March Podcast Thread - Answered

[Kinak]

Have a question for your intrepid developer? Or just want to shoot the breeze? Go ahead and ask questions here!

Along with answering any questions you may have, I'll also be announcing the winners for our Crafting Contest. I'll be providing a bit of commentary about why I liked certain ideas and the process of taking a cool idea through actual implementation. But, if you're wondering about something specific, feel free to ask.

The previous podcast thread can be found here.

Edit: The podcast is now available here.

Cheers!
Kinak

[Satan]

How goes progress on the prestige store?

[Isladar]

Any chance you'll introduce some kind of new buff-burning item/skill/orwhatnot?

I know it is a very Metroplexity sort of thing, but it seems to me that Sugar Purifier is a TH precedent for it.

[Cristiona]

Any chance you'll introduce some kind of new buff-burning item/skill/orwhatnot?

I know it is a very Metroplexity sort of thing, but it seems to me that Sugar Purifier is a TH precedent for it.

Hm.

Mega Buster: Every 100 minutes of the effect gives +1 attack for a round and chews up 100 minutes.

Actual question: When's this gonna be?

[Isladar]

May we have a hint about one of the undiscovered merit badges, please?

[Satan]

Actual question: When's this gonna be?

Please answer this question directly in the podcast <.< I assume it will be in March sometime. Or shortly after the end of March. Since it is the March podcast thread.

[Theo]

Any chance we will see new items in Nocturnes Shop in the near future? I have so much mettle it feels like...

[Cristiona]

Heh.

Heh heh heh heh.

AH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

[Satan]

How did Cristiona get Dusk's Baton when no one else who retcons heavily did? Also, why is there no badge for doing one of each named style of retcon?

[Patojonas]

Also, why is there no badge for doing one of each named style of retcon?

Prolly because maso's are named runs and Ryme didn't want people to feel compelled to do them. (same meh excuse as the pinata high command)

Anyway, my questions:

What have you been working on recently?

Will there be a new league villain in the near future? (done 2 days after me asking lol)
Will there be a league foe in the future with caffeine only consumables? Plenty of sugary ones so far

Has the server change improved the game's finances?

[Cristiona]

How did Cristiona get Dusk's Baton when no one else who retcons heavily did?

It's a mystery~

[Satan]

How did Cristiona get Dusk's Baton when no one else who retcons heavily did?

It's a mystery~

Are you implying that it would require the aid of certain so-called detectives >.> Perhaps for a specified period of days <.<

[Cristiona]

Nope. I'm just taunting you.

[Olaf]

This is maybe a better Ryme question, but if you were to start TH from scratch, back when it did, but with the knowledge you have now, what would you do differently?

[Satan]

Now that we have 3 rotating league villains, might we see an option to start choosing which villain is going to pop up?

[Kinak]

The podcast is now available here. Enjoy!

Cheers!
Kinak

[Harry Dresden]

Kinak: Welcome to the podcast. Crafting contest went well, and prizes should go out next week after Easter festivities.
Question: How goes progress on the Prestige store?
Kinak: I was waiting to get the third league enemy out, so now that the Moletron is released the store is next on the list. Working on ideas now, and will probably go a different direction than I originally planned. Lot of benefits for the league, some tied to the league villains.
Question: Any chance you'll introduce some kind of new buff-burning item/skill/orwhatnot? I know it is a very Metroplexity sort of thing, but it seems to me that Sugar Purifier is a TH precedent for it.
Kinak: Eclipse in Metroplexity is central to the game's plot, and there are lots of techniques in combat that burn turns into power effects. I'm looking for ways to make combat a bit more interactive to give it more depth. Different buffs to encourage different strategies and that sort of thing.
Question: When's this going to be?
Kinak: It's an interesting concept, and fun to play with. Particularly with the time factor in TH being worth focusing on more.
Question: May we have a hint about one of the undiscovered merit badges, please?
Kinak: Let's see.....the one that I am thinking of right now is related to the time at a different level than you might be used to. It is related to days of the week rather than the minutes and hours. That is my hint, though it may be unhelpful in hindsight.
Question: Any chance we will see new items in Nocturnes Shop in the near future? I have so much mettle it feels like...
Kinak: (laughs Cris's evil laugh)
Question: How did Cristiona get Dusk's Baton when no one else who retcons heavily did? Also, why is there no badge for doing one of each named style of retcon?
Kinak: Because it's not based purely on retcon. There is a separate unlock mechanism for that. Consider that your hint that there are more interesting things waiting deep in the bowels of Nocturne's shop. As to the badge, I don't particularly know. I don't think that the way they're stored makes it easy to do. The name styles aren't applied in the database, more in the PHP side. It would be tricky to write a query for that.
Question: Prolly because maso's are named runs and Ryme didn't want people to feel compelled to do them. (same meh excuse as the pinata high command)
Kinak: The pinata high command is not because I want people to feel compelled. The league enemies are there for groups, and although I'm okay with people soloing them as long as it doesn't screw with the rest of the league it is more important for groups to join in. I don't want to reward soloing them, because that's not what they're there for. I have no problem encouraging people to do Maso runs.
Question: What have you been working on recently?
Kinak: I had a pretty rough last year or so, but particularly the last month. People close to me have been dying, and it's been hard on a lot of levels. Aside from that, I was working on Moletron and other little bits here and there. Doing some design work on the next high level quest with Cris, April's prismatic IOTM (which we're all excited about), and the crafting contest.
Question: Will there be a new league villain in the future?
Kinak: Just released. That probably fills out the base roster. There may be more rotating, and possibly even rotating out, as we move forward. I just want enough there that you're not seeing the same thing day after day.
Question: Will there be a league foe in the future with caffeine only consumables? Plenty of sugary ones so far
Kinak: Not quite caffeine only. I would have done it for Moletron, but the moleroot called out to me as a kind of shout out to Hans.
Question: Has the server change improved the game's finances?
Kinak Yes, substantially. The donation levels are not where they'd be in a perfect world, so it is very, very, very good we got the server moved or we'd be in a rough spot otherwise. For the most part the move has gone smoothly.
Question: This is maybe a better Ryme question, but if you were to start TH from scratch, back when it did, but with the knowledge you have now, what would you do differently?
Kinak: Ryme would be a better person to ask. If I were to start it over, the combat system would work a bit differently, perhaps a bit more complicated. It's hard to go back and retro-code that, though. There's certain things you just have to design with scalability in mind. For what it's worth, I've actually been doing a lot of stuff behind the scenes to make adding new content easier. The catalyze and metalmorph revamps were easier than they would have been before, and are easier to add new things to.
Question: Now that we have 3 rotating league villains, might we see an option to start choosing which villain is going to pop up?
Kinak: That's the base target number. There will be some things in the Prestige store that will impact what villain shows up, but not necessarily in a choosy way. I think you'll be excited with what ends up coming with that.
- The contest results for the assembly portion. The winners are the snickersnack from Isladar, the file gun from Patojonas, and the spinal tap shoes which made me laugh out loud. Rewards will go out soon.
- For welding, we've got foil's gold bricks from Satan and the curse of the dodo from The Lepard.
- For catalyze, the item catalyzing into the most interesting item in the world is another that made me laugh out loud. The alien mineral water from Patojonas is another winner.
- For metalmorph, the pronged javelin to the quad trident is pretty cool. It reminds me of the tiller tools you stick in the ground to loosen soil. The golden apple to platinum pear is pretty cool, too. That one is from The Leopard. Acidcat had a good idea of metalmorphing any fusion octotron item into any other octotron item, but I don't think it would display correctly so I'll probably have to find another way to do that. It's a winner, too, though.
- Where we're headed next: Prestige stuff for leagues is the next big push. It's another thing that will have a handful of things available when it first comes out with more stuff added in later on. PvP revamp is still on the radar, but keeps getting pushed back. I'd like to start getting the work laid down on that. The last thing on my agenda is still advertising. Before that, I'd like to do a front page revamp, so it's more clear what's going on in the game to new eyes. Monetarily, we're doing okay and keeping head above water. I've been doing some side work to keep the bills paid, which is unfortunately taking up some time.
- Thanks for taking part in the crafting contest. I definitely want to do more of those in the future. Also, thanks for playing and donating if you donate.

[Patojonas]

Yay, I won in 2 categories, awesome, thanks Kinak! (not the ones I was expecting to win too )
Congrats for the other winners too!
You spelled my username well the 2nd time you said it when wondering if you were doing it well

Personally, PvP can wait, give us more quests!

[Ryme]

This is maybe a better Ryme question, but if you were to start TH from scratch, back when it did, but with the knowledge you have now, what would you do differently?

Well, the obvious part would be, knowing what I know now, I could have put the game together in less than half the time. There was a huge learning curve when it came to databases, programming, and game management.

Also, I would have done a LOT more to make components editable by devs and testers; Kinak has done an awesome job at this, but it's a shame he's had to put time an energy into things that don't really get seen. In the long run I think it'll make other more visible development go faster, so it's worth it, but if it had been done in the first place it would have sped up nearly everything else.

I think I should have waited on PvP until I had a better concept. Alternately, I should have followed up on plans which included more things to purchase with the PvP rewards, to make it more worthwhile.

I also wish I'd been less reluctant early on when players offered to contribute. There were some things, like writing, where some consistency in tone or humor may be necessary, but I think I shrugged off a lot of people who might have really enjoyed testing, helping work out various mechanics, or that kind of thing. It might have added to community enthusiasm and vitality, kept more people around longer, and if I successfully found a way to corral all the ideas also sped up development a bit.

Penultimately, I would have spent more time on TVtropes, converting tried-and-true narrative techniques into solid gameplay gold.

Finally, I should have accepted the million dollars in venture capital funding that I turned down in order to maintain full controlling interest.

Okay, maybe that last one never happened.

[Ryme]

Finally, I regret never implementing the Secret Pig Level, even if it was going to be a complete ripoff of Cow Clicker. The puzzle to unlock it was worked out over a month of wasted lunches, involving 30 steps, about 10 Diablo references, three anagrams, and one intuitive leap from the lion's head, that only the penitent man could pass.

[Cristiona]

I still have your notes to that.

[Isladar]

Thank you! Both for running the contest (YAY! I won something!!!!), and for taking the time to answer our questions.

[Kinak]

Thanks for transcribing that, Harry. I know following my ramblings isn't a picnic.

Congrats Patajonas and Isladar and you're very welcome

Penultimately, I would have spent more time on TVtropes, converting tried-and-true narrative techniques into solid gameplay gold.

I think this may have been the first time anyone has ever said "I wish I spent more time on TVTropes."

Thanks for sharing your thoughts looking back. It gives me some things to chew on too.

Cheers!
Kinak

[Satan]

I told you guys the secret pig level really existed >.>

[Sanjuro]

Thanks for the update, Kinak.
And thank you for the transcript, Harry.
Congratulations to the winners!

[Kinak]

Sent the rewards out to the winners of the crafting contest. If I mentioned your entry in the podcast and you didn't get phat loot, let me know so I can sort that out.

Cheers!
Kinak