As it turned out, Snail Games did not officially reveal Age of Wushu 2 at ChinaJoy 2016, but just announce the new teaser website. No game trailer, no screenshots, nada. Other than the official producer interview last week, the Chinese media tracked down one of Snail Games’ Vice President, Bill Sun, for more details. The new info is summarized and translated for easier understanding.
Age of Wushu 2
1. Snail Games did try to add in sandbox elements into Age of Wushu, and part of the idea were implemented. But the end result was not satisfactory, and it was blamed on the slow advancement of technology at that time.
2. The martial arts in Age of Wushu 2 is focused on “internal training”, which derives from “Qi” and “Dan”, and not on external movements. Interactions with players and NPCs is a huge part of progression in the game.
3. Using Unreal Engine 4, the game physics will be strengthened visually. For example, a tree branch will not break when Player A steps on it. However, if Player B with lesser training steps on the same branch, it might break and cause the player to fall. Including combat status (I am guessing torn clothes, limping character), all these will be presented visually.
4. There are only rules in Age of Wushu 2, with “no” restrictions. Characters are at their weakest when the controlling players go offline, hence the strong players must find a safe place to log off to prevent being raided by other players. The idea behind this concept is “free exploration”, with the aim to create interactions without restrictions.
5. The current schedule is aiming at early 2017 for the first test phase in China.
Dark and Light
1. Bill Sun acknowledge Dark and Light used to be on the same level as EverQuest and World of Warcraft around 2004. The game had a revolutionary idea for a sandbox MMORPG, but the technology at that time could not support the intended features. Hence, the game did not see continued success.
2. It was stressed that Dark and Light will not have any class restrictions, players can be “anyone” in the game.
3. Players will be given a few different villages to start their journey, but they can also choose to start from the wilds instead. Of course, the latter decision will be a much tougher one in terms of initial progression.
4. Players’ aim is to build up settlements as progression, and will meet core features including “Magic”, “Summon”, “Capture”, and “Training”. As each player settlement grows bigger, they might stretch to within distance of other players. Of course, that would be the start of PVP. Resources will be burnt to maintain a war, and the attacker will need to figure out how strong the opponent’s defenses are.
5. Dark and Light will still be using the same world view from the original game, including the design of structures and monsters (other than converting to Unreal Engine 4 since last year).
6. Every different weapon in the game will have its own skills and action, the same for magic. Snail Games will only set rules for the world of Dark and Light, the rest is up to players to decide.
7. The first beta test will begin later this year, with 3 villages for players to start in.
Business model
1. The current business model in mind is for players to buy the full original game, followed by DLC content.
2. This option would be the best as these 2 games are slated to launch on Steam and on consoles.
