But Can I Craft A Mine? Everquest Next - Landmark

Talking to the monsters just isn't enough any more, things must be more complex. Gamers the world over cry-out for not only deeper interaction with their digital worlds but the ability to terraform them as well. Thus when earlier this month Sony Online Entertainment shocked the world by revealing Everquest Next might actually be relevant to the wider gaming community, its world-building utility Landmark was yet another pleasant surprise. Gamescom's provided a platform to preach a little more information regarding the project and it's just past this oddly destructible barrier.

Via a livestream Director of Development David Georgeson revealed that Landmark was more than just a tool. They're producing it as a full MMO-style game including hub areas, social features, achievements and the other usuals. This includes actual character creation, further emphasising this isn't just a level editor, and giving a sneak preview of the character classes available in Next itself. Playing consists of the sort of thing we're more used to from Minecraft or Terraria - going out into the world to find new resources with which to create different tools or building materials to construct ever more complex landscapes. Areas of the world can be "claimed" allowing only you or approved friends/coworkers/children/pets to work on it.

To demonstrate possibilities, three time-lapse movies of construction in action were shown.

Interestingly, David stated that these videos were created using in-game options that will be available to players. At any time they can hit a record button and begin to create one, automatically uploading it to Youtube afterwards. This strikes me as complete genius and in-tune with current trends. We're beginning to see a lot more of this sort of integration and the oncoming next-gen only promises to increase that further.

For more details, including plans for the Steam Workshop-alike Player Studio, check out the Landmark section of the livestream.