Marosia

[destinysWalrus]

Always fun talking with geeks, isn't it?

I actually never learned Javascript or HTML in a class. HTML I taught myself because I wanted to make layouts for my page on a horse game. Then I learned some Javascript because I had an idea for a Windows app, and of the three combinations I could code it in, Javascript and HTML seemed the least 'scary'.

Python's my favorite programming language of the something-like-five I've had roughly-a-semester's-worth of learning time with.

I probably would like to learn at least some PHP or MySQL, but it'll have to wait for the summer, or at least for a longer-than-weekend break. I'll let you know.

[LittleSoul]

Always! They're the most interesting people I know.

Me either. I taught myself HTML for online game layout purposes as well.
Javascript is probably one of my least favorites. I've played with python, but its syntax is alien to me. What is this sorcery with no closing brackets?! Haha. I switched to learning PHP when I realized C++ freaked me out. Now I know it, but back then C++ seemed like a monster I couldn't tame. So particular. C# is probably my favorite because to me it seems intuitive and easy to learn.

Sure! Learn whatever is fun for you to learn I'm just happy to chat about it.

[returner]

Haha! Probably, yeah. Marosia was the reason I learned how to program in the first place, so I likely was as new as it gets when I said that. Haha, how wrong I was! I was on and off the project for a long while too. I'd say about a year and a half of those 3 years were actually spent aggressively working on the game. However, now I'm in a very stable position in life and I have the time, more know how, and the drive to get it done!

It is! It's written in PHP, MySQL, AJAX, Javascript, CSS, and good ol' HTML.
Do you program per chance?

Yeah, I'm an IT Manager now but I've been programming for 5 years professionally, and many years before that as a hobby.

And FYI guys, HTML, CSS - these aren't programming languages. They're markup languages - it's a bit like claiming you can program because you use Microsoft Word (honestly, HTML/CSS is Microsoft Word for the web).

Javascript, sure. People tend to overstate their competence in it, though. Javascript is incredibly difficult and complex. The best developer I know (literally the best I know) struggles with some of the gotchas with JS even today and he's working with AngularJS, node.js and is a pro at Jquery.

[LittleSoul]

Yeah, I'm an IT Manager now but I've been programming for 5 years professionally, and many years before that as a hobby.

And FYI guys, HTML, CSS - these aren't programming languages. They're markup languages - it's a bit like claiming you can program because you use Microsoft Word (honestly, HTML/CSS is Microsoft Word for the web).

Javascript, sure. People tend to overstate their competence in it, though. Javascript is incredibly difficult and complex. The best developer I know (literally the best I know) struggles with some of the gotchas with JS even today and he's working with AngularJS, node.js and is a pro at Jquery.

That's awesome! I'm a measly Application Developer Intern, but I dream to have a similar position one day!
Of course, but they're as close to programming as you can get when you're young and still figuring out what programming really is.

Finally, someone who knows the bane that is Javascript. I hate it. It's given me the biggest headaches. I have tried so hard to not have to learn it, but I know the day will come when I will have to work with it more intimately. I'm not looking forward to it :/

[destinysWalrus]

C++ is my least favorite language so far.

I'm in the middle of classes where I have to program in C++, Matlab, and Python. Not all at the same time, a different one for each class. Makes it very confusing switching between classes - Matlab annoys me in general, and then whenever I'm using C++, I think it's stupid because I was just using Python, and whenever I use Python it's weird because I was just using C++.

Java seems like a fairly reasonable language though, now that I've finally gotten the hang of it. (after a semester of being convinced that Java was weird too)


And... this has gotten rather off-topic, so I'm actually going to say something about Marosia now.
Of the races listed on the previous page, I'm most interested in playing a Neko or a Fairy. So interesting... *grin*

[LittleSoul]

Yeah, I was worried about that myself. I'm going to try to keep my language classes as separate as possible so I can avoid that headache. I can just imagine your thoughts going from Python to C++ I think that's how most people feel when going from language to language. I haven't messed with Java yet, but I've heard nice things.

No worries
It's nice to know you already have some preferences! I'll be very interested to see how all the races in Marosia interact with one another (and what sorts of crazy hybrids we can get).

[Rebma]

I I want to be a fairy! Pretty and flitty and whimsical until I eat your face, yay!


Okay, probably not. Just coming down from a midnight shift and dead tired so slightly insane.

Still, excited to play. Like...you know, a normal person. I promise.

[LittleSoul]

Definitely looking forward to it Rebma!

[Bmot]

Ohohoh! Can I plaaaay?

[LittleSoul]

Of course you can! Please do!

Cantr players and longtime supporters get first dibs. You'll be some of the first to know when it's ready!

[LittleSoul]

Hey everybody! Just a summary of the updates the last few weeks for those of you who don't use facebook.

Recently finished:

Countless bugs and small changes
These range from typos to debugging features that simply needed fixing up here and there as I went.

Building Descriptions
This affects mines, and farms as well. To change a building description your character needs both a hammer and a chisel. You then need to walk inside the building you want to change, go under area, and the menu to change the description should be available to you. The new description will be visible to those viewing the building outside, and the changes are instant


Signs
Signs require a hammer and chisel to create. Keep those tools in your inventory to be able to edit the sign in the area screen.


Viewing Items Held by Others, and Equipping Items
You can see when other characters are wielding weapons, wearing clothing and armor, as well as when when they're carrying containers, and tools. Containers and tools always show up on the character viewing screen when they are in that character's inventory, but weapons and clothing or armor are only visible to others when equipped. When equipping or un-equipping these items an event shows everyone in your vicinity whether you're readying your weapon, or taking off armor.


Regeneration, Hunger, Animal Spawning
The testing of time, health regeneration, and hunger decay has been fixed/confirmed working. You gain 5 health every 12 hours, I believe, and lose 10 hunger every 12 hours as well. Time is complex, but basically every 4 real life days your character ages a year. Animal spawning is confirmed working as well. Every hour there is a 1 in 3 chance that an animal will spawn on map tiles where there are people currently on them. Might have to make that chance more rare in the future, but we will need the high spawn rate for the beginning stages of release. Characters have to eat.

Natural Death by Old Age
A character has a certain lifespan based on their race. After they have reached this lifespan their chances of dying grow every ten years up to a max of thirty years over the lifespan. At thirty years over the lifespan they are considered ancient and are guaranteed to die.

[LittleSoul]

What's left you ask? Well, here's a list for a rough idea of what I have to finish before we can start beta sign ups.

Testing and Debugging:
birth
--naming a child as a parent
hybrids
--making their secondary racial description visible
projects
--pausing and resuming
--testing projects in all locations (outside, buildings, mines, farms)
--testing starting a project and the end result of finishing one (crafting, gathering, building, etc)
--confirming experience gain and level up for skills
skills
--confirming effect on projects (the rate at which a higher or lower skill benefits or hinders the amount of time to finish)
--balancing these effects
following (groups)
--testing groups who travel together from tile to tile
--testing groups who travel with mounts (all or only some)
death
--combat (death by player)
--hunting (death by animal

Creation:
mod panel for administrative use

Then aside from these particulars we have the 'tick' file which runs code in certain intervals that changes time sensitive information in the world such as the aging of characters. It's worth mentioning that decay will not be activated until the repair feature is implemented post beta.

Tick Process Debugging and Testing:
combat (between characters)
birth and pregnancy check
travel
projects

All other processes such as automatic eating, time, aging, etc have all been confirmed working. This is all that's left with that file.

Additionally, after all of this is finished I will still have to:
Update the website for sign ups and login
Put the finishing touches on the interface (some pages still need styling and so on)
Implement the game into the remote server
Open beta sign ups (BETA begins here) and prepare story arcs / introductions to the adams and eves of the races
Pick a few mods to watch over player reports while I fix reported bugs and add the extra features promised in the final build explained below

Finally, after the player base is used to the game and I feel it is in a stable state I will be adding the following features in bit by bit in major updates as intended for the final build.

ability to repair items and buildings
decay will be activated
magic
artifacts (non-craftable items with special abilities)
dragging
whispering
holiday freeze (for players on vacation/break)
keys and locks
weather
windows
taming
books
gold system (currency)
cities
building and room titles
room descriptions
area descriptions (made by characters in addition to their natural surroundings)
medicine
suicide option

After all of these are finished, I will consider Marosia officially finished although I'll always be making changes and additions suggested by the community because I love working on it and the community is important to me.

And that's basically the plan of attack! Thanks for the support!

[SekoETC]

Are there going to be humans in the game, or just fantasy races?

[LittleSoul]

Yes, although I believe it will be an unpopular race (based on my experience in FTO at least; I never understood the big deal) so don't be surprised if there are only a few humans in existence. The great thing is we never have to worry about pure extinction because someone can always spawn in a new character.

[Marian]

Looking forward to playing a human and trampling all the pointy-eared scum beneath my boot heels.

The only thing I request is please don't do that thing fantasy games always do where the description is just, 'i dunno, humans are just sort of average in every way, i guess?'

It's no wonder no one ever picks them when a game deliberately makes them boring. Just looking at humans from a biological perspective and we are some pretty creative and adaptable badasses who can endure or even just shrug off some unbelievable things that would kill any other creature on Earth.