When I created Mecha Asylum, which was January of 2004, I was creating the design of the game. Finally, in the summer I decided that I would never get a good enough design and started to actually create the game. The problem was that I need to get the basic game up before I did any of the game, which was:
- Sign In
- Register
- Activate Account
- Anti-hacking System
I had to get these up pretty fast and so they were mainly incomplete. I think I should have used my old code for this site from the ‘Mecha RPG’ development days. When I realized that I was going to create more than one game, eventually, I started Absidon Games.
What I’m facing now is a game that has a lot of members who would be extremely pissed off if the register was deleted (again), so I can’t just drop the users when I change systems. The new system has to work with many different games and web sites. Making it work with different games isn’t going to be hard but converting Mecha Asylum over to the new system is going to be a pain in the ass. I don’t have to worry about that until I start making the third alpha version, but that is another topic for later.
The new system is going to have a lot more features and have errors messages given back to the user when something goes wrong. Another nice thing about the new system is that I won’t have copies of the scripts on all of my game web sites. When I make changes to the script or something is wrong then all I need to change is one script. When I add more features or make changes, it will speed the process up. I won’t have to find all of the old scripts and make them work with the new system and debug them all.
Forgot Password
This script has been needed for a long time. The reason I haven’t made it is because I didn’t think it was that important and couldn’t think of a good way to make the script work. I am going to add the script to the new system so that people will be able to get a new password if they lost their old one.
Control Panel
New ‘Manage Account’ scripts:
- Change Password
- Delete Account
- Vacation Mode
I want the user to be able to change their password after they make it for when they get a new one in their email or for when they dislike their old one. It is always good to have the option to change ones password every so often for security reasons.
If the person doesn’t want to play any more and would rather save us the trouble of storing the users account information then they should have the option of deleting their account. A lot more sites are implementing a vacation mode where the user can’t be attacked but also can’t play or sign in for an extend period of time. This mode will be game wide so one place if the player plays more than one game.
Profile
There will be times when I will add to the profile for the members. If would be up to them to add the information when I add it. It would help me and other members, if the user wants to open his information up to those members. If the person is in a group, the IM information will be open for the owner to get in touch of the user.
Other Plans
I thought that would be good idea to have some game options in the Control Panel, like seeing the status and entering the planets from the control panel. I may still have that but then again, I think having the same script in two places would still be a bad idea. I will display some information, like status for all the games so they will be able to get an overview of the games they are in. Another plan I have is allowing the player to opt-in and out of the other games from the Control Panel. Again, one area for quick administrative tasks.
Conclusion
I’m sure I will eventually add more to the Control Panel from comments from the players and from my own ideas. The Control Panel will start out pretty basic from the lack of there isn’t a lot of games for them to play but it will grow into something that I want the player to use at least once or twice a month. I believe that the game should have game controls for maintaining the game only. The stuff that doesn’t really have to do with controlling the character and managing the game areas should have a separate place for it.
There are only two games right now, well, there is really only one game that is complete enough to add to the cpanel but during the development of the DBZ RPG 2 game, I will add to the cpanel with management features similar to what is going to be in the Mecha Asylum game. Well, the DBZ RPG 2 game is going to have a hand up on Mecha Asylum because I’m working on the Control Panel after I complete the second alpha and I’m not going to go back and edit the code to work with the new system. Alpha 3 of Mecha Asylum is going to use the new system and Control Panel. I’m still going to add some features of Mecha Asylum before I start Alpha 3. It is just that since I will be done with the new system while I develop the DBZ RPG 2 game, it will have the features first and then Alpha 3 will have the same.
Possibly Related Posts:
- Mecha Asylum Design Document
- Data Store is Finished, but Still Imperfect
- If You Look at it This Way
- Configuration SPL Usage
- New Configuration Factory Possible Features
Tags: absidon games, development, incomplete project, planning, web site