Attendees from the team:
Talad (Leader/Founder)
Eonwind (Rules)
Mordaan (Settings)
Uadjet (GM Team)
{Meet the Devs meeting starting in five minutes. Come one come all to the Easy Hydlaa Courthouse and hear about what they're working on and ask any questions you have about game development. Send Uadjet a /tell or speak up in gossip if you need a teleport.}
Mishka says: Ha, Minutes Taker
Damola hugs Jonobe and huggles closely to her
Damola waves to dev and GM team
Jonobe returns Damola's hug. "Hello, Damola"
Damola smiles warmly at Jonobe "Nice to meet you."
Talad says: Hello dear friends
Phaa says: Hail, greetings.
Mishka sees the girls hugging "Hot."
Talad says: we are about to start the meeting!
Ecthion says: [lol, Mishka]
Tinabobina says: Hi Damola, how are you?
Talad says: Hello everyone, and welcome to the "Meet the developers" event. It's an OOC meeting, where you can ask questions about the game, give comments or ideas.
Talad says: If you want to speak, you can walk to the stand in front of us. Please form a queue there in case there are other people. One question each, then you can queue again.
Talad says: here on stage today we have Eonwindd from rules department
Talad says: Mordaan from settings department
Talad says: and Uadjet from Game Masters
Phaa cheers for Mordaan.
Talad says: myself as project leader
Phaa cheers for Uadjet.
Phaa cheers for Talad.
Talad says: even if lately these guys are doing pretty much all
Talad says: Hi Maltrobian
Mishka says: Congrats on the promotion to Leader, Uadjet. I gotta talk to you after the meeting if that's possible. Just a little note.
Mordaan claps for UadjetMaltrobian says: Hey Talad. I haven't attended a meeting in awhile (due to RL issues) and am wondering about the progress toward the Unreal Engiene (sorry 4 spelling)
Talad says: ok
Eonwindd claps for Uadjet too
Talad says: I can give you some updates
Talad says: in July we got a new person interested in the helping out with the engine
Talad says: and he contributed some ideas/help
Talad says: we need to grow the developers base on UE as its not a small task
Talad says: also we need to learn more about the engine, and there is no better way than having new people on
Talad says: speaking about the current devs, some installed the engine
Talad says: Venalan has it installed and already learned how to edit the buildings
Talad says: in fact he managed to improve and change some of the hydlaa main areas
Talad says: I think also Eonwindd has it installed and did some tess
Talad says: tests
Mordaan says: I installed it about a year ago, tinkered around a bit and have done nothing since.
Talad says: on my side I've ported many core parts of the server sie
Talad says: side
Talad says: nearly all the layer which speaks with the database is complete
Talad says: so we can now load your characters in unreal
Eonwindd says: yes I installed and started to learn about its blueprint capabilities and using the particle editor
Talad says: at the moment we load only the data, and we display the race
Talad says: not all is implemented to show the final character
Talad says: also the character creation is working, for the quick path part
Talad says: one of the major tasks was also to clean the code, as the new compilers are more strict on this
Talad says: this allowed to improve the current code
Maltrobian says: What do you mean clean the code?
Talad says: there is still a lot to do, but UE is the way to our future
Talad says: we cannot stay on crystal space
Maltrobian says: Thanks Talad
Talad says: I mean improve the C++ code, making it more modern
Maltrobian says: I see
Mordaan says: we just learned that the cal3d repository is gone and no longer supported.
Talad says: yes, I posted a copy of it on our web site
Talad says: so you can access it there
Mishka says: Hello.
Mordaan says: but goes to show you the importance of switching to a supported engine.
Esanor says: So nobody wants to play with stick figures anymore...
Mishka says: How do I say this, it's kind of sensitive...
Mishka says: My problem is with the community, or at least a sector of it.
Damola listens carefully
Mishka says: But I think I'm being harassed actively, both in here and on the forums. I would like to speak up not so that something is done about my situation, but to set an example, and let everyone know that when things go wrong and people abuse you, it's okay to speak up and seek help.
Mishka says: This was more an announcement than a question or request.
Sarras says: you still want my trap nudes, mishka?
Phaa says: ^
Uadjet says: If anyone is being harassed it's important to use the /report playernamehere feature.
Phaa says: You kinda harass a lot of other people too.
Uadjet says: That gives us a record of what was being said.
Mishka says: And I understand I have not been the best person and player, and that some people might resent me, but that's no reason to act in an uncivilised people.
Mishka says: manner* not people.
Damola says: Phaa, thats no excuse… and Mishka apologized.
Mishka says: I think my point is proven.
Mishka says: Thanks for listening.
Uadjet says: Let me just remind everyone to read the rules posted in the forum.
Talad says: maybe start fresh with a new character
Talad says: can be an option
Uadjet says: Especially the section on harassment.
Mishka says: That's like telling me to go gay because girls don't like me...
Talad says: sometimes people have prejudice based on past events
Damola reminds about the importance to forgive each other.
Damola says: The past is… in the past.
Talad says: the other option is to speak with the people that dont like you and find a middle ground
Talad says: but maybe they are not interested in that
Mishka says: While Talad has a point, I'd rather not do that.
Gonger says: It is one thing to drop a few remarks in RP (and even there it should be done with care!), but a totally different things to take the conflict to human level.
Gonger says: *insults, not remarks
Terich wipes a tear on his face and looks down "poor kitty some people are real badass"
Sarras says: my pet has something to say
Eonwindd says: conflict at player level should be avoided at all costs, shuold such problem arise with harassment etc. the GM can help
Damola wonders about " No drifter´s in the courthouse signpost" giggling slightly
Damola says: Rivnaks
Snorti has a question.
Damola looks surprised and smiles
Sarras says: will the team give snorti the chance that so many free animals, such as ourselves, have had to speak their minds?
Esanor studies Igesal
Silak says: Is this the dev mtg or another Gossip channel session ?
Talad says: no problem on questions by animals
Talad says: but if he asks to become a unicorn, well, we cannot do it
Damola looks to Jonobe, smiling excitedly for whats coming next
Phaa says: lol
Mishka mutters under her breath "There goes my next question..."
Uadjet says: Could fix a shield spike on there. Just saying.
Snorti asks: What efforst are being put into changing/editing/creating art assets for the move to Unreal?
Talad says: good question
Sarras says: omg snorti meant *efforts
Talad says: for example porting you to unreal is very easy
Jonobe whispers "He does want to be a unicorn..."
Talad says: you are one single piece of 3d with an image on top
Talad says: plus animations
Talad says: so porting you Snorti is very simple and requires basically no editing
Damola nods to Jonobe, whispering "Of course."
Mishka says: ... he's talking to a rivnak
Talad says: the only thing we have to check is the size, or you can become as big as the temple of laanx
Talad says: as the unit of measure of UE and CS are different sometimes
Snorti asks: What about textures like normal/bump maps, which are different in UE?
Talad says: porting your owner to UE is a bit more complex
Damola makes a comical expression with her face as she imagines a Rivnak the size of the Laanx temple
Talad says: as she is made of many "parts"
Uadjet says: We had that one halloween.
Talad says: head, torso, arms, legs, ....
Talad says: also has many options like gloves, armor, ...
Talad says: to port a full character takes about 1 day I would say
Talad says: including testing
Talad says: but that's not too much anyway
Talad says: our 3d assets seems to be imported correctly in UE
Talad says: so not too much manipulation is needed
Soociki says: In porting the assets like the clothing you mentioned, will the bracers bug with the bracers showing at your feet be fixed?
Talad says: true is that we didnt' yet test all features
Snorti says: Oh, that's cool.
Talad says: so may require editing for future features
Talad says: yes
Talad says: also the animation will be smoother
Talad says: UE can easily blend animations together, like greet animation and walk
Talad says: or smooth the transition between walk and run
Talad says: based on speed
Eonwindd says: however we succeeded in porting hydlaa plaza and in our repo seems to look better than now
Talad says: so for example we could have a speed potion
Talad says: and that will make you move correclty in UE
Mishka says: So we'll have a sprint as well as a running action?
Talad says: while this is very hard to do in CS with the current setup
Snorti says: Can't wait to see it.
Talad says: at the moment we are planning to port the game logic as it is
Talad says: and after that start to change it
Talad says: doing two things at the same time will be complex and prone to too many errors
Talad says: anyway physics and particles are completely redone in UE
Talad says: we do not port anything
Talad says: so you can kick a barrel and it rolls
Snorti asks: Are they more smooth/less laggy in UE? OH, wow.
Talad says: also CS could do the barrel roll, but a lot more complex and unreliable
Talad says: so we never attempted
Talad says: physics in UE are native
Talad says: like any modern game
Talad says: to test performances on UE, you can download Crystal Hunt
Soociki says: With UE, would player housing be possible/viable?
Talad says: and see how it performs on your computer
Talad says: depends how much free time we will have Soociki
Talad says: as usual
Talad says: but I'm positive will be MUCH easier to find new developers, when we are running on UE
Mordaan says: player housing is possible now, but it needs to be developed and well thought out.
Eonwindd says: including artists
Thedrish coughs softly
Snorti asks: At the rate that the development is going, what time frame will the online game be available? If you had a few more developers, by how much would that decrease the amount of time it takes?
Talad says: sorry but you asked many questions
Mishka says: Don't release it yet, I need my new computer first!
Talad says: please re-queue
Uadjet says: There are others in line.
Snorti is too excited
Sarras says: SNORTI we have to go
Eonwindd says: with UE we can create our own library of 3d art (e.g. small house, big house) and then creating a small village is almost trivial using the UE editor, that's just to make an example
Jonobe says: As long as we are talking about improvements as we migrate to UE, I wonder whether something can be done about holding objects
Mishka says: Sounds like it's the do-all of game engines... But I still wonder why not unity. But that's none of my business *sips tea*
Sarras says: unity is babby's first game engine
Talad says: UE has sockets, like CS
Talad says: at the moment you have a small marker in your hand
Talad says: actually both hands
Jonobe says: It seems that ovjects, such as swords or musical instrumnents are simply attached to the hand, and move in lockstem with that hand
Talad says: where we attach the shield or weapon
Mishka does graffitis with the markers.
Talad says: in UE is similar
Jonobe says: Can the object be put on a pivot so it retains an orientation?
Talad says: you mark a spot as the "connector" for objects to stick
Talad says: yes
Jonobe says: Let me demonstrate?
Talad says: its already like this in PS
Talad says: as the objects do not have all the same orientation
Talad says: so for example we rotate shields differently than swords
Talad says: in PS today
Talad says: the same will be done in UE
Jonobe says: I am holding a lute
Jonobe says: Ity's orientation is acceptable
Talad says: I see it
Jonobe says: Now, my hand is in a different orientation, and the lute followed. This is now ridiculous
Talad says: that will have to be reworked
Talad says: but UE doesnt provide that logic
Talad says: we will have to add it
Talad says: based on our animations
Talad says: like sit or ride horse
Talad says: or swim
Talad says: the best will probably be to remove the item for certain actions
Talad says: like swim
Mordaan says: it's also complicated by the fact that different characters have different sitting positions.
Jonobe says: With some animation systems, you can set it up to not inherit rotations
Mordaan says: we'd probably have to play around with the UE tools to see what's possible.
Esanor spills his beer while sitting
Mordaan says: but I imagine it can all be fixed. or at least improved.
Mordaan says: yes, many impale themselves with weapons when sitting.
Jonobe says: I bring it up to make sure it is not overlooked. I've seen some 'reviews' of PS that make fun of the awkward positions held objects can find themselves in
Talad says: in PS today we do not have the concept of two handed
Talad says: we simulate it in raw way
Talad says: like the lute
Talad says: but in UE we will have two handed animations
Talad says: like fighting with a quarterstaff for example
Talad says: those animations will have to remade
Talad says: or made new
Talad says: this will be on a second iteration, after we ported what we have
Mordaan says: going back to the question about the number of devs and the timeline, sure, the more people we have working on it, the faster progress will likely be made. And we can get to more of these details.
Jonobe says: I would still like to be able to sit down while I play.. Is there any thought given to having more than one sitting position for each race?
Jonobe says: (play an instrument, that is)
Mordaan says: that's one of the hopes with UE...that animations will be much easier to complete so we can make more of them.
Jonobe says: Thank you
Mordaan says: right now it's a very long process and almost not worth it.
Talad says: we will surely add "sitting on chair" for every race
Talad says: actually it will be "sit on something which is about 50cm tall"
Mordaan says: especially with few/no art devs.
Talad says: and then we will flag those in game
Talad says: so you could sit on a low wall, or chair the same way
Karzela says: That will be a nice improvement to look forward to Talad.
Maltrobian says: I have a question concerning pets
Maltrobian says: When might the attack and defend features be added?
Eonwindd says: you should already be able to ask your pet to attack
Maltrobian says: I have tried, and it won't attack
Eonwindd says: but you need to setup the target
Eonwindd says: iirc /pet target should tell the pet which target you want it to attack
Eonwindd says: and then /pet attack will sent it to attack
Maltrobian says: I will try it later.
Maltrobian says: Never worked before, but that might help
Eonwindd says: the defend do not exist, there is a guard option
Damola waves
Damola makes space for Mishka
Mishka says: Hold on I had a question written...
Eonwindd says: but it's not available yet, because the current npcclient instructions do not support it
Mishka says: There, ready
Mishka says: Dang, I can't paste it...
Jonobe says: Could that be fixed?
Mordaan says: we talked about copy-paste and other typical editing abilities long ago, but nothing ever came of it.
Mishka says: Anyways, hello. If you follow the forums actively, and not just to troll, you'll see that I actually try my hand at 3D models sometimes. Some even made their way into the game, like the crossbow which, if you don't know, is now lootable.
Mishka says: My question is, will it be easier to add art assets to the game with the new Engine?
Mishka says: For example, I would like to work on clothes and other apparel for characters, but I would like to use the 3D models so that the textures don't warp weird, because UV maps tend to be distorted
Mishka says: So painting on the 3D model would be easier.
Mordaan says: certain things created from scratch will be the same (like creating things in Blender). Maybe the exporting options will be better/easier...I don't know.
Eonwindd says: importing from many 3D design prob
Mordaan says: but I don't know about some of those details
Sarras says: if the UV maps are distorted you wouldn't be able to paint well anyway. map the UVs correctly then use substance painter
Mordaan says: <------ not an artist
Eonwindd says: *program like blender iseasy
Eonwindd says: so it should be a lot easier to add art assets to UE
Jonobe says: Will there be any documentation written on how to add art or assets or animation?\
Mishka says: With the current textures I just don't know where exactly is the knee or the hip joint or the shoulder... I can have an idea, but I don't know where exactly could the shirt seam on an Ylian go
Eonwindd says: there is already, in UE website
Mordaan says: some things, like vegetation, might be available from the UE assets, so -very- easy to implement.
Talad says: there is a lot in UE website
Talad says: we will be compliant with what UE provides
Jonobe says: I mean PS specific documentation
Talad says: hopefully there will be no need
Eonwindd says: exactly
Talad says: on pswiki there is some very rough I started
Talad says: but I suggest you go to UE web site
Jonobe says: Well, then I am sure you are already inundated with new art and models
Eonwindd says: that's the UE advantage, there won't be need for a PS specific implementation
Mordaan says: This can be the last question.
Eonwindd says: an artist could work with blender or other supported programs and their work could be imported with no problems
Damola says: Hello. If Unreal Engine has physics would it be possible to put objects outside of guild house and still sit on them or climb them? With suitable physics players who would try to abuse it would come in contact with physics
Damola says: i.e. if one tries to put 3 tables onto another with the first table it would all crush down again due to physics.
Phaa says: a lot to implement
Damola says: Right now one cannot you place a few stools somewhere where people can sit on
Mordaan says: right, generally, player owned items do not have collision detection by default.
Phaa says: Even if they didn't have physics, however, you could still sit in them etc.
Mordaan says: it's probably one of those things where we'll have to see.
Uadjet says: Some items could. Once we can sit in chairs, for example, chairs and benches could be made solid by default.
Damola says: phaa, yes, but without physics one could abuse it i.e. to climb up the tower in hydlaa or what else
Uadjet says: Though it may not be needed once we have the animations.
Damola says: but if we have a sit animation… or would you enable it to sit in the air?
Damola says: well okay, I just wanted to bring this up: With a sit animation it would be nice to be actually able to sit on something outside of guild houses... but of course porting has priority
Uadjet says: Right now we just sit wherever we're standing, so have solid chairs and benches would help. Once we have chair sitting animations we'd sit at the right height automatically.
Damola says: even if there would be only air under you? I´d expect to fall down when attempting to sit on thin air
Damola says: unless its a kind of a fitness exercise..
Uadjet says: Could have chairs and benches have action locations. Right-click and hit Sit to trigger the animation.
Damola says: but now to Gonger´s question I´d say, we are already over time.
Gonger says: Greetings, I had an idea recently, sorry if it already came up before: Are there no free libraries with graphic objects that could be relatively easily integrated into PS? Just wondering...
Gonger says: I mean, we are not the first to use these softs like blender to create things...
Jonobe says: There is a library of Blender modeels. But matching the style would be a problem
Mordaan says: I think we have always shied away from such things because we want to keep PS as unique as possible. But for some rather common objects, I don't see why not.
Sarras says: just make an art bible for the game.
Eonwindd says: there are also libraries of objects for sale and cheap
Gonger says: If we want to keep things unique, we could temporarily use external libraries, and later (TM!) replace them again.
Sarras says: every other game has a form of an art bible. so the artists use the same style, same color palette, same textures, etc.
Eonwindd says: plus UE allow us to create our own library re-using our art assets better than we can do now
Mordaan says: There are certainly some good free packages in UE, like the vegetation I mentioned. Once in UE, it would be a good idea to develop one.
Phaa says: I think once UE comes along, we'll have more artists and devs anyways so it won't matter much. But it woud be useful temporarily to implement changes.
Jonobe says: There is nothing so permanen t, Gonger, as a temporary building
Gonger says: Hence the "!", Jonobe...
Gonger says: In any case, thanks for the great work!
Mordaan says: Thanks for attending!
Mordaan says: Some really great questions today.
Silak says: Thanks for all the UE talk
Tinabobina says: thanks for your answers
Esanor waves goodbye.
Mordaan says: Bye all!
Eonwindd says: goodbye everyone!
Uadjet says: /wave
Menille waves farewell
