The Hyborian Tome [Hyborian War Repository]

Clay will remember.

Here's an e-mail from Ryan, the Programmer of old, that I received yesterday.

Ryan the Programer Wrote:Hi Charles,
I was just wondering if you ever kept any of the old Dbi stuff - particularly the national histories. I've got most of the code restored/updated. The interface is proving to be more of a challenge than I anticipated, though.
No idea when it'll be ready. I'm not setting any deadlines, but I do try to work on it every day - even if just for 15 min.

Anything you kept would help.

Ryan

There is no deadline for completion. Ryan did, however, grant my request to discuss his return to the programing of this game here on the Tome's forums.

Ryan the Programer Wrote:Sure, I'm all for it.
Keep in mind - I'm not on any kind of schedule or deadline. This is a pet project, and I have a life.

It is at this point that Clay will begin to babble incoherently, no doubt.

I'm planning on having the turn processor run as a scheduled service - how often is realistic for people to get their turns in?

My first thought was sometime in the early AM (GMT-7) every 48 hours - 15 turns / month.

And yes, Charles, email notification is definitely going to be a feature.

Any chance of a quick synopsis of what DBI is all about for those of us without any previous knowledge? I'm assuming it's some sort of territorial conquest game. Spare a few details?

(07-25-2009 11:16 AM)BC Wrote: [ -> ]Any chance of a quick synopsis of what DBI is all about for those of us without any previous knowledge? I'm assuming it's some sort of territorial conquest game. Spare a few details?

Think Hyborian War on steroids, except that the setting is different, and the options are more plenteous, by far.

As an example, in Hyborian War, have you ever cursed a province, and the curse actually kill an enemy character? That's one thing that still stands out in my mind from the playtest several years ago. In DBI, magic works. It is significantly more powerful than in Hyborian War.

DBI does not have the setting of Hyboria, which is one of Hyborian War's biggest appealing points. DBI does have fantasy elements that Hyborian War does not have, though, such as elves, dwarves, ogres, etc..

I think that it will make more than one of you drool.

(07-26-2009 01:30 AM)GrimFinger Wrote: [ -> ]

(07-25-2009 11:16 AM)BC Wrote: [ -> ]Any chance of a quick synopsis of what DBI is all about for those of us without any previous knowledge? I'm assuming it's some sort of territorial conquest game. Spare a few details?

Think Hyborian War on steroids, except that the setting is different, and the options are more plenteous, by far.

As an example, in Hyborian War, have you ever cursed a province, and the curse actually kill an enemy character? That's one thing that still stands out in my mind from the playtest several years ago. In DBI, magic works. It is significantly more powerful than in Hyborian War.

DBI does not have the setting of Hyboria, which is one of Hyborian War's biggest appealing points. DBI does have fantasy elements that Hyborian War does not have, though, such as elves, dwarves, ogres, etc..

I think that it will make more than one of you drool.

You are such a tease, big boy.

(07-26-2009 01:30 AM)GrimFinger Wrote: [ -> ]I think that it will make more than one of you drool.

not exactly high praise considering the crowd that frequents this establishment.

however, the game did have some serious potential. very HW-like, but most of the shit actually worked, and with all new kingdoms and things to try out, it was definitely a TON of fun when Charles and I playtested it a long time ago.

glad to hear it's been resurrected.

(07-25-2009 05:04 AM)Ryan Wrote: [ -> ]I'm planning on having the turn processor run as a scheduled service - how often is realistic for people to get their turns in?

My first thought was sometime in the early AM (GMT-7) every 48 hours - 15 turns / month.

And yes, Charles, email notification is definitely going to be a feature.

For an online game of this nature, one that is fully automated, I would suggest 48 hour turn around time between turns, if you only have just one option. Otherwise, I think that offering different options is the best approach, overall, since players don't all have the same personal and work schedules. Some would prefer at least once or more processings a day, whereas others would prefer once a week, I suspect.

I think that an option to have turn orders process once all orders for a given game are already in is a good idea, also.

E-mail notification is a good idea. If possible, if you could have it to send at least part of their turn results in that e-mail, to grab the player's eye and to tempt them into looking at their whole turn results, then I think that that would help to prevent casual dropouts - people who never intended to quit but who perhaps get distracted into doing other things without thinking about the game.

(07-29-2009 11:38 PM)GrimFinger Wrote: [ -> ]

(07-25-2009 05:04 AM)Ryan Wrote: [ -> ]I'm planning on having the turn processor run as a scheduled service - how often is realistic for people to get their turns in?

My first thought was sometime in the early AM (GMT-7) every 48 hours - 15 turns / month.

And yes, Charles, email notification is definitely going to be a feature.

For an online game of this nature, one that is fully automated, I would suggest 48 hour turn around time between turns, if you only have just one option. Otherwise, I think that offering different options is the best approach, overall, since players don't all have the same personal and work schedules. Some would prefer at least once or more processings a day, whereas others would prefer once a week, I suspect.

I think that an option to have turn orders process once all orders for a given game are already in is a good idea, also.

E-mail notification is a good idea. If possible, if you could have it to send at least part of their turn results in that e-mail, to grab the player's eye and to tempt them into looking at their whole turn results, then I think that that would help to prevent casual dropouts - people who never intended to quit but who perhaps get distracted into doing other things without thinking about the game.

for a playtest I would recommend running turns whenever it's convenient for the person running the game.

for an actual game, I would probably personally prefer a one week turn time, since I am often busy or traveling and would likely miss turns in a 48 hour format.

but, as charles said, different times might be appropriate, depending on how things are set up. I could see players interested in 1/day turns, 1/2 days, 1/week, depending on their schedules.

Well, there's been a bit of a setback. If anyone knows about coding, the entire data access layer had to be reworked from scripted collections to generics. It's almost done now.
I also took some time and went to see the Canadian Olympic hockey team scrimmage game last week, row 11 center ice. Simply amazing. Can hardly wait for spring now. It's safe to say progress will slow when the NHL season starts.

Combine the facts that it is a war game, and that everything must slow for hockey...., I think I'll delve deeper to find out what's going on with this.
Quite possibly interested.
Bytor come lately.....