Kranodor's Log

Hello everyone … well, whomever may still read this. Activity has been low those last few months, and it seems as if only recently we had some new players. Yeah, it’s the same old song – developers being busy irl and so on.

We’re still lacking a pixel artist, I’ve not heard a lot from Sheck those last few months, probably because I, myself, was busy as hell, first failing, then coping with having failed, then trying to get back on top and… guess what – yeah, I’ve made it. I have survived, I’m still here, I’m still twitching. I’m okay, don’t worry.

Thing is, I’m going to start a full time job in november, and thus my time will be severly reduced – again. I’ll have to see if I can get back to writing up stuff some of these days. Maybe a bit of feedback would be a motivator. Well, I’ll have to see.

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Hey guys, as Tremir pointed out, it’s been a long while since anybody from the development team said anything. Actually, only three people currently do any development whatsoever (and even if it’s just theoretical talking) – Ranger Sheck, Pro\/idence and myself. And of us three, only ProV is actually productive. Sheck and myself are very, very busy in real-life at the moment, don’t know exactly about Sheck, but I’m approaching a crucial deadline, fast, and after hours of writing and thinking about what to write, and reading and processing information, I’m usually not really excited about doing pretty much the same stuff – albeit on a different level – for leisure.

The team currently has one large problem besides that: We do not have a pixel artist who could draw consistent NPC images. Anything we do will have to use the same old images we currently have, and with the amount of NPC groups required for Xinoloux alone, things would repeat fast.

And there is that big update, with a possible reset, although details haven’t been worked out yet.
Thing is, we’re about to jumble up a lot of things. We’re introducing a new equipment slot, a new concept, and a new skill tree using both (and two more are planned, one of them was originally planned for Xinoloux, but will likely be put onto a later content update). The new skill tree, as hinted at in the Autumn Harvest Festival, will be the long-asked-for Ranged Weapon tree, including Projectile (Long and Short Bows, as well as Slingshots) and Thrown Weapons (sorted as Light, Heavy and Snares).
We’re also completely re-organizing how actions are acquired, there will be much less actions per skill on lower levels, and others will gradually become available as people level up the skills.
Of course, both of this requires that we re-consider all foes in the game, add Ranged Weapons, if appropriate, and change their weaponry so they don’t end up with an action pool that’s too small or lobsided. It’s also a reason why I’m not doing Xinoloux yet, as I’d have to completely re-do all of it afterwards.
We’ll also downscale a lot of equipment rewards and stuff. Once the dev team formed, and began making missions and NPC groups, we approached the upper end of what’s possible, equipment- and foe-level-wise, too quickly. It’s time to correct that.

I’d personally hope for two or three other coding updates that we had talked about: The base level update (instead of using 4 characters’ melee or metatherics value, using the highest skill value per character to define if a mission becomes available), the AI update (better targeting and action choices on the AIs part, which is a complicated matter, but has proven necessary) and the variable update (technical stuff that I’d need to do something I’ve got in the back of my head… and that I had already in mind when I wrote DCI3).

The new concept, by the way, is ammo. No worries, it will only affect Ranged weapons (and the other two probable skill trees that are planned to use it), and they’ll have some features to offset that problem. Ammo will not have to be re-bought, instead we chose to go with a concept akin to that of Mount & Blade (if you know that game) – while ranged weaponry does have limited ammo, the limitation is on a per-battle basis. That way, ammo can be used as a tactical resource, and items with more ammo will have a higher value, without forcing players to constantly re-stock.
Another change we talked about was that we might change up health altogether, not forcing you to wait for regeneration anymore, but replenishing health like defense on a per-battle basis as well. This would come with some changes to defeat/fleeing, and a change to medkits, but we think it’ll be generally more enjoyable that way.

Now… Xinoloux. The problem is that this area is huge. Three towns, countryside roads, and even some small steads. There will have to be at least two new bandit groups for the roads, all towns have arenas (and I want to put at least three different groups of NPCs in there, per arena), and the (first) intro mission has three or four encounters as well.
Originally, my plan was to introduce one of the other trees using the ammo mechanism in Xinoloux, for the sake of diversity in foes, but Sheck and I decided to postpone that, so now I’ll have to see how I make the foes there diverse enough to matter with what I have available.
Even without the update, this requires a lot of items and number crunching and stuff.
That and the intro mission has to be written (it already exceeds the maximum amount of text a standard .txt file can handle on my computer and had to be split into two) and to really kick it off, at least one or two other missions within the realm should be completed for release as well.

That said, I can’t promise anything. I know it’s my fault that I even started talking about stuff we had planned, because development doesn’t always go as planned, and especially coding is a kind of work that does rely on breakthroughs and epiphanies from time to time. But since Sheck and I (and ProV, of course, as well) are doing this as a hobby, for fun, for leisure, it does suffer a lot more from a heavy real-life workload than it would be if it was a professionally organized and marketed product.

Some of this info Sheck and I talked about, and agreed that it should be shared. A bit of it, I’m not as sure. Take it with a grain of salt – make that a good cup full – as I’m talking here about what I know, and what I think. Ultimately, Sheck is doing most of the work, and only he knows how complicated which of these points are, and if and when they will be finished.

Sorry.

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• POSSIBLE SPOILERS *

Why additional? Because some of the older info still is correct, especially about which foes may drop which accessory. You can find the same accessories and weapons as last year, though with less chance. The accessories are, additionally, only drops from boss-class foes, and some of the foes (especially frozen and roasting turkey, but I think stuffed turkeys as well) reappear on later levels as normal foes and will not drop their respective accessories when encountered then.

The mission also yields three out of four items:
A plant and a flesh weapon for successful completion (not Excellent Danmam, but good stuff)
as well as either a stone or a fire weapon in between, depending on your choice on level 8 (cold and dry storage – Hint: Therna will craft the weapon for you out of the enemies you tell her to fight.)

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Ha, that even makes for an acceptable pun, at least for fans of Song of Ice and Fire.

Well, it’s all my fault (of course), since this time, I can’t blame it on anyone else. Graphics were there, to be reused, writing was all mine anyways, and implementation… well, mine too. Anyhow, I’ve been either busy or down those last few weeks, and was totally and completely unable to deliver in time.

Sadly, I can’t really offer anything to compensate for it. I’ve worked a lot on the mission the last few days, doing implementation (something that may – no, will – help me in the future) and now: I’m done! The event is implemented on the development and testing server, and I’ll be testing it the next few days, to make sure I didn’t mess it up. Especially those hybrid NPC groups have to be checked… god, that could save us a ton of work for new areas with missions. And yes, I’m looking at you, Xinoloux!

And here’s the good news: The event will go live, in full effect, some time before christmas and last until some time in early january. It does have all the stuff I wanted it to have. You will be able to fight against all the foes you know from the previous Autumn Harvest festival, you will be able to loot Butterknifes and Cucumberswords as well as the four Turkey Medals, the Produce Sash and the Victual Crown.
I’ll release a spoiler information later on, because not every foe of a specific kind may carry the associated accessory.

There’s also a chance to get up to three out of four new weapons for those who beat the mission. They’re event stuff, and mission rewards, so they’re not too shabby (although I’ve kept them in some sort of balance). Finally, the event mission does provide some foreshadowing on something that might come in 2010, and I am currently planning on giving another small reward – later on – to everyone who actually beats all 10 rooms of the mission.

I doubt that my writing on this one was as good as on other missions, and I think the design is somewhat simplistic for what people might expect, given how long it has taken me, but nonetheless, I hope you’ll have a fun event. On the upside, it is done, it will run during an actual holiday, even if it is the wrong one, it will have everything the last event had and more, and it will keep the event restricted to an area where people who want to may seek it out – no bothering the people who don’t want to participate.

Plus: I finally learned implementing NPC groups and missions myself. Along with implementing skills, actions, items and locations (which I learned earlier on), this pretty much enables me to really create content all by myself. Can’t stress it enough.

Anyhow: Next few days I’ll be testing, and I expect Ranger Sheck will send out a mail to the users when the event finally starts. Sorry again for the delay, and I hope you will find enjoyment in this years… winter harvest festival.

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It’s that time of the year again… well, what has the dev team been up to? Everyone has been very busy in real life, so we’re progressing kinda slow. As we’re working on BIG updates at the moment – and I’m talking about “main version” updates, the kind of thing that makes a game go from 1.x to 2.0 – so that still adds to the slowness of things trickling down.

You’re gonna LOVE what we’re working on. Most of it, anyways. Some of you will probably not even notice some of the stuff we’re working on. Anyhow, while Sheck is trying to get some coding done, and some of the major projects, I have been assigned to remake the autumn harvest festival. As time isn’t exactly abundant, most of the stuff you’ll see will be somewhat recycled from last years event.

But we’ve learned our fair bit: We’re going to keep the normal game normal. Noone will be forced into the event. There will be no roaming groups on the normal roads. If you want to ignore the event, you can safely do so.

What I’ll be trying to do will be a dungeon of sorts. Multiple levels with increasing difficulty, and that organised as a mission (or probably several smaller missions). You can play on through the dungeon, getting rewards at certain levels, and/or you can replay any level at your leisure, hoping for some of the drops (those who have been around for events already know that drops are rather rare among event foes). I’m hoping for at least half a dozen levels, maybe more, but I’ll have to see what I can do. And yes, there will likely be a new item or two. Some of them might be exclusive to this years autumn harvest festival, but I’ll have to consider that as I go.

Oh, and there will only be a “dungeon” in Hopitan.

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Likely, I’m just crazy, but these sales are good, both vendors are stocked, prices are low, enjoy!

ARMORS and SUPPLIES for MINIMUM PRICES!!!! SOLD OUT!
fine scalemail – 67/47/314 Armor – On sale for Minimum Price 99 Gold
Martusan Heavy Armor – 72!/40/288 Armor – On sale for Minimum Price 83 Gold
Reinforced Scale Armor – 72!/35/252 Armor – On sale for Minimum Price 64 Gold
Large Medical Kit – 80 Health, 200 Rating – Only 40 Gold (Minimum Price)!

Chaduk and Martis weaponry – Low-Rating stuff for 20 Gold, Higher-Rating stuff for Minimum price! SOLD OUT!
Martis Airmover – 20/65 Airwind, 25/39 Clubs, R227 – On sale for Minimum Price 52 Gold < Boss item, good Airwind weapon! Bargain!
martusan gravity cylinder – 20/62/124 Gravity – Minprice: 15, on sale for 20 Gold! < 62 Speed, recommended!
chadukan mind-rod – 20/62/124 Mindwind – Minprice: 15, on sale for 20 Gold! < 62 Speed, recommended!
chadukan air cylinder – 19/60/114 Air – On sale for Minprice! (13 Gold)
martusan longblade, 16/46 Long Blade 10/43 Gravity, R116, On sale for Minprice 13
other martusan longblade

Plateney and Tiasa weaponry – Minimum prices galore! SOLD OUT!
plateney Hunting Torch – 30/43 Clubs, 21/37 Fire, R206 – On sale for Minimum Price 42 Gold
Platen Woodformer – 30/55/165 Plant, one of the strongest Plant-weapons in game! – On sale for Minprice: 27 Gold!
Platen Stonechain – 20/41 Grappling, 20/40 Stone, R162 – On sale for Minprice: 26 Gold
Light Air Staff – 16/68! Staves, 20/52 Air, R212 – On sale for Minprice: 45 Gold < 68 Speed! Barely gets any better!
Ice Whip – 27/45 Grappling, 22/36 Frost, R200 – On Sale for Minprice: 40 Gold
Spiked Club – 40/41/164 Clubs – On sale for Minprice, only 27 Gold!
Platen Wintros Wand – 26/63/163 Frost – On sale for only 27 Gold (Minprice!) < State-of-the-Art Frost Weapon, grab it, won’t be disappointed!
Windwhip – 18/54 Grappling, 10/39 Airwind, Rating 136 – On sale for only 18 Gold (Minprice!)

CITY OF HOPE WARES! Brand new stuff, in with the latest edition, for little money! Excellent, super-quick, low AP-cost weapons here! SOLD OUT!
Shade Whip – Grappling – 23 Damage, 76 Speed!, 174 Rating – One of the quickest, if not THE quickest Grappling-weapon in game. Minimum Price would be 30, on sale for only 100 Gold!
Black Shiv – Short Blades – 26 Damage, 65 Speed, 169 Rating – A very quick high-damage short blade! Maybe not the most equisite item, but a thoroughly considerable item! Minimum price would be 29, on sale for only 50!

REFILL! SOLD OUT!
Atherforce Gauntlet – 38/41 Brawling, R155 – On sale for minimum price 24 Gold
Fine Steel Mace – 25/54 Clubs, R135 – On sale for minimum price 18 Gold
Drak Fine Dagger – 12/63 Short Blades, 10/50 Frost, R125 – Minimum Price: 16, on sale for just 25 Gold!
Krati Stone Staff – 21/57 Stone, 11/33 Staves, R156 – On sale for minimum price 24 Gold
Mindwrangler – New Item! – 22/68 Mindwind, R149 – Minimum Price: 22, on sale for only 50 Gold!
Krati Oak Heart – 20/56 Plant, 8/40 Brawling, R144 – On sale for minimum price 21 Gold
Busted Booster Column – 15/50 Airwind, 15/36 Clubs, R129 – On sale for minimum price 17 Gold

Of course, every item is available only ONCE, first come – first served, if an item of above list isn’t available anymore, someone else was likely quicker, but I’ll try to keep the list updated!

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stylez purchased ice whip from Trader Voranek at a price of 40 gold.

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Brown Tom purchased windwhip from Trader Voranek at a price of 18 gold.

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felix purchased chadukan mind-rod from Trader Asmarin at a price of 20 gold.

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Azriclu purchased plateney hunting torch from Trader Asmarin at a price of 42 gold.

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Ironz purchased fine steel mace from Trader Asmarin at a price of 18 gold.

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Ragnarath purchased krati oak heart from Trader Voranek at a price of 21 gold.

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Azriclu purchased spiked club from Trader Voranek at a price of 27 gold.

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Ragnarath purchased busted booster column from Trader Voranek at a price of 17 gold.

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Noradt Baumwacht (uninjured)
Tharod der Stumme (uninjured)
Old Brother Farikar (uninjured)

Brown Tuuk Muwadub
Violet Tuuk Xiciuots
Violet Tuuk Smamuyaj
Red Tuuk Plkiswell

The battle raged for 30 turns.

Skills improved during the battle:
Tharod der Stumme improved skill: Flesh (passive)
Old Brother Farikar improved skill: Flesh (passive)
Kranodor won the battle and found 40 gold!

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celestial purchased Medical Kit (large) from Trader Voranek at a price of 40 gold.

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celestial purchased shade whip from Trader Voranek at a price of 100 gold.

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Fyrelle Schattenjäger (uninjured)
Noradt Baumwacht (uninjured)
Tharod der Stumme (uninjured)

Violet Tuuk Foveclebr
Brown Tuuk Trizogrh
Violet Tuuk Ckaicrax
Red Tuuk Tseeist

The battle raged for 26 turns.

Skills improved during the battle:
Kranodor won the battle and found 40 gold!

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celestial purchased Platen woodformer from Trader Asmarin at a price of 27 gold.

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celestial purchased light air staff from Trader Voranek at a price of 45 gold.

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