Dawn House of Commons log - 11/25/00

Asimov: Ok guys, we are getting ready to start here with our second Stratics sponsored Dawn House of Commons Chat. Please remember to send your questions only once! Joined #dawnhoc
Asimov: When the bot starts up, simple /msg HOCbot with your question and it will be posted in the order in which it was recieved
GL-Jeff: Ok everyone, we're just gonna introduce the ops and then get the show on the road.
Asimov: Im Asimov, the Channel Administrator to #Dawn =)
GL-Jeff: My name is Jeff Friedman I'm Dawn's Lead Gamed Designer/Programmer
GL-Jeff: Everyone gets kinda shy at these :)
GL-Axehandler: LOL
GL-Jeff: GL-Matt is our sound effects specialist.
GL-RazM: My name is Mario, I'm the 3d modeller/animator
GL-Jeff: GL-Axehandler is our race texture artist.
GL-Matt: Hi everyone
GL-SevenOsix: My name is Dario Razum, I'm Dawn's 3D Environmental modeller and Animator
GL-Axehandler: MY name is Larry Patterson!! I'm NOT AXE!:)
GL-Axehandler: =)
GL-RazM: lol
JLBesser: Hello,guys. I am Julius Besser, the guy who helps out at the http://dawn.stratics.com fansite and the local Dawn Fanatic :)
GL-Jeff: Larry Patterson ladies and gentlemen. hehe
GL-Jeff: alright lets get the bot kickin

HOCboT: .Lobber: Will terrain affect movement speed and agility? Some examples are the difference between marching over a road (fast) and thru a forest (medium) and over a desert and sand dunes (slow) and thru a swamp (very slow, if not fatal)?
GL-Jeff: okay here we go
GL-Jeff: Terrain will affect your movement speed but will most likely not have a direct affect on any stats such as agility.
GL-Jeff: And yes, some terrains will inflict damage upon your character.

HOCboT: .Tuesday: any details on the specs of tatooage and inscribing on other objects? (pixel dimensions, quantity of markings, etc) Thanks.
GL-Jeff: We won't have tattoo specifics until the release of the game. I can say at the very least tho you will have 16x16 pixels to work with and a variety of colors.

HOCboT: .Buliwyf: Will weapons be enchantable with magic?
GL-Jeff: All items will be enchantable with magic. A hybrid could for instance have a sword that would be used for slicing and casting just as a wizard type player could hit someone with his wand and also cast with it.

HOCboT: .Kinadam: How indepth is the spreading of natural creatures like birds/fish/squirrels in dawn , like a lot?, or are you focusing on more interesting monsters/beasts/tec, reason I am asking is becase in eq there is no wildlife at all
GL-Jeff: There's more wildlife than in EQ...its fairly balanced between strange creatures and your everyday wildlife creatures.

HOCboT: .Lupgarou: How will assassination work if it exists will there be one hit assassinations, furthermore, what types of skills will there be associated with assassins?
GL-Jeff: There will not be any built in skill for assassination... you simply have to kill the person. It won't be impossible to kill someone very quickly, if someone isn't alert or if you sneak up on someone from behind then more damage will be inflicted.

JLBesser: .krAy0n[OSP]: Will Kidnapping be possible?
GL-Jeff: Yes, you can knock a person out and drag them into a holding cell or torture device and hold them for ransom.

HOCboT: .Cross-OSP: how will, Clans/houses/guilds be started out together?
GL-Jeff: When the beta is first launched we will be group spawning those who wish to start out together in the same place. this is ONLY for the people who wish to forgo the natural birth process and it will ONLY occur once at the very beginning of the game and is essential in order to jumpstart the population.

HOCboT: .Bladez: question Will we be able to customize our characters alot? Like for example the looks and the stat adjustments when creating the characters like in AC
GL-Jeff: You will be able to customize your character very much so. Hair, face type, stats, etc. Somethings won't be up to you, however, such as skin tone which will be dependant on the latitude at which you start.

HOCboT: .lowmac: how do i get the game

HOCboT: .Crush: How far are you in Graphical Implementation so far?
GL-Jeff: The engine itself is about 75% complete now. As far as graphics collection, because we have opted to redo much of the graphics we are only about 25% of the way complete with graphics production but we are well on track for the spring deadline.

HOCboT: .Hrothgar: Will the oceans be the only navigable waterways, or will travel by boat on rivers be possible as well?
GL-Jeff: rivers will be just as navigable as oceans. Keep in mind this is not EQ where zones cause problems with proper waterflow, everything in Dawn is continuous thus making rivers that empty into oceans and flow between mountains a reality.

HOCboT: .Turow: will there be anal sex in the game
GL-Axehandler: ROFL [Edited Note: I had the same reaction when I was editing the log at 4 am :p]
GL-Axehandler: that the Turow from the Boards?
GL-Jeff: There won't be a special command for it, but if you are hell bent on achieving it you can always do some sort of emote. /me has anal sex with so and so

HOCboT: .DakkonG: Will there be organized systems of gov't available in towns? Or will it have to be manually enforced at all times?
GL-Jeff: Will there be organization? hopefully, but it wont be engine based. Its up to the players to make and enforce laws, there is no built in system. Keep in mind this is a possibility (whereas it would not work in a game like EQ) because of the capture mechanism in the game.

HOCboT: .BaragIronblood: About Water Dynamics- Will we be able to split a stream to go in multiple directions for irrigation? Will water have a current that we can use to move a waterwheel for a mill? Will streams/rivers rise after a big rain?
GL-Jeff: You will definitely be able to split a stream and redirect the waters path. We do not currently have currents programmed but its something we're working on.
GL-Jeff: A waterwheel is probably a little to advanced for the engine as well, however water will rise and fall during droughts and rainy seasons.

HOCboT: .JuViR: what about pks? how will they be delt with? will there be one server where pks are allowed and one where they aren't like in everquest?
GL-Jeff: There will only be one dawn server.
GL-Jeff: We are all "pk's" considering the animals you are fighting may actually be controlled by players.

HOCboT: .palegrey: I read that you have to give a life of equal value for the favor of resurrection. How is this possible? If you had someone captive could you use them as a sacrifice?
GL-Jeff: It depends on the spell. Some stronger forms of ressurection allow you to use an unwilling target.

HOCboT: .Jonas: When will we see a list of skills?
GL-Jeff: Probably not till the beta release.

HOCboT: .Kadmon_: The number of character slots per account is a concern to most of us. We can understand that there will be 10 slots per account in the beta for testing purposes, but do you also plan to have 10 character slots/account in the final ?
GL-Jeff: Yes and believe me, i didn't like this at first.
GL-Jeff: However, if we limit people to one character per account then there will always be people who just buy multiple accounts in order to use different characters.
GL-Jeff: We don't want people to have to buy 3 copies of the game to have 3 characters, so we're allowing multiple characters per account.

HOCboT: .Kylaer: Will there be extensive cave complexes? Like the Underdark in D&D-Forgotten Realms?
GL-Jeff: Caves will be able to be "built" rather than dug
GL-Jeff: You can dig a hole then cover it with earthen blocks in order to get the cave effect.

HOCboT: .Joemc: Can we did or not? :) i really think digging tunnels is needed. if it takes an extra year i will wait
GL-Jeff: You will only be able to dig vertically.

HOCboT: .Brisk: Will Double Wielding be implemented?
GL-Jeff: Yes, you can put a sword in either hand or both hands.
GL-Jeff: You can have a sword in one hand and a shield in one hand and use both of them in an attack...there really aren't any limits to that sort of thing.
GL-Jeff: However if you want to use two hands for one sword the you will have to leave your second hand free of course.

HOCboT: .Horazim: will there be new movies or new screenshot soon?
GL-Jeff: On New Years we promise the release of new screens and movies.

HOCboT: .ArcadianDelS0l: Is the beta going to be free, or will you use the Red Dragon method of paid beta testers getting advanced accounts on release?
GL-Jeff: The beta will be free.

Asimov: .Fish: Will there be any visual representation about who in a group of people is speaking? Such as word balloons or animations?
GL-Jeff: When someone speaks there words will be flagged by their name. This has been discussed in detail on the betatest page

Asimov: .krAy0n[OSP]: Will buildings be customizeable? ex can we design our own castle?
GL-Jeff: You will actually build your own structures piece by piece in Dawn, so yes they are completely customizable.

Asimov: .Riverwind1: About how much real time would it take for a single person to build a simple living structure including getting the resouces assuming they were available?
GL-Jeff: The simplest of structures would consist of about 5 components and could be built in an hour or so most likely.
GL-Jeff: Obviously a structure like a castle will take lots of planning and time.

QA-BOT: .Eltharion: (didnt finish question to HOCbot was fragmented) Do you plan on having multiple dawn worlds? Such as different worlds where one will be more based around a commerse economy, and another around war (for example).
GL-Jeff: There will be only one Dawn world if we can help it.

QA-BOT: .Guku: Will there be tamable mosters in Dawn?
GL-Jeff: Yes, you can "tame" monster to get them to listen to you via spells and such but they will not be 100% loyal. This differs from the follower system however where you acquire a creature at infancy and he is 100% loyal to you and obeys your every command.

QA-BOT: .Shadow: Will we be having somthing mechanical and metal to ride, like the MagiTek armor in FF3/6? somthing like that would be a cool siege engine/transport, and would be wonderfull!!!! it should be hard to make though. (and Three Cheers for the Dawn Devteam!!! HIP HIP HORRAYYY!!!!!!)
GL-Jeff: The most complex of moving devices will probably be a wagon. We're being very strict with our medieval representation.

QA-BOT: .Elkor: How long will it take for a newly-born child to mature and train in the world? Will it be a matter of days or months?
GL-Jeff: It takes only 30-60 minutes to mature into a functional child. AFter that it takes about a week to a month to fully mature into adult form.

QA-BOT: .Packhead: Will beta testers get any special discounts when the game is finally launched?
GL-Jeff: No, but the experience they have playing the game should be more than enough reward.

QA-BOT: .Lobber: About armor: Will it take more than one person and a quite a bit of time to put on plate mail armor as it is in real life? Will salt air and especially salt water increase the degradation of leather armor? Will it be possible to tan leather with the brains of the beast you slew for the leather?
GL-Jeff: I can't go into the details of armor prerparation but there are things you can do to leather and such to make it stronger.
GL-Jeff: As for putting on armor there will be a delay, but we dont want to make a huge deal out of it.

QA-BOT: .Riprend: question If you're allowing PvP freely outside of towns, is it fair to punish someone who is working within the rules by killing weaker rivals? As you said, players with high levels who kill lower levels will be "punished by the gods." How is this justified?
GL-Jeff: We never said we'd punish people for PKing, thats part of the game.
GL-Jeff: You shouldn't think of the gods as GM's, they are not doing work for glitchless, they are working to make the game a more realistic fantasy.

QA-BOT: .Mike1: How do you feel that by validating cyber as valid RP(through making characters become pregnant), you will reduce it's presence in Dawn?
GL-Jeff: This is described on the betatest page under the heading sexfest.

QA-BOT: .Xyrra: How will torture and it's connected devices work? Will one be able to bind an enemy, dragging them to a prison, or will it be a more 'consentual' style?
GL-Jeff: there isn't consent for torture devices...that would kind of defeat the purpose. You can knock someone out, drag them to the device and strap em in.

QA-BOT: .Antimodes: what exactly will the beta testers be doing and is there an exact date when we will be able to actually test the game online?
GL-Jeff: The betatesters will simply be playing the game and reporting any problems they encounter.
GL-Jeff: The date has already been stated as spring 2001 and we cannot narrow that down anymore at this time.

QA-BOT: .Synedri: will there be streams and can I make a dugout canoe?
GL-Jeff: There will be rivers and streams. Boats will be premade objects that can be further customized after construction.

QA-BOT: .image: question Will we be able to build castles, or fortresses, and have something defending the fortress (like Ultima Online)?
GL-Jeff: People defend fortresses in Dawn.
GL-Jeff: Those people can use siege weapons, arrows, magic, swords, etc, but there aren't any devices that do killing for you.

QA-BOT: .Seneth: In the area of Woodcutting, will it be possible to cut parts of trees, as to leave them alive? Or will it be all or nothing?
GL-Jeff: Tree cutting will be all or nothing.
GL-Jeff: A tree is a single object.

QA-BOT: .Northern: Guilds starting together is a great idea, but I wonder why the post says only Single Race guilds permitted. Can you inform us on the reasons for this multi racial prejudice? =). thanks.
GL-Jeff: The reason is that different races dont start out next to each other normally in the game, so they will not start out next to each other in the beginning of the game.

QA-BOT: .jedimaster: I just signed up earlier this week, so this may have already been answered, but is there going to be a zone system?
GL-Jeff: There are no zones.

QA-BOT: .Bizi: How will the game start at the very first, who will be our parents in the beginning to helps us get started?
GL-Jeff: The population will be jump started as outlined at www.glitchless.com in the latest update.

QA-BOT: .Fongh: Question 5, Can you level up all your skills really really really high, or is there going to be only one in which you excell in?
GL-Jeff: Leveling some skills will have adverse effects on other skills thus making it impossible to master all skills, but there aren't any skill caps.

QA-BOT: .Elena: much discussion about PKing, Can you tell us the status on it. Many will not go on a game with pkers. thanks
GL-Jeff: There are no restrictions on PvP combat. This is the only way to allow players to enforce laws and rules.

QA-BOT: .KidVid-X: will it be possible to have things like schools with many people learning from one teacher?
GL-Jeff: Teaching will be a 1 on 1 scenario. Its more training than teaching. so no. :)

QA-BOT: .Friarpop: Will NPC's be able to communicate with one another? ie. will they let eachother know what items are poison, etc.?
GL-Jeff: Yes NPCs will communicate with each other but not in the same manner that we do.

QA-BOT: .Jaundice: question Who is Dawn's publisher? Will you be distributing only over the net or will there be packaging?
GL-Jeff: A publisher has not yet been decided on. Its possible that we may publish the game ourselves but we won't know for some time now.

QA-BOT: .Aurin_Rith: Will there be various subraces of the different races? For instance, will there be other Elves other than the Sylvains?
GL-Jeff: No, the races cannot interbread (for the most part...there are some exceptions)

QA-BOT: .Zsigmond: is there a way to research magic / make your own spells / items
GL-Jeff: You make your own items, which are enchanted with your own spells.

QA-BOT: .Darksentry: Will the geographical map in the Dawn Beta be the same as what will be used in the final release?
GL-Jeff: No, the beta will be smaller and different.

QA-BOT: .Mike1: What features will Dawn have to promote Player to player interactions, instead of player to NPC. In particular, will PvP combat be set up in such a way that it is favored over NPC?
GL-Jeff: There is no difference between a PvP and an PvE battle. they use the exact same equations.

QA-BOT: .Gandari_Whitewolf: will elevation be a factor and damage be realistic for archery i would like to see arrows be lethal as well as melee as it should be with the addition of resist factors
GL-Jeff: Elevation determins how far things go because of the realistic physics engine.
GL-Jeff: Arrows and magic will both do lots of damage.

QA-BOT: .DaggerMcGee: are you planning on having monsters raid towns randomly? thats one thing that they said was going to be in AC but never was and it turks me that they never have invasions
GL-Jeff: You will be invaded :) trust me.

QA-BOT: .Cross-OSP: How Can i Join the glitchless Team?

QA-BOT: .Cedon: how will you be handleing undead and the like i9n dawn?
GL-Jeff: Just like everything else...they of course have different characteristics and stats but that goes for every different type of beast.

QA-BOT: .Nythawk: How is mob aggro going to be handled? Will there be trains?
GL-Jeff: If you anger a bunch of monster then they might all run after you and this could be considered a train, however monsters will not stupidly follow you forever...this would get old after a while considering there aren't any zones anyways :)

QA-BOT: .machus: how much of the items we can wear will be visible ie rings cloaks and earings
GL-Jeff: every item will be visible from rings to earings etc. However some items will cover up other items for instance gloves to rings.

QA-BOT: .The_Stealth_Assassin: will you suffer any stat penalties when on a mount and not moving or just when moving?
GL-Jeff: You will suffer stat penalties on a mount both when moving and not moving but they will be different amounts. This is to keep people form kiting.

QA-BOT: .Amphoria: Will there be guild tags, identication or a guild chat channel ingame?
GL-Jeff: There will be group tags and group chat.

QA-BOT: .[POE]-Aly: Will you encourage PvP though faction standing? Like if your faction is strong it gives you certain skill improvements.
GL-Jeff: faction doesnt affect your skills...
GL-Jeff: so i guess not :)

QA-BOT: .Viridouix: if I feign death... can someone kill me anyway?
GL-Jeff: of course.

QA-BOT: .Tumador: How will the battle system work with wars?
GL-Jeff: Same as it always works.

QA-BOT: .Xyrra: How will non-roleplayers be handled? Many of us come from worlds that are overrun by the 'D00Dz', and we'd love to be rid of them :)
GL-Jeff: If you want to get rid of a d00d then get rid of him. people who play the game only to annoy other people will instead find themselves being annoyed by the fact that they will be killed over and over.

QA-BOT: .Aurin_Rith: What exactly are the Mesmers? They sounds feline.
GL-Jeff: We'll have some pics on new years of them most liktely. They are not feline.

QA-BOT: .Loranth: Will the game have seasons?
GL-Jeff: Yes.

QA-BOT: .Axfyr: Sorry about earlier but I was wondering if there will be ways to replant forest and such?
GL-Jeff: Yup, trees will drop seeds which are plantable in different areas.

QA-BOT: .nuclear7: will there be a skill for sense ambush and assassination to give players a chance against Pk's?
GL-Jeff: No. If you want to sense an abush you have to do it yourself.

QA-BOT: .Elendel: there have been some recent posts concerning vision, will Galati have better than standard vision?
GL-Jeff: i can't answer the specific question for the galatai but there will be different types of vision for different races.

QA-BOT: .swordholder: When we get pets such as dragons or whatever creatures there are in DAWN, when we ride/use them will they be completly under our control or will they have some freewill?
GL-Jeff: It depends on whether they are your follower or whether they have been tamed.
GL-Jeff: followers are 100% loyal but you can only get them when they are infants. you can tame an animal at any time (or try to atleast)

QA-BOT: .UmytBnxt: question if the start is going to be birth... who is going to give birth to us? and how do we go about giving birth to others, since most of these games turn out to be mostly guys? thanks
GL-Jeff: The jump start of the population is discussed on www.glitchless.com <http://www.glitchless.com> in the latest update.

QA-BOT: .Casey_Thurston: First off, you're all amazing programmers and game designers. On the Beta Forums, there has been question raised over whether reanimation of corpses would be necromancy or conjuring. Another idea raised has been that the physical corpse of a dead character should be required to raise the dead. How are you planning on handling corpse reanimation at present?
GL-Jeff: Spells like that can fall into many categories, necromancy, conjuration and even sanation.
GL-Jeff: There will be minute differences in all the reanimation type spells but we are not limiting them to any one category.

QA-BOT:.Fizban741: Permanent death and exhaustion - When you die, you have no way of coming back? You're character is gone, even the items? And exhaustion - You have to spend 4 or 8 Rl hours to rest? Or is there things you can eat, spells you can cast, that can keep your 'energy' up?
GL-Jeff: Your items stay on your corpse when you die...but u dont come back.
GL-Jeff: You have to sleep a certain amount of real hours each day. I dont remember the exact amount its on the beta page www.glitchless.com/betatest/ but it comes out to be something like you can play your character for 17 hours a day...that should be enough eh?

QA-BOT: .Eltharion: How do you plan on implementing such a large world without having 'zones' of any type? This will require some massive computing power...
GL-Jeff: with massive computing power.

QA-BOT: .Maz_Tregon:
Jeff: hi, you mentioned we will be able to have massive amount of group members. my question is will there be a pvp protection on group members? (so you can't attack someone in your group)
GL-Jeff: no there will not be any sort of protection like that which would allow you to abuse area effect spells
GL-Jeff: you will be responsible for determing friend and foe, you can wear markings to help.
GL-Jeff: It won't be easy in the midst of battle to know who your allies are unless you are well painted or tattooed...but if you take a second look at the battle scenes in braveheart you'll realize that this is quite realistic :)

QA-BOT: .MRhan: If someone tries to PK you, how is it that you'll be able to identify them later. Will you be able to see their Iden?
GL-Jeff: if someone pk's you you're dead. you won't be able to see them later. we have a special mechanism that alerts your friends to what happened tho that we are not yet disclosing.

QA-BOT: .Shadow_hero: sorry bout earlier, same question. Will you be posting more specific info on your webpage soon? ex creatures,spells, items?
GL-Jeff: not until new years. we are still "underground" and focusing on development.

QA-BOT: .Naloren: Your web site says 1000 on a server and 0 latency, how?
GL-Jeff: you must mean 100,000 on a server.
GL-Jeff: for starters its not one computer
GL-Jeff: i could tell you more but then i'd have to kill you.

QA-BOT: .Tumador: Will there be enviromental disasters like floods, earthquakes, etc...
GL-Jeff: yup

QA-BOT: .StackedMidgets: What do you think will make dawn stand out from its competitors?

QA-BOT: .Urban: Will you be able to swim long distances, will it take stamina?
GL-Jeff: you will be able to swim long distances but eventually you'll become tired....dont try swimming continent to continent

QA-BOT: .TranZdog: Have you decided if there will be player made books ?
GL-Jeff: That has not yet been decided. If we do then there may be a pause when you open the book as you download its contents.

QA-BOT: .InverseReality: So, What about the faith system?? is there a way for a player to elevate himself to the status of a God? And what is punishment for coming out of character in game?
GL-Jeff: Thats the sort of thing you're going to have to experiment with. We aren't giving you concrete answers.

QA-BOT: .Zsigmond: how much limit is on a mage, magic is powerful, would like to know if researching making items is possible, make your own spells
GL-Jeff: all spells are character "made"

QA-BOT: .Cobol_Junky: what will you do to prevent people from disconning and letting there AI get them out of sticky situations
GL-Jeff: there's nothign wrong with that. Their AI won't be able to do anything abnormally powerful, its just like having a very talented person controlling your character.

QA-BOT: .Drackill: Hail, Just checking something but when we are born will we actually be a baby model or just a normal model but with less stats etc?
GL-Jeff: baby model

QA-BOT: .Setfeb: When will GL start to look for a publisher?
GL-Jeff: the same time we start looking for investors which should be around new years

QA-BOT: .Loranth: What sort of mounts will be in the game? will there be flying mounts? What about swimming mounts?
GL-Jeff: There will be land air and water mounts

QA-BOT: .Aurorus: Will it be possible to create structures on water, such as houseboats, platforms, oilrigs, etc?
GL-Jeff: Yup. You can create a standard floating structure then build on it.

QA-BOT: .Firkaan: will it be possible to lauch infants or other characters with catapults?
GL-Jeff: actually yes, but this may kill them.

QA-BOT: .roadhouse|ykz: will it be possible to throw a fetus at another player, making them think it is waterballoon until they wipe the blood off their face?
GL-Jeff: you're just gonna have to wait for the beta for that one.

QA-BOT: .Gaiden: will magic staff's lets say that have say 100 charges be able to be recharged ?
GL-Jeff: there wont ever be charges on items. We hate charges. They are just a nuisance.

QA-BOT: .Kaim: Has it been changed to 16x16 for tatoos and emblems or is there still a choice of 32x32 (as mentioned previously)?
GL-Jeff: we're promising atleast 16x16, but it will probably be higher.

QA-BOT:.Turow: will we be looked down upon by the GMs for pking and will the rules be applied differently to us?
GL-Jeff: if you think there are GM's in Dawn then you still have a lot of reading to do :)
GL-Jeff: But the gods can tell who's RP PKing and who's pking just to piss people off.

QA-BOT: .Bladez: question Will there be annual updates?
GL-Jeff: There will be monthly updates.

QA-BOT: .Special__Kay: Can you give some examples of what "effect spells" are going to entitle. Illusions or terrain manipulation perhaps?
GL-Jeff: Illusions, anything that alters the physical status of an object.
GL-Jeff: of mental status for that matter.
GL-Jeff: Enchanter type spells

QA-BOT: .iceStorm: Can an enchantment on an item be permanent - Thank you!
GL-Jeff: Yes of course, nearly all enchantments will be permant. We do NOT want you to have to keep casting an enchantment over and over again or buffing and rebuffing. We favor permanent changes.

QA-BOT: .max621: What types of AI are you using to control the NPCs and creatures in the game? (Nueral networks, state machines, etc.)
GL-Jeff: Its mostly state mechanics but its kind of a hybrid with simple genetic algorithms.

QA-BOT: .Saver: Will their be advantages in dmg when you sneak up on prey?
GL-Jeff: Yup

QA-BOT: .Guku: Will any characters in Dawn have the ability to tame wild animals and/or monsters?
GL-Jeff: Yes there is a taming feature. We're not sure whether it will be a skill or a spell tho..it will probalby be both.

QA-BOT: .Judgement: Will buildings obey laws of physics? As players are allowed total freedom over building, will a building that isn't structurally sound collapse?
GL-Jeff: You bet.

QA-BOT: .Katixa: Hi there :). I wanna ask about the way we can use the items and character. I read that everithing is bindable. In what way? Can I asign a combination of keys for the healing potions in general, so that if I carry one I can use it? Or may I bind item by item? Would be there something similar to the macros of UO? Will there exist something similar to a belt with fast access function keys? (maybe isnt realistic). Thanks
GL-Jeff: combination keys will probably not be bindable because we dont want people aliasing something that will train their character.
GL-Jeff: however every action is bindable to a single keystroke.
GL-Jeff: Its more like quake than anything else, but with a nicer interface.

QA-BOT: .Hrothgar: Will there be banks, and if so, will they be of the *ridiculously magical* type found in other MMORPGs where you can make a deposit, travel 100 miles to another bank, and withdraw the same things you deposited back at the first bank?
GL-Jeff: Banks will have to be player run. We dont expect to see EQ type banks...more like a collection of safes kept guarded at a public vault

QA-BOT: .Chango: How will be able to identify that murderer who just did us in so that the family, friends, can take revenge? I know faces will differ but that is a small difference...and if we need to be that close, it might be too late..again
GL-Jeff: There is a mechanism for this but we are not yet disclosing it.

QA-BOT: .VD: Since this game is more for the RPer, what stops an average person that wants to just PK enter the game and wreck hacok on the RPers?
GL-Jeff: The RPers that stop him

QA-BOT: .Taerl: for casters...will spells be based as eq, so that once a new rank of spells is obtained the previous rank becomes all but useless, or more like AD&D, where all the spells, no matter what level, can be useful?
GL-Jeff: Definitely AD&D

QA-BOT: .roadhouse|ykz: Will we be able to target bodyparts during combat, specifically a player's .p.nis?
GL-Jeff: Not body parts, but it makes a difference whether you target the player or his shield. so players with big shields will have an actual advantage to having the shield rather than just a small AC bonus.

QA-BOT: .Erik_the_blade_man: will there be a 3rd person view in dawn?
GL-Jeff: Only via the use of spells.

QA-BOT: .pizzaman: how are locks going to work....for instance if someone gives the wrong password etc can you have a series of traps set off etc
GL-Jeff: Yes you can boobie trap devices. Locks will be key, combo, or password based.

QA-BOT: .Sinthalis: will there be marriges and churches and sutch?
GL-Jeff: Only if players make churches.

QA-BOT: .NJC2001: Will races have restrictions like D&D for example Drow and sunlight ect?
GL-Jeff: Not that extreme...but race resistances will play a big part for instance a race that likes the warmth will take big damage in a cold area.

QA-BOT: .Cedon: how will stealth and camoflage(sp) be handled.as well as other roguely arts? such as backstabing,pioson makeing,setting of traps, ect...,will it be handled in a more realistic mannor or nerfed like in so many other games?
GL-Jeff: I can't explain how the camoflauge woks but can assure you, you'll like what it looks like. players will actually blend into their surroundings.

QA-BOT: .P_Baudmann: Will 'Dawn' have sea creatures such as spongi with their own AI?
GL-Jeff: ...not spongi but there will be sea creatures with AI.

QA-BOT: .Puggles: To what extent will the interface be customizable? And will you have support for voice recognition ala EQ now?
GL-Jeff: Voice recognition support has not been decided on yet. There isn't going to be a huge interface on the screen with a bunch of windows.
GL-Jeff: so basically the customization is with binding keys to commands.

QA-BOT: .Nahmid: will there be specific racial skills/spells/abilities?
GL-Jeff: just sight

QA-BOT: .Candie: Could someone please explain to me how/if someone playing a healer type character who does not like bloodshed will be able to survive in Dawn?
GL-Jeff: It will be much easier for a healer to survive in Dawn than in EQ. Remember you get experience from every completed activity, and you can also share experience from groups (similar to EQ) so there are plenty of ways a healer can mature in the game.

QA-BOT: .machus: how will disconnects be handled will we be left in the game for a while running on ai or will we simply be gone
GL-Jeff: AI takes over immediatly upon disconnect and finishes the battle if you were in one and then tries to sleep to gain invulnerability.

QA-BOT: .Vannor: question Will the Drow Race start underground?
GL-Jeff: You start where your parents are.

QA-BOT: .VD: When the game goes up, cities and such will have to be built by PCs correct? Will there be mayors?
GL-Jeff: Its all PC controlled. There will be nothing but landscape and environment when the game begings.

QA-BOT: .MRhan: Can you tell us how swamps will work? Will we be walking through knee deep water with possible water creatures under the water to attack us?
GL-Jeff: you summed it up pretty well :)

QA-BOT: .Buliwyf: How will you work to improve life for us l33t d00ds?
GL-Jeff: heh
GL-Jeff: By giving you a game where everyone is on an equal playing field.

QA-BOT: .LBisker: under the stats page, it lists a column entitled "bonus", is this the # of points you get per level, or just at the beginning of creation... because if it's per level, there would be a major imbalance between humans and the other races as the game progresses
GL-Jeff: just in beginning creation :)

QA-BOT: .Kylara: you say your gonna have wildlife, but even the simplest wildlife would be able to be killed for food and exp right. Having needless animals running around would just create more lag, wouldn't it ? Isn't it better to focus on animals or NPCS that serve a direct purpose.
GL-Jeff: food is a direct purpose.
GL-Jeff: we're not going to overpopulate the world with little things that lag it to death, dont worry.

QA-BOT: .NaturePaladin: Is it possible for characters to overcome their race if roleplayed right (A Drow befriending Sylvains) or will that be penalized?
GL-Jeff: Its up to the players. Anything is possible.

QA-BOT: .Lachoon: question I enjoy the way you set it up, but I want to be an elf and me friends humans, is there a way I can have both with some complex breeding scheme?
GL-Jeff: You can make an elf and your friends can make humans but you will have to try to find each other in the immense world.

QA-BOT: .Kinadam: you said your water system was good, I was wondering does rain raise the lvl of a lake or if there is a long drought would the lvl of the lake go down? (lvl as in height Not as in exp lvl for those hardcore gamers :))
GL-Jeff: Yes water levels will change with rain and drought.

QA-BOT: .FlyonWall: question Is there going to be different levels of atmosphere light, or will it suddenly turn from day to night?
GL-Jeff: there are gradual changes in light as demonstrated by the sunset video

QA-BOT: .Joemc: Can there be an afterlife? or can you stay as a ghost for a few hours to haunt your killer? :)
GL-Jeff: We're considering it, but its not currently being implemented.

QA-BOT: .Harlequin: What will your policy on emulators be? Total lockdown like microsoft or allowing it to prolong the game like osi, or possibly even helping it?
GL-Jeff: You won't be able to emulate the dawn servers. :) you can try though

QA-BOT: .Drackill1: I am from England and I am just wondering will people outside of america still have no lag. Because i have read somewhere on your site that the netcode is superb.So people outside of america should still have a good connection?
GL-Jeff: our code eliminates about 500ms worth of lag. anymore than that and you may experience a little lag, but it shouldn't be anything detrimental.

QA-BOT: .Cedon: how will wind be handled,will it have a noticeable affect on things,like on flying,missile weapons,ships sails,sandstorms,ect...
GL-Jeff: Wind won't effect arrows but it will effect ship's sails and the direction in which sail ships go.

QA-BOT: .Alanin: Hello, Earlier it was stated that higher level ressurection spells could be used on "unwilling" subjects. How will this work? Assuming I am the "unwilling" subject, will I be able to resist this attempt at stealing my life or will I just be minding my own business and be dead the next?
GL-Jeff: they will have to knock you out in order to use the spell on you, which means they could have killed you anyways.
GL-Jeff: The spell won't be used for the purpose of damaging people....you can't walk up to someone and cast a high level ressurect on them as a secondary target and have them instantly die.

QA-BOT: .Neo: Hi Everyone! =) First I just wanted to say Dawn looks GREAT! Keep up the good work! Ok my question, How easy do you plan on it for say, a king to talk to his followers? (i.e. In asherson's call they only had /m for everyone to talk to thier monarch/king/leader of clan and the leader would always have to send a @tell to everyone to talk back which made communication a difficult task when talking to multiple followers) Thanks!
GL-Jeff: Kings are responsible for making a group of all his follower and he will then be able to communicate with them directly using that feature.
GL-Jeff: You are not limited to the amount of groups you can be in.

QA-BOT: .Adder: What about funding? IDoes Dawn have the money to put their product on store shelves?
GL-Jeff: We'll be opening the doors to investors on new years when we release the new screenshots and such. We currently have enough funds to develop the game but it will take some more for publishing.

QA-BOT: .Crush: Say you created a tree structure of some sort, am I right in assuming you are allowed to create bridges of some sort from hut to hut and other such things to help with moving around within the surroundings?
GL-Jeff: Yes you are correct.

QA-BOT: .Elendel: how do you guys feel about these "unofficial clans" like "Keepers of the Mad" to enforce roleplaying and "Elite Pimps of Dawn" (I think the name says it all)
GL-Jeff:They can do as they wish in the game. If its obvious they are simply there to ruin the game they will be removed.

QA-BOT: .Alligator: Did you get your inspiration for Dawn from any specific game such as EverQuest, Asheron's Call etc. maybe to make a game that would improve those game's qualities?
GL-Jeff: Dawn inspiration mostly comes from old MUDs and RPGs. The current MMORPGs are all kinda...not well made :)

QA-BOT: .FOG|Adrenaline: what will be the extent of what a character can do when the actual player is offline? In other words, can you design a list of commands to be run while logged off? How complex can these commands be?
GL-Jeff: We can't answer that at this time. We plan on experimenting with that in the beta.

QA-BOT: .Urban: Can you explain the navigating from stars bit, is it skill-based, and will there be other ways of navigating, compass, etc?
GL-Jeff: It is not skill based at all, you yourself have to learn the stars in order to navigate.
GL-Jeff: OK that wraps up the HoC folks
GL-Jeff: We'd like to thank those of you who held in to the end.
GL-Jeff: I believe this was one of the largest HoC's of all times.
X-Mas Comes Early

GL-Jeff: I have some good news and bad news about the "Surprise"
GL-Jeff: We had prepared for you all a little Web Based mud to help keep you occupied while you wait for Dawn.
GL-Jeff: Unfortunately there are a few errors in it which have to be resolved before we officially release it.
GL-Jeff: I'm going to work on remedying the problem tonight and as soon as the game is launched it will be announced on the main page www.glitchless.com
GL-Jeff: So check the page regularly to see if the game has been released yet. i think you'll enjoy it