Noodlin' and Doodlin'

I spent a small portion of today noodling around with some Clan Lord areas, but it otherwise was a very unproductive day development-wise.

I fussed around with a couple of new areas, and I invested a little time in reviewing some new content from a new helper.  But otherwise I spent the day watching bad television and half-heartedly playing video games.  I had envisioned myself being more productive than I was.  I have a heap of scripting to do before the v819 deadline.

Math FAIL.

One of my surprise areas had a surprise itself: some of the data was incorrectly set because I did some bad math.  Bah.

Once the problem is resolved (the mistake was corrected but the script needs to be restarted), then I'll extend the accessibility to the area by a couple of days.

[Edit]: The fix has been applied, thanks to ServerGM.  Whew.

The Joke's On Me

I threw the switch and opened this year's April Fool's Day ("AFD") area.  While I was busy doing some last minute fussing, I noticed within the player window that one player's name had suddenly changed.  I went to investigate and I found, to my horror, that the old Angbang area was now opened.



This came as a surprise to me, because this was an area which I had not opened!  I did a quick check and discovered that (somehow) the portal leading from the current AFD area to town was not leading to town — as indicated within my copy of the world file — but instead was leading to the old AFD Encore Nexus.



Ugh.  I quickly applied a patch so that the exit portal to town actually lead to town.  I would have left the old Nexus area opened, but some of the areas within the encore required preparation (and bug fixes) which simply had not been prepared (nor fixed).

I hope that this is the only joke played on me for this update!

Weather Report

Instead of taking the day off and relaxing like most Americans on this Labor Day, I spent today catching up on cataloging and resolving bug cases.  While I managed to organize all of the cases from V663, I noted that there are still outstanding cases from V660 that have yet been organized.  I still have a lot of work ahead of me.

One of the personal goals achieved today was organizing the bugs related to weather, which included comparing and closing duplicate reports.  The most popular weather-related bug report has been of the "it's raining indoors" variety.  For those who are curious, here is the list of the unique areas that we have so far:

• The small safe caves in Sasquatch Valley
• The lower level of The Meshra Cave
• Both PF trees in The South Forest
• Elendil Fa'ril's tree in The Meadow
• The small cave in the marshy section of The Wetlands (this one is debatable; this small area could be a gorge bottom instead of a cave)
• Arial's Hut near The Northern Plain
• The tree in the Old Cemetry
• Ehmboff's hut in The Estuary
• The small hut in wooded section of The Wetlands
• The tunnel near the Myrm Highlands
• The tunnel in The Spirit Wood
• The safe cave in The Northwest Forest
• Geisela's hut near Kitty Beach
• The tunnel in The Northern Plain leading to the chamelopod area 

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to file a weather report.  It is much appreciated.

Arty Like It's 1998

While cleaning up some of my areas from my recent move, I was reminded on how sophisticated areas have become over the years.  When Clan Lord first started, we had a very simple version of Puddleby:



And Puddleby had a very simple waterfront:



These areas were a lot of fun because it was all that we had and we didn't know any different.  As the years passed, the quality in areas increased as did the quality in art, and now we have a new generation of areas, including Metzetli Island:



And the Estuary:



I still shake my head in amazement at the level of sophistication that the artists and area designers bring to Clan Lord.  Each new area raises the standards of quality and increases the expectations in design, and it floors me that the artists and designers can still meet – and often exceed – those expectations.

That's an awesome achievement – especially when you take into consideration that both the tools and technology for designing Clan Lord areas are over twelve years old!

The Eviction Of Yappy

One of my helpers recently contacted me to resume a project on which he had been working.  He wished to confirm that he still had ownership to the group of areas that I had assigned to him earlier in the year.  I told him plainly that those areas belonged to him, and I felt that there was no need to discuss nor investigate the matter any further.

Earlier today I received a submission from that helper.  Whilst importing the areas into my editor, I immediately recognized one of the area assignment numbers: I recognized this number because it was one of the areas on which I had been working.  Moreover, all of his submitted areas occupied the same areas that I had been using for my own project.  There was a conflict: both the helper and I were using the same areas.  If I were to import the helper's areas, then they would completely overwrite my areas.

I was confused.  My initial thought was that the helper accidentally used my areas, but I then recalled his diligent letter of area ownership, and I felt that sinking feeling that one feels when one realizes that they are the cause of a mistake.  A quick review of our email conversations from earlier in the year revealed, indeed, that the areas in question were assigned to him and that he rightfully held ownership to those areas.

This situation is my own fault.  When areas are assigned to me by UpdateGM, then they are marked as "Yappy."  In turn, when I assign these areas to helpers, I mark them with the helper's name.  I failed to do the latter in this situation, and if I had, then I would not be in this situation.

So now I begin the process of evicting myself from the helper's areas.  I await for an assignment of new areas from UpdateGM; once I receive these new areas, I may then begin the process of transferring my areas from the helper's areas.  This procedure includes a thorough cleaning of my project areas, ensuring that none of my other areas accidentally lead to the helper's areas.

While I am waiting for assignment of my new areas, I think that I shall go train some Mentus.  Clearly my current method of area management – "I-don't-need-to-write-it-down-because-I-can-remember-it-just-fine" – ain't working too well for me.

Splash Screens

Clan Lord is in desperate need of a new splash screen.  The current one is five years out of date.

I thought that it might be fun to do a short series of new splash screens that show old areas that are no longer used (like the Castle's Mirror Room), old areas that were developed but never used (Puddleby Sewers), and perhaps include some previews of areas in development.

Asides from needing to submit one new splash screen for each update, there is also the issue that players would need to download every new splash screen as they are updated.  They're not small – around 400k in size – and I am mindful that some players are using dial-up modems.

The simplest option is to update the copyright information on the current splash screen and stick with that, but if we were to do that then we would never see charming Glacier Town, built circa V212.



I would like an updated splash screen for V660.  This is update week, so content is due Friday.  That does not give me a lot of time.

You’ll Have to Explore to Discover...

I'm back.  What's all this buzz I hear about a new area?

One Quest Down...

Finally!  The quest that I have been struggling to implement is in for V648.  What a relief.

While implementing it, I realized that there could be other possibilities when trying to solve the quest, so I am polishing the script of one of the hint-givers to offer more clues and direction.  I feel that feedback is important, even if the feedback is "you're getting colder."  Other than this, the quest is working as intended – special rewards and all.

I also closed out layout/design bug of one of the areas (not really a bug, but the design was a little odd), and I created new (albeit silly) area.  Tomorrow I plan to work on another quest.  We'll see how far I get with it.

I now enter update week and I'm feeling really good about V648 (and yes, I remember what happened last time I said that).  I've made a back-up of my submission materials just in case something goes terribly, terribly wrong.

Time Divided

I divided my time this evening between creating a new script for an upcoming area, and doodling around with some art work.

The script is to support a new quest, and both the script and the quest are still in the planning stage.  I'm trying to visualize how the script would run and what information it would require from the quest to do its job.  I should probably start with a small, simple script that does one small task and then expand upon that, but if I can maximize the number of hooks and options now, then I'll be thanking myself down the road.

As for the art: I tried modifying a mobile image.  I think that I've mentioned this before, but if I haven't then I'll come out and say it now: creating mobile images for Clan Lord is hard!  It just make me respect and admire out artists all the more.

The mobile image is done and will be submitted for V648.  And the script: "soon!"

Pens and Cons

I started creating some Story Pens this evening.

I find something therapeutic in creating areas.  I wouldn't call it a mindless task – quite the opposite, really; it requires a lot of creativity.  I find this style of design very relaxing; I don't need to concentrate when creating areas.  Drop some trees here, place some grass there, add a few finishing touches and the area is done.  Mix in some light music and some light snacks throughout the creation process and it makes for a pleasant way to spend evening.

PAX East begins tomorrow, so I will be very, very AFK for the next three days.  I'm very excited about this event, and by the end of Sunday evening I hope to come away with a lot of new ideas that can be carried over to Clan Lord.

Maybe some of these new ideas will be cooler than Story Pens!

Helping the Helper

A portion of today was spent upgrading one of the quest scripts.  I had the idea for some variations on this particular quest, and I have been slowly making modifications.  I hope to have a couple of new quests using the upgraded script for V645.

In other news, I have impulsively agreed to assist a Helper with his project.  It is quite an ambitious area and there is some exciting potential with a new hunting environment.  After reading his quest proposals I realized that there is a lot of work involved in this area, but I'm okay with that because the helper will be doing all of the work!  I'll just put my feet up on the desk and smoke a cigar.

It will be interesting to see how this area develops and how players will react to it.

Lottery Numbers

NewMan had this to say on the Sentinel:

Perhaps someone could finish/open the tunnel under town where the builder has been waiting for permits for something approaching 2 ooc years.

And from our "What's New" page:

• The Puddleby Zoning Board has reviewed and approved permits for several shovel-ready construction projects.

NewMan has been looking into his crystal ball.  Since he has an apparent ability to look into the future, then perhaps he could tell a number from 0000 to 9999.

Finally.

Mostly done.  Just a couple of little things left to do.  Like populating every room with furniture.