Art exclaims, "Welcome to the Meet & Greet. Tonight's very special guest is the creator of all that is, the one and only Bella!"

Art hands a microphone to Bella and applauds as she takes her seat.

Art asks, "I won't start with the usual question about how you discovered Federation. Why not start with a brief runup to the start of Fed II?"

Bella says, "well"

Bella switches her coms off

Knight nods to Bella in agreement.

Buddy puts his Theremin away

Bella says, "the run up - well I was in a pub with some other programmers and we were discussing the need for a replacement for the original mud, which wouldn't run on our own server"

Bella says, "this was a company called compunet"

Bella says, "in the later 80s"

Art nods.

Bella says, "we had just moved off a DEC 10 mainframe"

Bella says, "to a 68020 machine"

Bella says, "I was already supposed to be writing a space game but hadn't really decided exactly what"

Bella says, "and I was teaching myself to program C"

Art knows about supposed to be writing.

Bella drawls, "after a few pints we came to a consensus that what people wanted was..."

Bella says, "power, sex and money - though not necessarily in that order"

Art chuckles.

Fancy smiles.

Dunavant smiles

Logical blushes

Bella says, "the sex I decided could be left to the players - power and money required a trading game"

Art agrees.

Bella says, "on the other hand such a thing had not been heard of at the time - then the whole point of multi-player games was to kill orcs and other players"

Art nods, remembering.

Bella says, "I was told fed was doomed to fail, because it didn't have any fighting"

Art asks, "If you build it, they will come?"

Fancy smiles at how wrong that assessment was.

Bella says, "I'm happy to say that all the people who told me that have long since departed from the multi-player game scene"

Bella says, "yes - if you get it right they will come :0"

Bella says, "so - and the ideas really were scribbled on the back of a beer stained envelope in green ink - that was how it started"

Jessecka grins.

Knight chortles.

Bella looks at art

Art smiles, "Back in the dawn of time. :)"

Art chuckles.

Bella says, "back to you art"

Art says, "Ok, then what is now Classic Fed started, ran for years, and then we came to Fed II"

Ferreri shakes head and mummbles "green ink"

Bella smiles

Art asks, "I know it's impossible to condense that many years of game history into a few short sentences, so tell us first, why Fed II?"

Bella says, "well there were a lot of reasons. For a long time I refused to write a new version of fed because I didn't want to be just a one game wonder"

Art drawls, "I know you also had other games in progress..."

Bella says, "but then I was starting to soften a bit on that, because there had been other successful games like Iron Wolves, and the single player Frontlines"

Art nods.

Bella says, "and developing Age of Adventure had given me ideas about how to make a new version of fed much more flexible"

Art drawls, "And the computers could handle more now too..."

Bella says, "also - very important - I'd done enough other games that I would be suffering from second game syndrome"

Bella says, "for those who haven't met that term before, it refers to the way grame designers write crap second games because"

Bella says, "instead of a lean focussed game they try to stuff everything that didn't make into first one into the second"

Bella says, "usually resulting in an unplayable monster"

Art says, "Which can make it rather unwieldy."

Bella nods

Art says, "Still, you did have ideas for changes and improvements."

Bella says, "finally, of course, the problems we had with the hardware and the difficulty in obtaining spares started to make it imperative that"

Art says, "You had seen what worked and what needed tweaking."

Bella says, "we either port the old game or develop a new version"

Bella nods

Buddy says, "a non-spaghetti flavored version"

Art asks, "Then came the infamous Thanksgiving crash?"

Bella says, "yes exactly - funnily enough a few months earlier I'd been playing with the Age location editor and written Level 7 to see how well it would handle Fed maps"

Art grins.

Art wonders if the games were talking to each other...

Bella says, "not surprisingly you can track my experience in writing scenario type stuff as opposed to game design itself"

Ferreri thinks Bella tempted the Gods doing that

Bella says, "by"

Bella says, "looking at the maps over time - for instance"

Bella says, "the original solar system maps were fairly pedestrian - only the mars map was interesting"

Art asks, "Because of the ruins?"

Bella says, "then as 'part of the promotion stuff I wrote Snark, which was an order of magnitude better"

Art wishes she had gotten to do the Snark.

Bella says, "yes mainly because the ruins gave room to stretch my imagination"

Bella says, "you will - Snark is in, but I need to write a new puzzle for it"

Art exclaims, "Oh goodie!"

Bella says, "after snark came Horsell, which was also a much better design"

Racingnut loved the horsell puzzle although he never finished it

Darkangel drops the sarguer for fun

Bella says, "and then now there are level 7 and The Lattice"

Art grins.

Bella says, "Lattice is still unfinished, but it shows what is possible"

Art says, "Yes, it's very different."

Bella says, "I usually try to have a story to stuff I write, you can read the story of Lattice in the Encyclopedia Galactica"

Art nods.

Bella says, "and the stuff on the interregnum is the story link between classic fed and fed ii"

Art smiles, "Oh cool :)"

Bella passes control back to art

Art says, "Ok, I think I'm going to open the floor for questions now. Please TB me and wait for me to call on you."

Bella drawls, "37 players..."

Fancy says, "I think that tops anything we got on Launch party night."

Art just KNOWS there are questions.

Buddy smiles

Art says, "Ok, Knight"

Knight says, "Bella you said stuff on the interregnum is the story link between the two Feds."

Knight asks, "Just what in the universe are you talking about??"

Knight grins at Bella.

Elisha rubs his eyebrow to stop it from twitching.

Art chuckles.

Bella says, "it's an encyclopedia galactica entry about the period between the fall of Ming and the start of Fed2"

Bella says, "http://www.ibgames.net/fed2/galactica/interregnum.html"

Knight says, "Ah hah. I'll have to go read all of the Galactica then sometime. Thanks."

Art asks, "Ok, Ferreri, your question?"

Bella exclaims, "among other things it explains why there are no player planets at the moment!"

Bella smiles

Knight nods to Bella.

Ferreri asks, "you've shuffled and renamed ranks in Fed II a couple of times, are you happy with them now or might there be more changes?"

Bella says, "I'll probably leave them alone now - I think I got industrialist and manufacturer the wrong way round, but it would be too much agro to swap them now"

Bella says, "gratuitous changes are not good for the player community"

Jazir smiles

Art asks, "Ok, Elisha?"

Elisha asks, "What question about Fed2 are you most tired of hearing, and what is the answer?"

Knight laughs softly.

Art giggles.

Fancy grins.

Bella thinks

Bella says, "'why can't I transfer my character from classic fed?', I guess"

Knight snickers.

Art can just imagine.

Bella says, "apart from the fact that there are serious technical problems"

Bella says, "even the order of bits in the each byte run in the opposite direction in the HP"

Art drawls, "Ouch..."

Bella says, "there is also the fact that if people were put in this game at high levels they would have no idea what to do"

Art nods.

Bella says, "the technical reasons are not insumountable, but the game ones are"

Racingnut raises his hand

Art asks, "Ok, Stringbois?"

Bella says, "stringbois is on mars"

Bella grins

Art drawls, "Ok..."

Knight laughs softly.

Art asks, "Jessecka?"

Knight says, "Or has a real long question."

Bella says, "to be exact Sol.Mars.453"

Iced smiles, "lol hes in the ex :)"

Knight laughs.

Art has a list of people with questions...

Art asks, "Jessecka, Your question?"

Elisha drawls, "Jessecka isn't in the game..."

Knight says, "Sure she is."

Elisha drawls, "Oh wait... nevermind..."

Buddy winks, "I see her on the who list;)"

Art says, "She's right there"

Knight chuckles at Elisha.

Elisha is blind.

Art points

Bella says, "probably making coffee in the kitchen"

Racingnut ponders playing the final jeopardy theme while waiting for jessecka to formulate her question

Art asks, "But she seems to be having trouble getting to her question, so Dunavant?"

Dunavant asks, "What can you tell us on the fate of the Prophet Gaelaan?"

Wearing Dj's leather jacket, don't tell him, Jessecka has left.

Bella grins

Bella asks, "did you ask the priest on Venus?"

Art smothers a giggle.

Knight says, "Jessecka has been having connection issues also. She left in the middle of Feddergories last night."

Art says, "We can get her when she gets back."

Bella says, "what happened depends on who you talk to - I've given the two common versions in the Encyclopedia"

Art asks, "Ok, Knight?"

Knight says, "Okay got a question and then a comment."

Bella says, "rumour has it that he was bumped off, but of course the believers don't think that"

Dunavant bows

Knight asks, "So the new ranks, they are listed when you type the Ranks command? So instead of Duke we will have Syndicrat?"

Bella says, "yes - after the fall of Ming the aristocracy fell out of favour and things became more commercially oriented"

Knight says, "Ahh...more reading I need to do."

Knight laughs softly to himself.

Knight says, "Okay now my comment."

Knight says, "I'm going along through Commander rank, you all know, trying to pay back the loan."

Knight says, "But I'm noticing something."

Knight says, "I have it about half way paid back. And I have 260 hauling credits already."

Knight says, "So I will have over 500, half way to Adventurer by the time I have the loan paid off and make Captain."

Knight says, "But with zero groats, or just enough to function. I keep like 10000 and repay everything else."

Art nods.

Bella nods - that is right - it's to give you a leg up to the next promo

Art says, "A big help."

Knight says, "I always imagined, and I remember this from Classic Fed vaguely, that Captain the neat thing is to have a bigger ship."

Knight says, "So you can make more groats and make more hauling credits."

Knight says, "However...by the time I have enough groats for a bigger ship, I'll be an Adventurer already."

Knight says, "That seems to kind of defeat the purpose."

Darkangel says, "don't conmplain, it used to be 2000 tcrs"

Darkangel grins

Bella says, "originally I was intending to make captain/commander a single rank, but eventually it seemed wiser to split it"

Racingnut says, "exactly"

Knight says, "Either that or each job could make a bit more."

Racingnut says, "and 750 AK's at advent"

Knight says, "You'd pay off your loan faster but still need the HCs."

Bella says, "and have two different objective for each half"

Art nods.

Knight says, "I really didn't think of it much until I saw all the Traders that only have Harriers. They never needed a bigger ship either."

Bella says, "that way you can operate two different strategies"

Darkangel says, "i have a harrier b/c of fuel cost, at merchant, you want a BIG ship"

Bella says, "in the first instance maximising cash, then at captain maximising credits"

Art asks, "Ok, next is Racingnut. Your question?"

Bella says, "the way it generates the ocassional high value jobs is different depending on the rank it's generating it for too"

Knight says, "I haven't seen one high value job."

Knight says, "Just the same range."

Elisha turns towards Racingnut.

Bella says, "they don't happen very often :) - for commanders they are high cash, for captains they are high hc's"

Racingnut smiles, "bella i noticed way back before trader ranks were being put out fairly quick, now since trader theyve seemed a lot slower...is this because of more code and intricacies or what? :)"

Bella says, "well there are a number of things - first of all the earlier ranks are simpler in what they do"

Bella says, "then I have to be careful to make sure higher ranks don't interact badly with the lower ranks"

Art has seen that happen before.

Bella says, "and in the case of the Trader rank - I had to figure out how to do it - no one else thought it was possible"

Ferreri knows it's not possible

Bella says, "then also the raw coding of the next rank is not the only thing I do -"

Art nods.

Bella says, "I also had to do all the stuff we needed to turn the game free and"

Bella says, "at the moment I'm also working on a version of FedTerm with automapping"

Knight cheers.

Art drawls, "And real life interfering with the really important stuff..."

Bella says, "well yes - I have other non ib responsibilities as well - they eat into my time"

Racingnut smiles, "i think that answer shows how little i understand coding..thank you bella :)"

Bella smiles

Art asks, "Ok, Ferreri, you had another question?"

Ferreri asks, "I've heard that the medallion selection will rotate, does that mean I'll lose any of mine that aren't on the list?"

Bella says, "no - but it means that stuff that rotates off the current selection will eventually come back"

Bella says, "that's the difference between medallions and the keyring"

Art asks, "Elisha, you had another question?"

Bella smiles, "stuff that you buy to put on your keyring is strictly one off :)"

Bella says, "after this month there will never be another 2005 valentines heart"

Elisha asks, "Fed now offers a lot more interaction with mobiles, do you expect to increase the amount of interactive mobiles in the game to the point where they are common or will they continue to be limited?"

Bella says, "there will be a lot more - but designing the conversation for a mobile is hard, time consuming work"

Bella says, "esp if you want to keep the mobile in character"

Bella drawls, "I should just explain..."

Art nods in sincere agreement.

Bella says, "there are two different skills at work here -"

Bella says, "one is game design - that;'s the sort of thing that created fed"

Bella says, "the futures trading is an example of game design skills"

Bella says, "the second skill is what is probably best call scenario design"

Dunavant chuckles

Bella says, "that's thing like designing a map, events, mobiles, objects etc - and that's a different skill"

Bella says, "hazed and art are good at designing planets, as is freya whose speciality is cameo planets"

Art grins, "Thank you."

Bella says, "in fact maps per se are not my primary skill - that is telling stories, so I am better at writing conversation"

Bella says, "on Age, for instance Angela did a whole load of maps for me and I wrote quests to fit around the maps"

Freya notes for the players: Angela = Naiad

Jazir says, "Ah"

Art remembers her.

Racingnut does as well

Buddy smiles

Bella exclaims, "roughly speaking it take ten to fifteen times as long to create a puzzle/quest as it does for the first player to solve it!"

Bella passes the initiative back to art

Elisha smiles, "Thank you. :)"

Art nods in total agreement about puzzle design

Bella takes it back again

Art checks to see if Jess is back...

Bella drawls, "while we are on scenario design..."

Art drawls, "Go ahead..."

Bella says, "the tools available to planet owners on fed ii are much more sophisticated"

Bella looks to freya and art for confirmation

Art says, "Much more"

Art says, "Way much more."

Buddy grins

Freya says, "very true"

Bella says, "of course that comes at a price - they are sometimes more difficult to use, because you need to understand more difficult concepts"

Art remembers tearing her hair out over some things.

Fancy looks forward to getting to use them someday.

Bella says, "once you understand them, though you can do a lot more than in classic fed"

Bella grins

Bella says, "one of the things I am planning for planet owners is a series of 'bolt on' areas"

Art asks, "Like flags?"

Bella says, "so you can get the basic mini to start and then add prebuilt chunks"

Bella says, "so it's a half way house between fully customised planets and straight mini's"

Art asks, "With the option to have all original things?"

Racingnut asks, "complete with convicts?"

Art laughs!

Buddy asks, "botany bay?"

Bella says, "yes art"

Art asks, "Good. Ok, are there any other question?"

Knight nods.

Bella says, "also, if you really don't want to do it yourself, then I'm sure hazed will do it for you, for a suitably large number of slithies"

Art asks, "Knight?"

Knight says, "Yes one more."

Racingnut cant wait to "transfer" Grandstand and expand it

Knight asks, "I remember that there was a Front end you developed for Classic Fed that has a planet builder option on it. Was that Fed Term or before it?"

Knight peers at Bella.

Art is pondering bribes for writing... and gets slythi's in her eyes.

Bella says, "that was a stand alone program.."

Buddy says, "genesis"

Knight asks, "Do we still have that, or do you plan on making a new version of it?"

Bella says, "yes that's right - I haven't decided yet whether to build an editor into fedterm or having as stand alone"

Knight says, "Well the auto mapper sounds wonderful."

Bella says, "the present toolset is five programs, and there is at least one other to come"

Racingnut says, "long as we dont have the nightmare workbench of classic fed"

Art winks, "Just wait til you see this planet builder ;)"

Bella smiles

Racingnut says, "i wait with great anticipation"

Art asks, "Ok, are there any other questions?"

Bella says, "it will probably be a set of standalone programs, though - the fedterm will be complex enough by the time it's finished"

Art asks, "Fancy?"

Fancy asks, "Are there still plans to have players own systems with potentially multiple planets at the planet owner ranks?"

Bella smiles, "yes and no :)"

Knight nods to Bella.

Ferreri loves the answer

Bella grins

Knight asks, "That mean you don't know yet, or you aren't telling?"

Knight laughs softly.

Art giggles.

Bella says, "I do intend to allow it, but I'm afraid you will need to cough up for slithies for that privilege"

Fancy says, "Ah ha."

Racingnut says, "free fed is definetly not free ::runs::"

Bella says, "a second planet is something that is not essential to playing the game - it's a nice extra"

Knight chuckles at Racingnut.

Art says, "That's true."

Bella says, "so it's one of the things that I feel we can legitimately ask for a donation before handing out"

Art says, "And one more question from Elisha."

Bella says, "OK"

Elisha asks, "Do you expect the price of bribes to increase as the ranks increase?"

Bella says, "that again is a yes and no answer"

Bella says, "yes because they will, but no because they are not increasing with rank they are for increasing valuable things"

Bella says, "being able to have a second planet is valuable"

Bella says, "being able to run your factory with less workers is valuable to both you as the factory owner and the planet owner"

Bella drawls, "but..."

Bella says, "and I emphasise, these are not things that you -have- to have for the game"

Art says, "Ok, I think that's it, at least for tonight."

Bella says, "if we charged for something essential"

Bella says, "then we would be betraying our promise that fed was free"

Stringbois perks up

Bella drawls, "when you play fed..."

Bella says, "there is a contract between you and ib - not merely a commercial one,"

Bella says, "but also a moral one. we trust you to behave like civilised adults, and you trust us not to rip you off"

Dunavant bows to Bella

Art exclaims, "Hear, hear!"

Bella gets off the moral high ground :)

Knight chuckles.

Art chuckles

Bella passes the mike back to art

Art smiles, "Thank you Bella for staying up extra late to answer questions. :)"

Dunavant applauds

Zeter claps

Jazir has bought you a glass of fine champagne

Racingnut stands and applauds

Logical claps

Bella smiles, "actrually you can thank freya who rang me up to wake me :)"

Stringbois smiles, "yes, Thank you :)"

Buddy smiles, "thank you Bella:)"

Ferreri applauds

Freya grins

Buddy smiles, "thank you Freya:)"

Art smiles, "And on that note, I'll say goodnight, and thank you Freya :)"

Bella smiles

Jazir smiles and claps

Fancy applauds.

Art applauds wildly.

Dunavant bows to Freya

Bella gags a singing assparagus

Ferreri says, "thank you, Freya"

Logical thanks Bella and Freya

Art giggles.

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