4th Beta KAHUNA to kickoff next week

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gm_al
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4th Beta KAHUNA to kickoff next week

Post by gm_al » Tue Apr 27, 2004 5:06 pm

Hey all,

we are aiming to kickoff KAHUNA, the fourth WOK SP beta, around Thursday 6th of May. Signups for the game will be available 24-48 hours before it gets rollin'.

In case of delays we still would aim to get it up by the end of next week.

Lots of changes and bugfixes included in this release (officially called V0.8), stay tuned for more infos. A little teaser.... 4 new skills are coming your way and will make WOK SP even more fun. :P

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Post by Undertaker » Tue Apr 27, 2004 7:02 pm

I'd really like to see a choice of what mutation you want.

BTW for any one interested, BP 6 allows to make 9% instinct, 50 banked turns, and 80 qued orders.
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Post by Dameon » Tue Apr 27, 2004 9:11 pm

More choice in mutations would be good, yes. The one thing that is totally necessary is some kind of vacation/hibernation mode. Also, is this beta going to have a set end turn? I think it would be nice if it did, as strategies will invariably be different and we can find out if some strategies are too powerful. My strategy in Everglades peaked around turn 2000, which is what I was aiming for since that has been discussed as the informal end turn for future games. I'd like to know if this next beta is going to be finite in nature or not before deciding if I am going to sign up.
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Post by Lowebb » Wed Apr 28, 2004 7:48 am

Whats this dameon? "my way or the highway?"

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Post by Mullog » Wed Apr 28, 2004 12:24 pm

The next beta will probably be played on a much smaller map with a limited number of players. So anyone not interested in playing are welcome not to!

Next thursday may be a bit early, but I am doing my best! :D


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Post by Dameon » Wed Apr 28, 2004 1:56 pm

Don't be stupid Ben. I simply stated the two things that I felt would be necessary to have a balanced, fun game. If they don't get put in, no I am not going to play, but that's hardly a "my way or the highway" approach. I don't think anybody should be expected to play if they think they are not going to enjoy themselves.
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Post by Lowebb » Wed Apr 28, 2004 3:50 pm

Fair enough, if you dont enjoy the game dont play. But I remember reading posts about you thought the game was coming on well as few weeks back. Its a beta which will only become balanced and suceed if everyone chips in, (though I personally dont care if you're in or not) but now you say you wont chip unless these rules/changes are applied immediately, I dont remember any discussion about ending the game after 200 turns. I think it was mentioned as a suggestion but nothing more. And anyway, I dont see how by doing things your way makes them instantly better

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Post by GoatHerder » Wed Apr 28, 2004 11:05 pm

My understanding is that the normal time limit is to be 4000 turns (ie. about a month if we stick with the 10 minute turnaround).

Maybe Al could confirm if he wants to put the time limit on the coming game :?:

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Post by Dameon » Thu Apr 29, 2004 2:31 am

I do think the game is coming along well, however, I don't think that I am going to enjoy playing it (or, for that matter, learn anything) if I have to go away for a weekend and have my species starve because of it. That's my biggest issue. I'd LIKE to set a set end-turn, so we can start evaluating strategies and what is too powerful, but that's just a suggestion. Without a hibernation mode though, I'm just not opening myself up to starvation simply becuase I may be without 'net access for a few days.
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Post by Dameon » Sun May 02, 2004 2:26 pm

Aww, how cute. Look Ben, you've got an anonymous friend in cyberspace! This one sounds to be a bit of a coward, although he admittedly does spell better than you. Don't worry, you anonymous little loser, I don't plan on playing in another beta until there's a vacation mode so you don't have to worry about getting your ass kicked by me anytime soon. Of course, the fact that every single tester who posted on the boards asked for one shouldn't mean anything at all to you should it?

Because you seem to be a little on the slow side, let me explain that the purposes of beta testing is to improve the product. I have no doubt that the dev team plans to institute a vacataion/hibernation mode in a future release, since it was in such high demand. The only question is will it be in this release or not? If not, I'll wait until it does show up in a later one. No worries, I'll get around to eating you soon enough if you ever have the guts to give yourself a name. Pathetic.
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Post by korexus » Sun May 02, 2004 4:12 pm

Hmm, who could this mystery guest be?

Anyone want to open up a pool on it? - I have my own theory, but then I also have some unfair advantages in that area...


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Post by Lowebb » Tue May 04, 2004 7:43 am

This really is below you Dameon, you usually dont go for the personal insults, thats me. Whoever guest is (and its not me for those who think it is as I would never go guest to insult dameon, that would mean I wouldnt get the credit fo rit) he certainly has you to a tee Dameon. Yes a lot of ppl asked for vacation mode, and a lot of ppl agreed, including me. No one else said they wouldnt play unless it was included. THAT was YOU Dameon, thats why you're a K.N.O.B. (Did I speel that rigth) :lol:

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Post by Saladin » Tue May 04, 2004 9:55 am

Well i think a mode that allows you to be absent for a while is certainly needed and Al said it would be in there. Without it i don't think i could stand to see my species suffer like last time so i would prefer not to play then. :P
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Post by Dameon » Tue May 04, 2004 2:32 pm

Careful Saladin, you risk being branded a megalomaniac and a "knob" if you agree with me here! You are going to want to watch out for that. Anyway, as Rune has said, they don't need us to beta test. They'd rather just have the players who simply play and never make suggestions, I guess. :roll:
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Post by Egbert » Tue May 04, 2004 2:39 pm

That's why I'm not playing in the betatesting anymore.
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Post by gm_al » Tue May 04, 2004 3:36 pm

It seems you all turned nuts.

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Post by Mullog » Tue May 04, 2004 4:18 pm

Dameon wrote:Careful Saladin, you risk being branded a megalomaniac and a "knob" if you agree with me here! You are going to want to watch out for that. Anyway, as Rune has said, they don't need us to beta test. They'd rather just have the players who simply play and never make suggestions, I guess. :roll:
OY! I never said that! I said that anyone not interested in playing are welcome not to, not that we don't need betatesters.

You are right that we need testers that make suggestions, and if you read the board you will notice that we have received MANY suggestions from MANY players. That is why I said that anyone not interested in playing were welcome not to.
The next beta will be played on a smaller map and thereby with a smaller number of players, so I expect the game to get full quickly. If you are interested in helping us, you are welcome to. If not, you are welcome not to, for we have enough players that are willing!


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Post by Dameon » Tue May 04, 2004 7:56 pm

Al, when you have three of your top beta testers (I make that claim because I know Eg, Sal, and I have all made MANY suggestions) refusing to play in future betas becuse of one issue, I'd say that it's a high indication that it needs to be fixed ASAP. I don't understand why the hibernation mode isn't being included in the beta testing, outside of the three of us who are not playing in the beta test because of it (that I am aware of, there could be more) the majority of the other players wanted it. My guess is you haven't figured out a way to implement it yet, but realistically I believe (and others agree) that until you do the game is fatally flawed. If you intend to introduce a hibernation mode in the future, it will change game balance and issues anyway, so why not just put off the next beta until you are ready to incoroporate it?

Anyway, now that Ben and our mysterious poster have also by default lumped Eg and Sal into the "megalomaniac and knob" category, at least I'm in good company! 8)
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Post by Donut » Tue May 04, 2004 8:47 pm

I know this is off topic and constructive, but I think I'll throw it in anyway :P .

What if we step back and look at the problem again? The problem is people can't keep up with feeding there species unless they log on 4 million times a day. Instead of adding a hibernation feature, why not make it less imparitive to log on so frequently. This is another balance issue, but even when I'm at home and can log on to the game frequently, I don't necessarily want to.

I also think that another reason it was so hard to keep up with feeding was that turns were run every 10 minutes, as compared to 15 minutes in the first Beta. This causes your species to eat more times throughout the day. While it speeds up action in the game, it makes it hard for moderately involved players to live, let alone compete with others. One of our main goals was to make it so that those that log in every 10 minutes would not have an extremely large advantage over the casual player. I don't think that that criteria has been met yet.

Just a few thoughts.

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