Lore du Jour

New site, new host, new platform, new name, same author.

http://tinturtle.wordpress.com/

I know I have not posted for about a week, but I have a good excuse. I am working on my website so there may be no posts until probally monday or tuesday.

Sorry for a junky excuse,
-Kevin

I have been doing some 2d Tile Mapping lately using Mappy Tile Map Editor, and having a lot of fun. However, when ever I look for tiles, they are always ripped from games. And it seems like its the same games every time. It seems like there has never really been a ultra popular multiplayer 2D game. There have been popular games like The Pokemon ones and a lot of the other Nintendo ones, but nothing really for the PC that ever got popular.

As I have been surfing the internet, I have started to find several small independent browser games using Javascript to create a map with tiles that you can use on the site, and it works very well. A good example of this is Nowhere Else and Beyond (nowhere-else.org). It uses a tile map, that you can walk around on, but made with Javascript and PHP. However, that game is also not very popular.

I am hoping a 2D multiplayer tile map game will get popular enough so its actually fun to play.

I was listening to this podcast recently and it said that Microsoft was thinking about making Windows a closed platform, like the XBOX, therefore making many programs no longer work on windows. I have compiled a list of programs that will probally no longer work if Microsoft was to do this.

• Anything Mozilla (Firefox relpaced with IE, Thunderbird with Outlook)
• Anything Google
• Adobe Flash(Replaced with Silverlight), Shockwave(Replaced with Silverlight), CS3(Replaced with Microsoft Expression), ect.
• Any Indie Game/Software
• STEAM (Replaced with their Zone.com service)
• BitTorrent (Replaced with nothing)
• WildTangnent (Replaced with their Zone.com Service)
• iTunes (Replaced with Windows Media Player)

So what would happen if Microsoft did make windows a closed platform? Well, many apps would be based on the internet, but they couldn't use Flash or Shockwave. Many people would move to Mac or Linux (Microsoft's Competitors). DirectX would go away because people would move to other platforms. People would NOT buy a zune and go to a Mac to sync their iPod. Basicly, Microsoft would comit suicide. R.I.P.

As I was looking arround for a new MMO to play, I was looking for one with Player Owned Housing. Theres something about having a virtual house when you don't have your own. I, being on a low budget, looked for a free MMO, and found nothing in ways of Player Owned Housing. The only results that came up about player owned housing where:

• Vanguard
• LOTRO
• a few other non-related links

I also knew that EQ, Ultima and Puzzle Pirates have player owned housing (98% of furniture costs prenium Dubloons in Puzzle Pirates without a subscription). And we can't forget Runescape's Junky Housing System (Who came up with the idea of "Hotspots").

The game Maplestory has NO player housing, but players as far as I can see are asking for it. I don't get why we can't get that if its already in other MMORPGs. I know many players say "Its called the Sims" but, there are several problems I have with that:

a.Its not an MMORPG (anymore)
b.There is no other gameplay

So that puts the Sims out of the question.

I came along this game called Whirled. Its like a cross between an MMO and Virtual World and based in the browser, and you can create your own custom furniture, avatars(that actually move) and room designs. Then you can put it in the shop for others to buy. However, I find the games long and boring and the games are the ONLY way to make money. (If anyone from Three Rings sees this, take this note of advice, TAKE A NEOPETS APPROCH, short and simple games. If you want to try Whirled, its at http://whirled.com.

Puzzle Pirates is going to Japan. Its good for them. However, I wonder how it will work, most free MMORPGS come from overseas, now we are sending one over there. Thats good, however, american goods (Like the XBOX360) don't do well over there. Will it be a major success, or a failure? I'm just waiting to find out. If you haven't played Puzzle Pirates, I suggest you do.

Referal Link:
(slows you down not at all but when you sign up via this link and only with this link, you start with 500 more PoE or in game currency)

Puzzle Pirates

Regular Link:

http://puzzlepirates.com/

Everyone knows in MMOs you have patches for your games, and many people are tired of all the patches and leave to console. However, I believe that patching is something that only helps us. If there where no patches, we would never have an update to a game. (Just like on the DS), and the game stays pretty constant, and the game will loose players faster. I know that it sometimes takes a long time, but usually, the content is worth it. Even a bug fix is worth it, so you don't get trapped in it. Please patch your games, it makes the gameplay better.