Comments on: Kill Ten Rats http://programmerjoe.com/2007/02/28/kill-ten-rats/ Whats with all the screaming? Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:41:10 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.3 By: Joe http://programmerjoe.com/2007/02/28/kill-ten-rats/#comment-661 Joe Sun, 04 Mar 2007 19:44:34 +0000 http://programmerjoe.com/2007/02/28/kill-ten-rats/#comment-661 I heard a bit about the first few levels of LotRO the other day. It sounds like they're definately on the right track (and I just pre-ordered my copy. I'm looking forward to checking it it.) I heard a bit about the first few levels of LotRO the other day. It sounds like they’re definately on the right track (and I just pre-ordered my copy. I’m looking forward to checking it it.)

]]> By: sidereal http://programmerjoe.com/2007/02/28/kill-ten-rats/#comment-588 sidereal Fri, 02 Mar 2007 05:54:22 +0000 http://programmerjoe.com/2007/02/28/kill-ten-rats/#comment-588 LotRO's an interesting case. I haven't made it past 12th level in any race, but they make great use of instancing to let your player be epic without ruining it for everyone else, which is one of the main reasons designers stick with rat killing. It's easy to make an infinite supply of rats. Harder to make a village that can try to prevent you from escaping while not messing it up for everyone else. In LotRO, the first bundle of quests are instanced to a single player, so all kinds of cinematic work with Black Riders and so on can be done. After that, there's definitely some rat killing, but they still do a reasonable job of framing it within the lore, which makes it slightly more tolerable. LotRO’s an interesting case. I haven’t made it past 12th level in any race, but they make great use of instancing to let your player be epic without ruining it for everyone else, which is one of the main reasons designers stick with rat killing. It’s easy to make an infinite supply of rats. Harder to make a village that can try to prevent you from escaping while not messing it up for everyone else.

In LotRO, the first bundle of quests are instanced to a single player, so all kinds of cinematic work with Black Riders and so on can be done. After that, there’s definitely some rat killing, but they still do a reasonable job of framing it within the lore, which makes it slightly more tolerable.

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