Dark Age of Camelot

Last updated
Dark Age of Camelot
Dark Age of Camelot cover.jpg
Original cover art
Developer(s) Mythic Entertainment
Broadsword Online Games
Publisher(s) Vivendi Universal Games (US)
Wanadoo Edition (Europe)
Electronic Arts (2006–present)
Designer(s) Mark Jacobs
Matt Firor
Rob Denton
Engine NetImmerse
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
ReleaseOctober 9, 2001 [1]
Genre(s) Massively multiplayer online role-playing game
Mode(s) Multiplayer

Dark Age of Camelot is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game released in October 2001 in North America, and in January 2002 in Europe. The game combines Arthurian lore, Norse mythology, and Celtic mythology with high fantasy. It is set in the period after King Arthur's death, when his kingdom has split into three realms, which are in a constant state of war with each other. Dark Age of Camelot includes both player versus environment (PvE) and realm versus realm (RvR) combat.

Contents

Developed by Mythic Entertainment, the game is in large part an adaptation of a previous text-based game Darkness Falls: The Crusade (1999). The development of Dark Age of Camelot was later transferred from Mythic Entertainment to Broadsword Online Games, a newly established studio, which also subsequently took over development of Mythic's other MMO game, Ultima Online . [2] [3] Mythic was shut down in May 2014. [4]

As of 2019, a new "progression" server was revealed to be in development, which is said to be limited to the content from the original release, the Shrouded Isles expansion, and the housing zone additions. [5] With regard to "Old Frontiers" returning to the game, the development team plans to poll the community for their preference. [6]

Gameplay

The player character riding a horse through the realm of Hibernia. The early 2001-era graphic engine and HUD design can be seen in this shot. DAoC Screenshot.jpeg
The player character riding a horse through the realm of Hibernia. The early 2001-era graphic engine and HUD design can be seen in this shot.

The character is controlled by either the mouse or keyboard. The player can customize up to three "Quickbars" of 10 slots each with spells, melee or ranged attacks (depending on the equipped weapon), or macros, which can be either clicked on or selected with the number keys to activate. [7] Dark Age of Camelot's class system is balanced at the RvR level instead of in direct comparison to the other realms' equivalent classes. Dark Age of Camelot classes are very rigid with specific roles, play styles, and specialization point allocations.

Guilds offer social, economic, and PvE/PvP advantages that contrast with or exceed those of soloing and "pick-up groups". Each guild comes with its own chat channel, in-game ranking system, territory claiming ability, guild banking system, guild housing, emblem, and reward system in the form of guild bounty points and merit points. Guild leaders can define their own set of rules and goals, and can customize the privileges (such as inviting new members, speaking in alliance chat, and claiming captured towers for the guild) of each Rank within the guild. Furthermore, alliances can be formed between player guilds, permitting them to create a shared chat channel for all guilds within the alliance to communicate.

Realm versus Realm gameplay is the main focus of Dark Age of Camelot. The storyline revolves around what happens after the death of King Arthur and the fragmentation of his former kingdom. Albion, Hibernia, and Midgard are in a three-way war against each other and constantly war for control of powerful relics, keeps, and towers, as well as control of the entrance to Darkness Falls. [8]

Realms

Dark Age of Camelot has three realms, allowing a unique dynamic of RvRvR gameplay. Each of the three realms is inspired by historical folklore and mythology:

Storyline

Each realm has a unique but parallel storyline, which is expanded with retail expansions. In the original Realm zones, smaller cities need protection against monsters. Albion is menaced by undead raised by Morgana, Hibernia is torn apart by the Unseelie Court and Siabra, and Midgard by the treacherous Blodfelag.

Development

Early developmental concept art for the original playable races in the game. From left to right: Saracen, Avalonian, Highlander, Briton, Elf, Lurikeen, Celtic Human, Firbolg, Norseman, Dwarf, Troll, Kobold. Daocconceptart.jpg
Early developmental concept art for the original playable races in the game. From left to right: Saracen, Avalonian, Highlander, Briton, Elf, Lurikeen, Celtic Human, Firbolg, Norseman, Dwarf, Troll, Kobold.

The decision to develop Dark Age of Camelot was made in late 1999, with it originally being conceived of as a graphical MUD. [10] Mythic Entertainment president Mark Jacobs proposed the idea of using Arthurian legend since it was on the public domain and thus the company would be free of any licensing issues. [10] Total development costs excluding equipment leases was about US$2.5 million [11] and took 18 months with a team of 25 full-time developers. [10] 3DS Max and Character Studio were used to create all models and animations within the game. [10]

Toward the end of development, Mythic found itself in a difficult financial situation: since it had never borrowed money, it lacked a credit rating sufficient to lease the Dell servers needed to run the game. After being denied the lease by Dell, Mythic had to purchase each server using its development funds. [12] Securing a publisher was also a difficult task; every publisher that Mythic initially approached rejected the game except for one, Vivendi Games. In 2014, Jacobs still expressed gratitude to Vivendi for taking a chance on the studio. [13]

During the game's prime, Mythic operated 120 dual-processor Pentium servers running Linux. Out of those, groups of six servers were devoted to running one world, or as the player saw it, one server. The servers were designed to handle 20,000 players simultaneously logged in at any given time, but Mythic limited them to about 4,000 each in order to keep the world from feeling too cluttered. [14] Much of the game's code was also stored on the servers, with the user client more focused on graphics and texture loading based on a data stream limited to 10 kbit/s per player. [14]

Broadsword Games later released Dark Age of Camelot: Endless Conquest, a non-subscription style game account allowing players to play the game for free, with some restrictions on how many characters the player can have, character classes, as well as some services within the game. [15] Their timeline originally placed release in fall of 2018, but "unforeseen issues and technological constraints" with the v1.125 patch has forced them to delay the release until early 2019. The user's prior accounts are eligible for Endless Conquest as well as new accounts. [16]

Expansions

Mythic has produced seven expansions (which originally had to be bought separately, but are now free downloads) for DAoC. The expansions were not released on European servers (run by GOA), until typically months after the Mythic release.

Note: A patch is mentioned in this list due to its impact on one of the expansions. Also, all expansions are now included free as part of the main client download.

Reception

Sales

Before the release of Dark Age of Camelot, Mythic Entertainment forecast "30,000 players on launch in the United States", according to GameSpy. [28] In that country, the title entered NPD Intelect's weekly computer game sales rankings in first place for October 7–13, 2001. [29] Its initial shipment sold out within one day. [30] Its sales reached 51,000 units within four days of release. [12] Dark Age of Camelot remained at #1 for the week ending on October 20, [31] but fell to third and fifth in the following two weeks, respectively. [32] [33] The game claimed first place on NPD's monthly chart for October 2001. [34] After a ninth-place finish for the week ending on November 10, [35] it was absent from NPD's weekly top 10 and monthly top 20. [34] [36]

By the first week of November, Dark Age of Camelot had sold 115,894 units in the United States. Remarking on this performance, GameSpot's writer Desslock explained that the game had "sold extremely well during the first few weeks of its release", and considered to be larger success than the other massively multiplayer RPG released that year, Anarchy Online . He cited its performance as evidence that "there's probably never been a larger demand for RPGs". [37] Dark Age of Camelot's sales in the United States reached 300,000 copies, for revenues of $10.4 million, by August 2006. At the time, this led Edge to declare it the country's 63rd-best-selling computer game released since January 2000. The Dark Age of Camelot franchise, including its expansion packs, totaled sales of 780,000 units in the United States by 2006. [38]

The game was also a hit in Europe, where it sold above 100,000 units by March 2003. [39]

Reviews and awards

During the 5th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS) honored Dark Age of Camelot with the "Massive Multiplayer/Persistent World" award; it also received nominations for the "Computer Game of the Year", "Innovation in Computer Gaming", and "Game Design" awards. [40] At the following year's awards ceremony, AIAS nominated the expansion Shrouded Isles for "Massive Multiplayer/Persistent World Game of the Year", which was ultimately awarded to The Sims Online . [41]

Legacy

In 2012, a Kickstarter campaign to develop Camelot Unchained came about, designed by Mark Jacobs. [42]

Uthgard

The longest living freeshard. Features:

Related Research Articles

<i>EverQuest</i> 1999 video game

EverQuest is a 3D fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) originally developed by Verant Interactive and 989 Studios for Windows PCs. It was released by Sony Online Entertainment in March 1999 in North America, and by Ubisoft in Europe in April 2000. A dedicated version for Mac OS X was released in June 2003, which operated for ten years before being shut down in November 2013. In June 2000, Verant Interactive was absorbed into Sony Online Entertainment, who took over full development and publishing duties of the title. Later, in February 2015, SOE's parent corporation, Sony Computer Entertainment, sold the studio to investment company Columbus Nova and it was rebranded as Daybreak Game Company, which continues to develop and publish EverQuest.

<i>Ultima Online</i> 1997 video game

Ultima Online (UO) is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released on September 24, 1997 by Origin Systems.

<i>Neverwinter Nights</i> (2002 video game) Dungeons & Dragons video game

Neverwinter Nights is a role-playing video game developed by BioWare. Interplay Entertainment was originally set to publish the game, but financial difficulties led to it being taken over by Infogrames, who released the game under their Atari range of titles. It is the first installment in the Neverwinter Nights series and was released for Microsoft Windows on June 18, 2002. BioWare later released a Linux client in June 2003, requiring a purchased copy of the game to play. MacSoft released a Mac OS X port in August 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ed Greenwood</span> Canadian fantasy writer and game designer

Ed Greenwood is a Canadian fantasy writer and the creator of the Forgotten Realms game world. He began writing articles about the Forgotten Realms for Dragon magazine beginning in 1979, and subsequently sold the rights to the setting to TSR, the creators of the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, in 1986. He has written many Forgotten Realms novels, as well as numerous articles and D&D game supplement books.

<i>World of Warcraft</i> 2004 video game

World of Warcraft (WoW) is a 2004 massively multiplayer online role-playing (MMORPG) video game produced by Blizzard Entertainment. Set in the Warcraft fantasy universe, World of Warcraft takes place within the world of Azeroth, approximately four years after the events of the previous game in the series, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne. The game was announced in 2001, and was released for the 10th anniversary of the Warcraft franchise on November 23, 2004. Since launch, World of Warcraft has had ten major expansion packs: The Burning Crusade (2007), Wrath of the Lich King (2008), Cataclysm (2010), Mists of Pandaria (2012), Warlords of Draenor (2014), Legion (2016), Battle for Azeroth (2018), Shadowlands (2020), Dragonflight (2022), and The War Within (2024). Two further expansions, Midnight and The Last Titan, were announced in 2023.

Player versus player (PvP) is a type of multiplayer interactive conflict within a game between human players. This is often compared to player versus environment (PvE), in which the game itself controls its players' opponents. The terms are most often used in games where both activities exist, particularly MMORPGs, MUDs, and other role-playing video games, to distinguish between gamemodes. PvP can be broadly used to describe any game, or aspect of a game, where players compete against each other. PvP is often controversial when used in role-playing games. In most cases, there are vast differences in abilities between players. PvP can even encourage experienced players to immediately attack and kill inexperienced players. PvP is often referred to as player killing in the cases of games which contain, but do not focus on, such interaction.

<i>Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning</i> 2008 video game

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning was a massively multiplayer online role-playing game based on Games Workshop's Warhammer Fantasy setting, developed by Mythic Entertainment and published by Electronic Arts in 2008. The game revolved around the continual worldwide conflict that the Warhammer Fantasy setting is known for, and the game is geared toward ongoing, constant war laced with dark humour. Age of Reckoning ended up selling over a million copies and peaking at 800,000 subscribers, but dropped to 300,000 subscribers several months later. The game received generally positive reviews from critics but shut down in 2013. Since at least 2014, an active private server called Return of Reckoning has been run by fans, and it remains active as of June 2024.

Scott Jennings, also known as Lum the Mad, is an American commentator on MMORPG games. He is best known for creating a website, The Rantings of Lum The Mad, a pioneer blog, which existed from 1998 to 2001, when Jennings was hired by MMO developer Mythic Entertainment, where he remained until 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mythic Entertainment</span> Defunct video game developer

Mythic Entertainment was an American video game developer based in Fairfax, Virginia that was most widely recognized for developing the 2001 massively multiplayer online role-playing game Dark Age of Camelot. Mythic was a prolific creator of multiplayer online games following its establishment in the mid-1990s.

Dragon's Gate was an interactive, real time, text-based multi user online fantasy role-playing game, sometimes referred to as a MUD. It was one of the longest running pay-for-play online games in the world, it opened to the public in the spring of 1990 on GEnie. In 1996 the game was moved to AOL. Later the game was moved to Mythic Realms, and finally to independent server, where it ran until the summer of 2007.

The history of massively multiplayer online games spans over thirty years and hundreds of massively multiplayer online games (MMOG) titles. The origin and influence on MMO games stems from MUDs, Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) and earlier social games.

World of Warcraft (WoW), is set in a fictional universe, with its primary setting being the planet of Azeroth. The first expansion, The Burning Crusade, introduced a second planet, Outland. Wrath of the Lich King expanded upon Azeroth and added Northrend, the frigid northern continent of Azeroth, while the next expansion, and Cataclysm, drastically changed various other continents by destroying some and unveiling new ones. The next expansion, Mists of Pandaria, added Pandaria, the southern continent previously hidden behind a perennial mist cover. Warlords of Draenor introduced the planet of Draenor, a version of Outland in a different timeline before its partial destruction. The Legion expansion took adventurers to the Broken Isles, an island chain near the Maelstrom in the middle of the Great Sea, and the damaged planet Argus, the headquarters of the Burning Legion. The seventh expansion, Battle for Azeroth, added two new island continents to the center of Azeroth: Kul Tiras and Zandalar. The latest expansion, Shadowlands, introduced the eponymous Shadowlands, a realm composed of five major zones: Bastion, Maldraxxus, Ardenweald, Revendreth, and the Maw.

Dragon Saga, called Dragonica before 2010, is a free-to-play 3D side-scrolling massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by Barunson Interactive and Gravity Interactive. Development has been ongoing since March 2006. Operation of Dragon Saga is relegated to different publishers for their respective regions. Whilst being free-to-play, the game also includes a cash shop that allows for unique customization of player's characters. The game's commercial launch was in June 2009 in China and October in Europe and October 2010 in North America. Characters created during the open beta testing were carried over to the commercial release.

Realm versus Realm (RvR) is a type of player versus player (PvP) gameplay in massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) where the player base is divided over multiple preset realms that fight each other over game assets. This differs from normal Player versus Player combat in that Realm versus Realm usually involves a combat-based game, as opposed to one where sporadic Player versus Player combat occurs. In this context, "realm" generally means a geographic territory or political affiliation.

<i>Rappelz</i> 2024 video game

Rappelz is a free-to-play massively multiplayer online role-playing game. The game was developed by the Korean company Gala Lab, formerly nFlavor. It is published in Europe and North America by Gala Lab Corp under their Play2Bit Co. Ltd. subsidiary. It was formerly published by Webzen, Inc. until 2020. The game is offered in languages such as English, French, German, Italian, Polish, and Turkish, on their Play2Bit games portal.

<i>Realm of the Mad God</i> Massively multiplayer online video game

Realm of the Mad God is a massively multiplayer online shoot 'em up video game created by Wild Shadow Studios and currently owned and developed by DECA Games. It was in public beta from January 2010 and the browser version launched on June 20, 2011. On February 20, 2012 the game was made available on the digital distribution platform Steam for Microsoft Windows and OS X.

Rik Schaffer is an American composer and musician. He formed Womb Music in 1996 after being in the music industry as a member of several acts such as Tomorrow's Child and Engines of Aggression. He often works with his partner Margaret Tang.

<i>Final Fantasy XIV</i> 2013 video game

Final Fantasy XIV is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by Square Enix. Directed and produced by Naoki Yoshida and released worldwide for PlayStation 3 and Windows in August 2013, it replaced the failed 2010 version, with subsequent support for PlayStation 4, macOS, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. Final Fantasy XIV is set in the fantasy region of Eorzea, five years after the devastating Seventh Umbral Calamity which ended the original version. In the Calamity, the elder primal Bahamut escaped from his prison, an ancient space station called Dalamud, unleashing an apocalypse across Eorzea. Through temporal magic, the player character of the original version escaped, reappearing at the start of A Realm Reborn. As Eorzea cements its recovery, the player must fend off a reignited invasion from the Garlean Empire.

<i>EverQuest</i> expansions Additional content for the MMORPG EverQuest

Thirty full expansions for the MMORPG EverQuest have been released. Initially, expansions were shipped in boxes to stores, but were later put for sale on digital marketplaces. The retail versions often come packaged with a bonus feature such as a creature that the player can put in their in-game house.

<i>World of Warcraft Classic</i> 2019 massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment

World of Warcraft Classic is a 2019 MMORPG video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. Running alongside the main version of the game, Classic recreates World of Warcraft in the state it was in before the release of its first expansion, The Burning Crusade. It was announced at BlizzCon 2017 and was released globally August 26, 2019. The Burning Crusade Classic, Wrath of the Lich King Classic and Cataclysm Classic versions of the game were later released to allow players to progress to those expansions.

References

  1. ↑ Walker, Trey (September 28, 2001). "Dark Age of Camelot to ship October 9". GameSpot . Retrieved January 13, 2022.
  2. ↑ "Mythic devs form new studio, take over DAoC and Ultima Online". Engadget. Retrieved 2018-05-09.
  3. ↑ The Next Chapter for. Dark Age of Camelot. Retrieved on 2014-05-22.
  4. ↑ Schreier, Jason (29 May 2014). "EA Shuts Down Longtime Game Studio Mythic Entertainment". Kotaku. Gawker Media. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  5. ↑ "Friday Grab Bag - 05/24/2019".
  6. ↑ "Friday Grab Bag - 06/07/2019".
  7. ↑ "USING AND UNDERSTANDING THE INTERFACE". Dark Age of Camelot. Retrieved 2016-07-21.
  8. ↑ "RVR & SERVER TYPES". Dark Age of Camelot. Retrieved 2018-11-20.
  9. ↑ Camelot Concept Art. Web.archive.org (2001-03-31). Retrieved on 2014-05-22.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Firor, Matt. "Post-Mortem: Mythic's Dark Age of Camelot". GamaSutra. Retrieved 2012-12-20.
  11. ↑ "Talking Crowdfunding with Mark Jacobs - The Free Zone at". Mmorpg.com. Retrieved 2012-12-19.
  12. 1 2 Postmortem: Mythic Entertainment's Dark Age of Camelot. Gamasutra. Retrieved on 2014-05-22.
  13. ↑ "Former Mythic boss eulogises the fallen Warhammer studio". Eurogamer.net. 30 May 2014. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  14. 1 2 Cohen, Alan. (2003-07-01) Inside the Dark Age of Camelot. PCMag.com. Retrieved on 2014-05-22.
  15. ↑ "Dark Age of Camelot". www.darkageofcamelot.com. Retrieved 2018-05-09.
  16. ↑ "Endless Conquest, DAoC's Free Version, Pushed to Early 2019 - MMORPG.com". MMORPG.com. Retrieved 2018-10-31.
  17. ↑ GameSpot Staff (December 30, 2002). "GameSpot's Best and Worst of 2002". GameSpot . Archived from the original on February 7, 2003.
  18. ↑ Overview DAoC.com Archived 2006-10-24 at the Wayback Machine
  19. ↑ "Dark Age of Camelot for PC". GameRankings. 2001-09-01. Retrieved 2012-12-19.
  20. ↑ "Dark Age of Camelot for PC Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More". Metacritic. 2001-09-01. Retrieved 2012-12-19.
  21. ↑ (Feb 2002, p.77)
  22. ↑ Game Informer (Jan 2002, p.93)
  23. ↑ "Dark Age of Camelot Review". GameSpot.com. 2001-10-26. Archived from the original on 2012-11-23. Retrieved 2012-12-19.
  24. ↑ GameSpy.com - Reviews: Dark Age of Camelot (PC). Web.archive.org (2002-02-14). Retrieved on 2014-05-22.
  25. ↑ "Dark Age of Camelot". IGN. 3 November 2001. Retrieved 2012-12-19.
  26. ↑ Dark Age of Camelot reviewed by PC Magazine. Web.archive.org. Retrieved on 2014-05-22.
  27. ↑ "Gameplanet - Reviews - Dark Age of Camelot". Archived from the original on 2 February 2002. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  28. ↑ Loijens, Joost (May 18, 2001). "E3 2001; Dark Age of Camelot". GameSpy . Archived from the original on February 6, 2002.
  29. ↑ Walker, Trey (October 25, 2001). "Camelot takes the lead". GameSpot . Archived from the original on December 11, 2001.
  30. ↑ "GameSpy.com - GameSpin: Volume #27". www.gamespy.com. Archived from the original on 6 December 2003. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  31. ↑ Walker, Trey (October 31, 2001). "Camelot hangs on to first place". GameSpot . Archived from the original on December 2, 2001. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  32. ↑ Walker, Trey (November 7, 2001). "Asheron's Call Dark Majesty ousts Camelot". GameSpot . Archived from the original on December 14, 2001. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  33. ↑ Walker, Trey (November 14, 2001). "Civilization III takes first and second place". GameSpot . Archived from the original on December 13, 2001. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  34. 1 2 Walker, Trey (November 29, 2001). "Hot Date holds off Harry Potter". GameSpot . Archived from the original on December 2, 2001. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  35. ↑ Walker, Trey (November 21, 2001). "Humongous takes the lead". GameSpot . Archived from the original on November 23, 2001. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  36. ↑ Walker, Trey (December 19, 2001). "Hot Date rules November". GameSpot . Archived from the original on February 13, 2002. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  37. ↑ Desslock (November 23, 2001). "Desslock's Ramblings - Wizardry 8 Arrives, Kinda; RPG Sales Stats Updated". GameSpot . Archived from the original on November 24, 2001.
  38. ↑ Edge Staff (August 25, 2006). "The Top 100 PC Games of the 21st Century". Edge . Archived from the original on October 17, 2012.
  39. ↑ "Dark Age of Camelot: Shrouded Isles is a Europe-wide hit and no. 1 bestseller in France" (PDF). Wanadoo. Archived from the original on 2003-08-08. Retrieved 2003-08-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  40. ↑ "D.I.C.E. Awards By Video Game Details Dark Age of Camelot". Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences . Retrieved 26 July 2023.
  41. ↑ "2003 Awards Category Details Massively Multiplayer/Persistent World Game of the Year". interactive.org. Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences . Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  42. ↑ "Camelot Unchained isn't in the dark ages anymore after raising $7.5 million". 18 January 2018.
  43. ↑
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.