Slow but Steady Wednesday, September 4, 2002 - 10:45 AM [Filed by Herok]
Serafina made a flurry of posts throughout the community...hold onto your hats, cuz here it comes!
Beta: (ATV) Tollo: "So what is the status of the game?"
Serafina: "Thanks for asking Tollo. We did start a technical beta. However, it is currently on hold while we make fixes and such... unfortunately, at a very slow rate.
Most of the fixes and things we've been working on are under the covers and not user-visible traits, so there isn't much to report on that side of things.
We are making progress though and yes, the progress is definitely forward. We will finish. It is just taking a chunk of time."
Beta...part II: (ATS) Serafina: "Beta takes however long the money people allow it to take. Many games have been sent to release long before they were ready because of investors and/or publishers.
We don't have the problem of money people *boohoo* so our beta is taking a very long time.
We started technical beta last year. It is currently on hold until we fix some bugs and make some changes. We are making progress, but are moving very slowly due to the fact that we are doing this without funding. So, we are a poor judge of how long betas take in general. On the other hand, even some games that have had publishers for years and many investors and full, oversized teams take forever to develop games. I have to admit that I really don't understand that. If we had the team capacity and funding that some of these games had, it would take nowhere near the time it takes them to develop. ok ok, I'll end my mini-rant there.
So, to answer your question... Gerald_Tarrant is about right. I have just one thing to add to that. Most games are in beta much longer than most people know about because not all testing phases are publicized and not everyone follows it. In many cases, people are suprised to find out how long a game is actually in testing.
Regeta (and others): "Atriarch is just like IRL right? So will a bow and arrows be alot more powerful than a plant shooting out thorns?"
Serafina: "I think the first time I ever used a plant/creature machine gun was in Half-Life... at least that's what it seemed like to me.
Will Atriarch have regular bow and arrows? It is true that we are being different... however our definition of organic world doesn't preclude the use of items similar to what we may see on Earth. What makes them different are the materials with which they are made. Yes, there will be plants the spew things. However, as some of you have pointed out, there will in fact also be some conventional-looking stuff.
I'm enjoying reading the material in this thread. I hope to see it continue."
Serafina: "I brought this up on another board, but would also like to bring it up here... and in more detail. This is just an idea at this point... what would you think about allowing players to start wherever they wanted. However, if you start somewhere other than your native continent (for example, an Eshlar beginning on the Unarra continent), then that character would take a penalty of some sort in your character's abilities.
The reasoning behind it would be that the species developed as a result of their environment. The Cavolon evolved according to their swampy environment, the Tyrusin grew fur (yes, that's fur not scales) from the harsh winters, etc. Wouldn't it follow then that if a species was born somewhere other than the environment that nutured them, then they would mutate or be missing out on certain benefits? On Earth babies who are not breast fed do not receive a lot of antibodies that are normally passed along from mother to child. This would be the same sort of concept... err... uh... well, you know what I mean.
Wouldn't it follow that the lack certain nutrients, weather, environment, etc that evolved the species into what it is would still be required at some level to be of full capacity. So, the concept is... let players start wherever they want, but they take a penalty for non-Native soil.
Each mutation (or penalty) would be different depending on the starting location. For example, an Eshlar starting in the Cavolon area would have softer skin with less resilence and not able to take as much damage because of the soft environment. However, if an Eshlar started in a Tyrusin environment the Eshlar would be less dextrous because the cold environment would make give the poor guy arthritis and its joints would work as well or as fast. Some players may not care about these things and think not having to travel would be worth it.
Serafina: "ok, it is probably safe to say at this point that brand new characters will have to start on their native continents. So, that begs the question... should they be required to start in a particular city? Randomized? Chosen by Player?
hmm... of course, I have an interesting thought that never occured to me. What if we allow characters to be born somewhere that isn't there native continent, but penalize them in for it because they lack the native nutrients that would require them to grow. Say... a mutation of some sort? I'm just thinking out loud now."
Serafina: "I am wholly in favor of mini-games in Atriarch as long as they are integrated as part of world and culture and not the evquivalent of mindsweeper or solitaire for aliens. I tend to think that games in general will start to develop in the world. I haven't really seen this in other game worlds much, but I think it will happen in Atriarch. I guess we'll see.
As many of you know, the first thing the team did when we got into the world was start to play a game of alien soccer. We put a ball in the world and started kicking it around trying to make goals. There was no animation, just a bit of physics, our alien stick characters (no animation and no textures yet at this point), and we had a ton of fun. Of course, this isn't exactly a mini-game, but it did reveal to me the potential for players to come up with their own games from what is already there.
In terms of an Atriarch card game. We did start developing and Atriarch Collectible Card Game in conjunction with the computer game... not for playing in the game, but out of the game. This was back when we had tons of money and the economy was doing well. Even before we hit the bumpy roads, we decided to put it on hold to focus on the "real" game... Atriarch itself. Some day, I hope to be able to finish the Atriarch collectible card game, but that is a very long time away. For now, it collects dust in my 'ideas' pile."
Serafina: "Yup, like you said, sustenance could be lot of things. The lab really does more than just food, but it was difficult to come up with a single word that would encompass it all. Things included in this category are anything that sustains or encourages life... and not just of characters ;-)
It also includes things like "power-ups" and "buffs" and "personal enhancers". I really don't like to use those terms, but that's pretty much what they are."
Serafina: "Don't worry, you aren't going to see any ad banners in Atriarch or a Cavolon holding four Pepsi cans. hmm.. well, unless they paid us millions of dollars, in which case, sorry guys, all bets are off (Britney watch out, here comes Atriarch Anon!)"
Serafina: "omigod! There were so many points I wanted to respond to here. For some reason, I really got into this thread. I started highlighting and copying comments from everyone to reply to... uh, then I remembered every time I highlight and copy something new, it erases what I had previously. Forgive me folks, I think this is my thirteen millionth post tonight and I'm getting a little loopy (which means it is prime game design time *grin*)
I'll come back and respond to this post at another time. I'm starting to nod off. This is a great threat guys! Sorry for bringing in noise."
Serafina: "This is just me thinking out loud again. You'll notice I like to do that sometimes. Most people think I'm crazy talking to myself, so if someone would respond it would help me to not look so insane
How about this for a group skill... the more you group and do things in a cooperative mode the more your cooperation skill goes up. There could be group quests that require a minimum cooperation skill before you can be invited to join. This would work within the story and world. I could easily see certain Natives (npcs) wary of characters who don't work with others in groups. Maybe when putting together a party, they want only experienced party members. Taking it even further, maybe you need a certain cooperation skill before you will be offered to lead an cooperative expedition. hmm... I think I like this.
Of course, we can also do quests that are the opposite. You would need to have a low cooperation skill in order to get some loner designated quests. Think Han Solo in Star Wars. Some tasks just aren't meant for people who play well with others.
Yup, I think I like it! uh oh, there I go again, talking to myself.
This whole concept of a cooperation skill is a new idea that could probably be implemented fairly easily. (Of course, I say that about all features while Arc's face contorts into a scowl... hehe... well, they seem easy to me) On the other hand, I haven't totally thought it all the way through yet, so your comments and thoughts are welcome. (Remember, so I don't seem like I'm talking to myself.)"
Serafina: "Yes, the Torpor Storm will be visible within the game.
The Torpor Storm will in fact shrink, expand, move and otherwise morph into what shape it wants.
There hasn't been an exact detailing of where or what the Torpor Storm is because the inhabitants don't exactly know. They just accept it as part of the world. However, I guarantee you that there are people who know all the details about the Torpor Storm and its nature.
In a practical, non-world/story way, the Torpor Storm also acts as a blanket for areas that are undeveloped on Atriana. The creators of the world will give it a little manual nudge when/if the world gets to crowded and more space is needed or new territories are discovered/revealed.
Yes, we have come to learn that calling it a Storm has confused a lot of people into thinking of it as a traditional, Earth-like weather storm. However, the word storm can mean many more things. Take for example, someone who says, "oh no, the boss is coming and there is a shit storm following". I don't really think the first image people get is that of feces raining upon the masses. ok, some of you do, but you aren't average ;-)
Besides, there is supposed to be a bit of mystery around the Torpor Storm. *grin*"
Serafina: "To answer the original question, some armor will die and some will not. All armor and weapons and items and "stuff" will deteriorate. Many of it will be repairable.
The gnarliest armor will be the symbiotic armor. The problem with that is you can't take it off without killing yourself. Well, at least that is how it is designed. Also, when you die, the symbiot dies. It will be some incredible armor, but you better make sure you want it before you put it on, because never being able to take it off could be detrimental if you ever want to switch."
*pant* That's a lot of copy-paste! Thanks for the feedback Serafina! Woo Atriarch!
Accounting for Taste Tuesday, September 3, 2002 - 3:49 PM [Filed by Herok]
Serafina joined the discussion on ATV following the recent ASK WF Q&A regarding player account numbers (where she suggested a low base rate and then additional characters could be purchased--amazing!).
I think Mark_Hawke has a good point. It may have been better if I said 1 or few (undecided yet) characters per world and that there is only one world.
That being said, I agree that if we choose to have only one character, then it presents issues with households that have more than one person and with people who want to play more than one character.
Even ignoring my opinion about how many slots there should be, what is more practical is the back-end support issue. I have no problem with mules, except for the fact that it is not feasible for us (meaning World Fusion) to double, triple or even quadruple our back-end without the corresponding revenue from the service.
Yes, this is a labor of love. On the other hand, I don't want to have to work a night job just to make enough money to cover people's additional characters ;-)
I would like to note that not everyone who uses multiple characters use them as mules. I just use mules as an example because mule-type characters and abandoned "trial characters" make up the largest number of characters in any game or on any server.
Therefore, I have to be economically realistic about this. The potential of having hundreds of thousands of abandoned characters and mules *persistently* in the world for no charge to the customer would be unfeasible and economically dire for the game service. If we blipped out the characters so they left the world, this would not be an issue. However, that would go against one of the main tenants of the game.
Unfortunately, this is the sort of trade-off we knew we would have to make when deciding to make everything persistent. This is also why we have been thinking about allowing people to add character slots to their account for less money than they would to buy a new account. Or possibly offering a set price according to the number of characters slots you wanted to buy. I think that is a bit in line with what EdgeOfEpsilon was also saying above
Besides the practical reason, I believe having less characters will make the world a better place to play in. Of course, this is just my opinion and a theory that has yet to be proven (or disproven).
I strongly urge WorldFusion to stick to their guns on this one. Let the "more bang for the buck" come in the way of in-game content and ability to affect the world.
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Slow but Steady