Two of the biggest and most recent changes to hit Teridal are integrated MySQL and Teridal Accounts.
Teridal now uses MySQL to store and retrieve database information. Currently this is limited to server and player info, but eventually the entire game will work off of it. What this does, is it allows the game to quickly modify and retrieve information about players and servers. It also allows for the introduction of Teridal accounts, which are detailed more below.
With MySQL, Teridal now lets players play on any server with their characters. Some data is still restricted to individual servers, but the characters themselves can be loaded and played on any officially hosted server.
Players can now create Teridal accounts. Teridal accounts now act as the main account system for Teridal, but players are still allowed to easily login with just using BYOND. Characters made on any BYOND key can be linked to a Teridal account and the player can then login to the Teridal account to play any of those characters. Teridal accounts also let you join and play the game without running BYOND or even making a BYOND key. In the near future Teridal will have a custom installer that will install the game and the BYOND framework and the game can be run from your desktop with the click of a button! Teridal accounts will also be required to login to the website, manage characters and other account information, use the forums, use the marketplace, and more. The game will be completely linked to the website and data will flow between the two with ease.
To make sure there isn't confusion between the two different types of account systems, the game uses a bit of smarts to help the user get in and play.
If the player has the BYOND pager already running with a BYOND key logged in when they login to Teridal, it disables Teridal account controls and allows the player to just click login to get started. If they do this, they will be restricted to playing only characters created while logged in this way, but they can move a character to a Teridal account at any time.
If the player is logged into BYOND as a guest or not running the pager at all, the game will assume they don't have BYOND or a BYOND key (or just don't want to run it) and it will enable and allow the person to login or register a Teridal account.
Of course, once the player connects, they can easily switch between which account system they want to use.
 |
 |
 |
Once all the major game changes are finished, the website is done, and Teridal is advertised outside of BYOND, Teridal accounts will help bring the new players in and make it easier for them to jump right in.
Along with these changes is a feature that allows the game to be fullscreen (almost). The game screen will now properly scale for players based on their screen resolution, which makes the game much more pleasant to play.
Many other things have changed, so be sure to check the game out to get more information on those changes! http://www.byond.com/games/IccusionEntertainment/Teridal
Teridal is undergoing a complete art makeover soon (along with many other things of course), so stay tuned for more Teridal Log posts in the days and weeks to come!
