The first full week of the new sprint saw everyone fixing any lingering issues, and moving on to the next big project. The functionality of our online store is done. We just have to add the images of the new shirts and the other merch. Jared has the ledger for the player wallet up and running, but it needs a little refinement to make it easier to read. We were finally forced to take a walk down the long and complicated road of collecting sales tax. We ran down a home state, inventory, and employee nexus trail, reading all the rules, before turning back and looking at the the three categories each state in the U.S. falls into regarding tax rules. It’s all as clear as mud.
Jesse finished work on an updated logo and is updating all the merch with the new image. The first iteration of House banners is ready, so soon you can have a cool looking custom flag for your group. We finally uploaded the portraits we commissioned on our About page. Those of you who were curious, can now put a face that is somewhat representative of our actual appearance to our names. There were some minor vanity changes made to some that I won’t call out, but everyone is at least moderately content with how they look now. Chris, in a fit of pique recolored a particularly white/grey hair. It was en-youngificationing for him.
The automated building system is still in the bug hunting phase, but we’re also looking at what happens when we increase the level of detail and ways to increase performance. This version of the system is almost where we want it, and we talked a bit about potential next steps and uses. This includes streamlining the system and letting players use a version to construct bases in the game. Terry continues LinuxServer/WindowsClient work, fixing any bugs as they appear. Chris has assembled a pile of machines for build and game servers. They’re not as loud as you think, and soon, geographically distributed.
Jesse showed off a new inventory ui and screen, with new buttons and a recycling options for certain items. We talked through the recycling workflow and talked at length about possible issues. The target of most of the discussion was the issue of item dimensions when assembling/disassembling items. These items would always have the same weight but things like a disassembled rifle, or a board made from smaller bits of wood, take up different amounts of space than the item/s they came from. After some back and forth we decided to just not allow a player to recycle/craft something if there was not sufficient space available for it. Jesse created a warning notification for such a case. With that decided, the goal is to have the new UI ready by the end of the week.
Finally, we started work on the initial character spawn sequence experience, and smart respawning. Lahaina is dangerous enough as it is, without popping up in the middle of a firefight or interrupting a Green Lady picnic. The team continued work on a tunnel/cave/sewer system for players to explore, fight unspeakable terrors, and gather loot. All of our persistence work is just about done. Soon players will be able to keep everything they’ve stolen, crafted, bought, or acquired after they log out. While we encourage long play sessions, we understand that the realities of life force even the most diehard fans to attend to work, bathroom and relationships occasionally and we’d like you to be able to keep your stuff when you do decide to stand up.
Having finished up work on the communication tower, the art team moved on the the next big building, the Veil Station. As you can see from the shot below, the interior needs a little lighting work, but it looks great for a first pass.
We’ll be back on Thursday with more art and updates.