3.0.1 What is the setting for Vanguard: Saga of Heroes?
Vanguard involves the planet Telon, a world rich with history, lore, and magic, and populated by humans, elves, dwarves, and many other traditional fantasy races. The setting could be best described as High Fantasy, but not necessarily only traditional High Fantasy -- Thestra is a land of traditional High Fantasy, while Qalia has an Arabian Nights theme, and Kojan an Oriental or Asian feel.
3.0.2 What can you tell us about the world of Telon?
Telon is a large world with a myriad of larger landmasses, smaller island-continents, and archipelagos strewn about its oceans and seas. Pretty much every conceivable environment exists, including plains and fields, mountains, swamps, deserts, and much more.
The world is inhabited by all sorts of creatures, some sentient, some merely beasts, and some in-between. The intelligent creatures differ greatly in culture and religion. They worship strange gods and goddesses whose very existence is a matter of some debate.
The presence and power of magic, once only described in legend, has of late become a very real force and something most every Telonite will have to deal with at some point.
The first continent in Telon we are focusing on is called Thestra; Thestra is a starting continent, meaning it's where several of the playable races will begin their journey. We have also announced the continents of Qalia and Kojan. Please check out our Lore section on the Vanguard site for more info.
3.0.3 What is the role of women in the lore Telon?
Both sexes play a significant role in the lore. As mentioned, Elvara Tuhr's journal entries speak of her contributions to New Targonor. Ginna Dalton is another woman who has some key contributions that have been talked about. -- Mike Butler.
3.0.4 How big is the world?
We feel world size should be determined by how much compelling content we can create in the development time we have. Content should drive world size and not really much else. If a world can support 3,000 or 6,000 or 20,000 people simultaneously and the community works, people can find each other, and there's stuff to do for all levels, then it's all good. All that said, given the seamless nature of the world and the ability to travel just about anywhere, Telon IS a big place.
3.0.5 Is the world seamless or zone based?
The world of Telon will not be zone-based in the traditional sense. Every square kilometer of the world we define will be there, all interconnected in a virtual grid. In other words, if you can see it, you can probably go there.
Seamless worlds offer a lot of cool things... a more immersive world, more room for a dynamic world, etc. You can travel overland on your horse, climb mountains, explore underwater, sail the oceans on a ship, and enter the depths of dungeons -- all seamless and interconnected -- no more loading zones.
3.0.6 Will the environments still feel as unique as they do in zone based games?
That's certainly our goal. We realize it's more of a challenge, but we also feel strongly that the extra effort will be worth it. A seamless world is simply more immersive, and the technology and tools finally exist to allow us to have both the immersion and the detail and depth. Some areas will undoubtedly feel more hand-crafted than others, and then also with our seamless and vast world, some regions will be more populated than others. This is so that our live team has plenty of room to add to the continents we launch with, while our expansions team (a seperate group) is working on totally new continents and themes to explore and experience. Also, NPCs will be able to traverse these different environments as well and you will encounter creatures that truly fly far into the air, crawl on walls or on celings, as well as swim the depths of the oceans.
3.0.7 What kind of attention to detail are you giving the terrain and buildings of vanguard? In other games, we have seen cities with buildings that have looked as if they were all cast from a mold.
We are trying to add as much detail as possible within reason. And that’s balanced with the game being able to run (always a good thing) and keeping within time limits. We also try to keep assets unique in different parts of the world so you get the sense that you are in a new place. – David Gilbertson @ Vanguard Gate
3.0.8 Are there multiple worlds/servers/shards or one huge single shared world?
With MMOGs, one thing we like to say is 'Content is King'. There's nothing more challenging than filling a huge virtual world up with interesting content, points of interest, quests/missions, NPCs, etc.
We believe very strongly in a hand-crafted, interesting, immersive world, and this takes the artists, world builders, and designers a long time to make.
So, from our perspective, creating one vast world as opposed to a traditional 'shard' system just wouldn't be worth it... the content would be spread out way to thin and you'd probably just have repetitive terrain going on and on for hundreds of miles. An MMOG world should be interesting; in fact, it should be more interesting than the real world, with more fantastic views and settings, and more of them.
Currently, in order to provide enough interesting and compelling content, we think multiple game worlds or “shards” are the way to go.
3.0.9 How much content will the world have?
Our goal is to provide interesting and varied content for the different races and classes as well as plentiful content for the level range we support at launch. As mentioned, we believe 'Content is King' -- we certainly realize how important it is to MMOGs and how many have struggled with providing enough to do at launch or soon thereafter.
3.0.10 With the increase in size we are also getting used to seeing an increase in navigable terrain. This has had, in the past, the affect of creating large tracts of emptiness followed by concentrated activity near spawn points or content zones (buildings, caves, etc...). What are you views on this and how do you plan to address this issue?
I think you are still going to see areas of concentrated activity for some time to come. It is a monumental task to fill a game world with rich compelling content. That said we are continuing to add more points of interest spread throughout the game world. These points of interest will of course come both from art assets and via content. You may travel into the mountain peaks seeking out the home of the dwarves, find a merchant in need, or find an ancient monolith in the depths of a forest. – Bill Fisher @ Vanguard Gate
3.0.11 How much of the content will be hand-crafted?
All of the world, both content-wise and graphically, will be hand-crafted by our designers and artists. We are not using an algorithmic or random approach to content generation as we feel the quality and feel of a hand-crafted world is much more compelling. This does make the game harder to develop, but it's worth it. Premiere Dungeons and Overland areas will be very hand-crafted, while the myriad of mini-dungeons in Telon slightly less so (they are still created by hand, but our artists are using a 'Lego' like approach that allows us to create lots of content and places to explore outside of what most MMOGs offer (only premiere dungeons).
3.0.12 Will there be different types of environments?
Absolutely -- exploration is a key component of Vanguard's gameplay and varied environments are essential. With Vanguard, we wanted to not only include traditional Western European or Tolkien-esque fantasy, but also build on other mythologies. So we'll be launching with three major continents: Thestra, a traditional High Fantasy continent; Qalia, an 'Arabian Nights' themed continent; and Kojan, an archipelago with an Oriental or Asian theme.
3.0.13 Will there be outdoor expanses?
Yes, and with the world being seamless, we can have vast, epic expanses, including views from mountaintops where you can see for many kilometers.
3.0.14 Will there be dungeons?
Definitely. Deep, dark, dark dungeons are an integral part of any serious MMORPG. Expect to get lost in the depths of some forgotten temple catacombs or deep in a dragon's lair. And then expect to find both danger and rewards... assuming you make it out alive.
3.0.15 Will there be cities?
Yes, from smaller villages and outposts to sprawling cityscapes and castles. Additionally, these areas won't be only for show or to buy and sell wares; rather, they will be integral to gameplay. More on this later.
3.0.16 Will there be travel on water?
Yes, you will be able to ride ships and even own a ship of your own should you earn the money to afford one. The world contains many continents to explore, with vast seas connecting them. And these oceans won't be empty -- expect meaningful travel as you sail the seas of Telon, and all sorts of interesting encounters.
3.0.17 Will there be underwater adventures?
Yes, the game's engine will allow for different types of environments including underwater adventures as well as regions only accessible by ship.
3.0.18 Will there be an overall story line that covers the span of the game?
Yes, as well as various other story arcs, some of which will interrelate with the overall storyline, and many of which won't. The beginnings of this interweaving story are already revealing themselves in the Lore section of this web site and elsewhere.
3.0.19 Where would you say most of your inspiration for the design of the Vanguard world comes from?
We’re going to answer this from an art perspective: We take our inspiration from traditional high fantasy artists, such as Keith Parkinson, Brom, etc. We were also fortunate to get some great artists in house in addition to Keith, like Ben Thompson and Christian Piccolo. Combine that with great design ideas, and the Sigil art team is very happy. The LOTR movies were also awesome for inspiration.