Today’s Community Meeting took place in Harbour Light, where the main store is under some gorgeous new renovations. Below are the logs of the meeting, lightly edited to keep the focus on the information – and to add some exciting screenshots!
[14:02] Kaz (kazuhiro.aridian): welcome to the community meeting!
[14:02] Anhayla Lycia-Simms (anhayla.lycia): 🙂
[14:03] Kaz (kazuhiro.aridian): we’ve got a few categories of things we’d like to tell you about… I’ll be telling you guys about the art side, Apo here will tell you about word-related things, and Neo will be talking about code stuff 😀
[14:04] Aposiopesis Fullstop: And, speaking of word-related things, the logs of this will be posted on the blog later today!
[14:04] Kaz (kazuhiro.aridian): we’ve been pretty busy working on getting some behind-the-scenes work up and running. lately I’ve been working on redoing the sim as my main project
[14:04] Kaz (kazuhiro.aridian): as you can see around you
[14:05] Aposiopesis Fullstop: It’s really looking cool, Kaz. I love the view from up there.
[14:05] Aposiopesis Fullstop: Jacob!
[14:05] NeoBokrug Elytis: 😉
[14:05] Jacob (jacobwilliams13): HUGZZZZZZZ
[14:05] Kaz (kazuhiro.aridian): soon, this area will become the new landing zone, and the store will be up the hill. we’re setting up for a lot of interactive additions, as well as some quality-of-life changes for the shop itself
[14:08] Kaz (kazuhiro.aridian): ok, so if you’ll follow me, I’ll show you where the new shop is going to be in a few days (I’m moving it)
[14:09] Jacob (jacobwilliams13): This is Amazing 🙂
[14:10] Kaz (kazuhiro.aridian): glad you like it so far!
[14:10] Kaz (kazuhiro.aridian): the shop will be divided into 3 main sections, those are up the slate stairs
[14:10] Kaz (kazuhiro.aridian): they’ll be marked with scrolls when finished, like the one in the middle is
[14:10] Jacob (jacobwilliams13): mmhmm
[14:10] Jacob (jacobwilliams13): 🙂
[14:11] Kaz (kazuhiro.aridian): in front of the Magika fountain is where well have a few vials of Magika out, they’ll be different sizes and clearly marked for which is which. these will replace the vendors and hopefully will help tie into the world a little better
[14:11] Kaz (kazuhiro.aridian): I have some pink placeholders there for now
[14:12] Jacob (jacobwilliams13): NICE 🙂
[14:12] Kaz (kazuhiro.aridian): on either side of the shop itself, you will see some dark tunnels
[14:12] Kaz (kazuhiro.aridian): there will be caves there >:D
[14:13] Kaz (kazuhiro.aridian): with… stuff inside!
[14:13] NeoBokrug Elytis: Yesss…. I get to help!
[14:13] Jacob (jacobwilliams13): 🙂
[14:13] Aposiopesis Fullstop: 😀
[14:14] Kaz (kazuhiro.aridian): down where we were standing before, at the future landing point, there will be some helpful displays for showing off how to play the game visually, as well as a gathering area, so we can use this region a lot more for all kinds of things
[14:14] Kaz (kazuhiro.aridian): eventually, the whole region will become interactive in various ways
[14:15] Anhayla Lycia-Simms (anhayla.lycia): cool 🙂
[14:15] Aposiopesis Fullstop grins excitedly!
[14:15] Kaz (kazuhiro.aridian): but now I’m gonna reel myself in a little and talk about nearer future things that we can give you more details on
[14:15] Kaz (kazuhiro.aridian): ah before I do, anyone have any questions about what I’ve just talked about?
[14:16] Anhayla Lycia-Simms (anhayla.lycia): Nope. Just looking forward to seeing it all done 😀
[14:16] Kaz (kazuhiro.aridian): ehehe 😀
[14:16] Kaz (kazuhiro.aridian): excellent!
[14:17] Kaz (kazuhiro.aridian): we’re also working on the pets themselves, of course. one of the improvements you can look forward to is faster, more efficient animations
[14:18] Kaz (kazuhiro.aridian): I’ve got a little preview of the new walk animation prepared for you, and I’ll let Neo explain it in a little more detail
[14:18] NeoBokrug Elytis: Sure!
[14:18] Aposiopesis Fullstop: Ooh, before and after…
[14:19] NeoBokrug Elytis: I am working Full time on mystics, and part time on The Wastelands on the weekends. When I came aboard I already had some backburner projects for the Wastelands. Things I hadn’t finished.
[14:19] NeoBokrug Elytis: One was this animation system.
[14:20] NeoBokrug Elytis: So over the course of a weekend I polished it up and got it ready for Mystics use (and I’m using it in The Wastelands now too).
[14:21] NeoBokrug Elytis: It can hold about 2-3x as many “frames” of animations, and plays them far smoother than the old system.
[14:21] NeoBokrug Elytis: One issue it solves is that a lot of other pets kind of … how to explain it…
[14:21] NeoBokrug Elytis: THey move in parts? Like their eyeballs are left behind or something.
[14:21] Anhayla Lycia-Simms (anhayla.lycia): nods
[14:21] Holland Haggwood: Yes, leg needs to catch up, lol
[14:22] NeoBokrug Elytis: Anyway, my system doesn’t have that issue. I think it’s because of old puppeteer scripts being used in SL.
[14:22] NeoBokrug Elytis: But yeah, not bad for a weekend fun project. 🙂
[14:22] Severine Serevi: *Mmhmm*
[14:22] Anhayla Lycia-Simms (anhayla.lycia): that’s awesome
[14:22] Aposiopesis Fullstop: The inefficient walk always reminds me a little of a rusted wind-up toy. This new walk is so much more smooth!
[14:23] NeoBokrug Elytis: Kaz whipped up some new animations for the walk as well, so with even more frames it just looks all that much better
[14:23] NeoBokrug Elytis: Back to you Kaz
[14:23] Holland Haggwood: Looks good.
[14:23] Kaz (kazuhiro.aridian): the old walk cycle had 4 frames, the new one has 8. if you have a decent FPS you’ll notice a huge difference
[14:23] Kaz (kazuhiro.aridian): really excited about it!
[14:24] Aposiopesis Fullstop: It makes them look so much more… well, alive!
[14:24] NeoBokrug Elytis: We did stress tests as well, It can render frames at about 20 per second, where the old one is about 405
[14:24] NeoBokrug Elytis: 4-5
[14:24] NeoBokrug Elytis: Not 405. 😉
[14:24] Aposiopesis Fullstop: Haha!
[14:24] Holland Haggwood: Wow, 405,lol
[14:24] Severine Serevi: lol
[14:26] Kaz (kazuhiro.aridian): these will be especially fun later on when we start weaving stories into creatures living on the region eventually, and we’ll be able to use super smooth animations to move them around
[14:26] Kaz (kazuhiro.aridian): but speaking of that lore, Apo has really been hard at work giving a lot of our old website content an update, as well as some new material
[14:27] Aposiopesis Fullstop: Yes indeed! My main focus over the past month has been improving the documentation on the website. I’m a new player to this game, too, and I’ve been eager to learn about how it works! The original Game Manual, though… welllll….
[14:28] Aposiopesis Fullstop: There’s a lot of information that wasn’t explained clearly – or at all! So I’ve done my best to make sure all the information that’s there now is completely up-to-date. If you haven’t had the chance to check it out yet, have a peek! https://mysticasl.com/game-manual/
[14:29] Kaz (kazuhiro.aridian): 😀
[14:29] Aposiopesis Fullstop: In specific… there’s now an index at the top of the Game Manual, so you can find the information you need more quickly and easily
[14:29] Aposiopesis Fullstop: That information is also a lot more fleshed out! The HUD is given a line-by-line description that should help new players know what they’re looking at – and what they can do with it.
[14:30] Aposiopesis Fullstop: The Breeding Cycle is explained in better detail – and with a little more flavorful lore, for those of you who like that sort of thing! 😉
[14:30] Aposiopesis Fullstop: The descriptions of Experience and Leveling have also been revised, so it’s easier to understand how to read your Experience Stars and what you need to do to level up. As for Fusion, it honestly confused the pants off of me – just ask Jisper, Jacob, and Kaz! XD
[14:31] Aposiopesis Fullstop: But, with their help, there’s now an illustrated step-by-step guide showing both same-Species and cross-Species Fusion.
[14:31] Anhayla Lycia-Simms (anhayla.lycia): That was very helpful to me recently lol
[14:31] Aposiopesis Fullstop: The thrill of discovery is important in games – but it’s best when we’re discovering answers to questions like “How did you get that coat?” NOT questions like “How does Fusing work?” or “How do I feed my pets?”
[14:31] NeoBokrug Elytis: Awesome! It’s helping already!
[14:31] Aposiopesis Fullstop: Oh, wonderful! I’m so glad it’s useful! Thank you for saying so! 😀
[14:32] Aposiopesis Fullstop: I want to make sure that players new and old can easily find the information they need to learn how to play – so it’s easy to start, easy to keep playing, and easy to advance.
[14:33] Aposiopesis Fullstop: Beyond the Manual itself…. Costumes and Mystify Wands had no descriptions before – and, since they’re optional features, they’re now described on their very own subpages.
[14:33] Holland Haggwood: I had actually gotten away from Mystics . . . trying to decide if I want to start again.
[14:33] Aposiopesis Fullstop: The Redelivery / Recall instructions have been completely updated – including new screenshots to guide you through the process.
[14:34] Aposiopesis Fullstop: I also updated the FAQ – organizing the questions by topic, making sure the answers were correct, and giving it an index as well. If there are questions that aren’t covered on that list which you think would be useful, be sure to let me know!
[14:35] Aposiopesis Fullstop: Finally, on the technical documentation front, I fleshed out the About page. Whether a player is new to Mystics, new to breedables, or new to SL entirely, it should be a handy overview of what our game is all about, and what makes us special. 😀
[14:35] Aposiopesis Fullstop: I also reordered the top navigation bar so that it flows from general information on the left to deeper, more lore-type information on the right.
[14:36] Aposiopesis Fullstop: Whew! Does anyone have questions on any of that?
[14:36] Anhayla Lycia-Simms (anhayla.lycia): I like it 🙂
[14:36] Severine Serevi: nope…only one screen so can´t check during listening to you lol
[14:37] NeoBokrug Elytis: Sounds good to me so far. It wasn’t until you and Jipser did the fusing did I completely understand it. 🙂
[14:37] Anhayla Lycia-Simms (anhayla.lycia): yes, thank you for that 🙂
[14:37] Aposiopesis Fullstop: Haha, no worries. Whenever you do check it out, feel free to get in touch and let me know if it’s still unhelpful. It’s made for you guys, after all!
[14:37] Holland Haggwood: *makes note to go back and carefully read through it*
[14:37] Severine Serevi: *Mmhmm*
[14:38] Aposiopesis Fullstop: So, that’s the non-fiction wordsmithing. As for the story aspects….
[14:38] Aposiopesis Fullstop rubs her hands together. :3
[14:39] Aposiopesis Fullstop: My next task for the website is updating The Magic Academy section. In doing so, I’ll be fleshing it out, introducing more details about the Houses and the Four Founders.
[14:40] Aposiopesis Fullstop: But the most interesting thing about Mystics, to me, was the idea of a living narrative that players can really engage with. So you’ll soon be hearing from a brand-new character…
[14:41] Aposiopesis Fullstop: Her name is Zoivox, and she’s another of Elarra’s fantastical creatures. She’s…something like a grad student and intern at the Magic Academy. House of Spectra all the way!
[14:42] Aposiopesis Fullstop: But she’s learning some strange things lately… things that don’t quite seem to add up. So she’ll be learning about some of the mysteries of the Academy and Elarra – and Earth! – alongside you the players. 😀
[14:43] Aposiopesis Fullstop: I look forward to playing her soon! Hopefully she’s an interesting point of contact with Elarra’s magical world.
[14:43] Anhayla Lycia-Simms (anhayla.lycia): Exciting stuff! 🙂
[14:44] Aposiopesis Fullstop: Any questions about the lore side of things? 😀
[14:44] Kaz (kazuhiro.aridian): 😀
[14:44] Anhayla Lycia-Simms (anhayla.lycia): does the magic lore have any interaction with the inworld breeding?
[14:45] Anhayla Lycia-Simms (anhayla.lycia): is that something that is coming?
[14:46] Aposiopesis Fullstop: Currently, the lore is a bit of flavor to draw you into the world. But as for the future…
[14:48] Aposiopesis Fullstop: Well, time will tell. As it stands, though, the lore helps to support and flesh out the world of the Mystics, and gives a purpose to the breeding — but the breeding game can stand alone. Players don’t need to be well-versed scholars of the lore to enjoy the game!
[14:48] Anhayla Lycia-Simms (anhayla.lycia): okay 🙂
[14:49] Kaz (kazuhiro.aridian): well-said!
[14:52] Aposiopesis Fullstop: My goal, though, is that no matter how deep someone wants to dig into the world of Elarra, there will be something there in time. I like castles in the sky – but I do still wonder how they stay up, and like to come up with explanations that are fantastical, but consistent! I want to help make Elarra feel like a real place, with real creatures, that a player can really care about saving.
[14:52] Aposiopesis Fullstop: Off to Neo! 😀
[14:53] NeoBokrug Elytis: For those of you who were here for our last meeting, I mentioned that I had been diligently studying and working on the the code. I’m proud to say that this month I’ve finally put the tires to the pavement and started going over everything. Aside from the weekened animation engine project I’ve began testing, and testing has revealed both good and bad news.
[14:53] NeoBokrug Elytis: We’ll start with the bad news first because it’s a nice segway into the good news. Upon testing the HUD many of the scripts didn’t have the necessary memory required to process all the new trait information when just passed on. They would outright crash, and unfortunately it’s caused me to do a complete refactoring of the HUD to make room for these updates.
[14:53] NeoBokrug Elytis: It took a lot of time to do, and sometime early last week I felt pretty bad about the progress or lack of anything to show for it. I set my own internal deadlines, and sometimes I take it rather hard when they’re not met or something just doesn’t work. So I took a day long break and just tried to have fun. The very next day however I had quite the breakthrough, which leads to the good news…
[14:54] NeoBokrug Elytis: It was kind of a monumental effort, but the HUD now works, and has a lot of free memory for future updates. I currently understand that the HUD takes 2-4 seconds to do anything when you click on a pet or a home.
[14:55] NeoBokrug Elytis: Which to me is really really really slow.
[14:55] Aposiopesis Fullstop: It sure feels like it.
[14:55] NeoBokrug Elytis: One of the side effects of my first day of refactoring was this:
[14:55] NeoBokrug Elytis: https://gyazo.com/240206916a669a0075b3092a2ad5619e
[14:55] NeoBokrug Elytis: Not first day, but first successful “oh good, the HUD works now!”
[14:55] NeoBokrug Elytis: I had gotten it down to 1 second.
[14:56] NeoBokrug Elytis: I still had some refactoring to do to make it all work, and by the next day I had it down to this:
[14:56] NeoBokrug Elytis: https://gyazo.com/e31f5b8969e00c982a566d572b6ea8ab
[14:56] NeoBokrug Elytis: Less than a second, maybe a half a second. 😉
[14:56] Aposiopesis Fullstop: Holy jeez!
[14:56] Anhayla Lycia-Simms (anhayla.lycia): wow
[14:56] SandyCanada: wow
[14:57] NeoBokrug Elytis: ANd the most recent updates as of yesterday may be even faster.
[14:57] Holland Haggwood: I can’t even see the info that fast, lol
[14:57] Aposiopesis Fullstop: Haha! 😀
[14:57] NeoBokrug Elytis: The hud also preloads all the sounds now too, so nothing seems too delayed.
[14:57] NeoBokrug Elytis: There’s all sorts of minor fiddly things I’ve improved upon as well
[14:58] Aposiopesis Fullstop: Haha, good! The first time I minimized my HUD, I actually wondered “What’s that noise?” because the sound effect came so much later, it didn’t seem related!
[14:58] NeoBokrug Elytis: Apo will help me make the hud messages a little better because right now as it is they’re too “formal”?
[14:58] NeoBokrug Elytis: We want to make the hud messages a bit more immersive.
[14:58] Aposiopesis Fullstop: Sending edit command to Apo. 😉
[14:58] Aposiopesis Fullstop: Sending agreement command to Neo.
[14:58] NeoBokrug Elytis: ANyway, getting the HUD done is a big step, as much of the game revolves around it.
[14:59] Kaz (kazuhiro.aridian): that’s for sure!
[15:00] NeoBokrug Elytis: Once the HUD is done (a couple more days I think), I can move on to all the other things about mystics, (Homes, pets, mystipedia) and once those are all doing “better” and working with the current backend, I can then move on to the backend work, and finally get this patch out.
[15:00] NeoBokrug Elytis: The other things that are inworld should not take as long as the HUD did, but on the other hand things could crop up still.
[15:01] SandyCanada: and I never thought it was the HUD and blamed SL as always lol
[15:01] NeoBokrug Elytis: So, as always no promises on timeframes. I just wanted to let you all know my progress and plans — and if I can show something off, I will.
[15:01] Holland Haggwood: I have to run. Thank you all !
[15:01] Aposiopesis Fullstop: To go from “couldn’t even run, just crashes” to this… it’s really great work, Neo!
[15:01] NeoBokrug Elytis: Sometimes SL makes things slow.
[15:01] NeoBokrug Elytis: Any questions about code-stuff?
[15:01] Aposiopesis Fullstop: Take care, Holland; good meeting you! 😀
[15:01] NeoBokrug Elytis: Thanks for coming!
[15:02] SandyCanada: very insightful and enjoyable meeting, thanks everyone
[15:02] Kaz (kazuhiro.aridian): thanks for coming, everyone 😀
[15:02] Kaz (kazuhiro.aridian): hope to see you around!
[15:02] Aposiopesis Fullstop: Thank you for coming! 😀
[15:02] Severine Serevi: ty for the info guys
[15:02] NeoBokrug Elytis: See you all next month, or if I bump into you between then and now. 🙂