Thursday, July 27, 2006

MW:1 BETA closed for now and upcoming plans...

Hi guys, you've probably noticed we're not making any new updates for the BETA. We're going into intensive development to wrap up MW1 and the new additions to the game look great.

I'm not going to make an official announcement about the release date for MW:1 (which should have a proper Episode name by then) just yet but it should be ready about mid-September with ALOT of testing done.

We might have to do some public testing first because there are some yet untraced bugs such as the "multiple hits crashing bug". SicShot has added alot more hits to the weapons but without tracing the bug (which would hang the game when you use a multi-hit weapon) I can't allow the new version to be released.

TY's also been working on converting our Aerial Siege game into a mini-game for MW.

I'm going to be starting work on MW: Tactics Command this weekend after I'm done filing the corporate tax for TYLER.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

TYLER scores 2nd runner up in LKY Global competition

After 3 days of sleeping at 5am+, and months of prior preparations, TYLER snagged the 3rd place at the Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition organised by SMU. A big thank you to all our MW gamers and readers for the support on our forum and blog.

We'll post some photos we took during the 3 days. Things were really moving very fast towards the end of the 2nd day so we may not really have gotten very many pictures.

Today, we also played our first game of DOTA in 3 months!!! That was fun!

We'd like to thank Professors Desai from SMU BIG, and Professor Jeff Chi from Vickers Financial for their guidance. Su Ping from Walden VC International for giving us advice on our presentation. Grace and Adeline for organising and facilitating the event.

Well the competition maybe over but the war has yet to be won. As I told Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan when we met him at the Blue Sky evening: "We're not going to let anyone down and we're going to continue working hard."

*UPDATE 28/07: You can watch the Channel News Asia TV coverage of the even through streaming video by clicking here. I'd like to thank Mai Yun from CNA for doing a very nice job creating the programme.

IMPT! Mobile Weapon Server Migration

Hi Guys, we've moved the game file to a server in the US and restarted the MW.net server. Seems like everyone's a little happier now that the forums and website seem to be back to normal.

For you guys playing the BETA:
PLEASE READ THIS IMPORTANT NOTICE!
Because we moved the game file to a different server, you may not be able to load your save game that is saved in a shared object on your local hard drive. If you cannot load your game you will need to follow these steps:

1) Click the link we provided below to return to the version on the Singapore server.
2) Login to your user account and save your game to the server vault.
3) Go back to (now) default version on the US server and load your game from the server vault.

The instructions are also show on the game page. If you encounter any problems post them here.

Monday, July 17, 2006

Mobile Weapon Developer Diary #33: Server Problems

Our server has crashed at least 3 times since we started our public BETA of MW:1. And the time between outages has been getting longer and longer. >_<"

We're really sorry for the inconvenience caused. It just goes to show what I've been saying all along about the game server needing to be seperate from the website server (so the website, forum stay up so we can inform users of server outages).

One additional lesson we've learnt: for versions of the game that we upload to external websites like Newgrounds; we must ensure they have ZERO dependancy on our own TYLER servers. TY has made a completely standalone version of MW:1 Limited BETA and submitted it to NG. Hopefully they'll upload it ASAP before more people start to complain.

We're dedicated to keeping MW free. But if anyone would be so kind as to make some donations we could get a dedicated server to prevent further outages.

Saturday, July 15, 2006

MW: Episode 1 "Limited" version released!

Hi everyone,

Thanks for support and game testing you guys have done for us so far, we really appreciate it.

Anyways, I think we now have to put MW:1 into more extensive BETA testing so we're going to launch a limited testing edition on Newgrounds and other Flash game websites. The full (and final) version will have more areas and one more town.

Do support us by viewing our game on Newgrounds (http://newgrounds.com/portal/view/324963) or wherever you first heard about MobileWeapon and try out the game there!

I created this wallpaper which will also be the start screen for MW:1 Limited Ed.! Click the image to download the wallpaper. I'll do a higher-res and more cleaned up version for when we launch the full version of MW:1.

MW: Episode 1 Wallpaper now for download!

This coming week is our LKY competition finals week! We'll be on TV and staying at the Swissotel: Singapore. It's gonna be like some reality show and we'll post pictures and updates for you guys to have a peak at how we're doing.

Wish us luck!

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Mobile Weapon Developer Diary #32: Patch List for MW:1 for 11 & 12 July 2006

Here are the changes and fixes made as of today:

- Augmentation added (Go to Ron's garage, pay some credits and a gear to increase HP permanently. The cost is based on your MAW's max HP.)
- New Area added > Plasma Mine (only the mine entrance is shown for now. You can only enter later.)
- new inn keeper portrait
- new patron portrait
- improved male char portrait
- added Newgrounds logo
- added credits section
- added hotkeys to combat
- XP gained and current XP now shown in winning screen

Monday, July 10, 2006

Happy Birthday, TY!

Today is TY's birthday. He's been working really hard patching bugs and adding more monsters and areas. And he's even working today on the game though it's his Birthday!

Give him some encouragement will yaz!

Mobile Weapon Developer Diary #31: Patch List for MW:1 for 10 July 2006

Here are the changes and fixes made as of today:

- Ron's parts collection quest is now completable! (Unfortunately there's no reward for now but there will be soon)
- New Area added > Azure Cove
- More areas within Great Tiki Jungle
- New higher level enemy > Jungle Spiders!
- New higher level enemy > Hermit Sharks
- Fixed bug with P.launcher hanging the game by removing dual shot effect

Sunday, July 09, 2006

Mobile Weapon Developer Diary #30: Patch List for MW:1 for 09 July 2006

Here are the changes and fixes made as of today:

- 2 Starting Weapons are automatically equipped at the start
- XP and credits are automatically show after win without needing to click
- You can now sell items dropped by Monsters (e.g. gears, polyboards, etc)
- Added more icons for the items (like repair kits, gears and polyboards)
- XP is no longer set to zero when you level up. XP accumulates
- Bug with more powerful weapons crashing the game has been fixed
- Inventory Items now stack
- MAW and character icons are highlighted at the menu when selected

Saturday, July 08, 2006

Mobile Weapon: Ep1 BETA F.A.Q.

Here's a temporary FAQ for problems you might encounter playing the BETA:

Q0) Where can I play the game?
A: You can play the BETA version at http://www.mobileweapon.net/files/mw1/

Q1) Help! I can't even attack!
A: You have to open your inventory and equip the basic weapons that uncle Ron gave you before you can attack. - Fixed.

Q2) How come my screen freezes when I've defeated the enemy?
A: You have to click before you get your XP and items from a successful battle. We're going to make it automatic like other games. - Fixed.

Q3) How come I can't save my game?
A: You can only save in safe areas (like town) or in boss areas. We'll have to add an alert box to tell players about this otherwise it's not very obvious.

Q4) All my savegames except "new" were deleted!!
A: Clicking quickstart will delete your savegames if you have any. Register and save on the server to prevent this from happening. We're putting in a warning message to ensure your saves don't get overidden like this.

Q5) How do I even save on the server?!
A: Click the blue button to transfer your save to the server. We'll make clearer instructions for this delicate proceedure soon.

Q6) Uhh...I got to the scrapyard. That's all?
A: We've got 4-6 more areas that aren't in yet. It's in the pipeline. We'll be adding one new area on 12th July.

Q7) I can't find the parts that Ron asked me to find!
A: 2 of the 3 parts weren't added in until later. The quest may still be incomplete. Stand by we'll have it fixed tomorrow. - Fixed.

Q8) The Sniper rifle doesn't work!
A: Yeah, it's bugged and it will overwrite some of your other weapons. Don't buy it for now. - Fixed.

Q9) My HP isn't increasing with level!
A: Ok. Remember how your MAW HP used to go up alot in MW:0? Yeah that was our alternative to a levelling system. Now you've got both a pilot and a MAW. Makes more sense for the pilot to gain more XP.

But we've clearly got to do something about the MAW cos the HP is really pathetic if it doesn't increase. We're going to do something like have Ron charge you some gold and a spare part (gear, board, etc) to increase your MAW's HP. Will post an update once we've made the change.

Q10) What are Reflex, Accuracy and Technique for?
A: Reflex affects your evasion rate and is needed for more powerful melee weapons.
Accuracy affects your hit rate and is needed for more powerful light ranged weapons.
Technique adds a small bit of damage to all your attacks and is needed for more powerful heavy / special weapons.
The stat requirements should be implemented by Monday 10th. You'll need to pump the appropriate stats before you can use more powerful weapons.

Q11) STUFF DISAPPEARED from my inventory!!?
A: There's a cap of 40 items for the inventory. So if you filled your inventory stuff might get overwritten. We're addding in a warning to tell you when your inventory is full and allow for simple items like repair kits and gears to stack so no matter how many you have it only takes up one slot.

In the case of Uncle Ron's list disappearing. It's because the quest isn't complete. So he removes the list but doesn't give you a reward. We'll fix that soon.
- Fixed.

Q12) The grass is blocking me.
A: Press spacebar to cut the grass. You might find some treasure hidden in the grass.

Q13) How do I get other team/party members?
A: We'll add the first recruitable team member on 12th July 2006.

MW Counter!







Wonder how many people are playing MW:1 with you? Check it out here!

* This counter is no longer accurate! The figure is much lower than it should be because of the server crashes.

Friday, July 07, 2006

Mobile Weapon: Episode 1 BETA is Launched! Yeah!

Click here for the full sized 800x600 wallpaper!

Hi Everyone, I really should let you guys know that we have planned for quite more weapons, areas, party members, etc in MW:1. Mobile Weapon: Episode 1 is officially in Beta for now. We'll try to fix the bugs and get all the content in in the next 3 days.

Tikila Village, your cute and cosy beach resort hometown!

We'll be working non-stop over the weekend to release patches and updates with the new quests, areas and weapons. Don't fret because there'll be plenty of baddies for you guys to hunt to level-up while waiting.

Countdown to MOBILE WEAPON: EPISODE 1

Hello dearest friends and fans!

Mobile Weapon will be launched promptly at 12 midnight GMT+08:00. So keep a close close look out for it.

Do not forget to register at the first available second if you want to be sure of securing the username of your dreams! Don't forget to spread the love and tell your friends about it. There's nothing better than comparing notes and challenging your friends while playing Mobile Weapon: Episode 1.

*wink*

Trust me on that.

We are counting down to the official launch on our very own Mobile Weapon forum at www.mobileweapon.net

So what are you waiting for? Join us at the countdown!

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Team TYLER

You can trust team TYLER to come up with the funkiest picture to be sent to a journalist covering our progress in the LKY finals.

*laughs*

Ronnie gives all of us a hard time by behaving all very "ninja" while taking the picture. He won't count to three. When asked to count to three, he just went " THREE!" and snapped the shot. Grrr..... I won't even show you guys the unflattering shots he took of me growling at him. Grrr....

So we are stuck here on a Sunday night working hard for the official launch of Mobile Weapon One on the coming friday (7th of July). WATCH OUT FOR THE GAME!!! It's going to be a blast!

You ready for it?