F0lak's site

Click Me!!! to win a free iPad2!!!

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 11:02:34 +0000

(Sorry, no iPad here. Just talking about me!)

As none of you may be aware, I'm now working towards my cooking apprenticeship at Joey. It's fun and interesting and it's something I'm passionate about. So far I've done my first practical project, where I presented a Blueberry Almond Parfait and Maple Glazed Sausage Breakfast Sandwich to the Regional Chef (whom I'm apprenticing under), Head Chef, and one of our Sous Chefs. It was the first half of my Breakfast project group, of which there are 2 hot and 2 cold (parfait is 1 cold, sandwich is 1 hot). I don't get my final grade until I'm done all four, but before I do any more breakfasts I'm going to work on some of the more basic stuff. Sauces!

Last week I made a Bechamel sauce for the first time, just to practice it. My Sous Chef tasted it and said it was better than the Bechamel our top apprentice in the store had made on his first try, and that it was exactly what he would expect from Bechamel sauce. I think that's a win. :)

I also made a Hollandaise sauce for the Head Chef last Thursday. We had Steak with Hollandaise, and it was amazing, although we agreed it would have gone better on our Salmon because of the strong presence of lemon I used.

Other than that, life in general is rather boring. I wake up, I eat, I work, I sleep, I repeat. On a (very sad) side note, I asked out a pretty girl on a date. She said no. :(

Comment with things going on in your life!

PS: Hazordhu II update is on track to be released late 2013!

Hazordhu II: Version 6

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 13:44:20 +0000

Hello, Roleplayers and BYONDlings alike. Today I'm here to talk to you (some more) about Hazordhu Version 6. As I discussed in my last blog post, Hazordhu will have a few big game changers in it. With pixel movement being moreso aesthetic than anything, it does require a lot of changes to get going smoothly and properly. So with that I also told you about two of our planned features to go along with the update. Today I'm going to go into more detail with what changes will happen with pixel movement, and let you know about the big content addition that will also be a part of this (mostly something to keep the other devs occupied while I work on the bigger stuff. :) )

Pixel Movement will involve changing a lot. Not simply changing a few variables for how things move, but the building system, combat system, and AI have all got to undergo some redesigning to accomodate. Thus far we've gotten everything for Animals and AI finished up, tested, and patched up. Animals now operate under a completely new structure based off a new herd mentality. Even animals that aren't part of a herd use this system, and simply skip over certain functions that are used for herd-wide communication.

The next item on the plate is to rework the building system. In the current hosted version there are two types of objects in the game (excluding mobs): Item and Built. Items are objects made by players that can be picked up (resources, weapons, tools, and the like). Built objects are structures created by the player that cannot be picked up. Whether it be a wall, a cart, or a chair.

The new stuff is the addition of a third class, and changes to the current method of building. The new class will be called simply Furniture, and will be certain Built objects that can be pushed and moved around the environment after being built. Things like chairs, tables, bookshelves (furniture!). Since these objects already exist, it's a matter of reorganizing lists and how they create. Furniture and Built objects will be created by clicking and dragging them from the crafting list onto the map, where they will snap to tiles when hovered over them, showing where they'll be built. The player will then move to that location (if necessary) and build it. Items will simply spawn directly under the player.

The third big change is to combat, which for shortness sake I won't go into much detail with. Long story short, projectiles will move faster.

As for the content additions we've got a lot of new goodies for players to play with on the way. Including siege engines, new castle structures, magics, hats, facial hair.. The list goes on. We will also be adding in some things to the environment just to make it feel a little more authentic, including absolutely pointless shrubbery and undergrowth in forested areas that you can have fun chopping away at with a sharp tool to clear away. Oh yes. The fun is only just beginning...

Yes, it may seem like a lot of work, but we have a great team working on it, and we haven't let the fans down yet. So stop in and get to know the community and the devs. At least one of us is online at almost any given time. :)

Thanks for your support over the last 5 years, and be sure to expect something for the upcoming anniversary.

Hazordhu II: Pixel Movement

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 00:37:38 +0000

Hello, roleplayers. I'm here to let you all know about Hazordhu's coming update.

For those of you unfamiliar with Hazordhu II, it's a role-play game set in a medieval fantasy world. Players find themselves in a completely player-developed sandbox land where everything around them is shaped by themselves and other players.

This coming update will include a lot of cool new things. The biggest of which is implementation of BYOND's new pixel movement system. A lot of the game will remain the same, but some core changes will have to take place to accommodate this, such as to the building system. Currently, players build objects on the tile they stand on. Since pixel movement more or less ignores tile-by-tile restrictions, players will now click and drag items to a tile they're on or in range of, and the item will snap to tiles as the player drags them around, showing them exactly where it will be build. Items that can be picked up will simply be created directly under the player, and some items still will be able to be pushed around once placed to add some diversity to the home.

Another cool change is that many animals will now follow a herd AI. They will follow a male member of the herd known as the alpha male. If the alpha male dies, or an animal gets lost or otherwise separated from the herd they will search until they find a new herd (or die).

Finally, we've limited many of the more sophisticated items and structures to members of groups, to give them more of an impact in-game, and to give the game a more dark-ages feeling. But don't fret! There have been many new structures and items added for groupless players to have fun with, such as wooden shields, more weapons, and new adobe structures.

Adopt a Novice

Mon, 04 Jul 2011 15:26:56 +0000

Hello everyone! Today I'd like to propose that some of the more experienced programmers around BYOND do something that can truly benefit the community: Adopt a Novice. What I mean by this is that you take someone under your wing that is willing to actually learn how to program, and teach them how to.

This doesn't have to be some insane undertaking that makes you bash out ERTYDFGHCVB from your keyboard using your forehead. Find someone who would like to learn how to program, and teach them. I've found someone, and I'm teaching him using TeamViewer and DM how to program, starting from the planning stages, and working his way up to finishing a small project meant to teach him the basics. My goal for the end of this is to teach him enough DM that he can go from there and learn more on his own, and eventually produce fun and interesting games for all of us to play.

So jump on this bandwagon! It can only benefit BYOND.

Hazordhu II: Be a Booze-hound!

Fri, 24 Jun 2011 15:15:08 +0000

Greetings fans and readers! I'm here to talk about some of the things that have been added to Hazordhu since my last blog post a week ago.

First things first, we've been tackling bugs as always. Our last update took care of all of the known bugs, and now we're sitting on a stable and almost bug-free version. Granted there are still a few very minor ones, but they've all been fixed for today's update, which is the main topic of this blog post!

In my last post I was talking about the group system. That's been perfected, so now if the leader leaves the group or recreates their character (ie: Permanently dies) group ownership is handed over to the next highest ranking member. Another interesting change is that subscribers are now able to hide their identity by wearing a hood. As long as they whisper when they talk, nobody can tell who they are.

And now, on to the goodies! Todays update features a long-standing request for the game that everyone is excited about! Alchohol! The creation of alchohol will be limited to subscribers only, however all players will be able to partake in some of the good drink, if they can get their hands on some. The system includes several features of alchohol from real life, such as slurred speech, hiccups, loss of motor skills, vomiting, passing out, and -if you drink too much- death. We will feature two types of alchohol in the release: Beer and Wine, both brewed in barrels. Each one has unique properties, such as wine healing some health with beer giving a small temporary strength buff. The King is even going to be hosting a feast when this update is released (around noon today) to celebrate this new concoction devised by the castle cook.

The update features a few other small additions and bug fixes, including some new commands for NPC's and some small combat additions, including combat dummies attacking back, allowing players to practice their active defenses.

I hope to see you all there! And Happy Drinking!

Hazordhu II, getting back with it

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 16:12:20 +0000

Greetings fans and interested readers. I am here today to speak to you about Hazordhu II.

For the past while, Hazordhu has been taking the backburner in my life. What with work and the other trials of life, I hadn't had a lot of time to work on it. But, that's changed recently and I've hopped back on the project, along with long-time Haz programmer Kaiochao.

For those of you who are unaware, Hazordhu II is a Roleplay game set in a medieval fantasy environment concieved by myself. The game world is entirely player developed, with characters starting with only a few tools and some clothing. Everything from the grands castles and mighty fortresses, to the bustling cities and the sleepy farm towns is created by the players with their own two hands.

Now that you have an idea of what Hazordhu is, let's talk about what's new:
First and foremost, and likely the most noticable change, is that seasons now last a full day each. This not only enables us to focus more on gameplay without changing clothes every 15 minutes, it also allows us to eventually add in permanent death for characters of old age, and still allow people to have played that character for a decent amount of time.

The combat system has undergone some changes as well. The new and improved system allows for players to roleplay to their fullest extent. It features built-in defenses, Parry, Dodge, and Block, where the users can inflict real damage on each other, and have a real defense for it. This adds another layer of depth to roleplay, in that the computer can resolve many such issues as "did x miss?". I've taken part in a few roleplayed battles myself with this system, and I must say... It, coupled with the expectation that you remake if you are killed in an RP event (ie: Not by a griefer) made it one of the most intense fights I think I've ever experienced on a BYOND game.

What else is new is that subscribers can now form groups. These groups are created by a subscriber and each have a unique flag. The flags can be one of 11 designs, and players may choose two colours which will serve as the primary and secondary colours on the flags as well as group clothing. There is also a new banner item that players can carry around to represent their groups with.

There have been lots of other things added and changed around, and as always bug fixes galore. The games' changelog can be found here. If you'd rather see for yourself, come and check out what's new in Haz tew. You could be one of three winners of a free one month subscription, just for playing!

Random Client Crashes

Thu, 16 Jun 2011 19:36:54 +0000

So, today Hazordhu ran into a pretty interesting problem that I've never seen before. Random clients around the world (not all standing together) started to experience random dream seeker crashes, and were unable to log back on for awhile. Their dream seekers would crash as soon as they loaded their character.

From what I can tell all of the crashes happened at the same time, but with no other ties to players around the world... Is there anything that could be causing this in my code, or is it more likely an issue with BYOND's new client-side icon stuff maybe?

Autojoining /image objects

Fri, 03 Jun 2011 14:13:05 +0000

Code:

image
    proc
        autojoin()
            for(var/turf/t in oview(1, loc))
                var/image/i = locate() in t
                world << "[i?1:0]"
                if(i && i.tag == tag)
                    world << 2
                    if(get_dir(loc, t) in list(1,2,4,8))
                        world << 3
                        i.icon_state = "[text2num(i.icon_state) | get_dir(t, loc)]"
                        icon_state = "[text2num(icon_state) | get_dir(loc, t)]"

// Elsewhere...
                for(var/turf/t in getring(u, u.los+1))
                    var/image/i = image('los.dmi',t,,EFFECTS_LAYER + 1)
                    i.tag = "unit"
                    images += i

                if(u.hdrv < u.los)
                    for(var/turf/t in getring(u, u.hdrv+1))
                        var/image/i = image('drive.dmi',t,,EFFECTS_LAYER + 1)
                        i.tag = "unit"
                        images += i

                if(u.next_move)
                    for(var/turf/t in getline(u, u.next_move))
                        var/image/i = image('movement.dmi',t,,EFFECTS_LAYER + 1)
                        i.tag = "unit"
                        images += i

                spawn for(var/image/i in images)
                    i.autojoin()
                    sleep(10) // sleep for debug

Problem description:
Everything compiles properly. When I run it and test it I can see the images, but they aren't autojoining. The only debug output I'm getting is 0, meaning it's not finding images in the turfs.

My e-mail has been compromised

Mon, 30 May 2011 02:17:14 +0000

Today I logged in to my MSN and noticed that I had 35 unread messages. All of these were delivery failure notifications, save for a warning from Iain Peregrine saying I had been compromised. Does anyone know how to purge this spambot from my account?

String Bug?

Fri, 27 May 2011 03:11:14 +0000

Code:

mob
    var
        combos = ""     // A string defining the current combination of moves

    proc
        Combo(move as text)
            ASSERT(istext(move))
            ASSERT(istext(combos))
            world << "All tests passed"

    verb
        punch()
            Combo("p")

        kick()
            Combo("k")

mob
    var
        test_string = ""

    verb
        test()
            ASSERT(istext(test_string))
            world << "All tests passed"

Problem description:

When using 'test'
All tests passed

When using 'punch'
runtime error: combos.dm:9:Assertion Failed: istext(combos)
proc name: Combo (/mob/proc/Combo)
source file: combos.dm,9
usr: F0lak (/mob)
src: F0lak (/mob)
call stack:
F0lak (/mob): Combo("p")
F0lak (/mob): punch()

When using 'kick'
runtime error: combos.dm:9:Assertion Failed: istext(combos)
proc name: Combo (/mob/proc/Combo)
source file: combos.dm,9
usr: F0lak (/mob)
src: F0lak (/mob)
call stack:
F0lak (/mob): Combo("k")
F0lak (/mob): kick()

I'm confused as to what could be causing this, as it's the istext(combos) assertion that's crashing. This is the only code in the environment, so there's nothing that could be interfering with this.