Vision & Design Philosophy — The Foundations of AOW

This chapter defines the design philosophy of {{Antares Open World}}: the subsymbolic approach, the criticism of the status quo in the gaming industry, the concrete expectations for a modern MMORPG and the philosophy of complexity.

Foreword

Dear reader, welcome to the concept book, the manuscript for the future Antares world — the epic of an entirely newly designed next-gen game principle in the realm of MMORPGs:

Combine a gigantic and complex MMO open universe sandbox scenario based on connectionist approaches of a subsymbolic nature with simulation, base-building strategy, survival, horror and an innovative collision-dependent 3D real-time combat system (first-person and third-person). Follow the 4X aphorism E(x)plore, E(x)pand, E(x)ploit, and E(x)terminate in chronobiological and cycle-driven real-time. Implement the classic old-school role-playing elements, as well as a world that can be created and modified by the players through harvested resources. Unite the {{Tamagotchi}} principle with a high degree of automation in a vast, never-sleeping universe and you get {{Antares Open World}} ({{AOW}}), or in short, the secret panspermian Antarian worlds.

{{AOW}} draws its inspiration from the fundamental idea of implying knowledge from its highly dynamic systems from within itself. The knowledge representation thus mapped is established without induced and therefore explicit rules. The player is given powerful influencing factors in their own world to be created, in order to generate a creative sandbox with absolute freedom of action and lasting consequences from its {{Subsymbolik}}.

Develop your character and shape {{Antarien}} from the belief of doing good. Create your world, distinguish yourself, forge your unique values and defend them, to the bitter end. Stand for your ideals, take responsibility, show true strength. Act with deliberation, for nothing is as it seems — realities and perceptions will blur. Observe your new world, observe it closely! Get to the bottom of the mysteries. Question postulated facts, examine your thoughts. Trust no one.

{{AOW}} will transport you into a futuristic and simultaneously ancient mystical world of long-forgotten days. Even more: draw your own lessons, decode the messages — they will reveal themselves to those who seek. Become part of a gigantic epic and rewrite Antarian world history. Follow the trails of the "New World Order", find causal connections, reassemble the fabric of an entire world order. Find your equals, confront the secret shadow powers and learn to infiltrate and use them for your purposes.

Begin the most exciting treasure hunt of our time and discover the fate of the entire Antarian species. Be prepared when your postulated theses come true. The message is clear. Everything has its meaning, there are no coincidences. Prevent the genocide of the Antarius Sapiens with catastrophic consequences for the entire universe.

The core message of the foreword is programmatic: {{AOW}} is not a game that one "plays" — it is a world in which one lives. The distinction between player and character deliberately blurs. The boundaries between virtuality and reality are meant to dissolve, not through technology, but through the depth of interaction and the consequence of every action.

Fundamental Ideas — Criticism of the Status Quo

After more than 20 years of experience as a role-player, observer of the major blockbusters, pro-gamer and A++ ratings of the greats, it is time to help the aging game principle and genre into the modern world. Depth of gameplay, complexity and interaction at a high level — with the goal of achieving maximum immersion — are deficiency symptoms. Game physics and framework conditions are mostly built for simplicity, in favor of casuals, and for cost-effective and rapid implementation.

The Woodcutter Problem

A simple example illustrates the systemic problem of the industry: let us take a typical gathering profession from a current blockbuster. An extremely elaborate world, graphically gigantic in execution — and I chop wood on a piece of tree stump lying on the ground. Alternatively, I find ore chunks in various colors simply lying around on the ground. Then perhaps there is a hotspot map from the community online and a gathering profession is born.

One could continue this endlessly. It does not matter whether you take the crafting system, travel, trade, the physics of character attributes, the talent system or questing — everything mostly remains at a high level of abstraction in its implementation. The priorities of the makers simply lie elsewhere. The concept of {{AOW}} aims to take decidedly different paths.

Gathering Professions — Static hotspots, tree stumps
Crafting — Recipe-based, predictable
Travel — Teleportation, waypoints
Trade — Global auction house
Attributes — Static level tables
Talents — Skill trees with resets
Questing — Quest markers, kill-10-mobs

Gathering Professions — Dynamic resources in interactive world
Crafting — Subsymbolic synergy effects
Travel — Physical movement with consequences
Trade — Local trade routes and trade hubs
Attributes — Dynamic, connectionist systems
Talents — Permanently learned abilities
Questing — Organic discovery without markers

The criticism is not directed against individual games, but against a systemic problem of the entire industry: depth of gameplay is sacrificed in favor of accessibility and rapid monetization. {{AOW}} deliberately sets the opposite course — complexity as a feature, not a bug. Each of the above-mentioned systems is covered in detail in its own design chapter.

Motivations — What AOW Should Offer as a Gaming Experience

What good is a pompous skill system if all skills look the same, just in different colors? I want to be proud of having earned a new achievement. To be unique in the world, to possess something that other players do not have. I want to be able to display it opulently. I want to be able to form meaningful object combinations that produce synergy effects that make me more powerful in the game.

The following requirements concretely describe what must be possible in a modern MMORPG. They form the foundation for all subsequent design chapters.

Acquire land, build a house, marry, age. Dig caves, build stone walls, cultivate plants in your own garden. See how tides, weather or natural disasters have an impact. Interactions in fresh water, brackish water and salt water. Observe changes in vegetation and wildlife and influence them.

Dive, swim, ride, sneak, camp, fly, eat. Tame animals and creatures. Attend occult rituals, found religions. Name villages, become a founding father, influence politics. Dedicated real-time combat systems. No presets, no item builds — the agony of choice and no levels.

Physically feel and playfully alter the influence of tides, lunar cycles, stellar and planetary constellations, seasons, thunderstorms, wind, storms, rain, snow and drought on the characters and in the world.

A multitude of professions tailored to the character. Everything in interaction, in a highly dynamic world. Real-time time management in which the game continues when you are offline. Perform administrative tasks, assign bounties, distribute loot. Have children, adopt, keep pets.

Be afflicted by diseases if you were careless. True questing without quest markers. A vast genetic pool of infinite character traits. Achievements that gain value and do not become worthless with the next patch. Collect everything, use it meaningfully — and be able to learn.

A modern MMORPG with long-term motivation in which the player can do anything imaginable. Interaction with objects and characters should produce real changes. Elaborate graphics, emotional soundscapes, and an entirely new game culture — a feeling of never being done learning as a gamer.

And I want all of this to take place with the willingness to compromise, to be able to learn... That is {{Antares Open World}}!

Of course, we do not want to reinvent the wheel... but the concept wants it to keep rolling for a long time. This requires not only elaborate and detailed graphics and an emotional soundscape, but an entirely new game culture and interaction — a feeling of never being done learning as a gamer, always being able to discover new things and being able to completely immerse yourself in this world.

Without truly interactive interconnection of all areas, even the most gigantic game feels flat. This is the central insight: every system must stand in a causal relationship with all other systems.

Philosophy — Complexity as a Principle

We see Antares Open World as a sandbox, also in terms of complexity and metagaming. It is one of the fundamental Antares philosophies to favor the complexity-loving player over the simplicity-loving player. There are enough games on the market that have lost complexity over time through their generalization, and have thereby become uninteresting for the makers and founders of Antares Open World.

Read on, then, if you love to immerse yourself in complexity! If you are not deterred by new ideas and the requirement to take different paths, and if you love to grasp the quintessence of the optimum through interaction and complexity, as close to reality as possible. It is on this basis that the concept for {{Antares Open World}} was founded.

Through the creation of {{AOW}}, a new form of game culture is to be established. In particular, {{AOW}} is to evolve into part of a vibrant player culture initiated through active Metagaming, in order to create a far-reaching and dynamic life of its own.

Logarithmically increasing levels of complexity. The player is not simplified, but empowered.

Player culture beyond the client. Community organization, trade and diplomacy on a meta level.

Long-term motivation over months and years. No quick fixes, no instant gratification.

Knowledge is earned, not given. Every insight is the result of experience.

No explicit rules — knowledge emerges from experience. The foundation of all systems in AOW.