New QotW - April 23, 2008

New QotW.... Enjoy!

Question of the Week: 04-23-08



This week we’re working in the towns of Mumford and Kingman and entering various armor, weapon, and medical items into our databases. We’re also working on animations for mutations and special abilities, new character models (which look fantastic), and tuning up the tutorial.



1. Wondering what factors are going to determine Player movement speed... will adding AP into Agility lead to an increase in how fast you can run?





We don’t have an Agility attribute, but we do have Coordination and Dexterity. Coordination is whole body movement, so it affects Melee, Dodge, Stealth, and Athletics. Dexterity is hand movement so it affects Pistol and Rifle.



The Athletics skill gives the player access to abilities that can increase movement speed. Items can also provide small increases to movement speed. Generally the longer-term the speed boost, the less it increases speed. Athletics gives access to both short term sprint abilities - good for escaping fights or closing for melee combat - and long term but less speedy abilities.



2. Also, will Mounts travel at a predetermined speed or be selectable by the player? (i.e. Horses should be able to trot, gallup, or run... put the "pedal to the metal" = accelerate to top end speed in a vehicle, and so on).



Generally mounts and vehicles have adjustable speeds. Most mounts have three speeds; walk, canter/jog, and run/gallop. Different horses will have different max speeds, and what types of horses you can ride (and train) is governed by the Animal Training skill. Different horses can switch between movement rates at different rates of speed, so some are good sprinters (getting to their gallop speed quickly, but not having a really fast gallop), while others may be good for distance (taking longer to reach gallop, but having a higher gallop speed).



3. Will quality, type, or condition of the mount play a factor in determining how fast it is? Would also be cool to be able to learn enhanced Engine or transmission design from crafting the normal Engine I Instructions too!



Yes, vehicles and mounts are “made” using the crafting system, allowing players to use different inputs, skills, etc to produce horses and vehicles with different performance profiles. For example you could make a stout horse that is slower than average but has more hit points.



4. So with the whole art revamp, is the blood getting revamped when your hit or shoot someone?



It is. It was a little out of control.



5. Regarding vehicles, where exactly do we put them? I mean, do we just park them somewhere and leave? What's to stop someone from parking his/her vehicle in a very annoying spot in front of an NPC where you can't reach them?



You park them and leave. When you get a distance away (currently we’re working with 50m) from the vehicle it despawns until you come back. The despawning avoids parking lots in front of popular areas.



Vehicles are not allowed into towns, so you have to park on the edge of town. Alternately many towns have garages you can put your car into by speaking with an NPC.



Cars do not have collision when parked (there are huge possibilities for abuse if they did, such as blocking off entrances to levels and such) so they can’t be used to block off areas.



6. Will the clan battle pvp zones be instanced or are there certain pvp zones that are open and clans go to them to do the battle?



Generally clan battles will not be in instanced PvP zones. We may do some instanced arenas but that’s more of a back burner thing.



7. With clan wagering, can the clans only wager on themselves?



Currently yes. We’re changing the name from wager to bounty to avoid the perception of gambling. It’s really more money put forward to entice others to fight since they will get something out of it.



8. Are there any fun pop culture references you are willing to share? And is Santa Claws in the game?



We do have a mission called “Oh Sh!t, it’s Dr. Tran!” but that one may be a little obscure. There’s a chain of missions all named after heavy metal songs.