FAQ - General MMOG Phillosophy
18.6.5 Is there a difference in designing zones vs. a seamless world?
You can still have interesting/different terrain in a seamless world. The challenge is making the part in-between the zones that you don't see in zone based worlds.
I think the potential with seamless worlds is much greater than zones. Instead of zoning from a grassy forest instantly into a lava zone, imagine if you will, walking through a forest and seeing the part where the lava has taken over the forest, seeing the burning trees and the devastation as the lava takes over the forest. Picture if you will, trudging through knee deep snow across a mountain, freezing, tired, and seeing a lush tropical valley nestled between the peaks that you can hike to. Experiencing the transition from cold to tropical as if you were actually in a real world instead of "walk through a narrow V where I can't see anything, pop, you're in the forest now, no more snow."
It can be more difficult to create seamless, but it's way more fun because you are creating a real complete world, not just random zones that can be connected any which way. - David Gilbertson, Lead Artist
View Printable Version
Back to General MMOG Phillosophy
Questions
Back to FAQ Index