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(A blog focusing on the development and design of Norwegian Wood, a privately run Ultima Online-shard - with focus on design-theories, discussing pros and cons of individual features, status-reports from the development process and other tidbits that people might find interesting.)
Sunday, December 21, 2003
We Still Create Worlds
Some, nay - a LOT of you, have probably given up on NW by now. I don't blame you. I can only praise the patience some of you have shown over the years - we've spent a lot of time working on this shard, far more than most others, and to think that we'd keep everyone's interest for that long would be foolish.
While it does seem quiet around Norwegian Wood right now, that not much is going on, we are in fact still working on it :) We're still making scripts, for instance the spellcasting scripts Eolirin spoke of in the previous update in this journal, and we're still working on the world itself. It has long since grown out of the small green-acres it once occupied, and though it may not be as huge as certain other custom maps, it's going to be large enough. I still hold to the idea that a smaller, more detailed map is better for a dedicated roleplaying shard such as NW. It's a given fact that the playerbase will be smaller than your average "PvP" shard - and most certainly smaller than any official UO shard - so giving the players the chance to actually meet other players while playing is a Good Thing.
It's Christmas-time these days, and so naturally development will be a bit slowed - but we're still doing some work. Here follows some screenshots of what I'm working on right now:
Picture number 1 shows the tools I'm currently using; The UO Client of course, WorldForge 6.4, and a preview version of my own WorldBuilder-tool (for UOX3) which helps me with coastlines. In picture number 2 I'm adding some details to an area that the players will rarely, if ever see. Detail Is Everything. The last picture shows some old stairs up to a natural plateau. Transitions between mountain and grass hasn't been added yet, mind.
Oh, and here are two screenshots from Norwegian Wood taken in the Ultima Iris client, a true 3D client for UO that's under construction...who knows - perhaps it'll be done in time to be used as the main client version supported by our shard? :D
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone!
Some, nay - a LOT of you, have probably given up on NW by now. I don't blame you. I can only praise the patience some of you have shown over the years - we've spent a lot of time working on this shard, far more than most others, and to think that we'd keep everyone's interest for that long would be foolish.
While it does seem quiet around Norwegian Wood right now, that not much is going on, we are in fact still working on it :) We're still making scripts, for instance the spellcasting scripts Eolirin spoke of in the previous update in this journal, and we're still working on the world itself. It has long since grown out of the small green-acres it once occupied, and though it may not be as huge as certain other custom maps, it's going to be large enough. I still hold to the idea that a smaller, more detailed map is better for a dedicated roleplaying shard such as NW. It's a given fact that the playerbase will be smaller than your average "PvP" shard - and most certainly smaller than any official UO shard - so giving the players the chance to actually meet other players while playing is a Good Thing.
It's Christmas-time these days, and so naturally development will be a bit slowed - but we're still doing some work. Here follows some screenshots of what I'm working on right now:
Picture number 1 shows the tools I'm currently using; The UO Client of course, WorldForge 6.4, and a preview version of my own WorldBuilder-tool (for UOX3) which helps me with coastlines. In picture number 2 I'm adding some details to an area that the players will rarely, if ever see. Detail Is Everything. The last picture shows some old stairs up to a natural plateau. Transitions between mountain and grass hasn't been added yet, mind.
Oh, and here are two screenshots from Norwegian Wood taken in the Ultima Iris client, a true 3D client for UO that's under construction...who knows - perhaps it'll be done in time to be used as the main client version supported by our shard? :D
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone!
