Some IDEAS for IN GAME content

[__________NicholaSix]

Yes I watched the first set of movies, but the animation looked so 3d studio max and the content so campy I wouldn't waste the 10 min it would take to dl the next 4 or 5 in part 2. Same with the PDFs, I didn't find the reading enthralling. Two problems with this, we are getting a POV on people who just DON'T CURRENTLY EXIST IN THE WORLD WE PLAY IN. IF the PDFs were news reports from 3rd person, maybe it would hook me better, but I'm getting a voyeurs view into the lives of people I've never met and have no idea why am getting this perspective, and frankly could care less about these characters.

I want the content IN GAME and could care less personally what is put up on the web page to develop the back story. I would love to click on an npc and get a story, or even a mission. Something that firms up your decision about your affiliation, something that reveals some mysteries about the beautifully developed playfields and mysterious locations in the game. HOME for one, ever talked to a home priest? Of course you haven't because they don't talk. Or the temple at Tir? The enigma forest? Medusi? Cyborgs? What are these things? What is entrivined? THEY HAVE NO STORY associated with them, I want to get the back story from them, not from a web site. It would be great if there were some NPCs that could tell you something about the world, it would be even better if once in a while one gave you a quest.

You click on a sobbing woman that says here husband, a clan scientist, has been kidnapped by omni goons and is being taken down to the Newland grid to transport him back to omni-1. As soon as you click on her the npcs spawn outside WA on the bridge to OA. You have to hurry and run them down before they can walk to Newland and use the grid terminal. You kill all the npcs and click on the guy and the mission is done. You get a small reward or a nice reward but it should be VERY RANDOM. Then her mission is deactivated and a new random NPC's mission is activated. maybe 1 of 30 npc's need this help.

-my daughter was kidnapped she is being held at
-my lab has been robbed find this.
-agent with critical information detained at
-kill this player (a check against current ESB players in the zone and within your level range)

and so on.

The visuals of the world suggest great mystery but the absence of any content or back story IN GAME to these places makes them empty, since there is no mystery to uncover.

[______________ElPape]

I am a GM (game master), for many games, mostly Ad&D, shadowrun and In Nomine, I have been one for about 10 years now (I was 17 when I started this crazy thing ). Now I have plenty of advices and concerns about AO but I'll try to stay on subject.

The Original poster is right, story should be driven In-Game not using extern props... Those are usualy colorful and somewhat fun but they really should not be the main way to drive the plot. If you absolutly need to use extern prop then introduce them in-game.

I.e. I get some missions/info from NPC in game that tells me about the pumpkin head some days before the actual release of the movie. That way I'll actually want to see what the hell is that.

The movies are props, not the driving plot... The game IS the driving plot. Believe me I have tested this over and over (I happen to also have an UO shard. Online only for quests, the props came in-game and when it was impossible because of the limitation of the engine, it was after introducing the plot...). Use the NPC!! This is a must for a mmoRPG.

Well there we go.
My first language is french so the grammatical error are unintentional.

ElPape

[_____________Hyperim]

I agree.

But if you just do some research you'll find a lot of information about the locations/things you mentioned. Take The Temple in Tir C. It's supposed to be connected to time travel. A NPC down at the Southern Tir OP told me. So try asking NPCs with specific names and you'll discover a lot.

[_____________DarkOne]

i talked with a npc in cobalt forest (athen shrine).. there is a little town.
he told me about himself and talked about a "strange robot"... marvin

http://www.dark-central.com/anarch-o...s/scrn0003.jpg

[__________NicholaSix]

It is a 10-31 series robot in CAV, last time i saw him he was working on his poetery.

I posted a similar thread on another board, turns out there is 1 npc in the world already, and maybe a second that does give out missions. One is in clon****, the other that is a maybe is in the north of 4 holes.

Anyway I really want to see the depth "in-game" and not on a web page. I'm sure more will come, but think about a game like diablo 2, where there is tons of interaction and character development with a NUMBER of KEY npcs.

Quests that involoved BIG rewards, that exceeded average MT terminal output could be complicated. For instance, you would need to be refered to another NPC before you could get your quest.

NPC A: Sally Shows has lost her son, he was taken by the manteze into EFP when her village was raided. Her son is a gifted child and holds a seekret. Sally needs help but she is in hiding, ask Simon about her whereabouts, he knows, he can be found in old athens. And so on.