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Forums » List all forums » Forum: Ice Discussion » Thread: Ice releases: July 21 - August 20 |
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Thread Status: Normal Total posts in this thread: 379
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Cephalopod
Developer Joined: Jul 17, 2006 Posts: 1624 Status: Offline |
2010-08-23
2010-08-20
2010-08-13
2010-08-11
2010-08-05
2010-08-04
2010-07-21
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Cephalopod
Developer Joined: Jul 17, 2006 Posts: 1624 Status: Offline |
This is a new swordfighting feature intended for a specific in-game situation. It is not for any existing environment (pillaging, tournaments, player duels, etc.) NPPs will have the ability to send purple blocks. These purple blocks have a few special properties:
I'll be setting up swordfighting dummies in the Shatterstone inn with a few different test patterns involving purple blocks. Obviously there are a number of things we can play with to adjust the balance on this: drop patterns, the exact number of turns until purple blocks turn black, etc. Please give it a whirl and let us know what you think, any bugs you encounter, and whatnot. |
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Setsusa
Joined: Dec 29, 2007 Posts: 3552 Status: Offline |
This sounds really cool, I always liked the addition of the fifth colour in Atlantean swordfighting, but this is slightly difference since you can't really build with it. The one question I have, will purple blocks be buried in patterns, or on the edges, as these scenarios entirely alter how easy it is to get to them before the doom count. Further, how large of a span do you propose for that doom count? Is it going to give a player enough time to use the purple block as a combo, or will wasting a breaker be entirely necessary? If there are multiple drops for purple blocks put into a pattern, will they be put together to allow easier breaking / actual building with the colour, or will they be spread out to make it more difficult? I think I'll have some more questions, but these should do for now. This sounds like an awesome release. ---------------------------------------- Cremate on Emerald. Motou on Meridian. Avatar by Angelira. Teacher at SCHOOL OF DAQUAN. ---------------------------------------- [Edit 1 times, last edit by Setsusa at Jul 21, 2010 1:59:43 PM] |
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icelord161
Joined: Nov 24, 2006 Posts: 793 Status: Offline |
This is just going to make swordfighting more confusing because there won't be purple breakers, and they cannot attach to other colors. They're like a useless wild card. >.< Edit 1: And if ye don't break them in 5 turns they turn into unbreakable black blocks, which if ye dont get a breaker in those 5 turns your stuck with an annoying black block sitting on your board messing up your 2x2 blocks and such, I dislike this feature. :( Edit 2: I think that if we are too have this new purple block it should be an entirely new puzzle, it is a complete change from the original swordfighting which I have come to love. The blocks turn black much too fast if we are to keep this feature, and I personally think if we were to keep this feature, we should not make it have a count down time but just have them as sprinkles that never dissappear and dont attach. Basically the white blocks but they dont turn into the other colors. ---------------------------------------- -Zarchi -King of Universe A -Avatar by Cattrin ---------------------------------------- [Edit 2 times, last edit by icelord161 at Jul 21, 2010 2:28:04 PM] |
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xelto
Joined: Mar 18, 2007 Posts: 4545 Status: Offline |
So... can you tell us what environment it is for, or is it a secret? ---------------------------------------- Gurndigarn on Emerald Ocean "Oh, come on. You jobbed onto a ship called the Cursed Isle Raider and you expected *refined*?" |
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Cephalopod
Developer Joined: Jul 17, 2006 Posts: 1624 Status: Offline |
Simplest answer to your questions, Setsusa, is to quote this bit again:
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Setsusa
Joined: Dec 29, 2007 Posts: 3552 Status: Offline |
True, that does make my questions seem unnecessary. Nonetheless, can I re-ask them, and you fill us in with the details we're starting with? The knowledge of how many turns till a purple block turns into a doom block is pretty imporant. I understand if you want us to find that out ourselves however (as is usual). ---------------------------------------- Cremate on Emerald. Motou on Meridian. Avatar by Angelira. Teacher at SCHOOL OF DAQUAN. |
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wrs1864b
Joined: Apr 10, 2006 Posts: 4643 Status: Offline |
The drop pattern:  (xxmango dummy) (xxbanana dummy) (xxlime dummy) (xxpineapple dummy)Edit: I found more drop patterns, I have no idea if these are all of them, ceph isn't being particularly helpful. Edit 2: Oh, while I was collecting more screen shots, ceph was being snarky. gee. thanks. Edit 3: added which dummies are which and tried several times to change formatting ---------------------------------------- Algol can not assert the truth of all statements in this post and still be consistent. ---------------------------------------- [Edit 4 times, last edit by wrs1864b at Jul 21, 2010 2:54:35 PM] |
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Cephalopod
Developer Joined: Jul 17, 2006 Posts: 1624 Status: Offline |
/me points to the OP's "a few different test patterns" And yes, I know I'm being awfully vague on the exact details of the exact settings that are in play right this second; I'm holding out a little hope for people actually trying it some before writing essays on the forums about it. It certainly plays differently than I'd originally expected based on our tech spec. Especially depending on the sword pattern. |
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Lingeron0
 Joined: Apr 27, 2008 Posts: 149 Status: Offline |
Is there any chance that we can have these swords available at the palace shoppe, or is too premature? ---------------------------------------- Signatures are overrated. |
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Setsusa
Joined: Dec 29, 2007 Posts: 3552 Status: Offline |
Entirely understandable, I'll hopefully be able to jump on Ice later tonight to try it out, so I can then write my essay. Ceph wasn't being snarky, he was being honest. A lot of people, including myself have been jumping on the devs lately, perfectly fair of them to do it back. ---------------------------------------- Cremate on Emerald. Motou on Meridian. Avatar by Angelira. Teacher at SCHOOL OF DAQUAN. ---------------------------------------- [Edit 1 times, last edit by Setsusa at Jul 21, 2010 2:37:36 PM] |
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funnybones
Joined: Feb 5, 2004 Posts: 4449 Status: Offline |
It would be cool if these blocks had a cartoonish bomb on them whose fuse got shorter and shorter until they turned solid. This is certainly successful hype. Just reading this thread I'm excited to learn about whatever the new mechanic is gonna be. ---------------------------------------- The Dread Pirates Robinson & Barthes, LLC The poor complain; they always do. But that's just idle chatter. Our system brings rewards to all. At least, to all who matter. |
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xelto
Joined: Mar 18, 2007 Posts: 4545 Status: Offline |
Wow, it's amazing how optimistic you can be at times ;) /me goes off in dreams of a new bravery badge/subscription type adventure.... OK, I can be optimistic at times, too... ---------------------------------------- Gurndigarn on Emerald Ocean "Oh, come on. You jobbed onto a ship called the Cursed Isle Raider and you expected *refined*?" |
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Lingeron0
Joined: Apr 27, 2008 Posts: 149 Status: Offline |
My only complaint: I don't like the color purple. ---------------------------------------- Signatures are overrated. |
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icelord161
Joined: Nov 24, 2006 Posts: 793 Status: Offline |
That would be the only part I like. ---------------------------------------- -Zarchi -King of Universe A -Avatar by Cattrin |
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Siggy
Joined: Jun 7, 2004 Posts: 1238 Status: Offline |
Quick question for Ceph and the Ice people. What happens to side swords if you have an unbreakable block one square from the side? Does it act like a fused block and stop the side sword or does the side sword just go above it? ---------------------------------------- Sig Owner: Sig Supply Network What happens when you beat whiny sword fighters with overpowered trash swords...
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wrs1864b
Joined: Apr 10, 2006 Posts: 4643 Status: Offline |
the black blocks appear to drop to the ground. Obviously, once the settle on the floor/other black boxes, they can't move any further. The dummies appear to be very weak, so you have to play very slowly for them to drop much on you. actually, feeding them helps a bit. I'm really not good enough of a sword fighter to give detailed analysis, but I find trying to break the purple blocks to be a waste of time, it is better to just build your combos and kill quickly and hop you don't accumulate too much damage along the way. *shrug* ---------------------------------------- Algol can not assert the truth of all statements in this post and still be consistent. |
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Setsusa
Joined: Dec 29, 2007 Posts: 3552 Status: Offline |
Algol, have you figured out how many drops until a purple block becomes black? (I'd do it, but can't get on Ice right now, have people over and am just on for a few minutes). ---------------------------------------- Cremate on Emerald. Motou on Meridian. Avatar by Angelira. Teacher at SCHOOL OF DAQUAN. |
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Cephalopod
Developer Joined: Jul 17, 2006 Posts: 1624 Status: Offline |
Side strikes always do their best to find someplace that they fit, so if you've already got a black block there, it'll avoid it. Like fused blocks, though, it's possible to drop a black block in the way of a side strike that's already announced its intentions, at which point it would smack feebly against the black blocks. |
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wrs1864b
Joined: Apr 10, 2006 Posts: 4643 Status: Offline |
Zarchi mentioned in an edit of his post on the first page that it takes 5 drops before they turn into black blocks. while melting, they are silver with a small "x" in the middle. Then they turn purple with a small "x", then each turn after, you get another "x" on the block, on the fifth turn, you get a single large "X". Here is an example board:  The purple block with the big X turned black when the block dropping hit, I'm pretty sure the red breaker just cleared the read blocks, not the connected purple ones with two "x"s. ---------------------------------------- Algol can not assert the truth of all statements in this post and still be consistent. ---------------------------------------- [Edit 1 times, last edit by wrs1864b at Jul 21, 2010 3:37:11 PM] |
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Setsusa
Joined: Dec 29, 2007 Posts: 3552 Status: Offline |
It would seem then that those blocks are going to be difficult to clear, might just be a "kill your opponent while you still can" type of thing. ---------------------------------------- Cremate on Emerald. Motou on Meridian. Avatar by Angelira. Teacher at SCHOOL OF DAQUAN. |
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Sagacious
Joined: Mar 6, 2006 Posts: 4494 Status: Offline |
If you get a lot of sprinkles on your board you can end up with a lot of purple blocks appearing - and there's no way to clear say, 6 purple blocks in 5 drops if they're buried under stuff. Maybe that's the intention but it seems to make sprinkles rather overpowered. ---------------------------------------- Malachite & Midnight |
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chrkut
Joined: Jul 21, 2006 Posts: 265 Status: Offline |
I just tried them out. The purple is the best part about it in my opinion. But there needs to be more turns. maybe about 7 instead of 5. Sometimes you dont get a breaker in 5 turns, or two if you get a large strike with them. I would like to see it where if you hit a purple block with a green breaker, and theres other greens around it, it shatters those too. In a long swordfight situation, unless its pvp, the pirate side will be screwed. ---------------------------------------- ~Chrkut~ SO of Perilous Puppets |
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RedSeaWitch
Joined: Mar 2, 2006 Posts: 870 Status: Offline |
don't let Hera hear ye say that :D ---------------------------------------- Windwench Hags of the Wicked Winds, Cerulean Collecting Hake & Hagfish ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HS on Viri: Captain shouts, for heaven's sake, don't leave th :P Jobber says, you don't hear that yelled too often |
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RedSeaWitch
Joined: Mar 2, 2006 Posts: 870 Status: Offline |
I thought I had the sideswords run right through and replace the black with the rest of them? I'm pretty sure, the black disappeared ---------------------------------------- Windwench Hags of the Wicked Winds, Cerulean Collecting Hake & Hagfish ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HS on Viri: Captain shouts, for heaven's sake, don't leave th :P Jobber says, you don't hear that yelled too often |
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sweetnessc
Joined: Nov 10, 2004 Posts: 16095 Status: Offline |
It's an interesting twist. I like the overall concept, but if purples came buried, I found I was forced to consume most of my breakers digging rather than building. I think the melting rate was about right, though. So I'd suggest adding an additional mechanic to the melting to help deal with buried purples, so that if the purple block is adjacent to something that breaks, its countdown timer stops for that turn (effectively adding a turn to the charring). The Xxmango pattern was the most fun to play against, detailed notes below. Xxbanana dummy: Hard to say, the thing wouldn't send me much to judge by. 1 Win. It never sent me a single purple. 2 Loss. Got several purples, seemed a reasonable flow rate to start. Had an opportunity to break about 2/3 of them but quickly reached a stage where I had to use every breaker to break a purple, leaving me without things to build with and the inevitable end. 3 Win. It never sent me a single purple. Or any other piece. 4 Win. It never sent me a single purple. 5 Win. It sent me about 3 purples in sprinkles, 6 in a single strike. Xxmango dummy: This one was fun to fight against, I was usually able to do something about the purples. 1 Loss. Purple pieces kept coming to me buried, and I didn't get breakers of the right colour to be able to break out of the top layer to get to the purple layer before it blacked out. 2 Win. This fight was quite fun to play, the purples were dig-outable. 3 Win, again fun to play. Xxlime dummy: Not fun to play, either purples melted on top of breakers or were so buried as to be unbreakable. 1 Win, sent me things that I didn't think I was going to be able to break out of (blocked by sides) then the thing suicided. 2 Win, I only got 2 purple bits from this one and it died before they melted. 3 Loss, its purple bits kept melting the attacks I had built so I had to try to start over three times, but eventually ran out of room to do it. 4 Win, don't remember seeing a purple. 5 Loss, it was impossible to do anything about the purples coming, because they got buried by fresh attacks before the melted. The black blocks were spread out enough to make it impossible to break anything more than 2 squares. Xxpineapple dummy: Didn't really receive any purples to speak of 1 Win, only got a single exposed purple 2 Win, didn't get any purples 3 Win, got purples but they came connected and unburied so they were manageable. 4 Win, didn't get any purples Glaucus dummy: He cheated and had a bludgeon. :-P ---------------------------------------- My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world. ~ Jack Layton Sublime is shame. |
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TIME111
Joined: Jun 29, 2006 Posts: 193 Status: Offline |
Can you make the bots in the inn harder? I kill them too fast.. ---------------------------------------- Times,Sage Apollo tells ye, "I can't help it if you live in a solar-disadvantaged country." Vargas the Mad will save a special fate for Times. Beware the Turtles of Terra I like turtles a bit too much mwhahaha |
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Skeleton0123
Joined: Jul 2, 2006 Posts: 1557 Status: Offline |
Can't we get like a tiny bit of info about where you would like to use this? Will it be strictly for PvE fights? And I do believe this concept rather beats part of the idea behind PP, which is in my opinion that you need to be able to play however you like rather than be forced to do something. Here you're forced to throw away breakers because else you'll get solid black blocks on your screen. If you don't then you'll be dead fairly quickly, and if you do clear them, then you get a big penalty on your ability to combo. So as I see it you'll be reduced a big part to trying to clear the purples/singling or doubling everything away, which is quite sad if you're forced to do that imo.. ---------------------------------------- Claimed to be a very whiney person. |
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funnybones
Joined: Feb 5, 2004 Posts: 4449 Status: Offline |
Oh be quiet. Unless there's some enormous surprise coming, it's obviously for a PvE adventure like Atlantis and Cursed Isles. You can go about your life without ever encountering purple blocks if you hate them. And what you said is just not true. There is no puzzle in the game where you can play however you like. You won't get good results building 1 hole at a time in carp, you won't get good results not comboing in sails, you won't get good results playing treasure drop slowly. I don't think it's an appropriate time to uncork another bottle of whine. ---------------------------------------- The Dread Pirates Robinson & Barthes, LLC The poor complain; they always do. But that's just idle chatter. Our system brings rewards to all. At least, to all who matter. |
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Thunderbird
Joined: Sep 4, 2003 Posts: 5434 Status: Offline |
Taking from Cephalopod's post:
And the next line specifically mentions NPPs. Therefore, it is a reasonable assumption that this won't factor into PvP activities at all (old or new). It definitely sounds like some pre-preparation for a new PvE environment as funnybones is theorizing. The way the purple blocks count seems counter-intuitive, the way they add more X's. Personally, I think it would make more sense if they started with 4 (or 5) X's then counted down. ---------------------------------------- Pirate tells you, "my, that's one BIG wad o' chewing gum ye have mounted on yer bonce! oO'" Sungod officer chats, "I wonder if anyone's sailing the harpsichord" Pirate tells you, "ZOMG CANDYFLOSS!!! *munches*" |
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