Avian

[Sekaru]

Portal: http://www.sleepystudios.com/

Forum: http://www.sleepystudios.com/smf

Dungeons: Not only do we have dungeons, we also have a wide variety of indoor (and outdoor) dungeons, each playing their specific part in the main plot.

Competant Bosses/NPCs: To compliment the dungeons even more our bosses aren't just the typical melee damage dealers, instead each boss has its own unique combat system, abilities, etc. Non-dungeon NPCs and mobs will not be dull either, each mob and NPC also have its own unique spells.

Guild System: Self explanatory.

Advanced Conversation System: Self explanatory, really. 9 times out of 10 friendly NPCs have their own conversations, with up to 4 options, each with a possible event such as "Open Bank", "Open Shop", "Give Item" and various quest events.

The Library: Another addition to the lore focus of the game, the Library is basically an in-game and web-based knowledge base with all sorts of lore and background information on monsters, NPCs, gear, and dungeons.

Instancing: To compliment our dungeons we have an instancing system. Instancing basically means each party will get its own "version" of the instance.

Custom Graphics: Self explantory.

Races: Another fairly self explantory feature. Players can choose their race from a list of 4 races including Humans, Orcs, Undead, and Golems.

Drop'an'Craft: Unlike in most games where you're simply given armour, Avian will be using a new system where monsters only drop materials to make their armour. Bosses will have the same system, the only main difference is bosses will drop both (the reasoning behind that is simply because it would first defeat the point of a boss, and secondly we feel that it would be a much more exciting raiding experience if you had to craft the gear in order to progress even further inside a dungeon).

Paperdolls: Visual equipment! Not much else to say.

Avian will not have a set storyline right from the beginning. This is because I want the plot to slowly develop and not be particularly limited by what I wrote months ago.

However, to give a very brief and extremely dilute explanation of the "plot", the story will follow the events and deeds of the "Storyteller", a supernatural being who dictates set events in times, causes said events and makes the world behave the way it does.

Download: Not available.

The following screenshots are from the upcoming beta. A lot of the graphics shown are subject to change:

Races:

Tileset Previews:

 

[bacon]

I wish I saw this before this looks like a really ambitious project.
Anyways it looks like you have your lore all written out. Its a little cliche but honestly i am a sucker for custom lore based things so i find it fine. Again, its not the most original thing out there but it is interesting nevertheless. Not only that, you also have it written out and planned so it will more likely be really neat to see it incorporated.
I like the idea of the heave RP element. I think if you play your cards right you might have something unique.

Your gameplay looks well mapped out but one thing you might want to remember is PvP. Usually PvP is what draws players back in. You might want to incorporate things such as team mission and maybe even a PvP battle section or something. I know this isn't what you want to focus on but its usually something that draws people to play and keep on playing.

Mapping wise, I would touch up on some stuff. I suggest going into the Mapping Improvement thread or working on your mapping more. I know one of the biggest turnoffs is bad, RTP mapping. Yours isnt terrible by any means and I would categorize it as decent but even at a decent level it is still a major turnoff. It would be a shame if you lose players because of some bad mapping so I would really try to work on that. The text is a little bright above the players as well.

Overall I think you have some neat ideas and some well planned out stuff. I just would consider some Multiplayer stuff and work on your mapping. Good luck~

 

[Ellie]

I like what you've done with the swamp, the original purple is pretty horrid. I changed it myself way back but it didn't work quite well, yours looks quite nice! (Sorry, just happened to notice in passing haha)

 

[Sekaru]

Thank you both. As I said before, Macon, the game is mostly based around RPPVP. The uniqueness of the PVP experience however, is something a bit more difficult, nevertheless it isn't one of my main priorities at the moment, levelling content first, PVP and other misc. events later, in my opinion. The mapping, I'll agree with you, it isn't the best in the world. I've grown pretty sick of the RTP myself to be honest, unfortunately we haven't been able to find a tileset artist (not a decent one that would fit our style anyways) so we're suck with editing the hue, messing around on photoshop in general, etc, until then (like the swamp ).

Amy, I think what I did was +40 Hue and -20 Saturation on the RTP. Though, I did darken all the RTP tiles beforehand as well.

 

[bacon]

Thank you both. As I said before, Macon, the game is mostly based around RPPVP. The uniqueness of the PVP experience however, is something a bit more difficult, nevertheless it isn't one of my main priorities at the moment, levelling content first, PVP and other misc. events later, in my opinion.

of course I get that about PVP its just something you might want to keep in mind. I think you could create something unique with the RPPVP and then incorporate the PVP. Its just something to think on.

The mapping, I'll agree with you, it isn't the best in the world. I've grown pretty sick of the RTP myself to be honest, unfortunately we haven't been able to find a tileset artist (not a decent one that would fit our style anyways) so we're suck with editing the hue, messing around on photoshop in general, etc, until then (like the swamp ).

We have a mapping Improvement Thread
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=65492
just post something once in a while. Other members and I will critique it and stuff.
Also instead of hueing it you might want to edit each individual color you get a better effect. It takes a bit more effort but you can get some really nice results with it.

 

[Sekaru]

Alright, I'll check it out at some point. Thanks.

Adding each individual colour? As in going through it pixel by pixel O_O..?

 

[Ellie]

Some graphics programs let you edit the pallette colour by colour. It can produce some nice results if you know what you're doing with it.

 

[Sekaru]

New logo .

Any critique would be appreciated.

@Amy, I'll leave the pixel artists to handle that :P.

 

[Sekaru]

New batch of screenshots for the currently closed, unpopulated, un-named camp:

 

[Sekaru]

Excuse me for the lack of updates, been a bit busy. We've officially entered alpha stages, that means there a whole load of new content, etc.

Patch Notes as are follows:

Avian 1.5.0 (1.0.0A) Patch Notes:

- Players can no longer attack yourself with spells.
- Fixed the "+0 EXP" bug.
- Fixed the hotbar "double cast".
- Animated NPC conversation options.
- Added blocking to the PvP system.
- Added grammar checks to "NPC has killed player" messages.
- Added a default character face sprite.
- If a player is in a party, and is killed, his party is now informed.
- Fixed the quest start event, quests no longer error on accept.
- Fixed the quest end event, quests no longer error on hand in.
- Added tablet items, these items allow non-arcanist classes to teleport to given areas.
- Animated the "+" in the character window.
- Changed the font to something more aesthetically pleasing.
- Fixed the "NPC Says: " bug.
- Clicking the chatbox will now make the chat active.
- Fixed the pick up bug.
- NPCs can now drop multiple items.
- Animated the 'Accept' buttons in the menu.
- Animated the [Change Hair] button in the menu.
- Added various hair sprites.
- Officially entered alpha stage.

Avian Online 1.0.1 Patch Notes:

- Added checks to the pickup proceduer (now checks whether the player is using WASD or Arrows, fixes the WASD issue).
- Fixed the respawn bug.
- Improved the quality of in-game FPS, unlocking your FPS will get you around 200,000 FPS on average.

Also, new batch of screenshots from the outside of the first full 4-man dungeon:

Finished the homepage on the website too: http://www.avian.draignet.com/

 

[Sekaru]

Again, sorry for not being active, a lot of things to do lately, especially when I'm doing two of the core aspects of Avian at once. Anyways, here's a bit of info on the next patch:

The next patch will be quite a major patch and will probably be a milestone release. We'll be doing some huge modifications to the engine, i.e. rewriting the graphics engine to DX8 for a more polished in-game look and releasing quite a few huge features such as a guild system, right-click menus and ofcourse, instancing.

Along with these we will be releasing our first dungeon, the Halls of the Seekers to mark the release of the patch and instancing. Here's a few screenshots of the upcoming dungeon:

And that's about it. .

 

[Sekaru]

Updated the main post.

 

[kqurmiz]

Good luck with this project I like the maps

 

[Sekaru]

Thank you .

 

[Sekaru]

New huge lore! http://www.avian.draignet.com/forums/sh ... 282#pid282 Also got some new zones done, I'll post screenshots later.

 

[Sekaru]

As promised, some new screenshots of the now finished first dungeons, The Halls of the Seekers. Bear in mind, it hasn't been populated with NPCs and neither are the map names final (obviously). Without further ado:

 

[Sekaru]

For those who'd like to try out some proper content the new version of the Player Test Realm has been finished is ready for release, you can download it here:

http://avian.draignet.com/102_PTR3.rar.

Follow the setup guide as normal if you encounter any errors. This does have a load of content, but again, bear in mind, the game is still barely in alpha stages and whatnot. Patch notes for the PTR can be found here:

http://www.avian.draignet.com/forums/sh ... php?tid=56

 

[bacon]

Im not a huge fan of those newer screenshots. I feel as if you have too much empty space you you do not handle it as well as your previous maps. I would shrink those down a little bit, especially the interiors.

Anyways, I am glad you are still working on this. It looks neat.

 

[Sekaru]

I'm sure the mobs will make up for it. And thanks.

 

[Sekaru]

Alright, Patch 1.0.2A has been released in it's current state. A lot of the things we planned didn't get in there, we'll make sure they get put in soon enough. And with that, the PTR tests have concluded, anyone using the PTR, please update the main game using the Updater (everyone else too!).