Wayward Realms Devlog 1: World Generation Systems

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Werewolf
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Re: Wayward Realms Devlog 1: World Generation Systems

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Wyaldfire wrote: Thu Sep 01, 2022 7:47 pm As far as writing, we have a fair bit of writers, around 10 I think, though some, like myself, pull multiple duties on the project. Together we pull inspiration from many different places, from books, to movies/television, to real world histories, to real world mythologies. I can really only specify for myself, Game of Thrones, and really the World of Ice and Fire, being a big inspiration, especially when it comes to the political stuff. Robert E Howard stories are also big for me when it comes to lore books, as I really enjoy reading and writing pulp. European and Norse mythology is big too, as well as historical events. For the other guys, LOTR, Dragon Age, near and far eastern mythologies, are a few of the things that pop to mind. So pretty diverse overall.
As far as the VGM, it's hard to say what it will be able to do in the end, and it won't really be able to show it until near the end when it has all the tools to work with, but it is Julian's baby and we have trust he can pull it off. In essence, yes, it would be able to shape the narrative around the character. We aren't aiming for a traditional main quest, so the idea is there is a lot more that can be customized to a particular character based around their choices and actions, and no two characters should have the same story as a result.
As far as the world size, it is one of our core pillars. We want the world to feel authentic. When you take an epic quest your character travels for days or weeks at a time like a real adventurer, not a leisurly hike across a small countryside the size of a modern town like most other games.
Fast travel will be a must and allow players to get on with their adventure quickly. However, for those that do want to explore, we plan to have a much more varied and alive landscape than what was possible in Daggerfall. From hunting animals or rare monsters, harvesting ingredients, treasure hunting, bounty hunting, or things like random encounters, or the VGM setting up obstacles or even rewards for the player, there is a lot we can do to bring the world to life. Now there won't be enemy encounters every two minutes like a lot of games do. We wish to give the players some down time to enjoy the scenery. With UE5 and our procedural landscape system, which takes into account various forms of erosion, you are bound to come across some unique, beautiful landscapes to enjoy.
Hope that answers your questions, I obviously can't go into too much detail regarding some of this stuff.
I hope Wayward Realms features the amazing architecture and colorful art of medieval times. Game of Thrones captures the brutality of the past but it also forgets that for all the conflict and poverty there was also colorful architecture and a worldview centered around religion. I don’t like how people view medieval architecture and art as so grey and dull when if you look at churches built in medieval times and look at medieval art, it’s almost trippy. Daggerfall, made before the whole “medieval as gray and having a modern materialistic view of life” had a nice and magical world.

I’m more confident in the game now with your clarifications. I have doubts and skepticism but I am 100x more interested in Wayward Realms then Elder Scrolls 6. At BEST Elder Scrolls 6 will be Oblivion will better graphics. That’s great but even if Wayward Realms ends up a buggy mess it’ll still have the foundation for the Daggerfall successor, a game so visionary that it hasn’t been topped by any other open world RPG

Also no offense but the werewolf design in Wayward Realms looks bad. Modern Elder Scrolls has a way better werewolf design. Wayward Realms werewolf art doesn’t even resemble a werewolf

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Re: Wayward Realms Devlog 1: World Generation Systems

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Glad to hear you have a little more confidence in the project. Obviously it's still too early to tell how it will turn out, and we know people would prefer to see some more significant stuff before making up their minds and we fully understand and agree.
We do aim for a more colorful world, from the architecture to the clothing. We know people weren't covered in mud, lol.
As for the werewolf, we designed it with that in mind. The therianthropes in WR aren't really turning into animals, their bodies are being mutilated and mangled into a shape that people roughly associate with an animal. So people think the long snout of the werewolf looks similar to a wolf and thus they gave it that name. We really wanted them to be monstrosities and something radically different from what we are all used to seeing. We know it won't be for everyone and maybe that helps to emphasize that these aren't those cool, sleek monsters we all love, they are an abomination.

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Re: Wayward Realms Devlog 1: World Generation Systems

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Wyaldfire wrote: Fri Sep 02, 2022 12:23 pm Glad to hear you have a little more confidence in the project. Obviously it's still too early to tell how it will turn out, and we know people would prefer to see some more significant stuff before making up their minds and we fully understand and agree.
We do aim for a more colorful world, from the architecture to the clothing. We know people weren't covered in mud, lol.
As for the werewolf, we designed it with that in mind. The therianthropes in WR aren't really turning into animals, their bodies are being mutilated and mangled into a shape that people roughly associate with an animal. So people think the long snout of the werewolf looks similar to a wolf and thus they gave it that name. We really wanted them to be monstrosities and something radically different from what we are all used to seeing. We know it won't be for everyone and maybe that helps to emphasize that these aren't those cool, sleek monsters we all love, they are an abomination.
Glad that the world will have more colorful clothing and architecture, too much fantasy with morally grey themes has unrealistically bland environments. And Daggerfall was very colorful and the atmosphere captured the magical worldview of the medieval era.

The werewolf design in modern Elder Scrolls is fantastic (as someone who isn’t a fan of the new games.) It manages to be a wolf monster with some human features as well, it’s great. Wayward Realms seems to go too much into the “gross monster” direction. Ironically making the werewolves MORE wolf-like would set Wayward Realms apart, as in Elder Scrolls they are like a being between both a wolf and a human. And regular werewolves aren’t terrifying monsters already? Elder Scrolls once again portrays them like that very well in how when you play as one you go super fast and become super strong and can jump higher. Wayward Realms current werewolf design is honestly too unappealing if you’ll be able to play as one, sorry. I can guarantee that with this design there will quickly be mods to make it look more like an actual werewolf. And again going MORE towards a wolf is what would be different, werewolves in modern fantasy always lean more towards human then wolf. I would love to see werewolves that lean more towards wolves and connected to wolf spirits or deities or something, that’s something that’s definitely missing in fantasy.

And also, in real medieval literature and mythology, werewolves were portrayed much differently then modern fantasy werewolves that take inspiration from 20th century Hollywood movies. Check out this fascinating article: https://www.medievalists.net/2019/10/5- ... erewolves/

Medieval werewolves would often transform by wearing a wolfskin, retained their human intelligence, and looked like actual wolves except they may be bigger. The whole “savage mindless monsters” thing is Hollywood movies. So it makes zero sense to lean even more into “savage hideous monsters” when actual medieval werewolves were more intelligent and cunning. I just would love to see a take on real medieval werewolves and not Hollywood junk

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Re: Wayward Realms Devlog 1: World Generation Systems

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Yes, I have no doubts that will be one of the first mods made, lol. That is fine, we want to let people customize the game to their preferences. I am a fan of werewolves myself so I am familiar with the traditional medieval werewolf myths. However, one reason we decided to lean into the monstrous aspect was to differentiate playing as them from playing as a vampires, who are the more intelligent, cunning monsters. So while vampires have a clear mind, our therianthropes are raw emotion: hunger, hatred, bloodlust, pain.
Again, we fully understand this is not what a lot of werewolf fans like, but like you said yourself, modern TES already does werewolves like that, so we are taking this opportunity to show something a little different, even if it does fall into the Hollywood monster stereotype to an extent.

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Re: Wayward Realms Devlog 1: World Generation Systems

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Wyaldfire wrote: Fri Sep 02, 2022 1:14 pm Yes, I have no doubts that will be one of the first mods made, lol. That is fine, we want to let people customize the game to their preferences. I am a fan of werewolves myself so I am familiar with the traditional medieval werewolf myths. However, one reason we decided to lean into the monstrous aspect was to differentiate playing as them from playing as a vampires, who are the more intelligent, cunning monsters. So while vampires have a clear mind, our therianthropes are raw emotion: hunger, hatred, bloodlust, pain.
Again, we fully understand this is not what a lot of werewolf fans like, but like you said yourself, modern TES already does werewolves like that, so we are taking this opportunity to show something a little different, even if it does fall into the Hollywood monster stereotype to an extent.
One way you can mix together medieval werewolves with modern Hollywood ferocious werewolves is have the werewolves look somewhat like real wolves but be bigger and have fangs or other scary features. Like similar to a hellhound, or a savage wolf. The perfect mix of wolfy werewolves of medieval times with modern scary and savage werewolves. Maybe something like the wolf from Neverending Story? This art of the wolf manages to both look like a wolf but also be a scary savage and ferocious beast. Basically a large, ferocious wolf with extra features suggesting a supernatural influence like fangs or glowing eyes. So you’d turn into a wolf from some other plane of existence, but also be a savage monster. So the perfect combination of both medieval and modern werewolves. Basically like a medieval werewolf where it’s a wolf but you combine modern savage werewolves so it is a savage wolf from another plane/dimension. Like your character gets possessed by a wolf spirit from another plane and becomes one. Being possessed to be a werewolf would also make the werewolves more scary and savage, unlike modern werewolves who seem to have some magical disease. Also it would again harken back to medieval werewolves as while they weren’t possessed, very often their lycanthropy was by demonic influence. In the materialist reinterpretation of mythology of Wayward Realms, dark deities would probably be viewed as thinking they’re good or part of some balance, whilst still being evil from a human viewpoint, so werewolves could be these terrifying wolves connected to otherworldly powers that humans are rightfully terrified of and becoming one is something people avoid at all costs
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Re: Wayward Realms Devlog 1: World Generation Systems

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What will the next devlog be like? This new screenshot of the game looks cool but I’d love to see some enemies. And more dungeons too, maybe dungeon entrances
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Re: Wayward Realms Devlog 1: World Generation Systems

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Wyaldfire wrote: Thu Sep 01, 2022 7:47 pm Now there won't be enemy encounters every two minutes like a lot of games do. We wish to give the players some down time to enjoy the scenery.
That. With the thrill of random enconters, accordin to the area and the player. With stories, challenges, puzzles, romances, parties set over the hill, more than just danger and fight. That would be quite inovative yes.

And what i found missin in most of arpg, tagged as mature, is the game of seduction, and all the adventures, the art, the fun, the erotism that it may bring. Givin the stat of charisma, and numerous other skills, at last, a worthwhile value.

Good luck and skill on your project!

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Re: Wayward Realms Devlog 1: World Generation Systems

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Syl wrote: Sat Sep 10, 2022 9:57 pm
Wyaldfire wrote: Thu Sep 01, 2022 7:47 pm Now there won't be enemy encounters every two minutes like a lot of games do. We wish to give the players some down time to enjoy the scenery.
That. With the thrill of random enconters, accordin to the area and the player. With stories, challenges, puzzles, romances, parties set over the hill, more than just danger and fight. That would be quite inovative yes.

And what i found missin in most of arpg, tagged as mature, is the game of seduction, and all the adventures, the art, the fun, the erotism that it may bring. Givin the stat of charisma, and numerous other skills, at last, a worthwhile value.

Good luck and skill on your project!
I think Daggerfall was supposed to have procedurally generated quests but of course it didn’t happen. The idea was the player’s actions and random events across the game world would affect quests and shops. Wayward Realms aims to implement that. What I find interesting is most of the procedural changes in the world are due to circumstances outside the player’s actions, like war or disease or natural disasters. Really helps establish you as merely a small part of the world unlike modern Elder Scrolls

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Re: Wayward Realms Devlog 1: World Generation Systems

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What you mean 'procedurally generated quests'? I believe that the player (his luck, his skills, his background...) must also have an influence on the outside world and the events he can attract or repel, without making it turn around him/her.

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Re: Wayward Realms Devlog 1: World Generation Systems

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Ferryd wrote: Thu Jan 05, 2023 9:38 pm From my own experience what we saw in that video appears to be something one or two dedicated people could probably cobble together in a weekend or so for a gamejam session. Could be the start of something far far down the road but it absolutely didn't warrant making a video of that nature
I… mostly agree. That video is simultaneously interesting and also almost feels like a parody, with how seriously something that could be put together quickly is treated as the next Daggerfall. Wayward Realms is currently 90% marketing and community rather than game. I do want it to succeed but there’s already an entire article about the lack of development progress from a former team member. I think the devs are constantly releasing lore and art and theatrical videos to try to get investors interested so they could start development for real, as currently the game doesn’t have funding. That actually makes the aforementioned video come across as notably more strategic and logical than just hype. I hope the Wayward Realms team succeeds in getting investors on board. One thing is they could start by making smaller games to build up funding but instead they’re just trying to get investors on board. Sounds a bit shady but yeah. I’d much, much rather have a visionary who has ideas of genuine fantasy role-playing games like Julian Le Fay getting 10 million dollars then a “just good enough” type like Todd Howard. Hopefully the team is more directly trying to get investors for Wayward Realms.

I’m highly skeptical but I want it to succeed.

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