Fallen Earth QotW: Economy, Clan Symbols & Mutation Animations

Fallen Earth team released their latest QotW feature loaded with the weekly progress update, confirming their participation in the upcoming Leipzig Game Convention, Austin GDC and PAX. In addition to that, seven forum questions have been answered about economy, clan symbols, Lake Mead, Linux support, stealth skill and mutation animations:

This week we're switching gears somewhat, changing over from working on starter towns to our first major instance and polishing up some conflict towns in Kaibab Forest. We're still working on items, but will be wrapping that up soon. We've also got folks working on auctions, vehicles, clans, the tutorial and other stuff to boot.

For those interested, we're putting together our convention schedule for the season, and it looks like the Leipzig Game Convention and PAX will be our big shows this year (in addition to the standard industry shows like Austin GDC, etc).

1. Will FE control the maximum mark-up on an item being auctioned? This could help stabilize the in-game economy. Max mark-up could be like 100% of build-price/list-price.

Currently we're not looking at putting such limitations on the auction house. Considering all the various ways players can get resources (harvesting, scavenging, off creatures, farms/ranches/mines) we don't feel that resources will suffer from a huge markup. Also, since everyone can learn every craft skill, if people really want something they can make it themselves. In the end we figure this will balance out supply and demand.

2. Would it be possible to have uploadable clan symbols? For, like, banners -- maybe an 8-bit 40 x 40 image?

Not initially, and this does create a huge headache for us since we have to check every image to make sure it's appropriate. We are a mature game, so there'd be more leeway than in some other games, but we still don't want a guild to have genitalia as their symbol. It may be something we look at long-term.

3. Is Lake Mead accessible behind the Hoover Dam or is that something that might come in a later expansion?

Well, players only get a limited trip to Hoover Dam in the release content, so they won't have time to visit the lake initially. A lengthier trip will come in expansions.

4. Will there be any support for Linux?

Very unlikely. We just don't have the resources to spare for it, considering everything else on our plate.

5. Is the "spotting" part of the Sneak/Stealth skill active or passive?

Both. The "Hey, I heard something," part is passive. The "Hey, I think you're an enemy faction member in disguise!" part is active as it requires you to activate an ability on the target.

6. Any chance at another % update? If so, when is the estimated date you might give us an estimate of how close you are to being on schedule. Oh, and I'll give you a nickel if you tell us what that schedule is.

There's about a 10% chance of an update. So you'll get one sometime in the next ten weeks according to the odds.

7. How about a little more detail on what you guys are doing for those mutation animations?

Our mutations animations effectively have three parts: a charge animation, a hold animation, and a cast animation.

The charge animation is a short hand gesture that happens when you activate the mutation. This requires your left hand to be free.

The hold animation happens after the charge and represents your character keeping the mutation ready. Basically this is the "ready to fire" animation. It usually looks like an upraised fist. You cannot have a weapon in your hand while you have a mutation ready.

The cast animation is where the mutation is fired at the target using the targeting reticule and clicking the mouse. If your target is not in your reticule, the mutation misses, but the gamma points are still expended. Only those mutations that affect others have this animation, and a large part of our mutations are self-affecting only.