Dungeon Maker

==Dungeon Maker==
A system similar to house decorating that lets you customize and decorate as you do houses and to place creatures and decorate dungeons and then they get to have other players play through them as Avatars.
The system has a few different aspects - It has decorating, building, collecting creatures to place into your dungeon, collecting items to place in your dungeon, collecting dungeon maps and dungeon layouts and then taking Avatars that you find through the world and running them through the dungeon as those avatars. 
You can run the dungeon solo or with friends.
How much customization will players have? Will it be like current houses? or will there be different modules that you can buy...how does that work?
There will be a few different maps and a few different themes and you'll be able to decorate the themes anyway you want.
Can you give an example of one of the themes?
Sure, Crushbone. These are all original maps, there will be rooms decorated in the Crushbone style. 8-12 room layouts where you place decorations and creatures and then fight your way through the Crushbone map.
So you'll have creatures and goblins and such that you can place anywhere you want? Traps and barriers and doors? Item Limits?
You can put a lot in there. Everything has a theme. Things like weapons racks and campfires, things that you would normally see in a dungeon, even statues and casks, all sorts of things that you'll be able to add to your dungeon. And some of these items will provide buffs to your creatures or your avatars.
For example, one of the campfires that you put down, might increase the attack speed of every creature that's placed near it. And some of the items that you collect throughout Norrath will actually enhance your dungeons.
Will you use a rating system for the dungeons similar to the house rating system?
Yes in fact we will be using the exact same rating system. After you finish decorating and setting up your dungeon the way you want people to experience it, you can publish your dungeon the same way that you publish your house, and take a screenshot of it, that then shows up as a thumbnail of the dungeon, and once it's published, players can browse those dungeons through the same interface that they can browse houses, and then they can enter that dungeon in "adventure mode". And when they go in, in the adventure mode, they have to pick an adventurer character that they want to play, and then they play through it just as if it were a regular dungeon that it were one SOE created.
Well what sort of rewards will there be? What's in it for them? Why would people want to run through other player's dungeons?
There are quite a few rewards. For playing a dungeon you get token rewards. So there's a token system associated with the dungeon maker system. So once you accumulate tokens, you can use them to buy rewards. And rewards go from simple consumable items, potions and the kind of items you'd expect to see, to some really nice fable and legendary items. We've actually introduced the concept of "Glass Items" which are really nice "top-tier" fabled items that you can go buy from dungeon maker, but they are "glass" so you can never repair them. So you use them, and they degrade over time. So you'll get some pretty fantastic stuff, but you'll have to keep going back to the system or go get permanent drops from the world to get more items. A consumable weapons of sorts.
Well we know the house decorating folks are really going to be interested in this next question... can you give us an idea of what the item limits will be? Do you have a separate number of limits for creatures versus items
or are they both counted towards the same limits?
Those numbers are still sort of up in the air...We do have the ability to impose an item limit on a dungeon for performance reasons, we wouldn't want a player to just to fill his dungeon up with items and it become "lag city". Those numbers will be tweaked as we see how things work out.
We haven't really explained the "challenge rating" yet. So basically as you place creatures, mobs and other items in the dungeon they each have a point value. And that point value is based on how powerful they are, so boss mobs will cost more points than just your typical run of the mill goblins. And objects that have really powerful buffs on them will cost a little bit more. And those add to your challenge rating which is sort of an overall look at how difficult the dungeon would be for somebody to complete. And right now we don't have a limit on that challenge rating.. . so it does mean you could fill up a dungeon or make it sparse and we're leaving it up to the players to sort of rate that dungeon or give their feedback and that's something we will always look at later,
and tweak later if we feel we need to clamp it down for performance reasons or whatever.
Will there be a limit on the number of dungeons a player can own?
Yes, right now a player can create up to a limit of 20 dungeons. You also have a "PUBLISH" limit. And you'll start with a base publish limit of 1. And you can "earn" the ability to publish more than 1 as you unlock more templates. There are also other ways you can earn the ability to publish more dungeons.. but design will have to work out those rewards. So you'll be able to create more than you can publish, which gives you that sort of "sandbox" ability, which gives you the ability to play with different styles but we will limit the number that you can publish so that you only put your best ones out there.
Now in terms of the creatures and items, where do the players get these items from to stock their dungeons with? I assume the dungeon purchase itself is a "Station Cash" item?
Well, they will come from all over, there will be dungeons that are Station Cash, There will be dungeons that drop in the worlds, maybe you'll go into Crushbone and there will be a map on the floor, I haven't done this, but there might be a map and you click on the map and now you've got access to another Crushbone dungeon. So we can add them any way we can interact with your player we can add them so, some creatures will be Station Cash, some Creatures will 
be purchase through the world, some Creatures will be purchased through the dungeon maker system, some will be dropped, basically, however you can get an item now in the world, we can give you a dungeon maker item. But you will start with base amounts of all of it. So on day one you'll have a certain number of layouts you can play with, a certain number of creatures, a certain number of objects, you'll be able to get in and see if you like the system, and then there will be ways that you can go out and unlock more stuff.
And in terms of objects, the way objects work in dungeon maker, almost anything that you can place in your house, you can place in a dungeon, but then there are also a kind of a new category of items that are "virtual items" where you can place these things in your dungeon without having a one to one ratio of what is in your inventory and what you are putting into a dungeon, so if you get a torch, the torch is a virtual item, you can place 50 of them on the wall of your dungeon and you don't have to worry about running out, but those are only going
to be place-able in the dungeons. So most of these initial items that you are going to be getting are going to be these "virtual items" so you don't have to worry about carrying around an inventory of stuff to decorate your dungeons.
Dungeon maker should be going to beta on Friday November 18th, 2011. 
==Character Screen==
The character screen shows the new "Dungeon" tab that's been created. Not only will this screen show the dungeons that you've created, it will show any dungeon that you've been given trustee access to from your friends. So if a friend begins to build a dungeon and gives you trustee status, you'll be able to enter this dungeon and help your friend build it, which we think will be really cool to do. 
==Create Screen==
The Create Screen shows on the left a list of all the templates you have access to. The right side will give you a room layout picture so you can get an idea of the room placement to see how it looks before you proceed to use it. You'll enter the name of what you want to call your dungeon and hit the create button which will basically put that dungeon on to your character.
==Inside the Dungeon==
This next screen "Inside the Dungeon While In Edit Mode" shows us as we've zoned into the dungeon in "Edit Mode".
The window on the left is the "Dungeon Maker Toolbox". This is the main user interface that you're going to be in while you are building the dungeon. The list of items is currently the toolbox list which shows all the items you can place. This shows all virtual items, those VIRTUAL ITEMS WILL BE IN WHITE. You can put pretty much as many of these items in your dungeon as you want without having to have them in your inventory. Some of them may have a maximum limit number such as a max of 4 (four) or a max of 1 (one) in the case of a boss mob but you'll be able to place as many that you want up to that limit.
The list is broken up into spawners, objects and house items which are actual items that you are carrying in your inventory. The cool thing about this window is that since it shows your inventory items, you won't actually have to open your bags if you want to place chairs and tables that your carpenters made for you. They will show right up in this list so you can actually work right out of this window.
==Item Placed Inside==
The next screen shows an object (Campfire) has been placed with a couple of Gnolls around it.
==Property Window==
The next screen shows the Property Window.
The Property window has now been integrated into the Toolbox window down at the bottom of the toolbox window itself instead of being it's own separate window. The properties window simply just tells you a little bit of information about the item you've selected. If you click on an item in the toolbox window you'll get a description of what it does before you place it. If you click on an actual item in the world, including an NPC, then you'll see what that NPC does. You'll also see a list of buffs that are on it. That's important for determining whether or not the NPC is getting a benefit from the objects that you have placed in that room. So you'll be able to see how the NPC's interact with these objects by looking at those buffs. In the case of selecting NPCs, you'll be able to set their pathing behavior from this window. So you can set it to be a static mob where it stands still, or you can tell it to wander around in the room that it's in randomly, or you can say I want it to be a patroller at which point you will see a banner like in the picture here, you'll place another path point and he'll walk between the two points and that will let you set up patrolling mobs in your dungeon.
==Placed Tab==
The next window shows the "Placed Tab".
When you switch to the placed tab it will show you a list of all items that are currently placed in the dungeon. So it gives you quick access to everything you've already put down. From this list you can pick the item up directly, in case you don't want the items there, you can click the "Move" button and move it, or you can hit the "go-to" button which teleports you straight to that object so you can get quick access around your dungeon to get to certain rooms when you want to edit them.
==Radial Menu==
The next window is a "Radial Menu" and is a new widget just placed into game.
It allows you to more quickly edit your house items that are placed. The icon on the top is a rotate icon. What happens is when you click a house item then select the rotate icon then as you move your mouse around, the item will rotate only, it won't move around like you are used to, it will just rotate, this gives you more fine control over how you edit those items so you have the ability from here to scale the item in size, float it up or down, or the little four arrows is the free move mode so if you click that, then it moves the way you are use to with house items and the little chest item on the bottom is a pickup icon, so from this menu you can quickly tweak your items.
==Overview Screen==
The next picture is an "Overview" screen which shows everything already talked about.
==Toolbox Window==
You see the toolbox window, and when you click on an NPC it's showing the radial menu. In the case of NPCs, the float up and down and scale icons are disabled. These actions are not allowed for NPCs right now but may be changed in the future.
==NPC Buffs==
The next picture is showing the buffs on an NPC.
You can mouse over the buffs to see what each one does. A big part of the dungeon is exploring the interaction between objects. Objects can "combo" off one another. When you place multiple objects down they might combine and make a more powerful ability or different ability.
==Properties Box==
The next picture shows the "Properties" box as part of the Toolbox window as scheduled for beta release.
==Publishing Window==
The next picture is the "Publishing" window which shows what you'll be presented with when you go to publish your finished dungeon.
Publishing your dungeon will make it available on the dungeon leaderboards and allow players to zone in and experience it. Players will earn rewards based on how much of your dungeon they complete. Upon completion they will be awarded tokens and experience and given the opportunity to rate your dungeon.
IMPORTANT: Once your dungeon is published, you will not be able to make any changes to the layout without first un-publishing it. You may publish and un-publish as often as you like but the ratings will reset each time. You
will not lose any awards that have accumulated.
==Dungeon Screenshot==
Dungeon Screenshot - This allows you to take a picture that represents your dungeon for the "Publish" screen.
==Avatar Selection==
Selecting an Avatar - Once a player zones in to your dungeon, they are locked in until they select an Avatar.
On the left you'll see a list of avatars that are available, and on the right you'll see the avatars that your group members have already selected. Once everyone has selected "READY" the dungeon will unlock and you'll all start the dungeon at the same time.
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==PLAYER ASKED QUESTIONS==
1. Will the names and encounters be editable or will they be just cut and paste. For example will we be able to adjust timers, the ads, the effects etc.?
Answer: There definitely will be some limitations. You won't be able to change the names of the mobs. Timers don't really apply because there's no re-spawn. When you kill a creature in the PM (player made) Dungeon it's dead. You're going through the dungeon and basically wiping out the dungeon as you go earning points as you wipe the dungeon. When you leave, whatever destruction you have done, it translates into what you've earned for that dungeon.
2. Does that include if YOU get wiped?
Answer: There's no penalty if you get wiped and there's no penalty for time. We didn't want to make this a rush where you're encouraged to run through the dungeon as fast as you can, and skip to the end. We want you to explore, because people are going to spend hours and hours making these things look great so we want you to go into every room and see what they've done, so it's up to you how you want to run them, but you can take as much time as you want, and explore the dungeon, the more you destroy the more you'll earn basically. You will not be able to really change the names of the mobs and there won't be any respawn or anything, You're basically choosing from the mobs on the list that you want to put down.
3. I'm being told you won't be able to take YOUR character into a player created dungeon. Instead you take an avatar like a Maj'Dul Arena Pet. Is this true? and if so, why is that?
Answer: Yes this is true, and it's because there is so many different definitions for a character or power. For example a level 10 character with no AAs is very different from a level 10 with five or ten AAs and a level 50 character is very different so all these kind of "tiers" of power for a player, it would have been very difficult for us to create a system that was balanced and fun given all these different things your character can be so, what the avatar's allowed us to do is tweek things for where we think we will get the best bang for our buck so to speak in terms of fun and power and avoiding the age old "balance" arguement. While we COULD scale it by level, level is such a small factor to player power. We are looking at options. We know players have expressed an interest in wanting to play their own characters and we have some ideas, and we are looking into those and that might be something we look to adding in the future so we are definitely listening to that feedback and we
are keeping it in mind, but we really did want the dungeon to be sort of an equal challenge level to everybody that came in, so we didn't want some people saying oh that dungeon was super hard and some saying no, no that was cake walk, what are you talking about.? So by doing it this way and scaling it to everything that's level 50 range and having you come in as adventurers, it'll come down to skill, how well you learned to play those adventurers, use your abilities together, and then everybody will be talking about these dungeons on the same playing field. We hear that people want that, so we will be looking at it for the near future.
4. Will there be quested layouts and items, will the layouts only be obtainable through raiding, or will they be available to groups and the solo crowd? How will players get to the dungeons we create? Can anyone get to them like player housing, so long as the access level is set?
Answer: On the outset there most likely won't be any available through raiding. Most will be available through solo or group players. Some stuff will be trade-able so you'll be able to get some stuff off the broker or get it from other players. Some will be off the marketplace, and eventually some may be trade skill items. As said before, any way we can give you other items, we can give you an aspect of Dungeon maker. We can give you dungeon maps, we can give
you creatures, and avatars. It's all tied in to our system of here is something, we can give it as quest rewards. The skies the limit. As far as access, dungeons don't have a physical address in the world, that's why you can create them from any zone by accessing your character window, and then you enter the ones that have been published using the window similar to the housing rating window, you can sort them by category or based on their ratings choosing which ones you want to go in. And if you are grouped with someone, and you attempt to go into the same one, you join automatically and go into the same instance version.
5. Will the dungeons be voted on and rated using the star rating system like player housing leaderboards?
Answer: YES. While we know the star rating system isn't the favorite of everyone we are looking at ways to change it but for now, the star rating system will launch when the dungeon maker launches.
6. Will we be able to design dungeons and DECLARE their level and will players be able to use the PM Dungeons to gain experience?
Answer: The level on the dungeons are set on the outset so no players won't be able to declare a level. Everything will be rated level 50. Even though you are playing on an avatar, you will be able to earn experience towards your actual character however that experience is deferred until you complete the entire dungeon. While running the dungeon you'll see system messages that state what amount of XP you'll get as if you were running a normal dungeon, then when you actually complete the dungeon you'll be awarded Tokens, and you'll be awarded experience that will scale to your actual player level so it will be a method for leveling up your main character. Even a level 5 can enter.
7. Will the dungeon be scalable?
Answer: While the dungeon will NOT be scaled for level, the difficulty of the dungeon will be scaled based on the number of group members that enter. So these dungeons can be soloed all the way up to 6 members. What happens
is the mobs and creatures are dynamically scaled and change as people enter and exit the dungeon. You can have someone enter late and the difficulty will change based on this new tier. The players will all remain level 50 but the difficulty of the dungeon will tier up.
8. Will the builders be able to set lockout timers, will there be a need for them, or will SOE control them?
Answer: There is no need for lockout timers, since the amount of points you earn is based on the amount of stuff you kill, we don't feel there's any need for lockout timers. You can go back through the same dungeon, proceed on to
the next.
9. Will we have the ability to create the actual layout, walls, textures etc, or will we simply get a pre-built layout that we just fill with furniture, objects and enemies?
Answer: Currently we will be giving you pre-built system. We will be giving you as many variations as possible as we don't want players to immediately zone in and say oh I'm in dungeon one, and if I go down this hallway and make a right, there will be a room at the end of the hallway. So there are several variations of the same dungeon, in addition to that, players who build the dungeons, can customize the entrance and exit points so that will give you some control over where they come in and where they have to go. We hope that is enough variability that it will seem exciting to you but avoids the difficulty that would be involved with lining up art assets and making sure you don't have holes in your floor and people won't be falling through the world. We just felt that was going to add a layer of complexity and we really wanted this feature to be usable by the vast majority of the decorators and people that weren't interested in that side of the art thing.
10. Since the PM Dungeon system will reward players with tokens, what sort of equipment and gear will we be able 
to purchase with these tokens?
Answer: Glass gear, expendable gear, and possibly some gift boxes that will give you the chance to earn permanent legendary items.
11. How is dungeon maker different from the developer tools you have now?
Answer: Completely different tools, we've tried to make them player intuitive however they are vastly different than the tools developers now use.
12. Can the dungeon be built for solo players versus groups ?
Answer: As we mentioned before, dungeons can be run solo or in groups, as they tier scale for difficulty based on the number of players who participate in a dungeon run.
13. Can we add Qyo as a kill-able mob in the PM dungeons?
Answer: No promises, we will look into it.
14. Will you need to OWN Age of Discovery to play in a dungeon?
Answer: While you WILL need to own Age of Discovery to create a PM dungeon, you won't need to own it to play in one that's been created. To SPEND TOKENS you will need to own the expansion.
15. Any chance of us being able to create our own quests, or write our own narrative or dialogs that will give our own lore of the dungeon?
Answer: Not right now. However you can write books and place them in your dungeons. You can also place the new customizable signs in the dungeons as well but it won't be in the form of a quest.
16. Will players eventually be able to incorporate their own scripts that handle how dungeon entities react?
Answer: The system does have the capability for us to give you some tools eventually after the system has developed and evolved where say we give you a book that gives a buff and you can place this book beside a mob that memory wipes every 10 seconds. These are the kinds of things we may be able to develop in the future but it won't be through scripting. We don't want you to have to learn a scripting language or open up notepad and start writing. We want this to be fun and visual and so it will be done through the object system.
17. Will the builders have any control over what items drop as loot or will it be random based on the difficulty and challenge the the dungeon itself?
Answer: There are no loot drops just the tokens.
18. With the new tools being introduced for the PM Dungeons, can they be used with player houses and decorating?
Answer: One of our goals of that new radial menu was to improve the house decorating system. We know that not everyone wants to have every item spawn the new radial menu so we've introduced a new EDIT concept for when you are in a house, and of being in EDIT MODE. And when you put yourself in edit mode, house items become target-able, which means that when you put your cursor over them, they will blink, and when you click them they will target. This will help you for example, if you have a table, imagine a bunch of little items sitting on the table, it will be easier to know what you are clicking on, because they will be blinking. And then when you select it, that radial menu will pop up so you can rotate it without moving it in it's X, Y or X, Z position. So that will work when you are in your house in EDIT mode, and when you go out of edit mode, everything will have normal behavior where you can double click to use items. So that way people who don't want things to change can still have them the same way. You'll still be able to right click and move items like you do now.
19. Are you going to add "PITCH and ROLL" to the EDIT MODE?
Answer: Right now we have not added that. We know that from the forums you want it, and we know that it can and is being done from 3rd party tools, so we have no problem adding it, it's just something that we need to work into the schedule.
20. Are you going to have volume triggers you can place in the zones, so if players get near a torch Gnoll's will rush them?
Answer: We don't have anything like that going in at launch, no. The system supports stuff like that, sort of, so it's something we can also look into as it expands.
21. Regarding the avatars we get to choose from, how many are there?
Answer: Some avatars will be available from the start, while others may be purchased, loot drops from bosses, some purchased using Station Cash. More than 1 but less than 50.