Wurm Online
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| Wurm Online | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | OneTooFree AB, Mojang Specifications, Sunsplash Creations |
| Designer(s) | Rolf Jansson, Markus Persson |
| Version | 2.4.2a |
| Platform(s) | Java |
| Release date | June 6, 2006 |
| Genre(s) | MMORPG, MMOFS |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
| Media | Online distribution |
| System requirements | Java (1.4.2_06 or later), Java Web Start, 512 MB of RAM (1024 MB recommended), 1 GHz CPU or higher, graphics card with 32 MB of Video RAM (128 MB recommended) additionally it must be capable of using OpenGL 1.3+ |
Wurm Online is a community-centric fantasy MMORPG developed in Java and OpenGL that strives to emulate real life in a medieval fantasy setting.
Contents |
[edit] Gameplay
All players start out on a continent covered with forests, lakes and mountains. The players can create buildings, towns and items of the world. Wurm Online features a fully deformable landscape, meaning that trees can be cut and planted, dirt can be moved to create pits and hills, and rock faces can be mined to create underground caverns or tunnels.
[edit] Characters
In the game there are two types of characters: player characters and non-player characters (NPCs). A player's character is created before starting the game on the Wurm Online website and can either be male or female. There are no classes or levels, just a list of skills that define that character.
There are only a few non-player characters in Wurm Online; these include:
- Traders - Purchase and sell items to or from players.
- Merchants - Owned by one player and used to sell items that that player wishes.
- Guides - Located at the start points on the servers, these give you your basic tools and teach you the basics of the game.
[edit] Account Types
There are two different account types on Wurm Online. A basic account is a free account; however a basic account cannot increase its skills above 20 nor initiate attacks on other players (although it can defend itself if attacked by another player). A premium account costs approximately 5€ a month from the Wurm Online shop, featuring among other bonuses no skill cap and full participation in all aspects of the game.
[edit] Skills and Professions
When a character starts the game it has very few skills, but as soon as the player starts performing actions and creating new items he or she will receive new skills and become more adept in existing skills. Every task has a set difficulty and if the player succeeds at complete a task, then he or she gains skill. As skill increases the difficulty decreases, with the result that as skill rises higher and higher it becomes more difficult to gain skill.
In many of the skills on Wurm, it is possible to get titles, small labels of text next to a character when highlighted in the game. Titles are achieved normally when you reach 50, 70 and 90 in a certain skill; once a title is an achieved it can be displayed next to your player's name, viewable by anyone. Only one title may be displayed at a time, but players may earn as many titles as they like.
[edit] Items
Wurm has very advanced item management. Almost all items are player made from raw materials gathered or extracted from the surrounding nature or creatures. Every item has a number of different factors including weight, damage, quality level, size, temperature, and possible enchantments.
While it is quite easy to create a low quality version of most items, it takes more time, resources, and high quality tools to improve the quality of the item to make it truly powerful. Skills improve more quickly by improving items than by initially creating them, to discourage the mass production of items for skill.
[edit] World
[edit] Geography
The current world of Wurm consists of two mountainous landmasses(Note: Terraforming is also supported on Wurm Online) with lots of inland lakes and few islands. The wild server is located west of the Home server map and Home is located east of Wild server. A huge sea divides the two maps and in the middle of this sea is the server boundary. Swimming to map boundaries that don't lead to other servers results in death.
[edit] Kingdoms
In the world of Wurm there are currently three kingdoms a player may join, These are:
- Jenn-Kellon
- Mol-Rehan (implemented 29th January 2008)[1]
- Horde of the Summoned
On the Home server, the entire map is just one kingdom (Jenn-Kellon), although a Mol-Rehan kingdom on the Home Server is soon to be implemented. This is the non-PvP server and is accordingly more focused on the sandbox elements of the game. On the Wild server, however, PvP is permitted; there are multiple kingdoms which one may join, all in conflict with each other for various reasons. The Jenn-Kellon vs. Mol-Rehan war is about the rival kingdoms fighting for land and power (this is the main conflict), whereas the Horde of the Summoned conflict is about religion.
On the Home server, new players spawn in Newtown, the capital of the Jenn-Kellon kingdom, and on the Wild server, new players spawn in The Landing, which is a Jenn-Kellon city as well. It is not possible to start the game in the Horde of the Summoned kingdom, and a player must be converted either by a player or by visiting the Bone Altar.
[edit] Settlements
When a player selects a spot to build on, it is possible to create a settlement there. A player can either buy a Homestead, where only a single person can be a citizen or a village where multiple people can be citizens there. When a village reaches its citizen limit, it is possible to "expand" the size of the village, which allows for more citizens. There are advantages of having a settlement, which include Guards. These protect the settlement from aggressive creatures like mountain lions and enemies of opposing kingdoms or towns. If a player dies anywhere on one of the maps and is a member of a village or homestead, it is possible for them to respawn there, rather than respawning at the start point of the server.. There is also less decay on settlement, this means that a player does not have to spend as much time maintaining their land, there are however disadvantages to having settlements. A player must buy a settlement with in-game money, which can take a while to raise and once the settlements is founded, a player must deposit a certain amount of money in the settlement's upkeep fund each month to prevent it from disbanding.
On the wild server it is possible for enemies of kingdoms to raid another kingdom's villages or homesteads but they must first kill the guards which protect the village from enemies. It is also possible to drain money from the villages upkeep fund, which brings the village closer to being disbanded.
[edit] Religion
In the game, there are four Gods a character may follow; the three White-Light gods or the single Black-Light goddess. Both Jenn-Kellon and Mol-Rehan are Whitelight kingdoms, meaning that you must follow the White-Light Gods to join either. The Horde of the Summoned is a Black-Light kingdom and you must follow the Black-Light Goddess accordingly. When altars are created and/or blessed the area surrounding that altar becomes the domain of the God it is dedicated to, and a player will get bonuses for having a certain faith in that God.
When following one of these religions, you can pray at any altar that is dedicated to your God or Goddess, this will increase your faith, once a player reaches a certain faith they can become a priest. Priests can cast spells and enchant items which help you develop your skills or enhance your fighting ability. To become a priest a player must go to one of the main altars in the game, both located on the Wild Server. The Altar of the Three is the White Light main altar and the Bone Altar is the Black light equivalent. This means, for home server players, that they must make a long journey to Wild and cross onto the PvP server. A priest character does have to endure some restrictions; certain tasks cannot be completed.
Whilst a priest, if a player reaches a certain skill level in different characteristics, they may become a champion of their God or Goddess and the restrictions they had as a priest are lifted. Championship does come with its own set of limitations, the main one being limited to three deaths. After the third death, a player will not be able to play as that character anymore, experiencing what is known as "permadeath". Their name is then added to one of main altars (according to which god they chose to follow) and the Hall of Champions, a record of every champion that has fallen.
[edit] Graphics
Wurm Online is developed in OpenGL and can be rendered using either JOGL or LWJGL. The game has some advanced terrain, sky, and weather effects. Some animations have been implemented for player and creatures models. The JOGL renderer for the game does not work very well with some ATI video cards, if this occurs users can then switch to the LWJGL renderer.
[edit] Development
Wurm Online first started in the Beta stage in 2003 and continued in this stage for many years, changing the maps, on which the game is based, frequently. The game officially went Gold on June 6, 2006 [2].
In spring of 2007, the main client developer quit working on the game, but the main server developer started to work on the game full-time instead of part-time. The client development has since been given out to a group of trusted players.
[edit] Server crash
On 25 April 2007 the Wurm Online home server (jenn001.game.wurmonline.com (now Jenn002)) crashed and wouldn't come online. Mojang stated that their host had multiple hardware failures and was unlikely to be able to recover any of the data. It was decided a complete reset would be done (new map, skills/items reset). After a false restart on May 5th, the servers were brought back online on May 10th with no noticeable problems. The new system had been upgraded with a new automated remote back up system and a separate login server.
