Pictographic

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It's the first day of Spring in the land that summer forgot. You'd never know it by the mounds of snow and ice that surround my house, but the weather gurus tell me that it will warm up today.

I warmed up to Tabula Rasa during the demonstration by Richard Garriott at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. You can check out the last two-days of Loading... to read my impressions of this long awaited title.

There are still a few more interesting tidbits that I would like to share so let's get at it.

The first thing I noticed when Lord British fired up the game was that the interface or heads-up-display is minimal. The player is in permanent mouselook mode. Weapon changes are accomplished via the mouse. The game itself is large and in charge, right in your face without huge banks of hotkey bars or statistic boxes stuck in the main viewing area.

Your targeting reticle is the main focus of your gameplay, much like the mouse pointer is in current MMOGs. The reticle, though it is a little thing, makes perfect sense given the game mechanics and doesn't detract from the immersion like a mouse pointer.

Like most first-person-shooter titles players in Tabula Rasa will be able to use cover for protection. Crouching will improve your ranged accuracy, but is detrimental to melee defense. It is extremely important to remember however, that this game is not a first-person-shooter. It is a MMORPG through and through.

True to the genre there will be 50 levels of play available at launch. When asked if having so many levels would cause friends to be unable to play with each other Richard Garriott had this to say,

"NPCs within plus or minus 10 levels will be fightable. This stops the friend disconnect."

In other words, unlike most MMOGs where you can only gain experience from mobs within two or three levels of your own, you can fight mobs up to ten levels above or ten levels below your own level and still gain experience.

Lord British along with the Tabula Rasa team have created a rich backstory to define the game. Richard Garriott has even gone so far as to create a pictographic language.

"The language adds to the richness of the world, but also helps with regionalization. Collecting pictographic runes unlocks the players' psionic abilities." - Richard Garriott

You can never have enough time with Richard Garriott. His passion for his games and for the genre in general is unbounded and contagious. I am looking forward to sitting down with him again soon to take an even deeper look into the game that so many Ultima and MMOG fans have been waiting for.More GDC coverage than any other MMOG news site. It just keeps pouring in...

TenTonHammer.com's GDC 2007 Coverage Portal

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Exclusive TenTonHammer.com Content!

03.21.2007

Dungeons and Dragons Online: Guide To Fighter Enhancements
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"The new EverQuest 2 epic, Swords of Destiny has hit the Live servers. Go now, and help the Order of Marr battle an unspeakable evil by piecing together clues. Ten Ton Hammer has your walkthrough for the first chapter of this amazing quest." EverQuest 2: Blade of the Fae Signature Quest Guide
"Eitholi, Blade of the Fae, is a quick and relatively painless Signature Quest for you 20-somethings. It is a great way to get your low level toon's feet wet doing some serious questing, and the reward isn't too shabby either! This great quest line is made even easier with our step by step guide that walks you through each quest, giving specific locations and helpful advice." Huxley: GDC Screenshots
"These four screenshots serve as dramatic examples of the effort that the developers of Huxley are putting into their upcoming MMOFPS. Jason Wonacott at Webzen sent these images our direction to give Ten Ton Hammer readers an example of the gameplay that was described in yesterday's preview of Huxley. Simply browsing through these screenshots really gives you a feel for the frantic and terrifying nature of this game. Don't wait any longer and take a look!" Vanguard: Saga of Heroes - Warrior Class Guide
"What's black and blue and read all over? Our guide to the Vanguard: Saga of Heroes tank class that's built to take a beating, the warrior. Learn all you need to know to get started playing a warrior in our revamped and updated guide." Vanguard: Saga of Heroes - Necromancer Guide Levels 11-20
"Polkadots is back with his next Necromancer guide. This time he takes us through levels 11-20." World of Warcraft: Herbalism Guide
"Spring is the air and flowers are starting to bloom (along with allergies!), so why not give our Herbalism guide a nice update? It now contains information about the herbs in Outland along with plenty of new and updated information! We even have information on some herb effects when gathered!" World of Warcraft: Is There Enough New Content?
"Our new topic of the week deals with the amount of new content available with the Burning Crusade expansion. There's been plenty of time now for players to take a good look at it. They have either reveled in the newness of all that has been added, or they have become bored and find themselves leveling only because it is the thing to do. What’s your opinion? Vote in our forum poll and let us know what you think!" World of Warcraft: Horde Leveling Guide
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Thanks as always for visiting TenTonHammer.com

- John "Boomjack" Hoskin

You can read previously enjoyed editions of Loading... in the blog archive.