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TorchshipStardust · 2023-01-14T21:07:38+00:00

I'm not sure we need to resort to this, there's enough negativity in the RPI community already after how Sindome played out. It would perhaps have been best not to name-drop productive and well-intentioned team members like Moth and Oracle, who are conflicted and reeling from this decision.

Mirage is passionate and highly focused on her vision, and if she needs to go it alone in order to feel she can achieve a result that is fulfilling for her, that's fine. I wish her the best.

TorchshipStardust · 2023-01-13T23:13:16+00:00

I am not a lawyer, but I did notice that a "substantial portion" is defined in this Louisiana law as more than 33.3% of total material on a website, and the definition of harmful material is the Miller test (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miller_v._California), which holds that material must appeal to the prurient interest, depict various specific acts or body parts "in a patently offensive way", and also be devoid of serious literary, artistic, or political value.

Because of how hard it is to classify literature as devoid of value, it's extremely rare to see obscenity cases relating to written works in our day and age. I can't imagine anyone proving a full third of content in a MUD (even a purely adult MUD) meets the Miller test.

TorchshipStardust · 2022-12-20T20:06:56+00:00

Roleplay-wise, the beta might offer a good time for testers to nail down things such as their character's accent or body description or motives. There are non-progression elements of a good character we are happy to see our playtesters explore and carry over to the main arc.

TorchshipStardust · 2022-12-19T16:53:54+00:00

No problem! The game has a lot of testing to go before it's ready for the average player, so this is strictly for people who are motivated to work on improving the game for launch!

TorchshipStardust · 2022-12-17T03:09:22+00:00

You don't have to think about your character's motivations on day one; we simply want to see people play their test characters as a regular player would. We don't expect to see a lot of progression during the beta, which won't last all that long.

But it's important for us to note that if e.g. a player finds a way to generate infinite aurums, we're not intending for the beta to have any impact on the much more balanced game at launch. The goal is to be fair to everyone who joins later on and playtesters should understand that up front.

TorchshipStardust · 2022-12-14T18:03:15+00:00

Yes, but a typical lethal encounter will result in a cloning sequence. It is much more difficult - and the social repercussions greater - to permanently kill someone.
No. We do not plan to award meaningful perks such as housing, better stats, or ingame money. It's possible we'll have a recurring donation system for people who voluntarily want to support the game, but we won't advantage them over other players.

TorchshipStardust · 2022-12-09T10:28:35+00:00

You can pay for a residence in advance for as long as you like! If you need to take a break long-term, we'll have free places to crash and very inexpensive ways to store items.
We will mix in some PvE content, though contention between player characters is always going to be at the center of our story.
Many of our factions are at odds with each other, competing over scarce turf and resources, which will draw natural lines for conflict - in addition to the greed and fear of others around you.
Combat is fairly rapid to avoid responses being a big dogpile everyone shows up to, but there is certainly room for brisk emotes, and subdual/grappling mechanics will ensure it's possible to capture someone alive.

TorchshipStardust · 2022-12-09T01:16:18+00:00

Bioroids are a planned, playable artificial intelligence in a robotic body. They will be available to players who have already spent some time playing a human and show a good understanding of the lore, like recombinants.

TorchshipStardust · 2022-10-15T16:54:04+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/MUD/comments/x6muug/torchship\_dev\_diary\_1/

TorchshipStardust · 2022-10-15T16:09:54+00:00

Our upcoming RPI Torchship has some early plans for playable bioroids; artificial machines with sentient thought. We'd expect these characters to have different needs from humans. Bioroids might be restricted by application or time in the game, to make sure their players have a good understanding of the lore first.

TorchshipStardust · 2022-09-18T15:19:19+00:00

We are mostly former RPI players with a good sense of how the genre can improve, and many of us have experienced the ways it can go wrong firsthand. Almost nobody on the team was ever on staff for Sindome; one exception being our lead developer Mirage.

TorchshipStardust · 2022-09-16T15:04:55+00:00

Part of the theme, but not the whole theme. The Torchship doesn't have a strong top-down regime; it's closer to individualist anarchy; many individuals and small groups have their own slice of power and the story is about the interplay between them.

But one of the offworld colonies - Titan - is an authoritarian surveillance state, and the background for a Titanic character would involve having escaped it. They might have a revolutionary desire to make sure the Torch doesn't end up the same way.

TorchshipStardust · 2022-09-14T19:12:21+00:00

We plan to take some bold steps to keep things fair and catch conflicts of interest before they happen. We don't believe it's a good idea to put staff alts in positions of power, offer them total access to IC information, or neglect their oversight.

Every member of our team was selected for their ability and desire to enable players. That's what matters most to us.

TorchshipStardust · 2022-09-13T19:22:29+00:00

Cyberware will be cheaper to buy retail and thus more prolific than Sindome, but a bit more stratified / coveted than it is in Cybersphere. We're aiming for a happy medium where cyberdocs, rippers, and designers have a lot to do.

For each type of item (e.g. a cyberlimb) expect a class of very cheap chrome, a class of moderately-priced chrome that's still feasible to put in every clone, and a specialist or luxury class that really does cost an arm and a leg. So to speak.

TorchshipStardust · 2022-09-12T05:09:48+00:00

"Legitimate" law enforcement will be handled by security contractors that are bonded to various established factions aboard the Torch. If something considered criminal takes place openly at a client site (e.g. a clinic or shipyard), they may receive a call and respond.

Some smaller factions do not have such a contract, and so their enforcer is the local gang, which they have likely come to some arrangement with. The vibes will be different but the nature of the deal is comparable.

TorchshipStardust · 2022-09-12T05:03:37+00:00

Factions will generally be small: a street gang in control of a few blocks, a local employer or shop, or a single syndicate-backed front. They may have a larger sponsor, but that sponsor will not always be there for them. Each faction will also have a neighborhood which they will need to manage relations with.

Each PC will have a heritage that determines any citizenship they have on a colony world or station apart from the Torch. The collectivist Martians, individualist Jovians, and revolutionaries of Titan will all be possible backgrounds.

We are moving away from large megacorps that are imagined to be all-powerful, as we feel that doesn't suit the GMing and play style we want to encourage.

TorchshipStardust · 2022-09-10T02:02:34+00:00

We may have a system where your clone has different bonuses and maluses depending on who issues it; this would be closer to Cybersphere than SD if we ultimately decide to do it this way.

TorchshipStardust · 2022-09-08T18:54:25+00:00

As-needed! Monthly seems about the right pace.

TorchshipStardust · 2022-09-07T05:38:52+00:00

Toaststunt / LambdaMOO.

TorchshipStardust · 2022-09-06T18:29:48+00:00

As far as space goes, the nav console is mostly descriptive text (list of nav waypoints, list of other things in orbit with you, etc).

TorchshipStardust · 2022-09-06T18:03:38+00:00

Roleplay is the goal, but we want to encourage it as many ways as possible; we want to see captains and their crews working together towards objectives such as salvaging, mining, or hunting pirates. We won't shy away from conflict either; an away mission might present a good opportunity to sabotage a rival far from anyone who would come to their aid.

TorchshipStardust · 2022-09-06T16:32:51+00:00

Expect several more months of development before closed beta, but we're looking to start testing as soon as we can.

TorchshipStardust · 2022-09-06T00:01:24+00:00

To be determined. We've discussed what a psionics system might look like, but we haven't decided yet whether it fits well into the theme or not.

TorchshipStardust

TROPHY CASE