General Development

[simplex]

Also of interest is the lightning rod fx atlas:

lightningrodfx.png

That one will be very useful, thanks!

[lifemare]

I wasn't being picky about word choice.

I just had trouble seeing it as what you meant, since it has a very "from the top" build/animation. Lightning is just a regular prefab, with a build and an anim. This is the atlas:

I think we can rotate/translate/scale it so it will come off from the tree. But it'll certainly be tricky.

 

It would be tricky to redo their animation.

What part would be tricky in terms of code?

- Fixing their location on the tree clouds?

doesn't need to be very precise aslong as it emanates from the tree itself and all the little clouds light up when it happens.

Resizing them without flattening them or making them too thin?

reducing their heigh might indeed have those effects, but that may be countered by masking out some of the top and bottom so it doesn't need such a large resizing.

Also of interest is the lightning rod fx atlas:

lightningrodfx.png

 

Much much better than what i suggested! Thank you Sukoushi!

[lifemare]

Also, we may want to consider reversing the lightning so it comes from the clouds below and hits the tree instead (don't know if it will look good though).

[simplex]

It would be tricky to redo their animation.

What part would be tricky in terms of code?

- Fixing their location on the tree clouds?

doesn't need to be very precise aslong as it emanates from the tree itself and all the little clouds light up when it happens.

Resizing them without flattening them or making them too thin?

reducing their heigh might indeed have those effects, but that may be countered by masking out some of the top and bottom so it doesn't need such a large resizing.

The tricky part is getting the positioning right. Their point of reference is the target of the strike, not the source. And the game doesn't inform the size of an animation frame.

I think it can be done, though. It'll just involve a lot of trial and error, plugging in numbers, seeing the result, tweaking them, repeating... But it's doable. It sure beats creating an anim from scratch. But I think I'll have to write a tool that processes/interprets the build.bin to get more information about the sizes.

Edited September 15, 2013 by simplex

[simplex]

How should skyflies move?

Should they be motionless, wander aimlessly, hop from flower to flower?

I'm leaning towards the idea of the flower hop. This would allow for an interesting effect if implementing the idea that skyflies should create new skyflowers, because the flowers would start to grow in lines connecting to each other.

[Craig_Perry]

The tricky part is getting the positioning right. Their point of reference is the target of the strike, not the source. And the game doesn't inform the size of an animation frame.

I think it can be done, though. It'll just involve a lot of trial and error, plugging in numbers, seeing the result, tweaking them, repeating... But it's doable. It sure beats creating an anim from scratch. But I think I'll have to write a tool that processes/interprets the build.bin to get more information about the sizes.

a simpler option could be for lightning strikes to appear randomly a small distance from the tree unless you are set on this option anyhow (apologies for posting in the developer only section I just wanted to let you know of an alternative if this one doesn't go too great)

[TeoSS69]

Can we downscale lightning?

As for Skyflowers i think they should both move and hope from flower to flower occasionally.

[MilleniumCount]

I'm leaning towards the idea of the flower hop. This would allow for an interesting effect if implementing the idea that skyflies should create new skyflowers, because the flowers would start to grow in lines connecting to each other.

This would be an interesting effect. The player could follow lines of flowers and perhaps discover things on the way instead of randomly run in a random direction.

[ArcticFox789]

Recap of the Day (so far) - [15/09/2013]:

(This should be the normal length, as this includes just today).

Please note that things in descriptions with a question mark are up for debate. 

This will continue to be updated until 10PM, so please check back often.

On weekends, these will be out at around 11-12AM (GMT). On weekdays, it will be more like 5PM.

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Team name:

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- Fellowship of the Bean [FotB] was pretty much unanimously accepted.

- It's now basically official.

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FotB Membership:

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Membership:

- Teo and me have reached a majority vote for inclusion. We have not yet been officially inducted (given a badge).

- KidneyBeanBoy was excluded from the team after a vote. He will continue to offer ideas, but will not be given a vote in more official matters. He was very understanding, and took it incredibly well.

- Lord_Battal handed in a resignation following a few points about his contributions from other members. It's not known if he intends to continue working on Winnie.

 

Voting:

- Due to the current amount of members [11] [2 Coders, 7 Artists, 2 Writers], a majority is 6. The vote currently stands at 12:0 in favour of Yea.

- In future, votes will still require a 6 vote majority, as the membership level will have levelled out at 11 [2 in, 2 out].

- In the eventuality that less than 6 people vote, we have no set protocol. I would hazard a guess that non-voting members would be summoned with an '@'.

- The fact that more than 11 people voted, means that in future, all votes will be Public votes so that non-FotB members votes don't count.

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Creatures:

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Animation:

- Antlion - Work is beginning on the Antlion animation.

- Beanlet - Progress is being made, and they now look better (less pixel-y) in-game.

 

Artwork:

- Longbill - A new atlas has been created, making the Longbill fit the colour scheme of the Duckraptor.

It's still a bit disjointed, and needs a better program (like Photoshop) to be properly lined up in. Also, it seems the export has corrupted it slightly. This also needs to be fixed.

 

Finally, the on the top row, for the first four, the markings should be on the bottom half of it, not the top.

 

Suggestions:

Quartz Crab - Reliable source of food (Similar to Rabbits) found on the world's edge.

Cloud Sharks - As in living amongst the Clouds, not made of them.

Grue, but for Fire - Snuffs out any Fires that have been lit.

A Fox-like mob -

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General:

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Suggestions:

Ground Types - Some surface world ground types found in the Cloud Realm?

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Items:

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Suggestions:

Cloudy Vest - Sanity regen and + movement speed. Sanity drain during the Static

Crystal Battle Axe - 75 damage. Slows you down.

Cupid's Bow - Makes a mob follow you. (Cheap and short term or expensive and long-term?)

Bean Bomb - Throwable Bombs.

Chilled Pack - Backpack that keeps food cold.

Discharger - Makes charged mobs revert to normal for the duration of that cycle.

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Objects:

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Animation:

Thunder Trees - Planning is beginning for the blooming, and fx are being discussed.

 

Artwork:

Skyshroom - Concept for the Skyshrooms

 

Suggestions:

Octoballon: Means of transportation

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Biomes:

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Suggestions:

Cloud-Storm Biome - Static dependant - Home of Sheep.

Aurora Biome - Dark Clouds, Colourful Fog, Home of the Rainbowcoons.

Cloud Interior Biome - Home to Longbills etc. Retextured Cave Walls, give illusion of being inside the Cloud.

Sky Forest/Field Biome - Home to Owlpeople

Ruined Castle - Home of the Bean Giant and the (rare) Beanclops.

Humid Cloud Biome - Quartz Crabs and Cloud Sharks.

Blizzard Biome - Insulation counts as half. Snow Slurpers territory. Rare treasure.

Whirlwind Biome - Tornadoes capable of teleporting the player around spawn here.

Airship Biome - Airships fly around spawning the Clockwork creatures.

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Behaviours:

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Suggestions:

- Rainbowcoons to be attracted to places were the player is the most, to give better chance of having food stolen.

- Flying Fish to actually fly above the Pond until the player is fairly close?

- Fertilizer needs to be used three times on surface world plants. This includes Berry Bushes, Grass and Twigs. They must be fertilized after every use. However, if the player uses Manure, they need only fertilize once, as it is more difficult to obtain, giving the player a reason to go for it.

- Skyflies will hop from Skyflower to Skyflower, and have the ability to create new ones, makign a line of Skyflowers, that the player could follow.

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Crafting Recipes:

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Suggestions:

Bean Bomb - 1 Bean; 2 Gunpowder

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Staffs and Gems:

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Suggestions:

- Everseer Staff - Reveals a chunk of unexplored map 

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Events:

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Coding:

Tornado tests have been tried.

 

Suggestion:

Tornado - Acts like a Wormhole.

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Roadmap:

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More Interaction with Surface:

- Birds and Frogs from surface to be in Cloud Realm.

- Marshmallow Bees to go downstairs after Beanstalk planted?

- Fertilizer needs to be used three times on surface world plants. This includes Berry Bushes, Grass and Twigs. They must be fertilized after every use. However, if the player uses Guano as opposed to Manure, they need only fertilize once, as it is more difficult to obtain, giving the player a reason to go for it, and thus affecting the Caves and surface world.

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Bugs:

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Current:

- Periodic stutter - Every 3-4 seconds. This is a bug, and is being worked on.

Edited September 15, 2013 by ArcticFox789

[lifemare]

Recap of the Day (so far) - [15/09/2013]:

 

Outstanding work once more Arctic. Can't wait to subscribe to your Recap thread!

Welcome to the team!

again!

[ArcticFox789]

Outstanding work once more Arctic. Can't wait to subscribe to your Recap thread!

Welcome to the team!

again!

 

You're welcome!

 

As much as I expected to hate it, it gives me something to do, and it's genuinely quite fun having to pay attention to everything. It's much more interesting than before, when I just sort of skim-read everything.

Edited September 15, 2013 by ArcticFox789

[lifemare]

(apologies for posting in the developer only section I just wanted to let you know of an alternative if this one doesn't go too great)

 

Apologies for making you feel your opinions are unwelcome in this thread.

This sub-forum as been a little confusing with all the new threads popping up.

One thing that should never change is people feeling they can be a part of this.

[Craig_Perry]

Apologies for making you feel your opinions are unwelcome in this thread.

This sub-forum as been a little confusing with all the new threads popping up.

One thing that should never change is people feeling they can be a part of this.

ah ok thanks for the clarification, with the whole developer only tag it got a little confusing

[lifemare]

ah ok thanks for the clarification, with the whole developer only tag it got a little confusing

 

Now that we have a members-only forum section, i'd actually strip all the developers-only tags from these threads.

And i'd merge this one with the megathread.

Edited September 15, 2013 by lifemare

[simplex]

Now that we have a members-only forum section, i'd actually strip all the developers-only tags from these threads.

And i'd merge this one with the megathread.

The private subforum is only for topics such as membership. Discussions about the mod itself shouldn't be made there, since it would hide them from other people.

I still think the "Developer only" tag is important, and that it should truly block replies for non-collaborators. But I'm thinking we should reduce the number of threads tagged as such, especially due to comments like Craig's, which should never be blocked.

[lifemare]

The private subforum is only for topics such as membership. Discussions about the mod itself shouldn't be made there, since it would hide them from other people.

I still think the "Developer only" tag is important, and that it should truly block replies for non-collaborators. But I'm thinking we should reduce the number of threads tagged as such, especially due to comments like Craig's, which should never be blocked.

 

Yes, after my previous post, i did have the same second thoughts, having private development discussions would be a bad idea, for a lot of reasons.

My reasoning was, you could use it if we really need to stay away from outside influence on specific core matters, such as finalizing speeches (using those gathered in a public writer's nook), developing a particular code only you and debug really need to address, etc.

I, for one, think this separation of threads doesn't work very well at the moment, the general development, the megathread and the suggestions thread are all being used almost identically.

We might've jumped the gun there, maybe we should only have a Development thread, once we have a roadmap and we're actually discussing step-by-sep implementions to the mod.

 

EDIT: the point being, in case i wasn't clear there, i don't really think we need developer-only threads at this moment. The tag is important no doubt, but are we organized enough as a team right now, to rescind outside help on anything, for that tag to be actually useful instead of just confusing and counter-productive?

Edited September 15, 2013 by lifemare

[Craig_Perry]

Beanstalk chopping:

after testing the loot could be more extravagant as for now (a placeholder of course) it drops similar things to the tentacle pillars plus the beanstalk chunks and 2 cloudturf if anyone has any ideas it'd be great to see them

[ArcticFox789]

Yes, after my previous post, i did have the same second thoughts, having private development discussions would be a bad idea, for a lot of reasons.

My reasoning was, you could use it if we really need to stay away from outside influence on specific core matters, such as finalizing speeches (using those gathered in a public writer's nook), developing a particular code only you and debug really need to address, etc.

I, for one, think this separation of threads doesn't work very well at the moment, the general development, the megathread and the suggestions thread are all being used almost identically.

We might've jumped the gun there, maybe we should only have a Development thread, once we have a roadmap and we're actually discussing step-by-sep implementions to the mod.

 

EDIT: the point being, in case i wasn't clear there, i don't really think we need developer-only threads at this moment. The tag is important no doubt, but are we organized enough as a team right now, to rescind outside help on anything, for that tag to be actually useful instead of just confusing and counter-productive?

 

I have a proposal, but it's gonna be annoying to do:

 

Can't we hide/archive threads? Because we could just start over. We still have the Recap of the Day thread to look back on the past few days, which will start when I'm badged. And then we can start up the new threads with a proper OP (which explains what the thread is about, meaning we don't have 3 threads that become virtually the same thing), and organise them correctly. Simply because most of the threads have gone at least slightly Off-Topic.

 

Also, we can sort out what we currently have, and do it properly.

 

This is what we have:

My Suggestions are in brackets, italic-ed and bolded. 

 

"When in doubt, use brute force - Testing Discussion" - OPer - simplex ("Up and Away - Testing Discussion" - OPer - Simplex)

"Moth Lamp - Bugs go Here!" - OPer - simplex ("Up and Away - Bug Tracker" - OPer - Simplex)

"Up and Away - Artwork" - OPer - Lord_Battal ("Up and Away - Artwork" - OPer - lifemare?)

"Up and Away - General Development" - OPer - debugman18 ("Up and Away - General Development" - OPer - Debugman18)

"A Thread on Lambdas and other Epsilons" - OPer - simplex ("Up and Away - Coding Discussion" - OPer - Simplex or Debugman18)

"Discussing the Removal and Addition of members" - OPer - debugman18 ("Up and Away - Membership? (not sure on the name for this)" - OPer - Debugman18?)

"Up and Away - Suggestions" - OPer - Lord_Battal ("Up and Away - Suggestions" - OPer - TeoSS69?)

"Roadmap Brainstorming" - OPer - simplex ("Up and Away - Roadmap Discussion" - OPer - lifemare?)

"Animation Nation" - OPer - TheDanaAddams ("Up and Away - Animation - OPer - TheDanaAddams)

"Up and Away - Videos" - OPer - KidneyBeanBoy [REMOVE THIS THREAD UNTIL PUBLIC ALPHA/BETA?]

"Writers' Nook" - OPer - Luggs ("Up and Away - Writing" - OPer - Luggs)

"Subforrm Test" - OPer - JoeW [REMOVE THIS THREAD]

"Welcome Collaborators" - debugman18 [REMOVE THIS THREAD]

("Up and Away - Recap of the Day" - OPer - ArcticFox789)

 

I'd quite like some feedback on this.

[TeoSS69]

I have a proposal, but it's gonna be annoying to do:

 

Can't we hide/archive threads? Because we could just start over. We still have the Recap of the Day thread to look back on the past few days, which will start when I'm badged. And then we can start up the new threads with a proper OP (which explains what the thread is about, meaning we don't have 3 threads that become virtually the same thing), and organise them correctly. Simply because most of the threads have gone at least slightly Off-Topic.

 

Also, we can sort out what we currently have, and do it properly.

 

This is what we have:

My Suggestions are in brackets, italic-ed and bolded. 

 

"When in doubt, use brute force - Testing Discussion" - OPer - simplex ("Up and Away - Testing Discussion" - OPer - Simplex)

"Moth Lamp - Bugs go Here!" - OPer - simplex ("Up and Away - Bug Tracker" - OPer - Simplex)

"Up and Away - Artwork" - OPer - Lord_Battal ("Up and Away - Artwork" - OPer - lifemare?)

"Up and Away - General Development" - OPer - debugman18 ("Up and Away - General Development" - OPer - Debugman18)

"A Thread on Lambdas and other Epsilons" - OPer - simplex ("Up and Away - Coding Discussion" - OPer - Simplex or Debugman18)

"Discussing the Removal and Addition of members" - OPer - debugman18 ("Up and Away - Membership? (not sure on the name for this)" - OPer - Debugman18?)

"Up and Away - Suggestions" - OPer - Lord_Battal ("Up and Away - Suggestions" - OPer - TeoSS69?)

"Roadmap Brainstorming" - OPer - simplex ("Up and Away - Roadmap Discussion" - OPer - lifemare?)

"Animation Nation" - OPer - TheDanaAddams ("Up and Away - Animation - OPer - TheDanaAddams)

"Up and Away - Videos" - OPer - KidneyBeanBoy [REMOVE THIS THREAD UNTIL PUBLIC ALPHA/BETA?]

"Writers' Nook" - OPer - Luggs ("Up and Away - Writing" - OPer - Luggs)

"Subforrm Test" - OPer - JoeW [REMOVE THIS THREAD]

"Welcome Collaborators" - debugman18 [REMOVE THIS THREAD]

("Up and Away - Recap of the Day" - OPer - ArcticFox789)

 

I'd quite like some feedback on this.

I'm all up for some cleaning. Especially the Old and New general development thread. Also i have a feeling that Testing and Bug Tracking can be used for the same thing, like it happens with test previews for don't starve.

[simplex]

I have a proposal, but it's gonna be annoying to do:

 

Can't we hide/archive threads? Because we could just start over. We still have the Recap of the Day thread to look back on the past few days, which will start when I'm badged. And then we can start up the new threads with a proper OP (which explains what the thread is about, meaning we don't have 3 threads that become virtually the same thing), and organise them correctly. Simply because most of the threads have gone at least slightly Off-Topic.

 

Also, we can sort out what we currently have, and do it properly.

 

This is what we have:

My Suggestions are in brackets, italic-ed and bolded. 

"When in doubt, use brute force - Testing Discussion" - OPer - simplex ("Up and Away - Testing Discussion" - OPer - Simplex)

"Moth Lamp - Bugs go Here!" - OPer - simplex ("Up and Away - Bug Tracker" - OPer - Simplex)

"Up and Away - Artwork" - OPer - Lord_Battal ("Up and Away - Artwork" - OPer - lifemare?)

"Up and Away - General Development" - OPer - debugman18 ("Up and Away - General Development" - OPer - Debugman18)

"A Thread on Lambdas and other Epsilons" - OPer - simplex ("Up and Away - Coding Discussion" - OPer - Simplex or Debugman18)

"Discussing the Removal and Addition of members" - OPer - debugman18 ("Up and Away - Membership? (not sure on the name for this)" - OPer - Debugman18?)

"Up and Away - Suggestions" - OPer - Lord_Battal ("Up and Away - Suggestions" - OPer - TeoSS69?)

"Roadmap Brainstorming" - OPer - simplex ("Up and Away - Roadmap Discussion" - OPer - lifemare?)

"Animation Nation" - OPer - TheDanaAddams ("Up and Away - Animation - OPer - TheDanaAddams)

"Up and Away - Videos" - OPer - KidneyBeanBoy [REMOVE THIS THREAD UNTIL PUBLIC ALPHA/BETA?]

"Writers' Nook" - OPer - Luggs ("Up and Away - Writing" - OPer - Luggs)

"Subforrm Test" - OPer - JoeW [REMOVE THIS THREAD]

"Welcome Collaborators" - debugman18 [REMOVE THIS THREAD]

("Up and Away - Recap of the Day" - OPer - ArcticFox789)

I'd quite like some feedback on this.

 

So... no more clever thread titles?

About thread hiding, this is something JoeW said we could do, but it seems we can't. I don't know if he ran into technical difficulties when implementing that or if he'll just get back to it later.

But I agree we should do some cleaning. And remove the "Developer only" tags from everything. I approve of your suggestion. Except for the "Up and Away - " prefix in thread titles. We're already in the Up and Away subforum.

 

I'm all up for some cleaning. Especially the Old and New general development thread. Also i have a feeling that Testing and Bug Tracking can be used for the same thing, like it happens with test previews for don't starve.

Currently, yes. But I still envision them as being separate, and useful at that. I see the Testing one as the place to discuss general testing things, including the reporting of possible bugs. Once a bug gets confirmed, it'd be posted in the Bugs one, where feedback on it would follow.

Edited September 15, 2013 by simplex

[TeoSS69]

 

So... no more clever thread titles?

Currently, yes. But I still envision them as being separate, and useful at that. I see the Testing one as the place to discuss general testing things, including the reporting of possible bugs. Once a bug gets confirmed, it'd be posted in the Bugs one, where feedback on it would follow.

Thread titles are at the discretion of the OP.

So testing is to discuss things that are already in the game but need tweaking?

[simplex]

Thread titles are at the discretion of the OP.

So testing is to discuss things that are already in the game but need tweaking?

Testing is to discuss whatever pops up when people are actually running the mod. Questions about whether something should really behave the way it's behaving, tweak suggestions, performance reports, etc.

Edited September 15, 2013 by simplex

[ArcticFox789]

 But I agree we should do some cleaning. And remove the "Developer only" tags from everything. I approve of your suggestion. Except for the "Up and Away - " prefix in thread titles. We're already in the Up and Away subforum.

 

 

I agree, but some threads have already done this, and it looks more organised, that's all.

[TeoSS69]

Testing is to discuss whatever pops up when people are actually running the mod. Questions about whether something should really behave the way it's behaving, tweak suggestions, performance reports, etc.

So things in the game...that need tweaking

[simplex]

I agree, but some threads have already done this, and it looks more organised, that's all.

 

I find the redundancy ugly.

 

So things in the game...that need tweaking

Mostly, yes. But I don't think "questions about whether something should really behave the way it's behaving" falls into that.