A Brave New Salem

[RonPaulFTW]

How about some in game music. There's tons of free stuff out there to put into the game. I've always hated the lack of sound in the game. Games like 'Don't Starve' are so much better with good music.

Play your own music and leave the developers in peace to actually program playable game content. You seriously think music should be anywhere close to high priority?

[Scilly_guy]

Do you have an official system for reporting bugs and technicalities other than mentioning them on the forums, IIRC Loftar had a website that tracked bug reports.

What are you plans to improve fishing?

Low priority. Not because we like it. But because we don't think players are quitting over it. What are your thoughts to fix it? We have never been fans of any fishing system we have ever played so we have hesitation to say our solution would be any better.

What mechanics and features do you believe people are quitting over? There are a lot of people who say that this or that aspect is silly because it means you have to wait, or it takes too much time, (farming is too many clicks, F&F debuff doesn't make sense, making boards and iron is tedious). Ultimately this is a sandbox game, the whole point is that it consumes time and doesn't really give anything other than a false sense of achievement. In the end game there are two things that you achieve really, high humors, and wealth. Once you have the best clothes there is no point making more so stats are fairly pointless to grind after that point.

Lots of people suggest things that are really just "stuff", more crops, or more animals. These are only meaningful if they bring whole new mechanics, for instance cows would introduce milk which could be used to make cheese, which in HnH is a big mechanic, but in the end it boils down to another route to grinding humors. The same could be said for the addition of potatoes or some other new world crop.

Really, what I am asking is what are your plans for the end game? Will you implement some kind of leader board? Largest town, highest total humors, wealthiest.

[JohnCarver]

I'm interested in the following questions:
1. We must wait for the next wipe?
2. Map will be generated again?

I don't understand question #1. We have no intentions to wipe at this time and our current project timeline puts us at the end of Q1 2015. Given I have no crystal ball, I am not comfortable at this time declaring the game/map/server must be wiped at that time after the onslaught of changes. I can tell you that the map-gen isn't on our current list until then, so it is highly unlikely there would be a wipe for improved map before then.

How about some in game music. There's tons of free stuff out there to put into the game. I've always hated the lack of sound in the game. Games like 'Don't Starve' are so much better with good music.

We have purchased plenty of sound up to this point. Also, Loftar has made some solid progress on client-side sound implementation that is pretty exciting prior to our involvement. Between all this, I would consider sound effects a Nice Thing that we should be able to drop in here and there between the major content patches when we are taking a coding break from the difficult stuff.

Do you have an official system for reporting bugs and technicalities other than mentioning them on the forums, IIRC Loftar had a website that tracked bug reports.

We hope to have at least one Programmer running, managing, and observing the existing bug-tracking system prior to the first content drop for obvious reasons. This transition has not yet been made yet though so while we can view it like everyone else, we are not currently responding there.

What mechanics and features do you believe people are quitting over?

I suppose my first answer is boredom and frustration. Then to pinpoint those into systems.

Frustration that they cannot achieve 50%+ Purity.

Boredom that they have all skills.

Frustration that many proficiencies cease to matter on their values.

Boredom that animals almost always drop the same exact thing every time.

Frustration at the early-game in general and the learning cuve.

Frustration you can't be a witch.

Boredom after raising turkeys given no other animals to keep and maintain.

Our project timeline was carefully selected in an effort to mitigate either boredom or frustration in an attempt at higher player retention. This is why I have been having a hard time committing to what are obviously great ideas but may not be things that are directly hurting the game at this moment.

Really, what I am asking is what are your plans for the end game? Will you implement some kind of leader board? Largest town, highest total humors, wealthiest.

We like leaderboards. We expect hate from it. Before implementing it we hope to have a survey out. We also like the anonymous nature of this game and your characters so there is a very fine line here. We currently think the solution may be in a voluntary leaderboard that you would sign up for.

We also like a global obituary to see the stats of your fallen pilgrim friends, and hopefully, some Natives >:)

[Scilly_guy]

Thank you for your quick response, I am looking forward to the coming months.

[Scilly_guy]

Oh, also, will you mention your plans anywhere, so that people do not constantly request something which you have in the pipeline. Something more official than a forum post, as they are easy to overlook and lose in the ether. Perhaps a features page of the website with current, in development and planned features listed.

[JohnCarver]

Oh, also, will you mention your plans anywhere, so that people do not constantly request something which you have in the pipeline. Something more official than a forum post, as they are easy to overlook and lose in the ether. Perhaps a features page of the website with current, in development and planned features listed.

Yes I want to do this. Unfortunately, we are too inexperienced with the code to give accurate representations of how long things will take. Loftar will be spending a large amount of time evaluating our ambitions from a coding perspective in the near future. Once this is completed, and we have his experience with this particular code, merged with the ambitions of our talent, we will THEN feel confident about giving you a few projected rough dates and timelines. Until then, it would just be a simple list of coming soon items which is why I havn't posted it in such a format yet.

[Okocim]

From what i can remember J&L said that their code is a mess ;p
I feel sorry for You if it's as messed up as i think it could be ;]
Good Luck!

[Mereni]

Mereni, you use a **** ton of commas and periods. You put full stops right after you end a sentence, constantly. Like this.

I... paid attention in English class in High School; I also read a lot of books. I guess the good grammar rubbed off on me?

Oh God! I'm so ashamed! I'm posting on the internet and using good grammar at the same time!

[loftar]

From what i can remember J&L said that their code is a mess ;p

I'd like to know where you got that idea. ^^

Of course, I make no pretentions that my code is anywhere near perfect (as no system of this nature is), but I think it could be much, much worse, at least. I'm also generally much more at peace with the server code than with that of the client (seeing as it's not Java, and therefore easier to keep in better shape).

Mereni, you use a **** ton of commas and periods. You put full stops right after you end a sentence, constantly. Like this.

I... paid attention in English class in High School; I also read a lot of books. I guess the good grammar rubbed off on me?

To be fair, I think his implications were mainly that you do it in a recognizable manner, rather than a judgement on style. :)

That said, however, I slightly resent the notion of having as many full stops as possible, though I feel it is often encouraged these days. I feel that is reflective of some stupid democratic notion of making the text "easier to read for everyone", which I feel is slightly insulting to the reader, and also attemptive to pander to the least common denominator. I also think it gives a somewhat blunt and brutish appearance to the text. You could perhaps take a hint from Thomas Jefferson as an alternative? :)

Not that I've read your posts extensively; I'm mainly arguing a principle.

[Potjeh]

Your code has no comments whatsoever, right?