Quiet on Set!

BlackLotusDragon

In preparation for the upcoming Trials of Ascension Kickstarter campaign the Forged Chaos team recorded several hours of testers exploring Demo Island and showcasing several of the completed features:

hope you all are enjoying these new weekly community updates, because here's another one!

On Friday, January 2nd, the team put together a special event for our testers to record footage for the upcoming Kickstarter. It took some time to put everything together, but as you can see from the screenshot above, the material we recorded was outstanding! For those of you who were not able to attend, I'm going to share the experience with you, journal style.

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The event was scheduled for 9 pm est, so I hop into the VOIP server a little after 8 so that I can help players set up their clients, both for those who are new to testing and those who are new to our particular VOIP program. Over the next 45 minutes a few of our veteran testers hop in and I attempt to entertain them with bad jokes.

[bad joke removed, you're welcome]

More testers join as the appointed time approaches. Teddy releases the latest client and there's a frenzy of activity as people patch and install. The server is brought online and we're in!

Brax gives a quick rundown on combat as we gather on the beach and then gives everyone leave to practice a bit before we start recording. I know what is coming, so I immediately run off to the edge of the jungle. As the immediate melee spreads out, I pick a target and try to come up in his blind spot. Someone else has the same idea on me however, and I get slammed in the back! I turn and face them, my trusty shield and sword in hand, but they run! I chase after them, but they have a head start and evade my assault. But I'm patient, and I wait at the edge of the jungle, watching them as they circle around the beach. I see them engage someone else and I run after, to exact my revenge. However I am intercepted by a Turtle (someone dual-wielding shields). I block their attack and return with my own, but it is blocked in return. I swing again, but my opponent side-steps the attack and slams me with their shield. I fall to the ground, defeated.

I release from my corpse only to find a pair of people standing at the respawn point, killing people as they materialize. It's hardly sportsman like, so I call them out over VOIP for the behavior and they spread back out around the beach. Someone announces that shields seem to do more damage than the other weapons, so I quickly find that most of my opponents are using two shields. I manage to defeat a few opponents, losing several times myself.

Brax has his camera set up and ready to go, so he calls a halt to the melee. He goes over a few general rules and a list of "Don't Do"s. He asks us to divide into two groups; 8 in the jungle and 8 on the beach. To identify the teams, the beach team will use a shield, while the jungle team will use two weapons, thus Shields and Sticks. I go for the beach, because I like the sword and board look.

Teddy ends up in charge of the Sticks, and I take lead for the Shields. On Brax's call, the two teams charge at each other, and all hell breaks loose. Just as the battle is almost over, Brax calls for a reset; someone did one of the "Don'ts". After a few more such attempts, we get a quality video and our venue is changed. We're in a small camp and the lighting is dimmed to twilight.

Now the Shields are sent up the hill while the Sticks stay down to defend it. We launch our attack and more fun combat ensues. Several different scenarios are tried; staged ambushes, one-on-ones, even a few "full night" battles with torches in the darkness.

Once all the combat is over, the testers are taken to a larger beach. They're allowed to run loose. many start building houses. Wood is scarce however, so someone (Brax, Varl, Loestri or Teddy) set trees to dynamically spawn. A few testers have to go, but most of us remain to enjoy the unofficial settlement raising. Some players simply committed themselves to chopping down trees, while other volunteered themselves to carry wood and stack it by the growing buildings.

It's always interesting to see how the cooperative effect unfolds. It could be possible for every single tester to build their own house; to harvest their own lumber, and to carry it back themselves. But without any encouragement and left to their own devices, our testers choose to help one another. No one is seen running around, creating mayhem. Instead it's peaceful and pleasant. I hang out for a while, combining smaller wood piles to "clean up" the landscape. Then my wireless headset starts to beep "low battery", so I bid good night to everyone and log out.