Welcome back ‘Kane’s Five on Friday’ fans. Things are heating up here in Wisconsin. It just happens to be 100 degrees today and if that isn’t hot enough, let’s talk with Kane about some monsters.

[program interruption…]

Rawr! (stomps feet and prowls around) Sorry, I had onions on my sub-sandwich today and they’re giving me dragon breath… Rawr!  (blinks) Okay, Fine! We can get back to the questions. (Did I mention I have a 3-month-old)


Sturger: Well, Kane, I know we talked a little about this last time, but it is certainly something a lot of players want to know more about.
1. Do you have a simple and/or complex answer to improving the monster content currently in game. For instance, some of the Key Storage quest utilize giant rats and green goblins in a way that’s genially evil. (hey that giant rat ate me to pieces!) *whine*

Kane: When it comes to monsters, coding is far from simple. That said; most of the time monster coding is trial and error and that process is from start to finish. When I created the Goblin Thief code, I had a vision in my mind and I executed that vision into the code you know of today. Sometimes code doesn’t work out, like some of the Morsax quests. But that’s all part of the coding game. Coders have to learn from mistakes along the way and make it/do it better for next time. In the end you are left with a task event system that is finally coded/working well. It’s all just trial and error, and time, and don’t forget there is only one Kane.

Sturger: The ‘Goblin Thief” is, to say the least, fun!!! At times he is dangerous with a capital Boom! At other times the ‘Goblin Thief’ gets his boom, boomed.

2. Do you have plans to craft more interestingly disguised creepy sounding monsters in the future?

Kane: The answer to that is, Yes. There are certainly plans for new monsters, and monster types. But all of that code will come with time. Right now, I am really focused on figuring out the rest of the Today system code, and then moving on to some final testing of the new crafting system. In the future, however, monsters might gain traits similar to what can be seen with the pet trait system.
Just remember that: Time + Kane = more content code. Kane – Time = something may come in the future, when I find the time.
Sturger: When it comes to monsters, we (players) can see them pretty much everywhere throughout the realms.

3. Why is there such a large gap in the toughness of monsters in the wild versus, inside of a dungeon. Do you plan to change or balance this lopsided aspect?

Kane: You have to remember, before there was Kane, there was OSI. The programmers their had their own way of doing things. From what I gather, during my UO playing days, the wild land areas were set up to be an open training grounds for newer players, and multi-leveled dungeons were contained, yet, challenging areas for Veteran players to enjoy. When it comes to balancing out the monsters in these areas, futuristically speaking, I do intend to play around with some changes in Felucca. For me Trammel is a safe place for new UOE players, but Felucca is always up for a few interesting monster tweaks.

Sturger: Monster invasions. Boo! Just another champ spawn that got lost; am I wrong? (for the 15th time) Town Cryer: [spoken in a hoarse desperate voice] YEW IS BEING INVADED! *crickets*

4. Syncing with the previous question, is there a chance for a buffed-up Ogre Lord to lead a raiding party of orcs and ogres against a city, guard post, random cave or other location; instead of the current city invasion set up?

Kane: (I must point out that Kane sounds almost childlike with glee when he answers) Yes! In my wildest dreams. This is one of those things on my EVO wish list. In the future I invasion some code that allows staff to start a town invasion that might last a week or a month. Perfect scenario, is for this scenario to happen twice a month. It would have month special bosses and loot. The kind of loot/deco you only see once or twice in a gaming life time. 

Sturger: If you are a RPG gamer its not hard to figure out that loot and monster’s go hand in hand, similar to swords and armor.

5. But why do I still feel like the fun is stolen from me when I slay the default elemental inhabitants of New Shame. The truth is I gain better loot when I slay an earth elemental then I do when I slay a granite, or fertile dirt, elemental. But the fun is lost, because when I slay the tougher elementals found inside New Shame, the loot found is rather poor.
   ...and yes, if I am wearing my [item] of the pit, I will gain some points towards its current next level; but the pit grind is exhausting, complicated, and for goodness sakes… random!

Kane: In a matter of speaking all current monster loot is/or should be on the list of things that needs a little accessing. When I create new monsters, I can bluntly say I probably get the monster loot wrong 50% of the time. Again, this is more of the same trial and error I was talking about earlier. The true problem here is that I don’t play UOE (anymore); I just code. Unless someone mentions an issue, I really just take for granted the monsters loot table. If a monster is rather tough and gives out too little loot, it is probably worth taking a look into the monster’s loot table code.
  The best fix for this situation is for EVO players to send me suggestion messages with the right information about the monsters that are lacking reasonable loot. I have in the past checked on monster’s loot, in this way, and made changes to the creature’s loot table. Recently, I have even added changes to the task event system, because of player suggestions. This was all because of the right information being shared with me through discord chatter. Suggestions are always welcome. 



Kane’s Five on Friday--Extras:


This week’s heat wave doesn’t seem to be bothering Kane much. Did he just say he’s been to South America?!? [Sturger: frown’s at Kane, while he melts] Kane can handle the heat because of his traveling experiences.


Kane likes suggestions just as much as I like to field questions. So, if you have suggestion, or questions, send them our way. You can PM me in game, or message Kane and myself on Discord. Also, don’t forget to chime in on the development page. But remember, just like life, nothing is for certain. Answers are all about the trial and error, so be specific with your suggestions/questions and you might gain some useful knowledge for all your tomorrows.


Well that's all there is for this weeks: Kane's Five on Friday'. Be sure to catch next weeks topic... which is going to be a surprise!!! Until then, be well, and keep a death robe handy. you wouldn't want to be "Kane'n'ized" without one!


—Sturger— Editor UOE-Herald