I wanted to show you folks as much of the “official” document as I could without editing. This is what I said to the team after we finished our work on the document. And I do mean our work. CSE is a highly collaborative studio. We talk, exchange ideas, disagree, argue, and—almost all the time—it is done professionally and respectfully. After all, nobody is perfect, right?
I just want to say thank you to all the people at CSE who read the document. I also want to thank those folks who spent a lot of time on what I wrote before the document went to the whole team, suggesting, commenting, questioning, filling in gaps, etc. Finally, to those who spent a lot of time in the comment section of this document: Once it went to the whole team, you folks did a really great job as well, and I appreciate it. Like our game, this document is what it is thanks to all of us working together.
I’ve kept the older doc up in the previous location so we can always reference it, as well as the comments we all made there.
This document is now the official guide for us for Beta 1. In the coming weeks, I’ll do two more things:
Thanks again, everybody, you did great!
It’s been a longer road to Beta 1 than we expected it would be last year. For that, you have our most sincere and humble apologies. I have always, dating back to old Mythic, believed that CEOs of companies need to take ownership in situations such as these. I’m doing so once again, and saying "mea culpa." However, that’s not enough, at least not in my/our opinion. Mere words are just that—words. They may be heartfelt, true, and meaningful, but in this case, they are just not enough. We have to do more, and we will.
To begin with, speaking on behalf of everyone at CSE, we thank you for your patience and support, truly. It means so much to us that you still support us, send us little gifts, and don’t make our lives miserable. You truly don’t know how much it means to the team and to myself when we see the extra effort some of you have gone to in order to support us with words and occasional deeds. It really is a game-changer for the studio, at times.
On my end, I’ve already committed more money to the studio than I originally planned. I’ve opened the office in Seattle and expanded the team there. We have never asked you folks for additional money to pay for that expense, which is considerable. Fortunately, the results from it have been equally considerable! By the time you read this, we will have moved achingly close to the first of the SNS trials, will be back up to 2.1K ARCs/Bots, the new ability, animation, and VFX systems will be performing as expected, and the programmers’ focus will have turned more heavily than ever to gameplay and not tech.
It’s been a long road, way longer than we expected, but we have kept faith with our Backers and now are almost in the next stage of testing. As always, we thank you for your support, understanding, and most of all, your patience.
-Mark
What are the overall Guiding Principles for Beta 1?
MJ Notes - This section of the document reflects the core "principles" of our Beta 1 tests and of our company. I’ve used this term many times in the past, and these are the equivalent of the Foundational Principles of Camelot Unchained. They are meant to serve as a guideline for everything that follows.
The purpose of this document is to lay out a broad cross-section of the game that our players should expect to see from us on the opening of Beta 1. It also serves to lay out some of the specific goals for the team as we continue to develop the game through Beta till Launch. This is not intended to be an all-encompassing look at the features of our game, or a deep dive into all the details of any particular feature, system, or mechanic, but more an overview of the things that we think should be delivered for the opening of Beta 1. This document is meant to be fluid, so if there are things that we have to sacrifice being in Beta 1 based on complexity or other things that we might want to replace other items here, I’m open to discussions on them.
After we are comfortable with this document, a redacted form of it will be given to our Backers so they can see what they can expect from the opening of Beta 1. We will not be showing them the Bonus items (covered below) for both competitive reasons and plain old “preserving my sanity” reasons, since I will be dealing with the questions/comments/etc. from our Backers that will result from even the redacted form. Plus, as Bonus items, they are lower on the developmental food chain than other items that need to be in.
MJ Notes - The key for our Backers here is that this document is not meant to encompass everything that is intended for Beta 1, let alone for launch. This document is meant to give you some very clear insight on what you should expect when the game enters Beta 1. It was not written with explanations of each item, details, etc. as that would have pushed this document to 100+ pages. Rather, think of this document as a Minimum Viable Vision of Beta 1. 😊
BLACK = Needed for Beta 1
RED/BONUS = Anything red is just a bonus for the opening of Beta 1, but is something we do need added during Beta 1.
PURPLE = Questions for the programming team. All old questions that have been answered are removed, only unanswered questions and NEW QUESTIONS remain in the document.
BLUE = Specific design question
The material redacted in this document falls into the following categories:
MJ Notes: As you can see from this section, we are even focusing on improving the patcher for the opening of Beta 1. We have a lot more ideas for post-Beta 1, and I had to redact this section a bit. We don’t expect that this will slow down the release of Beta 1, of course. However, if that did turn out to be the case, we would be willing to sacrifice some of the items in this section to speed up the opening of Beta 1.
MJ Notes – We don’t want to put a ton of effort into improving the character creator for the opening of Beta 1, but we do want to make it a better experience than it currently is for our players. Expect that the character creation system will change a lot over the course of the Beta process. Spending a lot of effort on it now doesn’t make sense, since the underlying systems/stats could change. As we lock down that stuff and confirm it for launch, then we will do a lot more work on character creation.
MJ Notes – Sorry, this section is for CSE only, not for Backers.
MJ Notes: The Safe Islands are an important part of Beta 1. Unlike characters, we want them to be persistent, so that our Builder’s Brigade will not constantly have to rebuild the islands. They will also serve to give our Backers something to tinker with and refine when not in combat. A feeling of “coming home” to their land/homes will begin to appear during the various Beta stages and then for LIVE. As the Safe Islands are getting built out in front of our Backers' eyes, the world will start feeling like a real world, and not just a stage for a really cool tech demo. This will, of course, also have the benefit of reassuring the Backers, who after four years have every right to feel nervous about the game’s current state of development.
The Safe Islands will also allow all our Backers to work with and comment on the state of our building system, so we can make refinements and improvements during Beta 1. It is important to work on the building system at that point of the game’s development, in order to ferret out whatever major issues will need extra time and attention.
MJ Notes: Like the Safe Islands, the Landing Area is supposed to help bring the world to life. While things such as NPCs might seem a little extraneous at this point, getting real NPCs working now will help us down the road.
MJ Notes: As per above, having the Building Islands in for Beta 1 is important. Getting both Backers and Bots using the system and trying to break things now, rather than later, fits in with our development philosophy. The biggest addition to our original plans is, of course, the Mines. I’m hopeful that this will be solid enough for inclusion in Beta 1, based on our work on it to date. Failing that, the idea of Node Centers still fits in nicely for Beta 1, and won’t make playing our Beta 1 a pain in the ass for our Backers to the point where they don’t want to log in and help test things for us.
I'd also like to reiterate once more that there is a great deal more information to come, including what the "****** ******" is. It's going to be a win-win for all of us, and will make our combat-focused Backers especially happy, I expect. 🙂
MJ Notes: Plot ownership is another one of those systems that will need tons of tweaking over the course of the project. With a game like ours, where land ownership/conquest/building is a key aspect of the appeal, we can’t afford to get this system wrong at launch. Without naming names, we all know certain games that had this problem at launch, and it hurt both their short- and long-term appeal to players. So, whatever system we use in Beta 1 will not be the final system for the game. As always, “Don’t Panic!” if you are worried that the system you see in Beta 1 will be the same system at launch.
We also have to make sure that the land ownership procedure is not one that ends up hurting intra-Realm Pride. One of the ways we are going to do this is by avoiding the “land rush” that has occurred in other games. Plot ownership is not going to be a “first come, first served” affair, as players have to earn their rights to intra-Realm deeds...through deeds!
These rights will not be awarded based solely on amount of play time, which would give the folks with more time to play a distinct advantage. Instead, it will be based on your accomplishments during the time you do have to spend. So, a player that plays for 4 hours and accomplishes a lot will have a quicker path to getting a deed than one who players for 8 hours and just sits around and talks. The same will be true for deed expansion. OTOH, players can go into either the neutral territories or enemy territories and claim land without needing a deed from their Realm’s king. This is something we have been very clear about from the beginning of the Kickstarter, and it once again represents our dedication and desire to stick to the principles/goals that we laid out four years ago.
Of course, this is only a Beta 1-focused document, so things like property taxes, building upkeep costs, and other gold sinks are still on the table. These will be discussed at more length with our Backers when we get closer to implementing them in the game.
MJ Notes: Not a lot for me to add to this section, other than to say that there is a lot more information about what “****** ******” is, and what it means for Beta 1 testing and our Backers. That will all be revealed in the sections to come. 😊 Sorry to be a big tease, but the meaning of those two hidden words will have a huge impact on Beta 1 testing and beyond!
Grouping and social systems are an important part of any MMORPG, old-school or not. For Beta 1, we are going to focus on some key parts of these systems, while laying the groundwork for a much more advanced system to be implemented through the rest of Beta. We want to emphasize that we are doing some things quite differently from many of our predecessors, yet are staying true to our old-school ethos.
The concept of Guiding Principles for a system is something that MJ has used for, well, longer than he would like to think about. It has served him well in the past, so when he laid out the initial vision for this part of the game, here’s what was most important to him.
Camelot Unchained will launch with five group types. These group types will be described in further detail below, but for the purpose of reference and familiarity with naming as you read this document, they are listed here:
For Beta 1, we are going to focus on some key parts of the grouping and social system: Warbands, Battlegroups, and Orders, which are our version of parties, raid groups, and guilds. There will be a Minimum Viable Product set for each of these groups when Beta 1 opens, just as we said there would be. As we move through Beta, we’ll begin locking down certain features for the LIVE game, but that lockdown won’t happen until the end of Beta 3. In the meantime, enjoy the ride as we look to create a grouping system that will be one of the most useful and deepest systems of its kind. We’ll do that without resorting to adding a lot of features or tons of cosmetics, but will instead build something that meets the needs of our players. We’ll do that via systems that make it easier to coordinate attacks in RvR, while still facilitating everything from solo play to the kind of coordinated mass attacks (not keep-trading zergs) that will make Camelot Unchained the next great RvR MMORPG.
So much to cover here, so let’s just focus on some of the features of our social systems that apply to all players.
All of our Beta 1 grouping systems share some social features. They are listed here to avoid repeating the same information for each of the Beta 1 group types in the sections below.
MJ Notes: Talking about social systems/features for Camelot Unchained is a bit of a minefield. We want to focus on the features that the vast majority of our players will find advantageous to their gaming experience, and not features that might seem like they belong in an entirely different type of game. For Beta 1, we believe that this focus must be on a limited number of systems (three, in this case), which will be added to and iterated on throughout the entire Beta process. We also hope, as we usually do, to bring some new and/or additive features to well-known and very old-school systems, such as Guilds/Orders.
Size does matter in social systems, and Warbands are our smallest group size. They are more than “parties,” as parties in MMORPGs have merely been an ephemeral grouping of players, that are, like tissues, eminently disposable. In our game, while Warbands can still be ephemeral, you can instead make a Warband permanent by naming it. You can think of them as a semi-permanent task force, free company, etc. that has a little more in common with guilds than with the usual MMORPG party construct, but that doesn't have the vast majority of the perks that guilds/Orders possess, including things like plot ownership.
The addition of named/permanent Warbands is a big addition to the genre for a number of reasons, including the ability for players to have an easy way to group with various friends/Realm-mates without having to constantly create a new party/Warband. And for those keeping score, well, this also allows people to create Warbands that become famous in their own right, without a forced attachment to a larger structure like an Order. It is important to recognize that the way people play MMORPGs in 2017 and beyond is different than the way they played in 1999, 2001, 2004, etc. While we are making an “old-school” game, we have always said that we plan on adding/using features in the game that make for a better RvR experience, and that do not “dumb down” the genre or are too hand-holding. Allowing small groups of people to more easily play with their friends and family--and also achieve recognition for doing so--fulfills all those requirements.
For Beta 1, Warband features should include the following, in addition to the features covered above.
MJ Notes: The addition of permanence to Warbands is an important one for our players. If we’re right that it hasn’t been used before (please tell us if you know of an MMORPG that has used such a feature), it’s something we expect will be picked up by other studios/games. Given the type of game we are making, we need to have a Warband system that supports and enhances the experience our players will have in the game at launch.
Battlegroups are our version of the typical MMORPG “Raid Group” for Camelot Unchained. A Battlegroup is a group consisting of an unlimited number of Warbands. Unlike Warbands, however, a Battlegroup may not be made permanent: it exists only as a temporary association of Warbands for organizational purposes.
The role a Battlegroup fulfills in Camelot Unchained is to allow larger groups of players who may or may not be affiliated with each other through another group type to have a temporary shared chat, voice, and permissions management tools.
Battlegroups can create and manage temporary Warbands in order to accommodate adding players who have not already joined as an active member of a Warband.
Beta 1, Battlegroup features include:
MJ Notes: “Raids”, as they are more commonly known within MMO gaming, are not part of Camelot Unchained, because our game is all about raiding the enemy’s lands. As such, we need a way for people to communicate effectively with groups larger than a Warband. The integration and connectivity between players and our grouping systems will help set our social systems apart from those in most MMORPGs, especially the older MMORPGs that we generally look back on fondly. As we have always said, while we want to create an old-school game, we also want to look to more modern games for features that will add value and enjoyment for our players.
Orders in Camelot Unchained are similar to guilds in other MMORPGs. An Order is a group of a limited number of players, which can, among other things, create and manage its own permanent Warbands. For Beta 1, Orders are really on the Most Minimum Viable Product (MMVP) path, because they will be less important than the other grouping systems at that time. OTOH, we know we have to lay the groundwork for what will come after we move into and through Beta 1. Guilds were a very important part of the success of older MMORPGs, and while we don’t expect guilds to have the same level of importance as they did back in the day, that doesn’t mean we don’t want to create a great system to support them. Our intent with the Order system, when we go into detail on it, is that those folks who love guilds will look at us and say "That'll do, pig. That'll do."
That said, for Beta 1, we have an MMVP for Order but should include the following. For Beta 1, Order features should include the following.
Okay, now that doesn’t sound all that exciting, right? Nope, but keep in mind that Orders are going to be the most minimum of minimum viable products for Beta 1. However, because we love you Backers so much, and because we don’t want people showing up at our office, torches burning, screaming “Bring us the heads of JB and MJ!” we’re going to lay out just a wee bit more on what you can expect from Orders as we move through Beta.
But wait, there’s more, a lot more! However, we’re keeping our big mouths shut for now on this, because, well, the neighbors have big ears and aren’t afraid of talking about how they invented something months or years after we talk about it. OTOH, I think what we have talked about above is enough to show our dedication to making sure that Orders/Guilds have an important place within Camelot Unchained, now and forever. But trust us: We have some stuff that will once again surprise people and cement our planned Order system as one of the most interesting systems in MMORPGs, even if we don’t have all the cosmetics and other stuff that were in other games with much deeper pockets.
MJ Notes: As per above, Orders are going to get a lot of love from us as we move through Beta. Even though we don’t have the resources to try to create a system that would surpass some of the great guild systems of other games, we are going to create a system that is tailor-made for our RvR-focused game. We will be discussing our plans for that as we move through Beta 1, and again, consider this truly an MMVP, and really, a bonus for Beta 1.
While not a feature for the start of Beta 1, we are including Campaigns in this document in order to give a more complete picture of grouping systems for Camelot Unchained.
Campaigns are a completely new system designed for Camelot Unchained. A Campaign is a temporary grouping of players working together to achieve one or more goals. They are a flexible group, whose members can be any of the other permanent group types. This includes solo players, Warbands, and Orders. Campaigns exist to achieve goals through missions, with multiple group and/or crowd-sourced participation from players throughout the Realm.
A Campaign can be created in order to attempt large-scale wars, sieges, or the construction of massive castles. They may also be used for something as simple as a group of friends working together to craft items as a team, while keeping track of their own goals and perhaps some fun competition between each other. They are designed to encourage cooperation within the Realm, and allow for both game- and user-generated additional content, while also providing secure built-in features to organizations. They will allow for Campaign creators who wish to organize large events that involve large amounts of resources, weaponry, castles, and siege equipment to lend the use of these resources. This way, they won’t have to risk putting their assets in other players’ hands with no guarantee of return through a “trust trade”.
To answer a bunch of inevitable questions:
As per above, this is not the final version of this document, and is not guaranteed to be all-inclusive of all the features you will see in Camelot Unchained at launch. Throughout the beta testing phases, changes will be made. While we might not have the resources of most other MMORPGs, we can still create really good and robust systems without a lot of effort, compared to other things that we will be creating for the game. And, if nothing else, the use of the slash commands will allow us to get these commands in earlier and give a lot of players a sense of “deja who?”. ☺
P.S. Don't forget to thank the man with the coolest name in gaming, Mr. James Brown (JB of course), for his effort not only in writing this document (I just edited/added a few flourishes), but also in leading the design effort on these systems. More are still coming!
MJ Notes: While this is a fairly short section, it is arguably one of the most important sections in this document, as the principles discussed here will be the foundation for much of the activity that players will experience during the majority of Beta 1. We made the decision a long time ago to make sure that the Beta experience for our players had a higher quotient of fun than they might have expected, especially after what we did in Alpha. As we have said even before the beginning of the Kickstarter, if this game is to succeed, we need to get as much player feedback/input/testing as we can during the entire Beta process. Many other folks haven’t been very successful in doing so with games that were not feature-complete. We are certainly not feature-complete, as we said we wouldn't be, and we have to be a lot smarter and make a greater effort to engage our Backers and encourage them to join in the fun and frolic. How we are going to do that is laid out in the next two sections. However, the most important Guiding Principle for Beta 1 is that we have to be willing to go the extra mile to reward our Backers for their patience, understanding, and support—and we are going to do just that.
Other possible Challenges for the Dragon Circle include:
MJ Notes: The use of the Dragon Circle as a setting for this type of testing is somewhat tropish, but for our players that enjoy the lore of MMORPGs, it’ll be a nice extra bit of material for them, especially as some stories will use the Dragon Circle as a backdrop.
However, this will be important to all of our Backers: The Dragon Circle will allow them not only to help test/refine our game, but also to have fun while doing so. We will also devote some additional art/financial resources to make participation a worthwhile endeavor by players. While we might get some pushback from Backers who can’t participate, we need to accelerate the development of this game, and this is one of the ways we can do so. If we can get more people to participate throughout Beta, and can gather the data we need from our metrics systems, we will be able to deliver the game faster—and in better shape—than otherwise.
I've already covered this above, but it's worth repeating: An important part of our motivation here is the desire to give something back to our Backers for their time and patience. This is just one of the ways we will do so. This doesn’t make up for the delay, but it is a way that we can show our Backers that we are, as always, not only serious about getting this game out in a more timely fashion, but also that we are serious about addressing class/situational issues during Beta 1 and beyond, and not waiting to clean it all up post-launch. The thank-you gifts that players will be getting are another way to say thanks for the support and help.
One of the questions that came up during discussions about the Dragon Circle is how far we want to go with dueling. We know we need to allow some intra-Realm dueling to facilitate testing. The problem is that we don’t want that kind of dueling, in general, to become part of the game, because it could damage the intra-Realm camaraderie that is crucial to our game’s success. For Beta 1, however, we will need to be able to get really focused data from these tests, and we need to allow players to participate. While we should record winners/losers/etc., we need to be very careful about how much we expose to the players, and we need to limit them in terms of issuing challenges to other players. Thus, we will have only a limited amount of non-Dragon Circle Challenges that are based around dueling, and they will end before somebody dies.
MJ Notes: Saturday Night Sieges are an extremely important part of our plan for Beta, especially for Beta 1. We want you folks to have fun in our Beta testing process, not just log in and suffer through it for the good of the game. While we certainly could go that route, we are choosing not to do so. In a perfect world, our players will be looking forward to playing in our SNS, not just for the rewards, but for the fun of it. The extra rewards will of course be a nice bonus, but if the SNS and Dragon Challenges aren’t fun, the rewards won’t make a real difference. On a personal level, I want to play in the SNS, just as I did before the re-abilitation process came upon us. In the past couple of days, as we’ve tested the first pass of this tech, folks in the studio were excited again about playing a game, and not just a game engine. I’ve been waiting for this day for a very long time.
