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Saturday, September 07, 2002
Forgotten World Update: The following was posted to the game's Forgotten News page: Sept 1, 2002 The server is up, hopefully this time it will remain up for at least a day. (The last time the server was up it would stop responding within 10 minutes of start, hopefully that is fixed now). August 30, 2002 Sunna has his server up though the game may not be accessable permanently. Visit Server 2 to check it out. Fan Site Notice:
Dominion Update: On September 5th, the game was "paused" for "debugging maintenance." Meanwhile, this ever-popular fantasy wargame continues on with one of the wildest forums on any Internet gaming site. TDZK Update: The following was posted to the TDZK "Changelog": Upgrade Exploit Added By: Hotaru On: 08/25/02 20:47:04 MDT It has come to my attention that there was an upgrade exploit. This has been taken care of, and if you click too fast on the upgrade, your money will be taken, but you will not receive the upgrade. If you don't want to risk losing your money, wait for the screen to load before clicking again. Quest For Yap Update: The following is a cut and paste job from the game's "Recent Changes" page: Here is a list of some of the more recent changes. This list includes changes starting on 5/25/01. This list is not as up-to-date as the bugs/updates page but I try to keep it fairly current. If I am doing a lot of work I will definitely upload this page. Okay, I’ve been trying to update this page more often now. Please check here from time to time to see what changes may have taken place. I will usually announce changes on the forums as well. KEY: Added: New feature added to the game. Changed: Balance changes, including ship stats, construction values, etc. Enhanced: Changes to the game to make it look better or add to ease of gameplay. Fixed: A bug that has been repaired. NPC: Something having to do with the NPCs I’m working on for the game in the future. Updated: Feature expanded for better gameplay and not falling under the Enhanced category. · 8/24 13:07 Changed: A single minefield can now damage both the shields and armor of ships entering the sector. · 8/24 13:04 Changed: Draco Merchant level upgrade requirement increased. · 8/24 13:00 Changed: Nuke price raised to 25 million, solar mirror 50 million, biomissile 200 million. We’ll see how this works. These weapons have gotten too powerful considering the immense amounts of cash available to most clans. · 8/24 13:00 Added: Guardian Upgrade at the Upgrade Center for Guardians. Increases minelaying by 50%. · 8/23 17:14 Fixed: The infamous attack bug has been fixed. · 8/23 15:59 Changed: Pirates can no longer pick up Yap from planets. They can still pick up other goods including colonists, however. · 8/12 17:48 Fixed: A couple bugs from the forum were repaired. Now, the “Next 10” link at the bottom of topics will only appear if there is another message to read on the next page, and the “Previous 10” link on the last page will go to the previous 10, not the beginning of the topic. · 8/11 10:25 Changed: Melee game time extended to 5 weeks instead of 3. Turn limit in Melee changed to 400. · 7/23 19:29 Updated: Minor changes in some places in the help files where I found information was outdated. I know I didn’t cover all of the outdated things, but I hope that the changes will help new players. The help files were so outdated in some cases, they assured players that it cost only 1 turn to move an entire fleet. · 7/22 11:29 Changed: In Melee, you now only lose 25% exp if somebody attacks and destroys you. You still lose 50% if you die when attacking. · 7/13 13:28 Added: Illusion, for Draconians. Illusion allows the Draconian ship to appear differently than normal. · 7/12 17:07 Added: Advanced Sonar Sensors to the Original game. Same as Sonar Sensors, but can see Advanced Cloak as well. Available in the Human, Krioni, Hyperion, and Draconian race houses. · 7/12 17:01 Changed: Defense Upgrade now costs 750000 and adds 250 max shields, 300 max armor. · 7/12 16:57 Changed: Neo Upgrade and Cloaker now give Advanced Cloak. · 7/12 16:56 Added: Draco Scanner added to Original for the Draconian Race House. · 7/12 16:55 Added: Draconians can now see separate “Colonist Rating” and “Defense Rating” on planets in addition to the overall planet rating. · 6/30 17:19 Changed: Yap Grenade, Sonar Sensor removed from Upgrade Center. Sonar Sensor will now be available at certain trader houses. Yap Grenades will not be in Melee for at least a short while until they are figured out. · 6/30 17:18 Added: Adaptor ship added to Melee. Adaptors start out weak, but as you level one up and purchase special upgrades designed for the Adaptor they can become very powerful. 2 upgrades of this type were also added. · 6/30 17:16 Added: Minelayer ship added to Melee. Minelayer Upgrade for Minelayer ship also added to the Upgrade Center. · 6/30 17:15 Added: Drone Farm ship added to Melee. The Drone Farm carries more drones than any other ship and is available to lvl 8 players. · 6/30 17:13 Changed: In Melee, you now lose 20% of your exp if you die to an autoturret. Also, the way you gain ship experience for killing ships was changed to depend on the ship killed. · 6/30 17:12 Added: Trader Houses added to Melee game. These houses move at the maint like the race houses in the Original game. All races can access the trader houses with a few exceptions. Some races might get better deals than others at certain houses. Along with this addition comes a handful of new upgrades and weapons, including some to enhance cloak, enhance cloak detection, the Particle Accelerator which hasn’t been fully implemented yet, a Yodi’ki Deflector to protect against EM damage and a Draco Shield to protect against the shield damage from burn weapons. The help files have been updated to include these additions, please read there. · 6/30 16:49 Added: In Melee, ships that have cargo will now start to use the cargo. Pirates and Frigates will capture Valuables from ships they destroy depending on the type of ship(NPC or human) and for human ships, how good the ship was. Boarding Vessels will capture less valuables than Pirates and Frigates, but will also capture fuel and prisoners from the ships. All of these goods can be sold at certain Houses. · 6/30 16:38 Added: Weapons in the Melee game can now only be purchased by the races that are supposed to be able to purchase them as stated in the help files. · 6/30 16:30 Big Update: Lots of changes since the last record here. Most are minor. One big change is that Yap is on a new server now. The user accounts and forum were wiped a week ago. Melee is currently down, undergoing some renovation. A new race was added a few weeks ago called the Draconians. Draconians specialize in speed. The Guardian ship has been added to Original as a minelaying ship. Soon there will be special upgrades for the Guardian to assist it’s minelaying capability. I’m sure there are other additions I have left out. It’s been awhile since I’ve posted here. · 3/16 12:04 Changed: A few various changes in Original. Added two new ships, the Swallow for Humans and the Artillery Cruiser for Hyperions. 2 new upgrades, Piratize for Neothans and Maximize for Humans. The Yap buy price was raised 1000, as was the port price. The Evil Galaxy yap bonus was halved to +500 now as well. Tweaked the War Upgrade because it was too powerful. Also changed the leveling up on Pirates so they get more armor per level. · 3/08 17:57 Big Update: It’s been a long time since I’ve posted here, but a lot has changed. There is now a 2 hour limit on Hydrogen. That is, you must be gathering for 2 hourly maints before the daily maint or you won’t get your hydrogen. There is a Planet Bounty screen now on the right that lists the planet’s current levels for the experience you will gain for claiming them. There are numerous other small changes which I will not list here. I just added in an Edit feature for the forum where you can edit your posts. The biggest change lately is the addition of a new game, Quest for Yap: Melee. The Melee zone is currently closed to the public, but many things are ongoing inside it. It will be made public when the Melee zone becomes open to all. One thing that has been updated is that the cost of Yap has been steeply reduced at ports so it is not as profitable. Also, Hydrogen was nerfed to take away some of it’s power and Yodi’ki no longer have the Hydrogen Compresser. Also the logins are very much different. Accounts are now permanent, and you then join the games. At the resets, you will need to rejoin the games. Accounts which are inactive will be deleted over time. Accounts with over 1 million experience will never be deleted(unless something were to go wrong). Again, I apologize for not keeping this page updated, but I do not often have the time to write in here after making changes. · 12/01 13:43 Added: Weapons Design, Queues, and overall weapons creation for planets. I’ve been working on this for a while. You can design weapons with the Weapons Design link on the right. Then, you build Weapons Factories on your planet. Take the colonist cost from the weapon you designed and allocate that many colonists to weapons factories and put the cash cost listed for the weapon on the planet, and for each weapons factory you’ll get a weapon built and placed on your planet. You can then go to the Weapons List on the planet to assign your weapons to ships. Have fun guys! Note that weapons design is an ADVANCED feature of the game and only for those of you who know what you are doing. · 12/01 13:20 Enhanced: You can now check the balance of the clan bank from the Clans screen. · 11/?? ??:?? Added 4 sectors around the Main universe in both the Original and Newbies games that have the special attribute that sector 1 has, with a ship shop, weapons shop, colonist pickup, etc. These sectors will move when the universe is generated and they are shown in green on the map. · 11/18 09:35 Enhanced: You no longer are prompted whether you want to enter a sector with mines if the mines are from an allied clan and pose no danger to you. · 11/18 09:28 Added: You now get a message sent to you when somebody lands on your planet. · 11/18 09:16 Updated: There is now an Upgrade Fleet link for Targetting Computers and for Maneuvering Thrusters. This should speed up the upgrading process for you all. · 11/17 23:16 Added: Put the 4 special shop sectors into the Newbies game. · 11/17 23:00 Added: 4 new sectors around the Original game Main galaxy that have all the shops that sector 1 has. They sectors will be moved randomly when the universe is generated. Also, when the universe generates the sectors the extra shops are in will be a different color on the map. I’ll be adding this to the newbies game too. The purpose will be to expand the game away from sector 1, and help the entire universe to be utilized. · 11/17 21:57 Updated: You can now fill your ship’s empty turret slots in one click rather than having to click once per weapon. · 11/17 21:35 Enhanced: Averages for exp, score, kills, and lost now appear on the Clan Rankings page, but the ranks are still sorted by totals. · 11/17 21:21 Updated: I’ve made a few bug fixes over the last month, but nothing else really. Just made it so that your transport will stop if you are supposed to be transporting shields or drones and you run out of money. · 10/13 21:11 Enhanced: Help Files now have link to Ship Information page, and you can visit the main help page directly from the Original game. · 10/13 21:08 Enhanced: Ships under newbie protection now appear in Green instead of White on the main screen. Your own ships will stay white regardless. · 10/13 20:50 Fixed: You can now navigate from sector #1 in the newbies game. · 10/13 20:39 Added: Put in some icons in the news in the Original game. More icons to come soon, as well as them being added to newbies. Also, I have been adding icons for ships a few at a time over the past few weeks, I’m sure you have noticed. They are done in the Original game I believe, but I’m still missing some in Newbies. I think the graphical aspects will help people to read information at a glance, and find news topics they want to find in the news. · 10/13 10:10 Changed: In Newbies game, exp for killing a ship increased 5-fold. Killing ships should be a lot more important now. Also will be adding in Gates to the newbies game because they have become an important part of the game and should be in both versions. · 9/16 10:36 Fixed: Shouldn’t have the wrong ships mysteriously follow you from other locations. · 9/16 10:15 Changed: Balance changes in Original game.. Added a 2nd House of Hyperions(so there will be two floating around at any given time).. Col Transports cost 1 turn to move per 2500 cargo capacity.. Turns per day upped to 300.. Max turns upped to 3000.. Stealth Transport now has 25 max drones, 600 cargo.. · 8/28 10:24 Added: Maneuvering Thrusters upgrade. Increase’s ship’s maneuverability by 2. Uses 1 upgrade slot. · 8/28 10:19 Updated: Clans with Alliances, NAPs, or Truces will no longer hit each other’s mines. · 8/28 10:06 Updated: Clan Relations should work with planets now. Tell me if they don’t. · 8/28 09:50 Updated: Pirates and Colonist Transports should no longer try to gather hydrogen. When they do, you can’t sell the hydrogen they gather. · 8/25 15:37 Added: Experience and levels for ships. Once a ship has enough experience it will grow to the next level and get some special bonuses. The bonuses for each ship are listed on the ship information page. This is in the original game only. The first upgrade is gained when your ship destroys ten times it’s worth based on expgain. A merchant for example is worth 50, a Frigate is worth 200. A frigate would have to destroy 40 merchants or 10 frigates to gain it’s first level. The next level is at 25X. · 8/24 09:05 Enhanced: Player Info and Clan pages now list locations of gates. · 8/18 10:44 Added: Jump Gates. Gates cost 50 million and 1 daily maint to build. You can jump between any two gated sectors that you or your clan owns as if the sectors were next to each other. The usage of the gate is passed to whoever owns the sector. If you claim a sector with a gate, you will then be able to use that gate. · 8/18 09:18 Updated: I’m back to coding Yap. I’ve been working on another project that I recently finished, so expect changes to start happening. I started off with a big one: The turn usage system has been totally revamped in the original game. Now every warp costs 1 turn per ship in the fleet. Navigation is multiplied by the number of ships in your fleet. It costs 1 turn to take off from a planet. It costs 1 turn to sell all to a port no matter how many ships you have in your fleet. Colonist Transports count as 1 ship for every 1000 cargo holds. So a colonist transport with 5000 holds takes 5 turns to move, with 100000 holds it would take 100 turns to move. · 7/30 12:39 Added: Planet ratings. Planets are first rated by colonists 1-10, then by defenses 1-10, and they are averaged to get the total rating (which is all you can see). This way you’ll be able to compare other planet’s to your own. But you still can’t tell if a planet is a good deal to attack (lots of colonists, not much defense) or if it’s an empty fortress (with few colonists but a giant defense). · 7/30 11:09 Enhanced: Clan Forum link won’t appear anymore if you aren’t in a clan. · 7/30 11:04 Added: You can now rename clans. The option is on the Admin Clan page. · 7/29 19:08 Added: Ability to “rename all” in the Original game. If it’s bug free I’ll add it to the other games. I made it pretty fancy, now I just hope people actually use it. · 7/28 09:22 Updated: Buying goods is now turn-free. This means that transport turn costs will drop when transport is used to haul goods as well as the turn cost to trade between ports. Hopefully this will jumpstart trading as a good way to trade. · 7/26 11:30 Added: Race Rankings. Almost identical to clan rankings. This is only in the Original game. On the race ranks, the only people figured into the stats for that race are people with at least 1 exp. This way, inactives and screwed up signups don’t count. · 7/23 13:03 Added: Maneuverability Ratings for ships. Maneuverability will decide how much damage your ship takes in combat. Maneuverability is between 0 and 20. A ship with a maneuverability of 16 will take between 60% and 100% of the normal damage during combat, and a ship with a maneuverability rating of 8 will take bettwen 100% and 120% of the normal damage. Ships with maneuverability of 10 will always take 100%. This is only for the Original game. · 7/21 11:15 Added: Ability to add ships to fleet based on ship type. Now, next to the type of ship on the main page, you will be given a link that allows you to add or remove all ships of that type from your fleet. This will help a LOT when you are trying to manage those big multi-ship fleets, especially in the Original and Test games. · 7/21 10:46 Added: Clan Relations. I had already added them to the Newbies Game, but now I have completed adding them to Original and Test. Relations are controlled by the clan leaders and affect how the clans relate to each other. Alliances mean both sides can land on each other’s planets and can’t attack ships or planets, Full NAP means they can’t attack each other’s ships or planets. Ship NAPs mean you can’t attack each other’s ships, for Planetary NAPs you can’t attack each other’s planets. Truces are basically Full NAPs that can be cancelled on short notice. War doesn’t affect anything in the game, but it formally declares your feelings for another clan. · 7/21 10:37 Added: Clan Forums. Everybody in the clan has equal access to the forum, and nobody else can access it. · 7/18 09:22 Enhanced: New messages are no longer deleted with Delete All. · 7/18 08:53 Added: Sell Ship feature. Go to a Ship Shop and click Sell Ships below the list of ships. From that page you will see the list of prices for selling ships. It is currently ½ the cost of the original cost, but I may change that sometime depending on balance issues. If you click Sell Type next to one of the ships in the list, it will sell all ships in your fleet of that type. The other way to sell ships is to sell them one by one, to do that click Sell Ship at the bottom of the page. · 7/17 09:26 Updated: Now only certain members in a clan will be able to access all of the planets. If you are Commander or above, you can access all planets owned by the clan, but Members and Squad Leaders can only access planets owned by players ranked equal or less than them. So a SL can get to a members planet, but a member cant get to a SL’s planet, and a Commander can freely access any planet owned by anybody in the clan(as can a co-leader or leader). This will prevent lower ranked members(especially recruits) from messing with your planets. · 7/13 11:53 Enhanced: Added a feature to see in the rankings all members of a certain clan, and changed the Clan Rankings a little bit. To see the members in the rankings from a certain clan, click on Ranks from the Clan Rankings page. To send the clan a message click Message. Pretty self-explanatory. · 7/13 11:30 Updated: Made the ship limit in the Vet Game functional. The limit is currently set at 500. · 7/13 11:16 Enhanced: Moved part of the Navigation code from warpdrive.php3 to maintest.php3. This means that when you click “Yes” after verifying the turn cost of your warp, you will go directly to maintest and to the new sector you just warped to rather than going to a screen that says “Your fleet has moved from XX to YY”. This takes out one extra click that is unnecessary. · 7/10 N/A Just to keep you all in tune: Clan Relations are functional in the Newbies Game but not in any other game. I’ll work on that soon. Tell me if they aren’t working properly. · 7/10 19:09 Added: Haven’t done much in a while except bug fixes. Now I made Yap cost +1000 in the Evil Galaxy in all games. So if you want to make the long distance run to the Evil Galaxy to sell your Yap you’ll make a few extra bucks. · 6/25 17:14 Added: Test game. For testing new stuff and balance changes. It has the backbone of the Vet game, but I took out all the race ships and so actually now there are only 5 ships in the test game. They are expensive, too. I’ll be doing a lot of cool stuff to the game, read the forums for more info. · 6/24 13:36 Added: Ability for ships to be classified “evil” to be only purchased from the evil galaxy. · 6/24 13:33 Updated: Added variable exp gain to ports. So different goods will bring different levels of exp. The default is one exp per 10000 cash, but now, for example, Yap will only bring you 1 exp for every about 6667 cash(2/3 of the norm), and Coal will bring you 1 exp per 2500 cash. This makes the lower level goods good for exp. · 6/24 13:30 Updated: Now newbies ships cannot be destroyed by Yap Bombs. Will only affect new ships to the game, any ships built before the changes will not be affected. Report any problems you have. · 6/18 12:15 NPC: Just an update on my progress.. I’m working on the trade NPCs. Right now I have it set up so that with an admin value I can have NPCs created. The created NPCs have a number of random values to decide their behavior, from race, to strategy, to whether they work with their race or alone. I have finished Yap and Slave trading for those strategies as well, but port traders don’t trade yet. All trade NPCs already have learned to find themselves a sector to call home, and will eventually try to build a planet and defend their sector. · 6/18 08:59 Updated: You can now send planets from the Planet Info page. This means you can send planets when you aren’t actually at the planet. · 6/18 08:49 Updated: Added 3 new options to the Newbies Game to limit the load time of maintest.php3(but they turn off features). These features have been in vets for a longer period of time. · 6/18 08:35 Enhanced: Brought the Planet Info page up to date. It was outdated in Vets game because it didn’t have the new buildings. · 6/15 15:57 Added: There will now be a chance every hourly maint that a ship will become temporarily unavailable due to a shortage. Ships made unavailable will become available again within the next few hours. · 6/15 15:21 Added: Put in a set of game values to mess with stuff. These include ship prices, yap price, and equipment prices, as well as a few other things. All I have to do is change the numbers and it will make changes. I’ll be putting in random events that will take place and change these values. For example, there might be a steel shortage, which would raise the price of steel everywhere. · 6/15 15:17 Enhanced: You can now change the ordering of the bugs/updates page, from Area to Status to Submitted By. This is done just like the rankings, click on the heading to have it sort by that column. · 6/15 15:06 Updated: Yap Mines should now be displayed in clan and examine pages. They will be displayed below the mines area. · 6/15 14:55 Updated: Transport added to pre-equipped ships in newbies game. · 6/14 16:53 Added: Hourly maint. Didn’t make one for vets yet, but that won’t take long. The hourly maint will do cleanup(fix shipnums, delete empty clans), and will also give out hourly turns. The hourly turns are still set at 0 though, so they won’t affect you just yet. · 6/14 16:28 Added: Planet automatic transport. I only put it in Vets, but I’ll put it in newbies eventually. I’ve been working on it the past couple days. Right now you can transport pretty much anything and everything that you can get in sector #1 to your planet. This includes goods, shields, drones, and of course, colonists. Originally I was just going to have it do colonists, but I know a lot of people would want to transport shields and drones with their colonists, and I decided that while I was at it I’d make goods work too. To use the transport system, click the Transport link on the planet screen. · 6/13 22:57 Fixed: Got rid of some problematic banner ads that were causing your browsers to crash periodically. Tell me if you still have problems. · 6/13 22:52 Enhanced: This one’s for you Justice! Now it is marked VERY clearly when you are under newbie protection and when you are able to attack planets. This is shown both as a counter on the upper left and a flag on your Player Info page. Nice colors too, you can’t miss it. :) · 6/13 21:56 Fixed: Newbie’s game automaint should run now. Vets appears to be working fine. · 6/13 12:01 Added: AUTOMAINT!! YEAH! I’m hoping it’ll work now. Both maints are set to run today. · 6/08 21:19 Added: You can now self-destruct all. Self-destruct all will destroy all ships in your fleet, but not the ship you are commanding. · 6/07 13:10 Enhanced: I took out the almost useless join order from the rankings and made it an alphabetize function instead. So if you click “Player” on the rankings page you will get the alphabetized rankings. · 6/07 12:37 Enhanced: You can now see what rank somebody is in their clan through the examine page. It’s listed on the clans page as well. · 6/07 12:21 Added: Ranks within clans. The Leader of a clan can set Co-Leaders, Commanders, and Squad Leaders, as well as set all of these people back to the standard Member level. Still have to do some stuff with this, for example have players loose their clan rank when they leave a clan and have clan leaders start as a Leader when they create a clan. Right now, the ranks are unused, but I will add in uses for them in the near future. · 6/06 17:52 Enhanced: Added new/old count for messages, so you now can differentiate between new and old messages on the right bar. If you have messages this will be in red. · 6/03 20:42 Added: Ability to send to a player’s bank like you would send to their cash, accessible through the Examine page. · 5/30 22:00 Added: Payments for clans. Clan leader sets payment to be sent to each member, and the payments are sent at every maint automatically. · 5/28 10:22 Enhanced: Timestamp added to all messages. Messages will now also sort by timestamp, with older messages first. There might be times when this doesn’t work right, but it’ll be better than no sorting at all. · 5/28 10:03 Added: Targetting Computer in upgrade center. Makes the weapons on your ship all have 20% more shield and armor damage. Only affects weapons that are on the ship when you buy the upgrade. · 5/28 09:39 Added: Dump All for newbies game. I’ll add to vets someday maybe. · 5/28 09:32 Fixed: Newbies game shouldn’t have any more problems with the game thinking you have more/less ships than you actually do. · 5/28 09:27 Added: Put in 5 new ships for vets as race ships – Humans: Galleon, Krioni: Interceptor, Neothans: Stealth Transport, Artes: Mammoth Freighter, Hyperions: Hyper Merchant. See vet forum for more information. · 5/27 08:29 Updated: Scouts now cost 1/3 of the turns to travel using the Navigation system. Scouts cannot have a fleet now either. · 5/26 19:52 Added: Game Info page for newbies game(vets coming soon). · 5/26 09:57 Enhanced: Right-side bar reordered, link to Recent Changes added. · 5/26 09:40 Added: Clan banking system, available at all banks. · 5/25 20:52 Fixed: Ships lost in 7/510 asteroids reported as lost in sector #0. · 5/25 20:42 Fixed: Ships created in non-sector #1 ship shop appearing in sector #1. · 5/25 20:38 Fixed: Problems with the navigation system in the Evil Galaxy. · 5/25 20:27 Enhanced: Send Message and Send Planet lists alphabetized. · 5/25 20:22 Fixed: Mines created before clan created not showing up as clan mines. · 5/25 19:42 Changed: NG ship limit raised to 50. New Game Notice: 4Honor is an interesting looking game that's just started up. Here's the "History" that's posted on the game's front page: 4Honor History ( 4Date TimeLine ) 4Date T04232002.094___ Basic Trainging Academy Opens... The Basic Trainging Academy opens as a starting place for new players. 4Date W04242002.034___ MIC Plus4 System Completed... The Map Identification Plus4 Code is established as a means of locating cities and tracking movements on a coordinate system. 4Date T04162002.024___ Industry Commission Established... The 4Honor Industry Commission was established today visit the center for insights on industrial commerce. 4Date M04152002.014___ The World of Pelagos... Pelagos is the largest planet circling the star Sharatan in the constellation Aires. It is a young world engulfed in black ice. Evolution has begun to take hold on the planet after the comet Kraz suddenly crashed into the world on 4Date M04152002.014. The first planet is born. 4Date S04132002.113___ The First Star... The star Sharatan is created. 4Date F04122002.103___ The First Consellation... The Constellation Aires is created. 4Date M02252002.011___ the 4Honor Universe is Created... Suddenly, out of the depths of darkness, a new and exciting Domain is established on the World Wide Web... www.4Honor.com ...Time has begun in the 4Honor Universe. PROMOTIONAL UPDATE:
Friday, September 06, 2002
Eschaton Update: Here's another email from Travis Cannell, travisc@gnosticlabs.com about the forthcoming online game, Eschaton: HomeLAN chats with Gnostic Labs' Travis Cannell as he talks about their upcoming space-based massively multiplayer RPG Eschaton. Here is a snip: HomeLAN - Will Player vs. Player modes be available in the game? Travis Cannell - A player or player organization owns all units in Eschaton, and all battles are between players. Space monsters are not in the game, as they do not fit with the backstory or the gaming experience. Player vs. player combat is the only form of combat available. During combat, if a commander does not have enough players under his control to pilot all of his units, then NPCs take control. In the complete absence of players, bots take full control of an army, and this is the only instance of non-player combat in Eschaton. All other battles are fought between players or player communities. Here is the link: http://www.homelanfed.com/index.php?id=8893 Thursday, September 05, 2002
Knights of the Round News: The following News relating to Knights of the Round has been posted through the year on the game's front page: 9.01.02 Thought i'd provide another update, and just kind of share an annoyance I have with several of you. Testing stages is about to open, and I've got my testing team put together, so please do not ask me to help test, although I appreciate each and every offer, yet in my past experience, small testing teams work best. As for the annoyance - once again many of you are simply being awfully rude, and I frankly don't appreciate it. I know that for every idiot out there, there are 10 great and loyal players, but in truth, I dont really owe you this game by any means. It's free, and due to this fact, you can expect delays, and anything of the sort, and you will just have to deal with it. I'm not sure what you guys expect, but I can tell you what I expect of you. I understand i've been putting what seems like a lot of delays, but trust me it's for the best of the game. If this game is to progress, all these steps are necessary, regardless of how long it takes me, and I apologize for my inability to judge the amount of time it takes me, i've never been good at that type of thing. But despite my problems, I still expect you to be patient. If you cannot do this, then you shouldn't be pursuing KoR any further. But for those who are loyal and faithful to the game, be reassured it'll go up again with due time, and the time will be worth it on my end and on yours. You dont want a game full of bugs. Trust me. Excalibur - the Webmaster 8.26.02 Ok, obviously I didnt make the weekend. College is keeping me busy and my education comes first, especially when i'm paying for it. Now that classes have started, I truly dont have another idea on the date for the game, but at least this time i'm not going to make up some release date, get you all excited, and then not make it. The game is now under testing stages, and I will be testing with a few choice players to get it going. Only when the game is fully ready for launch will I announce a release date, this time to be sure I can make it. I dont think it would be too long, the majority of the game is working just fine, just a few kinks I need to work out on the request server as well as a few bugs in the clan system. I'll keep you all posted on the testing team's progress. Excalibur - the Webmaster 8.19.02 Alright, both good and bad news. I've got a testing version up and running! It's just as good as I thought it'd be. Has several bugs, most are very workable and easy fixes, yet clan wars are a little messed up at the moment. Since there are these bugs coming up, I dont think I want to be launching tonight. I want to run the game for a while, and make sure it all works out fine. I know, the delays must be tiring, but you've waited over 6 months, and I apologize, I should have had it done by the start of summer, not the end of it. But hey, it is coming back, and I won't give up yet, as long as you guys dont give up on me. I'll shoot for this weekend, I should have enough time then, after orientation is all done and I move into the dorms :) Excalibur - the Webmaster 8.19.02 Ok! Here's what's up. I'm having a little trouble running my new system on the server, but i'm getting that ironed out with my host. If I can get that all worked out by this afternoon, I will have the game up tonight. I would imagine around 7-8 pm MNT time. If I get it worked out, i'll post a date for sure. It is missing a few features, because I was unable to finish them, and trust me, I have been working non-stop the past 4-5 days trying my hardest to get it completed, and i'm surprised I got as far as I did. Currently, it's missing chat, forums, help, and the special attacks for mages/warriors. I should be able to finish chat sometime today, and them forums will come next, followed by those other attacks. I feel that the game can be run without them, and I'll just put them up as I get them done, hopefully within the first week or two if this round. If I cannot get things ironed out with my host today, the game will go up later in the week, which would be most probable to happen on a weekend. And just to make you anxious, i'll tell you a bit about the game. Assassins = no more. Top warrant updates every 10 seconds, Ranks every 20, Top stats every 60. See you all soon, and i'll let you know if i get things worked out yet today. Excalibur - the Webmaster 8.09.02 I'm so glad i forced a deadline upon myself - it has truly forced me to get moving on the game, and the game has progressed further in 1 week than it had before in months. The end results of what I have created so far are far surpassing my original plans, this game will not have any server load problems anymore, and KoR has taken a route that I have wanted it to go in a long time. By the looks of it, the new system should support approximately 10 times the people online at the same time, given that bandwidth can keep up with the requests. However, these wonders come at a cost of time, and I'm afraid I cannot hit that 13th date directly. I will be pushing the game back a few days, if not a week, but I still plan to get the game up before I move out for college, which is on the 20th. So don't worry, the game will go up, I just think it would be to both of our benefits to wait another week(or less) to get the game back up how it should be, instead of merely half of it :) I'll keep updating the news, and get a final release date up within a week. Excalibur - the Webmaster 7.18.02 Sorry for lack of updates. Tentative Release Date: August 13th Time yet undetermined, probably afternoon or evening Mountain Time I'll keep you all posted. Excalibur - the Webmaster 6.8.02 Due to the extremely high amount of requests for a timeframe, just to let you all know, the time frame has not changed, I am still shooting for sometime this summer. Now that i'm graduated, and most of the large work around the house is complete, I have been finding much more free time to utilize on working on the game, and progress has been great so far. I'll keep you all posted! Excalibur - the Webmaster 5.28.02 Alright folks, thanks for all your votes, they were much appreciated and will help me greatly in my decisions for the future of KoR. Basically, here's where I plan to head. For those of you worried about pay to play, not to worry, when KoR comes back, it'll be just like before, with banners on the top supporting the game. Also, it will start out browser based, with no client support at first. This will help get the game up a little faster, instead of having to code for both, I'll only have to code for a browser based, but because many of you showed a lot of interest in having the option for both, I have decided to eventually code for a client, which means I will leave my current coding very open ended for the ability to add in client access to the game as well. Thanks once again for all your votes, and I'll be keeping you guys updated on my progress! Excalibur - the Webmaster 5.22.02 Ok....voting time! Here's a little bit of a briefing before you vote. First, i'll address the issue of browser vs. client side. Browser base would be the quickest to implement. I would simply rewrite the game in the new language, the layout may change, but it would still run about the same. Probably a little faster, and obviously more reliable(no more 500's!), but otherwise, you can expect the same chat, messaging, etc. Now, a client would bring many new opportunities to the game. One of the best features it would bring would be an embedded KoR instant messaging system, which I think would greatly enhance the game. Also, the cost of running the game for me would be vastly reduced. Bandwidth costs would be so slim compared to a browser based, and the current server would hold as many players as I program for, which means, KoR in itself would have great room for expansion. These clients would be downloaded, and updated frequently, and would also help me keep track of multiple players/accounts, cheaters, etc. Yet here are the drawbacks. Advertising may be tricky with this system. I have yet to look a lot more into it, but advertising may not be possible with this, making the second topic a sure thing. Again, this is not confirmed yet that it would have to go pay to play, but it might. If I were to create both browser and client based, leaving the game still available for everyone, this would take the longest, but I think be a great eventual plan. What i'm leaning towards at the moment is browser based, with adding eventual client-based into the game, without ever getting rid of that browser based play. The client would definitely be supported by all versions of Windows, 95 or greater, with fairly definite support for various versions of Linux, as well as MacOS 8+ and OSX. Now to address the next topic - my funding. As many of you know, the advertising industry is a very rough area to succeed in any more, as shown by several web gaming giants taking the plunge. Although smaller, I am also affected, not yet to the point where I go down though. What this poll is about is to find out what you guys would think about supporting me through payment, instead of advertising, since advertising may or may not be able to support the game anymore. This is NOT final by any means, but I was thinking in the area of 2$ a month, with a minimum subscription/re-subscription of 3 months. I would offer payment through PayPal, and also take checks with a small processing fee. Now, keep in mind, this is NOT final, and chances are will not be implemented immediately when KoR comes back, I'll have to see how it holds out the old way first. Yet, I'd still like to see what you guys think of it, and that's what the voting is all about. Paying to play has many advantages, including a better community (people tend to destroy things less when they pay for them), less cheaters, and also better server and features. Yet, obviously, the disadvantage would be that you have to pay, which I understand is not something most people want to do, and i'm actually not too happy that I have to consider this myself, but if it's what's best for KoR, then that's what I'll do. Votes are open! Browser/Client-side Issue : Browser Based OnlyBrowser Based/Client BasedFull Client Side OnlyStart Browser Based, Eventual Client View Results Payment/Funding Issue : I Would Never Pay!Only If I Have To...Sure! I'd Pay! View Results Thanks for voting, and we'll wait and see the results! Excalibur - the Webmaster 4.23.02 Another Update! I've now got a couple of books to help me learn some TCP/IP programming as well as the HTTP protocol, which should be very helpful in the creation of a server fully compliant with HTTP/1.1, which is the eventual goal. I'm still debating whether to step into a downloadable client or not, and I may put up some sort of voting system to see what you guys think. I'll post more later on this, i'd like to explain all the benefits/consequences of this, should it ever occur. We'll see ya soon, and i've now changed my AIM name and made it available for everyone to see: Excal773 Should you need to contact me or have a suggestion, feel free to contact me. Excalibur - the Webmaster Space Merchant Realms Fan Site News; Although this space strategy game has had its share of problems, it has succeeded in attracting a large number of fan sites. One of these is the Space Merchant Locations that has recently come back to existence after a long period offline. The fact that sites such as this are proliferating, says much about the faith that the fans of the original Space Merchant have that the new SMR will survive and thrive in the coming months and years. Wednesday, September 04, 2002
Barkeeper Update: Here's the News postings from the front page of an unusual game: 31 Aug 02, 08:01 News: I'm going to sign up with another hosting service, digitalibiz, and start hosting Barkeeper off there. However, due to my current lack of fundage, I'm starting a fundraiser. If you want to see Barkeeper online again, please click the button below. 29 Aug 02, 19:06 Going down: Going down: Barkeeper is going offline. Access to the game has been shut down by my server, citing 'abuse of system resources.' I think this is total bullsh*t, but I lose no matter what. If I post Barkeeper again in its current state, I lose my hosting contract. So, until I do a rewrite and make it run faster and more efficiently, Barkeeper will remain offline. However, to keep traffic flowing, and because it was never mentioned in the warning, development on Project Molotov will be accelerated. Hopefully, I'll have a working Beta out by the end of the week. That's hoping, mind. The forums are still up, and will continue to be. Post your complaints there. I know I will. 20 Jul 02, 13:15 Presenting: Welcome to Barkeeper, a new and thrilling multiplayer online game. Run, build, and manage your own bar. Set prices, mix your own drinks, deal with the mob, and much more. Features include: - Sophisticated economics engine - Deal with the mob to supress rival bars - Create and mix your own house drinks - Add over 20 buildings to your bar - Hire spies and thieves to rip off rival bars - Call in police raids on shady competitors - Place bets with the bookie - Many, many more... Really. Star Peace News: The following is the Star Peace August, 2002, Newsletter: August Newsletter By OC_Development August 19 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi everybody, This month’s version of the newsletter will be a bit shorter for two main reasons: most of the staff is on holiday, so we cannot pester the developers about the status of the upcoming features; and (this is a really good one) we are very close to signing a letter of intent, the first step towards a full fledged publishing agreement! In fact, the agent mentioned in the previous newsletter has really come through for us. He did a great job showcasing our game to all the big players in the industry and finally we are seeing the results of his work. We cannot tell you who the party is since we had to sign a non disclosure agreement (this is standard in the industry), but we can assure you that you will all be VERY pleased. Everybody is very excited here at Oceanus (oh well, those that are not on holiday, the others are excited wherever they are…). The signing will entail some fixing and changes that most of you have already told us about. We will probably ask for your help in this matter. Maybe with a special forum in which all the small bugs and suggestions necessary for a massive release can be reassessed, so we don’t forget them. We really want to have Star Peace in top shape before it “opens its doors” to thousands of new players. Needles to say, the publishing agreement will enable us to dedicate the resources necessary to keep producing a lot of new features, starting from the long awaited Illegal Business, to all the others ever suggested. In fact, you will be amazed by the pace with which new features will appear. To conclude, expect an extraordinary edition of the newsletter upon the signing of the deal. Something that big cannot wait for another month. The future is bright, and what is even better, it’s almost here! Bye all, Oceanus Communications Inc. It's Your Turn Update: The following was posted by Patrick Chu on the IYT Message Board : Topic: ItsYourTurn.com News From: §Patrick Chu (pat1) Date: 09/04/02, 18:10 Subject: new tournament types and new move limits Message: We're pleased to announce that we will now be featuring 8 tournaments a month: 4 Member tournaments, and 4 Open tournaments (2 Main and 2 Fast of each type). Member tournaments will be accessible to members only. Open tournaments will be accessible to everyone, members and non-members. We will also be imposing new move limits starting Monday, September 9. Starting Monday, tournament moves will be counted in the 40-move per day limit for non-members. Tournament moves were previously not counted in the daily limit because we didn't want to slow down the existing tournaments. However, since Member and Open tournaments are now separate, the new move limits will not affect the speed of the Member tournaments, which will start every week. As a result, the Open tournaments will move slower than the member tournaments. For member tournaments, you must be a member at the time the tournaments begins. If your membership expires between the time you sign up and the time the tournament begins, you will not be entered into the member tournament. Enjoy the expanded tournaments! Eschaton Update: Here's an email from Travis Cannell, travisc@gnosticlabs.com : We recently added initial concepts for the Alephian race, almost 30 different ships ranging from fighters to larger frigate sized vessels for your viewing pleasure. Our artist would like some viewer feedback, so cast your vote on this thread for your favorite ship along with any other comments about the Alephians. Enjoy! (Here are the links if the HTML above did not work out) The concepts: http://www.eschaton-online.com/shots-concept-200209040-1.html The Forum thread: http://www.eschaton-online.com/index.php?page=forum&fid=1&tid=400#spotlight Cheers, Travis Cannell Gnostic Labs T: (805)-685-5571 www.gnosticlabs.com www.eschaton-online.com |