so whats up with ember

[Pandagnome]

don't care about any of that political stuff, but regarding your suggestion for a height slider, would it also allow someone to, say, become very large? large enough to tower over other players?

That's a good question i wonder if there will be a set max height and a set minimum height for players to decide?

Otherwise the extremes could be so ridiculous that we could have players bigger than light mechs or players smaller than an ant.

The filter could make it so we could see them as a standard preset if they choose to. So that way those who rather see what is as close to the lore than something else.

I also wonder if the attributes could affect stats such as someone who is taller may have better reach to focus in melee combat & able to reach higher items. For a shorter individual could be more agile in moving with a lower detection rate compared to someone that is taller perhaps hmm

The game Biomutant came to mind with how that can affect someone's playstyle depending on their customization.

Another thing someone mentioned holographic technology, we could look small but be super strong even though we are not small as this could be the illusion. So the skin would be what is changed and projected to the others rather than restricting the look to effect the stats.

What is your thought on this?

I am going off topic and I'd like to hear more Em8er news because the year is 2024. This is strange saying this, years ago 2024 sounded very futuristic now it sounds normal hmm

 

[wennid#7279]

It should be obvious to anyone by now that it was mostly Grummz that ruined Firefall and that Em8er is at best a pie-in-the-sky pipedream that's almost certainly never going to release. Yes its a real shame that there'll never be another Firefall, but sooner or later you gotta face reality.

 

[Pandagnome]

It should be obvious to anyone by now that it was mostly Grummz that ruined Firefall and that Em8er is at best a pie-in-the-sky pipedream that's almost certainly never going to release. Yes its a real shame that there'll never be another Firefall, but sooner or later you gotta face reality.

I am optimistic that something needs to be shown this year as there is no better time or else this may cause more to look else where.

If it continues to be similar in 2025 then i'll still continue to keep an eye out but would halt in cash support because there are other things i need to do such as save up for training courses, equipment etc etc.

Life is not so straight forward i have wanted to get a little business going for some time and there seems to be hurdles in the process. Not that this has anything to do with gaming and think there is more to it if you compare doing something on your own or in a small team than with a bigger organization.

As an example

One company that i have worked with restricts many activities that seems fun because of a different vision they have. Not only that there are some daft policies in place which generally is common sense, this is to comply and make life more miserable indirectly.

Although they feel that this is important to keep everyone pleased at the expense of over working staff, under paid, use of an app that is crap adding to the stress, hiring staff that have little to no experience expecting to do great things while the heavy load is taken by the more experienced generally.

So this is where doing something you have more control may sound very appealing but its not as easy unless you have many rich whale buddies and speed dial to some superstars in Neptune.

Decided to look for a venue with the right size capacity in a nearby location with storage space to hold events / activities. Many of them that i have seen have limited to no storage space to provide which was annoying so that means activities were limited due to that.

On top of that other companies or organizations are already using other venues that i would like to get.
Since there are some that hire for a whole term to even a year especially when it is a regular thing that they do in the venue.

The space in some venues were not as big as i would of expected which meant your limited again in what you could do so continuing on searching. Then there is the cost of hiring and the intention of your plan some may be a charity or run purely as a business and that can impact the cost of hiring too.

Since i am still new to all this there is a lot to do and ask. I am most likely going to start of small which would mean doing something that brings communities together even if it means getting a medium size hall to bring players that play board games & their families together for weekly hangouts.

My aim in the long term is to potentially hold cosplay conventions and events in bigger places but that is a dream. Maybe it will be possible someday, I'll give it a go and if my efforts go unsuccessful well won't be too pleased. However would be happy knowing there are folks who appreciate that and perhaps this may create opportunities through networking hmm

I have gone off topic again so my answer is Em8er is still a go, but if there is hardly much to show by 2025 then the doubt creeps in possibly as much as a swarm of knee biters :O

Em8er team do your best and the many eyes are watching!

 

[sNo0k]

i last logged in about 5 years ago... nothing much has been done/changed since then

 

[Pandagnome]

i last logged in about 5 years ago... nothing much has been done/changed since then

That's quite sometime, and from what I have noticed there are changes some are subtle and some are odd with regards to bugs but it is a process which i am hoping is going to get better.

Have you seen the new Em8er demo?
https://forums.em8er.com/threads/ne...-new-copa-returns-04-22-2024.2636/#post-71593

We really could use everyone's feedback and thoughts to make this game super good.
So if you get the chance to hop in and have a play & see what you think?

Hmm i am awaiting for more progress & updates because each time this happens the closer it gets to a completed game eventually.

 

[OrderedChaos]

It just feels like too much money is going into too many different things. We've got skins, artwork, and features that aren't needed right now. We don't want a board game or book, we want Firefall 2: Electric Boogaloo. I joined Firefall in the closed beta, and there weren't many things to do. From what I remember there were three open world random spawn events, three locations specific events, and thumping. Even with just that the game was incredibly fun, we went out and shot tornadoes with guns.

Grummz and the team have an example of a core gameplay loop that Yahtzee of all people described as fun. Make the basic light frame gameplay. Us vs the aliens and small critters. Mechs can come in later, make them something that doesn't break the game. Maybe we only use them against the Kaiju. Lore reason can be that they're too expensive to be deployed against anything but Kaiju. That can gate them behind open world boss encounters and raids only to prevent your big stompy boi from ruining the basic gameplay.

Heck, an alpha build of the game where all you have is a light frame that thumper mines across the world would still be a fantastic game. Tons of people would buy into the premise of you mining resources on an alien rock, but the aliens and wildlife don't like it so they come to kill the big noisy drill. You then use the resources gathered from your drill to craft better gear so you can use the better drills to get better resources to craft better gear. Oh wait, I just described thumping. Plenty of games have this premise, and they're popular as well. Gamers just want diggy diggy hole. The game doesn't need open world events to start, it doesn't need big Kaiju fights. That can come later and people would love them.

Em8er just needs a basic consistently fun gameplay loop. This game could have exploded during the pandemic if they had been on top of things. It just doesn't have a solid direction anymore. For something called a spiritual successor to Firefall, it doesn't spiritually succeed it right now. There is a literal example they can rip off that people would love, so why isn't it happening? It doesn't take all these years to build something that already existed.

 

[Dam13n]

Yeah, absolutely agree.

My advice is still the same as it has been for a while;

• Add craftable consumables (preferably in rarities and pretty powerful) now we got a treadmill.
• Add some basic dynamic events, deathsquads, kneebiters nests (preferably with a "feral" faction that also attacks other NPCs, so to recreate some of the randomness of Firefall's open world)
• Add a (very) basic invasion (just some structure in the middle of the map that gets attacked on a timer. If quantity of NPCs is a bottleneck, "elite" versions will do as a placeholder)
• Make the reward for completing the main event, crafting components for the higher end consumables.

Now you have yourself a very, very basic version of Firefall open beta. Which was enough for a lot of us to entertain ourselves with for a year. It has proven itself to work.

Hey, i was right about horde vs boss encounter (see Helldivers 2).

 

[Pandagnome]

It just feels like too much money is going into too many different things.

I would like to hear from @Grummz & Em8er team what they are prioritizing compared to the other things they have on the list?

Even with just that the game was incredibly fun, we went out and shot tornadoes with guns.

That was a fun one and avoid things flying in one's face!

My personal fave is doing missions to transport stuff especially on the bike plus i'd love to have a bike with slots to modify it to be a mobile radar/scanner or to have a co-pilot to shoot stuff while i could plop freeze mines etc

Make the basic light frame gameplay. Us vs the aliens and small critters. Mechs can come in later, make them something that doesn't break the game. Maybe we only use them against the Kaiju. Lore reason can be that they're too expensive to be deployed against anything but Kaiju. That can gate them behind open world boss encounters and raids only to prevent your big stompy boi from ruining the basic gameplay.

That could release smaller quality updates and focus on that until the other things come into play such as kaiju's, alternate mechs etc which does sound good.

Does this speed the process of what they are doing overall and if not are there specifics that affect this ?

Have the Em8er team found the right people in addition to their current team that they were looking for to progress the development?

Are we waiting to show a good gameloop before there is an opportunity to get an Epic mega grant to help fund development further and support the team?

Em8er just needs a basic consistently fun gameplay loop. This game could have exploded during the pandemic if they had been on top of things. It just doesn't have a solid direction anymore.

Agree a satisfying and fun gameplay loop is going to get the hype train back on route especially to draw in more into checking out Em8er too.

There is no better time to do this and provide players with additional feedback, conversations of development that is actually moving & more reassuring to us.

Yeah, absolutely agree.

Hey, i was right about horde vs boss encounter (see Helldivers 2).

Bring some bikes get chased by a horde, circle around a boss bump into boss then fly off a cliff land on a tsihu.. ride on get chased by more horde, bike about to explode jump off help others!

Wait for respawn of bike repeat or have races with others / buddies to creating a bike line.
Be able to spawn moving orbs you need to chase after on your bike to perfect your skills.

Yes that is probably why i am not a game developer want too much o.o

 

[Dam13n]

My advice is still the same as it has been for a while;

• Add craftable consumables (preferably in rarities and pretty powerful) now we got a treadmill.
• Add some basic dynamic events, deathsquads, kneebiters nests (preferably with a "feral" faction that also attacks other NPCs, so to recreate some of the randomness of Firefall's open world)
• Add a (very) basic invasion (just some structure in the middle of the map that gets attacked on a timer. If quantity of NPCs is a bottleneck, "elite" versions will do as a placeholder)
• Make the reward for completing the main event, crafting components for the higher end consumables.

Now you have yourself a very, very basic version of Firefall open beta. Which was enough for a lot of us to entertain ourselves with for a year. It has proven itself to work.

To theory craft a bit further on the idea of consumables in a demo build.
Let's say four consumables.

• Fire rate/recharge rate on plasma cannon*
• recharge rate on jumpjets*
• extra damage
• extra HP

*(See how i fix two birds here)

The first two would only require materials, the second two would require extra components from completing the main event. These would then be "high end", so you would use them as little as possible. Since there are only four consumables, no UI for selecting them would be needed and only a basic one for crafting.

Edit; ideally the first two consumables you would go through like candy, incentivizing people to return to the printer often. The second two in addition to extra components, harder to find resources, incentivizing running around scanning the map.

 

[Dam13n]

My advice is still the same as it has been for a while;

• Add craftable consumables (preferably in rarities and pretty powerful) now we got a treadmill.
• Add some basic dynamic events, deathsquads, kneebiters nests (preferably with a "feral" faction that also attacks other NPCs, so to recreate some of the randomness of Firefall's open world)
• Add a (very) basic invasion (just some structure in the middle of the map that gets attacked on a timer. If quantity of NPCs is a bottleneck, "elite" versions will do as a placeholder)
• Make the reward for completing the main event, crafting components for the higher end consumables.

Now you have yourself a very, very basic version of Firefall open beta. Which was enough for a lot of us to entertain ourselves with for a year. It has proven itself to work.

To theory craft a bit further on the idea of consumables in a demo build.
Let's say four consumables.

• Fire rate/recharge rate on plasma cannon*
• recharge rate on jumpjets*
• extra damage
• extra HP

*(See how i fix two birds here)

The first two would only require materials, the second two would require extra components from completing the main event. These would then be "high end", so you would use them as little as possible. Since there are only four consumables, no UI for selecting them would be needed and only a basic one for crafting.

Edit; ideally the first two consumables you would go through like candy, incentivizing people to return to the printer often. The second two in addition to extra components, harder to find resources, incentivizing running around scanning the map.

Having a very basic roof over your head, is a very different story, over having no roof over your head.

A rudimentary game system, a basic treadmill, carrot and sink. Make it unlockable and it is a bare bones progression system. Not to be rude....

KISS. That is all.

Show me where i am wrong or inefficient and i will stfu.

 

[Dam13n]

 

[Pandagnome]

 

[Brainy]

It's sad that this is my first (and maybe last) post, but I've been watching these forums the last ~7 years and at this point I had enough. For me the game is past the point of worth waiting for.

 

[Pandagnome]

It's sad that this is my first (and maybe last) post, but I've been watching these forums the last ~7 years and at this point I had enough. For me the game is past the point of worth waiting for.

Maybe can take a break from Em8er and pop by here and then?
Em8er team have a point to make otherwise this will be in the fail pile which i doubt they or the fans want hmm

Losing folks to the lengthy time is one of those things, made me think of parents nothing to do with gaming exactly but how they persevere. As an example a child is developing rather slow in communicating so the parents decide that with all the things they have done it is useless.

So rather than giving up they would look to a specialist such as a speech therapist / cognitive behavioral therapist who would then figure a way to manage, implement small changes and improve the child with the support of parents.

As we cannot expect a change to happen right away with a click of the fingers sadly. So this eventually happens, and we see some changes happening in perhaps a few goes followed up by a long plateau then another improvement and so on.

In terms of Em8er development i think of it that way, there also needs to be accountability from Em8er team to show the results too.

So this Em8er baby is starting to crawl, and then walk, sprint, and finally be driving the big space trucks to follow the hype train!!

 

[Nightallen]

This game needs to show what they are doing with the war, crafting is a secondary concern, skins secondary concern, thumping mechanics secondary concern. Look at Helldivers 2., pure horizontal progression, NO crafting, and they have a game master to shake up the war to keep players engaged. The whole premise of Em8er is a massive planetary war game, but they haven't even given us a glimpse of what the actual war is gonna look like. Get the CORE of the game fleshed out FIRST. If you have good bones its much easier to build secondary systems around it.

 

[Pandagnome]

This game needs to show what they are doing with the war, crafting is a secondary concern, skins secondary concern, thumping mechanics secondary concern. Look at Helldivers 2., pure horizontal progression, NO crafting, and they have a game master to shake up the war to keep players engaged. The whole premise of Em8er is a massive planetary war game, but they haven't even given us a glimpse of what the actual war is gonna look like. Get the CORE of the game fleshed out FIRST. If you have good bones its much easier to build secondary systems around it.

In the demo there is an idea of how the tsihu can be i think there is more to them than just spawning and attacking when protecting our Mek thumper while collecting resources.

I think you have a point because it was fun when the tsihu took over certain base, and having to recapture to maintain our strategic point to keeping to a better tech level etc etc!

This is a good thread to look what is going on.
https://forums.em8er.com/threads/no-zero-days.2380/

At least the demo is back, but like to see new updates where there would be significant changes in its development.

 

[Blackthorne]

A very large test of patience....oh I do miss Firefall....believed in Em8er. Every once in awhile people come through and surprise you, I hope this is one of those times.

 

[Pandagnome]

Every once in awhile people come through and surprise you, I hope this is one of those times.

Me too for a good surprise, not the poopy one's!

 

[Dam13n]

I absolutely agree that a warfront would make for a much more epic experience. I'm simply suggesting that since half the loop is already there, to close it off with as little work from the developers as possible. Hence, just some basic consumables.

It's not like this is wasted dev time either because if down the line a progression system gets added, a consumable system would also probably remain in the game along side it. Em8er is a project by a small team, so finding the shortest route between A and B is advisable.

It's unwise to not try to work with the pieces that are already there and leave things half finished imo.

Since they now moved to a more optimized version of unreal, more NPCs might be possible to create some basic large scale chaos similar to a warfront but leaving half a game system in place and not at least doing something with it is just bad design.

Might also just be my OCD....

 

[Dam13n]

Honestly, in the Amazon warfront zone in Firefall there was a corner of the map where enemies would just keep spawning indefinitely. I think it had like a counter that if an enemy got destroyed, shortly after a new one spawned, creating the illusion of an endless wave.

Didn't serve much purpose but it was fun. XD

(Edit; They kept coming through the melding, making it visually pretty consistent with a never-ending invasion)