The site is back up now that my internet issues have been sorted out.

If you've read the last several pages of [ This Topic ] on the BYOND forums, then you're probably aware that BYOND is on its last legs. Even if BYOND goes under, development of Terulia can proceed independently. However, that would make it a lot harder to get any sort of exposure/audience other than by word of mouth and paid advertising.

Thus, Terulia needs to go public ASAP because
1) people from BYOND need to know about it before BYOND vanishes, and
2) it might provide a slight boost to BYOND, which could delay the inevitable.

the short list of things that need to be done before Terulia can go public:

1. Many of the turf tiles need to be replaced/improved.
2. The lower part of the HUD needs to be redone.
3. A simple/placeholder version of the planned faction/kingdom system.
4. Prototype kingdom areas and continent.
5. Testing & balancing.

conceptual notes - comments appreciated:

Parties have been removed; they can be re-added if absolutely necessary. They were removed because all members of a faction are considered to be in the same party, and faction relationships will determine who is friend or foe. I'm still deciding what to do about HP/MP indicators on the map - whether to remove them entirely, only show PCs and mercs, to show them for all mobs, or for all mobs in battle mode.

I'm also leaning heavily toward removing levels and making equipment the sole source of stat increases. This would greatly simplify balancing and progression - plus make things like permanent "level gaps" a thing of the past.

things you can do to help:

1. Get the latest BYOND beta build (at the bottom of the page). BYOND makes a tiny bit of ad revenue off of it, but only if you leave ads enabled.
2. Turn off ad blocking on terulia.com and byond.com
3. If you haven't already done so and have a few spare bucks, get a BYOND membership.
4. When Terulia goes public, be active is responding to posts about it here.
5. Terulia dev stuff - for those who are so inclined
6. Test the game; report any problems or suggestions.
7. If you're rolling in cash, consider a donation to support the project via the link in User CP. Hosting this site, old FFO, and the Terulia test server costs about $2/day, and my income right now is practically zero.

comments?

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Sounds interesting, adds more immersion. :D

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Unfortunately, I can't really help with any of that stuff aside from possibly the testing & balancing, but I'll look into the second list.

Also:

I'm also leaning heavily toward removing levels and making equipment the sole source of stat increases. This would greatly simplify balancing and progression - plus make things like permanent "level gaps" a thing of the past.

This sounds good in theory, but I hate fighting over gear.

Though if it were like Borderlands it could be fun. In that game there's a ton of equipment, with a multitude of different weapons. There's your best equipment, but even if someone gets the best drops the others will generally be pretty useful. The only thing that holds it back, in my opinion, is that if you're +/- the target's level by more than 1 you're massively inhibited.

So I guess what I'm saying is, if "good" gear is plentiful and did different things, it would be a lot easier to work with and more fun.

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There will also be enchantments added to your equips as well as in you can enchant them; which gives it more use. :P
It'd be cool if we could try to gem style enchants like on D2.
That helps in someways. :O

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Without parties, how do you know the health of people you want to heal?

I think parties are important because they allow people to group up more easily and see who is playing together easily right after logging in. They also allow you to more easily identify friend from foe on the battlefield.

Even if they were essentially useless from a gameplay perspective, they give people a sense of identity in a small group that I think is important for people to get to know each other and feel at home in an MMO. It's something to think about.

Also, I'm not sure if this is a bug, but left-clicking on a treasure chest brings up a box with the contents of that chest just like right-clicking does, whereas I think it's supposed to pick it up if you left click.



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Have you checked the way "parties" currently work? I think it's MUCH better than the way it used to be, personally.

Also...



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If you're really worried about how Byond is doing, you should focus on making a game that's easily accessible to newbies.

Then you can make later levels and areas as difficult as you want.

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How exactly will development continue if BYOND goes under? Will it still be possible to host games and such

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reply to Hazedreamfreysaraboy:

Yeah, it looks like new developments to the engine are at risk, but everything else (pager, byond.com, hub, etc.) should remain functional.

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