Alex /

Well, I got a few things written off my list. I’ll keep updating the previous post as I finish parts of it. One of the worse fears of mine was that the defensive players will be a bit in a disadvantage, due to some special options that the offensive players have. Mars had a very nice idea the other day and I think we got this covered now. I can’t really talk about it :), but I think it will give the defensive players a nice way to support each other when they are under heavy attacks.

Talked with Raywall and Tony a bit yesterday about the chat system, and the good news is that Tony can do it, without too much hassle. So each alliance will have their own chatroom, that can be accessed from inside the game, in a browser window. Only the members of that alliance can join that chat-room, so it will be secure. It will have a limited number of lines though, and no archives. Also it will be possible to open new chat-rooms and talk with other players in the game, also in a browser window or tab. All this as long as the player is logged in the game.

About the forums, they’re still a problem. When we’re closer to the official launch of the game we’ll have to implement some open source forum, done in ASP or ASP.NET, and using MSSQL. It also has to be able to work with our existing database of players, so that the internal forum is available only to those from inside an alliance. So not that many forums to choose from probably. We’ll see when we get there.

Alex /

This is my to do list for the next period (my work is putting down on paper the game – everything in this list is writing for the game, no programming involved):

1. the military units are finished but they’re spread across three excel files, so I need to make a single one and give it to the programmers – finished
2. the player profile needs to be written on the computer (I have it written on paper right now) – finished
3. the oasis need to be finished
4. the text and options for every single page so that Mars knows what to do for the design of the game (Ex: demolish option in the city hall, train in the barracks, bonus buildings, research, resources) – need to have on paper every single option in the game. They are made by the programmers, but we still need to decide what exact text and look they will have in the page.
5. the demolish option (to get rid of buildings you no longer need)
6. the influence points that decide when you can make a new village or steal one (settler and senator are done as far as I know, but the way the influence points accumulate I still have to do)
7. the promotion plan for the official launch of the game
8. the manual (in text and pdf format)
9. the tutorial for new players (images + text)
10. the storyline behind the game – I have a basic idea from where to start but I don’t plan on making it just two lines long.
11. the in-game alliance forum – I talked about it in the previous post – must look around for something free that can be implemented easily and secure
12. the in-game chat -also talked about it in the previous post – I have to look around and see if there is something already available to implement; otherwise we will have to delay this – talked with Raywall and Tony, and Tony can do it, so great news here
13. some more defensive options for the players – not a priority right now, but if the offensive players have too much advantage then it will have to be implemented later – i think we got this wrapped up; Mars had a brilliant idea so I think this is done
14. the elephant under my bed – the Game Master system – this one will not be easy. You’d be amazed to what lengths people go to cheat the system. Need to take care of that.
15. the guidelines for the game – what players can and can’t do (nudity in the players profile, threats and other stuff that’s not ok)
16. last but not least :), get the programmers and the designer to write in this blog more often

Alex /

We’re a bit unsure on the date when we’ll launch the game officially for anyone to play. The alpha test will take place in April or the beginning of May, but I’m not sure we’ll be able to launch it officially in June, as I had hoped. We want to make the game as bug free as possible, and to include all the features that we have planned. One other thing that we have to do before the launch is the game master system, that will give us the possibility to catch any player that is trying to cheat the system by making multiple accounts. That might sound easy, but trust me .. it’s not :). The game master area will probably be one of the most difficult of the game. A lot of automated supervision of players and reporting of suspicious activity, behavior analysis and reporting for manual review if something doesn’t feel right. It’s a total nightmare but extremely needed.

As I said before, we’re a team of four, only two of us are programmers, and they have 8 hour jobs. Same goes for the designer. Hurrying the launch of the game before we’re satisfied with it doesn’t make much sense, so we’ll work on it as long as we have to.

Some of the things that worry me right now:

• the offensive/defensive balance in the game: there are some things in the game that make possible a lot of offensive tactics. And this helps especially hardcore players that will spend a lot of time in the game anyway. If this will be true then we’ll have to come up with some defensive tactics to help those more inclined to build and trade, instead of fighting. A balance has to be reached so all can enjoy the game.
• the bandwith consumed by this game and the size of the pages. Now, Imperial Ages is based on images, not just text, and those images are not exactly few in number. Seven to ten images in the general design of the page, plus up to 20 different images on the building page (small, but still…), can bring the size of some pages in the 100kb area or more. Take into account that each player might load around twenty pages/day (medium number, as the hardcore users might load hundreds per day), and calculate for 10.000 players, and you get something around 600Gb/month traffic. What helps is the cache that are kept by the browsers and the graphic packs that we’ll be releasing. Every player will be able to download the entire graphic part of the game and load it from its own computer whenever he loads a page in Imperial Ages. That should speed up the game considerably. Another thing that I like about it, is that players will be able to change the look of the game with the help of these graphic packs.
• the initial costs for the server: the game is made in ASP, so that means Windows server and MSSQL. Its considerably more expensive then a simple Linux+PHP+MySql server.
• because of the costs of the server, and the time we invested in this game in the last 8 months, we will put ads in the game, but hopefully they will not bother anyone. Who wants to get rid of ads will be able to pay for a VIP account, that will cost around $7 for a 3 month subscription (probably). A lot of extra features will be available to those with VIP accounts, that will not give them any unfair advantages over those that play the game without paying. It will just make the game more enjoyable, with features like displaying a logo/banner/flag in the users profile, or the ability to put an extra building in queue before he goes to sleep.
• another concern of mine is the communication system inside alliances. While we have many features that will allow the leaders to manage an alliance with more ease, I’m also inclined towards a chat system to help with coordination. I’m thinking something on the lines of a chat room opened only to the members of an alliance, that can be joined only by the members of that alliance. Basically we would need a browser based instant messenger that can be limited only to the members of the alliance, that can’t be joined by others. No idea if something like this exists and can be implemented in our game, or we’ll have to create it ourselves in time.
• again, concerning the communications inside an alliance, we will need an alliance in-game forum, at least a basic one. It needs to be secure and each alliance must have one automatically created and accessible only the users from that alliance. Hopefully we’ll find one open source to use or we’ll create a basic one ourselves.

Alex /

Well, I started learning CSS, and it seems easy enough so far. Also started working on the plan for launching the game and writing down any promotion idea I got for the 1-2 week period I will have before the official launch.

As for the game, Mars is starting work on the buildings of the game tomorrow, Raywall will probably start working on the battle system this weekend and Tony is almost over with the alliances. If all goes well, in 3-4 weeks we will have an alpha test limited to around 100 players or so.

Alex /

What everyone is working on right now:

Alex: just finished the last bit i had to do on the battle system and the casualties for the winning side, depending on the power of the opposing armies. Next for me, starting to learn some CSS so I can help Mars with the design of the game.

Mars: still working on the graphics of the game; he should finish the resource fields today or tomorow. After that he’ll probably work on the map of the game.

Raywall: last time i talked with him he was finishing the work on the NPC traders and the resource exchange between players. He also did the colonization system for the game before that.

Tony: still on the alliance system, not sure on the details.

Mars /

Ok, I`ve started working on the graphics. Until now, all the 5 basic units for every race are complete. There are 7 more to go. The bad part is that now i need to work mostly on the interface, because the programers keep complaining that they don’t understand much about what`s happening in the game.

So from now on i`ll work on the graphic interface. This should be interesting.

I`ll attach 2 pictures,the real ones will be a little smaller, of 2 of my favorite units.

Heralds

Woodsmen

Alex /

Well, I just arrived home from the city where Raywall and Tony live. I met them with Mars, explained the battle system and a couple of other things that they didn’t know how it should happen. The 8 pages of text that described the battle system for Imperial Ages isn’t as hard to implement as I initially thought, so that’s excellent news. All in all a very good day for us, and it would’ve been superb if the spicy pizza that I’ve been promised would’ve been as I expected :(.

Now, what we’re planning to have ready for the alpha test in one month:

• resources and the bonus buildings for them
• most of the normal buildings (those that will exist in the first age)
• research and training of military units
• battles
• resource trading between players
• the map
• most of the graphics should present a look for the game close to that from the official launch date
• military bonuses applied in battles

So in the next few days Raywall will work on the more special units in the game and probably the battle system, Tony will continue to work on the alliances (I think the invite system for players is done but not sure), Mars will start working on the look of the game and Alex (me) will finish the few buildings that aren’t done yet on paper.

As for the blog, I added a form to subscribe to the posts of this blog by email if RSS isn’t your thing :).

Alex /

What I did today on paper:

• finished the costs, atack and defense values for the second half of the military units, research and building dependencies for those units to be built
• finished the concepts behind the rams, catapults, the units that found villages, the units that steal villages and the leader unit.

All in all 5 pages of text and 3 excel sheets written in around 6 hours of work. Worked a bit more on the battle system also. Hopefully I’ll stay with Mars tomorrow and finish it. On Sunday we’re going to the city where the programmers live for a few hours of drinking and explaining the battle system to them.

Alex /

What is currently done:

• most of the buildings in the game
• half of the units are in place (those that fight): units like the general, rams, catapults, spies and two other are written down but not implemented yet
• the resources
• the map of the game
• military bonuses
• graphics for most of the military units of the first age
• part of the alliance system
• in-game messaging
• trade system is working

What we’re currently working on:

Alex: writing in this blog (:P), finishing touches on the more specialized units in the game and tackling the problem of the battles with Mars

Mars: the battle system and the graphical part of the game. Currently on military units but we all hope he’s gonna make an effort and begin work on the other part of the game graphics, so we can finally see something pretty on our screens

Raywall: military bonuses for the units

Tony: invite system for the alliances

About the part that I’m more familiar with these days, the battle system, I can tell you this. Me and Mars are going crazy trying to figure out a system that makes for a fair battle result. The problem is that there are two types of defense for each unit: cavalry defense and infantry defense. The way we have to implement this needs to bring a battle result that anyone can say its fair. Well, thats not gonna happen, but we are working on some basic principles:

1. both sides need a fairly balanced army (infantry, cavalry and archers). If they don’t, their chances of winning a battle are diminished even if they seem to have a larger force.
2. the winner of the battle needs to loose troops based on how much more troops they have then the losing side. Example: if an army of 50,000 atack a 20,000 army, they might lose 15,000 soldiers (just an example); now if an army of 500,000 atack that 20,000 army they would have to loose not just 10 ten times less then in the first case or the same number. They would have to lose 20 times less (again, just an example) because the battle is much more unbalanced.

Alex /

There are four of us working on this project:

• Alex (me) – working on writing the details of the game and when the game is ready on public relations and marketing for the game
• Mars – working on writing the details of the game and on the graphics (units, buildings and the general look of the game)
• Raywall – programmer
• Tony – programmer

Due to the fact that three of us have normal jobs (hint: i’m the fourth, working freelancer from home), the programmers are working on the game when they got free time, so no term set is written in stone. I’ll try to get everyone on this blog when they have some time, to talk about their part of the game, but I can’t promise anything.