Not A Blog Redux III

[claniraq]

Kinda worried about all this talk of unmentionable Nether regions - not sure I want to touch that

This kinda feeds my theory about region progression similar to Diablo 2. The corrupted Alchemist is kinda like Dark Wanderer. Act 1 in TL2 is kinda similar in color to Ac 1 in D2. Act 2 is desert in both games. Act 3 might be a swamp (lol it would be funny if Marsh is working on polish of marsh region).. And the smaller Act 4 is kinda similar to smaller Act 4 of D2... I don't say this is a bad thing. Just a thought

Also I hope there won't be those friggin pigmeys in Act 3 if it is a marsh thor, how I hated those things...

I don't remember any of D2 progressing into unmentionable nether regions, well, maybe the underground passage and the valley of snakes

[ElderWraith]

If you need about week to complete ACT2 and Skills, then you going to team up with colleages to finish up ACT 3 and 4... So i presume you going to finish game in about 2-3 weeks =]

[WhisperByte]

I don't remember any of D2 progressing into unmentionable nether regions, well, maybe the underground passage and the valley of snakes

Probably because of playing Minecraft too much I can't differentiate Nether from Hell anymore... Sorry for my missunderstanding I better go read a dictionary though to avoid this kind of misunderstanding

[Alcator]

There was the Summoner's twisted dimension, which was very Escher-like (stairs and corridors circling onto themselves etc.)

If we optimistically take that they might wrap Act 2 "NOW" and Act 3 in 1 week and then Act 4 in another week, and add 2 weeks for final pre-lock bug-hunt, then it's still pretty much end of August for LOCK, and early September for release.

But, quality takes its time. Still much better than Black Mesa, which was "promised", at the end of 2008, to be done in 2009; in December 2009, they announced that they missed that release date by a tiny bit... now it's middle of 2012 and it's still not out

So, slipping by 9 months is not THAT bad, after that experience

[Tiamat]

<3 thanks. Runic is the best
I want to explore that unmentioned area

Keep up the good work Travis & Runic!

Pardon my ignorance, but what does "Matt added random affixes to endgame maps" actually mean? :S

It means that when you use a random map scroll it can have random properties applied to the monsters or the player while in that map.

this sounds like fun.
So it's something like all monster hp up by 5% or player damage up/down by 5%?

Exactly

[Farnham]

i like the wp scrolls and the random map affixes

some things if you could:
1. please implement the classic d2 style chat display, as well as the !msgs
2. please implement skeletons falling apart on normal deaths
3. will pvp have any separate balancing like 1/8th dmg or something similar?
4. will there be ias/fcr/fhr/fbr breakpoints?
5. will there be a 'desperation mode' or something similar for bosses? (like when they reach 20% hp remaining, they could turn red and move 20% faster and maybe get a new ability into the sequence)
6. what is Max doing?

thanks

[claniraq]

<3 thanks. Runic is the best
I want to explore that unmentioned area

It means that when you use a random map scroll it can have random properties applied to the monsters or the player while in that map.

this sounds like fun.
So it's something like all monster hp up by 5% or player damage up/down by 5%?

Exactly

Kind of like the whole item affix thing, are you guys making sure to include both statistical and mechanical affixes for end-game maps?
+5% monster damage is a nice thing, but do you have areas that get flagged to spawn with lava pits and falling boulders while monsters all explode asplode on death like popcorn?

[Oarea]

:o i like the wp scrolls and the random map affixes

some things if you could:
1. please implement the classic d2 chat display

D2 or not D2, no matter.
But yes, a real chat display

[Ingmartin]

Good gravy, you guys must be so sick of this of this game by now. Does it ever make you want to just say "f** it" and buy a one way ticket to Brazil?

[Glass]

Can you say anything about this trailer that ya'll have been teasing us with? Like a teaser, or an idea of when we'll get to see it, or a 1080p download of it...

[claniraq]

Good gravy, you guys must be so sick of this of this game by now. Does it ever make you want to just say "f** it" and buy a one way ticket to Brazil?

I still play some of the old projects I've worked on once in a while. Its hard to get sick of your favorite genres, and who better to make games of those genres?

[Artsyfact]

--snip--

Many thanks for the update!
Bug fixing is always awesome, even more so the .. featurettes

Waypoint portal idea sounds really convenient
Endgame map affixes are awesome, thanks for putting that in

Have a really good and productive week all of ya!

[Valisk]

Can you say anything about this trailer that ya'll have been teasing us with? Like a teaser, or an idea of when we'll get to see it, or a 1080p download of it...

Yes please, details on this trailer would be wonderful. Launch trailer with release date in-tow, perhaps?

[PatrickB]

Can you say anything about this trailer that ya'll have been teasing us with? Like a teaser, or an idea of when we'll get to see it, or a 1080p download of it...

Yes please, details on this trailer would be wonderful. Launch trailer with release date in-tow, perhaps?

Pretty sure it's our release trailer. It's really well done, I'm excited about it. Sorry, no ETA on when it will be viewable.

[Ingmartin]

Good gravy, you guys must be so sick of this of this game by now. Does it ever make you want to just say "f** it" and buy a one way ticket to Brazil?

I still play some of the old projects I've worked on once in a while. Its hard to get sick of your favorite genres, and who better to make games of those genres?

Yes, but absence makes the heart grow fonder!

[Chthon]

Why is Marsh taking so much time with act 3 compared to your time in act 2? Does it have more content compared to act 2, or maybe is more complex? Or maybe he is slow ?

Act 3 had more polishing to do by a good bit - Act 2 had been used at a prior PAX so was at a better level.
Since I needed to go on and do skill polish as well, I ended up getting the Act with less work to do.

He isn't slow

Does that mean there' still skill polish left to do at this point?

Also, does "skill polish" mean "implement skills that aren't implemented yet" or "do bugfixes and revise skills with lame tier bonuses"?

[Quantaltro]

wow. It must be a real mess to deal with bugs! I wonder how many hours of testing have to be done to get a reasonable picture of the game, with all the weird things that can happen during the gameplay!

[HansV2]

cool. so the polishing of all acts should be done in 2-3 weeks. give it another for testing and small stuff and BAM! a "wild guess release date" of late August/ early September.

Man... you just have to love Indie-studios. Would be interesting to know how many developers at a certain company who released a certain arpg worked at weekends so close to release.

[claniraq]

cool. so the polishing of all acts should be done in 2-3 weeks. give it another for testing and small stuff and BAM! a "wild guess release date" of late August/ early September.

Man... you just have to love Indie-studios. Would be interesting to know how many developers at a certain company who released a certain arpg worked at weekends so close to release.

Old wisdom from software engineering: Whenever someone says something will take "X of Y units", double X and add 1 to Y.
"4 days" translates to "8 weeks"

[Quantaltro]

cool. so the polishing of all acts should be done in 2-3 weeks. give it another for testing and small stuff and BAM! a "wild guess release date" of late August/ early September.

Man... you just have to love Indie-studios. Would be interesting to know how many developers at a certain company who released a certain arpg worked at weekends so close to release.

Old wisdom from software engineering: Whenever someone says something will take "X of Y units", double X and add 1 to Y.
"4 days" translates to "8 weeks"

LOL!