Rise Of The Raiders - Outer Reaches Studios 'Big Boss' Entry

[Robert Kosek]

The log merely contains:

12-05-06 14:28:42 00938523 - ORE Play Engine (Ver. 0.0 II dev - Apr 2006)
12-05-06 14:28:42 00938523 - Session Started
12-05-06 15:00:43 00AF756B - Session Ended

-13 to -20 - How strange... I'd be interested to know your machine specs. I just looked at the code in case I was doing something strange with data types, but I'm not so I can't explain that.

Exactly why I was a bit puzzled. Here's my specs:

• ASUS A7N8X-X, NVidia nForce2, 400Mhz FSB
• AMD 2700XP w/Barton Core (~2.2Ghz)
• 512MB DDR SDRAM
• ATI 9800XT 256MB (Catalyst 6.4, 8x AGP Slot)
• An older C-Media Soundcard
• Acer AL1916 LCD, 1280x1024@75hz
• Windows XP Home, SP2, Latest updates

It ocurred slowly, as the window lost focus while animations ran, and sounds played (sometimes). Over about 10 focus changes, to and from, the slowdown peaked at that negative range.

This could be as a result of the system running the scripts in a seperate thread, which it does to ensure the renderer isn't blocked, thus the teleport animation (and others) is possible. This should be relatively simple to fix, by blocking movement until the script processor thread has finished. Once I've implemented a fix, I'd like to hear how you get on with.

Probably so. Just send me a PM once the next version is ready, or I could give you my email.

I couldn't have put it better myself, but we quite simply ran out of time.

I completely understand.

You have discovered the movement costs system. I implemented it to make it more difficult to travel in certain directions (uphill, through bushes for example). Each cell can specify whether a particular direction is a slow, medium or fast travel, or it can completely block travel in a particular direction. Rounding the final bend of the maze level, you are walking up hill, so you slow down... going the other way, you are walking down hill, so you speed upt.
high speed direction

Aha. It's just humorous that my speed went down to almost 10% of what it was previously, walking on a road and just turning the bend there.

As I said, let me know once you've got a new version and I'll be happy to test it for you. I've beta tested before, so don't worry about it, it's fun. Sci-Fi is one of my favorite genres, and I've looked at your other games already.

[WILL]

Hey Christina,

Anything new on the 'Outer Reaches'? Still waiting for the day for the Raiders to finally rise!

I also never got a chance to get to see this game in action either. For some reason my laptop won't play the game.

Any luck with the new game engine?

[AthenaOfDelphi]

As with a lot of our side projects, its been put on hold. We are desperately low on money and the browser game is just continuing to be a bottomless pit in that respect. It doesn't help when scumbags pay and donate money with a fraudulent credit card.... you generally get screwed for not being vigilant enough... even though PayPal are the only people who can really validate the information.

Although the second generation of engine was much better, it was still sadly lacking in some key areas, like the fact that it takes longer on faster machines to load than it does on my humble Athlon 800 (I can't explain why this should be).... so I've decided to ditch it all and start a new version that will take into account what I've learned so far.

[jasonf]

What problems have you had with your donation system?
Forgive my ignorance and that this message is off topic, I will be adding an online payment system to my site soon to allow people to buy my game and could benefit from your experiences.

Do you get fined if someone tries to pay you with a fraudulent credit card or is it that the payment seems to arrive then is mysteriously taken away?..

I REALLY don't understand why people donate using a fraudulent card anyway.. it's not like it's even their money to give away.. they get no real benefit from it, so why do they bother?. :?

I'm wondering, exactly what is it you're supposed to do in those curcumstances.. seems way beyond anything you (as the shop keeper) can control.

I hope you have better luck soon.

[AthenaOfDelphi]

Basically our browser game is free to play, but there are some restrictions. Players can remove them by buying an upgrade code, but because some people like to help out, we give the players the option to donate money without getting anything in return.

We think this guy was trying to impress Spirit, which at the time, we were both really pleased. He bought an upgrade code and donated nearly £100, which went a very long way to covering the monthly costs.

Because its all electronic (upgrade code is emailed to the PayPal account that sent the funds), we don't ask for postal addresses. Turns out that if you ask for postal addresses there is a better chance that PayPal will be able to spot fraudulent payments (comparing credit card holders address with that supplied by the person paying), so point 1.... alway always get a postal address.

In all, the guy made 3 payments. One for is upgrade code which went to the PayPal business account that I manage and then 2 donations which went to the PayPal business account Spirit manages. Point 2... if you use PayPal only use 1 business account (we did two so accounting would be easier) because they won't talk to me about the payments on the acocunt Spirit manages and vice versa which makes it difficult to keep track of whats happening.

Point 3... Do NOT allow players to make simple donations. Of the three transactions, the two donations have already been reversed (so we are £75 down instantly, plus fees). The reason it appears is that there is not exchange of goods/services so PayPal don't even bother to fight them it seems.

And to top it off, the guy had the balls to send me an email asking why he couldn't log into his account. Needless to say, I mailed him back asking if he remembered the payments he made to us and whether he could explain why they had been reversed..... that was last week.... I'm still waiting for a reply.

The biggest problem is being able to validate that the person with the card is who they say they are.... now I would have thought that the responsibility for that lay with the people taking the money... namely PayPal. But clearly I was grossly mistaken. If you can afford to go all the way and get your own merchant account, then do so and use someone like WorldPay or Datacash or anyone other than PayPal. I'm not happy with any aspect of their service when it comes to taking money. We even had a situation where they couldn't calculate the VAT properly.. as a result our fully automated code issuing system had to be taken offline. And when I talked to their tech support all they could say was that it was our responsibility to collect the VAT... even though we didn't have access to the customers address at that point (and obviously could not decide whether they were in the EU or not).

As for charges... if you are found to have been negligent when taking the payment, then yes, you can be charged fees. We have been it appears. And this goes back to my general view of PayPal.... they offer a sellers protection program... but this is only effective if you collect the buyers postal address.... so why not collect it everytime and then only pass it on to the seller if they need it? Simple things like that could make them much better, but overall at this point as far as I'm concerned PayPal sucks and if you can avoid it, do so. But there in lies the problem... most of the other clearnance services like WorldPay etc. only become viable when your volume of transactions is quite high.... until then, you end up losing money.

And thanks :-)

[jasonf]

Wow, Thanks for the advice.. you've certainly been through a lot.

I've just looked at Worldpay, I'm always worried when someone selling something doesn't put a price on their site.. So I've got to get an Internet Merchant Account, I pay a one off fee.. I pay a monthly fee.. I pay a transaction fee... I'm gonna have to check my bank details to see if I've paid a Looking at their website fee..

All I want to do is accept money from people. I can't be sure I'm going to get enough sales to warrant a Worldpay account :cry:

I'll have to sell a couple of thousand units a month just to break even with WorldPay it seems (OK, I'm being negative)

So I guess I'll have to put up with Paypal.. and based on your experiences, it's not going to be a happy time either.


Savage, have you had any issues with Online transactions?

[AthenaOfDelphi]

The key thing is being able to trace the individual.

If you are dealing in real physical items its easy. Grab their address and send the goods there using recorded delivery that must get a signature. PayPal assure me that in those situations, they are more able to dispute chargebacks.... but you only have their word that the address they give you is the card holders address and there in lies the problem.

You are right about Worldpay and practically all the other big clearance services. The fees they want are extortion and so, yes you, like us, are most likely to be stuck with PayPal or some other clearance service along the same lines.

[savage]

I'm using Paypal on my site, but have only sold 3 items so far, so am probably way below the threshold that Athena is experiencing. So far the 3 people have been honest. I am also not accepting donations so that may be another difference.

[WILL]

Sorry to hear about all the financial woes. :? The gaming business can be harsh at times I guess.


Do you think that 'Rise Of The Raiders' might be able to help you pick things up? Or do you think that it might be a better route to try and straighten out the finances of the Browser game first?

Offering a new experience might be 1) refreshing for you and Spirit in the sense that you are doing something in a totally different medium and 2) boost interest from an existing and a new audience as players will get to try something new, but in the same 'universe' that you have already established.

Of course there are new problems and dangers to any new things you try though. But I'm pretty sure that I'm just preaching to the choir here.


Was 'OR3' supposed to be a MMOG or standalone anyhow? I got the impression that it was going to eventually have an online aspect to it.