On player construction: we redesigned some of the construction pieces, particularly the newborn pieces (newborns, aka: new characters, newbies, etc). All the player construction pieces are currently the same. However, we are starting the process of making different parts for different skill levels. We want you to be able to build in Atriarch even as a newborn player. Why wait until you are level gazillion before you can do some of the most fun stuff in the game? Of course, your options get broader as you go up in skill. The beginning Tryusin pieces are the first to be redesigned.
On server-side issues: we are programming the Atriarch version of the patch server. We are also continuing to fix some server bugs.
There is also a reminder of the chat occuring on June 2nd and a picture of Arc and Serafina (for those who may have never seen what the lead developers look like) taken by Jaruh.
Stop by the official Atriarch site for full details! Woo Atriarch!
QotW Friday, May 23, 2003 - 10:55 PM [Filed by Herok]
The ATW exclusive QotW forum received another question from Jaruh, Atriarch's Community Manager. This QotW discusses the problem with the common terms we associate to objects, behaviours and the world.
Here is the question in its entirery (for those who like to know what they are getting into):
Atriarch is more firmly steeped in the science (or speculative, to some) fiction than the fantasy genre but quite a few MMOG gamers are raised on the nomenclature of the medieval. It could be argued that borrowing terms such as "sword", "knight/lord", etc. dilutes that alien atmosphere.
However, some notable designers have argued that the more distant the experience is from the player's sense of "reality" the more you must give them familiarity in order to keep them connected to the experience. It is a reasonable position for games that strive to meet the interests of the mainstream and most corporations prefer money-making ventures over art.
While they are not necessarily completely married to the perspective, the look and feel of the player species is an example where World Fusion shares some of that philosophy. The majority of Atriarch's aliens are bipedal and all are single-headed with normative facial features. Sure, they don't look like your cousin Fred, but they are certainly more recognizable as "sentient" beings than if they were amorphous blobs, if the point-of-view were shown through multi-lensed eyes or other xenophobic-inducing designs.
Given the difficulty in creating and maintaining change, it could be that the dictionary of terms isn't ready to embrace lasting diversity. Look how long the term "avatar" has survived regardless of genre and attempts to kill it.
While I don't think its necessary for players or designers to sit on their hands on the issue, how much effort should be spent on trend-setting in the terminology department by newer generation games?
Post E3 update Friday, May 23, 2003 - 12:19 AM [Filed by Herok]
The official Atriarch site was updated tonight with an E3 post-mortem and other news.
Here is a snippet:
Atriarch Development Update: Yes, during the E3 crunch we continued to make progress on the game, mostly the multiplayer parts of it. Atriarch had been offline for a long time while we worked on fixing several bugs. One of the good things about E3 is that it gave us a definite deadline to put AT all back together again and get it back online to demo. We are happy to report that Atriarch did successfully go back online for demos and internal testing. We have spent time enhancing the multiplayer capabilities and back-end servers. We are still working on some packet delivery issues.
Since some of the Atriarch content was done two years ago (for example, Pallidrost), a significant chunk of time was spent retrofitting Atriarch content to work with the new multiplayer features and enhancements. A few of the new features that work offline are not adopted yet for online. We plan to have those features working in multiplayer mode soon.
Hello folks, Atriarch Vault will be having a Developer Chat with World Fusion on Monday June 2nd, at 9pm eastern time on the Sorcery IRC server(irc.sorcery.net) in the #Atriarch chat channel. This will be our first chat since the team attended the E3 Expo this past week, so be sure to stop on by if you want to find out about their experinces there!
I'll be fielding any Atriarch questions you folks might have. If you want your questions because you cannot attend, either post them in this thread, email me.
We look forward to seeing your there! Woo Atriarch!
Thanks DQ!
E3 Cometh, I goeth Thursday, May 8, 2003 - 7:04 AM [Filed by Herok]
The official Atriarch site was updated today, with news that really inspires me,
E3 Demos: The Atriarch Team will be attending E3 Expo in Los Angeles next week. We will have a "wandering booth" which means I'll have a laptop strapped to my back and ready to whip it out to give a demo. So, if you are an Atriarch fan and will be at E3, then go on up to anyone you see wandering around wearing an Atriarch t-shirt. We'll be happy to give you a look at the game :-)
Atriarch Development Update: We are currently working on making our Natives (npcs) smarter. They now have a brain. Natives have lost there dazed and confused look. Well, except the Andol natives, they always look that way ;-) We made our first plant in Atriarch grow... woohoo! No longer is the Dubo plant a plastic, static statue, now it actually grows like real plants in a world should! On the server-side of things, we are addressing some long-standing issues regarding packet delivery. Above and beyond that, we are preparing the game for demoability (is that a word?) for E3. That includes putting a lot of pieces back together after being apart for awhile. That about covers it for this week's dev update.
Atriarch Points: Synon was kind enough to remind me that he/she/it (not sure what gender Synon is) has 12 Atriarch points from a previous event that were overlooked. After aubs of arduous research in the Atrian rock vaults, we discovered he/she/it was right. That puts Synon in the lead with 63.1 Atriarch Points. All are all welcome to join in the collection of this rare Atrian commodity: Atriarch Points.
I'm very happy to hear the Creature AI is coming along again as it was one of the features that first drew me!
I'll be in LA next week to attend E3 in official garb so I'll let you know how the game looks and possibly what else is happening in that universe. (Maybe I can convince Serafina to let me screen-capture something for you! *begmode off*)
FoA Site Updated! Thursday, May 1, 2003 - 11:35 PM [Filed by EdgeofEpsilon]
Synon has been hard at work the last few days updating the news and integrating new technology into his Fellowship of Atriana website. FoA now uses scripts to make posting news easier. He's made a snazzy new flash menu, as well as a flash-free version of the site for people that don't have it. Most exciting, he's promising to make that eagerly awaited flash intro. Way to go Synon!
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Atriarch Development Update