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Happy almost July 4th! We’re out of the office tomorrow, so everyone in the office is very excited about the upcoming long weekend.
This week we’re working on the towns of Spider Hill, Watchtower, Coppermine, Pinkston, Mowbray, Picus Ridge, Devon Township, Barret Manor, the Repository, and Embry Crossroads. Embry Crossroads is getting particular attention since it’s the barter town in the Plateau. My favorite part of Embry Crossroads is an area nicknamed “Temple Row,” where all the religious nutjobs in the region try preaching to the masses, so you’ve got CoGs talking about the sleeping steel gods, the Judges decrying the preponderance of sin, etc. It’s a great color encounter that I think people will get a lot out of. We’re also working on the tutorial, new tool tips, guilds, vehicles, and raids.
Two things came up in the QotW suggestion thread I wanted to clear up:
Game Rating: We are assuming we’re going to be a Mature rated game. Honestly, considering the violence against realistic people, cursing, and grave robbing I don’t see how we couldn’t beat least Mature. Our concern is really more about going into Adults Only, but the lack of sex, torture, or any of that sort of stuff is probably going to make that much easier. We’re mainly about violence, cursing, and acts of questionable morality as opposed to sex and torture.
Servers/Shards: We want to have as few servers/shards as possible given our technology and projected player base. Does this mean one server/shard? Maybe, if we can swing that. It may also mean more than one, in which case we’ll look at doing some variation in the servers (like an unlimited PvP server, etc). We’re not planning on spreading our fans out over two dozen servers; we built the game with a preponderance of starter towns so we could support a large number of players the first day, in the hopes of having as few servers/shards as possible. However, if we get one million players the first day of release, there's no way they can all play on one server.
On a completely different note, when we begin selecting people for outside testing we’re not just going to run some program to pull a list of people with the most post counts on the forums and invite them to test. We’re looking for people who have intelligent things to say, say them well, and don’t go around causing a ruckus all the time. Testing is a very serious business and we only want people who will do what we need them to; when we ask everyone to test a specific town, a specific play style, etc, we need them to do it without question and then have a useful critique after it’s done. The only thing we really have to judge that capacity on is posts on the forums, so if you come here and have intelligent conversations, are polite, and don’t get banned every two weeks you have a much much higher chance of getting in our testing pool than folks who have a larger post count, but most of it is made up of pointless arguing, rudeness, etc. I’ve mentioned previously that folks who go out of their way to lend us a hand, like Taelanna, DarkTreader, and andreeon get extra consideration.
In short, if you act like a jerk in the forums, don’t expect to get into our testing pool. If anyone has to stop and think “Have I been a jerk?” then yes, yes you have.
How will Icarus promote Fallen Earth?
We’ve got a mixture of online ads in all the major MMO websites, print advertising in several major game magazines, and a larger media push in terms of interviews, screen shots, etc. We’re also in the process of working on new trailers and such. This isn’t something that will be apparent in the short term, but in a few months should start showing up. We’ll have some press release type materials available in the short term.
Any thoughts on a Fallen Earth movie?
Right now our eyes are on the more immediate goal, but it’s something that has been thought about. I’d love to see it happen; we’ve certainly got enough stories to tell. Actually I have a copy of a movie treatment that was written years ago for Fallen Earth that I pull out whenever any of my writers needs a confidence boost. The treatment is…not good. Turning Fallen Earth into a post-apocalyptic version of the story of Moses is not the direction I would go.
What sort of customization of item stats (rather than cosmetics like color) will be possible WITHIN an item? Can crafters 'experiment' to raise/lower stats to make, say MY 9mm fire faster (but do less damage) while yours does more damage (but fires slower)... or will this be handled by having different pistols entirely, with each pistol of a particular model being identical?
Item customization is done by making different items as opposed to customizing an item. So if you want a gun that fires faster but does less damage you can find instructions for that and make it instead of modifying a slower, more powerful gun. Research can often lead you to such items.
Also what more can you tell us about Fallen Earth's day/night cycle? How long are they, for instance?
The day/night cycle is sped up about 6 times faster than normal, so a full day is four hours. The night time is being lightened, as previously it was way, way too dark.
Chat bubbles, will we have them and will they be cool?
You will have them and they will be cool. They will be easily visible without taking up too much screen real estate.
Comments
Nice update glad to keep on hearing from these guys
Really looking foward to this game. The Devs seem like down to Earth people.
Even if it isnt a massivlt innovative game ( which im not saying its not), as long as it turns out the way they plan on it turning out, I will spend a couple years on this one np.
Yep, can't wait. Every time they give us one of these on time with new information that seems to be very sincere it makes me look forward to giving them my subscription money more and more.
If this game launches with the feature list they are currently offering or at least close to it, and there isn't any major shakeup by then, this game should do just fine. I will play it for a few years happily.
I like when thay talk about beta testing as a serious business, not a way to get free ads.
Now i feel much better. Maybe i should try to get into beta? LOL
this game has the potential to breathe new life into sandbox gaming.
Thanks for the update!! I stumbled upon this game the other week, and the more I read the more I want this game to come out, haha.
Keep up the good work!!!