An old incomplete RO remake project.

Started by Insomnia2000, Apr 03, 2018, 10:05 PM

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Insomnia2000

I posted this to reddit, but thought I would post it here too for any RMS people who like unusual server projects or wanted to add to the discussion. Most of it is copy-pasted from reddit. I did leave a link at the bottom for more info, but if that's not allowed in server discussion, or this needs to be moved elsewhere, that's all fine. I didn't think it belonged in advertisement since it's likely to never open. I mainly wanted to bring about some discussion of an RO remake idea that was started a few years ago.

I'll start off by saying this project isn't open nor is it likely open any time soon, if ever. I just thought some people would find it interesting to read about since there are so many RO spinoffs and cash-grabs. So, here was a project spinoff that wasn't intended just to make money off of the RO name and was started because of the love of the original and desire to bring more Ragnarok to Ragnarok fans.

What is Ragnarok: Asgard Legend?
This project is more of a remake than a sequel. Ragnarok Online is an old game and despite offering a lot of unique features seen nowhere else, it feels quite lacking compared to modern MMOs. The goal was to remake Ragnarok Online with the intent of keeping all of the aspects of the original game while fixing and adding things to the game that to make it more than just a grind from level 1 to 99.

The Project's Infancy
The team started with rAthena as a base and wiped all items, monsters, NPCs, etc. until we were left with just a means of login, character creation and server hosting. By starting with a clean slate, we were able to optimize, normalize a lot of features across all NPCs, and add more dynamics to the game itself. When you try to go back and add features retroactively, it usually doesn't turn out well. For instance, the new questing system for RO being mostly broken and working for some quests but not all. By starting with nothing, we can ensure that all features, like the quest window, work across the board and not just in some places. This applies to more than just quests and allows the game to feel more fluid all around Rune Midgard as opposed to feeling like one team handled one city and some other team with other intents handled the next city.

What's the Same or Similar?
The client and server backend are the same; I mentioned earlier that we started with a blank rAthena. The mechanics and calculations regarding most aspects of the game are pre-renewal based as we felt that pre-renewal mechanics were more unique to RO and allowed for more versatility. I say "based" because although they are similar, they are not identical. You could expect a lot of skills to function similarly, but maybe slightly altered for balancing purposes in some cases. You'll also see the same visuals, same towns, job classes, and monsters from RO alongside some new additions or changes. And this is about where the similarities end.

The result from keeping these things similar is retaining the original RO1 feel, while allowing for a lot of new experiences. The goal is to provide that initial fun, learning, and exploration feeling of playing a new game all while still feeling like the classic Ragnarok Online that we all love.

What's Different?
There's quite a bit different. For the most part, if it wasn't listed under similarities, expect it to not function the same as RO1. I'll try to bullet point as many of these things as I can remember. You'll notice a lot of features that make the world more interactive and dynamic overall as well as a lot of changes to how classes and features are handled. For us, this was a three step process.

Step 1.
When introducing a new mechanic, skill, or feature we had to first make sure that it was in-line with how the original RO played. This means that nothing is mandatory and players can build their character and play the game how they choose. The original Ragnarok Online is one of the few non-linear MMOs where the player's hand isn't held throughout the whole game, directing the player where to farm, what quests to do, and what skills/stats/equipment to use. Although there is more of an overarching storyline that can be followed from levels 1~99, it is designed in such a way that it is entirely optional. There are still plenty of side quests if you choose to learn the lore of Midgard/Asgard at your leisure, just as in RO1. This also means that no feature can feel out of place. I know this is pretty subjective, but the intent is that everything should be professionally done and well-thought-out almost as if the game was originally launched with said feature.

Step 2.
Secondly, features and adjustments have to be properly aligned and balanced with the rest of the games features and content. In our case, the aim was to not have any absolute bests or "crutch" features/content. This can be quite difficult to do without a lot of testing. RO1 had a lot of "crutch" systems where if you didn't do X or didn't have Y item, you were at a major disadvantage or were just intentionally making the game more difficult for yourself. These sort of "crutch" systems are nearly impossible to get rid of, but the goal is to minimize it as best as possible without making every class and every play-style feel exactly the same: one of the problems we had with renewal.

Step 3.
Lastly, implement and play through the content to analyze the feel of the content and make adjustments as needed.

Assorted Features and Mentions
Here are some assorted bullet points and a quick bit of information, as much as I can recall. You can find some images on the main site.

  • Redesigned Novice Class - The novice class has 9 separate skills to level instead of the original Basic Skill going to level 9. Most pservers out there offer a lot of custom @commands for convenience, but we always thought typing a bunch of commands took away from the game. However, you'll still find some @commands implemented in skill form available as a novice. For example, the Monster Memory skill functions very similarly to @mi/@monsterinfo. The novice class also has access to basic vending abilities, ability to call a mount in some situations, and ability to pick up items faster than clicking on each item. As a result of novices having things like vending, other classes function slightly differently, though still have the same feel.
  • New/Modified Skills - Most classes have a few entirely new, never-seen-before skills alongside some unmodified and modified RO1 skills. As of the time of this post, only 1st class jobs have been completed. The intent was to provide more ways to play each class and to balance existing skills all while still maintaining the feel of the class. Thieves should still be stealthy, merchants should still be interested in money/trading, etc.
  • Clans / Guilds - Players can join both a clan and a guild as they serve very different functions. Clans have a lot of influence on the environment and towns (dynamic world) while guilds have more of an influence on castle-related activities like WoE and castle dungeons. The goal with clans is to create some innate rivalries, like seen with races in other games without making players feel isolated from the rest of the world.
  • Pets - Pets have a lot more functionality besides just being a monster that follows you. Pets can be leveled up, evolved, fight alongside you, and offer various abilities to help you on your journey. There's a lot more use for pets, but nothing out of place.

  • Weather - We've added a dynamic weather system to the game. You may experience rain, fog, sandstorms, snow, normal weather, etc. all dependent on which part of the world you are in and what the weather is like that day. Weather is also more than just visuals as different weather conditions very slightly impact combat and influence dialogue with NPCs.

  • Dynamic World - As mentioned above, there are lots of variables that influence how NPCs react and how you will engage in combat more than what's mentioned. RO1 had a very stagnant world and completing quests or events had zero influence on the world around you and the rest of the game. Ragnarok: Asgard Legend is quite a bit less stagnant in this regard.

  • Weapon and Armor Variations - Weapons are now found from monsters with various small abilities and functions attached to them. Effects are minimal but do stack with the original weapon-card system. With weapon variants alone there are millions and millions of combinations to allow for very unique weapons.

  • Friend Play - This feature allows you to de-level in order to continue partying with a friend. There is the usual 15 level range for sharing EXP, but with Friend Play, you don't every have to worry about out-leveling a friend. You'll always be able to hop into a party with them regardless of each others levels. Players are returned to their normal level once friend play is deactivated and are still rewarded in a different manner for EXP gained as a de-leveled character.

  • Town Events - This goes in-line with the dynamic world. These can be triggered accidentally or intentionally and provide a lot of unique experiences for those involved.

  • Professions - The last thing I'll mention are professions. There are currently three professions which offer various crafting abilities to aid you on your journey. Every player can choose one profession to have alongside their job class. Some job classes offer an extension of the profession, like an Alchemist + Shaman combo, but every class now has some level of minor crafting abilities in order to add more to your character's uniqueness.

  • Others - There's quite a bit that's different that may be on the site or not. Bet rest assured that it all follows the same principles as stated above. I'll try to cut this list of features here. Be sure to look under the 'game' tab of the website for anything else that might not be listed.

Current Status
In it's current state, Ragnarok: Asgard Legend is about 40% towards where we wanted to launch with Episode 1. The original plan was to have a progression of episodes like the original RO had, so the launch would have been Episode 1 containing enough content to play the game for many, many hours, but with plenty of content still to come.

This project was started about 3 years ago as a side-project amongst myself and two other admin/devs. However, the rest of the team besides myself have moved on with life and are no longer developing the project. It's a pretty massive project and currently only gets worked on or maintained sparingly by myself as it's very hard to find trustable and competent devs (not currently hiring). Besides that, I like that it's fairly stress-free for me to work on as a hobby when I'm not busy with grad school, work, or family.

Link for more info: https://www.asgardlegend.com/

Well anyway, I thought that since a lot of various RO projects and spinoffs pop up all the time, some people might find this old project interesting. I'm curious what people thought of something like this. A lot of the reason development stopped was because of real life, but the other big factor was that the project seemed like a lot of work for such a small audience that would play it. That's why the project is now just run by myself and worked on very, very, sparingly just for fun.

Just to reiterate, this project isn't anywhere near done, nor may it ever be completed at all. I just wanted to bring something else to the discussion table.

yennar

This looks awesome.
Really awesome.

But i don't think it is really doable for 1 person alone

Bue

Quote from: yennar on Apr 04, 2018, 05:41 AM
But i don't think it is really doable for 1 person alone

Nah, I think this can be solo.

PokemonRO

Quote from: Bue on Apr 04, 2018, 09:32 PM
Nah, I think this can be solo.

Agreed, I think it can be done. Just need to plan out which part requires source coding and which part requires script coding. Source coding would be the most time constraining part of it

BlankXF

Oh hey. Pretty good concept there, especially with redefining the purpose for each classes. I do have my gripes with what Gravity had done with Trans and 3rd classes especially.

Blinzer

Quote from: Bue on Apr 04, 2018, 09:32 PM
Nah, I think this can be solo.

what makes you think that i wonder :^)



Adel

This kind of project can indeed be done as a solo project. However it will take quite a bit of time. I know, because I myself am working on a project very similar to this idea.