But what about a full featured blog? I’m talking comments, categories, tags, a wysiwyg editor coupled with a theme engine to make it all look pretty. Those are a little rarer to come by, and most people just hop straight to WordPress. After all, it’s easier.

Over the weekend I began work on my own blog engine and I will hopefully be transitioning Where My Feet Have Been over to it sometime later this month. I want to force myself to finish it, so I will be porting over before everything is done. So there will be a lot of features implemented and tested before being pushed live. I’m also going to be doing a quick tutorial on the insides of the thing.

The new engine is tentatively nicknamed PHP Blog & Journal or PB&J and I’m hoping that it will provide all the features I need in a blog engine while still being easy to use and skin. The default theme is a minimalist one called Shipyard, and hopefully you’ll get a screenshot soon enough!

Here’s a list of planned features:

• Theme Engine (Mostly done)
• Posts (Being worked on continuously. I have the database set up with the necessities and will be expanding it as I go.
• Comments
• Unlimited Nesting Categories
• Tag with easy Tag Cloud support (it’s really just a count of how many times a tag appears. I’m surprised more blogs don’t do this to cut down on DB queries)
• Static Pages
• Basic Hook System – think Drupal but less stupid

I think one of the things that I REALLY like about it so far is the easy of skinning everything. I’ll post a more detailed overview, but there really is no limit to what you can do. You need a few files (header.php, footer.php, main.php, single.php, sidebar.php, Themename.php) and you can do whatever you want. Want to get all the posts? $blog->getPosts(); Want posts in specific categories? $blog->getPosts(array('cat1','cat2','cat3').

From the administration point of view there really doesn’t need to be much. A way to list posts, categories and tags and a way to edit/create/delete them. And then a way to set global settings, such as the website name.

This is going to be the first major project I’ve undertaken utilizing my GridView and MySqlAdapter classes so I’ll be able to flesh them out and optimize them before re-releasing them. Wish me luck!

You can expect quite a few changes around here including the following:

• New Layout
• Re-organization of categories
• Better urls!
• More Content!

The new layout is based on The Morning After by The Master Plan. The main layout stayed the same, while I’ve been tweaking it here and there to suit my needs. I’ve never bothered tweaking WordPress before, so there is a lot for me to learn, even about the basic control panel.

I’ve decided to also sit down and weed out the categories and posts. Since this site is primarily tech related, other than the introductory post, I’ve removed all other personal ones. I’ve also introduced a few more categories and I’ll spend the next little while moving posts around between them.

On that note, I’ve also finally clicked the different radio button that changes my posts from query strings to something more akin to mod url. If that confuses you, just note that the urls no longer look confusing and are actually in some sort of readable/memorable format.

That last update also happens to be my personal favourite. Basically FHB is and always has been a tech related website, no matter how I try to turn it into a more personal endeavour (much to the chargin of  Imdolien). I’ve finally decided to embrace that side of things and just jump right into it. You’ll notice a lot more code and programming concepts as well as a lot more tutorials. Basically I dedicate some time each week to cruising around the phpFreaks forums answering PHP questions so I decided to answer questions there, as well as post the answers on my blog for everyone else.

If anyone has any suggestions, please leave a comment. I can’t guarantee that I’ll incorporate your suggestion, but I will promise that I’ll at least consider it.

You can access it at http://boba.feethavebeen.com and you can access the forums at http://boba.feethavebeen.com/forum/

As a bonus to everyone, I managed to keep all your characters and just reset everything instead. You have lost all gold and items, and all your stats have been reverted to that of a level 1. This was necessary as the next step in the game is content and balancing so I needed everyone to start at the same place and work their way up. Testing various monsters/items.

There are about 11 monsters I believe, scattered between two zones. The first being Deepgate, which is the starting zone, and Candlewood. I can tell you now, it’s a waste of time going into Candlewood unless you are at least level 11 or 12. At least then you won’t die in a couple of hits.

There is also the mapping system which is VERY basic at the moment. Here is the legend:

1. @ = you
2. = = portal
3. s = shop
4. t = tavern

When you move over a portal, shop or tavern the “interact” link appears which will let you use that particular service.

At this stage I am also looking for suggestions, so PLEASE head over to the forums and post away. Not all suggestions will be incorporated into the game, but you never know.

Finally, I just want to thank everyone who helped out with running everything namely Felipe, Sebastian and Greg. Between them they found pretty much all the bugs with prior versions, extensively tested (we’re talking level 100+ in a game that had 3 monters) the game and had plenty of suggestions that were incorporated into the alpha version.

There are a bunch of monsters added and I have worked out one of the biggest problems to date, the shop system. All that’s left is adding the tooltips for items so you can see their stats and then everything will be updated online for you all to test. Your characters WILL be reset AND all items removed. This is because I would like to test out the balancing for characters starting out and seeing if things should be made harder/easier.

I will update here 24h before the big update happens!

Powered by ScribeFire.

The new layout incorporates a lot of ideas and suggestions put forth by a everyone who tested the game. Things like constantly being able to view your stats, a not so ugly layout, images for items and a much better way of organizing things. Currently only the main page is completed. Next up is the fight page, which I have a few idea’s for already.

Hopefully once that is done I can get to the infirmary/tavern pages and then I will be pushing the new layout for testing. All your old characters will be accessible in the new layout, but we way of a slight hack-around. You will need to log in to boba.feethavebeen.com before navigating to the new layout. Once there, anything you do will also be reflected in the current alpha.

Update: Currently you are able to access the main page (equip/unequip/use) as well as the fight and tavern pages. The database did get a slight overhaul, although it will not affect current users. The alterations made to the database is what is actually slowing down this update. The shop will hopefully be added tonight allowing players to do everything they could in the current version.

I’ve been working on a design document that outlines the game as I finish things up. It’s slow going, but every time I finish a small section of it, I get almost the same thrill as finishing the same section programmatically. I guess I know that when this piece is completely done, I’ll have a much easier time finishing up the beta release and porting everything over from the bland black/white layout to something that is much for fitting for an RPG.

From the beginning I wanted browser-based games to contain features that make other MMO’s so easy to get in to. Not as much page refreshes, modular windows, beautiful graphics and proper fight timers are just some of the things I opted to include in Rising Legends. As well, I worked a long time on the UI, ensuring ease of use, so first time players can just jump right now. From the programming side of view, I had to take some time out to implement my own version of the JQuery Tools tooltip and overlay libraries to ensure speedy load times. While JQuery Tools provides some great animations, I found that not only were they too flashy, but they lagged. The more tabs you had open, the slower it went. While my interpretation of it isn’t nearly as flashy, it cuts down on a lot of the code cutting out about 6KB of things that I didn’t need. While 6KB doesn’t seem like a lot, since network speeds are now our bottleneck instead of processing power, it will start to add up as more players join up.

I figure I will add a brief explanation of a basic version of the overly code, since it is an interesting topic and very easy to implement. As well, it allows for perfect positioning of elements.

In closing, I just wanted to link you all to an in-dev version of the UI that will be pushed out with the beta release: http://boba.feethavebeen.com/template1/

Basically it has the semblance of your run-of-the-mill RPG (ala stratholm, legend arena, soul knights) but with a few major differences. From a development/design point of view, these games approach the browser as a means to deliver their game to the public. Most times these games were written by great programmers, but many years ago. Rising Legends is looking to make a solid push into the browser-OS world. More and more nowdays, we find ourselves online for everything, and as browsers are getting more powerful, it’s time for Rising Legends to use some of the power available to it.

Also well from a game-design point of view, I’ve taken a few liberties with the stats and how things work. You’ll find that your stats have a lot more say in how you play the game. Variable stat item generation will be implemented by beta as well as luck-based drops of varying degrees.

Here are some of the larger features slated for the beta release:

• Class system: Upon reaching a certain level, players are granted the ability to choose a class for their character to follow. It will greatly impact your stats as well as what weaponry/armor will be available to you.
• Auto-Fight: Rather than continually clicking the “fight” button, you click it once and the battle plays out in front of you. Your agility affecting how quickly the battle unfolds. Higher agility means more monster fights in a shorter amount of time
• Modular Window UI: Forget multiple page refreshes. Rising Legends utilizes a modular window approach similar to standard MMO’s.
• Standard RPG Elements: I’ve decided not to change the game too much, and instead to stick with some standard RPG elements to make the game a little more familiar and easy to pick up for new-comers.

We’re still fast approaching that beta release, with only a handful of players. We’re doing load tests on the server daily to make sure that despite all the updates we roll out, you still get the best performce we can afford.

The alpha release can be accessed at http://boba.feethavebeen.com. I could post screens, but at this stage it looks rather ugly. The official UI for the game is still being worked out and will probably take a few more days before it’s all ready. At which time we should be ready for a beta launch.

If you get  a chance, hop in and register!

At any rate, here’s a couple layout designs I came up with while working out ideas for the new FeetHaveBeen layout, so I thought I’d toss up some screens for all of you to check out. If you like them, I may put up links to the PSD.

DesignIT is a company that doesn’t actually exist to my knowledge, it’s just the default company I’ve always kinda used for layouts that aren’t directly for something I’ll be using.

But no. In the words of our immortal intergalactic savior. Never give up. Never surrender. Our beloved captains and fellow pirates Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm and Carl Lundström have finally succumbed to their trial.

That’s right. Oh what a cruel twist of fate for pirates everywhere.

Or is it?

Despite the guilty verdict issued by the courts in Sweden, Peter Sunde has promised that The Pirate Bay will continue to live on! Due to the precise (or not so precise, depending how you look at it) nature of the accusations brought against the 4, The Pirate Bay will continue to run. Only the 4 of them have been accused. And while I’m not saying that the one year sentence and roughly 900K (USD) each that they have to serve, it’s Sweden. Considering first time offenders, I’d say they’ll be out in 6 months. Add good behaviour? Probably closer to 4.

Still though, the case has been watched by all as the trial will surely hold sway over any future cases. The four, while holding no official positions at The Pirate Bay, were told that they worked as a team, and as such their “punishments” were handed out as such. What makes this so very different is that this is the first time charges have ever stuck.

Normally when tracker operators (more on the science behind torrents later) are legally pursued, it is a simple matter of shutting down the tracker. Or moving to a more legal-free zone such as Sweden. This has happened to TPB before. Their server farm was raided numerous times and they’ve moved to numerous locations. This time, rather than bringing charges against a website, the corporations involved chose to go after their owners.

However, because of certain “innocent bystanders” laws, ISP’s will be immune to this decision, so don’t worry about Rogers or Bell getting nailed for people hosting illegal websites. However, this should add some more fuel to the RIAA’s already pathetic fire bringing it up from smolder to candle.

At any rate, there will be an outcry among pirates. Pirates tend to be rather computer literate. And they don’t take well to their idols being messed with.

In response to the outrageous nonsense, I’m going to be writing up a couple posts on Torrents. How to get yourself up and running with them, how to optimize your connecting, and the best places for torrents.

GO FORTH AND PIRATE.

AR.

Being a programmer who writes all their own applications is great, but that doesn’t make you a programmer. That means you know the language. Being a programmer, to me at least, involves two stages. One you need to know the language enough to build your own applications. Secondly, you need to know enough to mess with other peoples applications. While I’ve always done this in small-scale, I decided to work with WordPress this time to ensure that I really am a programmer.

The going has been a little slow as I’ve been rather busy, and as such I haven’t had much time to design. However, over the past couple days I’ve been working on my own personal design for the website. One that employs my love of old websites (read as: no stylesheet) and cross-browser awesomeness. It’s a very simple layout, not too much in the way of graphics to ensure a quick loading time (as per one of myfavourite blogs).

At the same time I’m trying to ensure that everything looks good. I’ve been tweaking everything from list-paddings to margins to line heights to ensure that the font size looks good and is readable. I’m going to be going over it a few more times in the coming days and hopefully I’ll have something a little more substantial to show everyone. Right now it’s just a CSS mockup (That’s right, going to go with an all CSS layout this time as well!)

- Just so you know.