MMO Updates Part II
by Prairie Games · 04/10/2007 (2:47 am) · 32 comments
It's been another crazy few months for Prairie Games... The good news is that Minions of Mirth continues to sell very well... and we're now at nearly 40,000 registered players. That's not too bad for an OpenGL game where maybe 20% of the people who try it get a black screen and crash due to old drivers :)
It's been nearly a month since our last update. Here are a few happenings, broken into some sections.
----- Minions of Mirth - Upcoming Patch
We have a massive patch for Minions of Mirth coming within the next couple weeks. It has a whole slew of new features, content, fixes, optimizations, and other stuff. We'll be sending out a mailing about the patch once it is live.
The patch has been mostly developed by the "Community Development Group" which I discussed in a previous blog. These guys totally rock and I am constantly amazed at how fast they add high quality features to the game. For example, they've completely revamped the PvP system and it now supports Guild vs Guild, Realm vs Realm, etc. all on the same server and player selectable.
They also added a spiffy item hyperlink system for easily getting information (not unlike a certain mainstream MMO from Blizzard). You can add links to items, spells, skills, factions, etc, very easily to chat. So, no more typing item stats in :)
The patch notes are many pages long and there is some really cool stuff in there. We can't wait to get this off the test server and onto the live servers! It's not long now! :)
----- Minions of Mirth - Modding Kit
Minions of Mirth shipped with modding support. Though, it was a quite limited... the work we've been doing at the MMOWorkshop (see below) has allowed us to really boost up the game's modding support and it is now a fully moddable MMORPG!
The modding kit is intended for people who want to work on MoM or total conversions adding quests, monsters, making new zones, etc. Modders can run all the servers that are actually used for the official game (master, character, world, zone, GM, etc) it also comes with an integrated patching system. We also have a binary client and distribution builder with a handy "Minions of Mirth: Premium Edition" checker built in:
The modding kit is ready and available to be played around with right now. Though, it is in alpha and we are looking for feedback and help with it. The modding kit should be quite popular and also help bring more people into the Torque technology family. If you'd like to help us evangelize, feel free to let us know... We'll have more information (and some huge thanks) as we move into beta and release on the modding kit :)
----- MMOWorkshop.com
We've also been working on the MMOWorkshop.com site. It is primarily an integration of Trac project management, Subversion, and phpBB2 for authentication and forums. It works really well and other than needing a web designers touch, it is very functional. We have a timeline, change sets, ticket system, source browsing with revision logs, a wiki, roadmap, etc. Go ahead and check it out!!!
We've also been busy with documentation, cleaning up the sources (still a fair amount to do), releasing preview versions of the MMO Technology, and getting feedback on it all. There's a FAQ available on the site for more information, although like anything in beta/preview it is subject to change. Please pardon the dust!
----- IMGDC
Josh Ritter (the person writing this blog) will be speaking at the IMGDC on "Scalability and its Affects on Business and Design". I believe this is going to be recorded and it is the VERY FIRST time I'll be speaking in public, it should be interesting to watch :) I'm really excited for the conference and it should be a lot of fun. There should definitely be some great ideas bouncing around... and I hope some demo material too.
----- A very long engagement
Lara and I have been engaged since the move to North Dakota, founding of Prairie Games, the production of Minions of Mirth, and the year since its release. It is definitely time to put an end to this freaking engagement once and for all! We're getting married next month!! Here's the cheesy "engagement photo" that was part of the wedding photo package.
Woot!
-Josh Ritter
President
Prairie Games, Inc
http://www.prairiegames.com
It's been nearly a month since our last update. Here are a few happenings, broken into some sections.
----- Minions of Mirth - Upcoming Patch
We have a massive patch for Minions of Mirth coming within the next couple weeks. It has a whole slew of new features, content, fixes, optimizations, and other stuff. We'll be sending out a mailing about the patch once it is live.
The patch has been mostly developed by the "Community Development Group" which I discussed in a previous blog. These guys totally rock and I am constantly amazed at how fast they add high quality features to the game. For example, they've completely revamped the PvP system and it now supports Guild vs Guild, Realm vs Realm, etc. all on the same server and player selectable.
They also added a spiffy item hyperlink system for easily getting information (not unlike a certain mainstream MMO from Blizzard). You can add links to items, spells, skills, factions, etc, very easily to chat. So, no more typing item stats in :)
The patch notes are many pages long and there is some really cool stuff in there. We can't wait to get this off the test server and onto the live servers! It's not long now! :)
----- Minions of Mirth - Modding Kit
Minions of Mirth shipped with modding support. Though, it was a quite limited... the work we've been doing at the MMOWorkshop (see below) has allowed us to really boost up the game's modding support and it is now a fully moddable MMORPG!
The modding kit is intended for people who want to work on MoM or total conversions adding quests, monsters, making new zones, etc. Modders can run all the servers that are actually used for the official game (master, character, world, zone, GM, etc) it also comes with an integrated patching system. We also have a binary client and distribution builder with a handy "Minions of Mirth: Premium Edition" checker built in:
The modding kit is ready and available to be played around with right now. Though, it is in alpha and we are looking for feedback and help with it. The modding kit should be quite popular and also help bring more people into the Torque technology family. If you'd like to help us evangelize, feel free to let us know... We'll have more information (and some huge thanks) as we move into beta and release on the modding kit :)
----- MMOWorkshop.com
We've also been working on the MMOWorkshop.com site. It is primarily an integration of Trac project management, Subversion, and phpBB2 for authentication and forums. It works really well and other than needing a web designers touch, it is very functional. We have a timeline, change sets, ticket system, source browsing with revision logs, a wiki, roadmap, etc. Go ahead and check it out!!!
We've also been busy with documentation, cleaning up the sources (still a fair amount to do), releasing preview versions of the MMO Technology, and getting feedback on it all. There's a FAQ available on the site for more information, although like anything in beta/preview it is subject to change. Please pardon the dust!
----- IMGDC
Josh Ritter (the person writing this blog) will be speaking at the IMGDC on "Scalability and its Affects on Business and Design". I believe this is going to be recorded and it is the VERY FIRST time I'll be speaking in public, it should be interesting to watch :) I'm really excited for the conference and it should be a lot of fun. There should definitely be some great ideas bouncing around... and I hope some demo material too.
----- A very long engagement
Lara and I have been engaged since the move to North Dakota, founding of Prairie Games, the production of Minions of Mirth, and the year since its release. It is definitely time to put an end to this freaking engagement once and for all! We're getting married next month!! Here's the cheesy "engagement photo" that was part of the wedding photo package.
Woot!
-Josh Ritter
President
Prairie Games, Inc
http://www.prairiegames.com
#22
04/10/2007 (11:08 am)
Congrats Josh and Lara!
#24
04/10/2007 (1:14 pm)
Congrats to Josh and Lara on the wedding!
#25
...I'm glad this time it's not just some guy!
Congratulations to the both of you!
- Ronixus
04/10/2007 (6:21 pm)
Some guys have all the luck......I'm glad this time it's not just some guy!
Congratulations to the both of you!
- Ronixus
#26
Just remember you're representing indie gamers to the world. We're all counting on you.
No pressure.
:)
04/10/2007 (6:51 pm)
Congratulations!Just remember you're representing indie gamers to the world. We're all counting on you.
No pressure.
:)
#27
I'm another one who'll be seeing you speak this coming weekend- this community is going to have quite the showing, it seems. Beers are in order =)
04/10/2007 (7:32 pm)
Somebody's having a really good year... Congrats on the marriage and your company's success! Every time I read one of your blogs I have a pencil and notepad out to take notes, you're definitely one of the GG community trailblazers (I know that's why you named your company Prairie Games- that secret's safe with me though ;)...).I'm another one who'll be seeing you speak this coming weekend- this community is going to have quite the showing, it seems. Beers are in order =)
#28
04/11/2007 (1:36 am)
Congratulation's, hope you have a fantastic wedding as well as a long-lasting union (at least a lot longer the celebrities of this world huh! ;0) )
#29
Obviously someone's better half isn't going to be reading this post ;)
04/11/2007 (8:12 am)
Congrats again Josh!Quote:Here's the cheesy "engagement photo" that was part of the wedding photo package.
Obviously someone's better half isn't going to be reading this post ;)
#30
04/11/2007 (5:00 pm)
Congrats all round!
#32
04/23/2007 (8:39 pm)
still down? have you abandoned the site?
Torque 3D Owner J. Erick Christgau