Talad(Leader/Founder)
Eonwind(Rules)
Tuathanach(Rules)
Zunna (Rules/Settings)
Mordaan (Settings)
Venalan (Settings Lead)
Uadjet(GM Lead)
Emaline (GM Team)
Zweitholou (Art)
Uadjet says: Hello and welcome to the Developer's Q&A! This is an out-of-character meeting where you can hear about the development of the game and ask the Dev and GM teams any questions you might have. If you do have any questions, please line up at the lecterns in front of the stage.
Zrak says: Hi
Uadjet says: Hi!
Uadjet says: If there are no immediate questions, I'll give an update on what's the happening behind the scenes.
Gonger says: Please do so.
Uadjet says: As many of you have assuredly noticed, the Unreal version is now on 0.7.26b
Uadjet says: Talad did some terraforming since our last meeting. I think I mentioned the roads to and from Emerald Lake, but he's also linked up Homestead and fixed a large number of map glitches.
>Teleported Anysu Atani to Anysu's Small Table in instance 345
Anysu grins
>Anysu Atani salutes Uadjet with respect.
Anysu says: Thank you
Uadjet says: Just a repost...
Uadjet says: Talad did some terraforming since our last meeting. I think I mentioned the roads to and from Emerald Lake, but he's also linked up Homestead and fixed a large number of map glitches.
Uadjet says: Talad's also continued his work on random events, like random merchants.
Damola ponders "Anysu has her own small table here."
Uadjet says: He also spent a lot of time bugfixing - naturally - and has gone through the wishlist (feature requests) on flyspray to see which ones can be done.
Damola says: Yeah, Talad did a lot of bugfixing.
Uadjet says: Oh, and for those who saw the screenshot of the giant sphere on Discord, that was the marker used to show where Raurim was planned to be. It may move a bit, but there should be a village in that area. Right near the Observatory.
Uadjet says: He's also been looking into cinematic sequences, so the game might be getting a little more snazzy in the future. :)
Uadjet says: Let's see... The compass quest is coming along well. Haviland is the one working on that.
Uadjet says: I'm helping put it into the right format, which isn't too hard.
Uadjet says: The town of Delver is having NPCs added to it now.
Uadjet says: I've submitted a the NPCs I would add in the xml format that Talad can copy/paste in to load the NPCs.
Uadjet says: I'm not sure when they'll all be added, but they should be coming soon.
Uadjet says: I've also started writing some quests for them.
Uadjet says: So far I've got one quest each for the two Enki sisters that live there, and have been doing research into farming so that I can do one of the longer quests for the village. I'm also planning a quest to send players there, as it's not all that easy to find.
Damola says: cinematic sequences… how would that work exactly?
Gonger says: You see something at the end of character creation.
Damola says: hmm okay.
Uadjet says: Well, I think they're meant for times when you enter an area. Walk in, the cinematic plays, and then you're free to move. They might also be small things that appear in combat, like 'finishing moves'.
Damola says: nice work on quests and npcs you do
Uadjet says: I think more like Skyrim than Mortal Kombat.
Gonger says: Speaking of character creation - I did not see an option for Fast Character Creation?
Uadjet says: No, that's not in yet. I'll have to ask Talad about it. That and a way to spend leftover points at the end.
Gonger says: Good. It is quite possible that someone wants to try the game quickly, so a Fast Creation would be good.
Anysu nods at Gonger
Gonger says: I mentioned it before - what about a Guest character?
Gonger says: Who knows a bit of everything, but cannot leave a certain zone, for example?
Uadjet says: It should be pretty easy to come up with some templates. I can look at the ones in this version, actually. They're right there...
Uadjet says: I'm not sure I follow. Players creating guest characters?
Gonger says: No.
Gonger says: A pre-defined Guest character.
Gonger says: We had that in MUDs.
Gonger says: A character with limited abilities. Can do a bit of everything, but nothing too well (e.g. all skills at 10)
Gonger says: So it is possible to try everything with this character.
Gonger says: Guest will not be saved.
Gonger says: That's from the MUD lib :)
Jeranenie says: sounds like that could be covered a fast char template
Jeranenie says: ^by^
Uadjet says: Maybe.... A template would run out of points quickly trying to get a skill of 10 everywhere.
Gonger says: Oh, hiding in the alcove. I did not see you there.
Jeranenie says: there is no reason why a template could not set starting skill levels
Uadjet says: That is an interesting thought. The player could dabble a bit, just to see what can be done. A newbie area with crafting stations and some low-level critters to fight. Dummies too.
Gonger says: And with crafting stations.
Gonger says: But nothing can leave the are
Gonger says: area
Jeranenie says: and each char instance would be unique which is a requirement that you would have to fudge using a guest
Gonger says: Easy way to get an understanding of all the possibilities...
Zrak says: Hmm....with fair warning that this alt is only temporary?
Gonger says: Yes.
Gonger says: Of course.
Uadjet says: Basically a demo level.
Gonger says: An interactive demo.
Jeranenie says: more of a demo char ?
Zrak says: Love this idea, Gonger
Gonger says: You can play it, but not save it. But you know of hte possibilities.
Uadjet says: That's a good idea.
Uadjet says: It would be a project of significan size, but honestly the current tutorial area would make a good map for it.
Uadjet says: Okay, so my "To-Do" list just got a bit longer. :)
Uadjet says: No worries. It's good to have different things on the list. That way you can take a break from the task that's getting a bit tiring and still do somethign productive.
Gonger says: That's true.
Gonger says: As long as the list does not get overwhelmingly long.
Uadjet says: Any other thoughts or questions? Did I miss anything?
Uadjet says: Okay, so in the near future I'll be writing more quests for Delver and dabbling in the templates. Homestead also needs people in it, and Haviland has a couple proposed. I'm sure we can fill that out to a full village pretty quickly.
Damola says: Sounds like a lot of new stuff to explore.
Zrak says: It sure does
Jeranenie says: is there any plans for chars to have different attributes at creation ?
Uadjet says: Yeah, and we need to fill all of that space with... stuff. Ruins, remote towers, small villages of 2-4 families, etc. And monsters. Lots of monsters.
Uadjet says: Attribues are determined by species and the choices made. I think. Admittedly I tend to race through it. :)
Gonger says: Are new monsters planned?
Gonger says: Like, totally new creature types?
Uadjet says: New monsters require new models and animations, but there are some that can be added. Unreal has had some animal packs free over the years that we picked up, and even a monster pack or two. Admittedly a centaur is a centaur is a centaur, no matter what game it's in, so not all are approprate for PS>
Gonger says: Ah, that sounds interesting.
Uadjet says: Some are good, though. Like a giant lizard that Talad and Zwei worked on. It started as a dragon, but with the wings removed it becomes a good desert critter.
Uadjet says: There's also a boss critter animation that I like, but I'm having trouble getting other people interested. it's a giant gold worm that pops up out of the ground. It's good, and has some animations, but maybe not settings appropriate.
Uadjet says: Ah, found it. It's on sketchfab.com as gold sandworm.
Uadjet says: I thought Ojaveda could use something scary outside the walls. :)
Gonger says: Shai-Hulud?
Gonger says: The giant worms from Dune (novel, movie)
Uadjet says: I'm sure that's the inspiration for it.
Damola says: Thanks for all the updates.
Damola says: Time for me!
Uadjet says: Another thing that could be added relatively easily is a serpent of some sort.
Damola says: Not sure a worm would fit into the settings, yeah.
Damola says: A giant one at least.
Uadjet says: They tend not to be low poly, due to the curves, but we know serpents exist and finding ones already made and animated is easy.
Damola says: A serpent might be more fitting.
Uadjet says: But we've got a scorpion model that can be a windscorpion, for one thing.
Anysu says: scorpion would fit.
Uadjet says: There are praying mantis models too.
Uadjet says: Giant ones could be mounts. :)
Uadjet says: So could velnishi.
Uadjet says: But yes, we're at the end of the hour. Any last questions? Thoughts?
Zrak says: So many have devoted so much time to PS over the years. Thank you!
Anysu says: Velnishi mounts..be cool. More mount choices would be nice.
Uadjet nods. "The more mounts the better, and Talad liked the idea of Velnishi mounts."
Uadjet says: So, I think we can bring the meeting to a close! Thank you all for coming, and I'll see you at the next meeting in two weeks! Have fun playing!
Anysu says: Thanks for update!