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[Gaslamp-Daniel]

We're working on it.  Turns out it's really hard to connect a USB cable by whipping it from the end of a stick at a computer.  We're trying some stuff out though.

Another blog post up today BTW, if you're curious what it's like actually managing game asset creation.  We have been working on lots of framework stuff the last week so we didn't have anything super exciting to show off visually, except a sneak peek at our final terrain system.

[Viken]

The render is starting to look very natural, Gaslamp-Daniel.  I just have a problem with the water edges where it meets the terrain, though.  Something about it messes with my eyes; as if there's a clashing of rendered screens trying to overlap one another.  It may just be me, though.

On another note, keep up the good work!

[Jopax]

Yeah, that border is too abrupt by the looks of it, and the water not being transparent and showing the lovely water living dirt underneath it. Hopefully you guys get to that, don't want to leave all that dirt hidden :C

[Gaslamp-Daniel]

Yeah, as yet there aren't *any* particle effects going on which will soften the borders (in addition to plants, rocks, and other stuff that exists in these areas), and the water is actually nicely translucent, we just haven't started tweaking those values.  We'll definitely be doing some fine tuning as more of the art starts coming together.

Glad to hear you guys like the direction it's going though, I'm really excited about it.  We have Mr. Whitman working on terrain full time right now since I'm buried in paperwork and he's doing a fantastic job.

[Descan]

Remind me again, will we be able to drain lakes and dam rivers?

[Frumple]

Remind me again, will we be able to drain lakes and dam rivers?

... sink in the New World?

And along those lines... I forget if it was mentioned before, but lasting geographical changes in general? If you manage to make a volcano erupt with one colony, would there be a possibility of your next one starting under a veil of ash and brimstone or whathaveyou? Stuff like that, yeah.

[Gaslamp-Daniel]

The short answer is very likely, and we want it, but I can't guarantee it.  Your question actually sparked a design discussion that started getting into technical problems of parallelization of our simulation.  We want water flow, and we'll try to get it, but some of our game engine decisions to make the game easily multiplayer make this tougher than it would be if we didn't have to accurately share precise water flow data from big maps across a network.

We'll share more info on this as we get further along in development.

[lordcooper]

Out of curiosity, just how many people would a well developed colony contain?  Is it likely to be a handful, several dozen, or hundreds?

[Gaslamp-Daniel]

I'd say fifty to a hundred.  Our plan for managing characters scales really well, but we'll be limited by processing power at some point, not sure yet what point that is because we still have lots of optimizing to do.

[Viken]

A hundred people maximum doesn't really sound like many, honestly.  I want totake a colony and turn it into a thriving town with over 500+ peoples in it, and then unleash a horror brought in from somewhere else just to watch the avid decline of civilization. 

[Silent_Thunder]

I'd be fine with 50-100 as long as theres some file we could tinker with to overrule it. Sorta a "Do so at your own risk" sorta thing. Comparable to running a 7x7 full embark in DF. Inadvisable but technically possible.

[lordcooper]

Given the focus on making characters actually have character, that seems like a reasonable amount.  Who really keeps track of more than a dozen or so dwarves once a fortress hits 60-100 population?

Not that I'd baulk at the sight of an option to alter any hard caps.  The average processing power of a PC is increasing by laps and bounds, and Clockwork Empires seems like the kind of thing I'm likely to come back to years and years after release.

[Darkmere]

+1 to the 100-ish limit being about all I'd want to deal with. I cap my forts at that, anyway, so it's familiar and manageable.

[Viken]

Unless we have the ability to replace population workers with say, steam-driven robotics or cult-controlled golemns? Mwhahahaha.

[Descan]

Eh, what about terraforming in general?

Like, draining a lake and then filling it with dirt and gravel to make a field for houses/crops/tree-farm/the-hell-of-it? :3