[ORPG] Shadows of Everwood

[Tukki]

Haha so true man

Thanks for the interest guys; nice to see that people like what we've done
Only some systems left to code before we can start implementing real objects!

EDIT: I've just had a sneak peak at the updated terrain, and I can tell you that it's going to impress you folks!! Mad props to Oziris!

 

[Wolfe]

... Everwood Entertainment ...

Progress Report II

Hey guys,

This fortnight has been filled with ups and downs. However, we have made a lot of progress! With our new coder, Adiktuz, Tukki has been less laden with our code. He has studied the systems and is ready and willing to begin making progress!

In other news, school has (or is) resuming. For those who have been following us, you will understand that this aspect of our lives has always served to hinder us one way or another. However, we will press on, and we will continue to deliver you with our progress and results!

Covered in this report are the following:

• Code: Progress Is Progress!
• Design: A New Take On Grinding - Event Quests
• Terrain: Garden of Illythis and The Sylvan Highlands

Sit back, read and enjoy!

Regards,


Everwood Entertainment

---

Code

Coding has taken some interesting turns in the preceding weeks. A new coder joined us, forming a team of us, including HeroSlayer (who has coding experience and knowledge). As school occupies quite a lot of my time on the weekdays, I will be working alongside this group and coordinate them to do various tasks to ensure that we are productive and produce leakless code.

... so far, we've fulfilled our expectations and are enthusiastic to see our hard work enjoyed by the WarCraft III community.

In recent days, I have taken some epic screenshots showcasing our terrain and the synergy between our camera and the terrain.

Tukki
Lead Coder

---

Design

Before I begin, let me ask... who actually, genuinely loves grinding?

... the answer, not many. In fact, I'm sure most of you probably put your character on patrol and go AFK while you grind. Not very eventful, is it?

In the original concept, it was intended that we eliminate this form of grinding and replace it with a new, exciting idea. I believe that traditional grinding is a waste of time. Of course, by playing this game, you are still wasting your time, but the time wasted should be worth wasting. So lets get right down to it! I present to you - Event Quests.

Event Quests are large, dynamic quests that are both challenging and rewarding. You will be able to find several throughout the map and be able to work with a team or be a lone wolf and complete the tasks alone. Event Quests are large and involve three or four phases that take on a variety of aspects - hack and slash, mini-game, arena, defense, siege. Event Quests are designed to be quick and rewarding so that people are entertained. They are huge and feature storylines of their own that stick out from the main storyline. Our aim for Event Quests is to:

• offer players something else to do other than stick to the main quest series
• bring a whole new element of multi/singleplayer gameplay to the game

In the demo, there are five Event Quests.

Wolfe
Lead Designer

---

Terrain

Why do we need words when we have awesome screenshots?

Oziris
Lead Terrainer

In our next progress report, I shall be adding two new fields: Art & Lore. You will be able to view our models and icons and enjoy a good read on The Everwood Forest and its races. I will also reveal to you the details of our classes: the Warrior, Ranger and Paragon.

Well, stay tuned, we'll update you again on Wednesday the 15^th of September!

Regards,


Everwood Entertainment

 

[Anachron]

Wow, the progress is great. The terrain has really improved. Nice work.

 

[Oziris]

I'll put some of my personal screen shots. Enjoy!
My school also started so the terrain progress may slow down. But hey! I've finished some areas that aren't even in the Demo! I'll be just polishing it again and again and of course on weekends I'll be doing some bigger updates or maybe work on new areas. I also need to finish the contest terrain. ^^

 

[Tukki]

A preview of the Hero Selection system is on it's way =)
I'm aiming for the weekend, so be sure to stay tuned!

Edit: Alright it's pretty much finished!
So I'll have lots of time to fill it with nice-looking stuff

 

[Dragonson]

So, guild wars much?

Yes.

ANyways guys, sorry for my recent inactivity. I've been... Kinda having a confused time.
And in the middle of the confusion i forgot to check up on this. :S Sory guys.

If you guys are still interested in me making some MOAR ARHT, i can start working again.

 

[Tukki]

Alright folks! Time for some screenies that didn't make it to the progress report

 

[Anachron]

Nice progress, Tukki. I am really enjoying the stuff you are doing.
Edit: By the way, have you encountered any bug with my inventory?

 

[Tukki]

Hehe, I actually don't know yet. We've to test it in multiplayer before I can say it's bug proof, but at the moment I've yet to encounter any critical bugs.

 

[Anachron]

Wait, are you already encountering the bugs or not? It sounds like you did but want to check for multiplayer tests so that you can actually make sure it really is a bug.

 

[Tukki]

Yeah sometimes I've table instances going haywire but that may depend on other, incomplete, systems or some tests. Don't know at the moment

 

[Anachron]

Crap, I really hope thats not my fault

 

[Tukki]

Meh that's what we have debugging for =P

 

[Anachron]

Yeah, and I made it pretty easy to debug CustomInventory because it already has an DebugHandler.

 

[Gladius_Tito]

You've made tremendous progress.
I stand corrected.

I hope to see this finished soon.
Be careful, however. The majority of Warcraft 3 players don't play for detail or quality. They prefer a faster gameplay, which is the reason why games like Dacia and Abyss trump Gaias and TKoK in the number of players.

Hope you get a channel to quickly find players for this.

 

[Tukki]

Yeah we'll focus a lot on medium/fast-paced, teamwork-required gameplay =)

As you see most of our systems are pretty straightforward and doesn't require you to read a wall of text before you can do what you wanna do

 

[Dragonson]

Oy guys.
Just a lil' thing here.
I made an everwood sig that's MADE to be an everwood sig, just so you guys dont have to use resized versions of the banner as sigs.

Made kinda fast, but i guess it's preferable to a stretched image.

 

[Adiktuz]

Oy guys.
Just a lil' thing here.
I made an everwood sig that's MADE to be an everwood sig, just so you guys dont have to use resized versions of the banner as sigs.

Made kinda fast, but i guess it's preferable to a stretched image.

nice. ^^

Edit: is there no page break tag? coz I wanted to make the sig to be like that but the resources should be under the first link... btw I used the

for this... Edit 2: I just placed the pic in the middle...

 

[Tukki]

Progress

The demo is going strong and we're making great progress!

What's left (theoretically) until a demo release:

• Completing the quest chain
• Coding and polishing all skills
• Object data..
• Finishing touches on the terrain
• Multiplayer-testing to see if everything works
• Getting the models
• Release the demo!

 

[88WaRCraFT3]

The thing that i can't wait is ''Release the demo!''. Just do ''Release the demo!'', don't do the other ones

 

[Adiktuz]

The thing that i can't wait is ''Release the demo!''. Just do ''Release the demo!'', don't do the other ones

without them you cannot play the demo... ^^

well least it would defeat the reason why Wolfe will release a demo, because its to show the systems, the world and the gameplay so that players will know what they are waiting for...

 

[TsunamiV]

Looks awesome. Can't wait to test the demo out!

 

[Tukki]

First off: Thanks for the interest! It's really nice to see that people like what we're creating!

After some "serious discussion", we've come to the conclusion that we:
aren't going to release a demo aren't going to include all features in the demo.

Instead of revealing nearly all features, scaled down to a demo-level,
we're going to show off lesser features, but with more content. Makes sense, right?

Also characters saved in the demo will not be loadable in newer versions.
We'll also be cutting down the amount of personalization, which means that
you'll not be able to see custom attachments. This will, however, be added
as time passes.

Currently we have completed 20 of 24 hero abilities, ~5 Quests, the Ranger's talent
trees & most of the Paragon's talent trees. So we're getting closer to providing
an ETA for the demo!

Sometime, probably Thursday/Friday, I'm going to show off some hidden features.
So stay tuned!!!

 

[TsunamiV]

Is it wrong that this will be one thing I'd want to come home of a long day of school to?

 

[Adiktuz]

Is it wrong that this will be one thing I'd want to come home of a long day of school to?

I think you'd definitely look forward to this when you go home... ^^

 

[TsunamiV]

when you say customizable, when i put an item on, does it add a model to my character? or only stats?

 

[Adiktuz]

when you say customizable, when i put an item on, does it add a model to my character? or only stats?

as Tukki said, it wont be implemented yet on the early versions but it will be added as time pass by...

 

[Tukki]

does it add a model to my character?

Yeah it's the idea But since we figured it'd take to much time waiting
for attachments/hero models we have decided to release it later on

EDIT
---------------------
It seems like I'm going to be away for the weekend, which unfortunately,
for you guys, mean that you'll have to survive with just screenshots

 

[TsunamiV]

Yeah it's the idea But since we figured it'd take to much time waiting
for attachments/hero models we have decided to release it later on

EDIT
---------------------
It seems like I'm going to be away for the weekend, which unfortunately,
for you guys, mean that you'll have to survive with just screenshots

NOOOOOE!!!!!

 

[Oziris]

^This. I'm too sad. But it's for the best.

Some Updates:
I've updated the demo map terrain.
Started creating the cinematic terrain.
Started making the Nordean Clan map which is located in the cold north.

 

[TsunamiV]

This is what I'd like to hear.

"Some updates:
We've completed the map.
We added a monument for TsunamiV"

 

[Wolfe]

Hey guys, sorry for missing the progress report. Been busy with homework, so I'll write it tomorrow (spring holidays, yay!).

Until then,



Wolfe

 

[Adiktuz]

This is what I'd like to hear.

"Some updates:
We've completed the map.
We added a monument for TsunamiV"

lol...

the monument can be if a modeler does but completed the map? that's pretty far... ^^

 

[Vunjo]

You guys need another GUI triggerer?
I can also make some good music too

 

[Wolfe]

... Everwood Entertainment ...

Progress Report III

Hey guys,

Well, our confrontation with the cold and unforgiving grasp of teachers and school has hindered us less than anticipated. Our coders have been working hard, our terrainer has been working hard, we've all been working our arses off to deliver you some awesome progress this week (and some bad news as well).

Firstly, I'd like to congratulate Sunchips who has become our Lead Modeler. All modeling information will be given to him and he will relay such information to our two other modelers. This will allow him to still concentrate on his schooling as well as getting things done! Secondly, thedeathunterxx has left the team due to various reasons. We hope that his future terraining endeavors are as spectacular as his other terrains. With this departure, we must congratulate Oziris, who has been promoted to Lead Terrainer. He is the third oldest member of our team, back from the days of Everwood ORPG, and has amazed us with some pretty awesome terrain.

Now, onto the progress report!

Covered in this report are the following:

• Code: Systems Galore
• Design: Unveiling the Ranger
• Terrain: Sandwatch Tower & Nordean Wasteland
• Lore: Deities of Morai

Sit back, read and enjoy!

Regards,


Everwood Entertainment

---

Systems Galore

A lot of our progress has been focused on spells and quests. We're nearly there with spells, however there is still a lot of fine-tuning to be done! You'll see some of our progress with the Casting Time System, etc. in the Design segment of this report. We've currently coded five to six quests and have tested them. Adik has been quite hasty in his coding which is amazing. He is producing results and doing a great job!

But, otherwise, just look at our showcase of screenshots for more information on our systems!

Tukki
Lead Coder

---

Ranger

“Everwood Forest is not only home to thousands of species and exotic flora; it is also believed to be the sanctuary of a goddess. As a man of logic and science, I had always dismissed these rumors as fables to scare wayward merchants and travelers. However, these rumors have grown substantially since the war began and the shadows descent upon Ashera, and thus in my quest to sate my curiosity, decided to investigate.

When I arrived in the village of Esmeralde, I was welcomed by folk scared out of their wit. These people were leaving their homes for some unknown reason, so I had to investigate. I was quick to ask around and heard shocking tales of shadows moving in the trees of Everwood Forest and the corpses of eviscerated beasts appearing all along the forest edge. These folk warned me to leave, but my curiosity bested me. So I ventured forth into the ancient forest.

It was dusk when I heard the rustling of leaves and strange, beastly yowling. Another sound struck me like lightning – the sound of a bowstring. Within seconds, I noticed that the sleeves of my undershirt were pinned to a tree by jagged arrows. A shadow then fell from the trees, masked by darkness, and moved into a luminescent ray of moonlight. This shadow was a woman, who had the appearance of a savage, but an expression of innocence and beauty. I examined her in the brief moment I was with her. A shallow gash ran along her cheek, freshened with blood, and sweat outlined the lines on her olive-colored forehead. Her clothing was made from various hides. Along her spine and parted at her shoulders was an abundance of auburn hair, decorated with leaves and multi-colored flowers. She identified herself as the “Guardian” and warned me to leave “this horrible place”.

When I tried to ask why, she disappeared, and in the distance, I heard the wail of a bowstring. This woman was engaged in battle. Perhaps the shadows of the north had also come to this place of supposed harmony.”

Lord Michael Curcio
Guildmaster of the Scholar's League

Rangers are the guardians of all things watched over by their patron goddess, Marielle. Mimicking the power of their goddess, the ranger is able to control the elements to guide her arrows in battle and tame the beasts of the land. As shadows loom heavily over Everwood Forest, obscuring the harmony this realm was once known for and substituting it for fear and panic, the winds have brought forth a mighty champion to combat the darkness and protect nature from the encroaching threat.

Rangers are able to use (but are not limited to) the bow and arrow. They are capable of eliminating opponents from afar with powerful arrows ignited with flame or coated in poison, as well as adjusting stances to suit different kinds of battle and devastating foes with traps. All-in-all, the ranger is a jack-of-all trades and a master of them as well.

---

Mechanics

Mechanic	Description
Weapons:	When outfitting herself for combat, the ranger can choose from the following weapons. The ranger weapons are: Main Hand: Axe, Dagger, Sword Off Hand: Axe, Dagger, Sword Two-Handed: Bow
Companion:	The ranger lives a life of solitude, away from the political bickering of kingdoms, in a realm of balance and serenity. The only companionship a ranger receives is when he or she proves him/herself in the eyes of their goddess. Only then will they be rewarded with a companion, be it bird, cat, bear or wolf. Companions, or pets for short, have their own abilities and follow the ranger around. Different companions have different skills to eliminate foes and further enhance the capabilities of the ranger and his or her allies.
Preparations:	Rangers are masters of ranged combat. Within their arsenal of skills, they have preparations. Preparations are buffs that do one (or more) of three things: enhance your playstyle imbue your arrows to do different things destroy your foes

Below is an example of a Preparation. The ability itself, and the icon used, are not confirmed for either the demo or the game itself.

Apply Poison	Tooltip
	For xx seconds, your arrows are coated with poison that deals an extra x damage. Each arrow poisons the target, reducing resistance to physical attacks by xx%.

---

Abilities

Puncture	Tooltip
	Skill Type: Attack If Puncture hits, you deal x damage and cause that target to bleed. If a target is already bleeding, you cause a Deep Wound.

Expose	Tooltip
	Skill Type: Attack If Expose Weakness hits, it increases the duration of all Conditions by an additional x seconds.

Fade	Tooltip
	Skill Type: Stance For xx seconds, you move xx% slower but your dodge chance is increased by xx%.

The above are ability teasers for the Ranger that will be featured in the demo. There are eight spells for each class in the demo, but I will only unveil three until the actual demo is released!

The abilities exhibited are malleable and may change.

Wolfe
Lead Designer

---

Sandwatch Tower & Nordean Wasteland

Not much progress from me for the Imperial Crown map. Only Sandwatch Tower, the area that players start in. Check it out at the bottom of this report!

I have also begun the Nordean Clans map. Next report, I'm sure Wolfe will unveil the storylines in both maps for you to feast your eyes on!

Oziris
Lead Terrainer

---

Deities of Morai

The world in which players travel is known as Morai. Morai is a large planet with only one known continent. Within the world of Morai there are twenty-two deities formed from the New Awakening. Certain deities favor certain races and become their patrons, while others prefer to watch over all forms of life. The following list will reveal to you the deities that you will meet, fight and hear of in Shadows of Everwood.

• Xoraith - The Elder God, only celestial being alive in the Old World
• Amethael - God of Wrath and War, patron of the warrior caste, revered by the Imperial Crown
• Illythis - Goddess of Harmony and Life, revered by the Imperial Crown
• Urdem - Hammer of Justice, revered by the Imperial Crown
• Lystrash - Goddess of Illusion and Insanity, patron of the slithyr race
• Skalda - Goddess of Winter, patroness of death, revered by Nordean Clans
• Thorras - God of Storms, patron of the Nordean race
• Hagrak - God of Earth and Fire, patron of trolls, giants and ogres, revered by Nordean Clans
• Kurenai - Dragon Goddess, destroyer of the Jeang Mai Empire, revered by assassins
• Vinos - God of Cultivation, patron of brewmasters and farmers, revered by Imperial Crown
• Mortombra - God of Death and Malice, patron of centaurs, revered by zealots and necromancers
• Vareshkhan - God of the Sun, patron of gnolls and Gorashi Desert
• Marielle - Goddess of the Elements, patron of the elves, revered by rangers, fey folk and dryads
• Nadis - God of Mischief, sealed away, revered by criminals, pirates and hellions
• Asmodeon - Dragon King, consort of Kurenai, patron of dragons
• Gadrek - Lord of the Spirits, lives in the spirit realm, revered by necromancers and almost deceased
• Lycanus - Animal God, guardian of beasts, revered by rangers
• Tyrael - Goddess of Magic, patron of all mages, revered by the Order of Magi
• Netham - God of Stone and Smithing, patron of dwarves, revered by dwarves and blacksmiths
• Demetta - Goddess of Shadow, known as the Black Widow, patron of scorpions and spiders, revered by assassins
• Kaelus - God of Light, once Demetta's lover and was killed by her, revered by paladins and priests
• Demetto - God of Day and Night, child of Demetta and Kaelus, revered by all

It is unknown whether we will incorporate these into some sort of "belief" system, but for now, the deities are names and/or foes/allies in the game.

Wolfe
Lead Designer

Hope you enjoyed that report, guys. Remember to keep checking the progress of the entire game in my signature! Next progress report will be on Wednesday the 29/9/2010.

Until then,



Everwood Entertainment

 

[Marsal]

oh my god
like an mmorpg
can't wait for this! ~.~

 

[TsunamiV]

release this. Or I will beat you to death. Anyone who wants to test it together? Message me. :] "Or I will beat you to death"

 

[Dragonson]

Man, i heally like that hidden passage(?).
Keep it up guys.

 

[TsunamiV]

Sun Chips make them a base unit model, so they can make it so the items give you an attachment Like one for female, and male classes . Just a suggestion you guys are already probably working on.

 

[Anachron]

Hey, nice report. Keep it up.

 

[Tukki]

hehe I like my fail at the Buff system pic. x)
It was supposed to show off the buff bar instead...

Anyway, if I got the time, I'll see if I can get some videos up until the next report =)

 

[Adiktuz]

Sun Chips make them a base unit model, so they can make it so the items give you an attachment Like one for female, and male classes . Just a suggestion you guys are already probably working on.

yeah, that's already on progress and as we said, it wont probably be included in the first demo...

 

[TsunamiV]

yeah, that's already on progress and as we said, it wont probably be included in the first demo...

Okkaay then

 

[Wolfe]

I will be absent as of today for the next four days. I will be bringing my laptop, but will not have internet. Due to this, I will not be able to update you all, and in my stead will be Tukki!

While I am away, I will fervently work on items, the remaining quests and dungeon instances. Hopefully, if I get all of that done, my part for the demo is set and I can start on Chapter III (after the demo).

Regards,


Wolfe

 

[Oziris]

The demo is closing in really fast people! But I've got a lot of studying to do but, I'll probably finish the 2 demo maps by the end of the week so that Tukki can code those quests.

Also, a cinematic is approaching nearby! Stay tuned for more information

 

[Wolwy5]

Awsome progress, hope to see the demo soon.

P.S:how many do you guys have to study? Cause I don't study more than 1 hour a day.

 

[Oziris]

Awsome progress, hope to see the demo soon.

P.S:how many do you guys have to study? Cause I don't study more than 1 hour a day.

I have to study fourteen subjects and then i have to find free time to be on my computer and then i decide if i want to spend that free time on everwood, facebook, modeling or some games x)

 

[Tukki]

I study Chemistry, Biology, Maths, Physics, Swedish, English and French I (may have forgotten something here...?)

But since I rarely do Maths, Biology or Physics homework I'd say around 0-1,5 hours?
Problem is that I've at least 2 test-exams a week =(
Then it's about the same as Oziris: Everwood, life?, LoL or facebook

BUT, we have the mad-coder Adiktuz!! So it's chill, big time!

Some updates to keep y'all from dying

AI System is now in testing phase! It'll probably appear in the progress report
Concentration & Adrenaline Systems are now completely done! They'll definitely get some spotlight in the next report

Terrain is progressing very nicely!
Quests are currently being coded and tested!
Spells are nearly completed!

 

[Adiktuz]

I study Chemistry, Biology, Maths, Physics, Swedish, English and French I (may have forgotten something here...?)

But since I rarely do Maths, Biology or Physics homework I'd say around 0-1,5 hours?
Problem is that I've at least 2 test-exams a week =(
Then it's about the same as Oziris: Everwood, life?, LoL or facebook

BUT, we have the mad-coder Adiktuz!! So it's chill, big time!

Some updates to keep y'all from dying

AI System is now in testing phase! It'll probably appear in the progress report
Concentration & Adrenaline Systems are now completely done! They'll definitely get some spotlight in the next report

Terrain is progressing very nicely!
Quests are currently being coded and tested!
Spells are nearly completed!

hey, I'm not a mad-coder ... and I'm on the last month of classes right now so maybe I'll really have so many things to do + exams... +I'm aiming of getting exemptions on my other subjects' final exams so I would only need to take 2 exams on finals week... (I have 5 subjects total, all really hard)
So maybe I'd be slower right now but anyway I really only worked on friday-sunday these past 2 weeks...

@Wolwy5: I only study class hours + a day or hours before an exam... any other free time? I sleep... but weekends, I'm nearly whole day in front of the comp...

 

[Anachron]

You guys are all studying? I am in an apprenticeship.