סביבות

אלפא-1 environment.

אלפא-1 environment by Michael Bacon.

We are a high fantasy game... That means that outside of the traditional sorts of environments you're going to start seeing some pretty crazy and wild stuff that will also change based on seasons. – Jeffrey Bard

אפר היצירה will have a higher graphical fidelity than most western games. It will not be too stylized or "cartoony".

• All of the art assets in אפר היצירה באטל רויאל testing mode have been created by Intrepid Studios.

We can push the limits a little bit on the graphical fidelity, especially using Unreal Engine 4... My desire was not to see very cartoony games. I'm not a big fan of highly stylized art. – Steven Sharif

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מזג אוויר

תרום-אלפא winter wonderland environment.

Some environments (Biomes) have fixed climates and others are variable.

• Weather conditions change with the Seasons. – Jeffrey Bard
• There will be dynamic weather that varies in intensity.
  • For example: Drizzle to/from storm, or Blizzard to/from snow.

• Certain abilities may be enhanced in certain climates.

There are climate effects that occur from a buff standpoint. They can also affect skills like, let's say you're using a frost bolt in a winter climate. There's the ability for those effects to be enhanced and/or stronger in those climates. – Steven Sharif

Seasons

אפר היצירה Seasons – First Look (תרום-אלפא).

We want to really make the environment immersive and actually affect gameplay. – Steven Sharif

אפר היצירה April showers bring May flowers.

אפר היצירה First day of spring.

Zones (environments/biomes) change season on a weekly basis during scheduled downtime. Each month in real-life will effectively be a full seasonal rotation in the game.

• Environmental seasons are not to be confused with PvP seasons, which last for six months.

In Ashes of Creation the world will change on a regular basis. Zones will progress in a seasonal cycle, which will alter the very nature of the environment around you. Snow may block pathways that are accessible in warmer months, spring may encourage creatures otherwise unseen to come to the surface, and fall might be the only time that certain crops thrive. This cycle can then take in the state of the world’s Nodes and shift depending on their progression.

Environments (Zones/biomes) experience different seasons based on their location in the world.

• There will be regions of the map with seasons that are less (or more) temperate.

  For example: Northern, Southern and Tropical regions.

• There will also be magical seasons where you might be in a tropical zone and suddenly it's snowing.
• Different crop cycles.
• Different seasons may present obstacles that make the transit of goods via caravan more challenging.
  • Pathways that are open during summer and closed during winter.
• Water turning to ice in winter, enabling players to walk over the water but blocking access to what is underneath.
  • Ice will make roads bumpy and slippery.
• אירועים may may radically change the current season a zone is in, or elongate it.
  • This includes weather changes.
• חפצים, crops, buildings, and crafting mechanics might gain certain buffs or debuffs in certain seasons.

Winter might have a spawner that activates on a road that spawns at large fallen tree and players who see that will have an opportunity to go up and exert some type of one-time action that helps in removing that tree and it might require you know X number of people to do that before the tree gets removed; and that you know as an example is not beneficial for the transit of goods because as you know caravans require- well they don't require but they move better on roads and if that tree were present let's say blocking you know a road that led to a bridge per-se that they would have to off-road. – Steven Sharif

Seasonal events

Vaelune-tines day 2019 concept art.

Seasonal events (holidays) in אפר היצירה are not a direct parallel with real world events. Instead, there will be in-game lore behind seasonal events that can relate to the real-world in some way.

For example, this upcoming cosmetic bundle that's going to be available during the time of Halloween won't necessarily be pumpkins and candy corn type of cosmetics, but instead will be a bit darker. That way it can still be relevant to real world. And then additionally it may be possible as we localize and culturalize for other territories that we have the same philosophy with region-specific events. – Steven Sharif

אירועים may bring seasonal change.

• A winter dragon may appear because a node has developed to stage 4. That dragon may bring eternal winter until it is killed.

אלפא-0

אלפא-0 river that runs through the center of the map.

אלפא-0 flood plains environment.

אלפא-0 forest environment.

There are four over-world environments (climates/biomes) in אלפא-0.

• Flood plains
• Forest
• Desert
• Snowy mountains

אלפא-0 העולם התחתון preview by Trystan Snodgrass.

אלפא-0 has a bio-luminescent העולם התחתון environment.

One of the important aspects of color play is going to be the distinguishing factor between different Underrealms and the regions that exist in the world: Their color influences set them apart from different regions. – Steven Sharif

Day and night cycle

צומת concept art.

There is a day/night cycle in אפר היצירה.

• Different monsters will spawn at different times.
• דמויות ללא שחקן and mobs may be awake at different times of the day.
• Different emissive effects may be more prevalent on night creatures.

Fifteen minutes may be one hour in game time.

Darkness

תרום-אלפא Mage's detection utility skill casts light and reveals magical explosive hazards.

Darkness as an environmental obstacle is being considered as part of the game mechanics.

How deeply we take this though is really going to come down to how much fun it actually is, which we’re still in the process of discovering. As long as we can nail some interesting mechanics, and it’s not more frustrating than fun, make sure you bring your torch.

Elements

There will be elements (such as Air, Fire, Water, Lightning) in אפר היצירה each with their own resistances.

• Other elemental influences may include Darkness, Light and Planar.

• The Mage archetype offers four elemental schools as augments to a character's primary skills.

• Elements may have more influence in certain seasons and climates. For example, frost abilities may be stronger in winter. This affects both PvE and PvP.

• There may be ley lines and strong magical places in the world that change or alter the way spells work.

We've discussed a little bit about how the seasons and biomes will react with different types of skills. Like if you have a fireball and it's summer it might be a little bit different. If it's winter and you have a frost ability it might be different. – Steven Sharif

We want to get a nice spread of abilities that that are influenced by what's going on your zone. – Jeffrey Bard

Landmarks

200 foot tall Pyrian statues in אלפא-1.

Landmarks are scattered throughout the world, allowing players to judge their position on the map.

From a lore perspective these statues have been around for a long time; and they are representative of the civilizations that existed once on this world before. – Steven Sharif

Major visual landmarks. You can look all the way across the horizon have an idea where you're going or where to meet friends or where to meet just based on these huge landmarks in the world. – Mat Broome

העולם התחתון

אלפא-0 העולם התחתון environment.

העולם התחתון Cat.

The העולם התחתון is a rich environment where bio-luminescence abounds in the fauna and flora that exist here. These deep caverns and underground valleys provide new destinations for civilization to develop. Bringing the node system into the depths of the world may awaken darker creatures than the surface.

• The Underrealm is estimated to be 100 km² in area.

The expansiveness of the Underrealm itself is quite large. It does persist across across a lot of the playable game area that's above ground. So there are alternatives in the Underrealm for passages and traversal throughout the world. – Steven Sharif

One of the aspects of the Lore behind the Tulnar was that in the pantheon of gods that exist- having foretold the future through the Goddess of Fate to the Goddess of Creation- these areas in the Underrealm were created in to allow for refuge for which the gods knew would be left behind that couldn't make it to Sanctus. So that was a pre-thought there in the creation of the Underrealm to facilitate that realm where refugees could seek. – Steven Sharif

We plan to have the Underrealm really pervasive throughout the game itself, a part of the open world. It will introduce some unique elements such as the type of monsters you see, the type of crops you can grow and houses you can have. – Steven Sharif

Environment

אלפא-0 העולם התחתון environment.

Underrealm environments are vast.

• קרוואנים should be able to operate as they do above ground.
• If there's insufficient room for דרקונים, another mount type may be utilized.
• Burrowing mounts are being considered as an alternative to flying mounts in the העולם התחתון.

One of the important aspects of color play is going to be the distinguishing factor between different Underrealms and the regions that exist in the world: Their color influences set them apart from different regions. – Steven Sharif

Seasons above ground will affect the העולם התחתון.

• This will not be a one-to-one correlation: for example, it won't snow in the Underrealm.
• Tunnel flooding and other effects will be related to the weather above ground.

The seasons above ground will kind of inform what happens underneath. I mean, it's not going to be a direct one-to-one correlation right, not like it's going to be raining in the underworld, but you will see the effects from above happen down below: You might find tunnels being flooded. – Jeffrey Bard

Coastal and island nodes

אלפא-1 coastal node.

There will be nodes along the coast and on islands.

• These nodes will have specific water oriented influences and abilities, services, questlines, that relate to the seas.
• Coastal nodes change the spawn tables of the nearby water content and can also trigger specific events.
• Harbors in coastal nodes will have quest lines that relate to the ocean and nearby islands.
• It may be possible to siege a coastal city by sea.

Island chains are part of אפר היצירה naval content.

תת-מימי

אלפא-1 swimming.

תת-מימי content will be accessible, not cumbersome.

• Characters are able to utilize their abilities while in the water.
• Stamina does not limit swimming, however breath does.

Underwater nodes

תת-מימי points of interest that have NPC structures may appear to be like cities, but they will not be nodes.

• There won't be nodes underwater or in the water.

סביבות הניתנות להריסה

סביבות הניתנות להריסה in אפר היצירה האפוקליפסה.

Destruction in 45 seconds with Garett Fern.

סביבות הניתנות להריסה will be a core element of how players interact with the world, in both אפר היצירה האפוקליפסה and Ashes of Creation the MMORPG.

We want destruction to be a very core element of how players make their way through the world. – Steven Sharif

• Attackers may not be capable of destroying a node during a siege. Instead they may carry out precision attacks to disable specific service-oriented buildings within the node. These buildings can be targeted with siege weapons and bombs.
• מבני צומת (including player housing) have hit points and can be damaged during sieges. If buildings suffer more than approximately 25% damage, any דמויות ללא שחקן or services offered by that building will not be available until the building is repaired.
• If the node still exists after the siege has ended, citizens will need to obtain the resources needed to repair and rebuild any damaged infrastructure.
  • Larger more advanced buildings will require more resources to repair them. In-node housing will likely require the least resources to repair.
• דיור לשחקנים that is destroyed during a node siege can no longer be sold.
  • Furnishing and decorations are retained and can be placed again later.

You could be more precision oriented in the decision to attack a city. Let's say it's a rival node that's trying to reach you know a node stage five or something and you want to disable their ability for the religious system to progress so you target the temple during the attack, or you want to disable their scholars academy from reaching a higher level so that your nodes can; or you want to disable multiple buildings that allow for experience and quests to be undertaken by its citizenship, which prevents them from keeping up in pace of experience gained with your node. These can be more precision oriented and don't have to effectualize an actual takeover of the node. – Steven Sharif

סרטונים

• 2016-12-04 Video - Environment First Look
• 2017-01-22 Video - Seasons - first look
• 2017-05-16 Video - It's a beautiful world
• 2017-05-30 Video - Winter wonderland
• 2017-05-31 Video - A diverse world
• 2017-07-28 Video - Pre-alpha environment
• 2018-01-23 Video - Alpha-0 Underrealm Preview
• 2018-07-09 Video - Ashes of Creation - Alpha-1 Environment Preview
• 2019-01-11 Video - Ashes of Creation Apocalypse Siege Maps Preview

See also

• Seasons
• מסעות גילוי
• העולם התחתון
• תת-מימי