Xsyon Updates Archive

[Xsyon]

August 8 2012

Hello Xsyon Citizens!

I've answered the latest round of Questions for the Developers for those interested.

The new website is coming along quite well and we're hoping to launch it next week. The website is our first priority right now as it will work better for our advertising campaign and fund raising efforts and prepares our account system for free trials and other promotions which we want to do starting in September.

We've also slightly changed our development schedule. Creature migration and further balancing has been bumped up and will be patched out before the crafting system revisions. When this is ready for testing I will request feedback.

That's all for today. We're extremely busy right now but will get the next patch out as soon as is humanly possible!

[Xsyon]

August 13 2012

I've answered the latest round of Questions for the Developers for those interested.

The new website is taking up most of our time and may require 1-2 more weeks before we can launch it. We need to thoroughly test some changes that will allow for trial accounts in the near future and we've decided to address a lot back end account system improvements that I've wanted for a long time. Better to make all the improvements on the site now while we're focused!

I plan to take a break from the website work tomorrow and prepare a few things for the next patch. I will post again when the Test Server is open for the testing.

[Xsyon]

August 18 2012

Hello Xsyon Citizens!

I've opened up the Test Server with some important changes:

The world is now divided up into smaller natural territories of roughly equal size.

These territories are assigned a 'danger level' as follows:
- none - Founder's Isle
- low danger - territories around the lake
- medium danger - adjacent foothills and some valleys north and south of the lake
- high danger - mountain ranges and some areas beyond
- extreme danger - areas bordering the green mist

The new territory name and danger level appear in your map panel.
The number of revenants per territory also appears in your map panel, but this is for testing only.

Revenants haunting low danger territories do not respawn when killed.
Revenants haunting medium danger territories have a chance of not respawning when killed.

Next steps - Migration:
- Small and tame creatures will migrate towards the low danger territories near the lake.
- Mid size creatures such as raccoons and pine martins will migrate towards the medium danger territories.
- Large and dangerous creatures will migrate towards high danger territories.
- Mutants and legendary creatures will migrate towards extreme danger territories near the green mist.
- Revenants will tend to move to higher danger zones when their haunted totem is gone.

I will post a request for feedback once the migration system is finalized. For now, the test server is open primarily to test loading message improvements, the removal of revenants from low danger zones and the new territory distribution.

We have also revised how the server handles messages in particular for loading and crossing zones. There shouldn't be a noticeable difference in loading times, but this should resolve all past issues with invisible creatures and players. This also puts the bottleneck on loading times on the client side entirely and reduces the potential for lag spikes.

Our next steps are to wrap up creature migration and launch our new website. We will then get back to current round of development focused on crafting changes as outlined in the In Development section.

Enjoy!

[Xsyon]

August 24 2012

Hello Xsyon Citizens!


We're proud to unveil this new site for Xsyon. This site features an improved look and layout and introduces a few new pages and coming features.

We've updated our Gallery and have added a News section where you can be kept up to date more directly with our latest Updates and Patch Notes.

The Xsyon Wiki will be coming soon in the Community section

The In Development page will keep you informed of what's in progress and what's planned for the future.

Our account system has been revamped in preparation for Free Trial accounts.

We have a few things to finish:
- Adding the Bug Report and Suggestion projects.
- Setting up the new Xsyon Wiki
- Improving the News section
- Adding patch notes to the News blog.
- Adding a convenient search feature to the footer of each page.

Our first priority right now is to wrap up work on creature migration and get a public patch out.

Enjoy!

[Xsyon]

August 29 2012

Hello Xsyon Citizens!

The Test Server is up for final testing of the creature migration system.

The world is now divided into smaller and more equal sized territories. Each territory was assigned a 'danger level' from low to extreme. In general, zones near the lake are low danger and zones near the mist are extreme danger. There are two lesser danger valleys North and East of the lake along the outer zones.

Creatures move their home positions to zones of the appropriate danger but at times may be crossing zones or creeping into an adjacent zone of a different danger level

We have also adjusted creature power (damage, strength, armor and life variables) and hope that players find creatures more balanced now.

If you have any feedback please post here:
https://www.xsyon.com/showthread.php...on-and-Balance

Thanks!

[Xsyon]

August 30 2012

Hello Xsyon Citizens!

We will be updating the Main Server with the Creature Migration Patch at 9:00 AM PST. The Main Server will be down for 1-2 hours at that time. Patch notes will be posted after the update.

[Xsyon]

August 30 2012

Hello Xsyon Citizens!

The Main Server has been updated with the Creature Migration Patch! The world is now divided into regions of different danger level and creatures migrate to inhabit areas of appropriate danger. Some creatures will still end up wandering or crossing different regions but in general areas near the lake will be populated by small critters while areas in the mountains and on the edge of the world will be populated by larger and more dangerous creatures.

Revenants killed in low danger areas that are not directly haunting a totem will not respawn. Revenants killed in medium danger areas that are not directly haunting a totem have a chance of not respawning. This allows players to clear out these lower danger areas and make them safer.

We have also further optimized messaging and loading times. We find the improvement substantial.

Full Patch Notes are here:
https://www.xsyon.com/showthread.php...ll=1#post95639

With this patch out of the way and this new site launched we are going to resume work on the crafting and resource changes. The Bug Report and Suggestion sections of the Forums have been turned back on. We will also continue with site improvements and pursuing our options to raise funds to further evolve and develop Xsyon at a faster pace!

Enjoy!

[Xsyon]

September 5 2012

Hello Xsyon Citizens!

The Main Server has been updated with a minor patch. The main reason for this patch it to restart the server with a few optimizations.

Full Patch Notes are here:
http://www.xsyon.com/showthread.php/...ll=1#post95749

There is one correction to the previous patch notes. Totems are abandoned after 3 months of member inactivity.

There have been questions about the totem abandonment. This time frame was chosen for several reasons.
- It accommodates player use patterns as seen since Xsyon has launched.
- It accommodates player use patterns as reported to me by friends in the industry.
- It reflects my personal preferences and what I think is fair. I think that players should be able to take a 2 month break without worry, and 1 month is a good time for a tribe to go through the 'haunting' phases.

Enjoy!

[Xsyon]

September 17 2012

Hello Xsyon Citizens!

The Main Server has been updated with a patch. This wraps up our Creature Migration system with some improvements. Creatures now breed at faster rates and look for new homes in nearby underpopulated areas if their area becomes crowded with other creature types. Creatures migrate typically in packs.

Full patch notes are here:
http://www.xsyon.com/showthread.php/...ll=1#post95886

As of yesterday, the Xsyon Wiki is open to the public!

Much thanks to our dedicated Guide Team that put together the wiki so far! We will continue to add information to the Wiki and players are welcome to join in. The Wiki can be found here:
http://www.xsyon.com/content.php/10-...2012-communityEnjoy!

[Xsyon]

September 26 2012

Hello Xsyon Citizens!

I've been quiet on the forums here most of this month but a lot is going on behind the scenes. As many of you know the development of Xsyon has two faces. For players, development often seems slow. For us developers, development is hectic and rapid, working night and day, seven days a week to balance game improvements with fixes and dealing with a multitude of issues that players do not see.

I've posted before about our plans to raise funds to expand the team and eliminate this development dichotomy. This has been our focus in September and we are almost ready.

In October:
We will be raising funds via Kickstarter.

Free trials will be available.

Inactive returning players will have unlimited access to the Test / Trial Server.

I'm looking forward to this exciting month coming up!