Stratics Chat Session Febuary 2001

Original Content

Introductions

• (Xander) And now I'd like to introduce Patric from MindArk, to introduce the development team and talk a little bit about the game.
• (Patric-MA) Wellcome to the first HOC here at Startics. Fore those of you that not familiar with Project Entropia, it is the next generation of MMORPG, it will be totaly free to get and with no monthley fee, the world will be big enogh to hold one million player online at the same time.
• (Patric-MA) My name is Patric Sundstrom and i work at mindark as Marketing manager, i take care of mediacontacts and other questions
• (Anders-MA) Hello, my name is Anders and im working as a game-designer at Mindark.
• (Holmsten-MA) Hi, I'm Patrik Holmsten, programmer and coordinator of the engine development team.
• (Per-MA) Hello, I'm Per Edman, scripter and game designer here at MindArk.
• (Jimmy-MA) Hi there. I'm Jimmy and I'm mainly in charge of the characters.
• (DES-MA) Hi, (Daniel Sevo) 3D modeler. Currently Working with city construction.
• (Per-MA) That's us.

Beta Phase 1

• (Xander) *Druo* When will the first stage of the beta test begin?
• (Patric-MA) Our plans are that we can start our first beta in mid April, but we can't guarante that to 100%, but it is our goal.
• (Xander) *Agent4X-MIB* Approximately how many people will be allowed to participate in the first stage of the beta that we all signed up for?
• (Patric-MA) we will release more information about how many people that we will have in the first beta at the end of March.

Societies

• (Xander) *Cidium* When Future World Relations interviewed Per Edman, it was stated that areas within Project-Entropia could be claimed by societies. Can you please explain how a society would go about claiming such areas?
• (Per-MA) Cidium Societies, groups of players and even single players can claim land for themselves but must go via a central register. Basically, those who conquer land will be given the chance to keep it.
• (Per-MA) Cidium The central register is needed so two groups do not claim the same area.

Society Logos

• (Xander) *Noir* How will societies be able to create and incorporate their official logos into the game? Will there be a way to import some form of graphic file into the PE game that everyone would see? Then would this be a screened process to prevent constant changing of logos and possible obscene content?
• (Per-MA) Noir Society logos must be sent in and reviewed, mainly to see to it that they are standardized and will work as a society decal.

Society Guards

• (Xander) *Cidium* Will societies be able to hire NPC guards to protect their communities? If so, how will these guards function?
• (Per-MA) Cidium Yes, NPCs will be available for hire for a lot of various purposes. Guards is a good example, where a better guard will cost more. NPC guards will unerringly guard whatever area they are ordered to guard. Simple, no? -)
• (Per-MA) Cidium Unerringly in that they will not abandon the site, but they can still fail if attacked by a too large a force.

Starting Towns

• (Xander) *sadnor* How many different towns will be in the world?
• (DES-MA) There will initially be three different "types" of towns, more later. The first open test release will have one town.

Chargen Credits

• (Xander) *Druo* Will we start out with any credits? In the beta will we be able to purchase credits or will that be saved for the actual game?
• (Anders-MA) The game will only give the player some basic stuff so he gets an easy start. We will not use real money in the first beta-phase.

Player Apartment

• (Xander) *Erebus* Will players start off with an apartment? Or will we have to rent them by using our credits?
• (Anders-MA) All players will start with a basic appartment. However it may be in the players interest to buy either a bigger appartment or even a house.

Player View Perspective

• (Xander) *bandit* Will Entropia be played in a first person view, a third person view, or a combination of both?
• (Anders-MA) The player may choose which view fits them the best. However combat is best played in first person.

Massive Player Handling

• (Xander) *Cidium* What measures have been taken to allow potentially 1k players to interact in the same environment?
• (Patric-MA) we will release more information about how many people that we will have in the first beta at the end of Marsh.
• (Holmsten-MA) To put it simply, the server technology has been designed to be very, very scalable. It balances the load dynamically to put the processing power where it is needed. We are also building the world to accomodate for this kind of system, spreading the action evenly.

Buying Land

• (Xander) *bandit* When you want to buy land, will you be able to use game credits, even if at inflated prices, or do you *have* to use real money?
• (Patric-MA) Everything that you buy in Project Entropia will be bought with gamecredits, if you don't have enough with credits, then you can pick up your creditcard and buy some more credits in the game. Gamecredits and RL money are convertible to eachother.

Murder Protection

• (Xander) *IndWk* Is there a murder system. If I choose to kill 5 people, what impact will that have on my character?
• (Anders-MA) We will use an insurance system. You insure your equipment so you will keep it if/when you die. However, if you murder a player all your insurances will be lost.

Laws

• (Xander) *Noir* How will you regulate the laws in project-entropia? Will you have any systems set up to deal with the commiting of crimes? Will it be logged, and an NPC bot goes after them, or will they be charged depending on the crime?
• (Anders-MA) No. Were not using any laws that forbids players from doing things except if it breaks from real law.
• (Anders-MA) done

Weapon Types

• (Xander) *Cidium* Could you give us a relative number of different weapons available for players to use? Can these be upgraded or attached to vehicles?
• (Anders-MA) We got a very flexible weapon system that will allow the players to build their own weapons. The different parts will be upgradable.

Combat Control

• (Xander) *bandit* In combat, will the player have more control and just have skill modifiers, like FPS's and other such games, or will the player just choose a target and have the game fight for him, like Asheron's Call
• (Anders-MA) The player will have full control. The skills will modify so a player with bad skill value will spread the shots more than a player with good skill value.

Command HUD

• (Xander) *AgentSammal* Will there be any type of hud for commanding players in battle? I am trained as a squad leader in real life army and I am very curious about how the commanding of other players in combat is solved or is it solved?
• (Per-MA) AgentSammal Yes, there will be a heads-up display to help you keep track of the people below you in the chain of command, but since you will be giving orders to real-life people they always have the option of not obeying. You will be able to give private orders as well as shout platoon orders and you will be able to delegate responsibilities to squad leaders below you.

Sniping

• (Xander) *bandit* Sniping was mentioned on the website, how will that work?
• (Anders-MA) Well, you buy a scope for your rifle and puts it on. Basically it only enhances the view so it will get a little shaky.

Explosives

• (Xander) *Atrayo_PEHQ* will there be a form of explosives for player combatants,such as grenades,etc?
• (Anders-MA) There will be all kinds of explosives. Grenades, rockets and mysterious sci-fi exploding things.

Salvage

• (Xander) *RacerTex* Will there be salvage from air crashes and defeated robots?
• (Anders-MA) When you destroy a robot it will break. The salvage may then have certain parts that may be interresting for the player.

Crash Damage

• (Xander) *RacerTex* Hello, were there be dynamic crashes (as in air vehicles possibly crashing on ground targets causing damage)?
• (Per-MA) RacerTex Yes, objects crashing into anyone will damage them. Even wrecks falling from the sky, strangely enough.

Skill Application

• (Xander) *Druss-Legion* Since skills can be used in combat, how are they applied? Will a higher skill in a certain gun class inflict more damage or increase accuracy?
• (Per-MA) Druss Weapon skill will increase accuracy when firing a weapon. This appears to be the most logical solution. Of course, hitting the target always inflicts more damage than missing it. Inflicting critical wounds will also be easier with higher accuracy.

Science Skills

• (Xander) *Bainkour_PEHQ* Will there be selected science that of which a player can be involved with ingame? Such as studying robot technology, engineering, etc.?
• (Anders-MA) Yes, you will learn somethings by examining destroyed robots. The parts may give you a clue how to build certain stuff or re-program your gun.

Banks

• (Xander) *Sulfuric_Acid* Will there be a bank box to store items in or will it be necessary to own/rent a dwelling to store items that you are not carrying? How will character carrying capacity be figured?
• (Per-MA) HSO4 Yes, bank institutions can store your items for you and will keep them in mint condition. You can later extract your item from any other bank institution. Your dwelling can house items as well, but you do not need a dwelling just to keep items.

Casinos

• (Xander) *bandit* Since you appear to have meny real world equivilants, will there be casino's or other forms of gambling, and if so how will you handle regional laws?
• (Patric-MA) MindArk will follow international laws and international regulations about gambling, however invidual players are responsible for making sure they are following the national laws of the country they are in.

Random Quests

• (Xander) *Druo* Will there be anything like a random quest generator built into the game?
• (Per-MA) Druo Yes, something like it.

Graphic Engine

• (Xander) *Cidium* What kind of graphical engine is being used for Project-Entropia, and is it comparable to other engines such as Quake 3, Half-Life, or Unreal?
• (Holmsten-MA) We have licensed the NetImmerse graphics engine, which is a really flexible beast. It is scene graph-based, and permits us to dynamically change what is rendered in every imaginable way. This permits scene streaming without stops for loading, in a way that the engines you mention don't (to the best of my knowledge). The output quality is of the same caliber.

Weather Effects and Background Music

• (Xander) *Jared_Brand* Will there be weather effects, or background music?
• (Holmsten-MA) Yes, there will indeed be weather effects.
• (Per-MA) Background music will exist in some locales where it fits in.

Server Downtime

• (Xander) *Druo* Will the game be taken down daily or weekly for several hours for maintenance? Will there be a regular schedual?
• (Holmsten-MA) Nope, we aim to do without any planned downtime. Everything should be able to be maintained without taking down the servers. Any downtime should *not* be scheduled. )

MindArk Profit?

• (Xander) *Synon-FoA* From what I understand you plan to make your game free and without a monthly charge, how will your company profit and be able to put up the massive bandwidth to handle a game like this?
• (Patric-MA) we will earn money on difrent types of objects that are sold in the game, if you want to buy a house or a better gun or somethingelse, then you have to buy it from us. There might evean be some product placement in the game, there are more ways for us but i stop here )

MindArk Social Tensions?

• (Xander) *Aan-KoE* Is there any social tension down at Mindark? Such tension in the workplace could result in an undesirable end-product
• (Anders-MA) I got tensions in my stomach.
• (Per-MA) No, we are all very much at ease with one another. Except this strange stomach tension going around.
• (Locke-Stratics) I feel something , but it may just be laughter....
• (Holmsten-MA) I felt some tension while playing Counter-Strike yesterday...
• (Per-MA) Hmm.. Counter-strike.. hmmmm....

Sign Up for Beta

• (Xander) And if you haven't yet, go sign up for the Entropia beta at http//www.project-entropia.com

Xander waves

• (Patric-MA) We want to thank you at stratics for having this HOC chat with us regarding Project Entropia.
• (Patric-MA) It have been fun for us and we hope that everyone else liked it.

The End

• (Per-MA) My.. time to end this chat session here and ..ahem.. ..yeap.
• (Xander) Thank you all for coming to this House of Commons chat
• (Xander) and thanks especially to the MindArk team
• (Xander) we know its like 3 in the AM for you and you're probably asleep as we speak =)
• (Xander) The logs for this chat will be posted later this evening at http//entropia.stratics.com.

28 February 2001; [ Stratics]

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