Image Designer Archive

Well I had a huge long post written up which prob would have made most eyes glaze over but Lithium ate it. To sum it up it basically Isaid that I've been hard at work lobbying for our various concerns and requests behind the scenes. I won't even tell you how many times I emailed our dev and Runesabre last week because you'd think I was a sadist - I almost said nag but you guys already know that They've both made themselves very available to listen to my concerns and answer my questions, and have spent a great deal of time reading through player feedback for the minipublish in our forum. I've been passing along the more serious bugs that I've felt needed the most attention (for example the hair, outstanding, and slider bugs, several manifestations of which have been squashed), UI issues (one that was fixed was our clothing appearing in default colors), and various concerns (both the top ten stickied at the top of the forum, and things that have come up here and there in our forum discussions). Sometimes I have quoted something one of you said, other times I've pointed the devs at a constructive thread discussing a certain issue (e.g. self stat migration, exp progression, getting kicked out of the game while waiting on a timer, etc). So that's what I said in the post Lithium ate for dinner, the following is all spanking new stuff I've been wanting to share with you

Very shortly after that (late February I believe) I was notified by both Thunderheart and Ood_Bnar (the art director) that a chunk of dev time was going to be scheduled for ID enhancing, and that I would be able to communicate directly with our dev. As Thunderheart posted somewhere at some point, we were to be the guinea pigs for involving a correspondent very early in the process, In Concept in my case. On March 3rd I first got an email from our dev, and he has been just unbelievable. Answering my gazillion questions, listening to my gazillion concerns and suggestions, and always claiming that I was the one helping him The minipublish was not termed a revamp but rather an enhancement. While certain new art content goodies were discussed in the In Concept stage, there was not enough art time to get them done by publish 8. Since then Runesabre has said he hopes to have some of these in the future (such as tattoos, new hairstyles, and 3D facial hair), but right now art and UI resources are tight So basically our dev told me that they wanted to give us as much as they could with the limited resources available. Early on it was known that there was only going to be enough art time for new palettes. Our dev felt bad that it would be the only new art content and came up with the idea of the particle effects presented in an In Devp thread at some point (streaks, fountains, barettes, glitter, etc).

There were times when I wished I didn't know as much as I did Little things here and there that couldn't be squeezed in after all.I wasreally panickingwhen I was notifiedby three different devsthat the UI might not make it in (and this was after it had been announced as In Devp), but instead it was squeezed in a little later and our enhancement release pushed back to minipublish 8.1

I was able to see several tweaks come as a result of my passing on how the community felt about x, y, or z. Our dev looked over our thread on User Interface wishing (actually after he and the UI dev had sat down and written up a list of features, and many things we were asking for were already on the list). He did some makeup research of his own (reading Cosmo hehe) and also told me I could suggest specific colors that had been requested by the community. That's when I started the Palette colors wish list poll I personally begged for more pinks and berries and purples for the makeup palettes I asked if we could get a universal palette but that was nono'd - darn, nohot pinkhumans I begged for particle effects to please be untied from the tent (they were at one point) and that decision was made. Requested that the Twi'lek eyebrow palette be moved from Human hair to Twi'lek lekku pattern color, that was done. I could go on and on, yet at the same time I have to stress thatthe vast majority of the good stuff in our minipublish was conceived by our dev and those who worked with him, and by theirreading of our discussions, polls,and State of the Profession (which was a result of many polls/discussions). Those of you who are active in the community have had a much greater impact than you realize There are things I can think back to and say to myself, "oh yeah that little UI feature was something Sir Voor suggested in his UI focus thread" or "we have Syzygy to thank for the strong representation of green in the makeup palettes"

Back to the present

At this point I'm glad to say that I've gotten far more positivefeedbackabout the minipublish than negative feedback - if we're talking items not volume I've gotten many emails, PM's, and in game tells/emails from both Image Designers and non Image Designers singing the praises of various aspects of the minipublish, as well as of course sharing their concerns about other aspects (timers, difficulty of finding an ID, exp progression, etc). As time goes by our focus has been concentrated more and more on a smaller number of pressingissues (such as stat migration and exp progression) as bugs/issues get knocked out and wish list itemsannounced as having a future(player city tents, tattoos, etc). Those of you who tested the minipublish on TC are particularly aware of how many bugs have been squashed (clothing no longer appears in default colors, several instances of the outstanding offer bug were squashed, the death of the slider defaulting bugs, etc..)

Hope I didn't bore you all to tears Just wanted to sharea littleof what has been going on on my end of things these past few months I can't stress enough how much impact you regular posters have had in making this minipublish a reality My biggest thanks to you and to all of the devs involved in the ID enhancement project /grouphug We did it! Things will only get better for ID

Message Edited by Kwee on 05-21-2004 11:37 PM

Great Post

It's is veryinteresting, and makes me think that if (or should I say when) we get all the stuff that we know they are thinking about giving us (PC tents, particle effects, Tattooes, more hairstyles, etc) that current XP gain may not seem too long for all the stuff MIDs get.

I know someday we will return to have this forum full of constructive interesting threads, likely after one or two issues are fixed, but I most say post like this are going to lead the way.

Thanks Kwee

Thanks for the update, Kwee! I loved reading the history of this mini-publish! Thanks for representing us so well.

Great read and excellent update. I'm sorry you lost your other thoughts to the ever hungry lithium, lets hope it doesn't happen too often.

Oooh... I get the feeling 'Our Dev' is very secretive. /shrug

Anyway... another great job Kwee! I know I've been more 'lurky' than 'active' lately... the fallout from some post-minipub threads seems to have taken it's toll on me. I've taken Tailor to augment my time, and business has picked up a little now (mostly Stat Migrations, ). On top of that, RL has thrown me a few bad ones. I don't know what it is, but my throat is killing me. (I suspect Tonsilitis.. no doctor visit yet Kwee.. I sympathize with you from a few weeks ago!)

It's good to hear that we're still being looked at. And I find it interesting that a point was made to mention this was NOT a revamp. Suspicious, that is, though there's not another ID thing on the long-range radar for a while.. maybe we'll get some new stuff with JtLS...

Anywayz, keep up the good work, Kwee. May the Force be with you!

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Kwee wrote:

Let me take this opportunity to stress once againthat not everything I suggest happens. Some posters seem to be under the impression that if I just tell the devs that a certain group of players aren't happy with something they bow down before me and run off to do my bidding.

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That's not how it works?

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JuJutsu wrote:

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Kwee wrote:

Let me take this opportunity to stress once againthat not everything I suggest happens. Some posters seem to be under the impression that if I just tell the devs that a certain group of players aren't happy with something they bow down before me and run off to do my bidding.

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That's not how it works?

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chrisvb wrote:
I have posted like 3 messages to say how displeased i am... and lo and behold they have been deleted... wow! can't take any critisism? that's not very nice... i had legitimate gripes and I wanted my opinion to be heard. I did not use profanity. Lame =(

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