Me:First of all,Hi Vreg and thank you and welcome on SLO-Interview #2 ^^
Vreg - Hi
Me - Im Alex,20 years old guy from Romania,huge fan of your project.I summed few questions of our mates from this discord and ill try to ask you these.In my imagination,this wll calm down things and will help a lot the ' communication thing ' between staff and community
First of all i'd like to ask you who you are :smiley: . Share with us al the infos u are confortable with.A name,an age, where from ? ^^
Vreg - Nice to meet you Alex :smiley: Vreg, about to turn 23, living in Belgium but ethnically Armenian
fulltime software engineer at Cronos
Me - What is Shinobi life online? I mean,we all readed the main page text,but where does this come from?There are a lot of people with dev skills but nobody got the balls to actually create a game like this.Where did you get this motivation from ?
Vreg - Started to marathon Naruto, reached the end of the anime as far as it had gotten at that time, and was a little disappointed with real life not being so awesome
so I decided to create a virtual world where we can all be shinobi
Me - How your experience as dev was influenced by this decision?Did you caught experience during this journey?
Vreg - yes, I learned the ins and outs of game development, which is a very different type of software development compared to traditional software development
Me - What is your relationship with the other people that help your dream comming to reality( the devs ) ? :smile:
Vreg - Some of them are people that I've met and have been friends with since the start of the project, others are more recent, but everyone is great
Me - I gotta be honest, Vreg.People talk.People talk a lot.Even Matt said in an old interview that some devs are lazy.Some of them innactive.What's the story behind this?Is there any missunderstantings between you guys?
Vreg - This is a hobby project, so we don't always have time to work on it, hence sometimes devs are inactive
There's no revenue that funds the project, donations are barely enough to keep things running
Me - I understand.This drive me to the next question.How's your relationship with Matt?He's known as the most devotated dev  on the project
Vreg - Matt is indeed the most active developer on our team, partly due to his dedication and also due to his circumstances that allow him to spend more time on the project
Me - The number of devs on actual team are enough to keep things running ?
Vreg - We are planning to do a huge step-up in development in the next 2 months
and yes we have enough contributers
Me - Do you have any special conssideration for a member of the team?Do you dislike any of SLO member staff in a express way?
Vreg - Nope, we are all good friends
Me - What's the future of the project?Something spicy and important going on this year?
Vreg - We just hope to reach alpha as early as we can, both so that the game can be enjoyed by a broader audience but also so that we can start a crowfunding campaing and really kickstart the project into much more active development
Me - How's the trailer going on,btw?Does it beginning to catch contour?
Vreg - The trailer has finished but unfortunately it was rendered out on a laptop with Fastest graphics, so it has to be rerendered completely before we can publically release it.
Me - Oh,what a shame.
How's your relationship with the community?Be as honest as you can.Does it motivate you?Does it annoy you sometime?
Vreg - The community is great, I try to interact with them as much as I can, I appreciate them for their continued support to SLO in better and worse times
Me - I'd like you listen your answer to the people that say the next sentence: " Why does SLO develop so hard?It's been 4 years and too little things happened"
Vreg - Lack of time
However we're currently in the process of changing the way we do things to be more productive, and hopefully that will show soon with new updates
Me - So you got some big goals for this year.Do you have any surprise for us this summer, guys?
Vreg - Wouldn't be a surprise if we told you about it
Me - Well played,heh.
After the game release,how we will see Vreg?Some kage,elder,or maybe even a simple player?
Vreg - Information about that is spread around the forum, if you do some digging I'm sure you'll find something
Me - I understand.That's all Vreg.For now.Don't relax,all of us are watching you.And support you aswell,don't forget that.
Thank you a lot,it was a pleasure ^^
Vreg - My pleasure

welp i thought it was obvious that progress is slow cause vreg and the entire dev team have jobs

they're not being paid so they can only dedicate spare time to this project

but good idea tho


P.S. Someone else did a series of interviews, diamond lee??? so idk if this is first edition idk rip

"Is SLO still a thing? Do developers work like...for real? Why are dev-blogs released so rarely? Why are the updates so slow? We have all thought about it. "This game is so dope but the devs are kind of too lazy? Why does it progress so slow?"

A topic that is discussed frequently in this community:- The game's progress rate. Well, this week I invited a few of us, members of the community, but with different points of view to answer these questions. This means:

1. One of the most logical thing to do is to ask the devs themselves about it. Their voice is their social media manager, Malix. I asked him about himeself, so we can get to know him better, how work's going on there, and what's happening behind the scene...

2. The second point of view that I was curious about was from a moderator, but one of the oldest ones, Nova. He is a moderator from 4th August 2015 as he says and considering his time spent on Discord, where most of the discussions take place, he may give us a neutral point of view about all of this.

3. An old player that doesn't wish to publish his name.

4. A new player. One of the most pure point of view is from the new ones. Because they see it clearly. No friendships. No enemies. Just a neutral point of view. As he's one of the new players that use the SLO-Discord, I invited Basaka for an interview about our game progress."

Now,let's find out together what the fuark is happening here

Note:I'd appreciate a lot if you may comment about 'ur opinion about it,once u've heard this guys opinion.
Note2:Thank you a lot @Shivraj for helping me on editing and adapting the texts.My english spaghetti is saved.

Me:Hi Malix,and welcome to our interview!
Malix:Hi Style,nice to be part of it!
Me:I'd like to ask,first of all,who is Malix.Malix in real life.Who are you?Where do you live?What's your age?Maybe even a name
Malix: Not gonna give my name because personal reasons,but..
Me:Whatever you feel ok with.
Malix:I'm 31, from Toronto, Canada. I test software for a living specifically i manage the test automation team.
I have an Electrical Engineering degree, a wife, a kid, a house, a car, a mortgage T.T
Me:That's a ...when the hell do you have time to work on SLO lmao ^^
Well,nice to meet the real you,Malix.
Malix:I work on lore on my train rides to and from work.Straight up and thank you.
Me:Im Alex,and ill try to ask you the most unconfortable questions i can and get out of you the truth.
Malix:Do your worst, keep in mind im the social media manager so i should be able to handle it

---

Me:How did you found SLO?
Malix:I found it on reddit in the Naruto sub as one of the few online games
Me:Nice to hear that we are everywhere,haha.
What made you to join the SLO team ?
Malix:Well ive been a pretty big naruto fan for the last 10 years, I've been a part of game development before, i'm in the software development industry irl aaaannddd i like to write.  So when i saw the SMM contest I felt i could do that pretty well and I wanted to be a part of it. This is a pretty crazy dream come true for a me as Im sure it is for many people
Me:It is,indeed.
How do you feel about the other devs?Is there any misunderstandings between you guys?
Malix:There are disagreements sure, but rarely are there any full blown arguments.
Which makes sense really, if you didnt like the team/project you can leave whenever...and on the other hand we disagree about implementations all the time. Thats the point of having a discussion.
Me:Nice to hear a subjective opinion from inside.
How do you feel about Vreg?Was there any moment that he disappointed you?Made you feel proud you are part of the team?
Malix:Ive said it before and I'll say it again, Vreg and the rest of the team are extremely talented for their age. I'm 31 years old and I've been in the SWD industry for years and it's very rare to get talent like this from such a young age. Now we do have some old timers lately and they're great too. It really lets us keep the standard for work high. Ive never been overly disappointed. People forget this is a non-paid voluntary project in which the head developer was until very recently still a student.
Ive been around enough to know this is expected.
On the other hand I can understand how people on the outside can wonder why it doesn't look like anything is happening because they don't get to see what's going on.
Me:I understood.
Do you have any special conssideration for a member of the team?Do you dislike any of SLO members in a express way?
Malix:There arent enough arguments to dislike anyone. Although i think it would be cool to settle disputes in the SLO arena if we had any.
Altough i think Saitou deserves more recognition than he gets. Being a project manager is a thankless job that most people take for granted. While Vreg and the other guys make all the magic, it's Saitou that keeps us feeling like a team and keeps the ball rolling.
Me:How's going on on lore?Does it begin to catch the contour you are expecting?
Malix:The general history outline is done, ive written a first draft, then scrapped it and rewritten a second draft. I think im on my 4th now
I know what i want, im just a perfectionist
Me:Nice to hear that!Hard work is going on there.

---

As a social media manager,how do you feel about community?Does it motivates you?Did you made any friends from community?
Malix:We got an excited group of guys in our community. It's great to see all the suggestions (good and bad) and discussions that come out. As well as all the fan-made content. They're definitely dedicated to the game and I've gotten into more than one debate over future features. I thoroughly welcome that and it does motivate me as I want you guys to like the work that I, and the whole team, put out.  I'd like to think that I'm everyone's friend! But I'll settle with just the Hidden Metal guys...cuz we're clearly the best.
Me:Fair enough,metal guy.

---

You actually made the job easier for me,cause that's the subject i wanted to talk with you about now.
Me:After the release of the game,how we'll find Malix?A metal rogue guy?A troller?Do you have any early ideeas about how your character will be builded?
Malix:Hmm well I know I'll concentrate on Genjutsu and I'll be a Metal shinobi for the long run. I take my village choice (and eventually my clan choice) seriously. I'm not one to bounce around a lot. I do hope we'll have some sort of crafting system though, I'd like to be a blacksmith of some sort.
Overall I think I'll lead a quiet life, I dont have as much time to play as others
Also I want to be working on writing future events
Me:Great thing,now i know where i can upgrade my weapons ! xD
Well Malix,i have a verry last question for you.
We would  like to hear an opinion from inside.As i said,there was a topic on discord channel where some of us argued about game progress ration.Do you think it is slow?fast enough?what's happening on background?
Malix:Well again everyone has real lives to take care of and that comes first. From my perspective things are going at the regular pace although recently we've added new members to the team that have really let us start developing more things at once. Now if you want to compare us to some other game than of  course we're probably slow but that's just how it'll go until the kickstarter is under way. I suspect all the gripes about development speed will suddenly disappear then.
Me:I understood.Thanks a lot for your time Malix.Was a pleasure.
Malix:Thanks for having me, the pleasure is mine.

---

Me: Hi Nova!And welcome!
Nova: Hi Style !
Me: Who is Nova? Tell us all the personal informations you are comfortable to share with us.

Nova: "Nova" is the same as all the other people on the forum, just a gamer who looked for a Naruto mmorpg.
More specifically, I'm Dutch and 19 years old (atm), Been a part of the forum since august 4th 2015.

Me: I guess I should introduce myself too. I'm Alex, 19 years too, and I'll try to guide you through this interview journey

---

Me: How did you found SLO?
Nova: After catching up on the anime back then, I figured it could've been a great setting for an mmorpg, so the first thing I did was load up google and search for "Naruto mmorpg" SLO was one of the first if not the first entry to show up.
I tried out the game, got on and saw 2 members arguing, was hooked to the community since.

Me: What is your general opinion about all of SLO - the shinobi life simulator?

Nova: Twisted, I love both the project (what they aim to become)  and the community, however it does have it's drawbacks mainly caused by some of the members.

Me: Cruel as usual.

---

Me: As a moderator, how do you feel about the community? Have you formed tight friendships? Have you made any enemies? Or maybe people that you just completely dislike?

Nova: I've made quite a few friends on this project, who I hold quite dearly, some of which are inactive now.
Majority of the friends I made still contact me once in a while, and with a few of them we represent Yurei.

As for enemies, I haven't made any as far as I'm concerned, the only thing that I dislike from time to time is the behavior of some of the members(not the people themselves.)
Take Mars as an example, he's one of the first friends I made on this project, and I really do like him as a friend, however due to his troll-side I often have to take action against him (even though I'd rather not =/)

---

Me: What's your relationship with Shivraj,the other younger moderator?

Nova: He's one of the friends I made on this project, both being ex-Himitsu members (same goes for Reminance, Mars, Ken, Vipto etc.)
I still like him as a friend, even if we were "enemies" at one point (he is one of the leaders in katakiuchi and I was a roguehunter in Roguhanta)

He's also a fellow yurei member.

---

Me: Today, we had a topic on the official SLO Discord server: The game's progress rate. Do you find it slow, moderate or just fast enough?

Nova: I do think that the updates-rate is slow, but I do realize that me moaning about it won't magically speed up the progress.
It all comes down the devs (mostly Vreg).

Me: How's your relationship with Vreg?From outside,he pings@ you anytime something is botherhing him.Is this relationship beautifull inside as it seems from outside?

Nova: Eh, not sure if I'd call it an relationship, technically speaking he's my "employer" I just do my job by keeping the forum and community remotely clean.
As for why he @'s me, I'm not entirely sure, might be because he expects I'll do it well enough (or that he doesn't want to be bothered with such things himself)

Me: Nice to hear that ^^

---

Me: Do you have any goals about SLO? Do you wish to remain in team even further?
Nova: No specific goals set for SLO, I hope I'll be around when the game releases so I can play the game I've been waiting for.
As for my place in the team, I don't mind whatever the outcome, I like the dev team and I don't mind moderating, however it's not like I feel the need to be a moderator.
Nova: Don't get me wrong, I'm not thinking of stepping down, but should somebody worthy show up I wouldn't mind stepping down

---

Me: How're things going on in the background? I heard that you guys get some new members on team . Did you meet them ?

Nova: I've seen some of the new devs talk on the chat, but it's mostly the people who are working on finalizing the trailer atm that actively talk / try to fix stuff with Vreg.

Me: I understood.

---

Me: Last question, who will be Nova in game? Do you have an early concept about your character? ^^

Nova: My plans for the released game (at this moment, don't know about the future)  is to roam around and explore the map after training for a bit.
Of course I'll also be putting in work for my clan, so they can have a good time.
And last but not least, I'll be doing stuff Yurei related.

Quote from: Viktorius on May 05, 2017, 16:05:13

Thank you very much, i was the one using Chidori on you and getting onwed last night xD

haha alright just play often and you'll be able to take me on ez pz dw about it.

There will be villages, settlements, buildings, caves, dungeons and all that fun stuff outside of the main villages. The procedural generation is used just to place terrain, trees, rocks & water. Ill also do more in depth designs to the world since it wont be endless, that was just an example.