Knock, knock...
by Ted Southard · 07/12/2010 (7:13 pm) · 4 comments
It's been a long time since my last blog, and things have changed...a lot...
DigitalFlux Entertainment has officially thrown its hat into the game developer contracting ring, and things are doing okay. Not great, but I have a good feeling about where the contracting is going. Currently, I split my time between doing the contract work and doing part-time tech work around the city. Hopefully, the game contracting bit will get busier, and my focus at networking events now is shifting towards finding customers.
Epic Frontiers' development has slowed a bit in recent weeks with the new artists that had come aboard preparing for classes and getting used to managing time with a part-time job with sometimes erratic hours. The new website and Facebook page has increase traffic to the website quite nicely. I've started doing test ad campaigns on Facebook, and some SEO tricks to get the game more visibility as well. The Alpha launch I blogged about previously, obviously, has been pushed back a little bit ;)
On the tools front, the Magnitude Editor is almost released! For those of you creating online games with huge lists of tedious data that consists mostly of combinations of variables like "dull copper sword", "shiny copper sword", "dull iron sword", etc, this tool is for you: set up the column headers to match your database, enter the kinds of values and value-ranges you want to use, and let it generate the list for you in TXT or CSV format, saving you hours or even days of time. And you can't beat saving time... Check out the manual here!
Another tool which is coming down the pike is a toolbar of functions allowing you to work with paths in T3D. It allows you to use a Path or SimObject object to contain the path markers, and allows you to duplicate paths with as little as two clicks (one to select, one to duplicate). Adding markers to a path occurs with a single click, and simply extends the path, rather than spawning an object to be moved and positioned and then added to the group. Current status of the development of this little gem is that I'm working on toolbar art (I like my tools pretty) and finishing up a few additional features like "draping" the path over terrain or water (for paths that need to follow the contours of a certain kind of object). I haven't decided on pricing yet, but it will be very affordable.
After that, I have one or two other things in the pipeline such as my ever-languishing GUI Art Pack. People had liked the GUI art I gave away periodically, so I decided to take some time to create a nice, big pack of higher-quality GUI art. Hopefully, it will do well enough to warrant a sequel, or the reselling of my terrain packs.
All that said, I'm intending on blogging more often, likely with the development blogs that I write on the Epic Frontiers website being mirrored here so that I don't have to type up two individual blogs (there's just no time, and when forced to choose, my site wins. Always). This community is just too damn quiet, and if there is one thing that a New Yorker hates more than alternate side of the street parking, it's people that just stand around and don't talk to each other like a bunch of weirdos ;P
just kidding... alternate side of the street parking actually ranks just below al-qaida on our hate list...
DigitalFlux Entertainment has officially thrown its hat into the game developer contracting ring, and things are doing okay. Not great, but I have a good feeling about where the contracting is going. Currently, I split my time between doing the contract work and doing part-time tech work around the city. Hopefully, the game contracting bit will get busier, and my focus at networking events now is shifting towards finding customers.
Epic Frontiers' development has slowed a bit in recent weeks with the new artists that had come aboard preparing for classes and getting used to managing time with a part-time job with sometimes erratic hours. The new website and Facebook page has increase traffic to the website quite nicely. I've started doing test ad campaigns on Facebook, and some SEO tricks to get the game more visibility as well. The Alpha launch I blogged about previously, obviously, has been pushed back a little bit ;)
On the tools front, the Magnitude Editor is almost released! For those of you creating online games with huge lists of tedious data that consists mostly of combinations of variables like "dull copper sword", "shiny copper sword", "dull iron sword", etc, this tool is for you: set up the column headers to match your database, enter the kinds of values and value-ranges you want to use, and let it generate the list for you in TXT or CSV format, saving you hours or even days of time. And you can't beat saving time... Check out the manual here!
Another tool which is coming down the pike is a toolbar of functions allowing you to work with paths in T3D. It allows you to use a Path or SimObject object to contain the path markers, and allows you to duplicate paths with as little as two clicks (one to select, one to duplicate). Adding markers to a path occurs with a single click, and simply extends the path, rather than spawning an object to be moved and positioned and then added to the group. Current status of the development of this little gem is that I'm working on toolbar art (I like my tools pretty) and finishing up a few additional features like "draping" the path over terrain or water (for paths that need to follow the contours of a certain kind of object). I haven't decided on pricing yet, but it will be very affordable.
After that, I have one or two other things in the pipeline such as my ever-languishing GUI Art Pack. People had liked the GUI art I gave away periodically, so I decided to take some time to create a nice, big pack of higher-quality GUI art. Hopefully, it will do well enough to warrant a sequel, or the reselling of my terrain packs.
All that said, I'm intending on blogging more often, likely with the development blogs that I write on the Epic Frontiers website being mirrored here so that I don't have to type up two individual blogs (there's just no time, and when forced to choose, my site wins. Always). This community is just too damn quiet, and if there is one thing that a New Yorker hates more than alternate side of the street parking, it's people that just stand around and don't talk to each other like a bunch of weirdos ;P
just kidding... alternate side of the street parking actually ranks just below al-qaida on our hate list...
About the author
Started with indie games over a decade ago, and now creates tools and tech for games. Currently working as a contractor for startups and game studios.
#2
As for my long-lasting presence, I credit that to having found my Precious in a cave during the Battle of Five- oh, wait, you're talking about here on the forums, aren't you? ;)
07/13/2010 (1:59 pm)
@Caylo: It was developed with Epic Frontiers in mind. I was coming up with ways to make item/weapon creation easy, since I'm the one doing 99.9% of the data entry and data entry is the kind of job that shows up in HP Lovecraft novels. So I made a tool where you can keep throwing lists of values at it, and it will churn out every permutation of those values. And to make it play nice with databases, you can put "null columns" in that simply insert a NULL as the value, so the database just imports it. There's ODBC features in there as well, but it's an unsupported feature because I don't control the resource it's based on.As for my long-lasting presence, I credit that to having found my Precious in a cave during the Battle of Five- oh, wait, you're talking about here on the forums, aren't you? ;)
#3
Metaphorically, I think most of the Cthulhu Mythos is a complaint against data entry's posing role to take over humanity.
07/13/2010 (10:12 pm)
Quote:data entry is the kind of job that shows up in HP Lovecraft novels
Metaphorically, I think most of the Cthulhu Mythos is a complaint against data entry's posing role to take over humanity.
#4
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Line: 153
Char: 486
Code: 0
URI: http://epicfrontiers.digitalflux.com/wp-content/themes/epicfrontiers/scripts/jquery.js
07/14/2010 (2:44 am)
Hey Ted, you probably don't remember me we've only met at a few IGDC's (when they existed) but I been following your blogs. Making good progress. Site looks good. But FYI, thought I'd let you know I got a script error:Message: 'body' is null or not an object
Line: 153
Char: 486
Code: 0
URI: http://epicfrontiers.digitalflux.com/wp-content/themes/epicfrontiers/scripts/jquery.js
Torque 3D Owner Caylo Gypsyblood
Its great to see you are still around in the Torque community Ted, being so few community members have been around for as long as you have. Practically a Torque experience tenure.