Archive for the ‘New Features’ Category

Man the Cannons!

Tuesday, March 13th, 2012

Past Prologue
If you’ve been listening to the podcasts, you probably heard about some changes coming down the pipe for Gang Warfare. Well, I’d like to take a second to talk about them here.

Allowing patrollers and ambushers to be in multiple places at once for Gang Warfare had a few unpleasant design effects (along with being a little weird). Among other things, it’s why there couldn’t be a system of “digging in” and fortifying areas.

So, you can no longer be in multiple places at once in Gang Warfare. Some will say it’s a nerf and I don’t disagree, although that’s not the main reason I had to make the change. You’re welcome to yell “NERRRRRRRRRRRRRF!” at your screen if it makes you feel better, though.

“But what about the fortification thing you were talking about?” you may ask if you lived to help me narrate (in which case, thanks). Well, I’m a big believer of delivering nerfs with a heaping side of new content that explains why the nerf had to happen.

Fortification
There is now an unlockable ability to strengthen your patrols and ambushes with various special effects dependent on the area they’re in. That’s the generally sweet part I’ll let you work out yourself.

The part I want to be clearer on is that there are a few new interface bits to interact with to get supplies to the different areas.

  • Leaders and Beancounters can assign profits to different areas in the Gang Stash screen, similar to how smugglers work.
  • There’s a new Gang Missions tab under the quest log. You can toggle whether you’re helping fortify there. You don’t need to have fortification unlocked for yourself to help.

So if there’s supplies en route to the area you’re in and you’ve agreed to help, you get special non-combat encounters setting up the fortifications. You can get these regardless of whether you control the area, but you do have to be active in Gang Warfare.

The fortifications themselves vary from handy to crazy. There might be adjustments for balance later, but I’m feeling pretty good about them now.

How does only being in one place work?
Regarding the earlier topic, if you have a patrol or some ambushes already in place in another area, it will give you a message about not being in two places at once. You can stop your patrols or ambushes at any time from the Gang Warfare screen under your gang.

Cheers!
Kinak

Cybernetics!

Sunday, July 31st, 2011

Cybernetics is in. And it’s out a good month before I expected I’d be able to get everything pieced together, so I’m really happy with that.

Just so everyone’s on the same page:
Cybernetic enhancements are commercially available in Oldtown, where the next step of the main quest line will take place.

However, with the right choices you can get access to a cyberclinic early and there a few places you might pick up some cyberware. These early, sneaky things are what went in today. Mainstream cyberware will come in with Oldtown.

Cheers!
Kinak

Feature Additions

Sunday, November 28th, 2010

Added a couple of heavily requested features today and fixed up a pile of bugs.

Features first!

  • Touched up the Techniques page. Lots of little changes, but the big one now is being able to delete the Default deck.
  • Simple recipes are now remembered between resets.
  • Added a ‘lieutenant’ rank within gangs that can modify the gang warfare agendas.
  • In a related note, the gang ranks now have clicky definitions like attributes do.
  • New resets now include a date when the reset completed and are sortable by time of completion.

And bugs!

  • Zack stopped giving out complimentary copies of the Emerald Gift scrapbook when you reset. Thanks for the bug report and the honest, Factitious!
  • Sewer Hideout encounters should react properly now if you kill half the guards, then sneak the rest of the way. Thanks Al!
  • Location is now properly included in gang warfare messages when you lose control. Thanks for the bug report, Cank!
  • Corrected an issue where the game thought all runs were completed on January 1st, 1970. Go Team Unix! Thanks for the bug report, Factitious.
  • Hopefully fixed an issue where Techniques based on your hit points weren’t updating midround. Good catch, Llamaman!

And typos!
Thanks to Elliotbay, Cryptodynamic, xKiv, Suuljin, Borkman, and Mag for helping make the game a little more legible for everyone :)

Cheers!
Kinak

Helping Hand

Tuesday, October 5th, 2010

Okay, a couple of friendly additions for new players today:

  • There are now combat hints from when you start out to when you start including new techniques in your deck. This covers basic Chain creation, some strategy, and interface stuff.
  • There’s also a backstory blurb when you first log in (or reset).

The combat hints won’t fire if you have hints turned off in the account preferences. If you want to see them as an existing player, turn those on, then switch to a deck with the four basic techniques.

If you want to see the new blurb, go to Southside :)

Also fixed some bugs:

  • Corrected an ancient issue causing negative duration buffs. Thanks Llamaman!
  • Officer Stone can now be unlocked properly again. Thanks for doublechecking with me, Xerf, I appreciate it.
  • Pain Incarnate can now hurt you. Thanks for the bug report, Cryptodynamic.

And some typo fixes thanks to xKiv, Cryptodynamic, Sir Cheddar, Metro, Mag, Argeth, Glass, Happy Yeti, and Vholes Piper. Seriously! Nine players! Go go team typokiller!

Cheers!
Kinak

Key Commands and More

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010

First off, we have some basic key commands working now. A special thanks on this one to Al and Man Mobile, who helped with the coding.

  • In encounters, hit the number of the choice you want. So 1 is the first listed choice and so on. Pretty straight forward.
  • In combat, hit the number of the technique you want (1 on the left and 5 on the right). You can change targets by hitting shift and the appropriate number. ` clears your chain, enter strikes, and backspace runs away.
  • Hacking works about the same way as appropriate.
  • There are probably a few screens it doesn’t work in yet, but I think I got the major ones.

We also have some bug fixes:

  • Corrected some issues with Dr. Mira being strangely nice to people who tried to kill her, which sort of makes sense combined with the issue where she wasn’t dying. Thanks for both, Llamaman!
  • Petrol Splash should be stunning your enemies instead of PHP. Thanks for the bug report, Batou!
  • You should no longer encounter hands after you kill the shaman. If this doesn’t make sense, don’t worry about it, just thank Al.
  • Also, we have some typo fixes thanks to Mag, Llamaman, and Argeth. Thanks!

Cheers!
Kinak

Suite Update

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

Suites, the equivalent of outfits for Programs, are now in. Yay!

The main difference you may note is that suites will uninstall any running programs that weren’t in the suite. So, where an empty outfit won’t do anything, an empty suite will turn off all your programs. It should make sense when you use it.

Also, putting on an outfit will install the suite of the same name (if you have one). The reverse is also true. The outfit is put on first regardless.

While I was in there, I made processor messages in the data tab a bit clearer (hopefully).

Also brought in some bug fixes:

  • Fixed effects that trigger on damage to be evadable. Thanks Llamaman!
  • Corrected an issue that was causing evasion to display double the amount you actually evaded. Thanks for the bug report, Al!
  • Reworked the Dock Song quest logs. Thanks Vholes Piper and Llamaman.

Thanks to Argeth, GoldS, Mag, and especially Glass for some typo corrections.

Cheers!
Kinak

Recipes and Resets

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

Recipes are now remembered over resets. The way this works is very specific, so I’m going to explain it so there isn’t any confusion.

Any recipe that can be learned through experimentation is saved when you reset. Those recipes are then restored when you gain the ability to perform that type of experimentation (so, when you get your electrical kit or learn experimental chemistry).

So recipes that are only learned through other sources (like items or NPCs) are not remembered. And you don’t get chemistry recipes back just because you got a chemistry kit. I included these exceptions to allow crafting to create game-defining items and play a role in the main quest line, so they’re not bugs or oversights.

Other Stuff

  • On a related note, recipes you don’t meet the requirements for are now disabled. This mostly comes up with coding, but who can say where its tentacles extend?
  • Resolved an issue where multiple recipes for the same end result weren’t displaying. Thanks for the bug report, Ricket!
  • Revamped the Undying Heart skill from the new quest. In addition to it’s previous hidden stuff it has some neat new hidden stuff and slightly less obvious stuff. Thanks for the suggestion, Argeth!
  • Went through and added some meat to Ghoultouched, including some very old suggestions about it interacting with drones. Also thanks to Cryptodynamic for helping me debug it in PvP.
  • Gift messages can now extend to 240 characters. Happy Welcome Backing Vholes! And this should be the last time I extend those. It’s like two whole tweets :P
  • We also have some typos from xKiv, Argeth, and Mag. Thanks!

Cheers!
Kinak

Updates

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

I have some updates to report, but also a bit of forewarning:

There is some scheduled downtime on the server from 5-11pm server time on Friday. That translates into 11am to 5pm Central Time. Our hosts are moving some servers around in the data center, which potentially might take less time, but shouldn’t be more than six hours without catastrophe.

  • Added a “Last Hacked” in the left hand pane when appropriate. Thanks for the suggestion, Al.
  • Your current effects are now updated when you receive Fae Eyes or Ocean Eyes. Good catch, Soulmech.
  • New contacts now result in the Contacts link up top being highlighted. Good suggestion, Al and Juntao.
  • Corrected some errors with saving account preferences. Thanks, Morwen!
  • Also fixed up a slew of typos from Nyther, Man Mobile, Wyrd, Caradal, and Mag. Thanks!

Cheers!
Kinak

Attributes Update

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

Alrighty! It’s been a while coming, but there’s been an overhaul to general attribute usefulness.

  • The way maximum HP is determined has changed. It is now determined by the lower of Strength and Will. In other words, you’ll collapse when either your physical endurance or your force of will gives out.
  • All four attributes now have hard coded uses.
  • The running away system (such that it was a system at all) has been rewritten to give a range of results, stretching to both sides of the current results.

And some other changes to round out the day:

  • Added some new dialogue for Lo if Dr. Amundsen dies before you’ve rescued David. Thanks to Al for the suggestion and Lord Finisher for helping me debug it.
  • Fixed a bug with Chemical Mixture’s delayed damage in gang warfare. Good catch, Rykar!
  • Corrected some weirdness that was causing a second footer (‘Continue On’, etc.) to appear below noncombats in the Slags Maze. Thanks Shirogane!
  • Cable tangles are now appropriately usable, thanks to Mag.
  • And corrected a whole slew of typos from Caradal, Edwahd, and Mag.

Cheers!
Kinak