Overview:
Vilous: Soldier of the North is a game which takes place in the fictional universe created by Mick39. In this universe, players live as one of the many races that inhabit the world of Vilous; a Sergal. Sergals are an interesting species on Vilous, as they have their own sub species; Northern and Southern.
These two races are at war with one another and have been for a long time. The Southern race is attempting to fight off Northern advances and stop them from taking over all of Vilous. You play as a member of the Northern race, and your name is Kura.
Kura grew up in a quiet and isolated village in Northwestern Tatola. The community she is surrounded by is a loving and caring community that looks out for one another and helps each other in whatever ways they can. Holding one another up in hard times and sharing all of their resources, one can see why this village is so peaceful and why someone might feel welcomed here. Having lived here for her entire life, Kura is a respected member of the community and is very well-known as a seamstress, as well as an all-around handy person who is willing to tackle whatever challenges she is presented.
Your story tells the tale of Kura as she is taken from her community and forced to fight in the Northern ranks. In an open and living world, you dictate Kura's story.
Mechanics:
A Living Story:
You can literally do whatever you want in this game. Join the Northern army in completing their goals and taking over Vilous, or head out on your own and end up in the assault at the end of your journey. Maybe you want to try and stop the assault itself and become an enemy of the North, changing the odds of the North winning or losing. You can even run away and pretend like none of this ever happened. The story will continue whether you are there for it or not. Remember that your actions will have consequences though.
The Survival Handbook:
Everyone hates tutorials in video games. Sometimes, there is something that isn’t explained to the player and they need to end up stopping their game and go online to figure out an answer. The Survival Handbook is a tutorial that is really more of a reference guide.
An interesting fact about Northern Sergals comes into play with the Survival Handbook; most Northern Sergals are illiterate, meaning they don’t know how to read or write. Scribed in MaceSergal’s Sekir, the Survival Handbook is not meant to be read by players, although it is still written in an actual language that can be translated. There are many symbols and diagrams that the player can use to figure out what different pages are intended to represent.
The Survival Handbook will discuss what natural foods are good to eat, what ones might be poisonous, how to effectively avoid hostile patrols, how to build shelters, how to prepare foods, where to get water, how to measure time, how to fix wounds, how to maintain tools and armor… anything you’d expect to find in a handbook about surviving in the world of Vilous. This will allow the player to learn how to play the game without forcing them to learn how to play the game.
Advanced Artificial Intelligence:
Vilous: Soldier of the North’s AI system is fairly complex. Individual AI is able to communicate with other AI, or even whole groups of AI. The AI also perceives the environment like a player and is programmed to think like a player. Say you’re hiding from an AI and you step on a stick, and the stick breaks, emitting an audible snapping sound. The AI can choose if it wants to turn and look at what just made the sound it heard, if it wants to turn and either wait a bit or just go ahead and move over to the sound to investigate it, or if it thinks the sound was just an ambient sound and should be ignored. With the hearing system specifically, an AI will never know exactly where a sound came from, they’ll just guess an approximate location.Let’s assume you’re trying to run from an AI. Breaking the line of sight and hiding behind a box won’t do; the AI will not simply move to where it last saw you running. Based on the direction you were running when it last saw you, the AI will guess where you went and search likely areas of interest, looking for you. If you can see its eyes, it can probably see you.
The AI also doesn’t only look for the player; they are able to perceive one another and investigate each other, even if they are considered “friendly.” If an AI hears a conversation between two other AI, then the first AI may want to go investigate to see who is talking.
The Dynamic Damage System:
The DDS is a system that was designed to punish the player for various reasons such as failing in combat, to doing something stupid like jumping from a high place. Let’s say the player does something stupid, and jumps off of a tall rock, landing on the hard ground below. Assuming the fall doesn’t kill the player, there will be a chance for the player to receive an injury from their action, such as a sprained ankle. With a sprained ankle, the player will need to deal with moving more slowly, hobbling, and not being able to carry as much stuff in their inventory as they should have been without a sprained ankle.Injuries all have timers that, when they expire, they player will be able to move and act in the way that they should. These timers can be sped up in different ways to heal the player faster, or completely ignored if the player goes to sleep; they’ll wake up healed.
The Dynamic Weather System:
The DWS is a system that has been created to simulate the passage of time, and weather events in the world of Vilous. We use procedurally generated cloud cover that changes throughout the day, temperatures that change throughout the day as a result of cloud cover and the time of day, weather events that change as a result of cloud coverage, temperature, and humidity, and changing wind.
Read more about the Dynamic Weather System here.
Binaural Wind Simulation:
This system is meant to better simulate headwind for the player by adding an adaptive audio component to their game. When the player is looking into the direction of the wind, they will hear a sound that sounds like wind rushing into their ears. If the player turns around so that they aren't facing the wind, they'll still hear the sound of wind rushing past their head, but not into their ears; this makes the wind sound quieter.
It would sound a little strange if the falloff of sound was linear and applied to both ears, so this is where the binaural capabilities of the coding come into action. We aren't simulating and checking the direction the player is facing when we determine how loud to make the wind sound as much as we are checking what direction the player's ears are facing. This allows us to independently change the left and right audio tracks based on where the player is looking. That means if a player facing into the wind turn to their right, they'll hear stronger wind sounds in their left ear as opposed to their right ear.
Read more about Binaural Sound Volumes here.
V:SotN’s hunger and thirst system is designed to be realistic without being a pain. The hunger and thirst of players is proportionally scaled to the duration of a full day.
It would sound a little strange if the falloff of sound was linear and applied to both ears, so this is where the binaural capabilities of the coding come into action. We aren't simulating and checking the direction the player is facing when we determine how loud to make the wind sound as much as we are checking what direction the player's ears are facing. This allows us to independently change the left and right audio tracks based on where the player is looking. That means if a player facing into the wind turn to their right, they'll hear stronger wind sounds in their left ear as opposed to their right ear.
Read more about Binaural Sound Volumes here.
