Stendhal Development Meeting 2009-11-22/Result Log/New Players

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• Raw Chat Log

• hendrik: There is one topic we skipped: The first 5 minutes of new players.
• hendrik: I am not sure if we should discuss that now or call it a day.
• tigertoes: please, call it a day
• bluekiller: who make it new?
• hendrik: This meeting already took 2,5 hours and i am getting exhausted.
• love_puppet: i think thare should be a place where u have to read the rules befor your player can be made
• Oslsachem: oh I thought we were still on small details :)
• humana: so iam back
• tigertoes: i am past exhaustion
• storyteller: yes, love puppet
• love_puppet: so player can not say when a rule is broken that they dident know
• storyteller: I agree
• porl: i agree
• humana: what do you speak about?
• superkym: love puppet you are told after a certain time about the rules page, that's a tutorial message
• superkym: every new player gets it - i think after 15 minutes of playing time
• Oslsachem: the first 5 minutes since logging in or since clicking play now?
• porl: my friend created an account named porn, and got ban because he didnt know, so i think it would be a good idea
• humana: puppet I agree what you are saying!
• hendrik: for a new player.
• porl: me too
• hendrik: There is a tutorial event about the rules after 60 minutes.
• superkym: one of the ideas behind stendhal was to make it accessible for people to just create an account and see the world
• hendrik: In the past only 20% of all players stayed more than 5 minutes.
• superkym: forcing to read rules would be the opposite of that. we are really keen that people can visit and see it easily
• yoriy: i have offer: insert rules to tutorial completely.
• humana: yes that's important... cannot be that there are some names like porn, with that you can't login?
• hendrik: we are now at about 50%.

Prevent new players from getting lost (need summary)

• bluekiller: we can make arrows on the map for new players
• bluekiller: so they know where they have to walk
• superkym: bluekiller that's a nice idea. from semos vilage to semos city you mean?
• bluekiller: to bank, to public chest
• bluekiller: yes
• bluekiller: to bank to public chest
• hendrik: Letting them start in 0_semos_village and asking them to kill something quickly was a huge improvement.
• yoriy: i dont like this arrows idea. players can speak with various npcs
• porl: i know its not the subject but, why did gladiatthor get ban? he was lvl 440?
• superkym: hm. the minimap already shows a 'N' just for new players. i wonder if it can show arrows there.
• bluekiller: yes
• superkym: porl, it definitely is not the subject and it's not something we would ever discuss, why players would get banned
• bluekiller: yes
• bluekiller: ask later
• porl: ok
• hendrik: There is a problem of players getting lost.
• superkym: yoriy , it's to get them from the village to the city
• superkym: they only met one npc, say
• bluekiller: we can make
• superkym: and perhaps they didn't understand or listen when he said which way to walk
• superkym: but an arrow is really visual
• yoriy: hm
• tigertoes: i hate to be a party poop, but i really need to get busy outside... i will look at rest of meeting online, thats all for coming, on my part, see you, bye
• hendrik: The first task is to kill a rat.
• bluekiller: but we can make that every new player have a home scroll in his bag
• hendrik: There is a small hole in the fence north of the house.
• hendrik: And the only rat visible was there.
• erdnuggel: bb tiger
• hendrik: That player went killed that rat, which was quite difficult with it running away.
• hendrik: Returned to Hayunn but then walked off north again.
• hendrik: And got lost.
• love_puppet: ah but if we gave a free home scroll in the bag then some player would try to abuse that and make char just to get free home scrolls
• porl: once this guy i dont remember the name, tought me how to pass the orb quest from the temple, i did it, then he told be to use, and i did! he didnt go with me, it was a trap. i got lost and died from ricesia
• hendrik: There is a similar problem at the south.
• hendrik: There is the huge "gate" poiting south.
• bluekiller: hi
• Mayor Sakhs: Welcome citizen! Do you need help?
• miasma: you can fix the scrolls, puppet.
• bluekiller: bye
• Mayor Sakhs: Have a good day and enjoy your stay!
• bluekiller: :D
• hendrik: And only a very invisible path poitnting to semos city.
• samson: phone .. afk
• porl: there should be a button to toggle the path to semos, so that a player would know, that would be easier
• hendrik: perhaps the gate can be moved from semos village to semos city?
• porl: yes
• hendrik: and the hole in the fence closed?
• porl: i had problems with that
• bluekiller: why
• bluekiller: yes
• superkym: the hole is deliberate so people can pass through if they want to, it's only tiny
• hendrik: okay, you can easily get stuck when you walk from semos city over to the village.
• superkym: maybe once gates worked it could be a gate instead?
• superkym: but yes, he huge sign entrance thing could be moved over to semos
• hendrik: but perhaps we can prevent that people walking into that direction get trapped inside the fence?
• superkym: do we have any graphic for a sign in that orientation
• hendrik: I don't know.
• superkym: and what would you do to prevent people going to the forest, even so?
• superkym: perhaps semos village was just a bad place to start them
• yoriy: brb
• hendrik: Another idea would be to add that sign gate at the south of semos city.
• superkym: and they should start in a house in the city instead
• hendrik: And close the passage south in the village.
• porl: lol
• hendrik: i suggest that we have a small but closed training area for new players.
• porl: while everyone is here, im going to take the chance and get grain, bye
• superkym: thats why i moved it to the village, before. when they arrived in the townhall it coudl be very confusing at first
• superkym: so many npcs and players running around the city. so i thought a quiet room in the village was better
• hendrik: yes, i agree.
• hendrik: and i am suggesting to closing it even more.
• erdnuggel: sounds good to me
• Oslsachem: only for new players?
• superkym: can certainly try moving the sign but i think we need a new graphic, and yes the path to the forest could be changed
• gido: HOWDY at all
• bluekiller: howdy
• miasma: cheers gido
• superkym: so that it cuts down from semos through semos plains s
• superkym: instead of from the village
• hendrik: Oslsachem, we should prevent other players from accidently getting stuck. That is very annoying and the reason why the hole in the fence was created.
• hendrik: Because if you walk over from city to village at bank level, you get into the confined area.
• storyteller: what about a level- gate at the hole in the fence and at the gate south? So you can only go to Semos City with level 0 and at level 5 or so you can pass the fence or the gate to the south.
• hendrik: I think that is a good idea.
• storyteller: Like at the gnomw- village, but just the other way round?
• storyteller: * gnome
• superkym: or make the fenced area smaller
• porl: grain was gone :(
• erdnuggel: sorry guys, I am hungry and have to go... will be back later
• hendrik: superkym, yes.
• superkym: channel them through but leave plenty space around the edges
• blackfinix: bye hendrik
• blackfinix: bye erdnuggel,i mean
• blackfinix: :)
• superkym: if you walk out past carmen you'd go into teh small channelled fenced areas but otherwise, you'd go into the unfenced region
• hendrik: yes.
• Oslsachem: NPCs guarding level gates make them look more natural...
• bluekiller: the other style from balrog was better:D
• hendrik: and perhaps still put the city gate right to Carmen. So that this will become the prefered path to Nalwor for non-new players.

Warning new players running into dangerous zones (need summary)

• hendrik: Can we have zone entry messages that are level based?
• superkym: i dont see why not
• superkym: i like the region messages idea too
• Oslsachem: what for, for example?
• superkym: that shouldn't be forgotten
• hendrik: So if a new player walks to the west of semos village, he could get a warning.
• storyteller: yes
• bluekiller: yes
• superkym: oslsachem, every time you head towards X location while you are still less than level 30 you get warned but after that why do you need it
• storyteller: just to tell him that he better turn round
• kiheru: current code does not do them, but extending the functionality a bit would be easy
• storyteller: Well, what about to do a quest, which leads the new player to a NPC in Semos City?

Losing Club on Death (need summary)

• hendrik: Some time ago it was possible to lose your club when being killed.
• porl: it still is
• hendrik: And you can not kill a rat easily with just your hands.
• hendrik: It may be a good idea to prevent that.
• storyteller: hmm... maybe add a "basic damage"...
• storyteller: for the players who lost their club
• storyteller: just 1 ATK or so...

Killing the first creature (need summary)

• hendrik: It may be too difficult for new players to kill a rat because they are running away.
• superkym: gummipferd he didn't mean training like camping
• superkym: just teaching about the game, i think
• hendrik: yes.
• superkym: hendrik yes, that is true. perhaps it shoudl be a different creature you are first asked to kill
• superkym: something that is not a coward
• hendrik: learn how to fight, how to talk to npcs, etc.
• superkym: and perhaps it could even be in the guard house
• storyteller: yes...hmm...
• bluekiller: hoi
• superkym: i think rats should be cowards, and they were made stupid cowards so they are easier to kill
• superkym: (stupid cowards don't turn corners to run away)
• blackfinix: i guess you dont like rats in real life kym?
• superkym: but the new player could be asked to kill something else
• hendrik: Just in case anyone is wondering: superkym is talking about the AI profile.
• Oslsachem: hendrik, the difficulty is mainly proportional to the space the rats have to run... :)
• superkym: blackfinix ??
• bluekiller: they are in fado castle
• bluekiller: or?
• superkym: rats should be scared of you and run away when you try hit them
• bluekiller: yes
• hendrik: so having a rat in the small guard house may help.
• superkym: = they should be cowards
• hendrik: ?
• hendrik: or something else?
• porl: archers are really anoying when ther run away
• superkym: rats should be stupid cowards and not turn corners as you run after them
• Oslsachem: I think so, and it adds to the atmosphere
• superkym: because otherwise it i smuch too hard for low level players to kill them
• superkym: hendrik i think a small mouse or rat which is special and not cowardly could be in the guard house
• kiheru: a rat in the guardhouse would be a danger for new player who wants to find about gameplay
• superkym: or maybe since it's a close space, it's not a problem that they ytry to run away
• superkym: kiheru : a special creature which is really low damaging?
• storyteller: well, what about to ask the NPC to "summon" (or let in) a special training enemy?
• bluekiller: no
• bluekiller: the
• blackfinix: a giant flea?
• hendrik: rats cannot hurt players.
• storyteller: then there is no danger at first
• bluekiller: Gashadokuro drop only noob things
• Oslsachem: perhaps rats shouldn't attack...
• hendrik: Well, in the past, did not check that recently.
• bluekiller: the best monster
• gummipferd: hendrik they can
• bluekiller: Gashadokuro
• hendrik: okay.
• heder: bye my friends
• heder: :)
• superkym: storyteller, nice idea. maybe a rat or mouse can appear when the player agrees to try kill one
• storyteller: yes, that´s my idea
• hendrik: storyteller, we may need a summon meachnism, so that there is always one enemy if a new player arrives. But I guess the player should not have to ask for it being summoned.
• superkym: i think it could happen when you agree to teh quest from hayunn
• storyteller: yes
• hendrik: okay, sounds like a good idea.
• bluekiller: we can make a special house for raits
• bluekiller: we can make a special house for raits
• storyteller: :)
• bluekiller: yes
• bluekiller: nice idea blue
• bluekiller: :D
• superkym: ok. i will look into those things that we discussed to help the first 5 minutes then
• Oslsachem: perhaps hayunn could give the player a piece of cheese and when the player dropped it to the ground, the rat appeared :)
• blackfinix: i like that osl
• storyteller: Maybe Hayunn also says: "Oh, how does this rat get in? Quick, kill it before it hurt´s you!" or something ;)
• superkym: players probably won't know how to put cheese on the ground yet
• superkym: that's something they are taught later, how to inspect corpses and how to move items around
• Oslsachem: then make hayunn drop it :)
• superkym: i wonder how many new players woudl then lay pieces of cheese everywhere and wait the rats to come
• Oslsachem: and then do as storyteller says
• bluekiller: :D lol
• Oslsachem: except kill it before it eats the cheese
• storyteller: yes ^^
• Oslsachem: I thought the rat was special :)
• heder: hola
• Mayor Sakhs: Welcome citizen! Do you need help?
• storyteller: well, just something like that :)
• Oslsachem: a cheese-rat
• storyteller: ^^
• Mayor Sakhs: Have a good day and enjoy your stay!
• bluekiller: who is from germany
• bluekiller: ?
• Oslsachem: me, hede
• hamunu: me too
• bluekiller: resident evil kommt
• bluekiller: :D
• heder: que sea mas facil de cuvir los skills
• Oslsachem: me, heder
• superkym: I think that's a good time to close the meeting maybe?
• bluekiller: yes
• blackfinix: yes!
• hamunu: yes!
• hendrik: I like the idea, but i suggest that we implement it in two steps: First get it to work and only than let Hayunn put down the cheese.
• storyteller: hmm...
• bluekiller: and make a rait:D?
• gummipferd: hayunn could also put up a training puppet. old warrior getting scared of a rat sonds strange to me...
• yoriy: what with agenda
• hendrik: Perhaps it should be a smaller cheese image.
• hendrik: gimipferd, he is not scared.
• superkym: gummi - i don't think he's scared of it. he's just trying to teach.
• hendrik: He asks the player to kill the rat because he things the player has too little experiance to even kill a rat.
• Oslsachem: well, it happens that people are not scared of big animals while they are scared of smaller ones
• heder: up skills very very fast
• gummipferd: aah, so he intentionally drops the cheese? sry my brains have been working today
• hendrik: gummi, yes.
• heder: make much raids
• kiheru: or lets a rat out of a cage, or whatever
• Oslsachem: I was thinking about hayunn accidentally dropping the cheese while offering it to the player
• blackfinix: which is the way it should be i think