July "In Development" Preview Discussion

[AmonGwareth]

Use this thread to discuss the latest July "In Development" Preview.

You can read it here.

[Helcat]

awesome, Amon. Here's to an exciting 2nd half of the year.

[Vlisson]

no new mobs

but nice changes for new players coming

[Helcat]

I know you guys are pretty busy, but any chance of a "Summer Festival" this year?

[AmonGwareth]

Fireworks merchants are in New Trismus for those who want to celebrate.

[AmonGwareth]

What you see is what we are working on.

[Vlisson]

any news about this preview? it got stomped?

[Frith-Rae]

you need devs to continue working on the code and engine....

so...well....

[Vlisson]

yes but this previews should be close to be finished? if Amon hasnt lied than they have already worked on it?

[AA0]

Most of that stuff was almost done at the time development stopped, but its not finished.. so is not really done at all I guess.

[LaughingOtter]

yes but this previews should be close to be finished? if Amon hasnt lied than they have already worked on it?

I can answer part of that:

Player-Written Quests – work on the documentation and FAQ continues. The Quest Editor has entered wider testing and continues to inch closer to full public release. The first set of player-made quests (created by LaughingOtter and made using the Quest Editor) have made it to the Live servers and we hope to get other sets of player-made quests into the game in July.

There were six or seven quests I wrote which were either on Blight or ready to go to Blight for testing. One quest was apparantly lost during an update to the public quest database and I was working on getting that re-entered when my access to the quest editor was revoked. One quest required a new in-game model and was on hold pending artist time. Amon & I discussed a backup option in case we couldn't get the asset we wanted, which would have used an existing art asset. As far as I know, that one still needed to be implemented. There were also six or so icon assets and simple items that needed to be created for the other quests; I don't know what the status of those assets is.

Velea had tested most or all of the ones on Blight and had submitted bug reports and suggested changes to myself, Amon, and Illyist (IIRC...) and I think some of the fixes had been done internally as part of the last, unfinished delta.

The quest editor itself had just been opened up to a larger group of test users and the policies & procedures for using it were being created in preparation for public release.

I also know Peter's second quest was being tested and tweaked; Velea was putting in a great many hours testing it and was doing her best to make sure it had as flawless a debut as possible.

On a personal note, the quests I was working on contained a great deal of lore and RP fodder for the Sslik. As part of developing that material and vetting it for consistancy with canon, Hal`cyon and I worked up a document intended to resolve some of the questions and misconceptions about the Sslik. I was hoping to see it made available as a resource for quest writers and role-players alike, and I think it probably would have been before too long.

It was posted to the focus group, and the comments & criticisms in the responses resulted in some changes and, I think, a better document.

I never really got to thank everyone who helped out with writing it, as the focus group forums were simply closed shortly after the sale. So, to all the folks in the focus group who took the time to read and critique and offer suggestions, and most especially to Hal`cyon (Boink! ), thank you very much for your time, energy, and dedication to making the game better.

[AA0]

The boink thread was my all time favourite thread