Fair. We are using AI in our final development - but not for art. Part of what we’re doing is creating a cultural governance engine that is WAI 262 compliant for dialogue (specifically NPC quest responses and decision trees). So it is in our wheelhouse. AI art now is purely communicative.

This worries us a bit. We love the idea of being able to communicate our ideas to all of you so you can get into the lore and the world while we make the game.

But we don’t want to confuse anyone into thinking these are actual game footage.

Do you want to see more of this?

Our thoughts here are that AI policies are vanity metrics for inexperienced middle managers and out of touch CEOs. AI fabricates a lot and is bad at basic math, so using it for core business functions is the wrong play. Many studios will be walking back these policies in the next year.

Thanks. We are planning a deep dive on this topic in the future. It’s likely going to be both in article and video form to explain how a few of the mechanical layers work. It’s the backbone of our world structure and reaction system. This generates quests and other opportunities.

That’s similar to how we work it. Our reputation system is complex and some gameplay styles can be unlocked only through progressing through it and maintaining that progress. Each death allows players to shift that reputation closer to their ideal, revealing new play styles.

Smart post. Our Founder also studied in this space, and our lead developers aren’t just game developers, they’re educated in economics, environmental science, and political science. All of that is going into the design of our systems. They’re meant to feel real.

WoW numbers are great, if you’re WoW. Their product literally is based in accessibility. A healthy MMO does not need these numbers to work, though. FFXIV currently runs with 10% of that, and there’s still room there. It’s big budget.

That depends on the type of game. Our game is meant to be massive. It depends on it for some of its functions to work properly. You can’t explore social consequence on a small team server. But not all games require this.

It's not. But it is the Intel of this space, while Epic Store is the AMD. That being said, AMD used to trade for under $4.

Good on them! Creating a plan and putting it into action is what business is all about.

Exactly. Companies make the mistake of trying to take a slice of the WoW pie, but WoW works because of its franchise. Instead of trying to reskin WoW, we should focus on making new game loops, new experiences, and new ways of playing. Wurm is a fantastic example. It has alot to offer!

Our game is squad based. You have to equip, train, supply, and give tasks to a group that follows your “main”, advises them, and helps protect them. Your job is to do the same. Each squad is unique, recruited based off quests completed and reputation earned.

That’s a good first take. What if I told you that death was actually part of the game, and each death allowed you to reshape your experience from generalized to aligned closer and closer with your ideal faction by choosing to play as a different person in your cohort?

Thanks. If you’re a newbie (under a set total of skill points) then this won’t hit you. We want people to learn before engaging.

Nice! Yeah in our game permadeath occurs only if you are 1) purposefully killed after ko and 2) if your cohort fails to rescue you (or you fail to listen to their warnings and get everyone killed). Its usually avoidable, but if you do die there's a souls-like loop that allows for rep adjustment.

Good response. Quantifiable data can be costly to obtain, and in an efficiency focused org the outputs were likely “merge smaller servers with larger servers. Balance numbers.”

LOTRO has always been an anomaly. Turbines product isn’t just a great game, but a supportive community. This was prioritized early in development based on lessons learned in AC and in developing DDO. The new owners benefit from this early design choice.