I really hate the PS3 sometimes... I don't really play it very often, but occasionally I'll get the urge to play a little Warhawk or LittleBigPlanet or Disgaea 3 or something. Today it was going to be Disgaea 3 for a couple of hours before I ran off to work.
HOWEVER... I'm not going to get the time for any gaming this morning. The PS3 has to be the worse console for updates. First, I had to update the PS3 console -- a task which took nearly half an hour. Then I had to update Disgaea 3, which is taking over an hour to download and install!
Why are there so many updates, both for the games and the console itself, on the PS3 than on the 360 or the Wii? And why the hell are all downloads on the PS3 just generally slower than on the other two? This is one of the reasons why I don't play my PS3 as much anymore: I never have enough time to sit through all of the updates that comes before the gaming.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
GUN Update #1
So here's where things are at now: The registration page is function. It's not very pretty, but it's functional and that's all I care about right now. I've created a shell of an overview page, which will display certain information such as your nation's stockpiles of resources, rankings, etc. Of course it doesn't display any of that yet, I have to finish working on the login portion of the homepage.
I've already coded the portion that actually compares the password you've entered with what's in the database. So that part shouldn't be too hard. Sessions aren't something I've worked with so far, so that's what concerns me most. The session is also why I'm working on the login page now, because I need the session variable in order to know who's information to pick out of the database for the overview page.
So... Time to get busy. B)
I've already coded the portion that actually compares the password you've entered with what's in the database. So that part shouldn't be too hard. Sessions aren't something I've worked with so far, so that's what concerns me most. The session is also why I'm working on the login page now, because I need the session variable in order to know who's information to pick out of the database for the overview page.
So... Time to get busy. B)
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
A Couple of LBP Level Concepts
I have yet to actually put a level out there for people to play. Actually, I haven't even finished one for me to play! I get some ideas in my head for levels that I don't really think LittleBigPlanet was made for and I try to make them, but then they tend to fail miserably and I stop playing for a while. The most notable concept would have been my artillery duel level, I suppose.
I right now, I'm tinkering with two more concepts, the first being StratusFear. There is a "genre" of flash games out there that has you controlling some sort of craft and dodging obstacles. I can't remember the name of it, but there's one where you control a jet and you hold down the mouse button to make the jet go up and release it to let it go down, with the goal of avoiding the clouds and dirt to make it as far as possible to score as many points as possible. Another has you flying a missile through the caves of Tora Bora to kill Bin Laden. They all are have the same controls: press to go up, release to go down.
StratusFear was basically one of those types of games ported over to LittleBigPlanet. A craft of sorts had thrusters on it pusing it forwards, and grabbing a grab switch would turn on the thrusters underneath pushing you up. I've pretty much given up on StratusFear because it seems next to impossible to keep the "plane" stable. It would always want to spin around.
The other concept I'm working on is pinball. The idea is for your sack boy to be placed inside a metal ring, and then jettison that ring into the pinball machine. The ring is in fact the pinball. I'm still working on how I want the actually hitting of the ball back up will go (will I use a switch to make the putter things automatically hit the ball when it comes close, or will I have a second sack boy on the outside flip a switch?). I haven't really worked on this one enough to see how it'll go, so I'll get back to you on its feasibility.
I right now, I'm tinkering with two more concepts, the first being StratusFear. There is a "genre" of flash games out there that has you controlling some sort of craft and dodging obstacles. I can't remember the name of it, but there's one where you control a jet and you hold down the mouse button to make the jet go up and release it to let it go down, with the goal of avoiding the clouds and dirt to make it as far as possible to score as many points as possible. Another has you flying a missile through the caves of Tora Bora to kill Bin Laden. They all are have the same controls: press to go up, release to go down.
StratusFear was basically one of those types of games ported over to LittleBigPlanet. A craft of sorts had thrusters on it pusing it forwards, and grabbing a grab switch would turn on the thrusters underneath pushing you up. I've pretty much given up on StratusFear because it seems next to impossible to keep the "plane" stable. It would always want to spin around.
The other concept I'm working on is pinball. The idea is for your sack boy to be placed inside a metal ring, and then jettison that ring into the pinball machine. The ring is in fact the pinball. I'm still working on how I want the actually hitting of the ball back up will go (will I use a switch to make the putter things automatically hit the ball when it comes close, or will I have a second sack boy on the outside flip a switch?). I haven't really worked on this one enough to see how it'll go, so I'll get back to you on its feasibility.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
An Overview
While this blog may very well be used mostly for other topics, the primary reason for me coming back to Eye of the Beholder is to discuss/provide updates for my little project, a browser-based MMO nation-simulator game. Given that purpose, it only feels right to give an overview of what that game is supposed to be.
Currently, it's going under the working title of Global Union of Nations (GUN), but it's likely that I'll change it before things are all said and done. The game would be akin to NationStates and CyberNations in a few ways. GUN is intended to focus more on land/resource management and nation building than those two. Your nation collects resources daily from your structures, then use those resources to build additional structures, build military units, and research technologies. In addition, there is a citizen demand for a certain amount of resources. Surpassing this demand will result in a happiness boost, and a happier population means more tax revenues.
There are various structures that fall under two general categories: resource-producing structures and military structures. The first is self-explanatory. The second generally allows you to build more of a certain kind of unit. For example, each barracks you have built will allow you to recruit 100 soldiers. You earn land each day, and it's on that land that you build your structures. In addition to regular land, there's also second type called, coastline, on which only certain structures can be built, such as ports, dry docks, and harbors.
On the diplomatic side, there will of course be war, and I intend to implement some sort of United Nations (this is where the name GUN comes from). I don't believe I need to explain war, but the GUN's UN will let nations/alliance put embargoes on others and take other forms of action.
Now, I have yet to really get to programming the damn thing. I've tried creating a sort of registration page, which I believe would get me accustomed to most of the basic things I would need to do in making the game, but I may very well be proved wrong. Right now I'm in the planning stage, and basically figuring out how the technology tree will look, what kinds of structures there will be, etc. So since I have yet to actually program any significant portion of it, some of the things I've posted may change... I'll keep you informed of any changes I make.
Currently, it's going under the working title of Global Union of Nations (GUN), but it's likely that I'll change it before things are all said and done. The game would be akin to NationStates and CyberNations in a few ways. GUN is intended to focus more on land/resource management and nation building than those two. Your nation collects resources daily from your structures, then use those resources to build additional structures, build military units, and research technologies. In addition, there is a citizen demand for a certain amount of resources. Surpassing this demand will result in a happiness boost, and a happier population means more tax revenues.
There are various structures that fall under two general categories: resource-producing structures and military structures. The first is self-explanatory. The second generally allows you to build more of a certain kind of unit. For example, each barracks you have built will allow you to recruit 100 soldiers. You earn land each day, and it's on that land that you build your structures. In addition to regular land, there's also second type called, coastline, on which only certain structures can be built, such as ports, dry docks, and harbors.
On the diplomatic side, there will of course be war, and I intend to implement some sort of United Nations (this is where the name GUN comes from). I don't believe I need to explain war, but the GUN's UN will let nations/alliance put embargoes on others and take other forms of action.
Now, I have yet to really get to programming the damn thing. I've tried creating a sort of registration page, which I believe would get me accustomed to most of the basic things I would need to do in making the game, but I may very well be proved wrong. Right now I'm in the planning stage, and basically figuring out how the technology tree will look, what kinds of structures there will be, etc. So since I have yet to actually program any significant portion of it, some of the things I've posted may change... I'll keep you informed of any changes I make.
A Little Late-Summer Cleaning
Well, I've decided to restart this blog! For now, all of the older posts have been removed from the main page... If anybody cares to read those, you can still see them in the archives.
This blog's purpose will be a little different from the original (not that anybody can remember what that was, as there were no readers :P ). Here, I'll keep you updated on my browser-based MMO nation-simulator game and my LittleBigPlanet levels, as well as all of my general musings on games in general. Enjoy!
This blog's purpose will be a little different from the original (not that anybody can remember what that was, as there were no readers :P ). Here, I'll keep you updated on my browser-based MMO nation-simulator game and my LittleBigPlanet levels, as well as all of my general musings on games in general. Enjoy!
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