Builders Team and HB

[Castano]

We do already have people to manage these efforts. If you (or anyone, really) are interested in heading up some building efforts for core content (i.e. bringing the standard item palette in line with ALFA's pricing and item property standards; bringing creatures on the standard palette to ACR compatibility and dragging their stats in line with the SRD), shoot me a PM. We'll get you started.

+1 Zelk. What I would add is that we also need to expand the exisitng standard pallete, make groups of monsters ready to go for the spawn system, etc. Right now we either duplicate effort by having 3 server teams build more orcs, steal them from each other by sifting through a server mod we downloaded, beg them off an HDM or just do without.

If we had a central submission system for UTC (creature) files that would be a huge help. So if team BG tools an orc army, or a pile of commoner NPCs, it gets checked by someone to make sure it is canon, uploaded to the entire of Alfa and put into standard classification folders <-- very very important.

Same goes for items. I did this project for MS after pirating piles of items from BG/TSM and Exodus. It took ages and I have to say I was only semi-successful. I did not touch tags/resref names.

I am not saying servers should be forced to use these, but by their very existence

As for terrain and that stuff, i'd not touch it, other than to say having a pool of centralized volunteers, and a forum for them where an HDM could post an area needing more content/finishing on an understanding that it must be approval only (e.g. if I hate your chamnges too bad). I have to say few want to build on approval. The time commitment plus chances someone thinks your works sucks are not motivators. But if you find 4 people that do, or are will to take assignments - e.g. "please add grass to this moutnain top, but don't place giant trees on it" I'd say build them a place to work.

[danielmn]

As an add on, or maybe spin-off, I would think it would be a good idea to have a group of builders and tech's get together once in a while to discuss how to get our new funs stuff in game. Having the ability to jump, climb, balance ect. does little good, if buuilders do not know how to incorporate these systems into what they build. A little Edumacation is always good.

[Ronan]

As an add on, or maybe spin-off, I would think it would be a good idea to have a group of builders and tech's get together once in a while to discuss how to get our new funs stuff in game. Having the ability to jump, climb, balance ect. does little good, if buuilders do not know how to incorporate these systems into what they build. A little Edumacation is always good.

We'll write a guide to using it, similar to (but hopefully less complex than) the spawn system thread.

[I-KP]

IF there was such a team, my vision would be for them to help Java convert Amn to Alfa-compliant and bring it on board.

Looks like Exodus is shutting up shop so if ALFA has an interest in making Amn part of its contingent then now would be the time to make that happen. And yes, I think Java would appreciate the technical assistance! Exodus isn't exactly in a plug-n-play state but it is most of the way there, which has to be better than starting afresh. If there was a unified ALFA Build Team then perhaps they'd enjoy collaborating in pimping the Amnian ride (areas within it do need a bit of 'modernisation'); and I've already offered to help do that if it meant Exodus joined ALFA proper.

My concern would be that ALFA already has three active servers and one of those (MS) is relatively quiet right now (but still sees far more action in one week than Exodus has seen in the last year). Also, Exodus has a very small and dedicated remaining player base but, sadly, a few of them still regard ALFA as being MMO-styled RP that's bound up in rules and regulations that stifle RP freedoms. While I was an Exodian this was a common feeling but having hopped over the fence I've found nothing could have been further from the truth: both games are pretty much the same. I genuinely hope that events conspire to allow the surviving Exodians to come to the same realisation.

Anyway, this is perhaps a matter for another thread.

[CloudDancing]

I think the point was missed (by Exo players) that Alfa servers are still run by the HDMs.

And each HDM sets the mood and theme for their server. The nice part has always been that if one set of players or dms becomes intolerable or your PC gets ignored for Dm attention you can always move on, ramble on if you will, to another server and negotiate your own terms.

And while someone might say "Oh MS doesnt have a huge player base," it also currently offers something unique that Exodus used to offer, player focused dming. I know Tam Why has been waiting for this for a long time and other players just need that personal touch I find that T-Ice, DA, and Kid are offering right now.

Because MS Dms aren't bombarded with 10 requests all the time, Kid can do custom content fast, I can provide player housing with a turn around of a week or so, and the server is getting finished at last. For a good long time Castano was doing nearly all of it himself with help from Tridsius at first. Thus the low numbers is allowing for progress to be made.

The more Dms get serviceable content in, no matter how small, the more it validates and invests them in Dming a server. Everyone wants to make their mark somehow. But that means that some teaching must occur and a standard checklist (which HDMS have mentioned to me) needs to be assembled for area criteria.

First being, never make areas for HDMs unsolicited.

[Castano]

As an add on, or maybe spin-off, I would think it would be a good idea to have a group of builders and tech's get together once in a while to discuss how to get our new funs stuff in game. Having the ability to jump, climb, balance ect. does little good, if buuilders do not know how to incorporate these systems into what they build. A little Edumacation is always good.

We'll write a guide to using it, similar to (but hopefully less complex than) the spawn system thread.

Make a model 16x16 area all set up and ready to go with every waypoint, trigger, custom non-acr script, chest and placeable ready to go (or whatever it needs). We builders are great monkeys and can easily figure out how to replicate something if all the pieces are there.

so if these were in existence for climb, swim and fly they be in the mods now as test areas and deployed across servers slowly but surely (for swim I'm going to have to retool beaches to be in walkable areas).

[Regas]

I really hope we can rally around Exodus and save the server, adding it to alfa. I have no clue what the requirements are for bringing it up to compatibility but it would be a real waste to loose Exodus when it's such a nice fit to our current server compliment; it's practically contiguous with BG.

[I-KP]

I really hope we can rally around Exodus and save the server, adding it to alfa. I have no clue what the requirements are for bringing it up to compatibility but it would be a real waste to loose Exodus when it's such a nice fit to our current server compliment; it's practically contiguous with BG.

Indeedy. I'd do a bit of graft if needed.

[Blindhamsterman]

I really hope we can rally around Exodus and save the server, adding it to alfa. I have no clue what the requirements are for bringing it up to compatibility but it would be a real waste to loose Exodus when it's such a nice fit to our current server compliment; it's practically contiguous with BG.

agreed, we'd have a nice continuous series of servers, with WHL joining to north BG and then south BG joining to North Amn... that'd be very cool.

[Basilica]

With the upcoming ACR 1.85 release, we will have the technical capability in place for seamless server-to-server ATs (and of course the ability to find people on a server geographically nearby using the cross-server communication system).

The time is certainly right to start turning up geographically adjacent servers.

[Keryn]

With the upcoming ACR 1.85 release, we will have the technical capability in place for seamless server-to-server ATs (and of course the ability to find people on a server geographically nearby using the cross-server communication system).

The time is certainly right to start turning up geographically adjacent servers.

I approve of this

[t-ice]

I really hope we can rally around Exodus and save the server, adding it to alfa. I have no clue what the requirements are for bringing it up to compatibility but it would be a real waste to loose Exodus when it's such a nice fit to our current server compliment; it's practically contiguous with BG.

Well, javajutsu is best place to comment on this, but I think I'm a good second so here goes:

There's very few haks in Exodus that I haven't seen at work on MS. Just a couple of the latest additions by myself, and those go down to a handful of weapons/armor and creature models from the Vault. So the models are the same, but I'm not sure of the numbering, there might be some issue there. But it seems Tridisus just dumped most of Exodus UTIs and UTcs into MS, and they work.

The main concern for me is that a new server is counterproductive with current player numbers. Amn could work as more of a campaign server (as MS to an extent fashions itself now). But you really can't have a campaign server with the one PC rule. Since you'd have to choose between playing a campaign or playing everything else. Or then you'd have to do constant OoC server hopping between the campaign and the rest of the world. At least I wouldn't want to play a campaign for PCs who aren't rooted in the area the campaign happens. Call me IC-story purist, but that's just silly.

What's obviously missing from Amn compared to all the other servers is static content. And that needs scripters / builders. On the other hand, that could be a blessing, too: there's no spawnpoints all around that would need re-adjusting.

If someone wants to give the Amn module a go under full alfa infra things, myself and javajutsu have a copy.

[Castano]

New servers have always boosted ALFA's numbers. You can look at player graphs pre-MS and post MS. Some of those coming back stayed for good. So I don't buy the "density" argument - which is basically we need to use the existing content people who left ALFA have gotten tired of to draw all those people back, then we will give them something new, but only if they come back first and stay. Amn would be contiguous to BG, so it's a walk past Nashkell to see something cool - if we had one big server with a 1000 areas there would be no density arument, we'd jsut call it the FR server. We've been adding far away bits temporaily to MS under Trid for his sessions and removing them and people loved them so I can't see how that is an issue. MS has a core of 4-5 players on regularly.

[t-ice]

Amn would be contiguous to BG, so it's a walk past Nashkell to see something cool

The Amn of Exodus covers about the eastern half of Amn, with Keczulla and Eshpurta as the major cities. Contiguous would require to build Athkatla, and then sorta need Crimmor and Purskul in between to couple to Keczulla and Eshpurta.

The reason it's this area is because the Sythisillian war was fought over the area, and the story of the war is what the server came to life with. (As I understand it, I joined only about a year in.)

[Veilan]

I think the technical option of truly "seamless" servers, with inter-server communication, weakened the "density" argument (an argument I understand and think is a legitimate concern).

For what it's worth, I do not see any extra hoops, apart from the matching of ALFA's tech and guidelines, that would make an inclusion of the server prohibitive.

If we can get more real estate with people interested to play with it, it would be very hard to argue against it, no?

Cheers,