Work-in-Progress Spotlight
November 6th, 2010 by Leif Ericson

Runescape RPG

By Basse

“Whoa! A Work in Progress Spotlight, after all this time?!”, I hear you say. Well for all you old AoKHers, this feature is back with a blast from the past, now under new management. For those who are still befuddled, saying “What on earth is this feature?”, the Works in Progress Spotlight is where I, my famous self (I found America, remember?), probe all the current projects waiting completion, bribe the designers to reveal all their secrets about their project, and because of the benevolence of my heart, I decide to reveal this information to all of you.

So, without further ado, in order to whet your appetite, I bring you Basse’s Runescape RPG. Basse (not to be confused with Lord Basse) is now bringing the world of Runescape to the AoK world, featuring a free-roaming map with two different classes, eight different skills to advance in, a plethora of items to buy, plus numerous different main quests and side quests to suit your fancy. Plus, you can fight against your friends in the wilderness, and there are special attacking styles unique to each class.

As I have clearly gained insight into Basse’s project, I’ll now reveal questions that I was able to ask our featured designer. However, in order to not distract yourselves from feasting your eyes on our wonderful home page, I have posted the following interview in our forums. Read on!

1. It probably goes without asking that you play or have played Runescape. What made you decide to make a Runescape scneario in AoK?

Basse: Well, I played Runescape a long time ago, but it got boring when they overloaded it with sucky updates. It was just when I started playing aok online with a friend. We downloaded almost every single multiplayer RPG we could find in the blacksmith. We found the runescape scenario and tested it. It was very strange because there was almost no map design and you could barely locate yourself on the map. I also felt that it was incomplete, and a bit too messy. I thought I could edit the runescape scenario that we had played, but it just kept resulting in crashing, so I started my own scenario, which would end up what it is today.

2. What challenges did you face when translating the Runescape world into AoK? Do you think that the AoK game engine can do the Runescape world justice?

Basse: That was a hard question. The map design is quite hard to get right, I mean the original runescape world is mostly plain grass and some trees here and there with roads between the towns. It was alot harder to get everything work with the triggers. I started with 3 character classes like in original runscape, range, melee and mage. I dumped the mage class because it would be cheat if the mage could convert the bosses in a few seconds while the other classes had to really fight against them. Then I had alot of problem with the shops, at this point I had only made 1 fully playable scenario, called Zombies Awakening. I tried to have each shop to research a technology, then everything else would work smooth, teleports and respawnings. Then I figured out that the enemies was almost as strong as you were, so that didn’t work out very well. I decided to removed all shops and teleports when I added the classic runescape items like bronze armor, iron armor and so on. Then I had each armor, weapon and bow be represented by a sheep. When you bought the item, the sheep would become yours. That way, the respawns detected what sheep you owned, and changed your new units stats so that you would still have the items you bought. When I added the skills, everything turned into a nightmare! I couldn’t get a single thing to cooperate! I finally took myself time and deleted all skill triggers and shop triggers (in total about 700 triggers) and completely remade the shop, skill and respawning system. The quests were quite hard to make though. But in the end, I made up my own quests. Each player had the same quests, but you couldn’t sabotage the others quests.

3. As with many RPG scenarios, designers have to spend a long time creating triggers. Do you find this task daunting or enjoyable?

Basse: I find it both daunting and enjoyable. Triggering in general is quite enjoyable, because I like experimenting with them and find new ways to make them. It’s quite fun to make the triggers, but when I have to duplicate them, it gets a bit more annoying because I have the edit almost all effects, but at least I don’t have to make the triggers myself.

4. You are a relatively new designer in the community, with only one multiplayer scenario in the Blacksmith. Can we expect you to continue scenario designing in the future?

Basse: Certainly! Though I don’t have that many “playable” scenarios finished yet, and those that is, is very bad. I have a few multiplayer scenarios I have been working on now and then. But I like to keep it slow and make everything work as supposed. Runescape on the other hand I really bad want to get finished because I have been working on it for so long and I would like to let go of it so that I have some time for the other scenarios.

Now, while you wait, here are some screenshots to gaze upon: