[Dark and Light Pre-Early Access FAQ]

[76561198352010823]

Introduction

We're working hard to get Dark and Light ready for its Early Access debut. This thread will serve as a centralized location for the most pressing questions that we've collected from the community. If you have any questions that aren't covered in the FAQ, feel free to leave a comment. I'll keeping an eye on discussion here and on other channels and updating the FAQ accordingly.

Release Questions

When will Dark and Light be released and how much will it cost?
We don't have a solid date set just yet. Dark and Light was initially planned to launch in Early Access in late 2016, but we decided to extend pre-EA development to continue polishing the game. We'll be announcing a solid release frame and the discounted Early Access price in the near future.

Will Dark and Light feature Mac and Linux support at Early Access launch?
We aren't 100% on this just yet - PC is our primary platform for the Early Access launch, but we may be interested in looking into supporting Mac and Linux once we get PC totally sorted out.

Gameplay Questions

What kind of game is Dark and Light?
Dark and Light is an online sandbox survival RPG with heavy fantasy themes. Players will have the freedom to explore a massive world, master a wide variety of magic spells, tame wild creatures, and build their own settlements from the ground up.

Isn't this an MMO?
No. While Dark and Light's world is persistent, not session-based, and contains some gameplay elements, themes, and mechanics similar to those seen in MMORPGs, it is not an MMORPG in the traditional sense. You'll still be building up a character and upgrading attributes and skill trees in a persistent world, but due to the smaller server sizes and other nuances, we don't consider it to be an MMORPG.

How does movement and combat work?
Dark and Light uses third-person action-style movement and combat controls. Both mouse + keyboard and gamepad controls will be supported during the Early Access launch.

What classes can I choose from when I make a character?
There actually aren't any set classes in Dark and Light. There are two kinds of experience, character experience, which determines character level, and skill node experience. As your character level increases, you can assign points to various attributes (max HP, stamina, mana pool, etc.). Skill node experience is earned by completing actions related to a particular node, such as crafting items, creating spells, killing creatures, and more. Depending on how you play, you'll naturally level up your most-used skills, but you can eventually max out every skill, even though doing so would require a pretty sizeable time investment.

Will we be able to form guilds in DnL?
Yep! They're called Houses and they're pretty standard fare as far as guilds go. Any player can form a House with any number of other players. You'll have access to a House chat, special structures and items, shared privileges on storage units and tamed creatures, and more.

Are private servers available?
They are! You'll have the option to play single-player or join / host a private server with custom rulesets.

Technical Questions

What's the maximum server capacity?
Because we haven't held any stress tests yet, we haven't been able to determine an exact number. We'll be aiming for 100 players on official servers, but we'll be using the Early Access launch period to determine ideal server capacity and scale from there.

What are the recommended specs for running Dark and Light?
For the best experience, you'll want something comparable to this build, but less powerful builds (i5 + 960GTX + 8GB RAM for example), will be able to run the game just fine on low to medium settings:
OS: 64-Bit Windows 7 Service Pack 1/ Windows 10
Processor: Intel Core i7-5820K 6x 3.3 GHz
Memory: 16GB DDR4 2133MHz (2x 8GB)
Video Card: GeForce GTX 1070 or higher
Hard Drive: At least 50 GB of free space
DirectX: DirectX 10

[Sirouko]

will there be pvp available with some kind of Nation point system / Ranking system ?

[Creative Cryptid]

Първоначално публикувано от Horsejoke:

Първоначално публикувано от wyattmilkman:

Will creatures of the same species be different from each other be different other than color? Like will they be different sizes, or will some dragons/elementals have different breath powers/body types? Or will some Griffins have more feathers than fur? That sort of thing?

What kind of commands can we give animals we don't ride?

When we shapeshift, is there a timer and cool down, or does that depend on our skill?

Will mounts be godlike, or will they need to fed and watered? Will our animals level up like those in ark?

I know you said there would be 40 animals on EA launch, how many do you expect on full launch?

When are those taking videos dropping? You said this week? I dont want to sound pushy, I'm just excited!

(I know I ask a lot about the animals, but they're my favorite aspect in games like this)

Hot tamale that's a lot of questions!

To my knowledge, there aren't really many recolors in the game, but there are some slight deviations that can occur that give a creature a particular aura. Creatures are pretty unique from one another, but there are advanced / evolved versions of some creatures that have different appearances and abilities than their basic counterparts.

Tamed creatures can be given pretty basic orders, like follow, stay, attack, roam, etc.

I think shapeshifting has a time limit of a few minutes right now - you can also cancel it early, and there's no cooldown between uses.

All tamed creatures can level up and they'll need to be taken care of to some extent - if you leave them for a few days they'll be nothing but a pile of bones when you get back.

No estimate on the number of creatures for full launch right now, we'll see how things work out with the creatures we have and plan on implementing in the EA period. More creatures for the sake of having them doesn't necessarily = better, but we do want a good variety.

Videos coming soon™!

Alright, I already like those differences better than Ark's. Dont get me wrong, I love those animals, but the only differences is color. I've seen a few of the wyverns in this game, and, assuming they're the same species, they have really good individualization.

Ok, so the leveling and orders/commands for animals are fairly similar to Ark's. That's perfect in my opinion

I can finally live out my dream of riding an elephant as a dragon! Lol

I can get that instead of filling the game with similar creatures you'd rather have unique animals so it at least FEELS like you have a broad selection. I totally get that.

[ZhouGW]

如何收费？

[Mako Ruu]

Първоначално публикувано от Sirouko:

will there be pvp available with some kind of Nation point system / Ranking system ?

PVP is one of the main aspects of the game, there are three factions available to join and it's open pvp with full loot drop. (But they plan on having PvE servers, as well.)

Can't comment on a ranking system, but since this isn't a traditional MMO I doubt it will have one.

[KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK]

Първоначално публикувано от Sirouko:

will there be pvp available with some kind of Nation point system / Ranking system ?

That not a MMO game like GW2/WOW etc. Most like survival game with sandbox open-world, so better compared with the ARK game or dayz ( cause there have a full-loot system in death ) That means you have open ffa-pvp but not a ranked match or pvp arena.
PS: IMHO :З

[PapaShango]

Reading this I am immensely dispaointed....why use the IP for DNL if its not an MMORPG? if its not a massive map? I do not get it...you are launching a survival game that is nothing like the original game aside from maybe lore....

When I heard the news of this I thought cool...maybe this will be a mmorpg worth playing...but to read the details that are out and to see this is nothing more than another survival game with a larger server cap is ...well...a kick in the nuts.

Genre is already packed with too many games like this....and lately a lot of them use the UE4....not buying this game...you guys should have released it under a different name its almost criminal to use the DNL name and then states its not an MMO...its not even close to that map size...and oh BTW its also single player and you can host servers...thanks for an updated ARK game.

[buu]

Most played game: Ark ^^^ xDD

[Rune]

I don't see a problem with losing its mmo tittle. When I first heard of this game, I though "Wow someone finally mixed an mmorpg with a survival game that's been my dream for so many years." I've been playing mmorpgs for years; my whole life really and I'm sick of all the RNG and the jerk offs killing you for grinding spots. It's just stressful and feels too much like a job. I feel like this is better; you can join an offical server with a high population or you can chill on your own server with your own rules with your own friends with possibly your mods sounds like a win win to me.

I was so excited for the massive map the size of a state or whatever, it was 40,000 square kilometers if i remember right. That would have been fun to explore and travel having to think about survival while traversing such a big world.

For me, this game is like the Elder Scrolls, with survival, multiplayer, mods, and better combat. I hope it becomes that and better.

I'm worried about the combat though, I've been playing black desert online and for me they set the bar pretty damn high, good luck D&L!

[Snacktooth]

Първоначално публикувано от Bu.z:

Most played game: Ark ^^^ xDD

[Mako Ruu]

Първоначално публикувано от PapaShango:

Reading this I am immensely dispaointed....why use the IP for DNL if its not an MMORPG? if its not a massive map? I do not get it...you are launching a survival game that is nothing like the original game aside from maybe lore....

When I heard the news of this I thought cool...maybe this will be a mmorpg worth playing...but to read the details that are out and to see this is nothing more than another survival game with a larger server cap is ...well...a kick in the nuts.

Genre is already packed with too many games like this....and lately a lot of them use the UE4....not buying this game...you guys should have released it under a different name its almost criminal to use the DNL name and then states its not an MMO...its not even close to that map size...and oh BTW its also single player and you can host servers...thanks for an updated ARK game.

This is the game you want.

http://www.ashesofcreation.com

[Creative Cryptid]

Първоначално публикувано от PapaShango:

Reading this I am immensely dispaointed....why use the IP for DNL if its not an MMORPG? if its not a massive map? I do not get it...you are launching a survival game that is nothing like the original game aside from maybe lore....

When I heard the news of this I thought cool...maybe this will be a mmorpg worth playing...but to read the details that are out and to see this is nothing more than another survival game with a larger server cap is ...well...a kick in the nuts.

Genre is already packed with too many games like this....and lately a lot of them use the UE4....not buying this game...you guys should have released it under a different name its almost criminal to use the DNL name and then states its not an MMO...its not even close to that map size...and oh BTW its also single player and you can host servers...thanks for an updated ARK game.

Except, you know, the fact that this game actually looks good. Ark has been a best seller for over a year and a half now. If this ends up just being a magical based ark, then I think this one shall be too.

[Sirouko]

Except, you know, the fact that this game actually looks good. Ark has been a best seller for over a year and a half now. If this ends up just being a magical based ark, then I think this one shall be too.

Including awesome graphics and awesome gameplay so it seems ..

[Ser Medieval]

Първоначално публикувано от PapaShango:

Reading this I am immensely dispaointed....why use the IP for DNL if its not an MMORPG? if its not a massive map? I do not get it...you are launching a survival game that is nothing like the original game aside from maybe lore....

When I heard the news of this I thought cool...maybe this will be a mmorpg worth playing...but to read the details that are out and to see this is nothing more than another survival game with a larger server cap is ...well...a kick in the nuts.

Genre is already packed with too many games like this....and lately a lot of them use the UE4....not buying this game...you guys should have released it under a different name its almost criminal to use the DNL name and then states its not an MMO...its not even close to that map size...and oh BTW its also single player and you can host servers...thanks for an updated ARK game.

https://wiki.unrealengine.com/Category:Games

From a quick google search, the only recognizeable games using UE4 on this page are: Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8, Kingdom Hearts III, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Project Icarus, Squad, Street Fighter V, Submerged, Tekken 7, Unreal Tournament 2014, and of course Ark: Survival Evolved. Only 2 of the games I just listed are Survival games and only 1 of those is a well-known good seller on steam.

Just taking a shot in the dark here but I'm guessing the only game you know for sure that uses UE4 is Ark and that is what you're comparing the scenario too. But that's just one game, it shouldn't be the one to kill all future survival sandboxes, because honestly it'd be very easy to beat out Ark's enjoyment. If you hopped into Ark right now, you'd probably last 40 hours max before you started getting bored unless you had a group to play with by then, and that's assuming you don't get raided by the alpha tribe or some random dude stumbling upon your house while you're asleep.

This game could very much easily beat out Ark and a great deal of many other survival sandboxes recently, first of all UE4 is a great engine. I'm not sure why it seems like to me that you feel like UE4 is a piece of crap but it's really not, Dark and Light is going to be an Online Fantasy RPG Survival Sandbox experience (If they deliver). Name one game in the past 15 years that has been labeled the same with action combat that looks very similar to Skyrim, or Witcher 3, or Dragon's Dogma and the graphics of Ark: Survival Evolved I will download that sucker right now and eat grass.

And on the topic of MMORPG, I honestly think there's only a small fraction of the gaming community out of the rest of us as a whole who can actually tolerate an MMORPG's grind. One thing I've noticed over the years is that people wishing for an MMORPG usually aren't playing one at the time, because

A. The last one they played was way too linear/grindy
B. Or all there was to do at max level were dailies, weeklies, piss-poor repetitive dungeons and raids, and sub-par PVP.

That's something you need to ask yourself about, is that really what you want more of in 2017? Because that is what an MMORPG is. Every single one of them ends up being repetitive in some way, you can't defend them against it.

Elder Scrolls Online - Repetitive at end-game, gotta farm dungeons/experience to get to a decent level in Champion Points so you can farm more dungeons/experience.

Guild Wars 2 - Don't even get me started lol. Gotta uber grind mastery points in Heart of Thorns and Tyria through Fractals, Dungeons, Raids (Good luck getting in without max gear), etc...

World of Warcraft - Farm experience for your artifact weapon (ONCE you hit 110, if you start out without a 100 boost you're in for a hell of a grind before the real grind even starts) through dungeons, raids like Emerald Nightmare Normal (Once you get past 850 ilevel or whatever they're requiring now and can tolerate going with pugs) or farm your artifact PVP talents (you aren't gonna like that starting out, going up against people who most likely have their pvp talents maxed out, you'll get shredded for a long time).

Even Revelation Online - From the Beta's alone your progression is only determined by dailies, that is litterally how you progress through the game. Once your Daily Token is done, your Trials, your Misty Hollow, your Darkfall and other dungeon runs, once all that is done, so is your leveling and gameplay for the day. The combat is great though, but once you get past 40 it starts to become really tedious to wait for dailies/weeklies and such before you can hit that next level. And not even the combat can save it from it's reptitive feel at that point. The next beta might give a different experience on that, one that hopefully isn't repetitive after level 50+ (since the cap is going to be raised to 69) but up to 49, it was without-a-doubt repetitive as hell.

That's what I like about Survival Sandboxes though, they break the threshold and the game tends to continue on for more than just a couple weeks if you let it. They give you the freedom to do what a lot of MMORPGs pretend to give you but end up restricting you from. Notice how every MMORPG you've played in the past 10 years has been imperfect in some way to the point of quitting and not being able to play it for long? You may need a sandbox.

So all and all, let me give a heart-felt suggestion when it comes to Dark and Light and other survival sandboxes coming out in 2017.

Don't knock em till you try them, or wait for reviews/videos to pop and you'll be alright. There have been some terrible EA releases along with good ones, a lot more terrible ones in fact. But the best part about them is that no one ever forces you to buy into them.

[Spag Bol]

Първоначално публикувано от Roque Kazin:

Първоначално публикувано от PapaShango:

Reading this I am immensely dispaointed....why use the IP for DNL if its not an MMORPG? if its not a massive map? I do not get it...you are launching a survival game that is nothing like the original game aside from maybe lore....

When I heard the news of this I thought cool...maybe this will be a mmorpg worth playing...but to read the details that are out and to see this is nothing more than another survival game with a larger server cap is ...well...a kick in the nuts.

Genre is already packed with too many games like this....and lately a lot of them use the UE4....not buying this game...you guys should have released it under a different name its almost criminal to use the DNL name and then states its not an MMO...its not even close to that map size...and oh BTW its also single player and you can host servers...thanks for an updated ARK game.

https://wiki.unrealengine.com/Category:Games

From a quick google search, the only recognizeable games using UE4 on this page are: Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8, Kingdom Hearts III, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Project Icarus, Squad, Street Fighter V, Submerged, Tekken 7, Unreal Tournament 2014, and of course Ark: Survival Evolved. Only 2 of the games I just listed are Survival games and only 1 of those is a well-known good seller on steam.

Just taking a shot in the dark here but I'm guessing the only game you know for sure that uses UE4 is Ark and that is what you're comparing the scenario too. But that's just one game, it shouldn't be the one to kill all future survival sandboxes, because honestly it'd be very easy to beat out Ark's enjoyment. If you hopped into Ark right now, you'd probably last 40 hours max before you started getting bored unless you had a group to play with by then, and that's assuming you don't get raided by the alpha tribe or some random dude stumbling upon your house while you're asleep.

This game could very much easily beat out Ark and a great deal of many other survival sandboxes recently, first of all UE4 is a great engine. I'm not sure why it seems like to me that you feel like UE4 is a piece of crap but it's really not, Dark and Light is going to be an Online Fantasy RPG Survival Sandbox experience (If they deliver). Name one game in the past 15 years that has been labeled the same with action combat that looks very similar to Skyrim, or Witcher 3, or Dragon's Dogma and the graphics of Ark: Survival Evolved I will download that sucker right now and eat grass.

And on the topic of MMORPG, I honestly think there's only a small fraction of the gaming community out of the rest of us as a whole who can actually tolerate an MMORPG's grind. One thing I've noticed over the years is that people wishing for an MMORPG usually aren't playing one at the time, because

A. The last one they played was way too linear/grindy
B. Or all there was to do at max level were dailies, weeklies, piss-poor repetitive dungeons and raids, and sub-par PVP.

That's something you need to ask yourself about, is that really what you want more of in 2017? Because that is what an MMORPG is. Every single one of them ends up being repetitive in some way, you can't defend them against it.

Elder Scrolls Online - Repetitive at end-game, gotta farm dungeons/experience to get to a decent level in Champion Points so you can farm more dungeons/experience.

Guild Wars 2 - Don't even get me started lol. Gotta uber grind mastery points in Heart of Thorns and Tyria through Fractals, Dungeons, Raids (Good luck getting in without max gear), etc...

World of Warcraft - Farm experience for your artifact weapon (ONCE you hit 110, if you start out without a 100 boost you're in for a hell of a grind before the real grind even starts) through dungeons, raids like Emerald Nightmare Normal (Once you get past 850 ilevel or whatever they're requiring now and can tolerate going with pugs) or farm your artifact PVP talents (you aren't gonna like that starting out, going up against people who most likely have their pvp talents maxed out, you'll get shredded for a long time).

Even Revelation Online - From the Beta's alone your progression is only determined by dailies, that is litterally how you progress through the game. Once your Daily Token is done, your Trials, your Misty Hollow, your Darkfall and other dungeon runs, once all that is done, so is your leveling and gameplay for the day. The combat is great though, but once you get past 40 it starts to become really tedious to wait for dailies/weeklies and such before you can hit that next level. And not even the combat can save it from it's reptitive feel at that point. The next beta might give a different experience on that, one that hopefully isn't repetitive after level 50+ (since the cap is going to be raised to 69) but up to 49, it was without-a-doubt repetitive as hell.

That's what I like about Survival Sandboxes though, they break the threshold and the game tends to continue on for more than just a couple weeks if you let it. They give you the freedom to do what a lot of MMORPGs pretend to give you but end up restricting you from. Notice how every MMORPG you've played in the past 10 years has been imperfect in some way to the point of quitting and not being able to play it for long? You may need a sandbox.

So all and all, let me give a heart-felt suggestion when it comes to Dark and Light and other survival sandboxes coming out in 2017.

Don't knock em till you try them, or wait for reviews/videos to pop and you'll be alright. There have been some terrible EA releases along with good ones, a lot more terrible ones in fact. But the best part about them is that no one ever forces you to buy into them.

Fantastic post, couldn't agree more.

[cailean_556]

Not to mention they're not selling this an an MMO anyway. It's an 'online RPG', and I'm completely fine with that. Worst part about MMOs like WoW (and also with not-MMOs like ARK, ) is griefers. This game comes right out of the box (so-to-speak) with its official and unofficial (private) multiplayer server options as well as single player.

Being able to play with friends or groups of people all over the world - on your terms - that's a massive draw card. For me personally, it'll be me and a couple friends on my own server, but if enough extended friends play, I may even rent a server.

As I mentioned earlier in this post, is Snail Games can pull this off (they've been given the tools and they've demonstrated their potential, can't wait to sink my teeth into the EA release) this game will be as good for Snail and Steam as ARK has been.