Dev Diary 23 :: 2016 :: October

[Ray]

Hi Folks,

I don't have an overly exciting dev blog to post this week since the new Expedition System is just getting underway, but i'll share what I can here.


Event
Plenty of complaints regarding how much time people are spending on the event. There's a couple solutions, but i'll introduce a couple arguments from misconceptions against this:

• You don't need to use every single potion and progress in a grind-fashion to ensure you complete the medium mode by December. 20 minutes per day was the length required by playing casually to utilize all the potions by the end of the event...this is for beyond medium difficulty.
• Grinding super low enemies to lose less health for higher overall gain was never necessary, but a chosen strategy....this would bring the 20 minutes per day up. I certainly didn't expect anyone to be playing the event for hours a day, lol.
  

However, still, 20 minutes a day is a hog of time if minimally set, so here are changes coming tomorrow:

• 300% Exp Rate (Progress 3x faster)
• 2.5x regen delay on potions (Require far less effort)
• Existing potion counts are being divided by 2.5 to balance these changes
• Bosses levels are being reduced
• Miss/Dodge rates to occur far less based on level difference
• Potion cap changing to 1500 from 3000 (not 1200, can stack even longer if you want)
• Hitbox changes on some monsters due to targeting issues
• A new 'Easy Heal' button has been added to heal all characters hp/mp in a single swoop.
• WASD keys for map movement
  
  

There will not be any automation implemented or anything like that, sorry. Repeatedly asking will not change this, as my development focus is now elsewhere. Hopefully these changes will suffice with simplifying and reducing the effort required in this event in the meantime.

Server Changes
I have spent the last few days delving into a LOT of old issues, finding areas of optimization, and stress-testing. 

• Data processing on the server has been significantly optimized. All players should receive better pings and faster reaction time. This especially goes for EU players. Perhaps movement in the event will increase as well because of this.
• Battle processing optimized with cached auto damage variables. This is recalculated on changes, however if you discover (with proof) your damage not increasing after a change when it should, please let us know and i'll get that fixed. The positive bit about this is ...again, faster response time and reduced lag.
• I've altered the way each game server handles rooms. Theoretically and based on stress tests of a single server that was put into the live environment, the servers should be able to handle far more rooms, with a better distribution of processing. This means there should be less lag on challenges in the long-run. This will require some monitoring and a day of focus here and there, but I think the servers are on the path to being far more stable with upcoming patches.
• I discovered a few glitches with crashing rooms, and players being booted from parties after joining challenges. This appeared fixed on the new server build however we will need to see how it operates on live to rest assured.
  

Expedition System
We are coming up on the first steps with the first half of the expedition release....admittedly the easier half. 

Harvesters
Harvesting system is similar to the existing expedition system. We are implementing a building system for this, and will offer a new range of expeditions, along with a way to progress in a more fun way with the expedition system.

You'll be able to upgrade your harvester far more significantly than the current system. 

Fuel Station
Instead of limiting three fairly boring expeditions to three time values, how about we make them a little more interesting....and more fast paced! No sense in waiting 8+ hours for your results after you have started an expedition of your choosing. With fuel you'll be able to choose your expedition, and the tier. Higher tiers will cost more fuel.

The fuel station is a building of its own, that you'll be able to upgrade in the future for higher productivity.


That's it for now. I should definitely have some eye-candy to share with this new system by the next Dev Blog, and will even have internal testing going on by then.
The 2nd half of the expeditions system pertains to Battle Ships. This part will take a bit longer but we'll be releasing the first half publicly so you don't have to wait for all of it


Art Rehaul
I've requested the art-house go back to the drawing board for the splash screen. I was not too excited for IOU to get a facelift title screen with warped/bent text, or being 100% space themed. So that's in the works. I have some art in that department but i'll wait for further updates.

It is expected that all the assets are complete by late November and we can finally move forward with cleaner UI flow and get publishing elsewhere.


For now, here are some new Arabian night drafts: