Sick, staying in bed

I've been sick for the last week coughing blood (streptococcus), not doing much development just tweaking little things and mostly taking it easy. The antibiotics are kicking in and I'm already feeling much better but I'll lay low for a few more days.

Coding

On the other hand bensku has been busy with the code base and it's getting along nicely. We will most likely achieve our goal for the v0.0.1 milestone and have something working in one form or another by the end of the month.

Nice. I'm excited!

Changes to the player model

I decided we should revise the player model once more. TVdata is getting a little frustrated with the constant changes that I keep demanding, but in the end it's all worth it. I wish to achieve an exciting and iconic design for the player model that fits the general mood of the game and of which we can be really proud of.

The player model is in a very central role and I do not wish to have regrets later "we could have done that much better."

So what will change? We will drop the bending and deforming design of the limbs and body and make every part of the body into it's own object controlled by it's own bone. This way we can use 100% paint weight for all the parts and not worry about ironing out the bugs for each of the new clothes in each of the postures and animations.

This change should really speed up development and eventually make modding much easier. And the overall effect on the look of the player model by this change will be minimal.

I will post new images at a later time when we have had a chance to make all the required changes.

DLC and aftermarket sales

Let me talk to you a bit about milking the money cow.

We at the Star and Serpent really dislike the messed up concept of what DLC’s have become, ie. downloadable "extra" content for games that you have to buy separate from the base game.

It's not the concept itself but the years of abuse from various game houses and publishers since the first inception of the idea.

It goes something like this:

Developers: "Hey, yeah and let's add this cool map where you get this amazing magical armor at the end of the warlock quest!"

Publisher: "Yeah, about that... How about we make it a DLC instead? That way we can utilize the progressive synergy dynamics of the emerging market coefficiencies and add more value to our final product."

Developers: "You... What?"

Publisher: "It means once we have the players hooked on the Satan's tit with the low cost of the base game (and the awesome work you guys are doing, sure what ever) we can then milk more money from our victi... customers by selling those parts of the game as a separate DLC. Am I right, right?"

Developers: "But that's an essential part of the game. We can't do that!"

Publisher: "You don't get a say in this."

Developers: "But..."

Publisher: "Suck my finger."

Developers: "What? But..."

Publisher: "Who's your daddy?"

Developers: "..."

Developers: "You are..."

Publisher: "That's right. Get back to your cubicle you filthy little bitches and make us rich."

The DLC packs can also be a good way to offer the fans something new and exciting while raking in the money - it’s the compensation for the work made - and it’s keeping the company afloat.

Unfortunately many a times the DLC pack is just those essential features ripped out from the main game to lower the cost of the base game (and sometimes to release it faster). But then you have a game which isn't quite what it was supposed to be at a price that isn't quite what it seems to be.

And people WILL feel bad about it because there is this stuff that they can't access without paying for it. Is it worth it? Who knows. Is it just another shitty DLC? Maybe. But if I don't buy it then my game won't feel complete and I’m having this nagging feeling that I might be missing something. And suddenly the game that seemed like a $20 game will easily turn out to be a $100 game - or more.

Rituals of the old development model

The Rituals of the old will cost X amount of money. Pay it once and that’s it, you have access to one player account.

We will be using a continuous development model for the Rituals of the old. All the new features, tweaks and fixes will be added to the base game with no extra cost and we will keep doing this as long as it’s financially viable.

What we want to achieve with Rituals is to build something as great as Nethack, for example, and to keep on improving it - like building and governing a wonderful empire. 

I really like the concept of continuous development as opposed to the “release fast, often and move on to something else” hoping that something will stick before bankruptcy knocks on the door.

Continuous development allows for the developers to keep on building something that you truly love. If it’s good, the people will come and keep on coming. “Build once, release it, fix a few bugs and abandon it” pisses off many people. Continuous development is intriguing. It’s something alive and vital.

I also like the concept of the early release alpha/beta sales model which allows for the fans to buy a game early on to support the game’s ongoing development. The fans will also get a say in what the game should be like. That’s wonderful.

Things have really changed from what they used to be. We now have crowd funding, early access, continuous development... And the gamers suddenly have a voice. 

Wow.

Sure these things will come with their own problems. But you have to see the difference between the beauty of the concept and the poor execution of that same concept. But enough about that.

Rituals of the old aftermarket sales

You know that thing I said earlier on about how we loathe DLC?

It is very important to us that we don’t sell you things that would upset the game balance in Rituals of the old or give unfair advantage to those with money over those who don’t or won’t.

Pay to win is a big NO NO.

That being said we ARE going to sell vanity items and stuff that doesn’t affect the game balance. This is to give those who’d further like to support our game development a chance to do so - and to get something in return.

We are going to sell things like, for example, player skin and emotion packs. 

If you can’t or don’t wish to pay for those then you can simply make your own or you can download fan made free packs off the internet. No problem. We won’t try to stop you from doing that. That would be really stupid.

Another thing we’ve been talking about is selling disadvantages to players. It’s a kind of “pay to lose” kind of game play. The idea is to make the game harder by taking something essential away from you.

You could, for example, buy a disadvantage for your player character which would make you permanently crippled in all offline and online games.

You would be missing a leg and you’d have a wooden leg instead of your normal leg. It would make your walk awkward and slow and you’d tire more easily.

Or you would be missing one hand and you’d have a hook where your hand used to be (No, it wouldn’t do any more damage! It’s pay to lose not pay to win!) and this would make you unable to wield any items in that hand.

Or you could buy a disadvantage which would give you an incurable disease or only one life per server per day or negative personality traits or strong moral convictions, ie. "I would rather die than...", etc.

Once you’d have bought and activated the disadvantage you wouldn’t be able to disable it again for the next 24 hours.

I’m sure we’ll have more fun ideas later on.

Until next time.

This article was updated on 20/10/18 @ 11:34