definitely tried to
2621s with guardians for Riff to make it feel
2623s more like a traditional ring craftably I
2625s think one of the things I I was really
2627s happy about with guardians were from a
2628s design perspective was that we made you
2630s actually go to the altar so it still
2631s feels connected to the world and it's
2633s not an instance
2635s um but yeah I I get the point you're
2636s making I think we've done other pieces
2638s of content that to make things more fun
2640s the aren't I think a lot of people like
2642s her before
2644s um I think minigame just automatically
2646s feels more fast-paced than
2648s traditional Skilling tends to be
2651s I'm from my point of view I definitely
2652s feel you on that one like it's been
2654s incredibly hard going through this whole
2656s process with you know the surveys and
2658s things like that and people telling you
2659s we want a fun skill we want a fun skill
2661s and then when you present something that
2664s you know seems fun and it's almost like
2667s too fun a lot of people feel like that's
2670s a bit too alien so we have to strike
2672s that balance and make sure that there's
2675s um
2676s enough for everyone
2678s um but it's definitely a balancing act
2681s um thanks for us I'll leave you to the
2683s audience if that's okay
2685s it's good talking to you again cheers
2686s nice to see you again bye
2689s all right
2690s um we have like seven minutes so I'll
2692s bring in valdavon
2697s hello can you hear me
2700s hey
2701s um I think one of the things that would
2703s really uh
2705s make the distinction between a skill and
2707s a mini game and this sort of ties into
2708s the reward structure is the incentives
2711s to go out to sea so you know like
2714s wanting to go to an island because
2715s there's really good stuff there versus
2717s wanting to go to an island because an
2720s NPC at the Port has given you a contract
2722s to go and collect something there or
2723s deliver something there
2725s um I'm just wondering if you have any
2727s thoughts about
2728s how the incentives fit into the core
2730s gameplay Loop and and what your thoughts
2732s are there
2734s I think that um
2738s I'm trying to the best way to ask the
2741s question because
2745s really see if like if you gain the
2747s ability to unlock an island and you're
2749s doing content on the island that that's
2750s necessarily feeling like a mini game I
2752s think if that was if that was the point
2755s you were making I think I would disagree
2756s on that yeah so the point that I'm
2759s making I think is that like the gameplay
2761s Loop will feel much more skill-like if
2764s the there's a bunch of islands out at
2765s Sea that have really cool things that
2767s you want to do on them and you plan a
2768s Char you plan a course
2770s um you know depending on your selling
2771s level what what's parts of the sea and
2773s what islands you have access to you you
2775s plan a course based on which of those
2777s islands appeal to you versus you know
2779s having some sort of task master at the
2781s Port that says I want you to go here
2783s here and here and when you come back I'm
2784s going to give you 20 000 sailing XP or
2786s whatever
2787s um
2788s yeah
2791s um I think that
2794s in terms of the entire like that's kind
2797s of what I described before but I'm gonna
2798s leave for it I'm gonna do this thing for
2800s this person I'm gonna come back and get
2801s a chunk of XP
2802s um and then if that like I'm also
2804s getting like reward points and that ties
2805s into a reward shop and that's how I'm
2807s upgrading my ship that feels very very
2810s minigame like to me
2812s um our thought process generally is that
2815s we want you to be doing stuff at Sea
2818s um I like I don't think that having
2821s tasks is necessarily a bad thing I think
2824s that that specific implementation of
2826s tasks can be very minigame like and not
2829s so good so uh an idea of a task that
2831s might be different in terms of sailing
2833s would be like hey I want you to go to
2835s this port
2837s um and sort of on this errand for me and
2839s then along the way you've got all these
2841s other sailing things that you're maybe
2843s choosing to interact with you've got
2844s that Allure of like oh there's a thing
2846s over there I'm gonna see what that is
2847s and that gave me some sailing you know
2848s that kind of vibe
2850s um there might still be a task system
2851s that was your reason to go out at Port
2853s but like there were things that see that
2855s kept your attention
2856s um that's just an example of like how
2858s that specific task system could be made
2860s to feel more skill-like but as far as
2862s like coming off an island and doing
2864s stuff we have a very clear like sort of
2867s unanimous Vision internally where
2870s things that happen on a ship or sailing
2873s content and things that happen off a
2874s ship or not so even if sailing content
2876s uh helps you find an island once you're
2879s now your character on the island you're
2881s not doing sailing content anymore sure
2883s the content could be tied and related to
2885s sailing
2887s um if you were perhaps investigating a
2889s shipwreck that had happened like on the
2892s island or at the coastal clearly like it
2894s you know hit the island and sunk or
2895s whatever or just like you know whatever
2897s it was there and you were investigating
2898s it you might be using all your other
2899s skills and you might be determining
2901s stuff and that content is is content for
2904s those skills but it could absolutely be
2905s like you find a chest in there that has
2908s this interesting material that is then
2909s used to upgrade your ship and that's
2911s like that feedback loop into
2912s into your ship and that would not feel
2915s like minigame like to me at all even if
2917s that's not necessarily like a Training
2918s Method for sailing
2920s does that make sense yeah that makes
2922s sense I think I agree I just wanted to
2924s hear your thoughts so thank you cool
2926s thanks Val really appreciate it
2929s um I think we're up to time really I
2931s don't know if we have time for one more
2932s husky but your answers were absolutely
2934s great
2936s yeah I do want to preface as well but
2937s like a lot of my answers especially on
2939s the spot with things like this
2941s are always just like here's a death
2943s who's working on the scale and his
2944s thought process on a particular topic
2947s um I think that that's the advantage
2948s that blogs can have when we have all
2950s these like unanimous sort of Team
2951s opinions on them
2953s um
2954s so yeah I I guess I find myself like
2956s second guessing myself when I answer
2958s questions like this and it's like hmm I
2960s wonder if Elena disagrees with me right
2962s now you know what I mean yeah I think we
2965s should make that clear as like
2967s um
2968s you know we make decisions as a team
2970s right even uh Elena husky the team
2973s working on the new skill speaks to the
2976s rest of the team and we make decisions
2977s as a team so
2980s um yeah hopefully these answers give a
2982s bit more insight but obviously wait for
2984s the blog and the more official kind of
2987s communication when that's released
2990s because then we'll have more definite
2992s answers for you guys I'm gonna instead
2994s of pulling in another person I'm just
2996s going to fire through some of these
2997s questions
2999s um and I'll just give I apologize I'd
3001s rather answer a large quantity of
3003s questions and give sort of shorter
3004s quicker answers so that people feel like
3006s they they weren't being ignored
3009s um I'm gonna put a stop in like five
3011s minutes or so so if you're trying to
3012s flip the questions I'm not going to
3013s necessarily stick around longer I'm
3015s sorry I have a wife that uh that wants
3017s to spend time with me this evening uh
3019s but I'll try and get through as much as
3020s I can just so people feel like they
3022s would address just uh apologies if the
3024s answer is maybe a bit shallow or uh not
3026s as in-depth as maybe more of a Husky
3028s candy to run uh that's my little
3031s Preamble forewarning um will sailing
3033s involve PVP in any way uh we're not
3035s opposed to PVP content in sailing uh we
3039s don't really identify as a core part of
3042s the skill especially in like a training
3043s way and more an additional activity that
3045s could involve should be involved in
3047s sailing I'm sure at some point we'll be
3050s reaching out to players should sailing
3051s pass and being hey here's an idea for a
3053s PVP of content for sailing with a more
3055s specific design
3057s um
3058s and what do you think of it and that
3059s would be how it is that way but we're
3060s not opposed to it we just don't have
3062s like a yes sailing is absolutely gonna
3063s be included or no sailing is everything
3067s um well sailing up some kind of gold
3068s gain at least
3070s um I think for the sailing has potential
3072s to offer gold through uh activities that
3075s you're doing at Sea one of the the ideas
3077s of sailing at its core to me is I have a
3080s ship
3081s um and that is a feature that I now have
3083s access to and how can I utilize that
3085s ship to make money uh I think there are
3087s options to explore there in terms of
3089s content for sure and as far as the
3091s reward that's unlocked on Islands
3093s absolutely like once you've you could
3095s reach content and once you're at the
3097s content you're no longer sailing but
3098s because you've had access to sailing you
3100s make all my content
3102s uh we'll upgrade your ship the
3104s construction light be part of a skill
3105s absolutely uh ship upgrades and
3107s customization is a heavy part of the
3108s skill it's not going to be how you train
3110s it so you're not going to get XP for
3112s building the ship or adding things to
3113s your ship
3114s um and construction is likely to be the
3116s skill that we use uh for that although I
3119s wouldn't be opposed to if you're I don't
3121s know building a range on your ship or
3123s something maybe you need a cooking level
3124s to use or a highlight Tech range or
3125s something I don't know
3128s um would quick travel be added after
3130s completing routes x amount of time
3132s I always like the idea of convenience
3135s like this being unlocked to players to
3137s work on it so if you gained if you found
3139s an island maybe you're not just
3140s instantly uh quick teleport there but
3142s maybe after doing content on the island
3144s you gained like a tablet that can be
3146s added to your glory and as Glory as much
3148s together or something I'm never opposed
3150s to that kind of stuff it's hard to say
3152s as I promise we would do that for
3153s everything but generally I'm not opposed
3155s to that sort of loss uh raids four in
3157s the ocean uh we have no current plans as
3159s far as what raids for is but as for
3161s rating content to see sounds like a cool
3163s pitch an idea
3165s um I'd need to see the more fleshed out
3166s design myself to know whether I like it
3167s but I'm not opposed
3169s um do you feel like a Sandbox style
3171s experience the ocean for sailing could
3172s count to support gameplay loot
3175s I'm not gonna try and answer that
3176s without
3178s the core gameplay I think that I'll
3181s either leak parts of the document and
3183s probably say them incorrectly
3185s or
3187s like just not really answer that well or
3189s in depth that you sort of want from that
3191s so I guess I would just say wait next
3192s week
3194s will there be rigging as part of the
3196s starter levels
3198s I wasn't like rigging on the ship I
3200s don't really understand the question
3201s sorry
3202s uh we covered that one covered that one
3206s will sailing have multiplayer content
3208s it's hard to say exactly what
3210s multiplayer elements will be in sailing
3212s which is a very compound answer but
3213s generally speaking being on a ship with
3215s your friends and and doing content at
3217s Sea on a ship together sounds fun to me
3219s I think we generally would like to steer
3222s away from a meta where you need to have
3225s high level friends that are sailing to
3227s get say efficient experience right I
3229s think that would generally be bad design
3230s but is there content you can do with
3232s your friends at Sea sure I I'm not
3234s opposed to that
3236s if you have a larger ship will it be
3238s more difficult to navigate we covered
3239s this in navigation with our general gist
3241s as they turn slower and move slower
3243s um I think difficult to navigate is kind
3245s of up in the air as far as the a larger
3247s ship can do more is the sort of biggest
3249s Allure and that might include more
3251s options as far as navigation at Sea
3254s um generally though the larger your ship
3255s is the more we'd expect you to be sort
3258s of assigning some of that work to like
3259s crew and that kind of thing and also
3262s even if a large ship is by its very nice
3264s at a very nature or like a base level
3266s harder to manage that's always a fun
3269s place for me to explore in terms of
3270s upgrades like hey this thing as a large
3273s ship is a pain and I don't like it but
3275s then you eventually get an upgrade oh
3277s wow that made it that took away that
3278s pressure that was really nice and it's
3279s not about say I'm gonna add things that
3281s are horrible and eventually make them
3283s good that's not really the design I'm
3285s going for but I do think that
3287s having something like not just always
3290s the smoothest experience with no
3292s obstructions to the player sort of
3294s removes things from the game you
3295s eventually
3296s um you need
3299s I'm not going to go into a big challenge
3300s in the tool description as far as game
3302s design but generally speaking games are
3304s there to have a challenge and your [ __ ]
3305s might be the tool to overcome that and
3307s getting a better tool might make you
3309s better at that challenge but we don't
3311s want to remove the challenge entirely
3313s um will there be other skilled
3315s requirements in order to participate in
3316s sailing in the way it's so much
3317s invention no we we're not gonna make it
3319s an elite skill I'm all for someone being
3321s 99 sailing and level 1 and all the other
3323s skills except 10 HP obviously will there
3326s be some activities that might involve
3328s other skills potentially
3330s um those are things that we're
3331s definitely going to be looking at I
3332s don't think it's a far stretch to say
3334s this piece of content requires a fishing
3336s and a sailing level to do and if you're
3337s like a sailing pure you just can't do it
3340s um are there multiple plans core
3342s gameplay Loops such as cartography um
3344s that's a wait for next week question uh
3347s can we have Island at a certain level
3348s new monster drop items that are hard and
3350s much time to get like noted version
3352s instead of doing molar hunting
3354s um
3355s we are probably going to have new
3357s content on islands that are unlocked
3359s through sailing and the purpose of that
3362s content and what terms what role it
3365s feels in The Meta is entirely up to the
3367s content and what we pitch to you guys at
3368s a later stage
3370s um if you guys particularly want the way
3372s to get more birds nests and that's a
3374s painstaking the players that I'm sure we
3376s could put content in Ireland that does
3377s that
3378s um I'm going to avoid the discussion of
3379s whether or not I agree that we need
3381s better ways to get bird's nests in the
3382s game uh but maybe look to your Hunter
3384s skill I heard it can be pretty good
3388s um well pieces of content already in
3389s game be adapted to fit with a sailing
3391s skill for example
3392s um instance parts of bon voyage and
3394s dragon slayer
3396s um we definitely want to tackle this in
3397s law and integration as far as making
3399s sense that the world the world that we
3401s have makes sense for sailing
3403s um so there are things like Dragon
3405s Slayer the whole story of that revolves
3407s when the player being unable to sail we
3409s want to tackle in lower integration
3410s questions like how does how does dragon
3413s slayer make sense in a world where you
3414s suddenly now can sail are we going to
3416s make amendments to the quest or should
3417s we We tweak the framing of it or should
3419s we give you the option to sail there
3421s instead
3422s um we're not entirely sure what those
3423s questions are we've got a lot to talk
3425s about internally but we do plan to cover
3426s these kinds of questions in law and
3428s integration
3429s uh how do you think about the skill
3432s um and gameplay for mobile only people
3433s uh yes absolutely the skill must be
3436s trainable on mobile similar to though
3438s like other pieces of content in the game
3440s raids are technically possible on mobile
3442s but like I wouldn't advise doing a raid
3445s on your mobile I'm not saying I wouldn't
3446s advise doing sailing on your mobile I
3448s think we absolutely want to make their
3449s very good and viable methods of sailing
3452s gameplay and content on mobile but don't
3454s be surprised if there are activities at
3456s Sea that are
3459s easier to do on desktop we probably get
3461s the best way of putting that
3464s um
3465s covered PVP I don't know what you mean
3467s by trinom airships and if you can own
3469s one
3471s um
3472s TTP covered
3478s uh this is a long question I'm trying to
3481s digest it uh do you expect these sets of
3483s actions to be completely unrelated to
3485s doing an objective I'm someone who
3486s dislikes Slayer because it feels more
3488s like a job than a skill since the set of
3489s actions to align more with doing a task
3492s than Skilling would you expect sailing
3494s to be defined similarly or differently
3498s that sounds like a question that I know
3500s we've covered in core gameplay it's a
3504s complex topic
3505s um
3506s yeah your question will be answering
3508s against core gameplay stuff which I've
3509s said I'm not gonna dive into here
3512s um do we need our diving helmets and
3514s apparatus or will the skill provide new
3516s methods for equipment for diving
3518s I don't know maybe we have a new diving
3521s helmets in apparatus maybe we require
3523s that Quest I think the game is always
3525s better when it's an Internet connected
3526s web of things oh this thing I got from
3527s this other thing is useful in this thing
3529s so I think my personal preference is to
3531s lean to you needing to already have the
3533s diving hell with an apparatus but I'm
3534s fairly certain you can just talk to
3535s Murphy and get those back at any time
3536s anyway so that doesn't feel like a huge
3537s barrier
3540s um
3542s with the current skills in the game I
3544s was putting fire making crafting
3545s destruction absolutely
3547s um the skill should feed back into some
3550s skills and it should also have skills
3551s feed into that it should be a two-way
3553s relationship like a lot of skills have
3554s it I'm not saying that we need sailing
3556s plus X and we multiply that out for all
3558s 23 like I don't know what sailing and
3560s attack looks like that probably doesn't
3561s make too much sense but there are some
3563s logical extension to like wood cutting
3565s and construction logs and planks and
3568s making the ship that that feels like
3569s that makes sense to me
3571s um and it's something that we absolutely
3572s want to do again Lauren integration
3574s section should hopefully cover a lot of
3576s of how that's going to work
3578s um and also we'll cover aspects of that
3580s in core gameplay so I'll be next week
3583s uh underwater underwater boss when
3586s um
3587s whenever we come up with a design for it
3589s underwater boss could probably exist
3590s without sailing as well we just have an
3592s NPC sale you there but that sounds Less
3594s Fun
3596s um hey guys welcome to Islands be part
3598s of the core gameplay or Awards separate
3600s minigame
3601s um we expect the
3604s it's sort of hard to answer
3606s um
3607s I kind of addressed this already doing
3609s content on an island is not sailing
3611s gameplay
3612s but it might be part of your sailing
3615s gameplay where you discover an island
3617s and that's an exciting part while you're
3619s doing sailing content and then you
3621s decide to park that you know park your
3622s boat to the island to go and explore and
3624s you've moved away from sailing gameplay
3625s but it is a reward from the content
3628s next topic is core gameplay the one
3630s after his rewards I'm fairly certain
3631s this will be covered in a lot more
3632s detail than opportunity
3635s um are you planning to have sailing
3636s require a ship upkeep
3638s um
3638s I think upkeep is a very broad term that
3642s feels hard to Define with how vague it's
3644s put in the question I think that some
3647s amount of ship upkeep makes sense in
3649s terms of if your [ __ ] gets damaged do
3651s you repair it and stuff I know one thing
3653s we have spoken about internally we
3655s haven't got a concrete design exactly
3657s how it works but it doesn't feel very
3659s good to invest all your time into making
3662s a big and expensive ship uh that you're
3664s really proud of and then because it
3666s syncs at Sea it's just lost forever as a
3668s game design that doesn't feel like a
3669s very good perspective similar to death
3672s maybe you pay like someone has just
3674s retrieved your ship and it's like hey I
3677s got your ship here it's damaged and
3678s either you have it and it costs to
3680s repair or hey we'll give you your [ __ ]
3681s back without a price I'm just suggesting
3683s ideas here I don't know what that final
3685s design looks like but I think that we
3688s generally wouldn't want you to lose your
3689s [ __ ]
3690s um
3693s um
3694s there was a question about whether we
3696s abandoned the new skill concept and look
3698s to making sailing a mini game I covered
3701s this a lot in this and I really do
3702s believe that sailing makes sense to be a
3705s skill and is enhanced by being a skill
3707s there's a lot of things that tell me
3709s like this should just be a skill in the
3711s game I'm aware that some people have
3713s other opinions I'm hoping the
3714s presentation I presented today helps
3718s maybe present my case for that and the
3720s team's case a lot better but I know some
3722s people will still disagree
3725s um our little progression is skipped
3727s from any skills to Quest Awards or the
3728s thoughts of using quests to unlock new
3730s islands for example
3732s I think having quests as part of
3734s sailing's launch is something I would
3736s like to do I'm aware that they're not
3738s necessarily core to hey we need to have
3740s three quests on launch but I like the
3741s idea that you go to an island and you
3743s get a quest or there's a quest given to
3744s you somewhere to find an island uh and
3747s and you need a sailing level to
3749s to maybe find it in the first place like
3751s you know a quest that say has a 20
3753s sailing requirement and then you find
3754s this island and you maybe get a bit of
3756s extra sales if I'm not opposed to that
3757s kind of thing but these are like nice to
3759s have for me
3761s um
3763s uh husky is covered what is a skill in
3765s some depth I'd be interesting to go more
3767s depth into answering what is a mini game
3770s um
3770s [Music]
3773s I think
3775s I don't think that kind of discussion
3777s will necessarily help a lot
3780s um it's the argument like scientifically
3782s do you try and prove something or do you
3783s try and disprove something like hey I've
3786s given a good example of why I believe
3787s sailing to be a skill but I haven't
3789s really disproved why it's not a mini
3790s game from a scientific perspective
3793s um
3794s I guess
3795s the fact that a mini game is hard to
3798s Define in the first place like I already
3799s covered like his his temper also
3802s minigame or is it a slight a Skilling
3803s boss I think it's a very subjective
3806s thing and to disprove something
3808s um you need a it's easier to prove
3811s something on as being more vague and
3814s yeah I could see that train of thoughts
3816s I mean a lot of the whole what is a
3817s skill is not about the here is a
3819s concrete hard definition of a skill and
3820s look here's how concretely selling fits
3822s to it people are subjective in their
3824s opinions and stuff so I think that um
3827s I generally just believe that the ants
3829s asking like what is a minigame would be
3830s harder to answer than what is a skill we
3833s have a lot of mini games that do a lot
3834s of very different things in our game but
3836s our skills
3837s do tend to be more Concrete in what they
3840s are even if utility skills uh tend not
3843s to be cohesive
3846s um
3848s I think I've overrun by 13 minutes and
3850s I've only got through about 13 minutes
3852s of questions being
3854s that was amazing I'm sure people will
3857s appreciate you have a life and a life to
3860s to go back to we really appreciate your
3862s time uh any questions that came up
3865s really soon since I did it uh I can't
3867s see anything that's
3869s major
3870s [Music]
3870s um
3872s ship combat is the one I think standing
3874s out to me from from Glen Coco
3876s um can we use Mage range attack from our
3878s ship or to ship combat purely from ship
3879s cannons or facilities
3882s um
3882s we plan to cover ship combat
3886s um at a later date we initially were
3888s planning to cover this in core gameplay
3890s and that's actually part of our rework
3891s as we feel like it gets very complex
3893s when we talk about the intricacies of
3895s combat and it was detracting from the
3897s core gameplay discussion we are unsure
3900s currently whether we do a refinement
3902s stage 2.5 that just gives our sort of
3904s design of [ __ ] combat or rather we do
3906s that as a fifth Topic at the end or
3907s we're unsure we'll kind of just gonna
3910s we're gonna give some information in
3911s poor gameplay
3913s um elements because we feel like we need
3915s to touch on that because it's been a big
3916s question and we'll just kind of see
3918s where feedback is at that point because
3920s a lot of our design stuff is determined
3921s like do we think this is valuable and
3923s required before the green light of
3925s sailing
3926s um one thing I would like to say at
3927s least to answer your question somewhat
3929s is that we do agree on a distinction
3930s between combat ownership and ship combat
3935s um like we want them to be very distinct
3937s things like your ship fires a cannon at
3939s a thing should feel very different from
3941s you casting your spell or something
3943s they're two different things if that
3945s makes sense
3947s um
3948s so yeah
3949s some fantastic
3951s um I guess it's just time to wrap up by
3953s saying thank you to everyone who joined
3955s us here today with all the nice comments
3957s we see them all and we really really
3959s appreciate them
3961s um I'm doing a bit of work to try and
3963s like make the Discord a bit more uh
3965s social as well and just like a place you
3968s want to hang out in as well as give your
3969s feedback so if you do want to stick
3971s around and just talk in the Casual chat
3974s you're more than welcome to
3976s um the next week will be really really
3978s busy for us as we just kneel down our
3981s presentation and design
3983s um we have delayed the blog by like
3986s about seven days so you can expect like
3988s updates in the announcements Channel
3990s about when you can expect the next stage
3992s which will be about core gameplay and
3994s then the blog Etc so thank you so much
3997s for joining us we really really
3998s appreciate it if you enjoyed it as well
4000s just make sure to let us know either on
4003s Discord or socials no
4005s at these stages are good things to do I
4008s will try to get it uploaded to YouTube
4011s but I'm gonna be taking a long weekend
4013s so we'll see if I can
4020s [Music]
4032s thank you
4034s [Music]