Chocobo Racing Q&A Part III
Hello Zam.com community members! This is Snakeeye. I’m in charge of development for both Chocobo Raising and Chocobo Racing.
Last time, we discussed the outline of Chocobo Racing and the things we can and cannot do. Because of that, there were a few subjects that players talked about intensively after the last Q&A.
So, I picked the hottest questions from each region to give you an in-depth look at the development process.
From Japanese players:
It would be great if you could build a system which allows us to participate in races even after we log out. That way, if our Internet connection is disconnected or we can’t register in a race because of long wait times, we would still be able to participate.
From Snakeeye:
I think we will be able to take measures regarding accidental disconnections. However, it is difficult to save long-term data, race performances, and results with current memory limitations. We are discussing the issue now. Of course we’ll keep investigating this issue, but to be honest, it will be very difficult.
From North American players:
Is there anyway we can control our chocobos? We understand there is an Internet connection speed issue, but we still think it’ll be a lot more fun if we can control our chocobos.
From Snakeeye:
I mentioned this in the last Q&A, but the main reason why we decided to introduce auto-control was to make Chocobo Racing fair to all players. How would you feel if you prepared everything correctly but because of a lag problem, or because your Internet connection was slower than another racers, your chocobo lost the race? Whatever the cause, the reason you lost the race should be clear and you should be able to fix the problem in order to win the next race.
Someone mentioned the fact that hunting NMs isn’t built for this type of fairness. In FINAL FANTASY XI, there are systems over four years old that are still in use today. As we provide new features, we create new systems like trading items to pop NMs and instanced areas like Assault. We feel we should introduce the best race system without using the original design ideals.
I agree that it would be fun to control your own chocobo and let them run the way you want. Unfortunately, that type of system doesn’t work within FINAL FANTASY XI.
From European players:
Regarding race times, it sounds fun that there are both scheduled races and non-scheduled races. However, I’m concerned about event schedules. Usually in-game events are scheduled when it is difficult for European players to participate.
From Snakeeye:
We are thinking about making scheduled races occur during fixed time periods. For example, one race opens each real life hour. This way, there would be more chances to participate no matter where you are. To tell you the truth, we haven’t decided what we are going to do yet, but we’ll be sure to take carel when deciding race schedules.
I received so many questions last time that I couldn’t answer many of them. I’d like to discuss a few of these below.
Riders
Q: Give the riders strengths and weaknesses or specific features. It would be great if we could choose the rider freely.
A: This is a good idea. I’ll try my best to introduce it.
Q: I would like to see famous NPCs, my exclusive Fellowship NPC or Moogle be my rider.
A: Interesting. However, not all NPCs will be able to ride chocobos.
Q: How about if there was affinity between adult chocobos and riders, and if there is harmony, your chocobo stats reach near maximum for the race?
A: This might be an interesting requirement.
Watching Races
Q: It would be great if we can have a giant screen to watch the races.
A: We can think of many different ways to show or process the races, but mainly we want to make sure players that have the right to watch the race are able to watch. That’s what we are thinking about right now. Even if you don’t register your chocobo in the race, you should be able to watch as long as you have the right.
Q: I want to see interesting play-by-play commentary.
A: I…I’ll try my best!
Q: How about introducing a photo finish?
A: Unfortunately, we don’t have technology that allows us to take pictures instantly in Vana’diel. Even Balakaf’s “image recorder” in Aht Urhgan takes blurred images! Instead, there will be useful magic developed in Windurst which will be able to take photo finishes.
Q: I want to have cool acrobatic motions with flashy effects!
A: I’ll try my best to make it happen.
Q: Can I enter the race circuit to watch the races?
A: I would love to make it happen.
Systems
Q: I’d like to have records for each course and ranking systems implemented.
A: Yes, we definitely need to create ranking systems.
Q: It might be great if we have a few different songs in each course or race. Also, I really want a chocobo race exclusive “fanfare.”
A: If we create many different kinds of races, we would love to feature different songs for each one of them. I also really want a fanfare!
Q: How about a Chocobo Racing-exclusive chat function which players are able to communicate with across all regions or be able to organize Chocobo Racing-exclusive teams?
A: Those are good ideas, but it’s difficult to build an additional chat system, so please use linkshells for communicating with fellow Chocobo Racers.
Q: I heard there will be lineages/pedigree. That’ll be great if we can see our chocobo’s certificates of pedigree. This will add more elements to consider when we are breeding our chocobos. Also, can we find out if another player owns my chocobo’s descendents?
A: This idea is almost possible, but also a really difficult issue.　We record　information about a chocobo’s lineage, however we don’t (it’s more like we “can’t”) record which lineage came from which chocobo. Unfortunately, we can’t maintain enough space to record all that information.
Q: Please make it possible to have cross-world races!
A: I’m sure the Community department staff will think about these types of events, much like Ballista Royale. ;)
Q: Some players are worried that races may be cancelled because there weren’t enough participants. Is there any plan to avoid situations like that?
A: Yes, there is. If there aren’t enough people to run in the race, we’ll add NPCs to compete against, instead of real players.
Awards
Q: How about giving strong chocobos titles, medals, trophies, gil, or chocobo raising-related items depending on what place they finish in the race?
A: Nice idea! I’ll see what I can come up with.
Q: Popular Rare/Ex equipment could cause people who just want items to act without regard for others. Could you provide something of value while avoiding these items?
A: Awarding equipment as prizes can cause people who want them to annoy other players to get them, which isn’t the ideal effect. I’ll discuss with the item team to see what kind of items to offer as prizes.
Q: I want items like decorations or harnesses that my chocobo can equip.
A: This depends on discussions with the graphic team, but if it’s possible I’ll make something.
Gambling
Q: I want to have some kind of element which helps me decide which chocobo to bet on.
A: We’ll provide some kind of materials to help with your decision.
Q:　Please introduce win, trifecta and lotto methods.
A: First, you need to bet on 1st and 2nd. We might introduce other methods later.
Q: I think you should set a maximum bid amount.
A: I agree with you. To avoid bankruptcy, we might need to set a limit (laugh).
Q: Are fixed games possible? For example, if a player makes a popular chocobo lose the race intentionally, lets someone win the big money, and they divide the gil after the race?
A: We’ll introduce automatic racing methods based on chocobos’ data, such as parameters or abilities. Therefore, it’s impossible to change the ranking intentionally.
Finally…
Chocobo Raising finally started with the latest version update!
I wonder if some of you are getting watery-eyed over your cute baby chocobos…
Someday, these baby chocobos will grow up and be able to participate in Chocobo Racing.
First, concentrate on Chocobo Raising and raise your very own chocobo.
While you are all working hard raising your chocobos, I will work hard on Chocobo Racing. :)
The next posting will be the last chance to collect everyone’s comments. If you have anything you haven’t mentioned yet, there’s still a chance for it to be implemented, so please contribute by all means!
- Snakeeye
P.S. My chocobo was a girl!
Last time, we discussed the outline of Chocobo Racing and the things we can and cannot do. Because of that, there were a few subjects that players talked about intensively after the last Q&A.
So, I picked the hottest questions from each region to give you an in-depth look at the development process.
From Japanese players:
It would be great if you could build a system which allows us to participate in races even after we log out. That way, if our Internet connection is disconnected or we can’t register in a race because of long wait times, we would still be able to participate.
From Snakeeye:
I think we will be able to take measures regarding accidental disconnections. However, it is difficult to save long-term data, race performances, and results with current memory limitations. We are discussing the issue now. Of course we’ll keep investigating this issue, but to be honest, it will be very difficult.
From North American players:
Is there anyway we can control our chocobos? We understand there is an Internet connection speed issue, but we still think it’ll be a lot more fun if we can control our chocobos.
From Snakeeye:
I mentioned this in the last Q&A, but the main reason why we decided to introduce auto-control was to make Chocobo Racing fair to all players. How would you feel if you prepared everything correctly but because of a lag problem, or because your Internet connection was slower than another racers, your chocobo lost the race? Whatever the cause, the reason you lost the race should be clear and you should be able to fix the problem in order to win the next race.
Someone mentioned the fact that hunting NMs isn’t built for this type of fairness. In FINAL FANTASY XI, there are systems over four years old that are still in use today. As we provide new features, we create new systems like trading items to pop NMs and instanced areas like Assault. We feel we should introduce the best race system without using the original design ideals.
I agree that it would be fun to control your own chocobo and let them run the way you want. Unfortunately, that type of system doesn’t work within FINAL FANTASY XI.
From European players:
Regarding race times, it sounds fun that there are both scheduled races and non-scheduled races. However, I’m concerned about event schedules. Usually in-game events are scheduled when it is difficult for European players to participate.
From Snakeeye:
We are thinking about making scheduled races occur during fixed time periods. For example, one race opens each real life hour. This way, there would be more chances to participate no matter where you are. To tell you the truth, we haven’t decided what we are going to do yet, but we’ll be sure to take carel when deciding race schedules.
I received so many questions last time that I couldn’t answer many of them. I’d like to discuss a few of these below.
Riders
Q: Give the riders strengths and weaknesses or specific features. It would be great if we could choose the rider freely.
A: This is a good idea. I’ll try my best to introduce it.
Q: I would like to see famous NPCs, my exclusive Fellowship NPC or Moogle be my rider.
A: Interesting. However, not all NPCs will be able to ride chocobos.
Q: How about if there was affinity between adult chocobos and riders, and if there is harmony, your chocobo stats reach near maximum for the race?
A: This might be an interesting requirement.
Watching Races
Q: It would be great if we can have a giant screen to watch the races.
A: We can think of many different ways to show or process the races, but mainly we want to make sure players that have the right to watch the race are able to watch. That’s what we are thinking about right now. Even if you don’t register your chocobo in the race, you should be able to watch as long as you have the right.
Q: I want to see interesting play-by-play commentary.
A: I…I’ll try my best!
Q: How about introducing a photo finish?
A: Unfortunately, we don’t have technology that allows us to take pictures instantly in Vana’diel. Even Balakaf’s “image recorder” in Aht Urhgan takes blurred images! Instead, there will be useful magic developed in Windurst which will be able to take photo finishes.
Q: I want to have cool acrobatic motions with flashy effects!
A: I’ll try my best to make it happen.
Q: Can I enter the race circuit to watch the races?
A: I would love to make it happen.
Systems
Q: I’d like to have records for each course and ranking systems implemented.
A: Yes, we definitely need to create ranking systems.
Q: It might be great if we have a few different songs in each course or race. Also, I really want a chocobo race exclusive “fanfare.”
A: If we create many different kinds of races, we would love to feature different songs for each one of them. I also really want a fanfare!
Q: How about a Chocobo Racing-exclusive chat function which players are able to communicate with across all regions or be able to organize Chocobo Racing-exclusive teams?
A: Those are good ideas, but it’s difficult to build an additional chat system, so please use linkshells for communicating with fellow Chocobo Racers.
Q: I heard there will be lineages/pedigree. That’ll be great if we can see our chocobo’s certificates of pedigree. This will add more elements to consider when we are breeding our chocobos. Also, can we find out if another player owns my chocobo’s descendents?
A: This idea is almost possible, but also a really difficult issue.　We record　information about a chocobo’s lineage, however we don’t (it’s more like we “can’t”) record which lineage came from which chocobo. Unfortunately, we can’t maintain enough space to record all that information.
Q: Please make it possible to have cross-world races!
A: I’m sure the Community department staff will think about these types of events, much like Ballista Royale. ;)
Q: Some players are worried that races may be cancelled because there weren’t enough participants. Is there any plan to avoid situations like that?
A: Yes, there is. If there aren’t enough people to run in the race, we’ll add NPCs to compete against, instead of real players.
Awards
Q: How about giving strong chocobos titles, medals, trophies, gil, or chocobo raising-related items depending on what place they finish in the race?
A: Nice idea! I’ll see what I can come up with.
Q: Popular Rare/Ex equipment could cause people who just want items to act without regard for others. Could you provide something of value while avoiding these items?
A: Awarding equipment as prizes can cause people who want them to annoy other players to get them, which isn’t the ideal effect. I’ll discuss with the item team to see what kind of items to offer as prizes.
Q: I want items like decorations or harnesses that my chocobo can equip.
A: This depends on discussions with the graphic team, but if it’s possible I’ll make something.
Gambling
Q: I want to have some kind of element which helps me decide which chocobo to bet on.
A: We’ll provide some kind of materials to help with your decision.
Q:　Please introduce win, trifecta and lotto methods.
A: First, you need to bet on 1st and 2nd. We might introduce other methods later.
Q: I think you should set a maximum bid amount.
A: I agree with you. To avoid bankruptcy, we might need to set a limit (laugh).
Q: Are fixed games possible? For example, if a player makes a popular chocobo lose the race intentionally, lets someone win the big money, and they divide the gil after the race?
A: We’ll introduce automatic racing methods based on chocobos’ data, such as parameters or abilities. Therefore, it’s impossible to change the ranking intentionally.
Finally…
Chocobo Raising finally started with the latest version update!
I wonder if some of you are getting watery-eyed over your cute baby chocobos…
Someday, these baby chocobos will grow up and be able to participate in Chocobo Racing.
First, concentrate on Chocobo Raising and raise your very own chocobo.
While you are all working hard raising your chocobos, I will work hard on Chocobo Racing. :)
The next posting will be the last chance to collect everyone’s comments. If you have anything you haven’t mentioned yet, there’s still a chance for it to be implemented, so please contribute by all means!
- Snakeeye
P.S. My chocobo was a girl!
Tags: FinalFantasyXI, News
