Last Thursday, the new Pre-Alpha Release 17 of the (MMO)RPG Shroud of the Avatar launched, bringing with it several new features that are now being heavily discussed in the community.
One new feature is that players now leave behind transparent skeletons at the spot of their virtual demise. Many find this feature good as it allows them to see where other players have been and died. However, this also brings some problems. Not only are the skeletons visible even in single-player mode – which doesn’t make much sense – but there is also the risk of spoilers.
Surprise attacks from monsters or traps in dungeons could be spoiled by the scattered transparent skeletons. Therefore, it might be sensible to integrate an option to display these skeletons or not. Those who don’t care about spoilers could continue to see the skeletons, but when engaging in the story and entering a new location, they could “turn off” the skeletons and face the surprises.
Another issue with the new version is a newly introduced camera on the overworld map. While it used to be seen from an isometric perspective, allowing you to rotate the view and zoom in a bit, the new camera now behaves like it does in the adventure scenes. You can now play from a third-person perspective and also look at the sky. This was introduced by the developers so that players are closer to the action, have better orientation, and can watch the sky where events can occur.
However, the new camera also leads to feelings of nausea. Objects that are between the camera and the player character are not rendered transparently. Instead, the camera zooms automatically and quickly close to the character, so that it is not obscured by the object. On the overworld map, this leads to a constant zooming effect. The camera repeatedly rushes forward and suddenly back again.
Still problematic with the new camera control is that the size ratios between the player character and the landscape become much clearer. The hero appears as a giant. This isn’t as pronounced from the isometric view and doesn’t weigh as heavily, as you look down from above. However, when looking straight at the character or even looking up from below, the size differences appear almost ridiculous. It will be interesting to see how the developers of Shroud of the Avatar plan to solve these problems.
