Revival - Mature Lovecraftian horror MMO - The Something Awful Forums

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Strategic Tea: Sep 1, 2012

Angela Christine posted:

Ah, I understand. Well, it's not set in 1920's new england, though I suppose that could be in the past. About 300 years ago a cataclysmic something or other ended. It involved The Great Old ones (Cthulhu and company, powers from beyond who currently reside under the sea), The Outer Gods (Azathoth and company who live in distant spheres and are generally unknowable) and the Elder Gods who seem like pretty traditional gods. In the current time the Elder Gods are credited with getting rid of the GOOs and OGs to settle down and leave humanity alone. Much was lost during the whatever cataclysm, and now the people are at a roughly medieval to tudor technology level (no guns or steam engines) and the recovering from an apocalypse is used to explain any anachronisms.

So you've got lost civilizations, ancient ruins, things man was not meant to know, and somewhere out there may be lost rituals that can bring the GOOs or OGs back to wreck the world. There are probably some remnants of cults that worshiped the dark powers still out there, just looking for the chance to wake up Cthulhu. Could be an innsmouth-like village somewhere. The Necronomicon is just waiting to be found.

Madness is a primary stat. Sort of like in the old Call of Cthulhu p&p rpg. If you start to dabble in magic you'll gain madness. If you see crazy poo poo man was not meant to see you'll gain madness. If you start worshiping the Outer Gods (OGs) or Great Old Ones (GOOs) you'll gain madness. All sorts of things can cause madness.

Surely even knowing which gods belong to which pantheons and can boss which other gods around kind of ruins the unknowable horror of the whole thing and what am I saying nerds nerds nerds

:goonsay:

# ? Oct 17, 2015 00:39

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# ? Jun 3, 2024 23:04

Facebook Aunt: Oct 4, 2008; wiggle wiggle

It's friday and you all know what that means! :peanut:

https://www.revivalgame.com/blog/51-weekly-blog-update-50-have-it-your-way

quote:

Weekly Blog Update #50: Have It Your Way

Snipehunter: about 7 hours ago

Weekly Update

Welcome to our FIFTIETH weekly blog update! Seriously, our 50th update. I know, it just means we�ve been in full production for almost a year, but I can�t help but feel amazed all the same. Almost a year later, we have an amazing community of Revivalists, many of whom are now founders. That�s what I find amazing. Just on a personal level, I�ve spent most of my career with people in the industry telling me that no one would want to play a game like Revival, and yet... here you all are. That�s amazing and I�m humbled and gratified by it, all at once.

But enough of that, you want to hear about the game, right? As I type this, I�m fetching the latest build to engage in another round of testing of what will be the next revision. We�re definitely at the �any minute now� point in terms of releasing this. I can�t and won�t give you a date or anything, but I strongly suspect you�ll have it in your hands in a matter of days, not weeks. The homes are all furnished, the decorate tools are amazing, and so far it all looks great.

But you know, looking back, it has taken a while to get to this point, hasn�t it? Some of you may be wondering what that means overall. Are we behind schedule? Does it mean something bad for the game? Well, no. Sure we took more time than I personally might have liked to get here, but that was time well spent. It�s just a consequence of our development strategy and the problems we faced along the way. There�s a lot of work to do, but we�ve planned each stage and each element of those stages so that we solve problems that make the next stage easier. In this case it was our modular �tiered� building system. Now that we�ve got it ironed out, building future houses and cities will take a lot less time. We also took time to build the foundation of the server and backend services that the rest of the game will use, going forward. It was no small task, but worth every second because it makes literally everything else we want to do possible.

Concept Art - The South Gate of Crowns Rock

Great Minds of Theleston

Now that we�ve talked a little bit about componential crafting, thanks to Ombwah�s Day in the Life blogs and we�ve talked about tagging in my last turn at the blog helm, I think we can start to talk about some of the cooler ways this all comes together. For me, the most obvious example is the way that these various systems allow for serious personalization and customization of items and objects in the world.

Revival is a world where players and NPCs alike contribute to an ever-evolving world, where we tell the story of the world through our actions and their repercussions, but it�s also a game of trade and economics. Are those two concepts exclusive of each other? Do you have to be a sword wielding hero in order to be a part of Theleston�s legend or can a merchant and a craftsperson play just as important and impactful a role?

For us, Theleston isn�t a world until the answer the answer to that last question is a yes. If there is no possibility for an Edison, a Tesla or a Jobs to rise out of the world�s population then haven�t we let you down? But, in an MMO, how do you do that? How do you make something anyone can do into something that is uniquely the superpower of a single character?

Well, one approach we�re taking to the problem is one of branding - that is to say, we�re spending some of our time and effort to make sure that it�s possible for your crafting output to be unique, not just in its content, but in its presentation as well. It�s also a window into the various ways we can customize things, so let me walk you through a couple of examples, from the perspective of a vintner, a maker of wine:

Making good wine starts at the vineyard. Careful selection of the grapes to grow, appropriate conditions, and good soil all contribute to flavor, both in real life and in Revival, where the conditions when planting and growing the grapes play into the final fruit the plant produces. This is done by transfering properties to the fruit over the course of the grow period based on conditions and actions taken during growth, as mentioned in the farming blog. Essentially, each grape that will be harvested off the vine will have a number of tags attached to it that represent the properties that will be transferred to the wine in the crafting. Already, we can see that knowing a good farmer or being one yourself plays an important part of how your wine turn out, but it doesn�t end there.

When it comes times to crush the grapes into �must� and get your wine ready for fermentation, you�ll have the option to include various adjuncts, much like experimentation as mentioned in the cooking blog, which will also impart their attached tags (and properties) to the wine as it ferments. When the wine is finished, players who don�t take the time to really study the wine (with the appropriate knowledge) aren�t going to know anything about what�s in your wine, but all of those properties become game effects that will affect their characters when the wine is consumed. Your unique combination of conditions, additives and labor will result in a unique wine with a unique combination of effects.

If it�s a good combination, it will stand out as a cut above the rest, and people may want more, but how do they find it? How do they know which wine they want? Well, that�s where the next step in the array of customization options, and the real heart of branding, comes in: Bottling and labeling your wine.

You know you have a great brew and you know people are going to want it, but you also know that they need a way to identify it, so what do you do? Well, one step would be to contact a glass maker and try to get a distinctive bottle, some combination of shape and color that can easily be identified as yours. You would use this then, when it came time to bottle and sell your wine. People could tell just from the bottle alone that it was yours. The bottle itself may not have any properties to transfer to the wine (or it may), but even so, the bottle you use will determine the 3D model of the wine in the game and that�s what matters. That will solve half of your problem, but you�re not really done yet, right? I mean, you still need a way to tell characters what your wine is called and why it�s better, so that new customers can be enticed to try it on their own. Thankfully, our customization system lets you handle that as well.

You just need a scribe to make you a custom label that you can then apply to the bottle. That will do two things, first it will add a decal based on the label to your 3D model of your wine. Second, the contents of your label will be visible to players when they inspect the bottle.

Things like labels can be added after the fact, too. In fact, to carry out the example further, let�s say that you have a competitor who is too popular to topple with your obviously superior product alone, because no one ever thinks to try yours. Now, you might try to give it away for free or something to try to build awareness, but maybe the less scrupulous among us would consider sabotaging the competition instead. If they did, they might think to sneak into your competitor�s store of bottles and quietly doctor each one, adding a small drop of some unpleasant poison to each bottle before carefully resealing them. Just as with the labels on the bottle, doing so would impart properties to the wine, transferring over the effects of the poison without altering the obvious appearance or visible item information. (Though a perceptive investigator, alchemist or vintner might be able to study the wine and catch signs!)

Many customization options are applications of various skills and/or master professions, but in every case the same technology is used. It can be used to dye one or more �color channels� on cloth, or paint an object, or even apply a maker�s mark. In fact, imbuing an object with magic also uses the same technology, so that when you etch and inscribe the magical thaumagram and its spell symbols, you�re really passing on the tags/flags and game effects that make the spell work, as well as a property that applies a decal of the thaumagram to the item. It�s actually, technologically, not a hell of a lot of work. Behind the scenes, we�re just referencing game effect packages and tags, but because of the way we�ve worked this technique into the gameplay, it opens a broad palette of possibilities when it comes to customization.

Elegant tech, applied in clever ways; it�s how a team with ambition like ours can make Revival happen and how, we hope, online worlds will live and breathe from now on.

The People Speak

The forums have been full of interesting talk this week, as usual. I really do love our community here. Sure, we won�t always see eye to eye, but that seldom means flame wars and troll posts. You�re all way too good for that sort of petty stuff and I can�t thank you enough for being so epicly cool.

Take for example, this one, that asks �Is Revival too good to be true?� https://www.revivalgame.com/forum#/discussion/964/is-revival-too-good-to-be-true

In a lot of other MMO forums, that would be a multi-dozen page rant fest, but here? Here we discuss it reasonably, even when some of us are angry. That�s amazing. Seriously!
The Seer�s Rede

Next week, Ombwah will begin the first of a new series of blogs, the Tales of Crowns Rock. Each installment will offer a glimpse into the legends, stories and histories of the the little town our founders like to call home in Theleston. Don�t miss it!

Liquor, like wine, is serious business in Theleston

Another week where they claim to be nearly ready to release the next thing. The observant among you may remember they've been saying for like 3 weeks now. But it's not a problem, everything is fine. Just fine.

# ? Oct 24, 2015 06:22

tamphex: Jun 21, 2003

Grape Barons.

# ? Oct 24, 2015 08:26

Meta-Mollusk: May 2, 2013; by FactsAreUseless; Grimey Drawer

And just what the hell is this? :psyduck:

# ? Oct 24, 2015 11:34

randombattle: Oct 16, 2008; This hand of mine shines and roars! It's bright cry tells me to grasp victory!

It's like warhammer 40k's manifestations of insanity and chaos made real in video game form.

# ? Oct 24, 2015 20:14

Facebook Aunt: Oct 4, 2008; wiggle wiggle

This is the madness at the heart of creation. Maybe a video game, too.

# ? Oct 25, 2015 09:26

Decrepus: May 21, 2008; In the end, his dominion did not touch a single poster.

Imagine if irl every time you wanted to eat or drink something you had to go to Deckard Cain and have him identify it, that would be real fuckin neato.

# ? Oct 25, 2015 14:25

Facebook Aunt: Oct 4, 2008; wiggle wiggle

OMG, someone there started a meme thread. https://www.revivalgame.com/forum#/discussion/371/lovecraftified-memes-funnies/p1

# ? Oct 26, 2015 06:19

Facebook Aunt: Oct 4, 2008; wiggle wiggle

This weeks devblog is, uh, I don't even know. https://www.revivalgame.com/blog/52-weekly-blog-update-51-something-spooky Not even going to bother to paste it, because it barely has anything to do with the game. Instead of game dev fanfiction it's a spooky story written in the style of Lovecraft. Dude could have written it 10 years ago, then just dropped in subtle bits like "He took me in to his home at #20 Westgate" so it is set in the game world. Too spooky.

# ? Oct 31, 2015 17:08

Alexander DeLarge: Dec 20, 2013

Decorator tool video coming soon

# ? Nov 2, 2015 00:48

YOTC: Nov 18, 2005; Damn stupid newbie

Alexander DeLarge posted:

Decorator tool video coming soon

If I can't break into people's houses and just mess up their decorations I'll be sad.

# ? Nov 2, 2015 00:52

RudeCat: Aug 7, 2012; The rudest cat for the rudest jobs

YOTC posted:

If I can't break into people's houses and ~~just mess up their decorations~~ have sex on their bed I'll be sad.

A good way to sexually debuff a rival.

# ? Nov 2, 2015 01:07

Rough Lobster: May 27, 2009; Don't be such a squid, bro

UnwiseTrout posted:

A good way to sexually debuff a rival.

During the middle of the end boss fight, the raid tank's max health suddenly plummets and he eats the bosses next attack and dies, causing a wipe. Poring through the combat logs and character sheets, he finally sees the culprit:

code:

DEBUFF: You've been cucked! -15% HP, -20% Charisma. 2 Hours 58 minutes remaining

"Goddamn it," he snarls, "not again! Tina, you bitch!"

# ? Nov 2, 2015 07:24

Facebook Aunt: Oct 4, 2008; wiggle wiggle

Alexander DeLarge posted:

Decorator tool video coming soon

Decorator tool video is here!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tUnaYDLw38

EDIT: and the blog that goes with it - https://www.revivalgame.com/blog/53-weekly-blog-update-52-house-decoration-tool

Facebook Aunt fucked around with this message at 02:05 on Nov 7, 2015

# ? Nov 6, 2015 21:30

Alexander DeLarge: Dec 20, 2013

Angela Christine posted:

Decorator tool video is here!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tUnaYDLw38

EDIT: and the blog that goes with it - https://www.revivalgame.com/blog/53-weekly-blog-update-52-house-decoration-tool

Looks pretty nice tbh

# ? Nov 7, 2015 14:49

Facebook Aunt: Oct 4, 2008; wiggle wiggle

Alexander DeLarge posted:

Looks pretty nice tbh

Yeah. We won't know for sure until players get ahold of it, but it certainly looks more functional than anything Star Citizen has put out. It looks easier to use and more flexible than the "moving stuff in 3d space" systems I've used in EVE or Archeage or even Sims 3. I'm cautiously optimistic.

I just wish the guy in the video would learn how to make slow smooth mouse movements instead of spastically jerking the screen around when he's doing these demos. Watching full screen made me a bit nauseous.

# ? Nov 7, 2015 15:02

Decrepus: May 21, 2008; In the end, his dominion did not touch a single poster.

I can't wait until I can relive my The Sims life of living in a shame cube where I pump iron, read books, poo poo, piss, and gently caress all in one room. With a servant to clean up piss from the kitchen quadrant floor obviously.

# ? Nov 7, 2015 15:09

YOTC: Nov 18, 2005; Damn stupid newbie

Not gonna lie, I'm kinda surprised that that decorating system looks.... nice. Like no poo poo, it looks very useable.

# ? Nov 7, 2015 19:35

Pyzza Rouge: Jun 25, 2011; La Mano de Dios

YOTC posted:

If I can't break into people's houses and just mess up their decorations I'll be sad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOZ9blvuG-I

# ? Nov 9, 2015 17:31

Facebook Aunt: Oct 4, 2008; wiggle wiggle

It is friday which means it is devblog time. This week, litterally talking about the weather: https://www.revivalgame.com/forum#/discussion/1047/weekly-blog-53-nice-weather

quote:

Well, I suppose I should start with this bit of unwelcome news, first. The patch is not yet ready. Or rather, I should say, the patch is being readied for us to test, but that means we won�t have it out for our founders today, which I had personally hoped would be the case. After all, right now, Friday the 13th is a good day for IllFonic, as a whole and I really wanted to be able to start today�s blog by piling on more good news, but the truth is the patch for the next release of the client just isn�t quite ready.

Getting it done is a tough task, make no mistake. Part of the reason that tools like the house decorate feature have only started showing up in their clean, modern form over the last couple of years is that there are a ton of interactions possible and finding all of the special cases that might break your general tools can be a challenge. Particularly at the interaction between procedural and simulation systems such as a physics system and your basic desire to place static objects.

For example, we had a �bug� at one point over the last few weeks where, with some clever maneuver, you could lift your character up with objects and then surf yourself around the room (or out into the void beyond the stars if you weren�t careful). It wasn�t exactly a bug, in that we wanted the physics simulation to run while decorating, but it was an unexpected side effect and one we had to specially address. Problems like that are the little things that make the difference between something that feels right and something that feels horribly broken. Even though we�re not done here, we�re not happy with the idea of shipping broken crap and that�s part of the reason we�ve held back the release of the decorate tool for so long. We�ve been �feature complete� for weeks, but complete and finished can be pretty far apart, and the more complex the goal, the wider that gulf actually is.

Even in Theleston, you can find happy little trees

Great Minds of Theleston
Well, now that that�s out of the way, let�s just have a nice chat, yeah? Something simple and innocuous, like the weather? Here in Colorado, we had our first snow of the year this week. It was nothing major, but weather seldom is, right? I mean, sure you might have something extreme happen every once in awhile, but mostly the weather does what you expect it to. But what about when the weather isn�t normal? What makes it change? How can you represent that without simulating the actual weather, one of the most difficult problems in computing ever attempted?

Weather is a global phenomenon, an aspect of life in Theleston that connects all parts of the world and Revival aims to show you that. But to do that we need to do a lot more to track the weather than most games. The first piece of this comes in the way we treat the world.

Make no mistake, no matter how a game world is presented to a player, it�s actually broken up into areas or zones. Those zones may be big �this is a discrete level� affairs like the zones of EQ2 or WoW, or they be small slices of land that are stitched seamlessly together and then streamed to you to present the facade of a whole world. This is true in Revival as well, but we also devote a lot of resource to simulating the world as a whole, which is something most games skip. This includes passing on information about the weather between areas, so that weather, winds, currents and storms are global events.

If you think of the world of Theleston as a soccer ball, then you can think of each hexagon or pentagon on the surface of that soccer ball as a �cell� of Theleston. Each cell tracks its own internal weather conditions at about 10m per pixel fidelity, tracking temperature, wind direction and speed, humidity and atmospheric pressure. Each cell also has a �normal range� defined for it that, barring any external influence, the conditions will generally stay around given the season. There�s some random fluctuation here of course, but generally speaking, it�ll be warm in summer, cold in winter, that sort of thing.

The cellular nature of weather tracking allows for highly regional conditions, such as microclimates. The same perspective with respect to compartmentalizing data allows us to account for things such as conditions changing based on altitude or position on the planet. In other words, you can travel up a mountain and experience colder conditions as you go, or travel towards Theleston�s equator to experience warmer and calmer climes, or towards its poles to experience colder and more volatile weather. Mind you these changes are somewhat gradual, what with cells adjusting conditions over time such that they generally stay within the normal ranges defined for them.

While a cell will want its current conditions to move slowly towards the normal range of an area, local conditions are still influenced by outside entities. For example, the conditions of the neighboring cells or weather �entities� that are moving through them will both alter the current conditions of a cell. Consider, as another example, that different latitudes of the planet have different prevailing winds; all things being equal a general flow of wind in one direction is noted at particular latitudes. This is true in Theleston, as well, with bands of prevailing winds and jet streams crossing come of the world�s cells as world-spanning �ribbons.� When these ribbons of wind perturb and cross through cells, this will change the air pressure and wind speeds of the area.

These changes in turn can trigger events which will create the storms and other moment-to-moment weather of the game. This is one of the ways a weather entity such as a storm or a tornado could spawn in the world. A weather entity is sort of like a mob, it is an entity with its own sort of AI, though players won�t �fight� them or interact too directly with them, instead when a weather entity spawns, it directly affects the local weather data in a cell, changing temperatures, pressures, humidities around it. This then adjusts wind speeds and the like in turn, which can bleed into other cells. The weather entities each have their own AI and their own conditions for spawning and breaking up or �dying.�

And of course, this also means that there are ways to directly influence the weather. In truth there are several methods, and almost all of them can be harnessed by players directly in the form of weather magic. A weather mage can lower or raise atmospheric pressure to drive wind towards or away from them, or if the mage wants more finesse, the same magic can be applied to �bend� the vectors of a cell�s weather in a specific direction and create a wind flow, say to clear a fog of smoke off the field of battle or fill the sails of a ship. And of course, a strong weather mage can spawn weather entities the way a summoner might bring extraplanar creatures into the world. These are, of course, extremes we�re illustrating here; the primary purpose of the system is to make sure that the weather of the world behaves the way worldly weather should, including reacting to the influences of the moment and accommodating trends that come as a consequence of each cell being one part of a whole globe.

So for example, Crowns Rock sits on the globe of Theleston in one of its temperate zones, where winds generally blow west to east. However, a jetstream like wind sometimes shifts from its usual pattern in the south during the winter to cross into this area, and when it does that ribbon of cold easterly air disrupts the prevailing wind, which in turn spawns cyclones and other storm events that further disrupt the weather as they move through the area, leading to a hard, windy and icy winter that can damage homes, freeze harbors and kill the already meager selection of winter crops available to farmers. This is because the passage of the weather entities and the flow of the jet stream all change the information stored in the weather data for each cell of the world, driving it away from the averages set for a normal year. All of this changes inputs into other systems such as the currents in the oceans or the growing system for crops so that changes in the weather are more than just a pretty show of skybox changes and particle effects. Instead, changes in the weather will be felt by all aspects of the game so that weather is a �real� and palpable thing in the world of Revival.

WIP - A statue of Animae�s death aspect

tl;dr: sorry, I kind of zoned out there. Um, weather exists, I guess? Will exist? Wants to exist?

# ? Nov 14, 2015 02:19

mushroom_spore: May 9, 2004; by R. Guyovich

Is...is that some kind of god-thing literally named "anime"? :psyduck:

EDIT: Oh I guess it's a form of "anima" but wow that's an unfortunate choice.

mushroom_spore fucked around with this message at 02:44 on Nov 14, 2015

# ? Nov 14, 2015 02:41

Facebook Aunt: Oct 4, 2008; wiggle wiggle

mushroom_spore posted:

Is...is that some kind of god-thing literally named "anime"?

No, it's latin Animae. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/anima#Latin Would be a perfectly respectable name for a game godess of life and death, if not for japanese cartoons. Anime ruins everything.

# ? Nov 14, 2015 02:46

Zaphod42: Sep 13, 2012; If there's anything more important than my ego around, I want it caught and shot now.

Which is probably why for the summon in FFX they called it "Anima" instead, although then it sounds pretty different. (They used other Latin in FFX too, machina)

# ? Nov 14, 2015 02:54

Facebook Aunt: Oct 4, 2008; wiggle wiggle

Nothing to do with the game. Just a cool picture I thought you might enjoy. :cthulhu:

# ? Nov 14, 2015 21:19

Decrepus: May 21, 2008; In the end, his dominion did not touch a single poster.

mushroom_spore posted:

Is...is that some kind of god-thing literally named "anime"?

Actually, it is pronounced "anime"

# ? Nov 15, 2015 00:31

YOTC: Nov 18, 2005; Damn stupid newbie

Pyzza Rouge posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOZ9blvuG-I

I have done this in ARK. It felt good.

# ? Nov 15, 2015 13:15

throw to first DAMN IT: Apr 10, 2007; This whole thread has been raging at the people who don't want Saracen invasion to their homes

Perhaps you too should be more accepting of their cultures

Angela Christine posted:

Nothing to do with the game. Just a cool picture I thought you might enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twMH4gS0bpY

# ? Nov 15, 2015 23:14

Facebook Aunt: Oct 4, 2008; wiggle wiggle

Here is a proof of concept thing they did in 2014. Looks cook, but that was before they switched from cryengine to UE4, so most of this had to be scraped, lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRH4d7ZbS9M

# ? Nov 18, 2015 07:58

Alexander DeLarge: Dec 20, 2013

Angela Christine posted:

Here is a proof of concept thing they did in 2014. Looks cook, but that was before they switched from cryengine to UE4, so most of this had to be scraped, lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRH4d7ZbS9M

If they can get forests with that kind of density running in a MMO at that level of detail, I don't care how the game is, I want to run around in it.

# ? Nov 19, 2015 04:10

YOTC: Nov 18, 2005; Damn stupid newbie

Alexander DeLarge posted:

If they can get forests with that kind of density running in a MMO at that level of detail, I don't care how the game is, I want to run around in it.

I want to know what beast they ran that poo poo on.

# ? Nov 19, 2015 06:32

Decrepus: May 21, 2008; In the end, his dominion did not touch a single poster.

youtube comment posted:

Found this game as I was looking up your company's work on Star Marine. This looks very cool and I really loving hope you finish this; looks absolutely amazing.

# ? Nov 19, 2015 06:38

Dark_Swordmaster: Oct 31, 2011

Alexander DeLarge posted:

If they can get forests with that kind of density running in a MMO at that level of detail, I don't care how the game is, I want to run around in it.

It's on UE4 now though so it may not be possible. Remember Cryengine is first and foremost a tree simulator.

# ? Nov 19, 2015 07:20

Zaphod42: Sep 13, 2012; If there's anything more important than my ego around, I want it caught and shot now.

Alexander DeLarge posted:

If they can get forests with that kind of density running in a MMO at that level of detail, I don't care how the game is, I want to run around in it.

Its REALLY easy to throw together amazing looking demos when you're using cryengine or UE4. Its REALLY HARD to actually maintain that level of quality for a full MMO.

No way in gently caress can they put out an MMO that looks like that.

Probably an offline demo that's single player, may not even have a running server-client architecture yet. Probably just a loving map demo. He just runs around and doesn't interact with anything. Ridiculously easy to do.

Dark_Swordmaster posted:

It's on UE4 now though so it may not be possible. Remember Cryengine is first and foremost a tree simulator.

It'd be possible with a good art team and programmers, especially if you use speedtree; but those are not things they have, so yeah.

# ? Nov 19, 2015 22:49

Facebook Aunt: Oct 4, 2008; wiggle wiggle

It is friday and that means it's time for content! No, wait, it's just the weekly devblog. This week it's a lore dump where we learn how Crown's Rock got its name. Tingling with excitement. Client update that's been ready any day now for the last month still isn't ready. https://www.revivalgame.com/blog/55-weekly-blog-54-the-alder-crown

quote:

Weekly Update

Hello Revivalists! Welcome back to Words From On High, your weekly glimpse into the evolving world of Revival production! This week we have moved from building and tweaking the patcher, and now we�re marching into the final testing round. The renovation kit rooms sets are also in testing, and have shaped up beautifully, in my opinion. These rooms are sure to make any owner house-proud.

Meanwhile, back at the Lab...

Great Minds of Theleston

The Alder Crown
Part 1 � Daybreak over Blackwell Sound
When we left with Braugg�s blessing for the windswept rock at the north of Blackwell sound, little did our brotherhood know what our pilgrimage would herald for the good people of the Elder Congregations, or indeed for all of Theleston.

The decision to build our new abbey on North Blackwell isle was one that we came upon after months of deliberation. The remoteness of the place was a prime concern, as all of our needs would have to be provided by our own labors that far from home. At the time, we weren�t even sure that our farms would be able to produce enough! In hindsight this would be the least of our worries, as this narrative will soon relate.

Part 2 � The Storm
It was mid-spring in the 97th year of the New Reckoning when a storm unlike any we had yet experienced tore across the island. Many on the island lost their homes. Our abbey was 23 years finished, so there were halls enough that those who lost their cottages in the deluge could shelter within. Rooms filled quickly, though, and soon enough there were bundles sleeping or weathering the blowing winds in every corner and hallway.

So fierce was the blowing gale that the few ships in the harbor couldn�t leave, and no-one from without could get near the island. Much later, I heard sailors� tales about a whirling vortex that spun wide �round the whole of the island, but Sister Freja claims that such a thing could not be possible without a great beast swimming �round, or some vast chasm opening beneath us, above which our island was perched upon a tall central spire. This she drew for me on a parchment, to illustrate the absurdity of the idea.

The storm blew for three days. Most of our regular seminars were cancelled for the duration, as there were no places to hold them that were not occupied by displaced citizens. The island was thrashed by wind, lightning and salty rain day and night, forcing most of the windows to be not only closed and barred, but stuffed with rags or covered tightly with tapestries. Still, the outer rooms were muggy and humid throughout. I feared for the books, but the library is the centermost chamber of our small abbey, and was not only kept tightly locked up, but was also the one room that was not loaned to the sheltering refugees.

It was while taking a moment with some colleagues in the library that the subject of metaphysics as pertained to the storm was first broached. Brother Milton, a scholar of Eld Nodens, mentioned a poem he had located recently. He related that these lyrics celebrated the triumph of the Elder Gods over a group of Great Old Ones referred to as the Trinity in the Sea.

As it went, Milton explained, a wicked convocation of Haedra worshipping cultists is described as taking place ��neath amber moon, on rocky shoal� and their works thus culminated in a three-day storm. Further, the monk reported excitedly, if his theories were accurate, the poem contained hints as to the proper date and time for such a ritual, and that the night when the stars had been correct had been only two days past.

Our companion was manic with his ideas, and began shuffling through this manuscript and that, jotting details and phrases. As he worked he took on a fevered aspect, his excitement reaching new crescendos with each discovery. The storm blew itself out precisely one day after, and as the last window was opened to the clearing sky, he burst from the library, sheaf of papyrus shaking in his hands. Brother Milton was in such a state, we had to put him into the infirmary until he could be calmed enough to speak. Yet by the time he did, the gods had already come and gone.

Part 3 � the Willow Grove
In the days after the storm, we monks then moved the refugees into a tent village in the nearby fields, where there had long stood a willow grove. Haggard now from the storm, these trees nonetheless provided a bit of shade and shelter from wind, so we chose to center the camp there. We had scarcely begun on the second row of tents when an acolyte, cried out from the center of the grove. We all went to him, and found him kneeling before the great roots of a fallen willow tree. It was clear that this giant had been felled by the winds, blown over and torn from the earth. In the shallow pit left behind, lay a crown of carven wood.

The boy's countenance had changed, where once we looked upon a face vibrant with youth, he now seemed more drawn, aged perhaps beyond his years. We asked the young man why he had cried out, but his reply was only that �The daughter stood the watch� then he would speak no more of it. We took him to the infirmary, then, and the crown as well. We picked the latter up on the crook of a staff so as not to run afoul of any more magics. No one yet had a good idea what we would do with the artifact, but it was thought best to lock it in the vault until we learned more.

Imagine our surprise, then, when as we arrived, Brother Milton burst from the abbey door and ran to meet us, shouting, infirmary bedclothes streaming behind.

�The Crown! The Crown! The Crown, the Key!� he sang.

We thought him still most touched, but aside from being out of breath, Milton was bright of eye and clear of mind. He told us that as he had slept he had dreamt of a princess, clad in a gown of alder leaves. She came from the small wood near the coast, and walked to the meadow, and the willow grove. The sun shone on the variegated green of her dress, her brown hair fell loose beneath a crown of carven wood.

He told us that he saw her approach a young willow tree in the center of the grove, and place her crown at its base, before leaving as she had come. The sky turned above him then, and he saw the tree age and grow. As it did, the crown disappeared within it. He said that he woke then, knowing that we were returning, and sure that we had the crown from his dream.

We went into the abbey then, the crown went into the vault, and the acolyte youth to the infirmary, where he did recover some, and eventually went back to service in the abbey. Though he will not speak of the crown, even today.

Part 4 � Visitor in the Night
Later that month, Sister Celestianne was staying the night watch in the foyer, when she reported a clamouring of strange voices rising outside the door. She recounted that they had come suddenly, out of the quiet of the small hours, and that though they spoke Terce as she did, their voices were strange. In her own account, she writes that they rose like nightbirds, a flock of them, suddenly, nightbirds and squalling frogs.

To her horror the things without began to thump and press at the door, but the stout oak held, Celestianne was transfixed, and could not ring the bell and call for assistance, such was her fear that the noise would embolden the strange visitors to greater feats. Yet she held her vigil, and the noise was gone with the sunrise, as abruptly gone as it had come. When Sister Celestianne struck then the courage to look outside, she found the flags dripping with seawater, and gouges inches deep upon the door.

Part 5 � A Home for the Crown
After Celestianne�s terrified report, it was decided that Brother Milton would be sent with an envoy upon a swift vessel to Tide�s End. From there they rode on to Skypass upon horses, travelling light. A council was held, and Milton was sent on to a cathedral of Nodens far south in Fallshollow.

There again a council was held, and upon hearing the fullness of Brother Milton�s account, an elder priest stepped forward and said that often in the scripture, there appear stories of the daughter of Nodens, Demma, standing against monsters and aberration. It is said, the priest elaborated, that she is in those guises seen as the balance of all things natural to Theleston, an emanation of life and death in harmony with the elements. It was decided that North Blackwell Island be the site of a larger cathedral, dedicated to the protection of the Crown, and when Milton left there, he left with many more companions, pilgrims returning with him in the name of Nodens and Animae to build a safe home for the divine Crown, and to give our island a new name.

A Crystal Prism! Perhaps a hotline to the Unknown

I don't know what the second picture is, but the first picture is kind of interesting. If you bought a $200+ house with an upgradeable room, and then bought the $5 Laboratory upgrade kit for that room, that is what YOUR room would look like. Tile floor replaces the wood floor -- good for a room where you might be spilling acids, but potentially a major turn off for fans of wood floors tho.

# ? Nov 21, 2015 10:58

kloa: Feb 14, 2007

is there a client to dick around in game or do i have to drop $200 to do so?

# ? Nov 21, 2015 17:59

Facebook Aunt: Oct 4, 2008; wiggle wiggle

kloa posted:

is there a client to dick around in game or do i have to drop $200 to do so?

No, right now the client is only for 'founders' who have dropped at least $36. We aren't missing anything though, at this point (stage 1) all the client lets you do is walk around the inside of any houses you have purchased. (Sort of like Start Citizen's hangar module, except all the house interiors exist.) The bit that has been almost ready for a month now is the furniture kits, so if you owned a house you would be able to move around the furniture in your house -- still not really compelling gameplay.

# ? Nov 21, 2015 21:16

throw to first DAMN IT: Apr 10, 2007; This whole thread has been raging at the people who don't want Saracen invasion to their homes

Perhaps you too should be more accepting of their cultures

Angela Christine posted:

so if you owned a house you would be able to move around the furniture in your house -- still not really compelling gameplay.

Idk, that's basically all I end up doing in Skyrim.

# ? Nov 21, 2015 21:55

kloa: Feb 14, 2007

Puistokemisti posted:

Idk, that's basically all I end up doing in Skyrim.

and sims games

# ? Nov 21, 2015 22:50

Calidor: Aug 11, 2012

Have they put the virtual dildos and sex toys on sale yet?

# ? Nov 25, 2015 04:00

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Jun 3, 2024 23:04

Facebook Aunt: Oct 4, 2008; wiggle wiggle

Good news wood floor fans: the update finally dropped and furniture is here. Lots of people posting pictures of their newly decorated houses.

A $400 manse: https://www.revivalgame.com/forum#/discussion/1068/manse-w-upgrades-and-furniture-photos-from-new-client

A gallary showing both an $80 cottage and a $200 House: http://imgur.com/a/B16Bq

Everybody is all excited by NEW things at the moment, but in a few days there should be reports of how well the the decoration tool works for real people, and hopefully some hilarious bugs.

# ? Nov 26, 2015 13:22

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > The MMO HMO > Revival - Mature Lovecraftian horror MMO

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