Preston - Welcome to the first ever Stratics house of commons with the developer of Disney’s ToonTown Online! Tonight’s chat is an open discussion, so all questions are welcome.
Preston - Please send your questions to Preston by using /msg Preston <My question here.> Questions sent to developers will NOT be answered so please do not send them. You only need to send your question one time. Sending it multiple times will not increase the likelihood of it being answered.
Preston - We'll begin with a brief introduction from our guest and then proceed with the chat. Now would be a good time to send those questions to Preston!
TT_Greg - Hi, my name is Greg and I am the lead developer on Disney's Toontown Online.
TT_Greg - I'm in charge of all game development for the game.

Preston - *Trish* A few weeks ago, there was a massive amount of accounts put on administrative hold for alleged macro usage, and many of us claim to have never used a macro. Some toons called customer service and were told this was due to a bug in the system. Two questions: What caused this to happen, and are the flags that would've been placed upon these accounts now removed?
TT_Greg - Like most MMOs, we take cheats and exploits very seriously.
TT_Greg - The action we took a few weeks back was intentional and not a bug.
TT_Greg - Unfortunately, sometimes there will be false positives when we do a sweeping action like this.
TT_Greg - If you feel you have been wrongly accused, please contact Customer Service and we will make evry attempt to make it up to you.
TT_Greg - But the bottom line is: when the devs are looking into cheaters, we aren't spending time adding features to the game!

Preston - *[NF]Goune|Work* with the advent of DX10, will toontown be looking to upgrade or supliment its graphics engine, to take advantage of the new directX build?
TT_Greg - We are working to make sure we are compliant with both Dx10 and Vista.
TT_Greg - While we aren't working on a graphics update per se, I wouldn't rule that out in the future.

Preston - From Fraeulein_Trixie: How about the fact that they will not even acknowledge they have a problem with the game operating on a machine that is connected to a wireless network. No other game I play has had any trouble disconnecting when played on a wireless network. If I take out the wireless router and put back in the standard router, TT runs just fine. I have tried several brands of wireless routers too, so it's not specific to one manufacturer. Most players that I know of having cronic disconnect issues, are trying to play on a home network with a wireless router. Every time I report the disconnects I get the same canned response about updating my video drivers. I've probably reinstalled my video drivers 50 times in the past 6 months, just so I can say that 'yes, I have the most updated drivers for my video card installed'. I know everyone else that I've talked to with the same problems gets the same canned response. They won't even acknowledge that this is a problem. How can they go about correcting it if they won't acknowledge it exists?
TT_Greg - Online games like Toontown are particularly susceptible to network interuptions.
TT_Greg - I'm sorry you aren't able to play over your wireless connection. I can have our devs dig deeper into that one.


Preston - From DJMax: Why do we have 8 spots to plant trees? Does it mean that you will introduce lvl 8 gags in the future?
TT_Greg - We had to pick a reasonbale number of spots for trees.
TT_Greg - This is mostly due to space constraints on the estates.
TT_Greg - We aren't planning on more new gags yet, but (again) I wouldn't rule it out in the future!

Preston - *Abduhl2* will me and my girlfriend be able to play as minnie mouse and mickey mouse
TT_Greg - No, we currently are not planning on any such feature. The classic characters are very special and we'd like them to stay that way!

Preston - *Tubby* Has Toontown looked into any filtering to reduce lag? i.e. allow names to be turned off or not show sf chat from non-sfs
TT_Greg - We are constanlty optimizing the game for both nework performance and graphics performance.
TT_Greg - Due to the relatively simple nature of Toontown graphics we haven't felt the need to offer the ability to turn on and off features.

Preston - From Mister Snifflecrump: A previous newsletter said new trolley games are "coming soon". How soon?
TT_Greg - We are currently deep into development on the new Trolley Games.
TT_Greg - They look great!
TT_Greg - All I can say is expect them early next year.

Preston - From DJMax: Are the garden statues going to serve a purpose in the future? Why do we have the option to have several of one kind of garden statue when we can plant only one anyways?
TT_Greg - The garden statues were meant soley as decorations and a bit of a status symbol.
TT_Greg - They do act as bumpers for the estate cannon game though!

Preston - *BuzzBumpenzilla* Have the developers considered an "elevator attendant/ticket" allowing groups of toons to form a party and automatically board an elevator, to help fix the elevator jumping problem?
TT_Greg - We are actively looking into the "elevator shuffle" situation.
TT_Greg - You can expect to see some solution for this problem next year also.

Preston - *Holoduck* A large portion of toons cite that the JN requirements are so demanding and the CJ less exciting than other boss battles. Will these be taken into account for Bossbot HQ, and will it be more "fun" for more subscribers?
TT_Greg - We do have something quite different planned for Bossbot HQ.
TT_Greg - I can't go into any details, but stay tuned.
TT_Greg - I should also point out, that when new HQs come out, the previous ones will get easier.
TT_Greg - So if you are having trouble with jury notices, take heart!

Preston - *Libra|Tacos* What new features will be put into the game in future patches. Will there be a p versus p with perhaps bumper cars of death?
TT_Greg - So far we have announced more Trolley Games, another new toon species, and of course, you can expect Bossbot HQ!

Preston - *Lemonzilla* <I used to play with my friend on the old Toontown. I really liked the old style of Toontown Central, is the old Toontowncentral ever coming back?>
TT_Greg - We had to make th Toontown Central playground much larger to accomodate all of our players.
TT_Greg - Now it's much larger and easier to get around in.

Preston - *tinker* Is it really possible to fish forever and never catch them all?
TT_Greg - Well, the fishing system does have some randomness built into it.
TT_Greg - So theoretically it is POSSIBLE, but it's not likely =]

Preston - From Fraeulein_Trixie: I guess you can't give any advices on the quest for the 8-jellybean flowers? For instance if it is of any worth trying silver jellies at all?
TT_Greg - I can't offer any direct advice on the recipes.
TT_Greg - I can say, however, that the silver beans are good for statues. <wink>

Preston - *BigBusiness-TTC* My second question is this: Why did you change the vicory music for boss battles? Many of us liked the old music better.
TT_Greg - That was a call made by our music director. I'm sure it's a very subjective thing.
TT_Greg - But I will pass your feedback on to him...

Preston - From DJMax: Will there be official Disney support for the TTUK players Gathering in March?
TT_Greg - The international Toontown sites are run by another business unit.
TT_Greg - You will have to check the UK Toontown page for more info on that topic.

Preston - *Sheriff_T* <are stronger cogs going to be made since we have level 7 gags?>
TT_Greg - Bossbot HQ is coming!!! =]

Preston - *tinker* Any plans for a toontown attraction at WDW or Disneyland theme parks
TT_Greg - Actually, Toontown Online was loosely inspired by the Toontown area at Disneyland.
TT_Greg - Our first attempt at a multplayer game was Disney's Toontag.
TT_Greg - You can see that game at Innoventions at Epcot in Florida.
TT_Greg - It is the precursor to Toontown Online.

Preston - From Fraeulein_Trixie: How many players need to be in a district to make it appear red?
TT_Greg - That number fluctuates depending on server load and our release schedule.
TT_Greg - We are constantly tuning it to try to achieve a good experience for all players.

Preston - *Tubby* Whats with the name filtering system? What names are accepted or not accepted is inconsistent.
TT_Greg - The final name approval is done by human beings.
TT_Greg - While they have specific guidelines to work from,
TT_Greg - it is hard to guarantee that they will be completely consistant.

Preston - *Silly* <Any plans for making it so toons can put furniture outside on their estates>
TT_Greg - Yes, this was in the overall design of the garden system.
TT_Greg - It could possibly be a future expansion, but no promises. =]

Preston - *herb* why wernt the flower combinations changed from test. the testers have found 31/35 flowers, gardening on open has been so boring
TT_Greg - The gardening system was not on test long enough for them to discover that many recipes! =]
TT_Greg - There are still many more to discover.
TT_Greg - If you find gardening boring, perhaps you should another aspect of Toontown (like Karting)

Preston - *SirTom-TTC* There have been many complaints that players cannot get into popular districts to enjoy the benefits because of toons who are not even playing are filling up available space. Is there anyway you could remove players who attempt to stay on?
TT_Greg - This is the type of exploitive activulty that takes up valuable development time.
TT_Greg - Yes, we have made efforts to address this behavior and will continue to do so.
TT_Greg - activity*

Preston - From Fraeulein_Trixie: How many developers are working for Toontown?
TT_Greg - We have a msall but dedicated team! Many of us are also working on the new Pirates of the Caribbean Online game.
TT_Greg - small*

Preston - *Holoduck* Are there plans to restrict higher level DA Offices and the Boullion to suited toons? While some like to take their smaller toons in, the vast majority in active districts endure a great deal of grief by sadistic toons who deliberately disrupt things. People have quit the game over them.
TT_Greg - Yes, we have debated this before.
TT_Greg - It's a question of letting new toons see what they have to look forward to vs. preventing griefing the elevators
TT_Greg - We may very well change our position on this...

Preston - *Lemonzilla* <When you complete all the playgrounds are you planning on to make another map? Because I dont want it to end (also the person name Grace is really bugging me, she keeps private chatting me things..>
TT_Greg - We haven't really considered making another map - perhaps we will have to one day! =]
TT_Greg - If someone is bugging you, you shold remove her from your friends list.
TT_Greg - If that doesn't work try another District.
TT_Greg - If someone is repeatedly harrassing you, please report them to Customer Service.

Preston - *Tubby* any thought to giving Disney characters move of a role in fighting the cogs?
TT_Greg - Currently there is no plan to involve the Classic Caracters in battles. We'll leave that to Square! =]

Preston - That's it for this one folks! Thanks for joining us here on Stratics IRC, the logs will be up on http://www.stratics.com shortly. Be sure to come by next time!
TT_Greg - Thanks to everyone for coming and your great questions!
TT_Greg - See you in Toontown!!!