OpenUru.org

Hi!
Im concerned about the wall scaling combo jumbo that is currently happening. Note that I consider the game of URU to be 'up', not 'on', meaning my concerns are not pressing. But an incident in the cavern yesterday raised my concern to consciousness. I met a new explorer who said he could not continue exploring until he had mastered the combo jumping. He obviously thought that it was required to be able to solve the puzzles of the ages. Considering how difficult the solutions are at times it is not so strange. A little wall climbing could do miracles at times, and completely spoil the game. For the future live game this surely must be fixed so that physical behaviour in the game works as intended?
I thought about posting to the moul forums, but I am sure that it would be misinterpreted as putting focus on stopping what many consider the only fun to be had in MOULa at the moment. I just want to voice that this is something that do need a fix at some point, when other development starts happening, or the original Cyan will not behave as the sound core game to build on.
I'm putting together a development team and applying for funds, it is a little hard if the game core is not working as it should, and the general feeling among other developers is that this is just as it should be because it is a lot of fun.

I've never had the dexterity for most of those combo jump things, so I've largely given up on them. They can certainly be a source of entertainment that keeps people interested after they've completed all the available "conventional" content. Restricting the ability to do that may have a negative effect on player retention. There are other aspects of the physics that are maybe more detrimental to the player experience (e.g. Teledahn rocks, Gira fish crates) that I'd feel need more urgent attention.

In a similar vein, in Magiquest Online (which uses the same game engine as MOUL) being able to climb trees, etc., provides an extension to the amusement that can be derived from the game.

But if people are wrongly getting the impression that combo jumps are essential to completing the mainstream content, then that's wrong (maybe they're just reading the wrong forums ). Also, it's technically still considered an "exploit" under MOULa's TOS to use unexpected physics behaviour to get to places that are not planned to be reachable, but blocking those exploits by adjusting/inserting collisions is probably more effort than it's worth.

It's an interesting question about how true to life the physics of a game needs to be: The wisdom here is that games need slightly exaggerated physics to be "interesting" as scientifically true physics behaviour looks dull. This was mentioned in passing in an IEEE Spectrum article I was reading a few months ago: Game Design: Sometimes It Is Rocket Science.

I agree with all of that. And it is a non issue until there is an expanding game universe to play in.
My guess, hope, is that at some point it will be relevant to make a decision.

I think of all the hours I spent learning the balcony jump and teaching it to others...

Some of the exploits were very popular. The skydiving in Gehreseen...

Many exploits actually fit well with the Cavern story and explorers. I have always thought Cyan never planned that. But, it was a happy accident. I also doubt Cyan ever figured out how to take advantage of those happy accidents.

Indeed. Much to my continual dismay, they actually have "fixed" that kind of fun to block or prevent it. I believe it's a form of compulsive insanity.

...it could be. In which case one humors the insane.

People like easter eggs. So, I guess we could label the balcony jump and skydiving a type of easter egg...

Having beta testers playing in the Gold Release provides a group of players that are trained to find holes in the game. When people ran out of things to do the puzzle solving turned toward the game itself, finding game holes, bugs, exploits... whatever one chooses to call them.

Cyan had levels of puzzles. It would have been nice if they had extended that into some of their philosophy toward the accidental fun bugs and exploits.

I am sure the compulsion to keep people out of an area that was not yet ready for players was strong. However, I found players enjoyed sneaking into areas of the game not yet open, much as RL explorers would have cut locks and broken doors. Players were not upset by bugs and game faults in areas they snuck into. So, it could have been a plus, if it had been exploited by Cyan...