RYZOM FORGE

Level Design group

*Wiedii: Level Design team is currently working on two things: rites and missions.
The "Rites" project, alas, has to wait for the development of new ARK tools so that the ARK team can start writing the script, and give feedbacks on the the methodology and the presentation in the development of other future Rites. It's the "Verdant Heights" Rite which is putting up with early problems. The next 3 ones will progress more quickly. These 3 other Rites are already quite advanced, without progressing for the last few weeks alas (Ptitbill and myself not being available, and waiting for feedbacks from ARK team).
Regarding the Mission part, the "workflow" document (the process and the rules) to write a Mission is under proof-reading. Once validated, this document will be translated, and all the volunteers wanting to join in writing Missions will be welcome... It should be a matter of days.
Ptibill is aslo working on a proposal for a new occupation, but it's just a first draft for now.

<Goki_ET> regarding waiting for feedback, before continueing > please feel free to continue working on the ideas and development for the next rites, the ark team will catch up once the needed tools are ready :)

<talkIRC> question on rites: what type of feedback is needed? testing? i have both a player and GM account on the yubo and would be happy to help with testing.  for missions i await the "workflow" document to know the guide lines.
*Wiedii: For TalkIRC: we're just waiting for he ARK team to start transforming blueprints into ARK scripts, in order to know if our work is matching what they're waiting for, there's nothing to test for now... the tests will be done by the ARK team

<Remigra> was an irc meeting with ptit and co, which was already announced last times? and when will now be inm irc chat? Mean for the creation of missions. Is there something fixed? time and day?
*Wiedii: The LD team includes Ptitbill and myself, and you can find us on this channel, and on #ryzomleveldesign. There has been no meeting for now, since we were waiting for the workflow documlent to be ready. Nothing fixed for now, but it would be a good idea... Since Ptitbill isn't there, I prefer not to give a date, but I'll ask him for us to organise this. But we have first to wait for the workflow document to be validated. We'll write the date on the forum Remigra.


Artists group

<Wiedii> The marauder drill is still on the shelf, with other projects.

*YannK: I got from Cerulean a texture to create a ranger standard-bearer. I'll see if I can make esaily a .shape from it, but I don't master the specific process on 3DSMax. We already have the .shape, it's just a matter of applying the texture, so I'll cheat a bit by using the set-ups of the other standard-bearer (the one of the OP), hoping it'll work. I'll keep you informed.

*YannK: On the other hand, I'm still studying the particles system and since KaizeFx doesn't seem to have time anymore, I can give a try on the effect for a mara teleport.But I need directives from the LD/anims/lore master/designers... 'cause I'm no graphic designer.
*Wiedii: I can help you on this, we'll talk about it in private if you want.
<talkIRC> i spoke with kaizeFX (i was the person to direct him to the forge teams) and it was discussed that a possible animation based on the madness and fear animations was his project plan, i've not seen him in game or on IRC in some time so i have no idea of his progress or if he will return.
<YannK> With a mercurial deposit, we could have continued his work.
talkIRC> The marauder players that we (kaizefx and myself) spoke with about this idea was well liked over-all, the last he had told me he was going to attempt to start then animation with the madness cloud and as that faded and the player "vanished" the fear animation would would fill the location they were. I agree yannk that a central location of all works of this type would help to share the work should a member leave.

*YannK: Finally, I ask again solemnly: could we have a centralised deposit where to put our works (such as a mercurial deposit), it would be much practical.

*Wiedii: More generally, there's a problem with the graphics team. Actually, I believe (but I may be wrong) that there currently isn't really a team, nor dedicated tools.
*YannK: Indeed Wiedii. We've got to use 3DSMax (and an old version, furthermore) and a dedicated plugin, so it's not easy to find volunteers.
<Lyne> *YannK: Supporting pirating is out of the question, so ti restricts, of course. The licence is 3900€, just a reminder.
<Remigra> Is it possible for students to get a 3dsmax lizent, free but limited 3 years I believe.
*Wiedii: It's a bit late, and it probably doesn't affect everyone here, but I think we should discuss the needs, and the organisation, an evening here, on the #ryzomgraphic channel.  We'll speak on #ryzomgraphic about our needs and the organisation we'll install to structure this team.

Remigra> team in matters graphics. Even if I do not get along with 3dsmax. For help when creating icons or textures I am prepared to dds format for each. simply write ingame.
*Wiedii: Ok, thanks Remigra. On short term, we'll always find someone to export to the formats handled by NeL, but in the futur proper plugins to create from free softwares will be necessary, yes... but we'll need voluntary dev to work on it.
*Goki : Mon seul commentaire pour l'instant : les images statiques des organigrammes seraient mieux au format text, pour que ce texte soit sélectionnable.
<wiedii> J'ai à présent un outil pour extraire le contenu texte.
<Lyne> *Goki : Ca sera utile.
<wiedii> ok, je vais essayer de voir pour que ce soit traduit rapidement alors.


Ark team

<Goki_ET> Work is still on going on Ark itself, but the new UI is now much more usable. Work on the Encyclopedia rites will commence as soon as a few key modules are ready (v4 Dialogue mainly). I will prepare the first first rite, so it can be used as an example for others to assist in writing the other rites following.
*Wiedii: Does it mean that the diagrams you receive suit you? Can we continue this rite and the other ones on this way?
<Goki_ET> my only comment for now: static images of the flowcharts would be better in a text format, so that text could be selectable ;)
<wiedii> I have now a tool to extract the text content
<Goki_ET> that will be useful
*Wiedii: Ok, i'll try to see for it to be translated quickly then.

<Goki_ET> For those interested in assisting, the Ark team has been given a small project to work on, which I plan to use to help some learn the basics of ark, and maybe a little fun along the way. The event team has OK'd for us to design and build an automated event for the next Anlor winn - it must still be validated of course. There will be a post on the forums, arrangeing a meeting to start this process, so if anyone wants to take part, get your thinking caps on and keep an eye on the forums for more news.
<talkIRC> sounds like fun, and i'd love to learn ark a little better as well.
<Goki_ET> it is important to say, that spoilers will be inevitable, and for those who take part, to remember to not spoil things for others who'd like to stay surprised, and also to not take advantage of "insider knowledge" once the event goes live.
<talkIRC> possible that there could be a NDA? (non-disclosure agreement) to help prevent spoilers and the like.
<Goki_ET> well, all of the Forge project falls under this general idea really.
<talkIRC> i believe that would be a fair requirement to taking part in the project, given that it will be "open to everyone" perhaps a clause for this should be stated... just a thought.


Dev group

*YannK: Wiedii: if some Dev have time, RC needs people to help setting up / debugging Ryzom Core Studio. It's the tool used to edit the particle system and partly to work on the graphics.

*Wiedii: Does someone have an idea on the need mentionned by YannK: a Blender to NeL plugin ?
YannK: Wiedii: Kaetemi is the one on RC who knows best the pipeling, I believe, and he had proposed to check the feasibility already.  Kaetemi : did you had some time to study the feasability/time needed/ cost of a blender plugin to replace 3DSMax one ?
<Kaetemi> YannK: basic export functionality for static model with texture is half a week work. Add week or two for skeleton plus vertex weight. Add another week or two for a separate nel material editing tool. Then there's a bunch of additional features like multi-res meshes with LOD etc which probably will take about three weeks to get working and debugged etc. Then there's a shitload of support for animations, including material animations, which i cannot put an estimate on. At this point, still missing is static landscape meshes with lightmapping, clustering, and all that stuff.. but that will need a complete overhaul because it also uses 3dsmax as leveleditor currently.. So estimate 2 000 € / week to be safe. :) And you can calculate what it'd cost depending on what feature you need. :)
<Goki_ET> "to be safe" Safe from what?
<Kaetemi> from running out of time and getting a good dev.
<wiedii> Ok, we'll need to study all this, thanks Kaetemi.

<Goki_ET> There is some work by Ulukyn, that hopefully will allow full ai scripts to be applied to event groups without having to define them with primitives. no ETA on that yet, but combined with Ark, it will allow even more cool things :) ie, make a mob do X when its HP goes below Y. etc.


Conclusion

*Wiedii: In any case, if you have questions, proposals or comments, or f you want to take part in the work of a team, don't hesitate to use the official forum, RyzomForge section, or to ask us in tell, throught IRC, or to ask your question/make your comment here on this channel.