Monday, January 31, 2011

January Producer's Letter

The long awaited Producer's Letter for January was released on Friday.  We knew going in that this letter was not going to contain any amazing revelations.  And it didn't, but it did actually have more information than I expected.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Two Things

Just a quick post this morning.  Nothing too exciting going on this week.  My WAR time has been split between my Engineer and my Rune Priest.  Doing scenarios mostly, since I am close to getting Royal weapons on my Engineer thanks to the price cut.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Want a free year of WAR?

Mykiel is running an interesting new contest.  The winner will receive 2 180 day Warhammer Online game cards.  What do you have to do? Just give your feedback on some of the new proposed changes.  Read on for the details.

Healing Changes Part 1

Yesterday afternoon, Mythic posted part one of the changes they are considering for the 1.4.1 patch.  In this part, changes for the Shaman/Archmage  and Runepriest/Zealot are discussed.  Next week we should learn more about what they have planned for the Warrior Priest and the Disciple of Khaine.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Raw Materials

This week I have started to tackle one of the core features of the Untitled Game project, the economy.  Last week we saw that the player and the AI can mine asteroids, so this is a good place to start.  What happens with the stuff that is mined?

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Now we know

Andy made his return to the Warhammer Online forums yesterday.  To be clear about my last post, I never had an issue with him taking time off.  What did bother me was the lack of communication over the past two months and the fact Mythic seems to have no one to back him up.  So, what did Andy have to report?

Monday, January 24, 2011

Selecting

Over the weekend, I added the ability to select (or target) objects in the game universe. It works like you would expect, click on something and it will be selected.  Basic information will also appear in the new (and ugly) target window.  The scan button is not operational yet, but should prove to be interesting.

Leveling in LoTRO

I did spend a little time in Lord of the Rings Online this weekend.  My Hobbit Burglar is now level 26, without me even really trying to level.  I have just been catching up on crafting mostly (now an Expert Scholar and Expert Weaponsmith).  It's lead me to be a little concerned about my current pace.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Prosperity

Today I have some more video of my Untitled Game (It's almost time for me to think of a title) project.  In this video, we can see NPC miners going about their business.  It kind of reminds me of RTS resource gatherers.  These guys are owned by the cube, err Station, who is in turn owned by a Faction.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Where is Mythic?

That is a question a lot of Warhammer Online players have been asking lately.  The 1.4 patch arrived a little over two months ago and since then, communication from Mythic has dropped drastically.  This is not totally unexpected, but just how much has surprised even me.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Overwhelmed

I admit it, I am a bit overwhelmed with the Lord of the Rings Online at the moment.  That's a good thing and something another popular pve game never accomplished with me.  There are a few reasons why I am in this state.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Signs of Life

During my day off yesterday (yay!), I got to work on bringing some life to the Untitled Game project.  A game world that feels alive is a core part of what I want to accomplish.  I have decided to use Behavior Tree's for the AI, which should provide some nice flexibility.

If you want renown

You should roll a healer or ranged DPS in WAR.  Alright, that's not really news.  It is good to know though.  I hopped on my RR41 Runepriest yesterday and just raked in the renown.  Gained 1.5 renown levels in about an hour.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Unexpected

Last week on Twitter, there was a bunch of Lord of the Rings Online talk.  It got me thinking about the game, which is always trouble.  I've had an account at LoTRO since I first played it in 2007.  WAR came along and stole me away, since I primarily played Monster Play.

Friday, January 14, 2011

News from the Front: The cost of WAR

I have played a lot of WAR this week.  My Engineer hit RR 75 and is well on his way to 76.  I end up gaining around 50k renown an hour by soloing with AAO and defending keeps.  Order on Badlands always seems to be on the defensive, at least during my play times. On to the community news!

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Progress

This week I have been playing quite a bit of WAR, but I have managed to make some progress on my untitled game project.  Today I have a short video, which shows a player mining and then going to sell his goods.  Continue on for the video.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Rift and Me

There has been a lot of talk about the new MMO on the block, Rift.  I was fortunate enough to participate in the last two betas ( video 1 and video 2).  It was certainly an interesting experience, but does it have enough going on for me to buy in?  Read on for my impressions of Rift.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

WAR Progression Trouble

Last night, I came to a realization.  I am going to have some serious trouble keeping pace in the arms race that is the 1.4 patch.  It's not that I need or want to be wearing Doomflayer/Warpforged anytime soon, Sovereign is where I am having a hard time.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Ship Colors

The Untitled Game Project continues on.   Recently, I was looking at the colors of one of the ship models.  It seemed a bit too dark, so I had a couple of new textures made up.  Both are a bit lighter than the first.  Below the break, I have some screenshots.

Friday, January 7, 2011

News from the Front: Vacation Over

After a few weeks off, News from the Front has returned!  Since it was a slow few weeks, he decided to take off to some tropical destination.  Of course, News from the Front left me here in the cold.  But now that WAR is picking back up, it is time to get going again.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Well, we have Iron

In the last screenshot, I showed off the cargo interface.  Continuing on with the mining system, you can now extract minerals from the Asteroid.  Just one so far, Iron.  When picked up, it will appear in your cargo.  I've also added in a tooltip system, as you can see.  Excuse the picture of an A, programmer art :)

Weapons just got cheaper

In Warhammer Online, many weapons are obtained by using Scenario currency (emblems and insignias).  With the launch of the RvR Pack, renown gain was increased for ranks under 80.  Combined with Against all Odds, players advance through the ranks quicker and often outleveled the scenario weapons before being able to afford them.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Cargo

In the last screenshot, we saw the beginning stages of the mining system.  If you are going to be mining, you need some place to store the results.  So the next piece added was a Cargo/Inventory system.  It is pretty basic, but it is drag and drop enabled. 


Rift Video #2

In the first video, I covered creating a character up to you are ready to set out into the world.  This time, I am taking a look at my level 10 Dwarf Stormcaller/whatever that mage healer soul was called.  Specifically, I go through his inventory to see what I have gathered.  Also, I show a bit of some of the Plane vendor goods.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Shooting Rocks

In today's screenshot, we have an asteroid.  As with most space games, they must be shot with something!  This is actually the very start of the mining profession.  Using your standard blaster will work, but is not the best way to go about mining.

They Live

With the holiday season behind us, many companies are returning to life.  This includes BioWare Mythic, who has been mostly silent for the last few weeks.  Warhammer's community manager, Andy, made a post describing what some of the current staff is up to regarding the game.  Read on for the details.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Sceenshot of the Day

I figured I'd try and give some game development updates more regularly using some simple screenshots.  Usually, what I show will lag a bit behind what I have done, just since it's not in a good state.  But hopefully this will give a good idea of what the game is about.

Things I will do in 2011

None of those silly new years resolutions for me.  Instead, I will just post some things I will accomplish in the upcoming year.  Most of these should be doable, but life usually manages to get in the way somehow.  On to the list!