Technology Preview: Nightfall

[belgianpanda]

Disclaimer: Nightfall is currently a Technology Preview.  This is the stage before even Alpha.  There are absolutely no guarantees on feature completeness, continuity, stability, speed, etc.

Nightfall is a browser based, real time adventure game.  It features real time many-to-many PvE and PvP, HTML/Ajax based animation, world building, quests, and much more.  There are no turns or time limit restrictions, you can see and interact with online players in game, form parties and guilds, and hopefully have some fun.

However, development is at a point where testing fun-ness is possible, so we would like to get as much input from the community as we can.

What's in it for me
What I'm looking for specifically by posting this project is feedback on making different aspects, such as combat, more fun.  There are plenty, plenty of bugs that are continually being squashed, there is only about an hours worth of content, there are many placeholder images, and many of the 3D images have not been textured yet.  If you are looking for a polished experience, this isn't for you at the moment.

What's in it for you
For those of you who actually spend your valuable time helping us out, I don't have a lot to offer except free gameplay when the game launches.  We are still discussing the specifics of what will be charged for during launch so I can't get to deep into what 'Premium' accounts will ultimately look like, but I can offer free lifetime accounts to those who help.  It may be just removing advertising, or it may be real in-game benefits.

Ultra-Huge Disclaimer
We haven't moved the application to a dedicated server with real bandwidth yet, so it is very slow.  It is running on a residential broadband connection, so it is quite possible it will be unplayable for many.  I apologize in advance, but we are not at a stage yet to start investing in infrastructure.

Temporary URL: http://nf.game-host.org:443
Invite codes:
--edit, more codes--
ThAFEqEga4RucrUp
3usajuvuwuwUFreg
wEVuMaSt3g6fep8E
tres3Edredexapre
hawreb5Etre59afr
stetumUpREfut9as
zafRaNeP5W2uheCh
--edit--

--edit--
more keys

M7THaswawUXegAdr
7E2puRubRuWrap2T
fapRaqukapRaZ6TR
wEseNAdejeyEv39e
PeVafASPeduduTA9
sW2fuche9puWagAd
stAj4xugEqaqE2TU
thesP7cruKusa5pa
xAphutexEhebrej8
4ufaPAsWemUYUcHe
fu69buspa9A7esWE
crEjeKatH5W3xAch
hapE2RUZ9FeTuxu3
yuchusp8treHuCAk
z78EkeReSEfrEyab
sT5jUbR8TaXuw2Up
7RAdr5Q8rutUtEch
9HuSTucrabrEsu4A
sachevUburunub9a
beDA49ac9JaQaSey
w9r3cheCEjAsWuP4
8uzeT5a8aVubezav
Q2SwEFreStUwenaW
swej7p6zecre7Pe6
2AcrE2aspePE3Efr
DaSw2jA8ECAcha73

--edit--

Here are five as a starter.  If you want one after those have been used up, please PM me or send an email to jeremy [dot] pickett [at] gmail.com

Final Thoughts
I'm primarily looking for feedback on 'fun-ness' of features, such as combat/world building/quest building.  I love to hear about bugs, but polish/picky bugs are not the aim of this experiment.  Thanks!!

Supported Browsers:
IE 7 on WinXP
IE 7 on Vista
Firefox 3 on WinXP
Firefox 2 on WinXP

Firefox on other platforms should work, but have not even been smoke tested.  IE 6 will not work, and this is on purpose.  If you would like to know why, please send me a note and we can talk about it.

[raestlyn]

What resolution the game should be viewed? I'm with  680*400 and it looks really messy. I'm also gaining undefined JavaScript alerts all the time. It does look like a fun game, but its pretty impossible for me to play it with this laptop.

Btw, the game otherwise works with Firefox 3.2 beta on Xandros Linux.

[saljutin]

testing it out...it looks nice so far
-when I first login I get undefined alert
-when buying dagger = undefined alert
-lots of undefined alerts
also I cannot find spiders to kill.
and resolution I have is 1024x768 and still screwed up

[belgianpanda]

640 x 480 at this point will be messy.  I don't know how much background with UI programming you have, but the UI is formed via XML->XSLT->HTML, so it will be fixed in the future, but not now.  I know about the undefined alerts, they are still there for debugging, but I should probably lower the frequency. 

I have heard several complaints about not finding spiders---do you see the glowing question marks at all?  they are the actual mob point.  they move around.  If you can't see them at all, i'll need some specifics which I can PM you about.

At this point of development, your time is a gift.  I really appreciate it, and I wish I could give more back.  Thank you for your comments.

p.s., the minimum resolution should be 1024/768.  Currently there is no safeguard for this, and I should have stated it earlier.

Raestlyn, what browser/version were you using when you encounter the errors?  what kind were they?  THANK YOU!!!!

[saljutin]

well I cannot see spiders then...
I can see Ore Veins and such stuff because I picked that up

[belgianpanda]

What browser/os?  if you are using firefox i would love to see Tools->Error Console output, if you can.  The code around monster spawning is very brittle at this point and I would love to troubleshoot more cases.

[saljutin]

winXP/FF2.0
error console:

Warning: Unknown property 'filter'.  Declaration dropped.
Source File: http://nf.game-host.org:443/production.css
Line: 817

Warning: Error in parsing value for property 'z-index'.  Declaration dropped.
Source File: http://nf.game-host.org:443/nightfall/nightfall.game?a=questMap
Line: 0

Warning: Error in parsing value for property 'width'.  Declaration dropped.
Source File: http://nf.game-host.org:443/nightfall/nightfall.game?a=questMap
Line: 0

+also when I go to Shady Grove location I get that "report" that opens up when you mine or etc. but it is empty and I can only close it

[belgianpanda]

i'll get a vm going in the morning to replicate, those arn't nice bugs.  I'm using Yahoo UI for alot of the animation, and I think there may be a problem in there library.  Or more likely, a way i'm using their library.

[Chris]

Display problems: Get yourself FF3 and click CTRL+, CTLR-.
Interface: you should rethink it, those 'popping out' windows are annoying.

Where can I find some monsters to fight or something like that?

[raestlyn]

Display problems: Get yourself FF3 and click CTRL+, CTLR-.
Interface: you should rethink it, those 'popping out' windows are annoying.

Where can I find some monsters to fight or something like that?

The Ctrl+ and - works with FF2 also.

[belgianpanda]

I anticipated some liking different windows and some not liking them.  It isn't exposed yet, but there are full screen versions of every pop-out as well.  That will be an option in the final version, in addition to being able to fully customize the UI if you are comfortable with XSLT.

[saljutin]

well I tried FF3 today and I still cannot find spiders...can someone tell me how to do it because people said it works in FF3

[belgianpanda]

Do you still only have those three errors in the FF error console?  They should be in the upper left hand corner, and they are now walking around with a tag called 'Monster' until I get new artwork.

[JGadrow]

I also have FF3 and was unable to see the spiders in the UL corner of the screen.

[saljutin]

Error: pointInstance.func is null
Source File: http://nf.game-host.org:443/js/combat.js
Line: 325

Warning: Element referenced by ID/NAME in the global scope. Use W3C standard document.getElementById() instead.
Source File: http://nf.game-host.org:443/js/main.js
Line: 436 & Line: 575

Warning: Error in parsing value for property 'width'.  Declaration dropped.
Source File: http://nf.game-host.org:443/nightfall/nightfall.game?a=questMap&zone=1
Line: 0

I het those errors

[belgianpanda]

okay, i see the problem now, a fix is incoming.

[belgianpanda]

The root cause of the bug is lag, and not accounting for it correctly.  So, in the short term I've put in three fixes.

The first fix backs off some of the more aggressive animation methods.
The second fix attempts to detect lag in this specific circumstance, and gracefully retry.
The third fix simply adds random encounters where the mobs should be even if you don't see them.

This will take at least manually refreshing the browser tab connected to the game.  If these issues still occur, a FF error log is exactly what it takes to fix the issues.

THANK YOU!

[Chris]

Maybe make it in flash? You will have superior gfx and probably less problems...

[belgianpanda]

Since the entire UI is XML transformed via XSLT, I could make a flash front end, an XNA 3D client, a command line client, an iPhone client--the sky is the limit.

What I really want to test though, once some of these previously unknown showstoppers get squashed, is if the idea itself is fun.  If it isn't, I need to tackle that first.  I realize trying to define fun is really difficult, kinda like defining porn ("can't give you a definition, but I know it when i see it!"), but it's the most important part of any game.

[saljutin]

If I move to Shady Grove some window opens and displays: Initializing Combat, then it closes himself. I still cannot see spiders.

Warning: Error in parsing value for property 'width'.  Declaration dropped.
Source File: http://nf.game-host.org:443/nightfall/nightfall.game?a=questMap
Line: 0

only this error appears

[belgianpanda]

still working on some of the more elusive bugs, but i had time to integrate animated run cycles.  no plugins, just html/javascript/css

[Chris]

What I really want to test though, once some of these previously unknown showstoppers get squashed, is if the idea itself is fun.  If it isn't, I need to tackle that first.

Well, to me it isn't. If I want to play something where I can see the moving character (and had to wait for it to reach the destination) I expect to get rewarded by some animation, special effects, cute landscape, etc. In short, I play WoW. When I want instant action I play text based RPG where I get what I wanted with one click. The demo you made had disadvantages of both graphical & text games without any of their advantages. But I doubt most players think this way and I'm absolutelly sure you will get some fanatical fans no matter what you made, assuming it is at least a bit playable :-)

[belgianpanda]

--brain dump after reading those comments--

dig disclaimer: game mechanics are not tied to UI

So one thing I can offer is this--since it is a web based game, "cheat detection" (cheats include greasemonkey, man in the middle, or just modifying the UI which will be open sourced) will have some methods checked more rigorously than others.  One aspect that I just don't feel is very important is moving within a zone--the current UI imposes a Javascript timer to get from one place to another, but gameplay isn't anchored on that notion.  When, not if, gamers learn to exploit that mechanic, they can travel within a zone via a click or ajax request.  I don't consider that a bug, I think of it as a feature. 

Basically, here is the reasoning:
  1.  Most people want suspension of disbelief, and most people won't mind wait a moment to watch their toon walk across a small zone for that benefit
  2. Moments walking function as suspension of disbelief, not a game mechanic
  3. The benefit of being able to be in combat 1-3 seconds earlier if you do cheat has less impact, since combat and recovering from combat take an order of magnitude longer. 

So basically if people want to write command line or text only interfaces, I'm fine with that.  They will have an efficiency advantage, which I don't think is unreasonable.  CAPTCHAs will be added during beta and plenty of other security concerns will be addressed, but  text based UI's are still on the table.

--edit--

i don't want to make excuses bout graphics or animation, but I was hoping the purpose of posting a pre-alpha, technology preview would help confine the conversation to gameplay and not graphics.  Please don't take that as a criticism of a criticism , it's not.  I appreciate every hard knock, comment, criticism that comes out way.  It's all an interconnected package, and we know that.

with that being said, more animations, graphics, landscapes, and other assets are coming to the game.  the graphics workflow is the most bogged down for a lot of reasons and will likely be the critical path for quite a while.  personally I am quite excited that some of the objectives in the graphics world have been met, such as creating a FauxD (fake 3D) and FauxNimation (fake animation) environment for alot of the assets we already have.

[True Valhalla]

"Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage"