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Post by Nemt on Feb 11, 2007 12:36:20 GMT -5
Sorry to hear a playtester quit. Do you have a list of which order everyone joined up? I always assumed it corresponded to the order the provinces were listed in nationsandempires2.blogspot.com/
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Post by Gamemaster on Feb 11, 2007 13:20:06 GMT -5
That list does not correspond to the order people signed up. In fact, I've been trying to keep that list in alphabetical order.
But if you look on those province profiles you will see that each Ulor had a date they were appointed. Those dates are in the order the players joined, but to get a list you'd have to go to each province profile to get the Ulor's appointment date, then put them in order. Also, there are some players who play only by e-mail who don't have a listing there. And some provinces that are listed there only have a map so far and no province profile so the date the Ulor was appointed isn't on there. We have a record of the appointment date for every Ulor (in game time and real time) but it's not all in one place. It's in the record of e-mails sent to each player.
Every player got a letter from the Lord Chancellor when they started that informed them of their appointment and mentioned the date.
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Post by Kortelan on Feb 11, 2007 13:22:26 GMT -5
Just a note on the page for Salan Kajakan Tros Kortelan is not listed as the Ulor.
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Post by Gamemaster on Feb 11, 2007 14:08:02 GMT -5
Sorry about that, Kortelan. That was an error and it has now been corrected. It's not the name of the previous Ulor, either. Tremalkan is another player character. He is the Ulor of Kajakan Folon province right next to you. He plays only by e-mail despite my repeated encouragements that he try out the forums. By the way, the Ulor of Kajakan Yost province is also a player character who plays by e-mail only. The same is true of the Ulor of Slythia just down the coast. There's a whole bunch of them.
Anyway, we apologize for the error. We frequently create a new province profile by copying the document for a similar province and editing it. Sometimes information from the other province gets left in by mistake. That seems to be what happened here.
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Post by Kortelan on Feb 11, 2007 15:16:12 GMT -5
Its fine. By the way it looks like your faction map is out of date again. I am now firmly a reformist.
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Post by Gamemaster on Feb 11, 2007 15:58:43 GMT -5
It's deliberately inaccurate. As indicated in the Loyalist Faction forum, the faction maps are being drawn up by a mapmaker in Zekran named Teliman at the behest of Levorek, the Imperial Councillor.
Although your internal discussions with your staff and I think also a recent letter to the Lord Chancellor make clear your position, as will the action you just ordered regarding taking command of the garrison, no news of this has reached Zekran yet so it's not shown on the map.
Keep that in mind when you see how the other provinces are shown on the map. Some of them may also have already changed allegiances, but word has not reached the mapmaker yet.
Really, this map is more accurate on geography than Zekresh mapmakers are really capable of, but we didn't want to take the time to create a less accurate one when the point of the map is not even to show geography, but political alignment.
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Post by Kortelan on Feb 11, 2007 16:09:23 GMT -5
Yeah thats understandable.
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Post by Gamemaster on Feb 12, 2007 1:44:40 GMT -5
We have a new map of the Empire that everyone should take a look at. Instead of numbers for each province, it has the whole Empire with the name shown for each province and for each provincial capital. Seas and mountain ranges are also labeled in the Zekresh language. It is best if you have software that lets you zoom in and out. Even PC Paint allows that if you download the file first. nationsandempires5.blogspot.com/2007/02/zekresh-empire-map-08.html
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Post by Gamemaster on Feb 12, 2007 2:10:45 GMT -5
In addition to that map of the whole Empire I just mentioned, we also just uploaded a map for Nassavix province and the surrounding area. There is still no province profile for Nassavix, but we'll get to that. At some point we will have better maps for each province. They will be be higher resolution images which will show all major towns, roads, deployments of military units, etc. But we're still a long way from having a profile for each player's province so we haven't started on the better maps yet. Here's the link: nationsandempires2.blogspot.com/2007/02/salan-nassavix.html
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Post by Kortelan on Feb 12, 2007 2:13:45 GMT -5
Its a nice map. I really have to hand it to you, you have done more work on this then almost every game I have ever played. Not even store bought video games give you this much detail. If you give the graphics people beg for and you will have a profitable game.
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Post by Gamemaster on Feb 12, 2007 4:22:10 GMT -5
Thank you for saying so much positive stuff. (Although we appreciate constructive criticism, too.)
What sort of graphics do you think would be a good idea? If we automate the entire game, it would have to have much more limited options than what we've had so far. We are thinking that some sort of graphics and a more automated user interface would be good, but that's easier said than done. We welcome input on how an automated interface and graphics could fit in with a gamemaster-run game without unduly limiting player options. On the other hand, if it could save the gamemasters time, that would be a good thing.
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Post by Nemt on Feb 12, 2007 10:50:31 GMT -5
I really like how the news and background images are all from other stuff, it may not be "realistic" but it adds a lot of charm to the game. Of course, if you were to start charging people to play that would probably have to change - copyright issues, I'd guess.
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Post by Nashlan on Feb 12, 2007 11:16:06 GMT -5
I'd like to second what Kortelan has already said, this level of detail and the constant promise of ever more detail gives the game a wonderful level of depth that could be a strong selling point. Thank you for beginning my province profile, I understand that running the game AND continuing to develop content for it at the same time must be a mammoth endeavour.
I really like the new map by the way, the simple things like the names of seas and mountains lend a more detailed, nicer feel to it.
I'd be interested in a scroll on the different ethnicities within the empire, physical appearance, homelands and so forth, as another development.
Congratulations again on a very large, very immersive game that should only continue to get better.
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Post by Nashlan on Feb 12, 2007 11:17:58 GMT -5
Following on from my previous post, I think now that you will need to employ more full-time or at least volunteer gamemasters once the game goes commercial in order to allow you to focus on content and the larger issues in the game.
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Clabbuk
New Member
Ulor of Salan Vinrat Inuvesh Azh
Posts: 22
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Post by Clabbuk on Feb 12, 2007 19:24:24 GMT -5
How far you go with graphics will definitely involve how far you go with the interface. Without any kind of improved interface, it's kind of hard to think of ways to incorporate more graphics. The only thing that comes to mind for me in that situation is maps, which we already have. I do have an idea in my head about automating the game, though. Perhaps as the player starts the game, they would have a detailed 3D model of their office/room on their screen. By clicking around the room, the player may access some records on the shelf somewhere, talk to an advisor who is standing at their desk, etc. If the player clicked on a person, such an advisor, the game could zoom in on them, and a text box would appear with whatever the person would say, and in a corner of the box, there could be a button, which would change the text box to an empty one in which the player could type in a message to "say" to that particular person. If the player clicked on something else, such as a map hanging on a wall, a scroll on the desk or on a shelf, the game would zoom in on that, and allow the player to read or look at whatever is there, and in the case of a map, possibly zoom functions and scrollbars or something. Extending the map idea slightly, I thought it would be convenient to have pins stuck in it marking the estimated location of messengers, armies, or anything else the player wants to track the location of. Of course, there would be no way of knowing exactly where they are on the map, it would just be an estimate. I say pins rather than icons because it is more realistic to the time period, but icons may make the game slightly easier. An alternative middle ground would be to colour-code the pins according to what is at the location of the pin, for example a certain colour of pin could mean an army. I don't have any ideas for what it might look like if the player moves out of the room. Because the messaging would be incorporated in the interface, part of the interface could organize and sort the various messages sent. A message sent to an advisor which is a player character would turn up in that particular player's game interface. A message sent to a NPC advisor would be sorted by Ulor and/or province, and possibly subject, because they may have separate advisors for military, economy, etc. depending on how that aspect of the game develops.
I apologize for the run-on sentences.
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