Albion Online (tuxdb.com)

Design Showcase: Hellgates

The Call to Arms update arrives March 17, bringing a complete Hellgate rework along with other features. We discussed the changes coming to Hellgates with Environment Art Director Stefan Warias and Level Designer Dominik Mller. The new Hellgate entrances are much more detailed than the old ones. What sort of information do they convey? SW: Visually the goal for the entrances was to reflect the theme and atmosphere of the levels they lead to. After some design iterations we came up with physical elements like sharp rocks, which are the main elements in the hellish environment. And they behave as if possessed by a demon, with animations and FX that bring them to life as if they're waiting to swallow the player.
Apart from conveying atmosphere, they also have a functional aspect: does it lead to a lethal or non-lethal map? How many players are needed to open the portal? Is everybody channeling? DM: It was important to us to let players interact with these entrances in a meaningful way. The new portal responds to the group: they are no longer clicking on a static portal, but a living one. If I finish my first channel, a specific rune will glow, if the team is completely finished the whole thing starts to open up, the world turns red and so on. This makes the whole experience of entering a Hellgate more interactive and immersive.
Once inside, the new Hellgates have much more diverse and varied environments than the old ones. What principles did you use in creating these new levels? SW: We created 10 different maps, each with a unique layout to offer more variety for both PvE and PvP. To give each a unique character, some are more open natural arenas with lava falls, some are claustrophobic caves or hell-fortresses, some are more cooled-down, some are hot as well, you know. They offer different blockers and choke points but still support fair starting positions for groups of all sizes. And the new rising lava feature had to be considered, which shrinks the fighting zone and creates growing tension during fights.
DM: We wanted to give players the feeling of physically moving through hell, going from the hill to the fort and after that to the traverse. We wanted to show a difference between natural hell and architectural hell. Additionally we followed quite a few guidelines to create interesting PvP moments. Try to encourage west-to-east combat, offer more than one way through a choke. In some maps we also willingly violated some of our rules to create a more characteristic element, as in the Traverse, which is basically one very long choke. What are some of the architectural features found in the new Hellgates? SW: We have some spiky hellish architectural elements like stairs, columns and railings at least what demons would call architecture. With these we created larger structures like bridges, and reassembled them to make a variety of spaces and situations.
DM: In the old Hellgates, we only had stairs for architecture, which made the maps fairly bleak. We wanted to give the demon faction more refinement and culture, so we added more architectural elements. For now it's just a few things like railings and pillars, but even these minor elements allowed us to build layouts that tell stories, such as the Fortress or Citadel. For more details of the Call to Arms update, see the official update page.

[ 2021-03-16 20:42:20 CET ] [ Original post ]

Albion Online
Sandbox Interactive GmbH

Developer

Sandbox Interactive GmbH

Publisher

2018-05-16

Release

RPG MMO Multiplayer

Key Features

From basic tools and clothes to mighty armors and powerful weapons – nearly every item in the game is crafted by players, in player-constructed buildings, from resources gathered by players. Buy, sell, and trade with other players at local marketplaces all across the world of Albion. Craft rare and powerful items, then sell them to the highest bidder and grow your fortune.

In Albion Online's classless combat system, you are what you wear. The weapons and armor you use define your skills, and switching playstyles is as easy as switching gear. Test out new equipment anytime and change up your weapons, armor, and mounts to suit any situation. Hone your character’s skills by crafting new items, or by simply using your favorite equipment.

From solo to small-group to large-scale battles, you'll need strategy, tactics, and skill to prevail. Test yourself against other adventurers in high-risk, high-reward full-loot fights. Level your combat specializations, create unique builds with complementary skills, and use every tool at your disposal to emerge victorious.

Join a guild and carve out your own piece of Albion in massive open-world battles. Claim territories for access to incredible resources, construct guild halls, and conquer entire cities to levy taxes and grow your wealth. Build a Hideout to give your guild a powerful home base deep in dangerous lands. Lead your guild to victory in the Crystal League, and track your progress against other guilds worldwide on a constantly-updated seasonal leaderboard.

Claim a city plot or private island and make it your own. Grow crops to sell or craft into food, raise your own livestock and mounts, and place crafting stations for other players to use for a fee. Stock your house with custom furniture and trophies, build chests to store your growing collection of loot, and hire laborers to keep everything at your homestead running smoothly.

From small scouting bands to massive bosses, from dungeons to full-blown faction bases, the inhabitants of Albion’s open world await your challenge. Take on six different factions, each with different enemies that require unique strategies. Partake in solo or group Expeditions, or seek out the ultimate thrill by facing demons and other players alike in Hellgates and Corrupted Dungeons.

Explore five beautiful biomes, each with its own challenges. Gather valuable raw materials for crafting, or cast a line into Albion's waters to catch rare and valuable fish. Seek out randomly generated solo and group dungeons and slay powerful foes for valuable loot. Enter the mystical Roads of Avalon to discover ever-changing paths between distant zones, face off against long-dormant foes, and build your own Hideout in this vast and ancient land.

Albion Online is a true cross-platform MMO experience. Whether you prefer Windows, Mac, Linux, or even Android or iOS (mobile currently in beta), one account lets you play on all platforms, with all players on a single shared server. Forge alliances with other players worldwide and take part in massive battles to determine the fate of Albion.

MINIMAL SETUPOS: Ubuntu 14.04 - 18.04 LTS 64 bit or SteamOS (other distributions may work. but are not officially supported)
Processor: Intel/AMD CPU with SSE2Memory: 4 GB RAM
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: Graphics card with OpenGL 3.3 support or betterNetwork: Broadband Internet connectionSound Card: SDL2: libsdl2-2.0-0
RECOMMENDED SETUPOS: Ubuntu 14.04 - 18.04 LTS 64 bit or SteamOS (other distributions may work. but are not officially supported)
Processor: Intel/AMD CPU with SSE2Memory: 8 GB RAM
Memory: 8 GB RAM
Graphics: Graphics card with OpenGL 3.3 support or betterNetwork: Broadband Internet connection
Storage: 8 GB available space

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