[Cuppycake] Thank you for coming to our first ever Metaplace developer chat! I am your host today, Areae's community manager, Tami Baribeau.
[Cuppycake] Joining us is all/most of our development team on Metaplace.
[Cuppycake] We're going to go through some introductions.
[Raph] I'm Raph... Hello everyone. I am president here at MP.
[Thor] Hi everyone, Thor Alexander pooducer here!
[sean] Hello, I am Sean Riley, the lead programmer
[metaskiv][--- skiv, art director, mp
[john] Hi there, I'm John, I'm VP production
[dorian] Dorian, server programmer :)
[claire] I'm Claire, the office manager. :)
[sean] read my book!
[Jason] hi everyone - I do Bus Dev here at MP
[mike] Hiya, mike here, client+server programming
[Thor] mine too!
[sunetos] Adam, Web Tools / Flash developer
[john] Sean Riley, Game Programming in Python
[Thor] both of them!
[allaryin] Ammon, server admin, occasional flash
[john] Of course, we didn't use python for everything
[john] But otherwise, I hear it's a great book!
[allaryin] python for anything, you mean
Raph rolls his eyes.
[m3mnoch] heh. and i'm christopher chapman. i'm a web developer guy.
[JohnnyAndThePug] I'm Johnny keeper of the magic coffee pot, content developer. AKA HelperMonkey
[Cuppycake] Right now we are currently in an alpha stage, and we're interested in talking with everyone and hearing what kinds of questions you might have about Metaplace!
[Cuppycake] To ask a question of our team, please type "/tell Dorian insert question here" without the quotes, and inserting your own question ;)
[Cuppycake] Please note we will not have time to get to everyone's questions, but we will be saving the questions in an effort to get them answered on our forums or on our weekly blog.
[Cuppycake] So, here it is - this is the Metaplace client =)
[Raph] (in alpha)
[john] (and just running a chat world)
[dorian] I'm not going to be able to respond to each private question, but I'll be passing them on to be answered by the team publicly.
[Raph] You are the first members of the public to touch Metaplace :)
[Cuppycake] We will be saving this log and posting it on our website within the next couple of days, so if you leave early, we understand!
[Cuppycake] Okay, let's get started with our first question!
[Raph] Correct, moreGrease
[Cuppycake] The first question - Will Metaplace support Unicode?
[Raph] OK, questions are starting, so if everyone could stop chatting, that would be helpful :) We're rather not moderate the room
[Cuppycake] Because clearly I cannot figure out how to not use Unicode, heh.
[dorian] At the moment, (as you can probably see), unicode/UTF8 is not supported, but unicode will of course be necessary for any sort of international support.
[dorian] So naturally, it is a very important goal for us.
[Cuppycake] Next question - when can we expect Metaplace to reach beta phase?
[Raph] The date for beta is basically dependent on how the testing goes
[Raph] Our goal was to have users logging into an MP world in February
[Raph] Today is only Jan 31st, so we beat that by a day, except in Europe :)
[Raph] We're still in alpha, and we're really basing moving through the stages based on tester feedback. The goal is spring for broader public testing
[Raph] But if our testers say no, not yet, well, then, not yet :)
[Cuppycake] How soon can we expect other interviews with major (gaming) publications?
[Raph] I believe there is a PC Gamer UK interview pending -- might be on the street now
[Raph] I don't think we have mor ein the pipe just yet
[Cuppycake] Can you tell us about graphics in the 2.5d isometric. How easy will it be to add new anims and clothing for characters/objects?
[sean] There is a layering system for character customization that lets you setup configurations in data
[sean] It is a programmery task to setup new "skeletons", but once done, it's pretty easy to add new items and styles
[Cuppycake] While it is simple, how long did this particular chat client take to create?
[john] What you see here is relatively complex actually. We'll give you a demo of some of the features later in the chat.
[john] But the basics of this chat world with the user list, input bar, and chat room list was about 6 hours of work or so
[john] Of course, I exported this as a module, which means that any world can use this code, and many do
[john] So now all worlds can have a chat system in them if they want, or they can still make their own.
[Cuppycake] Will it be possible to switch from isometric to top down views, mid-game? Example: Flying around in a 'ship' is top-down. When you leave the 'ship', the game switches to Isomorphic for walking around an air
[dorian] Each place in a world can define it's own view types, angles, etc. So yes. It's entirely possible to support top-down and isometric within the same world.
[Cuppycake] What stylesheets will be included at launch?
[Raph] The blunt answer: we don't know :)
[Raph] It depends on what we get dnoe, what testers build...
[Raph] For sure there will be simple social world, some arcade games, puzzle games, some RPG pieces
[Raph] But stylesheet and module building is basically a neverending task...
[Raph] One whch we are looking forward to having all of you help on. ;)
[Raph] If there are particular ones people want, certainly please do discuss them in the forums.
[Cuppycake] Will there be a audio/video streaming module? for streaming music in world, etc.
[john] so this is a good chance for a demo
[john] And this demo may break everything
[john] So, if it does break everything, please give us a couple minutes and come back. :)
[john] So one of the cool things about the metaplace server is that it is also a web server. It can do web requests.
[Raph] Web CLIENT and web server
[john] I put a few basic ones in, and one of alpha testers, Crwth, built us a bunch more too
[john] Let me give you an example
[Raph] three cheers for Crwth. ;)
[john] Let's say I want a quote of apple stock
john's quote request:
QuoteRSS.com: AAPL: 135.36 at 4:00pm 1/31/2008
[john] There's a real time quote from quote.com
[john] Or maybe I want the definition of a word. . . .
Thor's quote request:
QuoteRSS.com: GOOG: 564.30 at 4:00pm 1/31/2008
john's definition request:
fun adj : providing enjoyment; pleasantly entertaining; "an amusing speaker"; "a diverting story"; "a fun thing to do" [syn: {amusing}, {amusive}, {diverting}, {fun(a)}] n 1: activities that are enjoyable or amusing; "I do it for the fun of it"; "he is fun to have around" [syn: {merriment}, {playfulness}] 2: verbal wit (often at another's expense but not to be taken seriously); "he became a figure of fun" [syn: {play}, {sport}] 3: violent and excited activity; "she asked for money
[john] Crwth added translation
sean's weather request:
Conditions for San Diego, CA at 4:51 pm PST
Currently: Mostly Cloudy, 58 F
thu - partly cloudy. high: 62 low: 46 fri - mostly sunny. high: 58 low: 48
[john] Here it is requesting translation from babble fish
[john] c'est une grande démo
[Raph] I remember back when we worked on UO, we had to integrate that library into the client...
[Raph] Here, what you do is set the language pair, and use one command, or even set it to autotranslate
[Raph] And it fetches the result from the web service...
[john] So one of them we made public, which may or may not work
[john] And it may also break everyone in the process.
[john] So here's the part where I apologize if it breaks for everyone, or if it doesn't work for anyone
[john] We also put in youtube video searching
[john] So you might be able to type /video cat funny
[john] And you will search for funny cat videos
[john] Then you can click on one of them and see it.
[john] And that is a very long answer to "Will there be streaming audio and video"
[john] The answer is "yep"
[john] Did it work for anyone?
[stuff (Guest100052) ] yes it worked
[acius] It's slow but still here
[rboehme (Guest100020) ] works for me
[mjayg (Guest100086) ] Busy watching funny cat video.
[john] Great. :)
[Arcturus] Working smoothly here :)
Raph breathes a big sigh of relief. Alpha, you know..
Searching youtube ...
[Eolirin (Guest100087) ] Works for me.
[Eolirin (Guest100087) ] That's neat.
[john] You type "/video cat funny"
[john] And you tell me if it works. :)
[Forsaken (Guest100019) ] works in FF2
[Rococo (Guest100009) ] (the MP client is using 100% CPU so it's killing everything else)
[seth (Guest100091) ] worked for me
[MoreGrease (Guest100033) ] aha
[Wes (Guest100057) ] aha, typing it in it works fine. not even too laggy.
[john] But it's particularly powerful, because when it works, you can use web services from anywhere
[MoreGrease (Guest100033) ] i see cats, john is a genius.
[acius] On the upside, the world didn't crash ^_^
[feedingchange (Guest100036) ] working here on firefox - that is one scared cat
[Cuppycake] Okay, back to questions =)
[Cuppycake] Can we embed our worlds whereever we want? Can we host them whereever we want?
[Raph] Oh -- to be clear, you HAVE to type it in locally. We did not broadcast it to everyone!
[Raph] This Flash client will eventually be embeddable anywhere
[Arrakiv (Guest100059) ] Oh. It worked
[Raph] We'll supply a handy Javascript container that will include the Flash client
[Raph] And we have tested it on Wordpress and on Facebook already
[Cuppycake] Are tools, editor or anything else technically limited in the free-version?
[Raph] So, honestly -- we don't know yet.
[Raph] We do have to make money.
[Raph] Where exactly the line will be drawn, we're not entirely sure, and anything I tell you would be subject to change anyway
[Raph] For sure, of course, we can't host incredibly expensive worlds for free, for example
[Raph] Hang on everyone... believe me, we have thought about all those business models and more. :)
[Raph] Honestly, it is going to depend on stuff like doing this sort of stress test, figuring out how much each of you cost to have as players,
[Raph] how much worlds cost, and so on... lets of math to do :)
[john] lots of math, that is
[Raph] Lots of variables to consider :)
[Raph] So we just aren't ready to commit to anything yet. :) Again, suggestions and followups are probably best put on the forums
[Cuppycake] I'm trying to envisage some really cool applications by running two (or more) worlds as web services that pass info back and forth so that what happens in one affects what happens in another.
[dorian] This is actually entirely possible, and encouraged. Game worlds can interface with each other both outgoing and incoming, allowing worlds to speak to one another in arbitrary formats and with whatever functionality you define.
[sean] its like the web.
[Cuppycake] Will there be ways to advertise on the Areae portal, have some kind of favorite games dashboard or maybe show the top 5 games being played?
[m3mnoch] yep. there sure are. we are surfacing top worlds by ratings and viewed and populated and such.
[m3mnoch] yep. there sure are. we are surfacing top worlds by ratings and viewed and populated and such.
[m3mnoch] just like a youtube/kongregate type thing.
[Cuppycake] While aimed primarily at games, is there intention for metaplace to be used for a lot more (e.g. chat, educational, etc)?
[Raph] Yes, definitely
[Raph] We already have one graduate class at a major university using Metaplace in their coursework
[Raph] And we expect there to be many other applications both socal and serious.
[Raph] er, social
infinate loops, or otherwise rogue scripts?
[sean] the back-end code (that is written in lua) runs inside a sandbox
[sean] this allows us to monitor and protect user code from users.
[sean] it is quite possible to write an infinite loop, but the sandbox will detect it and throw an exception
[sean] this is a hard line to walk, since some legitimate code may need to run large loops, so there are ways to tune this threshold
[sean] And, servers each run in their own process, so they are protected from each other.
[sean] it wont be possible for user code to break other people's worlds.
[Cuppycake] I have a question about templaetes, is there going to be away to have a simple interface instead of coding thing like movement and fire?
[Raph] We actually wrote a whole blog post about that very topic :)
[Raph] We call that "modules."
[Raph] You can basically package up scripts, data, and art into a module, and import it into a world wholesale
[Raph] In fact this chat system is a module like that
[Raph] Modules will be configurable using a non-coder interface.
[Raph] That part isn't done yet, but that is the intention. :)
[Cuppycake] What is the ratio that you expect in alpha / beta / release for world builders to people who only play worlds?
[Raph] alpha: mostly all builders. beta: half and half. release: mostly players.
[john] hi there mike! we haven't turned on moderation . . .
[Raph] I think that's kind of the way of the world :)
[john] So shhh! for now, so we don't have to. :)
[Raph] We fully expect that in release, most people will just be players
[Raph] Or maybe people who just set u psomething really simple, without doing any coding or art, based on a stylesheet.
[Cuppycake] How do you plan to encourage reusable art, music, and code?
[Raph] You can package all of those things into the modules I already discussed. :)
[Raph] And modules will be available in a central directory, with reviews, ratings, all that
[Raph] We also expect to have public repositories of art, and already have a growing library of code snippets
[Cuppycake] If you have any questions - please /tell dorian with your question! Don't be shy! ;)
[Raph] Not bug reports, questions :)
[Cuppycake] Can you have places (instances) and worlds generated by code, down to which building model or part goes where? Conversely, can you generate and 'draw' a world without any code at all?
[sean] yes to both of these.
[sean] we already have examples of fractal terrain generation - and we can source terrain data from anywhere off the web
[sean] at the other end, worlds can be crafted completely in the tools without any coding at all
[Cuppycake] Can we charge a flat fee for our modules? Can we make modules avaible for free, but demand a % of any profits made with the buyers MetaPlace?
[Raph] We definitely plan to have a marketplace for modules
[john] Btw, there will be another demo or two over the course of the chat, so stick around if you want to see more. :)
[Raph] I don't think we have considered a royalty model before... :) More like a sale
[Raph] We definitely do plan to support offering stuff for free, of course
[Cuppycake] Instead of having a fat 3d client with all available graphics, will it be possible to have a thin client that downloads on demand and caches locally?
[john] Yes, and you are looking at it. :)
[john] Different clients can have completely different views into a world
[Raph] (2d version, anyway)
[john] Some might be 3d, some might be 2d, some might be text.
[Cuppycake] Are the specifics for how a game runs, such as character speed or keybindings, controlled via metascript or lua?
[sean] settings are defined in script, but then can be configured through the tools.
[sean] once a behavior is setup, it can expose properties such as speed or hit points, and then these can be configured through the tools
[sean] so it is a combination of code and data.
[MoreGrease (Guest100033) ] By script, do you mean Metascript or Lua (sorry for talking,it was my question)
[Cuppycake] At what point do you expect to release documentation of the client/server protocols, so people can start creating their own clients and possibly even servers?
[Thor] Our alpha testers currently have access to those specs and some have already started work on their own clients and tools.
[sean] MoreGrease: the metascript language IS lua - but it is lua that runs within our sandbox.
[sean] The language is exactly the same as lua - it is the lua runtime, but the sanbox both constrains and extends it
[sean] there are many platform facilities exposed from the world server to metascript
[sean] the API is on the Wiki :)
[Cuppycake] Will stylesheets, modules etc have ratings, usage stats etc listed on the portal similar to worlds?
[m3mnoch] they sure will. just like worlds, stylesheets and modules will have ratings, reviews and such.
[m3mnoch] they'll even have a dedicated space to talk about them -- commenting, suggesting improvements, updates -- all kinds of stuff.
[m3mnoch] oh, and these ratings and reviews are not mandatory. if your world or stylesheet is not public, then no one can see it to rate it.
[m3mnoch] tho, if it's out there in the wild, folks will prolly want to review it.
[Cuppycake] Other than creating worlds and systems therein, how can we contribute to helping build Metaplace itself?
[Raph] Gosh... you can play worlds. :) You can hel ppublicize them. You can put a metaplace presence widget or fave worlds widget or badge on your blog. You can help RUN a world, like be an in-game GM...
[Raph] make art! Lots of our current testers are coders, and can't draw :)
[Crwth] (Amen)
[Raph] They are always looking for art for what they are building
[acius] Double Amen.
[Raph] Music and sfx too
[Raph] And, of course, keep commenting on the forums. We read all the posts, every day
[rboehme (Guest100020) ] Hmm, what I meant to ask is 'how can we extend core Metaplace functionality in a way that will be most useful to Areae'?
[Raph] The feedback is incredibly valuable to us.
[rboehme (Guest100020) ] II code; merely wish I could draw
[Raph] rboehme: web services, interconnections to the rest of the web... that's one way
[Cuppycake] Are you expecting a lot of open-source modules/worlds along with closed groups working hard?
[Raph] I guess I expect a lot of clsoed source stuff and a lot of open souce stuff. it all depends on how the userbase starts to trend
[Raph] In the alpha, most people share everything right nw, but of course everyone is ramping up.
[Cuppycake] Physics for games have been mentioned before. What will this mean for the non-programming crowd?
[dorian] Physics is a component of games that can be extremely intensive. Collision detection, object motion simulations, etc.
[GrizNoz] hopefully physics can be encapsulated for non-programmers
[dorian] Doing this from Lua would be very slow and cumbersome, so the server/game platform itself contains its own physics system and simulation.
[dorian] Most of it is encapsulated via simple API function calls that give even non-programmers a way to do what would otherwise normally be very complex operations.
[DaveyJJ (Guest100106) ] tell Dorian IF I'm already a skilled Flash developed creating games featured on shockwave, newgrounds and the like, and can run something like smart fox server to do provide a robust/scalable MP game, what advantages are there for me to develop a MP s
[dorian] Also, it's going to be impossible to get to actually every question being asked. If we don't get to your question, feel free to take it to our public forum to be answered later. :)
[Raph] It is /tell, with a slash in front of it, FYI :)
[DaveyJJ (Guest100106) ] oops
[Raph] DaveyJJ: great question
[Raph] Certainly if you are capable of doing it all yourself, there's a lot to be said for going that route
[Raph] I would say that the benefits MP give syou are:
[Raph] a) the chance to access all the modules and code that other users of the platform have written
[Raph] b) the fact that MP is designed to be multiplatform, multiclient
[Raph] c) the fact that the metaplace network offers stuff like cross-game friends, presence, badges, favorites, etc
[Raph] d) interconnectability of worlds -- yo ucan literaly teleport from a social world to an aracade game anywhere in the network within the same window with just one click
[john] So I thought we'd do another demo real quick . . .
[john] The last demo didn't break anything
[john] This demo will break everything.
[john] And I have so many disclaimers to give you.
[john] Let's start with: when it breaks, come back in 5 or 10 minutes if you want to chat more.
[john] And the next disclaimer is that everyone looks the same, because the character customization system goes in a couple weeks from now . .
[Raph] You are all inadvertent alpha testers now. :)
[john] So when you see your avatar in a moment, and you're a little girl, well, I hope you don't mind being a little girl.
[Cuppycake] I dont =)
[Thor] John just called you all little girls :)
[john] So, one of the earlier questions was whether or not a world could have a 3d view, a 2d view, and a text view all of the same world.
[john] Well, the answer is, that's what you are in right now.
[john] So, here's the part where everything breaks. Ready?

Chat screen shrinks to reveal 2.5d isometric environment with character avatars.

[Rococo (Guest100009) ] Nice!
[clweeks (Guest100050) ] Sweet!
[MoreGrease (Guest100033) ] Hot diggidy
[DaveyJJ (Guest100106) ] cool
[sean] i can walk!
[Sarah (Guest100131) ] wow
[Eolirin (Guest100087) ] awesome.
[Drathdir (Guest100129) ] Neat. :)
[Kyle (Guest100016) ] Nice!
[jimboG (Guest100067) ] nice.
[Exsanguinator (Guest100128) ] Hello world!
[PenguinSeph (Guest100030) ] wow
[Harkins (Guest100084) ] heyo
[feedingchange (Guest100036) ] nice !!
[stuff (Guest100052) ] ah
[john] -- john rolls 2d6 and gets 5! (1 4)
[DanHulton (Guest100094) ] Oh man awesome!
[drOffset (Guest100096) ] cooooool
[Forsaken (Guest100019) ] wow wow
[Arrakiv (Guest100059) ] Oh no! Where am I?! :-)
[claire] hee hee
[Myfuna (Guest100102) ] cool
[Arrakiv (Guest100059) ] There I am!
[rboehme (Guest100020) ] I can't see muself
[Exsanguinator (Guest100128) ] I am a girl!
[Guest100133] whoa
[Jason] -- Jason rolls 2d6 and gets 6! (2 4)
[Chinchillaz (Guest100028) ] cute
[Fyreflyte (Guest100132) ] oh noes the spam!
[Eolirin (Guest100087) ] severe lag though, in movement.
[creiht (Guest100123) ] Nice
[Guest100133] where am I
[Harkins (Guest100084) ] how do you move?
[allaryin] muahahaha
[Sarah (Guest100131) ] i cant move
[Raph] Alpha. Stress test. ;)
[DaveyJJ (Guest100106) ] where's my pink pony?
[PenguinSeph (Guest100030) ] it really laggy right now however.
[Eolirin (Guest100087) ] or maybe it's just...
[Raph] Click to move.
[MoreGrease (Guest100033) ] click
[rboehme (Guest100020) ] test
[Scopique] Stuck on a blocking tile!
[PenguinSeph (Guest100030) ] You can move by clicknig
[Eolirin (Guest100087) ] that it doesn't transition well from the graphical view and the chat bar.
[Wes (Guest100057) ] Yes, that's pretty laggy.
[Forsaken (Guest100019) ] i've found Dorian
[Schtee (Guest100069) ] impressed
[Note (Guest100012) ] screenshots or it didnt happen
[azapatto (Guest100111) ] hello?
[rboehme (Guest100020) ] hi raph
[Scopique] Where's Waldo?
[Drathdir (Guest100129) ] :)
[creiht (Guest100123) ] Very cool
[Wes (Guest100057) ] I'm pretty impressed, though I'm also finding it hard to read teh chat windows that wind up with bubbles behind them.
[DanHulton (Guest100094) ] -- Guest100094 rolls 2d6 and gets 2! (1 1)
[MoreGrease (Guest100033) ] -- Guest100033 rolls 2d6 and gets 9! (6 3)
[mjayg (Guest100086) ] This is so cool
[C (Guest100110) ] -- Guest100110 rolls 2d6 and gets 5! (1 4)
[tbowl (Guest100010) ] hi, i'm tbowl!
[Harkins (Guest100084) ] -- Guest100084 rolls 2d6 and gets 6! (5 1)
[Raph] So I have to point out that this is actually a pretty intensive single room :)
[claire] I've never seen this many women in a devchat!
[Giff] 'allo becarella :)
[dorian] So, I'm completely unable to test questions at the moment, please hold off until we're done with this part of the demo. =D
[Arrakiv (Guest100059) ] Hey, John. How's it goin'?
[Jason] hello tbowl
[MoreGrease (Guest100033) ] I am squealing with joy
[greyngreen (Guest100062) ] I still don't know what the statue is
[DaveyJJ (Guest100106) ] ho tbowl, i'm DaveyJJ
Guest100123
[RodeoClown (Guest100119) ] hmm
[john] Wow, 85 people all in one place.
[drOffset (Guest100096) ] can i post screenies to my blog?
[john] Crazy. :)
[guest100001 (Guest100109) ] -- Guest100109 rolls 2d6 and gets 5! (3 2)
[PenguinSeph (Guest100030) ] can we change the names that are under us?
[feedingchange (Guest100036) ] this is very cool
[tbowl (Guest100010) ] guards! *whack*
[guest100001 (Guest100109) ] -- Guest100109 rolls 2d6 and gets 5! (2 3)
[mikekriege (Guest100098) ] -- Guest100098 rolls 2d6 and gets 4! (3 1)
[Schtee (Guest100069) ] -- Guest100069 rolls 2d6 and gets 12! (6 6)
[Illandril (Guest100066) ] -- Guest100066 rolls 2d6 and gets 4! (1 3)
[DanHulton (Guest100094) ] -- Guest100094 rolls 2d6 and gets 5! (4 1)
[guest100001 (Guest100109) ] -- Guest100109 rolls 2d6 and gets 7! (1 6)
[dorian] Sure. :) It's a public chat, we can't stop you from posting screens.
[Raph] It's a public chat, we can't stop you
[DaveyJJ (Guest100106) ] 2
[Wes (Guest100057) ] -- Guest100057 rolls 2d6 and gets 8! (4 4)
[mjayg (Guest100086) ] -- Guest100086 rolls 2d6 and gets 6! (2 4)
[Cuppycake] Yes, you can post screenies to wherever =)
[allaryin] -- allaryin rolls 2d6 and gets 5! (4 1)
Guest100059 waves to Cuppy
[feedingchange (Guest100036) ] -- Guest100036 rolls 2d6 and gets 5! (4 1)
[guest100001 (Guest100109) ] pretty cool
Guest100026
[PenguinSeph (Guest100030) ] do we have to display names under us?
[Exsanguinator (Guest100128) ] /?
[Forsaken (Guest100019) ] john you star, nothing broke
[MoreGrease (Guest100033) ] Seph, I think we have to be guests since we 're not registered MP users.
[Red (Guest100031) ] -- Guest100031 rolls 2d6 and gets 3! (1 2)
[creiht (Guest100123) ] Now all I need is a Halberd :)
[guest100001 (Guest100109) ] I missed the first demo
[DaveyJJ (Guest100106) ] oh oh, that's my mom calling me
[alex (Guest100136) ] Hellow?
[DaveyJJ (Guest100106) ] :-)
[tbowl (Guest100010) ] guards vendor the bank recsu recdu
[guest100001 (Guest100109) ] seems to be holding up just fine though
[Harkins (Guest100084) ] whew

Chat screen grows to fill entire screen once again.

[Raph] And... gone.
[allaryin] ;)
[Eolirin (Guest100087) ] nice.
[mjayg (Guest100086) ] wow that was cool
[Wes (Guest100057) ] That was very awesome
[feedingchange (Guest100036) ] sweeet!!
[RodeoClown (Guest100119) ] whoa
[DanHulton (Guest100094) ] copr por
[drOffset (Guest100096) ] yayy
[Sarah (Guest100131) ] very cool
[john] Well, I can't beliece that didn't break.
[rboehme (Guest100020) ] nice
[PenguinSeph (Guest100030) ] Very nice
[drOffset (Guest100096) ] didn't die
[Arrakiv (Guest100059) ] That was very cool.
[Red (Guest100031) ] I walked througha building
[Forsaken (Guest100019) ] awesome
[guest100001 (Guest100109) ] pretty cool
[Cuppycake] Yippie!!!!
[Exsanguinator (Guest100128) ] /?
[mjayg (Guest100086) ] LFG!
[DaveyJJ (Guest100106) ] very very nice
[mike] yay, hope you like it :)
[MoreGrease (Guest100033) ] Ding!
[john] Anyway, that world still exists back there
[tbowl (Guest100010) ] grats
[john] It's just that we've switched back to a text view.
[Rococo (Guest100009) ] Just add a counter and you have a cutting-edge MMO
[Eolirin (Guest100087) ] Can this be done on a per-user basis?
[dorian] This is actually the same world. Running on the same server. No recompile or reboot required.
[kirillt (Guest100138) ] /?
[Eolirin (Guest100087) ] or is it just for the entire world?
[Owen (Guest100013) ] can still see it :P
[Raph] Eolirin: yes.
[Eolirin (Guest100087) ] Awesome.
[john] Something cool is also that since this is a stylesheet soon . . .
[Kyle (Guest100016) ] Very cool guys, that went really smoothly.
[PenguinSeph (Guest100030) ] how do you change the view? Is it per server or per user?
[john] Any alpha tester can inheret this and start with it for building their world.
[john] So you never have to start from scratch if you don't want to.
[Cuppycake] PenguinSeph - depends if the world owner locked the view or not.
[PenguinSeph (Guest100030) ] I see.
[Raph] I think that is it for demos, but we'll return to doing Q&A for a bit now
[Cuppycake] That's it for our demo - you're welcome to hang around and ask more qusetions if you'd like =)
[Raph] Same format please, send tells to Dorian
[dorian] Please /tell me with your questions though, so I can forward them on. Don't just spam the public channel. :)
[dorian] If I don't get to your question (I get a lot), feel free to swing by our public forwards with your question at metaplace.com
[dorian] Public forums, sorry. :)
[Cuppycake] How many users per world area do you expect a world to be able to handle before load leads to lag?
[dorian] Things like bandwidth usage, memory footprints, etc, are actually dependent on implementation from the user side of things. Just like in all game development, a lot depends on how you choose to implement things.
[sean] Cpu(s): 6.4% us, 5.7% sy, 0.0% ni, 87.4% id, 0.5% wa, 0.0% hi, 0.0% si
[Raph] (that's the top stats for here)
[dorian] The max amount of users a world can support will vary a lot on how efficiently the world itself is built and coded.
[sean] thats for this machine.. including the web server, database, and all of the worlds running on all of metaplace right now
[Cuppycake] Is there a method for those who make games to make money off of them? And if so, do you profide that capability, or will we have to roll that on our own?
[Raph] We are getting tons of questions on "how do Metaplace builders make money" :)
[Raph] Yes, the goal is that you can make money. We have plenty of work left to do on that part yet, though
[Raph] The platform has to work first :)
[Raph] We plan to have built in ways for builders to be able to make money from players
[Raph] We expect that standard stuff like hooking into Paypal and the ilke will be required
[Raph] None of it is done yet
[RodeoClown (Guest100119) ] Are you doing anything to promote stuff that isn't all about the cash-out?
[Raph] So our answers are somewhat vague still :)
[Morbus (Guest100149) ] that's better
[dorian] Any questions, please /tell me and not spam the public room, thanks. :)
[Raph] RodeoClown: please do send tells to Dorian for questions! :)
[Raph] That said, yes, of course. We want non-profits, hobbyists, all that!
[Raph] We have talked to lots of schools about using MP, for example, and some already are
[Cuppycake] Obviously this depends on what modules, etc. users make, but how much support do you expect/plan for single user games/shards?
[chandrasutra (Guest100148) ] and educators (like me)
[dorian] There's complete support for single player games. Conceptually, a single player game is just a multiplayer game that instances itself for every user. We already have a number of games up and running that do just this.
[dorian] From the server perspective, there's no difference between an MMO and a single game.
[dorian] And because of this, what might seem "single player" can also provide certain traditionaly multiplayer-only functionality. Like chat between users.
[dorian] It also will gain the benefits of all the server-side checks and security inherent in a multiplayer game, giving you more control over how people play your single player game than you would traditionally have.
[Cuppycake] Is there going to be an easy way to allow users to find each other like mplayer game rankings/chat rooms/skill matching?
[m3mnoch] absolutely. afterall playing games together is what mmos are all about, right?
[m3mnoch] we've got an entire account/identity management system complete with fans of yours, people you're fans of, friends, favorite worlds -- all kinds of social linking.
[m3mnoch] it'd like a game-based "social graph" to use a webby term.
[m3mnoch] you can even see their presence online (or on your blog because it's all public xml) and click to jump straight to them.
[m3mnoch] it's gonna be hot.
[Cuppycake] Will the MP wiki provide help on learning the Lua most useful for games, or will those looking to learn need to look for books and other resources?
[dorian] While we're not going to be teaching people how to write Lua or how to program, our wiki is going to support a lot of example code.
[dorian] Plus, by looking at public modules that people have written, it's easy to get ideas and see how things can be done.
[dorian] The cool thing about the wiki format is that as people learn, they can help each other implement certain functionality.
[dorian] Absolutely. You can stick the client anywhere you want.
[Morbus (Guest100149) ] dorian: did you get my /tell?
[dorian] I'm getting about 5-6 tells a second guys, please bare with me. :)
[Raph] You mean "BEAR"
[Raph] Please do not bare with Dorian during the public chat ;)
[Trentish (Guest100140) ] or does he?
[Cuppycake] ROFL
[Arcturus] haha!
[claire] it's a family show!
[Exsanguinator (Guest100128) ] i'm keeping my clothes on.
[Rococo (Guest100009) ] Raph - fortunately emotes are disabled ;)
[dorian] I'm gunna go hide in the corner now.
[peterhaik (Guest100151) ] haha
[dorian] Let's not /video with "bare" either, 'kay?
[Arrakiv (Guest100059) ] Poor Dorian.
[Trentish (Guest100140) ] Are pants optional in MP?
[Cuppycake] What do you do to protect people from being spammed/bullied over MetaPlace? Because this tends to be a massive problem with current online games
[claire] Yes. Kilts are welcome!
[Raph] So, people's worlds are THEIRS to run
[Raph] I want to make that clear -- it's a mixed blessing
[Raph] It means that you run it as you see fit, no interference from us generally (don't try to hack or anything illegal, duh)
[Raph] But it also means you do your own handling of things like one user harassing another
[Raph] For worlds we run, and for the network level stuff, we'll handle it
[Cuppycake] Will there be a way to sell your "modules" that you make ingame to other developers? I guess then you would be a MetaPlace meta developer :)
[dorian] One word answer: "Yes." :)
[Cuppycake] Are there any plans for Areae to hire more staff outside of technical/programmers?
[john] Dear god yes
[john] Please apply right now to jobs@areae.net
[john] We need technical writers, content developers, QA Manager, QA Engineer, soon we'll need CS . . .
[Eolirin (Guest100087) ] Would you need to relocate?
[Fubeca (Guest100126) ] What are everyone's CPU usage right now? mine is 99% browser
[allaryin] cpu usage is around 0.4%
[john] At this point we're still hiring everyone on site.
[john] That's cpu usage of the server. :)
[Arrakiv (Guest100059) ] Tech writers? CS? ... Well, since you ask ;-)
[allaryin] oh, hehe ;)
[john] Also a VP of Marketing . . .
[peterhaik (Guest100151) ] firefox is taking up a little more than one of my processors, and over 600MB ram
[john] I think that's about it, we have around 7 openings right now.
[john] Come help. :)
[peterhaik (Guest100151) ] though that's firefox for you :P
[Rococo (Guest100009) ] shhhhh
[Schtee (Guest100139) ] (damn pacific ocean)...
[Eaglewing (Guest100135) ] Opera 70% CPU (on dual core) and 200M
[Eaglewing (Guest100135) ] Opera 70% CPU (on dual core) and 200M
[PenguinSeph (Guest100030) ] 100% CPU total, 89% Firefox
[stuff (Guest100052) ] 700M 70% CPU on dual core
[sunetos] The flash client is still in alpha status, and performance enhancements will continue
[sunetos] Also,
[sunetos] bear in mind that this client can run isometric games and all kinds of worlds, so it is using as much cpu as it can like a game would
[sunetos] so it's not actually needing 100% cpu to run a chat box
[sunetos] it's just grabbing up cpu by default
[sunetos] like a game engine
[sunetos] the RAM usage is browser dependent, with firefox being the worst by a substantial margin
[sunetos] i have this world open with 2 other worlds and 3 other websites, with the whole chat history of the last 90 minutes, using only 320 MB of RAM
[sunetos] on safari
[Cuppycake] Okay, how is the question EVERYONE has been asking
[Cuppycake] Are there any content restrictions?
[dorian] (I've lumped 17 questions related to this topic into one, guys.)
[Raph] I coudl swear I have answered this twenty dozen times. :)
[dorian] (Thanks for your patience.)
[Raph] So: we are planning on being much like any hosting business. We will obey DMCA takedown notices.
[Raph] We have a legal obligation, in the US, to be proactive about certain things: no child porn, for example; else we are liable
[Raph] We are not planning on checking over your content, pre-censoring it, manually approving it, etc
[Raph] But we have to obey the law
[Cuppycake] (like youtube)
[Raph] To complicate it more, there's things like COPPA compliance, which we would likely have to have a separate portal for.
[Raph] (Meaning, kid-safe worlds)
[Raph] And finally, on to pof all that, there's radically different laws on this stuff in different countries
[Raph] And Metaplace is designed as a single global network
[Raph] So I expect the answer to this to be "complicated."
[Raph] Sorry I don't have a more specific answer. :)
[Raph] COPPA: USA law, Children's Online Privacy & protection Act.
[Raph] Sets limits on data yo ucan collect frmo kids, among other things basically means no realtime chat for kids
[Raph] Anyway... I know you are all burningwith questions on this, but it boils down to this:
[Raph] If you can't put it on your current website host, you probably can't put it on Metaplace
[Morbus (Guest100149) ] What if you run a dedicated server? ;)
[Raph] Morbus: there are no dedicated servers yet. :)
[Morbus (Guest100149) ] Well, no, I meant, I run my own dedicated webhost, with no limits on, say, pornography (but, certainly, limits on COPPA, DMCA, child porn, etc.)
[Owen (Guest100013) ] .../b/
[Cuppycake] Alright, we're going to end the developer chat now =) You're welcome to stay around for a half hour or so and chat =)
[Cuppycake] The next test will be this + customizable avatars or a small game to play
[Rococo (Guest100009) ] "On that note..."
[clweeks (Guest100050) ] Thanks devs!
[Cuppycake] We'll see you all again in a couple of weeks!! =)
[Morbus (Guest100149) ] heh, heh
[creiht (Guest100123) ] Thanks!
[Drathdir (Guest100129) ] Thanks Devs! Good work! This looks fun.
[Schtee (Guest100139) ] Cheers guys
[Eolirin (Guest100087) ] Morbus, I think Raph basically said... as long as it's not illegal, it's fine.
[Arrakiv (Guest100059) ] Spiffy.
[Forsaken (Guest100019) ] thanks guys, it's been a great family atmosphere here...long may it continue
unknown command.
[Rococo (Guest100009) ] Thanks very much devs!
[Owen (Guest100013) ] can we break it now?
[dorian] Thanks for coming, guys. Good questions. :)
[Arcturus] yay!
[tbowl (Guest100010) ] nerf blue ponies!
[dorian] Hope you come back for our next dev chat.
[PenguinSeph (Guest100030) ] thanks devs!
[Raph] Thanks for the great questions, everyone!
[Raph] Hope you enjoyed the chat
[BrianCJ (Guest100026) ] Yay! And still enough time to beat feet to Abbey Trails, and get some Jam Time in.
[Eolirin (Guest100087) ] Thanks for the demos :)
[sean] Thanks everyone.
[Cuppycake] Thank you all for your questions, and making our first dev chat not require moderation =)
[Eolirin (Guest100087) ] that was neat.
[Red (Guest100031) ] enjoyed the chat and the demo, thank y0ou very much
[SteveCrews (Guest100070) ] You guys are diabolical.. scheduling this at the same time as the debate :P
[john] Thanks so much for coming. :)