Progress Report 12/13/05

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Bruno Knotslinger
Ambassador: Greyhawk West
Posts: 61
Joined: Wed May 18, 2005 12:49 pm

Progress Report 12/13/05

Post by Bruno Knotslinger »

Been a while, but we are still very much alive and kicking.

Since the last update, our primary builder (Terror2001) has been building like a madman. Again, concentrating on the towns and travel routes. But he is laying down the pallet upon which we'll begin dropping all of the interesting things to do in Greyhawk. In fact, that brings me to my next bit...

Our world leader has been working on writing some Perl scripts to decode Bioware's data files and automagically dump them into tables in our database. This is primarily for the encounter system (which has been previously mentioned as being in place). Once this is done (and it is very very close to being done, if not already done as of last night), we will begin building encounters. Our feeling is that the vast majority of spawns will be generated this way as opposed to the typical trigger.

Our world leader has also spent quite a bit of time in streamlining code that the player would never be aware of except for its effect which, we hope, will be a reduction of lag. No longer are there two SQL queries every time a caster casts a spell. It has been converted to our variable caching system. There are numerous other things he's done here and there that I can't remember, and likely wouldn't want to regurgitate anyway.

Areas now have coordinates (in three dimensions) assigned to them giving their location on the map. This is important for the death and teleport systems, discussed next.

Two of the things mentioned in the last update, the death system and teleportation system, have been implemented (by me, primarily) and are in place and, as best as we can tell, work like a charm.

Instead of having 17 or so death planes that you might go to as on Avlis, we have removed them completely. Now you go to a calm region of the 2nd layer of Limbo, which is ruled by Susanowo. After traversing a maze-like area, you come upon a tower (which tantilizingly, you can see upon your entry to Limbo). Entering the tower, you get to speak to Susanowo where he informs you that he sensed your time was not done. He then offers to contact a priest to arrange for your return... for a cost. Not only that, but he even says that your equipment can be retrieved for you... or not... your choice! After you agree and are returned to the prime material plane, you now owe the faction that the priest belongs to some money, which can be paid off at any future time. (Or not paid, but that faction won't rez you until you do.)

Alternatively, one of your buds can visit a priest able to perform a true resurrection and have them do so... for a cost, of course. After your buds pay up, while you are in Limbo, a voice in your head appears (it appears... everyone else that's dead and in Limbo can see it... Limbo is a weird place) informing you of the name, alignment, and deity of the person trying to raise you. You have to agree to come back. Otherwise, the resurrection fails and you remain in Limbo.

Of course, players can still cast raise dead and resurrection as normal, but the voice appears in that case as well! You have to agree to let yourself be raised from the dead. (On a technical note, you are not allowed to escape from the conversation. If you do, the voice just starts up the conversation again and again until you answer yes or no.)

Phew... what a mouthful.

The teleportation system requires the use of a powerful magic item (a Tome of Teleportation). They are only handed out to a select few powerful arcane casters. The tome is used to store locations that you can teleport to in the future, as well as to cast the teleportation spell. You can teleport not only yourself, but also your entire party (up to a limit). Unfortunately, there is a chance for failure any time you teleport. It is determined primarily by how long you've been in the target area. The longer, the better, obviously. Also impacting your success probability is the number of people you are trying to teleport.

And if you fail? *maniacal laughter* Well, you'll end up *near* your target... maybe 20-30 feet in the air (falling damage)... maybe inside a wall or in the ground (damage from being shunted)... probably in a different nearby area altogether.

Things of note on our to-do list that we are currently working on:

* Implementing PC factions
* Taking a look at the treasure system
* Implementing p-merchants
* Taking a look at the corpse system and possibly customizing it to our liking
* Personalized MOTD
* Areas, areas, areas
* Quests, quests, quests
* NPCs, NPCs, NPCs
* Encounters, encounters, encounters
* Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!

Cheers.
Loki70
Planewalker
Posts: 27
Joined: Mon Sep 26, 2005 12:25 am
Location: Seattle, WA

Post by Loki70 »

Not to clutter the thread, but are you going to impliment the original Greyhawk NPCs, the master mages like Bigby, Mordekainen, etc? Just curious.
Bruno Knotslinger
Ambassador: Greyhawk West
Posts: 61
Joined: Wed May 18, 2005 12:49 pm

Post by Bruno Knotslinger »

Loki70 wrote:Not to clutter the thread, but are you going to impliment the original Greyhawk NPCs, the master mages like Bigby, Mordekainen, etc? Just curious.
Clutter away.

The short answer is yes. The long answer is that we're so caught up in getting all of the nuts and bolts in place that we haven't really had time to sit down and collectively think much about NPCs, plots, quests, and such. Noteable places will be included as well. (I for one would love to see Maure Castle or The Isle of Dread fleshed out.)
Loki70
Planewalker
Posts: 27
Joined: Mon Sep 26, 2005 12:25 am
Location: Seattle, WA

Post by Loki70 »

Bah, I just want there to be a Bigby, so me and a bunch of epics from Avlis can go pay him a visit :twisted: . That and I would love to see all that entered
Guest

Post by Guest »

Loki70 wrote:Bah, I just want there to be a Bigby, so me and a bunch of epics from Avlis can go pay him a visit :twisted: . That and I would love to see all that entered
:)

Hmm... I think there might be an epic spell in the works just for him. "Bigby's DCrit Hand, Mass".

Yeah... that's the ticket.
Apandapion
CoPaP: Player Coordinator
Posts: 83
Joined: Mon Jan 17, 2005 2:40 am

Post by Apandapion »

I am impressed.
Bruno Knotslinger
Ambassador: Greyhawk West
Posts: 61
Joined: Wed May 18, 2005 12:49 pm

Post by Bruno Knotslinger »

Update to the update:

* I've tweaked the experience a bit more to our liking. Still have to test.

* World leader has the afore mentioned perl scripts finished. Every creature and item stored in any of the assorted Bioware data files can be (and has been) imported into the database lickety split. This is important for our encounter system and eventual treasure system.

* World leader has started working on Vaultster.
Guest

Post by Guest »

wow, that all sounds awesome, any ETA when the server will enter some sort of open beta testing ?
papainhell
Noobie
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2005 9:35 pm

Post by papainhell »

Go go go, awesome work guys, keep it up :D

*hopes Avlis gets linked again to off wor travel soon*
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