Frogboy

[quote who="Mythor" reply="38" id="2645772"] [quote="Frogboy"]Playing against the AI is also a good test in multiplayer because you have to connect to an AI on one of our servers.[/quote]Thankyou thankyou thankyou. Honestly, I probably wasn't going to try a multiplayer game in this beta because the MP side of things isn't as interesting to me, but if I can help with the MP stuff without having to deal with other people... well, thankyou! [/quote]</

We're staging a candidate now to test this evening. The pacing, imho, is the most significant issue I am having with it and I think it will require some additional game mechanics/features. I also think the map needs more strategic elements and that we need to get the HUD in. But I would like to see what others have to say before proposing specific solutions.

The book isn't based off the game and the game isn't based off the book. They take place in the same world. The book takes place after the War of Magic which is why Resoln and Tarth are not around at that point (which will be explained in the game in the future). But there are 10 factions during the War of Magic. I am not sure why anyone would sweat it about "the lore". In the sandbox mode, which is what 99.9% of players will play anyway, you can be space elves or whatev

[quote who="TheProgress" reply="18" id="2643672"]How large of a landmass is this representing? It looks fairly big, but then you're calling what looks to be an ocean a bay...[/quote] It's actually not that big. This continent (Anthys) is actually only one of many continents which hopefully we'll be able to expand upon over the next several years.

[quote who="kyogre12" reply="2" id="2643593"]I've always wondered, were do you come up with the names for the factions, locations, etc? Just random things that pop into your head? Also, is there going to be any significance to the island in the middle of the Bay of Calder? It seems to me like it should.[/quote] Dave Stern at Random House came up with a lot of it. I have had

[quote who="Gwakamoli" reply="44" id="2642768"]Curious what was stopping you from building from the beach onto the grassy tiles, form the vid it looked like you had adjacent buildable tiles. If it's not possible to build on the beaches (excepting coastal structures) would it be worth stopping the player starting a city on a beach tile?[/quote] Bugs.

[quote who="Zubaz" reply="43" id="2642747"]I'm not much of a modder . . but after seeing *this* vid I can't get the thought of recreating Odyssey: The Compleat Apventure using this engine. Thanks Stardock![/quote] Heh. Funny you should say that!

[quote who="Anomander" reply="5" id="2642347"]The Game is definitely coming along from the first time I fired up the BETA, looking so much better... Frogboy so far I note your vids all follow a similar trend. Clicking tiles, throwing down building icons, noting NPCs, recruiting and stat referencing. For me I still dont see the immersion factor yet, I dont even feel the fantasy element....it currently could be any RTS game I've played. Example: When NPC 'cards' become merely that...

I understand what you're trying to say. Piracy is not as simple of an issue as most people try to put it. The rate of piracy of a thing comes down to 3 key things: Demographics. Demographics. Demographics. :) If *I* were making a first person shooter, I would probably put pretty restrictive DRM on it because that demographic is much more likely to pirate. IF something is easy to steal, people will inherently, even unconsciously, reduce their view of its

[quote]The creators of Intellectual Property are the humble farmers. The people that gain from it (whether 3rd party suits or lead/central pirates) are the Knights and Bandits that rough up the peasants for some FOODz (either for the King or themselves).[/quote] I don't know, when I'm working every weekend to create said intellectual property I feel i gain from it. Sure, the government confiscates about half of what I get but it's generally a myth that people who create IP are somehow

Можда само треба да сачекате док демо излази.

It's been my experience that if people can steal something without fear punishment, that suddenly those things they steal are things they "can't afford" to pay for. Over the years during these piracy debates the "I can't afford it so I'm not hurting anyone" argument is something I've seen over and over. And yet, those people tend to have high speed net connections and high end video cards and the such that they could "afford". Most people who pirate could afford what the

[quote who="Drake7177" reply="34" id="2641550"]I thought they were merging beta 2 and 3 due to financial constraints?[/quote] Where did you get that impression?

Game.AIDoSmartStuff()

[quote who="Bill_Door" reply="121" id="2641253"] Quoting Frogboy, reply 120Regarding moddability, people should be careful in setting their expectations too high on what you can mod on release. While Python is the scripting language we're using, it only can do things that we expose to it and that will be a long long process that will only begin during the last beta and continue over the next couple of years. For instance, I don't see how someone could add an espionage sy

The economics in beta 2 is pretty solid. However, how strong NPCs and monsters are is still very much in flux as there's a lot of place holder values on monsters still (especially after new monsters get added).

Regarding moddability, people should be careful in setting their expectations too high on what you can mod on release. While Python is the scripting language we're using, it only can do things that we expose to it and that will be a long long process that will only begin during the last beta and continue over the next couple of years. For instance, I don't see how someone could add an espionage system into the game using even Python because first they'd need to define what exact

[quote who="Blazerules" reply="29" id="2641219"]I bet in the year 2020 the millitery will be using a AI named "Stardock" for their robots because the millitery sucks ass when it comes to AI. Stardock is hacking the pentagon then again who hasnt [/quote] I doubt that. :) AI in computer games tends to be pretty awful. Here's how I grade my own work over the years where 1=AI is completely useless to 10=AI is insanely good. 1. Galactic Civilizations for OS/2: 6</p

Yes. Each AI's personality is defined in XML. Modders can make their own AI personalities as well.

[quote]I'm sure you realize their server-side DRM was cracked in less then 24 hours, right? It took them a little longer, but they did crack it and get the cracks to the pirate groups (server side emulation included). From what I found in my reading it took them a couple days to get a real working crack of Assassins Creed 2, but once that was done Ubi's other latest releases all followed suit in being cracked n less then a day.[/quote] Actually no, that's one of those Internet fantasi

Right now the AI is still an idiot. :)

I think we've been pretty up front since the beginning that Master of Magic is where a lot of our inspiration is coming from.

[quote who="Cookie_1" reply="19" id="2640481"] Quoting Frogboy, reply 17 As for being "RPG-ish", certainly there is an RPG sense to it in that you're not dealing with thousands of faceless people but rather every unit is individually represented and that you're dealing with much smaller numbers than the traditional strategy game where you might have 20,000 guys that die off in a single battle. Interesting. Does this mean the info that there might be army

I actually hadn't intended THAT particular video to go out to the public. Our PR rep was very eager to send "something" out. I had made that video to show to one of the retail buyers. Next week hopefully we'll see some of the actual videos. As for being "RPG-ish", certainly there is an RPG sense to it in that you're not dealing with thousands of faceless people but rather every unit is individually represented and that you're dealing with much smaller numbers than the tr

[quote who="Yaguer" reply="106" id="2640272"]I gotta say, I've always been bewildered positively about how open you are when it comes to game development. It always makes me wonder why so many other companies aren't the same. The complete opposite in fact, is Blizzard Entertainment when it comes to forum policing, engaging with the community personally and concerning the Frank Pearce interview involving chat rooms and whatnot. Such a fresh take to come to this website and read all