7/27/07

Alright, let's make an August resolution. Every week I want to spend at least a few hours working on Global Skirmish. I've decided I've been playing wasting away hours without being productive for board/card gaming. I haven't played one in months, and however that worked out, 'm not sure but if I actually work on GSkirm again, it'll at least fill that hole a bit. Alright, so the first thing I'm going to do on the Global Skirmish side is the some website maintenance. I've promised blogging software in the past, so I'm gonna break down and use some cheasy one that's out there. Sooo... I'll start with Wordpress, and if it irritates me I'll find some other one until I decide I find one I like. So I'm thinking I'll have to do something with the front page, so if you have any ideas drop em my way. I don't know if I like the idea of the blog being in the front, because it's not really what this site is about. I'll think of something I think is neat and drop it in. Hopefully I can update all my links properly.


As promised check out the new wordpress. Hopefully, with actual blogging software, writing up a lazy post will be better, more efficient, and may actually gain some readers.

4/18/07

Whooo for timely updates. Since the last one was 4 months and this one is three months, it seems like I'm taking 3/4s of the previous time difference. I'll have some real update in a few days to put in this slot, but I have a feeling I'll be getting back to some Global Skirmish. I'll have to do some research to see how much GMaps have changed since I was last fiddling around with them. I think I'm going to scratch the windows (which always bugged me) for sometype of floating div. Hopefully I'll work out a few ways to improve the user experience. Like a click-click system for attacking, maybe some user preferences. Look at all these lofty goals. I'll probably be switching over to some blogging software for the index page in the future.
Alright I'll leave a little break for some more news

1/10

Now I haven't gotten on here for 4 months. My new job (which is now 6 months old) programming in the city is going well. Working 10-6 and having a 45 minute commute takes a decent chunk out of your day. Before when I was spending lots of time on ASoOJ, I was only working 8-1, answering phones, and had an 8 minute commute. And I'm sure noone really comes here anymore, but if you do I'd like to apologize for the hole this has become.

I've removed the link to the entirely incomplete mix of games on the header, and replaced it with the still needs to be twearked and finished Global Skirmish. The written rules need to be posted, and I also need to writeup a tutorial page. This would show probably 2 complete rounds of a game of Global Skirmish, explaining what happened. I could probably use the tutorial as a unit tester of sorts, to simulate games for bug testing.

Now I know New Years Resolutions are hokey, and are never followed so instead I've made a New Months Resolution (two of them actually). The first was signing up for an Adult Soccer League here in Hoboken. This hasn't quite been finished yet, but I need to find "proof that I live here" to send in with my check to play.
The other is to get one of the three things up and usable. The three primary things are gameplay balancing, rules writeup, and tutorial. I would think the tutorial is most important, as it can explain some of the more common rules without confusing "words", and total balancing isn't mandatory, but it can't be totally broken. And a written writeup is important, but may not be read or only used for clarifications.

Now the real reason i decided to update today, was to comment on the Slamedance Festival fallout over Super Columbine Massacre the RPG and I'd like to urge any of the finalist that are left in the Festival to withdraw as most of the others who already have. As gamers, and programmers, it's important for us to stick together when things like this happen. This isn't the case of the Festival deciding not to choose a game for it's finalists list. That's a non-issue. So be it. But to let a developer feel the excitement, and possibility that his effort and sweat, and hours of debugging might get some recognition on a scale in the form of a festival nomination or even further, only to turn around to hear that someone threatened to pull funding so we're axing your game.
Personally, I've never heard of Slamedance, before this week. Now I've heard of it, and I'm not real comfortable with how the stand. There are plenty of games that touch on subjects that need to be explored. Sometimes things don't work out nice, sometimes things are brutal. People here in America were upset about the whole JFK Reloaded game. Thats like 40 years? So Columbine, JFK are all unable to be touched. Im sure there are plenty of other things out there that would get a "frown face" from the elder generation, and we'll just have to live with it until it's our turn to take control. Maybe I'll make a game about being a general for the Confederacy in the Civil War, and help lead a few battles to help swing the war in the favor of the South. But this game won't be about stopping William Tecumseh Sherman burning a 5 mile wide march from Atlanta to Savannah. No. It won't be a Civil War FPS, or Turn based strategy. It'll be a President Sim, and I'll touch all those things in the time period that shouldn't be touched. Slavery, interracial relationships, maybe some carpetbagging. Who knows. I doubt I'll be motivated enough to follow up on this specific idea, but maybe the next thing I play around with does push the boundaries a bit.
It's hard to be a gamer in today's age with places like Slamdance not giving people their fair shot, and Jack Thompson claiming I've been corrupted by all my time, on the PC or with a console. Personally, I don't really like shooters. I'm a big fan of Fantasy RPGs though. You don't see me running around with a sword and stabbing people with it though?

Hmm.. that turned into a much larger rant than I thought it would be.. Alas, well for tonight I'm going to get some needed rest, but tomorrow I'll try to stop playing so much Xbox (my 3k gamerscore since the beginning of November needed a little slow down) try to finish NWN2 quickly so it's done with. And then maybe after that I can return to something I started in 2005, and push 1.0 out the door. After that I'll actually need to learn PHP to code the server side. ::Sigh::

9/5

I'd like to tip my hat to Steve Irwin. The dude didn't deserve to die by a stingray he was only watching. I owned his dvd and have watched his TV shoes plenty of times. He was always humorous and entertaining. It's sad to see wildlife experts such as he face the perils of their industry. I worry all the time that my crappy 5 year old laptop with it's screen that randomnly decides to fall (because the screws have loosened over time) will flail wildly and lacerate my hands as a type. It would be quite deathtoll for a programmer. Without hands I would need to use some "you talk it types" program and I can just imagine doing that with C++ or javascript. "I said semicolon you fool. Just end the damn statement."

Anyways, progress has been a bit slow for August after the first week and a bit. Sorry bout that. The main problem is I'm trying to plot how to deal with the Technology phase, it occurs after movement and you reap the benefits in the beginning of your next turn. Building Technology takes some time and you have to plot to see where you think its safe, but there isn't the same money collection and spending round. The biggest problem is my internet connection at home is quite weak no thanks to Optimum. That doesn't prevent me from typing up and formatting rules for the website. I'll get on that soon. I also just thought of a way to log the turns. It would feed a different log to each player for stuff that is dependant on location to learn. (Such as someone building technology adjacent to you).

8/8

Well, it looks like I did it. Global Skirmish is showing off some skin in an early stage. I'm about 90% on how combat works, and the next phase is to get the technology step working. Feel free to poke around and add comments. I'm adding fun things like the battle results attached to the map so you can see wherever you are how you did in combat. That will be finetuned to show how both players did in combat, along with possibly having useful text in between turns. Possibly.

I should spend sometime shortly here to right up the directions I do have, but I'm kinda squeamish about doing so until I have some more of things in place that aren't really so. For those looking for comparisons to other Globe-board games. There is 60 total "countries" where 8 of them are specialized "Obelisks" (think Space Odyssey) which are a bit touchy to use.

So I have been working at my new job for just under a month as a developer in the city. It's "sorta" in the gaming business, and it's definitely suitable to my needs. I don't feel burnt out when I come home and spend an hour on GSkirm. And hope if I get a second windfall like last time, I get as much appreciation. I think I'll be secretive of where I'm working for now, but I'm sure it'll come out soon enough. Oh the irony. Well, that's all from TehDiplomat for tonight. Hope all is well in your world.

8/3

How's it goin folks? Can you guys believe it's August already? Just around this time last year I was tinkering with getting a full version of game to play on google maps, and apparently I'm up to it again. I still have the site locked to a password (but if you email me I'll set you up with an account and the link). I really like how the combat system is working right now. I think there's a few things I can do to make it more balanced, but right now having a "minimal" game is kind of useless. Global Skirmish will be just that. Lots of battles over the globe happening at once. I'm not promising this is the most micro-managing a turn-based game has to offer, but you definitely have to make sure you keep an eye on some of your robots and make sure they don't deteriorate from nonuse.
So the battle system is implemented properly right now. I just need to create an info window for battle results. (Should I tab the windows or just have seperate ones?) I still have my ideas floating around for energy reinforcements and have it tie in now with combat rating. Since how the battle score works now, it just seems to go up, so i'll need a way to balance that all out. Once i have the infowindows and appropriate display for the battle scores I'll put that on the front site, and work on the reinforcement and other things that got lost during the upgrade. And of course if you have any questions, please email me.
I'll be trying to get this thing in a playable fashion by the end of August. --tdch

7/20

Wheee.. more short updates. Things are just gliding along, still working on my ideas for a combat system.

Recently started a new job with different hours so I'm getting accustomed to that, and a bit of a commute into the city.

For those of you peeking in on my work in progress, I'll be posting a new version soon. Let me know if it seems slower or buggy.

6/26

Hey Folks, just wanted a quick update here again to let everyone know whats going on. I just spent this past weekened moving, so I'm quite exhausted and haven't done important things yet (like setup the wired network.) So basically, there won't be any updates until everything is settled and I'm able to recoup a bit I smashed by index finger a bit moving my desk, but it doesnt really hurt unless i put a lot of pressure on it.

6/16

Really brief update before I disappear for the weekend. I've updated the links to frappr on the top menu bar to reflect the altered name of the games frappr site. Feel free to add yourself as before, I've zoomed out a bit for those who don't like in NE USA aren't the only people showing.

6/13

Hey guys, hope everyone in the northern hempisphere is enjoying their summers, and everyone is watching as many World Cup games as possible. It's a shame that the US couldn't even put the ball in the net against the Czech, so hopefully we get a better outing verse the Italians.

Progress for Global Skirmish is coming along. If you'd like a peak, definitely send me an email and I'll drop one over. I have mostly completed rules written out on a yellow scratch pad, so I need to type that up, and there's still a few things that need to be fleshed out. The combat system is currently basic, but will get a bit of an overhaul soon. The same is true for the technology system. The board is in place to my liking though, and the Obelisks have fit in so far as i have pictured it. Hopefully the board isn't TOO cluttered, there's still a few things i want to try. One of which is placing the turn order, and similar buttons on the bottom edge of the map, just like how the zoom is normally on the topleft corner.

We'll see how that goes. I'm moving to a new apartment in my same town in a few weeks, so I don't know what state the game is going to be in when that happens. I don't serve the website or anything, but there just may be a few days where it'll be impossible for me to get work done. If you have any advise feel free to pass it along. I'm not declaring GSkirm to be a great game by any means, and it won't be network playable till after I'm convinced it's balanced and fun for people that want to play. Maybe I can regather some of my old following.

5/27

Happy Memorial Weekend everyone.

It's extremely nice here and although it would be wonderful to hit up the Shore, they are ridiculously packed on this weekend. Most of the things that were in my way are now either resolved or close to being resolved. I do have a fair amount of freetime this weekend, and a large portion of the rules written up. The game has been partially implemented and I'm slowly adding certain things and testing to make sure it seems balanced enough. At this point, balance of gameplay I'm extremely concerned about considering my lack of experience in the whole area. A few bits of info. There will be 60 positions that players have power. About 8 of them are only temporary positioning. The game system will not let you stay in these power zones for long. You'll see when I get the XML data file updated and fix the code to expect the appropriate things.

I know I've been saying you'll see for a while now, and I bet only like 2 of you still visit here, but hopefully things can be at least close to my vision. And if I have people playing it may work out. So we'll see how that goes. I do still plan on doing a multplayer and/or AI at some point. But I think I'll wait until I've worked out the kinks and possibly regained some of the spotlight.

As before feel free to email me for any reason, I'm good about checking my email and since I haven't gotten as many emails as the original rush I should respond to it as appropriate.

4/25

Eeekk... looks like I haven't posted anything in a month. Sorry bout that folks, with my Grad Class and the job hunt, and a new media center (and Oblivion) stuff like a website is hard to keep track of and update in a timely manner.
Here's some current statum, regarding things that affect this project (viz my life.)
1) Obviously the most important is content of Global Skirmish, the game that will reappear somewhere in this general area once I've done doing the code. This part won't take too long, meritting I have actual content to code up. I'll be able to keep the basic structure and reuse functions from the suspended project really the main problem is have a working board game with rules and such that can be made into a game. Easily the most important, you can see the progress on the Boards in the GSkirm section. I have more work on paper than I have there. But I'm still working the kinks out in the gameplay.
2) Free-time. My free-time fluctuates greatly these days. Some days I get back to my room, and I start slashing away in Oblivion. For those curious, I haven't really done any Oblivion Gates nor much of the main quest but have been doing lots of wandering. Beyond my gaming I also have the whole job hunt thing, which I think I have a great propspect for now. Beyond the hunt, I also have my SysAdmin class which lumps up some busy time. There's one class left, and we have a homework due, a quiz to take, and a presentation to .... present. Plus the Devils and Nets are in the playoffs
3) Motivation. This kinda lends itself into the other two. I need motivation to work on the project when I have some free time to get it's wings off the ground. My class is ending on Monday and I'm not taking another until the Fall, so my nights could be spent in a different way, and if I'm able to stop playing Oblivion that'll free up a huge chunk of time. I have my fingers crossed.

Unfortuantely, With what I'm planning, it means you guys will be the alpha testers before I can get multiplayer support up and running properly. I WILL be making as many changes as deemed necessary by the community and myself. And we'll see how many of you latch on. If anyone didn't get the newsletter last month and was supposed to be on it, or wanted to be on it, I'll resend it. I got a reply from someone and didn't notice until the reply that I had sent it from my school address and not my secret anonymous TehDiplomat one. How bout that.
I might start running some blog software for the convenience of an RSS, but not sure yet. I was debating about stealing my friend's, Dustin, but he says it's not ready to come out. Thanks to anyone even almost 6 months in that have sent in emails, it does help to keep it going. And next week, I'll be putting in some bigtime effort in organization and combat system. My goal is to make things feel familiar, without copying ideas.

3/21

So did everyone see this on Digg? Transformer Episodes While the idea is nice and fuzzy, it irritates me that Hasbro would publish something like this and not give me a chance to become "legit" with GMRisk. Would have simple enough to give me a very simple license, and build up hype for a game that has been buried in everyone's bookshelves.
Just go to show how corporations work. If someone pulls off an idea that's better than one they could come up with they'll shut it down without, trying to accept it or embrace. It. These episodes should have been shared via bittorrent and advertised the same way. Digg has quite a power punch now-a-days and it's rough to see everyone swung back over by simple streaming videos of old-day cartoons that no artist is still making royalties on.
Updates from Asooj. Progress is still slow while I create a rule system for Global Skirmish, and life is busy with my Grad class and the job hunt. But hopefully, one of those will be resolved soon and I can concentrate on things I want to do. Thanks if anyone is even still reading these things, I'm sure once I release something I'll try to get it as public as possible.

2/23

Man how the weeks go by. No real updates, although there are some behind the scenes working that may lead to something real. It's not Hasbro, and maybe it's just my wishful thinking but we'll see. Did everyone see the idiocy of the US Patent Office? It's hard to justify all these decisions this country makes sometimes. Does anyone have an Island I can move to and not be hindered so much?
Alright I think I'm done ranting. Hmm... month has 5 days left eh? Things should just work themselves out so I can just let everyone have fun remembering their old school Gaming days. Sigh. Alas.

2/15

Hey any staunch defenders of the realm that is right. If you've been browsing around here with any consistency, you'd notice the lack of updates around these parts. And it's not just posted updates, none of the material has been feeling it either. Real life has sucked my spare time up and mashed it into unusuable small time.
Alright, so here's the skinny. I'm going down to AC this weekend. I have my first homework assignment is due for my SysAdmin class. I'm trying to find a new job that let's me program for money, and I still have the regular work schedule that is a sinkhole for most of my time. Oh yea, and once in a while I like to sleep at night. So that leaves nary a moment for our glorious ASOOJ.
The good news is, I think I'm fairly close to tweaking "Global Skirmish" to be different enough to pass through. Unfortunately, it may feel like War-Game-Generic to some people because of this. Hopefully, I'll find myself with some extra time in the upcoming weeks to work on my original plans of Dictatorshop some more.
So here's to me not losing rent money while I'm down in South Jersey.

2/2

Happy Groundhog Day! Of course, those that live near Pennsylvania know the Punxsutawney Phil predicted a longer winter. Now all i need is Bill Murray to come along so I can spend the rest of today finding an amazing job until it works out properly.
Now I've updated gmrisk page to look just like it does on the main page, and added some message boards for those bored and wanting to spam something. The next week and a half is looking pretty busy at my camp, with a bunch of parties and my girlfriend's 21st birthday. She's the yougnest out of all our friends so we're going all out.
In more ASOOJ related news, the first mini-game is about 90% done, and is playable. The last things I'll be doing is making the onscreen images change (shouldn't be too hard) and make the interface point and click (click once to start moving and once to drop) of course, if you don't want to move the piece you just picked up you can "drop" it on the pole it came from.
I've rebranded the old game to "Global Skirmish" as I work on making it "legit", of course if you checked out the message boards you'd see that. Hrmm.. I think that's all I got for this update. Sorry that there's no status about the game, but I promise I'll post to digg, and submit to slashdot, and send an email to everyone who asked for one as soon as I'm able to let people see it again. I'm as anxious as everyone else to see if it's popularity has fizzled out by now, or if everyone is in hibernation.

1/20

Shhhh.. i have a secret. I can't reveal it right now, because it's still very secretive, but I can at least give you a teaser. I know, I know.. It's not much but it shows the WORLD. Or at least a much requested feature. There's a few kinks in recreating things to be different, but I'll make sure to test as much as possible while things are under-wraps.
Oh yea, and if you don't like my glorious icons... ::Shrugs:: My paint skill has definitely been sacrificed for my better good.
After about a month of hiatus, I've started working on fixing things to fly under regulations. Once I get the official all clear, I promise to reveal everything. Until then, I have a few ideas to keep myself busy. The first of which is going to be a global mini-game type. Most of the games will be mind puzzles in one flavor or another.

1/11

Well I got back safe and sound from Saint Croix and it was quite relaxing. I'll roll this update into a more lively one and even send out a mass-mail to all those wishing to receive updates.
I've got an idea to rehash some older staples in mind games into a functional google maps interface. Unfortunately, my dream of dictatorship is still in it's infant stages, and I feel the need to have at least something playable up here for everyone still visiting searching for something. I still haven't heard anything from Hasbro, so it seems that that stage is closed. I'll now be looking harder into what it will take to at least get the game back up without hassles from lawyers. If this works out, updates would be slower than they had been before December but still would come. If anyone of course is a lawyer and can offer me real advice all would be welcome.. See the email address above.

1/3

I think there may be some issues with caching and the domain switchover. But for the most part it seems fine. I'm going on vacation in tomorrow (to sunny St Croix), maybe I'll grab some postcards for you guys.
When I get back I'll make sure to send an email out to everyone who cared asked for one.

12/30

Y'know that present that you get every year that you just kinda look at and go "Oh man what the is this crap?" I totally coulda gotten XYZ if I were in charge of my presents. Well, here it is. I call it "the card that says I bought a bunch of chickens for some kids in Africa in your name." I don't want to quite call it a "redesign" because there wasn't an original design to begin with. I've fallen into the space short column space and now have tons of real estate on the sides of my webspace to do whatever I please.
I will have a few new banners (I have some great ideas I think so I just need to try to mesh them together) for the site and I'll try o smash together something actually playable.
I need to upgrade my account this weekend, which will give me what I need for multiplayer, if I'm able to get a game into that realm. I'm still taking questions and answers, and if anyone has a job in the NYC region for me, let me know. Here's to 2006.

12/24

Happy family time everyone. My responsiveness to emails will be quite low in the next few days. Also, a major game in the NFC East is happening tomorrow, the Giants at the Skins. Now I bet a lot of you are like "whoa this uber-geeky kid watches football?" and I'll admit right now that it's true, I do. I played sports growing up and still have a few things such as that I've drilled into my brains.
If I have time to starting Tuesday I'll hash up a few additions that I've been planning for quite some time. Continue to write if you feel the need.

12/20

Well, living in the shadow of NYC, I'd just like to say that this strike is sure going to suck majorly. Luckily, I work in the city I live in, but there was like 20% of the people today that are normally around.
For those of you outside the lovely NYC area, be thankful you don't have to carpool 4 people to drive around New York and get to the place that supplies you with an income. Hopefully this whole thing will be resolved shortly. In the meantime, I'm starting up my own Union with a member class of one and striking until the end of the holiday season. So everyone out there have a happy consumerist holiday of choice, and I'll try to post an update in a bit. I'm still working on making the site look like a real one, and will be asking one of my artists friends to whip me up some banners for the site.

12/14

Working on the "other project" until I hear back from Hasbro. I think if they say no, or something ridiculous I've lost too much interest in it to care, maybe. I'll have to check if rebranding is suitable enough of a change, or if I need to rework everything. If the latter is the case, I'm just going to scrap it and send my effort at the new project. I'm going to be reworking the whole website to look not so textpad-ish, and more webpage-ish. Expect to see this before seeing anything else.
For those interested in the other project, most of the work is being done offline (design etc) so don't expect much regarding it. I know somewhere I said expect some type of working product up by the end of the year, I'll probably have to back down, as I haven't done anything in the past two weeks, and I'm going to actually place a design on the website.

12/1

CEASE AND DESIST'D! The end (maybe?). Those three months were entertaining while they lasted.

11/11

The day everything started.. An innocent enough post gets blasted into the mainstream by a few people who visit the Google Maps API boards.

8/28

Original google maps project started. Spent many hours pounding away