Game Development: Prelude

[Immortalsouls]

Judging from join date in forums you'll started one month after the start of W5 which ran "only" 8 month... the next W6 ran nearly ! 2years! (not to mention they even let it run on when max 30 players where playing constantly because of the lag - instead they fixed it) - W7 runs since June 2013 and still runs ... for an Alpha game not bad ... W8 is with new code base and still Alpha so likelihood of shorttime resets with new codebase is high - like it was with the early worlds: W1 Aug 2008 (going public) - Sept 2009 (1 year), W2 Sept 2009 - 2010, W3 Feb 2010 - Jan 2011 (1 year), with W4 Jan - Mar 2011 Mechanics where changed so a reset also had a high likelihood , W5 Mar 2011 - Oct 2011 was short mainly because of Hardware Failure ...

6 Years Alpha lol, how long will you use this as a excuse when you take money from people and of course it only stands short in the description of the "About" Tab.
Not in the Store or elsewhere is it standing, so people doesn´t know.
And looking in the forum, for checking dates and other stuff, befor joining a game who did this?
If you are new you look into the game and when you have problems or questions you go into the forum but befor I think not.

I still like the game but I think there could be more informations on the webpage and not hidden small in some coners.

[MagicManICT]

Sorry I only just saw this Jorbs/Loftar and I dont comment much... but this... well i need to comment on this… (BTW to be clear - I am not happy about the plans for the new world) - unless the plans change you wont get more $ from my family.

Your new model might work, but I doubt it. Limiting a toon to 200 max - limits the end game - I already had 300 str - and it was needed to be able to "scratch stone" in the mine. Even if you balance rock/metal... to align to the 200 cap it will reduce interest in the pure open ended nature of your previous versions of the game.

I invested in hopes that you guys would figure it out, I truly doubt you will see success with a capped skill model - with this type of "capped" play. Sandbox inherently should be sandbox - ie no limits no caps. That is exactly why I dont play WOW and other similar "cap" script games and the unlimited nature is why I did play this game. Maybe you could set it to 30 hours a week for free- maybe you just set the hours too low. Dev's... I get you want to monetize (and probably need to) but maybe the paid people could get other benefits... (and I hate whiners that dont give solutions so here are a few ideas)

Alternate ideas (could be bundled or separate ITEMS) not all are necessarily good - i am just throwing these out there.
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* no cap on paid - cap on free unlimited? (with the extra features being specific $ or one time $???) or maybe unpaid gets a LP "drain" the world drains you and paid doesn’t so gain would be slower and harder at higher but little impact at low levels - maybe combined stats = drain if you are unpaid? "weight of the world" type thing
* paid gives you respawn of some or all stats on death based on paid vs unpaid (3x and low paid and 9x at high paid) and unpaid gets little or none (or maybe %'s) – this could be an object that carries skill from the toon to the next toon in the bloodline – or could go to ANY other toon – life totem? (could be item or come with paid toon). Alternately an amulet that reflect skills from experience back to the PAID toon 1% at bronze, 2% at silver and 3% at gold? (or something like that)
* paid gives you ability to create a trade hub - unpaid cant create trade hub (anyone can go to one)
* paid can ride horses - unpaid cant or paid toons can tame horses unpaid cant
* paid accounts can make ropes faster or other "make item" things go faster for paid
* scrying ball for paid toons that allows wandering at high speed so you could scour map quickly (but limited uses or limited time) maybe uses energy - or are ITEMS that could be stolen or traded?
* x number of terraforming cubes that can move huge amounts of earth (balanced against manual performance)
* large "fluff" items like a dragon or demon or whatever that would "watch over" a village - but just be cosmetic / cool bling
* custom looking bling armor not available to unpaid
* special buildings only for paid (still would allow people to function)
* implement small pets - you could tame wolves to get dogs but ONLY for paid accounts
* maybe a "paid toon" - participant robe that gives an extra row of inventory (only wearable by paid accounts)
* paid account allows a personal claim changes the ICON on the map
* paid account has a slot for 1 claim to allow 1 more study slot - unpaid doesnt get the slot
* paid account upgrades a personal or village claim - slight increase in walk speed inside the claim for friends (maybe even select-able)
* paid account 5% increase in luck? (finding stuff - fate items ... not too % but some)
* paid account user can transform "form" to wolf or cat or bear - (doesn’t affect attack or only slightly or affects speed) unpaid cant
* Paid account can select silly bling like "glow" or "dark aura" - no effect just "cool"
* paid account gets mood music if chosen like aura - no effect just "cool"
* paid toons get funky night vision
* maybe paid account people look slightly different (elves vs humans? or simpler looking vs royal)
* paid toons can change what they look like (face/body)
* Paid toons can SELECT look of buildings - unpaid have to select materials to get color combos
* paid toons can PAINT buildings and walls and such - unpaid cannot
* paid toons can specify a new toon spawn point - unpaid cannot
* paid toons get healed by the TreeEnt things - unpaid don’t
* paid toons can create specialty furniture – chairs and tables
* paid toons can create specialty clothes
* paid toons can create specialty household items more bling; paintings; rugs; beds vases
* paid toons can speed up farming (or that could be a specific $ skill that could be paid for an account)
* paid toons can meditate to recover energy quicker w/less drain; or they just lose less energy

Consider selling in game items to bring in revenue (or could be combined to get people to go from silver to bronze to gold??)
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* ITEM: "skill knife" that levels = to survival (paid item that can be stolen - maybe unlimited or 10,000 uses or even multiple versions at various $ levels)
* Item and/or account feature: paid accounts start with flint/steel unlimited uses (can be stolen) or you can only make the unlimited ones if you are Paid or this can be an in-game "item for sale"
* ITEM: teleport stones or something funky that would not be overpowering but would give advantage (can be stolen/traded in game)
* ITEM: special symbel item (that could be stolen) that increases FEP % (not crazy but still nice for new toons)
* ITEM: special rings or broach or something that has bling like effect – cool but not too overpowering –
* ITEM: farmer hat that speeds farming
* ITEM: miner hat that protects from cave-in and speeds mining
* ITEM: amulet or ring or broach - that ups quality point by 1% or only 5 points or something.
* ITEM: glow sphere that lights up a mine better or lets you see into the walls for metal but only for limited time or limited depth....


If I think of more I will post.

--- Neverman4 has clearly up a lot of thought into suggestions for the game and I believe many of them could work well and make the game more enjoyable and profitable for everyone. The posts are certainly worth a read through.

[staz]

6 Years Alpha lol, how long will you use this as a excusewhen you take money from people and of course it only stands short in the description of the "About" Tab.
Not in the Store or elsewhere is it standing, so people doesn´t know.
And looking in the forum, for checking dates and other stuff, before joining a game who did this?
If you are new you look into the game and when you have problems or questions you go into the forum but before I think not.

I still like the game but I think there could be more informations on the webpage and not hidden small in some coners.

- they have been exceptionally transparent.


.... I don't comment much but if you have really played this game for ANY true time period you would know that they only implemented the payment options in this world. And they deserve it. You would ALSO know that this game started out as their pet project. Something they dink around with in their FREE TIME that has evolved into their FULL-TIME JOB!!! If you knew anything truly you would know how hard they have worked on this and listened to feedback, unlike most games. Get over yourself and go play Candy CRUSH or Candyland.

Are you mad, people? The game does not even have enough player base for Kingdoms, and you are suggesting breaking it to more servers. Just go play some generic MMO's then.[/quote] <---- hehehe this made me lol xoxo

My old saying: 2 different servers 1 PVE/only and 1 PVE/PVP would cause more players to stay (mainly on PVE only ) ... but as long we don't have such talk is cheap ... also i guess it's not included in loftars and jorbs idea of their game <------------------------- THIS!! We are fortunate to even have the opportunity to play this game. Shut your face.

Just go play some generic MMO's then.

<---- or a board game like Candyland. IJS
Wurm Unlimited on own dedicated servers where you can set your rules to keep away the asshats ?!?

With that handled...sorry really rubbed me wrong. (curtseys and goes back to my sweet demeanor)

I am disappointed with what will be the new roll out. Thankfully your saying your just "trying it out". I think the proposed level caps are a horrid idea and a game death. There have been so many great ideas to generate income to help you make the game even better and thank you for your time and effort you put in this game. I really liked much of that Neverman4 had to say. There are so many options in game that people would readily pay for to make their lives easier.
Buying skill upgrades to make more specialized items in game. EXAMPLE: For 4.99 (or 15.00) not sure on cost because it would be valuable. Anyhow, (sorry I squirreled) WE could pay for upping skills to make specialized furniture (nicer, "handcrafted"), paintings, wall hangings, rugs, light, a wardrobe cabinet to put your clothes that a tailor made for you. Or a blacksmith can make and sell better armor and weapons that he forges... (Hope this makes sense) I would CERTAINLY pay for stuff like that. I am a woman I want options on what I want to wear and want to make my house pretty and functional and have benefits. Like one type of outfit could increase your ability to trade, increase your strength...

The buildings in the game could count towards the village and personal claims needed LP. And you would get more LP or protection from harm for having the above specialized furniture, candelabras, beds, rugs, etc... You could even have "generic items like the chair, table, bed, etc that have a base LP gain etc... and it doesn't have to cost much to get each item in marketplace which would be tempting to people. Much along the lines of how many Apps cost between 2 and 30 dollars to play and people say oh its only 2 dollars sure I can afford that... If a100 people by your chair that's 200 dollars. BOOM.

[Thedrah]

i think right now should be prime time in america, right?

still only 21 players.. can we get a wipe any sooner?

[linkfanpc]

Thanks! Right back at you! Under that regime you would get 125, yeah.

Thanks for explaining this. I got a bit confused.

Also, i felt very shy and amazingly happy when the creator of one of my favorite games of all time said i rock. :3 Thnx u!

[DaniAngione]

i think right now should be prime time in america, right?

still only 21 players.. can we get a wipe any sooner?

Even if they decide to wipe it sooner - as they stated that they might - they would probably schedule it to the next day or something so it would be fair to everyone (people would be able to plan ahead)
My guess is that they'll wait for the weekend, if they do wipe it earlier.

However I don't think it would be fair to the people scheduling end-of-the-world events nor to the person that will supposedly get a statue on the next world (LadyGoo if I'm not mistaken?) if the ritual is complete.

[Kaios]

However I don't think it would be fair to the people scheduling end-of-the-world events nor to the person that will supposedly get a statue on the next world (LadyGoo if I'm not mistaken?) if the ritual is complete.

ya I don't think that would be fair either we should get a chance to stop them

oh wait nvm

[boshaw]

However I don't think it would be fair to the people scheduling end-of-the-world events nor to the person that will supposedly get a statue on the next world (LadyGoo if I'm not mistaken?) if the ritual is complete.

ya I don't think that would be fair either we should get a chance to stop them

oh wait nvm

#nukethegreathalls

[DaniAngione]

ya I don't think that would be fair either we should get a chance to stop them

oh wait nvm

I hadn't seen that...

Well, whatever, screw her statue, reset this shit

(but after the end-of-the-world party on saturday!)

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EDIT:

This makes me think that if this 'doom mechanic' ever intends to stay in the game, it should certainly be reviewed. (I know this has been the subject for the last 439 pages, just giving my opinion on the topic) The Building of the Altar should have WAY MORE restrictions, like....
- any claim is set on top of it (after built), claim item (banner or stake or village idol) is instantly destroyed.
- ANY structures built on a 100 tiles range (or more) from it take damage over time. All the time. So no walls, nothing. It must be defended purely by strength of arms.
- Lodestone should be far cheaper. As in "anyone can craft one" cheap. It doesn't matter if it is just a sprucecap that will certainly die that wants to try and take their place, every other player in the world should have the right to band together and march there, regardless of their strength. They're part of the world, too.

Alternatively, having one (or more) fixed locations for the ritual (like the Ring of Brodgar or "abandoned" Altars across the world) on "deep magic" zones where "buildings decay quickly" could be a better option to control this kind of attitude and actually allowing for the bloodbath Jorb & Loftar wanted. The really expensive item could be a ceremonial knife or something like that - a key to offer yourself - instead of the altar itself.

[LadyGoo]

I will just copy-paste of the letter to Jorb.
As for attempting to get a statue, you could always ask to try your character. I'll set a charter stone name for 10 secs, so the person could port in and try to sacrifice or destroy attempt to destroy it lol.

I have noticed that it is not possible to repair the altar. Therefore, the succesful defense is impossible, since it takes less than 10 minutes for a few people with 25 str to destroy it. And there is a window of 12 hours open for constant damage intake. So, even if you would have 30 people defending it, a few alts will always be able to sneak in and try to destroy it.

Would it be possible to increase the soak and HP? Or have damage cool-downs (like 15000 hp every 8 hours, but for shorter period of time)? It takes 12 hours straight for defenders to watch it. But if the defense will be breached for a few minutes, the altar will be down. This is kind of loses the point of having it for a end of the world fights. Please, make it fun, at least. I can foresee that the altar defense will finish within the first couple of hours, because some alts will be able to sneak in, while everyone else are busy chasing other people.