Seamless Landscape, No Loading Zones...Possible or Unrealistic? Options

[Shadowmancer]

I'm sure you've discussed this before, but I cannot find any thread discussing it in detail. All of them seem to take the idea of a 'zoneless' world as a given. I'm no programmer, but I'm wondering just how realistic an option is this? Yes, it is a nice idea, yes it would be great -but if it's no big deal to do, why don't all MMORPGs these days have no zones? True, there are a few in which it works, but they are a minority.

I remember trying a game called Dark and Light once... (www.darkandlight.com)
It was in Beta and as far as I know it still is. They had no loading zones either, it was all one seamless game and it was free (however they said this was subject to change). The Biggest MMORPG Ever was their slogan.

* No zones, no loading time, all players within the same world.
* A medieval world of 15 000-square-mile of land (not including seas)
* A complete, original and easy-to-use automated transportation and warp system.
* Hot spot management system: wherever you are in the huge world of DnL, you can call for or be asked for help to conquest, fight, defend...

"Sounds nice!" I remember thinking to myself. But they had one BIG problem that none of the adverts told you about. Once you loaded up the game, MAJOR lag. Maybe it was my pc, but a friend of mine also tried it out and his lagged just as much. He asked what was up with the lag on ther game chat and the response was that it was always like this, but the game is still being developed.

Well, ok. But the game has been in this 'being developed, feel free to test' state for over a year now. It seems that Dark and Light are struggling to find a solution to their lag problem. Big game world, big lag.

To summarise: I think DnL took on more than they could handle with their 15 000-square-miles of land and no loading zones game world. I hope the same doesn't happen here and that you research how reasonable it is to make a seamless world. Loading zones are a pain, yes, but they are normally there for a reason and in the end they can solve bigger problems.

So, how realistic is it to say you will make a seamless game world?

[Jerky]

The disadvantage being the suspension of belief and the break in immersion. That is one of the reasons why I like the Gothic series more than the Elder Scrolls series. Looking past the many flaws, I find all the Gothic worlds much more immersive. Much of that has to do with the seamless world.

Obviously, this is a personal taste of my own that is not shared with many people, and I am willing to admit that, but we decided very early on that seamless was a must. Wish was the reason, not Gothic. Gothic only helps drive that nail deeper in my mind that it is a feature at the TOP of our list.

Now, looking at the technology, it is not an impossible feat. It will be a difficult one, and one that entails proper thought and design from the outset, but one in which we have had in mind since 2005. Can I make any guarantees? No. Will we try our darndest to make it happen? Yes. I think the benefits far outweigh the costs in this particular case.

Feel free to refute my side .

[Hawkins]

Of course, we like a seemless world. That's actually why we love Wish and PW. We are all getting sick of today's zoned EQ clones.

On the other hand, I was just comparing purely from the technology point of view.

This post has been edited by Hawkins: Jun 20 2008, 12:02 AM

[StaticGrazer]

Of course, we like a seemless world. That's actually why we love Wish and PW. We are all getting sick of today's zoned EQ clones.

On the other hand, I was just comparing purely from the technology point of view.

It seems that programming a world is more in-depth than I had originaly thought.

I can't wait for classes to start. 8)