DarkLife 1.2 update

Hi all.

I currently don't think 1.2 will change our plans for DarkLife and development continues.

We may lose our tax-free status and be asked to survive on our own merrits but even if this happens we'll probably still not end up paying more than we do in subs each month right now I bet.

We'll see how it all irons out in the next month or so. Meanwhile, Mark is working on finishing code up!

The live version won't have classes after all, instead the game will be skill based and each time you level you will spend points on raising skills. Equipment and spells will have level requirements and so players will want to try and specialise.

We are going to offer a refund on all the $25 items people have paid but probably not the backpack as prices have varried for it wildly. This is because all old equipment will need to be deleted as it won't work with the live version.

We will be adding more monsters and challenges to the area and so the entire NE corner of DW will be adventure space with the castle being the hardest area. We also have some more surprises in the woodwork but we will get the game out first before tackling more!

Once the game is live shop owners in DarkWood will be able to start having stock on their shelves. To secure the code all shop items must be placed by Mark Busch but of course shop owners will still get a good ammount of the L$ such items cost. We will tackle stocking all your shelves when we have time and the game is live!

That's enough from me

Pirate

Pirate, you can expect support and continuing cooperation from the officers and residents of DarkWood. We are not going anywhere but up, and are looking at more ways to help make Dark Life an interesting, challenging and fun experience for all. This is a great opportunity for all of us.

If we refund weapons and other items AND we don't get tax coverage anymore I'm not sure we'll make it.
OH wait sorry folks it's not going to happen... There is a bug that happened when the server crashed: some items were doubled. A lot of those items were given away to newbie players so there's no way if I can track if you actually bought the item.
Also think about the time I would need to refund everyone. Wouldn't you rather have me spending that time creating cool new features and game content???
Also you might think you've spend a lot L$ on darklife, but remember Pirate and I have to pay taxes EVERY week, it's not like a one time thing.
If you're REALLLLY short on L$ come to me when we have final running, I can track your sale on my account-history, but I'm asking you not to be a cheap-ass and try to appriciate the work we have done to create this (in real life FREE) game for you to enjoy, and not to wine about things like refunds and levelups in the final version. We'll have our hands MORE then full to get the final version running with good game content.

Mm, yeah, Mark has a good point

Pirate

Maybe if rather than refunds you could do exchanges or have a selection of share-with-group stuff so that people who have already bought it can just pull a copy of the new equipment.

Nothing will be exactly the same, so I can't exchange your weapons for the final-version of it.

Also in the demo I just put in some semi-random weapons. The shield and sword of Darkness being totally impulsive on-the-fly... if you know what I mean.

I've made some improvements in the equipment, that will make it possible for Pirate and me to balance it better. The weapons will also have level and/or skill restrictions.

Basically the idea is the same as the demo, but too much diffrences to call it the same game. The magic system and the levelup-points will give a much more flexible and diffrent gameplay and it will be much more fun if you start the game from the beginning.

Sharing gold and EXP is also limited to a diffrence in level of 4. So a level 10 person can't team up with someone of level 3. Probably more fun to start from the beginning so you can level up togheter as a team

I do want the players to not get mad at me, so if you really spend a lot of time in the demo and you really feel that you'll have more fun if I level you up at the beginning of the final version so be it. I'll level you up.

BUT if you want to be level-uped you will have to wait until Pirate and I actually have some good content for high level players. So you might as well start playing from the beginning, I bet you'll be at the same level by the time we have that content finished

Its not like people did not know it was a demo and that everything done in it would stay in it. By the way, lets say i wanted to be a mage character or what their backpack type, could i level up my differnt kinds of magic such as fire based? I think the new version will be great, people should have to whine about anyone, the new features will renew interest and resume play. If they didnt want to start over why did they play so much in the demo version. I would be happy by just have helped you by paying the 25 lindens to better suit DL. It would help you more to not refund, but i can see what your saying. Maby a gift for beta players who spent time testing it? Rather than leveling or refunding. Hey, I wouldnt complain I think you and Pirate are doing a great job Mark.

Yeah a gift would be a nice idea... have to think about what exactly