Biggs' Zone

A Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

The MMO Times: Summertime Fun!

By

On June 22, 2012

In Gaming, MMO Times, MMORPG

Issue 37

Welcome back! It looks like I have become more diligent posting a new Times each week. Summer has arrived which means the countdown to some of summer’s biggest releases has begun. The Secret World will soon be out (July 3rd) but I know the most anticipated upcoming release is Guild Wars 2.

There is some exciting news in this issue. Some updates on the SWTOR server transfers (its good news for once), as well as news on its upcoming 1.3 update. Some exciting DC Universe news as well as MechWarrior Online, World of Tanks and The Secret World. By the way, yours truly has a beta invite to this weekends final beta test for The Secret World, I hope to get in there and check it out and maybe provide you all with a post about my thoughts and impressions.

Read More

Developing for iOS

By

On June 20, 2012

In Apple, Programming

So I have completed reading a book, cover-to-cover, on iOS development (as an aside, I highly recommend Head First iPhone & iPad Development) and now I am faced with the next big challenge: ideas. I have hit a dry spell in my efforts to develop apps and that is figuring out what I want to develop. I’ve thought about just developing random apps that don’t have a lot of functionality just to spark some ideas. Generally if I start on a small project I usually think of more features along the way.

My advice for anyone that is also just starting to develop iOS apps (or apps for any device) is while you are in the process of learning how to do it, start thinking about what you want to develop. I suggest this for a couple of reasons.

  1. You might find some neat trick or tool that could be very useful for the app you want to develop. Make sure you explore all the possibilities of that control or tool so you know its limits and how to implement it. Sometimes the best part of programming is extending a control to make it do things beyond its normal intended functionality.
  2. Its important to have some ideas to start building on immediately after you finish any kind of tutorial or technical manual. Unfortunately since I took such a long break between finishing the labs in the Head First book to trying to start my first app that I have forgotten a great many things to get me started. I will probably go back and revisit several chapters to refresh myself.
  3. It’s ok to re-invent the wheel. Just because there is an app out there that already does most of what you wanted your own app to do, create it anyway. I once had a professor that said to always re-invent the wheel because you might be able to do it better.
  4. Make a plan and set some deadlines for yourself. If you are already a programmer then you know what its like developing as a professional. You have a project manager (and perhaps a product owner) that is setting deadlines and expectations. Become your own project manager/product owner. Commit to a timeline and a set of features you want to have completed as your first iteration.
  5. I would think about setting up some kind of version control for yourself, especially if you plan on submitting any of your apps to the Apple Store. There are quite a few free version control solutions out on the Internet for you to use and XCode provides an option to use Git when you create a new project. If you want to read up on version control a bit, check out this website/book: Version Control by Example.

Hopefully my dry spell will end soon and I will be back in the zone writing iOS apps. You can be sure that once my app is approved to be on the Apple Store that I will be telling you all about it here. In fact I will probably create a new section on the site for each app I develop.

I hope someone finds the things I have said here to be useful and it helps you with your iOS development endeavors. Good luck!

Cheers!

Soapbox: Gamers Lack Appreciation

By

On June 19, 2012

In Gaming, Soapbox

I was reading through a post on WoW Insider about Cataclysm and the author was discussing the things he liked and will miss about Cataclysm. Someone said something in the comments that, I think, explains why most gamers are spoiled, whining brats. Nobody appreciates the work and effort that goes into designing and developing these games. There will never be another MMO that will reach the number of users that World of Warcraft had because Blizzard has set the bar so high no game will ever satisfy that many gamers again. Gamers are so spoiled that now they expect every feature of WoW to be available at launch of any new MMO.

The mere thought of that last statement is hilarious almost to the point of absurdity. All games are developed in a closed source environment. Obviously Blizzard isn’t going to share its dungeon finder algorithm, for example, with Bioware or Trion. It doesn’t matter anymore that a majority of the features currently in World of Warcraft weren’t available at its launch, but apparently now they are a necessity for all new games. If a new game doesn’t have these features then its deemed “unfinished”.

The MMO gaming industry is cutthroat and volatile. The longer a company waits to deliver a new product the farther behind they will be so it becomes crucial from a profit and marketing philosophy to deliver something sooner rather than later. Nobody will ever release a product that is bug free and with every feature at launch. I remember how much grief players would give Blizzard on days when there were huge content patches that made the game almost unplayable. It was expected that nobody would be raiding on Tuesday nights because the game was incredibly unstable and buggy.

Perhaps the MMO genre has lost its edge. I see comments on posts (mostly on gaming news and blog sites) that they don’t like the “kill X number of Y” type of quests, or any kind of quest. I never see anyone offer alternative methods of leveling. Clearly they have a better idea for leveling then completing quests if they are complaining about it … or maybe they are just complaining because it makes them feel important.

I also see people complaining that Game X lacks any end game content when it actually has the same end game content all the other games have (i.e. raid, pvp, instances, dailies). What else do you want?!? If these games lack so many features, and clearly you know what features they should have, then submit your resume! I assure you that you will find out immediately why games take so long to make and what it takes to develop one.

I think the appalling lack of appreciation is lost because of blind ignorance!

/endsoapbox

The MMO Times: Back to Business

By

On June 14, 2012

In Gaming, MMO Times, MMORPG

Issue 36

Greetings Gamers! Now that all the fun and “geekery” of E3 is over and all of us are coming off our nerd-highs, its time to get back to business. We heard a lot of cool things that are in store for several of our favorite MMO franchises as well as some exciting news about upcoming console games (ex: Halo 4 and The Last of Us – check out the gameplay video).

As we move into the summer months, when there are usually big titles released for all of those on summer vacation, we are hearing more MoP, TERA and Diablo news. We will also have to say goodbye to another MMO as another difficult decision had to be made to shutdown the servers of a classic MMO with a good six year run. Details on the SWTOR server transfers, collector’s edition pets and mounts, and the RMAH (Real Money Auction House) can all be found in this issue. Enjoy!

Read More

Friendship Exists Without Borders

By

On June 13, 2012

In General Cogitation

An interesting concept occurred to me the other day. In our world today, with various social mechanisms and online activities and games, the process of making friends and maintaining relationships has changed. The way our parents are use to it is old fashioned and out dated. Friendships can be forged without the need to meet face-to-face. We live in a world without borders and, as a result, its a little naive to think that a friendship can only exist if you have met physically. After all you are friends with someone for their personality, not their body.

In fact I would even go so far as to say that making friends outside your town, state, time zone or even country is a great way to experience different cultures. There is a significant percentage of people that never go to college which is a great place to meet people from different parts of the country and/or world. Therefore instruments like Facebook, Google+ and MMOs allows everyone the opportunity to meet other people. You never know what you might have in common with someone from California or New York. You don’t need to be able to invite them out for coffee or lunch just to be friends.

I’m also not suggesting you throw yourself out there haphazardly. There are a lot of creepy people out there that give social media a bad connotation. Please be careful when you are handing out even your full name and email. The threat of identity theft is scary but use a little common sense and discretion and just be yourself. I have more friends then I can count on two hands that I have never met physically that I know I can trust and thinking that those people are not actually “friends” is just obtuse.

Cheers!

The MMO Times: E3 2012

By

On June 7, 2012

In Gaming, MMO Times, MMORPG

Issue 35

Welcome to E3 week, Gamers!! Since E3 is this week we are going to hear a plethora of gaming news coming out from the LA Convention Center. I hope to have captured only the pertinent and interesting stories as there were details coming out about non-MMO and console games as well.

Also, I’m not going to only have E3 stories because there are goodies that are still under development that will be announced in parallel with all the news flowing out of LA. In fact there are patches that went live this week for a couple of well known MMOs.

Read More

Page 155 of 181

Previous

Next

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén