Fallen Age Info Digest #11: May 20, 2001 - May 26, 2001

The following list of statements are the highlights of issues discussed on the forums over at 'The Official Site' over the past week by Savant, Drysart and E. No posts were made by Willow (QA).

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Killride

Midway through the week, a can of worms was opened regarding Killride. Killride is the Korean counterpart of Fallen Age. Development occurs on the Korean version and then Fallen Age receives a stable patch afterwards. There was some comotion concerning this incident, and where things have been and are heading with Fallen Age. Savant made this post in response:

I'm gonna hate to disappoint those of you with conspiracy theories, but I'm gonna do it anyway. =P

XPD Entertainment is SK Corp. The "XPD" company name was spun-off just last month, but it's still a wholly-owned subsidiary.

We've never made a secret that we were working in conjunction with a Korean company on this game. I'm sure the engrish cast any doubt of that aside. :)

The game was completely different a year ago, in fact, it had a different name in Korea then as well. The graphics, interface, combat system, etc. all were completely different - Which is why it would seem the Beta there has been going on longer -- It's since gone through a complete overhaul, which is the FA you're seeing now.

We're at exactly the same stage of Beta minus one patch, because we have certain features we need to re-tweak after they're done, and because we like our patches to be as stable as possible (as has been proven with the entire Beta thus far).

Shaker, the Project Manager on the Korean end had this to say:

Hi everyone I am the Project Manager of Killride in Korea...
We are working together with Savant and Netamin to make great game for US and Korea.
Netamin help me with design and make different rules for US, and we design Korea market together too.
Together we design both markets games.

And to help clarify the relation between Netamin and Korea, in regards to adding features, Savant stated the following:

Ok, apparently it hasn't been made clear enough, so let's try again.

It's a co-development.

If we want a feature the entire team (ie us and them) need to agree on it, if they want a feature, the entire team (ie us and them) need to agree on it.

We're both designing and making the game. We're both developing the game. We're both the decision makers when it comes to the game. Both groups of Beta Testers get equal input.

It's no different than having a single team, except ours is broken up into two countries.

An IRC Chat took place with Savant concerning Killride. - The concise log may be found here.

Interface

• Savant: If you ALT+Left Click on a potion in your inventory, it automatically takes it into your hotkey slots. If a potion of its same kind is already in a slot, it stacks it on top of that slot -- if one is not available, it stacks it into an empty slot.

Introduction of 'E'

Eric "E" Lodge, the new Community Relations Manager made this post concerning the patch and timeline:

Hi everyone,

I'm Eric "E" Lodge, and I'm the new Community Relations Manager here for Fallen Age. I've been with Netamin for several months, and now I'm here to serve you! :) My first post here will be one you will all hopefully love and hate me for. That way we start on even ground. Heh. First -- Savant is now Executive Producer of Fallen Age. Which means while he'll still be running the show, it'll be a more hands off dealing - So he won't be around as often and will be doing a lot more work on the back end. Second -- Your patch has been delayed, again. I'm sorry, but as you know software can often times be tricky. We don't know exactly how long, but we can tell you it will be no later than 3 weeks. Here are your rough build notes:

PK System:

• All player names begin white. When they have non-consensually PK'd someone, their name will turn Orange for 3 minutes.
• You do not receive a PK count if you kill someone who's Orange.
• After 3 non-consensual kills, the players name turns Red and he will end up in jail.
• Jail means 15 minutes of mandatory time as well as having to kill as many Protes/Slugs as people the PK killed.
• Everyone will be able to see/watch who's in jail.

In-Game Wanted Bulletin Board System:

• After a player racks up a PK count of 50, his name will be added to a Wanted Man board for all to see.
• Bounty Hunters of these Wanted men will also have their names posted on this board.

New Map:

• The current map is being replaced by a newer, larger map.
• Login points for each class will be different.
• For better memory control, the loading system will be changing.
• Some brand new tiles and building styles.

Secure Trade:

• Trade your items safely! Using SHIFT+Left Click on a person will bring up the Deathmatch, Secure Trade, Profile options for this.

Colony Changes:

• You'll now be able to track how many of what type of building you've constructed in the Building Menu.
• A Newspaper system is introduced. Newspapers will contain tips, new information, and what's going on in the game.
• The Crash/Disconnect bug has been fixed.

Items:

• Left hand items will be changing. Left hand items will be mostly for magic casting and the like.
• +80 potions added.

Balancing:

• More slugs and protes. ;)
• Item prices in the beginner dungeon have been increased.
• Potions now only weigh 3.
• Platinum prices have increased. 200->300 300->500

Bugs:

• Squished as many bugs as possible.

---

Third, a timeline! Here is your rough Timeline Savant just handed me. Please remember that these are not complete and are hard deadlines, but soft ones - which means there is always the possibility of delays.

June:

• Levels 101-200 Content (Quests, Items, Monsters, Areas).
• Guild System.
• Guild Wars.
• Improved Patch method.
• Improved 3D Engine.

July:

• Weather and Night/Day effects.
• Mini Map!
• Avatar Customization
• Improved 3D Engine.
• Levels 201-300 Content (Quests, Items, Monsters, Areas).

August:

• Finished Full upgrade of 3D Engine.
• Avatar Customization
• Improved Death Matches
• Colony Upgrade.

September:

• Finished Avatar Customization.
• Levels 301-400 Content (Quests, Items, Monsters, Areas).
• Marriage, Auctions, Housing...

October:

• Second Colony Upgrade.
• Levels 401-500 Content (Quests, Items, Monsters, Areas).

Well, that's all for my first post. It's nice to meet all of you and I'm sure we'll be having lots of communication together in the near future. :)

Technical Stuff

• Drysart: In response to "Colony mode graphics appear to be padded to nearest 4 byte boundary", Savant didn't have an answer for this one because he's not a programmer, but I am, so I do. :) This is done because memory access for certain CPU operations can be upwards of 33% faster for data aligned to DWORD boundaries, and the memory management done by modern compilers is usually blocked out at DWORD boundaries as well. It's a fairly common optimization done in all sorts of game software, because it's easy to do and it noticably increases your overall program speed.