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| Bi-Weekly Updates Bi-Weekly Updates are SWGEmu's cornerstone updates, posted every two weeks. |
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04-18-2009, 12:48 AM
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Bi-Weekly Update for 4/17/2009
 Bi-Weekly Update for 4/17/09  1) Update Overview (TOC):
 Body:Missions! An "SWGEmu Mission Terminal" will be spawned in Theed by the Bluefrog & ST's. The first wave of missions will be basic and will NOT HAVE REWARDS. They will essentially ask you to go kill a few creatures and report to an NPC. If things run smoothly, Ramsey will add lair destroy & item delivery objectives as well as open up another terminal in anchorhead. Please do not complain about mission design for early testing stages - they are geared to make sure objectives work & update correctly. PreCU-style missions will follow. Mission distribution will be limited to select terminals so its easier to manage content and guarantee spawns. Ramsey will be spending Friday (4/17) merging the his mission branch with the stable TC one. Tasks ingame will be updated once missions go live. Please report any bugs you encounter on the bug tracker: http://swgemu.com/bugs . Once the boring basic missions are out of the way, the fun & interesting ones will roll out - but we need bug reports!  ---------------------------------------------------- Creature Handler Preliminary work on Creature Handler has begun, with MrTopas working on basic AI commands (including attack, follow, stay and guard), creature evolution (babies grow up into adults, cute huh), as well as the storage and calling of pets. The next week and more will see the development of:
---------------------------------------------------- Structures Structures, one area of the core which has been elusive for a number of months, seems to be coming to a conclusive endgame with cRush finalizing his Installations and Housing code this weekend. With internal testing commencing on Saturday, and the finalization of basic housing by monday, the code can be expected to hit the Test Centre early next week, hot off the press and ready to be tested. cRush's Structures code is the third of its dynasty, boasting improved cleanliness, a smaller set of includes, improved stability and higher expandability. It is a reflection both of the dedication of a number of individuals into Structures over the past months (including McMahon, Tow'lin, Malthol, TAFirehawk, Kyle and others) as well as cRush's perpetuating coding skills and borderline-OCD sense of perfection. We are all looking forward to diving head first into a much more complete and more compliant world of structures, including housing, over the next few weeks. We are also looking forward immensely to cRush's future coding projects, which will undoubtedly be as stunning as this. Kudos and cheers. ---------------------------------------------------- SunCrusher Milestone Change The Milestone we had originally introduced for SunCrusher has been extended another two months, to now fall on June 30 2009. This is due mainly to the fact that all of the major feature implementations on the horizon will need to be tested thoroughly, and their stability will have to be ensured before we are comfortable using them on SunCrusher. Things are moving along very well. We have a few major rewrites to do for code cleanup, and a good bit of feature polishing that should happen much faster when the school year is over. We will never commit to any release date, but these assembla goals are what we are shooting for as a team, however, we will extend dates if needs be. Note that this is not an extension of a deadline, but rather an expansion of what SunCrusher should include. Some tasks listed "post-SC launch" will now be folded into the SunCrusher release. Along with all the other areas mentioned in this update, these include: Complete Object Restructure A system of templates has been devised by TheAnswer and Kyle, whereby data is converted from the SOE Client into LUA scripts, to allow a true and correct template for items. This will be part of a complete object system rewrite, from scratch, using all that has been learnt from the first system. What does this actually mean? Well, it means that 90% of item bugs will be avoided before they even come up. Crafting Manager Restructure Kyle is also going to be totally restructuring the way objects are created in Core3. His new crafting manager will effectively mean every item has a "schematic" of sorts, from which all other types of that object are based. Areas such as loot and quest rewards will be generated based off of these schematics also. These changes will ensure that objects are universal, and nothing is out of place. It will work wonders for cleaning up loot and missions. Remember that SunCrusher's launch criteria is: Quote:
Creature AI We're developing a better AI system in Core3 which will be robust, smart, and entertaining to interact with. It will not make the game "harder" or radically different, even thought it will have the potential to do so. Creatures will have the ability to make decisions on their own, posses a generic motivation, receive orders from superiors, patrol habitats, call for help (ex. alert nearby ST's on the radio of your position, temporarily changing patrol schedule), etc etc . An aggro range (..not a big step from pokemon grass) and random movement directions are rampant in current MMO's, which is not where we should be in 2009. The AI system will start as a replacement for what we currently have running and we'll build upon it over time. On top of normal AI, It is now possible to write NPC dialogue in script. This feature will be documented on trac under "Systems". Examples will be shown with the upcoming Mission-related NPC's. This will allow future NPC conversations, including generic and custom ones, to be written easily and quickly, paving the way for more realistic commoners and rudimentary quests alike. ---------------------------------------------------- Quality Assurance Applications from the Head of Quality Assurance As many of you already know, we had been accepting applications to join the QA team. On Monday we closed the application process and are now moving to interviews. Those applicants who have made it to this stage will hear from us very soon to schedule an interview. If you do not hear from us by Saturday then assume you did not make it into this stage. Thank you to all who applied. ---------------------------------------------------- The Development team is Recruiting! from the Head of Development We have a few mini projects that have been neglected because the current team is overwhelmed by other tasks. Be familiar with the Developer Standards and Expectations Note that we are making an exception to section A. If you are interested in working on the following projects, you can apply for a developers position simply by sending a PM to either kyle or Ramsey. We will then setup a quick chat with you over IRC, to get a feel of who you are and how you can best aid the team. We will brief you on your particular section and be available for consultation on code structure. Aside from that, there should be little need for a "training session". These projects require little oversight if you are somewhat familiar with the structure of Core3 and have a solid background with C++. New dev team members will start by working on one of the following projects: 1) Misc Bug Fixing There are a huge amount of miscellaneous bugs floating around on the bug tracker. We need someone that is willing to go around and fix some of the the major / normal priority bugs. This job requires a lot of code sleuthing and can be done if you are familiar with the structure of Core3. You will be exempt from responsibility of Travel bugs. 2) Professions - Beginning Game Work closely with the QA team to make sure there is no missing/incomplete/buggy code for beginning game with professions. The idea is to be able to play the beginning game without the aid of blue frogs - you do NOT need to worry about other systems aside from the profession code itself. 3) Travel cRush is extremely busy with harvesters and player housing, so it would be nice to have someone tackle the travel system so he doesn't have to worry about it. The travel system needs to be cleaned up and bug free. Be familiar with the Travel section of the code. 4) /bug Small project, but it would be nice to have the /bug command handled by Core3. Any packet work, if not already done, can be done by Ramsey. Projects (1) and (2) are of highest priority. If you would like to help with any of these tasks, please PM either kyle or Ramsey on the forums We are looking to get new members onboard ASAP! ---------------------------------------------------- Regarding Forum Moderation... from the SWGEmu Moderators We continue to use and enforce the infraction system on the forums. Please be advised, that insulting other members, +1 posts, trolling for reactionary posts, and off-topic posts are against our terms of service that each member agreed to prior to posting. In addition, we've recently seen an increase in profane/ugly IRC behavior. We do not want to give infractions or ban people! However, we must enforce these policies to continue to provide an open forum and IRC for both new and veteran users to participate in and enjoy. There is no favoritism or special allowances for seniority. Let's try to be more respectful of one another and productive with our posting and chat in public channels. ---------------------------------------------------- Recent Events Summary from the SWGEmu Events Team The EC staff has hosted numerous successful PVP events and have many more planned. The participation has been outstanding! I have been trying to have a bi-weekly major event that will have a morning event and a repeat in the evening. This is to allow more opportunity for the players outside the United States to be able to participate. The turn out for the 4/11 event was amazing! The next major event will be on 4/25, and I am planning on a 12:00pm CST and a 7:00 CST time. We are attempting a continuing story with these events and the small skirmish events during the week, Stay tuned for updates on the war!! We check the forums several times a day, and ALL ideas are read and appreciated. There is also an Event Feedback thread that we would like to see being used for constructive criticism. If you have an idea on how things could be improved, that is where you need to be posting. We would also like to thank the community for the support they have given us for these events. Our goal as a team is to make this the best experience in online gaming anywhere! Thank you. ----------------------------------------------------  Phase Testing Results (This Fortnight)Reports Made: 232 Reports Resolved: 288 Most Popular Categories: Miscellaneous followed by Crafting Please note we are no longer accepting reports regarding harvesters until cRush's structures update is pushed to TC, at which stage we will take as many CURRENT ones as you can muster. However, at this stage it is not worth us taking bug reports for a system which is about to be updated massively. ----------------------------------------------------  Developer Perspective ("Round Table")Quote:
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 Closing:"You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you'll get what you need" Mick Jagger sings. Ask an economist and you will be told that needs drive an economy and wants make it grow. Ask an artist, and you will be told that wants are the colour inside an outline of need. It is true what the Rolling Stones penned in 1969, and it applies more so today than possibly ever before. In an economic climate, as it is so often referenced, where needs are met with a struggle and wants are discarded, I think we have all learned that you can't always get what you want, perhaps the hard way. If you want something, are you greedy for gaining it? I don't believe so. Superlatively, however, is the fact that you must respect needs and put them above wants. Greedy men are men who disregard the needs of others, and instead chose to fulfill their own wants. We all want SunCrusher, but what does it need to really work? Until next time. --Team SWGEmu
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Max Communications Director (On Leave)   www.swgemu.com | max@swgemu.com SWGEmu is a non-profit, open source community project. Last edited by Ekaika; 04-19-2009 at 12:39 AM. |
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