Liberal Arts Major
This is primarily a feature update (and by "primarily" I unfortunately mean "solely"), which means there's no new content: no quests, no world advancements, no new spells, no new items. Instead, it's packed with features, both documented and undocumented!
- There is now an Alliance system, which is like the board's faction system, except much simpler and actually useful.
- There is now a "free market" system, inasmuch as you can all have your own pointless shops so you can sell your pointless nothings.
- There is now a new, Ajax-based PvP engine, which uses file locks to avoid race conditions. It's surprisingly fast and possibly even accurate sometimes.
- There is now support for class histories when switching to special classes - but the history won't show up in the stats page.
Because I didn't know where to put links for the Alliance system and your store's pre-visible management page, here they are:
Your Store's Stocking Page
The Alliances Page
Wait, so you had over a month to write this update... and that's all you got done? What?
Bite me.
That's the short version. The long version is that planning is just as time-consuming as coding, if not more so, so I just started actually working on the actual implementation of all these features a week ago. A whole lot of them are only half done, so I had to leave them out if I planned on meeting today's deadline.
OK, then. Take us through this update one feature at a time. What's this "Alliance Election" and "General Election" stuff I keep hearing about?
If you don't happen to be blind, you'll notice there are two tabs in the Alliances page asking if you want to run for a position as the Prime Minister, a Senator, or a Representative. As you're probably curious as to what those positions mean, I'll take this opportunity to introduce the government system of SS.
The Prime Minister
This guy is responsible for fixing rates of inflation or deflation on everything, although he'll start out with only power over a few things. The Prime Minister might have some other functions, as well, especially if I find it fitting that 'minister' refer to a quasi-religious function.
The White Council
Named the White Council because, hey, this is a fantasy setting, and because the seat of the government will actually be called the White City, this particular body is composed of one representative from each profession and serves as the Prime Minister's cabinet. As such, it is both almost powerless and currently non-existent.
The Legislature
The House of the Moon and the House of the Sun are divisions of the legislative body, so named because I had to choose names befitting a fantasy setting without sounding too stupid. The House of the Moon is comprised of one representative from each Alliance, so I've called it a senate and its members senators, parallel to the USFG; the House of the Sun's membership is based on each Alliance's population, so I've had its less-fantasy-based names parallel the USFG one again, and it's members are simply Representatives. The purpose of the legislature is twofold: (a) it serves to formalize suggestions, feature requests, and so on, in the process providing some statistics on their demand; and (b) it allows everyone who isn't me a much greater degree of control over the game than previously. Of course, that degree is limited.
The Webmaster (Me)
I hold the power to veto all legislative resolutions, appoint judges, and fill any open spaces in the government. Actually, the government is essentially mine. This shouldn't be too great an issue, though - I'm really a libertarian at heart.
The Courts
The courts are useful for enforcing contracts and so on when the game's industry really takes off, sometime in the near future. Judges are appointed by me after each election and can be impeached by the legislature.
Elections will be held monthly or bimonthly, whichever seems more effective. Voting for the first election will open on Saturday and close on the following Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday.
How do you expect to maintain a good-sized government with only ten or so active players?
I didn't plan for a small player base, but then again, I don't stay awake at night hoping that SS will never get any new players ever ever. Besides, this feature is an experiment. If the government doesn't serve any useful, discernible purpose, I'll dissolve it. However, what is or isn't useful to me might be otherwise for the general public.
OK, moving on. Why can't I sell my Krakensbogen collection in my shop? What about that useless Oracle Band I picked up after beating Umbris?
Currently, as far as I know, you can't sell artifacts or items which come in "groupable" quantities. This will be changed just as soon as professions come along to mandate a change.
So I'm stuck with this crap?
For now.
Thank god for drop.php. Anyway, how can I make my shop visible?
Moving the shop into a field between fields 1 and 30,000 will make it accessible to the general public and visible in the field you specify (to see what this looks like, go to field one). Moving it outside that boundary makes it invisible.
Neato. Now, why did you have to change the PvP engine?
The previous engine was based on some quick, half-witted planning, and as a result was prone to race conditions and frequent breakdowns. It needed either to be fixed or replaced, and because fixing it would have been too mundane, I decided to go with an entirely new Ajax-y system.
Ajax, you say? Won't that break everything again?
My five minutes of extensive testing say no. Your mileage may vary. Just make sure you have Javascript turned on or you won't be able to do much.
What sort of new, exciting PvP bugs should we watch out for?
As far as I know, the most likely bugs will involve reading the game's messages and attempting to leave the game, either through running, winning, losing, or whatever. Other things are possible, but I don't worry too much about them.
Is PvP's "makeup" ever going to get some attention? It looks awful in IE, and it's no beauty in FF, either. Plus, it's lacking some of the features found in the standard battle system, like HP bars. And images.
A PvP makeover is planned, but currently there are several much larger problems to attend to.
How about a counter that tells you how long your opponent has been inactive, so you know when to leave?
This little do-dad barely fell out of the running for this update. An idle counter will be implemented within the next two or three updates, as it's also useful in other places.
Enough about PvP. Let's chat about class histories.
As there's been a bit of complaining about special classes erasing class histories, I've decided to implement a way to capture and store those histories in case I add a "move tutor" or somesuch in the future. For now, this doesn't mean that a Necromancer can learn a new spell from a past life, and that Necromancer will never be able to equip past weapons. It just means everything is stored for later viewing.
For those of you who've already switched to special classes or are planning on switching a second-class or above character and are interested in this business, I'll need the following for each character for which you want to generate a history:
Name :: Old Class :: Level When Switched
So, for example, if my [fictional] Soldier named mudkipz became a Weaver at level 25, then a Paladin at level 25 again, then a Necromancer at level 5, I would write:
mudkipz :: soldier :: 25
mudkipz :: weaver :: 25
mudkipz :: paladin :: 5
All you have to do is remember that level.
What updates are planned in the near future?
A few things didn't make it in but had a fair shot at implementation today:
* The aforementioned idle counter.
* A sort of user-to-user "mail" correspondence system.
* A library. (Axed because there were too few things to store.)
* "Race matters" business.
* "Sex matters" business.
* "Alignment matters" business.
* Object-Oriented optimization of several features.
* New classes, plus support for Jesters.
* A framework for professions.
* A new type of ally.
Yessir, I do have a lot planned.
All these do-dads and gadgets - you'd think by now you'd have come up with a slogan to satirize yourself.
I sure do: "Summoner's Seal: Tons of cool features. Nothing to do with them."
Which reminds me - if anyone has any suggestions concerning where I could link alliances.php and stocking.php, feel free to deliver them.
Lastly: content ;_;
=(
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~ Ogordemir ~
Buddha promised me Nirvana and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.
"Democracy is the bludgeoning of the people, by the people, for the people." ~ Oscar Wilde
Editor
*pelvic thrust*
I'll handle the Class History form thing in a bit, for now I need to go check out all these new goodies. >_>
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"Allow ME to interject: TFN does not die immediately because you get banned. Your banning would unleash a disease that would slowly eat TFN from the inside until your reinstatement or the site's eventual, decidedly painful death." ~Ogor, to me
Editor
Actually, doesn't matter, this took like 2 minutes to type up. <_<
[Spoiler for ZOMG list, click to show]
Some of those are kinda sketchy, but I'm pretty sure I got within at least 10 levels of the exact number. <_<;;
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"Allow ME to interject: TFN does not die immediately because you get banned. Your banning would unleash a disease that would slowly eat TFN from the inside until your reinstatement or the site's eventual, decidedly painful death." ~Ogor, to me
Liberal Arts Major
Apart from PvP, there isn't much in the new goodies department worth checking out for more than, say, a minute. >_>
Or should we submit it anyway?
It's good to submit the history whether you want to go to a special class or not. Who knows, it might be useful in the future.
Some of those are kinda sketchy, but I'm pretty sure I got within at least 10 levels of the exact number. <_<;;
That's fine.
___
~ Ogordemir ~
Buddha promised me Nirvana and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.
"Democracy is the bludgeoning of the people, by the people, for the people." ~ Oscar Wilde
Message last edited by Silvas on 7/5/2007 at 01:03:20 AM
Liberal Arts Major
___
~ Ogordemir ~
Buddha promised me Nirvana and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.
"Democracy is the bludgeoning of the people, by the people, for the people." ~ Oscar Wilde
Liberal Arts Major
+++
"If the next two words out of your mouth aren't 'I'm leaving' then the third will be 'Oh my God, my crotch. You've punched me in my crotch.'" - Dr. Cox
Liberal Arts Major
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~ Ogordemir ~
Buddha promised me Nirvana and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.
"Democracy is the bludgeoning of the people, by the people, for the people." ~ Oscar Wilde
Editor
*RED CARDs Scorp*
Anyway, I might have considered running for Prime Minister, but A) I don't have the required gold to pay for ad campaigns, B) I don't really understand what purpose a Prime Minister serves, and C) I wouldn't get elected anyway. <_<
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"Allow ME to interject: TFN does not die immediately because you get banned. Your banning would unleash a disease that would slowly eat TFN from the inside until your reinstatement or the site's eventual, decidedly painful death." ~Ogor, to me
Liberal Arts Major
If I have to start appointing people, you'll be either a Judge or a Senator, Kenri, depending on which you want. >_>
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~ Ogordemir ~
Buddha promised me Nirvana and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.
"Democracy is the bludgeoning of the people, by the people, for the people." ~ Oscar Wilde
Advanced
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Love me or love to hate me either way you love me.
[IMG]http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l2/xydra/tenguwarlordsig.jpg[/IMG]
Legend
You currently have 134266 gold.
Phag
>_>
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The bitch is back.
Legend
? I am only given the [futile] option of running for prime minister.
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The bitch is back.
Liberal Arts Major
Well, the PM is responsible for controlling inflation - this is sort of pointless now, but it'll be much more relevant once crafting and so forth are added to the game. The council will represent all the professions and advise the PM as to what course is crazy and what course is even crazier.
The legislature is a sort of police power so the game's community can take care of its problem members. It's also a formalized feature suggestion engine which also demonstrates how popular and desirable a certain feature is absolutely and in relation to other such propositions. Lastly, it makes sure the other branches of government don't do crazy, unpopular crap with their power.
The courts enforce contracts. There's no other way to do this that I can think of except to bug me about it or not give players the opportunity to make such contracts.
The government seems useful to me, but like I said, it's more useless to other people. Especially with such a low population.
? I am only given the [futile] option of running for prime minister.
That's because it would be idiotic to give one-member Alliances representation. You have to have at least five members to qualify for that.
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~ Ogordemir ~
Buddha promised me Nirvana and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.
"Democracy is the bludgeoning of the people, by the people, for the people." ~ Oscar Wilde
Legend
http://www.thefluxnet.org/boards/leaving.php?o=3
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"Those are only my precious hands you're standing on." Black Mage
Liberal Arts Major
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~ Ogordemir ~
Buddha promised me Nirvana and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.
"Democracy is the bludgeoning of the people, by the people, for the people." ~ Oscar Wilde
Legend
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"Those are only my precious hands you're standing on." Black Mage
Liberal Arts Major
The where clause was screwed up.
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~ Ogordemir ~
Buddha promised me Nirvana and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.
"Democracy is the bludgeoning of the people, by the people, for the people." ~ Oscar Wilde
Message last edited by Silvas on 7/7/2007 at 01:00:55 AM
Editor
Alliances seems like it would be right at home on the Management page, next to Artifacts and so forth, and perhaps with a reference to your Alliance (if any) and position (Prime Minister, Judge, etc - if any) being mentioned somewhere on your main character's stats page. Otherwise, Government could be given its own table on the Field status display, below or above "Items :: Stats".
The shop is trickier, but I think it would work on the main items page, next to Give and Drop.
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"Allow ME to interject: TFN does not die immediately because you get banned. Your banning would unleash a disease that would slowly eat TFN from the inside until your reinstatement or the site's eventual, decidedly painful death." ~Ogor, to me
Message last edited by Kenri of the Yuri on 7/8/2007 at 03:13:27 AM
Legend
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"Those are only my precious hands you're standing on." Black Mage
Liberal Arts Major
Alliances seems like it would be right at home on the Management page, next to Artifacts and so forth, and perhaps with a reference to your Alliance (if any) and position (Prime Minister, Judge, etc - if any) being mentioned somewhere on your main character's stats page. Otherwise, Government could be given its own table on the Field status display, below or above "Items :: Stats".
The shop is trickier, but I think it would work on the main items page, next to Give and Drop.
All good suggestions - although I think I'll put Alliances in Management, because I don't really want to clutter up the status display. It's already chock full of bling as it is.
___
~ Ogordemir ~
Buddha promised me Nirvana and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.
"Democracy is the bludgeoning of the people, by the people, for the people." ~ Oscar Wilde
Legend
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"Those are only my precious hands you're standing on." Black Mage
Legend
---
"Those are only my precious hands you're standing on." Black Mage
Liberal Arts Major
___
~ Ogordemir ~
Buddha promised me Nirvana and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.
"Democracy is the bludgeoning of the people, by the people, for the people." ~ Oscar Wilde
Legend
---
"Those are only my precious hands you're standing on." Black Mage
Liberal Arts Major
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~ Ogordemir ~
Buddha promised me Nirvana and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.
"Democracy is the bludgeoning of the people, by the people, for the people." ~ Oscar Wilde
Legend
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"Those are only my precious hands you're standing on." Black Mage
Legend
---
"Those are only my precious hands you're standing on." Black Mage
Liberal Arts Major
___
~ Ogordemir ~
Buddha promised me Nirvana and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.
"Democracy is the bludgeoning of the people, by the people, for the people." ~ Oscar Wilde
Editor
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"Allow ME to interject: TFN does not die immediately because you get banned. Your banning would unleash a disease that would slowly eat TFN from the inside until your reinstatement or the site's eventual, decidedly painful death." ~Ogor, to me
Liberal Arts Major
___
~ Ogordemir ~
Buddha promised me Nirvana and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.
"Democracy is the bludgeoning of the people, by the people, for the people." ~ Oscar Wilde