It would be great if we could get these Q&A podcasts more often, I like that stuff - and I guess it shows you what the community is eager to hear/what matters to them. Some sort of IRC ask-the-devs like in the old days would be fun too, again.
BABBLERS!! =) I’d really stick with that name, it might have been a late decision but it’s grown on us. Their AI certainly didn’t <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" />
<!--quoteo(post=1700371:date=Feb 14 2009, 05:43 PM:name=Revenge)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Revenge @ Feb 14 2009, 05:43 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1700371"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I don't know about that, but I expected such a discrepency from them anyway. Max is elbows deep in an engine he's building with his bare hands. He knows what's under the hood, and what <i>will</i> be under the hood later on. Flayra is working with Matt & Cory on the rest of the car.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Actually, I just sit in the front seat and fiddle with the radio knobs while the rest of the guys build the car. And I hang the fuzzy dice on the rear view mirror.
Yeah, I don't know much about building cars...wait...what are we talking about again?
I wanted to ask how well mod support is going to be implemented using lua. Is there going to be a distinction to game modifications (adding new weapons, bunny hopping.etc) to total conversions (using your example, creating a RTS or RPG) in how a player access them? It would be nice if total conversions had a way to publish their mod so players had to download them and it would be possible for the mod to have its own server listing.
<!--quoteo(post=1700320:date=Feb 14 2009, 07:48 AM:name=Bacillus)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Bacillus @ Feb 14 2009, 07:48 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1700320"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Could you make another Q&A podcast in some Euro friendlier way some time in the future? I don't think that many euros are browsing the site at midnight.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--quoteo(post=1700366:date=Feb 14 2009, 05:17 PM:name=ratclaw)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ratclaw @ Feb 14 2009, 05:17 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1700366"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I have but one small request.
Could you give us a notice a day or so in advance next time you do something cool like this. Looking at the posts, I'm seeing that I'm not the only one that had missed this event due to sleeping in. Please take pity on the tired. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/confused-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="???" border="0" alt="confused-fix.gif" /><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I think the Unknown Worlds team should just tell everyone to post questions but with a little bit more warning, but limit people to one question, otherwise you get a million questions in a matter of hours... ...Saying that tho, they had more than enough questions to answer and the questions that were answered were probably the ones that people would have asked any way.
Galactica OST is amazing, it would be cool if Bear McCreary made the NS2 soundtrack, I think it fits perfectly, see it by yourself <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Could you make another Q&A podcast in some Euro friendlier way some time in the future? I don't think that many euros are browsing the site at midnight.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I think the Unknown Worlds team should just tell everyone to post questions but with a little bit more warning, but limit people to one question, otherwise you get a million questions in a matter of hours... ...Saying that tho, they had more than enough questions to answer and the questions that were answered were probably the ones that people would have asked any way.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I guess if you warn the community before, you'll get loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooots of questions in just one hour and I guess there will be hundreds of double posted questions. I was very happy with this old school podcast it was awesome and I guess most questions anyone would have asked got answered, except the one with the bapplers that you shouldn't read out loud <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" /> ... actually I don't even know what bapplers are :O (shame on me).
But a very big thank you for this really awesome pod cast
Greetings from Germany
PS: Midnight is the best time to check this site and I guess they didn't want to wait until midnight at their time zone that it might fit with us Europeans, I wouldn't wait either <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />
locallyunsceneFeeder of TrollsJoin Date: 2002-12-25Member: 11528Members, Constellation
<!--quoteo(post=1700347:date=Feb 14 2009, 09:18 AM:name=Prefix)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Prefix @ Feb 14 2009, 09:18 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1700347"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I like audio Podcasts, I can keep browsing while listening.
Pity I missed prime asking time.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> +1
Thanks for the podcast guys; lots of cool stuff in there. I'm not that surprised skulks shied away from the scout role. IMO you need the primary/base class to be a fighter.
Good podcast, you guys should definitely do these again down the road.
Word of warning about the TR release though, be careful that it won't be perceived as a beta release by anyone. A lot of games/mods have suffered because they got impatient and put out an extremely unfinished beta, which satiated the hype of people who played it while spreading bad word of mouth before the game even had a chance. I realize that's not what this is about, but the less features in it the less likely it is to be perceived this way, i.e. it should really be little more than comms, marines and skulks running around looking at the maps.
<!--quoteo(post=1700469:date=Feb 15 2009, 07:18 PM:name=steppin'razor)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(steppin'razor @ Feb 15 2009, 07:18 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1700469"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->excuse my ignorance but could someone explain what a babbler is?
Great listen devs, thanks for answering as well as you did.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Prior to having acid bombs gorges would be able to vomit up half a dozen, half-scale, kamikaze, AI guided, skulk-like creatures called "babblers" that would then rush headlong at the enemy and explode on impact. It really gave the impression of an alien swarm overwhelming the marines (as they usually were only available in the late to endgame)
Glad to hear the NSTR2 has not been shelved entirely as I had feared.
To extend the car metaphor : Max is building the chassis, engine, gearbox and breaks Charile is building the dashboard, seats and controls Cory is designing the bodywork and planning the racetrack KFS is building the racetrack from Corys design Matt + Various artists are building the bodywork to cory's design and furnishing the KFS racetrack
I am looking forward to racing <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" />
<!--quoteo(post=1700373:date=Feb 14 2009, 01:13 PM:name=KuBaN)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(KuBaN @ Feb 14 2009, 01:13 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1700373"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->The audio cuts just before 19:10. Precious seconds lost.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Same for me.
Thanks for sharing all the info : ).
Its interesting to hear about the change in how Kharaa will build their structures, and in the over-all step back from micro-management. I can't wait to see how you guys pull this off, not to mention play it ; ). And "WOOT!" on babbler return, kick ass!
Spewing i didn't get a chance to submit a question but by the sounds of it there were a lot of pretty decent questions submitted. I think this was a really great idea, I just wish there was more of a chance to post a question.
<!--quoteo(post=1700477:date=Feb 16 2009, 05:54 AM:name=ChromeAngel)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ChromeAngel @ Feb 16 2009, 05:54 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1700477"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Prior to having acid bombs gorges would be able to vomit up half a dozen, half-scale, kamikaze, AI guided, skulk-like creatures called "babblers" that would then rush headlong at the enemy and explode on impact. It really gave the impression of an alien swarm overwhelming the marines (as they usually were only available in the late to endgame)<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> cheers, haha they sound like heaps of fun!
I'm a dev myself and I'm sick of people asking that question. It'll be done when it's done and not before, probably three days after it's done just to be safe. Honestly, asking devs that question WILL NOT MAKE IT GET DONE ANY FASTER, in fact, it'll slow them down because they'll do rants like this unless they have more self-control then I do.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
If you really were a developer then you would know the importance of that question to your community.
We haven't done ...<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Apostrophe isn't escaped on your atom feed, and .'. breaks your feed when using Firefox Live Bookmarks
PS: Great game, keep up the good work on the sequel ;D
Edit: Seems there are a lot of apostrophes in the last two news posts... . All my other feeds are showing up Ok; I'm fairly sure this is what is breaking it, since up until recently it has been showing up fine :/
<!--quoteo(post=1700778:date=Feb 18 2009, 09:23 AM:name=syserror)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(syserror @ Feb 18 2009, 09:23 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1700778"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Apostrophe isn't escaped on your atom feed, and .'. breaks your feed when using Firefox Live Bookmarks
PS: Great game, keep up the good work on the sequel ;D Edit: Seems there are a lot of apostrophes in the last two news posts... . All my other feeds are showing up Ok; I'm fairly sure this is what is breaking it, since up until recently it has been showing up fine :/<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Thanks! I noticed it was messed up, but I hadn't gotten around to figuring out why yet. It should be fixed now.
Hey, are you guys going to be able to write up the last little bit of the podcast that got cut off? I know you guys are busy, but it'd be great to have that finished.
A tought listening to the podcast about the barricades: if i'm well understood, you're not going to make things like the fortress mod, but you are improving on the old system.
You know how to do your job and I'm sure you are balancing, but i was thinking: why don't keep the same system for v1, just to have something less to think about, and then build something like a "capture the hill" mode as an addon later, giving lot more possibilities to weld things?
I don't think the 'competitive' question was about how well the game will be able to compete with other titles on release.
Commander sounds a bit weird, I personally don't like the idea of AI-controlled anything in games: it just inevitably detracts from the more fluid and unpredictable motions that players bring to the game. Anything AI-controlled lends itself to crappy AI and pathfinding, with even the best efforts still looking clunky and becoming see-through over time. If you think it's nice to give newer players AI assistance to ease them into the game: think again. Unless this AI is operated remotely with the player at a safe distance, it won't give skilled players any trouble whatsoever - new players will still get creamed even if they have helper meatshield bots running around. So, yeah, basically if there's any offensive AI it will be learnt and countered very easily, and if there's any AI-controlled moving units, they will look clunky, jittery and take away from the game's overall polish and atmosphere.
Also I think you might be being a bit naive by thinking the Alien Commander he won't be giving orders to the Aliens. If he decides the tech tree (something I inferred from you talking about the Gorge not building the tech chambers), he is already in a leadership role. This fact coupled with the name (Alien <i>Commander</i>) and the general ability to use mics, and I'm very sure that there will be an expectation from players for the Alien Commander to dictate what the team should be doing. If there isn't an expectation, no new player is going to argue with someone with the title of 'Commander' giving them orders anyway. Most people in general, and especially on multiplayer games with large team sizes, and more especially new players to the game, value guidance and will act on instruction if its given authoritatively enough.
If you don't want the Alien Commander to command, don't give him roles and a name that define him as the class that dictates Alien play.
<!--quoteo(post=1702510:date=Mar 11 2009, 05:22 PM:name=Crispy)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Crispy @ Mar 11 2009, 05:22 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1702510"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->If you don't want the Alien Commander to command, don't give him roles and a name that define him as the class that dictates Alien play.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Comments
BABBLERS!! =) I’d really stick with that name, it might have been a late decision but it’s grown on us. Their AI certainly didn’t <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" />
Actually, I just sit in the front seat and fiddle with the radio knobs while the rest of the guys build the car. And I hang the fuzzy dice on the rear view mirror.
Yeah, I don't know much about building cars...wait...what are we talking about again?
--Cory
I wanted to ask how well mod support is going to be implemented using lua. Is there going to be a distinction to game modifications (adding new weapons, bunny hopping.etc) to total conversions (using your example, creating a RTS or RPG) in how a player access them? It would be nice if total conversions had a way to publish their mod so players had to download them and it would be possible for the mod to have its own server listing.
Keep up the good work.
<!--quoteo(post=1700366:date=Feb 14 2009, 05:17 PM:name=ratclaw)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ratclaw @ Feb 14 2009, 05:17 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1700366"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I have but one small request.
Could you give us a notice a day or so in advance next time you do something cool like this. Looking at the posts, I'm seeing that I'm not the only one that had missed this event due to sleeping in. Please take pity on the tired. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/confused-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="???" border="0" alt="confused-fix.gif" /><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I think the Unknown Worlds team should just tell everyone to post questions but with a little bit more warning, but limit people to one question, otherwise you get a million questions in a matter of hours... ...Saying that tho, they had more than enough questions to answer and the questions that were answered were probably the ones that people would have asked any way.
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Da2fVHo8iYw" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Da2fVHo8iYw</a>
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I think the Unknown Worlds team should just tell everyone to post questions but with a little bit more warning, but limit people to one question, otherwise you get a million questions in a matter of hours... ...Saying that tho, they had more than enough questions to answer and the questions that were answered were probably the ones that people would have asked any way.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I guess if you warn the community before, you'll get loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooots of questions in just one hour and I guess there will be hundreds of double posted questions. I was very happy with this old school podcast it was awesome and I guess most questions anyone would have asked got answered, except the one with the bapplers that you shouldn't read out loud <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" /> ... actually I don't even know what bapplers are :O (shame on me).
But a very big thank you for this really awesome pod cast
Greetings from Germany
PS: Midnight is the best time to check this site and I guess they didn't want to wait until midnight at their time zone that it might fit with us Europeans, I wouldn't wait either <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />
Pity I missed prime asking time.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
+1
Thanks for the podcast guys; lots of cool stuff in there. I'm not that surprised skulks shied away from the scout role. IMO you need the primary/base class to be a fighter.
Great listen devs, thanks for answering as well as you did.
Word of warning about the TR release though, be careful that it won't be perceived as a beta release by anyone. A lot of games/mods have suffered because they got impatient and put out an extremely unfinished beta, which satiated the hype of people who played it while spreading bad word of mouth before the game even had a chance. I realize that's not what this is about, but the less features in it the less likely it is to be perceived this way, i.e. it should really be little more than comms, marines and skulks running around looking at the maps.
Great listen devs, thanks for answering as well as you did.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Prior to having acid bombs gorges would be able to vomit up half a dozen, half-scale, kamikaze, AI guided, skulk-like creatures called "babblers" that would then rush headlong at the enemy and explode on impact. It really gave the impression of an alien swarm overwhelming the marines (as they usually were only available in the late to endgame)
Glad to hear the NSTR2 has not been shelved entirely as I had feared.
To extend the car metaphor :
Max is building the chassis, engine, gearbox and breaks
Charile is building the dashboard, seats and controls
Cory is designing the bodywork and planning the racetrack
KFS is building the racetrack from Corys design
Matt + Various artists are building the bodywork to cory's design and furnishing the KFS racetrack
I am looking forward to racing <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" />
Slow-ri-der
Same for me.
Thanks for sharing all the info : ).
Its interesting to hear about the change in how Kharaa will build their structures, and in the over-all step back from micro-management. I can't wait to see how you guys pull this off, not to mention play it ; ). And "WOOT!" on babbler return, kick ass!
cheers, haha they sound like heaps of fun!
Unfortunately they were pretty much useless. I don't think that I was ever killed by a babbler, as their health was so low.
It was a fun idea with potential, but bile bomb was far more practical.
JUST LIKE MINES
I'm a dev myself and I'm sick of people asking that question. It'll be done when it's done and not before, probably three days after it's done just to be safe. Honestly, asking devs that question WILL NOT MAKE IT GET DONE ANY FASTER, in fact, it'll slow them down because they'll do rants like this unless they have more self-control then I do.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
If you really were a developer then you would know the importance of that question to your community.
We haven't done ...<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Apostrophe isn't escaped on your atom feed, and .'. breaks your feed when using Firefox Live Bookmarks
PS: Great game, keep up the good work on the sequel ;D
Edit: Seems there are a lot of apostrophes in the last two news posts... . All my other feeds are showing up Ok; I'm fairly sure this is what is breaking it, since up until recently it has been showing up fine :/
PS: Great game, keep up the good work on the sequel ;D
Edit: Seems there are a lot of apostrophes in the last two news posts... . All my other feeds are showing up Ok; I'm fairly sure this is what is breaking it, since up until recently it has been showing up fine :/<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Thanks! I noticed it was messed up, but I hadn't gotten around to figuring out why yet. It should be fixed now.
Down with bots, we need every bit of attention on making the game itself great.
Oh and... will we keep our constie tags in the ingame score list?
You know how to do your job and I'm sure you are balancing, but i was thinking: why don't keep the same system for v1, just to have something less to think about, and then build something like a "capture the hill" mode as an addon later, giving lot more possibilities to weld things?
Commander sounds a bit weird, I personally don't like the idea of AI-controlled anything in games: it just inevitably detracts from the more fluid and unpredictable motions that players bring to the game. Anything AI-controlled lends itself to crappy AI and pathfinding, with even the best efforts still looking clunky and becoming see-through over time. If you think it's nice to give newer players AI assistance to ease them into the game: think again. Unless this AI is operated remotely with the player at a safe distance, it won't give skilled players any trouble whatsoever - new players will still get creamed even if they have helper meatshield bots running around. So, yeah, basically if there's any offensive AI it will be learnt and countered very easily, and if there's any AI-controlled moving units, they will look clunky, jittery and take away from the game's overall polish and atmosphere.
Also I think you might be being a bit naive by thinking the Alien Commander he won't be giving orders to the Aliens. If he decides the tech tree (something I inferred from you talking about the Gorge not building the tech chambers), he is already in a leadership role. This fact coupled with the name (Alien <i>Commander</i>) and the general ability to use mics, and I'm very sure that there will be an expectation from players for the Alien Commander to dictate what the team should be doing. If there isn't an expectation, no new player is going to argue with someone with the title of 'Commander' giving them orders anyway. Most people in general, and especially on multiplayer games with large team sizes, and more especially new players to the game, value guidance and will act on instruction if its given authoritatively enough.
If you don't want the Alien Commander to command, don't give him roles and a name that define him as the class that dictates Alien play.
Aliens range: 0,5 cms <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/skulk.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="::skulk::" border="0" alt="skulk.gif" />
Keep this in mind always.
<!--quoteo(post=1702510:date=Mar 11 2009, 05:22 PM:name=Crispy)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Crispy @ Mar 11 2009, 05:22 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1702510"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->If you don't want the Alien Commander to command, don't give him roles and a name that define him as the class that dictates Alien play.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Aliens commander = Marines Win Always.