DevTracker

[Grummz]

This is good feedback, ty.

I wanted to point out that there is no current "objective" or point to the combat as people have noted. This is because the rifts were never meant to be an encounter but more of a test-bed for spawning.

The real goal is to have the waves attacking as you try to mine, and defending your THMPR from destruction. This was the event we set out to do for the vertical slice, and the one that will be shown in the KS demo. That the encounter that is the staple of the mining activity. Invasions are for the shipping game and won't be part of the live demo but will be mocked up in the KS movie.

Once there is a "reason" for combat, things change

Also this was the very first iteration of Tsi-Hu shooting. They didn't even predictively fire. They were shooting at where you were, not where you were moving towards. Predictive fire is hooked up now in our internal builds.

But all things aside, we can improve a lot with the AI and we have been. There is a new demo dropping soon and while it won't address everything, it does make numerous changes and improvements. The "encounter" part will be in a future build.

Thanks and keep the reports coming! We're looking for stuff that needs fixing and even early impressions about the combat are very, very valuable!

 

[Ronyn]

This is the demo that you've always dreamed of, we knew it from the start. You'll find the Tsi-Hu are fighting back, and they'll rip out your heart.

In the next Em-8er demo build from Crixa labs, the Tsihu will be moving, reacting, and FIRING at the players with their own firearms. The world of Em-8er has never been more dangerous. This build will be ready to download this Friday, March 19th, for all eligible backers.

We will be streaming the new build live on TWITCH https://twitch.tv/grummz_em8er at 2 pm PDT.
All Newcomer and M3 backers will be able to download it at https://my.em8er.com/!

In this build-
- The Tsi-Hu will be out in force fighting the Reaper teams with everything they've got!
- Reapers will be Scanning for resources and mining them with THMPR mining mechs!
- Don't forget to take a look at your personal inventory of resources!
- Use the glider to escape and engage or slide around in your omniframe firing with style!

What's that you say? You don't have a Newcomer pack yet? Well hop over HERE https://my.em8er.com/perks/campaign/5 and grab your pack in order to download the latest build!

Subscribers will gain access to the previous, "Tsi-Hu Grappling" build on Friday. You can join for just $7.95 USD/month HERE https://my.em8er.com/perks/campaign/7

Don't forget to join in the fun with the Dev Team and the Community in Discord, we might even raffle off some packs and skins! Join HERE <discord.gg/em-8er>

Will you help fight the Tsi-Hu? Will you team up with your fellow Gatestriders in game? The battle awaits.

For those who need it- here is the timezone Breakdown:

***DATE: Friday, March 19, 2021***
***TIME: 2:00 PM (PDT)***

***CHECK BELOW FOR THE CHIEF CHAT TIME IN OTHER TIME ZONES:***
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New York, USA Fri, Mar 19, 2021 at 5:00 pm EDT
Minneapolis, USA Fri, Mar 19, 2021 at 4:00 pm CDT
Salt Lake City, USA Fri, Mar 19, 2021 at 3:00 pm MDT
Uruguay Time, UYT Fri, Mar 19, 2021 at 6:00 pm UYT
London, United Kingdom Fri, Mar 19, 2021 at 9:00 pm GMT
Copenhagen, Denmark Fri, Mar 19, 2021 at 10:00 pm CET
Berlin, Germany Fri, Mar 19, 2021 at 10:00 pm CET
Zürich, Switzerland Fri, Mar 19, 2021 at 10:00 pm CET
Helsinki, Finland Fri, Mar 19, 2021 at 11:00 pm EET
Moscow, Russia Sat, Mar 20, 2021 at 12:00 midn MSK
Dubai, United Arab Emirates Sat, Mar 20, 2021 at 1:00 am GST
New Delhi, India Sat, Mar 20, 2021 at 2:30 am IST
Beijing, China Sat, Mar 20, 2021 at 5:00 am CST
Tokyo, Japan Sat, Mar 20, 2021 at 6:00 am JST
Perth, Australia Sat, Mar 20, 2021 at 5:00 am AWST
Sydney, Australia Sat, Mar 20, 2021 at 8:00 am AEDT
Auckland, New Zealand Sat, Mar 20, 2021 at 10:00 am NZDT

 

[Ronyn]

Happy Wednesday Reapers!

Here is the latest piece of lore from Nethril! This time it's about Ashee, the Mech Navigator.

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

The Shot

“Elayne, I’m tracking five targets on intercept vector.” Ashee’s voice, piped directly into Elayne’s cockpit speakers, was high pitched and carried a warning note that Elayne barely registered, the AI was always overly worried about Elayne’s safety. She didn’t have time to acknowledge it now. She was lost in the void of her rifle, the void of death. Her omniframe’s back was pressed against a rock, and her enormous rifle was resting on second work in front of her. Her frame could have easily supported the weight, but any tiny adjustments in the suit would cause huge changes in her aim.

And she had to be perfect.

Through her scope, five-hundred meters across the icy, rock-strewn field, a monster out of legend took a lumbering step. When its foot touched the ground the ice under Elayne's omniframe cracked and splintered. Sprinting around the lumbering beast’s feet were dozens of zeros. The smallest and weakest of the alien race they barely understood. Their objective, however, was clear. A trio of MEK-A units stood; guns pointed up at the oncoming tide. They were formed up in a defensive posture, covering a fourth, much smaller figure that Elayne could not see clearly from this distance.

She knew what it was though.
The downed form of a reaper in their omniframe.

A small holographic figure blurred into existence on top of Elayne’s rifle. The figure appeared with its back to Elayne and facing the gigantic creature, “Analysis confirms it is a category three. Capable of squashing that pilot down there with ease.” The hologram turned on its heel to face the cockpit of the omniframe, nearly overbalanced, and just barely managed to keep from toppling over.

Ashee took the appearance of a small girl with her dark hair cut in a loose bob and wore platform heels and a close-fitting suit with a dress over top. Elayne knew that the AI had chosen the appearance it thought would best please her pilot. Elayne thought the AI took the cuteness factor a little too far, but that was an argument she didn’t ever feel like having. She made a minute adjustment, shifting the rifle up a hair, “You’re distracting me Ashee.” The beast was almost in the right position.

Ashee shrugged her holographic shoulders, “I don’t care, so long as it’s me who’s distracting you.”

Elayne snorted softly, “What is the sitrep on the incoming targets?” Elayne didn’t dare take her eyes from the scope. This shot had to be perfect. She wouldn’t have time for a second.

Ashee's voice piped through the cockpit, "Still on an intercept course. ETA, thirty seconds." A pause, and then, "You'd better not let them touch you Elayne, or we will have some serious discussions later."

“The reaper team will engage them when they cross the range marker.” Said Elayne.

Ashee vanished from her gun barrel and took her usual place in the upper right corner of her HUD. The AI’s avatar shrugged her digital shoulders, “Maybe Elayne, but I am not confident in their abilities.” The AI’s eyes shifted from their normal stormy grey to deep red with skulls for pupils, “And if they allow any harm to come to you, I will track down each and every one of them and…”

Elayne ground her teeth together and palmed the mute switch on her HUD. She couldn't deal with Ashee right now. The AI was the most useful tool she'd ever encountered. Capable of seamless interface with all of her systems and had increased her accuracy by orders of magnitude. But an OP-AI as powerful as Ashee inevitably came with software quirks.

Elayne took a deep breath and focused on her scope, and the monster bearing down on the reaper. The thing was truly breathtaking in its hideousness. It reminded Elayne of the pictures from Earth showing prehistoric lizards, though no lizard on earth had ever reached such size and mass, and certainly had never evolved to spit acid or carry enormous energy weapons.

However, even a creature this large had a weakness. Elayne curled her finger around the trigger. The beast was seconds away from being close enough for effective fire. With Ashee’s help, hopefully, they could take the thing down in a single shot.

The AI appeared directly in front of Elayne. This time Ashee's eyes were bloodshot red and filled with empty rage, which Elayne had come to associate with the AI as her most... interesting feature. Ashee stomped her feet and gesticulated with her hands. Elayne unmuted the AI and a burst of high-pitched shrieking filled the cockpit, “ELAYNE THE REAPER TEAM HAS ENGAGED THE CATEGORY ZERO TARGETS.”

Elayne winced and her aim was momentarily thrown off, “Ow. Why are you yelling?”

“Because you muted me, and I wanted you to feel the same pain I felt.” She replied primly, “And because you need to remember that I’m the only one who can really watch your back.”

The beast took another lumbering step, and Elayne’s targeting HUD blinked green. It was finally in range, “Ashee, get ready to fire.”

The AI vanished from Elayne’s HUD leaving her vision completely clear, “Activating targeting enhancement software. Your gun is hot, and you are clear to fire.”

Elayne took a deep breath and whispered softly to herself, “And now I am become death…”

The AI took up the mantra, “Destroyer of worlds…”

Elayne squeezed the trigger.

 

[Ronyn]

Greetings Reapers!

Happy Valentine’s day to the most beautiful community in all of gaming!

Em-8er has the greatest collection of Waifu's this side of Anime.
They each have their own style, their own charm, their own..uhm...attributes.
Each one can be admired for a variety of reasons.

This Valentine’s day, we are going to Celebrate our Lovely ladies of Em-8er with the very first...
MISS Em-8er WAIFU contest!

HOW TO TAKE PART IN THE CONTEST!
It's easy! Just look at the choices in the poll below and click on your favorite!

What happens to the Waifu that wins? Well, we get to see even more of her!
The Waifu that receives the most votes will be featured in our first Official Em-8er fan Art contest! Details for that will be revealed at a later date! So make sure to vote down below, then stay tuned to see who wins!

Here are the contestants!

 

[Ronyn]

Same can be said about firefall actually. ......

This information is in parts incorrect, in parts confused, and in parts a matter of opinion.
Let me clarify some of it.

One thing to be clear on: Firefall was NOT a community funded game, Em-8er is.

Firefall was funded through traditional sources. Millions of dollars were put into firefalls development, for several years before it was announced to the public. While firefall did open up a way for people to buy founder packs, and a fair amount of money was made through it, that was not where the funding of the game came from. Moreover, the money that came from traditional sources came with a lot of pressure at the corporate level. Due to the nature of such arrangements, a certain amount of decisions are made at that corporate level, out of the hands of the developers and community. To restate what i said before: The fact that so many decisions were out of the hands of the developers and community is the biggest reason firefall went off the rails.

In the case of Em-8er, it has received all of it's funding from the community. From indiegogo, new comer packs, and monthly subs. There is no corporate pressure on the devs making Em-8er, meaning there is no other voice beside the devs and the community to answer to. While it would be disingenuous to directly compare thousands of people in a community to a small board of investors, we do indeed take the concerns of the community in a similar way. If the community was not happy with what we offered for our Indiegogo campaigns, they would not have been successful let alone gone so far above and beyond what we asked for. If the community is not happy with what we are doing, we loose subs, drop in funding, and so on. I cannot stress this enough, this is not remotely the same thing as firefalls funding model.

I will also add that the community is run somewhat differently now, as I have my own specific ways of collecting user data and community requests. This is a new ballgame.

To speak to the nature of Em-8ers development, the art verses resources, etc.
There are a great many reasons why the strategy has been how it is. In part it's a matter of balancing work on things that will keep the games funding rolling in along with work on things that will get the game further along in development. make no mistake, there has to be a balance or the game could not be developed, because without funding there is no one to work on it.

Firefall lost it's way in this balance, though not where you might think it did. That is a long story though, and not nearly as obvious from the outside as some may claim.

Now...How well we have balanced all of this for Em-8er is a matter of opinion. You are welcome to yours. Either way we can't say how effective it is just yet, as we can't call a game at half time.

Either way stick around to watch and see what we do, or don't.
Much will be shown in the coming months. Only the future will reveal if what we are doing is the right way to go.