Summoning being confirmed, other reasons?

[One Too Far]

Once i read the new article i first thought yay. Then i started thinking, why the .... would they release the info now? They said they just would give hints for the next few weeks. Me (and many others) thinking that meant just letting hints go into the game over the weeks with them getting progresivly bigger. So why so soon? Maybe they used it to draw away the attention of the recent duel arena update wich is maybe (probaly) the most ranted about in rs2 (3actualy...).

 

 

 

Discuss.

 

 

 

the article:

 

 

 

Summoning: Part 1 - Concept

 

 

 

Yes, you read that right ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Ãâ Summoning is coming! It's a big deal for everyone, so to whet your appetites, we're releasing four, count 'em, four mini Development Diaries in the run up to its January 2008 release. We'll be focusing on the work that goes into developing a new skill for RuneScape, so there won't be too many spoilers about the actual skill itself. Everything in these diaries is only scratching the surface ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Ãâ we don't want to give it all away before it comes out! There will, however, be some interesting titbits of information, which should give everyone plenty to discuss on the Forums...

 

 

 

Previously, on Behind the Scenes

 

 

 

Summoning was first mentioned in the Behind the Scenes (BTS) of March 31st 2004. "We wrote that BTS to suggest some of the things we wanted to do, which we now could with the new RuneScape engine (RS2), to encourage players to move over from RuneScape Classic," says Paul, Senior Game Designer. A lot of those projects have since been released ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Ãâ Construction, Treasure Trails, boardgames, quest journals ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Ãâ but of the rest, Paul continues, "They're big projects and, previously, we couldn't work on many at the same time...some were a little on the optimistic side! (laughs) Summoning was being talked about by players even before that BTS, though, and we agreed it was a cool idea, so we had to do it." Players have been talking about and expecting it ever since.

 

 

 

For those that are wondering, the main ones left to do are a 'frozen lands' area, randomly-generated scenarios, lizardmen and player-owned shops. Senior Creative Designer, Mod Mark says, "Player-owned shops are the only thing that isn't currently possible, but we've made the Grand Exchange, which is close in concept and awesome in its own right. We're making advances in technology all the time, so player-owned shops might be possible in the future. The other things are still on the cards in the distant future." We did say in that BTS we'd do them 'within the year', and Mod Mark jokes, "The thing is, no one knows how long a RuneScape year is ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Ãâ we're still in year 169 of the 5th Age. If anything, we're making good progress. (laughs)" Paul finishes with, "Yeah, 169 is taking a while, isn't it? (laughs)"

 

 

 

Proof of life (runes)

 

 

 

"We actually made the life rune for Classic, but didn't release it. Some players discovered its existence, but there was no way to actually get it."

 

 

 

Paul

 

RuneScape Content Team

 

 

 

"Initially, we were considering Summoning as an addition to Magic. We actually made the life rune for Classic, but didn't release it. Some players discovered its existence, but there was no way to actually get it," says Paul. Developing the RS2 engine held up things for a while and, by the time we got back to Summoning, there'd been some changes. "At that point, Magic was already filling out and we were also concepting Desert Treasure and alternate spellbooks, so decided it would be better as a new skill rather than an addition to an older one," says Mod Mark.

 

 

 

 

 

The life rune, from RuneScape Classic, was never actually released

 

 

 

"Mod Bennett had recently finished the Slayer skill (January 2005), so started on the design brief for Summoning as a skill, laying out how it would work," says Mod Mark. The concept was good, but it didn't fit in with what we were doing with the rest of the game. Considering the other content we were working on and that the game was growing, we decided that first concept for Summoning wouldn't have a broad enough appeal. So, after another few months break and a move to larger offices, we approached it from a different angle ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Ãâ widening the scope of the skill to make it as good as it could be.

 

 

 

A dedicated follower

 

 

 

"That's when ideas like the beasts of burden came in. It was at this point that the skill name changed to Animal Lore," says Mod Mark. The core idea being that these summoned animals would do more than just fight for you. "We were also thinking Animal Lore would be to Hunter, what Smithing is to Mining," he continues - you'd either catch and train up animals or call them out of the wild to aid you. Mod Bennett had since moved to another of our development teams, so Mod Wilson was given the task of writing a new design brief from scratch, taking this more follower-based approach.

 

 

 

First, we were thinking these animals would work like cat followers, in that to level the Summoning skill you'd need an animal out following you 100% of the time. "We were, however, keen on not wanting to turn the game into PetScape," says Mod Mark. Also, prototyping and testing made it obvious that creating the entire skill this way wouldn't have worked for technical reasons - every player with a pet out all the time would cause too much slowdown. It works on a small scale with cats, and might as a future Summoning update, but the completely follower-based approach was ruled out and, again, the skill was put on hold to await better technology and a fresh approach.

 

 

 

"Summoning is the skill our players are expecting - they'd be disappointed if we released a 'summoning' skill but didn't call it that."

 

 

 

Paul

 

RuneScape Content Team

 

 

 

Mod Wilson was asked to refine the brief, incorporating more from Mod Bennett's original concept, but keeping the focus on all skills, not just combat. A few more months of concepting and prototyping later and everyone was finally happy with the idea for the skill and confident that it would work technically. The design brief was signed off (September 2006) and we started gearing up for development. Paul says, "It had returned to something that allowed us to rename the skill as Summoning. Besides, Summoning is the skill our players are expecting ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Ãâ they'd be pretty disappointed if we released a 'summoning' skill but didn't call it that." Mod Mark chips in, "Plus, there'd be those still asking when we are going to release Summoning, even though we just had! (laughs)"

 

 

 

 

 

A timeline of important dates in Summoning's concepting (marked A-F; explained below). The development times for Slayer, Farming, Construction, Hunter and Summoning are below the timeline for comparison.

 

 

 

A) RuneScape 2 launched/Behind the Scenes article mentions Summoning; B) Mod Bennett writes the initial brief for Summoning; C) Jagex moves to a new office; D) Mod Wilson writes Animal Lore brief; E) Mod Wilson rewrites brief again, back to Summoning; F) Summoning development begins.

 

 

 

The (very nearly finished) skill has ended up very close to that final brief. The animals you summon will be able to help you in a variety of combat and non-combat ways, and there are a lot of different types of animals that can be summoned - there's definitely something for everyone. Next week, we'll be releasing the first of three Summoning wallpapers. A week after that, we'll start to look at how the skill was actually developed in part 2 of this Development Diary.

 

 

 

Coming soon...Summoning: Part 2 - Development

 

 

 

p.s.: I don't care if it was there intention, it was just a thought. And i would love summoning (i love all new skills, brings diversity)

[Latinoking]

Can you quote the article to here please.

[demonreape2]

I agree exactly with you. They are just trying to draw us away from the big impact that staking is now pretty much officially dead.

 

 

 

~Demon

[Nom]

That is exactly what I thought when I heard, and most likely exactly their plan. "Well, we just pissed of a ton off players, so lets reveal summoning early so that they forget all about it and we don't lose money!"

[hells_mishap]

Yeah, I was thinking why the hell would they be telling us what it is so soon while they said they'd be 'hinting'. I guess what you said makes the most sense.

[icecube]

Interesting >.

[Erichermit]

I wonder how to capitilize on this. When Construction first came out I was like "That looks great! but I'll hold off." and sold Oak Planks for massive amounts of money.

 

 

 

What should I start preparing ahead of time for Summoning hmm :-k

[ecopetition]

If the update is summoning I'll be massively disappointed.

 

 

 

Remember what Jagex's other recent skills have been:

 

- Farming, everyone was bored by that.

 

- Construction, everyone had a little fun but it just cost too much.

 

- Hunter, reminding everyone of how repetitive RuneScape is.

 

 

 

Summoning, what will it be? Just another skill - probably a boring skill that after two months of release no-one will use because it's time inputs will be far too much for the rewards.

 

 

 

Personally, I was hoping for something fun. Fun is something that RuneScape lacks - it's all just repetition and show-off.

[Dharockslayer]

Exactly what I was thinking. I was like yay summoning! But there has to be a catch of some sort >_> <_< Maybe im just paranoid.

[steve2967]

It is not unique to RS. ANY role playing game that involves building skills is repetitive and boring.

 

 

 

Kind of like math class in school. You are learning a skill but doing ti over and over again gets boring huh?

 

 

 

Art immitates life?

[ecopetition]

Kind of like math class in school. You are learning a skill but doing ti over and over again gets boring huh?

 

 

 

Actually maths at school isn't boring at all. And it's not repetitive. We learn new skills each day then put them to use in life. On RuneScape you can learn new skills every day. But it's a computer game. There's no comparison.

[One Too Far]

yay im not the only one who is paranoid =) il get a quote of the article up

[Sharane]

I don't think THIS is the big surprise Jagex will give us in January... It's a HUGE update, yes, but I have a gut feeling there's more to it than the almighty summoning skill.

 

 

 

Then again, summoning a genie or something to carry my stuff during smithing trips would be handy. ^^

[Kevin_]

Imo getting rid of staking wasn't that bad, and i rather have Summoning instead of Duel Arena.

[One Too Far]

I don't think THIS is the big surprise Jagex will give us in January... It's a HUGE update, yes, but I have a gut feeling there's more to it than the almighty summoning skill.

 

 

 

Then again, summoning a genie or something to carry my stuff during smithing trips would be handy. ^^

 

 

 

Well actualy according to that part about how long all skills took summoning took longer then construction and if i remember correctly it took as long as farming+ slayer or farming+hunter or slayer+hunter and a little more so it is a very big update, atleast for them.

 

 

 

Imo getting rid of staking wasn't that bad, and i rather have Summoning instead of Duel Arena.

 

 

 

Wasn't bad for me personaly either, but they did kill (or serverly wound...) a big part of runescape, and almost all of runescape for some people, or atleast some of their acounts. But im still happy, i just get the skill without the negatives of no duel arena +).

[Kevin_]

 

 

 

Imo getting rid of staking wasn't that bad, and i rather have Summoning instead of Duel Arena.

 

 

 

Wasn't bad for me personaly either, but they did kill (or serverly wound...) a big part of runescape, and almost all of runescape for some people, or atleast some of their acounts. But im still happy, i just get the skill without the negatives of no duel arena +).

 

It did more bad then good to be honest.

[Lacrosse_fan]

And here I was hoping for it to be free. Oh well, there's always next year.

 

 

 

I'm happy for the members. Have fun with it. :thumbsup:

[Humus]

TBH, I think they're just posting the update to let us know.

 

If they didn't want so many rants they would edit it or just not change it so much in the first place. :wink:

[DingoAte]

Zomg I can't wait!! Hah, I was always suspicious about that bulldog page on the KB.

[Darkluniux]

And here I was hoping for it to be free. Oh well, there's always next year.

 

 

 

I'm happy for the members. Have fun with it. :thumbsup:

 

 

 

Yes, I was very happy when JaGex told us about a great surprise, now the great surprise is surely a p2p only skill...

[Dragonlordjl]

So many people will be training Summoning in the first couple months after its release that the game will be horribly laggy. Also, as messed up as PvP already is (you can hit a 49 with a whip FFS) the release of something to aid you in PvP is just asinine. Ughhh.... This update is going to cause chaos. But then again, that's the trend with Jagex's updates, lately. They are so out-of-touch with their players that they cannot even begin to comprehend the side-effects of their updates.

[llamster]

It is not unique to RS. ANY role playing game that involves building skills is repetitive and boring.

 

 

 

Kind of like math class in school. You are learning a skill but doing ti over and over again gets boring huh?

 

 

 

Art immitates life?

 

 

 

Many RPGs have you doing quests to level. Much less repetitive.

[One Too Far]

It is not unique to RS. ANY role playing game that involves building skills is repetitive and boring.

 

 

 

Kind of like math class in school. You are learning a skill but doing ti over and over again gets boring huh?

 

 

 

Art immitates life?

 

 

 

Many RPGs have you doing quests to level. Much less repetitive.

 

 

 

but the quest themself are repetitive... like go kill 20 (insert random name here)

 

 

 

but where getting a bit off-topic...

[bobbas7]

Why say it now already... really it would have been funny if they said it at xmas :P like a present :anxious:

 

 

 

Jagex is screwing up RuneScape... like what are the good updates from 2007, don't say Hunter.. it isn't. (And GWD too.. )

[monkeyboo2]

That is exactly what I thought when I heard, and most likely exactly their plan. "Well, we just pissed of a ton off players, so lets reveal summoning early so that they forget all about it and we don't lose money!"

 

 

 

Pretty much! :P

 

 

 

Now lets all go with the hype and forget about duelling like we are meant to :-k . (sarcasm)

 

LOL, not so easy, Jagex. We still remember the duelling arena, we are not (all) goldfish. :XD: