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Vikland

October 27, 2022

Vikland includes a beachside community of Viking-style raiders.

Explore Vikland while Keith shares insights and trivia about the scene and his work. Click to watch the video on YouTube.

The preceding video was originally Livestreamed at Twitch.tv/shroudoftheavatar (now archived at YouTube), in which the first half of the livestream focuses on Keith describing the new scene called Port Harmony.

Vikland is a large adventure scene that Keith created within Shroud of the Avatar's Episode 2 region, complete with woodlands teeming with wildlife and resources, islands with shipwrecks and undead pirates, dangerous rare monsters, puzzles, and quests.

Entry Highlights

  • Scene creation (includes blockout, final worldbuilding, POI design, compass markers, ambient music, ambient FX, path grid implementation, storycraft, ambient lighting, interactable lighting, swimmable water, etc.)
  • Player spawning design (includes propping for spawn points and resurrection points)
  • Writing and narrative design (includes NPC keyword-and-response dialogue, NPC barks, readable book props, etc.)
  • Quest design (includes plotting, writing, markup-based scripting, NPCs, combat, puzzles, etc.)
  • NPC design (includes creation and placement of enemies, quest contacts, merchants, trainers, tutorial NPCs, and utility NPCs, as well as patrol paths, ambient emotes, and visual variations)
  • Combat design (includes triggered battles, wave battles, boss fights, and quest-related activities, and may include player abilities and NPC abilities)
  • Traps and hazards design (includes implementation of collapsing platforms, explosive objects, lava, poison gas, etc.)
  • Puzzle design (includes physical puzzles [e.g. move through a trapped corridor], mental puzzles [e.g. match 3 symbols], conversational puzzles [e.g. solve an NPC's riddle], Easter eggs, etc.)
  • Utilities design (includes creation and placement of scene exits, teleporters, doors, lights, crafting stations, elevators, etc.)
  • Propping (includes creation and placement of interactables, breakables, secret panels, readable books, player-placeable decorations, flora, rocks, etc.)
  • Rewards and collectables design (includes creation and placement of harvestable resource nodes, incidental gear and treasure, quest collectables, Easter eggs, etc.)
  • Art (includes creation of NPC visual variations and inventory icons)

Keith wanted a place where players could meet with friends and prepare for adventures together, so he added a village along the shoreline full of friendly non-player characters (NPCs) loosely themed after vikings. Although these villagers admit to raiding nearby villages up and down the coast, they have no beef with player characters and allow interaction with their merchants trainers, and crafting stations. Several of the residents are important contacts for local quests, including one that may tug on your heartstrings while unlocking an explorable secret valley. Because the scene is full of the common browns and greens typical of woodlands, Keith decided the villagers paint their wooden buildings, awnings, and signs colors like teal, goldenrod, and salmon.

The scene includes many points-of-interest to explore, such as ruined structures placed by ancient enemies, several islands with a variety of enemies including elementals and undead pirates, a wooden shack perched on a ledge with implications of a murderous confrontation, and a saber-toothed lair which includes a wave battle that connects with a puzzle--solve both to open a secret passage that leads to a hidden valley.

Keith knows players love new pets almost as much as they love new enemies. Keith added "reef spiders" all along the beach, a colorful new variety of spider he created that seems to fill the role crustaceans might have in the real world. Not only are reef spiders a new enemy, but players skilled in animal taming might also claim them pets. Reef spiders come in four colors: coral, orange, teal, and purple. (Perhaps this variety of colors is partly responsible for the villagers' love of colors?)

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