The new subsription drive has started...

This is a site that gets 90,000 visitors a day.  And today it's gotten 9 subscriptions or renewals during the subscription drive. $260 down, $49,740 to go in about a month to re-do the site.

There are two different visions for the site. Let's call them the community versus commercial views.  I'm on the commercial side.  Zoomba/ID/jafo are likely on the community side.

We've estimated that the new site is going to cost around $50k to make.  Stardock is going to pay for anything that the community doesn't come up with. But in return, the more Stardock pays into it, the more say it's going to have on the design.

I'm pretty sure that the core skinning community is no longer big enough to pay the bills and that's fine. Skinning has become one of those ominipresent things that, because it's not a niche, doesn't really have a strong core following like it used to. It has millions of users but relatively few who really care about a "skinning community" any more than people really care about a core World of Warcraft community. Skinning is everywhere these days.

The new WC, the commercial one, will be radically different than the WC we have today.  First, the S-corporation that runs WinCustomize will get disolved and become part of Stardock Software (which makes WindowBlinds, Object Desktop, etc.).  

Second, WC will be funded out of Stardock Software's marketing budget. 

Now this may sound bad but let's face it, most people come here for Stardock related content.  When this site started, programs like Winamp, Hoverdesk, WinStep, ICQ Plus and others were pretty significant.  Today, it's pretty much all about WindowBlinds, DeskScapes, IconPackager, wallpapers and a that's about it.  

The community won't disappear but obviously the site will become much more Stardock oriented and the days of WinCustomize as a quasi-independent entity will come to an end.

See what we have in mind: https://forums.wincustomize.com/335824

Just wanted you guys to know that the next beta of Sins won't be this week but hopefully next week. We're compiling all your feedback now. 

Greetings and happy new year!

For those of you in the beta for Demigod, we are currently working on a new build that we hope to release this Thursday which will have a lot of improvements to the multiplayer code. We don’t anticipate there being any big new features in this build, we really want to focus on the connectivity.

Tomorrow, I leave for CES (Consumer Electronics Show).  I’ll be live-blogging there at http://www.impulsedriven.com/ces2009. Check it out as you’ll get lots of little tidbitgs.

On Saturday, I fly from CES to Seattle to visit with Gas Powered Games so that we can finish up the user manual and work on the next beta phase.

So that you guys understand what’s going on, like with Sins of a Solar Empire, Demigod is being worked on as an integrated team effort between Stardock and Gas Powered Games. So GPG is helping us on ads, box design, etc. And we’re helping them on code. It’s not your usual situation. But it allows us to combine our strengths.

What that means in concrete terms is that Stardock is developing the Pantheon Tournament code that Demigod will call on. The competitive on-line features in Demigod should be pretty state of the art when it’s done which is where my visit comes in at GPG. Coordinating the integration of the two code bases. Then we will need to get a public beta going.

If there is time, I hope for us to run a beta tournament with cash and prizes to test out the system. It’s a good way to thank beta testers for helping us out and work out cheese and connectivity problems early. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has been frustrated about buying a new game only to find it having glaring problems in on-line play. Our goal is to make sure that doesn’t happen.  Mind you, it will still probably happen but at least we (you guys and us) can put in a best effort to reduce that sort of thing.

So assuming this week’s build is called Beta 2A, we will either follow-up with a beta 2B which will have additional connectivity issue fixes or we’ll start looking at Beta 3.

So what would beta 3 have in it?

Here’s a tentative outline:

• Multiplayer tournaments.
• Pantheon where players pick a Demigod and earn favor points in the battles.
• Skirmishes where players play normal stand alone games and go up a more traditional ladder.
• New Game Mechanics
• The War score implemented that should greatly improve game play.
• More balancing and cleaning up of skills, citadel upgrades, flags, etc.
• General polishing.

We don’t have an exact ETA. It won’t be available until Chris Taylor and I are satisfied with it.  I’ll have a better idea next week on that. We’ll be posting pictures here from the beta team directly when I’m in Seattle.

Excerpt from "Guardians of the Telenanth"

Appendix B: Draginol & The Morning Star

Kona the Dread Lord had fashioned his empire on the premise that he was the supreme power of the world. Central to his power was the orb of dominion, a tool that he had conceived and helped wrought with the aid of his brothers.

Of the nearly 100 Dread Lords in the beginning, only 20 remained – the 20 mightiest. They were aided by thousands of fledgling Arnor who had turned on their own long ago in their inherent need to follow those they believed were the strongest. Chief amongst these fledglings was Calax the Dread Knight who led the effort to seek out new Arnor to bring to the Iron Fortress.

The Dread Lords had trained the most promising of the fledglings to be Battle Mages. Their life forces were augmented by the power of the orb. Once near the orb itself, they could draw on its power to exact terrible retribution on the enemies of the Dread Lords. When far away from the orb, their powers were diminished but still terrifying to those who had defied the will of Lord Kona.

Kona’s chief advisor was the ever loyal Draginol. Some argued that Draginol was the one who conceived of the idea for the orb of dominion but Draginol never had a thought that did not first come from Kona, or so Kona believed.

The great civilization of the Arnor had been brought low due to thousands of years of war. Tandis had gathered the survivors of the Arnor and had made them a formidable opponent. No longer were the Arnor cattle to be slaughtered but instead fought back with a level of sophistication that Kona and the other Dread Lords had never dreamed possible.

On this very day, Tandis and his allies were assaulting the Iron Fortress in an effort to rescue Amanda the Morningstar. The Morningstar was a fledgling, not even a first-one among the Arnor and yet a great effort had been made by the Arnor to save her. She emanated more energy that one would have thought possible of a fledgling and today was her day to have her life force absorbed by the orb of dominion.

Kona looked down into the great courtyard of his mighty fortress and saw that Mascrinthus the Mithrilar was slowly being worn down by the Dread Lords and the Battle Mages. Even the Mithrilar were no match for the Dread Lords when inside the Iron Fortress and the full might of the orb brought to bear.

It was at this moment that Amanda the Morningstar was brought in front of him by Calax for the absorption. Draginol, his loyal advisor, stood by in silence. Yet, Kona could feel tension and fear emanate from Draginol. Before Kona had time to consider the significance of that, Tandis the Arnor appeared.

Long had Kona sought to confront Tandis. Tandis had spent much of his life amongst the Dread Lords in the time before the Arnor recognized distinctions amongst their kind. Now, Tandis was their greatest adversary. Tandis was no match for Kona or the Dread Lords in inherent power. Yet, Tandis seemed to grow in skill over time to the point where he was a threat to any Dread Lord in single combat.

Kona and Tandis engaged in single combat. Kona’s sword was broad and jagged. It sung of the raw might of the Dread Lords. Tandis’s sword was shorter and thinner with only one edge sharpened. Tandis always fought with discipline and restraint as his guide. His discipline was legendary and always led to his triumph.

Today, however, in the heart of the empire of the Dread Lords, inside the Iron fortress with the orb of dominion at hand, Tandis could not overcome Kona. Kona swung down on Tandis’s sword so hard that it rang out in a grief so loud that the walls of balcony they stood on shook. His sword dropped.

Kona laughed and knew his triumph was at hand. Tandis was defeated in mind and body and with a gesture, Kona threw Tandis against the wall.

Amanda the Morningstar, restrained by Calax, watched with grim determination. There was never a question of the outcome. Calax nor Draginol had even moved to aid Kona as the inevitability of this moment was certain.

Kona wanted Tandis to see the end of the Morningstar and moved forward to take her essence into the orb. That was when Draginol spoke.

“Kona, my lord, I beg of you, do not end her life. Free her. You can have all of Arnor but not this one life.”

Kona quickly returned to his memory of Draginol’s sense of fear of this coming moment. Draginol had served Kona faithfully for a time so long that the stars themselves had changed over the duration. But Kona was the master and no servant may question his will.

In Draginol he saw something that he could not believe or understand. Draginol loved this fledgling, this Morningstar of the Arnor.

Kona said with contempt to Draginol, “You serve me. You have no life outside of me. Your feelings for this fledgling are of no consequence. “

Draginol did not move or speak. Yet, something changed in that very moment. Draginol’s visage changed to reveal a being of regality and might.

Kona was astonished and instantly recognized what he saw.

“You are a Mithrilar! All this time you have stood by my side as my servant and you were a Mithrilar? To what end? You will answer me here for no being, Mithrilar or no, can resist me in my place of power.”

Draginol looked upon Kona and Kona felt fear. Draginol’s eyes flickered with a potency that threatened to bring Kona to his knees. Kona commanded all his forces to turn on Draginol in that instant.

Every battle mage and every Dread Lords converged on Draginol in that instant. Mascrinthus, the Mithrilar, looked on in stunned silence. The surviving Arnor and himself had been given a stay by the dark Mithrilar.

The energy that rained onto Draginol could not be described. So much raw power had never been concentrated onto a single point since the beginning of time itself and yet Draginol seemed undaunted.

Calax rushed at Draginol only to be brushed aside and fell from the balcony. The torrents of energy came to an end as the battle mages and Dread Lords fell in exhaustion.

Amanda the Morningstar looked on Draginol not with fear but with love and hope. The energies that rolled off Draginol created a glow about him that brought a glimpse of the being Draginol might have once been, a being with a desire for justice and righteousness.

Moments later, the storm of energy about Draginol faded leaving Draginol and Kona facing one another. It was only then that Draginol finally spoke again.

“You fool. Do you really think that the orb was created for you? Do you really think that this is your place of power? Behind your every decision and behind your every thought I lurked. Here it is I that stands supreme, not you. I would have given you all but the murder of this girl I would not permit. There are events yet to unfold that require her and you. I will banish you to a place far beyond Arnor. Do not think it a mercy as we shall meet again and when that time comes you will know that your end has come.”

And with a gesture Draginol sent Kona away, never to be seen on Arnor again.

Draginol helped Amanda to her feet and in Draginol’s eyes one could see a warmness and love that was matched by her.

“You must return to your people. We shall meet again in time though I will not know it is for a second time.”

Amanda returned to her people and never forgot the love in Draginol’s eyes or the nobleness that had not been entirely extinguished from Draginol’s soul. They would not meet again for a long while.

I recently got an HD video camera. I’ve been very happy with it other than getting video off of it. It records to an SD card which is great. But it records as a AVCHD thing which requires extra steps to use it. 

Like in the days when I had video cameras that used tape, I have quickly rediscovered how annoying it is to mess with video. It seems like no matter how powerful the computer is, the software is still just crap – at least on the PC. 

Why aren’t these programs multithreaded for instance? They seem to be written to be as unresponsive and inefficient as possible.

Then there’s the whole AVCHD thing which seems incredibly unnecessary. Couldn’t they have done it as some MPEG4 type thing where it’s a single file?

My other digital video camera records to a mini DVD and I have to say, that is the best way to go. You end up with a DVD you can pop into a DVD player or easily turn into a DVD image if you want to store it on the computer. The only problem was that it’s not HD.

You can see part 1 here.

This journal entry outlines how the user manual is being created. Ever saw a manual you thought was weak or lame? Now is your chance to provide your own feedback on a manual before it goes out to the printer.

Getting Started

You have been chosen to compete in the Arenas of Rokkur in a contest against your rivals to ascend from the mortal places into the Pantheon of the Gods. You shall battle alone as well as be on teams of convenience with and against your fellow Demigods. These Demigods have come from different realms, different worlds and different planes of existence to win the favor of the Gods and ascend to Godhood.

Each victory in an arena provides you with favor points that you can use to move closer to ascension, drive an opponent further from ascension, or acquire special items to aid you in future battles.

Installation & Updating

Installation requires approximately 3 gigabytes of disk space on your hard disk drive. After running the game for the first time, press the “Update” button from the main menu to make sure you have the latest version of the game.

The update button will open Impulse which will require you to create an Impulse account if you don’t already have one. This account will be used if you play the game on-line. Impulse will allow you to update to the latest version as well as re-download the entire game should you lose the DVD in the future. You will need your game’s DVD key to register the game to your Impulse account.

The Arena

The Arenas of Rokkur do not exist in the mortal realm. They are a manifestation of the ancients with the sole purpose of helping prove which Demigod is the worthy to ascend. This means that while Demigods can die in Rokkur, it is not permanent so long as they die in the arena. Similarly, the items, weapons, armor and other tangible constructs only exist within the Arena in spiritual form. Thus, Demigods who recognize this can stack different types of items together that could not be in the mortal world (the only hint the Gods provide is that the items, when equipped, cannot be visually seen by observers or other Demigods).

Anatomy of an Arena

Each Arena is made up of several key elements:

1. The Great Citadel. This is the base of your side’s power. If it is destroyed, your side loses. You can use money to upgrade the Citadel.

2. The Item Shop. Weapons, armor, potions and other items are purchased at the item shop.

3. The flags. Scattered across the arena are several different kinds of flags. Controlling flags is absolutely crucial to victory. Control of flags earns your team war points which provide access to better types of reinforcements, upgrades and more. The types of flags are:

a. Flag of Experience. Controlling this flag will result in your team gaining experience at a substantially greater rate.

b. Flag of Celerity. Controlling this flag will result in spells having much shorter cool-down times for your team.

c. Flag of Brilliance. Controlling this flag greatly increases the mana pool for everyone on your team.

d. Flag of Fortitude. Controlling this flag greatly increases the hit points for all Demigods on your team.

e. Flag of Valor. Controlling this flag greatly increases the strength of your reinforcements (hit points, attack, defense, etc.).

4. Special Structures. There are several special structures available in the arenas. When captured, they can provide more reinforcements, more gold, access to artifacts and more.

The Types of Contests

The Gods have arranged a number of different types of contests to take place in the arena. In all cases, destroying the opponent’s Citadel will win the game. The types of contests are:

· Conquest. Destroy the enemy’s Citadel to win.

· Dominate. Control the flags for a certain amount of time for victory.

· Slaughter. Attain victory by killing a set number of enemy Demigods.

· Fortress. Destroy your opponent’s fortresses to attain victory.

· Protect. Keep your opponents from taking and escaping with your War Idol back to their Citadel.

..

What other elements of the arena would you like to see discussed? What questions would you like to see answered still?

This year's CES is going to be incredibly exciting.  Windows 7 is on the way, some awesome new hardware is about to be released, and lots of cool electronic gadgets are making their debut this year.

Stay tuned to the CES 2009 category for our live blogging from the show. It'll be like you're there!

Excerpt from "Guardians of the Telenanth"

Appendix D: The Tragedy of Draginol & The Arnor

Draginol the Mithrilar was not wholly ruined in the beginning. Unlike the other 4 Mithrilar, Draginol was not created in the beginning. He was once mortal and like all mortal men, he sensed the passage of time which, ultimately, would be his undoing.

Where Draginol came from and who he was is covered elsewhere. What is relevant is that for a long while, he found himself alone. The other Mithrilar had no concept or understanding of a physical form. They existed as spirits and did not view time and space in the same way a mortal man would.

In time, Draginol came to understand the Telenanth. This immense crystaline object was the source of all energy in the universe. As the tool of creation, it was the ultimate source of power and Draginol came to yearn for the ability to control that power such that he could order things as he saw fit.

With the Telenanth, Draginol created the Arnor. As powerful as the Telenanth and Draginol were, however, creating a form of life was beyond Draginol’s capability, even with the Telenanth. The Arnor were and still are, merely mechanism that are aspects of Draginol himself.

During the creation of the Arnor, Draginol strove to make them truly alive. It was only after nearly a hundred had been made that he came to understand that he could not truly create lives but merely mechanism that were reflections of himself. As a result, Draginol changed his objective from creating life for the sake of life to creating tools that would do his bidding in help order the universe to his liking. To that end, Draginol created a legion of other Arnor without putting in the time and effort he had put in to the first 5 score of them.

This distinction in how the Arnor were made led to a rift between the two groups. The first group, like Draginol, sensed the passage of time and were filled with a need to right the wrongs of the universe. The second group, unlike Draginol, did not sense the passage of time and were far more passive and malleable to strong leaders.

However, there were a few Arnor that existed in the transition between the two groups. Like the first, they were filled with a need to right the wrongs of the universe. But, like the second, they did not sense a passage of time. Of this transitionary group the best known is Tandis the Arnor.

For a time, it was good. The mightiest of the Arnor, the first group, led the second group to building a great civilization. As with Draginol, however, time was their enemy. The passage of time on a mortal consciousness is a great destroyer.

Eventually, the need to do right led to the need to control. They knew that other life would be appearing in the universe relatively soon but had no way to leave their world. Because they were immortal in body but mortal in mind, they lacked the capability of growing in mind indefinitely. They reached a peak of understanding and could never grow beyond that. As a result, the Arnor were slow to develop technology, to leave their world.

But these Arnor did understand the power of energy very well. The dark energy (what some might call “magic”) that resided in themselves they harnessed extremely well. With enough of it, they could build a device that would let them travel anywhere.

With the only source of this energy being the Arnor themselves, the mightiest of the Arnor began to subjugate their weaker brethren. This caused the irrevocable split between the two groups of Arnor with the former becoming the Dread Lords and their minions, the Dread Knights.

In time, the Dread Lords had nearly wiped out all of the other Arnor in an effort to take their life force and place it into an orb-like object that would contain enough power to let the Dread Lords do virtually anything they wanted.

But the Dread Lords were ultimately defeated. Tandis the Arnor led the other Arnor in a last-ditch defense of their people but the ultimate downfall of the Dread Lords came from Draginol himself in the ultimate act of betrayal.

Draginol had used the Dread Lords to create the orb so that he could take possession of it when the time was right. His path of ruination had begun before the Dread Lords had been created and thus had fallen far further than the Dread Lords had in their rationalization of using other sentient beings for their own ends.

The Dread Lords would bide their time and rise again once sentient beings began to take shape and would scatter across the universe. That tale, however, is told elsewhere.

Demigod is designed to be a game that is very easy to learn but has a great deal of strategic depth.  This journal entry begins a series of entries that will outline what is in the user manual (and by the end of it, give away the features that so far have been kept hush hush).

Regarding “The Events”

Near the end of the 87^th migration, when the minions of Hel-Gorgath were in rebellion and the balance between light and dark was under threat, the Ancients convened a Gathering. The Gathering found that one of their own, the so-called God of the Progenitor, had intervened by sharing Names and WAys with his underlings and allies on the other side of the Veil.

In punishment, the Ancients cast down The Progenitor from the Deep Places and all of his beings in his ken were laid low and destroyed utterly.

The Ancients, known as Gods to mortals, therefore sought a successor. It was known that the Progenitor that some of his many offspring, begat by mortal consorts, retained sufficient divinity to stand for Induction. But not all agreed for some were offended by the obscene co-mingling of Essences and crude flesh and the rank perversity of The Progenitor’s dalliances. For this reason, a game was proposed for the offspring to prove themselves worthy.

So it was made to be that messengers were sent to the Dark and Light Places to summon the pretenders to Rokkur. There, they would throw down their brothers and sisters in the arenas to win the favor of the Ancients and ascend to their ranks.

The introduction is kept short and is designed to give players a brief insight to the world that exists behind Demigod.  Feel free to comment, suggest and critique and we will look at what is commented on and see how we can incorporate that into the manual.