Moving Servers

we're moving servers on the backend, guys. sorry for the troubles, but we're moving from boise to san diego. gotta move the server box too!

m3mnoch.

New Framework

i managed to save the hypefighter directory from my tablet crash right before the drive unmounted itself. woot! you can see the results in the framework update.

i still have some layout work to do within the internal pages, but, i thought it would be fun to at least drop in the outer framework before i worked my way through the internals.

any weirdness you guys notice over the next few days is just because i'm working directly on the server.

m3mnoch.

The Great Tablet Crash of '07

yep. the tablet i usually do all my development on has finally died. it's been a sad week in hypefighter town.

in theory, the data should be fine (which is good since it's been forever since i backed up! erg!) but, i'm havin' trouble with it. i yanked out the 2.5" drive and hooked it up with an ide connector. the windows box would just hang.

then, i borrowed a usb external case from tj and hooked that up to the windows box. it just hung.

finally, i hooked it up to my linux box, manually mounted it and was able to pull a few files off before it hung.

good news is that i can probably pull the critical files i need. bad news is that it hangs randomly and i have to remount the drive.

yay.

so, i'm going to pull the hypefighter psd that i've been doing the layouts with. that'll at least get the site looking like i want it.

woot...

m3mnoch.

Story Submission Buttons

i worked up a few new story submission buttons for you guys. feel free to put them on your sites:

Fight Me!





get them here.

m3mnoch.

Tagline, Atom Feeds and a Logo

pushed through a lot of stuff this weekend. a few of the new things:

1. a new tagline. the old one was "link-based combat." kind of boring. i decided the word "bookmark" was much more descriptive so now, we're "hypefighter: social bookmark combat." much more intriguing i think. we're like del.icio.us -- only your bookmarks kick the other bookmark's asses.
   
2. we've now got an atom (because it's cooler than rss) feed for both this developer blog and newest articles.
3. oh, and here's a logo i worked up. i'll drop it into the site soon.
   
   
   

i was thinking. i should work up some cool t-shirts/sticker/coffee mug type things with a few of these taglines:

• hypefighter: my bookmark can beat up your bookmark.
• hypefighter: pwned by a bookmark!
• hypefighter: social bookmark combat
• hypefighter: all your bookmarks are belong to us!
  

anybody got any more suggestions?

m3mnoch.

Battle Summaries are Here!

did you notice those killer little battle logs on the readout on the right hand column of the homepage? yeah, it's a streaming log of wood-puttin' by you cats. throw out some beatdowns!

a few more edits today.

1. fight logging. now, your journal will have just the small "results" section of your battles. the full log, however, now gets emailed to all participants for the appropriate sending, sharing, etc.
2. battle summaries. those fun little snippits of text that say things like "m3mnoch sent in an overwhelming number of recruits and trampled the enemy in a skirmish" are now enabled. oh, and on the homepage.
3. dropped the article listing on the homepage too. starting to look like a real site now.
4. few other small ui edits with article listings and such.

thanks for playin' guys.

m3mnoch.

Atom Feeds and Logins

tonight, i spent some considerable time futzing about atom feeds. for god's sake those things are finicky to get validating. we'll have to see how it rolls.

anyway, tonights changes:

1. atom feed for the latest articles. i've also put that badboy as a sidebar widget on my blog, addictingentertainment.com.
2. viewing the articles and listings now do not require you to be logged in. figured i need to share all my love and information with everyone willing. well. and if someone hits something via the atom feed, i'd like them NOT to just see a login screen.

3am. gonna go to bed now. see how the feed is rolling in the morn.

'night.

m3mnoch.

Profiles and Recruiting... Oh, My!

fixed a few things tonight.

1. viewing another character now gives you vital stats. they look terrible, but, i'll fix that eventually. cosmetic stuff, you know.
2. the articles are now tracking popularity. it wasn't before. they were just defaulting to newest. now, the more popular an article is, the closer to the top it is.
3. recruiting troops is much, much easier. the interface looks more like digg or netscape now with the little recruit box out to the side. it's a lot easier for scanning for recruits.

you know. just plodding along.

m3mnoch.

p.s. i hate making css work in ie. god only knows what it looks like in 6.

Upcoming Features and Fixes

thought, while i'm at it, that i'd run down a quick "hit list" of features we're going to be implementing here soon.

in no particular order:

Upcoming Features

1. Enabling Article Comments
2. Allowing for the Two Different Attack Types (Skirmish and Onslaught -- Onslaught being "to the death" where absolutely all of one side dies.)
3. Update "View Other Player's Profile"
4. Rankings Page and Callouts
5. Latest Battles Callout
6. Article Acceleration Callout
7. "About HypeFighter" Callout
8. Help Text and Links
9. Getting Started Guide
10. Friend Presence Information
11. Update Guild Area
12. Branding and Design
13. UI Elements Updating Via Ajax

Upcoming Fixes

1. "Stand Down Selected" your army throws an error when no one is selected.
   
2. Recruiting costs can go into negative turns.
3. Training costs can go into negative turns.

send me an email if any of those features/fixes float your collective boats more than any others and i'll move those to the top of the priority list. otherwise, we'll just get to them as we feel like it.

word.

m3mnoch.

Oh Snap!

sweet. i just installed snap on the article listing page. seemed like a good fit to give you guys a little preview of where the page ends up.

m3mnoch.

Blog, Training and Profile

okay. few things.

developer blog
i got the developer blog/news part up and working. that's a big plus. as, it can look pretty boring if you guys don't know what exactly i'm fixing, eh?

troop training
this one is a bit hidden.

when you are viewing your army, you can train any troops you have in formation. all you do is select them, put them into formation then hit the "train" button at the bottom.

how many turns does that cost? a lot.

it's the same cost to train as it is to recruit that troop type originally. so, knights are 8, conscripts 5 and scouts 3. and, it may take them a few tries to level.

however, on the last day of the month, it's an excellent way to burn those last few turns before it rolls over and you lose them forever.

dashboard profile
this one should be pretty easy to spot. now, on your dashboard, there is a small profile listing for a quick glance at your status. lots more for the dashboard is coming.

you can also now edit your profile from the section under dashboard.

hop-to. i wanna see some articles getting posted.

git some troops!

m3mnoch.

HypeFighter Proof of Concept

so. i’ve decided that i’m just going to post this early rev/proof-of-concept thing we’re working on. (tj and ben will prolly string me up for it… erg.)

be sure to check out the caveats below.

it’s just that i’ve got a “serious” project i need to work on this week (food temperature/environment tracking start-up thing) and won’t be able to get back to work on a lot of my parts of our new game, hypefighter. and i really, really wanted to launch it last weekend.

the unfortunate thing is that my parts are always the most visible. you guys don’t see any of the crazy stored procedures or web services tj writes — just the rendered page i attach to them. and, you don’t get to see the piles of spreadsheet data or help files ben puts together as we’re balancing the systems, just that stuff displayed on the front end for you.

/sigh

ah well — here it is: http://www.hypefighter.com

the concept is pretty simple. it’s like digg for video games, but, everytime you “digg” a story, you recruit another troop into your army.

1. reviews are knights.
2. previews are scouts.
3. commentaries are conscripts.

the earlier you “digg” a story, the stronger your troop will be. for example, if you are recruit 3 out of 6 on any particular story, your guy will be average. however, if you’re 3 out of 600, you dude will rock shit.

and, as your recruits survive battles and get experience, they’ll level up and get even stronger.

it uses the same location-based play that the singular used, but for the uninitiated: you have to be in the same location as someone you are attacking. right now, we’re all hanging out in “thronehold.” come get some.

don’t attack heyt or stab. you’ll very, very much regret it. they have 9000 point armies.

beat up on my guy, m3mnoch, all you want. i’ll try to keep his army stacked for you guys to pummel.

we’re looking for feedback. stuff to improve. things that you think are working as is. stuff to add.

caveats:

1. it’s a proof-of-concept thus far.
2. it’s running on our dev server, so be nice to it. (no submitting it to digg or slashdot or joystiq or anything crazy like that.) it’s your friends only.
3. we’re actively developing on that server, so it may go down for no apparent reason. or, you may lose your session for no apparent reason. we’re prolly working on something.
4. it has no branding yet so it’s pretty boring looking. well. downright ugly, you may even say.
5. it’s missing a lot of the player feedback pieces. well. it’s just missing a lot of the pieces. however, you can recruit, travel, scout and attack. you can also message and do a bit of guild stuff.
6. none of it is necessarily final. so, terminology and interface may change.
7. we’re going to try really hard to keep your characters and stats you’ve built intact.
8. feel free to ignore/comment on the “placeholder” parts.

now, a bit on where to start:

• You should start by recruiting troops from articles.
• Use the “Submit Bookmark” for fast and easy story submissions.
• Recruiting Troops costs turns (Knight:8, Conscript:5, Scout:3) based on how strong that troop type is.
• Your troops need to be in formation to attack.
• You can only attack someone in the same location.
• Attacking or Scouting costs 3 turns.
• Traveling to a new location costs 12 turns.
• Your troops can level up as they win battles.
• The earlier you recruit from a popular story, the stronger your troop will be.
• A turn ticks by every 10 minutes.
• Turns reset at midnight GMT on the first of every month.

have fun. let us know what you think. ben, tj, please don’t kill me.

ready? go!

m3mnoch.