Reference:2006-06-03 Mark "Chogon" DeForest Town Hall 2

(06/03 22:02:51) Chat.log started...
(06/03 22:02:57) Sam Byard: hi vortymax
(06/03 22:03:02) Sam Byard: hi chogon
(06/03 22:03:06) Darryl Pogue: welcome back Chogon
(06/03 22:03:20) DRCLeri1: Heya, Mark
(06/03 22:03:23) Sam Byard shhhhh
(06/03 22:03:42) DRCLVortmax1: Forgive me for being late, and welcome Mark!
(06/03 22:04:07) Chogon: nice cones!
(06/03 22:04:15) vid: :D
(06/03 22:04:18) Aloys: Hi Mark
(06/03 22:04:19) Chogon: hi all
(06/03 22:04:20) DRCLVortmax1: Please remember to hold your questions until you've been called. PM me if you have a question, and I will add you to the list.
(06/03 22:04:46) Chogon: we ready then?
(06/03 22:04:51) DRCLeri1: Vortmax is going to keep the queue, I'll give him the names I already have
(06/03 22:05:10) Toria: question
(06/03 22:05:11) DRCLeri1: Ready to go. What don't you tell us a bit about yourself
(06/03 22:05:21) Chogon: ok
(06/03 22:06:04) Chogon: I started at Cyan more than 11 years ago. My first assignment was to port Manhole Masterpiece to the PC
(06/03 22:07:24) Chogon: After that I worked on Riven, mostly special effects such as the moving water and the fireflies in the jungle. I also worked with Sunsoft in porting Riven.
(06/03 22:08:20) Chogon: After that I started working on the Color Osmo, that has not seen the light of a release... but was interrupted by DIRT (D'ni In RealTime)
(06/03 22:10:12) Chogon: Then after we aquired the programmers from Headspin, I worked mostly on gameplay programming and adding pyhton to the plasma engine
(06/03 22:11:56) Chogon: Then after Uru was finished, Brice (the previous CTO) left the company, then I took over as CTO. I managed the tech team for the Uru expansion packs and Myst 5 and for now Uru Live
(06/03 22:12:39) Chogon: That's it in a nutshell. Now on to the dirt.
(06/03 22:12:51) DRCLeri1: did you get any questions emailed to you?
(06/03 22:13:05) Chogon: Only one.
(06/03 22:13:23) Chogon: A clarification about the Beta testers.
(06/03 22:14:08) Chogon: I had said this morning that the first set of beta testers have already been chosen. That is not exactly true.
(06/03 22:14:52) Chogon: We had discussed who should be in the first group but had not "officially chosen" anyone yet
(06/03 22:15:32) DRCLVortmax1: Do you have anything else you didn't get to cover this morning?
(06/03 22:16:02) Chogon: So, if you haven't got the call yet, that doesn't mean anything yet. And if you don't get in the first group , you will probably get in the following groups
(06/03 22:16:20) Chogon: yes. a few more things
(06/03 22:16:49) DRCLVortmax1: Allright, let's hear a bit about that then :)
(06/03 22:16:56) Toria: how are the physics improvements going to affect gameplay with multiple players? It is the plasma 1.2 engine correct?/sit
(06/03 22:17:15) DRCLVortmax1: Please hold your questions for a bit. (I think that was a goof, but it's a good reminder :) )
(06/03 22:17:37) Chogon: Fan based fixes in Until Uru has been a great blessing because we (Cyan) have been working on Uru Live and have not had time to make fixes to UU
(06/03 22:18:39) Chogon: These fixes were done by a very talented and dedicated group (I put them through the wringer at times (sorry)).
(06/03 22:19:19) Chogon: But I hope it was a good experience for them, I know it was for me. And they should be proud of their work.
(06/03 22:19:50) DRCLVortmax1: A big thanks to our community bug-fixers!
(06/03 22:20:09) Chogon: BTW, I gave all the python fixes to one of the pyhton coders and he is applying what makes sense to Uru Live
(06/03 22:20:54) Chogon: Now some stuff on Age creation
(06/03 22:21:13) Sam Byard: rewording the question i was going to ask but does anyone know yet if they are in the first set of testers, and if not any idea when they will ? Sorry about the off topic question
(06/03 22:21:18) Sam Byard: DAMN
(06/03 22:21:21) Sam Byard: sorry
(06/03 22:21:27) Sam Byard shuts up
(06/03 22:21:28) DRCLVortmax1: It's okay :)
(06/03 22:21:52) Chogon: Creating Ages is a very difficult task, even for those here at Cyan that have all the tools and be able to walk down the hall to talk to the person that create the tool or feature
(06/03 22:23:52) Chogon: In the beginning of Uru Live, it is going to be difficult for fans to create Ages. It will take some intimate knowledge of the plasma engine and use of undocumented tools and features.
(06/03 22:25:07) Chogon: Hopefully, as time goes on and with the help of fan tool makers, fan Age creation can become more accessible to more people. But in the meantime, Age writers will have to reply on the skills of many people.
(06/03 22:25:31) Chogon: Ok, ready for questions
(06/03 22:25:47) DRCLVortmax1: Okay, just a reminder, PLEASE hold your questions until I call on you
(06/03 22:25:51) DRCLVortmax1: Sam Byard, you're up first!
(06/03 22:25:55) Sam Byard: rewording the question i was going to ask but does anyone know yet if they are in the first set of testers, and if not any idea when they will ? Sorry about the off topic question.
(06/03 22:26:44) Chogon: I don't think any of the beta testers have been contacted yet (that is a question for GreyDragon)
(06/03 22:27:07) Chogon: Hopefully, the first set will get contacted in a month.
(06/03 22:27:12) Chogon: next
(06/03 22:27:25) DRCLVortmax1: Toria! Your turn to Ask a Cyantist!
(06/03 22:29:27) DRCLVortmax1: I fear we've lost Toria. Here's one from vid: It's been stated before that Cyan wants us to get to the heart of the community faster... Does this mean we'll be starting off in D'ni right away?
(06/03 22:31:15) Chogon: Hmmm. Not sure I'm suppose to tell. They key thing is that you don't start in the Cleft. If two people joined Uru Live together, it might be some time before they see each other. We wanted to make that meeting easier.
(06/03 22:31:34) Chogon: next
(06/03 22:31:39) Darryl Pogue: You have said that fan Ages will be a part of Uru Live, but what about implementations to add fan Ages to Until Uru shards? What about things like Alcugs and the Volcano Project? Will those be allowed to continue, or will they be rendered obsolete by Uru Live? Also, is there any chance of Cyan release Plasma source code? Many of us would like a Plasma API to work from.
(06/03 22:32:23) Chogon: so many questions.
(06/03 22:32:43) DRCLeri1: please wait to be called on, too
(06/03 22:33:25) DRCLVortmax1: Well Chogon, just answer what you can, I suppose :)
(06/03 22:33:39) Chogon: I don't know what the future holds for both Uru Live and Alcogs and the Volcano project. But I really think that we will have to work together with them to bring about fan based ages in Uru Live
(06/03 22:34:08) DRCLVortmax1: A question from Toria: Will the new physics engine help the multiplayer aspect of the game? Is it the plasma 1.2 engine that's being used?
(06/03 22:34:12) DRCLVortmax1: oops!
(06/03 22:34:21) DRCLVortmax1 screws up too :(
(06/03 22:35:05) Chogon: The plasma engine source code will not be able to be released. There are still future projects (beyond Uru Live) that portions of it will be used for.
(06/03 22:35:54) Chogon: The physics engine is not what was used in Plasma 1 (realMYST), which in all truth was not a real physics engine.
(06/03 22:36:38) Chogon: The hope is that some things will help with this new physics engine, but it is more about licensing.
(06/03 22:37:13) Chogon: next
(06/03 22:37:25) DRCLVortmax1: Mystical Explorer, it's your turn!
(06/03 22:37:30) Mystical Explorer: What will happen to those ages that we have been working on in Blender and the fan-plugin? Will there be a way to incorperate those ages without redoing them?
(06/03 20:38:43) Chogon: We will definitely have to have some way to convert those Ages. Not sure what that is yet. But those early fan Ages are important.
(06/03 22:41:40) Kero: Not sure you can answer this - will we see all the Ages from URU CC ported to the new Live plasma engine? And might we see the 3D Ages from RealMyst in the future?
(06/03 22:42:51) Chogon: Yes for CC Ages on Uru Live. Not sure when they will be ready, probably sometime after launch
(06/03 22:45:53) DRCLeri1: darn Bahro
(06/03 22:46:00) DRCLVortmax1: Looks like we lost Mark again.....
(06/03 22:46:07) DRCLVortmax1: GAH!!
(06/03 22:46:16) DRCLVortmax1: BRB anyway, must get on the list
(06/03 22:47:37) Darryl Pogue: looks like Chogon crashed out too
(06/03 22:48:16) DRCLVortmax1: I have a question for when he gets back: Will this problem with crashes be solved in Live? :D
(06/03 22:48:36) Darryl Pogue: good one
(06/03 22:48:38) DRCLeri1: back ! Back you orange menace!
(06/03 22:48:56) DRCLeri1: who didn't appease the Great Cone?
(06/03 22:49:16) DRCLVortmax1: WB Mark :)
(06/03 22:49:32) Chogon: I'm back. Crashed (blush)
(06/03 22:49:39) DRCLeri1: where were we?
(06/03 22:49:45) DRCLVortmax1: We got your answer on CC Ages. Any news on RealMyst Ages?
(06/03 22:50:04) Chogon: oh, yeah.
(06/03 22:50:44) Chogon: The CC Ages are being worked on for Uru Live, there are some multiplayer issues, both technical and design wise
(06/03 22:51:24) Chogon: Not sure about using realMYST ages. They were created with the Plasma 1 engine that is very different than 2.
(06/03 22:51:56) Chogon: We did bring Myst Island forward to Myst 5.... it was a lot of work.
(06/03 22:52:26) Chogon: Any more questions?
(06/03 22:52:40) DRCLVortmax1: Eleri?
(06/03 22:52:45) DRCLeri1: are there plans to improve or modify avatar creation at all, like more options for faces and body shapes?
(06/03 22:53:36) Chogon: Yes. We want to add more options for launch. But in the future we want to make the avatar a lot more customizable, such as mood.
(06/03 22:53:53) Chogon: next
(06/03 22:53:55) Darryl Pogue: So the tools that you are planning to release, will they include any documentation of the Plasma engine? There are still a lot of Classes that we don't know about, mainly the awful typeless ones not based on plCreatable.
(06/03 22:55:00) Darryl Pogue: Any file format specifications?
(06/03 22:55:24) Chogon: If we release the Plasma tools, they will be mostly undocumented at first. We will need to have some way of transfer information to the fan tool creators, I'm just not sure what that mechanism is yet
(06/03 22:56:22) Chogon: File formats will be difficult to explain without the source code. The export modules share code with the runtime, to make it easy to maintain both sides at once.
(06/03 22:56:54) Chogon: And of course, secure files and encryptions won't be told. Heh, heh
(06/03 22:57:09) DRCLeri1: lol
(06/03 22:57:19) DRCLVortmax1: Naturally :)
(06/03 22:57:26) Chogon: next
(06/03 22:57:34) Sam Byard: how many new ages have already been added into URU Live which we have not seen and how many more do you anticipate by release ? PS: I dont understand a word of the last question :)
(06/03 22:57:58) Sam Byard: :)
(06/03 22:59:01) GirlChair waves
(06/03 22:59:39) Chogon: Can't tell you exactly how many. But there will be a few. Then after launch there should be a pipeline of Ages coming out. Sorry, I can't give any more detail than that.
(06/03 22:59:54) Sam Byard: thank you :)
(06/03 23:00:06) DRCLeri1: We've got a day set aside to talk about the pipeline in the future :)
(06/03 23:00:16) Chogon: cool
(06/03 23:00:18) DRCLVortmax1: Okay, one last question from me then: Any chance this crashing problem will be solved with Uru Live? :)
(06/03 23:00:52) Chogon: I certainly hope so. And it will be up to the Beta testers to help us find them.
(06/03 23:01:01) DRCLeri1: lol
(06/03 23:01:10) DRCLVortmax1: Well let me in already! :D
(06/03 23:01:26) DRCLeri1: Anything else you'd like us to know, Mark?
(06/03 23:01:27) Chogon: The Until Uru code is two years old (with no updates). That's a lifetime in the software industry
(06/03 23:01:27) DRCLVortmax1: Can explorers send you more questions, if they have them?
(06/03 23:02:22) Chogon: Sure they can send me email at markd@cyan.com
(06/03 23:02:30) Darryl Pogue: Thank you Mark for taking the time to answer our questions.
(06/03 23:02:36) DRCLeri1 claps her hands
(06/03 23:02:37) Sam Byard: and thats why we love cyan
(06/03 23:02:40) gwynhwyvar claps her hands
(06/03 23:02:40) Sam Byard claps his hands
(06/03 23:02:41) DRCLVortmax1: Right, well, this is the end of our meeting, and I'd like to than Mark for all of us :)
(06/03 23:02:43) Chogon: It was fun!
(06/03 23:02:51) DRCLVortmax1: Keep up the great work! :)
(06/03 23:02:54) Darryl Pogue claps his hands
(06/03 23:02:57) DRCLVortmax1 claps his hands
(06/03 23:03:02) gwynhwyvar cheers
(06/03 23:03:03) DRCLeri1: yes, thanks for taking a chunk of your day to answer questions
(06/03 23:03:12) Sam Byard: chogon you gotta get something to stop those pesky bahro covering us in linking errors
(06/03 23:03:15) Chogon: no problemo
(06/03 23:03:17) Sam Byard: :)
(06/03 23:03:26) Sam Byard: thanks a lot chogon
(06/03 23:03:39) gwynhwyvar: Thanks!
(06/03 23:03:43) Chogon: see y'all later
(06/03 23:03:46) DRCLVortmax1: And thanks to all of you for coming (including those who crashed out)
(06/03 23:03:52) Chogon waves
(06/03 23:03:58) DRCLVortmax1: Have a great night!
(06/03 23:04:32) gwynhwyvar: Wow, who's left standing!
(06/03 23:04:35) DRCLVortmax1: Hopefully we'll have the log from this meeting up tomorrow. It'll take a bit longer, having to piece a few logs together
(06/03 23:04:46) DRCLVortmax1: But it should be available soon!
(06/03 23:05:03) DRCLVortmax1: Check our site at www.mystembassy.net/drcliaisons/ for all the latest info!
(06/03 23:05:47) gwynhwyvar: Thx Vort and Eleri!
(06/03 23:06:08) Sam Byard: i'm gonna go to bed
(06/03 23:06:18) Sam Byard: i'm in GMT
(06/03 23:06:21) Sam Byard: :)
(06/03 23:06:28) Sam Byard: well GMT+1 really
(06/03 23:06:37) Darryl Pogue: Chatlog is up at COBBS
(06/03 23:06:40) DRCLVortmax1: Heh, pretty late for you. Sleep well, and thanks for coming
(06/03 23:06:51) Darryl Pogue: I'll put it up on AgeBuilder and Alcugs in a minute
(06/03 23:06:51) Sam Byard: thanks for the meeting liasons 3 cheers !!!
(06/03 23:06:55) DRCLVortmax1 waves
(06/03 23:06:56) Sam Byard cheers
(06/03 23:06:58) Sam Byard cheers
(06/03 23:07:01) Sam Byard cheers
(06/03 23:07:08) gwynhwyvar cheers
(06/03 23:07:13) Darryl Pogue cheers
(06/03 23:07:13) DRCLeri1: you're welcome, everybuggy! These are fun to do