Blood Secrets Development

Not dead yet...

2011-02-03T02:39:00.000-08:00

So I haven't updated anything here for a loooooong time, but that doesn't mean everything is dead. I have been through a busy period, and am still pretty busy (not usually home until 7-8pm), but have nonetheless been working on things for the last few months.

The last hiatus was caused by my acceptance that I would have to translate things to work in Explorer. This turned out to be a hell of a lot of work, due mostly to the way that Explorer handles the many drop-down menus required. I have also had to change a lot of deprecated functions and data handling due to changing PHP versions. All of this is still ongoing, but light is beginning to dawn.

Blood Secrets beta 2.0 is no longer that far away.

They came from... well, don't worry about that

2009-08-20T13:54:00.000-07:00

As a prelude to unleashing Sorcerers on the world, I wrote the necessary code to implement Summoning powers. This was actually a lot of hassle, as in my rush to move things forward I had completely neglected to arrange the game system around allies. Consequently, a lot of code had to be completely rehashed (and may, in the future, turn up new bugs, so I will be keeping a close eye out). Just as I was about to release the code into the wild, I ran into serious domain transfer issues (I began the process some time ago to move to my wonderful new host, faelix.net). So everything has been delayed.
I have now, finally, updated the code. So now, depending on your society/form, those Summoning powers which were previously inaccessible will now be available. No doubt game balance will rear its head at some point, but for the moment I am content to let things play out for a little while.

The end is nigh!

2009-07-18T17:18:00.000-07:00

Well I think pretty much all the substantial issues are sorted through. This means I can no longer avoid making this beta version public. Watch out world.

Now entering final testing

2009-07-12T04:30:00.000-07:00

So moving to a new host inevitably threw up a whole world of new issues, particularly global/session handling, despite theoretically being almost identical to my developments setup.

The good news is all the major issues now seem to have been cleared. I will continue to seek out and destroy, and particularly need to make the system fail a little more gracefully, but things are looking good right now.

New host GO

2009-07-07T16:46:00.000-07:00

Have transferred files and database to the new host; already everything is a whole lot faster.

Have already worked through the most immediate problems... should be ready for deployment very soon.

There will be a short delay while I change hosts

2009-06-20T08:28:00.000-07:00

Like the title says. My host is giving me endless and bizarre issues, and after discussing it with wiser heads, it's becoming clear that my problems are probably linked to its scrubbers for its shared hosting.

Result: I'm shifting to another host, with a dedicated (albeit virtual) server. This should improve things immensely, not just now but for the future. The downside: a few more days delay.

Somebody should do something to fix everything.

2009-06-17T04:24:00.000-07:00

OK, so I started the migration to beta last night. That is to say, I put up all the files and database entries, merging the latter with existing membership.

Here's the rub. As soon as I had done this, the server stopped working. When I got through to my host (on the other side of the Atlantic), they told me the server I was being hosted on was having problems, and would be fixed over the next few hours.

No problem, happens to everyone. Problem is, it's now most of a day later, and while some static pages are working, anything reasonably strenuous falls over. I'm fairly sure it's not my code; things that worked fine before are giving nothing now.

So this is currently a seriously abortive launch. Will give my host another day or two, but then will have to think about hosting elsewhere. Which would be a great shame, as my host offers good rates and uses only green energy. Would be a shame to lose them.

Prepare for landing

2009-06-15T17:21:00.000-07:00

So, after a weekend of finding last-minute bugs and tweaking difficulty, it's time to start work on actually putting things up there. Over the next few days I will be migrating the underlying database, before uploading all the new software and finally getting this thing on the road.

Nearly there...

2009-06-08T15:04:00.001-07:00

OK, so I'm running out of excuses to not make a beta release. All obvious bugs have been sorted, and now I'm down to playtesting the various generic characters. I cannot see a way to avoid making this happen on the upcoming weekend.

2009-05-04T23:55:00.001-07:00

Wow, forgot to update for a long time.

All missions are now done, as well as a base set of levels.

I'm now playtesting, debugging, and finalising the first district, and will roll into first beta in a week or so.

When the moon is in the eighth house...

2009-01-26T15:57:00.000-08:00

Just finished writing missions for the Lycanthrope Lodges. Now have only to do the Vampire Houses, and write a few more playing levels, before the first beta release.

Getting closer

2008-12-04T15:33:00.000-08:00

Today the initial set of human society missions was completed, as well as most other ongoing issues. This means the only remaining things to do are:

1. Missions for Vampire and Lycanthrope societies

2. Basic Power use AI for NPC Vampires and Lycanthropes

3. Some more mission levels (done around 70, need about another 30-40).

This means a release date is getting more certain, and should be around the New Year.

The story so far

2008-10-25T08:22:00.000-07:00

This blog is intended to keep interested parties up-to-date on the development of the Blood Secrets Game.
At the moment, the game is very near to release with a persistent world. To be specific:

THINGS DONE

Area navigation
Shopping from NPC stores
Getting missions from recruiters
Progressing through society ranks
Gaining experience, training abilities and skills
Chat in public areas

THINGS TO BE DONE BEFORE NEXT RELEASE

Content: so far, have only developed missions for 3 societies and composed around 20 levels. Need to develop missions for all Human, Lycanthrope and Vampire societies (Sorcerers to come later)
A few bits and bobs of code relating to both PC and NPC Lycanthropes and Vampires

THINGS THAT WILL NOT BE DONE UNTIL LATER RELEASES

Sorcerers.
Player merchant game. I have reasonably big plans for this.
Crafting.
Henchpersons (including hired help, summoned minions and familiars).
Multiple-player missions.

That is all.