Broken Blog #2: September 2022

BWRP Team News

Fresh Fish

This month we brought in two new volunteers! Bazinga_Joe toils endlessly in the data mines of the Config Team, and PoisonedOak has joined the endless monkeys and their typewriters over in the Writing Team.

Gone, but Not Forgotten

Sadly, earlier this month we said goodbye to Invisible_Hand, otherwise known as Cole, as he departed the server. While our beloved techie will be missed, we’re happy to see him venture out into the adult world of mortgages and marriage!

The Cookings
The Article - Pingachu & Jojo

Last month’s vote came to the conclusion that cooking will be our next mainline update, and today we’re going to cover what that will entail and what we have come up with. Here is a breakdown on cooking!

The amount of 'base' foods will be greatly expanded to what is already included in our current custom items. This will include several vegetables, a few more fruits, a list of spices, nuts, meats and a few select 'ingredients' that do not fit into the above categories. These base foods may be combined to make a standard set of foods that are genericized. For example, mixing any 3 vegetables and a bowl will make a 'Salad' item. This item will have predetermined stats, but any lore or naming can be done with a CM to make it a specific salad. Food created in this way takes more effort than throwing raw meat and coal into a furnace, so we’ll be giving each ‘meal’ item improvements in the form of buffs (None minecraft!) and improved hunger/saturation depending. Some foods give only one burst of food (think vanilla eating style) while others will continue to give their stats over time (think regeneration effect for health). Some foods are of course not created equally however, so will very likely be better for one stat than another. You are welcome to eat multiple foods to try and combine their effects, and form your own balanced diet!

Specific player made foods will be possible after launch. These foods will require specific base ingredients instead of accepting all available types. For example, Tink's Grainy Goulash will not accept just any meat or vegetable, but will need Grain, Corn, Chili, and Grizzlehoot Meat. It will accept nothing else. The more dangerous animals and creatures out in the world will also have their own specific recipes that use their drops, to reward those who dare face them - these variants are likely to be some degree better than their counterparts.

We’re making good headway, and are excited to release this next mainline update - and especially for what we have planned next with even more exciting projects!

Teamwide Roundup!

Over the past six weeks we’ve had several projects start to take shape, while some are known but not quite at a point for us to present or tease; such as new models to come for our existing mobs and an expansion to spawn to allow players to select their settlement of choice without staff assistance. I am however, very happy to give word from our lead writer Mr. Nyvrem on a project long overdue:

Hiya, this is Nyvrem, leader of the writing team. I am here to tell you that thanks mostly to Wisteria, the Wildchoir wiki page has received a large expansion that puts it on par with that of the Entente, which is live for you to read right now. A large part of this is new lore on what happened between the singing of the Verse and the evacuation fleet scattering in the mists of Nebelloren, adding a lot more depth to the formation and spread of the Wildchoir and to the cataclysm that almost ended it. Another big highlight of this update is Wildchoir culture, with more details on their educational systems and their arts, the latter of which are very varied indeed. This should help flesh out the Wildchoir more, although of course, the big picture remains the same. The Venswood is still a place of great variety, where its many regions had their own cultures and societies, which remained united together until the the end of the Verse by a shared philosophy of dialogue, peace, and prosperity.

The Guest Piece - Pingachu

Okay I got volun-told to write the guest piece this week so here’s a brief list of things we’re at some stage of talking about or working on.

• Cooking
• Mobs
• Skills
• Professions
• Dungeons
• Trinkets
• Spawn
• Farming
• Feedback Forms*

I stand by the worst part of techie work, besides debugging, is we can’t talk about most of what we do without fear or spoiling it. So a bullet list and your trust is all we can have together.

*I want to say thank you to everyone who submits feedback forms. They do get looked at. Sometimes we’re waiting for a more opportune moment to get them done, others we’re just behind and do them all at once. Thank you all for your patience.

I especially want to thank those who donate their parent’s credit cards to our fund. Tav’s piece last month went over pretty well why and how we use it, mainly electricity. Another use that comes up rarely is the plugins we use aren’t always free, and often come out of our own pockets. The plugins we use for our mobs, items, and models are all premium, and had to be bought by a staff member. We always try to make do with free versions first, but oftentimes the quality of premium is worth the buy. For one of the bullets above, we are looking at an additional premium plugin. So…

(I promise next month’s guest piece won’t be shilling for more money. Or it might. This might be a thing. Only you can stop me shilling by submitting your own guest piece!)