Just as I was going to have dinner I noted that the player count was falling instead of rising towards the peak hours. I quickly noticed that our website said some evilness about being suspended and that someone responsible should contact the hosting company. I agreed but was of course startled when I realized that that person would be me.
We were told a few weeks ago to move out of the web hotel and order a dedicated server since we used too much of the shared web hotel resources. I ordered the server since I wanted to avoid hassle - the move was supposed to be unnoticable if we stayed with them. After a while I received an email with some passwords that I didn't need at the moment and was happy that the move was so seamless.
Now it turns out that we actually were still using the old website. At the bottom of that email were some lines telling me that I had to change the DNS as well so that people are redirected to the new server instead. I did actually wonder about that thing before but thought that they had moved the ip address along with the website somehow. Now they kindly offer to move the website again for which I am very grateful.
Anyways, in public I will blame them a bit for not pushing the DNS issue more and me a bit for not reading the email to the end. But secretly, when I turn out the light, I will blame them only so that I sleep better at night.
tisdag 30 september 2008
måndag 29 september 2008
New client update!
Today I decided to update the client along with the server. The client devs didn't really give their clearance for it and some features like the profiles weren't really fully tested. But the protocol had changed and I decided that the new skill window features were worth a few minor bugs.
You also now have to check that you agree with the End User License Agreement before playing. The EULA has two main reasons: One is that it's there to protect us as a company and the other is to make sure that everyone that plays the game agrees that things like hacking and cheating in wurm is not allowed and that we can ban at will for those things.
The first reaction we got was someone who asked if he didn't own his account so that he couldn't sell it. I want you to be able to make money off playing wurm. I think that it is your right. The Eula states that "you have no ownership to the account". This is correct. We own the server and the bits on it. It would be weird if you could make claims on that so we want to protect ourselves from it.
Wurm is a service. The password you submit when you launch the client is the key to the service. If you decide to sell this key it is up to you but we will take no responsibility in that transaction. That is how we try to draw the line. The discussion becomes theoretical and abstract after a while. But basically - we won't hunt you down or ban you if you sell your passwords. We don't provide any protection to the buyer either though since we don't handle those transactions but in clear cases we may still help out just to be nice.
Hope that clarifies some of it. Enjoy the updates!
You also now have to check that you agree with the End User License Agreement before playing. The EULA has two main reasons: One is that it's there to protect us as a company and the other is to make sure that everyone that plays the game agrees that things like hacking and cheating in wurm is not allowed and that we can ban at will for those things.
The first reaction we got was someone who asked if he didn't own his account so that he couldn't sell it. I want you to be able to make money off playing wurm. I think that it is your right. The Eula states that "you have no ownership to the account". This is correct. We own the server and the bits on it. It would be weird if you could make claims on that so we want to protect ourselves from it.
Wurm is a service. The password you submit when you launch the client is the key to the service. If you decide to sell this key it is up to you but we will take no responsibility in that transaction. That is how we try to draw the line. The discussion becomes theoretical and abstract after a while. But basically - we won't hunt you down or ban you if you sell your passwords. We don't provide any protection to the buyer either though since we don't handle those transactions but in clear cases we may still help out just to be nice.
Hope that clarifies some of it. Enjoy the updates!
torsdag 25 september 2008
A big day
Today we are featured on the main page of mmorpg.com! Since they are one of the largest commercial sites specialized on MMO's it is a very good thing.
The review is positive and fair I think, as are the comments. Some comments about Wurm will always be negative as with any MMO. What I think makes us a bit different is that we have a lot of unused potential in our concept. Comments like "lack of story" and "all characters look the same" have little impact on me. I know that those things can and will be changed and improved.
Wurm has the possibility to make the story have a huge impact on the game and the players because of its openness and vice versa and we aim to use it.
Thanks you guys at mmorpg.com! I didn't even pay you for it. When we start making money I'll pay you back by advertising:)
This is a link to the full article.
The review is positive and fair I think, as are the comments. Some comments about Wurm will always be negative as with any MMO. What I think makes us a bit different is that we have a lot of unused potential in our concept. Comments like "lack of story" and "all characters look the same" have little impact on me. I know that those things can and will be changed and improved.
Wurm has the possibility to make the story have a huge impact on the game and the players because of its openness and vice versa and we aim to use it.
Thanks you guys at mmorpg.com! I didn't even pay you for it. When we start making money I'll pay you back by advertising:)
This is a link to the full article.
tisdag 23 september 2008
Bladerunner or Highlander?
Yeah, I confused the two movies in my previous entry. I mean Highlander of course and have changed the text (thanks Gurubear)!
On another note I noticed something interesting on mmorpg.com. Since the release of Warhammer Online, the ratings of ALL other mmo's dropped below 8. Warhammer Online currently has 8.9 in overall score. Wurm Online lost 0.5 in rating down to 6.8, and it seems every other game did as well. I don't want to speculate on why this happened - I just find it fascinating.
Hopefully it will have a good effect on our rating as well. It may be a bit unfair to the larger games such as WoW if they now will have a tough time raising their rating. Since we have so few votes our rating may fluctuate a lot faster. I don't know the effects of the ratings anyways but a sophisticated guess is that a higher rating means more people will be willing to try the game out.
Allright I had to check some facts out just when I had written the post. There's a nice explanation here: http://www.mmorpg.com/faq.cfm/showFaq/15 :) It was still interesting and shows the impact Warhammer Online had on the mmo community.
On another note I noticed something interesting on mmorpg.com. Since the release of Warhammer Online, the ratings of ALL other mmo's dropped below 8. Warhammer Online currently has 8.9 in overall score. Wurm Online lost 0.5 in rating down to 6.8, and it seems every other game did as well. I don't want to speculate on why this happened - I just find it fascinating.
Hopefully it will have a good effect on our rating as well. It may be a bit unfair to the larger games such as WoW if they now will have a tough time raising their rating. Since we have so few votes our rating may fluctuate a lot faster. I don't know the effects of the ratings anyways but a sophisticated guess is that a higher rating means more people will be willing to try the game out.
Allright I had to check some facts out just when I had written the post. There's a nice explanation here: http://www.mmorpg.com/faq.cfm/showFaq/15 :) It was still interesting and shows the impact Warhammer Online had on the mmo community.
Frantic client developers
The new client developer team have started updating the code at a fantastic pace! And yesterday Martinus joined as well. Dashiva, Serplat and Zcul are committing more code changes than I have the possibility to look at so it will be interesting to see the new client version and find out what has changed.
I assume you have found out how to locate the springs now. It should make it easier to inhabit those high up places on mountains.
I assume you have found out how to locate the springs now. It should make it easier to inhabit those high up places on mountains.
fredag 19 september 2008
Weekend update
This week I've been busy laying some basics in the client for atmospheric sounds. We're also finishing up assembling the client developer team. The latest two additions are Pryath and Serplat. There are three more NDA's out there that I wait for. When those arrive we will have a team of 8 client developers. It is a round and nice number, and given the applications I received I think that it will be a very creative and productive team that are able to make some really nice improvements.
A feature that soon will come is that you'll see the max skill achieved in the skill window so that you know if you're catching up from death or decay still or improving the max. You will also see the number of affinities you have in the skill.
I have kept the affinity system pretty much a secret but today I decided I want to describe it since it's been around long enough now for you to explore and I really want you to start hunting affinities. I invented it because I liked the idea of a Highlander type of feature.
An affinity is a bonus to skillgain for a skill. You may have up to 5 affinities for every skill in the game.
You may gain an affinity from another player when you slay him or her in pvp combat, given that the player is premium, has an affinity and is of another kingdom than you. Every player starts with but one affinity in something - it is totally random and could be rope making or body strenght. If several players are involved in the kill the person who got the killing blow usually gets the affinity.
Right now there is no end functionality for affinities - you don't become the One like in Highlander... Yet!
A feature that soon will come is that you'll see the max skill achieved in the skill window so that you know if you're catching up from death or decay still or improving the max. You will also see the number of affinities you have in the skill.
I have kept the affinity system pretty much a secret but today I decided I want to describe it since it's been around long enough now for you to explore and I really want you to start hunting affinities. I invented it because I liked the idea of a Highlander type of feature.
An affinity is a bonus to skillgain for a skill. You may have up to 5 affinities for every skill in the game.
You may gain an affinity from another player when you slay him or her in pvp combat, given that the player is premium, has an affinity and is of another kingdom than you. Every player starts with but one affinity in something - it is totally random and could be rope making or body strenght. If several players are involved in the kill the person who got the killing blow usually gets the affinity.
Right now there is no end functionality for affinities - you don't become the One like in Highlander... Yet!
tisdag 16 september 2008
A first new blog
Allright! Blog set up.
I decided to go for Blogspot since it is neutral ground and may attract new players.
First of all: Welcome to the Client developer team Dashiva and Amnesia!
I am in quite a hurry to get our new client developers set up so this will be a short post. There are others coming as well that I have sent out NDAs to and I look forward a lot to receiving them.
I am just about to get starting on getting ambient sound in Wurm sorted out together with Gurubear. I got sidetracked trying out Prevent code analysis software from coverity.com. Looks like a powerful tool but we can't afford it at the moment anyways so it seems like a waste of time.
Make marketstalls:
I decided to go for Blogspot since it is neutral ground and may attract new players.
First of all: Welcome to the Client developer team Dashiva and Amnesia!
I am in quite a hurry to get our new client developers set up so this will be a short post. There are others coming as well that I have sent out NDAs to and I look forward a lot to receiving them.
I am just about to get starting on getting ambient sound in Wurm sorted out together with Gurubear. I got sidetracked trying out Prevent code analysis software from coverity.com. Looks like a powerful tool but we can't afford it at the moment anyways so it seems like a waste of time.
Make marketstalls:
Prenumerera på:
Inlägg (Atom)