GamerEscape

The last several weeks the Development team has been busy toiling away to revitalize bit of outdated content. “What would that be?” you ask? Calamar Island, of course!

THE REVAMP

Since the early days of WAKFU, Calamar Island was a Conquerable Island. But because this system is no longer relevant, the interest of the island waned. The poor captain’s island continued to suffer as development focused on other areas of the game.

The dilapidated island of Captain Calamari (the one you currently know) is presently quite small simply because the need for it in the past was for it to be… well, quite small. In fact, we wanted to focus the action mainly on the Clan Member himself, and too much ground would have only spread the players out.

Though having an infusion of new and exciting ideas, we’ve decided its time that the good ol’ captain reclaimed some land for the sea! You read right, we are expanding the island! After receiving the green light from management, designs started for updating the old zone. The new design is heading in a similar direction to the newer Adventure Islands such as Monk Island and Forfut Island.

CONCEPTS

The first step in creating a new area, is the realization of an “art concept,” that is to say, an illustration to convey the overall feel of the design. Let us make it be known that when it was said, “Go wild!” the designs did just that: ideas, wishes and concepts came rushing in since the first day.


At first, the team investigated pictures for shapes and colors that could be applied to the design of the island… Here is one example that the developers used for inspiration:

Keeping the idea of a circular idea with the Clan Member at its core, here’s a first draft:

When the development team devised this design, several other game designers had already started working on the revamp of the Nation versus Nation System. They then said that the new Calamar Island was the perfect place to begin implementing the new rules and constraints of level design for this feature. Calamar Island will be, once the redesign is applied, the first island of WAKFU ready to welcome the new Nation versus Nation PvP system!

But we won’t say more… You’ll have to find out all the extras for yourself in game, and we’re sure our game designer colleagues will return to give you all more details on the NvN system before release!


Going back for a moment, after taking into account the wishes of the visual team about the island, and meeting the constraints related to NvN (mainly the fact that the island has to be divided into 3 zones), the team embarked on a more polished version:

BRAINSTORMING

Once the concept art was finished and validated, the entire design team (Game and Level Designers) embarked on a series of brainstorming, you know, these meetings allowing you to share ideas, respond to those of others, and especially starting to freeze some of the ideas in order to achieve them!

Each of the Conquerable Islands already has an aspect of NvN/PvP. In addition to being the first island to use the rules of the future NvN system, the teams also wanted to put a good effort forward in terms of new content! Expect a big wheelbarrow full of new additions!

Dungeon zones, at least two new creature families, dedicated environmental quests, a main questline and dozens of rare items and equipment… all of which you’ll be able to enjoy!

Each piece of content has been carefully considered and designed with the objective of consistency while integrating the personality and whims of people who worked on the atmosphere of the area. Let us tell you that these brainstorming sessions often resulted with…

GAME DESIGN DOCUMENT

Following these planning sessions, the teams set forth to write up a Game Design Document where they are listing all the points raised during the meetings in the clearest way possible. The goal is that every member of the team, regardless of his/her division (development, design, etc.), has full visibility on the work ahead.

Once the document is written and validated, the developers will finally start the building process. The build, as its name suggests, is when the team “builds” the area. They use the “map editor” (which we’ll certainly give greater detail about another time) to allow them to start building the zone, block by block. 

After a few weeks of work, the island will finally be ready and the other divisions can take over by adding the necessary elements for the completion of the project!

You now know everything about the new Calamar Island design! Thank you for reading and see you soon!

REVAMPED RULES

Calamar Island is a conquerable island. The Development Team has taken the opportunity of this revamp to tweak the rules of the other conquerable islands slightly so that they will be ready to take on NvN when it is integrated in game. Here’s a summary:

• To conquer an island, players must beat the Clan Member.
• To do this, you’ll need to provoke a Clan Member into a duel, which costs 500 kamas.
• These kamas will be transferred to the island’s Clan Member.
• When an island has been captured, it will be “unconquerable” for 24 hours.
• Island Clan Members have the same rights as any of the Nation Clan Members: You can transfer their kamas or use them to buy environmental quests.
• The Clan Member’s bonus will be applied to the whole Nation. For example, Calamar Island will have a bonus of 10 Prospecting.
• Only players belonging to the Nation that owns the island, or players allied with that Nation, will be able to take part in the environmental quests found there.

Aaaaaand that’s all you need to know for now! Get discovering! See you soon in game!