Here is the (rather belated) transcript from the Sep. 22nd Dev Q&A.
Talad(Leader/Founder)
Eonwind(Rules)
Zunna (Rules/Settings)
Mordaan (Settings)
Venalan (Settings Lead)
Uadjet(GM Lead)
Emaline (GM Team)
Zweith (Art)
Uadjet says: Okay, welcome to the Developer Q&A!
Uadjet says: Here we've got Mordaan of the Settings team, and me from the Game Master team.
Uadjet says: I think you're all well familiar with the format of the meeting, so line up at the podium if you have a question, or kick back and listen to us talk about the game.
Damola says: Welcome, Uadjet and Mordaan
Gonger says: Greetings.
Uadjet says: Yes, Damola?
Gonger says: Well, we sure had more people in the past...
Damola smiles "Not really a question, but some interesting observations during crafting…"
Damola says: For once Damola could carry fourty buckets of water (40!) and then she was able to stuff 65 complete sacks or barley into a kiln at once or even take 65 sacks of barley into her hands and use them with the mill stone.
Damola says: Of course I plan to exploit those for skill advancement and PP gaining for my chars as long as this is possible.
Mordaan says: only 7 on >.<
Damola says: And I also get that there is to be a balance between realism and fun and not everything needs to be exactly like in real world
Damola says: But 40 water filled buckets… quite something.
Mordaan says: yeah, what have have "on me" at any point in time is somewhat silly.
Damola says: Ah, by the way currently she carries 260 sacks of roasted malt
Uadjet says: Carry weights are a bit much, I agree. You should see what I carry around sometimes!
Mordaan says: magic pockets?
Damola says: Well I bet your Radavan could sack in all of Yliakum.
Damola says: Haha
Damola says: Well, Mordaan, I believe this would be a good idea.
Damola says: Cause limiting it completely to realistic figures would spoil some of the fun or make crafting very tedious, but indeed, one could use gems enchanted with the ant weight glyph to enchant some containers with
Damola giggles "in a new Container crafting skill"
Uadjet says: Yeah, we could lower it but then what about ways people have of moving heavier loads than they can carry? Trolleys, carts, wheelbarrows, etc.
Waesed says: Maybe wecould have rivnacs pulling carts
Damola says: something like that and well I still believe magic containers with ant weight like functionality would be nice to be able to buy or craft… cause Damola has not so much an issue with wait, but with inventory slots
Uadjet says: It would be fun to see crafters pushing a wheelbarrow full of crafting goods, but until those are added to the game (if they ever are) I don't think we can reduce carry weights to realistic levels without seriously annoying a lot of players.
Mordaan says: yep
Damola says: 9 sacks, 4 cloth sacks, 2 jewely boxes and one glyph sack clutter quite a some of those slots
Damola says: And yes, Damola carries to much stuff around with her, although I limited it quite a bit recently and it was even worse before
Damola says: Yes, sure, I think this would be more something of a long term thing, and of course after Unreal
Damola says: so keep weifghts as they are for now, but keep that in mind for later.
Damola says: Well, that was it
Damola does not really believe that Mordaan Dev is not quite as strong as her
Mordaan says: Gonger says: This realism problem holds for all kind of games.
Damola giggles "Apparently Mordaan Dev did not edit character attributes like Uadjet did with Radavan, who was able to hit an innocent little mob with more than a million of damage in one hit."
Gonger says: I used to play MUDs, and in one of them I was normally carrying around weapons to equip a small army.
Mordaan says: heh
Uadjet says: Well, Mordaan's stats are whatever he wants them to be. His current stats won't have him hitting for over a billion damage, though.
Gonger says: So this is not a PlaneShift-specific problem, and most games just are like, "Oh well, for once, screw realism."
Damola nods to Gonger "Sure, I know. Still wanted to mention it and maybe at some time it would be nice to think of ways to make it able to carry that much with some IC like explaination as for why that would be possible, but to add to the immersion."
Mordaan says: I set everything to 200...guess that includes stats.
Uadjet says: There was a joke i heard about some game (tabletop rpb) where a player could pick up some vehicles and then run faster than the vehicle could go, if they min-maxed their character. Cant' remember what game it was about that.
Damola says: Gonger, it was no real criticism, actually as a player I find it quite nice so I can legally cheat around a bit while advancing a skill
Uadjet says: But yeah, bags of holding could be a good compromise.
Damola says: could also be a nice use of excess tria. In Neverwinter Nights Enhanced edition there were backpacks which lessened the weight by 20, 40, 60, 80 or even 100%
Gonger says: Damola, after the move to Unreal Engine, we have more important things to do: Fix the economy, open the Stone Labyrinths, make pterosaurs purchasable...
Damola says: and well there would be magic items to increase strength and well there are
Uadjet says: I played a monk in Everquest, so I know the value of weight-reducing bags.
Damola smirks to Gonger "Well, you name it. A cute Pterosaur for Damola is just about right."
Damola envisions the next opportunity to steal a nice Pterosaur from Uadjet, but those private ones yesterday really were private.
Damola says: Any other Qs?
Damola chuckles "Of course Damola might also take a cute mountable Xalpa."
Uadjet says: I was thinking trained Velnishi for Stonehammers. They live underground, and can do their own fighting in battle.
Waesed says: cool
Damola smiles "Now that would be something for Waesed and Gonger."
Damola says: Especially if Velnishi can carry some beer around.
>Waesed Waesech lets out a hearty laugh!
Gonger says: Beer ain't a burden.
Uadjet says: Well, the saddle would come with standard cask pouches, obviously.
Damola believes that Gonger has an extra beer inventory with additional slots for beer kegs.
Uadjet says: They stand upright (velnishi, not dwarves. Well, they do too I guess) so maybe a keg at the back of the saddle for them to lean against.
Uadjet says: Well, I can tell you that the Dev channel was very busy since the last meeting. They're working hard on Oja, the Winch, and the Sewers. It's all looking really good so far!
Mordaan says: nice
Damola says: Nice. Would love to see the sewers and the winch
Damola just wondered at which places a faith, a crystal or a door glyph would be found
Damola says: and there has been a life stream on npc brains
Damola says: a quite long one, over 6 hours, did not watch it
Gonger says: I do not watch all of the streams, but I join them and watch parts.
Gonger says: I think it is important to show interest.
Uadjet says: Both Talad and Zwei have done streams since the last meeting. I really hope you watch them. Zwei's shows a lot of the world in the Unreal engine, and it looks great!
Damola says: here, there was a new one from Zwei as well, I bet I will download it and watch parts of it locally
Waesed says: I've watch a few, but it's above my pay grade...lol
Damola smirks to Uadjet "What about your staves?"
Uadjet says: The first art one is the one that really shows the game world as it currently exists in Unreal. If I remember correctly, it shows the view from teh top of the Windowless Towers.
Uadjet says: As for the staves, I've been doing a lot of detail work. I've got Blender open at the moment, trying to take a few screenshots to add to the thread.
Uadjet says: I've got a better wood texture now. Less blocky.
Uadjet says: Well, it's not a texture. Instead of downloading textures I'm just making materials in Blender. No rights issues if I'm not using anyone else's stuff'
Uadjet says: But I'm having an issue with some materials seeming stretched when placed on thin objects like long cylinders or flat places that I don't get when the exact same material is placed on a cube. That shouldn't be too hard to fix, though.
Damola says: yeah, I wondered about rights issues with all the imported art assets, but I bet Zwei and Talad look for compatible licenses
Uadjet says: So I've got good leather and wood node setups, and the steel is fairly easy. Just need to use some kind of texture map to make the metal look slightly worn.
Damola says: ah, I see the sewers in video 2 at 2:18
Damola says: Nice, Uadjet.
Damola says: ok, anyone anything else?
Uadjet says: Ah, there we go. Posting an image of the better wood texture to the forum.
Damola says: In the Quarterstaff thread? Last post is still from 11th of September
Uadjet says: Just posted it now. Had to change the image I was using.
Damola says: Looks nice.
Waesed says: Looks real
Uadjet says: I've also got a basic spear done. I remade the spearhead about a dozen times and I'll go back and remake it again at least once, so I'm not posting an image just yet. Fitting the flat blade with the curved socket was giving me fits. Never looked quite right. I think I can get a good result using two separate objects and merging them together, so the close view of the spearhead will look good.
Gonger says: How many MB are these pictures?
Uadjet says: Oh, also got an idea for a new particle effect for a brown way nature staff. I'll have to see if I can do it before I tell you what it is.
Damola says: Nice.
Mordaan says: Good stuff, Uadjet
Uadjet says: Sholdn't be much more than 1 mb at most, I think.
Uadjet says: Oh, some are 2MB
Uadjet says: So I'm happy with the wood and leather materials (although that stretching thing is annoying), and metals are easy with Blender 2.8. LIke, very easy.
Uadjet says: So for the basic spears I've got a hunting spear, a boar spear (with crossguard), a battle spear (with tail spike), and a short spear. I don't have any throwing spears, really, as I don't know how that would be handled.
Damola says: well yes, the arrows are gone after shooting, would not be nice if a spear would be gone after throwing it
Uadjet says: I mean, would players carry around stacks of spears to throw at things? A few quivers/stacks of arrows is reasonable, but hunting One-Claw with thrown spears... That would take a thousand or more.
Uadjet says: And yeah, you'd blow through them too easily. They'd have to be recoverable.
Uadjet says: Very messy.
Uadjet says: So I'm sticking with melee spears for now.
Uadjet says: Could make a short spear variant that has notches ont he edge like a javelin, but leave it as melee only for now.
Damola washes One-Claw with her 40 water filled buckets "Ha, that was really necessary. Now One-Claw looks cozy and freshly cleaned."
Uadjet says: Then I've got the staves that I just need to fine tune, and the polearms which really aren't much more difficult than the spears.
Gonger says: Until it gets blood on its claw again...
Uadjet says: So I should get more screenshots for you lot this week.
Damola says: Nice.
Damola casts some healing spells on the claw
Uadjet says: Honestly the quarterstaves are more complex than the spears.
Damola says: Ah, how so?
Uadjet says: Three leather wraps, and metal on the ends of some.
Uadjet says: But I've got saved leather wraps for 2cm and 1.5cm radius staves, so I can just copy them over.
Uadjet says: So that's it for me. Any other questions?
Damola says: I have nothing else.
Uadjet says: In that case I think we can bring the meeting to an end. Right on time, which is a novelty.
Uadjet says: Thank you all for coming to the meeting!
