A new Developer Journal for a new year. This one is a bit different as it really tries to get to the heart of some of the misconceptions about the game. Namely the business model. Often people hear the term perma-death and their mind immediately links it with games that have a hardcore mode, one death and you are out. That is not the case here. There are different types of death, and you may have to spirit walk many times before you actually reach that final curtain. But how many times? Well that all depends, however, we now know what on and how much of a difference it makes.

If you want to read the Developer Journal in full it can be found on the Chronicles of Elyria website, or you can read on for the Journal Abridged. Just a quick note that there is a fair amount of maths in the original, so if you want to see all the working I suggest heading there as I have just cut to the chase!

The Elyrian Lifespan

• Elyrians live to somewhere between 80 and 120 years. This gives an average of 100 years old.

• As a player you start your life at either age 12 for a ward, or 15 if you are joining a family. All further figures assume you start at the later age of 15.

• This gives a play time of 65 to 105 years, with an average of 85 Elyrian years of play time.

• An Elyrian year is 100 real-world hours, so converted that gives a play time of 270 to 337 real world days, or an average play time of 354 days which is just under one real-world year per Spark of Life.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

• The above numbers are a maximum lifespan and assume no spirit loss during your life.

• The base spirit loss for a death is 2 real-life days of play, each time you are forced to Spirit Walk.

• Looking at various rates of death this means you get a play time per Spark of Life of:
  • Dying once a month gives 11 months of play time
  • Dying once a week gives just under 9 months of play time.
  • Dying two or three times a week gives between just over 7 months and 6 months play time respectively.
  • Dying every single day, seven days a week gives just under 4 months of play time.

• The current estimated cost, subject to change, of a Spark of Life is $29.99. Even on the very lowest example, which is severe, you would be paying around $7.99 a month.

The Price of Fame

• Chronicles of Elyria uses a multiplier system on the standard death toll for more famous or impactful characters. Those that are more likely to be missed if they die.

• There are seven categories of fame each with a different multiplier:
  1. Unknown (x1)
  2. Notable (x1.5)
  3. Prominent (x2)
  4. Famous (x4)
  5. Renowned (x8)
  6. Exalted (x16)
  7. Legendary (x32)

• The previous examples all assume an unknown player.

• If that player was Legendary, they could die no more than 6 times before having to start a new character. However, there is more on this in the next design journal so do not panic yet!

Gaining Fame

• Fame or notoriety, they are not distinguished between, is how likely people are to know your name in the same village or town, the same county or duchy, or even throughout your kingdom or continent.

• Most play styles can gain fame in some way, namely being good at it and interacting with others.

• One of the most direct routes to fame is to have a position within government. Each position gives a base level of fame:
  • Elder or Village Council: Notable
  • Mayor/Town Council: Prominent
  • Magistrate/City Council or Baron: Famous
  • Count or Sheriff: Renowned
  • Duke: Exalted
  • King: Legendary

• This means a King is automatically a Legendary character so can not die more that 6 times.

• The multipliers for the different levels of fame also give an indication of the relative fame you need to move up to the next level. e.g. a Renowed player is 8x the average fame.

Toll Caps

• Toll caps are limits on the death toll in a specific period of time. These are stated to be something they are considering.
  First toll cap is one death toll per 2.5 hours (or one Elyrian day). So getting killed multiple times in a short period does not increase spirit loss but instead allows you time to get away from dangerous enemies.

• The second toll cap is during wartime, the mechanics of realm vs realm will be discussed in a later Developer Journal. The toll cap during wartime would be one toll per 10 hours. However, your first death on the battlefield would have an additional x4 multiplier. So a Legendary character would loose 256days… so very close to death!

Intriguing as always. The more famous you are the shorter your life will be. However, do not panic quite yet that becoming a high flier in the nobility is going to put you out of pocket we have another Developer Journal on its way in the next few days to give a bit more information to ease your worries and talking about their new “earn-to-play” model, which I am excited to learn about.