Sneak Peek!

I don't remember if Rafter said I could post this or not. Since he's probably already on vacation for the next week I say "Power to the People!" Besides, the new box art is super sweet!

Someone remind me to fill Rafter's desk with scorpions before he gets back. That'll teach him to run off to Canada!

Link

Dude, I got a Dell!

Anyone remember when stoners selling computers was sooo in. That Apple chick still pokes her zombie eyes out at me every once in a while on my Mac screen saver. Mixed in with the 6k HotChix(tm) I have in there is can really be disconcerting, but I digress.

We got a stack of brand spanking new Dell servers and are putting them in this weekend. These babies are tough, dual Opteron, gigstuff, super computers, no really! The good news is that not only do they host about 3x as many players as the old ones and they've got the hot code injection but they might just help us squash this damn CTHL issue we're having. God I hope.

Keymapping is Obsolete

I've been spending a lot of time recently witht he keymapper. A game like WWIIOL has an insane ammount of controls across the variety of vehicle sets and I've always wanted to redo them. Turns out in the end that all I'll probably do is map the joystick to the arrow keys so that the B2ers can play until they actually step up and get a real input device. Speaking of real input devices, this thing has been on /. a couple of times and seriously, I must have one.

Optimus keyboard

1.19.2.2 in beta

Looking good on closing down 119 dev and moving to 120. Please get all the betas in to test that are available.

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World War Two Online
=====================
Version 1.19.2.2 beta (07-12-05)

HUD/UI:
-Removed "WWIIOL" from the Spalshscreen
-Reduced the size of the tech logos on the splashscreen
-Fixed a flash to desktop bug witht he intro movie
-Fixed a bug that would allow the client to miss the brigade list
-Dropped missions and population from brigade selection -> brigades list
-Added objective to the brigade selection -> brigades list
-Reformatted brigade selection -> brigade details (top right)
-Added the number of players who mobile spawned from you to the AAR info if you were a mobile spawn
-Localized offline.uixml
-Localized hud.uixml
-Localized ingamemap.uixml

Chat:
-Added /who (only works for squad mate currently)

Missions:
-Added Mobile spawn tracking to the mission AAR

Mobile Spawning:
-Mobile spawns now count the number of people who spawn through them

Scoring:
-Changed the way scoring is calculated to be rdp-value relative
-Changed the way scoring is calculated to multiply kill-score * 10 to include decimals (1 same value kill = +10 points, KIA = -10 points)
-Changed the way scoring is calculated to give a minimum non-zero of 1 point
-Changed the way scoring is calculated to round decimal values >= 0.6 up to the next point (36.5 points = 36 points, 36.9 points = 37 points)
-Changed the way scoring is calculated to give 1 point per 10 units that mobile spawns through you
-Changed the way scoring factors RTB result:
-> RTB = -0.0 points, Rescued = -2.5 points, MIA = -7.5 points, KIA = -10.0 points

Global:
-Fixed cause for CTHL
-Fixed reconnect code
-Fixed problem that could cause some players to be unable to log in correctly
-Fixed cause of several login issues

Translations:
-Text will now display english line if no language line is found (before only worked at the file level)
Localized:

ok.uixml
confirm.uixml
spawn.uixml
settings.uixml
manuals.uixml
chat.uixml
widgets/template.uixml
widgets/map.uixml
widgets/calibration.uixml
widgets/globals.uixml
widgets/idcard.uixml
widgets/infobar.uixml
widgets/manuals.uixml
widgets/map/info.uixml
widgets/map/legend.uixml
widgets/map/options.uixml
widgets/map/finder.uixml

This is only a pass on the static text. Once we get a way to localize dynamic content, I'll have to make another pass. I went through many other files, mostly widgets that had no static content to localize that I didn't list here. The only static content left to localize is the main UI pages, which I'll tackle next.

Themis Online Magazine

"The Themis Group is best known for their MMORPG marketing and community management on titles like Anarchy Online, Jumpgate, The Saga of Ryzom and the now defunct Wish. Today they announced a new venture, the Escapist Magazine. An online magazine that deals with gaming culture." - MMORPG.com

I've always kinda pondered the Themis group. On the surface its seems they run CS for basically defunct games, which ight explain why J. Mulligan hit us up when she was there looking for clients (though the PC biz term is probably something else).

I never did quite grok the out of house CS scenario though I am a huge fan of her work and book. I got the chance to meet her at E3 one year when I was deep into AO or someother project she was working on.

So JM props aside, wtf does an online magazine have to do with an outfit that runs CS for some games and why is it not a webpage? I get dailies from a lot of people and I don't think any of them ever claim to be a freaking magazine! I like my magazines of the paper kind for easy library browsing.

Luckily they have not only a free subscription link which I certainly plan on clicking in the next few weeks but they've got an ATOM feed. WHEW! For a second I was afraid I wouldn't be able to navigate the magazine in a standard ole web fashioned way. Damn sure glad they didn't add another blog to my daily reading list.

(BTW the article Culture Wargames by Gillen is a good read once you get past the suck layout that must be the reason its called a magazine...)

MMORPG.COM - Your Headquarters for Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games!

1.19.2 in beta

We're putting 1.19 into beta today. This looks like it will be the last patch to the live game for the 1.19 releases and we'll be moving on to 1.20 testing next week. A quick run-down of what's going in today and will hopefully be released this week.

-fix mac infantry fps
-fix mac sounds
-new scoring based on rdp relative values, rtb status and jobs completed
-brigade selection showing a map and the current most popular objective in the brigade
-fix for inability to connect
-reconnect code (for CTHL issues)
-tails falling off fighters
-some translator support (client will now look for english element if missing and not just for the file)