About Thangs: How to test new Equipment?

In general, I know that thangs can and should be edited directly on the website through the Thang Editor. I additionally know that those may be used in levels. I have inspected the Thang Editor a bit and assume that most equipment are Thangs.

For gear, I assume there is some special protections to make them not available to everyone before they are tested and ready. So my questions are:

  1. if I have an idea about gear, must I develop it with a local install?
  2. If so, are there particular process that must be followed other than a simple GitHub pull request?
  3. If none of these is applicable, what is the proper process for developing and testing new equipment?

Depends on the gear. It’s often the case that you can make a new Component that the gear will have, but then just give it to the Hero Placeholder in your test level without actually making the item ThangType. Or even take a test Component, like CastsTestSpells, and make your changes on that for testing. When it all works, we can attach the Component with the new skill to an item. (I need to control all the item creation so as to maintain a balance, so just talk to me when you have an idea for a new Thang and we can make it happen.)