Officially Unofficial Weekly Discussion #21: Terraforming Worlds (Zone Design)

[SeraphimKensai]

Welcome back to another exciting week. We shift the conversation to discuss exterior zone design.

 

What are your favorite zones? What are your least favorite zones? What environmental elements do you prefer in a zone, such as islands, mountains, water bodies, floating rock formations, forests,etc? Do you like a densely populated cityscape, a volcano base, a suburban setting, a rural setting? What about zone based weather events, fog, day/night cycle, rain/snow?

 

If you could design a brand new zone for Homecoming, what kind of zone would you make? What would it look like? How would it be populated and feel alive? What kind of story would your zone help convey?

 

As always thanks.

Edited March 23, 2023 by SeraphimKensai

[Greycat]

Hmm.

I like zones that just ... work well as themselves, versus trying to cram a bunch of different things into one zone. The zone itself shouldn't try to fight you - it can be difficult to get around to a point, sure, as long as it fits, versus just being a pain.

 

For instance, I think redside should have been far more zones. St. Martial's a great example of this... we go from Vegas-y glitz to hovels to forest to the Carnie ... area in just an incredibly *tiny* area for all that. It's just a mess. it should have either been bigger to let everything really *establish* itself and get some space, or have been multiple zones.

 

Favourite zones? I loved old / Echo Dark Astoria. Yes, even with my first character - and one who spent a lot of time there - being a teleporter. It had atmosphere, the vanishing civilians and commentary from ghosts who didn't know what was going on, etc were just *great.* The new one... eh. Works, I guess, but it lost a lot, to me.  I tend to like Croatoa, as well - plenty of room for the whole storyline to develop, as well as room to explore while feeling cohesive.

 

Least, aside from St. Martial, would have to be the goldside "underground." It's too large with nothing going on and rather annoying to get around. It's a boring travel-time-waster. I don't go down there unless I have to. Even the blueside sewers are better - they're interesting to get around, and the abandoned sewers have atmosphere, again, where you *feel* like you're getting deeper into a forgotten part of the city.

 

As for a new zone? If I *had* to stay in the city, versus some of the things I've wanted to see (expanding into the rest of the world - desert ruins, exotic jungles, snowscapes, etc.) it'd probably be something more obviously residential or even suburban. We know these have to exist, there are apartments here and there, but there's nothing about "daily life" - or that life bein ginterrupted, or the people trying to live it fighting back.

[Coyotedancer]

I play fliers... so, yeah. I love the Shard zones. Gorgeous places just to fly around in, looking at things... I only wish we had more to do there.  So, rather than adding or redesigning a zone, I'd say make use of a sadly ignored trio we already have. 

 

Let's go geyser-jumping and playing with storm elementals.

[UltraAlt]

6 hours ago, SeraphimKensai said:

What are your favorite zones?

 

I would have to say Striga and Steel Canyon.

But I also like the Kings Row, the Hollows, and Croatoa.

 

6 hours ago, SeraphimKensai said:

What are your least favorite zones?

 

Shadow Shard and Independence port (mainly because of travel issues).

 

6 hours ago, SeraphimKensai said:

What environmental elements do you prefer in a zone, such as islands, mountains, water bodies, floating rock formations, forests,etc?

 

I really like the volcano on Striga and that that there is a Giant ROBOT inside of it.

I like a mix of terrain type in a zone, but I'm also fine with the more inner city like zones of King Row, Skyway, and Bricks.

The concept of "alternate time period" zones like Cimerora is interesting to me. I would have liked to have seen/to see other "alternate time period" zones. Wild west would be cool, middle ages with castes and such, ... and that missing zone that it looked like they would be adding for an techno eastern city (but maybe that was what was used for Going Rouge instead?)

 

6 hours ago, SeraphimKensai said:

Do you like a densely populated cityscape, a volcano base, a suburban setting, a rural setting?

 

Yes.

 

6 hours ago, SeraphimKensai said:

What about zone based weather events, fog, day/night cycle, rain/snow?

 

A fog bank moving through the city would probably be the easiest to pull off. There are already fog critters and they could just move in a pack across the city the same way that the ghost ship does. I would also only spawn that at night like the ghost ship.

All the zones have day/night cycles as far as I know (other than the Shadow Shard).  

I don't know about the snow or rain. Both would be cool to see, but I think this would be a lot of work to implement. the fog is all ground level. The rain and snow would both require clouds - that don't necessarily have to be at the zone ceiling, but I wouldn't think too much farther down than that. (partially because flying up through a cloud bank into the area above it would be kind of cool.

 

6 hours ago, SeraphimKensai said:

If you could design a brand new zone for Homecoming, what kind of zone would you make?

 

I would start with the western (wild west) and middle ages/fantasy w/castles zone.

Though thinking about it, a Steampunk zone would be cool as well.

I know that there was a real push for a space station with outer space, but I'm not sure how well that works in with the rest of the game.

 

6 hours ago, SeraphimKensai said:

What would it look like? How would it be populated and feel alive?

 

Well, the western one would have a city with a saloon, of course, a sheriff's office, doc's place, hotels and some shops. Outside of that main area would be some hilly desert areas, some farm lands with related forest. with some ranch houses out in the areas outside of town. Maybe a river. some railroad tracks (with maybe a train that moves through the like the monorail). Roving groups of bandits. interactive wildlife (bears, wolves, coyotes, cougars, cows, sheep, buffalo). non-interactive wildlife (fish in the river, birds flying in formation or circling). A native settlement. Possibly leaning a bit into the steampunk angle in some "neighborhoods".

This would be alternate time stream/period like Cimerora. So dealing with some hinge/pivot point in history with some group traveling back in time to try to disrupt the the time period/alter the timeline. So this could lean more for natural but would have some the tech and science thrown in some "neighborhoods" 

 

The Middle Ages/fantasy one with castles would probably easier to make. Castles, of course, both on flat and more mountainous terrain. maybe a lake and a river. plenty of forests, some farm lands. Maybe section of underground caverns that are actual part of the zone and not an instance. Wandering bands of bandits.  interactive wildlife (bears, wolves, coyotes, cougars, cows, sheep, dragons). non-interactive wildlife (fish in the river, birds flying in formation or circling, dragons circling over head.) different levels of tree heights like stacked Perez forest areas with more than one tier with some forest mazes on multiple levels. Of course, elves, dwarves, orcs, goblins, and whatnot (like the other kind of trolls).

This would be alternate time stream/period like Cimerora as well. So dealing with some hinge/pivot point in history with some group traveling back in time to try to disrupt the the time period/alter the timeline. This would be more natural dealing with  magic and mutation.

[White Cobra]

The thing that really sold COH to me was graduating to Kings Row and street sweeping there. I mostly play street level characters and it was just such an immersive experience and gave a sense of real danger, especially overlooking and running into Bone Daddys the first 5 times and trying to understand just what went wrong. Amazingly, when HC came, I was actually able to recreate this special sentiment when I ran my resurrected Lady Cobra through KR for the first time.

The street level immersive feeling also works very well for me on the docks of IP and in Sharkhead Isle.

Additionally, I like zones that offer something different, like the jungle section of Nerva, the Rikti Monkey enclave part of PI, Striga Isle, Cimerora, and Croatoa to mention some that leap to mind.

What I would like to see above all is a winter/snow zone. I love the winter event, the snow in Atlas park and the Christmas missions – I think last year I only played those two missions for the entirety of the event, and I was genuinely sad when it stopped earlier than I had expected.

I also like the idea of a western zone and/or a medieval zone as suggested by @UltraAlt. Come to think of it, I actually like Night Ward too, as it also offers something different in several places.

[tidge]

The zone I think is designed the best is Cap Au Diable. It has a nice variety of "areas" (urban, industrial, natural) with a good bit of "warrens", but it is easy to travel in/across no matter matter the travel power. I'm sure someone will complain about redside being "too grim", but it's not very different than Kings Row or Brickstown, and it is far more visually exciting than Skyway City or Steel Canyon.

 

I will call out two zones to contrast: Perez Park vs. Croatoa, on the subject of "navigating through the forest (tunnels)". I understand the role Perez Park played at launch, but the tight and twisty pathways through trees (especially for that one exploration badge, the one with the moss) are more cruel than cool. Croatoa has wider "tunnels" , most with visual clues to follow, and the spawns will move through the tunnels as a further clue of the paths to move throughout them. I like Perez Park, but the tunnel feature grates me (even with a map pack).

 

A new zone? I think the Rogue Isles need an equivalent to the (Abandoned) Sewer Network: An subterranean "hazard zone" (or two!) that links Port Oakes and Cap Au Diable. Per the arc, it would be natural to have a "lower level" arc with enemy levels appropriate for those two zones, but I often find myself bored with the variety of "street sweepable" enemies at level 45-50 redside, which is why I ask for a "deeper" version too. The Tunnel of the Trolls is reasonable easy to navigate, so I'm thinking something like that, but with more volcanic graphics and some "sunken city/abandoned base" features scattered about.