Author Topic: And the mask comes off.  (Read 1712594 times)

LaughingAlex

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Re: And the mask comes off.
« Reply #800 on: September 03, 2014, 11:51:27 PM »


Well, in war, who's the good guy?  It's usually just whatever side you were on by default, not who you wanted to fight with but who you were forced to fight for.  To him, we were the bad guys, to primal earth we were the good guys :/.
Currently; Not doing any streaming, found myself with less time available recently.  Still playing starbound periodically, though I am thinking of trying other games.  Don't tell me to play mmohtg's though please :).  Getting back into participating in VO and the successors again to.

Surelle

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Re: And the mask comes off.
« Reply #801 on: September 04, 2014, 12:04:13 AM »
I'd love to know what Matt Miller and some of the former Paragon folks think of all this.  Positrons twitter is silent on the matter.

I do notice that his Twitter self-describes his work not as a Cryptic team member working on STO but as the Ex-Lead Designer of City of Heroes.   :D  So I imagine his heart is with this effort, deep inside anyway.

downix

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Re: And the mask comes off.
« Reply #802 on: September 04, 2014, 12:05:10 AM »
That makes more sense. I wish there was a cure for that stuff I am assuming they/we are having issues isolating that stuff?
If they were isolated, they would be removed - from CoH. This would then deliver less than a game server, and something which was completely unplayable.

Ankhammon

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Re: And the mask comes off.
« Reply #803 on: September 04, 2014, 12:15:03 AM »
I wish you great success in grad school! But, having been through it, I know that you can find an hour here and there to play - you'd just have to read faster with the same comprehension. Practice now!

And remember, on your thesis: Pick a topic the professors know next to nothing about. That way, you'll know more than everyone else in the room. They will likely be too busy to read up on the topic as much as you will have. You'll be the only expert in the room.

I'm thinking a thesis on CoHI23 would work out well for you. :)
Cogito, Ergo... eh?

Cailyn Alaynn

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Re: And the mask comes off.
« Reply #804 on: September 04, 2014, 12:16:54 AM »
Sales ad:
Those things are so rugged they can get hit by a semi and still stay intact.

Sure, they're uglier than sin, but when you are worried about the next fist-fight between Errmad and Rat-A-Tat, nothing does better than Paragon Motors!

Paragon Motors: Awful car, but cheap to insure!
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darkgob

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Re: And the mask comes off.
« Reply #805 on: September 04, 2014, 12:19:28 AM »
I'm thinking a thesis on CoHI23 would work out well for you. :)
Would have to tie it into Medical Informatics.  Maybe something about peds patients?

Pherdnut

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Re: And the mask comes off.
« Reply #806 on: September 04, 2014, 12:21:18 AM »
I agree with all of your post, Tony, but wanted to single this aspect out as awesome. The little updates and discussions for all of the successor projects are neat and useful here, but there really are benefits to the in depth communication being elsewhere :)

I'm one of the few people who was really disappointed by the outcome of "Praetorian Fatigue." I'll agree Primal Earth needed some love, but it felt a very unsatisfying way to end things. I get that their Hamidon is uber in a million ways, but evacuating what few people we could and leaving a world to be overrun just made me feel really disappointed.

If anyone on a successor wants to make my day, slipping in a hint about an alternate timeline where valiant heroes refused to gave up and fought the Hamidon back as a team would win my heart, wink wink, nudge nudge, say no more.

But that said, gameplaywise? SO FUN. I only got to try badging it once or twice, but it felt like all of the best parts of the other trials without any of the filler. Sure, some filler to start (good for iXP though!) then bam three bosses, one boss, huge boss.

Tanking Tyrant was suuuch an amazing feeling. There really was nothing else like it :)

I may be the one person who feels this way, but I prefer it when games don't have speech, so all of the conversation uses my character's actual name.

Extensive voiceover is probably not a good idea anyway. It's expensive, time-consuming, and much harder to edit. I also never liked hearing somebody else's idea of a voice for my Avatar. It never quite fits.

Rexidus

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Re: And the mask comes off.
« Reply #807 on: September 04, 2014, 12:21:23 AM »
Hello there everyone.  I was a long time City of Heroes player and fan dating from the pre-archetype era before release (ie 1999-2000 ish).  I backed City of Titans as much as I could and continue to be eagerly awaiting the release of that.

So I saw this news today and had to come out to share my joy and wish you guys luck.  I truly want you guys to succeed.  So keep at it guys.  This is a worthy endeavor. :)


Ryoku- aka Golden-Eagle of Pinnacle; former leader of the Alliance of Champions and former prominent member of the Pinnacle RP Congress.
Ryoku- aka Golden-Eagle of Pinnacle; former leader of the Alliance of Champions and former prominent member of the Pinnacle RP Congress.

Brigadine

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Re: And the mask comes off.
« Reply #808 on: September 04, 2014, 12:25:30 AM »
If they were isolated, they would be removed - from CoH. This would then deliver less than a game server, and something which was completely unplayable.
At least we could write our own substitute in its place and get the source code(if this is NCsofts only concern) then keep going with the original game code.

Ankhammon

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Re: And the mask comes off.
« Reply #809 on: September 04, 2014, 12:26:10 AM »
Would have to tie it into Medical Informatics.  Maybe something about peds patients?

Dude! Medical Informatics, go on with your bad self. Is this Health records or research or CDC kind of related info grouping?

Erm, I mean peds patients. lmao. :)
Cogito, Ergo... eh?

Xaphan

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Re: And the mask comes off.
« Reply #810 on: September 04, 2014, 12:30:23 AM »
Extensive voiceover is probably not a good idea anyway. It's expensive, time-consuming, and much harder to edit. I also never liked hearing somebody else's idea of a voice for my Avatar. It never quite fits.
It also adds an other layer of things that need to be done when making new missions, which means that content creation would take longer. When the project eventually finishes re-creating old content and gets onto the creation of new content, it also makes it harder to change things after lines have been recorded.

Surelle

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Re: And the mask comes off.
« Reply #811 on: September 04, 2014, 12:31:18 AM »
If it's in a new engine, I think that it's a little silly not to take advantage of said new engine and improve models and textures where appropriate.

I don't mean important stuff like the general look and how the game plays, but inconsequential stuff like the background npc's, textures, stuff like that.. All can be improved to add to the ambience.  Look at the rebuild of Atlas Park that Paragon Studios gave us.  I don't recall -anyone- not loving it when the devs presented it to us. It was -gorgeous-

Sounds can mostly stay as they are, though maybe some can be muted (super speed, targetting drone), more can be added such as a gentle breeze sound or birds in the background.. Maybe kids playing in the park during the day, a faint hum/sizzle from the war walls when you're near them...  Maybe even some weather affects from time to time...

OK, I'm getting carried away now.  My point is though, I don't see any harm in little tweaks to improve then overall game world.

Why don't you download Unreal 4 and join the efforts?

Pherdnut

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Re: And the mask comes off.
« Reply #812 on: September 04, 2014, 12:31:50 AM »
At least we could write our own substitute in its place and get the source code(if this is NCsofts only concern) then keep going with the original game code.

I suspect the auth-layer for COH which I gather was really several apps you communicated with that were running at once is not quite as conveniently modular as that. Even if it was, they probably wouldn't want to risk missing something. It's a bummer though. Getting portions of the source would got a long way.

Cailyn Alaynn

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Re: And the mask comes off.
« Reply #813 on: September 04, 2014, 12:33:21 AM »
PLEASE, PLEASE bear in mind, the updates are hot and heavy at this time and sometimes don't quite play well with others.

If you're going to take this strategy, pick a release and keep all the new folks on it until you move everyone forward.  We're having a  time of it and we'vre a little more used to the release rates. :)

At the moment I'm stable on 4.0.2. Aside from content, I haven't had a real reason to update past that.
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Shard

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Re: And the mask comes off.
« Reply #814 on: September 04, 2014, 12:37:39 AM »
At the moment I'm stable on 4.0.2. Aside from content, I haven't had a real reason to update past that.

Ack. You've missed a LOT of improvements. :)
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Cailyn Alaynn

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Re: And the mask comes off.
« Reply #815 on: September 04, 2014, 12:54:25 AM »
Extensive voiceover is probably not a good idea anyway. It's expensive, time-consuming, and much harder to edit. I also never liked hearing somebody else's idea of a voice for my Avatar. It never quite fits.

Personally... While Voices are neat. I'm against using extensive voice work in an MMO. It's time consuming, it can be expensive, and it drastically limits your ability to modify content, or push new content.
A player will almost never feel quite right having some random voice coming from their character, which would be immersion shattering in a game like City of Heroes.
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Cobra Man

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Re: And the mask comes off.
« Reply #816 on: September 04, 2014, 01:02:22 AM »
Personally... While Voices are neat. I'm against using extensive voice work in an MMO. It's time consuming, it can be expensive, and it drastically limits your ability to modify content, or push new content.
A player will almost never feel quite right having some random voice coming from their character, which would be immersion shattering in a game like City of Heroes.

I was actually meaning NPC's, signature characters, AV's etc - everything except our own characters.

opprime2828

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Re: And the mask comes off.
« Reply #817 on: September 04, 2014, 01:21:07 AM »
The Secret World has done an amazing job utilizing voice work into an MMO.  Your character never speaks. Cutscenes are always observing conversations between NPCs or from an NPC to you, not you speaking back. 
 
It does bring the world to life in a way that MMOs could use to attract the younger generation of players. That being said, it should be used sparingly, and a mix of voice and text is the best approach, in my opinion.
 
So for example:
 
NPC 1 (V.O.): "So if the Trolls aren't put down fast, Superadine is going to flood the streets. I don't even want to imagine what Skyway City will look like after that happens. Are you in?"
 
Your character:  select one of the following text box responses
   [I'm in. Let's move.]
 X[I agree, but I have something I have to first.  I'll be back, I promise]
   [I'm sorry, but this mission isn't for me. Good luck and godspeed.]
x- represents your selection
 
NPC 1: (V.O.) "OK, but please don't take too long. Those shipments could start hitting the streets any time now."


 
 
Also, @Irish Girl:  You are amazing. That work you've done is incredible.  Not only does it REALLY feel like CoH, it looks even better! I'll be in touch to help once you settle on a way to contact you and begin organizing.  I'll be bringing the CS6 suite and my own UE4 to the cause. :-)

Luna Eclypse

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Re: And the mask comes off.
« Reply #818 on: September 04, 2014, 01:41:39 AM »
Took me a couple days to really process everything that was just revealed here but, oh goodness... this fills me with so much excitement and optimism.  ;D

That's about all I can say, the potential positive outcome to all of this is so monumental. I'm mostly speechless.
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hejtmane

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Re: And the mask comes off.
« Reply #819 on: September 04, 2014, 01:45:16 AM »
Speaking of security, another thing they may want to look into should they get the game, update the password system for it.  Not allowing the use of special characters is a very very big problem, as even just adding any of @#$%! for example could greatly increase the passwords strength, and reduce the length one has to make a password to really make it secure.

That is a myth pass phrases are the real security the special characters makes it way easier to hack because of the way computer algorithms work it is all math and computers are really good at math

This explains it is simple terms