Help:Z-Fantasy Game
From Zwiki
Z-Fantasy Game (Link to the game) is an online role playing game in which you can create a hero who acts in a virtual world. In this world he is able to gain abilities and items which will increase his power within the game. Within this role playing game there is no explicit goal to be reached, it is about slipping into a different kind of character and exploring the game world and encounter adventures. As there are other players doing the same with their heroes there is a pretty good chance to contact them. Whether you will just chit-chat, try to cooperate or compete against other players is left to your choice. Most of the players have at least one of the following as their personal goals:
- Exploring the world and have just fun in adventuring
- Trying to gain a high experience level and a good rank in the Hall of Fame
- Getting in contact and communicate with other players in the game
Contents |
History
The first time I thought of programming the game was in 2002 and a first basic version was programmed in Java. When the author Torsten Wolff participated as player and tester of the space online game Spacetrace, which is based on PHP and MySQL he got interested in those languages. As a first project in PHP/MySQL the Link Directory www.pooq.org has been started to program and got online in July 2003 (This name was choosed for the high symmetry of the word "pooq"). Next were first studies towards Z - Fantasy Game (the generation of that name were easily done: the files of the new game were stored in a new folder to separate them from the already existant files of the link directory - the name of the folder was "z". This was kept later on and gave the game the name "Z - Fantasy Game" (www.pooq.org/z/). A nice side effect was that it was sounding like "That Fantasy Game".) Those first studies were succesful and the fear the 2-dimensional map of 11x11 tiles and all other icons and data could not be transfered through the internet fast enough luckily proved not true. In this state all you could to was running around on an empty map of the world. It took until January 2006 to add and test game features and then start the first round. In the beginning there were only a handful of players - mainly friends of the author who were informed of the new game. In the following months and years a larger community has etablished which by their co-work and feedback help to continue the development of the game.
The Game
Z-Fantasy Game is a browser game and can therefor be played with any usual browser without the need to download any extra program. The graphical user interface which allows to play the game using only the mouse is acomplished by methods the browser provides.
Another feature of a browser game is that many players could be active at the same time and have there actions influence each other. Even the heroes who's players are offline at the current moment still participate the game and can be interacted with. Given to the generell settings the player has set their reactions will be calculaated by the computer in meantime. Since the game is translated in different languages, players from differnt countries can play the game in their native language. The Ingame-Talk- functionality even translates given phrases to the language of the recipient.
The access to Z-Fantasy Game was tried to be made as easy as possible. First of all there is no charge of payment or such thing as a "premium account". Neither you need to enter any personal data (You may choose to enter your email address which can be done in the game in "game settings" option). To enable a quick start to the game there are preconstructed characters. There is one of each class and if you choose one of them you would be ready creating a new account in no more than 30 seconds. As there is no registering the only thing important is to remember your password which you need whenever you want to resume playing with your account. Because it is that easy to create a new account there is no use to forbid playing multiaccounts. So each player is allowed to play more than one hero if he likes to. Other than in some other games in Z-Fantasy Game there is only little (if any) advantage in having more than one hero. So multiaccounts are hardly a strategical element but a way to try different characters without abondoning previous ones.
All interaction is done via the 2-dimensional user interface. The center of this interface is the map where most of the actions can be triggered. If needed additionally theer will be a menu on the right hand side of the map. On the left you furthermore will allways see your hero's attributes and all the items he carries along with himself. There you can as well use or move any items you have got.
The game is running in real time which means that the game is running continously even though you are not playing actively. During your absense you hero still could be effected by events in the game and the computer will take the part to decide how your hero will react to those. The time in the game is running 60 times fatser than the real time which means that every second will be one minute in the game.
Further information
- How can I join the game? --> Login
- How do I create a hero? --> Hero creation
- What is important for a new player? --> First Steps
- Which strategies could I run? --> Strategies
Game Concepts
An emphasis in the game development lay in offering different strategies and goals which could be followed and to provide an even chance for those different ways of developing ones hero. The so called balancing between the different startegies is shifting from round to round due to new features which are brought into the game. But with each new round the balancing will be adjusted following the knowledge gained in the prior round.
The following list will guve you an idea of possible game strategies and it is of course to combine them to new strategies:
The Pathfinder
He tries to gather a high movementrate when gaining new levels and by learning "march abilities. This allows him to move very quickly on the map and by doing so he allready gathers a lot of experience for movement. In additon by getting fast from one place to another he is able to fulfil more quests and encounter more adventures in a given time than other characters. His enemies either see only his back or will hardly have a chance to run from him so the pathfinder can easier decide whether to force or avoid combats.
The Diplomat
Using his elaborated Oratory and his knowledge of many languages the diplomat usually is quite convincing for everyone he talks to. It is not only he gets a lot of talk experience by this but he also is capable of gaining worthy information or even presents from those he talks to. He seldom has the back luck that a conversion runs out of order and is subsequently lead by matters of blood and iron.
The Trader
His main ability is of course trading giveing him better conditions for buying and selling items. A really good trader can buy cheap and sell it with gain at some other place. The money he gets by doing so he can spend in better equipment or in learning more abilities.
The Gatherer
The Gatherer looks properly for items he could talk along on every field he enters. Always bound for a great discovery he travels also into remote and wayless areas. If taht does bring him the wanted access he often uses skills such as "searching", "hunting" or "herbology" to help his luck to come to him.
The Thief
The Thief ist quite familar with the bags and storage houses of other people and feels free to take from there whatever he needs. As his work is not quite accredited by other players he tries to do his work unrecognized to avoid severe trouble. When visiting the underworld on the other hand a thief is a appreciated follower when he is capable of unarming and unlocking chests and doors which block the way to treasures.
The Warrior
The strategy of the warrior is as simple as efficient: Victory by higher combat strength. A slain enemy not only rewards a good deal of combat experience but furthermore might be plundered a little afterwards. This makes the warrior not really beloved but at least feared.
The Soldier of Fortune
The Job of this adventurer is to solve the numberous quests in the game. To be well informed diplomacy skills or the "find" spells will be handy to him. In case he wants to specialize on "capture" or "kill" missions he ought to be a strong fighter. To fulfill those quests to obtain items he needs craftsman skills or a well filled purge to simply buy those items requested at the next merchant.
The craftsman
He creates valuable items from cheap resources. There are several specializations such as smithing, carpentry or taylory - abilituies to create and repair items. Alchemy the craft of brewing potions from herbs using self invented receipts would be another alternative. With architecture a craftsman can build several buildings which are needed by alliances or the whole community. All the crafting skills have in common that their succesful usage will provide experience for crafting.
The Breeder
Ones own breed of animals like sheep or horses may lead to great wealth. As those animals need to run freely on the map to proliferate the breeder needs to build massive walls around their grounds or if he can't be quite watchful that none of them will get lost.
The Sorcerer
The Sorcerer knows much about the magic arts and gets spell experience for using it. Depending on his selection of spells there are different types of Sorcerer. Specialized in combat spells he will be likely to act like the warrior, with item enchantmants he could earn money as the craftsmen do, "find" spell would make him a good soldier of fortune und with healing spells and attribute spells he is quite a good supporter within a band of brothers in arms.
