Monthly Development Update – Dec 3rd 2012

[Mastablasta]

They are previews. You can click on them to resize.

Yea, but

Here is a screenshot of your screenshot (very meta) on my fullscreen browser

But, seeing as my monitor is quite huge, I volunteer to take screenshots for you, just send me the beta client

[Temos]

So server merge december 2013?

[GrumpyMox]

Re server merge; What's going to be the drill with org names where there is an org with the same name on the other server?

[Swifttech]

dammit on the Srgb.png the ground looks REALLY GOOD

[Notcrattey]

wtb a screenie of penumbra pls.

[Swifttech]

So server merge december 2013?

no i think in the end of this month

[Swifttech]

Yea, but

Here is a screenshot of your screenshot (very meta) on my fullscreen browser

But, seeing as my monitor is quite huge, I volunteer to take screenshots for you, just send me the beta client

haha i dont think they will give out the beta client. i also got a huge screen

[Notcrattey]

Also, can you confirm that there will be a higher resolution skybox? Stretches like crazy at 1920x1080.

[Liwa]

Server Migration

Next step is testing the orgs to make sure all that data got properly moved (and fixing any issues that come up)... and then, we all migrate to a new server!

City Changes

Genele has written up changes she has made to player cities during the migration, which I've listed below:

First, some of the bigger changes:

1. All outdoor cities will be disabled, and players will not be able to purchase them after the migration. Organizations who own outdoor cities prior to the migration will be given a voucher.
   
   • The rationale is that we plan to do a massive overhaul of outdoor cities in the future, and this wouldn't be possible if the existing system was in use.
2. Serenity islands will be closed down, due to the size of the city plot. All medium city buildings will be removed, so a medium city plot will no longer be needed.
3. Coast of Peace, Coast of Tranquility, 3 Craters East and 3 Craters West have been closed.

What's new:

1. Two completely new instanced city playfields will be added to the game: a large plot, and a small plot. The large playfield is a mountain-top, and the small plot is a desert oasis. The entrance to these cities can be found in ICC HQ in Andromeda.
2. The Oasis is intended for organizations (or 1-man operations) that want to absolutely minimize upkeep costs at the expense of restrictions on number of buildings.
3. The Mountaintop should have enough space for all buildings and will be the city choice for most organizations, but has increased upkeep costs.

Each beneficial building you place in your city will increase the monthly upkeep of the city. So we've moved to a different model here in terms of "how much does your city cost" to better reflect usage, and offer meaningful choice in terms of what buildings an organization decides to build. Because of this change, the base upkeep of the city plots have been reduced. This change will allow small organizations to afford a large city plot and they will be able to place more beneficial buildings as they expand and can afford a higher upkeep.

Specific changes to buildings:

1. Social buildings will not increase the monthly upkeep of the city.
2. Some buildings will be removed completely: Markets, the large ECM Tower and Medium HQs.
3. All beneficial buildings will become nodrop and will be sold in new vending machines in the tower shop. New social buildings will also be sold there.
4. Some city advantages will change:
   
   • Guard House provides Heal Delta at all the specified Quality Levels.
   • Landing Pad provides Vehicle Air and Run Speed at all the specified Quality Levels.
   • Swimming Pool only provides Body Dev.
   • Organization Headquarters no longer provide Run Speed.
5. A punching bag has been added to the Notum Silo.
6. The grid house now allows you to enter the grid.

And yes... seasonal content it's coming. Our winter holiday content was patched into the game at the same time as the Halloween content, so sometime next week we'll turn it on (doesn't require an update). There will be a whole post about this.

Next monthly update will be second week in January, due to the holidays.

Cheers,
Ilaliya

Great Update btw ...

For clarity:

Server Migration will be this month, December 2012 ... but will not impact Winter Holiday content?

Player Cities - All orgs with a city whether instanced or outdoors will get a voucher in the org leader's inventory.

- What size will the voucher be? Based on our current city size?
- We were originally told in one of Lindelu's updates that org leaders would also get a "package" with every building we could possibly imagine (including sauna?) ... is this still true?
- Update sounds like we have to buy new buildings from the tower shop. Or, is the voucher "big enough" to cover our city and all the buildings we could possibly desire including a sauna ... assuming we could afford the incremental rental cost?
- What is the status of the Tax Refund building ... is it still a building or have you moved it to a "feature" of the new HQ building?
- Are you removing the Small ECM Tower also? Will we even need ECM towers anymore? Do instanced cities even have "random" alien attacks?

When you say 3 craters will be closed, do you mean the player cities or the whole playfield including grid exits?

It sounds like the outdoor cities will still exist, just not function? Will the player city wampas still function until you have a chance to overhaul the outdoor city plots?


Kinnik

[Gimpeline]

- Serenity islands will be closed down.

Will this affect the daily mission with the rats?

[Cogline]

Forgot about the Rats! Daily when I posted! Please tell me it's still going to run. I just love buzzing the little blighters in my jet pack like a fighter ace while humming "Ride Of The Valkyries"! (Yes, Cogline really is that sad.)

[Triadninja]

I know this suggestion is kind of off topic, but one thing I've noticed about a lot of the buildings is that none of them seem to be "rooted" into the ground, AKA the textures just flow right under the building, so it looks as though they are simply floating. If at all possible, could even just a small amount of trimming be placed around the buildings, so that they look as though they are apart of the world instead of these weird floating things? This would probably be later down the road, but it would just make it seem a little more in place. Sort of how there is a trim around the borealis buildings.

[Nymphaeides]

My org's name has the = on either end of it (as its a nearly 9 year old org), are we going to be able to keep them in the org name with the server merge? I know making an org with them now it won't allow you, so i wanted to see if we'd still have it, or if it'd be something we'll have to remove.

[Misat0]

Thanks for the insightful update!

[Sweede]

Very good stuff, just hope my economy gets better sometime before i hit 70 so i can afford playing again

[Google]

Do we have to clear out org bank before cities "blow" up to save the cash or will the voucher re-imburse the credits in org bank aswell? Dont want to see 900mil from org bank just go poof!

[Cratertina]

Confirmed Devs do care!

:P Really nice. So single characters done, now org structure movment. That should be a bitch. But in worstcase scenario it can be that presidents get vouchers get dumped to RK-new and rebuild orgs.

[lindelu]

Amazing work you all! <3

[Obtena]

[*]The capability to have more detailed assets (buildings, characters, etc).[/list]

See, that last point is what's interesting. When we make a new asset for the new engine, we can give it a higher poly count, as well as spec maps, normal maps, detail maps, and self-illumination. These are things modern engines use to make everything from a building to a person look "realistic." The fancier you make the asset, the more time it takes.

Please make character models the priority for detailing. I don't really care how the bricks look but I do care about the pointed elbows and stick arms on my opifex.

[Absynth]

My org's name has the = on either end of it (as its a nearly 9 year old org), are we going to be able to keep them in the org name with the server merge? I know making an org with them now it won't allow you, so i wanted to see if we'd still have it, or if it'd be something we'll have to remove.

Kat <3