IMPROMPTU CHIEF CHAT SUMMARY FROM WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2021
==== KETCHUP SPILLED! ====
► Grummz:
"I'd love to bring Marigold into 3D but, we're making something ELSE in 3D right now. What we've been making, is the Kickstarter Exclusive Geesuit! You're going to see that. You're not gonna get it but, you're gonna see it and get a preview of it.
It's because we're building the Light frame and I wanted something that was nothing like a Bunny Suit or anything like that. We have version 1 and version 2 Geesuits and we need a version 3 Geesuit. This is a unique skin that will ONLY be available during Kickstarter.
Yeah. Not only do we have to create the Playable Mockup, we have to create what we're going to be including in the packs for Kickstarter. It's from a designer who is really really... Mmmm! Yes! I like it! And of course this is male and female versions."
► Grummz:
"We are late! We were supposed to take away the Dollar Subs and flip to the Halloween skin yesterday [Tuesday, October 26, 2021]. We did not do this. We had adverse weather conditions. I just sent out an email about this today [Wednesday, October 27, 2021]. We've been impacted, not me personally, I'm in Southern California. But in Northern California, one of our artists who is in a rural area, was severely impacted by the historic storm fronts that were coming in. And unfortunately power went out, fences were demolished, and crops needed tending to. So there was a little bit of a delay. But we finally got the art in and it is AWESOME and I can't wait to share it with you, tomorrow [Thursday, October 28, 2021]! So I'm extending the dollar sub and the Marigold skin until Chief Chat tomorrow!"
► Grummz:
"We're going to do a cross-over event here pretty soon. I think the audience is very compatible with ours. It's actually got a huge Japanese following. So I'm like, that might be interesting for mechs. It's mostly western. I don't have the actual stats but, for a western IP, they have a tremendous amount of Japanese customers. And I said oh that would be perfect because we've got mechs and our own stylized version of waifu."
► Grummz: "There will be another lore drop and I will read that aloud tomorrow [October 28, 2021]. There will be a return, at least in story form, of a character that I'm pretty excited about. It's going to be a pretty important character moving forward."
► Grummz: "I have plans for THMPRs too. There's stuff I haven't shown you that I'm working on right now."
==== QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ====
► Question: Are we going to get a size comparison of the Thumper to the Omniframes?
Grummz:
"Okay, THMPRs. So the way the mechs work is that, they will not sit there and fight because you're going to be dealing with a lot of crap. There is so much stuff that is going to be in these waves because we're switching to vertex animation for the "Knee Biters". We want it to feel like Deep Rock Galactic, where you have to fight off the waves [of creatures]. The idea is to switch our animation system for the "Knee Biters" so we can get more stuff in there. We're waiting on Ricardo to finish his move... because he's literally moving countries right now. He's out of pocket for a while. So we're a little bit delayed on that but, it will happen. The THMPR, if it were fighting back, it would never have a chance to mine. So it's primary mission is to mine and it's counting on YOU to defend it. If you let it down, it's going to let you know because they talk, right? You know from the book that THMPRs have personality. They're going to let you know how displeased they are with you. They'll get depressed and they'll talk shit, yes." [laughs]
► Question: Under what conditions might the THMPRs fight back?
Grummz:
"THMPRs will fight back if a mini kaiju spawns. That was the plan for the Playable Mockup to have a mini kaiju spawn in and then it gets into a sort of thrown down with the mini kaiju. Mini means THMPR sized. If you don't help it in that throw down, then you're THMPR is going to lose. The default state is the mini kaiju is too strong for the THMPR. But they're going to go at it and you're going to have to help defend it."
► Question: Are you going to create a few different personalities for the THMPRs to cycle between so it's not always the same?
Grummz:
"I plan the same thing for personalities for THMPRs as I do for the OP-AI. So for the Operational-AI, I want different personalities for that too. And of course it's something we'll make available in the General Store and grindable in-game because the whole business model is about cosmetics. Voice packs and personality packs are cosmetic."
► Question: Mini kaiju are THMPR sized. How big are the THMPRs?
Grummz:
"You can check them out in-game right now. Remember you're in a Medium Omniframe so you're bigger than normal. You can see how big a person is in-game as well. And the THMPRs are pretty sizeable."
► Question: What about size comparison between the THMPR and the Heavy Omniframe?
Grummz:
"The Heavy Omniframes are definitely going to be close to THMPR size. I don't know exactly where yet but, they're getting there. You know, having watched the Dune movie the other day, which is where I got the original idea for the Firefall Thumper... was such a cool kick. I was like, look at the SIZE of that thing! I was really tempted to make the THMPRs 8 times bigger but that would be weird." [laughs]
► Question: Carryalls when?
Grummz: "Well, the dropships does come and link up and take you up..."
► Question: How are THMPRs going to be acquired? Are they going to be pilotable/controlled?
Grummz: "You're going to craft them. No they're not pilotable. They are MEK-A, the A stands for Autonomous."
► Question: Is a THMPR's life more valuable than a player?
Grummz:
"Probably not? But he's gonna let you know how he feels about that, if you let him die. [laughs] Is it more valuable than a player? Well, a player gets to instant respawn even if you don't have a spare frame. You have to wait for the repair. So I guess in that sense it's equal. If you lose a THMPR, you have to repair it or rebuild it. If your THMPR get blown up, you lose the resource bonuses you would have gotten if you'd lived through the whole thing.
So in Firefall, the way it worked was all or nothing. If the Thumper blew up, you lost every single resource.
In Em-8ER, what I'm thinking about doing to make it a little more fair, but don't hold me to this because we're still tuning the encounter, the idea is that, as the encounter goes on, there's a multiplier bonus to the resources. You know, like times .25, times .50, like that. And if the THMPR gets blown up, you lose that resource bonus. That's a bonus that the Gatestriders kick in for doing a good job and you also don't miss out on the rare resources that happen towards the tail end of the encounter."
► Question: If the THMPRs are that important/precious to build, wouldn't it always be beneficial for players to keep them from entering combat mode to risk dying?
Grummz: "Well, you can't avoid it. When you call down the THMPR and it's mining for resources, you are triggering a combat encounter. If you want to mine, you gotta do the risk!"
► Question: Does this mean we have potentially different models of THMPRs?
Grummz: "There was a skin already for a different THMPR!"
► Question: What about a virtual Em-8ER Con in the HOME Social Hub?
Ronyn: "The entire Em-8ER team will need to get those fancy virtual avatars."
► Question: Can we get the team around (tomorrow) to help certain individuals (read: me) with transferring over to monthly subs?
Grummz: "Let me try to get that fixed. I'll talk to MsAem about it."
► Question: Will there be a HammerDrill animation added to the THMPR drill with THUMP THMP sounds eventually?
Grummz:
"The reason the THMPR sound needs to be a *"Thump Thump"* is not just because it's a nod to Dune. We didn't do this for Firefall. It is supposed to indicate the pace of the encounter and to add additional frenzy towards the end. The thumping was actually supposed to get faster and accelerate. So that you know when the end of thumping is near. The anxiety and tension builds towards the end. That's something I'd like to get back in there in some form."
► Question: When do you guys want suggestions/inspirations for weapons and such? Cuz I have a ton of brainstorms regarding the weapons arsenal.
Grummz: "Chief Chat man. I'll allocate more Q and A time for that sort of stuff."
Grummz: "Remember the terms of our Chief Chat are the same as the forums. If you volunteer an idea during Chief Chat, you are basically releasing any sense of copyright or ownership over it. You are donating your idea to the game with no strings attached. If you volunteer an idea, you are donating the idea no strings attached to us. And if we use it, we use it."
► Question: If thumpers are inspired by Dune, then Giant Worm Kaiju Confirmed?
Grummz:
"I hadn't thought of that! [laughs] We didn't have the technology to do giant worms. I don't know, I guess we could have a giant worm kaiju, since we have kaiju in the game. Don't hold me to that, I have no idea."
► Question: Would you consider making an alternative, pilotable version of the Thumper that allows players to try and balance mining and fighting together?
Grummz:
"I think I want to keep the THMPR encounter pretty pure. I mean, I think there could be special missions later on where... I don't know, you get to piggy back on the THMPR or something but... The THMPR is meant to be an autonomous thing. That's the nature of *that* particular encounter. If you want to pilot a big stompy mech that's bigger than the heavy, which is almost the size of a THMPR, then maybe we can accommodate that. We have talked about larger sized mechs as a possibility for post launch."
► Question: Do you have a timeline type thing or like a Trello?
Grummz:
"We do have a Trello board with features. We haven't updated it in a while. As we near Kickstarter, I'm recognizing the need for better planning and timeline stuff so we can dial it in. I didn't like Trello so much but, I think we'll do something. I have plans for that. That's a very good point, I think we should be looking at that."
► Question: Are you planning cross play? Release on steam?
Grummz:
"It's not up to us. It's up to the platform holders. We'll release on any platform that makes sense. We're not going to be exclusive. And you will always be able to get it direct from us."
► Question: You mentioned there'd be a Tsi-Hu general kind of thing. Will there be something like field commanders we take out to disrupt chain of command, etc?
Grummz:
"I have grand plans for how we do the invasion stuff post Kickstarter. In Firefall, there was always supposed to be a general, there was always supposed to be a reason for the targets they pick, not super detailed but a logistical type of thing. A more military logical sense to invasions. I won't say it will be super detailed but you'll have that flavor in there."
► Question: Since people were going to be able to specialize on what they wanna do, what about being able to transport spare mechs and ammo, etc in your drop ship as your role to give other players support?
Grummz:
"I was a huge galaxy pilot in Planetside 1. I love just being support. I would love to get that in there. We've talked about non-combat roles after Kickstarter, to expand the game.
Like I said, we're going to be moving, after Kickstarter, to feature-based milestones. So we'll have the base game and then we're going to have different features such as logistics, space trucking interiors, dropship interiors, and stuff like that will be feature-based things. Or if you want a support type mech, that could be a feature-based thing. Then we run a little campaign on our website for it, and then if it clears, we build that feature and it's unlocked for everybody.
As you know, one Kickstarter does not fund the game. We have to keep it going after that. This is the milestone funding we've had in the past. You can expect us to expand on that idea after Kickstarter."
► Question: Will NPCs or maybe even enemies call down thumpers that we can stumble across?
Grummz:
"Do you mean will there be enemy THMPRs? There kind of were in Firefall. There's going to be enemy bases that get built. I don't know how extensive it will be, but if we do that logistics flavor that I was talking about, enemies mining would be an interesting thing."
► Question: Where the plushies at Grummz? WHERE ARE THEY?
Grummz:
"Nobudi asked 'Where the plushies at Grummz, where are they?' We are waiting until after Christmas because of shipping disaster. I don't want people waiting six months for a plushie. I think that would be grossly annoying. I want to see after Christmas how the shipping stuff clears up."
► Question: Do you have an idea of how deep character creation customization will be? Also, about specializing, will you be eventually allowed to grind it all or are you limited by any sort of allocation limit?
Grummz:
"We plan for deep character customization. The one thing that holds me back is height. Because we have frames we have to fit into because we have cockpits we have to fit into, I think the amount of height variation will be either be non-existent or very limited. I'm going to just throw that out there right now. Because of the constraints we have for making a more physical world.
Having medium omniframes to begin with where you're exposed, puts limits on how far we can adjust height. FFXIV, I don't think you can adjust height at all. I don't think this is a deal breaker. It is a disappointment for those who want to create small characters but, there's only so much we can do because of the nature of the game. But other stuff? Yeah we already have the prototype with the former female model working where we had sliders and everything else. We know how it's going to work."
► Question: Can we siege enemy bases with Trebuchets?
Grummz:
"Only if it's a trebuchet mech. That would be funny if it was all medieval style. It throws other mechs. I don't know. [laughs] I get you though. Some sort of siege artillery weapon, would be pretty cool."
► Question: Any plans to incorporate regular YouTube videos?
Grummz:
"Yeah, I want to but, it's a lot of work especially with out a video editor. I want to do much more with our YouTube. I want to do an Instagram account. I hate it so much but, I want to do a Facebook. Facebook is still big for marketing. For some reason a lot of gamers still use Facebook."
► Question: How do we plan on using the space trucks again, transporting resources from thumping site to base?
Grummz:
"There is a logistical component to invasions. If you would like to support invasions without having to fight in an invasion because you happen to like resources, the idea is that we would do a gameplay feature where you can have space trucks. You craft your own. You can have them autopilot driven to your area, or dropped in by a carryall type of mother of a dropship. The idea I had was you don't even have to go to the invasion zone. I'm assuming you like just concentrate on gathering resources. That's the gameplay you like. The idea is that you'd bring it to drop off at refining stations at the edge of zones. But you have to get your truck there and there are encounters on the way there. And you'd need mecha escorts. That is the idea currently. For players that are IN the invasion zone, they would have a mechanism for getting those resources to whichever places are under attack in order to trigger the buffs and the benefits for doing that. And that would be its own separate, feature-funding milestone after Kickstarter (or a Kickstarter stretch goal)."
► Question: What kind of PC will Em-8ER need to run?
Grummz:
"Not a lot. We're going to try to keep it as low as we can because of the GPU shortage. It doesn't look like it's going to get any better next year. It looks like Nvidia's prices for their new cards as expensive as their current MSRPs which are the prior scalper prices. It is a tough time to be a PC gamer. So, we have to re-evaluate some of things we were going to do. Obviously nanite for terrain is out the window. We can't do that, it's just too much of a framerate hit.
I think we're going to have to optimize for 1080p. 4K resolution... if you have the hardware, you can enjoy 4k resolution but we're going to concentrate on 1080p gaming. Also, I want us to be able to run well on a 1060."
==== FUN STUFF ====
► F.A.I.’s thanks raffle winner! ♦ ![Omega Founder] Void#4443 ♦
==== KETCHUP SPILLED! ====
► Grummz:
"I'd love to bring Marigold into 3D but, we're making something ELSE in 3D right now. What we've been making, is the Kickstarter Exclusive Geesuit! You're going to see that. You're not gonna get it but, you're gonna see it and get a preview of it.
It's because we're building the Light frame and I wanted something that was nothing like a Bunny Suit or anything like that. We have version 1 and version 2 Geesuits and we need a version 3 Geesuit. This is a unique skin that will ONLY be available during Kickstarter.
Yeah. Not only do we have to create the Playable Mockup, we have to create what we're going to be including in the packs for Kickstarter. It's from a designer who is really really... Mmmm! Yes! I like it! And of course this is male and female versions."
► Grummz:
"We are late! We were supposed to take away the Dollar Subs and flip to the Halloween skin yesterday [Tuesday, October 26, 2021]. We did not do this. We had adverse weather conditions. I just sent out an email about this today [Wednesday, October 27, 2021]. We've been impacted, not me personally, I'm in Southern California. But in Northern California, one of our artists who is in a rural area, was severely impacted by the historic storm fronts that were coming in. And unfortunately power went out, fences were demolished, and crops needed tending to. So there was a little bit of a delay. But we finally got the art in and it is AWESOME and I can't wait to share it with you, tomorrow [Thursday, October 28, 2021]! So I'm extending the dollar sub and the Marigold skin until Chief Chat tomorrow!"
► Grummz:
"We're going to do a cross-over event here pretty soon. I think the audience is very compatible with ours. It's actually got a huge Japanese following. So I'm like, that might be interesting for mechs. It's mostly western. I don't have the actual stats but, for a western IP, they have a tremendous amount of Japanese customers. And I said oh that would be perfect because we've got mechs and our own stylized version of waifu."
► Grummz: "There will be another lore drop and I will read that aloud tomorrow [October 28, 2021]. There will be a return, at least in story form, of a character that I'm pretty excited about. It's going to be a pretty important character moving forward."
► Grummz: "I have plans for THMPRs too. There's stuff I haven't shown you that I'm working on right now."
==== QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ====
► Question: Are we going to get a size comparison of the Thumper to the Omniframes?
Grummz:
"Okay, THMPRs. So the way the mechs work is that, they will not sit there and fight because you're going to be dealing with a lot of crap. There is so much stuff that is going to be in these waves because we're switching to vertex animation for the "Knee Biters". We want it to feel like Deep Rock Galactic, where you have to fight off the waves [of creatures]. The idea is to switch our animation system for the "Knee Biters" so we can get more stuff in there. We're waiting on Ricardo to finish his move... because he's literally moving countries right now. He's out of pocket for a while. So we're a little bit delayed on that but, it will happen. The THMPR, if it were fighting back, it would never have a chance to mine. So it's primary mission is to mine and it's counting on YOU to defend it. If you let it down, it's going to let you know because they talk, right? You know from the book that THMPRs have personality. They're going to let you know how displeased they are with you. They'll get depressed and they'll talk shit, yes." [laughs]
► Question: Under what conditions might the THMPRs fight back?
Grummz:
"THMPRs will fight back if a mini kaiju spawns. That was the plan for the Playable Mockup to have a mini kaiju spawn in and then it gets into a sort of thrown down with the mini kaiju. Mini means THMPR sized. If you don't help it in that throw down, then you're THMPR is going to lose. The default state is the mini kaiju is too strong for the THMPR. But they're going to go at it and you're going to have to help defend it."
► Question: Are you going to create a few different personalities for the THMPRs to cycle between so it's not always the same?
Grummz:
"I plan the same thing for personalities for THMPRs as I do for the OP-AI. So for the Operational-AI, I want different personalities for that too. And of course it's something we'll make available in the General Store and grindable in-game because the whole business model is about cosmetics. Voice packs and personality packs are cosmetic."
► Question: Mini kaiju are THMPR sized. How big are the THMPRs?
Grummz:
"You can check them out in-game right now. Remember you're in a Medium Omniframe so you're bigger than normal. You can see how big a person is in-game as well. And the THMPRs are pretty sizeable."
► Question: What about size comparison between the THMPR and the Heavy Omniframe?
Grummz:
"The Heavy Omniframes are definitely going to be close to THMPR size. I don't know exactly where yet but, they're getting there. You know, having watched the Dune movie the other day, which is where I got the original idea for the Firefall Thumper... was such a cool kick. I was like, look at the SIZE of that thing! I was really tempted to make the THMPRs 8 times bigger but that would be weird." [laughs]
► Question: Carryalls when?
Grummz: "Well, the dropships does come and link up and take you up..."
► Question: How are THMPRs going to be acquired? Are they going to be pilotable/controlled?
Grummz: "You're going to craft them. No they're not pilotable. They are MEK-A, the A stands for Autonomous."
► Question: Is a THMPR's life more valuable than a player?
Grummz:
"Probably not? But he's gonna let you know how he feels about that, if you let him die. [laughs] Is it more valuable than a player? Well, a player gets to instant respawn even if you don't have a spare frame. You have to wait for the repair. So I guess in that sense it's equal. If you lose a THMPR, you have to repair it or rebuild it. If your THMPR get blown up, you lose the resource bonuses you would have gotten if you'd lived through the whole thing.
So in Firefall, the way it worked was all or nothing. If the Thumper blew up, you lost every single resource.
In Em-8ER, what I'm thinking about doing to make it a little more fair, but don't hold me to this because we're still tuning the encounter, the idea is that, as the encounter goes on, there's a multiplier bonus to the resources. You know, like times .25, times .50, like that. And if the THMPR gets blown up, you lose that resource bonus. That's a bonus that the Gatestriders kick in for doing a good job and you also don't miss out on the rare resources that happen towards the tail end of the encounter."
► Question: If the THMPRs are that important/precious to build, wouldn't it always be beneficial for players to keep them from entering combat mode to risk dying?
Grummz: "Well, you can't avoid it. When you call down the THMPR and it's mining for resources, you are triggering a combat encounter. If you want to mine, you gotta do the risk!"
► Question: Does this mean we have potentially different models of THMPRs?
Grummz: "There was a skin already for a different THMPR!"
► Question: What about a virtual Em-8ER Con in the HOME Social Hub?
Ronyn: "The entire Em-8ER team will need to get those fancy virtual avatars."
► Question: Can we get the team around (tomorrow) to help certain individuals (read: me) with transferring over to monthly subs?
Grummz: "Let me try to get that fixed. I'll talk to MsAem about it."
► Question: Will there be a HammerDrill animation added to the THMPR drill with THUMP THMP sounds eventually?
Grummz:
"The reason the THMPR sound needs to be a *"Thump Thump"* is not just because it's a nod to Dune. We didn't do this for Firefall. It is supposed to indicate the pace of the encounter and to add additional frenzy towards the end. The thumping was actually supposed to get faster and accelerate. So that you know when the end of thumping is near. The anxiety and tension builds towards the end. That's something I'd like to get back in there in some form."
► Question: When do you guys want suggestions/inspirations for weapons and such? Cuz I have a ton of brainstorms regarding the weapons arsenal.
Grummz: "Chief Chat man. I'll allocate more Q and A time for that sort of stuff."
Grummz: "Remember the terms of our Chief Chat are the same as the forums. If you volunteer an idea during Chief Chat, you are basically releasing any sense of copyright or ownership over it. You are donating your idea to the game with no strings attached. If you volunteer an idea, you are donating the idea no strings attached to us. And if we use it, we use it."
► Question: If thumpers are inspired by Dune, then Giant Worm Kaiju Confirmed?
Grummz:
"I hadn't thought of that! [laughs] We didn't have the technology to do giant worms. I don't know, I guess we could have a giant worm kaiju, since we have kaiju in the game. Don't hold me to that, I have no idea."
► Question: Would you consider making an alternative, pilotable version of the Thumper that allows players to try and balance mining and fighting together?
Grummz:
"I think I want to keep the THMPR encounter pretty pure. I mean, I think there could be special missions later on where... I don't know, you get to piggy back on the THMPR or something but... The THMPR is meant to be an autonomous thing. That's the nature of *that* particular encounter. If you want to pilot a big stompy mech that's bigger than the heavy, which is almost the size of a THMPR, then maybe we can accommodate that. We have talked about larger sized mechs as a possibility for post launch."
► Question: Do you have a timeline type thing or like a Trello?
Grummz:
"We do have a Trello board with features. We haven't updated it in a while. As we near Kickstarter, I'm recognizing the need for better planning and timeline stuff so we can dial it in. I didn't like Trello so much but, I think we'll do something. I have plans for that. That's a very good point, I think we should be looking at that."
► Question: Are you planning cross play? Release on steam?
Grummz:
"It's not up to us. It's up to the platform holders. We'll release on any platform that makes sense. We're not going to be exclusive. And you will always be able to get it direct from us."
► Question: You mentioned there'd be a Tsi-Hu general kind of thing. Will there be something like field commanders we take out to disrupt chain of command, etc?
Grummz:
"I have grand plans for how we do the invasion stuff post Kickstarter. In Firefall, there was always supposed to be a general, there was always supposed to be a reason for the targets they pick, not super detailed but a logistical type of thing. A more military logical sense to invasions. I won't say it will be super detailed but you'll have that flavor in there."
► Question: Since people were going to be able to specialize on what they wanna do, what about being able to transport spare mechs and ammo, etc in your drop ship as your role to give other players support?
Grummz:
"I was a huge galaxy pilot in Planetside 1. I love just being support. I would love to get that in there. We've talked about non-combat roles after Kickstarter, to expand the game.
Like I said, we're going to be moving, after Kickstarter, to feature-based milestones. So we'll have the base game and then we're going to have different features such as logistics, space trucking interiors, dropship interiors, and stuff like that will be feature-based things. Or if you want a support type mech, that could be a feature-based thing. Then we run a little campaign on our website for it, and then if it clears, we build that feature and it's unlocked for everybody.
As you know, one Kickstarter does not fund the game. We have to keep it going after that. This is the milestone funding we've had in the past. You can expect us to expand on that idea after Kickstarter."
► Question: Will NPCs or maybe even enemies call down thumpers that we can stumble across?
Grummz:
"Do you mean will there be enemy THMPRs? There kind of were in Firefall. There's going to be enemy bases that get built. I don't know how extensive it will be, but if we do that logistics flavor that I was talking about, enemies mining would be an interesting thing."
► Question: Where the plushies at Grummz? WHERE ARE THEY?
Grummz:
"Nobudi asked 'Where the plushies at Grummz, where are they?' We are waiting until after Christmas because of shipping disaster. I don't want people waiting six months for a plushie. I think that would be grossly annoying. I want to see after Christmas how the shipping stuff clears up."
► Question: Do you have an idea of how deep character creation customization will be? Also, about specializing, will you be eventually allowed to grind it all or are you limited by any sort of allocation limit?
Grummz:
"We plan for deep character customization. The one thing that holds me back is height. Because we have frames we have to fit into because we have cockpits we have to fit into, I think the amount of height variation will be either be non-existent or very limited. I'm going to just throw that out there right now. Because of the constraints we have for making a more physical world.
Having medium omniframes to begin with where you're exposed, puts limits on how far we can adjust height. FFXIV, I don't think you can adjust height at all. I don't think this is a deal breaker. It is a disappointment for those who want to create small characters but, there's only so much we can do because of the nature of the game. But other stuff? Yeah we already have the prototype with the former female model working where we had sliders and everything else. We know how it's going to work."
► Question: Can we siege enemy bases with Trebuchets?
Grummz:
"Only if it's a trebuchet mech. That would be funny if it was all medieval style. It throws other mechs. I don't know. [laughs] I get you though. Some sort of siege artillery weapon, would be pretty cool."
► Question: Any plans to incorporate regular YouTube videos?
Grummz:
"Yeah, I want to but, it's a lot of work especially with out a video editor. I want to do much more with our YouTube. I want to do an Instagram account. I hate it so much but, I want to do a Facebook. Facebook is still big for marketing. For some reason a lot of gamers still use Facebook."
► Question: How do we plan on using the space trucks again, transporting resources from thumping site to base?
Grummz:
"There is a logistical component to invasions. If you would like to support invasions without having to fight in an invasion because you happen to like resources, the idea is that we would do a gameplay feature where you can have space trucks. You craft your own. You can have them autopilot driven to your area, or dropped in by a carryall type of mother of a dropship. The idea I had was you don't even have to go to the invasion zone. I'm assuming you like just concentrate on gathering resources. That's the gameplay you like. The idea is that you'd bring it to drop off at refining stations at the edge of zones. But you have to get your truck there and there are encounters on the way there. And you'd need mecha escorts. That is the idea currently. For players that are IN the invasion zone, they would have a mechanism for getting those resources to whichever places are under attack in order to trigger the buffs and the benefits for doing that. And that would be its own separate, feature-funding milestone after Kickstarter (or a Kickstarter stretch goal)."
► Question: What kind of PC will Em-8ER need to run?
Grummz:
"Not a lot. We're going to try to keep it as low as we can because of the GPU shortage. It doesn't look like it's going to get any better next year. It looks like Nvidia's prices for their new cards as expensive as their current MSRPs which are the prior scalper prices. It is a tough time to be a PC gamer. So, we have to re-evaluate some of things we were going to do. Obviously nanite for terrain is out the window. We can't do that, it's just too much of a framerate hit.
I think we're going to have to optimize for 1080p. 4K resolution... if you have the hardware, you can enjoy 4k resolution but we're going to concentrate on 1080p gaming. Also, I want us to be able to run well on a 1060."
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