Usable TME/Aethyra content?
Posted: 12 Aug 2008, 11:37
As you might have noticed there is a TMW fork called Aethyra (formerly The Mana Experiment) which created some new content.
What do you think about backporting some of their content?
I took a quick look at it. These are the changes I found and my opinions about them:
NPC Database:
The Aethyra guys are using the new NPC system, which allows to combine NPCs from other sprites, to replace the NPCs which don't really fit the style of the playerset with sprites combined from the playerset and different recolored equipment and hair sprites. I think this is a quite good idea in most cases. We should think about adopting their NPC database at least partially. The only problem I see is that some NPCs are now easily mistaken for player characters.
New maps:
They also made a few new maps. I am against using them because I would prefer when we from the TMW team retain full control over the world development by directly planning and coordinating any mapping initiatives.
New NPC scripts:
Because Hurnscald is the new starting location on Aethyra most Tulimshar NPCs have been transefred there. I consider this a quite bad idea when we keep Tulimshar as a starting location because I see no reason to have everything but a kitchen sink in every single town.
New monsters:
Aethyra is using recolorations of existing monsters excessively. Too excessively, in my opinion (mushrooms in the desert??). There is also the plant monster from Evol Online (whichs copyright status is still unclear to me) and a strange recolorisation of the fire goblin which is supposed to be a water goblin (looks quite Duck up, IMO). Not much to recycle here.
New equipment:
There are some interesting headgears, but some are quite redundant to me or would never pass our quality standards. There is also the savior plate from another TMW fork which is used regardless of the missing female version. Nevertheless there are a few items which could be considered.
What do you think about backporting some of their content?
I took a quick look at it. These are the changes I found and my opinions about them:
NPC Database:
The Aethyra guys are using the new NPC system, which allows to combine NPCs from other sprites, to replace the NPCs which don't really fit the style of the playerset with sprites combined from the playerset and different recolored equipment and hair sprites. I think this is a quite good idea in most cases. We should think about adopting their NPC database at least partially. The only problem I see is that some NPCs are now easily mistaken for player characters.
New maps:
They also made a few new maps. I am against using them because I would prefer when we from the TMW team retain full control over the world development by directly planning and coordinating any mapping initiatives.
New NPC scripts:
Because Hurnscald is the new starting location on Aethyra most Tulimshar NPCs have been transefred there. I consider this a quite bad idea when we keep Tulimshar as a starting location because I see no reason to have everything but a kitchen sink in every single town.
New monsters:
Aethyra is using recolorations of existing monsters excessively. Too excessively, in my opinion (mushrooms in the desert??). There is also the plant monster from Evol Online (whichs copyright status is still unclear to me) and a strange recolorisation of the fire goblin which is supposed to be a water goblin (looks quite Duck up, IMO). Not much to recycle here.
New equipment:
There are some interesting headgears, but some are quite redundant to me or would never pass our quality standards. There is also the savior plate from another TMW fork which is used regardless of the missing female version. Nevertheless there are a few items which could be considered.