Stendhal Development Meeting 2009-11-22/Result Log

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Revision as of 22:28, 26 November 2009 by imported>Hendrik Brummermann (→Regions)
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TODO: Creation of this page is in progress. This is not a real chat log. Comments have been removed, sorted and edited.

Mixed Things

  • /ignore currently only works for /tell but it should work for public chat, too - this is being worked on
  • "Strongest player" on website should be sorted by karma as second sort criterion because of the max level limit.
  • It was suggested that animal masks from Fidorea in ados could stay longer than 2 hours, for example for 2 days. Perhaps with additional fees.
  • blackfinix offered to update the StendhalManual and embed the referenced images by uploading them to the Wiki.
  • Enabled and minimized keyring pops up on every zone change (bug #1815905 fixed)
  • It was requested to have an npc to sell armors to which you can not sell to other npcs
  • The black pearl image could be improved

Mute

  • /mute should to be remembered across restarts.
  • the command could be more user friendly: /mute instead of the confusing "/sound mute on" and "/sound mute off"

Summon Scrolls

  • Summon scrolls should become more powerful if you use them repeatedly.
  • That was the original plan but there are some issues:
  • Problem: Summoned Creatures had scaling issues with the old RP-fighting rules:
    • Creatures are balanced to attack players who are wearing armor
    • Creatures don't wear armor, so summoned creatures win against them easily.
    • Need to reevaluate with the new RP-fighting rules.
  • Problem: Someone could summon a very big creature right outside Semos then.
  • If we make the protection more fine grained, the low protection areas could allow stronger monsters to be summoned
  • Perhaps limiting the summoning to creatures who are on these maps? For example on a map which only hosts rats, you can just summon rats there.
  • Are summoned creatures an advantage if limited like this?
  • All in all: More powerful summoned creatures are very interesting but this needs to be approached carefully

Size of bag

  • The bag is always too small.
  • It may be a good idea to let players earn the right to get more storage, like the keyring.
  • There is some work in progress on boxes and backpacks and so on

Poison

  • Poisoning creatures are disliked by some players
    • well, that is the idea behind them
    • fit well into the world
  • There should be poison arrows and weapons
    • currently only players can be poisoned, needs some moving of code blocks
    • those weapons should be created by the adventurers
  • there should be special antidotes for stronger poison

Stackable item handling

  • ctrl+drag does not work if you take the item from a chest
  • there should be the reverse of /drop 2 items to take 2 items from the chest
  • even better a menu for that which pops up on ctrl drag

Quest Contribution

  • Stendhal Quest Contribution explains how a quest is created. Starting with a very first rough idea and ending with an implemented and well tested quest that is fun to play.
  • There are already some ideas at Stendhal Quest Ideas in various states of completion.
  • It is a good idea to join #arianne and talk about your ideas, especially before you start to put lots of work into it.

Quest Log

  • We want a quest log that records the progress of quests. For example something like this:
  • Helping Tad
    • I have met Tad in Semos Townhall
    • He asked me to buy a flask from Margaret in Semos Tavern.
    • I got a flask and will bring it to Tad soon.
    • Tad asked me to take the flask to Ilisa at Semos Temple.
    • Ilisa asked me to get a herb called Arandula which I can find north of Semos, near the tree grove.
    • Ilisa created a powerful potion to help Tad. She asked me to tell him that it is ready.
    • Tad thanked me.


  • This feature is in development and already works partly: /listquests IntroducePlayers
  • Starting with 0.80 /listquests without parameter will give you a list of all quests known to you
  • Warning: On 0.79 /listquests without parameters might create such a long reply that the client crashes


  • There should be a dialogue window in the long run
    • One part showing the list of known quests
    • The other part shows the log for the selected one
    • Window should be outside the world not like the bag, but like the minimap or the help window
  • The log itself is something that everyone that knew the quests can help with. Even without knowing anything about coding computer programs.
    • blackfinix and humana volunteered to write some of the required texts. More volunteers are very welcomed.
    • The wiki page about quests may help because it often advises on the different states of the quests
    • The work that has already been done can be seen at quests.xml (right click on this link to download)

City Welcome Messages

  • there could be a welcome message when you reach a city for the first time: Welcome in Fado
  • perhaps this could appear when you reach other areas for the first time
  • those text boxed may guide you
  • or there may be a in world sign near the city entrance which points to the important locations

Trade System

  • A trade system was asked about and it was confirmed that we are working on it

Training

  • We still need to teach that it's now not necessary to train, with the new RP - that gaining xp improves your abilities faster
  • Training is still allowed, and it has its advantages, but it's risky
  • Ideas were suggested to make training 'easier' like:
  • a training dagger which does a limited damage of 1 point per hit no matter the player's level and which gets used up when the player gets 1 point in both attack and defense experience. And the price is proportional to the player' level
  • weapons with rate less than 1 (it was explained that rate 1 means one hit per 1 turn, so it's not possible to go faster - it was claimed that in some other servers this is possible)
  • It would be good if there was a way to train by being active in game. The old camping system of gaining level by not playing but just being logged in is not good.
  • if you train you have to answer question of a quiz (jokey suggestion)
  • after a certain number of hits you have to reselect to attack your partner so it is less 'hands off'
  • Some players train to be able to cope better alone, e.g. in deathmatch

Item availability

  • It was requested that the very rare items like demon fire sword and soul dagger become less rare
  • The best items are rare because it makes the game interesting and balanced
  • Mithril armor was enquired about - the quest is still in development
  • Mithril blade was mentioned but it is only an idea now
  • It was suggested that new players should be able get some very good items with quests - again this would be unbalanced
  • Amulets were mentioned but without any suggestion of what purpose they would have

Random

  • there have been suggestions for a place for level 400 players
  • it was suggested to only mark player killers if they kill multiple players
  • training (camping), however, should not be without risk
  • create apple juice out of apples with the help of a food mill
  • being able to throw apples at annoying players
  • apple schnapps, perhaps acting like poison to make it more difficult to walk when drunk
  • it was suggested that mithril boots may have to low def

Client Performance

  • There had some performance problems in the drawing code of the client in the past which we think we fixed in 0.79
  • If anyone still has problems like the chat bar not reacting to newly typed letters quickly enough, please contact /support and try to include information about your operating system and java version.
  • We have three clients for you to test if you are still suffering client side lag. They use different ways to synchronize the drawing with the reset of the game.
  • On some systems, the client gets a lot faster when starting it with java -Dsun.java2d.opengl=true -jar stendhal-0.79.jar
  • Adding -Xmx200m may help, too.

World Map / Regions

Regions in Stendhal

  • there are already "regions" like Semos (with the city, village and farm), Ados (city is multi zone), Nalwor Forrest, ...
  • each region has a theme
    • Semos is a rural region for low level players
    • Ados a port city with a food issue
    • Nalwor is an elvish region
  • perhaps regions may be suitable for level-ranges
    • as a rule we stick to keeping the Semos areas safer, not putting crazy creatures there, nalwor is indeed the elvish area, and so on
    • we already have the idea that the further you go from Semos City the less safe it is
    • perhaps we can make that more obvious to players
  • regions vs. zone
    • currently the main way to identify your position in the world is the zone name.
    • something like 0_semos_city, int_semos_townhall, 0_semos_village_w.
    • those names are there for technical reasons.
    • I guess we still need them. But I would like to have some in-game names. Not on a per zone basis.
    • a "region" is usually something that spawns multiple zones.
    • Ados city is so huge that it has multiple zones.
    • But from a players point of view that is Ados city.
    • We probably should use the current zone names as subtitle.
  • maps
    • we currently don't have a map in game because it uses to much memory to display it.
    • but we may be able to create multiple maps. One per region.
    • those would be a lot smaller.
    • like the map of ados city that Julius gives out
  • those regions should be more visible
    • for example with a transparent message on screen when you enter another region
    • there are zone entrance messages
    • a message you get every time when you go from say Orril to Nalwor.
    • but without the white background so that it is not annoying.
    • or the messaging area text, is less annoying because it doesn't pop up, like /me in chat
    • we do have a global coordinate system for all maps, except those starting with "int_".

Wiki

  • it would be cool if we had a wiki page for each "region".
  • it should say something about the region, the background story, what makes it special, its history, etc.
  • many NPCs in world give useful background information about the regions they are in. It would be very useful to have that on the Wiki (without spoiling the quests)
  • examples
    • Ados is a port-city. It suffers from not having enough food.
    • Semos consists of an old village and a small city. It is a rural area.
  • a good starting point is StendhalAtlas, which already lists some regions.
  • such collected background stories will make it easier to write new quests that fit into the theme.
  • suggested page content
    • a small image of the map
    • background story about the whole region
    • points of interests
    • out-of-character information for players
    • photos (screenshots)
    • see Semos for a first example
  • blackfinix and yoriy volunteered
  • more help welcomed

Expanding the world

  • Will the map become extended with the next release?
  • There are still many empty spots, so we prefer to focus on improving existing zones rather than adding new ones

Stendhal Atlas image

  • The map with dungeon entrances is very outdated (0.62 instead of 0.79).
  • Currently it is created manually by drawing the circles right into the .pnh file
  • The StendhalAtlas should be a two layer image instead
    • the generated map images
    • the yellow circle overlay
  • So the overlay can easily be applied to new versions of the map file
  • Other map topics:
    • jpeg was suggested as image file format
    • region boarders (see region section) could be added as a layer, too
  • tigertoes volunteered to create the multi layer map as Gimp .xcf file created WorldWithMarkedDungeons091122.xcf.
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