CHIEF CHAT BRIEF SUMMARY FROM MAY 25, 2021
Updates via Grummz in Discord Chief Chat:
► Grummz and the community did extensive (fun) research on the Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis character creator.
► Overall Grummz found it to be robust and got a lot of good ideas from it.
==== IN-PROGRESS ====
Status Update on Em-8er from Grummz!
► The development of the T.H.M.P.R encounter is still ongoing!
► There have been a lot of advancements to the upcoming art update for Em-8er's visual style.
► The Tsi-Hu models have been re-imagined in both look and style, to better fit their lore.
► We had to re-rig the Tsi-hu due to the lack of setup for hand animation. Which the Tsi-Hu require.
► HUB is proceeding, we have to rig the male human, which will happen after rigging the updated Tsi-Hu.
► We’re going to be working on a new test level for glider to allow testing with more verticality and maneuvering.
^ This also sets things up for light frames and wall running tests!
==== MAIN POINTS ====
► Next month’s skin will be from CSR. It will be revealed around June 15th!
^ Along with the new CSR skin, we will be revealing another 3D visualization of one of our previous skins on June 15th!
► Grummz: ”By the way, a fan has made my V-tuber dreams a reality, and I’m going to test that out this week, that should be pretty exciting, I’m not sure how well it works yet though.”
► On Thursday there is a plan to have a new glider build, with more tuning to the glider.
==== COMMUNITY TEAM ANNOUNCEMENTS! ====
► TL; DR – The “Chief Chat Brief Summary” posts are now here on the Forums in "Em-8ER News" in addition to Discord!
► Ronyn:
"For those of you who don’t know, we have been transcribing the Chief Chats since March 2021. We’re now making sure you can find those not only here in Discord in #general-updates but also on the forums! So you’ll notice the NEW section on the EM-8ER forums is called 'Em-8ER NEWS'! Right now we only have one posted. But over the next few days, you will see every single Chief Chat we’ve had since March transcribed and posted for your viewing pleasure. That way we have them kept up indefinitely because the VODs don’t stay around forever. We want to make sure we keep all this cool information!"
► Link to NEW section on the Forums, "EM-8ER News"!
https://forums.em8er.com/forums/em-8er-news.40
==== Q & A ====
► Question: Have you been thinking about the scripting for the eventual cut scene?
Grummz: We haven’t started scripting, but I’ve been thinking a lot about it. And the way we are building our art assets is sort of preceding along that line. A huge priority for us is getting the frames built as well as the Kaiju.
► Question: Will there be any vehicles like the LGV? Or at least some that use the same mechanics as the LGV's?
Grummz: No. The LGV, which is a motorcycle, is a one time only thing. Which in hindsight is great for the people who have it. Later I thought, oh everyone else is going to want something too. So that's why we have mounts. Light Omniframes will be able to ride mounts. We have the Wrenga mount, which was the December 2019 skin. The mechanics are similar to the LGV.
► Question: The other Omniframes will have to exit their frames into pilot mode to use mounts, correct?
Grummz: Yes that's right, if you are in a Medium Omniframe or a Heavy Omniframe, you're going to have to slip into your Light Omniframe or ride it as a pilot. Your choice.
Grummz thinking out loud:
I think we’re going to split the skins into piloting skins and social skins. I’m not sure how that’s going to work yet with the armor system. We’re plotting that out now. We’re getting the armor system ready for Light Omniframes.
► Question: Will El Terramoto be buried somewhere in the Coral Forest area as an Easter egg? Some of us have unfinished business with him.
Grummz: [chuckles] That would be hilarious! We’d have to get the same voice actor.
► Question: Will you be doing a dual release with a male skin as well?
Grummz: No we’re not doing a dual release for the male skin for this next 3D one. We’re focusing on the waifus again. And the reason is very simple. The last 2 months we’ve done non-character skins. We’ve done Mecha skins, right? To be honest, they’re very cool and people who have subscriptions are very glad to have it. But it doesn’t bring anyone new to the table. We don’t get any new subs when we do these skins; even when we do a male skin. People come to us because we’re a waifu game. The waifu skins really bring all the boys to the yard. We’ve done non-waifu skins for 2 months now, might be 3 in a row? [Three – Tekwear Male, Sport Light OF, and Yellow Flash Heavy OF].
► Question: Think the headquarter bases should have a lot of verticality?
Grummz: The bases need to be big. They've got to look as big as say the cities in Ashes of Creation. I mean, maybe not that big. But that sort of massive size. That's another reason why we don't want to build them brick by brick. We don't want ramshackle bases, weird designs that look really ugly, that don't fit, or that cause pathing problems for the Tsi-Hu.
If we let people build brick by brick, then it's going to be too easy to cheese the invasions. People are going to figure out how to create some wacky combination of walls and ceilings. "This building has no walls!" And yet it's a research center. It's going to be more about building the base to make the invasions trivial, rather than fighting the invasions. And we want the focus to be on fighting the invasions. That's why bases are going to be built more like RTS bases.
Even in Starcraft or Warcraft people would build their supply depots or farms to use as walls. But there's less cheeseablity in that.
► Question: If we have an upgraded weapon with some certain stats, and we want the same kind of weapon with different stats, do we need to craft and upgrade that kind of weapon again?
Grummz: I think the way it works is you can dismantle it for common exchange. And you'd have to either buy (I'm pulling this out of my ass) the resources on the market from other players with common exchange or just go and use new resources for it. Instinctively that's my game designer answer. So that's how I think I'd handle it, intuitively in my mind.
► Question: PSO2: New Genesis Character Creator just came out this week, have you checked it out?
Grummz: Oh it just came out? Where can I grab that? Can a moderator post a link?
[This is where the stream went “off the rails”. xD ]
==== QUOTES ====
► “Go back. Play with boob.” ~ Pls“Ban”me
► “How much are big boobs in PSO2? I need to know this is important.” ~ Grummz
► “Plain… neat… oh that’s cute. I like neat eyelashes…. yeah were going with neat.” ~ Grummz
==== FUN STUFF! ====
► Sexy Time
Harry: [coming in late] “Oh I forgot this was a thing!”
Grummz: ”What’s a thing?”
Harry: ”The Chief Chat!”
Grummz: ”Well I didn’t send a ping, were doing an intimate one.”
Harry: ”oh.”
Grummz: “This is the sexy time Chief Chat.”
Harry: “Oh Jesus.”
Grummz: [laughs] “We are streaming it though.”
►Fai’s thanks raffle winner! ` ♦ GIGABEAR ♦ `
--------------------------------------------------
TWITCH VOD LINKS!
Part 1: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1034922481
(internet went out)
Part 2: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1035053008
Check out the PSO2 Character creator here!: https://pso2.com/media/benchmark/download
Updates via Grummz in Discord Chief Chat:
► Grummz and the community did extensive (fun) research on the Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis character creator.
► Overall Grummz found it to be robust and got a lot of good ideas from it.
==== IN-PROGRESS ====
Status Update on Em-8er from Grummz!
► The development of the T.H.M.P.R encounter is still ongoing!
► There have been a lot of advancements to the upcoming art update for Em-8er's visual style.
► The Tsi-Hu models have been re-imagined in both look and style, to better fit their lore.
► We had to re-rig the Tsi-hu due to the lack of setup for hand animation. Which the Tsi-Hu require.
► HUB is proceeding, we have to rig the male human, which will happen after rigging the updated Tsi-Hu.
► We’re going to be working on a new test level for glider to allow testing with more verticality and maneuvering.
^ This also sets things up for light frames and wall running tests!
==== MAIN POINTS ====
► Next month’s skin will be from CSR. It will be revealed around June 15th!
^ Along with the new CSR skin, we will be revealing another 3D visualization of one of our previous skins on June 15th!
► Grummz: ”By the way, a fan has made my V-tuber dreams a reality, and I’m going to test that out this week, that should be pretty exciting, I’m not sure how well it works yet though.”
► On Thursday there is a plan to have a new glider build, with more tuning to the glider.
==== COMMUNITY TEAM ANNOUNCEMENTS! ====
► TL; DR – The “Chief Chat Brief Summary” posts are now here on the Forums in "Em-8ER News" in addition to Discord!
► Ronyn:
"For those of you who don’t know, we have been transcribing the Chief Chats since March 2021. We’re now making sure you can find those not only here in Discord in #general-updates but also on the forums! So you’ll notice the NEW section on the EM-8ER forums is called 'Em-8ER NEWS'! Right now we only have one posted. But over the next few days, you will see every single Chief Chat we’ve had since March transcribed and posted for your viewing pleasure. That way we have them kept up indefinitely because the VODs don’t stay around forever. We want to make sure we keep all this cool information!"
► Link to NEW section on the Forums, "EM-8ER News"!
https://forums.em8er.com/forums/em-8er-news.40
==== Q & A ====
► Question: Have you been thinking about the scripting for the eventual cut scene?
Grummz: We haven’t started scripting, but I’ve been thinking a lot about it. And the way we are building our art assets is sort of preceding along that line. A huge priority for us is getting the frames built as well as the Kaiju.
► Question: Will there be any vehicles like the LGV? Or at least some that use the same mechanics as the LGV's?
Grummz: No. The LGV, which is a motorcycle, is a one time only thing. Which in hindsight is great for the people who have it. Later I thought, oh everyone else is going to want something too. So that's why we have mounts. Light Omniframes will be able to ride mounts. We have the Wrenga mount, which was the December 2019 skin. The mechanics are similar to the LGV.
► Question: The other Omniframes will have to exit their frames into pilot mode to use mounts, correct?
Grummz: Yes that's right, if you are in a Medium Omniframe or a Heavy Omniframe, you're going to have to slip into your Light Omniframe or ride it as a pilot. Your choice.
Grummz thinking out loud:
I think we’re going to split the skins into piloting skins and social skins. I’m not sure how that’s going to work yet with the armor system. We’re plotting that out now. We’re getting the armor system ready for Light Omniframes.
► Question: Will El Terramoto be buried somewhere in the Coral Forest area as an Easter egg? Some of us have unfinished business with him.
Grummz: [chuckles] That would be hilarious! We’d have to get the same voice actor.
► Question: Will you be doing a dual release with a male skin as well?
Grummz: No we’re not doing a dual release for the male skin for this next 3D one. We’re focusing on the waifus again. And the reason is very simple. The last 2 months we’ve done non-character skins. We’ve done Mecha skins, right? To be honest, they’re very cool and people who have subscriptions are very glad to have it. But it doesn’t bring anyone new to the table. We don’t get any new subs when we do these skins; even when we do a male skin. People come to us because we’re a waifu game. The waifu skins really bring all the boys to the yard. We’ve done non-waifu skins for 2 months now, might be 3 in a row? [Three – Tekwear Male, Sport Light OF, and Yellow Flash Heavy OF].
► Question: Think the headquarter bases should have a lot of verticality?
Grummz: The bases need to be big. They've got to look as big as say the cities in Ashes of Creation. I mean, maybe not that big. But that sort of massive size. That's another reason why we don't want to build them brick by brick. We don't want ramshackle bases, weird designs that look really ugly, that don't fit, or that cause pathing problems for the Tsi-Hu.
If we let people build brick by brick, then it's going to be too easy to cheese the invasions. People are going to figure out how to create some wacky combination of walls and ceilings. "This building has no walls!" And yet it's a research center. It's going to be more about building the base to make the invasions trivial, rather than fighting the invasions. And we want the focus to be on fighting the invasions. That's why bases are going to be built more like RTS bases.
Even in Starcraft or Warcraft people would build their supply depots or farms to use as walls. But there's less cheeseablity in that.
► Question: If we have an upgraded weapon with some certain stats, and we want the same kind of weapon with different stats, do we need to craft and upgrade that kind of weapon again?
Grummz: I think the way it works is you can dismantle it for common exchange. And you'd have to either buy (I'm pulling this out of my ass) the resources on the market from other players with common exchange or just go and use new resources for it. Instinctively that's my game designer answer. So that's how I think I'd handle it, intuitively in my mind.
► Question: PSO2: New Genesis Character Creator just came out this week, have you checked it out?
Grummz: Oh it just came out? Where can I grab that? Can a moderator post a link?
[This is where the stream went “off the rails”. xD ]
==== QUOTES ====
► “Go back. Play with boob.” ~ Pls“Ban”me
► “How much are big boobs in PSO2? I need to know this is important.” ~ Grummz
► “Plain… neat… oh that’s cute. I like neat eyelashes…. yeah were going with neat.” ~ Grummz
==== FUN STUFF! ====
► Sexy Time
Harry: [coming in late] “Oh I forgot this was a thing!”
Grummz: ”What’s a thing?”
Harry: ”The Chief Chat!”
Grummz: ”Well I didn’t send a ping, were doing an intimate one.”
Harry: ”oh.”
Grummz: “This is the sexy time Chief Chat.”
Harry: “Oh Jesus.”
Grummz: [laughs] “We are streaming it though.”
►Fai’s thanks raffle winner! ` ♦ GIGABEAR ♦ `
--------------------------------------------------
TWITCH VOD LINKS!
Part 1: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1034922481
(internet went out)
Part 2: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1035053008
Check out the PSO2 Character creator here!: https://pso2.com/media/benchmark/download