New QotW -- August 21, 2008

Burntvet

Here it is, enjoy....

Lee Hammock writes:



Tomorrow we start a new two-week sprint, so today is full of planning meetings, reviews of the past two weeks, etc. The coming sprint we’re working on the town of Brigg’s Point, but also time is being spent on the GlobalTech storylines, the Cloning storylines, and various faction storylines. Most of the towns for launch are in place currently; now we’ve just got to put a few layers of spit-shine on top of them. We’re also getting new clothes and armor models, some new creatures into game, and many of the animations are getting revamped using our mocap equipment.



And now...questions!



1.Can shotguns be fitted with suppressors? Will there be weapon modifications for purposes other than less sound (more power, less recoil, maybe a simpsons-style loudener)?



The main firearms mods we have currently are silencers and scopes. Everything else falls into the “if we have time” category.



2.Will there be support for third-party programs (like the various interface mods seen in other MMOs)?



Not initially. It takes a lot of effort to make your programs accessible to third party tools and keep everything on the up and up, so it’s not seen as being a vital feature currently, considering the work involved.



3.How confident are you in your ability to prevent the use of third-party cheats (aimbot, etc) that plague other FPS-style games (and tragically even have websites that openly sell hacks with impunity)?



Pretty confident. We have a server-based verification system for hit checks, so they can’t just hack the front end.



4.Can I setup a date to go on a tour of your Headquarters?



The chance of that being allowed is directly proportional to how much pizza you bring with you. And it better be good pizza too. You show up here with Papa Johns, Dominos, or some of that sh—itake mushrooms, you’ll go home with a beating from the Captain and his friend, Mr. Broomstick.



5.Can end users add content to the game, using World Builder?



World builder is intended as a Dev tool, not really an end user tool. For a differently structured project it could be, but Fallen Earth was never designed with that sort of activity in mind.



6.What will private messaging in game be like?



It will be private, and have messages. Oh, more detailed than that? There’ll be several different channels available, such as Team, Local, Region, Clan, etc.



7.Will there be a friends or buddy list?



Yes.

8.Will there be an ignore list?



Yes.



9.Will Alpha testers be keeping their characters at game launch?



No, we may do some sort of head start thing or some such for pre-orders, but the Alpha Testers will have to make new characters.



10.About the starter towns, will their purpose be blunt and out on the sleeve like so many RPGs (albeit classic ones) where you walk up to random people in a starter town and without saying a word they spew out some relevant information to get you started? Or will it be more...subtle? I know subtlety brings a risk of ignorance but I think the game world needs to be "in character" at all times, since it'll be impossible to expect the player base (or me >.>) to do the same. Atmosphere and such, not "Press I to bring up your inventory recruit! This might not make sense to you but the powers that be hidden will understand! *stares at the camera*". Super Mario can get away with this, post apocalyptic...not so much



We don’t have many NPCs who tell you to hit the I button to open inventory or anything like that. Instead we’ve got a series of tool tips that tell players how to play the game through the tutorial, and they may be accessed afterwards for players to review. The only time we have instructional text from NPCs is crafting, since it’s not covered in the tutorial (it really slows the action down to try and explain crafting in the middle of a headlong race to get out of Hoover Dam).



11.So we can "create" horses?? Does this mean they are mechanical??



I catch a lot of flak in the office for saying people build horses. Lots of jokes about glue factories and cyber-horses. You don’t actually build the horses, it just uses the same process as crafting. So basically you get the components you need (such as an untrained horse, some leather for a bridle and saddle, and some horse feed), spend some time, and boom you have a riding horse. Our horses go all the way from basic riding horses to destriers and race horses.



12.Is GlobalTech really ALL-powerful?



At one point it was, but not so much anymore.



13.Do all the clones belong to them?



I guess that depends on your definition of belong. Did GlobalTech equipment create them? Yes.



14. And if so how do we know that the game world is real and not just an implantation in the clone’s minds?



Good question. You don’t.



15.Will the guild have any especial buildings like a fortress, barracks, etc... that need to collect resources to build and be upgraded?



Not at launch, but once we get to player housing we’re totally looking at doing that sort of stuff.

Punk999

Nice thanks!

daarco

Good read.