Revival - Mature Lovecraftian horror MMO - The Something Awful Forums

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Facebook Aunt: Oct 4, 2008; wiggle wiggle

Weeky devblog is out, this week it is another fictional text written by NPCs within the game in the style of Lovecraft and it isn't especially hilarious so I won't copy it here. https://www.revivalgame.com/blog/67-weekly-blog-update-64-on-the-songs-of-the-seas

# ? Jan 31, 2016 03:21

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# ? May 29, 2024 06:21

Space Bat: Apr 17, 2009; hold it now hold it now hold it right there
you wouldn't drop, couldn't drop diddy, you wouldn't dare

*pounding knife and fork on table* Houses are not video games! HOUSES ARE NOT VIDEO GAMES!!!!!!!!

# ? Jan 31, 2016 11:12

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

Space Bat posted:

*pounding knife and fork on table* Houses are not video games! HOUSES ARE NOT VIDEO GAMES!!!!!!!!

Let them eat house.

# ? Jan 31, 2016 11:21

Facebook Aunt: Oct 4, 2008; wiggle wiggle

Space Bat posted:

*pounding knife and fork on table* Houses are not video games! HOUSES ARE NOT VIDEO GAMES!!!!!!!!

Hmm, yes, good point. Oh wait, the Sims franchise has sold 175 million copies, lol.

Turns out Revival is a mom game.

# ? Feb 1, 2016 01:48

Facebook Aunt: Oct 4, 2008; wiggle wiggle

Friday update!!! The Hype is real@!!! This week it is about the logistics of setting out on a dangerous expedition. https://www.revivalgame.com/blog/68-weekly-blog-update-65-the-voyage-of-a-lifetime

quote:

Weekly Blog Update #65: The Voyage of a Lifetime

Snipehunter: about 1 hour ago

Weekly Update

So, look, normally I'd write this long paragraph about what went on this week, but when you get right down it, this week the most important thing that happened was this comment I got from Dan, yesterday:

Dan: The RenKit patch is now live.

So, um, you might want to run the patcher, founders. Just as we feared though, we weren't able to track down the physics bug we were seeing, so the assets in the upgraded rooms aren't going to react the way you'd expect, right now. It's better than the bug though, trust me.

Guild Hall - The main hall of the guild hall estate

Great Minds of Theleston

Let's go over a hypothetical scenario and explore its ramifications, OK? We'll start by assuming that something unusual has happened: After days of constant heavy storms, a boat lurches into the harbor, but one unlike any seen in the harbor before. Even wounded, foundering in the harbor, the subtle curve of its lines against the water set it apart from the wider-hulled ships that normally ply the trades between Tide�s End, Crowns Rock and Valir. Onboard, a crew of foreigners, olive skinned and speaking a lyrical, but incomprehensible language. They tell the story, of what happened to them in a series of gestures and sketched dirt. They set out from their homeland, heading north, but quickly encountered fog, or a "quiet storm" perhaps, that mired them for days. It seemed as if they made no headway, and islands they knew they should have reached were never seen nor encountered. Eventually, the fog, or whatever it was was, passed, and as the skies cleared enough that the horizon became visible, they were shocked to discover that there were no landmarks in sight, something they thought impossible until then. Lost, they travelled aimlessly until they sailed right into the path of a massive line of storms, which carried them until it finally died and they found themselves within sight of Crowns Rock.

Speculation runs wild. Who are they? Where are they from? What language to they speak? Does this mean there's a new land to discover? There's really only one way to find out; go look for it. But, let's be honest, that's no small task.

That's actually what I wanted to talk about in the blog today: Great things require great effort in Theleston, and I think the concept of an expedition to find "the new land in the east" is a great way to explore what that means.

In our example above, we don't even have enough clues to know where to start. We assume that these sailors came from the east, even though their story implies they sailed north, because that's the directions the storms came in from, but there's no actual verification. Just getting into a ship and heading east doesn't have a high probability of success, right out of the gate: How long do you sail? Is there anything to be found traveling in a straight line east? What are you going to do about the storms and dangerous water that have always prevented travel east, to date?

And what about the story told by the crew of that ship? How certain are you of any of it? Does any of it actually help? It sounds like a pretty desperate gamble, given what you know.

But if that doesn't discourage you and a quest to find the new lands to the east is really your thing, then let's talk about what it's going to take. You're going to need a ship, something that can weather the storms you've seen. It might even be that you have to sail headlong into a storm to get where you want to go. That means you're also going to need a good crew or you're going to end up trying to swim there. Hell, you still might.

You're also going to need a cartographer to map your way there and back again so you don't end up like the sodden wretches who told you their story in the first place, right? And maybe you're going to want a linguist, so that they can learn this language and become translators for you. If you get where you're heading, having some way to learn to talk with the folks you meet seems important doesn't it?

You might want an archaeologist as well, if you think about it. Before the new reckoning, the world was a lot more connected; you might be able to establish connection between what we know of the world and this new place, and learn something about the time before the Old Ones arrived.

You know, if we're being honest, you're going to need some muscle too, aren't you? You have no idea what you're getting into. Those sailors seemed friendly enough, but they limped into harbor on the verge of death; who knows what they aren't saying. Well, assuming the crew can take care of itself, you just need to hire or sign on enough mercs to protect yourself, your cartographer, your archaeologist and your linguist. Let's assume two swords to a specialist, so you just need 8 mercenaries.

Oh and you might need a doctor too, now that I think about it; who knows what crazy diseases exist over there, let alone what sorts of injuries you might acquire. So, really we're talking 5 specialists and 10 mercenaries, plus the crew, which is probably 9 or so people, given the number of people that need to fit on this boat... Let's call it 24-25 people all told. If you're super efficient, could maybe cut 9 people or so out of that list, but that's still a lot of people, and beyond the upper limit of what the logistics skill will let you command, NPC wise. In short, you can't mount that expedition as the only player. Oh sure, you could take off on a lark and maybe even make it, but in terms of mounting a real expedition determined to not only find the safe passage to and from a new land (that may or may not exist), but to establish relations with the folks you find there, more than one player is going to be necessary to have a high degree of success.

You do have some other options, you could directly hire a captain to oversee your crew, cutting out most of the logistical demand of being both captain and expedition leader, for example. But that limits you when the trouble comes - you'll find yourself only able to directly order action from your captain, or the crewmember who takes the captain's place should the captain die. That's the nature of delegating in the logistics skill, and a difference in the way "its mini game" plays out from other skills. Logistics is a skill that plays a role mostly in the metagame, but where it interacts directly with the game world, it usually does so in a way that abstracts the tasks you need performed, so that you can issue a single order, e.g. "Set up a trade route between Valir and Tides End, selling grapes on the Tides End market" and have that become a series of goals and actions your agent, captain or manager performs on your behalf to accomplish that goal. So, for example, you might hire a captain and tell that NPC to "make for Valir" or to "Sail us to this point on the chart," but that order will become orders for the whole crew to hoist or trim sail, man certain stations, etc.

The trade off, as I said, is that you lose direct control over the NPCs being overseen by your agent. It's not your place, then, to tell the bosun to drop that rope and help put out the deck fire instead; if the captain didn't give that order, it's not a real order as far as the crew is concerned. You end up putting a lot of faith in your manager, because how reactive your manager is depends on its skills and motivations. If the manager wants to impress or has a high degree of loyalty, it might be on the ball and be highly reactive to conditions, but on the other hand if that same manager hates you or hates the job, it might be sluggish to react or might issue orders that don't really help, leaving you to decide how best to deal with the issue. (Discipline? Fire the manager and take direct control? That sort of thing.)

So imagine, being alone, on high seas, seeking the eastern passage, when a leviathan of a storm looms on the horizon. You've hired a captain and a mercenary commander, so you're not too worried about the logistics, at first. But, when the storm finally hits and you realize your captain is, in fact, a less magical version of Cap'n Ron, what do you do? If you fire him, you'll have to issue the orders for the crew and now the logistics of ordering 9 people around, plus your mercenary commander become an issue - that's more than most people can handle, and overtaxed as your are, your orders will make no sense to anyone, so you're going to have to decide which of the remaining crew to sack to get your logistics back on par, or perhaps even hastily re-hire your captain. After all, he doesn't leap off the deck when you fire him... But then again, he was terrible to begin with, so what's the point?!

You know what, the more I think about it, the more doomed this expedition seems. Maybe you should just sign on with a guild setting up for their own bid. You don't have to be a world famous expedition leader to reap the benefits of new lands and new cultures to discover, right?

Guild Hall - Large estates have lots of hidden cool spots in them

Elder Signs

Have you ever played Pandemic? It's a boardgame about fighting a worldwide epidemic. I dunno about you, but I loved that game (and still play it whenever the opportunity arises). However, I've felt that, lurking just its edges, in the void between what is perceived and what is real, was the looming spectre of something vast and maddening. I speak, of course, of the terrifying presence of the Great Old Ones. Not I have confirmation!
http://geekandsundry.com/pandemic-reign-of-cthulhu-spreads-madness-this-summer/

Seriously though, I bet that turns out to be a blast, I can't wait to try it out this summer!

TL, DR: Stop relying on NPCs for everything and make some friends, spergs.

# ? Feb 6, 2016 02:01

Foglet: Jun 17, 2014; Reality is an illusion.
The universe is a hologram.
Buy gold.

Imagine a spaceship crash landing in the middle of your raid preparation orgy and then it turns out you actually were playing Star Citizen all along and never realized it.

# ? Feb 6, 2016 04:24

Facebook Aunt: Oct 4, 2008; wiggle wiggle

Hello Revivalists! :barf:

This week was the launch of the renovation kits for the upgradable rooms (they only exist in the homes that cost $200+). Naturally some players bought all 15 room kits (at $10 a pop) and are now posting screenshots. Lots and lots of screenshots. Not gonna repost them all, but if you like imaginary real estate check them out. http://imgur.com/a/9az6x

This should nearly wrap up stage 1 of their 6 stage release.https://www.revivalgame.com/schedule/stage_1

The interesting thing is that these very pretty rooms are basically museums. The only interactive elements are being able to turn on and off the lights, and rearrange the furniture in decorator mode. They can't sit on the chairs. They can't open the cupboards. They can't poop in the chamber pots.

It has taken more than a year to get to this point.

Facebook Aunt fucked around with this message at 02:35 on Feb 7, 2016

# ? Feb 7, 2016 02:10

Malachite_Dragon: Mar 31, 2010; Weaving Merry Christmas magic

Still more progress than Star Citizen. They wouldn't have even gotten past concept art of the chamber pots by now.

# ? Feb 7, 2016 02:32

Facebook Aunt: Oct 4, 2008; wiggle wiggle

People are pretty excited about these room renovation kits. For those who haven't been keep rack, "upgradeable rooms" are 12m*12m rooms, usually with a fireplace and 2 windows, and the expensive houses have 1 or 2 of them. By default it is just an empty room. For $5 you can buy a Renovation Kit.

A $5 Renovation Kit is a complete suite of furniture, floor treatments, wallpaper, and sometimes fancy ceilings. If you don't like wood floors the only way to get a tile or stone floor is through a kit.. There are 2 basic kinds of renovation kit, Crafting or Decoration.

The crafting renovation kits give you all the basics you need to do a particular craft. The smithing kit gives you a forge and a basic set of smith tools. The Laboratory kit gives you the basic tools you need for alchemy or herbalism. The Outer Gods Ritual Room kit gives you everything you need to start worshiping and doing magic related to the outer gods. Is this pay to win? No, no, not at all. Definitely not pay to win. The tools are merely of average quality, so eventually you'll want to replace them with better quality tools, someone without a kit can just go buy the tools piecemeal. (Exception: the ONLY way to get a forge, oven, or indoor telescope is via a kit, which means people who bought the $40 and $90 houses can never ever have one.)

The decorative renovation kits give you a particularly fancy set of furniture and swanky wallpaper. You can show off that you are rich as hell by using your upgradeable rooms to buy yourself a bedroom fit for a king, or a really plush bar room.

The way they were implemented the renovation kits are not permanent. You can log out, go to the website, and swap in a different kit you've bought. So even if you only have 1 upgradeable room, you can have and use all 15 $5 renovation kits. This could be especially metagamy if you have an Outer Gods Ritual room where you do dark (and likely illegal) magic, and then when you are done doing magic you swap it into an innocent looking bedroom. So naturally several people have gone ahead and bought all 15 kits for their house.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPwLNKHqeRw
Exhibit A: A 35 minute video of a guy looking around his 2 new rooms, then logging out, swapping them for 2 other rooms, until he's gone through all the rooms. I got nauseous after just 5 minutes, but I'm sure it is facinating.

# ? Feb 7, 2016 05:36

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

I am the lens flare produced by a fireplace in a medieval setting.

# ? Feb 9, 2016 21:18

CuddleCryptid: Jan 11, 2013; Things could be going better

It's sad that I saw the kits were $5 and thought "hey that isn't that bad of a price compared to the hundreds of dollars for the house" :shepspends:

Angela Christine posted:

(Exception: the ONLY way to get a forge, oven, or indoor telescope is via a kit, which means people who bought the $40 and $90 houses can never ever have one.)

Except this, loving lol. Not pay2win at all

# ? Feb 9, 2016 21:47

Maneck: Sep 11, 2011

Realistically, pay to win will never be a problem for this one.

# ? Feb 13, 2016 17:25

Facebook Aunt: Oct 4, 2008; wiggle wiggle

Maneck posted:

Realistically, pay to win will never be a problem for this one.

Are you implying that I'll never get to travel deep into the woods to gather lichen from rocks? How dare you, sir!
https://www.revivalgame.com/blog/69-weekly-blog-update-66-a-day-in-the-life-of-a-hunter

quote:

A Guardian in the Hall

Great Minds of Theleston

This section has been chock full of wild wanderings these past few weeks, and in keeping with the theme, this Day in the Life sheds a bit of light on that perennial wanderer of the woods, the Hunter.

As one might imagine, hunting on Theleston can be pretty big business. Aside from the more obvious commodities like furs and meat, hunters also keep the wilds a little less wild. Of course those that range farther, or that spend long days in the bush lead more exciting lives than a casual varmint hunter or day trapper. Let�s look in on one of those now.

Augie is a decent shot with a bow, some would even say good. In fact, whilst visiting a friend in Valir just last month, he took the prize in a citywide tourney. It wasn�t the annual Bowfeather rally in Falcreek or anything, but still, it�s a feather in his cap. Today though, the thought enters Augie's head as he draws a bead on a large Felkirk Owl, perched high above in the evergreens.

The bird fixes him with a wide agate eye. Augie holds his draw, and his breath. Then looses the arrow just as the great golden bird leaps away from the perch. The arrow flies wide and Augie curses. Ah well, it was a target of opportunity anyway. Augie�s real goal on this excursion is to locate sea-lichen, a rare rock-clinging reagent that his friend Delion in Valir had commented on the rarity of. The phrase had been something like �I�d give my Skypass manse for a handful of the stuff.� Augie laughed aloud at the memory. He didn�t need the manse, and wouldn�t want the burden anyway, but the search for sea-lichen seemed a great diversion, so when he left Deleon�s Valir home and rode with the long-caravan to Tide�s End, and then on to his home in Falcreek, he put his mind to learning what he could of the stuff.

In a dark corner of the Sanguine Hearth, Augie questioned a wizened Felkirk herbalist who would not share her name. At great cost in coin and time, he finally pried from her a clue about where he should begin to look. �Upon the Westward slopes of Cloudspire, as the trees thin.� He knew the region well enough, but with few game or beasts above the treeline, hadn�t ventured quite so high on the mount. Finishing his last lager, Augie bid the woman farewell, and began walking the long trail to Rivershead.

In that burgeoning town, Augie bought supplies for a week or more in the bush, and began his trek around the mountain. In town, he could easily have bought a mule and thus carried much more, but pack animals often disturb the quarry, and send his targets fleeing before he can even nock an arrow. No, Augie prefers the solitude and quiet of the wilderness.

Now, he stands in the cold, bright afternoon, watching a golden Felkirk Owl fly away unscathed. The feathers alone would have paid for the whole trip at market. Augie puts away his bow and looks again at the afternoon sun. He will make the treeline soon, and has been checking the larger stones for blue-green lichen for over an hour. Soon it will be time to make camp, one way or the other.

Across a sparse glade of thin, bare trees, Augie spies a boulder more than twice his own height. A thin greenish cast cloaks the sunset lit surface. This may be what he�s looking for! Augie sprints through the glade to the stone, and indeed in the failing light of the sunset sees shaggy masses of blue-green lichen hanging in thick patches upon the rock. Augie marks the spot on his map, and, drawing his dagger, quickly harvests a goodly measure of the stuff and stows it carefully in his pack. He could easily have cut down the whole patch, but his pack space is limited, and this isn�t a profit run so much as a chance to procure a special gift for a good friend.

On a level patch nearby Augie builds a campfire, and begins to set up a camp for the evening. He�s got rations to eat, and arrows to fletch to pass the night, and settles down to work in the light of the fire. Just after dark, however, Augie is interrupted by loud crashing through the brush just downhill. Something large is moving through the woods nearby.

Augie readies his recurve and nocks an arrow. He moves to put the fire behind him and peers into the thick darkness, looking for movement. The moon is just only peeking over the mountain, and in the deeper shadow, Augie sees the bulk of what is unmistakably a mountain bear snuffling at the face of the sea-lichen stone.

A mountain bear! If he could fell the beast, the butchering would take half the night, but the prize! A good-quality bearskin would fetch a fine price once hauled home, and he could eat on the meat for the rest of the trip. Augie slipped into his hunting stance, drew his bow to the fullest, and slowly moved toward the bear.

As he approached it became clear that the bear was eating the lichen from the stone. Augie thought of the harvest in his pack, and was glad he had gotten there first. A cloud moved away from the moon, and Augie saw the bear thus illuminated, crouched, held his breath, and fired. This time, the arrow flew true, and hit the bear squarely in the neck. The barb sank deep, and the mountain bear fell to the side.

Augie then made another fire, nearer the corpse, drew out his hunting knife and began to work on the carcass in the light. Likely he�d have to leave the bulk of the haul, but this made the trip a financial success as well as a personal one. He finishes the skinning as the morning is only just throwing shadows about the mountain, having not used his tent or bedroll.

Mountain Bear country is no place for a prolonged rest, so, tired but satisfied, Augie breaks down his camp and heads westward and down the mountain. A long day�s trek brings him again to Rivershead, where the trade on Mountain Bear meat is good, and he can easily pick up a ride home to Falcreek. The bear hide is worth even more than the meat, but in the time between his perfect shot and now, he�s grown a liking to it. Maybe when he goes back to Deleon�s he will have him tailor it into a cloak for him. It would be welcome on cold nights on the hunt for sure, and what better favor to pay him back for the bundle of sea-lichen in his pack?

A vasty great hall

Taking down a bear with a single arrow, NBD. Must have been a hell of a shot. And a hell of an arrow.

# ? Feb 13, 2016 17:38

Stik3: Jan 28, 2015; From President of the colonies to this.

redwalrus posted:

I painfully sat through the 3 part interview from mmorpg and I still don't know what the game is about.

I guess this game takes from Lovecraft well.

# ? Feb 13, 2016 20:00

Sindai: Jan 24, 2007; i want to achieve immortality through not dying

I, too, will spend a lot of time and money ingame to learn gathering locations instead of googling them.

# ? Feb 13, 2016 20:28

YOTC: Nov 18, 2005; Damn stupid newbie

Sindai posted:

I, too, will spend a lot of time and money ingame to learn gathering locations instead of googling them.

I imagine they'll randomize them or some poo poo. But there's only so much randomizing you can do.

# ? Feb 14, 2016 07:41

Pladdicus: Aug 13, 2010

How is this still alive, what is happening to my videeeeooogameeeeeeeeeeeees

# ? Feb 14, 2016 10:04

Chunjee: Oct 27, 2004

YOTC posted:

I imagine they'll randomize them or some poo poo. But there's only so much randomizing you can do.

Problem with randomizing something like a creature location in this scenario is now you have to update all the NPCs clues and logic, not to mention writing a couple different vague location descriptions to go with each one. All of this to make a fetch quest apparently, so they really have not accomplished anything out of the normal MMO mold anyway.

# ? Feb 14, 2016 14:35

Facebook Aunt: Oct 4, 2008; wiggle wiggle

Chunjee posted:

Problem with randomizing something like a creature location in this scenario is now you have to update all the NPCs clues and logic, not to mention writing a couple different vague location descriptions to go with each one. All of this to make a fetch quest apparently, so they really have not accomplished anything out of the normal MMO mold anyway.

No, see, it's totally different because it is a fetch quest for another player. The supply chains are so convoluted players generate their own fetch quests.

# ? Feb 15, 2016 00:13

Alexander DeLarge: Dec 20, 2013

Angela Christine posted:

No, see, it's totally different because it is a fetch quest for another player. The supply chains are so convoluted players generate their own fetch quests.

A true sandbox experience�

# ? Feb 15, 2016 08:16

SatansOnion: Dec 12, 2011

Alexander DeLarge posted:

A true sandbox experience�

i.e., full of bodily waste products

# ? Feb 15, 2016 10:26

Sindai: Jan 24, 2007; i want to achieve immortality through not dying

More of a cat box really.

# ? Feb 15, 2016 16:15

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

I do the labor myself so the cost is nothing.

# ? Feb 17, 2016 03:33

Mr. Pickles: Mar 19, 2014

when this game comes out i will play a middle aged balding fat guy with a diminuitive sized penis

# ? Feb 19, 2016 10:17

Mr. Pickles: Mar 19, 2014

the Outer Gods Ritual Room Kit

# ? Feb 19, 2016 10:20

Facebook Aunt: Oct 4, 2008; wiggle wiggle

Nurel posted:

when this game comes out i will play a middle aged balding fat guy with a diminuitive sized penis

I'll be an old crone who gives everyone cryptic advice but knows no magic at all.

# ? Feb 19, 2016 13:50

Facebook Aunt: Oct 4, 2008; wiggle wiggle

Maybe a cat lady. If you max out the logistics skill you can have up to 12 pets/hirelings/thralls, so instead of getting anything useful I'll just have a dozen cats follow me everywhere.

# ? Feb 19, 2016 13:51

Crust First: May 1, 2013; Wrong lads.

Nurel posted:

when this game comes out i will play a middle aged balding fat guy with a diminuitive sized penis

I misread play as be and still had no issue with the statement.

# ? Feb 19, 2016 23:42

Facebook Aunt: Oct 4, 2008; wiggle wiggle

Friday devblog time. The $$$$$$ estates are almost ready! https://forums.revivalgame.com/discussion/1239/weekly-blog-update-67-estates

quote:

Weekly Blog Update #67: Estates
Kedhrin: about 18 hours ago
Weekly Update

Hey everyone,

This week we�ve been making the crazy push for Estates and it will go into next week. These things are so absolutely massive that doing bug tracking in them is proving to be a way bigger task than the manses. I�ve decided to dedicate this blog post to estates in anticipation of their release and wrapping up Stage 1.

Great Minds of Theleston

Before we begin, I�d like to discuss a few things about estates that are important to note. One, the estates are definitely a premium thing for players. They are massive, demand presence within the city and established players as elite class within a city but not the world of Revival itself. The way our systems are designed expand from city life to world life. When you leave the comfort bubble of your neighborhood, which can definitely vary a lot, the world of Revival does not give a drat what your character�s local social status is.

Secondly, from a development standpoint it was extremely important for us to build estates. They delivered us great insight on building large interior spaces with our modular tier system, highlighted limitations of the engine and more. As you play through estates, you�ll notice some limitations we�re still working through. Some of these are things like occlusion being overloaded with draw prims and you see pieces disappear/reappear when you turn the camera really quickly. The estates may also not run that great on lower end machines. These are things we�ll work on fixing as we go forward. The lighting in the estates may seem a lot different than what you�re used to as we definitely had to fake stuff to make them look right until we find a proper GI solution.

Third, the price tag on these things are high. I understand that it will turn away some players, but it is important for us to limit the amount of these in the world. There are 5 estates total in Crowns Rock and are spread out in respect of their neighborhoods and the influence such grand structures have. It is a very premium thing to have in our game world. We�ll be revealing the prices of the estates when they go live for sale on the website.

Now let�s talk about the estates themselves! Each estate we�ve given what we call an architectural inspiration. In other words, if we were designing the estate, we thought of a purpose for it and why it�s the way it is shaped. This is for inspiration, and so that each is grounded in a bit of lore. We usually put functions on them and roll with that as the inspiration for the design. However, what you do in an estate is completely up to you. We�ve just used this as a point that you may want to think about for your character as well� but if you want a ton of beds in your Grand Hall - go on ahead and have fun!

Estates are built with Grand Halls and Wings. The Grand Hall is the main room you enter when you come into an estate. Is is excessively massive and always the thing that showcases your character's wealth and power more than anything. The wings branch off from the Grand Hall and are filled with rooms. Every estate has enough upgradable rooms for you to apply every renovation kit we currently have to them. The estates are broken into 3 styles, a gothic style, a more victorian style and then what is essentially a larger version of the Manse�s when upgraded.

Now, let�s get to the juicy bits.

I'm not going to copy a bunch of pictures and descriptions of the individual estates. There were a lot of pictures. Apparently they'll be releasing videos of the interiors "soon".

Still no hint on what they are going to cost. The manses cost $400 so it's going to be more than that. These things are over 5X the size of a manse, and each one is completely unique on the server, so it's going to be a lot more. Player speculation is $1000-$5000, but nobody knows yet.

# ? Feb 20, 2016 21:13

YOTC: Nov 18, 2005; Damn stupid newbie

Angela Christine posted:

Friday devblog time. The $$$$$$ estates are almost ready! https://forums.revivalgame.com/discussion/1239/weekly-blog-update-67-estates

I'm not going to copy a bunch of pictures and descriptions of the individual estates. There were a lot of pictures. Apparently they'll be releasing videos of the interiors "soon".

Still no hint on what they are going to cost. The manses cost $400 so it's going to be more than that. These things are over 5X the size of a manse, and each one is completely unique on the server, so it's going to be a lot more. Player speculation is $1000-$5000, but nobody knows yet.

The answer is whatever they can get out of people.

# ? Feb 21, 2016 01:34

Facebook Aunt: Oct 4, 2008; wiggle wiggle

This just in: watch out for ghosts shagging on your furniture http://vid269.photobucket.com/albums/jj79/Kalidora/20160222_183111_zpsoofxdgky.mp4

# ? Feb 23, 2016 20:41

Space Bat: Apr 17, 2009; hold it now hold it now hold it right there
you wouldn't drop, couldn't drop diddy, you wouldn't dare

Angela Christine posted:

Hmm, yes, good point. Oh wait, the Sims franchise has sold 175 million copies, lol.

Turns out Revival is a mom game.

At least the sims had gameplay beyond standing as Rita Repulsa in your house

# ? Feb 25, 2016 04:46

Mr. Pickles: Mar 19, 2014

Crust First posted:

I misread play as be and still had no issue with the statement.

thats cool

# ? Feb 25, 2016 10:56

Facebook Aunt: Oct 4, 2008; wiggle wiggle

This week on devblog theatre we consider a low fantasy world without healing spells. You get all hosed up, and you don't have a healbot, so what do you do? You hope one of your buddies dumped like half his skill points into first aid skills. https://www.revivalgame.com/blog/71-weekly-blog-update-68-it-s-not-brain-chirurgie

quote:

Weekly Blog Update #68: It's Not Brain Chirurgie
Snipehunter: about 8 hours ago

As you can probably imagine, given Kedhrin's blog last week, we're laser focused on getting estates in your hands. These things are massive. Imagine scanning the Smithsonian museum with your eyes, looking at every single artifact to make sure they are exactly and perfectly placed, actually are what they're supposed to be, and so on. Now do it twice, because that's the sort of scale we're talking about for some of these estates. Normally I'd make fun of Tone or one of the other designers and sort of rib them for not having their bugs fixed, but candidly, that would be meaner than usual here. It's amazing that they look as good as they do, given the time the crew has spent and the scope of the job. They've all done amazing work and they deserve a lot of praise for it, even if they still haven't fixed all their bugs� TONE. (Nah, not really Tone, you're doing awesome man!)

Great Minds of Theleston

I know this is a blog about something other than magic, but let me start by talking about magic anyway, OK? Specifically, have you considered the challenges in trying to make magic truly rare in an online world with a medieval setting? Think about it for a minute if you haven't; most of what really happens in an online world is, behind the scenes, the manipulation of a few numbers and nothing else. Short cuts like "casting a healing spell" don't just give players a way to stay in the fight, they also cover up that your character isn't really bleeding to death from a bunch of stab wounds. They're hiding that instead of "being healed" what really happened is that a variable named "HP" was incremented by some value. X, became X += healAmount.

That's actually the more important part, when it comes to how players feel about the game right? I mean yes, players need a way to heal, but that method has to feel right too, doesn't it? That's pretty much the second challenge we have in Revival, in a nutshell. Since we're aiming for a particular feel for the world, an aesthetic that goes beyond visual art direction, we have to worry about how our solutions to these problems feel as well. That means it's not enough for us to just have "bandages" that will heal you, even if that really is part of the system. There has to be something more, something that portrays what it's like to need or be a healer in an age where medicine as we know it doesn't exist and where miraculous, instant health, was literally a miracle and just as rare. There are similar little challenges all over the game and part of what we feel sets us apart is our dedication to finding solutions that complement the vision of the game rather than just "slapping a fix" on them to get by. Healing is an interesting little knot of them all in one place.

I suppose just to get the question out of the way, I should say that, yes, certain mages will be able to mend flesh, knit broken bones and even bring the very recently deceased back from the threshold of Animae's realm. However, you aren't going to find them everywhere. You can't even just "pop down to the nearest temple" in most cases because, unless the temple is particularly powerful, the reality is they probably don't have a magical healer on staff, either. Then again, you may still want to consider the local temple, because while a healer gifted with power from the gods probably isn't around, a chirurgeon probably is.

Chirurgeons are the physical healers of Revival. Their efforts are governed by the Fleshmending skill. Fleshmending is the physical counterpart of magic's Healing skill and much like a magic skill unlocks the ability to learn new spells, it governs the comprehension of a suite of abilities with research, time and effort. The very first of these abilities is an ability called Diagnose. In a way, diagnose is a little like the divination skill's card readings: It doesn't give you an exact answer on what is wrong with someone in most cases. Instead, it offers you a glimpse into the sorts of conditions and afflictions that might be responsible for what you see.

For example, let us assume that Farrod is player's character, a chirurgeon, and he is approached by an NPC, the farmer Halde, about his daughter, who has been showing signs of a sickness for a few days and hasn't been getting better. Farrod goes with Halde to the farmer's cottage and sees the daughter in bed. His player uses diagnose and clicks on the girl. Farrod kneels before the girl as the game camera pushes in to focus on the girl, with certain aspects of the girl's form glowing subtly. Each of these is a "diagnostic indicator" and if the player clicks on them he will see the information related to the indicator. How accurate these indicators are depends on two aspects of Chirurgie: The character's fleshmending skill, and the suite of medical "flags" the character has acquired in its data; the medical knowledge the character has amassed in the world. Each diagnostic indicator the player can see is related to a tag or game effect package attached to the client that falls into the medical categories the character knows about. The larger the character's collection of knowledge and the better the character's fleshmending skill, the more details these indicators will be and the more obvious the correct diagnosis becomes.

Diagnosis then shows the chirurgeon what's wrong, but now the problem has to be fixed. When a player has seen enough diagnostic indicators, he will unlock potential diagnoses that are listed for the player to see and select from. Each diagnosis has its own "treatment plan" associated with it. A treatment plan is basically a recipe for how to fix the problem. All the chirurgeon has to do is follow the steps and execute them on the target. In most cases, treatment plans are pretty simple, something like:

- Cleanse the wound with oil or tincture of honey and boil'd cow urine
- Hold the wound closed with one hand and bind it tightly with clean linen.

These sorts of treatments are considered "first aid" and depending on the situation a chirurgeon can probably skip the diagnosis before applying them. They would do this by executing the first aid ability, which is something like an analog for magical "quick healing." The player selects the first aid ability, then clicks on the target and selects the treatment from the menu, which the character then executes. They aren't "instant" the way a health potion might be, but they are common and quick equivalent. It doesn't take too much effort to learn how to bind wounds, administer simple tinctures or apply poultices, even if greater skill is necessary to make the medicines or bandages you are using. Most battlefield healers will very likely be relatively unskilled chirurgeons practicing simple first aid.

However, there are many afflictions and injuries that require significantly more effort to address. Keeping with the combat theme, let's leave Farrod and Halde's daughter, and instead consider Jinda, a master chirurgeon and ship's barber-chirurgeon for a galleon of the Tide's End navy. Jinda's ship has been stalking pirates all week and finally, after a tense game of hide and seek in the early morning fog, the ship has closed with its prey. Already she can hear the twang of the ballistae and feel the thump of the catapults as they rain destruction down on their enemy. She quickly prepares the sickbay, knowing that the pirates will respond in kind. Within a few minutes the first casualty comes in. It's the navigator, the cartographer Bis, a fellow player. A catapult stone has crushed his left leg, leaving him with a crippled status effect that will become a permanent scar on his new body if he dies and returns. At that point, only magic could cure the problem, and Bis doesn't want to have to deal with it, so he's hoping Jinda can use her skill to set the bone, dress the wound and generally leave him unscarred. It's a big job, made worse by the pitching decks of the ship as it maneuvers in the ongoing battle, but it's her job so she sets to work.

First, she pops off diagnosis and takes a look at the leg. The bone is broken in three places and he's losing a lot of blood. It's time to operate. She exits diagnosis mode and activates the chirurgie ability, targeting the damaged leg. The camera zooms in on the leg even as her tools are spread out on the table next to the berth where Bis lies bleeding. Treating a crushed leg involves straightening and realigning the bone first, so she clicks on Bis' ankle and pulls. Bis takes a LOT of damage in the process, his character screaming in pain, and Jinda doesn't quite get it right, so she has to do it again, being careful to pull straight and then manipulate the bones by clicking on them and pressing them into place. Finally, she hears the bones click into place, and she releases Bis' ankle. He has taken a lot of damage so far, but she can see that he's not dead yet, so she moves on to cleaning the wound. She has several options, with her knowledge, in the treatment plan at this step, but given the bleeding she decides to use a special item, a flash powder she has acquired from alchemist that will quickly cauterize the wound. It will deal with the health loss caused by Bis' bleeding and should keep the wound itself relatively clean. ()

As she applies the powder and the flame, it hisses and sparks before bursting into blue flame. Bis screams again taking even more damage, but just as Jinda expected, the bleeding stops and now she can move on to the next step, suturing the wound. She has sinew thread and needles for just this purpose and so she quickly goes to work, stitching the wound together in a series of clicks and mouse motions that mimic sewing. Finally, she applies a tight bandage and a brace, and enters diagnostic mode again. Bis still has problems, but the major issue of his leg is now gone, replaced with a "healing wound" indicator. Good. Now, even if he dies, he won't come back with a scarred leg or have to face the hassle and potentially futile quest of finding a healer who can remove a scar from his soul so that his leg will function. Even as he shuffles out of the sickbay he thanks Jinda profusely.

That's the sort of experience that chirurgie is meant to convey. Mechanically, the minigame for chirurgie is very similar to the way the old Trauma Center series, or the flash game Dark Cut, used to work. It's visually gross and brutal and mechanically visceral; you actually have to manipulate the wounds you are attempting to address. First aid is a bit more "standard fare" but that's because it's meant to be done quickly. In the flow of a large scale battle, most injuries will be "fixed" with first aid so that the soldiers can get back into the field as quickly as possible, even without mages who can heal. When someone comes in from the battle needing a chirurgeon, it means that his life, and potentially his experience in the next, is on the line.

Just like in RL, a bad doctor can literally kill you while trying to treat you. And the medicine minigames are gory as hell, which may make it tough to get your girlfriend or other pretty princess to be your healbot.

No word on how one goes about collecting cow urine.

In case you missed it: to keep people from just suiciding if they get a bad wound, if you die crippled you reanimate permanently crippled. Fun.

# ? Feb 27, 2016 09:21

Malachite_Dragon: Mar 31, 2010; Weaving Merry Christmas magic

Hell yeah punishing the wounded players for the mistakes of the players trying to heal them sounds like fun

said no one ever. :wtc:

# ? Feb 27, 2016 09:42

Rap Three Times: Aug 2, 2013; Thrice, not twice, nay not four times either.; Grimey Drawer

I think it sounds great, if they can pull it off. in essence, fancy minigames I suppose for healers. Better than 'chug potion, gain 100hp'.

Looking forward to seeing where this game goes though not sure how confident I am with Illfonic to be honest

# ? Feb 27, 2016 13:13

CuddleCryptid: Jan 11, 2013; Things could be going better

It's medieval themed, so medicine will basically be shoving a bunch of rosemary in a wound and then having your patient die of sepsis anyways

# ? Feb 27, 2016 17:26

Rap Three Times: Aug 2, 2013; Thrice, not twice, nay not four times either.; Grimey Drawer

DreamShipWrecked posted:

It's medieval themed, so medicine will basically be shoving a bunch of rosemary in a wound and then having your patient die of sepsis anyways

~immersion~

# ? Feb 27, 2016 17:49

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

Rap Three Times posted:

I think it sounds great, if they can pull it off. in essence, fancy minigames I suppose for healers. Better than 'chug potion, gain 100hp'.

Looking forward to seeing where this game goes though not sure how confident I am with Illfonic to be honest

I don't know how to react to this post.

# ? Feb 27, 2016 17:52

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# ? May 29, 2024 06:21

Strategic Tea: Sep 1, 2012

Complex healing gameplay sounds interesting, as does tanking based around avoiding injury rather than having a big red bar.

Shame it's so absurdly complex it'll never be implemented.

# ? Feb 27, 2016 19:31

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

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