June 13, 2009

Rising Legends

Wow, it’s been quite a while since the last post, but at here’s a rather large update for everyone. I’ve been working on a new browser-based rpg called Rising Legends. At the moment it’s just be developing and designing everything with some testing from some good friends. Currently I’m looking to hit a beta release within the next week or so.

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!

May 25, 2009

Site Updates: New Layout MIA? Galang

Well it’s not completely done.. heck it’s no where even near being something I can use, but I have been working on a layout in my free time to replace the default one. I even managed to recruit Imdolien from Nookish to help create a new layout for it, but between us we have no time, so I’m thinking about scrapping the original project and just finishing up the layout that I currently have.

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.

designit-green

blue-port

April 17, 2009

Do Not Want!

And so my fellow Canadians, the day that we have been dreading in our hearts has finally arrived. A day when our freedoms and rights have been crushed beneath the festering heel of international corporations. We, the just and righteous have finally fallen. They have attempted to snuff us out.

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.