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Slickshot

The Wurm Chronicles...Resurrected?

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Worst interview ever, I dont even know if this chese is melty and stretchy, or crumbly, does she go in a salad or does she go on a pizza?

 

these are the things we need to know people!

 

Cheddar. It goes well with everything (I've put it on pizza before, it's strong for it but oh gosh that's heaven on flour-based produce for sure.)

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FOR CHEESE! Good interview ;) Now back to the mine!


Edited by Wulfgarr

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It's horrible working for me.

Save your self reflections for when I interview you ;)

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I am prepared.tumblr_lqn3bme2BM1r054j5o1_500.jpg

I'm gonna take that as acceptance of an invitation. I'll be in touch!

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Docter, it sounds like you have accomplished many things for the game, but for me, you are forever inscribed in my mind as OP on the screenshots thread


 


I love that darn thread


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Out of curiosity, why not a new thread for a different interview?


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Out of curiosity, why not a new thread for a different interview?

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Thank-you for both interviews. I enjoyed reading them both!


 


The natural decay that is mentioned in the second interview would indeed be an awesome feature to add to the game. It would provide that unexplored new lands feeling to existing servers without needing to create a new server to do it.


 


~Nappy


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Bump, any chance to see more interviews in a future? :)

An interview with Factional Fight will be coming out soon!

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Interview with

Factional Fight,

Griphyth (McGarnicle) and Faeran!

 

 

Introduction:

 

 

Slickshot:  Welcome everyone,  to the 3rd installment of The Wurm Chronicles!  Our guests today are a dynamic duo who fuse into one being to form Factional Fight.  If you haven't heard of Factional Fight or watched their youtube videos, then you've probably been in a mine for far too long and need to take a break!  Whataya say Griphyth and Faeran, how about we kick this off!?
 

 

 

Personal Segment:

 

Slickshot:  First thing's first...you guys do a lot of videos together; are you related?

 

Faeran:  No.. Yes, we are brothers in real life. We do share the same mother, but also the same father. So I guess that makes us related by blood to a fairly healthy extent.

 

Griphyth:  Don't believe anything Fae says. We clearly can't be as Fae and I are of a different race. He is Dwarvish and I am Elvish.

 

Slickshot:  So you've been locked in an eternal battle since birth?  I can dig that.  I normally ask for the age of the interviewee, but since there are two of you here, what would your combined age be?

 

Faeran:  I've lost count. It's probably older than people think. If I had to guess, I'd say:

 

∫ ∫ (5x^2 - y^3) dx dy

 

--------------------------------

√(2x) + dy/dx + δ(x - x₀)

 

give or take.

 

Griphyth:  Fae...I don't think that is even a number. The sum of our age is two more than half my age plus three halves of his.  While that still doesn't answer your question, it does tell you something about our ages.
 

Slickshot:  Yup, neither one of you were helpful in answering that question.

 

Faeran:  Well just think of it this way. We are old enough to have owned a Nintendo Entertainment System, and learn how to beat Super Mario Bros. with automatic consistency.

 

Griphyth:  Yah, 30+ times in a row, and get to that secret, never ending, swimming level.

 

Slickshot:  Because who doesn't love Super Mario?  Amiright?  Okay fellas, what country are your roots planted in?

 

Faeran:  I have planted my roots in Canada, however they have not ripened just yet.

 

Griphyth:  I have a garden close by...pretty sure Brian (Faeran) doesn't.

 

Slickshot:  Okay so apparently you're both gardeners by trade, or do you have some other career to speak of?

 

Faeran:  Well we joke a lot about how Adam (McGarnicle/Griphyth) is the Math guy. Truly, he is a math guy as he teaches high school Math. I am currently in the middle of a Co-op program for Computer Networking.

 

Griphyth:  I also teach Physics.

 

Slickshot:  I can't imagine why anyone would want to teach physics, but kudos to you if you have the brains and determination for that.  What are some of your hobbies other than gardening, Adam?

 

Griphyth:  Aside from playing Wurm Online? I don't have time for anything else between family and work. The only other game that I play seriously is Hearthstone and even there I would consider myself a casual player. I like fantasy and science fiction books. I guess I also watch too much TV.

 

Slickshot:  And you Brian?

 

Faeran:  I would watch too much TV, however I do not currently have one. Obviously we play Wurm Online, and Wurm gives little time for much else other than some online video watching. However, between school and Wurm, I also love figuring out computer or software related things that would make life for family and friends better. For example, I spent a lot of time learning how to build computers, media centers. Currently I'm learning the wonders of building my own arcade machine. I also love playing sports, like baseball and hockey, however I don't get to do these as much as I'd like these days. I also had a short stint working as a volunteer on the Wurm Online team. That was a fun experience.

 

Slickshot:  Alright so Adam is the family man, and Brian is the super-busy-multiple-hobbies guy...got it.

 

 

 

Wurm Gameplay:

 

 

Slickshot:  When did you guys first step through the portal into Wurm, and who or what got you started in the first place?

 

Griphyth:  For me, Brian had got me into it. At the time we were subscribed to SWTOR (Star Wars: The Old Republic) and had just reached max level after playing for 2 months. He told me about Wurm, and that he had tried it a while back but couldn't get into it. I am not sure where he had first heard of the game. He seemed interested in giving it another try and his explanation of the game peaked my interest. It wasn't long after I stepped through the tutorial that I knew I was going to be playing this game for a long time to come. That was probably near the start of 2012.

 

Faeran:  It was true that I had played the game around 2008 and could not get into it. I had tried it on a friend's recommendation (a guy named Beau Hindman), as we played a game called Vanguard: Saga of Heroes together. During this time period, Adam and I had a hard time finding a game we both liked to play together. He was engrossed into World of Warcraft, and I was engrossed in Vanguard. We could never find a game that met both of our needs, and therefore we were always separated in the MMO world. I always felt bad about this, which is why I always continued to search for new games that might get us to play together. The list of games we tried together before Wurm Online was longer than the number of fire giants between a player and Naggy. None of them worked to bring us together.

 

After SWTOR failed to keep us occupied, I was reminded about Wurm Online once again from my friend Beau, and I decided to give it another try. I played through the tutorial, but was not impressed. I mentioned to my brother that I had tried a game called Wurm Online, and he was interested enough to go through the tutorial with me. We made it to the first hill, where it forces you to use the climb button. Over Skype I could hear his joy and excitement as he learned that a hill would block your character from walking on it unless you climbed, and that walking through tar would slow your character down. By the end of the tutorial he was overly ecstatic to travel into the world and figure out what it was all about. After that, and with little sleep, we spent the next few weeks exploring the world of Wurm, and enjoying every moment of it. Without Adam, I don't think I would have ever managed to get past the tutorial. So he's to blame over the whole Factional Fight videos.

 

Slickshot:  I can relate to that quite well, as it was also my brother who got me started in Wurm years ago.  We went through the same ordeal of trying to find immersive games to play together, and one day he stumbled upon /v/'s (4chan) "flavor of the month" game and was hooked.  The rest, as they say, is history.  It's good to see more bros out there, good on ya!

 

I know from stalking you that you currently play quite a bit on Xanadu, but what server did you originate from?

 

Griphyth:  We had started playing not long after Deli had opened, however, long enough for the entire coastal region to be taken up. We played on Deli during the first two "seasons" of our show. We were there for probably over a year and a half.

 

Faeran:  Yeah, what Adam said. All that I can add is that we chose Deli because at the time it was the least populated server, and we thought we would have a better chance at a coastal spot. How wrong we were.

 

Slickshot:  Yeah, fat chance on coastal areas.  Since your Deli days, however, you've established Winter's Night on Xanadu.  Can you tell me more about that deed, such as its history, size, villager count, recruitment, and anything else worth mentioning?

 

Griphyth:  I established Winter's Night after returning to freedom from Chaos. It is (size *stll have to figure out the size...estimated 60x40). Brian was on his long hiatus from the game and I was drawn to the immensity of Xanadu after its release. Part of me feels like Brian has never really looked at it as home. The only other villager on Winter's Night is Kaneca who came from Chaos with me. Without her help, I am sure that Winter's Night wouldn't be where it is now.

 

Faeran:  Our home in the videos is called Autumn Twilight, and is located on Deli.  Wait..Adam.. you forgot to pay the upkeep on Autumn Twilight and it fell!? All those bricks... (/sad).

 

I guess we do have Winter's Night. Like Adam said, I took a long hiatus from the game due to the overwhelming nature of returning to school. By the time I got back Adam had already set up on Xanadu and had planted Winter's Night as a memorial to our deed on Deliverance, which was called Winter Night. or maybe he just liked the name, I'm not too sure. Anyway, Adam, continue...

 

Griphyth:  Anyway, the deed is in a state of continuous construction and is far from complete. There are many areas that haven't even yet been planned and it needs some attention. For some reason, other projects have been keeping my attention. Too many things, so little time.

 

Faeran:  This is probably because when I came back to the game, I really wanted to build another Labyrinth on Xanadu, so most of our efforts have been put into our second (truly our third) attempt at building the most awesome Labyrinth in all the lands!! Or at least something we can build to give some fun back to the community. We made it more of a community project this time, and the turnout has been great so far. A lot of help has been given to us, however a lot more help is still needed. Usually these days, when we turn on our live stream, we are working on a part of the Labyrinth. Our live stream mostly takes place Monday nights at 8:30pm EST, and it goes for about an hour or two.

 

Slickshot:  Oh nice so we now know what time to tune-in if we want to watch mining actions and listen to the grass grow!  Sarcasm, I promise.  Have you established any other villages during your tenure in Wurm?
 

Faeran:  Too many to ask about. However you did just ask, so here we go. The first deed we established was on Deliverance. It was called Puzzles. It was deeded at the heart of Deliverance next to Willow pond. This is also where we created our first Labyrinth, which we aptly named Puzzle Labyrinth. This is also where I made a giant Luigi head on the side of the mountain. You can see it in my Puzzle Labyrinth trailer here.

 

Sadly this labyrinth is no longer there, and only remains in a few of our videos to look back on with nostalgia.

At the time we were building Puzzles we also created a water deed on the North side of Deli. I can't remember what we called it. Maybe Adam does.

 

Griphyth:  It might have been Puzzle Port or something like that.

 

Faeran:  Yeah, that's it! We didn't do much with Puzzle Port, as at the same time we got called down to help out with starting a new marketplace called Puzzle Plaza. Here, we helped build it from the ground up, and for a long while we actually lived on the deed as well. This was a fun time, as I also got to build one of the biggest mazes I've ever built. The maze was, however, never released to the public. I always regretted that. However, building Puzzle Plaza was a really fun time, and I look back on it with fond memories.

 

After Puzzle Plaza, we started building our giant port deed called Autumn Twilight. It became our largest deed to date, and it was the most fun we had in Wurm. Our dreams of building a giant castle in a port city was realized, as Wurm 1.0 allowed us to finally build multi-story. I had also built the most fun castle adventure I think I will ever build. Seven large chests hidden inside the castle, all of which had their own unique puzzle to find, and each giving a clue leading to a buried treasure. It was amazing to watch people run through this adventure.

 

We also invited many villagers into the deed, and gave each of them a plot of land in front of the castle, giving the whole place an actual port city feeling. We even had a few houses for temporary villagers for new players that just needed a place to stay.

 

During this time we also had a ton of smaller deeds to our name. Spring Dawning was built for Adam's priest, we bought a friend's deed down the road from us, and also started Winter Night further up the mountain. We also started a deed called Summer Flame, which was located on top of a mountain. Finally, we bought a deed located on top of another mountain which we later traded for a Mag priest.

 

All of these deeds were located on Deliverance. All in all, we were pretty busy individuals within the lands of Wurm.

 

Griphyth:  The only other deed that I was a part of was on Chaos. While on Chaos I helped establish Ebonaura's capital city and was there when we made PMK status. That was a fun experience.

 

Slickshot:  What a small world!  I too helped work on Puzzle Plaza...in a different way.  Puzzle Plaza has a map (a crappy one if I do say so myself) with a codex to list the locations and owners of the various merchants installed there.  It is a simple top down map, but I was hired over a year ago to create it for the owners of the Plaza.  Anyhow, moving from Deli to Xanadu, if you had to pick one thing you love about Xanadu what would it be?

 

Griphyth:  I love the sheer size of Xanadu. It offers a lot of opportunity and space to build things such as large deed, highways, tunnels, bridges, etc. without having to worry about whether there is a deed in the way or whether you are intruding on someone else's land. It makes the game feel more like a world or continent rather than a small island like how Deli felt. There are some things left to be desired about Xanadu, however, such as travel times. I don't experience any lag like others mention.

 

Faeran:  My guess was that Adam would say it's the size of Xanadu that he loves and I was right! It's really the only trait that is appealing to Xanadu. Knowing that there are people on the other side of the server living it up. Knowing that it would take us a very long journey to make it to their home. I do like that idea. However, the smallness of Deli was also appealing as well. Right now there are some deeds I would love to visit on Xanadu, however due to its sheer size, I will never get a chance to visit them. So I guess if I had to say something that I love about Xanadu, it would be Kaneca's Giant Axes.

 

Slickshot:  I've only been to Xanadu once, myself, for a hunting trip with my brother.  The size of that server is very daunting indeed, but it's fresh and I like that.  Brian you mentioned Kaneca's Huge Axes.  I'm not sure what that is or if you're being sarcastic, but I'd like some more details if you're keen to share?

 

Faeran:  Our friend Kaneca came with us to Winter's Night and started working on her Weaponsmithing. She stuck with it and now has over 90. She has a horde of 90+ ql huge axes that she used to skill on, which I can borrow anytime! Xanadu is great, isn't it?

 

Slickshot:  Ah the good ole days of having a Master Weaponsmith nearby.  I miss Tarkie...no tears, no tears.

 

 

 

Achievements/Goals:

 

 

Slickshot:  Adam, you and Brian have been quite busy and have made a lot of progress over the years, so what are a few of your proudest achievements in-game since you began playing Wurm?

 

Griphyth:  While many achievements come close to these, here are my top three:

 

  1. Making our first silver. Fae and I made 500 planks for someone we met within our first days.
  2. The first labyrinth we built.

  3. Puzzle Plaza market on Deli. We lived there during its construction and helped a lot with it. Our skills were still low and developing and I think it was there where we learned what it takes to make a grand project.

 

Slickshot:  Anything to add to that, Brian?

 

Faeran:  Getting to the point in the game where our skills allowed us to help the community. There were days where Adam and I would travel the Deliverance server and just help out whoever we could find. We would approach a stranger's deed, and offer our services: Either one free 90ql mallet, or an imp of his/her forge to 80ql.  Those were really the only 2 things I could do.  Oh one time someone wanted me to make them a grindstone! Most of the time I can't give those things away.  Achievement Unlocked: Please take my grindstone!

 

Slickshot:  I still have a pile of grindstones in my mine...they just won't die!
 

With the various construction projects and randomized acts of generous charity towards others, I'd imagine you two have a couple high skills worthy of a humble brag?

 

Griphyth:  I am not nearly as skilled as Brian, but the skill I am most proud of is 93 channelling on my priest.

 

Faeran:  I am not nearly as skilled as Adam, but even though I have 99 carpentry and 97 fine carpentry, the skill I am most proud of is my 75 pottery. I love me some high quality flowerpots.

 

Slickshot:  Wow Adam, that is quite impressive!  As for you Brian, I said a humble brag, not a gloat.  I will forgive your arrogance for trying to be the best carpenter in the land and move on.  

 

Even with the ridiculously high skills and gloating, in your videos you appear to be quite goal oriented as opposed to just grinding your skills for the hell of it.  Can you tell us about some of your current goals and future plans in-game?

 

Griphyth:  I don't think of grinding skills as being painful, rather quite the opposite. I kinda like it. It can be relaxing and rewarding at the same time. I look at attaining a certain level in a skill as a goal unto itself. Currently I am working towards 90 farming on my priest, 95 rope making and have plans to work on Plate Armor Smithing in the near future.

 

Faeran:  Once I heard your question I knew Adam would jump in and call grinding a skill a goal.  Adam has rubbed a little of that off on me, and I was able to grind some skills up as well. What else are we doing Adam?

 

Griphyth:  As far as other types of goals, there is of course the Labyrinth that Brian and I are constructing. In addition I am working on a fairly large boat mine to connect my deed to the next Lake which is a very fun project. Future plans are always in the works. In Wurm, there is always way more to do than there is time to do it. That's part of what keeps me playing this game. I am in it for the long run for sure.

 

Slickshot:  Glad to see you guys are sticking to the formula and continuing your affinity with labyrinths.  I hope it turns out fantastic!  Tell me more about Factional Fight.  What inspired you to start streaming?  When did you publish your first video?  Where did you come up with the name?  Do you stream games other than Wurm?  What is the most exciting part about creating videos for the public?  

 

Faeran:  We were both really bad at public speaking. Why do I mention this? Because it was one of the reasons we decided to start making videos in the first place. It was like a goal for us, we wanted to attain a better level of public speaking skill, and through the videos Adam managed to attain the level of 83. I only managed to make it to 76, but I'm currently working it up there.

 

Most of the time, whenever we were not playing Wurm, we realized we were always talking about it with each other. We had some friends who we wanted to join us, but we realized we could not correctly convey what exactly we liked about it. In fact, we realized that both of us liked the game for completely different reasons.

 

As much as we would tell our friends, It's a big and open world where you can do whatever you want, like shape the land, or tunnel through the underground, the answer we would get back was, "so you guys spend your time digging dirt and mining rock? Yeah.. I think I'll go back to to my game and adventure into the Mega Super Awesome Raid." (I might be paraphrasing a little bit). So we decided to start the videos partially to explain what we liked about this game. In fact the first video we ever did was all about that. We listed something like the 8 pillars of Wurm, and broke down what each of those elements were. It didn't help though as we never truly got them into the game.

 

The name, however, was created for an old podcast that we hosted called "Saturday night Factional Fight", where we talked about old games and tried to find the reason we could not play the same game together. It only lasted about 5 episodes, but I really enjoyed doing those. They are unfortunately no longer on the internet.

 

We tried to stream games other than Wurm and create a series where we tried out as many MMORPGs we could get our hands on, but truthfully it was just too much work as a side hobby because we realized we had to do an insurmountable amount of research for each game we wanted to try out to make videos at the quality level that we wanted. We gave up with that idea quickly. Besides, the only other game we tried this with closed down shortly after (Wizardry Online), so now we can tell people we have the power to close down entire games. That's just a power you don't want to mess with. Like Peter's uncle used to say before he tragically passed away, "With great power comes great responsibility."

 

And as far as the most exciting part about creating these videos; I'll let Adam answer this one.  Adam?

 

Griphyth:  I guess one exciting thing about creating these videos is listening to the audience reactions both during the live streams and in the comments in the forums or on youtube. We will often reply to audience comments during the live streams or even in the next episode. The audience interaction is one of the most exciting aspects of streaming our videos.

 

It is also interesting how there is a perception that what we say on our show sometimes affects decisions by the devs. For example, we mentioned on our show how you were able to lead 4 animals with one mooring rope and the next week it got nerfed. Despite the fact that this bug was common knowledge, we got a ton of flak for that because people felt that it was removed because we mentioned it on our show. Other times, it even feels to me that the devs are making changes based on what they hear on our show. For me, this is all part of the excitement.

 

Slickshot:  Do you have guests on your show very often, or have any interest in acquiring guests?

 

Griphyth:  In fact it is rather rare. We have had only 2 guests on the show. We invite Sacha (my brother-in-law) to come on our show and provide a pure newbie perspective on things. Since the start, we wanted Sacha to play Wurm with us. We have, in the past, played WoW together we moved through some games with him such as Guildwars 2 and SWTOR and a few others. From his first glance at my computer screen as I showed him the game, he was convinced that he would never play Wurm Online. Something intimidated him. So when we got him on our show it was a big deal. We made a new series called "The Friend Experiment" and recorded his first several hours in the game. He really only played 1h a week for the duration of the series and quit right after we stopped doing them.

 

More recently we invited Budda to the show who we have known for some time now. He watches the live streams and often will contribute valuable information in our chat that contributes to our conversations on the show. He also brings a unique perspective in the audience in that he is a Volunteer Dev for Wurm. So we invited him onto the show and he accepted. While attempting to complete the labyrinth, we got to know him better and got some answers to some of our burning questions. He was rather secretive about any future development plans for the game, as we knew he would be going into the show.

 

We like having guests on the show because it adds an extra dynamic to the show that can work to spur the conversations we have on the show beyond what we normally do. We may seek more guests on the show in the future.

 

Slickshot:  Yeah guests have a way of adding mystery and excitement to the process for sure.  I mean let's be honest, if I didn't have guests to interview then there just wouldn't be a Wurm Chronicles!  So thank you and anyone else who do guest appearances; you all are the real mvps.  Do you plan to continue making Factional Fight Wurm videos into the distant future?

 

Faeran:  In the distant future? Who knows. The future is ever changing. We do know that we have no plans to stop recording, as it gives us time to hang out once a week in a game we both love to play. it just so happens that we currently do it live on our twitch channel at:  http://www.twitch.tv/factionalfight

 

Griphyth:  Yah, I have to agree with Brian that one of the main reasons we continue to record is to have that play time once a week together. It is fairly uncommon for us to be playing together these days and to have that scheduled once a week play session is nice. I see us recording these videos for as long as we are playing Wurm. Even if we do (one day in the distant future) discover a new game to play together, we would probably make videos about that.

 

Slickshot:  I'm sure many of us will continue to tune in even if you do switch games some day, however Wurm is the best game out there so I don't think we'll need to worry about that any time soon!  Do you have any advice you'd like to offer for those who are interested in streaming or creating gameplay videos?

 

Faeran:  Just do it. Do it for fun, do it for kicks, do it as a learning experience. Whatever the reason, just do it. If you never take that step, you will always just wonder if your interest could lead to whatever you are hoping to accomplish. However, that's easier said than done, so here's some real advice:

 

  1. Use Open Broadcast Software (just look up OBS in a search engine), and learn how to use it.

  2. Use whatever hardware you have in your house, all you really need is a computer and a microphone.

  3. If you find that you like streaming, invest in a good microphone. A Blue Yeti microphone works just fine for Adam.

  4. Just do it for fun, then the rest will follow. Don't expect to gain anything from it (other than personal growth), or you may be doing it for the wrong reasons.

 

Griphyth:  I would also recommend that you try recording a few videos offline before jumping into doing live streams. When we first started, we would stop the recording and start again many times before we felt the opening of the video went smoothly enough. It took us many videos before we felt confident to be able to get it right on the first shot.

 

Also, I feel our videos work well because there are two of us bouncing ideas off of each other. We are mostly talking off the cuff and it is sometimes hard to restrain ourselves from interrupting or talking over the other. However, when the conversation attains a natural flow, the show just seems to click in place. So if you have someone with whom you often talk about Wurm with, why not just record one of those conversations while playing. Pick a few topics to chat about and let the conversation flow through the topics.

 

Slickshot:  That sounds like pretty solid advice.  I fall too deep into focus when I'm playing a game, so forming sentences live isn't all that easy for me, but there are quite a few avid video makers out there who do well with the tools they have.  Thank you for the tips!

 

 

 

Current and Future Events:

 

 

Slickshot:  Moving forward how do you feel about the progress of the summer of bug slaying?

 

Faeran:  Adam is going to say that he loves this summer of bug slaying. I personally just love the fact that the game is getting updated during the summer months when the main devs go on holidays. I think a very big thanks needs to go out to the volunteer devs who continued to work on improving the game we all love during these summer months. Thank you, your work is not going unnoticed.

 

Griphyth:  I love the summer of bug slaying! While the game has a lot of room to improve in terms of additional features, new items, new textures, engine upgrades, etc. I feel that focusing on bugs and under-the-hood improvements really makes a difference in the everyday experience of all wurmians. There are still many bugs in the game, but I bet it's similar to squashing bugs in real life: no matter how many you squish, there are always more to bite you. I am appreciative that the focus is on bug fixing. I don't think that has happened before in the time we have played. Maybe it has, but it may not have been publicly announced. It is a great PR move!

 

Slickshot:  It has indeed been a very productive summer for the devs, and it's nice to see the player base so excited about recent changes and upcoming fixes.  The devs usually catch a lot of flack, especially during vacation time, but they've done well to provide us with many great features in the past year.  What are some of your favorite updates to hit the game in recent times?

 

Faeran:  It seems obvious that the biggest update to the game over the last year would have to be bridges. It brought with it a whole new level of design to Wurm that was just not possible before (much like multistory did in years past). However, my favorite update to the game has to be a selfish one: Mine Doors do not decay on deed! I jumped up and down and did a little dance when I heard about this one. But really, it's only because when we finished our first labyrinth, I used to have to continuously replace about 20 rock mine doors in order for it to continue to function. The mine doors would constantly be decaying away, and in order to keep it in operation, I would need to have an arsenal of rock mine doors prepped and ready to be installed. It became harder to keep this up when we moved to the other side of the Deliverance server. So yeah, this was an update I could personally get behind on a very personal level.

 

Also I want to mention the plain stone wall update. The one without the wooden trim. I would have loved that type of wall when I was building Autumn Twilight's castle. In fact all the new wall types was a great addition to the game. I wish they could release more kinds because we can never have enough. We still really only have two types of wall materials: Wood and Stone. Here's hoping for some log cabins, some marble, or slate, or steel walls. Maybe a combination, hybrid type walls, like a stone wall with a steel door, or a wooden wall with slate trimming.

 

Furniture, got to love all the new furniture that they have added to the game. It was one of the areas this game was lacking in, and now with all the new furniture additions, we can now express the insides of our houses a lot better. It's about time we demand to be able to sit in all these new and fancy chairs we got.

 

Griphyth:  Aside from the obvious great updates already mentioned by Brian, I would have to say the greatest addition/bug fix for me is when they fixed the bug where the cart would lag behind you if you dropped dirt or paved below you.

 

Diagonal roads are another great addition as it gives the blocky world a little less squareness. I would like to see all of the new paving types given this ability.

 

Finally, I am grateful for all of the additional items, both decorative and functional, that have been added to the game over the past year or so. Items such as wagons, crates, tapestries, furniture, hats, wall types, fences etc. the list goes on. Since our early videos we have advocated for more variety cause when we started, every house looked like the next. The game has come a long way in this department and I hope that there is still a lot more to come.

 

Slickshot:  Wurm Online has grown so much over the past few years, and it makes me proud to still be a player able to experience all of the great additions you guys just mentioned.  Long live the Wurm!

 

If you were to swap roles and be staff members, what would you want to work on the most?  Is there anything you'd be eager to create, fix, update or clean up?

 

Faeran:  Well this is a great question. I've thought a lot about this and I know exactly what I would work on.

 

First, I would get sitting in. Then, I would go full throttle into fleshing out our house system. I would figure out a way to put things on top of each other, like dishes on tables, items on beds. Be able to mount things on walls, or hang things on ceilings. The next thing I would work on would be to allow the creation of books. We already have papyrus, all we need is the ability to bind paper into a book so that we can start creating our own books in Wurm. Then you would be able to put your books into the bookshelves that are already in the game. The whole point of these updates would be to make the housing system seem more lively, and more geared towards people wanting to spend more time in the houses that they spend so much time building.

 

I would also figure out a way to make upper levels more appealing to use. Right now, people have a hard time justifying building their workstations on the upper levels of their houses, because of the limited access they have to get up there. Stairs didn't solve this issue, as carts cannot make it up them. We need a style of stairs that are more like ramps, to allow carts easy access to the upper levels of a house.

 

Then I would start working on a village progression system. Right now all we have is the ability to plant a deed. Once that is done, well that's it, village achievement complete. So how do we differentiate the older, more prestigious villages from that of a much newer village? There needs to be some kind of progress villagers can go through to earn/unlock certain village features. I talk about this a lot on our live streams, and it's a system I do feel strongly about.

 

I would also like to see the implementation of a kind of item enhancement system that would allow for every item in the game to be customizable with extra stats put onto them. For example, after a pickaxe gets imped to a certain level, the crafter would have the ability to add an enhancement to it from a giant pool of options. Depending on the purpose the crafter is building this pickaxe for, he/she would decide which enhancement to put onto it. It can become like a tool specialization, and therefore one pickaxe will not be equal to another. Maybe one large cart can hold more than 100 items, and another cart can carry more volume, or another cart can travel a little bit faster. The possibilities are endless with a system like this, and it's a change to the game that will add depth to everyone who plays.

 

In a game like Wurm, there is many untapped areas of growth the game can go through, and it's just a matter of being able to imagine the possibilities.

 

Griphyth:  Brian...you didn't mention tree houses!

 

Personally, I would love to see the mine level worked on, allowing for structures, fences, doors etc to be constructed in mines. Also, a 3d mine system would be amazing. It would remove drop shafts and allow for tunnels to pass over one another.

 

Another thing I think would change the game in a great way would be diagonal fences and walls. It's odd to see a diagonal road with a zig zagging fence next to it. It would also add so much in the way of customizing multistory houses. I realize this would require a lot of work and probably a lot of code rewriting but i would imagine it would allow for some amazing looking buildings and landscapes.

 

Slickshot:  Those are some pretty interesting suggestions.  Perhaps the devs are dreaming up similar things!  Speaking of the devs, It's been said that they will soon be working on the next big feature this fall and into winter; any hopes or dreams on what that could be?

 

Faeran:  Well any of the systems I just mentioned I would love to have implemented. Especially some kind of village system and item enhancement system. They could also work on a combat system I talked about in one of our live streams that deals with the idea of a group of individuals being able to summon creatures (like boss fights), doing it Wurm style. For example, have a group of individuals create a certain shrine by the ocean, consisting of specific items, which will allow the players to start a summoning ritual for some kind of sea monster. The players would have a specific amount of time to kill the monster before it would be pulled back to wherever it was summoned from. If the players fail, the monster would have destroyed the entire shrine, and the players would have to start building all over again in order to have another chance at it. There could be different shrines that would entail a different set of items to be built, depending on the location. Each location could have a different monster that is summoned, one on top of a mountain, one in the forest, one by the lake, one in a mine, etc.

 

A type of system like this one would give players the ability to have control over these encounters, and allow to maximize the amount of people that could partake in these self contained events, while minimizing/eliminating the effect it would have over players who wish to not participate in combat.

 

Griphyth:  When Brian first proposed this combat system to me, my instinct was to say, "Not a chance!" I have grown, however, to love this idea as it would force people together to accomplish a goal. The building of the shrine could be challenging unto itself and take a lot of time/manpower to balance the reward.

 

Another thing is that it would allow anyone to attempt one of these epic fights. As it is now, most people will never experience a Unique hunt. I know both Brian and I have not yet been a part of a Unique slaying, not even after the changes to the Uniques. The current Unique system requires you to be on at the right place and at the right time, and you need to have the time to sail all over the place. We would need something that works on a schedule, one that can be planned well in advance and executed when we are ready. I think it would fit a lot of people's schedules quite nicely.

 

Slickshot:  Unique slayings can be quite interesting.  I've only ever been to one myself, and it happened to be one that I was hosting.  I've dreamed of traveling to participate in slayings ever since, but being so busy has its drawbacks.  The system you guys described would be pretty awesome to help minimize said drawbacks, however there's no telling if the devs actually read these interviews. (wink)  

 

What are your hopes for the future of Wurm Online and the player-base following it?

 

Faeran:  Some people may think that Wurm Online needs to remain small due to its niche place in the MMORPG space. There is also the idea out there that because there are many players who would not like this type of game, trying to grow the game through advertising or adding the game to steam would be ill advised, or even bad for the game. I am not one of these people.

 

I would love for Wurm Online to grow its playerbase, and get to a more healthy level of development. However, you sort of have a chicken and the egg debate that you must waddle through first. What comes first, dev money or the players? We need players, but if we get players the server would need to handle a heavier load. But in order for the servers to handle a heavier load, we need more players to pay for the heavier load. The only way out of this loop is either by some kind of investment by Rolf, or thousands of players that suddenly swoop into the game and get through the month or two of overwhelming the servers until Rolf has no choice but to spend money to update them.

 

Really, all I can hope for is that the game keeps getting updated at a healthy pace to keep us players happy.

 

Griphyth:  I would love to see the population of this game grow. With Xanadu, there is no longer an argument that there is not enough land and the devs have recently been doing hardware upgrades. The game is more ready than ever for a large rush of people into the game and all it would take is a mass advertising blitz and PR.

 

Of course, there is the argument that with a huge influx of new players comes a rash of poor reviews. The hope would be that the committed community of players write their own reviews, comment in the wider community forums or produce their own media to advertise the great things this game has to offer. The game is what it is and not everyone who plays it is going to like it, but those of us who like it love it with a passion. I am of the firm belief that there are people out there who would love Wurm with just as much passion if they just knew the game existed.

 

 

Conclusion:

 

Slickshot:  Perhaps Rolf and Co. are brainstorming such things as we speak.  Maybe we will see a PR blitz one of these days.  In the mean-time I'm thankful for the players who choose to put the time and effort into advertising this game to their friends, or streaming gameplay, or making tutorials and exploration videos.  Hats off to you brothers, and thank you for such an in-depth look into your gaming lives.  I'm sure several of us will be tuning into your broadcasts in the near future.  As per tradition can you guys finish us off with a favorite quote?

 

Faeran:  I once read a comment somewhere that said something along the lines that the players should not be the ones developing the game, or else the game would turn into utter chaos with 0.1 second action timers. I found this comment a little bit funny, as the fact of the matter is a large chunk of the development team started off, and are still players of the game, way before they became part of the development of the game. Therefore the ideas from players are the only reason this game keeps getting updated as much as it has. For example, Multistory? It was developed by a player who became a volunteer dev. Bridges? Also developed by a player who became a volunteer dev.

 

Maybe players aren't as incompetent as some people may think.  Wait, you asked for a quote.  I should really read things better.

 

"It's the sensible, logical thing to do, of course, which is why we don't do it."  - Tanis, Dragons of Autumn Twilight

 

Griphyth:  "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." - Dr. Seuss

 

Edited by Slickshot
Fixed formatting errors.
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Great


 


"This is also where I made a giant Luigi head on the side of the mountain."


 


screen please!


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It is hidden in this short video that Brian made to advertise our first labyrinth:


 


>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHozZRh8mtI


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It is hidden in this short video that Brian made to advertise our first labyrinth ...

 

lol I've watched that video multiple times but just now noticed it

 

It's like the naughty clouds in disney movies

Edited by Tipper
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I wanted to say that maybe you should start a new topic with each new interview because i missed the one with the FF guys until i seen in their video that you had posted it already. I am just now getting time to check it out but wanted to make that suggestion for future interviews if there is to be more. 


Edited by Kegan
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Nice interview :) and damnit with that age problem... I went for solving a cubic because I thought that getting people to find the magnitude of the only eigenvector that corresponds to a +ve eigenvalue for a 3x3 matrix would be too hard! :lol:


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I'll give a hint. You can't determine our actual ages but rather only our age difference.

Edited by McGarnicle
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I'll give a hint. You can't determine our actual ages but rather only our age difference.

So sneaky!

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Faeran:  Well… this is a great question. I’ve thought a lot about this and I know exactly what I would work on.

First, I would get sitting in. Then, I would go full throttle into fleshing out our house system. I would figure out a way to put things on top of each other, like dishes on tables, items on beds. Be able to mount things on walls, or hang things on ceilings. The next thing I would work on would be to allow the creation of books. We already have papyrus, all we need is the ability to bind paper into a book so that we can start creating our own books in Wurm. Then you would be able to put your books into the bookshelves that are already in the game. The whole point of these updates would be to make the housing system seem more lively, and more geared towards people wanting to spend more time in the houses that they spend so much time building.

I would also figure out a way to make upper levels more appealing to use. Right now, people have a hard time justifying building their workstations on the upper levels of their houses, because of the limited access they have to get up there. Stairs didn’t solve this issue, as carts cannot make it up them. We need a style of stairs that are more like ramps, to allow carts easy access to the upper levels of a house.

Then I would start working on a village progression system. Right now all we have is the ability to plant a deed. Once that is done… well… that’s it, village achievement complete. So how do we differentiate the older, more prestigious villages from that of a much newer village? There needs to be some kind of progress villagers can go through to earn/unlock certain village features. I talk about this a lot on our live streams, and it’s a system I do feel strongly about.

I would also like to see the implementation of a kind of item enhancement system that would allow for every item in the game to be customizable with extra stats put onto them. For example, after a pickaxe gets imped to a certain level, the crafter would have the ability to add an enhancement to it from a giant pool of options. Depending on the purpose the crafter is building this pickaxe for, he/she would decide which enhancement to put onto it. It can become like a tool specialization, and therefore one pickaxe will not be equal to another. Maybe one large cart can hold more than 100 items, and another cart can carry more volume, or another cart can travel a little bit faster. The possibilities are endless with a system like this, and it’s a change to the game that will add depth to everyone who plays.

 

Yes, yes and yes! As I think I've mentioned before, I wonder if setting things on tables could be as simple as changing the way collision works for surfaces such as tables. So make it so that there is no collision between character and table and the character can continue walking "into" tables, however add collision between items and tables. So you walk into the middle of a table and "drop" say a flask. Instead of dropping to the ground, the flask collides with the table and is left sitting on it. Push and pull could be used to adjust as needed. I wonder if that is technically possible?

 

And well we all know how I feel about sitting :)

 

I agree fully on that upper level issue. I've thought about it many times what a shame it is that we never actually use our upper levels since they are so tedious to get to. I do love the idea of a ramp. 

 

Love the weapon customization idea as well. How exciting it would make weapon crafting!

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