Topics

[If you are interested send me a PM.]

At the moment Tynan is looking for some more testers.

What you will be doing is testing new alpha versions before public release. You need to be able to fill out bug reports on mantis. This includes a clear description of what you thought should happen and what actually happened. It is also important that you when possible can explain how to reproduce a bug. And/or are willing to try and duplicate a bug and find the reproduction steps.

If you are interested send me a PM.

[Stockpiles.]

The new update contains stockpiles and launchpads.
In this post I will explain these new additions in detail.

Stockpiles.
The new stockpiling system will replace the old and familiar stockpile.
They are free to place and you can decide the amount of space they take and where to build them.
At the moment they will take on a random color (This might chance in the future).
When defining a stockpile zone you can shape it as you will. When you keep the stockpile selected you can add what you want to it (These cells must be adjacent to each other). When you want to place a different stockpile next to another stockpile make sure to deselect it first.
Stacks of resources are maxed at 75.


The Green button with the big [A] in it allows you to rename your stockpile.
When you click the [Storage] button different categories of resources show.
When selecting or deselecting these categories you either allow storage of everything that falls under that category or forbid it.
You can further expand the category and select individual resources. Handy for when you want to sell specific resources to a trader. Which I will explain in more detail later.
At the top there is a priority button. Set at [normal] in the picture. The priorities go from Low- Normal - Preferred - Important -  Critical.
Low meaning the stockpile will receive its allowed resources later than any stockpile with a higher priority.

Launchpads
With launchpads a new way of trading is introduced to the game.
To be able to sell your goods they must be placed on a launchpad. To be able to do this you must place a stockpile ontop of the launchpad.
You can allow and forbid goods in the same fashion as previously explained.
The games currency (silver) must also be on the launchpad. If it is not it will not show up in the traders screen.
Everything you want to trade away must be placed in a stockpile build on a launchpad. This may mean that for bigger trades you will need multiple Launchpads.
The Drop beacon still works the same. Your goods will arrive at its location.

In the picture you can see a constructed launchpad on the left. And on the right is a launchpad with a stockpile ontop of it. Remember stockpiles take a random color at the moment.


Hoppers
Hoppers are needed to fill up your nutrient paste dispencer.
They should be placed next to it. They can hold potatoes and in the future more raw foods.
You can set priority for the hoppers just like for your stockpiles. Give them a high priority else they get filled last.



In this instance the top line of hoppers will provide food to the nutrient paste machine. The bottom line won't.
Keep this in mind when designing your new cantina.
Remember nutrient paste machines are useless without a hopper.

At this moment we have enough testers. Thank you all for replying.
If you want to be a tester in the future put this topic on "notify" and as soon as it opens up you can respond to it.
We will most likely expand the test team every major update.

At the moment we are looking to expand the closed testing team.
This team tests builds before they are released to the public.

If you have the time and are willing to spend some hours per week on testing new builds (at peak bugcrushing moments 1 build per day is released) than send me a pm/email.

Please tell us your experience with bugtrackers, your experience with testing, the amount of time you can spend on testing the game and which system/os you can test on.

It is important for testers to be able to write clear bug reports with reproduction steps.

So I was checking out stockpiles tonight and it looks nice.
Now I was wondering what would you like.

At the moment my screen looks like a rainbow. But all those stockpiles areas actually are the same storage/stockpile (dumping zone).

Would you like the game to automatically assign a color to a stockpile? Or a simple color wheel to give each stockpile settings so you can set up your own colors?
Or do you have a completely different more awesome opinion?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/uyzhr55qp4kgavf/Storage.jpg

Best wishes to all of you and a good 2014.

Enjoy it.

[Creative rewards system, Rhopunzel, modding]

Kickstarter update 12-12-13

For all those not receiving kickstarter update here is a easy and fast copy.
I will fix the hotlinks later when i get home (-:


Creative rewards system, Rhopunzel, modding
There's a bit of a news backlog to get through. Let's get to it!

Creative rewards system open

Hey, all you people who got the name-in-game or backstory-in-game rewards! We're finally ready to accept your wild and wacky creations! Web wizard Hypolite has created an online system that will allow you to add your character names and backstories into a database. Each time we release a new version of the game, I'll pull the data from the database and put it in the game itself. Here it is:

RimWorld Creative Rewards System

As a reminder, please keep the Creative Rewards Guidelines in mind while coming up with your creations. I can't wait to see all the wild ideas you put in.

Also, I'm still looking for creative rewards moderators. If you're a solid, clear writer and interested in helping, please contact me. Thank you!

Rhopunzel in the house

I’m happy to announce that we’ve got eminent game artist Rhopunzel working on the in-game art for RimWorld! Rho has worked on several awesome indie games. The most recent was Starbound, with pieces like this scary skeltal dragon or this crunchy mech. Before that, Rho did pretty much everything for Gnomoria.

Here's a shot of some of the new character art:


I think someone forgot their clothes.

Some people have asked how much the final art will change. Up until now, I’ve done all the art in a simple, iconic style. Rho will be working in a similar style (though at a much higher level of ability). We’re sticking with the vector look because it satisfies RimWorld’s design constraints very well. The goal with this art isn’t just to look good â€" it must satisfy a specific set of design goals.

First, it has to convey a lot of complex gameplay information in a really intuitive way, even when compressed to a tiny space on-screen. For example, looking at a character will tell you:
■Their identity (who, exactly, is it?)
■Their team (raider, colonist, trader, etc)
■Their general category they fall into (fighter, worker, researcher, farmer, etc)
■Their facing
■Their apparel (possibly several layers)
■What they’re doing
■Maybe, in the future, their current equipment or weapon

Packing that all into a space as small as 32×32 pixels and making it look good is tough!

Second, it has to balance abstraction with specificity. If it’s too abstract, people can’t intuitively understand what’s going on. If it’s too specific, it fills in too many gaps so players have no room to subconsciously interpret what’s happening. We need to leave room for players to interpret, because player intepretation is the real engine of game-driven story generation.

Third, it has to be lightweight in content, so it runs and loads quickly, can be iterated quickly, can be modded easily, and can be expanded to a wide variety of objects and characters. We’d rather have 100 kinds of characters with 3 frames of animation each than 3 characters with a hundred frames each. Because what matters is the final experience of the game, which (in the case of RimWorld) is best served by variety, not detail.

I’m happy to say Rho has been rising to the challenge. We’ve already been passing pieces back and forth and watching the style develop.



What the heck else are you doing?

Yeah, I know, it's been a month since the last update. But I've been working hard on the modding and sound infrastructure for RimWorld.

Up until now I’ve created simple sounds myself from free source files found at freesound.org. The code would then just play the appropriate sound file directly. This filled the gap enough for my own pre-alpha purposes, but now that we’re getting serious about audio it’s clear something much more is needed.

Upon starting the system for authoring real sound definitions, it became clear that it is really just a particular kind of modding. So that work has also become work on the modding system in general.

When the whole mod system is done, you'll be able to mod the game, including changing and adding animals, weapons, foods, buildings, and other object and content definitions, while the game is running. This will also support adding and changing images, again, without closing the game.

The sound system itself carries a lot of fun features beyond just playing sounds.
■You can randomize the pitch and volume of a sound within a range.
■You can add filters like high-pass/low-pass or echo.
■You can add several sound files and determine how they're selected between (including algorithms that avoid repetition).
■You can tie the parameters of the sound to parameters generated by the game. For example, you could tie the cutoff of a low-pass filter to the camera altitude, so sounds seem more muffled as the camera moves away. Or you could tie the pitch of a sound to a random Perlin noise generator, so it yo-yos around while you play it.
■Parameter mappings are done through editable curve graphs that map values in the in-parameter to values in the out-parameter.
■You can create sustained sounds and one-shot sounds.
■Sustained sounds can crossfade back and forth between different sound files, allowing you to create continuous sounds that never loop.
■Lots more!

Here's a picture of it:

Editing the mapping between camera height and low pass filter cutoff on the pistol shot sound.

So sorry there haven't been monthly updates. There's some infrastructure and ramping-up work to do over here. I'm really hoping that as we move into next year I'll be able to get back to month-over-month content improvements.

As always, I'd love to chat on my Twitter or at the Ludeon forums.

Cheers,

Ty

Fellow starbounders.
I am looking at how many people on these forums would be interested in playing starbound with fellow rimworlders (damm tynan that keeps sounding nasty).

As soon as there are official premium servers i will get one.
Give a shout out if you are interested.

Well people. Just to let you guys know that tynan is still working really hard on the game.
I am proud to be able to show you a little teaser.

It is a picture of a tiny part of the modding system tynan is designing.
At the moment it only works for the audio but he will expand it towards other gaming mechanics aswell. As it looks at the moment he hopes that you will be able to mod the sounds while running the game.
He is working on audio first so Alistair can start working on his part.
After that he will expand the modding tools. And he hopes he will be able to make it so that even the gfx can be changed (eventually) while running aswell.

No hard promises here offcourse. And these looks might not even be the final looks the modding tool will receive. This is just to let you guys see the awsome stuff tynan is working on (-:

I hope you guys and girls enjoy this.

https://www.humblebundle.com/weekly

HOTTDAMMMMMMM what an awsome weekly sale.
Almost every pinball fx 2 dlc pack and core pack from zen studios. For just 6$

I just had to warn everybody of these awsome weekly bundles they are doing since a month or so.

[Keep in mind last released version is 0.1.334b Rimworldalpha1]

A link to the patch notes
A link to the wiki page with patch notes

When you encounter anything within the latest version.
Than bugreport guidelines can be found here
And please post them as clear as possible within this forum.
Make sure you are using the latest version please (-:

Here i will post the latest patch notes.

Keep in mind last released version is 0.1.334b Rimworldalpha1

February 25

    Added simple door. Cheaper, but cannot be powered.
    Filled out storyteller moddability.
    Bugfixes.

364 - February 24

    Bugfixes.

Februray 23

    Bugfixes.
    Reworked debug lister menu to handle large numbers of options. Also added a type-in filter.

361b/362 - February 22

    Bugfixes.

360a/b/c, 361a - February 21

    Finished up stone economy with stone walls.
    Bugfixes.
    Added blasting charges back in as a mod.
    Started working on getting code loading with mods.

359 - February 20

    Tons more bugfixes.
    Work type definitions and work giver definitions are now in XML, so you can mod in new work types to correspond to new economy chains.
    Added gather spots so you can make idle colonists gather around certain tables.
    Added stone economy: stonecutter�s table, crafting worktype, stone cutting workgiver, stone blocks thing, stone tiles floor, low stone wall, high stone wall.

358 - February 19

    Tons of bugfixes.

February 18

    Extensive refactoring and bugfixing.

February 17

    Bugfixing and prepping for internal test cycle.
    Added max ingredient search radius for bills.
    Added qualitative descriptions to skill levels.
    Skills now decay over time when at very high levels.
    Created the passion system, which affects learning rate according to characters� natural inclination towards different subjects. As in real life, anyone can learn anything that they�re willing to do, but you learn a lot faster if you�re naturally interested in the subject.
    Game save/load of lists, dictionaries, and hashsets now runs the same code whether saving simple values, deep-saveable objects, in-map cross-references, or references to game data definitions.
    Mods can now override core game data as well as add to it.
    Storytellers are now defined in XML.
    Made turret look and sound weak to match its functionality.

February 14

    Migrated all remaining Thing data into XML.
    Rewrote how thing component data is handled (it�s no longer defined per enum on a centralized list) and migrated it all into XML.
    Rewrote XML inheritance to inherit data about subelements and permit inheritance chaining (e.g. pawn->animal->squirrel).
    Set up apparels to spawn according to who they are, data-driven.
    Some late-night optimization, especially to the reachability checker, which, although not an expensive algorithm, can be called thousands of times in a frame, and so needs to be fast as hell.

February 13

    Finished decent refactoring of effects system so it can be data-driven. Different meals/recipes can make different effects while being eaten/worked on.
    Finished refactoring out the Interactive interface; all AI actions are now specified in AI code, not in the things they interact with.
    Factored out a lot of EntityDefinitions. These are now used as mini-categories, not individual entity identifiers, so modders can add more entities easily.
    Migrated pawn kind definitions (sniper, drifter, refugee, etc) into XML.
    Migrated research project definitions into XML.

February 12

    Refactoring day.
    Converted a bunch of old AI code into the new consistent toil format.
    Converted all building definitions from hardcoded into XML.
    Started modularizing EffectMakers and making them data-driven.

February 11

    Recipe ingredients are now configurable and work using categories. You can tell your colonists what to butcher, and whether or not it should include people.
    Balance: Colonists self-extinguish 2.5x more often.
    Created cook stove and three meal types to cook. Advanced meal types require multiple ingredients but have better psychological and nutritive effects.
    Advanced meal types require advanced cooking skills.
    Added varied food types from plants: potatoes, agave, and berries.
    Added release-mode console GUI so modders can properly debug their content without going insane.

February 10

    Refactoring day.
    Cleaned up and pumped up map save/load to be able to handle all sorts of funky cross-references. This was originally so I could save a colonist�s job with a true reference to the specific work order they were in the process of carrying out.
    Blasting charges cut (until they can be balanced properly).
    Skill needs are now data-driven so you can define specific relationships between skills and different recipes� efficiency and work time.

February 7

    Started creating the �bill� interface so you can tell your colonists what to create at a recipe station. e.g. What meals to cook, what to butcher, etc.
    Reactions are now called recipes.
    Created a data-driven default settings system for storage buildings. Hoppers default to not accepting human meat.

February 6

    Finished basic new AI failure condition framework.
    Thoughts are now moddable definitions.
    Cannibalism causes bad thoughts, differently depending on whether it�s eaten raw or cooked into a meal. Colonists avoid eating it. Different meats look different.
    Integrated first-pass weather and ambient sounds.

February 5

    AI: The old code for having AIs watch for job failure conditions is creaking under the strain. I�ve cut it and started a new, more modularized failure condition watcher infrastructure. Now, when the JobDriver defines the high-level behaviors, the action and failure conditions won�t have to be coupled together. You�ll be able to configure and stack together failure conditions appropriate to the job being done. This allows reuse of behavior code in different contexts (e.g. Hauling a resource to a stockpile, hauling a resource to a building site, hauling a resource to a table for reaction site have different fail conditions but can use the same hauling core code).
    Started integrating Al�s ambient sounds.

February 4

    AI: Started the reaction/butchery/cooking system. Working on a generalized reactions framework that characters will follow to transmute one set of items into another.
    Letters now have varying urgencies. More urgent gets a hotter color. The most urgent ones also bounce occasionally to get your attention.
    Readjusted probabilities of solid and shuffled pawn bios appearing.
    Combined pawn RaceDefinitions into general ThingDefinitions. All pawn definitions now generate meat definitions.

February 3

    Guns and equipment, plants, and apparel are all now loaded from XML. Added rose decorative plant.

February 2

    Mods can now load content cross-references and images. Content handling is much cleaner overall. In progress. Created Royal Bed test mod.

February 1

    Added mod browser. Restructured mod data to be configurable. You can now install mods and run them in parallel. Created mod metadata screen (author, description, etc). http://puu.sh/6GuGD.jpg
    Stockpiling AI: when on hauling runs, colonists now pick up extra resources from nearby piles even if they can�t carry all of them.
    Cooks taking food to hoppers now more perf-efficient and cooks will no longer fill hoppers that are already nearly full.

334b[Released]27-1-2014
334a/b - January 26 - Alpha 1 Release Candidate 5
    Bugfixes.
    Added adaptive tutor messages for opening comms, setting storage priorities, and growing food.

333a/b/c/d - January 25 - Alpha 1 Release Candidates 1/2/3/4
    Various pre-release fixes.

332 - January 24
    Created a consistent PathMode system to explicitly handle the difference between pathing to a square and pathing to adjacent to a square or thing, in all methods and interfaces that handle finding paths or checking reachability. Ambiguity between these was causing subtle bugs.
    Performance optimizations and a worryingly large number of bugfixes.
    Integrated Ricardo�s new menu background screen. Not animated yet, but you get the idea.
    You now start with three guns, to alleviate problems with early-battle balance. The battles are supposed to get harder as you go along, not easier.

331 - January 23
● Bugfixes.

330 - January 22
● Adaptive tutor now saves its estimates of the player�s knowledge as a separate file that will persist between games. Delete Knowledge.xml (in savegames� parent folder) to reset it.
● Retuned adaptive tutor and reworked the internal numbers to all be percentages.
● Major optimizations on the algorithm for regenerating rooms. Will help during mining.
● Fixed some deep bugs in hard-case stockpiling (e.g. dropping food in a sealed room packed with food).
● Deconstructing is now done by designating a target, which the colonists go deconstruct.

329 - January 21

    Worker AI rejiggered to allow prioritization of different classes of targets within one work type. The upshot is that they�ll try to finish existing unfinished buildings before carrying resources to blueprints.
    Added preferred names list, so you can encourage the game to spawn your Name in Game or Backstory in Game character.
    Rho did nicer thicker outlines for characters.
    Various bugs fixed.

328 - January 20

    Stockpiling AI: Created cooking stub work type. Currently it only loads food into dispenser hoppers, so you can set this activity at a different priority than hauling.
    Refined and tuned the adaptive tutor, added about six new concepts to teach.
    Did a ton of low-hanging-fruit optimizations, greatly increasing the performance of the game and reducing memory allocations about 50%.
    Small usability changes and bug fixes.

327 - January 19

    A pile of bugfixes, especially for stockpiling AI.
    Continuing to tune the adaptive tutor and put in more lessons and cues.

325 - January 17

Created adaptive tutor system. It watches everything you do and tries to determine your knowledge of various concepts. If it detects a concept is needed but knowledge hasn�t been demonstrated, it shows a helpful note. Effectively it tries to replicate a good teacher sitting behind you, saying only the things that are really needed.
    Terrain, building, and terrain scatterable definitions are now all moddable. Concept definitions (used by the adaptive tutor) as well.
    Stockpiling AI bug fixes.
    Various bug fixes.
    Imported the latest player creative content.

324 - January 16
● Stockpiling AI: Pawns will now draw from several resource piles if it helps them build more efficiently. So they can pick up from multiple resource piles, carry the resources in one trip, and then deposit them in multiple building sites. Very efficient and fun to watch!
● Included Rho�s new RimWorld logo and Ricardo�s happy/sad Randy portrait.
● Various bug fixes.
● Colonist will now eat from dispensers in prisoners� rooms as well as store meals in prisoners� rooms if there is no prisoner present.
● You can now rename stockpiles.
● Some fairly easy but extremely impactful optimizations: eliminated 30k/frame of memory allocs from switching to the same font over and over. Game no longer tries to make tooltips from every rock square in the map (only pawns make tooltips now). Some others.


323 January 16
Stockpiling AI can now collect resources for multiple building sites when taking resources to building sites. So if there is a long wall, they can collect a pile of metal and lay down a dozen wall sections at once instead of going back and forth for each one. They still only collect from one resource pile.
Various bugfixes.

322
    A pile of bugfixes for stockpiling AI.
    Updated credits.

321 - January 13
● AI can now add to existing stacks in storage, as well as handle various contingencies with lack of space, and so on.
● Unified thing dropping placement code.
● Kassandra is now Cleopatra.

320

● Integrated storyteller portraits in entry menus.
● Various further bugfixes, some stockpile related, some old bugs.

318 - January 10

    Fixed another batch of stockpiling bugs, largely around configuration of special storage buildings.
    Had to scrap and try a new approach to having fixed default categories on the storage buildings.

317b - January 9

    Spent all day fixing bugs found by testers in the stockpiling AI system (and in other systems). Great thanks to Semmy for finding a huge number of bugs in this one.
    AIs now haul construction-blocking items to the nearest open square instead of hauling them all the way to storage.

317 - January 8

    Many, many bug fixes for stockpiling-related stuff.
    Redid storage allowance system into a nice hierarchy, so you can allow/disallow storage of individual kinds of items in a stockpile, or do it by categories. All with a nice collapsible-category interface.
    Added jacket from Rho.

314 - January 6

First testing version in a while.

    First attempt at basic stockpiling system. Many bugs are still in.
    Lots of other little changes, most related to stockpiling. I�ve had to redo trading, money, how dispensers use food, how things are sold and resources reclaimed, and how things are built.
    Lots of new art from Rho.

294 - December 17

    Created audio authoring system, supporting one-shots and sustained sounds, various filters, pitch, volume settings, mappings from in-game parameters.
    Created live-modding system, which allows modification of game content while the game is running. This includes the package editor and the definition editor.
    Starting moving game content out of hardcoding and into external, modifiable xml and content files. This is the beginnings of the mod system.
    Created apparel system and introduced the first batch of apparel from Rho�s art.
    Created a system to randomize, remember, and manage colors for apparel and characters� skin.
    Various other changes.
[/i]

* Semmy hints at everybody to keep watching there email closely (-;

Bugreport guidelines can be found here
And please post them as clear as possible within this forum[/url

For all those who havent received a email.
Keep in mind some possible explanations.

- The payment didn't go through.
- Do you have the right backer tier?? Only influencer tier or higher get a download link now. The others are estimated at jan. 2014
- You'r email provider's server are powered by cycling monkeys and they are protesting for bigger banana's.

[No personal attacks:]

First of all, a reminder of the main forum rules:

We want the forums to be enjoyable, informative, and inviting to all, while also supporting spirited debate and respectful disagreement. To that end, we've got some guidelines/rules here that everyone can refer to.

Unless otherwise noted, all rules apply both in the forums and in PMs. Violating any rule can lead to a perma-ban or a warning, depending on the specifics of the situation. Once warned, further violations will almost always lead to a perma-ban.


1. No personal attacks: No personal attacks or insults - especially angry, inflammatory ones. Feel free to criticize a game, mod, or idea - but take care never to allow that to become a personal attack on an individual. Even oblique or implied personal attacks are disallowed.

2. Sustained hostility or anger venting: Do not post streams of unconstructive, unnecessary negativity or hostility, and do not vent anger here. It just makes the community feel hostile for no reason. This doesn't mean everyone has to be happy or have good opinions of everything and everyone all the time - it means that phrasing complaints in constructive ways leads to much better results all around, and we don't want a community where anger and hostility are behavioral norms.

3. Do not sustain flamewars: If you see behavior that seems out of line to you, report the topic/post using the report button. Don't make a fuss about it in the topic itself. Do not message or respond to people who you think are breaking rules. Simply report them, and move on.

4. Right forum: Post things in the right forum. Suggestion go in Suggestions, stories go in Stories, and so on.

5. Stay on topic: Please try to stay on topic. Ask yourself: Am I answering the author of the topic? Does this relate to the title of the topic? If you want to discuss something else, make a thread!

6. No piracy: No discussions of game piracy, and especially no posting of pirate links or material.

7. Spam: No spamming/unnecessary posting of your website/links. You can mention your product or youtube. But put it into context and don't overdo it.

8. No content-free bumping: No posting of content-free posts in topics just to bump them to the top of the page.

9. Find existing discussions: Before creating a new topic, please invest some time into looking if it hasn't been discussed already. Use the search function.

10. No unnecessary self-replying: Do not spam repeated posts in reply to yourself. Use the modify button unless it has been more than 24/48 hours since your last post.

11. One person, one account: Do not create more than one account for one person.

12. Keep it SFW: No posting or linking of not safe for work (NSFW), pornographic, or X-rated material.

13. English language: You have to write in English, except in specific topic about foreign languages (e.g. translation-related discussions).

14. No doxxing: Posting personal information about anyone besides yourself is prohibited.

15. No impersonation: No impersonating other people or forum users.

16. No sexualization of minors: No sexualization of minors in any medium, or linking thereto.

17. Mods enforce these rules only: Moderators enforce these written rules only. Moderators should try to cite which rule is being enforced when enforcing any rule. If a new rule seems needed, a mod should start an internal discussion about it.

Now some guidelines for the Suggestions forum. These are not rules, but some ideas to make discussions here go smoothly.

Quote marathons

It might seem like a great idea to pull a short quote from someone's post and reply to that. In some circumstances I would agree that it's a good way of addressing a particular point.

However, then there is the temptation to quote multiple posts and reply to each point in one of your posts.

Then someone else decides that they're going to reply to your reply to a quote, again the short way.

Before you know it, you have a very inaccessible discussion which only makes sense to a few people.


Reference to previous posts

Referring to a previous post is fine. Linking and quoting are useful when you want to direct someone's attention to something which they may have missed.

Stating that someone did not read or not not understand that post is not helpful. The likely response is going to be 'Yes, I read it, I just don't agree with it, you haven't convinced me' and so on.

This results in discussion about the discussion, not discussion about the original suggestion.


Repetition of viewpoint

It is unnecessary unless, in fact, you have changed your mind. Discussing the discussion of the suggestion (for example, commenting that a solid argument against hasn't been presented) inevitably leads to a discussion about this poster or that poster and very little about the original suggestion.


Lack of compromise

Discussion should lead to a compromise or an agreement to disagree in as few pages as possible. The alternative is a topic which drags on for pages with no ground being given by anyone, ultimately resulting in no conclusions of any kind.

A conclusion could simply be 'More information is required,' along with a summary pointing the direction for another discussion or for Tynan to take notes.


Avoiding these problems (with simple examples)

• Use quotes sparingly. As far as possible, answer by paraphrasing the question or point which prompted your post.
  
  For example, What are some of the advantages of equipping a shotgun on a colonist? could be answered like this:
  A shotgun has a good refire rate compared with longer-ranged weapons.
  
  
• Avoid assumptions about reading or comprehension. Discussion of a suggestion sometimes means that your point of view will be put aside because it doesn't fit with something else.
  
  For example, I never use shotguns because they're rarer than gold. If you're close enough to use a shotty, might as well close the distance and engage in melee combat.
  
  
• Restate your viewpoint only when there are significant changes as a result of other contributors.
  
  For example, A shotgun has a good refire rate, but as Poster B pointed out, there are other options if you can't find or buy any shotguns.
  
  
• Set limits on the discussion. Perhaps you could specify an end date in the subject line and extend it if necessary. At the end date, someone can sum up and ask a moderator for a lock.
  
  For example, We agreed that shotguns are too rare, but there is a case to be made for or against using shottys or melee weapons in close quarters. Requesting topic lock, thanks.

shamefully in a weak state of mind i bought this game and space engineers.

DF-9 offers alot of potential. But like alot of people say its empty atm.
I do love spacestations even more now.

Space engineers is fucking bloody incredible awsome.
As soon as MP hits it will be a kickass game. Ive already build some bigass spacestations and atm im going to try and build the battlestar galactica

During testing i noted something. And i think we briefly talked about it on irc.
But the game seriously lacks in positive storyteller incidents.

So let me start of by throwing in some random positive incidents.
And maybe some more people have some. This way the storyteller will atleast get the occasional love.

- Awesome sunlight incident or a muffalo shitted all over your plants incident.
Your outside crops grow twice as fast for 1 day.
- Raider weaponcache found
You find a stash of guns left behind by raiders. What you find is offcourse dependent on where you are in the story
- A comet hits the planet.
Creating a new geyser for more powahhhhhhhhhh


Well im not that creative so i'd rather have you people throw something in here (-:

After reading the fiction from the last update im impressed.

I am a fanatic reader myself and could see myself enjoying reading a book writen in this style or universe.

I'm not sure he will listen or even appreciate this effort.
But should or shouldn't Tynan write a book

I voted Should

[Kickstarter stats analysis and creative rewards guidelines]

Kickstarter stats analysis and creative rewards guidelines
Hey all,

The RimWorld kickstarter continues to defy all expectations (especially my own) as it cruises past the $150K mark without any sign of slowing down. So - thank you, very very much!

Now - let's get on with the update.
Creative rewards guidelines

RimWorld is a character-driven story game. Players will get to know a colonist or prisoner over the course of many hours of play. That's why for the good of all players, it's important that every character make sense and fit seamlessly into the world. This includes all characters added by backers at the Pirate tier and above.

To make sure nothing narrative-breaking gets in the game, we're going to moderate the names and character backgrounds you submit. Everything will be submitted through a Web form; if your content doesn't work you'll get an email explaining why and an opportunity to change it and try again.

To make this whole process as super-transparent and consistent as possible, I've written a series of documents to help everyone out:

*  Pirate and above backers should read the creative rewards guidelines. It covers what's considered acceptable to add into the game.
*  Mercenary and above backers should read the RimWorld universe quick primer. This is a short introduction to the setting of the game, so you can write your character backgrounds in a way that makes sense.
*  Those who are interested can read the longsleep revival briefing. This is a longer in-world fiction piece that I wrote months ago, largely for myself, to develop the universe.

Please take a look and make sure that your planned character can work in these guidelines. If you want to discuss the fiction or ask about how it can be stretched, the Ludeon forums are a good place to do so.

And that's enough strictness for today! I hate to lay down rules like this, but it is important to make sure the game itself is consistent for everyone.

When will I get the game?

I should clarify the timing of the pre-alpha release. Unfortunately I can't promise Influencer backers that they will get the game November 1. Kickstarter will take some time to process people's financial info. And then we'll have to move all your info into our SendOwl DRM-free game distribution partner's system. I've tried to prepare all I can to make this a smooth and quick process, but it could take several days.

The moment the game is available, you'll get an email with your download links.

Kickstarter traffic analysis

Forumgoer LobsterSundew has posted an insightful analysis of the progress of the Kickstarter so far.

It's been interesting watching the sources of our backers shift over the course of the campaign. Early on, our key source of traffic was an article on the popular PC website Rock Paper Shotgun. Later, Reddit took the top spot, as fans of the game posted about it all over /r/basebuildinggames, r/indiegames, r/gaming, and, of course, our very own r/RimWorld. As time has gone on, however, Reddit has been supplanted by YouTube. YouTubers seem to love the game, and so do their audiences. Even more recently, we’ve received a lot of support from viewers of Twitch streams, especially Sacriel’s. I chilled with Sac on his stream for a couple hours, answering questions and watching his colonists get stomped by muffalo. It was a good time.

This very broad base of support has given RimWorld an exceptionally steady inflow of attention. Since we're not dependent on big individual sources of traffic, no one event causes a spike or drop in traffic. I kind of like that this seems to be a grass-roots thing. It's gratifying as a game designer to see the game spreading not by marketing or graphics, but by people experiencing it in play.

I'm on Twitter at @TynanSylvester. As always, our forums are open to you. I recommend the story of the Happenings of Hope's Landing by tester danderson.



Cheers all, and thanks again for the continuing support!

Ty

When i was watching the game this morning some things bothered me.
Maybe its been talked about but i couldnt find it.

Where does your starting location come from?
You drop in your pods and there are 3 sleeping bags a waste area and a stockpile.
Furthermore you always drop near some food and metal.

Wouldnt it be more logical to let the metal at the starting location be your pods?
You can deconstruct them or just haul them towards your stockpile.
Just like food they should come as emergency rations out of those pods.
Just to give the story some credibility on where your starting stuff came from.

Also the metals just lying around the map could be scattered debris from your damaged starship. More logical than ramdom lying around metals d-:

Than we get to the already build stuff. I think they shouldnt be there.
Who put them there and why?
Just make your pods worth a bit more than the stuff you start with so you can construct them yourself.

This way your not forced to start where you land since the stockpile is quite costly to relocate.

God i love statistics.
How many bullets did you fire
how many things of A did you build
etc etc etc.

Will there be anything like a statistics overview when you end your game by either dying or escaping your rimworld

I got a tiny suggestion to make.

Wich would only be important if you give the game a everlasting mode in wich the storyteller makes your life harder and harder.

Time. The game must have a good timestamp.
So it should like give weeks/days or months.

A good easy to transfer savegame.. Or just throw each save in his own directory.

Now you ask me why. And i will tell you why
Succesion games. Damm those were awsome.
You dont want to know the amount of good awsome succesion games i had at my local forum.
We played DF over and over. Trying to figure out what the stuff (mostly levers/contraptions) your predecessor left behind.

[Question:]

I made this topic because of the fact that in multiple topics and in the kickstarter comment section people ask alot.
I will use this topic to add those questions and answers for all to read.
I hope it will save you alot of time searching and tynan having to answer multiple questions over and over.
Feel free to point me out to missing stuff do keep in mind though that its a work in progress (-:

Kickstarter

Question: Will there be stretchgoals?

Answer: No specific stretch goals. More money just means more art/sound/etc support from other people. I'll be developing the game in modules as planned. I won't do anything to threaten the basic schedule.

Question: When will the game be available?

Answer: The game works now. If you're in the influencer tier, you'll get access to the current pre-alpha as soon as the Kickstarter ends.
I've run several playtests and verified that real people can pick it up and enjoy it. It is, however, a bit light on content, and there are bugs. I'd like to squash this stuff as fast as possible.
I think we can have the first more stable and well-rounded public alpha (with audio and art contributions) out in January 2014.

Question: What is the prototype pack?

Answer: The prototype pack is four old versions of my prototypes that I saved away. They're somewhat buggy and unfinished, but really interesting historically. At least to me

Question: Can i donate through paypall?

Answer: Yes you can. Here is the link http://ludeon.com/blog/rimworld/

Question: Can I monetize videos of RimWorld?

Answer: Yes! Anyone can freely make videos of RimWorld and monetize them on YouTube or other sharing sites. Of course, to do so you’ll need a build of the game, since it’s not out yet. If you’re a YouTuber with a following, email me to get one.

Question: On wich platforms will Rimworld launch?

Answer: The game will launch on as many platforms as possible (steam, desura , gog). The focus will be on steam first since the game is #8 on the greenlight page (at the moment writing this). In the future ludeon will look at other platforms.


Creative rewards guidelines

RimWorld is a character-driven story game. Players will get to know a colonist or prisoner over the course of many hours of play. That's why for the good of all players, it's important that every character make sense and fit seamlessly into the world. This includes all characters added by backers at the Pirate tier and above.

To make sure nothing narrative-breaking gets in the game, we're going to moderate the names and character backgrounds you submit. Everything will be submitted through a Web form; if your content doesn't work you'll get an email explaining why and an opportunity to change it and try again.

To make this whole process as super-transparent and consistent as possible, I've written a series of documents to help everyone out:

*  Pirate and above backers should read the creative rewards guidelines. It covers what's considered acceptable to add into the game.
*  Mercenary and above backers should read the RimWorld universe quick primer. This is a short introduction to the setting of the game, so you can write your character backgrounds in a way that makes sense.
*  Those who are interested can read the longsleep revival briefing. This is a longer in-world fiction piece that I wrote months ago, largely for myself, to develop the universe.