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December 3 , 2003
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Basic Chat Soon
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Posted at 10:00 EST
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As I was madly developing NaviChat, the demis suggested that perhaps components of it could be used to get a basic text chat online sooner. It was a brilliant idea!
For the last couple of weeks, with some time off for T-day, I have been taking the base components of NaviChat and putting them in a reusable "framework."
This framework includes the basic network communications, transcript display and room priviledges. Not only is this good news for the release of BasicChat but also will be the foundation of many possible "real time" features such as realtime Trivia and Circus Maximus races - as well as NaviChat itself.
Because room priviledges are being worked in, we will see the return of Private Gardens at AncientWorlds as a Patron feature! This also means that Groups will be able to create chat rooms and set their read/post permissions.
I am hoping to roll the HTML version of BasicChat out in the next few days with a Flash client to follow a week thereafter. It will be great having Chat back for Saturnalia activities! |
October 24 , 2003
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Roaming Rome
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Posted at 08:00 EST
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 Both avatars in the scene facing the same direction I am using a few test avatars in the NaviChat, the engine we are writing to power SPQR Online 3D, a true 3D version of the current SPQR Online Game. When one person turns, all the other people in the space can see her avatar turn. The next thing is to add the "walk cycles" to the avatars so that they appear to be walking toward or away from you.
 One of the avatars has turned around |
October 20 , 2003
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Avatars
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Posted at 18:00 EST
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 First try at Poser: A man in a sort of tunic. I have been working on animated avatars to inhabit the NaviChat space. it has taken a little while to come up to speed with the application "Poser." Although the clothing must be modeled in a separate 3D modeler (I am using Cinema4D), Poser handles the the cloth simulation, cloth dynamics, poses and walk cycle animations.
 * Bryce Yupanqui was most helpful in providing me with a couple of test figures rendered in Poser to get me going. I hope that at some point people may be able to create their own animation stills in Poser to be used in NaviChat. These stills could then be turned into "smart avatars" that will work in NaviChat. Since many people would find the learning curve a bit tough, there will most certainly be a market where people who do master NaviChat avatar creation could sell there wares. |
October 9 , 2003
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The Road to NaviChat
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Posted at 11:00 EST
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For the last month I have been developing the guts of the NaviChat server and client. Although there is not a demo that I have put online yet, the prototype is already a lot of fun to test.
There will be significant issues in accomodating members on a dial-up internet connection since NaviChat is quite graphical. I will end up spending a good deal of time optimizing the "smarts" of the engine to try to sense when to download lower-res versions of the graphics for slower connections.
I have also been doing a lot of research on massively multiplayer online games (MMOG or MMORPG). I am quite excited to develop the game "SPQR Online 3D" (so3d.com) which will use the NaviChat engine as its basic world environment. |
August 22 , 2003
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Contests Engine Almost Done
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Posted at 11:00 EST
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The main component to add to the site for the S.P.Q.R. Online Lives Festival, the "Contest Engine," is almost done.
Yesterday I finished the ability for Demis, Scribes and Group Leaders to create a contest and add the awards with site currency prizes. The hard part of this was to handle the transaction whereby a contest creator could choose what the source of the prize money would be. For example, a Group Leader who is also a scribe can create a contest using funds from either the "Scribes's Privy" or from the "Group Coffer."
Today I am adding the ability for people to sign-up for the contest and for the contest creator to award the prizes on the contests "Awards Date." The contest creator may do this by simply clicking on links they will see next to the names of the contestants.
Once an award is made, the prize money is automatically issued to the winner and the prize icon will automatically appear at the winners Homesite. |
August 17 , 2003
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SPQR Lives!
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Posted at 10:57 EST
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Although I have made great progress on NaviChat, I am taking a break to do some coding to prepare for the SPQR Lives festival that starts August 31.
The game itself is ready to go, but the "Contests" application needs to be written. I started on it last night and it seems to be going well. I will detail what Contests are in the next couple of days. |
August 1 , 2003
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Progress on NaviChat
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Posted at 07:52 EST
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 Early prototype for NaviChat  NaviChat is a navigable, graphical chat For the past week I have been developing the new chat system for the site.
I am calling the new system "NaviChat" based on a prototype we did way back in the days of AS. The chat is unique among graphical chats in that one may navigate a space and chat with people that one finds there.
NaviChat works with hyper-linked images, in much the same way as one navigates graphical adventure games such as the CD ROM of SPQR or the game MYST. The difference is that one will see the avatars of others superimposed on the perspective images to represent where in the space those other people are.
The main "client" for using NaviChat will be Flash MX (Flash 6) which according to macromedia is already installed on 86% of all internet browsers out there today. I will also make the chat accessible from HTML, but that will will be after the initial testing using Flash.
So far I have the chat functionality working, as well as displaying the avatars of the personae standing where you are. Next is to set up the navigation and the display od avatars in the distance. I hope to have a 0.1 version running for testing this weekend. |
July 22 , 2003
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The Encyclopedia Antica
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Posted at 07:32 EST
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 scrolls This morning I woke up and my head was buzzing with ideas for a new application for AW that will be called "Encyclopedias."
An Encyclopedia is similar to a Journal in a way,
but rather than being primarily organized by post date,
it will be organized by entry title. In otherwords,
the main interface to the collection of entries in
the Encyclopedia will be an alphabet rather than a calendar.
Each entry will be able to reference other entries
with a custom tag such as:
Even if the entry for Julius Caesar does not exist yet, clicking on the link that the encyc tag creates, will lead you to an edit form to create a Julius Caesar entry.
Unlike Journals, Encyclopedias will be editable by several people. For example, an encyclopedia in a group might be set to allow entry submission from all members above a certain group member level. If a group such as Imperium creates an Ecyclopedia, then the tag would appear as:
The official Encyclopedia for the site, to which any member may submit an entry will be called the "Encyclopedia Antica." If an editor approves the submission then the entry will appear in the Encyclopedia and the entry will have a byline crediting the author. Additionally, the author will be paid a fee in site currency. If multiple acceptable entries are submitted for the same keyword, they will be ordered by the editor for that subject area or city.
An important feature of Encyclopedias will be the ability for people to make bibliographic references. Such a reference may look like this:
The above biblio tag would then create a link to a real life book at AW which among other things would provide further links to its location at Amazon and B&N. Once on the page for that RL Book, one could see all the Encyclopedia references at AW to it. |
July 20 , 2003
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Personal Journals Released!
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Posted at 16:49 EST
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Personal Journals were released today for all to try (er, and test!).
What are Personal Journals?
Personal Journals are much like Web Logs or "Blogs". Members may post entries as often as they wish throughout the day. When the entries are displayed, they are ordered by post time and date. Unlike a bulletin board, the author of the Journal may re-edit the entries as often and as many times as she wishes. She may even change the post time and thus change the order in which the entries appear.
Posting in the Quiet of Your Own Home
Entries posted to your journals may contain thoughts and musings that you do not think would fit on any particular board thread and that you don't necessarily need to get any response from. For example, as you are reading a number of books on a subject, you may post notes to a journal you dedicate to that subject as a running log of your thoughts. Since the journals are searchable, they may be a great research tools.
Document Structure
In a sense, Personal Journals are a simple form of Online Book Authoring where the author has great control over the content's organization in the document. For more complicated documents organized by Chapter, Headings, and Subheadings, the "Online Books" feature is almost done.
Who May Use Personal Journals
All members and unregisted guests may read Personal Journals. At the free level, Novices and Citizens may create one Journal and post up to a total of 10 entries. Patrons not only have the ability to create multiple journals, but also to create more entries.
Another Patron feature of Journals is "Statistics." All Patrons' journals display daily lists of readers of their journals as well as daily and total pageview counts. |
July 18 , 2003
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Image Uploading for Board Posts
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Posted at 13:47 EST
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 The new image upload and auto-add to a text body. A funny thing happened on the way to Personal Journals... I developed a new way to get an image into the body of a page.
Previously one had to go to one's image gallery (which is still in the "old system", upload the image there, and then copy the special image tag then go back to a post and paste it in.
Now one can add an image "inline." Although the Personal Journals won't be released until later today (I hope!), members may try out the new image loading now while editing any board post.
Here's how to use the new feature: After posting a message to any board, there is a new link next to the edit link called "Add Image". When that is clicked a dialog first comes up asking to upload an image. Once the image is submitted, it adds the special image tag to the body automatically, making for a fairly seamless work flow. |
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