Plan for Vince Gee

Well,

I know I have been quiet for several days, some might think I've stopped the project. Actually I've been working on the admin interfaces and have tried several solutions which have lead me in an interesting direction.

The problem for me is that all of the information about the game has been moved to the database. Items, players, AI's, etc are now all stored in the database and I'm using code to generate the items in the game instead of using script files. It all works great and even though it's somewhat complex, it's quite simple for me due to my familiarness with SQL. So, if I want to add an AI, I just open up a few tables and key the data in. If I want to add a new weapon... same thing.

Now.... I started thinking... This resource is intended for people who might not have a strong programming background but would like a way to prototype their persistent online game quickly. If I don't expect them to understand programming, how will I get them to use SQL? The answer is, I can't. So with this dilemma I started out on a very enlightening journey.

First, I tried a VB.Net application that would handle all the database manipulation. Quickly I discovered several problems with the interface. For example, GM's would need to key their transforms for objects spawning from the game to another application to save it in the database. Plus, it would require someone who had a windows or dot.net friendly computer to use. Thus I scrapped this idea (After getting through about 5 screens)

Second, i tried to use Java. So I built an application, got about 6 screens through it before I realized that it didn't have the interfaces I wanted due to it's inability to interact w/ Torque easily. Still cutting and pasting info from torque to the app.

Then I tried MS Access as a front end using linked tables... Very very very very bad idea, too many reasons to explain, not enough room in the blog.

So this continued for several days, each day trying a different method for letting gm's put stuff into the game, I think I went through about 5 languages....

Yesterday, I decided to see how hard it would be to build gui's to do data entry. And to my amazement, it was not as difficult as I thought. Since all the objects are loaded into memory from the database, I realized I could change the in memory copy of everything, and then just serialize it back to the database on shut down. So right now, I've finish a great deal of the screens, but I do have the heaviest work ahead of me for this weekend. I believe that not only will this work, and be platform independent, it should also be somewhat intuitive.

So what do I have you ask? Well, right now I have about 8 gui's and a few new functions for me to get the information from the memory to the client in an organized and extendable fashion. Now, it's just a matter of wiring it all together.

On a side note, it's been atleast 3 months since I played any online game(SWG,EQ,WOW,Anarchy Online, EQ2 had several accounts of each). I have canceled most of my game accounts except my last 2 eq2 accounts. (They are being canceld this week) I think I found what I miss the most about online games. I miss the community, since I've embarked on this journey, I've been mainly alone, since coding takes hours on hours of silent work. I've made new friends on the GG site, but I still find my work quite solo.

I think it is this which drives me on. When I started this project I felt I would never finish it, that it would just be another unfinished work of mine. This is not the case now, I will finish this project, I refuse to give up. WHY? cause I want a game to be built which brings back the old days of EQ and MUD types games. Where you know your fellow players and they are playing the game for enjoyment (Spending hours on hours on hours) online. A virtual world where levels are good, but not the only thing, a place where I can be unique, even if the graphics aren't as good as they could be. A place where people can submit content which actually ends up in a game. Where someone who might not have as much talent as myself in programming, but is a game design wizard can build a prototype and get funding.

Will this happen? Prolly not, but I also figure, that atleast I'm learning doing this instead of sitting in a spawn point killing the same 10 monsters over and over and over and over waiting for uber item 1 to drop. I've wasted enough of my life playing these games, it's now time for me to take what I've learned in buisness and in gaming and apply it to my other passion of programming.

For those who are starting in this tool, let me make this clear, I downloaded and started playing with TGE on Mar 09, 2005. Since then I have gone through 20 percent of the engine code and have learned enough to incorporate most of the resource I have attempted. Also since then I have embarked on building an engine to help others. In my book, that's not bad for 3 months of work.

Once again hope to have this resource out by the end of the month atleast with enough instructions that someone could use it as a learning tool, maybe more.

Vince