This chat log is taken from the chat with Anino Entertainment about their first game, Anito: Defend a Land Enraged. Here's a sample:


I liked the Space Quest ones better, personally.

[Saint_Proverbius] I think we can keep this informal, since there's not that many people here.
[Exitium] Hey MrBrown, I like how you're listed as "Ladies Man" on MADE.
[gabusch] yeah informal is good
[MrBrown] uhhuh
[Exitium] Maybe you can teach us silly geeks how to get it on with the ladies.
[Pooperscooper] or men
[Saint_Proverbius] And we have a bonafide IRCOp here to make sure that pooperscooper gets glined if he says anything bad.
[Exitium] Spazmo would appreciate that, Pooper, very much.
[Pooperscooper] heh
[Saint_Proverbius] :D
[Dark`Machine]
[Dark`Machine] That's your one warning Poop.
[purploony] hehe. am i the only female here?
[Exitium] "Politics, computers, and GIRLS!!!!"
[gabusch] as usual
[Exitium] You sound horny as hell, Brown.
[marc] GIRLS!!! yeah!
[BlackAsz] ey anitos! why in UM-netopia they dont sell anito?
[Spazmo] Oh, Rex. Your gay jokes are without match. I suppose you sleep with my mother on a regular basis, too?
[gabusch] BlackAsz: they will soon
[Dark`Machine] I have a question, if I may.
[Pooperscooper] no dm
[purploony] blackasz: they're distributing it still
[Pooperscooper] u cant ask it
[gabusch] shoot
[Saint_Proverbius] Go ahead.
[Exitium] Shut up Pooper.
[Dark`Machine] I've never heard of this game (sorry :/), is there a website I can find some information?
[gabusch] sure. http://www.aninoentertainment.com
[BlackAsz] ah k..
[Dark`Machine] Ty,
[gabusch] np
[Saint_Proverbius] Can one of you guys explain why you say there's adventure game elements in this RPG? Isn't that redundant?
[Dark`Machine] Allow me to peruse, and I'm sure I'll have better questions.
[gabusch] almost nobody has heard of our game... that's why we're here to promote it
[BlackAsz] go gabs!
[gabusch] they Trigun. glad you made it
[gabusch] hey
[TrigunPsx] yup
[purploony] Trigun!!! :D Hi!
[TrigunPsx] Hi!
[gabusch] Some parts of the game play more like adventure
[marc] hello trigun! though i dont know who you are. haha
[gabusch] you use this item with this to make that
[purploony] marc: he's from www.pinoypsx.com
[VicViper] hi trigun...
[gabusch] or you interact with an item to do a quest
[TrigunPsx] Hi Viper! is everyone here now?
[gabusch] there are a lot of quests that aren't combat related
[Pooperscooper] so there a speech skill?
[BlackAsz] according to what i saw on tv is there like a Sims? like sleeping and eating?
[Saint_Proverbius] Well, in a decent CRPG, there should be non-combat related quests.
[gabusch] i guess we say it's an adventure/RPG to different it from other RPG sub-genres, for example action-RPG
[VicViper] i noticed that on the quest are more like an adventure game
[Dark`Machine] Question - The synopsis states that the game takes place in the 16th century. How historic will the game be, if at all?
[gabusch] yeah, there is. you have charm and spook chakras that you can use for quests, and also in combat
[purploony] blackasz: yup we have sleeping and eating cycles; not sleeping or eating will lower your player's stats
[gabusch] we use a chakra system that's roughly equivalent to magic in other games
[purploony] dark'machine: it's loosely based on real 16th century events in asia - the age of conquest, western explorers, eastern traders, local rebellions, etc
[BlackAsz] but do i need to go through that?
[gabusch] BlackAsz: go through what?
[BlackAsz] that Sims type.. sleeping etc
[Dark`Machine] These chakras, are they equipable items or are they use-and-dispose items (equivelant to Scrolls in other CRPGs maybe) or are they in themselves spells and skills?
[purploony] they're spells and skills
[TrigunPsx] *reading the discussions*
[gabusch] the chakras are skills. you gain them through quests or possibly through items. and you can upggrade the level of your chakra
[purploony] blackasz: yes you do, although it's not as intrusive as it seems
[gabusch] to make it more effective and potent
[purploony] blackasz: food is easy to come by, for example
[BlackAsz] ok..
[Exitium] That sounds like a rather unique way of approaching skill levels.
[Exitium] I commend you guys for that.
[gabusch] yeah, i guess it is. we didn't base on any existing game so it's pretty different
[BlackAsz] so i think i will spend more time than usual... coz its all mix sims-rpg-adventure..=)
[Pooperscooper] kiss kiss exit
[gabusch] don't think it's anything near sims... like in Ultima VII you got hungry but never really interfered with gameply
[gabusch] you just have to eat something
[BlackAsz] ok
[BlackAsz] hehe
[gabusch] some food are also special and can help you heal, gain chakra points etc
[gabusch] and you can cook food
[gabusch] "cook", that is
[BlackAsz] i dnt need to buy it from markets?
[gabusch] not all. but of course a lot of food can just be bought.
[Exitium] Can you make any stat enhancing food, e.g. drugs.?
[Dark`Machine] Will the cooking act like a skill in and of itself? For instance, the higher your cooking level, the more nourishing the food and thus not having to eat as often for a period of time?
[gabusch] the cooking is not a skill. it's just a function of interactivity in the game. good question though
[Dark`Machine] I try
[BlackAsz] and the money? do i get it from the enemies dropping it when theyre dead?
[purploony] exitium: not exactly, although there is a quest that you make a special kind of food
[gabusch] no stat-enhancing food. there's not so much emphasis on stats here, more on story. but there are some items that will increase your stats
[purploony] blackasz: yup, you can get money from dead enemies. you can also earn money through the towns
[Saint_Proverbius] Is the story pushy? Or do I have ways of doing things?
[gabusch] if there are any engine-specific questions, marc will answer them =)
[gabusch] there are some quests with variations. but not as much as we'd personally like
[Pooperscooper] so it's linear?
[gabusch] there's a linear critical path, with a lot of optionals on the side
[gabusch] and you can pretty much travel around the whole game world as you please
[Dark`Machine] On the tails of that question - How linear is the linear? lol, What I mean to say is, can I go to TownC and do a quest there before I go to TownA and perform a quest there?
[Pooperscooper] but do your choices affect the story?
[gabusch] Dark: yes, you can
[gabusch] pooper: the end is ultimately the same. but how you end it will be varying
[purploony] pooperscooper: yes they do, to a certain extent
[Exitium] I like Prince of Qin's non/linearity.
[gabusch] I didn't get to play Prince of Qin. Heard some good things about it though
[Pooperscooper] will dialog choices lead to differen't convo paths instead of leading to the same one?
[gabusch] the more important ones will.
[Pooperscooper] can u recruit NPCs?
[BlackAsz] where do plyers sleep? are there sleeping places in different stages? or do i need to go to the town(by town portal) to sleep? what if im in the forest of shadows?
[gabusch] anyway, we have 2 story writers, one for each playable character. so it's the same plot but told from a different point of view
[purploony] pooperscooper: we don't have a party system, but sometimes some NPCs will go with you to help you. you can't control them though
[gabusch] Pooper: no, it's primarily a single player game. but you will have some companions during the game
[Dark`Machine] What about NPC recruitment? Is that possible and if so - do different NPCs have different reactions to you depending on which character you're currently playing with?
[purploony] blackasz: you can sleep in towns, and some forests/caves have a sleeping area also
[BlackAsz] ok
[Pooperscooper] so u pick between 2 different premade characters?
[Saint_Proverbius] Good, you shouldn't control NPCs anyway.. That's why they're *N*PCs.
[Pooperscooper] or do u modify them?
[purploony] pooper: yes, but you can modify them through their stats and how you upgrade their skills
[purploony] saint_proverbius: haha! true, true :D
[VicViper] I understand that most of you didn't go through programming and graphic design in a formal basis, since from what I understand that most of you do this work because it's a passion. How long did it take you to study and develop the game?
[Pooperscooper] i head that question before
[gabusch] VicViper: none of us went through any game development courses
[gabusch] total time to make the game was 2 years
[purploony] vicviper: it took us two years to make the entire game
[gabusch] with a lot of trial-and-error
[gabusch] fortunately, we made it this far
[purploony] vicviper: i think that includes the self-study period (animation, etc)
[Exitium] That's neat.
[Pooperscooper] anyone have background in game deveoplment or is this the first go?
[Dark`Machine] I hate to take the topic back a notch, but on NPC's; do their reactions differ depending on which character you're currently playing with?
[gabusch] nope. first game for all of us
[BlackAsz] yeah i waited it since i saw it on digital tour on studio23 i think in 2001?
[gabusch] the people who will accompany you will depend on which story you're playing
[BlackAsz] in one condo unit ryt?
[purploony] dark'machine: yes. we have different writers, so conversations are more or less different
[marc] i studied computer science but nothing about game programming was taught
[Dark`Machine] Ahhh. Alright.
[gabusch] BlackAsz: yup. i wasn't with anino then
[BlackAsz] oh ic
[purploony] blackasz: neither was i. hahahaha!
[BlackAsz] i thought it was a thesis.. so it was neil all along
[BlackAsz] neil was the original?
[gabusch] yes. him and some friends
[BlackAsz] wers is neil btw?
[gabusch] the friends went away, and he decided to make a game company
[VicViper] Purploony: was it difficult to write for the game?
[gabusch] he's somewhere without mIRC
[BlackAsz] hehehe
[purploony] vicviper: yes! hehe but it was fun
[gabusch] that's what he told me
[purploony] vicviper: it was difficult to think of all the 'what-if's?' and put that in the story
[BlackAsz] ey can i go on ojt there ? since im near alabang
[Pooperscooper] what the game made first in english or philpineo?
[gabusch] BlackAsz: just check our website when we have positions available for OJTs
[gabusch] Pooper: it's in english
[BlackAsz] utusan nyo lng ok na hehe
[gabusch] we just have some Tagalog words for effect
[purploony] blackasz: go to our launch party this Saturday, all right?
[Saint_Proverbius] English, please.
[gabusch] games in the Philippines aren't localized into Tagalog/Filipino
[BlackAsz] sorry
[Pooperscooper] comeon black ass
[gabusch] we all play games in English, and so we made one in English
[VicViper] How long did it take to develop the game engine alone?
[gabusch] marc will answer that
[BlackAsz] im goin
[gabusch] see you
[gabusch] thanks for coming
[marc] im not really sure. coz when i came along there is already an engine but it still in development... maybe... a year and a half
[marc] it took so long because of a lot of trial and error
[VicViper] what programming language did you develop the game?
[marc] we used c++
[Dark`Machine] So the engine is stand-alone and original? I understand that some games pass around different engines, but this one is freshly developed for this particular game?
[gabusch] yes, this one was develpoed entirely in-house
[marc] yes we made our own engine
[gabusch] we didn't have money to license any existing engine
[marc] haha
[VicViper] are there things that you hoped to include in the engine that didn't make it into the game?
[Dark`Machine] lol
[gabusch] VicViper: not just the engine, in the story also
[marc] the writers asked for a lot of features but we couldn't fit it in the schedule
[gabusch] there just wasn't enough time/money to do everything we wanted
[purploony] vicviper: yes, yes... *sniff*
[marc] aren't all games like that?
[gabusch] but we're pretty happy with how it turned out
[marc] yup!
[purploony] :D
[gabusch] at least we have some preliminary material for an expansion pack if ever the market will want one =)
[Pooperscooper] is ther FMV?
[VicViper] what was the most difficult part in developing your first game?
[BlackAsz] gna go to class. see you guys! congatulations ANITOS! ANIMO ANITOS!!=) ANIMO LA SALLE! hehe go pinoys!!
[gabusch] VicViper: let me think...
[marc] i really hate it when people overwrite your data! haha
[purploony] thanks blackasz! see you on saturday!
[Pooperscooper] bye blackass
[marc] you have to re-do it all over again... mannnn...
[gabusch] well, the lack of experience is a bit hard. you're confronted with a problem and you don't really know how to solve it
[purploony] vicviper: looking ahead, i think. the trial-and-error part cost us a lot of time.
[gabusch] because you've never done anything like it before
[Saint_Proverbius] I think I'd change the party date to Sunday, just to avoid that guy.
[Pooperscooper] lol
[Saint_Proverbius] What API is the engine using? DirectX?
[marc] directx
[Saint_Proverbius] 8? 9?
[Pooperscooper] does the character iamge change if u put on diferent armour?
[marc] we started with 8. but used 9 afterwards
[gabusch] pooper: yes, to an extent
[Pooperscooper] is there evil and good acts?
[gabusch] some of the helms, the weapons, and different classes of body armor
[Dark`Machine] Did you ever reach a point when you were developing the game where you hit a bump and you just said "Ah screw it." If so, what made you pull back together and go on with production? You all must be pretty close friends by now, if you weren't before.
[Pooperscooper] Dm you sound like a mofo
[Dark`Machine] What's that? "Please Gline me DM" ?
[gabusch] Dark Machine: there was no turning back =) we just had to go on and do it, whatever it took
[Dark`Machine] Why sure Pooper, be glad to.
[purploony] pooperscooper: yup, there are 'nice' and 'mean' dialogue choices, and they affect how quests progress or how NPCs react to you (sometimes)
[Saint_Proverbius] Heh
[Pooperscooper] no
[Pooperscooper] me be good
[Spazmo] Cake in the lobby
[purploony] dark'machine: yeah, we just had to keep going, no matter how frustrating it was :D
[gabusch] Pooperscooper asks good questions. Just a lot of side comments =)
[Dark`Machine] So you're all pretty close now? It must have been quite an experience for a group to go through, considering you made it as a hobby and there was no promise of any investment return at the end of the road.
[purploony] dark'machine: yeah, i guess we're close. are we, gabusch? :D heehee!
[gabusch] well yeah, especially since there are just 7 of us in anino
[Dark`Machine] (I'm looking into work as a sound-man for the gaming industry, so I'm interested in the personal aspects of the teamwork, stop me if I get too personal)
[purploony] dark'machine: it's different for me because i'm the only girl in the group (with seven guys!)
[Dark`Machine] Poor you :/
[purploony] oh, six guys.
[Dark`Machine] Lucky them, though.
[marc] yeah we can pick on purploony as if she was a guy. haha
[purploony] haha no, they're quite nice. except for marc :D hahaha!
[Dark`Machine] Hrm.
[Dark`Machine] And exactly how drunk do you plan on getting during the release party?
[Dark`Machine]
[gabusch] not us, we'll be working
[Dark`Machine] Ah, shame.
[Saint_Proverbius] On that line of thought, marc.. If Anito were 3D.. Bumpmapped nipples? Yes or no!
[purploony] yeah, we'll be panicking and making sure everything's running smoothly
[gabusch] Saint: LOL
[Exitium] That's not a valid answer.
[Exitium]
[gabusch] too bad our animator isn't here. he's the reason why saint mentioned something about "tribal cleavage" in one of his posts
[marc] Saint_Proverbius - hahaha. depends on the artist. but personally i wont want that
[VicViper] did you guys work on other things for income while working on the game?
[purploony] vicviper: you mean Anino as the company? or us individually?
[Saint_Proverbius] Hah, welp, at least I know you're paying attention to the front page. :D
[VicViper] as a company
[gabusch] VicViper: some smaller projects, like a palm game, and another company licensed our world to do a cell phone game
[Exitium] Speaking of the front page I'm putting it up today, Saint.
[Exitium] That menu is a bitch to work.
[gabusch] Saint: yeah, i've been following codex since you first featured us there
[gabusch] though there was a pretty nasty forum thread at that time
[Exitium] I think I'll go steal Bioware's site code.
[Saint_Proverbius] That would be when Exitium displayed the poor impulse control, right?
[Dark`Machine] I don't follow Codex, I just stalk Saint in my spare time and sometimes I work crowd control.
[VicViper] yes, I heard about anito for the mobile phone and a puzzle game for palm
[Saint_Proverbius] You suck, Jay.
[Dark`Machine] But I do it well, SP.
[Exitium] Both me and rosh, Saint. Remember that!
[VicViper] but did you work on other things than those?
[gabusch] VicViper: we do have some unnanounced projects. pretty small ones. to make us money while we're trying to negotitate a US release
[purploony] vic: nope, that's about it, i think
[gabusch] VicViper: nothing big like another PC game
[gabusch] not yet, at least
[Saint_Proverbius] James Hill was the guy that turned me on to Anito. He contacts me every now and then about indie CRPGs. Good guy, James.
[gabusch] Saint: yup, James Hills has been a big help as an indie evangelist. I invited him to the chat but he wasn't available
[Saint_Proverbius] You guys tried Dreamcatcher yet? They published Harbinger, so I think they'll publish anything.
[gabusch] yeah. they said no
[Dark`Machine] Well, it's been lovely. Thanks for answering my questions, fellas (and Lady ) but I have some work to do. Best of luck and many good games to come.
[gabusch] Thanks Dark Machine
[Saint_Proverbius] Sheesh, you got rejected.. And Harbinger didn't?
[Dark`Machine] Good evening.
[gabusch] there's someone who'se interested in our game right now, but it's still pending
[VicViper] You've made a very unique game in my opinion... are there any game that you got an inspiration from?
[gabusch] VicViper: a mix of old RPGs and adventure games. everything we've played along the way
[cneal] gam?
[gabusch] there's a score system in the game. reminiscent of the old adventure ones
[gabusch] that's how you can keep track of how much of the game you've completed
[gabusch] and, depending on how completely you finish the game, you can get different proclamations at the end of it
[VicViper] similar to King
[VicViper] King's Quest?
[gabusch] yeah
[cneal] Snail City game: http://home.san.rr.com/cneal92/snailcity/
[Spazmo] Eh... numerical scores are a bit boring. I like how Grim Fandango did it: it had a big mosaic thing on the savegame screen that'd get more and more completed as you progressed through the game.
[kats] what's the total score point in Chapter 1?
[gabusch] kats: i don't have it memorized. but there's no hard score per chapter. depends on how many optional quests you do
[gabusch] spazmo: didn't play grim fandango... but that does sound pretty neat
[Exitium] I agree with Spaz here.
[Exitium] numerical scores are kinda lame.
[Exitium] The puzzle thingy in Fandango was one of the best application of a 'score system' ive ever witnessed.
[Spazmo] This mosaic showed the locations from the game, and each time you completed a puzzle in one, another chuck of the image gota dded.
[gabusch] at first, i was a little skeptical of the score system myself, but when we were playing the game over and over again just to see who had a higher score, i liked it
[VicViper] What drives you to make a high score in the game?
[Saint_Proverbius] Wouldn't experience points kinda be a good score system by itself?
[gabusch] VicViper: what do you mean exactly? what would make me want to get a perfect score?
[VicViper] yes?
[purploony] saint: we don't have 'experience points' like other RPGs, see
[gabusch] saint: we dont' have XP per se. stat points/skill points are allocated depending on the quests you finish
[Saint_Proverbius] Ahh.. Skill advancement?
[Exitium] sweet huh Saint?
[cneal] Make a scoring system like eg, 1 = ?w?????????????????? and 2 is aw??????????????????? and 30 or something is awesom scorin??syst?m
[Saint_Proverbius] Prelude to Darkness did that well.
[gabusch] i dunno if it's an advantage or disadvantage, but not having a pre-made d20 system had us going in a different direction
[Saint_Proverbius] d20 doesn't impress me.
[gabusch] cneal: sorry, didn't understand your post
[Exitium] gabusch: he's giving you an example of a puzzle.
[Exitium] Like a jigsaw puzzle.
[Exitium] each 'point' adds one letter to the ord.
[Exitium] word-
[Exitium] argh. Word*
[gabusch] ok, got it =)
[cneal] Well for every level you go, you gain a letter so after awhile it will spell out something
[Exitium] So a complete score would for example be a complete parchment (a story, for instance, or treasure map, or puzzle)
[gabusch] a like the mosaic thing spazmo said. the word, well, depends if the words are really important and have an effect on the game
[gabusch] on the game's theme, perhaps
[purploony] that's an interesting idea, though
[Exitium] implement it
[Exitium] it's little things like that which make a game interesting and makes you want to complete it.
[gabusch] VicViper: on what you last said: it's for hardcore people who want to visit every nook and cranny of the game.
[VicViper] is there a way for you to compare scores from other gamers?
[purploony] exitium: yeah, maybe next game
[gabusch] Exitium: well, the game's been released. but your ideas will certainly be thrown around when we discuss our next project
[gabusch] VicViper: post it on the net? =) well, we do save the character file when the game ends. just in case there'
[Exitium] so long as they dont get thrown into the dumpster, i'll be happy.
[gabusch] s something to be done with it in the future
[gabusch] Exitium: all good ideas are welcome
[gabusch] also, we'll be releasing the source code and tools some time in the near future
[gabusch] to help those other indie devs who are trying to make their own game
[gabusch] and for people who would want to mod it
[Pooperscooper] will u guys release patches if there are bugs?
[gabusch] of course
[gabusch] it's part of the job =)
[Pooperscooper] not all game companies
[Saint_Proverbius] Not having turn based combat is a bug. :D
[gabusch] well, we can't afford not to listen to our customers
[Pooperscooper] gab can we get a review copy?
[Pooperscooper] get the good word out and stuff
[Saint_Proverbius] Hush, pooper
[gabusch] pooper: i'll be sending one saint's way
[VicViper] What made you decide on the 16th century setting?
[gabusch] VicViper: it's a little close to home, and it's never been done before
[gabusch] emphasis on the second one
[Pooperscooper] is there voice acting?
[gabusch] the second reason gave rise to the first
[Saint_Proverbius] Harbinger was the last time someone sent me a review copy, Gabby.
[gabusch] Pooper: we tried. but it was lame. we took it out.
[Pooperscooper] good
[purploony] pooper: just our two main player characters
[gabusch] Saint: i think many game companies are afraid of codex =)
[gabusch] or publishers
[Pooperscooper] were gang members
[gabusch] Pooper: if the US publisher would want voiceovers then that's cool. the engine supports it alrady
[Spazmo] That reminds me, gab... BIOWARE SUX!
[purploony] hahaha
[Pooperscooper] who is the US publisher by the way?
[Saint_Proverbius] Oddly enough, Dreamcatcher sent me a copy of Arx Fatalis for the XBox a few months ago, too.
[gabusch] Pooper: can't say yet
[Saint_Proverbius] We don't even cover console games.
[Pooperscooper] isn't anito already released?
[Pooperscooper] in english
[Saint_Proverbius] And I don't even have an XBox, so..
[gabusch] Spazmo: I like the Bioware games, execpt NWN
[gabusch] Pooper: yes, in the philippines
[gabusch] which has a very small gaming population
[Pooperscooper] prolly warez it
[VicViper] Is the russian version released already?
[gabusch] we're too small now for the pirates to take notice.
[gabusch] VicViper: nope, i think they're still translating it
[kats] i thought you have that CDROM copy protection module??
[gabusch] yes, we do
[Saint_Proverbius] Crap
[gabusch] but everyone does
[gabusch] and they still get warezed
[purploony] the pirates are smarter than we think
[VicViper] will it be in all russian, or will it have an option to choose english?
[Pooperscooper] is everyone in the game like the same race or is there like europeans you can talk to too?
[Spazmo] Is it the horrible kind that checks for the CD every other second?
[kats] geezz..bummer
[gabusch] VicViper: I think the Russian version will be entirely in Russian, because they're just realeasing it in all russian territories
[gabusch] Spazmo: no
[gabusch] not like TOEE's copy protection
[Saint_Proverbius] The pirates aren't as smart as it is the case of publishers are dumb enough to license things like SecuROM and SafeDISC.
[VicViper] are there any other countries that will release the game?
[Saint_Proverbius] I suspect KotOR uses SecuROM also.
[Pooperscooper] alot of game do now
[gabusch] VicViper: we're still negotiating with people in two more areas
[gabusch] one in germany and surrounding areas, one in kuwait
[Pooperscooper] is there any transportation options besides walking?
[Pooperscooper] like horsies
[gabusch] yes, you can travel between towns
[gabusch] yes, horsies
[purploony] yes, we have horsies
[gabusch] but you don't actually ride the horse
[Pooperscooper] make u go faster?
[Pooperscooper] travel time
[gabusch] you just, "travel"... get teleported to next area. and time passes
[Saint_Proverbius] If you run low on food, can you eat the horse?
[Pooperscooper] do u feed the horses?
[gabusch] saint: hahaha. no. but you can kill a wild boar and cook the meat
[purploony] saint: LOL! no, although some gamers have asked why we couldn't
[Saint_Proverbius] Luna: I just did ask.. heh
[purploony] pooper: nope. the horsies have plenty of forest plants to eat
[purploony] besides you, saint
[gabusch] pooper: you don't really control the horises. just just talk to an NPC and pay him where you want the horse to take you
[gabusch] and you're there
[kats] whats w/ the elder totem
[gabusch] kats: it's a quest-specific item
[Pooperscooper] but is there an option between walking and riding a horse?
[gabusch] of course. you can just walk from town to town
[Pooperscooper] riding a horse meaning less travel time?
[gabusch] pooper: yup, exactly
[Pooperscooper] cool
[gabusch] kats: it's useful for the quest where you need it
[VicViper] how many locations does the game have?
[gabusch] VicViper: 5 main towns, 1 of which you have to look for. Some forest areas, a few small caves and a big cavern with many areas
[gabusch] the towns all have a different feel
[Pooperscooper] how long is the game, estimation?
[gabusch] 20-30 hours per character
[Pooperscooper] doing all side quests or no?
[purploony] pooper: that's all the side quests
[kats] funny sidequest w/ the bathing senastille =)
[purploony] pooper: and since the two players have different stories, it's 40-60 total
[purploony] kats: wow, you saw that one?
[gabusch] kats: hehehe. thanks. we found it funny too =)
[Saint_Proverbius] Okay, you've read the front page, so you know that control system in Anito kinda scares me already. Can you tell us a little bit about it?
[kats] yup
[Pooperscooper] are the stories going to be that different?
[gabusch] All right. it's WASD, and I did see that Saint is a little skeptical
[kats] i have to save the game..and repeat it over and over
[gabusch] so you use your keyboard characters to move the player around
[Saint_Proverbius] Please tell me I can remap WASD to the arrow keys.
[Pooperscooper] you dont use a mouse?
[gabusch] and you use space bar to change to fight stance, where it becomes mouse-look
[gabusch] yes, you can remap the keys
[purploony] yes you can remap your controls
[purploony] pooper: mouse is for attack, and picking up things, and talking to people
[gabusch] you use the mouse to interact with items, NPCs etc
[purploony] pooper: it's not for movement
[gabusch] in combat, you use it to attack
[Exitium] Is the combat like Abuse or Syndicate Wars?
[gabusch] Exitium: didn't play either, sorry
[Pooperscooper] hah owned
[Exitium] well let me explain...
[gabusch] actually, it reminds me of shooters
[Exitium] WASD for movement
[gabusch] ok...
[Exitium] mouse for looking/targetting
[Exitium] then you press the left mouse buttonto shoot/attack
[gabusch] that's right
[Exitium] That's how it is, right?
[Pooperscooper] like a shooter rex?
[Exitium] That'd be like abuse, then.
[Exitium] Yeah
[kats] do you have any plan for an expansion?
[gabusch] Also, there are differences in the way each character's game is approached
[purploony] kats: we'd love one, depends on 'Anito's success
[Exitium] Syndicate wars was a bit unique - left mouse for movement (e.g. RTS style) but right mouse to open fire.
[gabusch] in maya's more puzzle-solving, non-combat quests
[gabusch] in Agila's game, you go straight into combat
[Pooperscooper] can u avoid combat, and can you talk yourself out of combat situations?
[Saint_Proverbius] Syndicate worked that way too, Exit.
[Exitium] yeah saint
[Exitium] i know.
[gabusch] but of course each have their own big-ass fights and unique puzzles
[Exitium] any othe games like that?
[Exitium] I really dig that.
[Saint_Proverbius] Nox
[Exitium] Oh yeah. heh.
[Exitium] Good times.
[Exitium] I should replay that.
[kats] are there "infinite quests?"
[Saint_Proverbius] The WASD + Mouse thing scares me because there's a few games I've played that did that.. And they were annoying as hell to play.
[Pooperscooper] are the enemies monsters or more realistic like bandits and stuff?
[purploony] pooper: some combat situations are inevitable, but yeah you can avoid some of them
[gabusch] pooper: yes, there are. a lot of them actually
[gabusch] saint: hope you give this one a chance =)
[Pooperscooper] so the enemies are monsters]
[purploony] kats: what do you mean?
[purploony] kats: we have quests that don't remove themselves from the journal (like money-earnign quests)
[purploony] earning, i mean
[gabusch] Pooperscooper: monsters, but some people that you have to go against too in the main story
[kats] do they have score points
[gabusch] the main plot is about the struggle of the people. and it enrages the land and releases some of the monsters
[purploony] kats: the infinite quests? yes but they're not infinite scores
[kats] ok
[VicViper] The monsters are based on Philippine myths right? how many types of monsters are there in the game?
[gabusch] luna will answer that =)
[purploony] vicviper: there are several different kinds of monsters. you already know about the half-man half-horse tikbalang, and we have some wolf-like sigbin, etc
[VicViper] i know about them, are there more?
[purploony] vicviper: but they're not the bulk of the story, as your main enemies are people who get in your way
[purploony] vicviper: yes... hmm... i'm thinking what i can reveal
[VicViper] ah... ok. I understand.
[purploony] vicviper: we have a bigfoot-type muwa (two of them), hidden somewhere
[purploony] and others
[VicViper] how many varieties of monsters?
[purploony] vicviper: thinking...
[gabusch] the variety isn't so big, because the emphasis is more of the struggles of the people involved in the story
[kats] is the 2nd muwa located at the great elder tree?
[gabusch] well, we did sketch some other monsters, but they didn't make it
[purploony] kats: secret :D hahaha
[kats] ..just guessing
[gabusch] it takes longer to do monsters than people
[purploony] vicviper: yeah
[kats] i already killed the first one..
[VicViper] Did you include a glossary or dictionary of monsters that you enconter in the game?
[kats] in the description it says in the caverns and in large trees..
[purploony] vic: nope, not in the manual, but if you examine them you can read about them (and i think some are mentioned in books/scrolls in the game)
[gabusch] vicviper: we had to limit the manual to around 30 pages bec of cost issues
[Exitium] You should have put a special tome in the game which filled up with entries of monsters. There's an idea for your next game.
[gabusch] Exitium: an in-game bestiary. cool.
[Saint_Proverbius] A zoo would be better.
[gabusch] there are some books that describe some of the monsters though
[purploony] hey ethereal! are you the same dude in PSX?
[ethereal_minds] yeah
[gabusch] hello ethereal_minds
[ethereal_minds] g`morning =/
[TrigunPsx] Hey whats up ethereal!
[purploony] hi!
[VicViper] hello ethereal_minds
[purploony] saint: vic, trigun, and etereal_minds are from www.pinoypsx.com, it's a Filipino Playstation forum
[ethereal_minds] yellow.
[gabusch] any more questions from the crowd?
[VicViper] yes... i'm thinking
[Exitium] It's 10:40 AM where you are right guys?
[gabusch] yes
[Exitium] Cool. SAme here.
[kats] what's the maximum points you can place in your attributes?
[gabusch] roughly 50 (give or take a few) that you can get during the course of the game
[purploony] exitium: kewl, where you from?
[Exitium] Malaysia.
[purploony] exitium: kewl
[Saint_Proverbius] He's a Malay.
[Exitium] Im chinese, you dork.
[kats] if i kill a lot of Maranhig will it give me points?
[VicViper] Question on the prequel: What made you decide making it for the mobile phone and not the palm?
[ethereal_minds] *laffs*
[atoga] fucking malaysians
[purploony] kats: points, no. rewards, yes.
[Saint_Proverbius] Heya, atoga!
[gabusch] VicViper: the company that approached us wanted to do a cell phone game
[atoga] hey saint
[atoga] what's going on around de codex
[gabusch] the PDA games, we make ourselves
[Exitium] trhere's an interview right now atoga.
[gabusch] so they just licensed our property
[Exitium] PAY ATTENTION
[atoga] omg
[atoga] sorry, I can't
[gabusch] the cell phone game is like an action-rpg. hope it'll be available in malaysia too
[atoga] pay attention, that is
[Exitium] it should be.
[VicViper] how is it different to develop for the mobile compared to the PC
[Exitium] pixelart, no doubt.
[gabusch] marc isn't here anymore, but it's a smaller platform so what you can do is limited. that said, you have to be creative
[gabusch] to get around hardware limitations
[gabusch] yes, pixel art
[Exitium] Sweet.
[Exitium] I love pixel art.
[gabusch] anyway, development times are a lot smaller for mobile games
[gabusch] so it's less risky
[VicViper] is the gameplay similar to the PC game?
[purploony] vic: not really, it's more action-RPG dungeon-crawl, but they kept some stuff
[gabusch] no, very different
[purploony] vic: like you have a few skills, and melee and ranged attack
[VicViper] do the main character go to similar locations?
[Exitium] Is there any chance it'll be released on the internet so we can play it on VisualBoy or a similar emulator?
[gabusch] similar, but there are no towns
[VicViper] Terisago is the main character in the game, how did approach his character?
[gabusch] Exitium: we'll have to ask the developer if that's possible. we'll post the news on our site
[Exitium] Great.
[purploony] vic: we already had a back story for Tersiago, so it was pretty easy
[purploony] vic: we just told the developers his story and they took it from there
[purploony] vic: of course, this time he's the good guy (but in his eyes, he really is the good guy anwyay
[purploony] anyway, i mean
[VicViper] when is it going to be released?
[gabusch] december 2003
[Exitium] Oh yeah, I don't think anyone's asked this yet but what's the music in Anito like?
[gabusch] Tribal rock!
[gabusch] something like that
[gabusch] it's pretty unique
[atoga] so uh, what's anito
[purploony] yup! it sounds great
[Exitium] Heh, okay.
[purploony] you can download two sample files from our website www.aninoentertainment.com
[Exitium] Any mp3s on the site?
[Exitium] great.
[purploony] it's in OGG format
[gabusch] ogg files
[Exitium] I'll go check them out now.
[VicViper] I heard it and it does have some memorable tunes
[purploony] atoga: 'anito' is a statue, it was worshipped before as a symbol of spirits in nature
[atoga] really
[Exitium] Animism.
[Saint_Proverbius] Not to be confused with "Tito", who is one of Michael Jackson's brothers.
[atoga] so this is some sort of statue-related devchat?
[atoga] make sensor plz
[gabusch] we'll also have some trailer movies up. i just have to link them
[Exitium] Jacko's probably innocent.
[atoga] jackson deserves to molest children
[VicViper] The last song was done by a local Philippine band. So it's in Tagalog. Will the other versions include this too?
[Exitium] It'd be cool if they did.
[gabusch] I think so. They probably won't translate our music
[purploony] atoga: OH! no no no. our game is called 'Anito: Defend A Land Enraged'. we're talking about the game
[Exitium] I don't like the idea of destroying something unique just to fit with the international market.
[gabusch] they can just use subtitles =)
[atoga] ah, I see
[purploony] exitium: i agree. i like the way how everyone can sing japanese anime songs here in japanese even if we don't understand it
[Exitium] "once upon a knight" used to be about Poland. But they changed the story to some random fantasy empire crap for the open market.
[VicViper] Do the other publishers have control over the content of the game?
[VicViper] Other than translations?
[gabusch] I'm not sure exactly what's in the contract. We can remove stuff if they feel it will offend their constituents
[VicViper] So you haven
[Saint_Proverbius] Ick
[atoga] you devs, tell my why to buy anino/anito in a hundred words or less. k thx by
[VicViper] sorry... so you haven't encountered anything like that before.
[gabusch] VicViper: no, we haven't
[gabusch] atoga: Anito has a good story, it's something that's different from all the other RPGs out there.
[purploony] atoga: It's unlike any RPG that's ever been released
[gabusch] if you're looking for a refreshing change, check it out
[purploony] gabusch: hahaha!
[atoga] really? In what departments is it different?
[atoga] more detail
[VicViper] in the game you have included cock fights which is very traditional in the Philippines, what do you think other countries would react where cock fights are illegal?
[atoga] ah, in the cock fight department
[Exitium] uh
[Exitium] killing is illegal too
[Saint_Proverbius] Because you don't own a game made in the Phillipines yet, atoga. You need to collect one game per country or something.
[Exitium] so i guess we should get rid of all the killing in the game. lewl
[Exitium] i don't think a little cockfight is gonna offend anyone.
[Exitium] People have problems if they're offended by a cockfight but not by murder.
[VicViper] i just wondered
[gabusch] The cockfight is essential to the game. we won't be removing that. if we really have to change it we'll just change the animals fighting
[Exitium] im listening to that anito music. groovy.
[Saint_Proverbius] Change them to Pokemon for the Japanese market.
[purploony] saint: LOL
[VicViper] hehe
[gabusch] Exitium: glad you like it. we'll post more tracks online when we find the time
[Exitium] Today's good.
[Exitium] The two tracks are ambient. like em.
[Exitium] with a touch of tribal effects in them.
[purploony] exitium: glad you do
[Exitium] The "indoor groovy" track is definitely downtempo.
[Exitium] Reminds me of some Hooverphonic, actually.
[gabusch] If there are no more questions, we'd like to wrap up the chat
[gabusch] I have an event to go to where we're showing the game =)
[VicViper] it was great chatting with you guys
[Exitium] Fair enough.
[purploony] thanks for having us here!
[gabusch] Hey Saint, Exitium, you guys are cool. thanks for hosting the chat.
[Exitium] Just remember to post more music.
[Saint_Proverbius] OH, the old "We have an event" story! Like we haven't heard that one before!
[gabusch] Exitium: yeah. if they're not there by next week email me
[purploony] haha! but this time it's true
[gabusch] Saint: yeah, but i really do
[Saint_Proverbius] :D
[Exitium] You get off... this time!
[gabusch] hahaha
[gabusch] hope there will be a next time
[VicViper] uh, how do you save this session?
[gabusch] Thanks Codex
[Exitium] We log everything.
[Saint_Proverbius] It'll be posted on RPG Codex, Vic.
[Exitium] www.rpgcodex.com
[gabusch] thanks to trigun, kats, vicviper, cneal
[TrigunPsx] Wow! Learned a lot from this discussions
[gabusch] and pooper for the questions
[Saint_Proverbius] Thanks for showing up, Gabby, Luna, etc.
[Exitium] And now I go back to listening to Underworld.
[DeeBs] hmm, kotor out on pc?
[purploony] thanks for having us. it was great meeting all of you
[gabusch] Seeya guys. Our day has just begun =)
[Exitium] Hell yeah DEebs.
[Exitium] Buy. it. now.
[Saint_Proverbius] Stop by any time!
[gabusch] Cya guys. Our day has just begun
[DeeBs] now, now is such a ... strong word