Messages

211

General Discussion / Re: Doing Research

« on: December 26, 2017, 05:36:02 PM »

Let's think about it this way: to know the population at certain land area requires that there is someone keeping a record of inhabitants. Central government or some such entity performing caucuses and writing documents. Well, did any of that exists in Finland during 800 - 1066 AD? Nope. So, the reason you aren't finding the population numbers is most likely because of nobody knows. Guesses based on archaelogic findings are wildy inaccurate, at best.

212

General Discussion / Re: Northern Tribes

« on: November 25, 2017, 10:44:27 AM »

Will this be implemented in the game?

Well, at the moment the development situation is about this:

- Sami is busy working towards a beta release of the upcoming version 3.50
- Once the beta is out, the focus will be mainly on bug fixing
- Eventually there will be a stable release of 3.50
- After that it is time for a short break, as the version-release and bughunt phase is always a somewhat energy-consuming sprint
- And while the players are enjoying the new version, Sami and me will have the next version on the drawing board, deciding the major new features to be implemented in that version.

So, because of the general psychology of the game development cycle, at the moment the answer to any and all "will a feature X be implemented in some future version?" is and will be "we don't know as at the moment we are fully focused on getting the beta release out".

Put in other words; if there isn't an answer from the development team, it typically means that we are busy developing. Going into too detailed discussions about possible future features often just takes time away from the actual development.

213

General Discussion / Re: Northern Tribes

« on: November 23, 2017, 01:42:41 PM »

Did you read the article linked by spamgoose?

The genetic origins of Saami people is a puzzle not quite solved by modern science.

214

General Discussion / Re: Northern Tribes

« on: November 23, 2017, 12:04:16 PM »

A short clarification as it might not be otherwise obvious:

And why are they darker(darker skin or hair?)as it is usually that people from northern areas are usualy blonde (vikings?) 

We are mainly talking about hair colour here. In real life, as most of the Finns tend to have either blonde or sand-brown hair, the Saami people often have darker brown hair. But, all in all, I'd guess this is a rather minor detail, isn't it?

Also, just a reminder; although the game world is based on roughly 1000 - 1200 AD Finland, the cultures and tribes aren't intended as 100% historically accurate. We decided to allow ourselves some artistical freedom - that makes game development easier; we can dig into historical facts and sources as much as we like, and when we find conflicting or missing data we can just use our imagination, sometimes also combining different elements and blending them into our imaginary vision of UnReal World.

(I think the other have already pretty much described the reasons why we imagine the semi-nomadic northern tribe members to be somewhat smaller than the southern folks)

215

Gameplay questions / Re: Roads

« on: November 20, 2017, 12:02:09 PM »

Can someone post a link about historical fact of this.

I don't know if there are any online sources about this. It is just common folklore in Finland, passed down from a generation to another. Sleeping on a path, or camping on a road spells bad luck. Don't know where it comes from, to me it seems like an obvious part of 'cultural subconsciousnes' - folks just know it to be like that, but can't say how they know it 

Also, I'd guess this is not strictly spesific to Finnish folklore. Something similar seems to be going on with crossroads.

EDIT: fixed the link

216

General Discussion / Re: Crossbows

« on: November 19, 2017, 09:44:05 PM »

I repeat my question:

Twezzk stated that UnReal World models a world about 1000-800 years BC,
and I asked where does that news come from.

As that certainly is news to me. As a part of the development team I've always been under the impression that the game models Iron Age Finland, roughly 800 - 1200 A.D. (as said, for example here.) But is it that I've been wrong?

217

General Discussion / Re: Crossbows

« on: November 19, 2017, 01:44:32 AM »

  and the game features 1000-800 years BC

Where does that information come from?

218

General Discussion / Re: Urw. Population

« on: November 08, 2017, 07:50:24 PM »

do all cultures have same number of villages or is it completly random. 

neither. Each culture has a different number of villages, and on each map generation the amount of villages is randomized between max and min values, which are different for each culture. So it is not completely random, but randomized within limits.

What comes to total number of NPCs generated, I really can't say. It is a long time since I coded the random world generator. Also, since the world generation is based on variables, and those variables can be adjusted from a version to another, it means that any number given might not be accurate for the future versions.

219

Development News / Re: "Spirit of the forest, I presume"

« on: November 07, 2017, 11:14:32 AM »

  I'd like to be able to have a more grounded, historical experience too.  If I'm shooting lightning bolts at a level-25 domovoi, I might as well be playing ADOM. 

Well, at the very moment there (again) is an another thread where a player is actively trying to encounter a being which is supposed to be more or less 'supernatural' - and has difficulties doing so, for it isn't easy to find the right conditions to encounter such a being.

I think that speaks of Sami's design philosophy - personally I wouldn't worry about the game turning into 'thow lignting bolts at magical creatures'-kind of high-fantasy. The 'supernatural' elements of UnReal World are, and will remain, elusive and hard to catch, and after all, we can't be exactly sure if they are mere hallucinations, a series of random luck, or possibly a prankster hermit playing tricks on the player character.

Also, the way I see it, this actually is the historical experience. The pagan folks believed in these rituals having an effect, and they believed those supernatural entities to exists, and there were reports of people occasionally spotting those creatures. So we don't simulate the 1000AD world the way 2000AD scientist believe it to be, but we simulate the 1000AD world the way 1000AD folks probably themselves experienced it to be. No lightning bolts, though, they aren't a part of Finnish folklore =)

220

General Discussion / Re: Question for Sami

« on: November 05, 2017, 09:09:31 AM »

Hello there,

I'm sorry to say but the reality is that there is no exact answer to your question. Development takes the time it takes, and at the moment it is nearly impossible to say if a version with marriage and children will be released in summer 2018 or in winter 2020 - that depends on so many unpredictable factors so that the only honest thing to do is not to predict. I mean, this is not because Sami doesn't want to tell - this is because Sami doesn't know, and he only can tell things he knows.

So, okay, instead of saying "we are working on it", I will say: It is on the development list.

221

Gameplay questions / Re: Bow accuracy

« on: October 29, 2017, 02:10:08 PM »

  the game takes place in the late iron age "considered by many to fall between around 1200 BC and 600 BC" 

Iron Age in Finland is roughly 500 BC - 1200 AD, and the game world draws its inspiration from latter Iron Age, around 1000 - 1200 AD. The thing is, while the most of Europe was living Middle Ages, culture in Finland wasn't dominated by Catholic Church. In Finland we had anything like Middle Age only after 1200 AD, when Viking kings had converted to Christianity and launched crusades into pagan Finland to spread the dominance of Catholic Church. Oh well. But I'd guess 1200 AD pagan hunter bows were about as skilfully crafted as 1200 AD English bows.

What comes to the actual subject of this thread, one main factor which I don't see mentioned is if the target is moving or not. While you could hit an immobile target size of a playing card, it becomes consiredably harder to hit a target of same size if its moving at irregular speed. So if you want to hit birds at max range, try picking the stationary ones - but then, if they are standing on ground, they are so low that other factories (like the gravity pull) are more likely to make it so that your arrow hits the ground before reaching the target.

222

Mod Releases / Re: New Fonts for UnrealWorld

« on: June 01, 2017, 11:37:16 AM »

Will this open the way for multi-language support, or does this only apply to the realm of English?

I think there have been at least Chinese and Russian mods, with their respective fonts.
Naturally, that requires both modding the font file AND tweaking text strings inside game files.

It is a lot of work, runs a risk of breaking the game engine, and won't necessarily work with each new version release. So I have no idea if any of those fan-translated unofficial versions are up to date, nor if they are available somewhere in the net.

223

Off-topic / Re: Hey Sami, everyone- UnReal World got noticed by Guru Larry!

« on: May 22, 2017, 11:10:52 PM »

Time to call Guinness and challenge for their next publication.

Actually, I think the Guinness World Record team got it correct, and it is Larry who, after all, is a bit confused with facts 

Following Larry's logic, UnReal World development time was about 18 monts - Sami started developing some time at 1990, and the first playable version was released around may 1992. The first version was released as share-ware, and according to the standards of those times, it counts as 'a public release'.

Since 1992 UnReal World has been receiving a continuous stream of updates - which is different from the 'development hell' Larry describes with those other games. Also, thas is why UnReal World can't hold a Guinnes World Record for longest development time.

Instead, UnReal World has the official Guinnes World Record for longest update support.

So, no need to call Guinness to challenge their nominations.

224

General Discussion / Re: Suggested forum modifications

« on: May 21, 2017, 08:24:02 PM »

I think there is a setting for that.

Let's try: From the menu bar choose 'Profile', and from the drop-down menu pick 'Forum Pofile',
then, hover the mouse over 'Modify Profile' and it opens an another drop-down menu, choose 'Look and Layout',
and there you should have a checkbox for 'Return to topics after posting by default.'

But, yeah, when I have time I'll take a look if that can be toggled on by default for new user accounts.

225

General Discussion / Re: Suggested forum modifications

« on: April 28, 2017, 11:47:58 AM »

It would probably be enough to show mentions on the forum and never email them. Sure some users might want email from such, but at least it shouldn't be on by default.

I think this makes sense, so I turned off the e-mail notifications for every member, and the default for new members is 'no email'. If it then so happens that someone really would like to have an e-mail of a forum notification, then I can either manually alter the database, or find a way to add this into forum UI so that every member can configure it as they wish.

I also added the standard urw icon as favicon for the forums.