Eternal Lands
Encyclopedia
Eternal Lands is a free, multiplayer, online role-playing game (MMORPG
) created by Radu Privantu in 2002. A pre-alpha version was made public on February 13, 2003. The game client is written in C
using OpenGL
and SDL
.
world. There are historic elements such as medieval architecture and weaponry along with fictional elements such as other humanoid
races and magic. It is made of up two main continents: Seridia and Irilion in the world of Draia. Seridia is the first continent, and the place in which new players spawn. It consists of 14 main maps, 7 storages, 2 main PK maps, and the only spot to find the Wraith. Irillion is directed towards experienced players.
, dwarves, gnome
s, orchans (half-orc
s) and Draegoni (dragon-men).
The last three races are pay-to-play races; a player must pay money to play a character of one of these races.
Eternal Lands does not have fixed character classes, and it is possible for any player to improve any of the 12 skills in game.
Eternal Lands supports the Microsoft Windows
, Linux
, FreeBSD
and Mac OS X
operating systems and the X86, X86_64, IA64 and PowerPC architectures.
ing, socializing with other players, player killing
, and improving skills by fighting, gathering resources and creating items. All skills increase the "overall" experience, rewarding a player with "pickpoints", with which he can further build his character.
making and tailor
ing. The items can be created by inserting certain materials into the manufacturing window and attempting to mix them. If mixing fails, the materials may be lost. Success chance is defined by skill level and the item's level. If the player succeeds, the item appears in their inventory and they will receive experience.
or other players
. Harvesting some materials requires different tools.
It is also possible to fight with the magic
, ranging
and summoning skills. Ranging experience is obtained by hitting opponent with an arrow
or bolt
shot with one of the five different bow
s or crossbow
s. Summoning experience is obtained by successfully summoning a creature and magic experience by casting spells. Both summons and spells require certain materials that will disappear upon succeeding.
and may be developed by anyone. However, the license does require modified clients to be approved by administrators before it is possible to connect the main servers. For testing purposes, there is a test server. The content is released under a proprietary license.
Landes Eternelles is a French port
currently in development. Although it is architecturally identical to Eternal Lands and shares some of the graphics and other gameplay mechanisms, it has a different role-play approach with different races, geography, storylines, religion and quests. Landes Eternelles is currently in open Beta stage.
Other-Life is a project that attempts to create a more challenging variant of Eternal Lands. It was started by Steven Wilcoxon (known by the nickname
Learner), a server developer of Eternal Lands, and is based on that game's server and client code. The game is not open for testing yet.
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....
) created by Radu Privantu in 2002. A pre-alpha version was made public on February 13, 2003. The game client is written in C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
using OpenGL
OpenGL
OpenGL is a standard specification defining a cross-language, cross-platform API for writing applications that produce 2D and 3D computer graphics. The interface consists of over 250 different function calls which can be used to draw complex three-dimensional scenes from simple primitives. OpenGL...
and SDL
Simple DirectMedia Layer
Simple DirectMedia Layer is a cross-platform, free and open source multimedia library written in C that presents a simple interface to various platforms' graphics, sound, and input devices....
.
Gameplay
The setting is a medieval fantasyMedieval fantasy
Medieval fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy that encompasses medieval era high fantasy and sometimes simply represents fictitious versions of historic events. This subgenre is common among role-playing games, text-based roleplaying, and high-fantasy literature....
world. There are historic elements such as medieval architecture and weaponry along with fictional elements such as other humanoid
Humanoid
A humanoid is something that has an appearance resembling a human being. The term first appeared in 1912 to refer to fossils which were morphologically similar to, but not identical with, those of the human skeleton. Although this usage was common in the sciences for much of the 20th century, it...
races and magic. It is made of up two main continents: Seridia and Irilion in the world of Draia. Seridia is the first continent, and the place in which new players spawn. It consists of 14 main maps, 7 storages, 2 main PK maps, and the only spot to find the Wraith. Irillion is directed towards experienced players.
Character building
Players begin play by selecting the race, name and appearance of their character. Skills, abilities and alignments are automatically given initial values. There are six races available; Humans, elvesElf
An elf is a being of Germanic mythology. The elves were originally thought of as a race of divine beings endowed with magical powers, which they use both for the benefit and the injury of mankind...
, dwarves, gnome
Gnome
A gnome is a diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, first introduced by Paracelsus and later adopted by more recent authors including those of modern fantasy literature...
s, orchans (half-orc
Half-orc
The half-orc is a creature born to mixed orc and human parentage in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. The half-orc is a playable race for D&D player characters. Half-orcs are typically born in wild frontiers where human and orc tribes come into contact. Half-orcs are between six and seven...
s) and Draegoni (dragon-men).
The last three races are pay-to-play races; a player must pay money to play a character of one of these races.
Eternal Lands does not have fixed character classes, and it is possible for any player to improve any of the 12 skills in game.
System requirements
A computer with a 3D-accelerated graphics card and an internet connection is needed to play Eternal Lands. The software download is free.Eternal Lands supports the Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
, FreeBSD
FreeBSD
FreeBSD is a free Unix-like operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via BSD UNIX. Although for legal reasons FreeBSD cannot be called “UNIX”, as the direct descendant of BSD UNIX , FreeBSD’s internals and system APIs are UNIX-compliant...
and Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
operating systems and the X86, X86_64, IA64 and PowerPC architectures.
In-game activities
In-game activities include exploring the 39 different outside maps (plus numerous insides and caves), questQuest (gaming)
A quest in role-playing video games — including massively multiplayer online role-playing games and their predecessors, MUDs — is a task that a player-controlled character or group of characters may complete in order to gain a reward...
ing, socializing with other players, player killing
Player versus player
Player versus player, or PvP, is a type of multiplayer interactive conflict within a game between two or more live participants. This is in contrast to games where players compete against computer controlled opponents, which is correspondingly referred to as player versus environment...
, and improving skills by fighting, gathering resources and creating items. All skills increase the "overall" experience, rewarding a player with "pickpoints", with which he can further build his character.
Productive skills
The productive skills are called alchemy, crafting, engineering, manufacturing, potionPotion
A potion is a consumable medicine or poison.In mythology and literature, a potion is usually made by a magician, sorcerer, dragon, fairy or witch and has magical properties. It might be used to heal, bewitch or poison people...
making and tailor
Tailor
A tailor is a person who makes, repairs, or alters clothing professionally, especially suits and men's clothing.Although the term dates to the thirteenth century, tailor took on its modern sense in the late eighteenth century, and now refers to makers of men's and women's suits, coats, trousers,...
ing. The items can be created by inserting certain materials into the manufacturing window and attempting to mix them. If mixing fails, the materials may be lost. Success chance is defined by skill level and the item's level. If the player succeeds, the item appears in their inventory and they will receive experience.
Harvesting
Harvesting involves the gathering of resources, such as flowers, minerals and ores. These items can be used for creating items or be sold to NPCNon-player character
A non-player character , sometimes known as a non-person character or non-playable character, in a game is any fictional character not controlled by a player. In electronic games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer through artificial intelligence...
or other players
Player character
A player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...
. Harvesting some materials requires different tools.
Combat
Fighting is broken into attack and defense skills, which the player can improve by fighting monsters or players. For every successful hit landed on the opponent, attack experience is gained, and dodging a hit gives defense experience. The amount of experience is determined by the level differences between the fighting players.It is also possible to fight with the magic
Magic (gaming)
Some role-playing games or game systems can include a set of rules that are used to portray magic in the paranormal sense. These rules simulate the effects that magic would have within the game context, according to how the game designer intended the magic to be portrayed...
, ranging
Archery
Archery is the art, practice, or skill of propelling arrows with the use of a bow, from Latin arcus. Archery has historically been used for hunting and combat; in modern times, however, its main use is that of a recreational activity...
and summoning skills. Ranging experience is obtained by hitting opponent with an arrow
Arrow
An arrow is a shafted projectile that is shot with a bow. It predates recorded history and is common to most cultures.An arrow usually consists of a shaft with an arrowhead attached to the front end, with fletchings and a nock at the other.- History:...
or bolt
Quarrel
A quarrel or bolt is the term for the ammunition used in a crossbow. The name "quarrel" is derived from the French carré, "square", referring to the fact that they typically have square heads. Although their length varies, they are typically shorter than traditional arrows.Bolts and arrows have...
shot with one of the five different bow
Bow (weapon)
The bow and arrow is a projectile weapon system that predates recorded history and is common to most cultures.-Description:A bow is a flexible arc that shoots aerodynamic projectiles by means of elastic energy. Essentially, the bow is a form of spring powered by a string or cord...
s or crossbow
Crossbow
A crossbow is a weapon consisting of a bow mounted on a stock that shoots projectiles, often called bolts or quarrels. The medieval crossbow was called by many names, most of which derived from the word ballista, a torsion engine resembling a crossbow in appearance.Historically, crossbows played a...
s. Summoning experience is obtained by successfully summoning a creature and magic experience by casting spells. Both summons and spells require certain materials that will disappear upon succeeding.
Player killing
On the main Eternal Lands server, there are only a few select areas where players can attack one another, so that players don't have to engage in player versus player combat if they don't want to. However, there is also a pay-to-play PK server which allows for players to fight each other nearly anywhere. It has been out for quite some time now but is still not very populated..Development
The game client is open sourceOpen source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
and may be developed by anyone. However, the license does require modified clients to be approved by administrators before it is possible to connect the main servers. For testing purposes, there is a test server. The content is released under a proprietary license.
Spin-offs
Two games were derived from Eternal Lands:Landes Eternelles is a French port
Porting
In computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
currently in development. Although it is architecturally identical to Eternal Lands and shares some of the graphics and other gameplay mechanisms, it has a different role-play approach with different races, geography, storylines, religion and quests. Landes Eternelles is currently in open Beta stage.
Other-Life is a project that attempts to create a more challenging variant of Eternal Lands. It was started by Steven Wilcoxon (known by the nickname
Nickname
A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....
Learner), a server developer of Eternal Lands, and is based on that game's server and client code. The game is not open for testing yet.