Sell the Farm and buy a Barn :)

Exactly if the game had a more coherent visual integrity that would help with perceptions, review scores and population. It still just looks for the most part like a bunch of standard assets thrown together as an easy fix in far too many ways and yet we are apparently forging on to the promised land of Episode 2 with scarcely a backward glance towards sorting out all the issues with Episode 1

 

@Lord Trady of Blix

You're missing the point. First, yes, a lot of people do dislike some of the stuff that's already in the game and don't like the excuse of, we have this in the game already, so nothing matters, and lets push the envelope a little further ! But the real point is if the devs want to know what items most players will want to buy in the store, I think its what I mentioned. OF course, people buy for all sorts of reasons, including just supporting the game, and also stocking up on a lot of stuff to re-sell later. But what most players will want I think has some bearing on what will sell, too.

 

Well, it seems a slippery slope to me. We don't allow Barns because they're not "period" enough (again.... what period is it that SoTA adheres to exactly ?) and then what ? clockwork armor ? Sky navy stuff ? Star Citizen ships and weapons ? What's next for the purity brigade ?

It doesn't seem like the community has the will to make this stretch goal happen which is a real shame, as travelling by horse should be a stable of any Ultima game. (and ships......and worthwhile moongates....)

 

The lack of consistency in design is actually one of the things mentioned in reviews - and has been point of several discussions here on the board.
Getting a red barn from the Unity store is a quick fix to offer something new. (I don't hope the remaining graphic artists build this asset from scratch) But a barn that fits the existing designs would have been so much better - also in the long run.

 

You would have preferred something like this:



Port has half the staff it had a month ago, so I think it's fair corners have to be cut and they had to include something. That red barn doesn't look so bad to me. Not with like cities full of Obsidian towers next to elven homes and viking and adobe stuff on lots....

Plus, wouldn't outlanders build homes they're familar with if they're settling in Novia ? Perhaps the Atavists of Purity are actually forum member alts

 

You are bringing up another important point that has been discussed multiple times - but while players' freedom for "bad taste" or individual architectural preferences is valuable, Portalarium could have helped by having a consistent design philosophy. Sky-Navy and Kobold development from Steam-Punk to Sci-Fi are other good examples that are not player driven.

Even if you believe Portalarium needs a quick, cheap fix to ensure cash-flow - how sustainable will this be? And what message on design does it send. And yes, above barn or something based on the existing building-kits would have been more appropriate.

 

Personally, I like the big red barn and plan to get one for my farm property.

 

I'm guessing the barn may or may not be a Unity asset, I dunno. The key point is made by you @Jens_T , PORT need a short/ medium term cash injection to make the game we are all here for. I'm sure all of these guys n galls could get jobs with EA, but they want us to fund the game that we jointly want to make. Have you considered that its entirely possible that once SOTA becomes stable and self sustaining that you may get the features you're looking for?

 

No its not that bad at all, especially considering everything

But, Jens point was if the barn was different, she'd buy it. If I'm a role-player and I'm doing a POT with a certain theme, I want to buy a barn that fits the theme. Portalarium should consider that type of decision making process Jen in particular wanted to do a Norgard theme, am I right?

People get really over-defensive about arguments that touch on immersion, like its all about taking people's freedom away, but its also really about giving people freedom to help create the world they want.

 

Bah humbug.

Early access to something one's pledge already has early access to.

 

*shrug* Not earth, not even our dimension, so can't really use any of our time period restrictions.. also most of the old Ultima's I played seemed to be an odd mix of medieval/steampunk/futuristic/modern references.. (UO's stricter setting seemed more an exception)

Also since we're all travelling there from our current day, nothing to stop us from building things we're familiar with, even red barns

 

Like with the livestream rewards, this probably means they don't have in-game models for it yet.

I'm sure it will happen eventually, just like they eventually made themed versions of most of the original player houses.

 

Part of the work for Ep 2 will focus on visual improvements, which they previewed in the telethon last night.

I am a proponent of new features and things to do because thats also necessary