Podcasts (2015)
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Summaries

Podcast #40

Q: Can we get the normal update on how's life and what you've been working on?

A: Winter and Kinak do not get along, but coming out of the doldrums now. Working away on Oldtown but still a ways to go. But good progress on that front and trying to work on little updates where I can. But with the amount of work being done on Oldtown, they have been pretty sporadic. Want to keep going on that train.

Q: A bunch of questions about the number of things, if you're willing to share: With Imperial, have we found all conducts now? 29 known so far.

A: I believe you've found all of them. A handful I've been meaning to add, but not in yet.

Q: Any hidden avatars added in the last little bit?

A: I feel like I did add one pretty recently. Yeah, actually only one that's been added pretty recently (after the last avatar, which I'm pretty sure you found.)

Q: Would you be willing to give a count on news stories to be found? We have 47 plus 13 unearthly ones = 60, which seem like a ton already. (Presumably several more unearthly ones to be found as the seasons roll through.)

A: 96 news stories total, and every unearthly item has a news story.

Q: Does every unearthly item have a news story?

A: See above.

Q: Are there any super obscure hidden news stories? Despite their claims, the news team seems pretty invasive… >.>

A: There are a lot of pretty situational ones. Getting you nudged in the right direction or laying out that there are directions to be nudged in. A couple non-unearthly ones to be found yet.

Q: Was there any way to associate the unknown lenses with Leandra Silver before the news stories addition? Was she involved in anything else we might not be aware of yet?

A: I thought there was a… I don't think she was called out by name but an implication with the unknown lenses. She's not really like a central figure but just in general her family is pretty important. Will get to enter her son's area of influence downtown. She was one of the wealthiest people in the city so not surprising she has her finger in a lot of pies, and was pretty eccentric.

Q: We have found 17 abstract sketch messages — are we close to finding them all?

A: Hm. No it looks like that's actually all of them.

Q: The Skittish Bum seems to be protected from the Evil Eye technique, possibly because of the eye amulet he is wearing. Should the amulet protect us the same way?

A: I feel like it's supposed to…hm. It does look like it should be but it is possible that certain enemies aren't using Evil Eye correctly. Yeah. So what's going on there is that a lot of them are using the successful version of Evil Eye. [Fixed shortly after podcast].

Q: Saber did not seem any more intimidated than normal after I ate Shard alive. Is there any way to really freak him out?

A: There are a lot of ways to freak Saber out but he doesn't necessarily know what happened exactly in the Shard fight. There are actually some pretty entertaining intimidation methods you can use.

Q: I think Discordant Chimes is the only known Etheric Technique that doesn't require either some Etheric effect or an item equipped. (It will use turns of Etheric if you have them but still works without.) Is that working as intended?

A: Hm, that looks not right from the wiki. Yeah, I am pretty sure that's not how that was supposed to work. The way that's set up it was doing no damage with the xylophone.

Q: I continue to really want some kind of Anti-Coin-of-the-Seasons, which caps your stats at something low — any chance at an item which limits your base stats? Would be a blessing for spaders for all time.

A: Yeah, I could probably do something like that. [Noted]

Q: What if the snowman leaderboards displayed totals for all player efforts combined, as well as individual results? (For example, "So far there have been 1,500 snowmen built this year.") You can also use this space to talk about whether "totals" unlock content, if a meteorite to the head has damaged the secret-keeping part of your brain.

A: Yeah, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if it included the total or at least the total where it's appropriate. I would tend to probably not include scariness…well scariness might be okay there too.

Q: The Exploding Candy Stomach Experience (tm) has a bizarre influence on your effects, at least according to the wiki (e.g. your memory of watching a clown statue is removed). Is this intentional and is there a logical pattern to it?

A: Most things which remove effects remove things by categories. Eg. Castor Capsule removes any effect that could be by vomiting. So exploding stomach presumably includes some categories that includes weird stuff. [checks] Hahahaha, okay there's actually something way funnier going on there. Once the pattern there is figured out, I think it'll make a lot of sense and hopefully make you laugh too.

Q: How about a checkbox next to each equipment slot, to "lock" the current item in place so it doesn't get switched when you change outfits? I'd love to be able to go "lock feathered cloak, equip +etheric power outfit, lock weapon+gadget, equip +choice outfit".

A: Uh, I don't think so. Yeah. I am not inclined to do that, it seems it would be kind of cluttered.

Q: It's possible to equip the Midgard security outfit and punk outfit at the same time. This makes the punk uprising quest weird: first you beat up punks that think you're security, then a punk approaches you for help fighting security.

A: There's probably some… yeah. For most of those I just manually check for which one is appropriate. Would probably make a bit more sense if it chose one or the other.

Q: Starting the punk uprising quest causes an "abandoned" quad, but the fleeing pool shark is still able to hide in the crowd of students. Could this be made into a very roundabout way to catch the pool shark?

A: [skipped] (Conspicuous Pool Shark encounter added later.)

Q: Would there be a downside to allowing players to reach higher than the max Energy/Hunger/Body cap, as long as they reset to the cap at rollover? Admittedly, the only benefit is making me feel less stupid while gorging on sushi, and then I at least have the sushi to console me.

A: I think that the downside there is that it doesn't make any sense. I've played Kingdom of Loathing where it works like that, it works but is pretty counter-intuitive. Not how caps on things work normally. Not going to say it's poor design but don't think it follows that that should happen. Eg. you can't heal yourself past max hitpoints.

Q: "Kinak: One of these things happened, sort of, and I'm thinking of another." I haven't managed to confirm this, so maybe we could play another round of mastermind? Here's the list:

  • Harvesting a replacement hand from the Tree of Hands
  • Crystal hand interacting with the Tree of Hands / Porcelain Tree.
  • Dive for Cover + silvered shield + Mercy Killer blocking etheric attacks

A: I think I added one of those after you suggested it? Maybe it was already in? Ah yes, one is in for sure, just doesn't necessarily the exact effect you thought it did, and I am still thinking of another, on my to-do list.

Q: It looks like again last Christmas we didn't make much progress toward figuring out the snow snakes. Any chance of a hint to keep in mind for this year?

A: I actually tried to change the description to make that a little more cluey but didn't help. I think I will try to add more clues next year.

Q: So, the incredibly abused pants. Pretty sure I know the general inspiration for that one, but which version of the story is the first one that springs to your mind? The original The Wendigo, or the version in Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark?

A: I guess the first one that comes to mind is the version in Pathfinder, which is inspired by all of the above. Also the old X-men arcade game. WENDIGO! As far as the actual stuff I was pulling from, the original legends are things I pull from, there is a chunk that shows up far more prominently in the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.

Q: The new maps for the Slags are really nice, and make me look forward to seeing the art for Oldtown. Are there any other area art updates somewhere in the pipeline?

A: Yeah, I would like to redo Southside and the Docks eventually. Puyo doesn't like to do maps. Slowish process.

Q: What would you say your favorite unearthly item from the last year is?

A: I really like the crown. There'a lot of cool stuff going on there. Other than that, the tattered horror paper back is pretty baller. And the incredibly abused pants. A lot to do with the inspirations behind them.

Q: Do you see this dress as white and gold or blue and black? http://www.earthporm.com/this-dress-is-driving-the-internet-insane-what-colors-do-you-see/?ts_pid=2

A: Ah yes, the dress. White and gold for a second there, but it is totally blue and black.

Q: Are you familiar with Crusader Kings II? The costume crown item reminds me of all the intrigue that game gets you into. Assassinations, pretenders, factions to instate a new ruler, murdering your first born child so your second born child, who is heir to your second wife's Empire of Francia, inherits both her empire and your empire and brings forth a new age of dominance onto Europe. Maybe look into it if you want to bring this item to 3 coin territory >_>

A: Actually, I was very tempted with that item to expand it into three coins. But yeah, I do have a passing familiarity with Crusader Kings II. I was just talking to Liz about it yesterday, there's a really interesting "intellectual conceit" seen in a lot of media, especially horror movies (that character is an idiot). There's a different thought process for games, looking back on the era where that was set, with people being terrible to women or holy wars, so when you're playing a game with it, you have the same sort of pressures and societal contrains they did. So when you have a female child, there are all these rewards and penalties and you end up making very similar decisions. By making the consumer of the media make those decisions, it cuts through that armor. Going back to horror, I run a lot of Pathfinder games, I was running Reign of Winter, which is Pathfinder's Baba Yaga adventure. In it, there is a classic movie zombie scene. People injured and trapped, and you can let them out and they are zombies. You can let them out in the game, but if that happened in a movie or a book, people would call you stupid for doing that. (paraphrased terribly)

Q: You can "use" the coronation crown. It doesn't really do anything if you are etheric. It does do something while sober. But, can it ever do anything besides the one thing we have it doing while etheric?

A: The main reson it's usable there is so you can switch it back to a tradable form.

Q: Speaking of pretenders, the pretenders the Chamberlain talks about are an elusive bunch. We've tried trading Visions of Rule blows in pvp, running the gauntlet controlling all zones in PvP in full regalia, having uncontested control for multiple days, purposely having opposing Crownies controlling different pvp zones, and prancing around with Royal Truth to no avail. I even played a game of chess with the Bum, and yelled 'King Me!' when I moved a pawn all the way to the other side of the board. That apparently didn't even count as making a move which the Chamberlain says is what we need to do to make them show up. Honestly I don't buy it. If that doesn't count as making a move nothing will. What do you have to say about this?

A: I will, double check that the pretender code is working I guess, but it should be listing…hm. Yeah no, doesn't look like it. I must have left out some code there. When that is working it should be pretty obvious probably.

Q: Awfully suspicious that the Chamberlain is talking to everyone with crowns and is playing us against each other. Maybe he's the real King and means to hide behind us as figurehead rulers! Maybe this whole thing has been a charade! Perhaps the end of this crown content is a epic boss battle with the Chamberlain himself!

A: Perhaps.

Q: I'm always imagining some sort of epic boss battle at the end of every unearthly item content chain. How true is this and how much truer should it be?

A: I mean, there are a couple of sweet bosses to be had here and there. But for the most part, they don't. Probably less than a quarter.

Q: Epic Boss Battle with the Extreme Tackle Box???

A: I guess if you count the hardest fishing area in the game, then yes?

Q: What would an EBB from the abstract domino mask be like?

A: I would assume that some people know Majora's Mask. Not talking about the final fight with the skull kid/mask, but there is an option to unlock a fierce deity, where you get into the final battle.

Q: Has the Chamberlain had an unfortunate encounter with Patchwork Dreams?

A: No, just very unfriendly cat.

Q: Argeth said he pulled out the sword in the Spring Reflection and white spring light burning away the last dregs of winter poured out from the cracks. Is this a real thing that happened?

A: Ask Argeth about that.

Q: Speaking more about the reflections, the Maiden from the summer reflection points to the west when you have the mislit mask. Seems pretty important to her though it never did lead anywhere. Is there some sort of content hiding here?

A: There's actually a fair amount of stuff to be found still in the mirror. Which is is good, I don't feel bad since it's a 3 coin item, people are still figuring out the minigames, and still some notable hidden stuff. I don't recall that specifically pointing to one of them.

Q: What's up with the girls in the fractured reflections? Is their more to their story we can figure out?

A: I mean, I think that figuring out their stories would be a very useful thing to do, as far as figuring out other stuff.

Q: Whether or not Argeth is on the up and up about there being super secrets to the reflections you don't actually expect anyone to ever find, I need to ask is there a super secret in the Autumn Reflection?

A: I mean, there's some pretty cool stuff in the autumn reflection. Most of the stuff that I don't expect people to find is in the interactions between the reflections.

Q: Twisted Hounds are ubiquitous. Is there a significant piece of content hiding somewhere related to them?

A: There's bits and pieces but don't know if there's enough information why they dislike you so much.

Q: For a two coin item, lens focused on the unknown don't seem to do a whole lot. Is there still something very big (very small?) still left to be found with it?

A: I mean there is some pretty cool stuff. Not sure exactly off hand what's been found with it. Let me check before I accidentally spoil. Yeah looks like there is still something pretty noteworthy pending.

Q: It is laughable when you use a View function on the Crosslinks routine that it says you need to be careful not to overshoot and crash the crosslinks itself. It is almost impossible to crash the crosslinks routine. A batch containing Forge Blade, Crash Script, and Wideband Assault will for the vast majority of the time fail to crash it. Is there a reason to want to crash this routine? Or did you make it impossibility difficult to crash to strongly hint we aren't supposed to do this? Honestly I suspect the Hardware Breaker is easier to crash then this thing.

A: It's possible I… ah. Yes, hm. There is. You may not fully know your own power. There is a check going on there — the game assumes you are trying not to crash it so if you have the appropriate…ability…there, it can be very hard to crash. Not much to gain from crashing it though beyond what you see.

Q: Speaking of impossible things, lake serpent Protein Analysis in Novos is hell. If a university site has Crosslinks, Posting Interface, and Post Archive, it'll want you to crash all of those plus any defenders before it let's you start the protein analysis routine. And as mentioned before, just trying crash the crosslinks itself will probably get you kicked. And if the site has Shared Files or an Ancient Vault it wants you to crash those too and then it just becomes literally impossible. It's so difficult I need to ask is this working as intended?

A: I don't actually think that it requires you to crash those things. It's just easier the less you have going on, if I recall. No yeah, it's very possible you might just not have the right (lowercase) technique. I can see how you came to the conclusion you're coming to but if you are bring the sort of guns to the game you mention in previous question, you should be able to rock protein analysis no problem.

Q: Dr. Myer's says with the way data spreads over the net he's going to assume there's more cheaters. What does he know about the way data spreads on the net and why is he holding out on us??? Cause we can't figure out how to affect what stuff sites have in their files.

A: That is, I mean, you might be asking a retorical question, but he is making a more or less theoretical observation. Data will sort of spread to fill whatever vacuum there is, though that being said there is a way to get a lot more cheaters if you want.

**Q: Is there any things we can/should do outside of Hacking that'll effect what websites have in their shared files or post archives?

A: Yes there are.**

Q: You got me pretty good with the end of Christmas EBB. Snowmonstrosity. I got through all the rng enough times to test 7 different things before completely running out of energy. Maybe if I hadn't spent so much after Christmas time crafting all the techs I needed I could have managed it. I know I poked fun a little at you about this before but I guess now I gotta have fingers crossed he shows up again this year!

A: "fingers crossed he snows up again this year".

Q: Lead! We found lead! I could've sworn we'd already tried taking those items apart, but hey, new stuff! Any similar low level crafting items we're obviously missing? (One I'm still hoping for is Asbestos Thread/Material from the holocaust coat.)

A: That was actually added as part of the update for Lo's Survivor quest. Someone pointed out quite aptly that getting metallic powder is a giant pain in the ass as a side effect to having two grades of containment suits, which was not the intent, so that got added.

Q: You've pretty much taunted us completely about this, and I'm pretty sure you said a no, but I am curious why we still can't fish the lake of fire. Not with a fishing pole, but with a hunting spear, just hooking things and pulling them out.

A: There may come a day when you figure out how to fish in the lake of fire.

Q: Looks like we've made a lot of headway in filling in the Items by ID list, but we're still missing the 1205-1209 (Charnel Reopened content, looks like) and 1236-1241 (Looks like after the Fae Cave and before the diving content?). Are these content pieces limited by skills, or is it all things like 1242 (Unreal Drip) Where we don't seem to have the ability to make it yet?

A: I think those all tie into the same thing. Yeah, those are sort of tied together a little bit from the survivors content, but yeah tied together.

Q: Since we've asked this before and gotten results, I'll be a little greedy. Are we able to get skills 58 and 79?

A: Most of the skills are available but there are times when there are holes in the table. But both of those look available.

Q: Mag seems to be away so I guess I'll take over and do the traditional unearthly items spading roundup! 2014 had a record number of unearthly items at 9.

Q: blade of the snows: We've found several techniques, the snow maiden opponent and frozen rose. I think we're pretty good here unless there's another hidden technique or avatar to be found?

A: No that's pretty solid.

Q: Stainless Skulls helmet: My favourite item this year, I think. A lot of hidden stuff already found, so I think we're pretty good here as well?

A: I think there is actually a … let me double check. Yeah, there is a pretty slick thing still in there. Or balling. Or both.

Q: Reflexcoil pants: Two techniques and two effects makes me wonder if anything more to find here? Some suspicious effect ID gaps right after the ReflexCoil effects that could be related (423/424)?

A: The one coin items in general are not typically super involved. 423/424 are unrelated.

Q: charmed chain: Pretty well spaded, I think. My only question here is from the Snapping Chains technique which states, “You probably won't break this chain, but other bonds may not be so strong”. No idea what that is referring to, but I couldn’t find anything special with it so far.

A: If I remember correctly the technique there does have some cool stuff going on. Yeah, hehehehahaha. Yeah, there's some cool stuff there. Also some funny stuff. Some stuff going on there.

Q: Midgard HGS prototype: Neat little one-coin item, pretty well explored, I think?

A: Yeah. I feel like you guys found pretty much everything there. Pretty linear. I was tempted to make it a two coin item but you need to make it done. I really end up going to far with some of the one-coin items. I try to alternate back and forth but sometimes the one-coin items should have been bumped up to two.

Q: tattered horror paperback: Neat little two-coin item, pretty well explored, I think? (complete with very rare avatar discovery!)

A: Yeah maybe some meta stuff to find but pretty good here.

Q: bullet-holed vest: it may not be fair to judge items by the amount of things it gives, but for the 1 effect and 2 techniques, I feel like we’re missing something here.

A: I feel like that one may just be pretty simple. As a side note Al was nice enough to warn me but then I totally forgot what I learned in the process.

Q: lens focused on the unknown: Lots discovered but some mechanics not fully understood. (No question here until I explore it more. Spading needed for sure, especially for the 'exaltations'.)

A: Yeah there's some pretty weird stuff going on.

Q: incredibly abused pants: the most confusing item for me so far. I see others on the wiki have gotten results from it, but I have had it equipped for days and only got a couple Ghoul Bites. I guess I’m obviously missing some trigger but can’t figure out what, so… any hints?

A: Um, I mean, it giving you the ghoul bites is kind of a hint by itself? There were a few issues right when it launched. If you had it equipped right when it came out you might want to give it another try now? Otherwise keep an eye on the ghoul bites.

[Incidentally, working on learning Objective C. Been taking a lot of time, not immediately related to Metroplexity, but there have been some requests in the past for an iOS interface, so slowly moving in that direction.]

Q: I'll lead off with the Floating Masks in the Hall of Sculptures and one of their results that raises a couple questions. The result where they appear to accept us normally looks to be linked to having a specific mask and an associated technique in your deck, such as a festival mask with Contempt. One oddity I have encountered was the distorted wolfman mask when paired with a wolfskin belt will result in acceptance from the masks. Are the masks responding to one or more technique we can't normally learn but is technically in our deck while in werewolf form or is something else in play?

A: There is actually just a lot going on in that encounter, and most of it naturally is hardcoded. Hm. Yeah, it is not directly checking your techniques, just that you're in accord with your mask. Kind of the odd man out there.

Q: A couple quick questions about the wolfskin belt: Are we missing any techniques that interact with it?

A: I don't believe so. There was a problem with one of them…someone reported a bug that it was interacting in a backwards way.

Q: It feels there is still at least one mystery remaining if not more. Would you be willing to provide a one or two word hint?

A: Keep howling? [ Keep on howling —ed.] Not very useful but it is a one or two work hint.

Q: Back in Podcast 35 you indicated that some interactions remained with the Rag Man's cape but we had not yet discovered the things it interacted with. While the interactions have not been found are one or more of the previous unknowns now known to us?

A: They are in this case, still waiting to be discovered. It might be a while. Interacting with things that existed before it came out, and was interacting with things that had been undiscovered for a long time even then. So don't necessarily look at the cape, but if you find some new old item that looks like it might interact, try it out.

Q: The coat of mysterious circuitry still has a form we have not found. Out of curiosity does it hinge around hacking like the first two upgrades? Does it instead require making use of it in meatspace to hone our proficiency?

A: I believe there is some meatspace interaction there. Wow, looking at the stats for the higher form of that coat, and those are some serious stats. Hm, no you don't. Trying to remember how that is unlocked exactly. Hehehe, the item description directly references meat. I don't want to steer you astray, and don't 100% remember so I will leave it for now.

Q: One last Metroplexity question about Skills by ID. In podcasts long past it was indicated skills 64-67 and 72-73 were implemented but not available. At the risk of crushing Mag's will to live are any of these skiils currently available or do they still wait until the stars are right?

A: 64 is available, 65-67 not, and I don't believe 72-73 either.

Q: Are there any plans for more entries on the Dev Corner? They are good reads.

A: Actually, I was thinking about writing a post about what I was talking about with Crusader King's II so I might do that coming up here.

Q: There are still some very old mysteries out in the wild, waiting patiently to be found. Are they all fiendishly hidden, or is there some low-hanging fruit left?

A: There definitely are a couple of them that are just waiting for someone to be like, "oh I should try this thing", and they'll be like, "here you go". Some of the skills, might be found and just didn't think to mention it to anyone. If they saw the pieces at the right time, they would be go together. But yeah, some are out in what-the-hell land. But some are pretty straightforward (like do A with B equipped, or use A with effect B active).

Q: Why are all the rebels gravediggers?

A: I wouldn't have minded including a greater variety of rebels but the whole item there is a pretty straight up homage to Robert Chambers who is best well known for introducing the King in Yellow/Yellow Sign (etc.) to the Cthulhu Mythos. Try "The Repairer of Reputations."

[Oldtown update: there are sort of two major areas in old town (like in the Docks quest, there's the Waterfront and Sewers), and there is a similar scale of areas there. I've got the first one of those I'm basically just polishing, and then might work on some side bits (equivalent to the warehouses say), and then dive in to the big end.]

Podcast #41

Q: Well, let's get a couple questions out of the way, then! How was GenCon?

A: GenCon was awesome. Housing, Pathfinder, True Dungeon, seminars, etc.

Q: What are those new tools you gained toward getting Oldtown out?

A: The Oldtown release will be a bit different than the releases for the other quests. I realized during a self-editing seminar about the fact that Novos got out and is 90% done and so many other things don't get out because I am not breaking them up. So Oldtown will be a sequential release. Most of it is done frankly, so just going to go through and fill in the gaps in each chunk, launch it, you'll get the intro and map and background stores and then unlock the areas one at a time. So until it's completely done, the Survivors contest will keep running and then will switch over to Oldtown contest, with big prizes. So expect to see the first teasers of Oldtown quite soon.

Q: Have you had any ideas on additional content to put into the Engineering Lab?

A: Not particularly. It does what it's supposed to do. I could have you run into some random people but mostly there for item payout from Novos.

Q: If we knew how to do it, would switching between learning Stalk Through Snow and Fire Run from the Incredibly Abused Pants be straightforward to do?

A: I feel like that's a yes? I will have to look that up. Ah, yeah, would not be a problem.

Q: When thinking harder at the classic writing desk, are my well running dry and the story being all wrong problems that need to be solved separately?

A: The messages definitely have distinct meanings.

Q: Will we be seeing Janet again any time soon?

A: It would not entirely surprise me this Halloween. I'm hoping to do something different, not huge because Oldtown will be coming out about the same time. But some familiar faces.

Q: If you didn't answer it above, how is Oldtown coming along?

A: It's …… close enough to being done that I could get it all done and push it out, but I don't think that's going to happen so planning on pushing it in chunks.

Q: This might be more clear once we see Oldtown, but how long will (it) be (until we are) reunited with the other 3 survivors?

A: The choice of survivor is intended to last into the rest of the game.

Q: Any last minute things you recommend doing before Oldtown comes out? Will you give us a countdown to the release?

A: The way that I plan on launching it, it will kind of serve as its own countdown. So the first push will include the beginning text from the survivor and the map. And then encounter areas locked, and polished and activated.

Q: What inspired the change to XP distribution in combat?

A: It seemed a bit out of place, I hadn't actually thought about it in years actually. Thinking about how player's choices affect their stats. A stronger push to directly tie that.

Q: Does the paper boat do… anything?

A: I have a note to give the paper boat some use link so you float it on some puddles or something. Might be something hidden but it would be from a long long time ago.

Q: Antique Floor Mirror questions: Is it significant that the mirror goes Summer-Winter-Spring-Fall in that order as you progress through in-run? Why not in season order?

A: Because the seasons are associated with the Survivors and that's the order that the survivors end up going.

Q: Is there anything from the mirror that we have to specifically be in-run to find?

A: Some stuff is more interesting in-run but the big stuff that's still missing… some can be done in-run, some has to be done out of run or across runs.

Q: In each zone there seems to be an "irreversible" action you can do, such as burning down the hut in winter. Is there anything special to find before locking ourselves out in that way?

A: Nothing that you would really kick yourself over. No exclusive items or techniques or anything.

Q: This was asked way back in podcast ~8, but I guess it might be time to ask again— is there a way to advance seasons, post run? It seems that if we could pile up the snow in winter, we could use that as a ramp in spring - but can't get there.

A: Once you have selected your survivor, the season is locked until the end of the run, so no.

Q: A while ago I asked if there was cyberbowl player avatar —I think you said 'no' at the time but would consider adding at some point. Any cyberbowl avatar available now?

A: Still no. I have the art for it but I am a terrible person.

Q: Any new non-unearthly avatars in general?

A: We're up to ~37 avatars in total, no earthly ones added recently.

Q: Why does Zack love unearthly coins? What does he do with the coins? Does he have other sources of income?

A: Well, it certainly has lots of contacts that are willing to give him stuff. So he probably has some big source of credits or blackmail material. He does certainly like to collect them. Maybe has a Scrooge Mcduck swimming pool.

Q: The hungry ooze and ecofuel flamethrower give different messages based on the gang stash value of fed items. Are these messages significant themselves or just a hint that the gang stash value matters?

A: … One of them there is a specific breakpoint that is indicated by the message, the other one is just a hint.

Q: The Midgard Player is back in season and there are apparently still some songs we haven't found. It's been out for over five years now: Did you expect things to stay hidden that long?

A: The Midgard Player was definitely among the more puzzly items, in that it was designed from the puzzle out. While most of the items are like, "oh, we could use a flamethrower" but that one was definitely existed as a puzzle and germinated into an item.

Q: Is it just a matter of finding the right data to feed it or do we need to do some lateral thinking?

A: There are a lot of songs there. I think you have all parts you need, the rest is playing around with combinations.

Q: It seems that the Open Parasol technique was made back in October 2011 when the abandoned subway was revamped but we couldn't actually learn the technique until October 2012 when the art museum went in. Are there many other seemingly-NPC-only techniques that we can actually learn?

A: There aren't a lot of them. There's one that comes to mind immediately. Most NPCs - there's a divide between the humanoid NPCs and etheric monstrosities, and the humanoid ones tend to use techniques that the player uses. Would look at humanoid opponents.

Q: Still trying to find more ways to scare Saber — he did not seem intimidated by the Valentine Killer and Vigilante outfits. Did I mess up? Any other hints at what might scare him?

A: There are sort of … hm. I'm actually not finding the… There are a bunch of different ways to scare him, they interact a bit, need a bit from column A a bit from column B. What the messages closely.

Q: Floor mirror:
- Why is Lo summer (maiden/snake), David winter (corpse/wolf), Dr. Amundsen spring (girl/hermit), and Hel fall (crone/skeleton)?

A: A lot of it is a generally people's attributes are. Thematically it might make sense for Hel to be winter, but cold is tied to Etheric and therefore tied to David. Hel gets fall, etc. If you look at the coins for different seasonal contest, that relationship holds.

Q: Coat of circuitry:
- Are forge orb/gauntlet/shield made in the same template as forge sword? (as best as I can tell: act like any other power 2 tool when I have no hardening left; effect works in the round when it is gained; get extra 2 power with hardening when the effect is already in effect - i.e. a perfect execution has power 5: 2 base, 1 from being a leading tool and having the effect, and 2 from having hardening to burn)

A: They are very similar, so expect them to work roughly the same way.

Q: Abstract domino mask:
- The (harder-to-get) techs - is it just question of combining types of lessons and how much I charged the mask with techs of appropriate stat/type? Something more? Clue?

A: They're broken up into different categories, depending on buffs and choices you're making. But it does tie in quite a bit to the types of techniques you're using. Some of them branch out a little bit more than others. Some of them you have to sort of make those choices more actively I guess. A few of them will more or less fall into your lap, but other ones you have to plan it a little bit more in advance.

Q: Generic:
- What are the design decisions behind some group of buff items being just mutually exclusive, and others "toggling" (like genuine feathers)?

A: It's not something I do really consistently but what I typically decide on, if you were supposed to be adapting to what you get out of a chunk of items, they'll probably be mutually exclusive. Eg. the items from the Urban Legends book. If I were setting that up so that when you summon them, you might be changing your behaviour to match those buffs, but if it is just some minor thing, you can change the buff. When you have a group where some items are way harder to get than others, then makes sense to be mutually exclusive. Eg. if there is a ultra rare fishing line.

Kinak is going out to a cabin retreat to push through final edits of Oldtown (intermittent access).

Podcast #42

Q: From my perspective, the piecemeal approach to Oldtown seems to be working out pretty well. How do you feel it's going so far?

A: Pretty fucking great from my perspective. Things are rolling out quicker and more polished than they would have been otherwise.

Q: Are you settled on what the prizes will be for the Survivors' Reset leadboard?

A: Yes. Art is done, some things to code.

Q: Any cryptic hints about what to look forward to with Halloween this year?

A: Yes, I actually got to where I want to for Halloween, and working on Halloween now. Is that a hint? I don't know.

Q: I am curioius to hear what the typical day for you is like. Can you walk us through the process for designing/implementing a content release?

A: Kind of surprised I haven't gotten that question before. (Bathroom is being demolished.) Morning routine. Grab bug reports first thing, check forums (eating breakfast). Playing with the a variant on pomodoro method (25 minute task, 5 minute break). Some activities are Metroplexity, some Twilight Heroes, some work around the house, etc. The way I get to a content release is breaking it up into very small chunks and powering through. One chuck might be putting in the stats for the items, or writing item descriptions if there is a bunch of them. Or, do the ingredients for crafting. I try to get in at least part timeish work on everything. A lot of extra time I end up spending on design not technically on the clock, but the big concept design happens at 3 in the morning. Keeps sprawl in check when I'm tired. When putting in an opponent: sketch them out, decide what kind of techniques they have, decide if they need any new techniques (make those if needed), then back out and add flags etc. Because Puyo does art, I need to have a pretty good idea two weeks in advance. So if an unearthly item is coming out, need to have the item, ancillary techniques/opponents/etc. Makes changes in implementation interesting.

Q: Any plans for a gang warfare zone in Oldtown? The construction site seems like a good fit.

A: Yeah. That is actually the plan, the construction site.

Q: I unsuccessfully tried to learn the surprise collapsible baton attack used by the Internal Security. Are there any baton-related attacks out there to find? Or baton-based forms of techniques we already know?

A: Yes to at least one of those. Yeah, looks like it's just the learning a baton related technique, no missing forms.

Q: The Midgard MG2 has a -4 Power to techniques using Reflexes, but the Heavy Guard that uses it does not have a penalty to techniques using Reflexes. Is he just that awesome?

A: Yeah, basically. Pretty intense individuals. Probably not worth putting a skill in for but might be worth it to have a skill that lets you use it without being so awkward.

Q: The new records office and construction site escalate in a satisfying way when you cause a disturbance. Makes me wonder:

Q: Have you thought about similar mechanics for the Slags Lab?

A: There are… I feel like the Slags lab is just generally pretty hostile although there are some encounters that could be flipped there. Might go back and give it a new coat of paint.

Q: Why does the MBR lab use the Red Alert effect instead of daily flag?

A: I feel like some of those could go either way, might be worth making those all consistent but I do like having the vary obvious callout to it. Not sure if that serves as a good stepping on point ('oh, people notice you when you do things').

Q: The Midgard Warehouse sends increasing numbers of guards in but the more mundane activities continue to go on. How many people would I have to murder there before they send the workers home?

A: I think what you're seeing there is a lot of Midgard's level of giving-a-fuck about its office employees vs. warehouse workers. Lack of evacuation is not an oversight at least.

Q: Will we get a Novos way of getting comm dish cores at any point in the future?

A: Yeah, more than likely you'll see that with Novos hacking pvp. I'd like to see it come in before the end of the year but Oldtown and Halloween coming. It's the next big thing after those two though.

Q: Not much progress has been made with finding the secrets of the Black Book. Can you confirm that there is still some unknown content to be found there, and maybe share a cryptic hint?

A: There is one pretty major unknown thing. It's definitely not supposed to be easy to find. Someone will probably figure out eventually, but will require quite a ton of cussedness. Personal advice: explore something else unless you really want to beat it into submission.

Q: 1) The blotted documents can be used for one energy. Which of these is most correct? a) We should already be able to decode them (somehow) b) Not yet implemented c) They are not meant to be decoded at all

A: I would say - b is closest? There will probably be some more stuff there added later. This may not apply to blotted documents, but there are probably going to be some places in Oldtown where you can learn skills, but it would be rather peculiar to drop those in right now (it would mess up survivors reset board).

Q: 2) In the buried lab area: if I stay in bum clothes, it seems I don't get any useful options. If I choose to fight, I end up with the Omega order eventually (which is how I always complete this area). Can you please add something more obvious to the narrative (or at least just give me some blunt hints) as to what the players are expected to do in order to finish this side-quest without destroying everything?

A: I will look into that. Not going to make any promises though. Triggering the Omega Order is a totally legitimate way to finish that quest, fits Hel's approach. But I believe there are a few other ways to get the documents that you need.

Q: 1) How many 2-coin zack items have an avatar associated with them? Most? Half of them? Closet to only the 5 the wiki is aware of?

A: I would say - most. I don't think it's all? But there are a lot of them.

Q: Is the extreme tackle box the only 1-coin item that has an avatar?

A: I assume you mean the fishing avatar (not 100% sure you need to have the tackle box for that - though thematically related).

Q: 2) Will there be separate novos/oldos program sections in inventory?

A: When Oldos goes away, which it will eventually, the Oldos programs will just become data.

Q: 3) The last I remember, you weren't exactly happy with how reactive defense works. Any change in that mechanic? Thoughts? Hints? Myself, I do not much appreciate how increasing my max HP can increase damage done to me.

A: I don't think it should actually work out that way, or yeah, maybe. Have not thought about reactive defense in quite a while. I am okay with there being things that favour characters with lower stats, particularly in pvp. There are some parts about it that are clunky but I don't particularly think that everything being a multiplier is actually good for balance in pvp.

Q: I feel as if I failed in my responsibility in insuring a meaty podcast last time. How do you feel when there's not a lot of activity on the podcast questions side of things?

A: I'm okay with it. There are definitely times when having a short podcast is not the worst thing in the world.

Q: It's pretty common nowadays for indie games to provide weekly or semi-weekly content updates to their games in beta. Are you taking a page out of their book here with the Oldtown content batches? Is it part of your new business plan?

A: I have really been trying to do weekly updates in quite a while. Waiting forever for updates is boring for players, and more boring to implement. The only indie game that I'm following that really does that is Nuclear Throne, and I kind of find that the updates are more annoying than anything. Not particularly inspired by anything other than the realization that it's working.

Q: Speaking of Oldtown content updates, do you think that the Oldtown office workers celebrate Halloween in their offices? String up fake codwebs in the lobby, pumpkin baskets full of candy in the breakroom, spooky scary skeletons daisy chains strung out on the walls? Punch? Does this tickle your fancy?

A: I dunno, you might have to wait and see.

Q: Has any new skill(s) been available now thanks to the Oldtown updates that have happened thus far?

A: No not currently, see before.

Q: Here's another question Oldtown content has brought up. Based on the lore of the game, eating a raw heart gains you the wisdom of your enemy. So if you, like, use Organ Feast and eat someone who has an OmniBody heart do you get apps packaged into your brain or how does that work? The People need to know.

A: The specific raw heart is … I mean the rules of different etheric things don't always work the same. A certain appeal to infecting you if you eat cyberware.

Q: We don't know what wisdom OmniBody heart has but we do know it interacts with the Blitz Popper. Namely keeps the heart from beating painfully. Anything about the Blitz poppers we're yet to find that we'd find very interesting?

A: Hm, mm, mm. I feel like there is something at least funny that you haven't found yet. Hahahaha, yeah, there is at least one funny thing that hasn't popped up yet.

Q: Can we find Z in Oldtown or is that a Downtown exclusive?

A: Yeah, you'll run into Z downtown.

Q: From here on out we'll depart Oldtown for questions in new and terrible and funny vistas but mostly terrible. Ages ago you've saged upon us that we can affect the results we get in the Novos Shared Files (perhaps even the post archives too). Since then I've tried during Vigilante in the Quad to get more Vigilante vids, pass drinks out and pick fights to get more drunken rage vids, and even went bat to bat with the quad poet to get more poetry results. Even tried deleting shared files that gave me things I didn't want. No discernible effect. Anymore sagely fortune cookies you can crack open on this topic?

A: You're sort of close with one of those. Within line of sight of one of the major ones.

Q: Unlike the Blitz poppers, the REM Timer has not been keeping up with the rush of new content. Would it be fair to say that nothing particularly interesting is waiting in the depths of this item?

A: Hm, interesting, I thought that I was keeping up with that. Oh yeah, there's supposed to be a bunch of new locations stuff in here. There is nothing new waiting for you there because I forgot to add some stuff.

Q: DANCE FIGHTING. The exciting new 6th fighting type! Wave your Spirit Fingers things just got rockin n' rollin. All the pieces are already here. Dancing blade giving Dance Power, Life of the Party powered by Dance Power, Midgard player and Stainless Skulls and the over/under and all the other things giving dance power along with everything else they do. New skills, toe tappin encounters, inspired techniques. It'll be the content dump to rival all content dumps! Dancedancedancedance. What do you think?

A: There is a certain charm to it, although a bit more Twilight Heroes than Metroplexity.

Q: That last question was kind of a mouthful so I'm going to give you a breather here. Um. So. Calcified Organs. If someone eats a calcified heart what's the wisdom there? Do they think of boney things? Halloween?

A: Sweet sweet calcified heart. The range of raw hearts is fairly narrow. I don't recall if you get a special message if you consume that with Ghoul Bite and related techniques.

Q: I remember talking to you about all the things I've done to the Ghoul King. Trying to bind him with binding words etc etc many other things besides. Last thing I told you was that I was going to try every single equipable on him. I've basically done that besides some quest and no trade items that can't possibly be relevant. Perhaps you can provide a prod in the right direction? Do I need to eat his heart? Does he have one?

A: Well, obviously not an equipable. Which raises the question of what it could be. You mention some techniques you could try. Skills, and effects.

Q: What kind of lame power is Heart anyway?

A: Heart is only a lame power because it's the hero's on a kids show. If villains had heart […]

Q: The kid who normally wanders around the Quad asking 'Z? Z?' has changed his tune and been telling me I don't look well and if I'm alright. I had no idea he could say other words and am completely taken aback. Is this some grand hint about something? Is he preparing to do something else devastatingly interesting if only I could provide him the proper stimulus?

A: No, he's mostly just being less confusing. Can't actually get your hands on Z yet.

Q: Another thing I'm closing in on completely brute forcing is the cauldron in the autumn reflection. I've put a shard in every color in the order of going up and down the spectrum in a single day. I've caused the colored gas to be emitted from non-shard items in the same order. Nothing really special happened still can't move the cauldron. Closing in on putting every single item in the cauldron in all of it's consistency and color states. This seems like a sad state of affairs though doing things with no rhyme or reason. Would you happen to have a hint about the puzzle here?

A: I would have to look to make sure, but not actually sure you can move move the cauldron. Argeth suggested rolling the cauldron to reach the tree.

Q: How many more seasons of Survivors do we have? Rounding out to 40? As soon as Oldtown is ready to go?

A: More the latter.

Q: Speaking of Oldtown, it seems unusual how things went from the multi-path option to a single area, however from the text from the Survivors, it looks like each of them has a different expectation, and possibly a different chunk of data to hunt, in the vault. Care to confirm/deny?

A: Yeah, there's some branching. A lot of just how you're getting through Oldtown in general but some branching for each survivor.

Q: We don't quite seem to have the knack for driving the bigdigger around, is that still waiting for implementation (Instant access to Vault, instant High Alert?) or is it going to be a situational trigger thing? (Need to encounter X which needs to be dug up to use bigdigger)

A: You should be able to dig it some, though some areas you may want to dig don't exist yet.

Q: Going backwards a bit, any clues you can give us on the mirror? There hasn't been a whole lot of progress beyond that odd message in Spring. Which would 'imply' that we want to hit Summer next. And following the trend, it's about reaching triggers without causing events in the season. But giving apples and the snake skins to the girl and not fishing up the snake doesn't seem to DO anything. Especially since there's no tunnel encounter.

A: The thing that people could get today if they wanted to - there are certain things you can do with the shards when you're in the right mindset.

Q: More directly, is something hiding in the Snake Tunnel event? Since that does closely mirror the combat with the Hermit, and we have 3 out of 4 options available each round. (Well, only 2 are safe, but yeah) But going up every time we can has done nothing, same with going down. No secret passages seem to appear either. So obviously if it's related somehow, it's a bit twisty.

A: The minigames in the seasons are distinct.

Q: Oldtown is a datadump. This implies the next location is either downtown, or it's going to be revisiting older locations with a new key. Considering how little we know about Wotan right now, that may even be literal, heading into places to unlock his last effects sitting in lockers or apartments. But Wotan appears to have been our hound/eye/spider binder, hooking them into the mechanical beasts. Are those critters going to become more notable? Will the spider-web covered buildings be involved?

A: There will be more content which hooks back into the older areas but the next step is Downtown. Not sure yet if there is stuff in Downtown which requires going to places outside of Downtown.

Q: Any clues for some of the older skills we're still missing?

A: There are a couple that people are narrowing in on, even in this question thread.

Q: Last one, not quite a question, just still amazed there's no Depth Charge effects for releasing a Vial of Nitro or Nitro X underwater, then using Precise Shot, with or without harpoon gun. Reasons? Just seemed silly?

A:

Q: Bah, one more editted in, just because I'm running into it now. Why do a lot of techs seem that much harder to get after you start using them? I try to get 4 of a tech to make it generally useful, but am running into issues where after getting 3 of a tech, getting another instance just doesn't seem to happen. Whereas other techs are legion. I'm looking at you, ghoul bite.

A: Most of them have a mechanism that provides diminishing returns. Makes getting new techniques interesting.

Q: Anyway, keep being awe inspiring. Working on this game and Twilight Heroes must be tough.

A: Aside from living in a house with hammers and dust, I have been getting more stuff done on both games each than on both combined before. A lot of stuff on back burners.

Q: The Midgard Heavies are immensely harder to combat while the spectral pirates are trivial comparatively. That said, the Midgard heavies only give 4 xp while the ghost pirates give 5 xp. How did this decision come to pass?

A: Probably me vastly overrating the ghost pirates when they went in. Possibly the pirates should be 3 or 4 and Heavies 5.

Q: The baton guards have a pretty cool baton technique that does either a lot of stealth damage or melee damage. Will we have the opportunity to learn cool baton techniques?

A: There is in fact a baton technique that should be available. May do another update like the knife one. (Extending Baton discovered later.)

Podcast #43

Q: Oldtown questions! Now that the Oldtown quest is out, what are your the plans for upcoming months?

A: The next big thing is the hacking pvp system. Putting out to pasture the OldOs. And obviously Christmas, some unearthly items (though Puyo’s been pretty sick on and off and hasn’t been able to keep up with the art) - the last item would have came out last month but getting out as soon as I have art and it can come together. After Novos PvP, lots of little things, rounding out Oldtown. I would expect Downtown starting early 2016?

Q: Where could one find apartment keys in Oldtown?

A: In the future! Which is to say when you can start moving. It’s been planned and partially coded forever. Does not exist quite yet.

Q: Do you have any plans (or hints) for upcoming "side quests" in Oldtown?

A: Little bits here and there already. I’m open to adding bunches of them, as inspiration strikes. Some side quest-ish content there already like the Misty Offices. There’s a lot of stuff that’s kicking around there, would like to add some side things with skills etc.

Q: Is there any garbage to pick up with a garbage sticker in Oldtown?

A: Should probably resolve that.

Q: There doesn't seem to be an "introduction" message when you first arrive in Oldtown like there is for the other areas - is that something you are planning to add?

A: Yeah, I should go ahead and add that though.

Q: Are there any cybernetic legs that help with swimming? Or can we jury-rig some flippers+legs?

A: I don’t believe there are swimming legs at this point. But obviously it’s something I wouldn’t be opposed to adding.

Q: I tried using the pep program (with neural link) in place of Pep in your Step for purposes of unlocking the buried lab but it did not work. Are there any other Pep in your Step analogs there?

A: I believe there are a few other buffs that do that. Yeah. There are actually a handful of other effects which function as Pep in your Step. Pep program would also make sense though.

Q: Nice coffee update! Is there any way to steal the coffee pot from the computer lab too? Davis would be devastated.

A: There is not a way to currently steal that coffee pot. I can deal with murder and cannibalism but not stealing an addict’s coffee.

Q: EDIT: Oh, and I just realized it's the first podcast since Halloween - Halloween questions! How did it go from your perspective?

A: I ended up adding a lot more to it than I initially planned. Started small and extended things. I think it ended up being pretty cool. Got a lot of stuff out there and some interesting decisions were made.

Q: Did the records halloween IDs have any use? (Or would they have had a use if more guards around?)

A: Yes and yes. They let you into the halloween part of the facility even if you didn’t have other ID. Not sure if anyone needed that but just in case people weren’t at that point in the Oldtown quest. Tied into a few encounter-level things and would have had more if there were more guards.

Q: Will we run into Alice, Cristina, Daniel or Robert at any point? Can we find the crypt in the memos from the crypt?

A: Not at present. I mean, it is obviously fiction but you know how fiction is a little weird in Metroplex.

Q: Since the decompiler has been removed from the Golden Chip, and hasn't been usable on most Novos code anyway, is it safe to say that decompiling is no longer really a thing going forward?

A: I think that’s fair to say. I think there’s still the core of a good idea there so might go back eventually but not for now.

Q: On a related note, do you think we'll be seeing any new code that can be broken down by Handscripting, and perhaps that we can learn to reconstruct from code snippets?

A: Yeah, that’s what I would expect to see more of going forward. Nothing really new on that front in Oldtown but there’s always the opportunity for more stuff in the future.

Q: Since snowman time is fast approaching, any chance of a hint on uncovering snow snakes? Maybe saying if it's related to something tracked by leaderboards?

A: It’s partially leaderboard tracked, watch the leaderboards would be a good nod.

Q: This might have been better asked in August, but the end of the year seems like a good time for reflection as well. Where do you see Metroplexity in a few years, when it comes up on its 10th anniversary?

A: I would really like to be done the main quest line. We’re technically over half way now - Downtown next and then a special Midgard facility and then the climactic area. So not quite at the home stretch. Southside and the Docks are like “Eclipse is pretty freaky”. And then you have University and Slags are collectively getting the Survivors together. And then Oldtown and Downtown is digging with the survivors. And then the last chunk is maybe not quite “what it’s all about” but a lot of how it applies to the world, at least on a personal level if nothing else. So I’d like to see that arc done and the final reset mechanic. Some other mechanics to go in along the way. That’s the big thing. Even then, I would still very likely be adding stuff to the game. We’ll see how much when I get there. One of the things I’d like to do for a long time is alternate paths through the game - joining the Fangs, or killing everyone.

Q: Also, a question brought up in chat by Arkaim: Do you think we'll be seeing any customers for Dr. Thomas in Oldtown?

A: Oldtown isn’t really the scene for that. I sort of add people to Dr. Thomas’s quest as they are appropriate and Oldtown really isn’t. In the sense that there are a couple people you can talk to like Andrea who have their own reasons for dabbling in Eclipse but most of the people taking Eclipse are trying to escape from their lives (or just party) - Oldtown is not a bad place compared to Southside, and don’t have the artistic community that the campus has. There is a little bit of gang activity that hasn’t been expanded upon in Oldtown yet (seen some things that are gang activity that you don’t have reason to suspect is gang activity). May add some more NPCs. More caffeine addicts.

Q: Dressed Worker: Only I fought him? Is he really gone from the game? (If so, that's sad, I'm registering my official grumble.)

A: It’s possible you’re the only one who fought him? Part of the magic of Halloween is that there’s quite a bit of stuff that people don’t end up seeing. For example the Spiked Demon (it got another coat of paint this year but) has been in the game for quite a while but circumstances weren’t right to unlock. So if even one person fought the worker that’s better than some.

Q: The Vault door: brute force option, please?

A: That’s not… really how that works. Well, I guess there’s sort of one. Not sure if it’s listed here - not seeing it on the wiki. If by brute force you mean just blowing the door open, it’s not on the list because you just aren’t able to do it. That being said, there are some bruter ways to get through that door. Which isn’t to say that it’s easy - if you want an easier way to get through the door, you’re probably out of luck, but if you want a way to just kill everyone, you can probably do that. [Checks.] No actually, I might be lying, may have removed that option. Hm. Oh, haha, hahaha, okay I think I found it. I am in fact a clever Kinak. Okay, yes, there is a brute force way.

Q: Doing some reading in the Soothing Stacks: understand is stressed in the text. Any other possible outcome here (other than getting perception XP)?

A: Not specifically not that choice but if you know what you’re looking for you can get some interesting stuff off the other choices.

Q: Random: please give us one vague hint about something we don't know :-)

A: Let’s see, I was looking at the wiki page for leaked items. The unreal drip is in fact available in game, although with many other things being found from the wrong direction. It’s pretty deep down in a rabbit hole and the hole hasn’t been found yet, or maybe the directions to the hole haven’t been found.

Q: Meta: when posting the questions thread, please add something like "the podcast is coming up around X date, you have about Z days to come up with questions" (if this applies).

A: I don’t generally have a great idea of that. A lot of times it comes down to when I have time to do it and the thread looks threadlike. So I can try that, may have been more questions here if I did.

Q: What is furniture #18? Is it obtainable right now, or is it currently stuck in limbo like the coffee pot was?

A: Furniture 18 is tied to some Halloween content so if it’s not available now it won’t mysteriously become available. I think it is available now but may not be documented.

Q: Have we found all of the coffee-related content so far?

A: There’s a lot of little hooks because of all the places where coffee grounds would have gone in the game if they had been implemented way back in the day. I think you’ve got all the big stuff. Might be a few things like “these guys drop that too” or “you can get a shipment of that too”.

Q/discussion: What are your thoughts on the game Undertale? It’s a turn based RPGish thing. Some similarities to Metroplexity in that you can get through it without killing anyone or killing everyone, and a beta “reset” feature. […]

Conclusion: the state of the game is strong, a bit of a slowdown in art for now, but going to try to loop back and clean up some stuff. Unearthly item out soon, end of the survivor’s reset contest. Oldtown reset contest will look similar to Survivors. Thanks for donating, thanks for playing.

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