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Feedback of Halloween events

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 3:18 pm
by Yumeroh
Dear players, White Ladies and other freaky pumpkins!

What to say about this fabulous Halloween weekend we had? Forty-eight hours of (almost) non-stop non-role play, forty-eight intense hours of fun shared! Thank you for participating in this weekend of terror and fun!

I will quit my babbling now and come to the point, and reveal one of the biggestt secrets on Atys. Jena is... Damn, wrong page. Ehm, let us talk about what has been going on behind the scenes this past weekend, how we have put this together.

Of course, a big event like this can never be done by one man alone; it is the work of the three teams of Ryzom working together: Dev, CSR and Animation4.

The Dev team worked on the pumpkin hunt. This event, spread over forty-eight hours, gave to the event team the opportunity to organise lots more things.
The events team had free rein, so to speak, to annoy you all day and organise events that had already proven themselves in the five years of Ryzom. But with the latest patch 1.6.0 as you may have noticed, they could make use of several new tools, which offer them countless new possibilities, each more interesting than others.

Right after the reboot starting the events, there was a lot of activity from players, and the events team. They had to work fastIt should be brief, rapid, accurate and monstrous! What better time than Halloween to let rise from the Prime Roots a ghost town, conceived in the twisteds minds of the event team? Event Managers and Game Masters from Aniro, Leanon and Arispotle created three ghost towns on three servers, fictional and fantastic towns that were to be the gathering place for the events of the day and especially night.


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Then the day came, and we were present everywhere at once, playing tricks, renaming players, etc. But the biggest part of Saturday's activities started at 18:00 GMT. There, a division of the tasks between the available Event members and CSRs was needed. Who does what, who is responsible for what, etc... But, since everybody chose his role depending of his affinity, everyone had fun in this little planning: Visiting Atys in locations that normally are inaccessible to players, the recreation of the afternoon with little invasions (and a lot of death...) The highlight were the mini-mek races, which was the first time we used one of the new tools for a large-scale event, on all shards simultaneously!


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Just before the end of the day, a small invasion of Great Kinchers took place in the ghost town, following an invasion of deceptively fluffy and harmless-looking yubos... Gnihihihahahaha!
Now, about the invasion of the capitals just after the shard restart; oh yes, we were a little bit evil. But we're sure you didn't mind this little surprise, right? ;)


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Then there was the pageant of the fictional Battle of the Lake... Stress and coffee were present in copious amounts! First there was the preparation of characters taking part in the battle, and the morning and early afternoon were devoted to their preparation: changing the characters to make them look a few years younger, change their hair, tattoos, rejuvenate them, equip them, craft equipment and jewelry, boost their levels, etc... But the most impressive part was the resurrection of Still Wyler, a symbol for the Saga itself, the first leader of a people to have succumbed to the sadism of the events team. Unfortunately, we sometimes wielded our new and unfamiliar tools somewhat clumsily and which did not do the high levels of stress any good. We presevered however, and when we saw you, players, ready and equipped in large numbers as requested, and playing the game, we renewed our efforts with fresh energy! That is the greatest gift that you have given us this weekend!


Video

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Before concluding this report about this special weekend, here are some details for the curious:

The Dev team works hand in hand with the event team in trying to meet the demands of players and the role-play community of Ryzom. With our latest tools released in patch 1.6.0, the events team have put in place:
  • A ghost town: the burning city, haunted by ghosts and the site of several events. Its construction required about twenty-five minutes per shard as easily as is possible on the ring, and was done by ten people from the Events and CSR team from all three servers working together, using the new commands to create this unique and magical place. This city has been made live without a need for a patch and without the need for a developer.
  • The various invasions: the use of new tools dedicated to the events team has enabled us to create a nice (or sometimes bad ^^) hunt for players. Challenge a horde of evil yubos or goo varinx, which are harmless if you do not tease them. Whether you will defeat all creatures or die yourself, no one knows in advance what will happen or what the event team will do (sometimes, neither to they :p )!
  • Mini-mek races: the use of new web applications permit us to go beyond mere billboards. The start, waypoints and finish were marked by large helixes, each showing a map of the route. Each waypoint has to be passed and interacted with, and this data provides the final ranking. Players can compare their running times with those of their friends. This is obviously just the beginning. The possibilities of such a tool are many: treasure hunts, party poker at the Thesos bar, Miss Atys election... just name it! This application was developed by a volunteer team of PHP in just three days and again, without needing to patch.
  • A battle: the massive use of new tools devoted to entertainment has created NPCs to request them to move from one strategic point to another, running or walking, where they would attack players, enemy NPCs or, more interesting, both! Invasions of kitins, bandits, marauders... confrontation between hostile tribes: anything is possible! In short: The RAID (Real-Time Army Invasion Deployment) is not dead! Long live RAID 2!
To be honest, we did not expect to see so many players getting involved in the pumpkins hunt, racing mini-meks and the great reconstruction on Sunday evening. This is the best reward that we can have. All the hours spent creating web applications and tools for the events team, all the fatigue accumulated in the preparation and execution of these two intense days, all this has found its reward in your presence and your participation.

The Devs will continue to empower your events team to make you enjoy unforgettable moments on Atys, renewing the gaming experience with future patches.

Having seen and understood the feedback we have had from you both in-game and out of game, today we announce that one or more days of events like this weekend are being prepared for the Christmas holidays ( date to be communicated soon(TM)). We have seen that these OOC events broke the routine of Ryzom, and we will use the Christmas season to give you another taste of this!

We wish you a very good game, and look forward to seeing you again, whether it is for Saga role-play events or for OOC festive events like this weekend!

Dev, CSR and Animation4 Ryzom Teams
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If you're in the rankings below, contact a CSR in-game so they give you your reward! ( please come with an empty bag )

Top 3 pumpkins hunters of all servers:
  1. Karu on Arispotle with 1337 pumpkins
  2. Tikki on Aniro with 1165 pumpkins
  3. Solaya on Leanon with 1120 pumpkins
Arispotle Server (English):
  1. Karu 1337 with pumpkins
  2. Njuu with 860 pumpkins
  3. Ricke with 801 pumpkins
  4. Aeralin with 764 pumpkins
  5. Rustayn with 673 pumpkins
  6. Sweetmarie with 666 pumpkins
  7. Tarquynn with 631 pumpkins
  8. Prosidio with 620 pumpkins
  9. Deadelf with 613 pumpkins
  10. Norbdrakon with 612 pumpkins

Re: Feedback of Halloween events

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 4:38 pm
by neniti
Yumeroh wrote:If you're in the rankings below, contact a CSR in-game so they give you your reward! ( please come with an empty bag )
i really enjoyed the pumpkin hunt and did not do it for reward. if at all possible, then move everyone up in one place please.

edit: reworded a bit

Re: Feedback of Halloween events

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 7:57 pm
by katriell
Karu wins the internet with his 1337 pumpkins. :p

Re: Feedback of Halloween events

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 8:13 pm
by ajsuk
I thought that was quite amusing too.

Re: Feedback of Halloween events

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 8:40 pm
by killgore
Make Karu take her prize. This way if she really doesn't want it she can give it to me :)

Re: Feedback of Halloween events

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 9:57 pm
by inifuss
Karu like me better Kil.. she can give it to me!!

*sneaks Karu 4 dozen cookies*

Re: Feedback of Halloween events

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 10:06 pm
by bgraz
I have not really had time to do much of anything but work at work and around the house and do what I can with the kids here, but I do stay subbed so that I can support the place that did give me countless days/hours of fun and enjoyment when I did have time. I'm also not the most tech savvy guy or big gamer out there, but from the looks of what you described here about this event(I wasn't able to attend unfortunately) It looks like a successful test of things to come to make this game what everyone dreamed of for years.

I'm posting here to say thank you to everyone working so hard behind the scenes to try and make this great world a success for many other to enjoy. I hope that not only you guys turn your dreams into reality here for the benefit of all of us , but that I get the time to actually enjoy it :D

Again just a simple thank you for all your hard work!!

Re: Feedback of Halloween events

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2009 10:06 pm
by cielchan
*Big Innocent Eyes at Karu* :rolleyes:

Re: Feedback of Halloween events

Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 7:28 pm
by kalindra
I love those events ! And it's amazing that the Animation team is being given such great tools just for the sake of entertaining us. I really look forward to the future events.

The historical re-enactment was a big confusing mess, but it was also a test of new features. I'm sure the devs will learn a lot from that experiment. Of course we were used as lab yubos, but it can only serve the progress of our beloved game. You can't expect people to never screw up. **** happens. Trial and many, many, mistakes is what allows us, homins, to discover new solutions and alternatives, it's what allows any developper to find a way to make the game better.

The people behind the scenes aren't perfect beings that never make any mistakes, but we know for sure that they work very hard and care a lot to make Ryzom even better. They also seem to be ready to innovate and take a lot of risks to make it even more unique.

I only wish I had more time to log on and play. :(