Game Jam IV

Game Jam IV was a Game Jam that took place between 2 October 2023 and 12 October 2023.

Notably, the jam's theme was "Sailing", as the Sailing skill had been in development during the time the jam took place.

Most of the projects were listed in a dedicated post.

Projects

Rune Pouch Load-outs and Bank Integration

Mod Ash worked on rune pouch integration for the bank, allowing players to deposit or withdraw runes directly into the pouch, along with customisable load-outs for switching its contents with a single click.

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  An overview of the rune pouch bank integration.

Lighthouses

Mod Maylea designed a potential heads-up display for Sailing, which would show the player cardinal directions, the sea, and the horizon. Lighthouses would show up on the HUD, illuminating different areas around them with different colours to indicate potential danger, such as rocks. Lighthouses could potentially be expanded beyond being purely used for navigation, such as being used as part of puzzles or being used as markers on the world map.

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  A lighthouse.
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  A player sails from the Karamja Shipyard to Port Sarim using the HUD. Lighthouses are displayed as circles.

Sailing Islands & Dungeons

Mod Necro designed some islands and dungeons to be potentially used in Sailing. The two examples given were Crab Isle, an island populated by crabs with a "Giant Crab Boss" that can be killed for treasure and crab meat, and The Lost Chasm, a desolated island being used by an evil spirit wishing to return to its powerful demonic form.

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  An overhead view of Crab Isle.
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  Interior of The Lost Chasm.

Revenant Island

Mod Manked designed Revenant Island, an area intended to promote multi-combat PvP gameplay. The island would feature many revenants densely packed into one area, encouraging players to kill these revenants — or to kill revenant hunters. To incentivise usage of the island, superior creatures would spawn more often, and the revenants found within the island would have a chance at dropping the Revenant Collector — an item that automatically collects drops from NPCs while the user is in the Wilderness.

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  The Revenant Island dungeon.

Project Rebalance

Mods Arcane, Halo, Husky, and Kieren worked on various potential improvements to older content.

While specific informarion was not present in the original dedicated October 2023 Game Jam post, Project Rebalance would receive a dedicated overview post on 7 December 2023. The overview discusses tweaks to Agility, Slayer, and Thieving, potential changes to the run energy system, tweaks to NPC defence to incentivise exploiting type weaknesses, and adjustments to overtuned items like the occult necklace and Osmumten's fang, along with adjustments to undertuned items like the elder maul and the scythe of Vitur.

Sailing Quests

Mods Bruno, Elena, Errol, Halo, and Other worked on four quests that would be introduced alongside Sailing. The first three quests (Stranded, Treacherous Waters, and Trial by Water) would be standalone stories that lead up to the fourth quest.

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Intensive Skilling

Mods Elena, Goblin, and Rice worked on various skilling methods that would have elaborate and engaging mechanics akin to those found in PvM combat. These methods were designed with the goal of getting more players to enjoy skilling, and feature a combination of PvM mechanics and skilling mechanics alongside an accessible method of tick manipulation.

The two examples given below were both designed by Mod Rice.

Rapids Harpoon Fishing

This Fishing training method would involve the player throwing their harpoon at fish swimming downstream. The fish would spawn in one of three columns at varying speeds, and clicking a fish at the right time would increase the chance of catching it. Occasionally, two fish (one big and one poisonous) would spawn at the same time. Big fish award additional resources on a successful catch, while poisonous fish are a guaranteed catch, but destroy some fish in the inventory.

As an introduction to the concept of tick manipulation, players would also be able to attach a rope to their harpoon for beneficial effects. However, they would have to reattach the rope after every catch, requiring quick clicking in a similar way to most tick manipulation methods.

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  A mock-up of Rapids Harpoon Fishing.

Mudboi

This Mining training method would involve fighting an underground monster. Players would begin the fight by mining pillars filled with lava, forcing the creature to appear above-ground. As the monster attempts to reseal the pillars using a spray of mud, players would have to dodge its attacks and continue mining the pillars until it turns into stone, at which point it is vulnerable to damage.

Tick manipulation would be possible in both phases of the fight, and would ensure the player would not have to miss a mining action to dodge an attack.

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  A mock-up of the "Mudboi" encounter.

Sailing Mini Raid

Mods Hend, Skylark, and West designed a mini-raid called the Coves of Nakahi. The raid would be oriented towards mid to high-level players with moderate Sailing levels. Players would fight through the thralls of a pirate named Nakahi, who possesses a powerful artefact that allows the wielder to control others. Potential ideas for rewards from the raid include mid-leveled Magic equipment (Nalu'kai's Robes and the Serpent Staff), a special cosmetic figurehead and flag for ships, and material that can be used to reinforce one's ship.

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  Concept art of the three bosses fought within the Coves — Nahlu’kai the Cursed Serpent, Cleori the Cursed Mermaid, and Eremit’i, The Cursed Crab.
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  Concept art of Nahlu’kai's Robes, the Serpent Staff, and the raid's cape.

Team Rumble

Mod Sarnie worked on a team-based PvP minigame. Similar to the Counter-Strike series of games, two teams of five to six players (all with the same stats and starting equipment) would spawn in a chosen arena with a specific objective to accomplish. At the start of each round, players are given 45 seconds to purchase equipment and supplies using tokens, which are rewarded by completing objectives or killing enemy players.

Maps and game modes

Concepts for potential maps and game mode include:

• Haunted Mine | Team Deathmatch: Rack up kills over the rounds to score points for your team. Using the environmental hazards to kill your opponent will net you more points!
• Elemental Workshop | Control: Take over and protect different areas of the workshop in order. Gain enough points and you’ll unlock a powerful weapon for a brief time.
• Keldagrim Rat Pits | Cats Vs Rats: Defeat the enemy team and their creature companions to earn points!

Weapons

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  Specially designed weapons for use within Team Rumble.

• Standard+: Cheap upgrades that are slightly more powerful than the starting weapons provided.
• Speed: Weapons with the same power as the starting weapons provided, but with faster attack speed.
• Stat Reduction: Weapons that can lower the opponent's stats in exchange for dealing less damage.
• Multiple Enemies: Weapons that can deal damage to multiple enemies at once in exchange for slightly lower damage.
• Risk Vs. Reward: Weapons that provide great damage output at the cost of the player's hitpoints.
• High Damage / Expensive: Expensive weapons that deal high damage.
• Utility: Weapons focused on utility.
  • Colossal Shield: Gives exceptional defence bonuses at the cost of being unable to attack.
  • Nature's Blessing: Dramatically buffs supportive spells.
  • Rumbled Salamander: A powerful salamander that can use all three attack styles.
  • Chaotic Orb: Can be used to debuff foes.

Procedurally Generated Islands & Caverns

Mods Ed, Lenny, Meat and Ry worked on creating a set of systems for procedural generation that could be used in multiple types of content. While Old School RuneScape already has some procedurally generated content (Chambers of Xeric and The Gauntlet), these use a much more basic form of it, as they only use pre-existing map tiles.

Initially, the code used to generate the Uncharted Isles from RuneScape was copied over to Old School to test its functionality. When it was discovered that the port worked well and procedural generation was possible in Old School, the system was quickly expanded to generate things like underwater caverns and large mazes.

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  Procedurally generated islands created using the same island generation method from the Uncharted Isles.
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  A procedurally generated underwater cavern.
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  A procedurally generated maze.

Leagues Task Interface Changes

Mod Husky worked on improvements to the Leagues task interface for the then-upcoming Trailblazer Reloaded League, akin to the New Skill Guide changes made during the April 2023 Game Jam. These changes allow for players to search for tasks within the interface, resizing and movement of the interface within the game window, and ability to read the guide without disrupting training activities.

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  The updated Leagues task interface.

Projects added to the game

The following projects were added to the game:

• Leagues Task Interface Changes — 15 November 2023
• Rune Pouch Load-outs — 21 February 2024
• Rapids Harpoon Fishing — 20 March 2024