The Halls of Artifice (a work in progress)

have the bookcase as the base item. nest the books into them, and then bake it intot one asset with multipe clickable zones to activate each book with a mouseover popup/click?

technically you'd be loading one asset (bookcase-full-234525) and then manually loading the assets only as they get within that immediate range of interactibility (bookcase-full-234525-ledger3) - i think it was @Weins201 that told me this type of nesting of objects is possible within unity, not too long ago on the forums here - from a post redfish started about bookcases.

 

Wow, again Artifice is easily the best looking area in the game, great job!

 

I can picture Gaius Plinius Secundus in this vast Artifice, investigating phenomenon until the wee hours of the morning. At the heart of Artifice , I am sure he would compare it to Mt. Vesuvius. Excellent work, comparable to Droste Effect. So looking forward to traveling this magical realm.

 

That's a very cool suggestion,...and I'll make sure Richard sees this whole thread so he can cogitate on all the possibilities...

Scottie ^_^

 

Thanks! And I'm sure Plini the Younger would also be horrified at the terrible volcanic forge, if for no other reason than the unfortunate tragedy at Pompeii that took Pliny the Elder from him, as he watched helplessly from a far shore.... I'm so glad these scenes invoked such strong imagery for you!

Scottie ^_^

 

Oh, now I'm saddened even more by all the bones (and potentially souls) waiting to be turned into weapons and gear... Great mental imagery all around. 8^)

 

I love this sentences Remember U7: There was a canvas, a brush and paint and i was able to create a painting. It's for sure only a funny thing, but this made the world so immersive. I put some water in my bucket...and the bucket was filled with water. Finally, if i see a treasure i should be able to pick up some gold coins and jewels. That's how to give a players a reward SotA is atm very stinky with rewards

 

The new work looks truly fantastic. And yet it certainly is intriguing! Great work.

But here is what I am starting to wonder more and more: How can we enjoy dungeon exploration to these kinds of depths and details with a restricting encumbrance system that requires us to go back to town frequently (unless we forgo looting, of course)? I look forward to the wonders of this work, but worry more about that constantly detracting from it.

Will there be NPC vendors to sell to at waypoints in the very large dungeons?

 

@Scottie and dev team, great work!

I like Mr Garriot's vision for items in the game world - everything interactable and takeable! I dont mind if some detail or quantity is sacrificed due to memory, server responses, and/or client performance. I think the experience is best with items, like books, all able to be picked up and taken home. The containers idea sounds kind of boring, I think interactive world elements > background prettiness.

also:

I completely forgot about the painting! Yes more of all this ^ is what SoTA needs!

 

But you should be able to reach the upper cases with ladders or step stools !

If there aren't there, there should be! -- Why would a library hold books without a way to reach them? I'd certainly try to find a way to reach them.

I'd not want to see bookcases become decorative props with generic books, if that's what making bookcases a container means. Bookshelves are much better when they display the books that are on them, and where other times can be put on the shelves with the books.

However, I'd note it also can be painful dealing with bookshelves as they currently function. If you want to take out a book from a shelf and fill the gap, you have to move books one by one, struggling to make it pixel perfect. Currently, there's also a pause between book title tooltips, so you have to look at book titles one at a time.

A long time ago, I suggested being able to view shelves or counters as a container, with the actual items you're putting in appearing on the shelves or counter. I don't know how much this would help the performance problems you're discussing, but I think it would help players out with a lot of other issues.

 

Yep, these are called "nested prefabs", and the bookshelves are already slated to become them,...however nested prefabs still contain the original prefabs as children, so we may have the same problems we are having now... However what you're suggesting (a single lower-poly object that merely has multiple "zones" you can click on) would certainly be a solution assuming we had the tech for it. But I'm not sure if a system containing 80 different clickable areas is something that would still be a hard pull on the server or not (I just don't have a head for that kind of tech, sadly)... That solution would also have the issue of not allowing you to take and move a book away from the shelf,...but then,...that may be something Richard will need to give up anyway... This problem is a toughie, to be sure!... ^_^

 

Yeah,...making them containers was something I mentioned early on as well (I love containers that are well-rendered interface that pops up when you click on the object.... I guess I pine for the old Ultima days myself, to a large extent... ^_^)... But Chris and Joaquin were quick to mention that having that many containers in a single zone would cause a hideous server hit that we can't afford... And trying to load all that data, upon map load, to the client would be detrimental as well... We've got a "rock and hard place" situation here... Heh!

 

That's a good observation! But remember,...this particular dungeon (Artifice) is quite different from others... Very unique in its range of events and interactivity.... Heh! ^_^

 

Since each section is separated by gates, can or are those sections there own instance?
Perhapse making Artiface broken into multi instances can allow for more item placement.
Yes there will be more load times and quite a few id presume, but I think it might be worth it
if it allows to have the highest quality of the scene.

 

Good point on losing some interact ability in the world. Maybe a compromise.. In large libraries for example, have the shelves that are storyline related (due to objects or signs, etc) be static single items as such, prebaked like i suggested. then the rest is freely interactable. Unless if those hotspots rejuvenate without caring if multiple of their items spawn in the world... Anywho, twas just a suggestion lol

What if it was based on proximity instead of hard zone points? Walking through the gate could trigger the unloading of some classes (nested, for example) of assets clientside, from the last section, and loading of the new section. The initial load could just be the containers and non nested assets. I'd be happy with background loads like that, while exploring a scene.

 

That is certainly an option, and if it can help we'll do it, at least for the Lyceum alone (since that will be the offender).... But until we reach a satisfactory answer for the bookshelves specifically, that "zone" alone will still experience the sadness each time it gets loaded... It's simply that crazy-full of use items...by design... Chris wants to kick me straight up in the joobly-wooblies because of it... ^_^

 

I foresee a quick design of a really sturdy codpiece coming.

Thank you so much for this look behind the scenes, @Scottie , and to everybody for all your comments and questions. I am learning new things every day!

 

Imagine that we have gazed upon the dream-like Halls of Artifice as would a mystic peering at visions through an enchanted sphere of crystal. As is the nature of such magic, and the often magical places and events such sorcery reveals, the tableau is anything but clear and absolute. Events of the past, and those that have yet to transpire, are sometimes elusive and dim; obscured by the mists of time... Scenes of the present, while clear and full of vibrant life, are fleeting and frenetic; seldom arrayed in ways that give an absolute understanding, even to the most discerning soothsayer's eye...

So it is with the secrets I may reveal concerning the terrible and wonderful inner workings of Artifice... Let us, therefore, look at the final (somewhat lascivious, and vaguely terrifying) chambers of Artifice;...the Halls of Sadistic Pleasure... I say final, not because of any particular order in which you might encounter them while delving there, but final because...at long last...my seer's crystal grows dark for this place... The visuals have mostly all been revealed, but the nature and tasks that await you are stilled mired in the secrecy that will allow you to enjoy their discovery... And so, due to the dubious nature of this last set of chambers I'll reveal,...we shall take a peep...through a shadowed peephole..... ^_^


After sliding open the viewing panel upon these doors and sneaking a glimpse inside, the urge to enter will be overwhelming. In this chamber, the distant sighs and laughter of the Hall of Youth and Vigor have been replaced by similar but more sinister sounds. The smell and smoky haze of incense fills this chamber, as does the dim light that flows down from the round iron grating set into the ceiling above. Rich red veils of muslin cascade toward the floor from decorative stonework, lending a degree of privacy to upraised viewing areas adorned with overstuffed couches. But the eyes of any observers here will be rooted to the scene unfolding at the chamber's center. Who is it that will lay stretched across the "breaking wheel"? And by who's hand will they feel the delicious sting of the lash? All will eventually be revealed...




Is that pain, or is it truly pleasure, you hear in the rasping cries coming from the recipient upon the wheel? Perhaps you will be invited to join them in their forbidden ecstasies... Will you engage yourself here as you have in the other "paradises" offered freely in Artifice? Whatever your mind may be concerning such delights,...a door bound in dark iron waits on the far end of the chamber. Open it, and you will descend further into this mire of conflicting sensations...

Another chamber, and another delightful tableau... Chains now constrain the movement of cages, and enticing fires burn, crackle, and spark from braziers, containing tools and toys for the games ahead. Is it your imagination, or are the trappings of this place becoming more worn and threadbare? No matter...who cares for mere decoration, when such wickedly delicious sights as those seen here excite the imagination!

But wait! Have we gone too far?!?! Who is meant to sit in that cage? Was that a ball and a tiny stool at its center? Hooks, chains, and spears offer only mute answers to your concern... Descending deeper still, a terrible chamber opens before you, and the remains of many "participants" can be seen all around you... To the left, a prison cage bars your way, its floor laced in clotted gore. And beyond it, yet another door that leads deeper still. Huddled within that prison, tear-filled eyes gaze out from terror-filled, desperate faces. At the chamber's center; someone greets you with a lever to pull, and a choice...

Surely you'll make the right one...


Ah well,...it is here that the crystal's visions are obscured by mists and become truly dark...

Any remaining mysteries of Artifice are yours, and yours alone, to discover...

Farewell....

Scottie ^_^

 

I read the last post in a certain someone's voice...

 

Ha ha haaaa! YES!!!!

Scottie ^_^