BBI Incoming!

With rebuilding World Difficulty by Lefein, I've decided to attempt the undertaking of redrafting BBI to go along with it.

I've avoided doing this prior to now because the internal architecture is fundamentally different. Everything to how things are loaded to how the enemy AI works in BBI is separate from the regular game.

I find more and more people sending me requests to touch up BBI; I can't promise I can make it function, however I wanted to announce I'm going to begin attempting it this week. The issue I've always run into with internal cells like BBI is the tendency for it to crash without any warning. Anytime a model is pushed outside the bounds of the cell the game will immediately crash: This is something that can happen due to incorrect cell AI packages. 

I've put forth a request in my tech support for willing testers, I'm extending this request here.

To make World Difficulty I had to have testers actively testing the cells as I created them so I could perform maintenance "in real time" as the problems arose. I would sit in a voice chat actively building a new cell as the tester would report what was working and what wasn't.

Without this, creating World Difficulty at all would have been next to impossible. If my supporters fancy this as a worthwhile use of time I will most certainly oblige them. However such an ambitious project will need extra hands.

It needs to be said again, your support of me has been invaluable. I wanted to make sure everyone was updated in the current project status.

Currently, the World Difficulty by Lefein Shell has been released: The enemies are now up to date and while a few still require a patch, we are finally to a point of post update compatibility. 

Having lost my assets a month ago I really didn't think I'd be able to do it so quickly. Using just copies on the Nexus I was able to rebuild it.

The companion module, took considerably more time than I intended; I was running into memory issues which the recent patch seemed to alleviate, allowing me to plug in just the right amount of data to balance the module properly.

If you wish to test out exactly how closely it was balanced:

Start a new game and enter the prologue; Add yourself 2 Strength Periapts and fight the Chimera at the end. Once you've started the battle take note of how much damage you're doing.

Use a Periapt, then take note of the damage you're doing or the damage the Chimera is taking. It took quite awhile but I balanced the Periapts as close to perfection as I think is possible.

The purpose behind the balance, is pushing the cusp of effectively dealing little to no damage to a boss enemy i.e. The Chimera, and dealing nominal damage to it after using a Periapt.

Obviously it's no fun to deal no damage, but in the base game Periapts felt more like it sped up a boring battle against a boring enemy - whereas the feeling now is more like you're fighting for your life against a beast and the Periapt is a survival tool, Where before it was just the fast forward button against a boring enemy.

You still will overpower the enemy with time, but that time doesn't come at level 30, that time comes much later so the world has much more longevity.

This is the reason behind the change to Periapts and the change to enemies. You'll run into something like a Chimera and feel completely outmatched, with the valuable Periapt being the equalizer that helps you get past it before you can overpower it.

It provides the feeling of earning your power. Earning your right to overpower it. If you can't kill such things, trying to attain an experience level high enough to overpower it is very suboptimal. When you can finally tackle it on your own without the Periapts and tools it feels much more rewarding because it's not something you can accomplish so easily.

I will continue to update my progress to my patrons, (only) - for people who are not patrons of mine please don't feel jilted. The patron only posts include alpha builds that otherwise wouldn't exist without their support. I will provide full public updates in posts like this, however the physical update media (as always) will be released to patrons only; Not as a reward, but as an annual duty owed to them.

I've always disliked "rewards" for patrons. It makes it seem like there is a separation between us. I am no celebrity; there is no separation between any of us from social class to personage. I refuse to treat my patrons as if I am providing the scraps from my table like so many other media figures treat their patrons.

Without my patrons, I wouldn't be able to do the things I am doing now. I would have never been able to take the time from working every job I could find to help support my best friend through the difficult circumstances she found herself in.

These patrons, fed her when she was hungry; the money through Patreon didn't come to me. It went directly where it was needed. For this reason alone I will owe them forever a debt of gratitude no amount of free mod work could ever repay.

Now that she's settled, everything earned from my patrons goes directly to me, and through that I am able to replace my hardware so I can continue working. The past year losing so much income rendered me unable to afford much above surviving.

Not only that, but I have my first vacation in 2 years, I was working 16 hours a day for a very long time. I am using this vacation to perform as much maintenance on my projects as I can muster so I am able to continue to provide for them, and for the entire community.

I just wanted to be certain no one took what I provide in locked posts as a slight.

-Lefein Noël