Announcements

Join the ongoing conversation on Discord: https://discord.gg/w6Tpkp2

Please read the current update for instructions on downloading the latest update. Players with Mac versions of the game will not be affected, but you will have a slightly longer wait for your version of the new maps. Please make a copy of your character folder before running the new update, just to make sure you don't lose any of your custom work.

It looks like we can give everyone a list of minimum specs for running City of Titans. Please keep in mind that this is 'for now' until we are able to add more graphics and other system refinements. Currently you will need :
Windows 10 or later required; no Intel integrated graphics like UHD, must have AMD or NVIDIA card or discrete chipset with 4Gb or more of VRAM
At least 16GB of main DRAM.
These stats may change as we continue to test.

To purchase your copy of the City of Titans Launcher, visit our store at https://store.missingworldsmedia.com/ A purchase of $50 or more will give you a link to download the Launcher for Windows or Mac based machines.

Merry Devmas!

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Vitality
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Shadow Elusive wrote:
Shadow Elusive wrote:

Personally I'm pitching for comic book style sound effects to come out. Imagine a sword that actually said, in big special effect font, 'SLASH' when you, well, slashed. Mind you, I said I'm pitching it. I'm Community Manager, not tech. Don't get excited yet. But it sure looks doable.

I'm not sure if you're joking here or not...

However, this would be one of the quickest ways to ensure that I never play the game.

CO is too comical as it is...and I would never go to a game that's even more comical.

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Why does everybody think I

Why does everybody think I mean the whole game should work this way...it's almost insulting. I mean it would be a luxury/perk effect purchasable in the shop, that you could add to specific weapons or attacks or animations on a specific toon.

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Scott Jackson wrote:
Scott Jackson wrote:

Even with the rough state of Odo's example, I was impressed by the similarity to CoH's movement style as Bob had him running around the test area. Considering how unsatisfying many of the CO and DCUO movement animations have been for me, I can't wait this style to return.

+1!!!

I'm so glad you said that. I was going to comment on how much I liked the movement earlier, but I thought that it might seem like an odd thing to point out.

I didn't realize what a fan I was of CoH movement until I played other games. It had a fluidity and naturalness that I have really missed when playing CO or DCUO, and even TSW.

And the action was just wonderful. While CoH combat may not have been "twitch", it sure was packed full of good ole Superhero action. It had very dynamic "choreography", for lack of a better term.

The jerky, unnatural movement and lack of good looking and feeling action that I've found in other Superhero MMORPG's has been one of the obstacles that have made it hard for me to find another home.

FIGHT EVIL! (or go cause trouble so the Heroes have something to do.)

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Just seems to be a lot of

Just seems to be a lot of tension lately which seems like a natural part of all this. Don't let yourself get discouraged.

Puny Heroes.

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Shadow Elusive wrote:
Shadow Elusive wrote:

Why does everybody think I mean the whole game should work this way...it's almost insulting. I mean it would be a luxury/perk effect purchasable in the shop, that you could add to specific weapons or attacks or animations on a specific toon.

I guess i'm in the same boat. :(
I didnt like the WHAP, BAM, KAPOW, from the old Batman TV show with Adam West, from what very little i remember.. I think I was 4 years old when it was in its reruns?

Any chance this can be made an Option somewhere, so Roleplayers can see it, but the rest of us Wont?!? ;)

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Well obviously it would only

Well obviously it would only work in moderation. I was assuming those conditions because I figured under those conditions, with some adjustments to size and styling, it would stay under control, properly tolerable.

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I know I am a little late but

I know I am a little late but I have a question about the Kitsune- tails. Will their size be adjustable? Because the way they are presented in the screenshots and videos, they look much to small to me.

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I wouldn't want the 'kapow!'

I wouldn't want the 'kapow!' text in place of sounds either. However if we get advanced camera recording tools that would be an interesting option, to dub them in if you're piecing together comic style movie clips.

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The 9 Tails are a special Dev

The 9 Tails are a special Dev present. We can't promise how adjustable they, or tails 1-8 will be, but we're going to do our very best to make them work for all of you.

As for the 'Visual Sound Effects' (FREEM!) let's just say that we know how annoying they can be. We'll make it work right for everyone.

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Day 12! Of 12! It's over! It

Day 12! Of 12! It's over! It's done! FINISHED!

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warcabbit wrote:
warcabbit wrote:

The 9 Tails are a special Dev present. We can't promise how adjustable they, or tails 1-8 will be, but we're going to do our very best to make them work for all of you.

As long as More Tails adds More Fly Speed! ;D

Or have store purcasable fly travel power called TAILS! ;D


(just like Elika was carrying the Prince of Persia across empty gaps)

Kidding. ;D

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Quote:
Quote:

Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed Devmas as much as we have - and I hope you watched yesterday’s video. There’s a promise of something very special in it. Here’s the link again.

How did I miss the possibility!

BIG RED BALL!

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Unreal 4 just looks gorgeous

Unreal 4 just looks gorgeous to me. A lot of reflective, chrome-like metal I've seen in games comes off looking like plastic fake-chrome. That cockroach is just gorgeous, both in design and rendering.

I'm really glad we're using U4!

FIGHT EVIL! (or go cause trouble so the Heroes have something to do.)

warcabbit
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Caulderone wrote:
Caulderone wrote:

Quote:

BIG RED BALL!

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That roach needs to shoot

That roach needs to shoot lasers at some point

not my video just one I lke ===> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6-SdIN0hsM

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Copper Cockroaches, roaming

Copper Cockroaches, roaming around the vanity, shooting lasers... at their own images in the mirror! ^_^

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I was, I admit, wondering if

I was, I admit, wondering if anyone would know the term 'vanity'.

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I don't understand. What's a

I don't understand. What's a big red ball have to do with anything haha?

Puny Heroes.

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Brutum wrote:
Brutum wrote:

I don't understand. What's a big red ball have to do with anything haha?

http://cityoftitans.com/forum/big-red-ball-0
;)

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Ah I see. Random misc. stuff

Ah I see. Random misc. stuff for bored people standing around the park haha. I only wonder if villains will be going to the same hub as heroes. I don't think we'd be too keen on sharing it with our blue foes...

Puny Heroes.

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Izzy wrote:
Izzy wrote:

DeathSheepFromHell wrote:
You didn't think that the whole extensible-skeleton-and-attachment setup mentioned a few days ago came out of nowhere, did you?
Foot bone's connected to the... leg bone,
Leg bone's connected to the... hip bone,
[and so on... except that's the inside-out version]
As for shoulder pads... more on that later.

Very cool.
Sooo... the elephant in the room would be... Morph Targets, on individual body parts. :P
Just me assuming thats the approach used to scale the different body regions. One slider affects more that one body part sometimes (or most of the time).
And how to make sure they all share the same vert' locations after adjusting Morph parameter(s). :{
Maybe its too early for that though. ;D
Good Job Guys/Gals. ;)
I know everyone else wants to see the City Fleshed out with all the finishing touches, but I dont care for that.. as much as the Character Creator, at this time.
I'm also curious about using a DepthMask shader technique for cutting out holes for doors into buildings without any interior that was done in Houdini to speed things up, and avoid having to do the Black Door mission entrance thing.
That way, you can have allot of building made in Houdini that dont really have an interior.. and have a separate mesh inside of the building look like a small hall, you walk into and fade to black. But thats for much later. ;D

Morph targets would be one of the key things that are *not* supported by the skeletal mesh merging out-of-the-box in UE4, indeed. Probably the simpler one to add, although it raises some interesting questions about how to handle morph targets that might normally occur across pieces that are distinct costume parts, when those may or may not all show up (depending on other factors). As for the sliders... there is a bit of distance between "what would be awesomely ideal" and "what we can probably practically achieve at launch" -- but the good news is that it seems pretty unlikely that choices made for launch would place much in the way of constraints on what we might eventually be able to do.

The other really critical one, at least for the core body, is set of physics definitions that go along with the body to make it more than either purely animated or a floppy ragdoll that can have 720-degree twists out of nowhere. Clothing physics are at least stored in a way that appears to be tightly associated with the vertex data, although I have not yet gotten down into that level of the third-party SDK involved.

As for the interiors... we're actively working through some prototyping that will probably have a significant impact on what we decide to attempt, there. It would definitely be nice to avoid the "vanish into the void" effect, but as wonky as it was, it did avoid some of the issues that can happen with other approaches. This ties into the exploratory work around just what we can get away with doing with buildings in the first place, especially given that an MMO "level map" for the world at large is a very different beast from a standard FPS level or an interior map.


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So a cockroach made out of

So a cockroach made out of clockwork. A clockroach, if you will.

BIZZARO MEDIA FOLLOWER

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It's been great to see some

It's been great to see some new things over the last 12 days. I have to admit I expected something a bit more for the final day though. I had this feeling the event was leading to a big reveal on the 12th day

Currently trapped inside the Speed Force...

DeathSheepFromHell
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Izzy wrote:
Izzy wrote:

Shadow Elusive wrote:
Why does everybody think I mean the whole game should work this way...it's almost insulting. I mean it would be a luxury/perk effect purchasable in the shop, that you could add to specific weapons or attacks or animations on a specific toon.

I guess i'm in the same boat. :(
I didnt like the WHAP, BAM, KAPOW, from the old Batman TV show with Adam West, from what very little i remember.. I think I was 4 years old when it was in its reruns?
Any chance this can be made an Option somewhere, so Roleplayers can see it, but the rest of us Wont?!? ;)

While I am not absolutely certain that we will be able to omit them entirely, I *can* say all of the following:

  • They are almost certainly something that would be limited to the "specialized" item; the visuals of the game are definitely not intended to be Adam West-era styling. Love it or hate it, CO has already gone that route, and we're trying to be a better CoH, not a better CO. Styling in most MMOs isn't all that critical, but Superheroes are such an entirely visual medium that they tend to break that rule. I'm not the person to speak to the overall visual tone (that would be Petalstorm), but I can say that it is definitely intended to be consistent, with only minimal and special-case things breaking that, and those being largely or entirely at the discretion of the players themselves.
  • There will be *some* way to avoid being forced to see at least the more egregious combinations; those who played Spines/Fire will know whereof I speak, here. As will anyone who had to suffer through teaming with them...
  • For the sake of sanity, those ways will probably be more in the shape of "replace" than "omit"
  • The main situation in which it isn't purely cosmetic is PvP, due to the potential for visual cues. Whether we deliberately allow it, disallow it, or make it optional in various ways *for PVP* is something that will depend at least in part on what appears to end up working well in that context. Not all PvP will necessarily even be the same, even.
  • There are several approaches we might take to all of this, and in some cases they are pretty wildly variant from each other, but there will definitely be ways to mitigate such things. "Certain people know where I sleep" among others...
  • Epileptic and other strobe-triggered issues are not just a matter of hitting a particular "magic frequency" or color or intensity. There are certainly some that are more common than others, but the ability to put control over this into the hands of the *viewer*, if and when they feel it necessary to exercise that control, is pretty much the only thing that can guarantee that problems like this can truly be addressed. While we can work to minimize the potential for them, it is quite literally impossible to cover every situation that might arise (consider beat frequencies and other fun problems when you have multiple sources involved).

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Caulderone wrote:
Caulderone wrote:

Quote:
Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed Devmas as much as we have - and I hope you watched yesterday’s video. There’s a promise of something very special in it. Here’s the link again.
How did I miss the possibility!
BIG RED BALL!

... got tested a while back and was uninspiring, when all you could do was walk into it to bump it around.

The Petalstorm brush wind effect is a handy little way to test things like that a bit more easily. But there is so much more to be done before it is really at a state where I, personally, would consider it feature-complete.

But fear not, intrepid adventurers! All shall be revealed in good time. Probably more than one time, even, since it happens to make a convenient visual for certain demos, much as Odo himself does.

I mean, it isn't even red yet.


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warcabbit wrote:
warcabbit wrote:

I was, I admit, wondering if anyone would know the term 'vanity'.

Seriously? Some of us own them. Or at least had to haul them around for those who do. :P


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Zerohour wrote:
Zerohour wrote:

It's been great to see some new things over the last 12 days. I have to admit I expected something a bit more for the final day though. I had this feeling the event was leading to a big reveal on the 12th day

Sadly, sometimes a cockroach is just a cockroach. The 12 days was about getting to show folks progress on some of what they had been promised in the KS, and some new tidbits that they didn't know about yet.

Besides, usually we know better than to put a big reveal at the end of a 12-day thing. There's almost nothing that would be so "wowzers" that it would actually fulfill the level of expectation that could raise in folks, to be honest. Plus it is hard to taunt everyone for that long without *something* slipping. :)


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As always, I really

As always, I really appreciate the technical details explaining what we're looking at and what we're planning -- even if I don't always understand it all! (Man it's been too long since I was a real programmer.)

It would be nice to see a sample hi-res face even if it were just floating disembodied or in a jar, just to get an idea of what kind of detail we can expect. I've seen some examples of what UE4 can do, but I don't know whether you plan to go that far.

Spurn all ye kindle.

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DeathSheepFromHell wrote:
DeathSheepFromHell wrote:

Izzy wrote:
Shadow Elusive wrote:
Why does everybody think I mean the whole game should work this way...it's almost insulting. I mean it would be a luxury/perk effect purchasable in the shop, that you could add to specific weapons or attacks or animations on a specific toon.

I guess i'm in the same boat. :(
I didnt like the WHAP, BAM, KAPOW, from the old Batman TV show with Adam West, from what very little i remember.. I think I was 4 years old when it was in its reruns?
Any chance this can be made an Option somewhere, so Roleplayers can see it, but the rest of us Wont?!? ;)

While I am not absolutely certain that we will be able to omit them entirely, I *can* say all of the following:
They are almost certainly something that would be limited to the "specialized" item; the visuals of the game are definitely not intended to be Adam West-era styling. Love it or hate it, CO has already gone that route, and we're trying to be a better CoH, not a better CO. Styling in most MMOs isn't all that critical, but Superheroes are such an entirely visual medium that they tend to break that rule. I'm not the person to speak to the overall visual tone (that would be Petalstorm), but I can say that it is definitely intended to be consistent, with only minimal and special-case things breaking that, and those being largely or entirely at the discretion of the players themselves.
There will be *some* way to avoid being forced to see at least the more egregious combinations; those who played Spines/Fire will know whereof I speak, here. As will anyone who had to suffer through teaming with them...
For the sake of sanity, those ways will probably be more in the shape of "replace" than "omit"
The main situation in which it isn't purely cosmetic is PvP, due to the potential for visual cues. Whether we deliberately allow it, disallow it, or make it optional in various ways *for PVP* is something that will depend at least in part on what appears to end up working well in that context. Not all PvP will necessarily even be the same, even.
There are several approaches we might take to all of this, and in some cases they are pretty wildly variant from each other, but there will definitely be ways to mitigate such things. "Certain people know where I sleep" among others...
Epileptic and other strobe-triggered issues are not just a matter of hitting a particular "magic frequency" or color or intensity. There are certainly some that are more common than others, but the ability to put control over this into the hands of the *viewer*, if and when they feel it necessary to exercise that control, is pretty much the only thing that can guarantee that problems like this can truly be addressed. While we can work to minimize the potential for them, it is quite literally impossible to cover every situation that might arise (consider beat frequencies and other fun problems when you have multiple sources involved).

That guy here: can laymen get a stripped down version of that? :p


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Can the clockroach get a

Can the clockroach get a socket or two of its own? I'd love to give that little sucker his own tiny smokestack or a top hat. >.>

- - - - -
Hail Beard!

Support trap clowns for CoT!

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Odo for some reason seems a

Odo for some reason seems a little off. Dawned on me today what it was. The thighs seem to be a tad too long for my taste. Oh well.

As for the roach...

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2.) If it goes as planned it's not good RP

warcabbit
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Well, that was popular!

Well, that was popular!

Yep, my dropbox just got suspended.

What? No, there's no Day 13.

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warcabbit wrote:
warcabbit wrote:

Well, that was popular!
Yep, my dropbox just got suspended.
What? No, there's no Day 13.

Hey Santa-Cabbit. We dont want an Error 509, lump of Coal! :(

I wasnt Naughtly. :<

OK, now i want Cabbit Ears in-game. :(

;)

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Try this link instead! https:

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warcabbit wrote:
warcabbit wrote:

Try this link instead! https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1e-qCQGnUGOc2Y2OFlsaXJ2T1k/view

TY. Santa Cabbit. :D

I think Google Drive Down-samples the images when Previewing them, so i tried uploading them here (for people with 3/mb or slower download speeds) to see:
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B-G-3jTfhPIaU3pTMkw5emF4R2s&usp=drive_web#grid
..and click on "12 Days of Christmas".

But under No circumstances should you click on the crappy "Music I made ;D" folder. Because there's 3 very brief MP3's in there that use 3 instruments only throughout and might not be to orchestral standards. :/ View at your own Risk! ;)

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DeathSheepFromHell wrote:
DeathSheepFromHell wrote:

...and we're trying to be a better CoH, not a better CO.

I just have to say that I love it every time I hear Missing Worlds Media people bring things back to this point.

There are a lot of great ideas on these forums. While they are all great, some of these ideas belong in City of Titans, and some of them don't.

Missing Worlds Media sticks to their guns as the next-gen spiritual successor of City of Heroes, clearly planning on starting just beyond where City of Heroes left off, and moving in the same general direction, but beyond what would have been possible with the old game and the old engine.

With this as a clear and guiding goal and principle, I think City of Titans development will always be able move forward in a focused and fruitful direction.

I'm really looking forward to playing the game with all of you!

FIGHT EVIL! (or go cause trouble so the Heroes have something to do.)

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I had not been able to read

I had not been able to read the signs that leftmost muttonpack had been holding up. Thanks, Santa Cabbit!

Foradain, Mage of Phoenix Rising.
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Alright so I have two

Alright so I have two questions, are vanity pets considered a costume piece you can select in game or are they a power you have to activate in game? and question 2, I saw that picture of a raven familiar shooting a laser out of it's face which led me to say that thing about the clockroach shooting a laser out of it's face, is that still the plan for vanity pets if they are considered a costume piece rather than a power, even if it comes after the game is made?

not my video just one I lke ===> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6-SdIN0hsM

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notears wrote:
notears wrote:

Alright so I have two questions, are vanity pets considered a costume piece you can select in game or are they a power you have to activate in game? and question 2, I saw that picture of a raven familiar shooting a laser out of it's face which led me to say that thing about the clockroach shooting a laser out of it's face, is that still the plan for vanity pets if they are considered a costume piece rather than a power, even if it comes after the game is made?

It's just an uninformed guess but I would imagine they will work the same way that the vanity pets in WoW do

Currently trapped inside the Speed Force...

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notears wrote:
notears wrote:

Alright so I have two questions, are vanity pets considered a costume piece you can select in game or are they a power you have to activate in game? and question 2, I saw that picture of a raven familiar shooting a laser out of it's face which led me to say that thing about the clockroach shooting a laser out of it's face, is that still the plan for vanity pets if they are considered a costume piece rather than a power, even if it comes after the game is made?

For the purposes of this preview, they're actually all static meshes, which means that even stuff like the weapons are not (yet) capable of doing everything they would eventually be able to do.

Whether we will even have vanity pets (for those more familiar with CO, "action figures") at all is not yet clear, although for purely technical reasons it seems unlikely that we would be *able* to have them prior to resolving some of the non-combat-related questions around PC-triggered NPCs. That does not mean "not until we have pet-centric powersets", only "I do not know where in the list of many things resolving those questions actually falls, priority-wise".

The main dividing line between a pet and a costume piece basically boils down to whether the pet is effectively a non-combat NPC (meaning it has at least a limited degree of agency separate from the player themselves, usually focused on things like movement around the world).

Interestingly, while UE4 has an extremely clear dividing line internally, how that maps to actual behavior that the user sees is much more flexible; you could plausibly have a "true pet" that simply sat on someone's shoulders if that is what its "brain" told it to do, and conversely, you can have things that are part of a costume be animated separate from the rest of the costume, or even *appear* to be independent of the rest of the costume to a degree (they aren't, actually, but it is possible to fake it) -- just as a halo can be a costume piece that isn't actually "attached" to the rest of the costume, physically.

Note that "you can do X" and "doing X is a good idea" are very different statements, however. :)

The one thing I can definitely say is that for anything that *is* a costume part, if it has any obvious way to mark some part of it as a spot for an attack to come from, we will probably do so (... even if we miss it at first and someone suggests "hey, could it ...") -- entirely because that is basically a degenerate (read: "much simpler") case of the more general-purpose "how do we allow stuff like the muttonpack to have different things in its 'hands'".


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desviper wrote:
desviper wrote:

DeathSheepFromHell wrote:
While I am not absolutely certain that we will be able to omit them entirely, I *can* say all of the following:
They are almost certainly something that would be limited to the "specialized" item; the visuals of the game are definitely not intended to be Adam West-era styling. Love it or hate it, CO has already gone that route, and we're trying to be a better CoH, not a better CO. Styling in most MMOs isn't all that critical, but Superheroes are such an entirely visual medium that they tend to break that rule. I'm not the person to speak to the overall visual tone (that would be Petalstorm), but I can say that it is definitely intended to be consistent, with only minimal and special-case things breaking that, and those being largely or entirely at the discretion of the players themselves.
There will be *some* way to avoid being forced to see at least the more egregious combinations; those who played Spines/Fire will know whereof I speak, here. As will anyone who had to suffer through teaming with them...
For the sake of sanity, those ways will probably be more in the shape of "replace" than "omit"
The main situation in which it isn't purely cosmetic is PvP, due to the potential for visual cues. Whether we deliberately allow it, disallow it, or make it optional in various ways *for PVP* is something that will depend at least in part on what appears to end up working well in that context. Not all PvP will necessarily even be the same, even.
There are several approaches we might take to all of this, and in some cases they are pretty wildly variant from each other, but there will definitely be ways to mitigate such things. "Certain people know where I sleep" among others...
Epileptic and other strobe-triggered issues are not just a matter of hitting a particular "magic frequency" or color or intensity. There are certainly some that are more common than others, but the ability to put control over this into the hands of the *viewer*, if and when they feel it necessary to exercise that control, is pretty much the only thing that can guarantee that problems like this can truly be addressed. While we can work to minimize the potential for them, it is quite literally impossible to cover every situation that might arise (consider beat frequencies and other fun problems when you have multiple sources involved).

That guy here: can laymen get a stripped down version of that? :p

Our basic approach / assumption is "if it makes your eyes bleed, you should be able to tell the game to stop doing that to you".


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DeathSheepFromHell wrote:
DeathSheepFromHell wrote:

notears wrote:
Alright so I have two questions, are vanity pets considered a costume piece you can select in game or are they a power you have to activate in game? and question 2, I saw that picture of a raven familiar shooting a laser out of it's face which led me to say that thing about the clockroach shooting a laser out of it's face, is that still the plan for vanity pets if they are considered a costume piece rather than a power, even if it comes after the game is made?

For the purposes of this preview, they're actually all static meshes, which means that even stuff like the weapons are not (yet) capable of doing everything they would eventually be able to do.
Whether we will even have vanity pets (for those more familiar with CO, "action figures") at all is not yet clear, although for purely technical reasons it seems unlikely that we would be *able* to have them prior to resolving some of the non-combat-related questions around PC-triggered NPCs. That does not mean "not until we have pet-centric powersets", only "I do not know where in the list of many things resolving those questions actually falls, priority-wise".
The main dividing line between a pet and a costume piece basically boils down to whether the pet is effectively a non-combat NPC (meaning it has at least a limited degree of agency separate from the player themselves, usually focused on things like movement around the world).
Interestingly, while UE4 has an extremely clear dividing line internally, how that maps to actual behavior that the user sees is much more flexible; you could plausibly have a "true pet" that simply sat on someone's shoulders if that is what its "brain" told it to do, and conversely, you can have things that are part of a costume be animated separate from the rest of the costume, or even *appear* to be independent of the rest of the costume to a degree (they aren't, actually, but it is possible to fake it) -- just as a halo can be a costume piece that isn't actually "attached" to the rest of the costume, physically.
Note that "you can do X" and "doing X is a good idea" are very different statements, however. :)
The one thing I can definitely say is that for anything that *is* a costume part, if it has any obvious way to mark some part of it as a spot for an attack to come from, we will probably do so (... even if we miss it at first and someone suggests "hey, could it ...") -- entirely because that is basically a degenerate (read: "much simpler") case of the more general-purpose "how do we allow stuff like the muttonpack to have different things in its 'hands'".

Alright thanks. I guess the second option with a mesh that makes it look like this roach thing is on my shoulder and and having an animation that makes it look like a laser is coming out of that roach pet and shooting my target in the face is more like what I'm talking about here.

not my video just one I lke ===> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6-SdIN0hsM

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DeathSheepFromHell wrote:
DeathSheepFromHell wrote:

desviper wrote:
DeathSheepFromHell wrote:
While I am not absolutely certain that we will be able to omit them entirely, I *can* say all of the following:
They are almost certainly something that would be limited to the "specialized" item; the visuals of the game are definitely not intended to be Adam West-era styling. Love it or hate it, CO has already gone that route, and we're trying to be a better CoH, not a better CO. Styling in most MMOs isn't all that critical, but Superheroes are such an entirely visual medium that they tend to break that rule. I'm not the person to speak to the overall visual tone (that would be Petalstorm), but I can say that it is definitely intended to be consistent, with only minimal and special-case things breaking that, and those being largely or entirely at the discretion of the players themselves.
There will be *some* way to avoid being forced to see at least the more egregious combinations; those who played Spines/Fire will know whereof I speak, here. As will anyone who had to suffer through teaming with them...
For the sake of sanity, those ways will probably be more in the shape of "replace" than "omit"
The main situation in which it isn't purely cosmetic is PvP, due to the potential for visual cues. Whether we deliberately allow it, disallow it, or make it optional in various ways *for PVP* is something that will depend at least in part on what appears to end up working well in that context. Not all PvP will necessarily even be the same, even.
There are several approaches we might take to all of this, and in some cases they are pretty wildly variant from each other, but there will definitely be ways to mitigate such things. "Certain people know where I sleep" among others...
Epileptic and other strobe-triggered issues are not just a matter of hitting a particular "magic frequency" or color or intensity. There are certainly some that are more common than others, but the ability to put control over this into the hands of the *viewer*, if and when they feel it necessary to exercise that control, is pretty much the only thing that can guarantee that problems like this can truly be addressed. While we can work to minimize the potential for them, it is quite literally impossible to cover every situation that might arise (consider beat frequencies and other fun problems when you have multiple sources involved).

That guy here: can laymen get a stripped down version of that? :p

Our basic approach / assumption is "if it makes your eyes bleed, you should be able to tell the game to stop doing that to you".

Okay, not that dumbed down :p But sounds good so far.


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Izzy wrote:
Izzy wrote:

Shadow Elusive wrote:
Why does everybody think I mean the whole game should work this way...it's almost insulting. I mean it would be a luxury/perk effect purchasable in the shop, that you could add to specific weapons or attacks or animations on a specific toon.

I guess i'm in the same boat. :(
I didnt like the WHAP, BAM, KAPOW, from the old Batman TV show with Adam West, from what very little i remember.. I think I was 4 years old when it was in its reruns?
Any chance this can be made an Option somewhere, so Roleplayers can see it, but the rest of us Wont?!? ;)

o.O I'm not sure I see it as a RP option and more as a "I like old campy 60's superhero TV"

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DeathSheepFromHell wrote:
DeathSheepFromHell wrote:

Interestingly, while UE4 has an extremely clear dividing line internally, how that maps to actual behavior that the user sees is much more flexible; you could plausibly have a "true pet" that simply sat on someone's shoulders if that is what its "brain" told it to do, and conversely, you can have things that are part of a costume be animated separate from the rest of the costume, or even *appear* to be independent of the rest of the costume to a degree (they aren't, actually, but it is possible to fake it) -- just as a halo can be a costume piece that isn't actually "attached" to the rest of the costume, physically.

Cool. Sounds like that gives you some interesting options!

Spurn all ye kindle.

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... so, yeah, we're not

... so, yeah, we're not having the wednesday update this week. Hope you guys don't mind!

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Happy Holiday Devs! The work

Happy Holiday Devs! The work you guys are putting into this is really coming out nicely! :D Hope you guys have a nice new year

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Mwahahaha! Excellent

Mwahahaha! Excellent additions to my Seasonal wallpapers!

BTW ~ There are only 347 Days, 11 Hours and 54 Seconds of shopping days left!

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Sorry if this has already

Sorry if this has already been asked/answered, Will you guys be doing another 12 Days of Devmas this year?

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* cowers behind a wall.

* cowers behind a wall.

Has anyone seen my mind? It was right here...

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Lin Chiao Feng wrote:
Lin Chiao Feng wrote:

* cowers behind a wall.

*slightly confused*

Odd, no one mentioned reaching that that point in the design phase when it's time to...

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It's one of the new travel

It's one of the new travel powers that will be showcased in this year's 12 Days.

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Kiyori Anoyui wrote:
Kiyori Anoyui wrote:

Sorry if this has already been asked/answered, Will you guys be doing another 12 Days of Devmas this year?

If they are as underwhelming as they were last year, I'd say skip it.

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I thought they were Fine!

I thought they were Fine! Excellent examples of early efforts. I'm definitely looking forward to Devmas 2.0!

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I'm finding my satisfaction

I'm finding my satisfaction level waning.. not because of lack of work or effort, But lack of results and workable timeline. Last year we thought we'd have a costume creator in alpha by now..

I think we need some reality adjustments and a true assessment of why deliverables are coming late or not at all.

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Its' not as bad as Valiance

Its' not as bad as Valiance online, but I have to agree. There was a big discussion about Titans and Valiance on the Champions Online forums, most share your feelings Jay.

http://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/championsonline#/discussion/1203356/getting-fed-up-with-dcuo-so-how-is-champions-online/p1

The comments are way down the thread, but continue on.

There are not many titans nor valiance threads on the DCUO forums, but one player referred to it as vapourrware, while others blew it off.

https://forums.daybreakgames.com/dcuo/index.php?threads/dcuo-vs-city-of-titans.206016/

Most are getting antsy, I am not there yet, but understand where others are coming from.

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I think many people around

I think many people around here have an unrealistic expectation of progress. This is basically why many game devs don't release anything about the games they are working on till they are relatively close to launch. Normally - we wouldn't have an insider's view at this very early stage of game development. Seriously - games take YEARS to develop. Unfortunately, due to the nature of this project, early "leaks" are unavoidable, and are even kind of required.

Personally - my position in this whole deal is: the game will come out when it comes out (if it comes out at all). There is no set schedule, there isn't even a guarantee that there WILL be a game. The devs know where they are regarding the game's progress, but there are always setbacks, and the devs don't want to release too much too early for a variety of reasons. I'll continue to visit the forums, eat up any tidbits the devs throw our way, and when we can get our hands on something to play - COOL! In the meantime I'll be over here playing other games.

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Interdictor wrote:
Interdictor wrote:

I think many people around here have an unrealistic expectation of progress. This is basically why many game devs don't release anything about the games they are working on till they are relatively close to launch. Normally - we wouldn't have an insider's view at this very early stage of game development. Seriously - games take YEARS to develop. Unfortunately, due to the nature of this project, early "leaks" are unavoidable, and are even kind of required.
Personally - my position in this whole deal is: the game will come out when it comes out (if it comes out at all). There is no set schedule, there isn't even a guarantee that there WILL be a game. The devs know where they are regarding the game's progress, but there are always setbacks, and the devs don't want to release too much too early for a variety of reasons. I'll continue to visit the forums, eat up any tidbits the devs throw our way, and when we can get our hands on something to play - COOL! In the meantime I'll be over here playing other games.

Pretty much what I was going to say. I really don't quite understand why some people aren't aware of how hefty the development cycle for a upcoming MMO game is...

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True, true, but idc how long

Idc how long it takes, so long as they add hand cannons and nunchaku, hehe.

Fav weapon in an MMO had to be Cyborgs hand cannon from DCUO, it looked sick.

But anyway.....

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I lost interest in Valiance

I lost interest in Valiance moreso because I didn't like the direction they were going in (I liked the direction City of Titans was going a lot more). I could care less about how far a long they are partly due to the simple fact that I have been aware for a long while that most MMOs take a considerably long time to completely develop. Not sure what Heroes and Villains are doing.

I rather remain optimistic that this game will end up being finished in the upcoming years and that I will have a enjoyable superhero MMO experience to play again. I'll play other games and focus on college in the meantime....

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The holiday season is quickly

The holiday season is quickly approaching, with all its emotional highs and lows. Some of that will undoubtedly spill over onto places like this and will likely range from anxiousness, to people demanding to know why promises that were never made aren't being kept, to pronouncements that the game will never see the light of day. It's mostly just people letting off steam. (You should see the ebb and flow of talk about the progress of the deal to secure the CoH IP.)

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

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Darth Fez wrote:
Darth Fez wrote:

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

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Bleddyn wrote:
Bleddyn wrote:

partly due to the simple fact that I have been aware for a long while that most MMOs take a considerably long time to completely develop.

There's is a huge difference in time scales between posting on forums and developing for games. A conversation about a topic can pop up and generate a lot of traffic in just a few hours. The conversation can last for days or maybe even a few weeks ... and then it dies away because a lot of what needed to be said has been said so interest in continued posting wanes, the topic slows and starts falling further down on the New Posts listings. The important thing though is that the "update speed" going on as far as the forums are concerned happens in a matter of minutes/hours/days.

Contrast that with the pace of development, where the "update speed" going on is measured in weeks and months (if not years!).

No wonder there's a huge disconnect in assumptions. There's this sense that if it takes ME 20 minutes to write a post about something, it should take an equal (or approximate) amount of time to FIX that specific issue ... and when that doesn't happen (in an absurdly timely fashion), people feel "betrayed" or otherwise "let down" by the Development Team not responding fast enough to merge in with the evolving conversation on the Forums (at the rate of conversation speed happening on the Forums).

Doesn't matter that the underlying assumption of Developers can "keep up" with everything said on the Forums AND "do things" in real time response to them is not only fatally flawed but selfishly unrealistic.

Better.
Faster.
Cheaper.

If you're managing your program (and Developers) well, you can manage to get 2 out of those 3.
If you're managing everything poorly, you'll only manage to get 1 out of those 3.
If the Developers ask "how high?" every time the Forums say "JUMP!", you'll only manage to get ZERO out of those 3.

And so which option do forum communities tend to gravitate towards? The last assumption ... duh. Why? Because it means that the forum people are "in charge" and not the Developers.

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From what i am getting,

From what i am getting, people have no issue with a company being mum, but, when they state "X will be released on X date" or will will be in beta mid 2016, etc, then people are frustrated when it is not delivered.

However, i have no issue with a company not saying a word.

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We try not to say very much,

We try not to say very much, but giving out goals does help keep US on track. Perhaps not enough to meet said goals but a little external pressure is good for us, frankly. Nobody is being paid, but being nudged works :P We do always emphasize the dates are soft goals, things we hope to achieve.

Development tends to be full of the unexpected, and of course our inexperience is a big factor, not just our volunteer status. So delays happen easily. To use that list above, we pretty much *have* to go for better cheaper. To a very extreme degree of cheap, so the speed tradeoff can be quite steep. That said, we're starting to get some more experienced volunteers, so things may well pick up.

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Excellent all the way.

Excellent all the way.

Be Well!
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Shadow Elusive wrote:
Shadow Elusive wrote:

We try not to say very much, but giving out goals does help keep US on track. Perhaps not enough to meet said goals but a little external pressure is good for us, frankly. Nobody is being paid, but being nudged works :P We do always emphasize the dates are soft goals, things we hope to achieve.
Development tends to be full of the unexpected, and of course our inexperience is a big factor, not just our volunteer status. So delays happen easily. To use that list above, we pretty much *have* to go for better cheaper. To a very extreme degree of cheap, so the speed tradeoff can be quite steep. That said, we're starting to get some more experienced volunteers, so things may well pick up.

I feel like this is them dipping their foot in the pool of disappointment quickly approaching us. Reminders of them being volunteers. Reminders that they are inexperienced. Reminders of their tight budget. Using words like "soft goals", "hope" or "unexpected".

The costume creator was THE priority when this project got funded. I don't know what happened to that.

Currently trapped inside the Speed Force...

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Zerohour wrote:
Zerohour wrote:

Shadow Elusive wrote:
We try not to say very much, but giving out goals does help keep US on track. Perhaps not enough to meet said goals but a little external pressure is good for us, frankly. Nobody is being paid, but being nudged works :P We do always emphasize the dates are soft goals, things we hope to achieve.
Development tends to be full of the unexpected, and of course our inexperience is a big factor, not just our volunteer status. So delays happen easily. To use that list above, we pretty much *have* to go for better cheaper. To a very extreme degree of cheap, so the speed tradeoff can be quite steep. That said, we're starting to get some more experienced volunteers, so things may well pick up.

I feel like this is them dipping their foot in the pool of disappointment quickly approaching us. Reminders of them being volunteers. Reminders that they are inexperienced. Reminders of their tight budget. Using words like "soft goals", "hope" or "unexpected".
The costume creator was THE priority when this project got funded. I don't know what happened to that.

Fail Faster!? ;)

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Zerohour wrote:
Zerohour wrote:

Reminders of them being volunteers. Reminders that they are inexperienced. Reminders of their tight budget.

Reminders that REALITY™ has veto authority.


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I'm sorry Zerohour, but the

I'm sorry Zerohour, but the AB was NEVER the priority during the Kickstarter. The GAME was THE priority. In fact what was said was that they would work to release the AB as a standalone before the game, but they NEVER PROMISED to do so. It was just another Goal that they Wanted To Achieve.

Working to achieve something is never a Promise to actually do it.

People ALWAYS read into any statement what they want, and not what is being said. I'm a Manager in Customer Service and everything I do and say is recorded. I have to be very careful what and how I tell customers everything and they ALMOST ALWAYS mentally reword what I say into what they want to hear. I use words like "usually" they hear "always". I say "we will do our best", they hear" I promise . . . ".

Reread what they said, and show me where they PROMISED anything on any specific date.

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"I feel like this is them

"I feel like this is them dipping their foot in the pool of disappointment quickly approaching us. Reminders of them being volunteers. Reminders that they are inexperienced. Reminders of their tight budget. Using words like "soft goals", "hope" or "unexpected"."

Dude - we've been saying all that from day one. The volunteer line, the budget line, soft goals, hope - all standard since DURING the KS. And onward since.

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StellarAgent wrote:
StellarAgent wrote:

I'm sorry Zerohour, but the AB was NEVER the priority during the Kickstarter. The GAME was THE priority. In fact what was said was that they would work to release the AB as a standalone before the game, but they NEVER PROMISED to do so. It was just another Goal that they Wanted To Achieve.
Working to achieve something is never a Promise to actually do it.
People ALWAYS read into any statement what they want, and not what is being said. I'm a Manager in Customer Service and everything I do and say is recorded. I have to be very careful what and how I tell customers everything and they ALMOST ALWAYS mentally reword what I say into what they want to hear. I use words like "usually" they hear "always". I say "we will do our best", they hear" I promise . . . ".
Reread what they said, and show me where they PROMISED anything on any specific date.

Nailed it. A few updates were written by people who were less cautious, but overall? Stellar said it.

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We did want to release the AB

We did want to release the AB first, and that's still the goal. It makes sense in a lot of ways for us. And that does mean that it was a priority. But THE priority I think implies a kind of design approach that isn't even possible. If we just designed IMVU with spandex and *then* started working on the game, trust me, the issues that would follow would be a nightmare. You can't develop one part of a game at a time. You have to develop in synchrony, or you'll find your various parts contradicting or incompatible with others. So while we pushed the AB all right, yes, you're seeing plenty of updates relating to other parts of the game.

It's also in part because when we hit a wall in AB development other areas pick up until we figure out a way around, over, or through.

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Phararri wrote:
Phararri wrote:

From what i am getting, people have no issue with a company being mum, but, when they state "X will be released on X date" or will will be in beta mid 2016, etc, then people are frustrated when it is not delivered.
However, i have no issue with a company not saying a word.

I don't know if you are just referring to this project, but if you want to see some very upset people about a company saying nothing, go check out Sesame smart lock on KS, some pretty UPSET people over there.

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Shadow Elusive wrote:
Shadow Elusive wrote:

We did want to release the AB first, and that's still the goal. It makes sense in a lot of ways for us. And that does mean that it was a priority. But THE priority I think implies a kind of design approach that isn't even possible. If we just designed IMVU with spandex and *then* started working on the game, trust me, the issues that would follow would be a nightmare. You can't develop one part of a game at a time. You have to develop in synchrony, or you'll find your various parts contradicting or incompatible with others. So while we pushed the AB all right, yes, you're seeing plenty of updates relating to other parts of the game.
It's also in part because when we hit a wall in AB development other areas pick up until we figure out a way around, over, or through.

Well said SE. As long as I see any progress at all I will be happy. I am creating a video game and I know for a fact that it is hard work and I especially know that sometimes things are incompatible with each other. I have plenty of games that I can play to tide me over til the game I WANT to play is out. Just keep going and we will be home one day :)

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StellarAgent wrote:
StellarAgent wrote:

I'm sorry Zerohour, but the AB was NEVER the priority during the Kickstarter. The GAME was THE priority. In fact what was said was that they would work to release the AB as a standalone before the game, but they NEVER PROMISED to do so. It was just another Goal that they Wanted To Achieve.
Working to achieve something is never a Promise to actually do it.
People ALWAYS read into any statement what they want, and not what is being said. I'm a Manager in Customer Service and everything I do and say is recorded. I have to be very careful what and how I tell customers everything and they ALMOST ALWAYS mentally reword what I say into what they want to hear. I use words like "usually" they hear "always". I say "we will do our best", they hear" I promise . . . ".
Reread what they said, and show me where they PROMISED anything on any specific date.

Stellar, I too have been a manager in the customer service industry. I understand how things work. People want everything yesterday, and only hear the words that work best for the results that they want. That being said, to fulfill your request, I turn you to a post on the kickstarter page:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/missingworldsmedia/the-phoenix-project-city-of-titans/posts/621727

For those who don't want to read it all, here is the pertinent quote:

Quote:

Chris "Warcabbit" Hare - It’s going to take a while. We all know that. MMOs take a long time to launch, and we’ll probably slip a deadline or two. We will get other things out to you sooner. Parts, bits and pieces that are fun on their own, that will integrate into the final game. The Character Generator program comes first. Costumes and sliders and backgrounds. Possibly we’ll be able to fit other things into it, but I don’t want to count my chickens before I’ve irradiated their eggs with Kirbonium.

Another interview, AB addressed 3rd paragraph from the bottom
http://www.technologytell.com/gaming/119590/interview-city-of-titans-developer-address-concerns-over-controversial-kickstarter/

Quote:

Chris Hare - “Once we have things working, we can perform much of it in parallel, making things go faster,” Hare said. “This is why pre-production on a MMO lasts nearly three times as long as production. We will be releasing sub-sections of the main game as we go, though, starting with the Avatar Creator.

And something a little more recent, from these forums:
http://cityoftitans.com/forum/state-game-june-2015

Quote:

Shadow Elusive - Our optimism had us hoping that we could deliver everything by the end of this year. Optimism however did not meet reality. Instead, we are looking into next year before we have a complete game in beta. That does not mean we will not be releasing other elements ahead of time. Already, as mentioned before, the costume builder is looking to be ready for testing before the end of this year, and our hope is to include more than just the costume builder itself at that time.

There are many more sources if you care to look for yourself. But time and again you will see that releasing the costume creator FIRST has always been the priority. "Before the end of this year" is not a specific date, but the closer we get to December 31st, the more specific that statement becomes.

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I understand were you are

I understand were you are coming from Zero, and others, outside of the forums do as-well. Those on the forums are more lenient, because they love the project and have been following it for quite some time. However, those outside, the people CoT would want to bring in appear to share your sentiments Zero.

The links to the CO threads had a reoccurring theme, "Promises"

Again, it does not bother me personally, I can wait (No choice, lol), but I did recall someone confirming that the creator will be out by the here by end of the year on MWM's Youtube channel.

"The Character Creator is on course for release before the end of the year. Yes, I just said that. The game itself we hope to get out mid to late 2016. This will be a pared down version of the game - we're doing the easier to implement stuff first, to learn what we need to know to tackle the harder stuff (and to get the income flow to tackle the harder stuff on a full time schedule). Said launch will have the cap at thirty, but we will be already at work behind the scenes to get us to level 50."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUTl3It9zb0

First comment under replies.

I am not trippin though, it is all good. Not sure what the status of these things are atm, but they must have been trucking if a pared down version of the game is on track for mid 2016.

I have a better feeling about CoT than VO, that is for sure, lol. No clue what is going on over there, that pre-alpha was just awful, no-way they get to Steam anytime soon. Just my opinion, i am not a game developer so...could be wrong, but i have seen other pre-alphas, and they resemble a game.

CoT will be fine imo.

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Zerohour wrote:
Zerohour wrote:

I turn you to a post on the kickstarter page:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/missingworldsmedia/the-phoenix-project-city-of-titans/posts/621727
For those who don't want to read it all, here is the pertinent quote:Quote:
Chris "Warcabbit" Hare - It’s going to take a while. We all know that. MMOs take a long time to launch, and we’ll probably slip a deadline or two. We will get other things out to you sooner. Parts, bits and pieces that are fun on their own, that will integrate into the final game. [/i]The Character Generator program comes first. Costumes and sliders and backgrounds. [/i]Possibly we’ll be able to fit other things into it, but I don’t want to count my chickens before I’ve irradiated their eggs with Kirbonium.
Another interview, AB addressed 3rd paragraph from the bottomhttp://www.technologytell.com/gaming/119590/interview-city-of-titans-developer-address-concerns-over-controversial-kickstarter/
Quote:
Chris Hare - “Once we have things working, we can perform much of it in parallel, making things go faster,” Hare said. “This is why pre-production on a MMO lasts nearly three times as long as production. We will be releasing sub-sections of the main game as we go, though, starting with the Avatar Creator.”

I don't view either of those quotes as statements of priority, but rather as recognition of a necessity imposed by the design philosophy. The game won't be releasable until the NPCs are designed. They will be designed with the AB, therefore the AB will be done before the game is released.
And with regard to this:

Quote:

And something a little more recent, from these forums:http://cityoftitans.com/forum/state-game-june-2015
Quote:
Shadow Elusive - Our optimism had us hoping that we could deliver everything by the end of this year. Optimism however did not meet reality. Instead, we are looking into next year before we have a complete game in beta. That does not mean we will not be releasing other elements ahead of time. Already, as mentioned before, the costume builder is looking to be ready for testing before the end of this year, and our hope is to include more than just the costume builder itself at that time.

"Looking to be ready for testing" is not the same as "Will be ready to release"

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Foradain you can view those

Foradain you can view those links any way you want. The fact of the matter is that on multiple occasions the lead designers recognized that people want the costume creator, and the promise to get that out first and foremost was a driving force behind the project.

I don't know how "The character creator comes first" or "...starting with the avatar creator" doesn't evoke a sense of priority to you. Usually when something is done first, that makes it a priority.

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Zerohour wrote:
Zerohour wrote:

Foradain you can view those links any way you want. The fact of the matter is that on multiple occasions the lead designers recognized that people want the costume creator, and the promise to get that out first and foremost was a driving force behind the project.
I don't know how "The character creator comes first" or "...starting with the avatar creator" doesn't evoke a sense of priority to you. Usually when something is done first, that makes it a priority.

I can Echo those sentiments.. but..
.. I suspect MWM might be looking at deploying the Avatar Builder on devices also, maybe even at the same time as the Desktop versions?

If so, that Will delay things much longer. ;)
If I'm right, expect to wait a bit more. :[

FYI: This is pure conjecture on my part. Did i use conjecture good? ;)

Anyhows, Marketing dept. might prefer the AB be ready for consumption on as many platforms concurrently.
I concur. But, I'm a bit antsy as of late.. so don't look to me to guess the right calls on the matter. :<

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Kiyori Anoyui wrote:
Kiyori Anoyui wrote:

Shadow Elusive wrote:
We did want to release the AB first, and that's still the goal. It makes sense in a lot of ways for us. And that does mean that it was a priority. But THE priority I think implies a kind of design approach that isn't even possible. If we just designed IMVU with spandex and *then* started working on the game, trust me, the issues that would follow would be a nightmare. You can't develop one part of a game at a time. You have to develop in synchrony, or you'll find your various parts contradicting or incompatible with others. So while we pushed the AB all right, yes, you're seeing plenty of updates relating to other parts of the game.
It's also in part because when we hit a wall in AB development other areas pick up until we figure out a way around, over, or through.

Well said SE. As long as I see any progress at all I will be happy. I am creating a video game and I know for a fact that it is hard work and I especially know that sometimes things are incompatible with each other. I have plenty of games that I can play to tide me over til the game I WANT to play is out. Just keep going and we will be home one day :)

I am looking forward to Overwatch when it comes out. Would probably be my next FPS (after Team Fortress 2) that I will play for quite awhile

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Some personal points:

Some personal points:

1) This was not my attempt at holding the conversation of "progress" although I feel the conversation is in the forefront of many devs, supports, and watchers minds.
2) If there is no working character creator model that means that there is likely no NPC creation completed to date in any game-ready form.
3) Deliverables are very clearly not where any of the community would hope them. We have to assume the producers of the project are following its progress, but this does not get reflected in the donor updates.
4) Consumer confidence in crowdfunded projects is at an all-time low. This is based on history. IF (a painfully hopeful if) this project is an exception to the rule of history then we need to have more transparency than secrecy. Its not in the company's best interest but then agan MWM promised to be laible to the Community more than the Shareholders.

I personally don't think this is a "request for more dev details" but I do think this is a true call to say "If we want to build it ... It will take a "WE". That means the community needs a clear vision to get behind and a clear path to get from where we are to where we need to be. I have not seen this vision nor this path myself, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. But it can be both communicated and proven better.

I want a devmas. But more than that I want a game. Devs need a clear path to victory. I don't want to detract dev time from that path to "show us something" but I do want the producers to illuminate that path.

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Zerohour wrote:
Zerohour wrote:

Foradain you can view those links any way you want. The fact of the matter is that on multiple occasions the lead designers recognized that people want the costume creator, and the promise to get that out first and foremost was a driving force behind the project.

The reason that the avatar builder is a necessity is because it is the same tool that the devs will be using to create most, if not all, of the NPCs. The AB will be a lot more user-friendly (i.e. limited) than what the devs will use. DocT has also hinted, or stated, that the AB module will play an important role in how the whole game is set up or whatnot. (It was quite some time ago and he didn't go into any detail.) If you want to call getting the first things done first "a driving force" then, yes, it's a driving force behind the project.

I've not read anything that would indicate that their approach has changed, so I don't know why you feel that anything happened to that. If you're referring to Shadow Elusive's statement from June, then it's as Foradain pointed out: "Looking to be ready for testing" is a maybe, not an, "I promise." A lot can happen in six months. Keep your towel close and don't panic.

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Double post. Meh!

Double post. Meh!

JayBezz wrote:

I want a devmas. But more than that I want a game. Devs need a clear path to victory. I don't want to detract dev time from that path to "show us something" but I do want the producers to illuminate that path.

Ditto. If MWM can give us a devmas, great. However, I don't want some kind of marketing blitz at the cost of real work getting done on the game. Especially since finding the time to get work done on the game is going to be at a premium at this time of year, anyway.

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But Devmas would be a nice

But Devmas would be a nice tradition that can go on even when the game is out. Keeping it going could keep the hope strong!

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Zerohour wrote:
Zerohour wrote:

The fact of the matter is that on multiple occasions the lead designers recognized that people want the costume creator

I'm going to chalk this up in the "DUH!" category simply because of how overwhelmingly obvious it is. Players want the Avatar Builder. The Developers want the Avatar Builder too! EVERYBODY wants the Avatar Builder! This is not a contested statement. This is TRUE.

The fact that the Development Team recognizes this is not a knock against them. If anything, it's a signal of basic minimum level competency.

Zerohour wrote:

and the promise to get that out first and foremost was a driving force behind the project.

You say that as if MWM has delivered OTHER application products that you can download and USE right now. By my count, there are exactly ZERO such products available (and I even counted them all twice!).

So, when you say "they promised to deliver X first!" ... all I have to do is point out that they haven't "delivered" anything else PLAYABLE before delivering on X as promised.

Zerohour wrote:

I don't know how "The character creator comes first" or "...starting with the avatar creator" doesn't evoke a sense of priority to you. Usually when something is done first, that makes it a priority.

Wow. Just wow.

Entitled much?

Let's just say I'm glad you're not solicited for input on what to put on the production schedule (and when). I mean, it sounds like you're expecting things to get done SEQUENTIALLY rather than in PARALLEL ... and therefore if ANY work gets done on ANYTHING ELSE other than what YOU want NAO!!!! it can only be because MWM haven't got their priorities right and they're breaking their promises.

Um ... I'm going to put this mildly. You ready?

You've got it all wrong.

To be more specific, you are making an error of interpretation of the available evidence, rather than an error in selecting the evidence you cite in support of your argument. You are suffering from the ... bias, shall we say ... of "a certain point of view" ...


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Imagine if they did

Imagine if they did everything sequentially, if they were doing that and they released the Avatar Builder, then we would complain cause we know that nothing else had been done yet.

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Kiyori Anoyui wrote:
Kiyori Anoyui wrote:

Imagine if they did everything sequentially, if they were doing that and they released the Avatar Builder, then we would complain cause we know that nothing else had been done yet.

I spend many minutes on creators, I would not mind one bit, lol.

the creator is like 40% of the game for me, if that is what you are referring to, the character creator.

The creator would have been a great way to bring in CoH, DCUO, Marvel 2015, CO, and other players.I don't know squat about development, not sure if one a prioritize a creator over other aspects, but the standalone creator could have been a great tool gain potential players. Most spend hours in the creator anyway, so tons of MMO fans will be playing around on that bad boy.

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Phararri wrote:
Phararri wrote:

Kiyori Anoyui wrote:
Imagine if they did everything sequentially, if they were doing that and they released the Avatar Builder, then we would complain cause we know that nothing else had been done yet.

I spend many minutes on creators, I would not mind one bit, lol.
the creator is like 40% of the game for me, if that is what you are referring to, the character creator.
The creator would have been a great way to bring in CoH, DCUO, Marvel 2015, CO, and other players.I don't know squat about development, not sure if one a prioritize a creator over other aspects, but the standalone creator could have been a great tool gain potential players. Most spend hours in the creator anyway, so tons of MMO fans will be playing around on that bad boy.

I would certainly spend an absurd amount of time on it. I am pretty sure many other people on these forums would too.

Someone out there would still find a reason to complain though. I have seen people complain about more mundane things before

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Geez, if they did things

Geez, if they did things sequentially, the avatar builder would be three years old by the time they got to creating NPCs, and 80% of the team would be idle at any given time.

This is almost as bad an oversimplification as when people treat national economics and household economics as equivalent.

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