Xenoarch: it wasn't meant to be.

[jedr]

 

To make this short and simple: Xenoarch as I once envisioned is simple impossible to achieve by myself. Specifically: I’m not versed enough in DM to make the complex digsites happen, and I don’t have to time available to learn it.

 

For months now, I’ve fretted and beaten myself up over this. I wanted to make this. But I didn’t know how, and that frustration clamped its teeth into my ambition and determination. So, i’ve taken to reflecting on the project. See what i’ve achieved so far and what’s left for me to create.

 

And it does seem that those off-station digsites are the only real dealbreaker I’ve encountered. To get them to be generated procedurally, the way I wanted it, is b(e)yond my capabilities. I know Crazy said he’d work on it and help out, but given his recent promotion to maintainer, I myself would prefer it if he focussed on that, and ending the freeze as soon as possible.

 

As an added factor, I was thinking: do we really need more off-station activities? Having people leave the main playing area seems like a bad idea with my personal opinion our growing complaints of the game growing stale. At this moment, I’d rather add something that diversifies the station, than give people more excuses to fuck off, there’s already enough of those I feel.

 

So, I’ve decided to scrap the digsites, and everything related, out. Xenoarch as we know it is dead yet again. No more looking for artefacts off-station. I do intend to add the completed part of my original idea to the codebase. That way, my work won’t be be in vain, and future developments can hook into it if they want. I refuse to pull a nations and leave another half-completed feature floating in the aether.

 

The part that’s already finished would be the book-decoding. It already was a fairly isolated block, so it should take little adjusting code-wise.

 

After some thinking, i’d like to add this to the library. Have decipherable books be maint loot, and let the librarian be the “overseer” of the decoding/translation operations. Anyone can find books and use the terminal, receiving a receipt as proof of their effort. The reward would maybe come in the form of unique, unlockable crafting recipies. But i’ll expand on this idea in a later post, when I’ve had time to think things over. It’s very much a concept in infancy.

 

For now Xenoarch is dead, long live xenoarch. I hope it one day returns, and I hope I can help when it does.

 

Edited December 2, 2016 by Guest

[Regen]

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[Kharshai]

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[LightFire53]

Rest in Pieces.

[tristan1333]

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[TullyBBurnalot]

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[anibalviana]

Regen wrote:

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[SkyPing]

 

 

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[Splgrk]

 

As a quick suggestion:

I have no idea what you've done so far, but translateable books sounds fascinating to me. I love ancient books. Could you perhaps add some of them to a few of the bigger gateway missions, like the wizard station, the underwater exploration or the hotel?

 

[pazneria12]

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[Romana T. Colgate]

Well at least I got a response to the xenoarch when mhelps.

[alexpkeaton]

 

I'm all for xenoarch's return (though I never played when it was a thing, it seems like it combines exploration with a grinding mechanic that I tend to appreciate), but I should point out that it's possible xenoarch could become a moot issue if we ever decide to port /tg/'s lavaland.

 

That might require a second rework of the code to make it fit the new environment.