Its the new year - and that means it's time for me to set our project goals for 2012! However, before I launch into that, let's take a slight detour, and take a look at what was accomplished in 2011. It has been a little while since I did a real development status update/preview - so there's a bit of ground to cover this time!
The Year 2011 in Review
In the final post for 2010, I concluded my post with a new year's resolution - that Antilia would see a working game client, and that I would get the community involved in testing as soon as possible. I'm proud to say that both those goals were met!
The first several months of the year were strong - with the Antilia client taking great leapsforward in March. In April, we started work on a new server application - engineering a multi-threaded, multi-core, high-performance system designed to run Antilia's seamless world across multiple server machines. As mid-year approached, our focus turned toward content - starting with some new character designs, but really reaching a climax with September's 30 Days of World Building.
The rest I'm sure is familiar to everyone - the end of the year marked the start of alpha testing. In December we saw 4 alpha tests - and with each test we've seen game play enhancements and/or improvements to server stability.
Really, 2011 was a remarkable year for Antilia's development - one which took the project off the drawing board and into the hands of players. I aim to carry that momentum right into the new year!
Immediate Goals
Part of my project management style is to keep a clear list of immediate project goals, but then as we plan further out, let things become a bit fuzzier and realize they are more likely to change. So the easiest place to start when discussing "what's next" is the stuff we're working on now - it's on my whiteboard, its in our project tracker, its discussed in our weekly meetings, and its on my mind most hours of the day:
New Character Creation System - This will be the big one, and may take a couple months to fully realize. This will take our new character option from a single window where you select a name, race, and some colors - into a rich character designer, with finer controls over appearance, shape, size, character history, and more. The core body shapes will be adjusted to look a little better, and the heads will be re-modeled from scratch to include geometrical eyes, a moving jaw, even optional fangs.
All Taipii Races Available - The new character creation system will also include all races this time, and players will be able to mix & match some features across breeds to create a custom cross-breed.
New Animation Blending System - This new system will allow us to layer and blend between animations, smoothing out the hard transitions between states like walking and running, and allowing us to play some animations - such as tail movements - layered on top of other movements for a smoother, more natural look.
Equipment Window - Having our new characters in place, it'd be a shame not to be able to further customize them with different clothing and equipment!
Performance Improvements - While primary development focuses on the player creation system, we will still be running weekly alpha tests, for which a lesser amount of time will be allocated each week for improving the existing client and server. The first thing we'll want to tackle in these tests is in slowly improving the performance of Antilia on lower-end machines, so that more players can enjoy Antilia at an acceptable frame rate.
Full-time Server Availability - As all of these features come together, and the new character creation system is completed, we're going to want to move Antilia's testing from a weekly event to full-time.
Mid-Year Goals
While the additions above are important steps toward beta - there are still several important engine and gameplay features that must be added before we can call Antilia "beta". I would like to have these mostly if not fully completed by mid-year:
Basic Battle Skills and Mob AI - While Antilia will feature a rich set of non-combat skills and the potential for non-combat characters - certainly it wouldn't be complete without them.
Collision Detection - As beautiful as the landscape is, being able to walk through trees and buildings is a tad silly... and for indoor environments, collision detection is simply a requirement.
Improved Clutter System - While not a high priority, Antilia just plain looks better with clutter enabled. The current system is hogging and fragmenting memory unfortunately, and this will need to be fixed.
Quest System - And, finally, before we can move on with real gameplay - we need a quest system!
Beyond these things, which are really just items on my long-term to-do list, there isn't a whole lot of use in detailed planning. Sometimes things take longer to do than I hope, sometimes things I didn't plan on adding yet end up getting added early. There are always a few surprises along the way, and occasionally things that are overlooked until they are desperately needed. (And yes, there are a slew of things that I didn't mention at all - customizing controls, improving the chat window, improving character movement, emotes, etc. - There are just too many to list, and these will be worked in as they can be.)
Resolution for 2012
So that brings us to the big picture - my new year's resolution for Antilia in 2012. I tend to take these resolutions pretty serious - they set the tone and expectation for the entire year, and they can be surprisingly difficult to reach. Personally, I prefer a resolution that is reasonable - but just on the 'difficult' side of things. Projected right, a good resolution for the project should be completed in December, not in March.
Considering that we are currently in alpha, the easy resolution would be "to take Antilia into 'beta' by the end of 2012". After considering this a while, I don't like this resolution. Declaring the project as going "beta" is a rather arbitrary thing, especially on a project like an MMO where features and content will very likely continue to be added even after the game reaches "release". I'd prefer a resolution that is specific, rather than vague, that way I know exactly what we're trying to accomplish.
Therefore, my resolutions for Antilia in 2012 are:
That Antilia will see all the Taipii bloodlines available for play as both genders,
that players will have at least 50 skills to learn and train in across at least 12 different disciplines,
that players will step foot into their first indoor environment,
and that players will step foot on the mainland of Antilia.
And of course, above all - I want to keep Antilia a project that the dev team and I enjoy working on, and continue to build a community around it that people love being a part of. There is still a lot of work to do, a lot of world to build - and several surprises soon to come!
Kasau Fishing Contest - Monday, December 26, 2011!
Let's have a fishing contest! The contest will run throughout the day, and the players that catch the biggest freshwater and saltwater fish (by length) will win a special Golden Fishing Pole at the end of the day.
Status: The contest has concluded, and the servers are no longer online.
Fishing Contest Rules
All fish to be considered must be caught on December 26th, before 6:00 PM Mountain Time to be considered for the contest. (Current fish you're already holding can't be entered into the contest.)
We'll keep a running tally of who has the record for longest fresh and salt water fish throughout the day on the website.
If you catch a fish that is larger than the one currently listed in this post - make a reply in this thread. Please include your in-game character's name and the name, and length of the fish you caught. Do not throw the fish away! I will verify on the server that players claims are accurate. There may be some delay before claims are verified.
In the case of a tie, all tied players will receive a Golden Fishing Pole.
Whats New in 5.5.2a
The contest will include a minor version release of the client:
New Fish - The number of fish to catch has nearly tripled!
New Bait Type - Smaller fish can now be used as bait to catch larger fish.
New Fishing Skill - A new fishing skill can be learned to catch fish further from shore.
New Fishing Gear - New fishing gear has been added to the game.
Skill Levels - The players current skill level is now considered when catching fish.
Expanded Inventory - Player inventory space has been increased, and an 'expanded' inventory view has been added.
Fishing Tips
If you don't know where to find the fishing stick, or how to fish - be sure to watch the Alpha 5.5.0 video.
Be sure to vary fishing skills (techniques) and baits - some fish are picky.
There are other good fishing spots besides the lake next to camp!
Different times of day are better for catching some fish - so vary your fishing times in different areas as well!
If You Haven't Participated in Testing Previously...
Antilia's alpha tests are open to everyone - all you need is a forum account. Once you have created an account and logged in, you will see a large 'play' button in the main header menu at the top of the page while the test is in progress. Click on it to review the EULA, system requirements, and download the game client. (If you do not see the large 'play' link in the main menu, it is likely the test hasn't started yet.)
It's time to plan the next alpha test! As of this morning the new-feature lock went into place - leaving just enough time to add in a bit more content and some more developer testing.
Testing for today is complete - hope to see you next time!
As we get closer, I'll try to keep the first post of this thread up-to-date with the latest additions and instructions. Testers will not need to download anything new if they already have the client - it'll automatically update itself when we are ready to test. We'll let you know when the new version has been uploaded and testing has officially begun.
What's New in 5.5.2:
Cooking - Finally, players can cook up all those fish... This also includes Cooking Stations, where players can use their cooking skills, and Dozens of Cooking Ingredients added to camp and throughout the Isle of Kasau.
Chat bubbles - We've decided to move in the direction of using chat bubbles for a more immerse world. These will be improved/enhanced in the future - for now, this is just a 'rough' initial release of the system to get a 'feel' for it.
NPC Conversations - The framework has been laid for NPC conversations - though like the chat bubbles this system is still a work-in-progress.
NPC Musings - NPCs now 'muse' about things while idle.
Per-skill Experience Tracking - You now gain experience each time you use a skill. Your current level and progress toward your next level can be observed in the skills window.
Improvements / Bug Fixes
Improved Information Panel - The information panel now works for both world objects and items in your inventory. The panel has been improved to include a 3D preview, as well as additional statistics for specific item types.
Improved performance via viewport culling. Further performance improvements are still planned.
Re-designed the way skills and inventory are cached on the server to reduce database load and improve server performance.
Minor
Fixed missing "welcome" message when joining the game.
Hot-keys can now both open and close inventory and skill windows.
Fixed issue with some skills not 'cooling down' properly.
Fixed issue with some skills not moving to the hotbar correctly.
Fixed incorrect count when receiving Iichii Meat.
Restored missing "Forest Jidou".
Attempted t o fix day/night cycles out of sync across clients. - Needs Testing
When all equipped bait is used up, it is now removed from the hotbar.
Note: This release does not contain any changes for improving graphics compatibility, and should maintain the same compatibility behavior as 5.5.1.
If you haven't tested previously...
Antilia's alpha tests are open to everyone - all you need is a forum account. Once you have created an account and logged in, you will see a large 'play' button in the main header menu at the top of the page while the test is in progress. Click on it to review the EULA, system requirements, and download the game client. (If you do not see the large 'play' link in the main menu, it is likely the test hasn't started yet.)
It's been close to 24 hours now since we started our first Alpha testing run - and the results have been great! As a developer - you hope for the best and fear for the worst, and the test went a lot smoother than I expected, actually.
When we do hit the 24 hour mark (in about 1 1/2 hours) I'm going to need to take the server down to work on the next release, and I expect that to take a few days. Until we reach the stability levels we are aiming for, it's a bit difficult for me to juggle monitoring the game and server while also making improvements to it.
Over the weekend I'm going to be working on the following things:
Improving server stability
Improving the inventory, skills, and hotbar windows - these frequently fall 'out of sync' for players
Identifying the cause of various client crashes which were reported
Investigating the "invisible character" bug that several players encountered
Keep an eye on the forums for future testing days - I expect there will be intermittent testing throughout December while we work out bugs we can't create with just the dev team.
I'd like to thank everyone who participated - we've learned a lot from this first test, and in spite of the issues, I'm quite encouraged that the server was up for as much time as it was. We've saw a total of about 70 characters created so far - and I hope to see you all again the next time we test!
It's here! Alpha testing of Antilia has officially begun!
There is quite a bit to download - so if you'd like to participate in the alpha, click the play link now and you can read the rest of this blog post while it downloads.
Some things are a bit difficult to describe in a blog post, so we created a short video to introduce the initial gameplay features and show you how to use them:
"Design an NPC" Contest Winners
In the final week of November, we ran an impromptu forum contest in which the community was challenged with designing an NPC for the Isle of Kasau. We received a lot of great submissions, and had a lot of fun reading and deciding which ones to add to the gameworld. Here are our winners:
First Place: Jirii da' Ariiel - Tangaloor
Second Place: Padailau da' Nayr - ShadeSlayerS
Third Place: Ramos da' Talikus - EverythingEbil
Server Uptime
Just a brief note on this - It's still too early to determine how many players the server can handle or how stable it is - but it's likely the server will be up and down frequently in the first few weeks of testing.
Ensuring the server is stable is my next top priority, followed by getting the game running on as many PC's as we can.
Big Thanks
And finally - I'd like to give the other developers a big "thank you!" for helping me bring Antilia to alpha:
Alexander Brooks - For the amazing meshes and textures that have brought the Isle of Kasau to life!
"Jeremii da'Ariiel - For lending a hand with world building, for the frequent design brainstorming sessions, and for always being available for some impromptu testing...
"Ravenflight" - For the outstanding concept art, as well as the intro-sequence illustrations which will soon be added to the game.
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