Test your reaction speed!

Yeah... I rock. Can you beat me?

I wonder if I would score better with a wired mouse vrs my wireless... I have a bluetooth mx900 so I'm not sure that I would but who knows.

300 - Mount & Blade Style

THIS IS SPARTA!!!!!!!!!!!!


Mount and Blade just rocks. If you haven't tried it, go over to Taleworlds.com and download it. The innovative combat system is amazing and its being developed by a husband and wife team. Archery is by far my favorite but the spells in HeronBlade are pretty sweet too.

I bought the beta because its that good and they give you free upgrades! WOOT!

Anyways playing JUST the game is a blast but then you can MOD the game. Each mod is a self contained world and you can have 100s of mods all at the same time and select which one you would like to play when the game boots. This is the 300 mod, but they also have the guantlet mod, wow mod, craft mod, historical battle mods etc etc. I have fought orcs, skeletons, zombies etc etc.

Anyways check out these screenies and YES YOU CAN RIDE the RHINOS. (People keep asking me that. lol)

An Immortal

Me riding a rhino

Sheer Carnage

StarCraft 2

StarCraft II : http://www.starcraft2.com/

The videos are mint, as you would expect. There are some protoss units to preview but since Starcraft 1 still reigns as my all time favorite RTS, SC2 has some big shoes to fill. Needless to say... I feel ecstatic about their progress. Blizzard has finally leveled up. ;)

For an elaborate example check out this Developer Gameplay Overview: http://www.gametrailers.com/player.php?r=1&type=wmv&id=19827

22 Mins long and quite intense. This is surely a game to keep one busy.

Update: Gamespot Video

What you will see:

• Zerglings: MASS ZERGLING Attacks! These beasties are back and can now mutate in the field very quickly to green hued exploding Zerglings. While slower this allows them to take out larger targets.
• Mutalisks: Are in, but not much is revealed. Pictured in the video and they look awesome.
  
• Protoss Ability: Units can teleport anywhere where they have power. (And they get a new unit that allows them to set up power anywhere even without a pylon)
• Protoss Zealot: Definitely in, with a new charge ability which allows them to close to melee distance very quickly. Also graphically overhauled for the new engine.
• Protoss Immortal: Looks like the new dragoon. When hit by heavy weapons though a special forcefield activates which allows them to take very little damage.
• Protoss Colossus: An Amazing unit that takes out small unarmored units very quickly. It can also step up and down and over terrain gaps.
• Protoss Stalker: A unit that can Blink instantly a short distance away. Ideal for catching units that are trying to flee.
• Protoss Pheonix: Air Superiority fighter meant to deal with smaller ships. This thing can overload which fires at all units within range but then becomes helpless for a short while.
• Protoss Warp Ray: The longer it fires the more damages it does. (Sounds silly but its damage increases exponentially the longer it focuses on one target making it ideal for dealing with heavily armored units or buildings)
• Protoss Mothership: WOW. It can time warp, SLOWS DOWN ALL PROJECTILES, It can make a Black hole which sucks in all fliers or it can attack the ground obliterating everything in its path. You can only have one and it runs out of energy after the use of 1 or 2 powers. (It recharges)
• Protoss Phase Prism: Mobile Pylon. It can fly about and then deploy to power things anywhere. Awesome for teleportation or fast base expansion.
  
• Terran Reapers: Dual Pistol Wielding, Jump pack equipped Marines. Awesome for hit and run.
• Terran Siege Tanks, Terran Ghosts, Terran Marines, Terran Battlecruisers: All featured but not much is said about them.
• Terran Nukes: You do get to see three nukes go off. Awesome.

Release Date: 10/1/08 (Its a guess but its based on EBGAMES)

Blogged with Flock

Well I beat the flash game!!!

That Flash Game is a RTS Game that is actually pretty cool. The game is called Sea of Fire and I think they did a pretty good job capturing the essence of current RTS games. This is in stark contrast to games that were remarkedly better, games like Age of Empires 2, Rise of Legends, Age of Mythology and Starcraft.

I would imagine Starcraft 2 will break the mold as well. Anyways this game was a lot of fun for what it is, I enjoyed playing about 30 skimishes in addition to the campaign.


Heres the codes (Bad Guys):

• c1e80
• c1ec0
• c1fc0
• c1fc2
• c1fc3
• c1fe3
• c3fe3
• c3ff3
• c3ff7
  

Heres the codes (Good Guys)

• 4000c
• 4001c
• 4001e
• 4001f
• 4003f
• 4203f
• 4243f
  

technorati tags:flash, games, gaming

Blogged with Flock

RTS Flash game rocks

Pretty cool flash game. I beat on hard but medium seems to be the most fun. Its real time strategy! Woot!

You can try it here: http://fpflashfarm.com/FB49PFBFFKJ42BF/13888_seaoffire.swf

hahabeatonhard.bmp on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Permadeath Poll for future MMORPGS

Take a moment and read this to get a feeling for what I mean when I say permadeath and for what each system means.
http://shawn-gaming.blogspot.com/2005/03/permadeath.html

Permadeath is perfect for gaming? Every year Baseball gets their stats reset and try to fight there way back to the World series... And not every team is winner is it? There can be only one. Same with hockey, football etc.... By current game rules the logic goes if the yankees lost the World series they should get naked, have a time out and goto the locker room and come back ready to rock for another go at the world series.... When people lose THEY LOSE. Game OVER. The system Baseball uses now is almost EXACTLY what people are asking for in game. Think about it because it paradigms almost as well as boxing.

Like baseball there should be a short ramp up in terms of skills and a refocus of the game on actions. You can have a game with a progressive leveling system and a stuff system but you surely can't design the game to revolve SOLELY around that. If you do, you get wow... I guess there's money in it but to me its just a commercialized remake of the last game with no substance and nothing worthwhile to do. I had a max toon before and lots of stuff... you got something else to offer besides new graphics and classes?

Even the AI among games is the same.

People love it, they make millions for giving you a shiner model every few years with no innovation. Some of us want to get back to the CORE roots of the game and innovate and redesign it for the masses with a focus on the game and not all the focus just on yourself, your stuff and your level.

Think of the treadmills at your local gym... Now paint one blue and call it wow,
another green and call it eq2 and another brown and call it daoc. Some are newer
and have different levels of incline and various speed levels but their all
treadmills and players walk all over them ignoring all the shiny features after
the honeymoon and work on walking as quickly as possible to get them and their
avatar in shape.

These games, quite frankly, suck. The show a lack of imagination and exploit the honeymoon period as a way to sink the hook and reel your mastercard in. It works as a business model, but MMORPG is supposed to be filled with gamers who expect more then the last game regurgitated and reconsitituted as the New Coke. Even leaving permadeath aside, the industry has not innovated anything new since UO unless you count 2D to 3D and the two games that feature voice chat lol.

I expect more and Im passionate about getting a new game to entertain me before Im dead.

Does a Permadeath MMORPG Interest you? YES! Yes, if done correctly I'd try it, esp if they had a free beta. No Free polls from Pollhost.com

Which Permadeath System do you like Best? PDoT: Subclass A PDoT: Subclass B Ironman: One Life No Ressurection Ironman: One Life Ressurection is Ok Watch your Step - No Rollover Watch your Step - With Rollover 1up System (See Comments in permadeath post) None. I have my own permadeath system. (Leave a comment describing) None. I hate permadeath of all kinds. Free polls from Pollhost.com

If you want more background I have another post here:
http://shawn-gaming.blogspot.com/2005/05/damion-schubert-and-permadeath.html

Can you guess?

The chick from house.... Sawyer from lost... Mr Foreman, Lando from star wars....

(And more)

Suffice to say I think I have found some new entertainment. Any idea what it is?

Mwahahahaha...

Har Har

And they possesed Ranger Power

My first Dragon run

My guild and I ran the dragon raid. They actually run it all the time but it was my first run. No... We didn't kill the dragon. The second group that went that night did however. Here is some pics:




 

Wow. Project offset!

As you all know I follow Project Offset quite extensively... if you don't know wtf Im talking about check these: http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_projectoffset_videos.html

Their latest video is incredible. It may finally be the dawn of a new age in gaming. DDO brought voice chat and PO may bring the rest.

On a side note... I want to try this out so if your bored give me a call and we can try our first game together... Google Maps RTS, sounds cool: http://s173754370.onlinehome.us/endgame/news.php

Simple Randomization for DDO

So I've been thinking about how DDO could simply and easily introduce some random elements into a quest. Lets take a very simple quest you can get out of the Leaky Dinghy called, 'A Matter of Protection'.

Here's three 'versions' of the same dungeon.



In All Versions:
When you enter the quest you will end up in ONE of the versions above. Which one is random. (Lets say a 33% chance for the top two and 34% chance for the last one)

Now as we know now there is a chance in all versions that Boss will spawn. This boss is accompanied by some DM flavor text and if killed spawns a chest.

To alter this slightly... There is still a chance that a boss will spawn but 3 different bosses are now possible. The named one will still spawn as normal but the next two random ones are 'Bandit Guard' and 'Bandit Captain.' Because they have generic names that still fit the quest we can do some cool things. We'll set their stats and skills and feats but lets randomize the race. For now we'll say the Guard is specialized in Piercing and the Cap't is specialized in Crushing. All three will produce a chest if slain.

The chest that appears will now be randomly trapped. 10% of the time it will have a trap. If it does have a trap there is 20% chance of a fire trap, 20% ice, 20% acid, 20% electric and 20% sonic. The DC of disabling the trap has a base of 10/15/20 (For Normal/Hard/Elite) and will have 1D6/1D8/2D4 added to it. (Random DC) The damage the trap will do would be 3D4/4D4/5D6.

In the Top Version:
This version is very close to the original. There is now a 10% chance the collectable is trapped. Trap generation is the same as above but the base is 2 lower for each difficulty setting.

There is also a 25% chance that a floor spike trap will appear. (Denoted in the graphic) DC and Damage generated as above.

In the middle Version:
There are Two waves of 8 bandits and two crates to protect. There is an optional objective to also find a hidden lever and use it which will Stoneskin one of the crates. So players would see:
Optional: Find the Arcane level to Magically protect One of the Crates.

There is also a 25% chance per trap that those traps will be there. These would be floor spike traps (Denoted in the graphic) DC and Damage generated as above. So there is a chance there would be 1,2 or no traps when a player entered that instance.

In the last Version:
There is an extra chest. It has a 50% chance of being locked and a 50% of being trapped. There are still the two possible floor spike traps as well. This one also has a pool with a statue. 2% of time instead of being water in that pool, there is acid.

So pretty quickly we have made 1 always the same quest that has a chance of spawning a boss into close to 20 different possibilities. 3 possible level designs with many seemingly random features. This would GREATLY increase the replayability of the quest and please veterans and new players alike.

DDO TWF. How good is it?

Well, it looks pretty damn good. Essentially your trading a bit of armor class to be able to get DOUBLE the attacks.

1) The difference between Improved TWF and Greater TWF (and the further in
the future Superior TWF):When standing, by default, your first attack when
standing still is right hand only, your second is a double attack, your third is
right hand only, your fourth is right hand only, and your fifth (which you can't
get to until the level cap goes up a bit) is a double.Improved TWF makes the
third attack a double; Greater TWF makes the fourth attack a double, Superior
TWF makes the fifth a triple (two attacks with right hand, one with left).

So... With Regular TWF you get 1,2,1,1,2 with max attacks. So if you get 3 attacks a round, Regular gives you 4 attacks.

With Improved you get 1,2,2,1,2 with max attacks. So if you get 3 attacks a round, Improved gives you 5.

With Greater you get 1,2,2,2,2 with max attacks. So if you get 3 attacks a round, you still only get 5 but 9 overall compared to regular fighter at max level who would only be getting 5.

And with superior you get 1,2,2,2,3 with max attacks. So at max level you pull off 10 attacks to every 5 of a regular fighter.

Stormcleave... Mortalitas.

My fighter character in action...

Very challenging adventure this is.

:)
 

Yep... Soloed 200 Kobolds at Level 3.

Ok I died once.... But lets see you make a level 3 toon that can solo this hehe.

 

Attrition

I have started development of a new text based game called attrition which is loosly based on the concepts of Risk and Go but set in a medieval fantasy based time period.

I am not working alone and will keep you apprised. My original goal was to develop this game solely on my own and with freeware software... Sharp Develop and MySQL.... But I soon discovered the Sharp Develop does NOT do web application and I cant find a freeware app other then notepad that does.... MySQL though seems to be top notch and I will use it going forward. I have teamed up with a few people and as I make progress will keep you posted.

BF2 Special Forces

BF2:SF is coming out on Nov 23rd. Just in case your wondering what I've been playing lately. Hehe.

Reality and MMORPGS

Things have been crazy lately in the Real Like MMOG gamers world. Here is a list of some of the crazier things:

Having PKing in game made illegal in real life:

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=25146

Getting arrested for deleting your boyfriends characters?

http://techdirt.com/articles/20050120/105218_F.shtml

Getting arrested for taking someones items in game and selling them on ebay?

http://games.slashdot.org/games/05/08/18/1...?tid=123&tid=10

Dying in real life for spending too much time in game?

http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=0.../1628216&tid=10

Having REAL world advertisements in game?

http://news.gaminghorizon.com/media2/1123547880.1894.html

Or having confirmation that the secret blizzard project is NOT starcraft 2 but is in reality some lame add on for WoW:

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=25405

What is a MMORPG?

Wikipedia defines a MMORPG as:

A massive (or massively) multiplayer online role-playing game or MMORPG is a multiplayer computer role-playing game that enables thousands of players to play in an evolving virtual world at the same time over the Internet. MMORPGs are a specific type of massively multiplayer online game (MMOG).

I'm fairly certain most people grasp what that means but lets look at two specific ideas based on this definition and make sure we're on the same page. Those two ideas are 'virtual world' and 'specific type'.

A virtual world is a computer rendered world where our avatars will exist and interact with. It is based on the specific type and genre and should encapsulate rules based on that. For example, a realistic modern day genre Military based game should have Air planes and advanced weapons but not magic. Just as a fantasy based MMORPG should probably have magic and various races but not fighter jets and aircraft carriers.

To continue though, lets look specifically at the specific type of a fantasy based genre and will go into more detail as to what a virtual world for that genre should portray.

1. Various races based on the historical lore. Whether that is entirely created from scratch by the developer or based on something like LoTR they should be there and accurate to the lore.
2. Magic also based on lore that follows (or in some cases) breaks the physics of the world.
3. The would should accurately portray the physics and realities of the world its rendering. (Fauna, animal life, temperatures etc etc)

Those three things are the essential principles one should stick to when designing and portraying a virtual world. Three things to worry about yet almost every game gets it wrong. Lets take a few examples from something every MMORPG fan should be able to relate too: LoTR.

1. In the movie when Gandalf was in trouble he couldn't use his powers of the mind or even magic to tell his buddies in the elven forest or gimli, legalos etc that he was trapped on a tower and needed help, but in the game you can.
2. Boromir DIED in the movie... in the game its impossible to die. (Other people died as well Lurtz etc, but in game no one dies)
3. When Frodo went into a tavern no one screamed Hey theres Frodo of the Fellowship of the RING!! HE HAS THE ONE RING! BANZAII! Instead he was able to hide his identity simply by lying. (Until that fool of a took opened his mouth that is) In game everyone knows your name and guild etc etc.
4. In the movie terrain hindered movement (except for legalos) in the game it does not.

Lets stop there as we could obviously go on and on. But these are the ones that concern me. In a virtual world all characters do not have tell. It breaks immersion and ruins the flow of the game. This is not a Massive online chat room and we shouldn't treat it as one. Magical means to communicate, messengers or birds are all acceptable ways to communicate and imagine an in game tavern actually having a purpose. (Waiting for friends to arrive) Also I think Next Gen MMORPGs will start to implement in GAME VOIP communication which will help a lot for people who read or type slowly.

Secondly MMORPGs never allow avatars to die. A slight unconsciousness or a black out occurs. You can't have a meaningful life with death. See my permadeath post.

Thirdly Floating names and instantly identifying people who are purposely trying to conceal their identity is a problem. UO featured a few ways to hide your identity and then every game since has dumped the feature going for more all seeing accountability and less realism.

Finally the terrain in a virtual world should hinder players. If its cold you need a jacket or you die. If its hot you need to get out of that platemail before you go trouncing through the desert for 120 miles by foot. If there 20 feet of snow your going to need snow shoes or your going to walk VERY slowly.

To conclude, any game that thinks their game is a MMORPG should start with accurately portraying the world their trying to create and not just take the last world and try to haphazardly recreate it. Developers today are adding web browsers, telnet clients, guild/clan/world chat and other features that should really clue in a player looking for a RPG that their game is not going to be it. Developers are losing touch with what a RPG is probably distracted by stupid issues like Kill stealing or ninja looting. Issues which tie up development time and were never a problem to begin with. If someone kill steals, kill them. Its not a problem in games that don't feature some hokey alignment system.

IMHO any game currently out that calls itself a MMORPG has forgotten what a 'MMORPG' was supposed to be. (And most of the future games with few exceptions don't get it either.)

Damion Schubert and Permadeath?

Damion Schubert has been visiting the topic of Permadeath a few times this year with distaste on his blog.

In one blog entry he posted the futility of discussing the topic on any forum for a MMORPG. The conversation that ensues is VERY predictable and I think he does a pretty good job of summing it up.

In yet another entry he questions other issues like: Why the need for Permadeath surfaces in the MMO genre and no other? Why getting rid of high level characters makes any difference? He also predicts we'll never have a MMORPG that features Permadeath. *cough* didn't mourning just release? Ok so Mourning's idea of Permadeath is pretty primitive (And not really Permadeath) in nature and the game has overall sales totalling less then the number of keys on my keyboard but it is out there. (I didn't buy it) Trials of Ascension however is implementing a REAL permadeath solution: http://www.shadowpool.com

But lets first look at why Permadeath request only surfaces in MMORPG. (Ok so Counterstrike has permadeath already... Yeah, diablo hardcore.... Ok any strategy game on the market... But Age of Empires would be so much better if when you built your city it was always there when you began the next game.) But lets look at a few games that many cite as not having permadeath: Tribes 2 or Unreal Tournament (You pick the game in this FPS genre) All of these games feature permadeath over time. Look at what you start with: A Character. What can your character gain throughout a game? Points, Weapons, Armor, Strategy points, Flag Captures etc. Now when the game ends everything you've acquired throughout the game is gone. Your back to your starting point, with no points, armor, weapon and essentially reset. You just permadied! The same is true in the strategy genre, every building and troop you created and all the resources your horded are gone and your back to the beginning. In almost any genre permadeath exists EXCEPT MMORPGs and that is why the request is so often made.

In a MMORPG when you die, nothing is reset no matter how many times you die. It leads to boredom and a sense that your characters actions are futile. Sure you improved your avatar overtime but nothing else you have done means anything in that game world. Thats why when people relate to permadeath in a MMORPG they are so horrified. Without my avatar what would I have? In most games... nothing. That shows that there is a fundamental flaw in the game design. Damion even relates to how he thought about going back to SWG because his high level wookie armorsmith was there and were it not he wouldn't even consider it. I think that kinda illustrates his point of view... A player only has his avatar and building that avatar is the focus of the game. You can't expand much on the genre because of this flaw. Anything that could inhibit or prevent the basic concept of the game, improving your avatar, can't be implemented. If you do implement something that interferes with this core mechanic you have to make sure that disruption is minimal.

Yes you should be able to improve your avatar but that should not be the focus of the game. First of all its unrealistic, when Borimir died in LoTR he did not respawn in Rohan with half life and a death shroud and jump on his horse to rejoin the fray. Nor did Lurtz or any of the thousand or so Urak Hai or Orcs. Second it detracts from the excitement of the game, its tough to get ramped up over combat if death has no effect. Its simply a pointless exchange of blows to 'Test your template' or get a free ride home to reequip. (Or not if you had no items to begin with) Your guild will want to go RAID someone and the Guild leader would say Why? Ok we'll go do some PvP, We'll win or we'll lose and neither they nor us will be worse for the wear. Yey lets go. Third point, because the focus of the game is solely on improving your avatar then there is no point to anything that does not improve your avatar.

And why don't we want High Level characters staying that way forever? For alot of the same reasons we want permadeath but also to fully enjoy the entire scope of the game. The lower levels have a tendency to pass by very quickly and you could spend (Take shadowbane for instance) 10 levels in one spot and leave that area of the world never knowing there were other things to explore. (And why would you explore? The goal is to level your avatar as quickly as possible, if you have something that works then why change the next time through) Another point is high level people in a permadeath world will likely get much more attention and their actions in game will mean more. People who acquire fame will also acquire enemies leading to much more engaging political and social environment driven completely by the players. In the last permadeath game I played one character decided he was the King of the town. He then elected a Mayor and a govenor. Everyone thought it was fantastic. But then he decided to make some new laws and post them on the forums. (We had in game bulliten boards) This is when he started to acquire enemies. Now protecting, attacking ignoring the conflict was a complete player generated quest that was active for quite some time. Also the dynamics of the game would change when the core of the game does not revolve solely around improving your avatar. Currently Trials of Ascension seems to grasp at what a virtual world is and what simulating one will mean and the only one whose ruleset would convince me to try the genre again. Until then you can find me in BfME, Unreal Tournament, Tribes2 and soon exclusively in AoE3. (This is RTS3, This is RTS3 . . .)