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Release 1 Impressions and Responses

Discussion in 'Announcements' started by DarkStarr, Dec 20, 2013.

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  1. DarkStarr

    DarkStarr Executive Producer SOTA Developer

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    Greetings Avatars,

    Release 1 lasted a short four days, but it is having a very lasting impression on all of us. For us it was a chance to bring our loyal backers even closer to the product with hands on experience. For you, it was a chance to see what you made happen through your generous pledges. At a more fundamental level, Release 1 was a test of this new paradigm of crowd funded and crowd sourced development. That paradigm is about a much more transparent and tighter communication loop between the community and the developers. Nowhere is that more true than with an early test like Release 1. Yes, of course it was a test of specific systems like patching, login, character customization, housing, and conversations. But at a deeper level, it was a test to see if we could give you something so very early in development and have you understand what to expect. We worked on that by being as clear as we could on what to expect, and what not to expect. It seemed to have worked, as almost everyone who played understood what they were looking at. This understanding allowed all of you to give us really valuable and accurate feedback that we can act on.

    Here are just a few examples (of the 921 issues you found!) of how your feedback is helping us make a better product:
    1. Shadow Jitters: We initially thought some of these issues were due to another issue with quality settings not working properly but it really was a time of day issue with the constantly moving sun.
    2. Controls/Movement: Almost everyone, even those who were against it initially, felt that jumping was a critical missing feature. We all felt it too and we were ecstatic that the community were so united on this. We are now testing jumping and are working on including it in Release 2.
    3. Conversations: We were so focused on using our conversations as information transfers that we totally omitted responses to the simplest exchanges like greetings. Hello? Look forward to NPCs being able to respond to standard pleasantries and therefore feel more “real”
    4. Moon’s Orbital path: some of you noted how the debris ring should follow the orbital path, not be perpendicular. Look for this fix in R2
    5. Item Density: We initially had our item limits much too low but even when we raised them we still had issues with super dense areas with 1000s of items. This is forcing us to do a better job at how we save and transmit this data.
    I cannot thank you all enough for your support. Without you Release 1 would never have happened. You are the reason I get to even write this post. So please pat yourselves all on the back for a job well done.

    Release 1 is dead! Long live Release 2!

    Sincerely,
    Darkstarr

    aka Starr Long
     
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  2. LoneStranger

    LoneStranger Avatar

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    He said JUMPING!

    /me fans self.
     
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  3. Macsen

    Macsen Avatar

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    Jumping is really the most important of the points you mentioned... Can't wait to jump over property fences! That was really the only thing that frustrated me in release one. Having to go around fences can in some situations be a bit annoying...
     
  4. AndiZ275

    AndiZ275 Avatar

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    Thanks a lot for this great report (and the reports of the other developers, of course).

    I didn't miss jumping so much, but more some kind of intelligent climbing like in Ultima IX, to simple get over fences, lower walls, rocks, etc.

    I can't wait for R2. Keep up the awesome work :)
     
  5. Vallo Frostbane

    Vallo Frostbane Avatar

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    +1 for jumping ^^
     
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  6. Browncoat Jayson

    Browncoat Jayson Legend of the Hearth

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    Thanks, Starr!

    I'm all for jumping, as long as you promise to slap down any jumping puzzles!

    One thing that was mentioned numerous times that we havn't heard back on yet is a non-mouse movement option. I really missed being able to move using the WASD keys without having to mouselook everywhere.

    Looking forward to R2!
     
  7. redfish

    redfish Avatar

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    Climbing more for gameplay reasons rather than obstacles, like going up a tree, would also be cool.
     
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  8. LoneStranger

    LoneStranger Avatar

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    As a sort of balance to this, I am all for non-keyboard movement. Holding down both mouse buttons to move forward is very helpful, especially when your other arm is keeping your toddler from falling off your lap. :) Obviously this isn't ideal in combat, but when you're just exploring or moving around the city it's very helpful.

    The left mouse button should also be used by itself to change the camera angle, and the right mouse button by itself should be to change the player's facing.
     
  9. Kilhwch

    Kilhwch Avatar

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    /me faints.

    Climbing is like.. ok; maybe as a skill or something to do to breach a tower or go up a ladder, etc. I'd love it, really. But so much more relieved there will be propah jumping.

    I did try the basic convo stuff a lot with NPCs and was surprised I didn't get great responses. Glad that came through.

    RE: shadow jitters - it seemed like the shadows were not moving at all, just going back and forth in a static area. Additionally, NONE of the anti-aliasing appeared to be working; and I had all settings, maxed (8x AA), 1920x1200, etc., and I saw aliasing on all objects. We'll see how it goes in R2.
     
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  10. Kilhwch

    Kilhwch Avatar

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    Yes and yes.

    These are great features that I use constantly in every other game. I'm always using both buttons to move when I'm busy hitting hotkeys. I also use it to start walking and "get out" of the chat window after typing so I don't 'wwwwwwwwwwwwwwweeeeee' in the chatbox. It was a couple extra steps to have to 'click out' of chat or ESC before hitting "W" to move forward. Left-click and pan camera is also a nice feature. I was holding back on 'suggestions' as they weren't necessarily bugs :p
     
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  11. Umbrae

    Umbrae Avatar

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    Thanks Starr!

    PFFT, free-jumping. Guess I have an incentive to stay PVP enabled: to kill any jokers that mis-use it.
     
  12. Maka

    Maka Avatar

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    I can't believe jumping is going to be added! Please allow me to fall off walls and stairs so things don't feel like they have rails. :)

    The shroud team amazes again!

    Good luck on that item density thing, sounds like a pain.
     
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  13. Ao Soliwilos

    Ao Soliwilos Avatar

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    I am very happy that we were able to give you guys useful feedback, Darkstarr. It was a treat to be able to participate in such an early stage of development, and it was managed quite well too, it's a breath of fresh air much to my liking. Thank you for this summary, and I know some of my friends will be very happy for jumping.

    Loooooooong live R2!! :)
     
  14. LoneStranger

    LoneStranger Avatar

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  15. smack

    smack Avatar

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    +1 to fix orbital motion
    +1000 to increase item density. hoarders like me are going to crash the game for me or others constantly :)
     
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  16. NirAntae

    NirAntae Avatar

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    Yay! Go team!

    This is super exciting. :-D

    Also, I am included in the "double mouse click+hold to move" camp, at least as an option. Frankly I usually soon get frustrated and quit games that require WASD movement, let alone double-handed required. It's a level of coordination that is just too high for me for something as simple and intuitive as movement should be.
     
  17. Cryptomancer

    Cryptomancer Avatar

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    I am in the group advocating the change to debris field orientation, so yay to that!

    However, upon further research into orbital mechanics, things are of course more complicated- not that I believe it requires further changes. But, I am trying to make a Unity scene to demonstrate such interesting details.
     
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  18. Chuzpah Goodfellow

    Chuzpah Goodfellow Avatar

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    Thanks Starr! Glad you gave us the opportunity to help shape this important product. Shroud of the Avatar is not just a game but a way of life!
     
  19. Maus Merryjest

    Maus Merryjest Avatar

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    Since jumping is now a possibility in the future, I believe a musical celebration for its inclusion is in order:



    There we go *dusts hands off*
     
  20. ITPalg

    ITPalg Avatar

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    Running faster would be nice too.

    Depending on what you are wearing should change your speed.
     
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