New Year
January 1, 2008, 5:20pm
I suppose I should update before people start joking about how I "haven't updated my blog all year", etc. =P
This past week has been busy. I'll write about it later, though: today I'm going to focus on the online game I've mentioned previously.
I spent much of the past week working on the online gameboard webapp, and it's really coming along nicely. This weekend should see its first use in a real, live game (with all the characters and such brought in from our offline game sessions).
I'm not yet sure what the final headcount will be, but I think we'll have 4 or 5 people in one location and 2-4 others spread around elsewhere, all simultaneously playing a game that, to my knowledge, has never been played on any computer before.
This "just made" version of the system is like a midway point between a high-fidelity prototype and a finished production-level system: it's a fully-functional implementation of major system concepts and details (so we can actually use it for full, long-term games), but from the beginning this has been planned as throwaway code: it's a test run we can use to evaluate those concepts and details (both design and implementation).
The long-term plan is revise/polish the "just built" system for a couple of weeks, trying out different things and ensuring the system can handle all our gameplay for the next couple of months. Then, over 1-3 months of using the "just made" system, I'll design and build the "real" 1.0 system, using the experience/feedback/data from the "just built" system as a guide.
This is just a scaled-up version of some standard prototyping and programming stuff—this particular approach isn't exactly popular, though, because of all the extra/discarded work. It does work rather for personal projects where I want to get something up quick, but also want a very high-quality system eventually (like with stevenpautz.com), though. It's basically a cross between "fast + cheap (but not good)" and "good + cheap (but not fast)" that works great with a one-person team with no business costs to worry about. =)
It takes significantly more time/planning to write code that can handle (potentially) years of (hypothetical) edits, revisions, and feature additions/removals than it does to write code that merely fulfills the present requirements. Omitting the 'forward-compatible' criterion means I can quickly make a system that will work now—albeit with heavy scarring when the code gets changed—while also getting a solid foundation of experience/data upon which to build a much stronger system.
The 1.0 system will probably launch sometime in spring, and there's a slight possibility I'll do a public release in summer—either opening it up so that anybody can join/create/play games and campaigns, or maybe making it an open-source project. I'll cross that bridge when we get to it, though: for now I'm trying to get everything ready for this weekend. =)
And somewhere in that schedule I'm planning to do the same for this site, as well as get a job and make a name for myself.
If 2008 goes even half as well as I'm planning/expecting, I think it'll more than make up for the weak 2007. ;-)
7 Comments
New online game system
I am really looking forward to seeing what this site can do. Even though half the fun of gaming is getting together with your buddies (at least that is how I feel), this will allow us to play from across the country. I am envisioning a VASL (Virtual Advanced Squad Leader) for Star Wars RPG. When this is completed, I will be able to play both of my favorite games online.
As for the new year - I resolve to put the proverbial axe to the tree with my studies of the Greek language. I've been out on break for three weeks and have already forgotten a great deal of material - time to hit the books again.
Greek language?
Hello Ed. I am curious about why you're studying Greek language? For school, personal interest, heritage? And is studying Greek language the same as learning to speak it or is it more about the origin and history of the language?
Greek language clarification
Jennifer Anne (and anyone else who is interested):
I am studying Biblical Greek at a local seminary as part of a M.A. program in Biblical Languages. Last semester I took NT550, Biblical Greek Grammar I, and this sememster I will be taking NT551, Biblical Greek Grammar II. My resolution was to help emerse myself in the Greek language so that I can better learn it.
Why am I studying it? The short answer is because it is part of my degree program. The longer answer is that I am looking for ways to augment my skills as a teacher and to enhance my understanding of the Bible. I teach Sunday School and a weekly children's Bible study. I am also involved with a few weekly Bible studies. In my teachings and studies questions often arise about the exact meaning of phrases in the Bible. While I do not think that knowing the original Biblical languages will answer all of these questions, that knowledge will at least allow me to give an immediate and intelligent answer. Knowing the original languages will allow me to see alternative translations and parallels so that I may better understand the Bible. That is why I picked the M.A. in Biblical Languages degree program, to aid in my teaching and understanding.
My current studies do teach pronounciation (although one of my coworkers is Greek - she says I have the "southern" pronounciation of the Greek language). So I can speak it - but not very well. Also because the focus of the program is on Biblical Greek, we are only learning Koine Greek (the version of Greek that the New Testament and the Septuagint was written in). [It is similar to someone studying Middle English because they are examining the works of John Donne - the language is similar to what exists today, but there are some significant differences.]
As we go through vocabulary we do examine English cognates of the Koine Greek words. We also discuss any particular significance of a word, combinations of words, or a particular form of a word. However, we do not get into the history of the language nor do we look into where the words originated.
I hope this explaination sufficiently answers your questions. If I seem to over-clarify it is because I was educated and work as an engineer - we like to minimize the ways things can be misunderstood. Based on the length of this response, perhaps I should petetion Spautz for a "guest blog" space. :)
Wow
Thanks for the interesting and informative answer, Ed. I did not know that there were different versions of Greek nor that it was an original language the Bible was written in. And my Dad's an engineer so I totally get the "minimize the ways things can be misunderstood" thing.