By Andy P XIII on Nov 23, 2019 at 10:29 AM
  1. Andy P XIII

    Andy P XIII Moderator
    Moderator

    Joined:
    Nov 14, 2017
    Messages:
    562
    Likes Received:
    837
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Header_-_Week_0.png

    As we develop the Romans, each week are revealing them to you building by building, unit by unit, and technology by technology. We are not just showing you what the Romans will be, but showing you how we are building them, who is building them, and also why we are building them the way that we are. This week, we are returning to the Capital City and revealing the Roman Gear Hall and the two largest Roman Warehouses.

    Gear Hall
    ======
    Unsurprisingly, the Gear Hall is the Capital City building players use to edit their Unit and Building Gear. However, since the main screen has a set button to open the same window, the Gear Hall is a bit redundant – similar to the Treasury. Nevertheless, our Capital Cities would look incomplete without them, so Happy Smurf and Chaos took care to make the Romans one. We had concept art, but we made some changes, too. Overall, it fits in very nicely.
    concept2.png

    We had concept art, but we made some changes, too. Overall, it fits in very nicely. You can still click on the Gear Hall to access your gear, but it is not necessary. These Capital City buildings are probably about as close as civ design gets to drudgery, but Chaos and Happy Smurf always have a way to find something interesting. Here, they fussed about the statue in the concept art and decided that it didn’t look right and went instead with those handsome hedges.
    gearhall_lineup.png
    Speaking of them, we can’t take details like bushes for granted, either. As you may have noticed, every civ has its own small and large bush in a tub, and the Romans will be no different. There are decisions about civ identity almost everywhere we turn. Stay tuned for a developer stream when we answer more questions than you ever dreamt possible about Roman horticulture. Got today, though, we will allow the Gear Hall to give you a little taste. And don’t worry if you liked the statue. We have more statues coming at you than you will be able to count.


    But for now, soak in the Gear Hall. Chaos was fussing with it all week. He donated way too many hours troubleshooting a nagging issue with its destruction animation. Now, remember unless we place them in quests, Capital City buildings are never destroyed and so you’d never even see that animation. But we pride ourselves on meeting or exceeding the level of care our forbears took, and so that means some days Chaos wrestles with hidden problems. Along similar lines, when I asked him if he had any background info for you on this building, he said something about tangents and shaders. Basically he needed to shade those shields so the inner part was brighter than the outer part to give them an obvious concave shape you’d never notice unless you looked. We are so darn lucky to have these guys. They are experts, and they improve everything they touch.

    Roman Warehouses: Add Nauseum (16-slot) and Caesar's Palace (20-slot)
    ================================
    inblog2.png

    As mentioned in Week 20 when we revealed the 8-slot and 12-slot Roman Warehouseshttps://forums.projectceleste.com/threads/weekly-blog-20-enneris-8-slot-and-12-slot-warehouses.4379/, though we named the Roman Warehouses months ago, the designs themselves hew closely to the concept art. Again, the job of most Capital City buildings are to look both civ-specific and role-specific while otherwise blending in and getting out of the way. Nothing too fancy -- the Romans do not need to be over the top on everything.
    concept.png
    But we know you’ve all been bubbling with anticipation about what they look like, so we did not want to leave you hanging much longer.
    inblog1.png
    Here they are with their cousins!
    inblog4.png


    An Update about PF2K
    ================
    As you may have noticed, this is the first blog we’ve ever done out of Andy’s account. We have some solemn news that arose this week and hadn’t wanted to mention it until now. PF2K is of course the single most important member of the Romans team. While it is true that a project of this ambition would be impossible but for the contributions of many of our members, for PF2K, this is true many, many times over. We don’t call him our Executive Producer for nothing. He has done everyone’s job and often is the only person doing some of them. From researching the original Roman designs, blueprinting their final tech tree, balancing unit matchups that only exist in his mind, creating 2d art, to helping with 3d modeling, to everything else. We sincerely believe that PF2K is the only person right now capable of building the Romans. The man is a walking encyclopedia of AoEO and the Age franchise. He plays the game at an elite level, and he knows how to do much of the backend stuff. And he has endless energy. Some days he spends 14 hours a day on AoEO. There are plenty of us who are experts in many of these areas. Only one is an expert in all of them. And all of this was true before we pile on everything else he does around here beyond the Romans: the holiday events, the PvP patches, the questlines, the new gear. Almost every piece of substantive game content runs through his fingers in at least some large part, if not exclusively. He's an amazing guy, and few know how important he is to this community, and even to the greater AoE community.

    This brings us to today. P lives in Iran, and last Saturday in the middle of nationwide protests, its entire internet service was severed without warning and without any expected end. He just disappeared from us in the middle of a conversation. Once we started reading the news and realized what was happening, the Lead Devs and the rest of us began scrambling to figure out what to do and where it leaves us. He has everything organized in his head and god knows how much stuff on his computer. Project Celeste is fine. Almost everything Roman is backed up. I am talking about our future content and untold miscellany. I am also talking about our friend.

    We went through the Project Celeste equivalent of a surviving a mine a cave-in. One minute we are busy chipping away at dozens of different projects. The next minute he's gone and we are shouting in the dark checking our pockets for supplies and making lists of what we have and what we are missing and trying to figure out how on earth we can bridge the two. PF2K does so much around here that we haven’t been able to even identify it all, let alone figure out how to get it done without him. And that’s before we realize what’s on his hard drive that we don’t have. Do we have all the hi res Roman portraits? Do we know the final details on that Unit we were just tweaking? What about milestones, does anyone other than P know those stats? What about that new game mode -- what did he finally decide about it? What about the Winter Event, can we even do new quests without him? The list is endless
    The days stacked up. We heard nothing. Then Thursday he was suddenly there. He said he’s good. He’s safe. He’s not sure what’s going on, but things seem calmer. He was able to send us a bunch of stuff, including the graphic templates so we could publish this blog without him. We quickly exchanged mailing addresses and phone numbers. Not only that, but when he blipped back online, he had a ton of new work. He spent all week hunkered down at home, tirelessly churning out as much as he could on his own — Roman artwork, UI, plans for game content and secret game modes we haven’t announced yet. Of course he did. He's a machine. Even our Roman discord servers had shiny new icons. He's pinging me a dozen times in a dozen places asking me to look at stuff and get him some more information. He’s reading every conversation he missed and chiming in with ideas. And then just as abruptly as he returned, he disappeared again. He was with us just a couple hours. Radio silence ever since.

    Obviously we don’t know anything, and we blindly hoped that writing this tribute would magically make him return before Saturday morning and make fools of us all in vain. But here we are, he’s not with us, and we want to let you all know what’s going on.

    Hopefully his return will be swift and permanent, but nobody can say, and some news articles really make us wonder. So we are hoping for the best and preparing for the worst. When P and I first committed together last November to take a run at the Romans, we knew it would be full of unknown obstacles. But this was not one of them.

    Until we know more, we are one day at a time. Happy Smurf, Chaos, and Phillus are still cranking away on the Romans. (And thanks to Happy for making the blog graphics this week — P will be so proud when he sees them!) Kev and Ryddag have us under control as always up at the helm. Meanwhile we have no idea what this means for the Winter Event, Bahram, and the dozens of other things on P’s desk. But I guarantee you all that he's not just sitting around wasting time. As soon as he gets back, he'll dump another wheelbarrow full of new content on all of us. We all look are looking forward to it. Roma Invicta!

    What do you think about this week's blog? Let us know in the comments below!

    ========

    Missed the Roman Civilization's announcement? Find out about it HERE.

    Project Celeste is completely free and always will be. However, we gladly accept donations for our overhead costs, which are larger than we have budgeted. If you want to support us, you can do so HERE.

    Read every Romans related blog HERE.

    Tell your friends! Join our Discord HERE.

    =========
     
    #1 Andy P XIII, Nov 23, 2019 at 10:29 AM
    Last edited: Nov 23, 2019
    bbgambini, rtsgamer, BOSAIF and 6 others like this.
  2. Loading...


Comments

Discussion in 'Romans' started by Andy P XIII, Nov 23, 2019.

  • Tags:
    1. MechSmith

      MechSmith Champion

      Joined:
      Nov 24, 2017
      Messages:
      46
      Likes Received:
      59
      Trophy Points:
      18
      Wow, that's some heavy news... here's hoping things work out.

      I mean, it'd be a shame if the Romans got delayed again

      Jokes aside, i didn't get out of bed this morning expecting to see geopolitical turmoil affecting anything i'm aware of, it's somewhat sobering.
       
      JoshTheAspi and Andy P XIII like this.
    2. zenorhk

      zenorhk Long Swordsman

      Joined:
      Jun 1, 2019
      Messages:
      15
      Likes Received:
      46
      Trophy Points:
      13
      Tell us when P come back!!!!

      The Gear hall i beautiful but the statue of Mars must be there, he is the simbol of war for the Romans
       
      Andy P XIII likes this.
    3. Daantjuh-NL

      Daantjuh-NL Woad Raider

      Joined:
      Jun 15, 2019
      Messages:
      25
      Likes Received:
      52
      Trophy Points:
      13
      We need to import PF2K to the west, hopes he's doing ok
       
    4. Aryzel

      Aryzel Immortal

      Joined:
      Feb 14, 2018
      Messages:
      212
      Likes Received:
      249
      Trophy Points:
      43
      Fingers crossed everything will be ok for PF2K, thats intense stuff. Sounds like everyone involved is handling it as well as it can be. Keep doing what your doing all, and let us know if there is anything the community can help with :)
       
      Andy P XIII likes this.
    5. Fraxure022

      Fraxure022 Berserker

      Joined:
      May 18, 2019
      Messages:
      141
      Likes Received:
      150
      Trophy Points:
      43
      A sobering post this morning. It’s easy to take for granted the freedoms and comforts many of enjoy. I trust he will be fine. It’s sad, we have this small community of people working together to support this thing that we love, and the cruel realities of the world have to sour that too.
       
      aceloki, TheSpaniard and Andy P XIII like this.
    6. RASPUTINPRIME

      RASPUTINPRIME Champion

      Joined:
      May 27, 2019
      Messages:
      53
      Likes Received:
      84
      Trophy Points:
      18
      First, thank you for the good news. I had a pit in my stomach for a few paragraphs.

      It can be easy to make assumptions and take the good that comes from them for granted. i`ve helped several wonderful people find safe havens in Canada from places they would have preferred to remain but because of circumstances beyond their control, they could not. I'll continue to pray for all my brothers and sisters around the world.

      Add nauseum is pure gold.
       
    7. Andy P XIII

      Andy P XIII Moderator
      Moderator

      Joined:
      Nov 14, 2017
      Messages:
      562
      Likes Received:
      837
      Trophy Points:
      93
      Thanks! Add Nauseum was mine. P did Caesar’s Palace, which was instantly penciled in.
       
      MechSmith likes this.
    8. ΚΛƬΛ

      ΚΛƬΛ Spearman

      Joined:
      Jun 4, 2019
      Messages:
      11
      Likes Received:
      11
      Trophy Points:
      3
      I don't know him but I'm glad P is alive , what amazes me is that ya don't have exchanged phone numbers until that happens :eek:

      He seems like a very passionate person but . . ya should re structure a little bit ya team and backup data , If you are so dependent on just one person to develop content (this applies to everything not just the game of course) it would not last without him , if the worst happens one day what would be of the project ? would ya still have to change direction or it would just die ?

      I hope non of that happens of course but ya should have some backup plans just in case the worst situation and not only with P , if something happens to anyone on the team . . of course I believe ya already thought that when ya entered panic mode :)

      But I hope everything gets better and everyone on the team stays safe . . I'm just a little disappointed of how the Caesar Palace looks , don't take me wrong it looks awesome ! . . . but as a Palace I visualized just by the name it would have some trees like the TC have.
       
    9. Andy P XIII

      Andy P XIII Moderator
      Moderator

      Joined:
      Nov 14, 2017
      Messages:
      562
      Likes Received:
      837
      Trophy Points:
      93
      Yeah it doesn’t look much like a palace. It’d be weird to make a warehouse like that. We have plenty of palaces on their way, don’t worry. The Eternal City will be adorned in its classical antiquity best.

      And yeah we never needed phone numbers before. Discord has that. We were spoiled.
       
      Exclusive0r and TheSpaniard like this.
    10. TheSpaniard

      TheSpaniard Berserker

      Joined:
      Jan 15, 2019
      Messages:
      128
      Likes Received:
      238
      Trophy Points:
      43
      Don't want to make too many assumptions, but I do have to say, I believe this is why personal freedom (when coupled with an individual's ethical code of personal responsibility) is so important as the foundation of human society. It is crazy that an entire country's ability to communicate with the outside world can be so quickly, randomly, and completely shut off by those wielding power (the government) within that country without the knowledge or desire of the populace.

      I am glad that PF2K and his family are safe and, as of the time of the community challenge this morning, had access to the outside world again. He even got a couple matches in! And here's to hoping he and his family (and the rest of his compatriots) remain safe and able to enjoy the freedom of the internet and other things. P, if you and the fam are ever looking to settle down anywhere else, let me suggest the fine state of Tennessee! There is actually a quite large population of immigrants from the Middle East in and around Nashville, the state capital, and you'd be just 3 hours down the road from me! :p In all seriousness, much love. Stay safe and well.

      Love the warehouse names. Add Nauseum... well done, Andy. Well done. Gear hall looks amazing with the shields on the sides and top. Amazing work as always, keep on keepin' on!
       
      bbgambini and Andy P XIII like this.
    11. Andy P XIII

      Andy P XIII Moderator
      Moderator

      Joined:
      Nov 14, 2017
      Messages:
      562
      Likes Received:
      837
      Trophy Points:
      93
      If P goes anywhere, we are sending him to Redmond or Vancouver to build Age. He’s the People’s Champion.
       
      Exclusive0r and bbgambini like this.
    12. PF2K

      PF2K Lead Developer
      Staff Member Administrator

      Joined:
      Oct 24, 2017
      Messages:
      953
      Likes Received:
      3,272
      Trophy Points:
      93
      Hey there everyone. Thank you for the kind words, it's all very flattering. :)

      I think everything is back to normal here. It's a little odd being on the comments' side of these blogs but I must say that the graphics look pretty on point. I'm impressed! Great work @happysmurf
       
      bbgambini, Towex, aceloki and 7 others like this.
    13. Alzerus

      Alzerus Champion

      Joined:
      May 4, 2019
      Messages:
      72
      Likes Received:
      86
      Trophy Points:
      18
      The Gear Hall looks very good and the warehouses, really delighted with the Caesars Palace I think it looks rather exceptional

      Great to see PF2K back yesterday playing in the Community PvP Challenges after the initial concerning news of basically disappearing off the grid, quite shocking and very sobering the world we live in, but nevertheless good to see him back and well and to winning ways.
       
    14. Exclusive0r

      Exclusive0r Immortal

      Joined:
      Nov 5, 2018
      Messages:
      386
      Likes Received:
      218
      Trophy Points:
      43
      OMG, stuck here in a clinic I don't get world news.... (1st read) This is devastating OMG OMG but when I get down the thread my beloved Bahram replies, TG .... My sons were ready for war , no one, but no one , messes with Bahram without recompense ...
      (Panic over, I hope )
      Now to serious matters , All looking so good ... I just have one wish that the almighty creator of all looks after Bahram where ever he is and thank goodness our PFK2 is alright ..... wow that was a shocking post ... be seemingly with a happy ending until now

      shit and I thought I had problems ..... feck ..... heres at ya Bahram.... I am so happy the bad news turned good before I got to post feck
       
    15. bbgambini

      bbgambini Hippikon

      Joined:
      Nov 25, 2017
      Messages:
      162
      Likes Received:
      124
      Trophy Points:
      43
      Wow

      This game has gone to new heights!! This just got real. I hope PF2K and his family are safe and get through these troubled times unharmed.

      This was a different and more personal post and we appreciate you guys for sharing it with us.
       
      Andy P XIII likes this.
  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
    Dismiss Notice