We gave our players on Twitter and Facebook a chance to ask questions directly of the Failbetter Team. They sent so many excellent questions we've split the answers across a couple of blog posts. Here's the first.
Daniel Peter Turner-Chapman asked:
Do the mysteries surrounding Neathy history and life have solutions already mapped out? Can many of them be solved with the information presently available?
They do. Some - like why the Empress is called the Traitor Empress and why the Masters value echoes - can be solved with clues that are already in the game. Other mysteries hinge on secrets we haven’t revealed yet, but our players constantly surprise us with their ingenuity and scholarship.
No one's looking, right? It's just us? Then here's a hint of things to come. Some forthcoming content will reveal the truth behind one of our longest-running stories. We couldn’t possible tell you which one. But it involves the word ‘Jack’. And the word ‘Smiles’.
@Striketheviol asked:
Why is there still no content featuring the clearly universally beloved @Mr_Apples? Is this tragedy to be resolved.
Are you angling for a free jug of Hesperidean Cider, by any chance? If so, we admire your brazen attempt. Mr Apples is already in the game. Although it might not be obvious at first glance that it's him...
Branden Linton asked:
Is there genuine magic in Fallen London? If not how do they make Clay Men?
Without ’magic’, how do men and women make babies?* Clay Man are created by an analogous process. Perhaps you'll be able to see for yourself when the zee-routes to Polythreme open.
* This is a rhetorical question. Please don't send us diagrams.
George Parry asked:
When do you plan on adding to the ambition storylines, and do you already know how they will end?
We do - their endings are planned out. When will you see more ambition content? I'm afraid the answer is the same as for any other bit of content: 'as soon as we can - we're juggling priorities'.
Branden Linten also asked:
Are you guys ever going to finish Seeking Mr. Eaten’s Name?
We're going to finish all the content in the game, unless we die or go bust first. There are no abandoned threads: we want to tell all the stories, we’re really passionate about this stuff.
@pinstripeowl asks:
Were there any characters/plots/places you created having been directly inspired by a film/book/etc?
Direct influences on the Bazaar’s look and feel include Mervyn Peake, Lemony Snicket, Moorcock, Wilde, and Coppola’s Dracula. There's no end of in-jokes and references, too. Part of the fun is in spotting them, but you should keep an eye open for easter eggs about Freud, Eliot, Conan Doyle, Golman Hunt, Kipling, Swinburne, Machen, Ovid, Catullus, Roman poetry in general and the Sweeney.
We try not do do too many references to 20th and 21st century media, because we feel they're too distracting. Except for the Sweeney. Because it's the Sweeney.
I wanted to slip a Dirty Dancing reference into the Talk of the Town party ("Nobody puts Rubbery in a corner!") but thought better of it. Our editors are sharp-eyed, and imaginatively vengeful.
@Merusdraconis asked:
Were there any story concepts you couldn't pursue or scaled back because you couldn't represent it in Echo Bazaar's design?
Certain sorts of stories don't sit comfortably in our format. Specific moment-to-moment fiction doesn't work beyond a few careful frameworks. Big special effects aren't a good fit. Sure, they’re cheap when you render them as text, but they lack bombast.
Long-time players may remember our PvP subsystem: Knife-and-Candle. Our intention with Knife-and-Candle was always to have a competitive element that tied strongly into the narrative. We found as we went on that balancing a competitive multi-player game in an environment that allowed thousands of players, and tying it to story, is really hard. We still plan to bring it back - we’re trialling relevant ideas in the upcoming social upgrade.
C. J. Cornils asks:
Why is it called the echo bazaar?
It originally dates to a radically different game concept, but there is a strong and specific in-fiction reason for the ‘echo’ bit.
Scarlet Fenwick asks:
Will there be a continuation of the storyline that ended at the University?
Oh, all right. Because you asked so nicely. Content dealing with your return to the University is currently in development.
@Mr_Fingle asks:
Delicious darlings, what are your favourite cheeses?
I tracked down some delicious darlings, which took some doing, and their answers (in no particular order) were:
'Stilton'
'Vegan'
'Vacherin Mont D'Or' (oo!)
'Fourme D'Ambert' (oo-oo!)
And 'The runnier and smellier the better. I also like chedder.'
Oh, and one unprintable but sincere response which can best be summarised as 'Cheese is renegade milk'.
We'll be back with another batch of questions and answers soon. Next time we'll start with 'If it's not too painful to talk about, what was the biggest mistake you made with Echo Bazaar?'