A new dev diary has been posted on Massively from yours truly.
For some reason, my blog editor won't let me insert the link (icon is greyed out - bastards!)
Here's the document location on massively: http://www.massively.com/2009/07/09/star-wars-galaxies-dev-diary-let-the-pvp-battles-begin/
I'll put it up in my archive section later on. :)
The battlefields have been complete for about a month, now. I'm finishing up work on new droids for SWG.
Other than that, I had a little anonymous debate with someone about MMO's part in the future of gaming. It was a fun debate and I'll look at collecting all of the thread and posting it here.
I've been busy working on a new system for SWG that I've neglected my blog altogether. I know only a few people read this blog, as I haven't posted it out publicly.
The new system I'm working on has been published by SOE as a PvP battlefield system. I've done many PvP updates in the past, but this is an entirely new system. A battlefield requires many moving parts. The main parts of the system missing are (per battlefield object):
1) Tracking who wants to play
2) Tracking who is joining
3) Tracking who is playing
4) Battlefield statistics
The above list seems simple. The devil is in the details. I'm over 4000 lines of code, not including datatables tracking objects, game rules, and map modifications. I expect I'll spend four more weeks finishing up and fixing bugs. After that, I will spend some more time blogging and doing pet projects on the side (XNA 3.0 is really fun to play with).
Some years ago...2003 or so... The lead designer on Ultima Online at the time (Tom Chilton) left to go to work at Blizzard. Meanwhile, I was working on getting an unannounced project prototyped at EA. Once he left, I took over the design documentation for the project and did design, server programming, and art for the project. It was crazy to have so much responsibility and exhilarating at the same time.
I knew friends and family beta opened up for WoW that next summer, but I refused to ask Tom for entrance into it. I wanted to be pleasantly surprised by the game, as Blizzard had never let me down (and still hasn't) with a game. I finally caved in and joined beta later on towards the end of the summer.
I've played in a couple guilds, did 40 man raiding, and so forth. I've been playing and making MMO's for so long, but WoW really has a good bit of what I like in a game. My last geared character was some years ago, though. I didn't bother with heroics in Burning Crusade due to my newborn son, at the time.
Now that I have some time, I've been raiding three times a week with my guild. I know my character is not where I want it and that my build is not the top DPS for PvE, but I like the build I have. I finally got a lil sword that I've been drooling over for my character's appearance (not to mention its stats). Just have to say "thanks" to Scalebane for putting up with my shit for so long. I'll have more shit to sling in the future.
| The duel list: | Character: | Notes: |
| Street Fighter 4 | Blanka | SF4 got a 95 metacritic for the PS3 version! It can't be wrong, can it? I've been playing to see if I can get back in my Blanka groove. Strangely enough, I can now throw fireballs and dragon punches on this version. Maybe the controls were harder on previous versions.... |
| Everquest 2 | Driss | I switched to a server with a lot of SOE friends. I had to tweak the game to get antialiasing functional, since it doesn't have video options for it. Once I got AA working, it's looking a lot better. Although, I'm so used to stylized textures that the game's art direction annoys me. |
| Left4Dead | Francis | Francis hates everything. Especially zombies. I giggle a lot when I hear the erie music harbinging a zombie rush. My favorite moment was watching Brunhylda's body fly by (Scalebane guildie from WoW) after getting punched by a tank off the roof of the hospital. |
| Fallout 3 | Vault Dweller | Excellent graphics. Excellent world. Interesting targeting system. A nice duality of good and evil paths you can take. I might try to finish the storyline someday after I finish the oodles of hours finding stuff in the world. |
| Dwarf Fortress | Dwarves | Dwarf Fortress is an ASCII based game that is constantly being developed by one programmer. It has a large fanbase and can be modded to have graphics. I play this game to try out different RTS strategies that no other game can provide. If you can stand the horrible interface, you'll realise that this game is a gem. |
| Stronghold Crusader: Extreme | A crusader | This game really is extreme and niche. It's only for the hardcore RTS player. Its graphics are dated, but if you think you're hardcore - think again after trying the first map. |
| World of Warcraft | Ruy | PvP'ing it up... |
| Civilization 4: Beyond the Sword | Julius Ceasar | I've been playing Civilization for as long as long as the series has been out. There's no need to put it on the dead list, because I never get tired of it. |
| Supreme Commander and Supreme Commander: Fragile Alliance | Any side | While Company of Heroes is micromanaged and small, Supreme Commander is massive. It is definitely an evolution of real time strategy, with its many interface improvements. It ranks as one of my favorite games of 2007, so far. The expansion is riddled with bugs, though. |
| Half-Life Counterstrike: Source Engine & Team Fortress 2 | Hanse | I play on random servers. Mostly, tfc_2fort for TF2 and dust maps for CS. |