***********************************************************************IMPORTANT READ ALL: This part is the introductions from various people including LH employees and Xfire people. Some general chat in between too. :) You can ofcourse skip this part unless it interests you.:) You’ll know the various sections of this chat through these bold text separations now and then. Just scroll down till the next one to get to the Q&A.:) Red is an LH/Other employee.Green is a question being asked (they are always quoted by a LH first, it was jus the way the Xfire chat system worked.)
Blue is an answer.:)*********************************************************************** [18:25] [Xfire]Frederic: Hi, Greetings everybody! This is Frederic from Xfire. Thanks to everybody for being here today! This is going to be a very exciting event![18:25] derobrash: Hohoho [18:28] [Xfire]Frederic: Is Hohoho a reference to anything?[18:28] derobrash: No, it was me chuckling and rubbing my hands together with glee at the thought of this exciting event :D[18:29] [Xfire]Frederic: heheh cause it s all over some of the RA Salvatore novels :)[18:29] [Xfire]Frederic: It is th favourite expression of one of his heores- a monk[18:29] derobrash: lol[18:30] derobrash: Its one of my favourite expressions, he stole it[18:30] [Xfire]Frederic: hheh[18:53] Sam the Pet: I hope everyone has their questions ready! :-)[18:56] [LH]Neil Wakefield I do![18:56] derobrash: I do too, I say we kick everybody else :D[18:56] derobrash: and I'll just keep you all occupied for an hour[19:04] [LH]Neil Wakefield: Ever had squirrel? Them's good eatin'[19:05] [LH]Kalev Tait: Nope... but I'd like to try.[19:05] Ron Millar: You eat EVERYTHING[19:05] [LH]Kalev Tait: YES[19:05] [Xfire]Frederic: GOOD MORNING, GOOD AFTERNOON, GOOD EVENING EVERYBODY!!! [19:05] Ron Millar: Hello everyone [19:05] [Xfire]Frederic: WE ARE ABOUT TO GET STARTED[19:05] [Xfire]Frederic: Let s rool[19:05] [Xfire]Frederic: roll[19:05] Ron Millar: 34 / M / S[19:06] Ron Millar: j/k[19:06] derobrash: :D[19:06] [Xfire]Frederic: First off, we would like to thank the Lionhead development team for being with us today! [19:06] [Xfire]Frederic: It s an absolute honour to have you on Xfire especially considerin git s a Friday evenin for you[19:06] Ron Millar: Thanks Frederic[19:07] [Xfire]Frederic: We are now going to have all the Lionhead people present introduce themselves.[19:07] [Xfire]Frederic: Please, join me in welcoming them on Xfire (VIRTUAL CLAPS HERE)[19:07] [Xfire]Frederic: (Peter Molyneux is caught in London [19:08] Sam the Pet: Hello everyone! My name is Sam and I am the community pet for Lionhead Studios, I've been working for nearly 2 years here now. Oh yeah, and I like bananas so please send me some at samvantilburgh@lionhead.com[19:08] [LH]CBlackbourn: Hey All! My name's Chris Blackbourn, and I've been working on the physics system.[19:08] [LH] Franny: Hello, my name's Francesco Carucci, and Ive been working on parts of the 3d engine for 2 years[19:08] jbarnes: Ind [19:08] [LH]Dom Oldrey: Hi! I'm Dom. I'm the Creature Designer on BW2. [19:08] Ron Millar: Hello everyone. I'm Ron. I worked as a Lead Designer on the game. [19:08] Woodah.: Hi eveyone, My name is Woody and I'm Community Manager for The Movies - Lionhead's MOVIE MOGUL! :p[19:09] [LH]Neil Wakefield: Hello, I'm Neil Wakefield and I wrote Black & White 2's audio systems.[19:09] [LH]Kalev Tait: I'm a Scripter. Meaning I implement challenges and land control (land specific enemy AI, land specific enemy creature behaviour etc.) I've also done most of the script support for the other scripters.[19:09] [LH]Neil Wakefield: (I'm a programmer, not a musician)[19:09] jbarnes: Thankd Frederic. I'm Jonty. Head of Black & White Studios.[19:09] Sam the Pet: He's the boss. [19:10] jbarnes: Well, I've been working for Peter for 16 years now. He's the boss.[19:10] [Xfire]Frederic: As most of you already know, you can get all the BW2 movies on Xfire, from the special section of the site we have dedicated to this highly anticipated title:[19:10] [Xfire]Frederic: http://www.xfire.com/xf/modules.php?name=XFire&file=cmspage&body=xf_devchat_lionhead[19:10] [LH] Thomas Busser: Hi, I'm Thomas Busser. Creature AI Lead Programmer[19:11] [Xfire]Frederic: All the trailers for The Movies are also on Xfire by the way **********************************************************************************************************************************************Questions start from HERE.:)********************************************************************************************************************************************** [19:12] Sam the Pet: conkorg2006: After your done playing the game is there a sandbox mode or sumthing or you have to start a new profile to play over? what if i want to continue playing with my creature i already have?<answer> once you complete the game you can start again and play in a sandbox mode through all the lands with everything you have earned [19:13] [LH]Dom Oldrey: Darkomen: Question: Will Black & White 2 have the variety of creatures that were in Black and White 1? Or will it just be the 3 main creatures.Answer: BW2 has 5 playable creatures, in the standard issue you can play as the lion, wolf, ape or cow. In the special edition you can also play as the tiger [19:14] [LH] Franny: bobsyuruncle: Question: Is the game fun enough for my girlfriend to play? <answer> My girlfriend can't wait to play it. She forced me to go to work only to finish it so she could play. [19:14] Ron Millar: powerofthegods: When will multiplayer and skirmish be released? Why were these not included in the original game, skirmish especially, bearing in mind that skirmish is onlyjust a few new maps and game play/script changes? <--<answer> Black & White 2 is a HUGE game and to make the single player game as amazing as possible we had to focus on it. Lands in Black & White 2 are also very detailed simulations so it is not a question of quickly making up a skirmish map. We are looking into the multiplayer play currently. [19:15] [LH]Dom Oldrey: telemole: WHAT ASPECTS OF THE CREATURE AI MAKE IT STAND OUT FROM OTHER 'PET' TYPE AI'S IN OTHER TITLES?[19:15] [LH]Dom Oldrey: Seriously, though, I think Tom should answer about the creature AI:)[19:17] [LH] Thomas Busser: Creature: I believe the emotional involment and its intelligence makes the interaction with the creature quite different experience from other "pet" [19:16] jbarnes: olligo: comes b&w2 in germany Answer: The first we heard of this was today. I'm been escalating this to senior people at EA, and as soon as we understand the truth, we'll announce on our website. It's very confusing [19:17] [LH]Dom Oldrey: conkorg2006: how tall can creatures grow?<answer>The creature's can grow to about 12 meters tall. They literally tower over the villagers:) [19:18] [LH]CBlackbourn: ShadowCode: [Mac] How likely is it that the game will be ported to Mac? On what does this depend? Answer: Unlikely - We're tied pretty closely to the Windows platform and DirectX.. [19:18] [LH] Franny: [PBnW] ShadowCode: [Windows VISTA] - Has the game been tested on Windows Vista (Codename Longhorn) Beta-1?<answer> Yes. It works fine. [19:18] [LH]Neil Wakefield: DøS=-{NoxiousPluK}: Was it a lot of rush-work before the deadline like with the older B&W? There's always a lot of pressure to hit the deadlines at the end of a project. We did work some pretty crazy hours but don't worry, we didn't cut any corners :) [19:19] Sam the Pet: Jonty has to apology but he had to go to EA now to talk to them about the release date, it's very confusing he says! [19:19] Ron Millar: <question> DøS=-{NoxiousPluK}: do the humans respond more humanlike now? <answer> Yes. Villagers lead their own lifes, have their own names, ages, jobs, etc. They also have their own emotions, health, happiness and so on. They also react to everything you do. Villagers also migrate to join your amazing city or can be pressed into large armies. All of which affects everyone in your city. [19:20] [LH]Dom Oldrey: Kev_Boy: This might be a big question, but what's the pipeline for a creature (in short) from the drawing to the finished model?<answer> You're right, this is a massive question. Since I joined the company though we took this approach: We simulated the physiology and emotion systems first. Then we looked at all the actions and jobs the creature could do in the world. When these were working we looked the AI and learning. [19:21] [LH]Neil Wakefield: Kev_Boy: I take it the international versions no longer have translated voice-overs? <answer> <-- Actually they do, but the European DVD ships with all the languages on there so you can pick the one you like when you install [19:21] [LH] Franny: Micha: is it true that you can connect the game with the microsoft outlook express? if yes how does a villager say you when you got a mail?<answer> The games takes some of the villagers names from Outlook and MSN, but it doesnt actually connect to the server (for privacy). [19:21] Ron Millar: Darkomen: Question: How large can an army be? If it the size of your population, how large can your population be?<Answer> You can draft EVERYONE in your city into your army except the children and old. Your population can grow to as many as your system can handle. I think I've seen 5000 [19:22] [LH]CBlackbourn: stu42 asks: Why do reviews claim that soldiers can walk through walls.<answer> stu42: This was a bug in the reviewers copies. This should be fixed now. [19:23] [LH]Neil Wakefield: OK a question and an announcement... [19:23] [LH] Franny: bobsyuruncle: Is there a .txt file of some sort that you can point Black and White to for a names list?<answer> yes [19:23] [LH]Neil Wakefield: stu42: Why the long tutorial? We all hate tutorials. <answer> Well it's a very subtle tutorial so hopefully you won't want to skip it... but I've just been told I'm allowed to say this[19:23] Sam the Pet: THIS IS BIG NEWS[19:23] Sam the Pet: LET IT OUT NEIL[19:24] [LH]Neil Wakefield: We'll be releasing a patch for all versions on the day of release which will include various changes including a skip tutorial feature[19:24] [LH]Neil Wakefield: we're sorry it couldn't make it in for release, there was just too much to do :) [19:24] Sam the Pet: Noob: Will there be an expansion pack like Creature Isle for BnW2 ( i know its a bit early, but you might have some ideas allready?)<answer>Hi Noob that depends on how well the game does and how many it sells! [19:24] [LH]CBlackbourn: P§2MAN© asks: [Gameplay] You Claim If you Can see it, you Can manipulate it. If this is so why are you surrounding by an edless abyss of water that you cant even grab?<answer> PS2Man: Loosely, Yes and Yes. The game world has to end somewhere... [19:26] Ron Millar: [PBnW] ShadowCode: What are the plans to support the modding community?<answer> We will be releasing all the tools to the mod community once we have a rest and can package it all nicelyBut it is planned [19:26] [LH]CBlackbourn: Kev_Boy asks: Will you be able to push a person in the water to drown him, by simply clicking or do you need to pick him up and throw him in the water again?<answer> Kev_Boy: To drown villagers, you can throw indeed them in the water. On later lands you can also by 'Forcing' from the tribute menu, and use it to push villagers into the water where they will drown. (Evil!) [19:27] [LH]Neil Wakefield: davekap: Did you make up your own audio system or did you borrow one from another developer? <answer> Our own. We have a central technology group which is set up purely for writing core systems such as this. The BW2 audio rendering stuff is a more advanced version of the one in Fable. [19:27] Ron Millar: Kalev has been working on the script language and he can tell you more[19:27] [LH]Kalev Tait: I'm currenlty making the script language documentation alot more user friendly. [19:27] [LH]Kalev Tait: And I'm going to start writing some tutorials next week. [19:27] Sam the Pet: stu42: Are the mouse buttons reversed?<answer>Yes but you can customise the controls in the options menu. [19:28] Ron Millar: You are going to be able to TOTALLY MOD the game [19:28] [Xfire]Frederic: Peter Molyneux is caught in the London [19:28] [LH]Neil Wakefield: [PBnW] ShadowCode: [SOUND] Neil, what's the coolest thing about the sound system? Which things are you proud of? <answer><-- Difficult :). From an aesthetic point of view, the sound effects for the Torture Pit (you REALLY need to hear it). From a technical point of view, the dynamic orchestral music system Craig, Paul and I developed for the battles.[19:29] [LH]Neil Wakefield: There were several points where Craig and I heard his sound effects ingame and said "We're going straight to hell for this". I can't think of another game where you can throw children at walls. [19:29] [LH]Kalev Tait: I can answer more specific questions about what can/can't be done with the scripting language... [19:29] [LH] Thomas Busser: Q : Darkomen: Question: In general, how advanced is the Creature's Intellegence compared to Black and White 1?[19:30] [LH] Thomas Busser: A: It's a different AI first of all, because it's a different game made by a different team. There's a huge emphasis on the interaction player / creature (that is both ways): how the creature understands you? The second important emphasis is emotion. [19:29] Ron Millar: [PBnW] ShadowCode: What are the plans to support the modding community? [19:29] [LH]Dom Oldrey: bobsyuruncle: Question: It's been said that the creature loses his free will when set to tasks such as being a soldier. Question is does the creature regain free will 'very slowly' such as most soldiers do over time? <answer>Yeah, your creature can regain his freewill. It is a pretty slow process, but giving it toys to play with will speed it up a bit:) [19:29] [LH] Franny: Indy Smiff: [requirements] what are the system requirements?<answer> minspec is a GeForce3/4, you can play at full details with a X800+/GeForce6800+ [19:29] Ron Millar: Yes, the arrows are simulated[19:29] Ron Millar: Like all of Black & White 2[19:29] Ron Millar: :-D[19:29] Ron Millar: AND when your archers gain experience they get more accurate[19:30] Ron Millar: AND eventually level up to fire arrows which are awesome[19:30] Ron Millar: Archers placed on walls with fire arrows are one of the best defenses[19:30] Ron Millar: Especially against the creature [19:29] [LH]CBlackbourn: Kev_Boy asks: Is there High Dynamic Range <answer> There's a lot of hype about HDR. BW2 engine implements most of the things that are usually "called" HDR and this already makes our sunsets the best out there ;)Kev: (The sunsets are amazing!!) [19:30] [LH]Kalev Tait: [PBnW] ShadowCode: [Scripting] Kalev, on what kind of syntax/framework is the scripting system based? LUA? C#? Or a 'in-house brewn' language?<answer>Its an in house language.In fact, its the same language as BW1.Most of the commands that worked in the old one will work in the new one. But a whole lot more will work too. Its doubled in size several times.[19:32] [LH] Franny: but we don't have a full HDR rendering pipeline enabled, cause it wasnt necessary
[19:32] Ron Millar: øS=-{NoxiousPluK}: how does it feel to have a unique product in the game world?<answer>INCREDIBLE! That's how it feels
[19:32] [LH]Dom Oldrey: beow00lf: Question: Are the creatures have some kind of "job"?? Can they help the peoples [in game] in they're [peoples] live?? E.g. - can the creature be a builder?? <answer> Yes, the creature can be ordered to build a specific building, be told to be a builder in general, or you can teach it building is a good thing!
[19:32] [LH]Neil Wakefield: davekap: In B&W 2 do we once again get to hear someone whisper our names if it's late at night? Is the "death" whisper still in? I actually enjoyed these things <answer>Yep. I got bored one night about 18 months ago and put it back into B&W2. Then I forgot about it. About three months later I was working late and it triggered. I ended up spilling coffee on my keyboard :/ that's the spooky names thing btw.
The birth and death are both in there, but I've followed the rules from the B&W2 [sic. I think he meant B&W1 –POTG(ed)] v1.2 patch so they won't be annoying (I know that was one of the criticisms of the original) [19:33] Ron Millar: derobrash: Kev_Boy: Are there things you really wanted in the game but just didn't work out in the end? And, from the other perspective, are there things that you think turned out really well? [19:33] Ron Millar: <answer>Working on such a massive game is always bitter sweetYou get in loads of cool stuff and there are always things you wished you could've included but at some point you need to finish and let it alone There are a ton of cool things that happens when you make a simulation That you never thought of There have been loads of nights when I've been here at the studio messing around in the game and found stuff that I'd never seen before or thought of [19:33] Sam the Pet: Peter Molyneux will be here with us in +/- 10 minutes! [19:34] Sam the Pet: [PBnW] ShadowCode: [COMMUNITY] - The community is always asking things, demanding things. What would YOU guys ask/demand from the community?[ANSWER] I'd really like people to be considerate and remember that a team of 90 people have put nearly four years of their life in creating a game, I am hoping to receive and read a lot of feedback on how people did or did not enjoy the game without hurting anyone's feelings. Yeah, I know, I'm an emotional hippy. [19:34] [LH]Neil Wakefield: DøS=-{NoxiousPluK}: What development language/tools u guys use most? <<answer>For programming: We work in C++ mostly, with ASM when we absolutely have to (which is quite a lot when you're debugging optimised versions of the game). Tools: Visual C++, Xoreax Incredibuild, Perforce, LOADS of inhouse tools written by Daniel Deptford (lead programmer) [19:36] Ron Millar: [LH]Neil Wakefield: telemole: WHAT IS THE MOST BIZARRE EVENT YOU SAW IN TESTING AS A RESULT OF THE SIMULATION ASPECT - AND IS THIS STILL IN THE GAME?[19:36] [LH]CBlackbourn: D0S: Plus AlienBrain on the art side, and 3dsmax for modeling and animation. Photoshop for texturing.[19:36] [LH]CBlackbourn: D0S: And numerous little scripts in python, perl and shell scripts too.. [19:36] derobrash: Telemole: What is the most bizarre event you saw in testing as a result of the simulation aspect- and is this still in the game?[19:36] Ron Millar: There was one where the creature was left on all night and covered the world in POO [19:36] [LH]Neil Wakefield: ok everyone give your bizarre sim stories :)[19:37] [LH]Kalev Tait: Any more mod questions?[19:37] Ron Millar: At least once or twice a week something really funny would happen while people were testing the game. I think we have a folder somewhere with all the crazy screenshots in it. We should release them at some point[19:38] [LH]Neil Wakefield: The best simulation breakdown I saw was the result of two bugs. 1) Sometimes when children grew up, they would get interrupted by other things when trying to change to an adult skin. That meant we had 20yr old kids running around. 2) Breeder disciples are supposed to congregate on street corners, but due to a bug in the roads system they were sometimes standing in creches.[19:38] Ron Millar: hahahaha[19:38] [LH]Neil Wakefield: End result: An old man stood at the entrance to a crech soliciting children and sometimes getting a bit too friendly with them. Needless to say, we fixed that pretty sharpish[19:38] [LH]Dom Oldrey: re: BIZARRE EVENTS: My favourite was when we put tastiness on food types. The creature was hungry after a strenuous battle so ate the corpse of an enemy. I hadn't balanced it all right, so he ate another, then another. This went on till the creature was stuff and looking very fat. There was a small pile of bodies left which the creature proceeded to have a crap on. It was then hungry again so went off in look of more soldiers to kill and eat:) [19:38] [LH]CBlackbourn: Most Bizarre: We had a bug where the scale was all wrong on the villagers. One of the poor guys ended up with a default of -1000.0, which made him about 1.8km tall, and upside down. The only way to see hom was to zoom out really far (by disabling the camera locks) and look *underneath* the landscape![19:39] [LH]Neil Wakefield: an upside-down villager with an island on his foot[19:39] Ron Millar: There was another one to do with the fertility of the blood from dead bodies creating trees. Every time there was a huge battle a forest sprang up. [19:40] [LH]CBlackbourn: Oh - and then there was the time we put the strength of gravity on a console command, and everyone would go round making it negative so things would fall 'up' instead of 'down'. [19:39] [LH]Kalev Tait: derobrash: will I be able to write a plugin for the map editor, or just make a complete map generation tool?<answer>So far, I've just been working on the script language side of the mod development. I'm meeting with Jonty and Sam on Monday to start figuring out the rest of it. I'll certainly bring that up as something that we will try and let people do. [19:39] [LH] Franny: Kev_Boy: How are the levels created? A huge displacement map or something?? And how does it keep a smooth framerate?<answer> The landscape is stored as a heightmap. Dave Bryson, our 3d lead, wrote an incredible landscape renderer that is so cheap and high detailed that you could never see the change in details and it always runs at virtually no cpu cost [19:40] Ron Millar: bobmcfarren: how much money are you expecting to make from this game?? <answer>LOADSNo, I hope it does well. Lionhead needs to keep making more cool games.
[19:40] [LH]Neil Wakefield: {7~11} []V[]ad Cow: Question: if i wanted to become a part of lionhead studios where would the best place to start ? <answer>easiest routes in are probably: scripter, tester or artist. From a scripting position you can move to programming. From testing you can move to design (although that can be harder).decide on the area you want to work in, check gamedev.net's forums for helpalso, there are plenty of people on the Lionhead forums who can give you advice[19:42] [LH]Kalev Tait: Actualy, from scripting you can move to design as well.Its still not easy though. [19:42] Sam the Pet: Noob: When will LionHead seperate its self from EA (if ever) ?[ANSWER] We work with EA as a publisher, but we also work with Microsoft and Activision. We aren't attached to EA as you imply, we have a publishing deal with them so there's no need to be looking for speration, we work together and we do that quite well. Apart from the fiasco that's called release date... :p [19:43] [LH]CBlackbourn: stu42 asks: Is changing day/night still in? If so, does it need prayer power?<answer>Stu: Yup, you can reach into the sky to change the time of day. (no mana cost) [19:43] Sam the Pet: powerofthegods: Am I correct in thinking that TRIVBUTE was RON'S IDEA?:p[ANSWER] no it was Peter's idea. [19:44] [LH]CBlackbourn: PyroFlame asks: Will There be new resources? More than just Grain/Wood????<answer>PyroFlame: There are three 'resources', Ore [19:44] [LH] Franny: stu42: Will Peter be in a bad mood when he arives if he's been stuck in traffic? <answer><-- Peter has been modeled with very advanced skinning routines and AI algorithms, therefore I think... ehm... [19:45] [LH]CBlackbourn: telemole asks: How will the physics engine deal with the construction/destruction of walls?<answer>Telemole: We generate dynamic wall meshes at run time, so you can break pieces off, and you can then throw those pieces around. In fact, the catapults use the physics simulation to attack the walls. [19:45] Ron Millar: Ron ? {7~11} []V[]ad Cow: why is design so hard ? <answer> Trying to steer so many amazing ideas from the team is very hard. You have to go with what you feel is the right direction. Sometimes you make mistakes and have to change things. Sometimes you have to cut stuff due to resources or time. It's also a LOT of hours. You have to play the game over and over and over again to get it right The whole time you are hoping to get it right and that people will enjoy what you are creating. These days it takes an entire team of designers to make a top game We had a team of about a half a dozen designers alone. Dom, for example, was the creature designer but also helped with other aspects of the design when needed [19:45] [LH]Kalev Tait: davekap: Is it going to be possible to mod the camera? So I could turn B&W2 into an FPS or a top-down game?<answer>I've done that. So yes. Though it will take a fair amount of work... its not easy. I'm not able to find the question, but there was the suggestion that I was using the source code to create the FPS. [19:49] [LH]Kalev Tait: I didn't.
[19:49] [LH]Kalev Tait: All in script. [19:46] [LH] Franny: Kev_Boy: Will the game work fine with Anti Aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering? Some games didn't like AA in the past...<answer>BW2 supports AA and post processing at the same time, but you'll have to enable AA from withing the game. Drivers settings are ignored. [19:47] Sam the Pet: Capuchin: Question: What do lionhead make of the bad press that BnW2 has recieved thus far?[ANSWER] The whole team are extremely proud of what Black&White 2 has turned out to be we have seen some very good reviews, and some let's just say, lesser review scores, but I think it's safe to say that it's a) a matter of opinion and it's up to you (the gamers) to decide for yourself if you liked the game. [19:48] Ron Millar: Black and White 2 is a very deep game and it is not your typical one either I think some people will be trying to force through it like an RTS or trying to compare it to other games. Black & White 2 is so incredible. I think you will find that the people that spent the time with it and play it for what it is enjoy it thoroughly[19:48] [LH]Neil Wakefield: I'm not sure that we HAVE had that much bad press, the majority of the reviews I've seen have been in the high 80s or low 90s. [19:47] [LH]Neil Wakefield: davekap: Will Lionhead's devs release the silly things they've done, such as what Kalev just said? <answer>*pimp* http://neilwakefield.com/?content=programs#22 *pimp* this is the silly thing I've been writing after bw2 went gold ;) [19:48] [LH]CBlackbourn: powerofthegods asks: Is it possible to change the thickness of walls?<answer>POTG: In additioning to raising/lowering the walls, you can also upgrade your walls from the tribute menu. [19:49] [LH]Dom Oldrey: [PBnW] ShadowCode: [DEVS] Neil just posted his website. Do any of the other B&W2 devs have personal websites that we may know about? <answer><- I wrote a webbrower once. You can get it at www.quadrasite.com
[19:50] Ron Millar: Noob: Will there be any Singing Missionaries in BnW2 ??? <answer> YES! There are some funny challenges and songs in there I think you will enjoy [19:50] Sam the Pet: stu42: Are the egyptians in or not?[ANSWER] They are in but maybe not as you'd expect. ;) "You'll see"
[19:51] Ron Millar: <answer> we had lots of people in the recording studio singing and laughing their heads off [19:51] [LH]Neil Wakefield: powerofthegods: Is it possible to build buildings from other cultures that we cannot "drag off' from existing towns?
[ANSWER] <-- Ron can answer this[19:51] Ron Millar: Sure... Once you capture ANY town you can copy their structures [19:52] [LH]Neil Wakefield: telemole is asking about the Canadian release date (not pasting because he spammed it in caps - STOP DOING THAT!)[19:52] [LH]Neil Wakefield: afaik it's the same as the US [19:53] [LH]CBlackbourn: WNxGyrolion: Question: Is it possible that you can throw rocks in war to kill the enemy forces a bit and buildings like walls? [19:53] [LH]CBlackbourn: WNG: Yes! Anything you pick up, you can throw anything as a weapon against the enemy. [19:53] [LH]Neil Wakefield: gesliderx28: Question: Do you have children? [ANSWER]god no, I'm only 24 :).[19:53] [LH]CBlackbourn: Ges28: I'm 29 with 1 [19:53] Ron Millar: Ron: P§2MAN©: In singleplayer you play as the greeks. I was wondering if could play as 1 of the other races when the muliplayer patch is released?<answer> We're looking into the multiplayer aspect of the game. More will be announced at a later date. [19:54] crountch has entered the room. [19:53] [LH]Dom Oldrey: stu42: Have you ever put a villager skin on a creature? [ANSWER] <- We haven't tried that. We have had some interesting bugs like creating a Liger by mistake when we got the neutral skin for the Lion and the evil texture for the Tiger:) [19:55] [LH]Neil Wakefield: davekap: Will it be possible to mod the audio system at all? I know it's a very dynamic system but would it, at the very least, be possible to replace some of the sounds? [ANSWER] <-- the sounds are stored in bank files, similar to B&W1. It's possible that we will release the editor at some point (we did for B&W1) but I obviously can't confirm this. In addition, the parameters for all the audio systems are stored in a single file.
Actually I'm going to give something away to modders here...[19:55] derobrash: ooh, I'm listening[19:55] [LH]Neil Wakefield: Black & White 2\Audio\audio_data.dat ;) You can do all kinds of things in there, like making the music play more often, or turning off certain types of sounds :P [19:55] [LH] Thomas Busser: Q : gesliderx28: Question: Do you have children? Have this inspired you at Black's & White's programming if yes?[ANSWER] I don't have children (as far as I know), but...
Yes part of the way I saw the creature AI was to imagine a 6-8 year old kid, standing by you : s/he needs your love and attention and wants to help you. [19:56] [LH]Kalev Tait: I have no children. yet. I am married, with plans. I'd love to. But I think I'll need to wait till the game is released. [19:57] [LH]Kalev Tait: davekap: Kalev would you mind releasing the mod work you've done so far? Such as the FPS you mentioned you made? [19:58] [LH]CBlackbourn: Redavac asks: Can you throw a townsperson into a wall, and then break or dent the wall ??? [19:58] Ron Millar: I love doing that... Throwing people around in the game. Hours and hours of fun:-D And stress release<---Evil God
[19:58] [LH]CBlackbourn: Red: Yes - but the audio is *much better* if you throw a small child instead
[19:58] [LH]Neil Wakefield: especially with Craig's sick sound effects
[19:58] [LH] Thomas Busser: ... and the creature can help you at that :)[19:58]
[LH]Kalev Tait: heheh
[19:58] [LH] Franny: I tend to throw Neil against a wall in the game (and in the office)
[19:58] [LH]Neil Wakefield: "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" *squelch*[19:58]
Ron Millar: hahahahaha Love it
[19:59] [LH]Neil Wakefield: Fran, keep the death threats out of the channel please ;)[19:59]
Ron Millar: It's great to hoover up like a 100 people then chuck them all at once down a mountain side
[19:59] [LH]Kalev Tait: I remember when cows were 'heavy'... you could easily knock down a wall with just one cow, and it didn't die. but thats been fixed :( [19:59] Ron Millar: That'll teach them to laze around all day [19:59] [Xfire]Frederic: THE LIONHEAD TEAM KINDLY ACCEPTED TO EXTEND THE CHAT SO STAY WITH US :-)[20:00] pmolyneux(Peter Molyneux) has entered the room.[20:00] [LH]Neil Wakefield: Peter just got here :)[20:00] [LH]Neil Wakefield: but he's not at his pc yet[20:00] [LH] Franny: Hey, will I get the same welcome as Peter next time???[20:01] Ron Millar: I've been working on this game and so playing it for about a year now. I was demoing the game up in London [20:01] derobrash: *Hugs Francesco*[20:01] Ron Millar: I have a very short attention span...[20:01] Ron Millar: So that says a lot[20:01] [Xfire]Frederic: ATTENTION: Peter Lolyneux just arrived! As you all know Peter is the creator of super famous, groundbreaking games such as Populous, Syndicate, Magic Carpet, Dungeon Keeper, Black and White, Hi Octane, Theme Park.....[20:01] gesliderx28 has entered the room.[20:01] Sam the Pet: Keep the questions coming guys! [20:01] Peter Molyneux: hello, my name is Peter Molyneux, sorry i am later its the wonderful british train system that is to blame [20:02] [LH]Neil Wakefield: powerofthegods: Fran are you male or female? [ANSWER] <-- we're all cracking up here :)
[20:02] [LH] Franny: Im italian [20:02] [Xfire]Frederic: Hi Peter! On behalf of the Xfire community, thanks for being with us today!!![20:02] Peter Molyneux: thanks Pevil2000, i am sure if i knew you i would love you too[20:03] derobrash: lol [20:03] Peter Molyneux: Yes rock throwing is a lot eaiser, especially as you now can now throw spells as well [20:04] [LH]Dom Oldrey: {CQB}-*Grandelf*: Will there be any wildlife in black and white? like tigers, deer, rhinos fish, sharks, whales,hyenas, lions ,zebra, polar bears, gazelle , lobsters, goldfish, ants, amoeba, giraffes, and flying [ANSWER] <- Thanks for asking this so many times Grandelf;) Yeah there is wildlife out there, not all the ones you listed, but more than a couple. I can tell you the Lion is rather fond of eating sheep!
[20:04] Peter Molyneux: no gandalf your creature will never turn human visabbly , but he will definitly have human emotions [20:05] Sam the Pet: [PCZB]Redavac: What about the ants you can see if you zoom in? are they still in the game??????[ANSWER] YES YES YES[20:05] Ron Millar: COMPLETE ANT SIMULATION [20:05] Peter Molyneux: yes i do have a car but its not worth driving in london [20:05] [LH]Neil Wakefield: beow00lf: Question: Do You know, who will developed B&W 2 in POland and when it will be here [here=Poland]?? [ANSWER] <-- we did. EA was responsible for the translations.The Polish version ships on the European B&W2 DVD so I hope it's out at the same time, if not soon after [20:05] [LH] Franny: ShadowCode: It's not just a texture? <grins>[ANSWER] It's not. Mark wrote a cunning pixel shader to simulare ants (no kidding)
[20:06] [LH]Dom Oldrey: P§2MAN©: Is it Possible to Teach your Creature to eat other creatures poo? [ANSWER] <- It is 'possible', but surely you have to ask yourself why. WHY GOD WHY???
[20:07] Peter Molyneux: well we are trying to work with all platforms ATM, consoles are good cos you know exactly what they are capable of, but the PC is also good cos its an unlimited playground [20:07] Ron Millar: Vash: Is siege equipment implemented and if so can you load it with anything you want? like cows<answer> Black & White 2 features some amazing physics, simulation, ai and so on [20:07] Ron Millar: You can shape the terrain with EPIC miracles [20:07] Ron Millar: [PCZB]Redavac: Why did you choose to have a small selection of army units???[20:08] Ron Millar: <answer> that combined with miracles, the creature and city building we felt was quite a lot of gameplay [20:08] Ron Millar: <answer> We also wanted to keep the army movement simple There's nothing worse than an RTS game with a zillion units and control systems that you can't play. I've worked on WArcraft and Starcraft and I wanted to make a game that was simulated, had physics and was really nice to control. Peter and I worked hard to come up with the perfect balance of army units and controls We also had a dedicated designer, Stephen Goss, who worked with Matt Wiggins, our army coder, to perfect that interface[20:10] [LH] Thomas Busser: Creature building: Both on in his/her own volition or because the player asked. [20:08] [LH]Neil Wakefield: powerofthegods: What about different POO CONSISTENCY? [ANSWER] <-- I remember once when I got a load of error messages from the game along the lines of "Creature bowel consistancy too low" [20:08] [LH]Dom Oldrey: -{CQB}-*Grandelf*: Does the runny poo Use water phisics? [ANSWER] <- it uses the particle system, that simulates droplets falling under gravity, so in a nutshell, yes [20:08] Peter Molyneux: [Village Related Questions] Will new natural disasters be the only methods of nature destroying villages, or will disease come in to play? [ANSWER]: desiese does play a part on certain lands, my advice is you have to be crewel to be kind, kill em before they kill you [20:09] [LH]Dom Oldrey: powerofthegods: Not enough fibre in its diet. [20:09] [LH]Neil Wakefield: [PBnW] ShadowCode: [EASTER EGGS] - B&W1's easteregg was rather hard to find. I don't know how it ever become known. Any HINTS for B&W2 eastereggs? [ANSWER] <-- on land 2, it's not only people you can pick upthat's all I'm saying :) [20:09] Sam the Pet: That's just evil Peter! [20:09] [LH]Dom Oldrey: WNxGyrolion: Question: Can your creature help the villagers build structures ?? [ANSWER] <- Yes, and it can be upgraded to build better! [20:11] [LH]CBlackbourn: PowerOfTheGods asks: Does water from the water miracle work its way around physical objects such as houses, rocks etc. [ANSWER] POTG: Yup! [20:11] [LH]Dom Oldrey: Noob: It is said that the Lion will have an ego like that of the queen of the netherlands [ANSWER] I haven't met HRH, but the Lion is both regal and magestic:) [20:11] Peter Molyneux: pevil2000: Peter, how does it feel to be so admired in your profession you got an OBE and are admired by other Devs (yes I know one who admires you greatly) [ANSWER]: well it feels amazing and scary at the same time, as i hope the people who know me would tell you, i am very passionate about what I do. I hope to live up to the respect that people give me! [20:12] [LH]Dom Oldrey: conkorg2006: What's special about the tiger [ANSWER] Stripes![20:12] derobrash: And an honorary doctorate too, don't forget that :o[20:12] [LH]Kalev Tait: Thats Peter, not the Tiger... [20:12] Ron Millar: Darkomen: Question: What is the resource Ore [ANSWER] It's used to construct armies, walls, some of the buildings and most importantly EPIC MIRACLES! [20:13] Peter Molyneux: -{CQB}-*Grandelf*: do villagers ask for what they want themselves so u can give someone exactly what they want? [ANSWER] Yes they do, its up to you how much you listern to their prayers and demands, some time you may have more important things so they have to wait, which they dont like doing. [20:14] Sam the Pet: Indy Smiff: Are you real peter?[ANSWER] yes we are all the real deal, check the webcams! ;) [20:14] [LH]Dom Oldrey: DnC: TEAM QUESTION: What games do you like playing in your spare time? Or do you not have spare time? [ANSWER] <- we didn't for a long long time, but now we are playing some Battlefield 2 during lunch breaks[20:14] Ron Millar: I love playing Battlefield 2![20:14] [LH]Kalev Tait: I had to delete BF2 from my computer.[20:14] Ron Millar: lol[20:15] Ron Millar: You probably ate it huh?[20:15] Ron Millar: :-D[20:15] [LH]Neil Wakefield: BF2 is kickass[20:15] [LH]Neil Wakefield: go Team Chopper![20:15] derobrash: :/[20:15] derobrash: you know my thoughts on BF2[20:15] derobrash: its for CS kiddies[20:15] [LH]Neil Wakefield: (our helicopter squad)[20:15] [LH]Neil Wakefield: we have lunchtime Black & White Studios vs Movies BF2 matches[20:16] [LH]Neil Wakefield: needless to say we win ;)[20:16] [LH]Kalev Tait: I had to delete CS from my computer too...[20:16] derobrash: aw, my heart bleeds [20:14] [LH]Kalev Tait: Micha: why is there no wood miracle in bw2?[ANSWER] As long as you are watering trees, you will allwasy have enough wood. So no need really. [20:16] Peter Molyneux: Kev_Boy: Why the cut in the amount of creatures? To make you care more for them, the longer development cycle for each with the nex technology, or both reasons? [ANSWER] There were 2 reason 1st was the quality issue we wanted to really make the creatures graphicly amazing and that ment just focusing on a smaller number rather than 13 in the original 2nd, most people that played B&W 1 just kept to their original creature and never swapped [20:16] Ron Millar: eversmile: Earlier, one of the devs said "hoover up the villagers." Does that mean you can "suck" things in and then blow them out?[ANSWER] Yeah, it's a feature you can buy in the tribute menu. It's loads of fun and way less tedious than picking up one thing at a time[20:17] Peter Molyneux: There is a game feature you can unlock with something called tribute that allows you to pick up as many objects as you like in the hand [20:17] [LH]Dom Oldrey: telemole: OH! Can your creature be killed? What happens when he is overpowered by soldiers? [ANSWER] <- If your creature dies it will respawn after a few minutes. It will still be injured and exhausted though, so need to rest for a time. It is best to try to keep it alive:) [20:19] Peter Molyneux: Biggestsonicfan: The announcement of a Black & White game for DS and PSP has many people excited, but looking into the past, console versions seem to have failed before they were even completed, such as the ones for the Dreamcast and Playstation 2. Does Lionhead only see a market in handhelds? And with the new Nintendo Revolution controller announced using a 3D environment, god-sims have been speculated to be a huge hit on Nintendo's new console. Could there be anything in the works? [ANSWER] B&W is being developed for hand held but not by LH, they are consentrating on the creatures rather than the world, they should be cool when they are finished
[20:19] Ron Millar: Have you included any fun options to spend tribute on? such as Pink Creature mode or Creatures poo Villagers, Things like that? <answer> There are loads of things you can buy in the tribute menu. Some are for the hand, some for the creature, some related to the villagers and more. [20:20] [LH]Neil Wakefield: [PBnW] ShadowCode: [DEVS] Any notable 'start-up rituals' of any of the BWSTudios crew (Do the programmers pray to the evil God of Pointers before starting?) [ANSWER] <-- make a cup of tea, have a cigarette, check emailhit computer a few times[20:21] [LH]Kalev Tait: Yah, I hit Neils computer before starting work too.[20:21] [LH]Neil Wakefield: that explains a lot[20:22] Ron Millar: Get in. Open email... fun begins. 12 hours late fun ends and it's time to go home. :-)[20:23] [LH]CBlackbourn: ShadowCode: One very very very strong cup of coffee, quickly followed by a second extremely strong cup of coffee. I don't start coding until the third cup is empty. [20:20] Sam the Pet: Noob: Noob: How will European players get the Tiger, it is said there will be a patch of some sort, is this true? or do we have to wait 1 week more and get Collectors Edition?[ANSWER] the only way to get it if you placed a pre-order in the USA or when you buy the limited Collectors Edition in Europe , it is very unlikely that we will release it as a free download after the release of the game. No sorry, not unlikely, it is never going to happen. [20:21] [LH]CBlackbourn: olliebot asks: Question: Will future BW games possibly feature physics using the PhysX chips and such like?[20:21] [LH]Neil Wakefield: the usual[20:22] [LH]CBlackbourn: Olliebot: We're likely to run a full evaluation of the available physics engines during our next-gen research phase. No decisions have yet been made. [20:21] [LH]Dom Oldrey: [PCZB]Redavac: Can you knock an enemy creature over, if you throw a rock at them ? [ANSWER] Yes, we model all physics impacts with the creatures. Also the shield spell when thrown causes a strong gust of wind that sends creatures and villagers flying:) [20:21] Ron Millar: Darkomen: Question: What is with the poop? :P <answer> It's a simulation. Stuff gets eaten. Stuff gets pooped out. Poo fertilizes the ground, so stuff like grass and trees can grow better. Have you ever driven through the country and smelled that fresh air? [20:22] Peter Molyneux: CQB}-*Grandelf*: ARE THERE DIFFERENT types of houses and things or do they morfe to change how u are?[ANSWER] there are many different types of houses from hovels (great for creating slums to mansions) all of which morph to reflect you alignment, and mean you can make very different cities [20:22] [LH]Neil Wakefield: davekap: Will modders be given access to the console and use commands that change gravity and such? [ANSWER] <-- initially no since it's not really user-friendly. It's set up to help programmers rather than designers.We may reenable it in a later patch but we don't know yetdon't really need the console for modding anyway, just the external tools :) [20:24] [LH]Neil Wakefield: powerofthegods: Are any of you lot looking forward to TESIV:OBLIVION? :D [ANSWER] <-- OMG YES. Morrowind consumed my life. [20:25] Ron Millar: [PBnW] ShadowCode: [DEVS] Any notable 'start-up rituals' of any of the BWSTudios crew (Do the programmers pray to the evil God of Pointers before starting? <Answer> Sure, there are catapults and don't forget your creature. Also, you as a God are a very powerful unit! [20:25] Peter Molyneux: Cet-Tec: [Question] - peter, which 'next gen' console are you most looking folward too? A. as a developer and B. as a gamer? [ANSWER] As a gamer i see the xbox and PSX as being simular, the new nintedo controller definitly means there will be some very original games for it [20:25] [LH]Neil Wakefield: [PBnW] ShadowCode: How about a -console startup parameter? [ANSWER] <-- it's not just disabled, it doesn't exist in our gold builds :). We'd have to write a patch containing the console code ;) I don't really want to get into technical details but trust me when I say you really don't need it :)
[20:25] Ron Millar: Units also gain experience and with it more abilities [20:26] Peter Molyneux: {CQB}-*Grandelf*: Thank you your words definitly mean a lot to everyone here [20:26] [LH]Dom Oldrey: [PCZB]Redavac: Can we set the amount of time needed for the dead body's to pass away? (better performance on some pc's? ) [ANSWER] <- They decompose and fertilise at the same time. We couldn't change the rate they disappear without changing the fertilising. They aren't much of a performance hit anyway (They had to be drawn when alive!) [20:27] [LH]Neil Wakefield: Micha: where is the idea for the name Lionhead coming from? [ANSWER] it was named after Mark Webley's (one of the founders) dead hamster[20:27] [LH]Neil Wakefield: yes, that's the truth about the hamster. Respect the dead!
[20:27] Peter Molyneux: davekap: Final question from me: Is there anything at all that we haven't asked yet that you think would be a great thing to answer? And what's the answer? [ANSWER] Yes what is the meaning of the future room and what part does it play in B&W IIYes [20:27] Ron Millar: powerofthegods: What about some light cheats AFTER we have finished the game? Unlimited tribute, wood etc. Instantly place down a villager. Change culture. etc <Answer> Once you've finished the game you can play through again with the stuff you have earned and try and buy everything! [20:27] [LH]Kalev Tait: davekap: Will modders be given access to the console and use commands that change gravity and such?[ANSWER] I don't know about the console yet...but you can change the gravity for individual objects through script.Yes. You can't return a value from a function.
[20:27] Ron Millar: stu42: How many man-hours have been spent making the game? [ANSWER]I don't know how many hours but man did we eat a lot of take aways. thousands. :-D
[20:28] [LH]Neil Wakefield: hundreds of thousands by my calculations[20:28] Ron Millar: I don't think I can face another take away meal[20:28] Ron Millar: lol[20:28] [LH] Franny: I almost died of that awful takeaway pizza [20:29] Ron Millar: Kev_Boy: For a person who has played Black&White 1, what are some core reasons he should purchase Black&White 2 and knows he'll get a great time out of it and not a deja-vu feeling?[ANSWER] Black & White 2 has SO MANY MORE features in it. You can raise HUGE armies or build a MASSIVE city. The creature is also completely reworked in every sense [20:29] [LH]Kalev Tait: [PBnW] ShadowCode: [Kalev] Are there any evil limitations in the scripting language? Like, while Morrowind was a great game, if I remember correctly, you couldn't do a for loop in its scripts.[ANSWER]Actually, you can if you're willing to be really tricky... and you can always use global values. Also, you need to fix the size of an array at compile time... meaning that you can't have a true infinite number of things being controled by a script at the same time. But neither of these limitations are killer. You can do ALOT with the script language.
[20:29] Peter Molyneux: bobsyuruncle: Question: What kinds of actual interaction does the hand have with the actual world of Black and White 2 in comparison to BW1? For example, is it now able to 'suck in' water from lakes or the ocean and drop it? [ANSWER] the hand can interact with just about every object in the game, trees, rocks buildings, water, houses, spells, food, wood, armies, fire, smoke, roads, walls the ground..... [20:30] [LH]Neil Wakefield: ok, I'd just like to remind everyone that our official irc channel is #lionhead on the Quakenet server. You should join and hassle Sam :) [20:30] Ron Millar: The interface is incredible. You can play the whole game without a cluttered interface using only the mouse. The whole interface IS the game world. It's really cool [20:31] Peter Molyneux: -{CQB}-*Grandelf*: DO THE SOLDIERS U create turn more aggresive or stronger when ur [ANSWER]No and this was a real design decition. Because we really wanted players to get to know their troups and to religh on them [20:31] Peter Molyneux: BTW everyone if you have any more questions please email me on peter@lionhead.com [20:32] Ron Millar: conkorg2006: Hello I was whats the max limit of armis you can get? <Answer> As big as you like! Just drag everyone into your army as long as you have enough ore. [20:32] Peter Molyneux: I have been told that we have run out of time :( thanks everyone for your support, I hope you enjoy B&W II, I there has been so much love, passion and cool teck put into the game. I am very proud of what we have achived[20:33] derobrash: Thanks a lot guys[20:33] derobrash: you've been great [20:33] Ron Millar: Biggestsonicfan: Oh yeah, whoops: In the original Black and White, there was no incentive to become evil, even though it was a game of choice. Doing evil things would just collapse support in the game until the point of frustration. Is there a non-penalizing system in the new Black and White 2? <answer> Being good in this game will attract people to come and live at your city which is a challenge in itself. Start a war and be evil and you've stirred up a hornets nest. It's so much more [20:33] derobrash: Even if some of you *were* late[20:33] [Xfire]Frederic: On behalf of the Xfire community and all the participants today, we would like to thank the whole Lionhead team for being with us!!! It was an absolutely fantastic chat! Thanks! Danke! Merci! Gracias! :-)[HUGE VIRTUAL CLAPS HERE]We will post a cleaned up transcript of the chat on Xfire next week so stay tuned!Make sure you check the special Black and White 2 page on Xfire for the latest trailer movies and the transcript:http://www.xfire.com/xf/modules.php?name=XFire&file=cmspage&bod[20:33] Ron Millar: involved and reactive now
Edited by: POTG
Adam@planetblackandwhite.com