WF Community focus Friday, May 10, 2002 - 11:12 AM [Filed by Herok]
Creating a separate piece for this, since I believe this is important...from the Atriarch.com latest news. If you hadn't already caught the theme of the month from Serafina's diary, the latest dev-journal or the upcoming chat, here's the hammer over the head:
"One of the cornerstones of Atriarch's gameplay is the dynamic and highly customizable player-construction feature. The next couple weeks, we will be focusing on sharing the innovations that Atriarch brings to online worlds in the area of player-housing and city construction."
Developer Journal: MO Friday, May 10, 2002 - 11:04 AM [Filed by Herok]
World Fusion updated Atriarch.com with the latest Developer Journal (a look behind-the-scenes at the game production or lives of the developers) offered up by MO, Atriarch's Lead Artist.
Here's a snippet:
"Quite simply, I take an existing structure and break it down into it's most basic components, walls, pillars, arches, pyramids, roofs, floors, awnings, walkways, etc. After that I'll add some decorative pieces that the player can add to their structure to make it look a little more "homey", like pots, torches, or any special ornamental features from the original architecture."
Its a good read and will give you something to ponder for next week's player-housing discussion!
Thanks MO!
Educatin Rita Wednesday, May 8, 2002 - 3:37 AM [Filed by Herok]
In the Teaching? thread at ATVault, Sartaeus asked whether combat skills could be taught to other players.
Jaruh replied,
"Skills have not been revealed but the concept of teaching skills to each other is part of the design goal. It has been discussed that some forms of skill practice (especially "crafter skills") would benefit from the presence of offline scripting.
Serafina has even gone as far to say that it may be possible for people to develop offshoot skill specializations. It also ties into the idea of spawn skill-propensities.
But again, its pretty fluid in practicality at this point, until more about skills is revealed. So, if you have ideas of implementation, feel free to share. :)"
There is more conversation, but that should give you a taste. Go check it out!
Creating Carnivores Wednesday, May 8, 2002 - 3:30 AM [Filed by Herok]
Continuing the discussion of Migration and Extinction over at ATVault, Sartaeus suggests that extinction should be supported while Valhalid notes that it would be frustrating for the art designers.
Jaruh commented,
"Extinction, overpopulation, migration, etc. are all supported in Atriarch. However, just as it is difficult for players to die unless they want to, don't expect the creature population to diminish just because the griefers think it'd be cool to do. Serafina has said that if necessary, the spawn-farm would just pump out more creatures to ensure survival.
Now, if it fits the story-purpose, it could be that creatures are allowed to expire, but I definitely see instances where a specific area is barren of a creature (chased out, killed, moved, captured, etc.) but that is a far cry from extinction.
Also, just as a friendly reminder, have you SEEN the size of the creatures? Are you so sure that it won't be the players who are made extinct? :)"
Valhalid suggested that their size would make them easier targets.
Mythfit countered,
"Heh, now you know its not gonna be that easy. You dangling on the edge of the cliff just makes it tougher to get away as something bends down to nip up a tasty snack like yourself.
It will be very difficult to actually wipe out a species by killing it. I wont go to deeply into my system, but if you try to kill off all the bunnies that just means that the surviving bunnies have less competition for food so they can reproduce even faster. Now I know what you’re thinking, we'll just wipe out their food source and they will die off. That won’t work too well either, because then the bunnies will be forced to find less preferred but viable food sources. No grass? How about clover? No clover? How about trees? No trees? Guess we have to mutate into carnivores, lots of these Cavolon guys running around to gnaw on. Problem solved.
That’s a little hint of some of the stuff I have been working on. Let the speculation begin!"
HOC Update Wednesday, May 8, 2002 - 1:53 AM [Filed by Herok]
ATStratics updated their site with the timing for the next HOC:
On Wednesday, May 15th, at 9 PM EST (-05:00), World Fusion, the developers of Atriarch, will have a live House of Commons (HoC) chat with fans on the Stratics network. The theme for this next week's HoC is going to be Construction and Housing.
Building Levels Wednesday, May 8, 2002 - 12:23 AM [Filed by Herok]
Scrudge submits the latest Atriarch Askew comix with a close look at building levels.
The House of Commons, a formal question-and-answer session between the players and the developers, was started at UO Stratics back in Feburary 12th, 1998. The HoC takes place at a predetermined time in #atriarch on Stratics IRC. Generally, a specific topic is announced before the chat, but sometimes Open Forums take place in which the topic is not specified. We hope to see you at the next Atriarch House of Commons!
The topic this time out is Player Housing!
Things will start around 6pm (to be confirmed: EST or PT) so come join the fun!
Auto-grab Saturday, May 4, 2002 - 2:46 AM [Filed by Herok]
Here at Atriarch Watcher and giving some console-style lovin, Iroko suggested that a solution to falling would be an "auto-grab feature". Mythfit replied,
"I like the auto grab idea, that would work pretty well especially since it wouldn’t work if you were running at breakneck speed or riding your clyft off a cliff.
Denizens of Atriana are pretty tough, so most falls while damaging won't actually kill you, death should be more of a choice instead of a learn by dieing model. Unless of course your being really really stupid."
Nice! However, don't be surprised if the next new Player Faction decides to bandy around the Atriarch design of Lemming-Jumping as an Official Minigame Sport!
e-Picnic Basket Saturday, May 4, 2002 - 2:24 AM [Filed by Herok]
Given that the picnic will be in less than 12 hours, Mythfit offered this thread on the ATVaultforum:
"As I reached across the table with an eye on Serafina’s nachos I distracted her from my attempt with an innocent question. 'So, what do we do if 12,000 people show up for the picnic on Saturday?'
She stared back, pretending not to notice that I had nabbed a single chip that had turned out to be a mass of nochoy goodness thanks to the extreme viscosity of melted cheese. 'I’m not worried,' she said 'Most of the people who would want to come live too far away to make it. And even if they do show up, we can always get extra forks at the seven eleven around the corner.'
Well for those of you who can’t make it to the picnic, here is a thread for you. I made potato salad so try not to eat too much, its really good but it might make ya sick.
/me passes out the potato salad and Frisbees
Have fun, hope someone brings some barbeque."
Yummy!
Captive Audience Saturday, May 4, 2002 - 1:58 AM [Filed by Herok]
"Lets say you wander into a town and are captured by the local militia. Turns out the militia are just a gang of rowdies who want to hold you for ransom. Well assuming you have friends then they have two options, they can pony up the cash or they can gather an army to smash the offending fortress and town back into the dust. Freeing you and any other prisoners in the place.
So what does a smaller faction do to get its members back? Well they could enlist the help of a larger faction, or they could make a deal with the pirates by helping them capture members of a richer faction who will provide them with even more ransom money.
Of course what starts as a noble quest to free the captives may change once your buddies have freed you. If you take over their fortress, then you now have control of any other prisoners they might have lying around. You can let them go, or you can demand ransom payments yourself. Of course the diplomatic thing to do would be to request a small donation from the captured players to cover your costs of making war before you release them."
Nice to see another peek into the mind of the devious! Thanks Mythfit!
To the Moon Alice! Saturday, May 4, 2002 - 1:44 AM [Filed by Herok]
Over at ATVault, Sartaeus asked whether space travel and specifically human contact will occur in Atriarch. Mythfit and Jaruh jumped all over that topic!
Mythfit said,
"Going to the moon, that’s Serafina bragging about the engine a bit. At this point were not planning on going to the moon per say, right now it would be great to publish. As has been said in the past the whole world isn’t even slated to be finished at release but we will be expanding it as we go along.
Does that mean we cant go to the moon? No, not at all, the engine supports it. The moons orbit around the planet and the planet orbits around the sun. Yes, it already does that! So once a means is provided to go there, then making the trip is not a problem, its already in the engine, and you will be able to visit, colonize, open tourists shops, or what have you on the moon. But lets see if we can get our feet planted on the surface of Atriana first.
Here’s a thought, a faction losses all its territory on Atriana and is forced to flee to the moon, where they develop a plant capable of planetary bombardment in an effort to reclaim their lost home."
Jaruh replied, tongue firmly in cheek--mostly,
"Since it is present day Atriana doesn't have to worry about a Terran invasion. Terrans don't have the technology to leave their solar system in an efficient enough manner to make a greeting-party trip let alone an invasion force feasible. Fortunately, its unlikely to occur anytime soon as we have all seen enough sci-fi shows to know that humans muck things up. ;)
Also, if they did arrive, they'd be gobbled up...and we don't need an interstellar incident. ;)"
"Will Atriarch's world be full of interesting places to go, or will the majority of it be flat and uninteresting? I ask this because I plan to make a Lokai character who is an explorerer/architect, and I look forward to going out and discovering new places (and building a Beaginator Was Here sign)
Or, maybe, the world will start out with few interesting spots, but players will eventually build up the world?"
Jaruh replied,
"Welcome!
Atriarch takes place on the planet Atriana. While the species travel mostly freely throughout each continent as well as the islands (and lost continent), you will find that each of the five species have established a continent of their own culture, politic and flavour.
I'm sure there will be some randomness to the world, since anything static in life either dies or changes, but also note that players will have the ability to affect the world!
For example, don't be surprised if a faction leaves its old outpost behind in favour of a more strategic position! The buildings might be left to rot or taken over by local creatures or another smaller band of players. With each might come modification or redesign of the structures, perhaps the introduction of a different crop, and suddenly the area attracts different creatures or players.
The Lokai have a staff (Khanja/Lifestaff: http://pc.ign.com/articles/083/083660p1.html) that will mark all the interesting places they have seen.
As for the amount of "world" visible at the outset, it won't be the entire globe but it will expand as the number of subscriptions increase.
You've asked if the world will be interesting. Well, like DAOC, there will be physical space between locales and no teleportation (although there will be riding creatures etc). So, to some extent the landscape will be captivating for some and merely tedious time-kill for others. However, if everything were easy to find, we wouldn't need "explorers" now would we?"
Valhalid interjected,
"But every time one of those World Fusion people post, some information slips out
This time I learned that MOBS might migrate, and that players can 'take' over MOB camps/structures."
Jaruh obliged with
"Natives and Creatures *will* migrate.
There are professions, just not hardcoded. If you call yourself a tax collector and can enforce it, who's to say that the profession doesn't exist?"
Mythfit confirmed migration as well:
"Yes, migration is a factor, along with food supply etc, which can be a bad thing if you accidentally build your city in the ancient migration path of something really huge. Guess we should have checked 'Old Lokai's Almanac'."
"I will assume that in-game there will be cliffs and trenches (Good assumption) =P. Anyway, how easily will it be to lose a life in a great fall into a deep abyss or off a mountain. And how easy will it be to actually fall in the first place. If there were a cliff in front of me, and in one of my mindless dazes, I don't see it and I continue walking, will I suddenly fall into a 2 mile plunge onto some rocks below? With the Engine that will be used in Atriarch in coordination with the physics engine, I'm sure that I can push creatures off as well as I, myself, being pushed off.
Some of those new screenshots look like it would be quite easy to stumble off while involved in a skirmish."
Serafina answered,
"You know, that is a good question. In fact, we personally experienced it way back in some of our earlier areas. Since everything in Atriarch is sooooo big (again, I mention the scale is difficult to tell by the screenshots), the cliffs are sheer and the mountains are tall and falls ... well, falls are a long way down.
Anyway, as we were testing, we were starting to get pissed off because we couldn't even get to the top of a building without accidently walking off the side of the ramp. So, temporarily we fixed it by putting up railings. We honestly haven't figured out the best way to deal with it yet. Railings work, but it I think it is going to look stupid to have railings running along all the mountain tops... LOL! If you have any suggestions, I am all ears."
"World Fusion, What are the chances of Atriarch coming to a console, such as the PS2 or XBOX?"
Serafina answered,
"Atriarch can be ported to Xbox and I think possibly P2S, although I don't know all the PS2 details. However, whether they are ported to these platforms are not, I don't know. It depends on whether someone pays us to do that or if there is a large enough market."
So, if you have sway in the console market, let's get a budget drawn up for an AT meets X-box version!
Crime and Punishment Friday, May 3, 2002 - 2:15 AM [Filed by Herok]
Marc_Hawke and Valhalid are burning up the ATVault forums! This time, they have a great brainstorm discussion on crime and punishment player-tools.
Serafina added a "woo" idea!
"ok, no one hold this to me, now I'm just brainstorming out loud. I wonder if there would be some way to have live cameras in the game... sorta like webcams, but for in-game use only so that they couldn't be altered. They could be used for store owners, city coucils, security type cameras for important areas, etc. Players could play them back in-game and/or use them during a trial or tribunal sort of situation to prove guilt or innocence.
I wonder if something like that is feasible or if it would take too much bandwidth, storage, etc. Just thinking out loud here."
Jaruh added,
Project Entropia already plans to have location-webcams available for broadcast on websites. I remember seeing a whole site dedicated to this functionality for various games. Its the wave of the future!
So, stay tuned for the next episode of Law and Order: the Atriarch files!
From Marc_Hawke: "In the future animations will all be dynamic. They will be computed on the fly with some advanced form of inverse kinematics. The bounding boxes of the models will be the actual model, and colision detection will take place real-time and not have to be 'helped' by the animation."
hehe... Arc would love nothing more than to be able to add inverse kinematics to the engine. It isn't going to happen right now for obvious time constraints, but he has a plan for how we can do it in the future.
Also, I just want to make a quick comment about weapon classes. They aren't "classes" as you are used to them. They are more like categories of shapes and sizes. We call them weapon molds. This is so we know which weapon will work with which animation.
Let's say we have a 3x4x5 mold. This will mean that any weapon that fits into a bounding box of 3x4x5 mold can use that mold's particular animation. hehe... is that making sense to you or am I just confusing people?
Collision detection is very important to us in combat, because combat relies on collision detection. It is partly how we determine whether or not you have actually made contact with your target. Rather than random numbers, we actually try to determine at a minimum if you have made contact. A sharp knife that makes contact with skin is going to do some damage no matter how little."
Thanks for further clarification Serafina!
Serafina on the UP-DevChat Friday, May 3, 2002 - 12:38 AM [Filed by Herok]
"Hello everyone. A few people here have voiced their disappointment in the chat yesterday.
Unfortunately, I have to agree with you. I was experiencing incredible lag from the irc servers. I was prepared to discuss the topic in much greater detail, but the lag was awful. Some of the other devs were complaining about experiencing it too. I think that threw off the entire chat. It appeared nearly impossible to moderate or ask questions or keep a focused conversation going amongst the chaos.
I look forward to the next dev chat where I hope the tech problems don't interfere with spirited discussion
For those you who attended, thanks!"
We look forward to the next devchat! (Also, when we know, we'll let you know the date for the next Atriarch player-chat.)
Bolera Screenshots Thursday, May 2, 2002 - 11:49 PM [Filed by Herok]
World Fusion updated Atriarch.com with more shots of the Bolera Cavern. Some of these shots were featured in the IGN First look, but some are new to everyone!
As Serafina said the other day, "I was looking at the screenshots and realized that the screens don't really do the area justice. The caverns are soooo large and ominous when you are actually walking around real-time. In the screenshots, it is difficult to realize how "open" and "cavernous" the area is."
Object Lesson Thursday, May 2, 2002 - 9:03 PM [Filed by Herok]
Over in the forums at ATVault, in a thread that has meandered further than a politician asked to answer a simple question, Bowen lamented,
"...I don't see why, if the chair is an object seperate from the floor, I couldn't pick it up and 'bash somebody over the head with it'..."
Jaruh dug up a response from Serafina:
Why can't I pick up just anything to use for combat? ..."so.. for one weapon... there are nine zones... lunging and close attack... that would make it 9x2x5 animations for every weapon out there so, 90 combat animations for every weapon... for each and every weapon... not including the combat idles when you are holding it, running & walking with it, etc.
If you have 100 weapons.. thats 900 animations just for combat... since we have more... it would actually be more than that we don't have enough time to get *every* possible combination in we could have everyone be able to pick up everything, but then weapons would be passing through bodies and such it wouldn't look good."
Facelift: MMORPG Italia Thursday, May 2, 2002 - 8:48 PM [Filed by Herok]
If you're a big fan of international coverage, then you may have noticed that the Atriarch site for MMORPG.Italia network was down while they revamped their look. Well, its up again, and you can go take a gander. (You'll need to use a translator if you don't speak Italian or have a good imagination!)
Aussie Connectivity Thursday, May 2, 2002 - 7:48 PM [Filed by Herok]
Board-newcomer, Zeno_john asked on the ATVaultforum,
"I would just like to say that i am very scared! This game looks like a definite ground-breaker. It will no doubt be the 'game of the millenium' when it is released, but that is what i am scared about. Can someone please reassure me that im not spending hours upon hours reading about all this and then find one day that i wont be able to play it? I live in Australia and i have read that all the servers will be overseas, will this mean that i wont be able to play the game and if i can, will i have a substantial connection to make it worthwhile?"
Mythfit answered,
"Gosh I sure hope so. Australia is always a problem for online action cause last time I checked there was only one little tiny hub that connects Australia to the rest of the world. Ok maybe its not that bad, it might be a full-fledged router by now, but my understanding is that it’s a tight squeeze from folks I have talked to. I’m really hopeing it works and works well down there cause I want to visit someday and I don’t want to be run out of town because no one can play.
Seriously though, its too early to tell at this point and I am not the technical guy, so I can’t make any promises about what were going to be able to accomplish, hopefully however you will be pleasantly surprised."
Jaruh added reassurance,
"Atriarch will be available locally in Australia, so 'no worries mate!'."
Great question and answer! Thanks all!
DevChat: Fan Sites of the Future Thursday, May 2, 2002 - 5:09 AM [Filed by Herok]
Serafina participated in a devchat over at UnknownPlayer.com tonight. The topic was What do you see the role of fan sites being in the future, and how can they be improved from their current state?".
Here's a snippet:
[Rasputin] What do you guys see fansites becoming... [Rasputin] Lum, you have a unique perspective of sorts [Lum_Mythic] Unfortunately, successful, then bankrupt. I don't think the current model of fansites can support them actually getting a readership. [Lum_Mythic] Once they get a critical mass of viewers, they have to find some way to pay the bills. Right now the only working models are ad banners (which irritate your readers) and donations (which irritate your readers). [Lum_Mythic] There needs to be other options, or else there won't BE any fan sites. [Serafina_Atriarch] Fansites now find themselves competing with one another when most of them started out as a labor of love. [Cynthe_OSI] the competition makes it tough on the developers too... I've had many experiences when I hesitated to do anything for a fansite due to the anger I knew I'd receive from others [Serafina_Atriarch] Even a labor of love can become overwhelming... not just financially, but time. It takes a lot of time. It is difficult to give something up that you built up from the ground.
[Cynthe_OSI] Yep, we've added a lot of game info to UO.com, but a lot of our players still go to Stratics. It's been a constant source of contention within OSI as to how far we should go to make our site the main resource, and when we should stop and let the fansites maintain their niche [Lum_Mythic] It's a discussion we've had at Mythic as well [Lum_Mythic] Question is, do we then turn around and duplicate it? [Lum_Mythic] I mean, why re-invent the wheel? [Cynthe_OSI] well, it depends on what your goal is [Cynthe_OSI] if your goal is to make the community feel valued, and that's your ONLY goal, then maybe you work on ways to allow fansites to thrive and enrich your community. [Serafina_Atriarch] We take the stance that the fansites will nearly always be better than ours. [Cynthe_OSI] I think you can have a bit of both. You send people to fansites and push their strengths, and they feature your news and push people to your site [Sanya_Mythic] In my dream world, we host them. It's only a dream, though, because then we become responsible for all the content, good or evil. [Sanya_Mythic] I love the sites that do more than copy and paste the Herald - I mean, hell, that's what the Herald is for, I want to see fan's thinking, not my own badly types smartassery [Serafina_Atriarch] We don't have the time nor staff to build a site as deep as some of these fansites. [Serafina_Atriarch] We look at our site as informational... not as much as a tool.
Thanks to UnknownPlayer for the inclusion and Serafina for getting Atriarch into other communities! You can read the unedited log over at UnknownPlayer.com
Anti-Grief Sighting Wednesday, May 1, 2002 - 11:06 AM [Filed by Herok]
"I think that the risk to leave town should have some balance in a "risk for staying in town" on the town-guard, mayorality, or whatever stream players are interested in. Having a merchants feud doesn't require leaving the "safety" of town. However, grief doesn't have a home, so I'm only discussing the world-risks rather than Grief-risks.
Some solutions: You will be able to script your characters to some degree, so if you really want to "solo" (as in with no other players) you can have your own posse and still protect yourself!
For the explorers, it would be good if they had friends/faction/etc and/or natives (bodyguards/etc) if they don't want to have any combat interaction.
Remember that Atriarch's design favours both the non-combatative (through karma) and the defensive (the ability survive and/or to get out of the combat situation).
Factions will have a say in their local laws, which can either be positive or negative. If its a griefers haven, it may be that you'll have to call upon another faction to take over! Likewise, if you're a griefer, you may have EVERYONE all in your business if you try anything in any non-griefer haven (probably the majority of player and starter towns).
The responsibility for anti-grief is shared between design and player. Its impossible to code out grief without sacrificing playability, especially in (but not limited to) a world with combat."
Thanks to DQ for pointing them out!
Welcome! Wednesday, May 1, 2002 - 10:56 AM [Filed by Herok]
Sometime this week, we will be putting up the new screenshots from the Bolera Caverns, Atriarch's first "dungeon" area.
Go check out the picture...I'm trying to guess the name of those mongoloid frog creatures! Also the official invite for the WWWF Picnic this weekend!
Community Contests Wednesday, May 1, 2002 - 10:51 AM [Filed by Herok]
Serafina, a regular in ATStratics' IRC (#atriarch irc.stratics.com) had a few teasers about upcoming community contests to look forward to:
Here's one:
Upcoming Community Creature Crucible Contest {Terralos} Since the creature crucible event is no longer valid, I was wondering if the glossary event still is or not {Serafina} What creature crucible event? {Serafina} hehe.. Terralos... LOL! I am actually happy you asked about that. {Serafina} We are going to start a new crucible contest which will be pretty fun :-) {Terralos} cool =]
You can read the log for more. Thanks Iroko for the capture and to Serafina for the content!
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