Off on a tangent

I am still working on the design doc for Project Overlord. It's my first time attempting to fully spec out a game design idea, instead of just little notes here and there. I have to admit, even for such a small project, it's a lot harder than you would think. Mainly because of the scope of the game - I have to keep rejecting features I want to add. Anyhow...

I haven't been doing much MMOing lately. I tinkered with Vanguard a little more after almost giving up on EQ2. Vanguard is closer to what I want to play in an MMO. If only it were a little more polished, and had more players! That being said, I have seen quite a few people running around the newbie island while I have been playing.

So what is taking up my time the last few days? Well, when I have time, I have been playing the beta for Heroes of Newerth. HoN is a game that spawned from a map-mod for Warcraft 3 call Defense of the Ancients. So it's kind of like "Team Fortress" for the RTS world. The game has a super steep learning curve, but holy cow is it fun - even though I get my ass kicked quite a bit.

If you enjoy RTS games at all, and don't mind learning a new game while getting beat down, you might want to look around for a beta invite :)

Chunky monkey

So whilst sitting here at work, unable to really do anything productive due to waiting on other people - as usual - I have been perusing the various VG community forums and websites. One of the issues that I have seen brought up, and addressed today was that of "Chunking". This is similar to "zoning" in other games.

In Vanguard, the map is broken up into 2km x 2km segments. Each segment is dubbed a chunk, and I would imagine each chunk has its own server process (based on how Brad described this today on the FOH boards).

There are some downsides to this - in that you can only exist in one chunk at a time. Now this sounds like this is working as it should, as you should not be able to be in more than one place or chunk at a time. However, this creates invisible barriers in the world. This does not create a "seamless" world; at least not in the sense most gamers think when they hear the term. DAoC and WoW are both seamless worlds. You can run from one side of a continent to another without ever really noticing where one zone line ends and another begins.

Some will argue that WoW still has small entry ways to different zones - and they do. However, the movement between adjacent zones - and their connecting pathways - are truly fluid and seamless. You can easily kite mobs from zone to zone, engage in combat (both PvE and PvP) across these zone lines and not notice you are crossing them at all. So yes, while technically you are moving from one distinct zone to another - while in a given zone, you are not encased in some plot of land with obvious zone borders (mountains and such aside).

In Vanguard however, you can easily see most of these seams. Especially if you have a torch lit, as the light from the torch does not pass by the seam line. As well, if you happen to see someone "chunk", it's very easy to spot. They stop moving forward, but continue to run in place until they "pop" through to the other side. There are also problems chunking, where certain aspects of your current game state changes. For example:

• Torches that you had lit will become unlit
• Pets might disappear
• Auto-follow is disengaged
• Mobs that have aggro on you do not chunk with you
• Some people experience "falling through the world" immediately after chunking

So, obviously if each chunk is its own server process, either on the same machine - or different; the game has to hand you off to the next process when you chunk. The problem is, some of this data is not being handed over, as noted in the list above.

Obviously, I do not have access to the game code to see how this is implemented, but it's a nice experiment in guess-work. I would think this can be improved somewhat. One major thing I think could be done is to do pre-transfers. A few yards from the chunk line, you pass the user info off to the nearest chunk(s), and when they hit the line, you issue a single instruction that tells the new chunk you have passed the line, and to make you active in this new chunk. Depending on how user data is stored on a machine, it might be possible to simply pass a memory address over, then the instruction to "chunk". When the data is pre-transferred over, the user's client program (vgclient) would then start pre-loading any assets needed. It seems this step is already done - else you would not be able to see the critters and players in another chunk moving around.

It just seems that, while the current system is pretty interesting and I am sure required a lot of coding to make it work, it could be done much better. Something to keep in mind for games I might develop in the future :)

I think DAoC had the basic overland stuff down pat in this regard. I don't remember every noticing when I ran across "zone lines" in that game. Of course, I only played for a few months - maybe they did stuff differently in the newer content areas.

Crafting prices

So I am focusing on crafting a bit more over the next few days, while my normal adventuring partner is out of town for his birthday (Happy Bday btw man). I am now a level 14 armorsmith, and while this is not very high - it's about time for to start making some items for sale, instead of just completing work order after work order.

I suppose I need to sit down with some form of pen and paper, or a spreadsheet, and figure out how much it costs to make my various craftable items.

Though, we have another double experience weekend this weekend, so I am sure I will be unable to fight the urge to go level some ><

Welcome

Welcome to my new little space on the web. I will be focusing this blog primarily on gaming and development topics. A few side topics might sneak in from time to time, but my goal is to have a relatively narrow focus for this blog.

Currently, MMOs are taking up most of my gaming time with WoW taking a backseat to Vanguard. While I like the fluidity that WoW exhibits in its gameplay, Vanguard has been piquing my interest more and more due to the more complex mechanics and general content of the game.

My highest level character right now in Vanguard is a level 18 Dwarven Warrior. Over the next several weeks, I will be posting about my adventures in Telon - including some independent testing I will be doing. I have a few items in mind to write about, mainly to do with the mechanics of the game and the warrior class - and more will pile up as I continue to play.

I also tinker around in my free time with various development projects and items. In the past, I was tinkering more and more with game development - but that tailed off as my day job focused on database programming. As a result, most of my tinkerings were with database related projects - mostly web based systems - and eventually found me as one of the original four founders of the PostNuke project back in 2000 or 2001. It has been so long now since I have been involved with that project, that I don't even know where they are in terms of features and such. That said, I am looking to get my focus back on game development - as gaming is a passion for me, and creating games is something I have wanted to do for over ten years now.