CptLoRes

Regardless of color scheme, using a serif font for the relatively small text sizes in a forum is a big nono. But we are back to sans serif now, so I can live with this.

Thing is, this is NQ in a nutshell. No sane dev would implement the current DOM in a MMO game. And we see this type of thing everywhere in the game. Like opening up the notification list anyone? The functionality you mentioned here should mostly have been an automatic feature (using some variant of shadow DOM) in the setHtml() function from day one. And the type of specific function calls you mention, should only be used to even further optimize the performance beyond what shadow DOM would do.

Please take a look at the fonts used while at it.. Regards from a pair of bleeding eyes.. Edit: NVM.. I see they have been changed/reverted now.

This is not about LUA vs JS. The resources needed to run those scripts are trivial regardless which one you use. It is the underlying DOM operations rendering graphics and mixing it with the game that needs improvements, like making sure they don't do unnecessary updates etc.

Compared to LUA? It is the inefficient lower level canvas operations used for UI and screen graphics that are killing performance, so whatever high level script language you use on top is irrelevant to the performance.

Looks to me like NQ is suffering from NiH (Not invented Here).

Great read. My only comment would be that from my perspective as a software developer, the red flags where clearly visible a good while earlier then the time frame you mentioned. The lack of actual progress made, recurrence of old/and new bugs every patch (many of them trivial to detect and fix), long standing bugs remaining unfixed, infrequent large patches instead of frequent small improvements (waterfall vs agile) and the way NQ never was willing to openly discuss anything but marketing fluff even in a closed NDA forum. Where all classic symptoms of a project having issues.

Main problem with admitting that the soft-release was not actually a release, is that it makes NQ open to all sorts of liabilities with regard to subscription players. If not then why would they abandon the "new planet tech" reset of Alioth etc?

I will admit there is a certain degree of "sunk cost fallacy" that makes me stick around. But I have also always made a point to give NQ credit when they do something good. Like the mesh server improvements and amount of work they managed to do in a relatively short time-frame before the 'beta' release. But sadly that does not happen very often.

You really think comments in a forum will make people stop playing a game? The only thing that will make players leave a game, is the game itself. And some of us 'old timers' still hanging around, just shows how desperately we wanted the game to succeed. But after years of constructive criticism being totally ignored (in a NDA pre-alpha test forum no less) and watching the things we tried to warn about actually happen, all that is left is frustration and some twisted hope that maybe, just maybe. Or put in other words, if I actually didn't care about this game, I would have left long time ago.

Realistically all we can do is post speculations and wait. So no change for us, until there is..

Any statement about economics would come after another VC round, not before. Ie. companies never talk openly about economical problems until their are either solved or the company is no more.

Yes and no.. The 'vision' was why they had a successful kickstarter and initial VC rounds. The inability to turn the vision into reality, and then finally subverting the vision in later patches was what made people leave the game. So new management could still try to make DU using the original vision, but this time with sensible priorities and dev methods.

I would press like, but..

The 'warning' was a bit over the top if you ask me, and maybe a bit to late. I mean, the damage has already been done long before JC left/got pushed out, and most players are now busy playing other games.

Before the 0.23 patch DU had a bare bone game loop with building, industry and quasi PvP. Just enough to keep people interested until proper release features at least. But NQ then suddenly decided to nerf the entire industry part of the game, and turn the grind up to 11 and more.. This was done to solve some future problems with players reaching 'end game' to quickly. But.. it was done without having a game infrastructure to interest players with 1/3 of the game loop (industry) suddenly made irrelevant to most players, and the rest now hidden behind a wall of grind (DU is often refereed to as a mining simulator). So NQ basically destroyed the already very bare bone game loop in a subscription game, and predictably players left because of it.

And what makes it extra sad is that 0.23 even went against the core ideas of the game that we where promised in the beginning. Which paraphrased said something like "find your own way and play style in a fully open MMO, where NQ make the tools so that the players can build communities and content". But failing to make the tools needed in a sensible time frame, they started twisting existing game mechanics instead. Trying to make the game appear more then it actually is in a short time frame (relative to NQ time).

This is what we know so far. According to this site, 2 days ago JC got replaced as President of NovaQuark by a Mr Nicolas Granatino. And this Nicolas person is one of the owners of a VC company that is the lead investor in NQ.

Translated for the lazy. https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https://www.societe.com/societe/novaquark-799791926.html

NQ doesn't appear to have the finances to survive a long bumpy ride.. Or should I say an even longer bumpy ride. Since it has been a pretty bumpy ride for years already. NQ's original estimate for was release was Dec 2018. And I quote straight from the campain. Sigh.. And as Lethys mentioned, there are many red flags in this project. And they have been clearly visible for a long time now. In fact that's what started a big divide in the pre-alpha forums. When some of us started commenting on the flags appearing, while others wanted to continue the cheerleader squad. But only one side was constantly given new ammunition by NQ to continue our arguments, while the other side slowly went silent..

I want this game (the one promised initially) to make it so bad. But rationally/cynically I know we are still here to mostly look at the dying beast, trying get some entertainment out of it.. But don't misunderstand me. I want NQ to prove me wrong, it is just that all the historical evidence points to the contrary.

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In that case I would strongly suggest you use the autoconf system (%GAMEFOLDER%\Game\data\lua\autoconf) and store the script as a .conf file there next time. Look at the default scripts in ..\lua\default for examples on the syntax. The advantages are.. many..

The only way to divert collision damage away from elements atm, is distance from the crash point. So you have to make a rather large sacrificial buffer with voxels only at the front. Typically a spear if you want to save voxels and game the game. Which I personally have no problem doing, since the game has such rudimentary mechanics for dealing with designs in general.

Yeah, that's a big nope.. Nobody with the skill set to make a one of a kind "Augmented Reality GUI" whatever would make that script using the built in LUA editor only, never ever having versions of the script exist outside the game and/or in multiple cores. Making a complex script using the built in LUA editor in DU, is like painting a house with a toothbrush. Technically possible, but wrong tool for the job.