Wizard Wednesday Recap, 2024-08-07
Introductions
As the team channel in from the Quantum Downs, Dotta kicks off the show by speaking about the Closed Beta Test for the Forgotten Runiverse Game.
Runiverse Closed Beta Test
He notes that team has achieved internal dates for the public build, but the launch date is not yet public, and says, "we have some stuff we're going to launch before the next build goes."
Dotta also says he was impressed with the Ronin team and community's continued support, noting that Jihoz jumped in and "played relentlessly," while also posting about the game on socials.
Crypto Twitter's Reception
Elf says that, "Crypto Twitter is not afraid to tell you if your game sucks." But says that he saw nothing but positive reviews come through his feed. Entropy chimes in to note there was critical feedback as well that has helped the team to locate rough edges—he notes this as a main reason for the Close Beta Test.
Elf says the team had a review with Bisonic after the Closed Beta, noting that Magic Machine had a list of feedback for them, but Bisonic already had basically everything on the list on one of their own. He says there's room for more features, and that he thinks the next build is going to be even better.
Globalization
Dotta says the globalization of the Closed Beta Test was interesting. He notes a map that he shared of player activity, noting that it was much more international versus the more America-centric Eve of Memory. Elf asks if it's true that Dotta only made it to Level 6. Dotta says that he made it to around Level 11, but was only Level 6 for the screenshot that Elf is referring to.
Dotta says that he tried to party up with high-level players, and they would accept his invitation because they knew who he was, but that the game is calibrated against "mooching off" more experienced players.
"I didn't get any XP."
@ ForgottenRunes
Entropy then takes a moment to announce a minor change to the company branding, noting that the Forgotten Runes twitter handle now includes capitalizations in a small move toward a general branding improvement. He notes that all former tags and mentions of Forgotten Runes will stay intact.
Cluny the Rat's Eyeland
Entropy also notes that the day's Wizard Wednesday is being held in tandem in Nifty Island along with the usual Twitter Space. He speaks to Cult member Cluny the Scourge's "Eyeland" with a nod to the free, Forgotten Runes assets that Cluny has made available for other Nifty Island users.
Cult Questions
Numbers For Runiverse Game
Elf then answers a question regarding numbers for the Runiverse Game Closed Beta Test. Dotta says that we will talk more about those kinds of metrics after the Open Beta Event. Dotta says that the Closed Beta was to stress test the servers more than the content in the game—as there is content that will be in the New Foundations Open Beta build that wasn't in the Closed Beta.
Elf asks Madotsuki if she will have to start from Level 0 again and work his way back up in the New Foundations build. Madotsuki confirms that players of the Closed Beta Test will keep their progress. He also notes that the Level Cap in the New Foundations build will be increased to Level 20. Mado also adds that the "Pity Roll" counter at the Font of Memory will also carry over—in reference to the free Seals of Tenure distributed for every user's 250th roll.
MeepleDad's Treasure Trove
MeepleDad then asks which plushies in the new Treasure Trove will be people's favorites—Litho or Bread Friend. Elf says he would have to see them first, but that's like asking him to choose a favorite child. Dotta points out that Litho has more lore. Elf reminds the Cult that the pre-orders for the Treasure Trove are live.
MeepleDad then joins to briefly speak about the Treasure Trove, noting that he's been working with Merlin from Muse and that pre-orders are available with both crypto and Web2 payment. Meeple mentions that Litho was originally the only plushie that was to be in the Trove until Feckless shared his Bread Friend plush creation, when he decided to reach out to Feckless to team up. He also notes that Feckless has a DAO proposal that will be up for vote to manufacture more of the Bread Friend plushies. MeepleDad says that Cult Members can see all the new content available in the Trove on He also notes that the first $1,000 raised by the Treasure Trove project goes directly to the DAO to continue funding more Cult Content.
Cluny Joins to Speak About His Eyeland
Cluny then joins the show to speak about his Eyeland, noting that Nifty Island is streaming video from his island concurrently with Wizard Wednesday in their Discord. Elf asks Cluny about the designs for the assets that he uses in Nifty, to which Cluny responds that he is a voxel artist who first creates the assets in voxel before cleaning them up in Blender and exporting them into a format that is usable within Nifty Island.
He says he is also working on a new "Hedge Wizard" style set as well as a modular medieval house set. Elf asks if there are any games currently live on the Island, to which Cluny says yes, and notes Nifty Island was offering Bloom giveaways for those playing.
The Lore Ranker
Dotta then speaks about his new Lore ranking tool / Random Lore explorer. He mentions past internal conversations about quality constraints within the Book of Lore, which generally turns into a discussion about the definition of Quality. He says that members can wallet connect to choose a preference between two random pieces of Lore, and after many thousands of pairwise rankings, the preferences can rise to the top and be used for airdrop snapshots, featured Lore, etc.
He says he would like to do a contest for top Rankers eventually, concluding that it is an experiment and if nothing else, it's a fun way to randomly browse the Book of Lore. Elf adds that this is just one tool planned for incentivization of quality content.
Deadpool & Wolverine & Solving For Continuity
Following that, Elf asks if anyone has seen the new Deadpool and Wolverine movie, stating that it has made him think about telling stories over long periods of time while keeping continuity. He gives the example that it's impossible to align Batman stories from the 50's with modern films or video games. He notes that most franchises have no issue with rebooting origin stories.
He moves to say that Marvel has taken a different angle with the multiverse, which allows them to recast any hero in any scenario that they want with a device that ties it all together. He relates this to Forgotten Runes.
The PolyMind CogniVerse
Elf says that Forgotten Runes is a metacommentary on the collective consciousness itself and he views it as a "PolyMind CogniVerse" where all contradictory realities exist simultaneously. He says to think of it not a some metaverse that exists out there in the cosmos, but rather within our hearts and minds.
Mux Joins From Rives .io
After the Marvel conversation winds down, Mux takes the stage to speak about Rives, which he says is like an on-chain retro game console. He notes that he spoke to Bill Gains and some other members of the community to get assets to use for a game jam with the platform. Dotta says that he loves it and that he loves the idea of game jams using the Wizard sprites and 3D models. Elf asks if the game jam would be mostly for people with coding experience or if no-code artists will also have a way to participate.
Mux says that he is not one of Rives' developers, but he believes that having a little coding experience is necessary for participation. Mux notes that there is a prize pool that includes $500 as well as some Warriors for winning participants in the jam.
Cult Content
As the show winds down, the team reviews the Cult Content Chronicle—art from the past week within the Forgotten Runes Community.