23th June 2009- DevBlog- Feedback and Blue Blocks

[joke33]

The Unforgettable Tale of a Lead Designer

 

 

 

Mod Mark here, Lead Designer of RuneScape. Im the Mark who has been here at Jagex for six years - not to be confused with Mod MMG: he is the Mark who is now our CEO. As lead designer, I am ultimately responsible for the new content we add to the game. This includes deciding what quests we develop, which new skills we work on, where we put new minigames, what levels they are, how difficult we want them to be, how much XP they give, which areas get new achievement diaries, and what new aspects of the game we should introduce, like the distractions and diversions, etc, etc. I dont actually come up with the majority of new ideas, nor do I write the content, I just decide what direction we want to take the game and create objectives for the developers, helping them to decide which concepts we want to take into full development. Then, after they design how these things should work and create the code that makes their ideas real, I get to play it through and advise how we can improve it to make it the best it can be, before it is launched into the main game.

 

 

 

I am fortunate to be surrounded by talented, creative individuals who make my job very, very easy! Our relationship is similar to that of a sports coach and a team - the coach isnt actually out on the field playing with the team but, ultimately, he is responsible for its performance. My job is just like that, except my team this time is Captain Mod John A and his Dwarven Raiders.

 

 

 

Playing through content for the first time is always one of the most exciting parts of my job. When you help someone to sculpt their ideas in the design brief stage of development, you always have a visual idea of what the final product will look like, or you imagine how difficult a puzzle should be. No matter how much you discuss things with the writer or an artist, people often have a slightly different opinion from you, which can have interesting effects on the final product.

 

 

 

Anyway, it had been a few years since the last dwarf quest, so I played through a few of the crucial elements of Giant Dwarf, Forgettable Tale... and Between a Rock and thought back on the first conversations I had with Mod Vincent, the original developer of the Red Axe storyline. Mod John As style is very different from his, but there were a few things we were keen to keep consistent, like the camera flyover of the city at the beginning (we have had those in all the dwarf quests - Mod Vincent was big on cut scenes but Mod John A less so) and the whole Red Axe/mining conglomerates/drunk dwarf-baiting plotline.

 

 

 

So, I found Captain Veldaban in the north-east of the city. Id had the new concept art for Veldaban on my desktop for ages, so Id been looking forward to his updated look...

 

 

 

But things were a little...blue. In fact, most of the new areas and quest-specific characters were just blue boxes, as the Graphics team were still working on the new graphics. Sometimes, with content we write, we ask the developer to create the majority of it using old graphics, and ask the Graphics team to work on the new assets after they have seen the puzzles, gameplay and level design. This is always quite an odd experience, dodging level 70 blue boxes or trying to find the blue box-shaped key amongst your inventory of blue woodblock objects.

 

 

Offering Feedback

 

 

Mod Mark vs the blue, err, orange and black things.

 

 

 

Playing through a piece of content to give feedback to a developer is quite a challenge. Not only are you playing through it for your own fun and amusement (we never release content we dont find fun ourselves), but you have to think about the core aims of the project - who the content is for, what sort of audience we want it to appeal to, the rewards, target levels, etc. We also had two reward areas planned for this quest and some brand new Ranged NPCs, which we have very few of in the game. These were of particular interest to me, since we had increased the skill requirements for the quest, taking the Strength requirement up to 69, and the NPC combat levels had to be increased to reflect this. However, with the area just using placeholder blue box graphics and temporary stats, I decided to leave looking at the reward areas until they were properly finished.

 

 

 

Playthroughs last for about half a day, as I like to play through the content once, then specific sections again with a more critical eye. I look for all sorts of important factors like: Is it clear to the user whats going on? Do the different sections of the quest flow into one another? Do they keep the player interested during the more tricky sections, like the mine cart-puzzles (which Mod John A has approached in an original way)? Is the dialogue too wordy? Is the quest self-contained? Are the main characters compelling and believable? Is it rewarding enough? All sorts of issues like this can and will come up in those initial playthroughs and trigger conversation between myself and the developer.

 

 

 

One of the most interesting parts of the quest was the point in which Mod John A chose to reveal the plot twist. I was surprised that he chose to reveal it in that way, and it was very different from how I had expected it from the original design briefs. Were due to have a feedback meeting after he has come back from holiday, and I am really interested to hear why he did it that way. Im keen to change it, but I always like to discuss these things with the developer and find out what they wanted to achieve. Sometimes its just a case of changing a few words, other times we rethink and try a totally different approach. Its always a very creative time in the products life-cycle.

 

 

 

Im looking forward to chatting to Mod John A about his content and how we can improve it. From what I have seen of the new models and animations coming from the Graphics team, its going to look great!

 

 

 

New requirements in full

 

 

 

We've decided to make the quest's skill requirements higher than the ones that we previously released. Here are the new requirements in full:

 

 

 

* Level 61 Hunter

 

* Level 61 Firemaking

 

* Level 69 Strength

 

* Must have completed Forgettable Tale of a Drunken Dwarf.

 

* There will be an enemy to fight, but we haven't quite decided its level yet.

[Amundogus2]

Looking very nice ^^ Would be nice if they could give us some idea as to when it will be released though...

[FooK-A-Ji]

I think the majority would prefer clarification on this whole merchant clan ordeal in the form of an official post (Or are sit-downs at the office not custom?) :thumbdown: But I guess dwarves come first :^o

[Den]

Sounds sweet.

 

 

 

I also like it when they throw in a sneak peak picture. :P

[DarkDude]

Damn, I'll need to get my hunter skill up along with my blue blob killing abilities :(

 

 

 

Looks good, nice to hear about all the different parts of making this quest :thumbup:

[Toad]

Yup looks good can't wait, me liketh the quests

 

 

 

From pic will we be able to combine gnome goggles with our pilot thingy helms? :o looks funky

[Zaaps1]

@Smellysocks: You already can! You just take the Bomber Cap from Enlightened Journey and Gnome Goggles to Augustine and he turns them into a cap with goggles :P

 

 

 

I'm going to say the boss is level 100, give or take 20 levels.

[Kirderf123]

Looks nice but dont think its going to be something special or anything, wont do it most likely so idc. But its good that jagex start ending the different questlines.

[Toad]

@Smellysocks: You already can! You just take the Bomber Cap from Enlightened Journey and Gnome Goggles to Augustine and he turns them into a cap with goggles :P

 

 

 

I'm going to say the boss is level 100, give or take 20 levels.

 

 

 

 

 

Oo I already have my funky pirate hat with an eye patch, now I can do this too, suddenly I feel all warm inside.. wait it's gone now, still I may pay mr Patches a visit!

[jimmy_jim]

It looks awesome. Too bad I'm F2P :)

 

 

 

Hopefully there will be a F2P quest coming out in the near future.

[Poppet]

If you look at the picture on Runescape its in SD and Fullscreen. :D

[Toad]

If you look at the picture on Runescape its in SD and Fullscreen. :D

 

 

 

They do standard definition to get the preliminary stages done, then they add textures and more detail "put flesh on the bones" so to speak.

[Poppet]

If you look at the picture on Runescape its in SD and Fullscreen. :D

 

 

 

They do standard definition to get the preliminary stages done, then they add textures and more detail "put flesh on the bones" so to speak.

 

 

 

 

 

You don't get the point the picture is in FULLSCREEN while in SD.

[Toad]

If you look at the picture on Runescape its in SD and Fullscreen. :D

 

 

 

They do standard definition to get the preliminary stages done, then they add textures and more detail "put flesh on the bones" so to speak.

 

 

 

 

 

You don't get the point the picture is in FULLSCREEN while in SD.

 

 

 

The quest & quest area is in its preliminary stages, that's why it's in fullscreen in SD *I think* They wouldnt spend weeks building texturing and polishing off an area to say, right this doesnt work, lets scrap it, they make it really low in detail see if it works if it does, work on the foundations.. I doubt they're working on SD-FS, although if they are fair play to them.

 

 

 

Edit- Apparently they are less laggy fullscreen ftw

[Gribbzldinho]

 

You don't get the point the picture is in FULLSCREEN while in SD.

 

 

 

Yep - that was confirmed 'in development' by Mod MMG in his clan chat last month.

[Kirderf123]

If you look at the picture on Runescape its in SD and Fullscreen. :D

 

 

 

They do standard definition to get the preliminary stages done, then they add textures and more detail "put flesh on the bones" so to speak.

 

 

 

 

 

You don't get the point the picture is in FULLSCREEN while in SD.

 

Fs in sd would be cool :thumbsup:

[Riemis]

[hide=quote]

If you look at the picture on Runescape its in SD and Fullscreen. :D

 

 

 

They do standard definition to get the preliminary stages done, then they add textures and more detail "put flesh on the bones" so to speak.

 

 

 

 

 

You don't get the point the picture is in FULLSCREEN while in SD.

[/hide]

 

 

 

The quest & quest area is in its preliminary stages, that's why it's in fullscreen in SD *I think* They wouldnt spend weeks building texturing and polishing off an area to say, right this doesnt work, lets scrap it, they make it really low in detail see if it works if it does, work on the foundations.. I doubt they're working on SD-FS, although if they are fair play to them.

 

 

 

Edit- Apparently they are less laggy fullscreen ftw

 

Then why is his already-existing armour in sd?

[Danqazmlp]

Sounds pretty cool, wonder if Mod John A will check this while he's on holiday and be a bit nervous about having to go see the 'lead designer' about something he's done wrong :

[K112]

Looked through the picture and made a handy picture to display all the important-ish things i could find.

 

[hide=]

 

 

 

1 - Claw and Hook? Don't think this is yet possible (please correct me if i'm wrong) Might just be the Mods showing off.

 

2 - Black shapes, seemingly Orks, but can range, see point 6.

 

3 - Doorway

 

4 - Advanced chaos dwarves or gnomes or some form of short humanoid animals, with big battleaxes. :twss: .....?

 

5 - Chaos Dwarves vs Black Guard / Advanced dwarf guard.

 

6 - Kind of hard to see, but the dwarf being hit a "5" on the left side is facing the black shape which is safespotting the dwarf, so either ranging or maging him. Also, which i've onyl just noticed, but supports this, there are two black shapes just to the left of my purple square, which are facing a dwarf simultaneously being hit "0" and "4", but wiht only one balck armed dwarf facing him, therefore showing that something must be ranging or maging him.[/hide]

[Mercifull]

Claw and hook is old http://runescape.wikia.com/wiki/Crabclaw_hook

[Mil]

Looks like this quest may also be favouring higher levels. Looking good. People should be happy that there are no low requirements for this.

[Kirderf123]

Looks like this quest may also be favouring higher levels. Looking good. People should be happy that there are no low requirements for this.

 

Those requirements are not anywhere near high.

[Grasle]

Looks like this quest may also be favouring higher levels. Looking good. People should be happy that there are no low requirements for this.

 

Those requirements are not anywhere near high.

 

Nope, those are in no way high requirements. Higher is along the lines of 70-80 as far as quests go.

[Den]

Looked through the picture and made a handy picture to display all the important-ish things i could find.

 

 

 

 

4 - Advanced chaos dwarves or gnomes or some form of short humanoid animals, with big battleaxes. :twss: .....?

 

 

 

They are red, and they weild an axe.

 

 

 

Red Axe Dwarves? :P

[SwreeTak]

I wish I had Mark's job :P. He's a great guy though, and he deserves it. I love that Jagex gives us so much insight in how they work with these new Diaries. It's very intresting to follow how the content in RS is built up like.