Talad(Leader/Founder)
Eonwind(Rules)
Tuathanach(Rules)
Zunna (Rules/Settings)
Mordaan (Settings)
Venalan (Settings Lead)
Uadjet(GM Lead)
Emaline (GM Team)
Zweith (Art)
Uadjet says: Hello and welcome to the Developer's Q&A! Here you can hear about the development of the game and ask the Dev and GM teams any questions you might have. Questions of a disquieting nature should be directed to Mordaan.
Mordaan rolls his eyes
Uadjet says: So today we have Mordaan from the Settings team...
>Uadjet raises an arm and points towards Mordaan Dev.
Damola chuckles
Uadjet says: And me, from the GM team.
Damola says: Hello Uadjet and Mordaan.
Uadjet says: Oh, and Tua has joined us!
Damola looks for the invisible Tua
Uadjet says: Yes, he's not had a chance to turn visibility on just yet.
Uadjet says: That or I'm hallucinating.
Uadjet says: I'd say it's 50/50.
Gonger says: He is in /who
Damola says: I can't see tua with mount / unmount trick
>Venorel Weruno nods at Gonger Xaraha.
Damola says: so probably still invisible.
Damola eyes for the invisibility glyph Tua is using
Uadjet says: Never found one of those.
Uadjet says: And believe me, I looked.
Damola giggles "Still got to steel a bird glyph from you, Uadjet."
Damola says: *steal
Damola says: Waesed has a Q.
Damola says: And Gonger as well.
Silak says: And here I thought most of the population had one of those
Uadjet says: Oh, and those are technically leterns. Recently found that out.
Damola looks to Gonger
Gonger says: Greetings! A couple of days ago a talk turned to the True Death. And now I am wondering, is anywhere defined or written down in lore what actually can cause True Death?
Damola says: Interesting question.
Mordaan says: I thought I saw something somewhere.
>Venorel Weruno raises an arm and points towards Tuathanach Psdev.
Mordaan says: Maybe it wasn't very specific. Vague memory of it.
Damola says: I have read about… a book in the library about the dangers of just using crystal way magic to heal.
Uadjet says: I've seen that information in a few places. Poison can, I know. Being hurled into the Crystal can. Seems harder to accomplish that poisoning someone, but I recall it being used as a method of execution.
Damola says: There is mentioned a case of true death.
>You spawned My observations on Death and Dying to your inventory.
>You spawned The Four Revelations of Dakkru to your inventory.
>You spawned The Six Truths to your inventory.
Venorel says: Yes I was at the trial. Thrown into the crystal./
Damola says: How cruel to do that to someone, Uadjet.
Gonger says: Hmm... maybe I should check the library, then.
Mordaan says: That and old age. :P
Gonger says: Thanks. If anything else comes to mind, I would appreciate some information.
Damola says: I think I can quickly point you to the book I found… as I checked the library recently due to a certain fire madman thing going on
Venorel says: grin
Waesed says: I just wonder why I take damage from npc's that I don't have targeted when I don't when fighting them
Damola grins "Damola is prepared. Now also having a nice psychic chain mail with maximum red way protection."
Uadjet flips through some books. "Okay, it's SOME poisons, not all. Also destruction of the body, like being crushed by a falling stalactite (Gugrontid), or falling into lava (like a few of you at the last glyph hunter event. Being hurled into the Crystal probably causes destruction so thorough that it cannot be healed, so Dakkru allows True Death."
Gonger says: In Gugrontid you could also be crushed by a falling kran...
Damola says: Did someone actually really fell *into* the lava during the event?
Mordaan says: :) Good point, Gonger.
Damola says: Also you could meet a mighty Kran like Gorub.
Gonger says: Not sure about the event, but I remember some people falling into the lava on other occasions.
Venorel whistles innocently
Gonger says: In German, ein Kran is a crane, for lifting heavy weights.
Damola says: well would be an easy way to exit the Lavaar cave
>Venorel Weruno nods in agreement with Damola Etedi.
Uadjet says: Yeah, I've done that as a player more than a few times. As a GM too, but we're far less squishy than players so we don't die from it.
Damola says: So let's assume that Dakkru has been mild for those chars.
Venorel looks round nervously
Damola says: Jesus could walk on water, GMs can walk on Lava.
Damola says: Well, Weased asked about damaging NPCs.
Waesed says: I just wonder why I take damage from npc's that I don't have targeted when I don't when fighting them
Venorel looks confused
Uadjet says: That could be deliberate. You arent' directly engaging a critter, so that means you can't defend against it as well.
Mordaan says: Are you in the vicinity of the NPC?
Waesed says: yes, maulbers
Uadjet says: If I understood correctly, you mean that a critter can harm you if you don't have it targeted, but if you do target it it fails to do damage, due to armor or parrying or dodging. Is that right?
Waesed says: when they attack when fighting another
Waesed says: yes, when I target them
Mordaan says: Oh, heh. They are fighting each other?
Gonger says: There seems to be a "don't" too many in the question?
Waesed says: me
Mordaan says: Innocent bystander then.
Waesed says: they come running to attack me
Silak says: or critically bad aim
Waesed says: it is like have no armor or spells shielding me
Gonger says: You mean, creatures that are fighting you, but that are not targeted by you, do more damage?
Waesed says: a lot more damage
Mordaan says: Hmm, sounds strange.
Uadjet says: Yes, I know players use this to train armor skills and body dev up past where they could normally. I think it's intended, as if you don't focus on an opponent you can't defend as well against it.
Gonger says: Ineresting.
Mordaan says: Ah
Uadjet says: That's what I assumed when I noticed it, at least.
Waesed says: I am hgh enough to take on a maulberlord face-to face with little damage
Uadjet says: But if one runs up and attacks while you're fighting something else it can do real damage to you?
Waesed says: yes
Mordaan defers to Tua
Mordaan says: :P
Waesed says: so I loot and run :)
Damola says: Tua gone?
Uadjet says: Ah, appears to be. He was posting in Discord a minute ago...
Silak says: Sounds like the npcs have discovered how to fight "dirty"
Waesed says: yup
>Venorel Weruno nods in agreement.
Uadjet says: Yeah, so I always assumed that was intentional, and I do think it's fair. So keep your eyes open and always face the most dangerous opponent!
Uadjet says: Venorel?
Mordaan says: It's a good question, Waesed, perhaps something worth looking into.
Waesed sips his ale
Uadjet says: Yeah, having these meetings is good for people on both sides of the podiums.
Uadjet says: Lecterns.
Uadjet says: Whatever.
Venorel says: Well this may be intentional yet the invasion of bearts along the BD route out of Hydlaa is very annoying when they teleport before the conflict is through. It is not too annoying for me yet lessewr characters that spend all their ammo, potions, etc to only have the potential trophy disappear is very annoyin. Anything to be done about this?
Damola makes "Haha, fighting dirty and then teleporting away, those sneaky NPCs."
Venorel says: \
Damola says: That is likely to do Mordaan having using his Mordaan glyph on them.
>Venorel Weruno nods in agreement with Damola Etedi.
Mordaan says: My best answer would be that hopefully small things like that will be smoother/fixed in UE.
Waesed says: It is the same with some other npcs, also. Hard for newplayers to kill them.
Venorel says: It would be a rage quit situation for new characters is my feeling.
Damola says: Well, for some mobs I would deem it as quite natural that new chars would not be able to kill them easily, however, teleporting away… is not… so nice.
Venorel says: Certainly the bug would carry over the port would it not?
Damola does not mind as she does not hunt
Uadjet says: I think they should only teleport away when stuck, or perhaps when unable to reach their target is a better way to say it.
Venorel says: If you spent all your last tria on arrows that you then spent on a mob that disappeared 5 arrows away from dieing you would find quite annoying Damola
Damola says: I have seen NPCs teleport in other situations as well. They said "Failed to move, will teleport in 5 seconds" even without any obstacle preventing their move
>Venorel Weruno nods in agreement with Damola Etedi.
Venorel says: It is a bug that I cannot see Unreal changing
Gonger says: Yes. Easy example is Silaces (sp?) In the Welcome Area.
Damola says: Ven, yeah I get that, I said Damola would not mind ICly, but I see how this is an issue for players of other chars.
>Venorel Weruno nods at Damola Etedi.
>Venorel Weruno bows to Damola Etedi.
Rofoman says: would be better if they don't teleport away in any case
>Venorel Weruno nods in agreement.
Mordaan says: Talad's video today was about NPCs & combat, so things like that might be worked on in UE...and hopefully improved in the process.
Venorel says: sit
Uadjet says: I remember when NPC pathing was just "run straight towards things and get hung up on tiny rocks." Perhaps the Navmesh is glitchy? Or the critters aren't giving enought time to find a path to a target?
Mordaan says: Of course, no guarantee, but hopefully all NPC movement stuff will be overall improved so those type of "NPC is stuck" issues will be better.
Mordaan says: we can hope, anyways.
Rofoman says: but the UE port is client only, is it not?
Uadjet says: It's the whole game engine!
Waesed says: a total rework
Damola says: as far as I understand there will be a new server and a new matching client
Venorel says: It would surprise me that the NPC would be affected by the UE port unless attention was given to those areas of code during the port.
Rofoman says: ah, I see
Uadjet says: Much of the challenge is making sure some things DON'T change, actually.
Waesed says: I don't understand much but we need to go and like and share
Uadjet says: Getting guilds, and the PS version of magic, for example. Well, guilds probably aren't too hard.
Uadjet says: Well, I know a lot of work has been done this last week on making it so that players and NPCs can do rolls in combat, to make things more dynamic.
Damola says: well as I see from the video some of the programming is visual in Unreal and Unreal might have some support functions for NPC movement, but its all speculation. What we know is that is would not be fixed in Crystalspace version anymore. It may be fixed in Unreal or it may need to be addressed again.
Damola says: Just saw the rolling thing, looks nice with the generic chars
Mordaan says: Yes, well summarized. :)
Uadjet says: Yeah. Tails and wings need a bit of extra work, but hopefully not too much.
>Venorel Weruno nods at Rofoman Shaseerau.
Damola says: If we talk about bad, bad NPCs with another char I had it that a Maulberlord killed the char as he hid inside the Magic Shop, while the Maulberlord was still outside, by casting stonefist.
>Venorel Weruno listens intently to Damola Etedi.
Damola says: My question is: In what amount is magic supposed to go through walls ICly?
Mordaan says: Yeah, magic that goes through walls is an issue.
Uadjet says: Ah, yes. I'm not sure how that will change in Unreal. Spells - especially projectile spells - should require line of sight.
Damola says: Is it a bug, or intentional.
Waesed says: they can cast through walls, also
Uadjet says: I think it's related to the fact that it also rains through ceilings.
Venorel says: Bows as well.
Mordaan says: Not so much a bug, just a limitation. Structures are just not accounted for.
Damola nods "So no where my weaker alt can hide from nasty beasts. So seems it is better that he eventually learns how not to provoke their anger."
Damola says: I see.
Waesed says: I was told not to do mobs like that doing mobs like that
Damola says: I bet that might change with unreal as I would expect it to have better detection of things like that.
Mordaan says: You would think.
Damola says: well my other char could be a bit stubborn and overestimating his capabilities at times, but he will eventually learn this.
Uadjet says: I know Unreal has much better support for... I'm going to call it volumetric effects even though that's probably not the right term, but having different rules for 3D zones. Like having players automatically swim when in a water area, for example.
Damola says: Ah yes, that would be another question: Would an NPC that does not swim leave Damola alone when she dives into the lake of stealth for example?
Waesed says: if not wearing heavy armor...lol
Uadjet says: I don't know if that's what you would want to use, but I think it should be possible for objects like structures to block spells. And rain. Like the way they would block arrows or bullets in any other game.
Damola says: I feel that some realism there would make the game more fun.
>Venorel Weruno nods in agreement with Damola Etedi.
Waesed says: But, I like killing without being hurt :P
Uadjet says: NPCs not following into areas they consider dangerous would be a nice addition. Riverlings would follow into water, but perhaps consumers wouldn't. Dont' know if they even breathe.
Waesed says: they fart
Damola says: Guards not ignoring Maulbers in the city would also be a nice addition, but we discussed that already.
>Venorel Weruno smiles at Waesed Waesech
Mordaan repeats to himself "All will be better in UE...all will be better in UE..."
Damola says: haha
Mordaan says: :P
Damola says: Even the farting will be more realistic.
Damola chuckles
Uadjet says: Well, we've only got 10 minutes left so I'll give a few quick updates.
Damola says: yes, nice.
Damola thinks she needs to configure a new key for the rolls then
Waesed says: I know Gonger is going to work on getting more info out to attract new players.
Gonger says: I am, whenever I find time and energy.
Uadjet says: Work has continued on porting areas over to UE. Tua is working on caves, now, and did the lighting on the BD map. So now there are torches and lanterns that will keep things illuminated for everyone.
Gonger says: And I spend a lot of time in the Welcome Area, trying to talk to all newbies there.
Damola says: nice.
Waesed says: I use to do that,also
Mordaan says: One long standing issue I've had are the torches along the path to the fortress...the flames are not where they are supposed to me. Not important, I was just reminded of it.
Uadjet says: Talad's been working on combat in UE4, and there are quite a few vids on youtube now that show what he's up to. They can be a bit technical for me, but they're still fun to watch and see the progress being made.
Waesed says: yes, like and share those
Uadjet says: The sewer pictures posted in teh forum look really nice, if you haven't seen those yet.
Uadjet says: A little creepy, some of them.
Waesed says: sewers should be creepy
Gonger says: It's Sewers, not a picnic lawn.
Uadjet says: I told Tua that if I were a new player and I went into the sewer expecting newbie mobs and saw that much darkness with red lights, my first thought would be: "Yeah, I think I'll go give crafting a try."
Silak says: are they new UE sewer art ?
Uadjet says: Yeah
Silak says: Great!
Uadjet says: As for the spears, I've worked out a few things I was stuck on before. Got a bit ahead of myself and spent my time on things like the material for the stonehammer spearhead and the ynnwn spikes.
Uadjet says: Also, I looked into making wear and tear appear on weapons.
Uadjet says: It's actually not hard at all.
Uadjet says: I thought decals were the way to go at first, but each decal is a separate item, so that could bog things down really quickly.
Silak says: The old Dungeon Master game really had the cave mood mastered for mood lighting and visibility
Damola says: Nice, we talked about the wear and tear thing last time.
Uadjet says: Instead it's just a texture swap. Decals would work if, for example, we wanted to have scratches/dents appear on a shield when it blocks an attack, and you want the scratch/dent to appear right where the blow struck.
Uadjet says: It's a cool effect, but probably a bit taxing on the PC dealing with all of that.
Mordaan says: Makes sense to tie it more to quality level.
Waesed says: if my old laptop no longer works, I will haunt you!
Uadjet says: So I'm looking at the scratches I've already got and trying to figure out the best way to make existing scratches deeper and wider. Then I can just make multiple textures and swap them out as the item takes more damage.
Uadjet says: Totally fair, Waesed.
Uadjet says: I'm still thinking of how to get that leather wrap down to a manageable number of triangles. That quarterstaff has well over half a million, and baking a normal would leave it distorted.
Uadjet says: A normal map, for those who don't know, provides the illusion of depth by altering the way light reflects off a parts of an item.
Damola ponders "I expect to buy a new laptop at the time Unreal based PlaneShift comes out. Crystalspace Planeshift is barely running at 15-30 fps in Full HD on this old one."
Uadjet says: It's great for flat surfaces, but because it doesn't change the underlying mesh the silhouette doesn't change. That means the illusion of depth fails utterly if you look at an edge./
Uadjet says: But I may be able to trim the underlying mesh down enough to have actual raised portions where the leather overlaps itself, which is the only part that really needs actual depth to it. The rest will look just fine with normal map trickery.
Uadjet says: I'll post some images in the thread as soon as I've got some screenshots that look presentable. I'm getting picky about that...
Damola chuckles "You are putting quite some effort into that project Uadjet."
Uadjet says: And one last note: Learning about making items has totally ruined other games for me! I spend all of my time now trying to get weird camera angles to see if what I'm looking at is an actual complex mesh or just normal map trickery.
Damola says: But then Talad spends 4 hours and more on NPC combat and having them doing rolls.
Damola says: Haha…
>Venorel Weruno grins at Uadjet impishly.
Mordaan says: :D
Damola inspects Uadjet but does not know exactly what to look for.
Uadjet says: I played ME1 for a bit to take a break, and spent five minutes trying to get an angle on a particular wall edge because I wanted to see if the groove was real or not.
Venorel giggles
Damola asks Uadjet "Are you made out of complex meshes or are you made out of map trickery?"
Uadjet says: Finally I said: "This is madness" and went outside to leave apples for the deer. Much better use of my time than staring at walls. :)
Venorel says: How do we know his answer would not be trickery, Damola?
Damola shrugs "At least you are wiggling nicely."
Uadjet says: I'm not sure this game engine supports normal map trickery.
Damola chuckles to Ven "We can never know."
>Venorel Weruno grins at Uadjet impishly.
>Venorel Weruno nods in agreement with Damola Etedi.
Uadjet says: Well, we're past time so if there are no more questions....
>Venorel Weruno thanks Uadjet!
>Venorel Weruno thanks Mordaan Dev!
Waesed says: Is any one even doing facebook now?
Venorel says: Deleted my account a year ago.
Damola says: Never had one.
Damola says: And do not intend to create one.
Uadjet says: I do have a page there, but I let it go inactive. I need to wake it up and post events there.
Silak says: Ditto
Damola says: Deleted my google account years ago as well
Venorel congratulates Damola
Uadjet says: I have three Facebook accounts, but none have my real name on them. Much nicer that way.
Waesed says: yup
Damola protests "But you are violating the real name policy of Facebook, Uadjet!"
Venorel smirks
Damola giggles to Ven "Definately map trickery, definitely map trickery."
Uadjet says: So, I think we've covered everything so let's bring the meeting to a close. Thank you all for coming, now go out and have some fun!
Mordaan says: Looks like the announcements for streams are on there.
Venorel says: Probably a russian operative as well.
Uadjet is unconcerned.
Damola says: Thank you Uadjet, thank you Mordaan.
>Waesed Waesech claps.
Gonger says: Thank you for the meeting, and the work.
Damola says: Thanks again for all those nice events and the series about the FIRE MADMAN.
Damola chuckles
Venorel says: Yes thanks team.
Rofoman says: thank you for all the effort and your time
Damola says: Map trickery.
Damola says: Definitely.