Bane_Star

The Game is a sub-set of the EFRGames site, so the final version will be, if you get to the game directly, and your not logged in, you'll be looking at some kind of 'interactive screenshot' of the game, with tutorial like mousover functions, so that players can understand what the game is about.. To Access the game, I should have a re-direct to the main site, where you register your account (wordpress) which has the game links from there. Yet for now, since I'm still working on the game itself, I'll put that on my list of things to do later.. Thanks for the feedback.

The Game is a sub-set of the EFRGames site, so the final version will be, if you get to the game directly, and your not logged in, you'll be looking at some kind of 'interactive screenshot' of the game, with tutorial like mousover functions, so that players can understand what the game is about.. To Access the game, I should have a re-direct to the main site, where you register your account (wordpress) which has the game links from there. Yet for now, since I'm still working on the game itself, I'll put that on my list of things to do later.. Thanks for the feedback.

Hi Guys, I didn't want to post until I got to a point where I had at least a basic working model, and now I do.. so, over at http://www.efrgames.com/warlords is my game, I'm using Wordpress to hold user accounts & all the snazzy safety features they include in it, The game is based on Lords of Legend, which stopped in 2009, I made this to get better at jQuery. So I'm welcoming testers at the moment, And some critique. Bane

Thanks SRB, I know that IP banning can be a complex process, Same people in different locations, vs same locations different people, Brothers both playing games from home, vs account sharing Its very very hard to have something that doesn't need to be constantly monitored.. and whats the point of making a web-game if you have to monitor it 24/7,   BUT, the question is/was not How to STOP it, its how to THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX. When a criminal breaks the law, we throw them in gaol, we spend millions on goals, guards, police, camera's laws, legal systems. Its a DRAIN of resources. But what we don;t seem to do, is address the problem, why did they break the law, and how can we understand how to stop them from needing to in the first place.   Lets take this more to the topic.. If you make a game that gives the player 100coins a turn, and other players can take a % of these coins, as an action, the obvious way to play is to make sure, your online when the game gives you the 100 coins, and spend them, (or save them or something) and to do that 24/7, .. but since no-one can be online 24/7, players get their friends to log into their accounts and spend for them.. they are cheaters.. The game effectively demands that to be competetive, you have to cheat.. SO.. Given that we have the dynamic, that the game requires you to cheat to be the most competetive.. HOW as games designers can we look at ways to stop this.. The obvious choice (goal system) is IP tracking, banning players who cheat.. etc .. but thats the costly system, which we already know is a drain of resources.. So.. Thinkiing outside the box..How would YOU solve the problem?

to clarify.. I was playing Diablo II with a sorceress, focus on ICE magic. I beat the big bad demon, when I was around 23rd level, the game PENALISED me, and gave me 35 experience! Normally killing diablo gives like 30-50,000.. the fact that I was LOWER level, should result in me getting MORE experience, not less.. it was a game breaker.. I took it back to the shop, demanded back my money and never played it again. It spoiled my experience of the diablo games, and I cry foul against Blizzard for not being Gamesmasters, but just being clever marketing people who dupe alot of idiots to make the genre into something akin to Twilight vs Vampires..

well, I did my research, Wordpress turns out to have a fairly decent system, takes less room than most, easily writeable/plugins to link in accounts, akismet, IP tracking, Membership system, multiple levels of membership, facebook user, RSS feeds. Pretty much 90% of the code I don't care to take the time to create, but is required to have even the most simplest of games up and running. All you have to do, is install it, and include ('wp_config'); in your index, then your user_id is available for all your own php pages and your own Db. Cool part is, The bloggin aspect is great for informing your users about game changes, updates, new aspects and anything that normally you'd have to create some kind of info box for. p.s. I tried Joomla, Silverstripe (yuk) and MODx, I thought about making my own with the help of http://css-tricks.com/php-for-beginners-building-your-first-simple-cms/ But the purpose was not to MAKE a CMS, it was to have an up and running memebrship system within hours.Which it did Joomla, was.. well, I got bogged down trying to understand all the bits I needed to add, Silverstripe has a horrid inability to cope with making new code, and All three are just TOO BIG for small sites..

No, you misunderstood.. If I play a game that gives me $100 (fake in game currency) a day to make actions.. I understand that the money comes from some kind of investment my hero has, or some job, or what have you... but there is a link, VOTE FOR OUR GAME get + $10. In real life I'm voting for the game, in game life, what did I just do? where did the $10 come from? WTF? Magically appears in my hands? thats bullshut.. and so I'll quit.. the games designers don;t take the time to justify everything that exists in their game, I'm not going to take the time to play.. If I can;t trust the game to play fair, I can't play the game..

((I could not find a Game design forum to put this in.. so.. Mods can move it..)) This is not a thread about coding, or mods or how to deal with cheaters in real life, so much as how does a cheater affect the game design itself? I've sen alot of games that deal with multiple accounts by banning them, which, unfortunately, sometimes bans legit players who play too well. I've seen some games which have some strict systems to deal with cheaters, but it usually spoils the original intention of the game.. Is it worth spending hours, days and weeks, making games, and then spend years of countering cheating.. I'd rather play or make something else.. Personally, I design the game to allow cheating, but make it that the act of cheating, is detrimental to their accounts.. What do you guys think?

A level of Realism, Not I mean set in modern day, not that its without magic or space or such, But If I click a link which gives my account a +1 because I voted on some site.. WHY does my HERO gain that point? what do all these points MEAN for my character/account.. When a game is pure meta, I get very bored, very fast..

I started a new game, and just thought, why would I want to go through the hassles I have before to create the blog, the project list, comments pages, user accounts etc.. why not just use a CMS? The only think I have to work out is linking the existing user account to my own pages, and re-formatting the pages to match the style of my game. Anyone else use a CMS for this? Thoughts or comments?

In answer to your question, I have one: What do you mean by not using Energy/turn based but instead by using Health/Mana? I was thinking something along the lines myself a while ago, Abandoned it because it did not fit my style of play, Here it is, maybe you'd use it. Essentially, The player can play as long as he/she wants, but every action uses up a tiny bit of stamina, if they decide to rest (sit down for a moment) they gain back some stamina. After using up 18 hours of time, their character starts to get tired faster, they can't perform actions easily, negative buff, etc.. Eventually the player says: ok.. enough is enough, I gotta rest. he finds a place to rest, sets up some bedroll/gets a room at a tavern and goes to sleep. When he does. the player logs out for the day. The character sleeps until the player logs in again (maximum 9 hours). If the player logs in early, the character is up.. but has a small negative buff for the first few hours (lack of sleep). While this is different from what you said.. adjust it in this way: The players can play online as long as their hero has health, small healing potions will bring back few HP, but you have a max potion per day limit (or they work less effectively). When your character gets to town for rest, the player logs out for the day. come back tomorrow.. kinda thing.. Hope this helps your question..