https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qBR ... Is6BQ/edit
Q&A With Life Is Feudal Project Lead: Vladimir “Bobik” Piskunov
This Q&A was hosted by House Dagfinn on their teamspeak, this means that some questions are asked where an answer is provided in TS chat, I will provide the figures in regard to the answers provided. This Q&A occurred Wednesday 16th August 2017, The Q&A was Bobik’s Idea as he wished to ask the community some questions, and also answer some questions the community had. There were multiple communities represented here by many long time players of LIF and a more open debate towards the end. The Q&A in its entirety lasted for around 3 hours, so I will have to paraphrase and neaten up some quotes in order to be easy to read and understand. Some parts deemed less important have also been cut.
Introduction:
Rikkarth: Welcome Bobik, And thank you for coming to answer some questions from your community, I think we can all agree that most of us here today are very invested into this game, and its development. And that is why this is a great opportunity for all of us, to be more involved with the development, and to help us, as a community, understand where the what direction life is feudal is taking in the future. I’m sure there are a lot of groups here today being represented, who all have a very different outlooks and opinions in regard to the game.
Bobik: It is good that there are a lot of different people here
Rikkarth: Exactly, I will follow up with a few questions that are quite mandatory to be asked, but after that it will be an open debate, where other members of the community will be free to ask questions. So are you ready ?
Bobik: I am ready, however I would like to also make a quick introduction the main reason I initiated this Q&A is because I would like to ask the community some questions, and I would like to hear your questions too. So, okay let's proceed ! let's start with questions.
Rikkarth: I would like to ask a question now, which is related to the engine of the game, we have already discussed that this game is based on the Torque 3D engine, My question is, have you encountered any limitations with the engine that might be stopping some of your goals with the project ?
Bobik: Yes, a lot, since we started development, you should understand that almost all engines, and Torque 3D is not an exception are designed to create a small scale single-player or multiplayer game, like a shooter, and as we are trying to create an MMO, you will most certainly have to modify it heavily, there are almost no engines out there that are ready to go for an MMO, but if we see any limitations we surpass them, so, when someone says, it is Torque 3D it is true, but, we have modified so much to our liking that it is really our own engine. For example Torque 3D doesn’t allow 64 bit versions by default. We had to create that, we are currently working on a new physics and collision system.
Rikkarth: So, what you are saying, is that any limitations you find you can re-write the code to be able to do these things ?
Bobik: Yes, exactly, that is one of the reasons why we picked Torque 3D, because it is open source, all of the source code is available, in comparison to something like Unity, where a portion of it is closed which is written in C++ which you have to pay to access, whereas this is not our case, we have all access to the source code so we can modify it.
Rikkarth: That is good to hear, that means if you are faced with an obstacle you can always re-write the code in order to get around it.
Bobik: We have faced so many obstacles throughout these years that having to change the code no longer bothers us.
Rikkarth: Okay, so another question is that, in the last Q&A you spoke about the Skillcap that the Q&A is going to have. Then, you said you were going to set it as 400, are you happy with this decision ?
Bobik: That is a very good question, I have no time at the moment to evaluate how the skill cap is affecting players but we have some statistics.
Rikkath: Yes, such as how it affects, the big groups, even the small groups and individual players.
Bobik: Yes, as the system is now, everyone seems to be settling to it and liking it and it is causing no discontent within the community, I like the current skill cap as I feel it is always great when teamplay is promoted, and with a low skillcap it means you need more friends to be able to cover all of the professions. And that is what this MMO is about. I am completely fine with Life is Feudal: Your Own servers having 3000 Skill caps but that was never how it was planned and in the MMO team play should be necessary, it should be a guild based game.
Rikkarth: Yes, it is a controversial topic, whereas a 400 skill cap promotes a lot of interaction between guilds and groups, to people who prefer to play in a small group or alone it is quite debilitating.
Bobik: I would like to ask the community how they feel about this.
Rikkarth: Alright, Brother is here representing the RP community, how do you feel about the skillcap Brother ?
Brother: I’m a big fan of it, on RPClif (A Life is Feudal: Your Own Server) We have always tried to keep the skillcap low keeping in mind the 64 player cap we have had it set to 800 for the past couple years, but we think that makes sense because guilds are smaller on Your Own, whereas on the MMO 400 is perfect.
Bobik: Okay, so guys who can hear us, feel free to write down in chat, do you like the 400 skillcap ? (Answers were around: 95% YES and 5% NO or other suggestions)
Rikkarth: Dragmar, what do you think about the skill cap ?
Dragmar: It feels like 400, and it is being said in chat here, that 400 is good for both PVE and PvP in PvP you’re not able to do any majorly overpowered builds, for PvE it makes you think about how you shape your character, you have to make choices.
Bobik: Okay, I can see in chat here that everyone is in agreement about this.
Rikkarth: I actually have a few more important questions and then we can move on to a more open discussion about the game and its development, an important question that was asked just a few hours ago is, you know that stability is a great concern for the game, do you think it will be possible to have large scale open world combat outside of the instanced battles ?
Bobik: We are working on that a lot, the main thing preventing the kind of stability we desire is the physics system, which we are working on almost every day. (Bobik then showed a small preview of the collision system and player physics)
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSkffjrSAT4&t=0s)
The thing is right now, we are working on optimization and and in the next CBT, you will be at last able to play the Instanced battles, and you will notice that the physics system will probably be different, for example you can push people by moving into them. We expect that these physics changes should increase performance quite noticeably, after we tune it, and stabilize it, we could add something similar to the main world too.
Rikkarth: I’m sure you understand that there are a lot of issues and questions regarding combat. I’m sure you are aware of that, is combat one of your priorities right now ?
Bobik: Yes, right now one of our priorities is weapon balance and to test the physics of weapons, do you want to know what the most crafted weapons are ?
Rikkarth: Yes please !
(Bobik provided a list showing that the most crafted weapon was the Gross Messer, second was Lance, and third was Boar Spear.)
Do you understand the flaws behind these weapons ? such as the fact the boar spear can not be parried ? and how that makes it very overpowered ?
Bobik: Yes, and that will be fixed.
Rikkarth: Okay so my next question is about feedback, and how our information from testing gets to you guys. We know that you have recently introduced Ivan, is he going to be responsible for weapon balance ?
Bobik: (laughing) Yes, Kifit (Ivan) will be a rockstar from now on. I can explain that with our hiring strategy, we are trying to get as many motivated people, who know our game, into the company. (he then goes on to explain how a lot of the staff at BitBox are previous players of the game.Having people like this really helps us.
Rikkarth: So is Kifit (|Ivan) the go-to guy for weapon balance ?
Bobik: No, he is a good point of contact for weapon feedback however there are other people like Tolik who can also be given feedback, it is better to spread the feedback to multiple people. We get a lot of suggestions for example that are not aligned with our vision of the game or they are down the priority list, so having people like these ensures only the most important feedback gets seen to first, and the others are postponed. So to answer your question, we are aware of the combat issues, and they will be fixed.
Rikkarth: I have some questions here regarding new features, Hallegra is asking if there is any plans to increase the detail of the weekly dev blogs ?
Bobik: The short answer is no, we try to keep the weekly devblogs informative and interesting without too much boring info, development takes a long time and there is nothing fancy in day to day development so we try to keep them short and informative.
Rikkarth: Okay so the next question I have is from Agathius it is an interesting question, do you plan on putting anything like Guillotines and Cages in Life is feudal ?
Bobik: (laughing) Yes people are always thinking of ways to possess other players, and do something nasty with them, I think these kind of systems only work if both parties are in agreement. Because if someone is captured and they can’t escape, they will just log off.and it ruins the game for them.
Hordun: Hello, I would like to ask, how much content is there ready to be implemented into the game as soon as your “foundation” is stable ? for example the DayZ developers decided their foundation was not good enough so they redid the game in a different engine and they have a lot of content ready to be introduced when they feel their foundation is stable enough for it, are you in the same position ? do you have a lot of content ready to be implemented however you just are getting the base of the game like the physics system ready first ?
Bobik: We have a foundation in place already, with a lot of content, and as far as content goes you as players are aware of it, there won’t be any surprises, as soon as the game is in a more finished state in regard to the basics will we add more content.
Rikkarth: Okay, so I have a very important Question for you here, when will the game files be encrypted and when will the console be removed as the fact they are not is leading to easy cheating and exploits in the game's current state.
Bobik: The game files will be encrypted soon hopefully, I can not give you a timeframe but hopefully by late september or october.
Rikkarth: I assume you understand a lot of the community is using the “night vision” exploit because they feel the Nights are far too dark and unrealistic and inhibit any kind of work during the night.
Bobik: Yes I understand, let's make a quick poll, who prefers dark and who prefers light ? (Results were around 40% DARK and 60% LIGHT)
Rikkarth: I believe the dark nights can be improved, to make them more playable.
Bobik: There are a lot of different opinions, i think we could just make different weathers which will result in some nights being darker or lighter than others.
Rikkarth: One thing we would like to ask is, are you happy with your progress you have made so far with life Is Feudal ?
Bobik: Yes I am, I am happy with the way the community is right now, and this brings me back to why I first created the game, I didn’t really like what I was playing so set out to create my own game, and I love hearing about how people feel about my game, that is why I asked for this meeting. And since everyone here is a fan of life is feudal I hope you will not hesitate to tell the truth about how you feel about the game and its features.
Beric: Hello, I am just curious as to your plans of in-world content, do you plan on adding anything you have to travel to get ? I am talking in terms of resource distribution or things that make holding territory and warfare more interesting ?
Bobik: Yes, we have the regional system in game which forces you to travel in order to create the high tier armour and weapons, also in the next CBT you will see villages of natives for some PVE content so expect some ambushes.
Beric: That is a great response I thank you for that, but I suppose what i was getting at is some kind of area of interest that people can point out in the chat like zones that people can go to that have things that make people want to fight each other.
Bobik: Yeah we had the idea of landmarks but we decided to scrap it in order to preserve freedom of the map, but we did not want to block some area of the map to people because that would bring its own complications. Of Course that makes the map more dull but I think it is for the best.We will have the native villages in some areas of the map which will attract those that want to PvE.
Dragmar: This was asked in discord before, but I would like you to shed more light on it. Is there anything to stop people declaring war on everyone ? I think your reply to that was that there will be a cost to declaring war, could you elaborate on that cost?
Bobik: I think if people do this they will just be destroyed, I understand what they are doing is to declare war on everyone to negate the alignment loss.but I don’t think it will work out for them.
Dragmar: What people are doing is going to areas of the map, creating a monument and declaring war on everyone so they can go around killing people with no alignment loss, and it is impossible to destroy them because they can just move, monuments are cheap and they can change their guild's name so we cannot find them.
Bobik: Now I understand what you are talking about I am sure we can sort things like this out, there are a lot of options when it comes to dealing with this.
Rikkarth: Do you plan to add crouching?
Bobik: Yes we are planning that. We experimented with few options, but it will take at least few months to actually implement something like that.
Rikkarth: In the last interview you mentioned additional siege equipment like siege ladders and battering rams - are you still planning on adding them?
Bobik: Yes we do. The siege ladders will require the climbing mode, so they are kind of postponed. About the battering rams we still consider them and believe it shouldn’t be that hard to implement them as well, especially after we finish the horse drawn carts.
Rikkarth: Now that you mentioned them - how fast are going those horse drawn carts going to be?
Bobik: They are almost completed, physics are still left, but the gameplay should be done. They should be in tests soon and we will see.
Rikkarth: What is your priority now for the game?
Bobik: (laughing) Well to release it - make it stable and complete.
Rikkarth: For the next like 1-2 months I mean.
Bobik: Well we want to stabilize the current version of MMO and YO of course, because once we fix something gameplay or performance wise in the MMO it will come to YO as well. Also finishing the features we have planned and fixing bug. Current plan is to keep CBT #5 running for as long as needed until we reach a certain a certain level of stability and amount of bugs that is adequate (not game breaking). Then some other phase will follow that we don’t have exact name for - it’s not OBT. All YO owners will be able to join, but that’s not “everyone” (newbie island will be offline, so new players without MMO packs or YO can’t join), so we can’t call it OBT. Right now we (mainly I) also work on monetization techniques and I’m trying to avoid P2W as much as possible.
Bobik: That’s why I wanted to speak with you - to see your vision of the game and how hard/hardcore it is compared to other games, how much do you value it.
Rikkarth: That’s a very good question. Dragmar?
Dragmar: Lol I didn’t play other games as much as this one, I have like 4 000 hours. That kind of speaks for itself. Maybe WoW is close for me, but over like 12 years.
Bobik: Let me try to explain my vision then first. What we try to create here is something like gourmet food in some fancy restaurant in middle of Paris. It might be pricy, but it’s the only place you can taste something like this. There are many other games that act like McDonald's. I understand that I’m subjective, it’s the game of my dreams, but I think it stands out compared to other games - it’s not the type where you get hooked, play some hours and jump to the next game. That’s what I wanted to see if many of you share.
Rikkarth: Yes, it’s clear this is type of game where you invest a lot of time, compared to many others that are more casual where you play some amount of time and don’t come back to them.
Beric: I think it’s like getting to know a new person. At first everything might be fine, but then after investing quite a lot of time you start to notice the small things, all the personal habits you don’t like etc. And that’s the kind of issue we run with LiF - it’s not that we don’t like the game, it’s just that the more you invest the more sensitive you become to the small things. So there isn’t a lot in the game that’s necessarily broken, but lots of polishing can be done to smooth it out.
Hoshiqua: I have a question about the game design. It’s about the realism/immersion and gameplay - kind of Battlefield and Arma question. What type of player are you trying to appeal to?
Bobik: That’s a good question. Our logo with sickle and sword is like the peaceful/RP type of communities (the sickle) together with the PvP/competitive ones (the sword). But when we have to make choices (when gameplay meets realism) for certain features like the bonuses for armor types you mentioned I prefer to go choose the gameplay. But of course we try to to balance both where we can.
Easton: To come back to the vision of the game. I wanted to say that LiF is doing great as a niche product as you said. But we have good foundation for both PvE and PvP, but I believe we lack the depth and the initiative for it - secondary goals for players, landmarks, territory control, stuff like that.
Bobik: I agree with you. If anyone has ideas … I mean everyone has interesting ideas, but if anyone has ideas they consider not that hard to implement feel free to suggest them. Because we try to create a complex world and we can do lots of things, but they all take time and effort, so you can’t do them all. There is never time to implement all players requested features that are not in the initial design - just look at the horse drawn carts. With the players you communicate with and the players you play with, how do you think our game stands out from others ? also, do you think it is worth the money ?
Rikkarth: let’s ask the chat ? what do you guys think ? is it worth it ? (Answers were 95% YES and 5% NO)
Bobik: You must know that we plan to implement an in-game shop which will contain a lot of customizations, and my question is how will you react seeing skins priced at 60-80-100 dollars, the skins are not planned to be sold cheaply, what do you think of that ?
Dragmar: I think the price will be no issue to the hardcore players, and with being a higher price it means less people will buy them which is good due to that meaning the skins will be more exclusive.
Baffle: I think that is fine, but it depends how they work, will they be changeable across multiple servers ? multiple characters ?
Bobik: They will most likely be able to be spread from character to character, but not between the different regions. It will be a multiple use item, you can skin as many sets of armour as you want, and you do not lose it when you die.
Beric: Just in relation to the shop, is it all going to be highly priced items ? or will there be things at the lower end of the spectrum too.
Bobik: Lower prices will be for consumables, such as things to increase the size of your personal claim, and things to increase the capacity of your trading post. This brings me onto another good question, how does everyone feel about a system like “Power Hour” where it gives you a 1 hour boost to skill progression, this item would only be for your account and not tradeable to prevent large guilds buying it for all of its members. It would only be able to be used once every 24 hours.
Dragmar: A lot of people have been saying that an XP boost is definitely Pay to win, but if it is like you are saying now then i don’t really see an issue with it.
Boz: I still think it’s pay to win.
Beric: I think it is kind of refreshing to have something like that, as the level of the grind is so high that being able to have a small boost every now and then would be welcomed.
Marthos: Does adding a system like this not make the food quality bonus redundant ?
Bobik: No, the bonus will stack with your food bonus.
Dragmar: Sharana is asking a good question, what kind of XP bonus are we talking about here ? X2 X3 ?
Bobik: X2 X3 I don’t know yet, but nothing over the top like x10.
Baffle: So, when you say it effects your food bonus how is it ? does it multiply your food bonus or just add on to it ?
Bobik: It multiplies your food bonus, if you have 5 food bonus you will have x10 and if you have x2 you will have x4 and so on
Boz: I think this is still pay to win, pay to win is where someone can pay to gain advancement in game past people who have not payed which is exactly what this is, everyone knows there is a huge race at the start and this could really disturb that.
Easton: That is a good point, so is there a middle ground ? would you consider adding in this boost after the initial settlement stage ? so it does not disturb the “Arms race.”
Dragmar: I think that is a very good idea. At that point there will be nothing to overpowered to gain from it.
Boz: I’d personally buy an XP boost later into the game because it would really help me to create an alternate character and level him up, but you have to be very careful with monetization in the early stage
Brother: While we’re on the subject of monetization, can we discuss alt characters ? In my opinion I feel that would be a great way for you guys to make money I think Alt’s should be more expensive than less expensive.
Bobik: So you think that they should be more expensive ?
Brother: Absolutely
Rikkarth: for example EVE has a very good system to prevent people from abusing alt characters where you have to stop learning a skill on your main character or you have to pay to pay to level up the secondary queue, now that doesn’t solve the problem but it makes it harder to abuse.
Bobik: Yes exactly we just have to minimize the issue.
Marthos: Deadman asks, do you plan on changing the way alignment works ? for example if someone is coming onto your claim with the obvious intent to kill you but you land the first hit on them, you get the alignment loss ?
Bobik: Okay, I understand the question, but it is the same in every game with a system like this, it is too hard to decide who is the bad guy, there is no way we can judge intent in the game, the alignment system will stay how it is in regard to this. What do you think if we were going to add an insurance system for alignment ? you could buy an item that means you don’t lose as many skill points when you die ?
Beric: That would be an instant buy for me.
Hordun: I don’t really agree with that
Bobik: let me explain it, it will not be a major insurance, you will still lose skills when you die you will only be saved a small amount of skill loss.
Beric: I think it’s a great idea, as it helps the PvP side of the game and if it is only a small insurance you still have to be careful.
Bobik: Now we have heard from the PvP side of the playerbase I am really interested in what the PvE guys have to say.
Brother: Can you explain it a little bit more ? so you will have to buy it from the store ?
Bobik: Yes it is purchasable from the store and it will be used for one day only to prevent you losing all of your skills if you die, it will provide maybe a 5,10 or 15 point of skill insurance say if you have 0 alignment you should lose around 10 skill points, but if you have a 5 point insurance you will only lose 5 points.
Marthos: Along those lines, have you maybe thought about instead of making it a reduction across the board, what about insuring one particular skill ?
Bobik: Yes we have thought about that.
Hordun: I am of the firm opinion that, as well as quite a number of people, any kind of Item that gives a benefit to people in game is pay to win and I don’t agree with it, I would much rather pay a subscription fee monthly than have pay to win items in game such as the ones mentioned
Brother: I think we need to find the right balance, because we don’t want you to have to pay to PvP right ? we want people to be able to play without thinking i can’t PvP unless I buy this insurance or these items.
Bobik: The real truth is that subscription games don’t really work in practice, and I don’t think it is a good way around going about monetization.I would like to find the balance where we can make enough money to support our game and at the same time have it so it is enjoyable and not pay to win. We don’t want people to be able to buy an overpowered weapon for example and ruin other peoples game because of it. A lot of nations actually like pay to win games, like korean games and Chinese games.
Rikkarth: (laughing) that is why they stay in korea and china
Baffle: I am fine with a shop, however in my opinion if it is anything more than cosmetic items it will drive me away, and I have played this game for two years.
Bobik: Of Course what I'm saying here doesn’t mean I want to make the game pay to win, I really don’t. We are here for you guys, but we still need to make money to support our servers and keep the game alive.
Hordun: One thing that I think is worth mentioning is with this community, and the game you have built, it is a very, very hardcore game, and then you will have to cater to that audience, the hardcore aspect is what attracts people to this game, and they would hate the fact that people can pay to win, introducing pay to win aspects would have a much more detrimental effect to a community like this than it would on an easy game. Or one that does not require the massive time and effort life is feudal does.
Bobik: I totally agree with that, our audience is more hardcore and less tolerant of pay to win.
Rikkarth: Are you trying to publicise the game a lot yet ? it seems that there is not much publicity surrounding the game.
Bobik: Yes, we are trying very hard to get our game in as many places as possible, the issue with our game is it has so much depth that a journalist or streamer can not get into the game and understand all of its features because they don’t spend the necessary amount of time to actually understand how in depth it is. Which makes making interesting and appealing videos hard for them. We have hired a PR firm and we have tried a lot of classic and not-so classic ways of publicising it, but it is a very niche game, it is very hardcore, and that is its main issue.
Dragmar: Wasn’t there at one point some talk about being able to rent a property in the main city if you want to be a crafter where you can perform your craft in safety ?
Bobik: We are planning a kind of safe zone around the central city where you can rent a house and be safe and craft.
Rikkarth: is there anything else you would like to add before we wrap this up ?
Bobik: You can expect life is feudal your own players in the next wave of testing, if you have anything that you can do to help us publicise the game and share it then that will be much appreciated, not everyone understands this game, and it is a niche game, so we could really do with as much help as possible.
Hordun: I have a few yes/no questions for you here really quickly before we wrap this up, one of them is from TVG grim and he asks will there be more customization for tabards and heraldry in future ?
Bobik: Yes there will be more options in future for heraldry
Hordun: Do you plan on adding any end-game objectives for large guilds to pursue after they have won their wars and don’t have much to do in the way of fighting ?
Bobik: I don’t think wars will ever really end unless a huge force comes and wipes the servers, but we do have some ideas as to what people can do like huge monumental building like temples and stuff, and we have some other ideas in regard to global politics but we haven’t really explored them yet.
Hordun: One more thing, the dev team have mentioned the delay between switching stances in combat to counter the abuse that some combat builds can perform by leaving stance and entering it again do you have any plans to fix this ?
Bobik: Honestly I don’t remember, we had a discussion and decided on how to fix it but I can’t remember at this time.
Hordun: I’m now going to unmute stark so he can ask his question
Stark: My question is essentially, there is a very large community waiting to play when there will be no more wipes.but they don’t know when they can play, what is the difference between early access steam, and open beta access ? and what is the plan for the NA and EU servers.
Bobik: that is a really good question, so, the current plan is to make a wipe at the end of the CBT and the public access will be on the new wiped worlds, later on when we are meant to reach OBT could take a good amount of months. We have an NA server now, we will not be able to start them at the start of this CBT but we will be able to test them and start them soon.
Hordun: We can wrap this up here then, we are going to have to do another Q&A because there are still a lot of questions but unfortunately we don’t have all night, I would like to personally thank you and on behalf of the community I would like to thank you, I can not name a single development team that would come into the teamspeak of an in game guild to discuss the future of the game, so again I thank you for that.
Bobik: And I thank you guys for sharing your opinions and I'm very glad to have spoken to you and hopefully now I understand you better and you understand us better too, It is important to realise there is also an economic aspect of the game and I have seen a lot of games fail because they were unable to sustain themselves and I don't want us to have the same fate.that is why I'm doing everything to keep the game afloat and also keep the vision of the game and the ideas behind the game afloat.
Rikkarth: The game is striving, we are proud of the game and the more you develop the more people you have playing it, we will try to help as best as we can.in its future
Bobik: That is very reassuring. Thank you
Rikkarth: So again I thank you for coming
Bobik: Alright, thank you very much and goodbye
Rikkarth: Goodbye.
