~ Novelty's November... and plans for December ~
This is a day late, but I have been busy with too many other things recently. Urgh, I wish I could have more hours in the day to fill...
Shepherds
A couple more shepherds signed up this month and 2 more dropped out so the numbers are staying rather even. The existing shepherds are all very enthusiastic and they are doing their job.
gNet BOT
It's getting less used, although there are still new questions being posted that demands answers. These have been gradually filled as and when time is available. It seems that I'm the only person playing with the BOT so maybe I'll start doing things with it.
Forums
Added The Tournament forum this month and updated a few more to include games which had new PLs. Ed has been fixing all the residual stuff related to the server move so all is "fine and dandy" as the saying goes. Traffic seems to be low - Rage and VTES are taking the brunt of the traffic though, which is good I guess as both games are in their development phases.
Games
Due to other commitments, not much got done this month in the way of games. I didn't even meet the self-imposed deadlines this month. As usual, only games with updates reported below.
BOWL Bowling
I added in some code for this game, but it's far from finished. I have yet to build the interface which would be key in defining the rest of the game.
MND Magi-Nation Duel
The background change to underneath wasn't well received - it was too dark apparently. I guess the cheerfulness of Naroom, Orothe and Paradwyn has something to do with it. Some Shadowsfall Promo cards were also added.
RVRSI Reversi
Well, nipa did the update really, with left clicking of the board to place pieces and some other display changes to make it look better. I did have some input there though. It's nice doing a co-Lead, particularly when someone else is doing the work.
TOURN The Tournament
This is JC's original game which I started and did the latest update. It's basically a boardgame, and although he's leading this, the majority of the coding seems to be mine. I'm not complaining though. Anything to get a good game up, particularly a good original game. I doubt it'd get played much though.
December 2004 Plans
December is always busy and since I'm moving all the unfinished stuff from last month over, I'll have to push back some of the more ambitious stuff.
Babylon 5 will get an update this month - for the Vorlon card errata if nothing else. The card colours is to be changed from olive to blue.
The card tweaking - repositioning pips, upgrading the influence cost icon, creating bold text will probably be move to next year when I have more time.
Bowling really should get finished this month. I have too many unfinished games on my plate as it is. I shall have to push myself to get this done.
MND needs its usual monthly update, the last one for this year. Next year, I'll probably revert it to the Paradwyn background, since that was the most well received of the lot.
The regular optionals - Go Fish cardback updates and scanning Hyborean Gates and Triple Triad will still be retained for the month.
So, prioritised games for this month:
1. Bowling - get playable 15th December, public by 31st December
2. Babylon 5 - Vorlons text updates by 7th December.
3. MND update - Background and defect fixes by 4th December, custom cards ongoing.
O. Add Go Fish cardbacks when available.
O. Complete Triple Triad scans.
O. Complete Hyborean Gates scans.
2005 Plans
Aliens vs Predators (AVPVT) - It's "low tech" and "no frills" and it's out there. There are no plans to develop it any further unless the player pool can demonstrate that it can have about 100 games played a month consistantly for 3 months (which is getting there - Ravage and Anarch Cassius have been playing like there's no tomorrow). It's also the first of my "no frills" games up for offer to any AvP fan who'd like to become a Project Lead (or a Co-Lead).
Babylon 5 (B5) - Two things needs to be done - display corrections and figuring out automations for Babylon 5. Still on the list of things to do is the automation for replacement and the automated influence tracking and automated initiative determination. Those would take quite a lot of time that I'll have to schedule to be set aside.
Borders (BORD) - Nothing more to be done in Borders. Ed has asked for icons on the special cards, so maybe those will get an update, when I get the time.
Bowling (BOWL) - There shouldnt' be much work on this once it goes public, but I won't know until then what has to be done on it.
Checkers (CHECK) - This is another "no frills" "low-tech" game at the moment. It would probably get upgraded once I have the time, motivation and ideas, but for now it's playable and that would have to do.
Elemental (ELEM) - The tidal wave automation has long been outstanding. I think it's possible to do this now, but the script is going to be rather complicated. No schedule for this. Not a high priority since the game works well without the automation and I don't want to introduce something that would introduce errors. It will be done when I can find the time and the motivation.
FastBreak (FB) - The game is beginning to feel a bit "low tech" now, eventhough it did have a few innovations (when it was first made). Could do with more playtesting and more inprovements, but until I find the time and the motivation, this isn't going to be done anytime soon.
Firestorm (FIRE) - New licensed game for me to do for 2005, for February public release, or at least that's the plan.
Go Fish (GOFSH) - What do you do when the game plays well and is bug free? Nothing I suppose. However, it'd be getting a minor facelift soon - a tiny crab will be added which will allow an 5 more players to play the game simultaneously. I doubt we'll ever get 13 players into a Go Fish game, but who knows? The schedule is undetermined at the moment, and it's not high priority. As usual, cardbacks will continually be added to this game.
Hamlet (HAMLT) - There really isn't much to do on this simple game except more playtesting... and perhaps a tournament or two. Hamlet is one of the few of my licensed games I'll consider ready for Now Playing status.
HumAliens (HALN) - The game is dead, but there's still work to be done. Hopefully, the New Order would be an Online only expansion to be added by January.
Hyborean Gates (GATES) - Hopefully this will go public in March. It's going to be another "no frills" "low-tech" game though so it might lie fallow until someone with more enthusiasm and ideas comes along to take it over.
Magi-Nation Duel (MND) - Custom cards are still ongoing and I think people are rather used to the gameplay. The only other thing that can be done is to track how energy is gained and used up. However that is a monumental task since every card does it differently and there are many modifiers... which means it's not going to get done. Tainted Glimpses will also be added sometime in the year. I think I might also add in something to shuffle all creatures back into the deck for Dream Rift. That's as much automation as I'd be doing...
Portable Adventures (PAD) - The other area to update would be the Encounter cards. I have a rough idea of how to automate these, but they seem rather inconsequential to the whole game, so they might not get done until I get the time and the motivation. In addition, there are two card sets that will be added near the end of the year so those will get priority when they are available.
Quartet (QUART) - More playtesting is needed on this game. Not much improvements will be made until further playtesting is carried out. The game seems stable though.
Reversi (RVRSI) - Since nipa added the left-click functionality and upgraded the images, it's done and has been upgraded to "Now Playing". No work required.
Triple Triad (TRIAD) - Scanning has started, but I have no idea when I'll have the time to do this. I only have 1 - 90, so if anyone wants to scan in the rest of the 18 cards, for me, they are most welcome. Please PM me for more details.
Urland (URLND) - It could use some scoring automation at some point in the future, time to be determined.
Wildstorms (WS) - Nothing much can be done to fully automate setup until after Bug has got the next build out the door. Also, there's the plan to add my custom StormWatch expansion sometime this year.
Wildstorms Legends (WSLS) - This game is going into the queue after Bowling, Firestorm, Hyborean Gates and Triple Triad. I guess that makes it a July public release game.
Wildstorm: Set 1 (WSS1) - The WSS2 update is still planned, although it hasn't gone ahead. The game also needs and auto-score if the defender wins. This will be done with the WSS2 update. Schedule: May - August.
You Need Drew's Truck (YNDT) - I'd like to automate moving the truck, and automate the initial placements of the donuts.
Yukk (YUKK) - This game feels rather low tech. After working on Portable Adventures, I think it's possible to put everything in one view... but it'll need a major update and a major rewrite from scratch. Probably I should just scrap this idea and leave it as it is.
I have way too many games on my plate. No new game announcements from me until at least 3 of them are cleared.
2005 Plans
January - FIRE, GATES, HALN, PAD
February - BORD, GATES, YNDT
March - B5, TRIAD, URLND, WS
April - MND, TRIAD
May - WSS1
June - WSLS, WSS1
July - WSLS
Shepherds
A couple more shepherds signed up this month and 2 more dropped out so the numbers are staying rather even. The existing shepherds are all very enthusiastic and they are doing their job.
gNet BOT
It's getting less used, although there are still new questions being posted that demands answers. These have been gradually filled as and when time is available. It seems that I'm the only person playing with the BOT so maybe I'll start doing things with it.
Forums
Added The Tournament forum this month and updated a few more to include games which had new PLs. Ed has been fixing all the residual stuff related to the server move so all is "fine and dandy" as the saying goes. Traffic seems to be low - Rage and VTES are taking the brunt of the traffic though, which is good I guess as both games are in their development phases.
Games
Due to other commitments, not much got done this month in the way of games. I didn't even meet the self-imposed deadlines this month. As usual, only games with updates reported below.
BOWL Bowling
I added in some code for this game, but it's far from finished. I have yet to build the interface which would be key in defining the rest of the game.
MND Magi-Nation Duel
The background change to underneath wasn't well received - it was too dark apparently. I guess the cheerfulness of Naroom, Orothe and Paradwyn has something to do with it. Some Shadowsfall Promo cards were also added.
RVRSI Reversi
Well, nipa did the update really, with left clicking of the board to place pieces and some other display changes to make it look better. I did have some input there though. It's nice doing a co-Lead, particularly when someone else is doing the work.
TOURN The Tournament
This is JC's original game which I started and did the latest update. It's basically a boardgame, and although he's leading this, the majority of the coding seems to be mine. I'm not complaining though. Anything to get a good game up, particularly a good original game. I doubt it'd get played much though.
December 2004 Plans
December is always busy and since I'm moving all the unfinished stuff from last month over, I'll have to push back some of the more ambitious stuff.
Babylon 5 will get an update this month - for the Vorlon card errata if nothing else. The card colours is to be changed from olive to blue.
The card tweaking - repositioning pips, upgrading the influence cost icon, creating bold text will probably be move to next year when I have more time.
Bowling really should get finished this month. I have too many unfinished games on my plate as it is. I shall have to push myself to get this done.
MND needs its usual monthly update, the last one for this year. Next year, I'll probably revert it to the Paradwyn background, since that was the most well received of the lot.
The regular optionals - Go Fish cardback updates and scanning Hyborean Gates and Triple Triad will still be retained for the month.
So, prioritised games for this month:
1. Bowling - get playable 15th December, public by 31st December
2. Babylon 5 - Vorlons text updates by 7th December.
3. MND update - Background and defect fixes by 4th December, custom cards ongoing.
O. Add Go Fish cardbacks when available.
O. Complete Triple Triad scans.
O. Complete Hyborean Gates scans.
2005 Plans
Aliens vs Predators (AVPVT) - It's "low tech" and "no frills" and it's out there. There are no plans to develop it any further unless the player pool can demonstrate that it can have about 100 games played a month consistantly for 3 months (which is getting there - Ravage and Anarch Cassius have been playing like there's no tomorrow). It's also the first of my "no frills" games up for offer to any AvP fan who'd like to become a Project Lead (or a Co-Lead).
Babylon 5 (B5) - Two things needs to be done - display corrections and figuring out automations for Babylon 5. Still on the list of things to do is the automation for replacement and the automated influence tracking and automated initiative determination. Those would take quite a lot of time that I'll have to schedule to be set aside.
Borders (BORD) - Nothing more to be done in Borders. Ed has asked for icons on the special cards, so maybe those will get an update, when I get the time.
Bowling (BOWL) - There shouldnt' be much work on this once it goes public, but I won't know until then what has to be done on it.
Checkers (CHECK) - This is another "no frills" "low-tech" game at the moment. It would probably get upgraded once I have the time, motivation and ideas, but for now it's playable and that would have to do.
Elemental (ELEM) - The tidal wave automation has long been outstanding. I think it's possible to do this now, but the script is going to be rather complicated. No schedule for this. Not a high priority since the game works well without the automation and I don't want to introduce something that would introduce errors. It will be done when I can find the time and the motivation.
FastBreak (FB) - The game is beginning to feel a bit "low tech" now, eventhough it did have a few innovations (when it was first made). Could do with more playtesting and more inprovements, but until I find the time and the motivation, this isn't going to be done anytime soon.
Firestorm (FIRE) - New licensed game for me to do for 2005, for February public release, or at least that's the plan.
Go Fish (GOFSH) - What do you do when the game plays well and is bug free? Nothing I suppose. However, it'd be getting a minor facelift soon - a tiny crab will be added which will allow an 5 more players to play the game simultaneously. I doubt we'll ever get 13 players into a Go Fish game, but who knows? The schedule is undetermined at the moment, and it's not high priority. As usual, cardbacks will continually be added to this game.
Hamlet (HAMLT) - There really isn't much to do on this simple game except more playtesting... and perhaps a tournament or two. Hamlet is one of the few of my licensed games I'll consider ready for Now Playing status.
HumAliens (HALN) - The game is dead, but there's still work to be done. Hopefully, the New Order would be an Online only expansion to be added by January.
Hyborean Gates (GATES) - Hopefully this will go public in March. It's going to be another "no frills" "low-tech" game though so it might lie fallow until someone with more enthusiasm and ideas comes along to take it over.
Magi-Nation Duel (MND) - Custom cards are still ongoing and I think people are rather used to the gameplay. The only other thing that can be done is to track how energy is gained and used up. However that is a monumental task since every card does it differently and there are many modifiers... which means it's not going to get done. Tainted Glimpses will also be added sometime in the year. I think I might also add in something to shuffle all creatures back into the deck for Dream Rift. That's as much automation as I'd be doing...
Portable Adventures (PAD) - The other area to update would be the Encounter cards. I have a rough idea of how to automate these, but they seem rather inconsequential to the whole game, so they might not get done until I get the time and the motivation. In addition, there are two card sets that will be added near the end of the year so those will get priority when they are available.
Quartet (QUART) - More playtesting is needed on this game. Not much improvements will be made until further playtesting is carried out. The game seems stable though.
Reversi (RVRSI) - Since nipa added the left-click functionality and upgraded the images, it's done and has been upgraded to "Now Playing". No work required.
Triple Triad (TRIAD) - Scanning has started, but I have no idea when I'll have the time to do this. I only have 1 - 90, so if anyone wants to scan in the rest of the 18 cards, for me, they are most welcome. Please PM me for more details.
Urland (URLND) - It could use some scoring automation at some point in the future, time to be determined.
Wildstorms (WS) - Nothing much can be done to fully automate setup until after Bug has got the next build out the door. Also, there's the plan to add my custom StormWatch expansion sometime this year.
Wildstorms Legends (WSLS) - This game is going into the queue after Bowling, Firestorm, Hyborean Gates and Triple Triad. I guess that makes it a July public release game.
Wildstorm: Set 1 (WSS1) - The WSS2 update is still planned, although it hasn't gone ahead. The game also needs and auto-score if the defender wins. This will be done with the WSS2 update. Schedule: May - August.
You Need Drew's Truck (YNDT) - I'd like to automate moving the truck, and automate the initial placements of the donuts.
Yukk (YUKK) - This game feels rather low tech. After working on Portable Adventures, I think it's possible to put everything in one view... but it'll need a major update and a major rewrite from scratch. Probably I should just scrap this idea and leave it as it is.
I have way too many games on my plate. No new game announcements from me until at least 3 of them are cleared.
2005 Plans
January - FIRE, GATES, HALN, PAD
February - BORD, GATES, YNDT
March - B5, TRIAD, URLND, WS
April - MND, TRIAD
May - WSS1
June - WSLS, WSS1
July - WSLS
posted by Novelty @ 8:44 am
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