Overworlds - Big Cubic Changes

SirKewberthSirKewberth EdenForum Administrator, Forum Moderator, Game Developer
Ok... So I want to discuss a little what I'm working on because it's a big change and I want to get the possible issues and problems with it on the table with the players before we release it. That is... you guys may bring up some issues I haven't considered. Now I don't expect everyone will love the changes. I think it'll be a thing where some people prefer it didn't change, and some people like it better and some people don't like it at all etc...

Making a big change to a game is always going to invite different opinions. And also, when rolling out a bigger change like this there will be bugs and issues we can't entirely predict, that will require a patch or two to smooth out. (At least I'm guessing this is the case... particularly in MMO style games since so many things interact and you also have to deal with server/game interaction, which makes everything harder)

OK So.... First a little brief history...

The first releases of cubic castles had a concept. You have a sort of continent or world, and that world has several spots and you can place a deed on those spots which is essentially a door to your realm. Other players can wander around these worlds and visit realms. This has a nice feel of exploration and community and cohesiveness to the world of realms. But it also had issues. One issue was that players would grab up all the available spots. This meant we had to add more worlds so people would have a place to plant their realms. But that lead to different problems where people's realms and the size of the world got so spread out that it started to get lonely and hard to find realms that had other players and randomly bump into people etc... There were also related issues to do with realms timing out and spots becoming available for access.

So in order to try and put people together more and given them some random realms to visit we added a lobby system and a search bumper. The lobbies took several forms and never entirely supplanted the overworlds but sort of sat side by side with them. These work in some ways but in some ways they also added a lot of confusion to the game. It's hard for instance.. for new players to understand overworlds vs lobbies and why they end up where when they jump from world to world. Sometimes you go in one door and out another and end up somewhere completely different. For a new player appearing near the ocean in Eden and not knowing how to get back to their realm could be pretty confusing/frustrating. And the game remains in that somewhat confusing state today, though some effort was made to help with the take me home button on the login menus.

Some time ago we asked players in a survey whether they wanted overworlds or lobbies and it did get a reaction from players but there was no clear winner.

So on to today....

Here's how we're planning to make game/world navigation work (A few things still being worked out)

1) A list of overworlds players can choose to visit (the features of this list tbd but one thing for certain is that official worlds will be pinned at the top of it)

2) The current overworld graphics/system would change to a new overworld made up of blocks like a regular realm, except zoomed out similar to the overworld zoom. Stamps and mines would still be there. That is your qbee would be smaller and youd see more blocks.

3) So what's an official world? Heres a couple of examples...

Example 1 - New Eden - Just official realms. Things like...
Cubic Town center (to be improved)
Farmer's coop
Cubic Market (rentals? This is a maybe one)
Learning Center (to be improved)
Event Center
My Home (access your realms)
Adventure entrance

So, basically something similar to the current lobby but in the new overworld format with a few more official realm options.

Example 2 - Questoria - All the quest realms in one world nicely designed.. easy for players to find access (maybe including some new realms/quests)

Example 3 - Wildlands - A world where players can create realms but temporarily for fun and random exploration (Not 100% sure we'll do this one yet)

4) Players would be able to buy and build their own overworlds and these overworlds would also show up in the list of worlds players could visit (subject to certain criteria/limitations for technical reasons)

So for instance lets say you're an older player who builds a lot and you have 10 realms. Lets say I had created 10 realms and wanted to showcase them. I could buy an overworld and create it in similar style to creating regular realms (using special overworld blocks) and then plant my realms on it and call it "Kewberth's world" and then other players could visit it to explore the realms I made.

Another example might be a clan that wants to create a clan overworld that has the realms of clan members.

My hope would be to start rolling this new stuff out by year end.

So... Feel free to voice any concerns/questions about this new system and I'll do my best to address them.
«134567

Comments

  • sounds very interesting!
  • I like these ideas. You do you, Kew.
  • TumbleweedTumbleweed Member
    edited November 2018
    I like it! Sounds really neat! :D I'm ready for it!
  • I love these ideas, can't wait to try them out! ☺
  • I am glad changes are being made. I love the lobbies and the overworld but I always found it confusing to go between the two, as you stated what a nightmare for new players. I am pro for creating our own worlds, especially if our realms stick. I have for a long time tried to carve out my little spot in the overworld but it has never panned out with server restarts popping my realms. This would give us better control over our creations and managing them.
  • I like the idea of player created overworlds. It would definitely allow players a creative and more organized way of building, sort of a homebase. Also, by rentals do you mean an official rental realm or Pen's? He's done very well to create a realm like that. It just wouldn't feel right to get that taken away from him.
  • lucaaa795lucaaa795 Potatoe's worldMember
    Log_er said:

    I like the idea of player created overworlds. It would definitely allow players a creative and more organized way of building, sort of a homebase. Also, by rentals do you mean an official rental realm or Pen's? He's done very well to create a realm like that. It just wouldn't feel right to get that taken away from him.

    I do hope that they will do a new official rental to avoid possible drama and turmoil.

    ---

    Cool changes. Can't wait to see them being a thing
  • This seems like an amazing idea. Just wonderful!
  • SirKewberthSirKewberth EdenForum Administrator, Forum Moderator, Game Developer
    With regards to an official rental realm.. there was always push (particularly by Horus who can also be credited with the idea of player controlled worlds) to have an official cubic market. It is not my desire to overtake player creations though, so I'm not sure if such a realm should exist or not. It's not a high priority for me to add it really but it's something we always considered.
  • With regards to an official rental realm.. there was always push (particularly by Horus who can also be credited with the idea of player controlled worlds) to have an official cubic market. It is not my desire to overtake player creations though, so I'm not sure if such a realm should exist or not. It's not a high priority for me to add it really but it's something we always considered.

    I'd like a official selling realm. Maybe some more recognition to builds.
  • With regards to an official rental realm.. there was always push (particularly by Horus who can also be credited with the idea of player controlled worlds) to have an official cubic market. It is not my desire to overtake player creations though, so I'm not sure if such a realm should exist or not. It's not a high priority for me to add it really but it's something we always considered.

    Maybe you could use Pen's rentals, but then you'd have to trust him completely; he has been pretty trustworthy by not taking any items.
    -IF- this worked, it would be a major encouragement thing to get people out there to make their own builds (I hope). But I see what you mean ..
  • Pretty nice ideas, hope to see them soon in the game!:)
  • HONEY BOMBHONEY BOMB Member
    edited November 2018
    Add a moon mine thank you <3
  • MedicationsMedications Member
    edited November 2018
    I love the Ideas, and cant wait to see them implemented. I would like to suggest an Official Minigame world with different types of minigames. Players who likes to play some games can gather on an official realm to play together, for fun.
  • iitssaera?iitssaera? Member
    edited November 2018

    I love the Ideas, and cant wait to see them implemented. I would like to suggest an Official Minigame world with different types of minigames. Players who likes to play some games can gather on an official realm to play together, for fun.

    YES!!! I'd personally will create flyers for this game and pass them out if this happens!! And yes, more clan updates !! I know there are a lot but I really want clans to be more reformed in the game :)
  • Thank you so much for the update on the plans! Love them all!
    Can we get more info on WildLands? I kinda did not fully get what its point
  • SirKewberthSirKewberth EdenForum Administrator, Forum Moderator, Game Developer

    Thank you so much for the update on the plans! Love them all!
    Can we get more info on WildLands? I kinda did not fully get what its point

    Well currently you can place realms in the overworlds as a player. With these new official ones they would only host the official realms and not random player realms. So players would have to either not plant realms, or plant them in their own or shared worlds. So the wildlands would be a general public "official" shared world that anyone can place a realm in and explore realms by other players.
  • Graceful ThunderGraceful Thunder Forum Moderator, Game Moderator
    Personal overworlds would be really cool. Especially if the realms didn't pop up off of them ^^" Looking forward to however this turns out. Questoria sounds like a good idea. Sometimes the quests are a little confusing and I had to get help from YouTube and friends sometimes when I didn't know which realm to go to. That would also help with the copies of quest realms people make
  • Sorry if I've missed something but I don't see anything about the mines?
  • my own personal overworld -stares into deep space- i can see it now! would only have two realms though as i only own two soooo
  • SirKewberthSirKewberth EdenForum Administrator, Forum Moderator, Game Developer
    Sarco said:

    Sorry if I've missed something but I don't see anything about the mines?

    Basically there would be mine entrances on official worlds as there is now, but in personal worlds you would also be able to place mine entrances. These entrances would lead to a pre-determined number of active server mines of that type. So lets say the server is runnning 10 forest mines. Your forest mine doors, and the official ones would lead to one of those 10.

  • So how would we get these mines in our inventories? If we could how would they differ in looks from unplaced realms or rooms in our inventory?
  • This is turning to be more deep than what i thought, im so excited for this
  • Sarco said:

    Sorry if I've missed something but I don't see anything about the mines?

    Basically there would be mine entrances on official worlds as there is now, but in personal worlds you would also be able to place mine entrances. These entrances would lead to a pre-determined number of active server mines of that type. So lets say the server is runnning 10 forest mines. Your forest mine doors, and the official ones would lead to one of those 10.

    these mines would regenerate of course right?(dumb question probably)
  • GalaGala Member, Forum Moderator, Game Moderator
    edited November 2018


    about changes in general - what I personally think

    in fact, changes are good.
    I was concerned that there will be no changes in-game without changes can cubic castles never take a step further...
    changes can improve cubic castles, and players can explore what's new that makes it fun.
    these are good changes

    keep it up!
    galantis
  • Let's wait when it's gonna get updated, and we shall see
  • These sound like great ideas
  • So when will this be released, I don't really mind it. Nice Work Sir.Kewberth
  • SirKewberthSirKewberth EdenForum Administrator, Forum Moderator, Game Developer
    Sarco said:

    So how would we get these mines in our inventories? If we could how would they differ in looks from unplaced realms or rooms in our inventory?

    It would be some new block/skin to place -- still being worked on.. but i think a special overworld block
  • SirKewberthSirKewberth EdenForum Administrator, Forum Moderator, Game Developer


    these mines would regenerate of course right?(dumb question probably)

    Of course yes.. Basically things would remain pretty similar as far as mines went. The main difference is if a player created a world they could choose what kind of mine and where to place it.
This discussion has been closed.