Chronicles of Elyria - Thoughts?

[Lyrima]

Main website:  https://chroniclesofelyria.com/

Quick(ish) over view from imgur:  http://imgur.com/gallery/wzdAg

Some very new concepts in here...I'm intrigued.  Have any of you heard of this?

[Mixxi]

Very intriguing concept.

I'm curious, though, how they handle the differing playtimes of players. If I play five times more than my friend, will my character age five times faster? Will I see some of my friends age much more quickly than others?

I love the idea of my character going through a real lifespan, and I see that there is a type of reincarnation, so I would not have to lose that beloved character when they die, although they change in their new life.

The concept is very, very interesting. I wonder though, how it works when you play with friends. Have you read anything that deals with this?

[Lyrima]

No--good question.  When I read the comments on imgur, it seemed it was still in production - maybe this is all concept atm?

[Jasyn]

...ooh...

I think this bears further investigation.

[Jasyn]

From the main site's FAQ, it sounds like aging could be tied to real world passage of time, so you'd always age, but the amount of time you spend playing determines how skilled you are (to do anything) at any given age, which makes sense, and the consequences of irresponsible actions can shorten your lifespan.

I want to read more.  What an interesting find, Lyri!

Q. What's the business model?
Chronicles of Elyria uses a unique business model that harkens back to the days of coin-op arcade machines. Rather than charge people a regular monthly subscription, we instead charge people on a 'per life' basis. In CoE, a Spark of Life allows a character to live approximately one real-world year before it dies of old age. As a result, people will typically buy a life once per year.

Q. Why not just charge a subscription?
Charging people 'per life' isn't just a revenue model for us. It also ties in closely with one of our core design principles. We believe heroes should be truly heroic and villains should risk real consequences for their actions. As a result, risky, adventurous, or illicit behavior often shortens your overall lifespan if unsuccessful. By tying the cost of the game to a player's lifepsan we force them to make meaningful choices about their in-game behavior.

Q. Wait, players age and die?! Really?!
Yep. When we thought long and hard about what we wanted to achieve with this game - dramatic story telling, rich, evolving history, a balanced skill based system, etc... it became clear to us that the only way to achieve that was if characters were constantly cycling. But don't worry, we're spending a lot of time thinking about how we can make the process of death, and birth an enjoyable and interesting part of the game.

Q. So, there's dying, and then there's DYING?
Correct. During normal play you can get knocked out or receive a fatal wound in which your soul temporarily leaves your body. Neither of those are permadeath. But each time your soul leaves your body your soul's connection to Elyria gets weaker, shortening your total life span. When you reach your maximum age, you will sleep the Final Sleep and be no more. That's DYING.

Q. Do I lose experience if my soul becomes seperated?
There's no experience in Chronicles of Elyria. However, you may experience some skill atrophy if you're dead for long. And also, the process of being ripped from the physical world takes a toll on the soul. Each time you die, it will reduce your available life span.

[Pedekele]

this is interesting, i wish for games that focus on mechanics like that.

Btw, think how awesome this would be with permadeath, and instead of pvp as its usually advertized, just the possibility to kill anyone... even by accident *wink wink mixxi*

Also, ingame mail is a nice idea but it just wont work since people are connected anyway outside the game... Saga would need to roleplay and not communicate outside the game to gain joy of that mechanic...

[Mixxi]

Btw, think how awesome this would be with permadeath, and instead of pvp as its usually advertized, just the possibility to kill anyone... even by accident *wink wink mixxi*

Hey! It's mostly Talon I kill by accident.

But, yes, this would be a terrible, terrible idea to incorporate in any game I play.

[Lyrima]

The business model is really interesting and doesn't necessarily help out those of us <cough> who play a random times for no discernible length of time.  Character is aging aaaaaaaaaaaaaaging regardless of whether you play or not..and losing valuable time to learn and perfect skills while you are eating dinner or working.  Hm.

Kickstarter announced:

https://chroniclesofelyria.com/news/2892-Kickstarter-Start-Date-Announced

I'm tempted to kick in some coin.  I'll have to do some more research, watch the game play videos etc.

Thoughts?

[Jasyn]

The thought certainly crossed my mind, too, but I read a few things in the developer journals that make me believe this is being addressed in the core game play design.

The key concepts are Souls, Reincarnation, and a very interesting design element called the Offline Player Character (OPC)--a hybrid character type that is part NPC and part Player Character.

It’s believed that when someone dies their soul returns to a great library called the Akashic Records. The library is filled with books and scrolls containing all of the deeds of every life a soul has lived. It’s in these chambers that a soul can read over their past lives and learn from their mistakes in preparation for their next life.

It’s also said that every soul is born with a purpose. That they choose the precise time and place in which to be born so they can learn the lessons needed to attain enlightenment.

Anara Starsong – Keeper of Chronicles

Your character maintains their place in the world even when you sign off, and aging happens whether you’re online or not. But this creates another problem. In a game where your character ages and dies, you want to get as much life out of them as you can.

The really high level summary:

• Your character can die of old age
  
• Your character possesses a soul, and skills/talents are attached to the soul (makes me think of Rift class customization taken to another level)
  
• When your character dies and you "insert  a quarter" to continue playing as a new character, the soul(s) of your ancestor(s) (or ancestral traits if you will) can be passed down to (or reincarnated within) the new character
  
• OPCs allow your character to persist in the game world as a hybrid NPC even when you are signed off
  
• OPC AI will allow you to create scripted behaviors, which will permit your character to continue performing various and sundry tasks such as training skills or acting as guards
  

I also like the business model from the standpoint that it could encourage a Firiona Vie -like experience, but it may make alt-a-holics cranky.  Many players may choose to pay the "annual  subscription fee" only once (per year)--focusing on only one character--unless you were one of the FV enthusiasts who paid for multiple accounts in order to play alts on the server, which was the only way you could do so originally due to the one character per account rule for that server.

The annual cost of a "Spark of Life" to create a new character after one dies is proposed to be 30-40 USD--about the cost of an expansion pack--roughly translating to $3/month when compared to a monthly subscription model.  It's not prohibitive of alt-o-holicism, but may be enough to throttle a rampant spread.

I read a post on the forums that mentions a YouTube Q&A from January that talks about how hardcore gamers would have no distinct advantage over casual gamers because this game is not being designed for a grind but rather for having a social experience.  I haven't located the specific Q&A video, but transcripts and links to the videos are below (each video seems to run just over an hour). 

I haven't even finished reading these few links from the Q&A and Dev Journals.  There's tons of exciting information in there, and there's still 15 more journal posts to look at, too.

There's game video footage posted at the link Lyrima provided, and the world is looking pretty amazing in its pre-Alpha stage.

This is giving me a bit of a spark of life out on the long term gaming horizon.


Q&A Transcripts / Links to YouTube Videos
https://chroniclesofelyria.com/forum/General-Discussion/900-QA-Transcripts

Design Journal #1 – Introduction to Souls
https://chroniclesofelyria.com/blog/323-Design-Journal-1--Introduction-to-Souls

Design Journal #2 – Soul Selection, Destiny, Achievements and Soul Mates
https://chroniclesofelyria.com/blog/346-Design-Journal-2--Soul-Selection-Destiny-Achievements-and-Soul-Mates

Design Journal #3 – Time, Aging, and Offline Player Characters
https://chroniclesofelyria.com/blog/347-Design-Journal-3--Time-Aging-and-Offline-Player-Characters

[Lyrima]

Awesome Jasyn.  I'll be reading right along with you 

[Corsair]

This has 11 days to go as I post, and has funded successfully at the base level....now they are hoping to knock off the "stretch goals".

I am not personally certain, but nothing ever is. Therefore, if I hear a few Saga-ites have backed this, I will throw in my lot as well, just on the gamble it all works out.