Never paid attention to Champions Online until today. Seems that they finally got what an Hero MMO should be about: Permanent interactions with other players.
I never really got into CoH/CoV because you group for the sake of leveling (the objective doesn't matter) and PvP seemed so far away from me poor casual player.
From what I understand, the availability of PvP and zone scenarios seems to be close to an FPS like Quake Live than a real MMO. Add the possibility to waste countless hours customizing your hero and you got me in.
At least, I'll take a look! Seems like the gamer in game is waking up after being dead for about 2 years!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
I will have a busy play schedule
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
So I went back to SWG for the free veteran trial...
... and saw nobody on my old server (Tarquinas). I did all major cities, cantina and big player cities and saw nobody. I never ran into anyone. I'm sure there's still some people there but when I checked, it was bloody empty.
Since it was free, I decided to hang around a bit, see what happened to this game I had great fun in. Checked the server and Starsider load was "very heavy" so I went there. Started a new character and did the whole tutorial to get to level 10 (think I skipped some missions at the end though).
That's when I got into space that I really had fun. This expansion was the best IMHO. So out of the tutorial, I went looking for a Scyk fighter with higher mass than the one I got from the tutorial.
Oh god... This server might be active but surely not as much as it used to be. I visited over 30 ships vendors and never found the chassis I was looking for. In fact, I never saw a vendor with much chassis in it. I could have respec my level 80 character that I brought back from Tarquinas to a crafter but honestly, I'm so far behind now and never crafted any ships so that's when I knew I was done. I just wanted to have some fun in space but it's kinda hard when you're stuck with the newbie ship.
Still, my little experience in space reminded me how much fun I had there. Now I think I will renew my space flying experience soon. Well, at least when Jumpgate Evolution is released. Yep! I will "try" to play an MMO again! Not much for the social aspect but for flying in space and try a bit some PvP.
I guess I could also reinstall Tie Fighter or X-Wing Alliance but honestly I don't have much fun to only play against the AI. It's like playing Unreal Tournament with only bots. It's not as fun as you know the computer doesn't swear when it gets fragged. :)
So I'll probably start to do some reading on the game, get in the mood and see if I can manage to find some minutes here and there to play while working on Golemizer. I really need a hobby so that might be it.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
First tournament in kdice
Finished in 7th place.
Not too bad considering the last game I was splitted all over the map. Didn't last 3 turns. Hard to do anything that way...
Just 1 position too low to make any points. Too bad. Better luck next time I guess.
Friday, June 26, 2009
What should I be working on next
Seems that adding quests created by players was a good idea considering that CoH and now SWG are doing it...
Now if I could only come up with something that AAA titles could copy...
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Learning from Eve Online
Yep!
That made me thought of a new "unexploited market segment" for Golemizer: The only game you can play at work if your boss has cut Flash from your PC!
So if you're stuck in a cubicle with nothing to do, Golemizer is for you!
Seriously though (hmm, but I was serious!), it shows that if you believe in what you do and put a lot of work that there's some chances you'll be able to reach your goal.
There's no point cloning things you can't do as an indie developer. Instead, you should stop for a minute and think why you decided to go indie in the first place. You might found out that you decided to make games because you didn't find any game that was fitting what you were looking for.
Well guess what, you're not alone and not everyone will start to develop their own game! So there's a market for us. It's up to us to grab it.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Steampunk MMO
If you're intested in steampunk MMOs (beside Golemizer of course...), Gatheryn is now accepting beta registration here: http://www.mindfusegames.com/index.php?option=com_user&task=edit
It seems Steampunk is getting more love from MMOs recently. Of course, it's all coming from Golemizer... ;)
The one that is the most freaking me out is Neo Steam from... Atlus Online. Atlus... Dr. Altus... Of course, when you mess with the latin dictionary, there's some chances you come up with similar names... And I swear, when I decided of the name Dr. Altus for Golemizer I wasn't aware of Atlus Online.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Learning about the past to understand current days
Following this story for some days now, the result is this new wiki about MUDs.
MUDs are not something I ever been into, mostly because I was unaware of their existence at the time I could have been interested by them (and the lack of internet connection didn't helped...) and that now I'm happy just reading about the subject.
Worth to take some time for neophytes like me in the subject.
In other news, I finally installed the trial for EVE Online. I'm completely lost and I like it. Current goal is to slowly understand the basics. I did managed to get a new ship and a new turret (but forgot to buy ammo...). Might take more than one trial to be able to "learn it" as my play time is somewhere between the time I stop working on Golemizer and going to bed, which is about 30 minutes.
Don't look for me in there, this is currently just a casual experiment.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Player created quests in Everquest
But Golemizer did it first! ;-)
From what I understand, the system isn't opened to everyone and players had access to dev tools? (or they just provided the ideas and it will be coded by developers?). Anyway, it doesn't seem to be integrated in the game.
Nice try Sony, but you're not quite there yet! :-P
Of course I'm just teasing (but who? anyone from the Everquest team reading this?!). I just think it's nice that this kind of features are appearing in big games.
Source: http://www.massively.com/2008/12/18/handful-of-player-created-quests-come-with-updates-to-everquest/
Sunday, October 26, 2008
SWTOR: Lurking around
I've been lurking around some boards related to SWTOR and I'm not sure if it would make an interesting subject for social analysis or if it's just depressing. I'm talking about every "I hope there will be X", "What would you like to see" and "If it's not in it, I won't play it" posts.
Of course, everything here just concerns those actually posting on those boards which is, as we all know, only a minority.
When I was young, Christmas was a special day because I didn't know what was under that tree. Sure, I had wishes and made a list but I knew that I wasn't the one making the final choice. Now, maybe it's a bad impression, I often see kids that expecting to have THAT gift otherwise they will go into an unstoppable rage... and their parents are letting them be the little kings.
A lot of posters seems to still be dreaming of a pre-cu/pre-nge SWG, but better. Well, they're free to dream of it but it's just not going to happen. That's not the game Bioware is doing. Whine all you want, you're at the wrong place. Nothing bad wishing this but SWTOR will not be a pre-nge Star Wars game. Why keep fighting against it?
Others are applying their "Dream MMO wish list" to this game (just like they do to every other game). If it doesn't fit their list, then it's obviously a stupid game not worth anyone's time (yes, because their point of view must be applied to everyone else...). There's nothing bad "hoping" some feature will be included but often, they go nuts about it.
I often said that the comments screen at logout of Golemizer was a wonderful tool to keep in touch with players. Well, it also bring some waste of time. For example, I'm receiving comments like "It would be cool if you could be a magician", "Hey, why not add some cool swords with special power", "Would be better if it was 3D" and such.
Is it so hard to see that Golemizer is NOT a high fantasy setting, it is browser based and 2D? I mean, there's plenty of games fitting these requests, why change Golemizer into a clone? A car is a car, why try to make a plane out of it? A chocolate cookie is made of chocolate, why try to turn it into ice cream?
"Well if you don't do X I won't play your game"... What can I answer to this! (I know clearly what to answer btw but don't feel wasting time going into a debate about it) Pay me a full salary and I'll make you the game you want! No big deal... Or better, make your own game like you want it. I'm not the first one to have done this so it can obviously be done.
Of course, it's nothing new. The same happens to every game, I just happen to follow a bit more SWTOR. The good side is that even if the game is the clear opposite of what most of these posters are wishing for, they will still be playing the game. Heh! I saw this over and over while I was playing SWG. People were angry, kept posting how much they hated the game but still had 2-3 accounts they were paying for.
I tried World of Warcraft, didn't like it. Does it mean it's a bad game? No, I just said I didn't like it. Is posting around how better it would be if X would be done would help? No, there's obviously many people enjoying the game as it is (no matter what you read). It would be cool to be a jedi in WoW, but that's obviously not the point.
As for me, I'm a bit more open about the development of Golemizer. Since there's no team of writers and 20 coders around me to help, I let players be more involved in the development in the game and try not to mind much when one miss the target by 2 miles.
Bah, everytime this pop into my mind I think I useless it is and forget about it. Well, had a hard weekend and needed to change my mind so here is this post.
As for this project, no details will be released until open beta! ;-)
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Star Wars: The Old Browser
ok, I get it... I need to update my browser... Well, according to the new Star Wars: The Old Republic website.
I should get a new computer in the following weeks (I swear I have suffered enough of using this old crap I still dare to call a computer). I guess that by the time this game is released that it won't be powerful enough to play it.
The good side is that by then, maybe I'll actually have some time to play a MMORPG... And yes, this time, if I actually play, I'm going for the glowstick. And yes, if I play, it will again be really roleplaying. First because I enjoy it and second because I'm bad at anything that sounds like Pv... anyway.
I said that for SWG as well and ended up roleplaying a sociopath psychotic ranger turned pistoleer turned medic turn bounty hunter. Sure it was fun but there's a little something about that glowstick that I'd like to try.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Interview with Gene Endrody on Freetoplay.biz
If you're interested to learn a bit on where my inspiration comes from for Golemizer, there's a nice interview with Gene Endrody on Freetoplay.biz that shows the path he followed.
His story prove that even if you're not part of a big studio, there's still place for independent game developer on the MMO scene. His success has been a major inspiration and a big boost of motivation while I was working on Golemizer for the last year.
I don't know if I'll ever be able to achieve half of what he did but at least it's telling me in a way that with patience and hard work, one can hope for the best.
Here's the link to the interview:
http://www.freetoplay.biz/2008/09/16/austin-gdc-day-one-video-interviews/
Saturday, August 16, 2008
The Escapist goes Indie
Well, it's from issue 161 (august 5) but it's just now that I had a chance to go through all the emails I was pushing back in my inbox. There's a nice article about Kingdom of Loathing. You can read it here.
Now adding a donate button doesn't seems like a bad idea...
Monday, June 30, 2008
Big change almost done and programmer type
It turns out that using dynamically compiled VB.NET code is easier than I thought. Using some nice tutorial, I've been able to quickly rebuild the engine and did some improvement on how the threads are handled. Now the longest part is to convert all the LUA code to .NET, which is almost finished. Beta server should be back online this weekend as planned.
While working on Golemizer, I had to rethink more than one system, figuring out they were too limited or performed too badly (after release I plan to write a post about this).
When I face this kind of situation, it often seems like a huge mountain across my path but mostly end up being quickly resolved. Without sounding full of myself, I'm sometime amazed how "painlessly" I'm able to turn a system upside down to transform it into what I really need.
According to this post from Joe Ludwig, I'm probably of the Workhorse type. In some way, I think I would have never got that far without being of the workhorse type. I've been working on this project for 1 year now (part time, night and weekend) and I'm just about to hit release.
Of course, if you go read that post, you'll see the downside of the workhorse type and I fully admit it. I never considered myself like a "top of the line" coder and my desire to get things done sometimes lead me down to some dark places. In my case, the destination matters most than the path taken. I do "like" coding to some degree but I don't code because I like it. I code because I need it. Creating is what drives me, not programming.
However, knowing my weak side, I also know to be careful. Otherwise, if I mess it up too bad, it will be an hindrance to my first objective, creating. Creating something that doesn't work well ain't any good for me so I try to be careful and try to get away from the keyboard when I'm about to do something silly.
To the Workhorse, add some Explorer too. While I did work on 2 other browser games, Golemizer is a whole different matter. Remember, my background is web site development/business data software so I was miles away from what a (mini) MMORPG requires, though that didn't stopped me to search, learn, try and do.
Once again, that Explorer side is goal driven. No need to get dirty if it doesn't get me what I want. However, if needed, I'll jump in the mud and learn what's needed to get it done.
Some may think applying "tags" to yourself is a bit oversimplifying one's personality but I find it helpful to describe yourself to others and mostly to yourself. Most people won't admit it but knowing yourself correctly is not always an easy task, just for the fact that you might not have the right words to do so.
Those words, as generic as they may be, may help to know what can and can't be done. What's within your reach and what will end up just being another project left for dead after so much hype.
Now, back to work! It ain't over yet!
Monday, June 16, 2008
Looking to buy someone else's time
Eve Online, Pirates of the Burning Sea, a trip back to SWG... Wish I had more time to visit those games.
And the following trailer is enough to add Vanguard to my list:
http://www.vgwalkthroughs.com/page/guides/4
Sigh... I'm feeling like a kid in a candy store with no money in his pockets :-(
Saturday, June 14, 2008
So I'm SEKA
This kind of test doesn't really tell you anything new, just give you a title to brag about and seek other people like you.
Here's my result:
SEKA players are usually very interested in the the 'total experience' of a virtual world--meeting other people and finding the unique places within it. They don't care much for PVP or levelling, but meeting up with online friends to see new parts of the world is usually fun and exciting.
Breakdown: Achiever 13.33%, Explorer 73.33%, Killer 40.00%, Socializer 73.33%
Well, the test got me right. One thing I don't understand though: "The game that has the highest proportion of people like you (SEKA) is Unreal Tournament."
Well, I played Unreal Tournament for quite some years, beating everyone at the office (to the point where they wouldn't play with me again... sad story). But then I stopped and tried later and had lost all the speed and reflex I had. I'm getting old I guest? Never liked the addition of vehicules anyway... InstaGib forever!
So, what "letters" are you? Go take the Bartle Test to know.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Javascript awesomeness
I can probably learn a thing or two from this Super Mario Kart in javascript: http://blog.nihilogic.dk/2008/05/javascript-super-mario-kart.html
Read More......Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Sharing data
Strange but interesting timing here.
I planned tonight to work on the data I'll make public for the game. This data will provide state of the world that will show how good/bad you're doing compared to other players.
And then this link popped in my RSS reader: http://www.burningsea.com/page/news/article&article_id=10707
Pirates of the Burning Sea has an interesting article about how they handle data sharing. I'll probably pick a thing or two from them and apply this to my own system.
Monday, March 10, 2008
What kind of D&D character would you be?
As posted on Zen of Design. I'm not a fan of those random waste of time but since I've been for a long time into D&D, I've been pushed to do this test. Guess it's a nice way to salute Gary Gygax that passed away last week.
My alignment result (lawful neutral with true neutral just 1 point behind) also match the alignement I was mostly playing back then (loved my War Wizard of Cormyr).
My result (and link at the end)
I Am A: Lawful Neutral Human Sorcerer (4th Level)
Ability Scores:
Strength-11
Dexterity-12
Constitution-11
Intelligence-16
Wisdom-17
Charisma-10
Alignment:
Lawful Neutral A lawful neutral character acts as law, tradition, or a personal code directs him. Order and organization are paramount to him. He may believe in personal order and live by a code or standard, or he may believe in order for all and favor a strong, organized government. Lawful neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you are reliable and honorable without being a zealot. However, lawful neutral can be a dangerous alignment because it seeks to eliminate all freedom, choice, and diversity in society.
Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.
Class:
Sorcerers are arcane spellcasters who manipulate magic energy with imagination and talent rather than studious discipline. They have no books, no mentors, no theories just raw power that they direct at will. Sorcerers know fewer spells than wizards do and acquire them more slowly, but they can cast individual spells more often and have no need to prepare their incantations ahead of time. Also unlike wizards, sorcerers cannot specialize in a school of magic. Since sorcerers gain their powers without undergoing the years of rigorous study that wizards go through, they have more time to learn fighting skills and are proficient with simple weapons. Charisma is very important for sorcerers; the higher their value in this ability, the higher the spell level they can cast.
Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)
Thursday, January 10, 2008
My new favorite game as a non-player
Since there's only 24 hours in a day, I have to make choices where to put my time. Unfortunately, this currently means that I'm out of all interesting MMO out there and the only game I still play is Dicewars for 10 minutes just before going to bed.
I often talked about how Eve Online was fascinating to me but I guess my heart is now set on Pirates of the Burning Sea.
I've been lurking this game since... well, since the website opened. Now that it's ready to go live, there's some neat things over there like this PDF, which is a preview of a game guide. Reading this preview I feel like I was 16, reading over and over the D&D books for hours to build my next character.
Recently, I discovered Joe Ludwig's blog. Wish I knew about it before. Reading about others' experience on releasing games is quite interesting. It can only be good for me, taking some tips here and there.
One of the reason why PotBS is now my favorite game as a non-player, beside interesting mechanics, is how close the devs are to the community. The process of building a MMO being never really finished (since it's always evolving), I believe you really need to be close to your players to know some success.
I've been following this approach with CT and now I can say I wouldn't have been able to get to this result without the help of others. Here's the words of Mr. Ludwig for this post: "Some things don’t change when you go live. Communicating honestly and frequently with your community remains essential ... Of course keeping them involved in your decision making process is just as important in beta as in live".
This is the same reason why I've set my choice on a new VPS hosting provider. I'll go with SolarVPS because I've read only very good things about their customer support. I'll probably pick the managed service just because I really hate to deal with weird Windows issues. I can handle the coding and database but when it comes to network, that's not where I shine.
Even if I'll pay more than I would have with 1and1, I'd rather pay more but have good service than stay cheap and be left in the dark because of poor customer service.
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