One of the big centerpieces for Emerald Kingdom will be The Sprites. We are not talking about the game terminology. When we talk about Sprites in Emerald Kingdom, we’re talking about a race of people. We’ve spoken of them before, of course. Today though, I want to tell you a bit more about their role in terms of mechanics. I don’t mean the Mark system. I’m talking about the story system.

Emerald Kingdom has it’s share of what we feel are “new” features for an MMO. But, one of the centerpieces for the engine we are building is: the ability to publish, keep and roll out continuous content, more specifically…story based content. The Sprites are one of the keys to this system for us. Their story, and how it will impact you if you choose to involve yourself is of utmost importance to us.

Sprites are, to the players…ancient survivors of the previous civilization which inhabited Magna. (Magna is where Emerald Kingdom takes place) In Emerald Kingdom, one of the main features is: a moving, linear storyline. You can choose to involve yourself, or not. If you elect to get involved in the world at large…well then you will be dealing with the Sprites. Sprites are the only beings who can Mark you, we have covered this before. However, despite that ability, they may also have their own goals, desires and plans for Magna. This is where the players come in. We wanted to get past some of the typical “Quest Vending” practices you see in so many MMORPG’s. To do that from a back end point of view, we have to change up the typical approach to MMO production. Which is fine, even though it’s extra work: we want to play this game as much as you do…and thus, that justifies the effort and cost.

Back to The Sprites…

One of the things we set out to do in the beginning was to get a completely fleshed out back story. We had to figure out what happened before you, the player, started playing. Why you might ask? Well for one thing, we did not want another situation like this. Another reason was, as we were going to be writing constant content for the game, we needed to have the mythos, and settings pre-defined. We vowed early on that, in order for story to work in a game like this, it could never appear contrived, or invented at the spur of the moment. One of the things happening right now is, Castiel is doing a complete re-write of this back story.

As said before, the story of Emerald Kingdom takes place on Magna. Magna is a diverse world, which has been subject to rapid change, chaos and upheaval. The Sprites are members of a civilization long past, and remain on Magna. They are immortal in a true sense, but they are not Gods. You, the player are quite mortal. The Sprites, having misused Magna and the Gel she provided.. during their own civilization, witnessed untold disaster. At the end, most of their population died off, or evolved/ascended into the form of what we call Sprites. Most of them left Magna for parts unknown. But the Sprites on Magna felt compelled to stay behind.

Many ages have past, only for them to see new life grow and evolve on Magna. New civilizations, new ideas, new people. While the Sprites are happy they are no longer alone…the growth of new civilizations has led to new strife. Old wounds re-opening. Magna now is a new world with new cities built upon the dust of the old, and while a significant number of the giants left the playground, some remain…and they left a great many playthings behind.

This is the world you, the player, are going to take part in. You’re going to have to come to terms with the fact that not every Sprite has your best interest at heart. It wont matter if your intentions are good or bad either. You might find aligning yourself with Kerix to be fun, thrilling, exciting. Realizing you might just be a cats paw of his may bolster or diminish how you feel about your path. While Beatrice, Starla and even Avatea might seem nice, they also have their own issues and you may find once caught up in them, it wont be so easy to turn one of these ladies down.

You might think these things are standard fare, but they are not. No story system in an MMO, in 2011 and beyond is going to be able to work, and engage players unless the players themselves can affect the world through their interactions. To do this, and to keep the content flowing in (and out!) we are actually assembling a writing department. While code is always necessary, to add features…our development department will not need to be consulted when new consumed content is added to the game. This is, we feel, the key to providing a linear, fun story. It’s also the key to adding areas, maps, etc. One key difference between Emerald Kingdom and other games is, 99% of the time we will be publishing our changes, not patching for them. If you understand that difference, then you understand why Emerald Kingdom’s story system is different, and a departure from the norm.

We have even taken the time to separate story from jobs. Gathering 10 logs for a townie NPC is not a quest. It’s a job. It should be treated as such. Anyone can generate jobs for a world such as this. Why mix it with story?

Because Emerald Kingdom has an actual story, and a moving plot…one of the other things we have to do is start introducing you to the world on a tangible basis. Castiel and I are actually working on this very thing.

In fact, in the next week or so…you should look for an excerpt.

Ja Mata!