Archive for the ‘Metroplexity’ Category

State of the Game – November 8th

Saturday, November 8th, 2008

Just wanted to give an update of where we’re at as of now. Its been a few weeks since the last update, mostly because I’ve been distracted by the election. Now that’s over and I can get back to developing.

As such, I wanted to go over what’s in and what’s upcoming.

What’s in now?

  • The first three quests in the main quest line, including three areas and a whole bunch of subareas.
  • Areas (and people) reflect the changes brought about by these quests.
  • A bunch of skills, some granted by sidequests.
  • A whole lot of different Techniques, allowing a wide variety of tactics in combat.
  • Messages now allow credit, but not item, attachments.

What isn’t in?

  • Chat is still backburnered until demand increases. Feel free to use the Bug Report feature to request this or any other feature.
  • Usable skills are held back until I need them. I’d say expect these around the time of The Four quest (after the Slags).
  • Crafting, Hacking, and Cybernetics fall in the same boat as usable skills. Some of the groundwork for crafting will be in with the next wave of content, but it will be a bit before the game needs it.

What’s next?

  • The big thing that’s next is an alternate way to complete the University quest. It ties up a few loose ends in other subplots as well.
  • Updates to areas affected by the University quest.
  • The Slags quest is the next step in the main chain, but I’ll probably be putting in a side quest or two before then.

Cheers!
Kinak

University Quest In!

Tuesday, October 14th, 2008


The University quest is now in! Everything seems to be working but, as always, keep your eye out for bugs and use the bug report feature (or ingame mail) to let me know. This is far more complicated code-wise than the Docks or Southside Park quests, so I expect some problems to crop up.

Fair warning: be careful with this quest, because the enemies are playing for keeps. They’re not going to take you out, but others are under no such protection.

There is one notable loose end with the quest. There will be a side quest, probably implemented next, that will allow an alternate way to complete the quest.

And lastly, a few minor fixes:

  • Evasion bonuses now display on items and buffs. They were working before, just not displaying.
  • The bats attack you may have seen from enemies is now working properly.

Cheers!
Kinak

Docks, Before and After

Monday, September 29th, 2008

As promised the docks (both above and below ground) now reflect the Fangs leaving. As part of this, there are actually two entirely new skills. (Of which you can get one. As always, choose your friends wisely.)

I think next on the agenda is going to be the University Quest (step 3 in the main quest line). There are also at least three little side quests that will get done as the inspiration strikes.

Cheers!
Kinak

Southside Park, Before and After

Monday, September 22nd, 2008

You can now see the full results of the quests to clean up Southside Park. The Park itself post-quest has different, more peaceful, set of encounters. Don’t fear if you prefer a bit of the rough and tumble. There are some vicious combats available if you look.

A similar batch of content is planned for the Docks, reflecting the decline of the Fangs’ influence there as well.

Some minor changes:

  • The bug with certain experience gains (particularly Reflexes) not appearing until the next time you gain xp has been resolved.
  • There is now a section on Energy, Hunger, and Body at the info page.

Cheers!
Kinak

Firefox Bug Squashed And Other Updates

Thursday, September 18th, 2008

First off, the bug with combat images not appearing in Firefox should be resolved now. If you’re still having problems (or other browsers start having issues), please post here or use the bug reporting feature in game. Thanks to Puyo for pointing this out.

A few other quick developments:

  • Added more encounters throughout the Docks.
  • The remaining items without images should now all have images. Yay!
  • Quotation marks will now display correctly in messages.

Up Next:
There are several quests branching from the current state. Along with the University Quest (3rd in the main line), I’m also working on some sidequests in the Docks.

Cheers!
Kinak

Buff Bug Squashed

Sunday, September 7th, 2008

Corrected a bug that was preventing buffs from applying their effects properly.

Also, there are a few new encounters in Southside park and the crates from the Docks are now usable.

Cheers!
Kinak

Docks Quest!

Saturday, September 6th, 2008


Hello! Welcome to our first real batch of new content. The second quest, set primarily on the docks of Metroplex, has been opened.

The quest is available to all characters that have finished the first (Southside Park) quest. You already had a hint in that direction, now you can follow it.

Expect to see a few new encounters on the Docks and Southside trickle in over the next few days. The next two major blocks of content will show the effects of your efforts at the Docks (with serious movement in both Southside and the Docks) and the next quest along the main plot (which will include the University district).

Oh and a few minor things:

  • The “adventure again” feature is in.
  • Fixed a minor login bug, if you were receiving login errors, you should be good now.
  • The Metros system is now up and running, which can mostly just ferry you back and forth from the Docks to Southside for now.

Cheers!
Kinak

Gen*Con Indy

Thursday, August 14th, 2008

Tomorrow, or later today according to server time, I’m heading to Gen*Con Indy. It’ll be a fantastic time, as always.

If you see me there and you’re interested in the game, or you just want to talk about Gen*Con, feel free to give a shout out in the comments.

Cheers!
Kinak

State of the Game (August 14th)

Thursday, August 14th, 2008

The word “Beta” gets thrown around a lot these days. To me, it just means that we’ve exited Alpha (in house testing, as it were), and are ready for open testing.

What that means for you is that you’ll get to help us build a great game as we roll out more features and content. If there’s anything you have problems with, or would like to see, feel free to bring it up here or use the bug report feature in game.

Here’s what’s in:

  • Combat, which is quite different from what you may be used to.
  • The contacts system.
  • Messaging for player to player communication.
  • Inventory, including a usable items and the effects of equipment. They’re not labeled yet, but I assure you they work behind the scenes.
  • Buffs from items.
  • Some fairly basic Skills and Techniques.
  • The entirety of the first quest, set in Southside Park and its environs. This includes two (2) different paths to completing it.
  • A whole lot of awesome art. (I can say its awesome because I didn’t make it so its not bragging.)

Here’s what’s not in:

  • Chat, at all. I’m not even faking chat yet.
  • Messages don’t allow players to attach credits or items.
  • Usable skills.
  • Cybernetics, Hacking, and Crafting.
  • And, the big one: the vast majority of the content.

What’s next:

The Docks quest is coming along nicely. Also, I plan to have items start proudly declaring their bonuses soon.

Cheers!
Kinak

Welcome to the Metroplexity Devblog!

Thursday, August 14th, 2008

This is the development blog for Metroplexity, as you could probably imagine from the name. Feel free to register for an account. Comments and feedback on mechanics are just as much of the beta process as finding bugs.

If you’d like to ask questions about the game or even just introduce yourself, this post is a great one to respond to.

Cheers!
Kinak