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cappa_norra

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    Can it be?! - Real life pictures

    in Off-Topic

    Posted

     

     

     

    man, i want to go to Norway, how is it down there?

     

     

     

    You mean up.

     

     

     

    Right now, in Bergen (coast), it's cold, other than that. Visit Norway! NOW! :P

     

     

     

     

     

    Are you sure its only cold in Bergen, For others Bergen is the most rainy place there is

    December 6 - Summoning: Part 2 - Development

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Summoning: Part 2 - Development

     

     

     

    In the last Summoning Development Diary we focused on the new skill's concept stage ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Ãâ how and why it came to be and what changes it went through during its inception. In this second part we'll be taking a closer look at the content development process. We will give you an insight into how the awesome new Summoning non-player characters (NPCs) were designed and also explain how they were then implemented into the game. We'll even be tackling one of the world's most problematic evolutionary conundrums! So, without further ado...

     

     

     

    Where to begin?

     

     

     

    Creating an entirely new skill is no small feat. From start to finish it takes months of work, sometimes years, and every team makes a huge contribution. Summoning is unique in that a huge part of the skill involves interacting with new NPCs - Summoning familiars and pets - rather than having a new resource or equipment set. For concept artist, Mod GG, this meant creating dozens of sketches and designs for new NPCs: "I love illustration, especially when RuneScape Content give me a blank canvas to work from. Over a year-long period, I have created over 700 concept sketches!"

     

     

     

    "I can't draw for toffee, so I'd usually give Graphics a short description and say 'Go for it'. They really outdid themselves."

     

     

     

    Mod Wilson

     

    RuneScape Content Team

     

     

     

     

     

    By his own admission, Summoning developer Mod Wilson was so confident in the Graphics team's ability that he left much of the design work in their capable hands. "For the new NPCs, Graphics just went wild! I can't draw for toffee, so I'd usually give them a short description and say 'Go for it'. They really outdid themselves." Mod Woody of Graphics supports this sentiment: "With something as big as a skill, you don't just want to make it look good, you want to push the boundaries."

     

     

     

    An update we made to RuneScape this year saw the introduction of diagonal movement to NPCs. Although this had been planned for some time, the creation of Summoning meant that the update was brought forward, as Mod Woody discovered: "We avoided making larger familiars for Summoning at first, because they would often become stuck while trying to fit through small gaps. If we stuck with regular movement, we'd have limited what we could do with the skill, and we wouldn't have been able to create the huge NPCs we now have in production."

     

     

     

    The introduction of diagonal movement has allowed for some fantastic game improvements. Not only can we create bigger and more elaborate monsters, but also things like multiple followers, like in the Another Slice of H.A.M. quest. Changes like this aren't always so easy to implement, however, as Mod Woody explains. "It's difficult when we can't tell players all the reasons we make a change, particularly if it's not well received. We always want to be open with the players, but at the same time we have to ensure we aren't spoiling our plans for future content."

     

     

     

     

     

    Concept art for one of the larger Summoning familiars.

     

     

     

    It's alive! Alive!

     

     

     

    While the Graphics team were busy creating concept artwork, Mod Wilson got started on bringing the NPCs to life "I started with chickens", he explains. As a first character test, code was borrowed from pet cats and the old Halloween zombies, creating a working version of an undead chicken. The code for this Fenkenstrain-like creation then became the basis for NPCs' artificial intelligence (AI). Once the AI was working (in a very rudimentary state), the first five prototype NPCs were put into production - the macaw, granite crab, gecko, dreadfowl and vampire bat.

     

     

     

    These first five prototypes represented the beginning of the Graphics pipeline, which began with design ideas and concept art. When the first five had been conceived through Mod GG's concept sketches, they were then sent to modelling while he went on to concept five more. Once the modelling was complete, the NPCs were then animated ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Ãâ a process that involved more than a little 'method acting'. "It's kind of embarrassing", Mod Woody admits, "but we have to act things out. I had great fun doing the facial expressions of the pet monkey chat-heads. I looked at lots of videos of monkeys, and mimicked their expressions into a mirror on my desk". This process made the animations much more fluid and realistic, not just for the in-game movements, but also for the NPC chat-heads.

     

     

     

     

     

    The target animation for one of the monkey chat-heads.

     

     

     

    Amazingly, throughout the entire graphical development process, almost every single member of the Graphics team has worked on some aspect of Summoning, whether it was animating a new NPC, or simply adding some textures to an already existing model. In total, it took 12 months of solid, hard work to concept, model, and animate all of the new Summoning NPCs.

     

     

     

    It's good to talk

     

     

     

    Even when new RuneScape characters are designed, animated and coded, they still lack something vitally important that really brings them to life ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Ãâ chat!

     

     

     

    "My favourite familiar is the karamthulhu. It's just so amusing - this evil squid, in a fishbowl, attacking your enemies."

     

     

     

    Mod Wilson

     

    RuneScape Content Team

     

     

     

    "Creating the chat was probably the hardest part," says Mod Wilson, who was tasked with creating unique chat for over 70 familiars and pets. The challenge came in keeping the chat for so many NPCs interesting, and making them distinct enough from each other without relying on stereotypes. He continues: "For a quest NPC there's no problem with chat because you've got the topic of the quest to talk about."

     

     

     

    After writing dialogue for around 50 Summoning NPCs, Mod Wilson passed the reigns over to Web Content, whose team of writers helped complete the chat for the remaining characters. "Mod Wilson had done an incredible job coming up with so much unique dialogue," says Web Content's Mod Kinder. "After being used to writing character chat for Postbag from the Hedge, it was a great change of pace for our team to be writing in-game dialogue."

     

     

     

    Once all the work was complete, the word-count for the skill ended up exceeding an enormous 50,000 words! When asked about his favourite Summoning NPC, Mod Wilson answers immediately. "That's easy; my favourite familiar is the karamthulhu. It's just so amusing ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Ãâ this evil squid, in a fishbowl, attacking your enemies."

     

     

     

    Which came first?

     

     

     

    And now to that evolutionary conundrum: what came first, the chicken or the egg? In the case of Summoning, it was eggs that came before chickens, as Mod Mark explains: "When we initially concepted the bird nests, they were designed to add some variety to Woodcutting, similar to getting gems in Mining. The main aim was to add the tree seeds, but we also wanted to add other aspects, like shiny jewellery that a magpie may have stolen, or even an egg that a bird may have laid. At that point - back in the concept phase of the Farming skill - we knew that these special eggs would need to be used as part of the Summoning skill. So, although the skill went through a variety of different designs and focuses, the decision to add eggs in the skill was actually made almost three years ago!ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬ÃâÃ

    Chinese Trojan on Maxtor HDD hunts online games pass

    in Off-Topic

    Posted

    Did read an article in the Channel Register today conserning viruses on new blank external Maxtor Hdd. Those Hdd`s from a unnamed chinese subcontractor had by magic ( what else ? they wont say sure we did it ) been infested by a virus. More correct the virus called AutoRun-AH a trojaner that according to Channel Register is designed to do 2 things. 1 Disable the antivirus detection of it, and 2 collecting online game password.

     

     

     

    AutoRun-AH is a Trojan that searches for passwords to online games and sends them to a server located in China. It also disables anti-virus software.

     

     

     

    Possibility of those storage boxes still in shops is slim , also it seems like most of them ended up in Taiwan. That is not what i fear most. But will more and more chinese employers missuse their possibility of infecting un used storage systems. (I do say chinese only because most computer hardware happens to be made there due to low cost, not because i say that chinese people is more likely to do that ). Do we only se the start of some few ppls attempt to get their hand on virtual goods or is this case just execptional. Sure there have been more and more reports of chinese hackers lately. But most of those seems to be somewhat official.

     

     

     

    Feel free to comment

     

     

     

     

     

    anyway the article is http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/11/12/maxtor_infected_hdd_updated/

    UNoffical Tip It Clan Chat! Join Channel: Lightning

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    What do cmods do? We try to kick of course.

     

    When we don't kick because the spammer logged faster than we can kick or we don't want to kick the wrong person...people complain "weak moderation why didn't u kick?!"

     

    Now if we do try to kick the person and we kick the wrong person (becos the person logged quickly) people still complain "omg what a stupid mod ur abusing ur power y u kick me i didn't do anything wrong?!!" Please understand, we try hard to keep the channel spam-free, modding isn't easy you know.

     

     

     

    Just for the record, my original post was not in any way a flame attack on nameless mods. I was just asking about the process and the difficulty involdved in kicking the right person. If The Lady thought i did say that i do apologise. As a former mod on chat channels im well aware of those who attacks at once the one that kicked them. Keep up the good work Lady and the other mods.

    UNoffical Tip It Clan Chat! Join Channel: Lightning

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    i just proved i do it accidently i kicked my real life son accidently instead of that aura guy who keeps spamming.

     

    (and believe me he won't let me forget that too)

     

     

     

    hehe only one problem remains i do not know who kicked me. Little bit easier for him. I see that deal says that he will add ppl wrongkicked. SO 2 chatmods to go then. I know there was 3 at the time

    UNoffical Tip It Clan Chat! Join Channel: Lightning

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    So i have been kicked, came out of the sky as lightning. No reason whatever. Sure i can guess that some mod did kick wrong. But is it that hard to get the right person when you do kick someone from the chat ? Also whenever a player mod is present at the chat , and spammers is there isnt it easyer for those to mute the spammers , or would that be against jagex rules. What i dont know is for how long this temporary ban will be.

     

     

     

    Let us just say im not in a good mood right now, im pretty angry and disapointet. Its better to have some spam and be correct about whom is kicked then do it wrong. If there is a different explanation i want it asap.

     

     

     

    On the other side. Sure there is chat mods that define what is discussable more due to their mood at the moment then based on any rules that might be. Naming of the chat mod in question is not necessarry since he has been named before in other posts. It is not easy to chat at some time of the day since its never sure what that days banned topic will be. He sure could do good as a mod if he just do teh job according to the few rules that is , instead of being the one that defines everything that is discussable at that time.

    9 October 2007 - Back to my Roots quest

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I got 8500 farming xp for checking the health of my vine, I'm 73 farming. It seems to me that the xp you get is dependant upon your farming lvl, according to some previous posts.

     

     

     

    To the person that killed their plant, how much slayer xp did you get from that?

     

     

     

    That also fits the description of the "tears like" part that jagex stated. That you get xp based on lvl. Some on rsof forum stated that he got 2500 xp slayer, so i guess there is differences there too

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