So beautiful, I want to ship this. :D

There could also be privacy settings to permit/deny access to player specific data via APIs.

Are you talking long term, or short term here? Long term (after CoE went into Exposition), I'd love if they release API(s) and might even be interested in using them myself. Short and mid term, I'd much prefer if they set everything aside and focus entirely on getting VoxElyria into shape and ready for KoE (persistence). Nothing is going to get you more customers willing to chip in and pay then having a working product out, displaying that you can deliver on what you promise. Which is even more crucial now that they rely solely on crowdfunding and have to be tight about financial resources.

It might help to get specific about what capabilities one is wishing to create a UI for. If it's something that SBS does not see as threatening its control over the game or players' experiences or advancement, then it is more likely to be a saleable idea. In general, providing a general API to third-parties risks vastly increasing the frequency of exploits.

I had a thought that an offline blueprint maker, as brought up in another current thread, might be acceptable, but then had the thought that an offline capability could (1) bypass or overdo player advancement for creating blueprints, and (2) allow blueprints into the game that were beyond the limits on structures or devices that the game allows.

So it goes with almost any third-party tool. The burden of testing any tool to verify an absence of exploits would necessarily fall on SBS, and it may not be within their scope of effort to be able to do that at this time or any time in the future.

This was addressed in at least one of the QnAs. The Discord Soul-Chamber also has a post from Caspian about their planned Companion App which sounds like a modified version of KoE. A search in Discord for "from: Caspian#3850 API" will show a little more info about their Web API being released along side the Companion App.

Not exactly what your asking for, but as close as I know on the topic.

Dareus - 12/16/2017 @Caspian If you have time for another random software question, do you envision our scripts for offline characters being able to call out to external systems? For example, can I call out to log events such as each time someone enters my shop.

Caspian - 12/16/2017 We will provide an API you can use. When you receive events, you can use any object or function in the API.

Dareus - 12/16/2017 The API is for my script to use?

Caspian - 12/16/2017 Yes.

Caspian - 12/16/2017 No. But we will likely provide a separate web api for that.

Dareus - 12/16/2017 Sorry, just making sure I understood the answers there. There would be an api that an external system could call into in order to monitor the current state of your character (at discrete time intervals)?

Caspian - 12/16/2017 @Dareus No. Sorry, im typing on my phone so my answers aren't as thorough. Opc scripts run on our servers. They subscribe to events they care about by registering handlers. When a handler is called, there is an object provided that you can use to query the environment for branching, as well as commands you can invoke to queue up opc actions. For example, you can be notified when you become tired, hungrey, bored, etc... when a task finishes, when someone approaches you.... Your scripts determine what your opc does in response to the event.

Dareus - 12/16/2017 np, that makes sense. I am impressed that you are attempting to chat about it over your phone. I think I understand (generally) what the OPC scripts are doing. Event driven programming with actions following the API you provide

Caspian - 12/16/2017 Your opc is effectively a state machine, where your scripts can be used to change state, set targets, etc. Its the same system we use for npcs With some restrictions.

Dareus - 12/16/2017 I think you also answered my other line of questions which concerned whether I could write code that ran somewhere else that either monitored my character or provided further information to my state machine. And I think that answer is no.(edited)

Caspian - 12/16/2017 We will likely provide a web api for external tooling. But it will have a different set of features. I think you are correct. If i understand what you're asking.

Dareus - 12/16/2017 Thanks for the answers. They make sense. It would have been interesting to see what other additions people might come up with, given an external API, but I can definitely understand that it also would open up another level of things to support.

Posted By Blankwindow at 1:33 PM - Thu Jan 25 2018

Caspian - 12/16/2017 We will likely provide a web api for external tooling. But it will have a different set of features. I think you are correct. If i understand what you're asking.

Sweet.

I too had some questions about what might be possible from the OPC side of things. In my case, I would have a REST API server that my OPC could make GET/POST/UPDATE/DELETE requests to.

My thoughts are, I could have my (mayor) OPC sitting around waiting for other characters to come and initiate a conversation. One of the options that he would present might be something like "Remind me later" -- The OPC would take the message, pass it off to my REST API via a POST and then my server could pass the message off to me via an Email or a text message.

Another thought is, my (retail) OPC would be able to keep track of his inventory and pricing history by communicating with the REST API. He would then be able to adjust his prices up/down based on demand and availability of various resources.

If I'm understanding the discussion from Discord correctly, it does not sound like this sort of thing will be possible. I would be very interested in hearing about Caspian's thoughts on what would be possible via the external tooling API.

It would be cool if it was similar to the Eve Online API where you can create multiple API keys with different permissions for things like verifying your guild or alliance to gain authorization to a voice server or website. An api for guild chat would be cool so that mobile apps for chatting with guild members while you are at work.. er not at work.... or an official mobile app like Rift made.. WoW too I think. Another option is the ability to hook into a twitter account for guild alerts or other alerts similar to what Wurm Online does where you configure the Twitter connection in game. May as well throw in an SMS or Jabber alert system that guildmates can subscribe to. I hope this is not too much to ask for but at a minimum it would be nice to have the API's to make that stuff happen.