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"For the first production update, perhaps the best introduction will be to give you some details on what the current article is about. Do not confuse the current article, whose intent is to show you some of the current work of production, with News from the devs, which provided some insights about what you could expect in the short to mid-term future. The difference is subtle, but important : the goal here isn't to be exhaustive (or you would have to read lengthy texts such has News from the devs every two weeks ), but to display some of the juicy fruits of current production works...."
Second Dev Q&A; Posted At Official Forums [Post A Comment] - Print News | Mail News Xavier posted a 2nd set of answers in the Dev Q&A; and it can be found here.
"Here we go : a new week, and a new round of questions & answers. :-)
First, to avoid any misunderstanding, I would like to point out the fact that the weekly questions & answers article is not a features request area... With questions like "Will you implement the feature XXX ?", when it is not something we are currently working on, I have two possible answers : either I say "That's something we are looking into - stay tuned" or "No, sorry, that's not planned for the near future". It doesn't mean that I will *never* answer this kind of question (there are some questions of that kind in the current article), but it will be more the exception than the rule, since having an article filled with this kind of answers would not be really the most interesting thing on Earth... I prefer focusing the Q&As; on questions for which I actually *have* an interesting answer to provide...."
"March 11, 2005 : End of special offer : Express Free Trial The Express Free Trial, a special offer launched on Christmas, will end on Monday. The Express Free Trial allowed new players to try The Saga of Ryzom without validating a credit card (on the North American and European English shards); of course, the traditional Free Trial offer will remain available (the credit card asked during the registration process is only used for validation for the Free Trial period, nothing is charged unless you choose to keep playing). But for late runners, you still have a few days to get your Express Free Trial account..."
"Each Chapter since Ryzom's launch has brought its set of new features; chapter III is no exception to the rule, as it will introduce the outposts. The concept behind the outposts is to give new tools to the guilds and some exciting challenges. They give new rewards, linked to each outpost, but their arrival also brings a new dimension to GvG (Guild versus Guild), as guilds will fight to gain control of the outposts. This feature opens a new path for PvP, with fights between armies of players..."
Dev Q&A; On Official Forums [Post A Comment] - Print News | Mail News Players were given the opportunity to post questions for the Devs on the official boards, and Xavier has posted his answers. You can check the Q&A; out right here. Here's a sample:
"Q. How does deposit tracking work, and in particular - how does it work in combination with other stanzas ?
A. I asked Gwened about this, since he is the developper in charge of the harvesting system :
"The Deposit Tracking displays the distance to the nearest deposit area containing one or more raw materials (that match the specialization stanzas if you searched for a specific raw material). A deposit area contains a set of row materials. When you begin a "classical" prospection, a random position is calculated, which is dependent of the Distance and Cone Angle stanzas used. It means you may not find the specific raw material you're searching for right from the start, because you have to find the particular places where it is spread.
The Multiple Spot stanza allows to successively calculate different random positions; for each position, you get the raw material corresponding to the random position.
It means also that if you are near a deposit zone, you might make a source appear once, but not get anything the second time you try it."
"February 28, 2005
Six new rites are available on the ATS (Advanced Test Server), along with a certain number of bugfixes. They will remain on the ATS for at least 2 weeks and will be patched on the live servers as and when both the internal test teams and ATS players give their go ahead. ATS players, thank you in advance for your feedback ! If you do not have access yet to the ATS, we remind you that you can apply by filling the application form."
Ryzom Vault Wallpapers [Post A Comment] - Print News | Mail News There is a cool new Ryzom Vault wallpaper uploaded that you can use if you desire, courtesy of Maxxim, one of our talented VN artists. Check it out!
It comes in five sizes for your convenience, you can find all of the sizes available here.
Dev Report [Post A Comment] - Print News | Mail News There is an article on the Official Ryzom Boards about the upcoming plans for The Saga of Ryzom. You can find the post here.
"As promised, here is a first step in lifting the lid; this article's goal is to provide some insight on current short and mid-term plans for Ryzom - ie. the months to come. The intent is not to provide accurate dates, but to let you know what's in our minds right now and where Ryzom is going.
The report is in two parts. First, I review some of the key modifications we made to the production's processes since the release, as the experience earned in the meantime has a great influence on the current orientation. Second, I detail what's currently in the pipes, as well as the associated patch processes - which will help you to visualize how the described content will be introduced....."
Nevrax At The Cannes Game Convention [Post A Comment] - Print News | Mail News If you are in Cannes, France for the gaming convention, make sure to stop by and say hi to the Nevrax devs.
"Today, Saturday and Sunday, the Cannes Game Convention will be taking place in the south of France. Guys from the Ryzom team will be present throughout the three days. If you're around, don't hesitate to step by, since it will be a good opportunity to meet other players and to talk to Washh (French Senior GM, MDO), Usulla (CSR Representative), Aurelien, Jonathan and Guillaume (marketing team).
For those of you who will be able to enter the Cannes Palais des Festivals, here is a preview of what Nevrax' booth will provide you with :
-Exclusive information on the outposts features (a complete article on this subject will be posted next week)
-A unique opportunity to have your picture taken and put on the Ryzom website ;-)
-Demos of the game
-Free trial boxes
-Contests, run by Games-Fed and Mondes Persistants (60 Ryzom boxes to win)
-Goodies (caps, t-shirts and mouse pads)
-The doors open this afternoon at 2 pm, local time."
"Nevrax appoints Xavier Antoviaque as Community Liaison
Nevrax appoints Xavier Antoviaque as the new Community Liaison. He will be reponsible for providing improved information and feedback to the players, with the help of Jolt, MDO and Themis' Community Managers.
As a result of feedback from the Ryzom player community, Nevrax has appointed a new community liaison responsible for managing communication concerning the development team and the state of features in development. He will work closely with the community managers to provide answers to player questions, a clear view of the production teams' work and an insight into Nevrax' medium and long-term goals concerning SoR.
Nevrax have dedicated a member of the development team to this role. His intimate knowledge of the inner workings of production coupled with years of experience working with online communities give him a solid background. As Community Liaison, he will be the voice of development."
"The Encyclopedia gradually builds alongside the game itself and represents another means by which the player can develop his character. Thanks to the encyclopedia, you will be able to uncover the secrets of Atys and its creatures. Here are some guidelines to help you along the long march of homins towards the truth.
The encyclopedia (also known as the Chest of Wisdom) contains all the knowledge gained and collected by each player. Since chapter II, the Guardians of knowledge have been passing on what they know to players, under certain conditions. Only the most worthy may gain this knowledge.
At the start of the game, the encyclopedia is empty. The introductory mission entitled "Discover the chest of wisdom" is assigned to each player by default when they arrive on the island departure point. Once you have completed this explanatory mission, you will receive your first amber cube describing how the encyclopedia works. Players can, if they so wish, abandon this mission and take it up at a later stage: all you need to do is go and see the barman in the capital...."
Official Forums News [Post A Comment] - Print News | Mail News Cerest made a few posts on the official boards that should be pointed out. One is about merchant NPC's:
"Lots of you are using the Merchant NPC in order to sell goods. You may have noticed that after 7 days, your items do not vanish as was announced.
This is going to change in an upcoming patch.
As a result, all items which are for sale for over 7 days are going to vanish as the game play requires. In other words, all items on sale which states that they have 0 days left will disappear when this fix will be applied."
"On Thursday the 17th of February all SoR servers will go down for a patch.
The patch is schedule to last from 2:00 am to 10:00 am EST and will address bug fixes.
The patch will take place as follow:
- 2:00 am to 7:00 am, we will do a linux upgrade on our servers
- 7:00 am to 10:00 am, the game patch will take place"
"Nandini: Could you sum up the major changes that got introduced with Chapter 2?
Daniel Miller: Several new features were introduced with the release of Chapter 2. Players can now change their hairstyles and tattoos by using the services of an esthetician, they can ride Mektoub mounts and store items on Mektoub packers, they can follow the new ritual missions, and they can unlock ancient secrets of the world through their encyclopedia.
Several other elements were added, like "war zones" and "anarchic zones" where players eager to compete with other players can fight freely, and organized groups of bandits that roam the new-lands while wearing never-seen before equipment..."
Four new rites are available on the ATS (Advanced Test Server). They will remain on the ATS for at least 1 week and will be patched on the live servers after thorough testing. ATS players, we are waiting for your feedback ! If you do not have access yet to the ATS, we remind you that you can apply by filling the application form.
Our Server hoster Uplink Providers routers in the UK will experience a brief stint of downtime between 10:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday the 1st of February. There will be 3 brief downtimes during this period as different routers are upgraded and restarted. As a result, there will be an interuption of service for players and it will affect all CS tools and Klients. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
__________________
Cerest
Community Liaison"
Nevrax Announces Availability of NeL Print News | Mail News In a Press Release yesterday, Nevrax announced the availability of the NeL system used in SoR.
"Paris, France � January 31, 2005 � Nevrax, developer of the ground-breaking massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) The Saga of Ryzom, announced today new commercial offerings for its open source MMORPG engine NeL. Short for Nevrax Library, NeL is a dynamic toolkit for the development of massively multiplayer online worlds. It provides the base technologies and a set of development methodologies for the creation of both client and server code.
"NeL was developed for The Saga of Ryzom, Nevrax's first MMORPG, and is an open source library of components that can be added to, adapted or extended to meet the specific requirements of the products that are based on it," said David Cohen-Corval, CEO of Nevrax. "The dedicated NeL development team at Nevrax works closely with internal product development to ensure that the solutions provided by NeL are perfectly adapted to the requirements of each product, making every solution completely customized."
After much demand, Nevrax now has made available two commercial license packages of NeL, offering even more to the MMORPG world and giving every developer access to the same tools with a host of options. NeL with Basic Tools Under a Closed License and MMORPG Skeleton with Tools are both royalty-free licenses, able to generate all data from 3dsmax including meshes, indoor and landscape scenes, collisions, visual effects and more. Both also include two weeks of on-site initial setup support with a dedicated team to handle any request, as well as translation services as needed. In addition, the MMORPG Skeleton with Tools option also contains the complete base infrastructure for an MMORPG. At the end of the two-week initial set-up period developers will have a ready-to-work 3D production pipeline as well as access to Nevrax's "sample shard" with everything installed and configured with their custom data.
For pricing and more information on these products visit the NeL web site at http://www.nevrax.org. Here developers can exchange ideas with their peers, share questions, post their blogs as well as join the NeL IRC chat channel."
