Wizard Wednesday Episode 32 Transcription

Wizard Wednesday Ep. 32

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Elf: [00:00:00] We should get someone to freestyle

Dotta: NFT nyc.

Elf: Think we should get Mag was here to do it.

She would probably just go up on stage and ring a bell the whole time though.

It's Wednesday, we are wizards. It's time for our weekly cult meeting Wizard Wednesday, and we are just ex exclamation point magic channeling in from the quantum downs. This is El and Joda and

Bearsnake: there and LA

Elf: there. They're, the team is here. Um, every morning I wake up and I think, damn, we have nothing to talk about.

And then two hours later, I think. [00:01:00] We have way too much to talk about and our, we are not gonna be able to fit it in. So let's just get started and see what happens. Um, I'm gonna give quick updates for myself. Uh, just real quick. Um, on Monday I interviewed with CRE Tokyo. Uh, this was an invite from Tabitha of the Marsh.

And, uh, we just talked about the project in general and, uh, storytelling in a decentralized way. They asked really great, great questions. And, uh, this episode will air on cre tokyo.com on April 11th. And, uh, I think Tabitha is gonna put a link to that in our discord. Um, and then tomorrow I will be doing an interview with, uh, an indie film about NFTs.

Um, [00:02:00] this, uh, this film is called Nifty, the film. Uh, it's scheduled for festival release in Q3 of 2023, so right around the corner. Um, and this film is actually partly sponsored by Coinbase. Um, it sounds really cool. A, uh, a lot of other well known N f T people will be in it. Um, and the what's interesting is the producer told me that many of them want to remain a non, so they will be fully represented by their avatars.

I think they're all gonna be like mo capped and, uh, um, they're gonna have a CG representation of themselves in the film. So that'll be interesting. Uh, I, myself, I don't believe will be portrayed as a little wizard goat, I think, uh, I think my actual face will be showing in this film. Um, so look forward to that.[00:03:00]

Q3 of 2023. It's called Nifty. The film couldn't be Me. What's that? Doda? Couldn't Be Me. Yeah, Doda is still a nun. Um, and then, uh, and then, yeah, I just wanted to give a, uh, little, a little, um, hint. There's, I will be doing actually another, um, media appear, media appearance for a fairly large and well known platform.

Um, I can't say too much about it yet, but I think it's gonna happen in May. Um, and just, yeah, the reason I, I'm really trying to do a lot of these is simply to amplify, uh, the Forgotten Ruins network effect. Um, I've talked a lot about network effect in the past, um, and I just, uh, it's, you know, it's basically just, uh, it's just a good way to promote the project.

Um, so that's, that's my own personal updates. Um, Dodo, how about, how about you? What do you wanna, what do you wanna [00:04:00] pivot to?

Dotta: Oh yeah. Well, let's see. So we had a special guest slated for this week. Uh, but he's coming next week. Um, and yeah, he's so good. You, you are going to love this person. Um, you know, uh, all we're gonna say is that he is someone who has definitely put his room on.

Elf: That's the truth. Truly. So. Exactly.

Dotta: Yep. Uh, but yeah, this, this week our special guest is, uh, Jor. From by. Hey, Jor.

Cult Member: Hey, everybody. Uh, it's, it's been a while. I think the last time was around, uh, four months ago since I was able to talk to everybody. Yes,

Elf: yes. Welcome back. Jor. Uh, you and your team have been showing, uh, me some awesome updates behind the scenes.

I've seen a lot of great art. I saw some good stuff today, but, um, but I'm, I'm gonna let, I'm gonna let you speak to that. Maybe give a little intro

Dotta: of what the game is for some of the folks who are maybe newer about how you think about the gameplay, [00:05:00] the major loops, and then, you know, um, maybe some of the newer stuff you've been working on, some, something like that.

Or really whatever you wanna talk about. But that's just, that's just

Elf: to set some context.

Cult Member: Yeah. Yeah. I think, I think it's good to kind of, you know, for the people that are new here, to give them a sense of what we're doing and what we've been working on. So, uh, like I've been working in games for a long time and a lot of, a lot of the team, you know, is sort of veterans.

So, you know, like I came from a background working on games like elder squirrels online and, uh, Batman and Killer Instinct. And we have people that worked on World of Warcraft and everything. Our director, uh, was sort of there from the beginnings, very old school, world of Warcraft, uh, blizzard guy. Um, and you know, I grew up playing Ulta online.

I grew up playing EverQuest and World Warcraft and really kind of, in a lot of ways the game calls back to a lot of what, you know, I experienced playing those games back in the day. Um, and you know, I think when we started talking to, when we started talking to Dota and everybody else, there was this [00:06:00] really big resonance with what we could do with, uh, crypto end games.

Because when I was playing old model and when I was playing ever Quest, we saw something kind of crazy happening where people were, you know, getting items in the game and they were going at eBay and selling those items. Um, you know, we had gold sellers, we had, you know, had a friend that ran mo p two warehouse.com, right?

And he was, he had a team kind of in China farming gold, and then he was selling gold packs and all that stuff. But you had this kind of, you know, player driven economy and people selling items and all this stuff going on. But then the platforms. The people that were running ever request, the people that were running online, it didn't really like work out for them because the business model wasn't there.

So you had all these players making money off the game, you had all this crazy stuff going on, and they kind of went on the attack. They started banning people. They started getting eBay, uh, listings taken down. They started trying to go after gold farmers and finding ways to detect them auto in, in an automatic way to ban them.

Right. [00:07:00] Um, it was kind of this war, and it eventually, you know, there was a lot of interim steps where people tried to do things like, uh, EverQuest at some point tried to do, um, a marketplace where to buy items and everything, real money, but it eventually kind of shook out kind of in, into free to play, right?

So there's the crypto kind of inspiration for this game is every, every, um, every, every, uh, every uh, every, uh, resource is a token and every item is an N F T. That's sort of the thing that's underlying it. And it's coming from that background, right? Where what if we could kind of go back. To what world of work.

What if we could go back to EverQuest and Ulta online and, you know, using the crypto, crypto technology, fix a lot of these problems where you can unline the incentives of the creators, the players, and the players in the game and the platforms, right? Because now you can get an item in the game, you can, you know, kill a monster.

You get that item and you can sell it on a secondary marketplace. And then everybody kind of benefits, the players benefit from the [00:08:00] value creation that they're having with the world and the platform's able to benefit as well. So that's sort of the crypto angle to it. And that's, you know, the background that it's coming from.

And then for the game itself, right? Like there's a couple big pillars to it. One is this sort of traditional M M O grinding. You go and you go to a dungeon, you go to a, an encounter, you group up with your friends. So we we're having real-time multiplayer where you group up with your friends, you go to a dungeon, you kill monsters, you get rare materials, loot.

Um, and you level up, right? And you take that back to town and you buy better items, you craft better stuff, and there's that big core loop, right? The other thing that we're really excited about, especially with the community aspects, um, you know, in, in the, in the cold and just in general, is this notion of land.

So being able to buy, buy a land token that gives you actually, uh, ownership of land in the game. So, you know, [00:09:00] one thing, right, that sort of has, I guess, disappeared kind of over time is the idea that you have non instance ownership of land in a game. So, you know, lots of back, back in the day of Emala I, right?

You could put a house in the world and then anybody could walk up and see that that house, lots of games have kind of gone mo more towards the direction of, um, you have a floating island in the Biss kind of, and that's, that's sort of the land that you bought. Uh, but something that, you know, We're building, right?

With this game, with the land is, uh, the ability to own a piece of the land, build a house on it. So that can be anything from, it's my sort of little retreat on the Dream master lake. And, uh, I'll, you can customize the appearance of the house. People can come over and hang out with you in the house.

Everything from that sort of small like little house to you building kind of a village with your friends and building a, a forage building, building, uh, a clan or a guild hall and inviting [00:10:00] people over, right? But everything from just the small scale to like the big scale of a city and having those buildings that you build be the engine that drives the economy of the game, that lets you craft items that you can sell in the secondary marketplaces that you can trade with your friends.

Um, so those are, so those are sort of the two big pillars of the game. It's really this city building land ownership and the traditional, uh, MMO style combat. And of course we have other, we have other, um, games that sort of exist within this ecosystem that we'll sort of talk more about in the future. But those are sort of the two big things that I'm most excited about and hopefully, uh, hopefully, you know, people that played World, the Warcraft, people that play at Ultima Online will, uh, enjoy this experience as

Elf: well.

I think they will. I've, uh, I mean, again, I've been seeing a lot of artwork from the art team. I, I talked to them probably two or three times a week. Um, and today they showed me some, uh, some [00:11:00] different takes on the ui. Uh, Um, and it just looks so great. Um, you know, the, a lot of what the art team is always asking me is like, how do we mix this idea of high tech with low tech magic with technology?

Um, and, uh, and so far I, I think they're doing a really good job at it. Um,

Cult Member: yeah, it's, it's really cool to see some of that stuff take shape. You know, we have, we have lots of things like, uh, uh, like big jets that have crashed, landed and have been grown over by the, they've been grown over by like vines and the earth and everything.

We have sort of, uh, banned nuclear plant there. There'll be a lot of stuff to discover. Right. Um, and you, and that, that's sort of what we're kind of working towards, right? Is the first, the first big thing is gonna be this land sale. And, you know, I know that the, the cold kind of announced that it'd be, um, around June.

So what what that is right, is we're working towards something where we're gonna have most of the known map. Walkable, right? [00:12:00] Uh, and you'll be able to mint land and own a piece of that world, right? So you'll be able to get a piece of land potentially that is, you know, near the hedge wizard forest. You'll be able to get a piece of land in the desert.

Um, you'll be able to own a piece of that world and walk around and, and that's sort of what we're working towards for this public land sale. So, so right now, a lot of the work that's going on is really building that world. Uh, so, you know, like, like Elfa was saying, we have people creating all of these really cool set pieces.

We have, we have, uh, level designers going in and hand placing trees and creating clearings and really flushing out kind of the, the vision of the world in close collaboration with Elf. So we're trying to build this gigantic world and allow everybody to kind of buy a piece of it. So with that public land sale, really what that will be is, you know, there'll be this really cool, uh, minting experience that, you know, we wanna kind of have everybody be excited about and surprised about on the day of launch.

And you'll go through that, you'll. Right away, be able to go to [00:13:00] that piece of land that you minted and walk around on it. And you'll also be able to walk around and see other people in that world too. So you'll be able to play together with other people in real time, um, and experience the land and explore the world.

And we're planning on having a really special event for that too, where, um, you can go out through the world and search for, search for, uh, search for, uh, I probably can't reveal exactly what you're searching for, but you'll be searching for something that's pretty cool and, uh, people will be rewarded for it if they're able to find all the, all the things in the scavenger hunt basically.

So really hoping to kind of build this rich world and have it come out with this really huge event and have wizards be able to go in there and play together for the first time.

Elf: Yep. Yeah. And you know, one feature, we, we talked about this in the past, but I just wanna mention it again for anyone who's new, which is, um, you know, a lot of other metas I've seen out there that the ones, the ones that [00:14:00] sell land, it looks like all the land plots were just randomly placed by a generator, some kind of algorithm.

And they, they don't really look like they have design or they don't look like they were placed with purpose. Um, but not so with the universe. The universe, uh, their team is hand placing every plot. There's a lot of design, there's a lot of thought and purpose into why every piece of land is where it is.

Um, so I, you know, I, Jor showed me the, like that version of the map with all the designed plots and it just looks beautiful. You, you can already see like real communities forming. Um, it's, it's, it's got like a storytelling element to it. Um, do you, do you wanna speak to that J

Cult Member: Dore? Yeah, it's, it's really cool actually.

So, you know, we kind of, we, we approached that first almost in that random way, right? Like, uh, like I actually wrote some, some [00:15:00] software, right? That would just blast plots kind of all over the place. And when we actually got that end game and tried to walk around with it, it just, it was kind of clear that it just wasn't gonna work, right?

It just, it looks kind of like random noise, right? Even when you're up in the game and playing outfit. Yep. Um, so actually, you know, our, our lead designer, um, he, he kind of went in and started to, you know, experiment with, well what if everything was kind of hand designed and handcrafted? Could we actually do this with the scope of what we're trying to do?

Yeah. Um, and the answer is yes. It's just we need an army of people to do it. So we have, so we have that, we have that army of people to do it right now, but it, it's really exciting like El said, because. Um, you don't just get a random plot in a random place. Right. The area around it is sort of handcrafted and you might get a plot that is part of a bigger community.

Um, so you might also get a plot that's sort of, you know, by itself on, you know, dream Master Lake or whatever, but you might get a plot that's part of a bigger [00:16:00] community. You might get a plot that's on the ocean side, you might get a plot that's sort of on one of the main roadways. Um, and, uh, you know, hopefully that's really cool to kind of, you meet your plot and you go in there and you sort of see who your neighbors are.

Right. And you, you sort of get to build that community together with them.

Elf: Yep, yep, yep. And then, um, and then, yeah, just, uh, a lot of the art that you showed me the other day, Jor, and then the art team has been showing me, you know, probably my favorite thing about it. It not just that it looks great, it's that just the art itself carries with it such a storytelling component.

You, you look at the art and you immediately get a sense of. Why this world the way it is, you get a sense of the history behind it. You get a sense of who lives here and what these people are about and what their culture is. You know, purely just through the, the, the set pieces on the landscape. It, it, it just has so much information and, and your art team has just really been doing a lot of [00:17:00] just really creative world building.

And I, I think it's gonna be so much fun to just explore all these different set pieces.

Cult Member: Yeah. Yeah. I think that's something that's really exciting about it. And I think, you know, as, as game development proceeds, as the public land sell happens and everything, you know, it will be something where just like the community is bringing depth to the lore, uh, like more broadly, right, they'll be bringing that depth to the game too.

Right. The game is gonna be ongoing. It's gonna be developed with the community. Right. So we're gonna see, you know, the stories people are telling about the world, right? Take shape in the game too and see that kind of universe being rich, you know, not just by people playing it, but, but, but by the stories people are telling about it.

And being able to see that kind of, that that thing come alive in game. You know, we're totally excited about the idea, right? Of somebody telling a story about something that happened, right? And then that kind of becoming, you know, uh, an asset that gets made for the game and everything. Right? Um, uh, and hopefully that will [00:18:00] be a really cool experience to sort of see the world be created and shaped in that way.

Elf: Yep, exactly. We've got some,

Dotta: we've got some questions from the cult. Uh, I asked them, I said, uh, folks in Discord. I said, oh, any questions for Jor? So, um, there's a couple, I'll, I'll ask 'em to you. One, uh, o has a question says, will the universe game be open to warriors and souls to enjoy from the beginning?

Will there be some catch up time? Uh, and I think the answer there is there'll be a little bit of catch up time. Like, I don't think we're gonna have everything

Elf: on day

Cult Member: one. Yeah. There there'll be catch up time. We're trying to kind of, uh, schedule that out and figure out exactly how that's gonna work and when it will line up.

But I mean, definitely in the future, especially as we get to the land sale, we'll try to communicate those timelines to everybody. Um, that being said, that doesn't mean that you won't be able to play. Right? Uh, like part of this is sort of that you can play just as, you can play without a wizard, even Right.

Or without a warrior. Like we have a generic kind of character creator where you can create a character and play as that character [00:19:00] in the world. So everybody will still be able to, to participate, but we just might not have those, you know, essentially cosmetics available yet to play as that, as that warrior right away at launch.

Cool.

Dotta: S Spz asks, he says, are all the plots the same size?

Cult Member: All the plots are not the same size. So, uh, we're, we kind of have it going from eight by eight to 16 by 16 to 32 by three, two to 64 by 64 to 128 by hundred 28. And the plots themselves are kind of, you know, um, it's not like if you have an 128 by 128, that's inherently, um, better.

It's basically just bigger and it being bigger, right? Allows you to build more infrastructure to create something that's more like a city. Whereas if you have an eight by eight. Physically what you can fit on that is something that's more like a house for yourself, right? Or some gathering stations to kind of get the yield out of the ground.

Um, so, so it's something about going from, you know, [00:20:00] personal house to cities and then between, we're talking about kind of like a place where you could build your guild hall and everything.

Dotta: So s PZ also asks, you know, for the plots of land, do they all have a house?

Cult Member: The plots do not come with a house. So there's a system for basically building a house and to build a house you have to use in-game resources to build it.

So the house isn't intended to be like another, um, like you don't go and buy like an N F T for the house to build it, but you get in-game resources like gold and stuff like that to build the house.

Dotta: Cool. So then there's some questions about the battle system. Uh, the one who rings says, will the game have classes?

Cult Member: The game is classless, uh, wolf levels, uh, but. Designed in a way where the abilities do do, if you put them together in a certain way, resemble class archetypes. So the, the kind of group-based encounters will, the, the goal is to design them in a, in [00:21:00] a way that would be kind of familiar to somebody that plays, um, a group-based mo like a request where naturally you have some people that end up doing kind of damage dealing and tanking and, uh, utility kind of support roles.

Elf: Cool.

Dotta: And then, um, Dr. Pavlovsky asks, does every wizard have its own leveling? Uh, or is it tied to your wallet or is it tied to a wizard and you can trade it? Does it keep its levels? How does that work?

Cult Member: So the, the wizard, the wizard, n f t, is basically giving you, um, a skin that you can use to appear as that wizard and as that identity with that name kind of in the game.

Um, And that's sort of how it's broken out. So the, the, the item is, is something that is allowing you to represent yourself as the wizard in the game, but the level doesn't transfer, sort of with the N F T, if that makes sense. It's kind of a separate concept.

Dotta: I th I think that's most of the questions. Oh, there's one more question, which is, what [00:22:00] is something in the game that you are most excited about that we haven't talked about yet?

That's a hard one.

Elf: I think I've

Cult Member: talked about the stuff I'm most excited about. Um, I think the thing that's really, really cool is the, is the city building stuff. I mean, this is coming just, you know, from somebody to play at Ultima Online, right? Where anybody could put down a house and everything. But there wasn't, there wasn't really, um, a attempt to give people the tools to really manage a city.

So something that we're doing right is we're trying to give people this rich set of tools. It's almost like discord permissions for the place that they own. So that means that, you know, The goal, right, is that you're going to be able to, uh, like on your plot of land, say that, hey, only Cobalts could build something here.

Only Cobalts could sort of be here using kind of that discord style permission system, right? So we're hoping that those tools give people the ability to run events, to kind of build a really strong community and to really customize their, [00:23:00] their land, you know, to be something special.

Elf: Cool.

Dotta: Cool. I think that's all the questions we have for now.

Thanks Jor. Um, Jor,

Elf: one, one quick other thing. Um, you guys, uh, you showed me a, uh, an updated walk cycle, right? Do you wanna just quick, quickly touch on that?

Cult Member: Oh, yeah. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So we like, um, So with, with, uh, with a game like this, we're trying to have a lot of different kinds of animations.

We're trying to have e moats, um, so you can express yourself in game. Um, we have obviously casting animations, uh, for, for, uh, the battler. And when you're walking around, you can cast, can trips and you can brandish your weapons and all this stuff. Um, so we, we've gone through this process where we've tried to build animations, um, animations, sort of, uh, for the characters with block cycles and for all the attacks.

And we're at, we're at the point now where we've gone down a path where we're trying to do these [00:24:00] up res versions of all the characters. Um, so what, what that kind of means is that every. Every character is going to have all the unique traits and identity of that character preserved, um, every character in the collection.

But it's going to have a slightly up res pixel look, um, still kind of top down pixel and everything, but a slightly up res look. And that's gonna really allow us to, um, kind of bring, well streamline a lot of our pipeline with the animations, but bring a higher level of fidelity and add more secondary motion to hair and, and to the walk cycles and to the emotes and stuff like that.

So we'll be sharing some of that stuff. Um, in the near future. We've done it, you know, kind of in close collaboration with Elf and like, we really hope that everybody, everybody loves the work. I, I think it looks cool. Hopefully, hopefully everybody else likes it too. But yeah, we really hope that that's gonna kind of give us a bigger, uh, uh, more expressive range for a lot of the, the modes and a lot of the, the character animation in the game.[00:25:00]

Elf: Yeah, looks really good. Yeah, I think they look good. I, I love the emote. Um, it's fun seeing these, the little pixel heads with different expressions on 'em. Um, so yeah, it's, uh, it's looking great and I, and I love that you're uprising all the characters as well. Um, so yeah. Thanks. Y'all do. Thank

Cult Member: you. Cool.

Thanks guys.

Elf: Yeah, thanks. Come back anytime. Yeah. Um, cool. Yeah, so that's, that's actually a pretty good segue into a couple of other updates. Um, so we've got the pony walk cycles done. We announced that last week. Um, and then Dota, they should be available, uh, this Friday, right? Yep. Okay. Never let a deadline slip.

Okay. Okay. And then speaking of walk cycles, um, O x Cosmo, uh, the animator who helped me with the, uh, the ponies, um, or pretty much did all the ponies himself. He, uh, he is just now starting the soul [00:26:00] characters. So, um, the soul character turnarounds and walks are officially in production. Um, so yeah, we will have those, uh, as soon as they're done.

And then, um, another little update. Uh, so guys, check out our YouTube channel. Um, we've got a lot of new animation on there. Uh, our team member, Molly, has been, uh, animating a lot of the book of Laura's stories. Um, and they're, they're, there's probably the best stuff on our YouTube channel, honestly. I mean, they're just so great.

Um, and she, yeah, she's so fast at 'em. She does like one per week. Um, so yeah. I'm loving those. Um, and then, duh. Did you Yeah. Did you wanna Yeah. Go for, yeah. Yeah. I just

Dotta: want to take a second and publicly thank our mods. Uh, our

Elf: mods have been doing such a good job

Dotta: lately, so if you, uh, thank your local, if you see Ahmad, thank Ahmad.

Um, so the mod, the [00:27:00] sages that we have, right? So there's acrylic. JK, Zuki, O Raw dog, the one who rings some. Why Sam? I, they have been working so hard, uh, especially the last, I don't know, couple of weeks there. There's been so much spam and they're constantly like, um, you know, whatever, banning spammers and helping people with support and as their community's growing, there's just so much to deal with.

So I just wanted to publicly thank, um, our sages. Um, you know, we also had a changing of the guard this week. Um, so, you know, Arad, who's been a mod since, I don't know, it feels like pr pretty much since the beginning. Uh, he's done a really great job, super thankful for his time. He decided to resign this week, you know, it's a lot of work.

Uh, but then in his place, you know, we, we brought up Jisu who graciously agreed to be Ahmad. You know, uh, one might read this as the master of spots Hunter handed over his role to a Cobalt, but, you know, we'll look over that for now. And we're just so happy that that Jisu agreed to, to to be AAuD. So, yeah, just super thankful to them and, [00:28:00] and all the hard work they've been putting

Elf: in.

The hunter hands over power to the hunted. Very, very interesting. Yeah. Um, great. And then, uh, okay. And then I wanna pivot to the update, uh, from the bear cave on the beach.

Okay. That sound effect is so cringe. Um, I, uh, I, I would love if Bear Snake and also Lochness could give us, I, I know they have just a lot of things to talk about, so whoever wants to go first,

Bearsnake: go for it. Lock. Okay. Sweet.

Elf: Hi y'all, and thank you so much for having fun with me and the riddles for rescuing the Ponies.

I know there were a few hiccups, but we will launch our next riddle today and also, um, have. [00:29:00] Forbit oh seven, which kind of lo got lost in the quantum downs, let's say. Um, do a re-roll for that on the last day. So that's a pony update in terms of the bear cave, I visited the bear cave yesterday and bear, and I got chopping on the N F T N Y C planning, which is really exciting and fun.

Very, very excited to see all of our ideas come to life, and excited to see the entire coal in a different light in terms of just being able to experience the universe. I r L, let's just say that. Speaking of I r L, the folks who are here on the west side in la, I'll see you in a few hours. We will be meeting at BoomTown Brewery.

We have a little roped off section, so if you get there, just say what the wizards. [00:30:00] And yeah, we'll take care of you. Uh, lastly, we are dropping the Warrior's honorary poll. There's been a lot of talk about Warriors and Honoraries, so we're gonna give the cult an opportunity to vote their top five folks.

And from there we'll have a poll voting from, uh, voting, choosing the top 20 from that and voting on the top 10. So we'll be creating 10 honorary warriors for the most notable cult members as nominated by the cult. And so shortly after that, um, yeah, super exciting. Uh, so yeah, we wanna see you guys campaign for yourselves and vote for yourselves.

I'm gonna be dropping a type form on Twitter like right now, and let me know if you have any questions. Bear.

Bearsnake: Gosh. [00:31:00] Um, I don't really, I feel like I have a bunch of boring stuff that I could talk about, but I don't think it's that exciting. Um, I know that we give a little sneak peek to one of the many different merch items that are upcoming. Some people, it seemed like for the most part, people, this jacket. Um, and, you know, it'll be more coming in terms of how to order that.

There's a lot more merch sort of on its way as well. Um, you know, transparently, we did a pass, um, of designs and, and we felt like, uh, maybe we could step it up a little bit more and try some, try some fun things and maybe take a little bit more rest. So we, uh, we're sort of back, um, and, and looking at a couple different new designs.

But beyond that, just a bunch of calls and meetings, uh, that. Uh, hopefully we'll be able to talk about soon. But, um, I also just want to give a shout out to Locke because this whole pony [00:32:00] contest was, was her idea. She's really put it together. I know. It's, it's, it's been a lot of work on her part and, and I know that the bots on Discord are not always the most reliable, so, uh, make sure you, uh, you, you show her some love on Discord because she's working her, her butt off.

Elf: So thanks a lot. Agree. Thanks. Lock. Um, luck. Who, who have the pony winners been so far? I, I know Tanya Del Rio won one. Yeah. Who else won one? Tanya Del Rio. We had a New Pony, um, or a new cult member, uh, how do I pronounce his name? Astro, um, um, Genji, who was also known as Sor Casper Event of the Horizon. We also had, uh, I genuinely do not know how to pronounce this name, so I'm not even gonna try, but the Pony, he got [00:33:00] the Handsome, which was a really thick pink pony with, uh, sunglasses.

A lot of really, really cool ponies have come out of this giveaway. Astro Young got a really sweet yellow one with a pipe and, um, glasses. And then, uh, SORC, Casper got Sprite to dependable. Really nice White Pony. I'm like, doxing all your ponies, but people are gonna follow you anyway, so the Great Pony doxing.

Yeah, I, I hear you though. I have, I have a hard time, um, with, uh, names on Twitter and Discord as well. Um, But, but yeah, I'm, I'm excited about, uh, I'm really excited about the Warrior Honorary contest. Um, I think, uh, you know, I just think this is a way for really prominent cult members to be recognized. Um, you know, when I think about like, some of the most prominent cult members, a lot of names come to mind.

Um, but I, you know, I'm actually [00:34:00] more interested in what the community thinks. Um, so it's, it this'll be really interesting. Um, and this actually brings me to another really interesting topic. Um, if, uh, if Bear in Locke, if you guys are done with your updates. Yeah,

Dotta: for sure. Well, I think, yeah, no, no.

Elf: Yeah, go for it.

Bear, were you gonna say something?

Bearsnake: Oh, no, no, no. I was just saying, uh, that's all for the, for the bear

Elf: cave this week. Okay, well, I'll, I'll just finish on the Bear cave. Uh, bear actually has some way cooler new things that he is working on, but we, uh, we already agreed behind the scenes that we're not even gonna mention it, so I'm not even gonna mention the very cool thing.

I'm not even gonna. Say that he's working on a very cool thing. I'm not even say, stop talking about it. Stop talking. You're gonna frustrate everyone. I can confirm that Bear is on the phone maybe 75% of the time.

Bearsnake: I [00:35:00] also wanna say, I also wanna say like, you know, I, I just, I hate talking about things that we can't talk about.

Um, and, and I'm, I'm excited that you're excited, Alf. I just, I don't want to be the guy who's always just like, Ooh, like I got this cool thing, you can't see it. Ha. And so, um, so I'm gonna try not to do that. That's my, that's my

Elf: new, that's my new oath. Yep. No, I hear you. It's, it's always the, uh, dilemma that we are in, but, um, okay.

So yeah, I just wanna talk about something that could possibly be the most, um, how do I wanna put this, uh, game changing thing that will happen to forgotten ruins this year. Um, and of course I'm referring to the arrival of the Warriors. Uh, this is going to be a very interesting event, um, and it's probably going to transform the community by how much I don't know yet.[00:36:00]

Um, and furthermore, I imagine that many wizards, uh, will want to play the role of warrior as well. I I imagine you'll want to switch in and out of that, uh, depending on your mood or inclination. Um, but I'm very curious how the dynamic between the wizards and the Warriors will play out. Um, what I'm hoping for is that we see a lot of parallels between the, uh, or, or parallels to the, the traditional trope of the Wizards and Warriors dynamic.

Um, so in art and literature, uh, the wizards were generally established first. Um, they were usually the wise elders with deep knowledge of lore in history. Um, and, and so, and I see this in our own cult, um, you all have been here for a very long time. You're well established, you're well versed in all the ways of the [00:37:00] cult.

Um, you all are the originators of the lore. You all began world building before anyone else. Um, and so also in art and literature, um, often a young naive warrior will come bursting onto the scene, swinging an ax, and, um, stealing the spotlight. And, uh, I'm really curious how the cult is gonna handle these newcomers.

Um, will there be drama? Will, will there be tension, uh, or will there be camaraderie? I'm sure all three. Um, will the, uh, will the wizards mentor the warriors, uh, will the warriors through sheer brute force dominate the universe? I don't know what the future holds, but I know it will be interesting. Um, I know that this new faction coming to the universe is going to be significant, and so if you, if you as a wizard feel any sort of apprehension about this, the best [00:38:00] advice I can give at this point is, Lean into what makes you a wizard.

Lean into the genre, lean into the role play. Lean into the exclamation point. Magic being a wizard was never easy. Wizards live for thousands of years. They see ages come and go. They see new alliances, new enemies, new paradigms, uh, and the best wizards endure all of it and become wiser through it. And so the arrival of the Warriors will be a real chance for you to show your true hat colors.

And, uh, we at Magic Machine will be there in the background doing what we can to world build around this to, uh, encourage alliances, teamwork and collaboration. And I think you'll find, um, as in the whole history of this genre that the alliance of. Brains and [00:39:00] bran swords and sorcery, mite and magic is extremely powerful.

It's an unbeatable and often triumphant pairing. Um, N F T projects are all about community. And so what happens when you build a community based on this timeless classic archetype because the, the arrival of the warriors might, is inevitable. And, uh, and the wizard's response to this, I hope will be magic.

So, Doda, what do you bear, what do you, what do you guys think of the, uh, the arrival of the Warriors is going to bring with it? You know, one of the things I think

Dotta: a lot about is structuring the drop in a way that kind of like achieves the right goals. Right? So the, the like, sort of headline one that kind of gets thrown around is this idea of like, well, I, we really, really want to do a TV show.

And TV shows are super expensive. And, and even just because you like have the money [00:40:00] doesn't necessarily mean that you are guaranteed to get it. But of course the money makes the conversations a lot easier. But it's, but like, just making as much money as possible is like, surely not the goal here, right?

The, the goal is, is really to kind of like reinforce the community. To attract builders and attract like creators and to attract storytellers, right? The warriors drop just like ponies and flames and souls before it is really like storytelling tools for storytellers. And so trying to think a lot about how do we build, how do we structure the drop so that like, creative people can come into the cult.

So, you know, I think one of the things we've tr tried to think through is like, is there a way that we can have, you know, wizards play their, um, like wizarding shepherding role to bring in people who are maybe don't have an N F T, but they're a creative person, right? Is there a way that we can draw in artists in a way that is like, um, affordable [00:41:00] or, uh, even free, but then at the same time, like doing that in a way that's structured, principled can't be gained.

So I think you'll be hearing more from us about that. Um, but then at the same time, also curious to hear ideas. You know, I, I, you know, I wanna make a, a system where, You could have someone who's an artist who wants to contribute cult content, um, who might be able to get a warrior for, you know, cheap or free, but at the same time, balancing that in a way that's, um, you know, fair to everyone and, um, achievable in terms of time and does can't be gained.

And that's not like grinding for a contest. I think balancing all those things is, is, is something we're trying to be really thoughtful about. But, um, I'm, I'm, I can't, I'm really excited to see the lore that comes into this universe from

Elf: this other half. Yep. Same. Yeah, it's, uh, it's, it's a necessary, um, side to, uh, to this, I guess archetype.

Um, you just, [00:42:00] the, the warriors are just, they're, they're totally necessary in, in my opinion, for this, for this world to feel well-rounded and complete. And, um, I th you know, I think it's gonna be really interesting, you know, if, if there is drama, I think it's gonna be interesting drama. Um, You know, I don't think there will be that bad, but, uh, you know, if, if there is, it's just like, have fun with it.

Again. Like lean into the fantasy, lean into the archetype, lean into, um, the genre. It'll, uh, I don't know it's gonna be, it's gonna be really interesting. And I, and I know that, uh, at Magic Machine, we're gonna have our hands full, like trying to build this and manage this in the most interesting world building way.

Even

Dotta: just practically in terms of the community, I've already thought like, well, do we, do we create a channel that's like wizard holders only? You know, how do we think about that? On the one hand, it's like, yes, that lets the like, kind of OGs stay, um, stay within their own group [00:43:00] of people that they know.

And like, if there's all this new noise from a new drop, then people can kind of stay within their own little shire. But at the same time, You know, the wizards are the people who set the culture, and if they just like withdraw to their white tower and they're not like exerting their influence on the rest of the community, then that lets the, like, you know, the newcomers shape the community in Yeah.

A different direction.

Elf: And so yeah. That's a tricky, tricky, no, that's, that's exactly right. Um, I, I imagine both of those scenarios could easily played out, play out. Um, I imagine they both will simultaneously and, and if they do, I think that's gonna be interesting. Um,

Bearsnake: I think like the, one of the, there's two things that are really interesting to me.

One is, um, like the identifying, um, thesis behind, uh, different archetypes. Like you're talking about, like some people just, some people love wizards, but they don't identify as one. They wouldn't call themselves. They can't see the themselves as one. [00:44:00] Um, and, and with warriors, some people just, I feel like it, it, it, it allows people to step into our world and our community in a way that maybe makes them feel more comfortable that, that, that, that is more representative of who they are.

Um, and again, like I think there's a lot of types of warriors. Not all warriors just use brute strength. Um, and so I think, I think it, I think it gives op, it opens more doors for people to walk in, in an organic way. Um, and then secondly, something that I think will always remain true and is, and is certainly right with the Beasts, um, and the warriors in any drop we do is that it it's not, and I think this is the beauty of being in a genre like fantasy where um, you can introduce other characters, uh, and it doesn't feel forced.

It actually feels completely necessary. You were saying that aright, like it's necessary to have warriors in a world of fantasy. Just like, [00:45:00] it's completely necessary to have magic and that magic stemming from, from Warriors. And so this drop both with the Beasts, um, and with the Warriors, the reason they exist is because it makes sense and because it moves the entire world forward, the world building, they're big, big giant steps for us.

And it gives us, and it gives the coal so much more to play with it. It's more clay on the wheel, it's more, um, you know, puzzle pieces to put together. And so that's, to me, it's like, it's, it's, it's not, we're just not doing it to do it. We're doing it for a reason. And that's, that

Elf: gets me really excited for sure.

Yep. Speaking of world building, let's, uh, let's shout out some cult content. There's been some really good stuff. This week I shared 18 tweets in this space. Awesome. Uh, yeah. So right at the top, Our, our man Oz, with just an amazing pixel painting, [00:46:00] um, with, uh, my friend's art, uh, called The Last Wizard Wednesday.

Um, you know, and you just, just look at all the little details. Like, I looked at this image for a good 10 minutes and I, I found all these like, fun little details. It's got Marie Lavoe in it. It's got the video ghost. It's got, um, they're serving Jelly Donuts at the last supper. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I, I love the, the unicorns and, uh, the little hummingbird sitting on the, the Gold Bowl staff that I ju it's so many fun details.

Yeah. Um, Oz is just always turning out great stuff. Um, and then, uh, speaking of another great, another legend, Dr. Pavlovsky. With, uh, with a really horrifying mushroom head. Um, I, uh, I, I love how he said, who says, uh, fungi heads, you had to be cute and innocent, and he's got like a really monstrous one. Um, so that's, that's a cool new take on the, on the Fungi heads.

Um, and then, [00:47:00] um, minimum wave dot eth, uh, with this really cool, uh, Uchi, a print inspired, uh, illustration of, of his wizard. Um, I think it's, uh, made by somebody named Haha Robin zero zero. Um, and then, let's see, uh, acid eater dot eth did this really cool one called, um, consumer of Cosmic Toxins, uh, commissioned by Clara Am.

Um, I, I love the, uh, the skeleton wizards wearing the, uh, the rainbow hood. Um, it's just such a cool combination. And then, um, Tim Smith. Holy crap, dude. The Billy's gonna get you action figures. I need, I need some. Yeah. I, I said, dude, are these real? And he said, yes. And um, yeah. So these might be the first like official forgotten rooms, action [00:48:00] figures.

He has my address,

Dotta: so I'm waiting. Yeah. I've got shipments from him before, so let's go.

Elf: Yeah, no, they're so freaking good. And, and then he did one of the total void of absolute nothingness. Oh,

Dotta: I just love it so much.

Elf: Yeah. Yeah. The Billy's gonna get you, um, sub F or whatever you wanna call it, is just looking really freaking cool.

Yeah. We're gonna need shelf space

Dotta: in hot

Elf: topic for these. Yeah, totally. Totally. Um, yeah, so awesome job, Tim Smith as always. Um, and then, uh, and then, uh, the Dark Ripple posted a, uh, a voxel version of Magus, Devon of the quant quantum downs. Um, really cool stuff. Uh, and then there's a, uh, there's a new Twitter account called Forgotten Spells, uh, F R W C spells, and I don't know what this account is, uh, but they posted a really cool animation of the ma, the [00:49:00] book of magic, like opening and flipping through the pages.

Um, so yeah, I'm gonna follow that account cause I, I feel like they're gonna start dropping some really interesting stuff. And then, um, and then it looks like, uh, legend Maps is, uh, gonna integrate Wizards somehow. Um, I don't know anything about it, but I saw that we retweeted it, so, yeah.

Dotta: Yeah. I think that they're looking at, so Legend Maps is working on building out there game a bit more.

And so they're, they're integrating with a few different projects and I think, uh, they're trying to standardize kind of the attributes from the incoming N F T projects into the Legend Maps model. And so I think some wizards, you know, I know a lot of wizards. I, I probably have a dozen legend maps, um, hold le a a lot of wizards hold legend maps, and so I think some people are helping them work out those stats, so, looks really fun.

Elf: Yep. Yeah, legend Maps has such a cool look to it. Um, yeah. Oh, and, and by the way, I think we have two lore readings today, so if you're scheduled to read lore, um, just [00:50:00] put it in a request and we'll bring you up. Um, but, but yeah. And then I wanna give some more shoutouts. Um, o ex Cosmo, uh, again, the Pony Animator.

Uh, did the super cool, um, animation of, uh, Druid Crowley doing this like fire spell. Um, it's just phenomenal. I, I love it so much. Um, and then, uh, oh, chemical imbalance did this amazing mural on his wall. Um, I think it's like a life size mural. It looks like it might have taken like a week or more to paint.

Um, but man, it's awesome. It's got his shroom wizard, uh, on a pony. It's, it's just really well done. Um, and then, uh, two Crows has just been number one, he's been dropping all kinds of amazing illustrations, um, of his Wizard in the Crow. Um, And then, and then, yeah. Did you guys see that, uh, that gold key that he made [00:51:00] like a real life gold key?

So good.

Dotta: I don't even wear necklaces and I want to wear

Elf: that. Yeah, that's exactly right. I don't wear jewelry, but I, I might have to wear a gold key. It just looked gorgeous. Um, and then, uh, and then retired yield farmer, man, this artist that retired yield farmer has just blows my mind. Like everything I see come from this person is just stunning.

It's uh, yeah. I love this style. It's got this like vintage anime look to it. Um, and, and every time retail yield yield farmer shows me a new piece of work. I say the same thing. I say, let us have this artist.

And he is like, no, it's this artist belongs to me. Um, so Donna, we might have to, uh, make this artist an offer they can't refuse. Yeah. It's like open

Dotta: source project, closed source [00:52:00] Rolodex. Like when you find a good artist,

Elf: you know, you sue each other if you try to use it. Yeah, exactly. Um, so yeah, yeah. Retire yield, farm yield farmers just really turning out some awesome stuff with this artist.

I, I, I mean, I, I just can't say enough how much I love this, this work. Yep. Um, and then, uh, there was, um, two memes this week that really made me laugh. Um, So stupid there, there was one by Ferrell of the Untamed, and it's just a picture of grimace and it has forgotten beast on it. Grimace from McDonald's. Um, pretty stupid, but I laughed.

Um, and then, and then chemical imbalance again did, uh, a funny one of, um, a wizard with a pipe and she's talking to Snoop Dogg and she goes, what a token, uh, Snoop Dogg says For shi my wizzy.

So, yeah, [00:53:00] I, I think I might do a, a weekly segment, whichever meme makes me laugh the most. You guys can, can do, do one as well. Um, but, but yeah, I, I think that might be it for the cult content. Oh, I, uh, Matsui Magus Devon, uh, uh, posted this freaking amazing handmade plushy. Um, that I, I don't know who made it.

Um, it, maybe it was Brad that made it, I'm not sure. Um, but did, did you see the plushy data? I love it. I shared it. It's up here. Okay. Awesome. Awesome. Yep. Cool. Um, yeah, always lots of great cult content. Um, you guys are what makes the cult to cult. Um, do we have our, uh, lore readers up yet? Uh, we have sizzle up.

Hey

Cult Member: guys, there's, there's sizzle.

Elf: Okay. Hey, welcome. [00:54:00] Thank you. Welcome.

Bearsnake: Yeah, excited to be here. Um, I had initially, uh, was supposed to read some lore, like back in the day when we first started doing some wizard, Wes, um, wizard, wed Wednesdays, that's the word. But, uh, we had run over content, so I figured I'd, uh, try and make up for it a little bit now.

Um, great. Yeah. I've got a cobal, right? Um, Part of the horde. So when I initially did my, uh, my lore piece, um, this was, this was back before the Great burning, so lots happened in, in real life, but also in, uh, with, with my dude, my dude is, uh,

Cult Member: my character is, uh,

Bearsnake: the, uh, shadow Mej Nixi of the Riviera. He's participated in the Great heist.

He's joined the Milk Guild, and, uh, he is got a couple ponies and some friends. And, uh, this has all happened, uh, that I've been intending to include this into the Lord, but I haven't done it yet. So I think I'm just gonna hold off at this point and read what I had from, uh, from the beginning.

Elf: Quick, quick question.

When you [00:55:00] say the Great Heist, are you referring to the, uh, the Big Potion operation? Oh, yes. Ah, legendary. Okay. Awesome. So I've got, what is your wizard's number?

Bearsnake: Uh, that would be, let me don't check that. 3 4 67.

Elf: Awesome. Awesome.

Bearsnake: Yeah. So. My wizard's been busy, and, uh, we'll definitely have to update the Lord with some more of the new happenings.

But, um, I'll read what I got and, uh, you know, I feel like it's a little inadequate compared to some of the other ones I've heard

Cult Member: recently, but we'll do this.

Bearsnake: All right. Um, this is the lore of Shadow Maj Nixi the Riviera. Many moons ago, shadow made Nixey settled in the the Riviera. Despite his best intentions of staying secluded in the shadows, he still managed to make a name for himself throughout the land of wizards and magic.

While many know of Shadow Ma Nixey the Riviera, [00:56:00] ironically, not many people know much about him. He settled in the Riviera one day is re is a respected member of the Horde, travels the roads with Bella. His bliss cat has some sort of connection to Saturn. It is one of the few wizards to possess

Cult Member: a bone staff.

Bearsnake: While Nix often keeps to the shadows and doing cobalt things, he does enjoy visiting his friends, Artis Ver

Cult Member: Jabbar of

Bearsnake: the Steep and Alchemist, Aiden of Avlon, where they enjoy some mis mischievousness and friendship. And, uh, that's all I've got. Like I said, a lot more to update. Um, but I actually, the two, uh, wizards I named in there were actually my buddies that got me into this project.

It's my first nft. Absolutely loved the community. Happy to grab the, uh, the wizard that I, that I minted and, uh, just wanted to honor them and, uh, represent that we were friends on chain. So that's kind of the, uh, thought process

Cult Member: behind what I have so far. [00:57:00]

Elf: No, love that. I think that's great. I, I love when, uh, wizards connect with other wizards through, through their lore.

Um, and, and I love how you said, uh, when you mentioned his room, you were just like, Hey, he is got some connection to Saturn. Yeah. You know,

Bearsnake: the, the wonderful thing about this project is I just don't know where it's going yet, but the, there's a lot to it or like there could be to it, so I wanted to keep it opened.

I'm, I'm pretty logical like that. Like, I don't like to, I don't know, I guess I could be more of a storyteller, but I, I want more of the community to reveal things and for it to take shape before I really start putting specifics down. Um, but yeah, I, when there was an opportunity to do that, the potion, heist, um, you know, I was all about it.

So I. I'd love to partake. I think there's more people that are of that same mindset. Uh, maybe that's why they've, um, you know, neglected to, to do some more, uh, deep dives on their lower. But now that we did a vote and, you know, maybe we can, um, it won't be necessarily permanent. It could be [00:58:00] hidden and things like that.

Maybe more people will take the dive and start doing it. But I, I love it. I've actually wrote much more extensive lore for another wizard I had that I actually burned. So I did like a pre burning and post burning lore. And then, uh, also working on one for one of my ponies. Um, all the ones I plan on keeping long term.

So

Elf: kind of cool. Yeah. Great. Cool. Thank you. Glad you're having fun. Thank

Cult Member: you. Absolutely. Thanks guys. Appreciate it. Sizzle.

Elf: Um, is the second lo reader not here? Yeah. No, it's red robot. He's here. Oh, red. Oh, there you are. Yeah. I don't wanna assume. Hey guys. Hey. Hey.

Dotta: Awesome. So I'm gonna read the lore for Hydro

Elf: Maner Hudu.

Um, it's actually my second Dream master. Um, my first dream master was how I got into the project, and it was, um, it's funny, it's actually a, a good introduction to the culture of forgotten wizards because, um, you know, it was actually a wizard that [00:59:00] Tad bought 30 seconds before I hit purchase. And he was, um, he was kind enough to, uh, sell it back to me.

Cult Member: Um, good old tad,

Elf: good old tad stand up guy. Um, and for reasons we won't get into that Dream Master, uh, had to then move on a few months later. Um, so when I saw an opportunity to get a second Dream master, uh, I had to jump on it. Um, and you know, I, I sort of spent a bunch of time with this lore. You know, I, the first lore I wrote was for a Rogar Canis, and it was kind of this like puy.

Actiony thing. And I, and I started down the same path for Hydroma Hulus and it just wasn't sticking. And I kept coming back to this,

Dotta: this sort

Elf: of strange combination of a cat who's a sun cat and a hyman. Uh, and something there kind of felt like he needed to be explored. Um, but a story wouldn't come. And so then I did a thing that I'd never really done before, which is write a poem about it.

Um, and [01:00:00] that's what I'm gonna read.

Cult Member: All right, here we go. So,

Dotta: hydro

Elf: manser, Hutus and his sun, cat, hydro, manser, Hutus, and his sun cat. An unfortunate, familiar, you see water, magic and felines rarely mix, let alone an undomesticated solar creature. Hymans had a sun cat. Oh, how it his in fear the major's. Liquid dreaming often ascended.

And a drip or drop fell near. Tus had a sun cat. And so an epic quests was born, a desperate search for a long lost spell to wash the purple eye cat for Lauren Hymans had a sun cat. Together they traversed the dream till they cornered a wise old sage who had a surprising answer for the team. Hydra Manzer Hutus had a sun cat, and at last he had succeeded A daily petting regimen and some tasty treats was all the sunny civic needed.

And that's it. Cool. That is great. [01:01:00] You know, you know what I love? I love the wizards that have these built in conflicts. These built these two things that should not belong together like a hydra maner and a cat. And not only a cat, but a sun cat, the, the one creature that would not want to be with a hydro manser.

I thought that's funny. Yeah, that's that's great. You know, it's, it's fun cuz like, A lot of like, um, traditional storytelling wisdom will just tell you that, um, where there's conflict, there is story. And that's, that's pretty much all you need to tell a story is just some kind of conflict. Um, and so Hydra Manzer Huen has Sun Cat.

Definitely have some, some deep-seated conflict, and I hope they, I hope they work it out. Um, thanks. Thank you. Uh, Dota Lock. Do we have anything else? I think that's it. Yeah, think so. All right. Um, well [01:02:00] channeling out from the Quantum Downs, this has been El Doda Lochness. Hydro Maner Hoods and his Sun Cat

Cult Member: Sizzled the Cobal

Elf: and bear

gn everybody.

It's getting tragic when I cannot do anything wrong. See me.