BattleMaster Community
Toms Other Games => SpellMaster III => SM General Discussion => Topic started by: Dante Silverfire on August 31, 2011, 04:06:48 AM
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So, I know it was stated in one thread a while back that launch would potentially be set at September 1st. Is this date still accurate for launch or are things delayed?
Also, I've seen somewhere listed that we will be given a certain amount of starting basic spells to begin the game with and that these will be based off of our skills. Are we going to be choosing initial starting skill values or something or how will this be determined? I've seen no place on the actual spell master site to do this yet, and am just trying to get an official update on things.
I've never played a game like this before so am trying to get an understanding of it if at all possible.
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Tom will have to answer about the launch date, but you can look at the Skills UI and see that you have some points already there. They have been accumulating too.
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Tom will have to answer about the launch date, but you can look at the Skills UI and see that you have some points already there. They have been accumulating too.
Well I don't happen to have any skill points at all, or have any accumulating, but I guess I'll just toss that up to having only created my account maybe 8 hours ago or so.
Also, I just thought about this, but how exactly will the story telling work? Will we be able to start ourselves in any of the three regions? (North, South, Colonies) or will we be stuck in one to begin with? Also, will we need to start a roleplay such as walkign into a village and attempting to do something, and then have a GM or other character follow up with what we find or whatever or do we do that ourselves? For instance, if I was seeking to find lost magical treasures some villagers might have and I ask around for them, would I just wait to have a GM pick up the NPC part and see how that goes or what?
Having never played a game like this I am unsure, even with the information provided.
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eh... what am I suppose do to with only 2 exp? I need at least 10 to do anything..
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eh... what am I suppose do to with only 2 exp? I need at least 10 to do anything..
Give it time. You accrue some each day, I think.
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Automatic accumulation isn't working yet. I have to do it manually.
That's one of the things that is still missing before we can launch.
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One of the most important parts of the game engine now works: Spell trading.
When you view the details of a spell, it will show you a "spell code". You can give that spell code to any other player by any means you like, through the forum, e-mail, IRC, fax, dictate it on the phone, snail-mail, carrier pidgeon, african swallow... whatever you want. If you get a spell code through whatever means, you can enter it at the bottom of your spell list and will automatically learn the spell it contains.
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nice. I want this test this if I get a chance. Anyone wants to trade a spell? :D
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I'm also up for testing this out and trading a spell or two, msg me in the forum if interested.
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Parser is also available now.
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well can't use it at the moment. Don't have enough points to use any of my spells yet. I need more low level spells!
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oh wow awesome. more spells you use become stronger if you use spells huh.
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I've given everyone some XP, energy, etc.
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Will we maintain XP accrued before Launch, or will we all be starting over once the game goes live?
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We will start over with 100 XP.
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Well ****. I assume that whether we keep the RP we've done so far going or start over is completely up to us, yes?
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Not really. You can keep the character. Not the levels for your skills.
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Not really as in, 'We should start over with our RPs', or not really as in, 'it really doesn't matter, you just won't have your skills anymore' ?
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As in we have to start over with our RPs and our skills.
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Any idea on when the launch date is going to be?
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With Skryim sucking everyone in (even Tom), I doubt this will happen any time soon :o
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With Skryim sucking everyone in (even Tom), I doubt this will happen any time soon :o
Skyrim is not the reason, my current mental state is. Skyrim is just a welcome distraction. The past year or so has been a horror trip for me, and I'm just now getting on my feet again, slowly. There have been times when BM coding was a great distraction, right now Skyrim is - it always depends on what's giving me energy at any given time.
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Oh so Skyrim might speed things up for the SM?
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Hooray for video game therapy.
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Are you still working on this Tom?
I mean it seems you will become busier once everyone starts working on the beyond and other stuff like the fifth invasion.
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I'm not currently actively working on SM3, no.
I don't think the game mechanics are the issue, I think there's spirit lacking. But I don't know where or what the problem is.
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I think people are just waiting for the game to start.
Testrun is kind of dead since whatever the character people built up during the test will be erased. People are probably thinking they will start once the game launches officially.
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I'm not currently actively working on SM3, no.
I don't think the game mechanics are the issue, I think there's spirit lacking. But I don't know where or what the problem is.
There's too many new players who are looking for direction because it's a brand new concept for them. They seem to be looking for parameters and a how-to for going about the whole thing. A lot of the things mentioned (like Councils and the like) are fairly integral parts of the game but unless you were a part of the original SM, you don't really know how that worked.
On the flipside, the old guard got excited and then stalled out. Whether they, too, were waiting for direction from you (possible) or just got sucked into the world of real life (most likely), it got too unsustainable to run a single test thread predicated on GM interaction. And yes, waiting to reset the skills and such may have had some people waiting indefinitely.
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For my part, I don't think the play style really fits what I'm used to. And I don't know if I can really get into it. From what I've seen, there doesn't seem to be enough GM involvement in it. There's too much of an individual player: 1) Creating a challenge for himself, 2) Casting spell to overcome the challenge he just created, and 3) patting himself on the back for how he chose to overcome the challenge he created for himself and then awarding himself his cleverly earned experience points.
"Kepler carefully opens the door, and sees a swarm Giant Ants on the other side. Before the ants see him, Kepler quickly casts Rapid Acting Insect Disintegrator. The ants all die. Kepler collects his 12 XP. Kepler continues through the door."
Umm... yay?
What I expected was a more interactive style of play, with more guidance from the GMs. Perhaps that would evolve over time. Or perhaps what we needed was more interaction between players. Or some overarching storyline or plot, or a beginning objective for players to accomplish. Something to jumpstart it, and get the players going. If we can somehow get that critical mass going to the point where the players start generating their own storylines, then I'm pretty sure we can get it going.
But I think that we will still need a few GMs to resolve some actions. And some better defined rules for how RPs should be played and posted. For example, how spells are resolved. I don't think the system of people creating and then instantly overcoming their own challenges is going to work.
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I only have our year-long short-lived restart of SM2 to go off of back when we did it on the RP list, but that was set up in a way that needed far less GM interaction and focused more on character interaction and development/self-discovery. Granted, the mechanics never got developed to go with it, but the framework was that every PC was a new SpellCaster, so the going was slow, the spells were minimal, and the failure rate was high.
But what it did was allow for lots of growth together with other characters as everyone tried to start basically a new life for themselves (witch hunters were everywhere, and SCs were outcasts, essentially). Tom had just a handful of posts, mostly for flavor, Loren had a character that I don't think ever ended up interacting with any other PC, and James' Jago started out as a statue and ended up a snarky old-timer imparting "wisdom" to all the newbies once we actually stumbled on him. That's all the "GM involvement" we had.
No XP, no levels, no anything really, except the desire to build Story. I'm not saying we have to, or even need to do the same thing again. But it did help alleviate a lot of the issues we are currently having. That time around, it died due to lack of mechanics. Now we have mechanics and no story/interaction/whatever.
Is it a different framework that's making the difference? Or a different group of players? Or something altogether different?
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As I see it, the test thread was just to give people the feel of interaction and understanding that they need to stop RPs to allow others to step in.
Having all characters in the same place is something that would rarely happen (as I see it) in the game once launched properly so it would not be as confusing/manic as it has got at times.
Once launched properly there will also be various underlying stories that characters will be able to get involved with, as well as creating their own.
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I'd echo what James said. The only reason I got Dynamis involved was as a GM counter against Tom so that we could get someone out of hot water, also because it's fun.
In SM2 I wasn't a GM, I putzed about with my own guy. Really we could launch right now and just have a ritualized Certamen where you start with whatever power you had at the start with a GM keeping score. Most RP's should be freeform as it stands. James or I would step in if someone went nuts with their descriptions.
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Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Just get the ball rolling, open the door, and see who comes to play.
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As I see it, the test thread was just to give people the feel of interaction and understanding that they need to stop RPs to allow others to step in.
;) One of the reasons why I didn't actually continue RPing on the test thread(still waiting for the other person to resume, I don't like being hasty to overtake the interaction), but it would be nice if this isn't the case again.
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Couldn't write any RP because I had exams. I will put more when I get home :D
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So SM3 launch isn't going to happen anytime soon, as it seems. Will it happen at all? Sure hope so. :-)
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Hope so too. But there are many things going on at the moment. :(