TYLER Projects | the blog

TYLER Blog has moved!

2008-10-29T15:23:00.002+08:00

We have moved to http://www.tylerprojects.com/blog/ Please update your bookmarks :)

Battle Stations now on Friendster

2008-10-04T14:43:00.003+08:00

Battle Stations is now available on Friendster as well!

:)

http://widgets.friendster.com/battlestations?src=add&instance_id=1

New Hangar/Ship Interface

2008-08-21T12:00:00.003+08:00

More aesthetically pleasing interface for managing your equipment.

Also allows saving "builds" for easy swapping of entire equipment sets.

:)

Ocho Cash Shop

2008-07-25T14:49:00.006+08:00

Our Ocho cash shop is now available for Battle Stations players in Facebook.

Check out the items on sale:

Demon Battleship

Outfits

Hats

More here: LINK

I got banned from Facebook....

2008-06-27T23:41:00.002+08:00

This morning I got an email from Facebook:

"You made one or more wall posts that violated our Terms of Use. Among other things, posts that are hateful, threatening, or obscene are not allowed. We also take down posts that attack an individual or group, or advertise a product or service. Continued misuse of Facebook's features could result in your account being disabled."

What the *bleep*?! The only wall posts I made within the last month were:
- review of the movie “Wanted” which I posted on the wall of the Singapore group and mySingapore app
- a message on the Battle Stations wall asking players not to post their problems there because we don’t check the wall regularly

Possibly I was removed for “advertising a product” so better not post movie reviews.

I have NEVER made an obscene, profane, hateful, attacks an individual or group wall post (forum posts during the Chaos days yes, but wall posts never).

There wasn’t any warning or a pink box of death or anything. I just got removed.

I'm not going to create a new account because I don't believe in creating multiple fake accounts (not to mention all the photos and apps that I’ve added, I don’t want to have to start again from scratch).

I've sent an email to disabled@facebook.com and started working on a Facebook clone which I’ll call “Freedombook".

BS new title screen

2008-05-08T22:52:00.003+08:00

Made a new title screen for the about page in Facebook since we've already swapped to the new character graphics for the live servers.

Also made this new screen for the character creation showing all the base classes. Hope that'll entice new players to endure the not-so-friendly interface long enough to learn the game.

New York, New York

2008-04-10T21:10:00.005+08:00

I was away from BS most of last week trying to clear work before by my trip. After almost 24 hours in the air and transit (managed to practice some 日本語 on the flight since I flew ANA), I'm in NY. I'm stay just a few blocks away from the bull. Would be really convenient to get posted here considering you can stay a block away from the financial district.

I had a discussion with friend who is a marketing consultant (the kind offers practical advice doesn't just spew crap about 4Ps). She commented that it's rather impractical to allocate resources to provide the close communication with the players as our user base grows (much less hire a communications director for 4000 USD /month to do PR for a free game). I'm also behind on my studies for my exam in June so I going to be on the BS forums a lot less often.

Someone will probably say I used the earlier paragraph just as an excuse. I just want to piss him off by doing that which he hates so much.

Eating like this everyday could quickly turn into a health hazzard but I thought I should indulge just a bit before I go to Europe. Damn record high Euro.

Red Dragon!

2008-03-26T16:24:00.003+08:00

Actually the new NPC is called the Crimson Drake but it'll give you an idea of the new NPCs you're likely to encounter in the new version.

Watch the replay here!

Countdown to the Full Version

2008-03-10T04:19:00.003+08:00

TY's uploaded the demo replay that uses the new battle system and interface. The demo of the combat system isn't yet fully optimized so it might take a while to load.

Watch it here, now!

Here's screen shots, basically the same thing you'll see in the demo:

I'll put Reuben's combat music in as soon as we're done with optimizing and fixing up the rest of the skills.

New character selection screen (still needs some work):

I estimate we're about 3 weeks from the full version. Would have been earlier but some of us have to go for reservist.

PvE for BS + why we trashed the ship system

2008-02-25T18:59:00.005+08:00

So there I was playing Tabula Rasa defending the the Arieki Landing Zone control point and thinking: "You need a bunch of tier 3 players to defend this place properly it keeps getting overrun and I can't do my quests properly if it keeps getting taken over."

I also thought: "Hey we should have something like this in Battle Stations where players can defend and assault a control point. It's like the clan wars but it's PvE and you can do it frequently instead of waiting for the clan fort to rez."

So basically we can set up control points between certain ports. The Imperial City is at war with Al Amraan so it's not unexpected that there'll be a blockade of sorts. If you travel between these cities while the blockade is up you'll encounter NPCs which will attack you. If you survive you can still get past the blockade.

There'll be a fixed number of NPC ships in the blockade (maybe a mobile fortress as well) and if players manage to sink all the NPCs the blockade will be removed (for a while) and players can travel between the cities freely once again.

Why we trashed the old ship system

There are gameplay reasons (trying to remove the huge power difference at level multiples of 5 and 10). Another reason we got rid of the old ship system because this is how we want to render our ships from now on:

... and we can't make 50+ of these ship designs which is why we have the new ship system to make all ships last longer. I've yet to assign this design to a particular ship (yes this what it'll look like in the game).

Battle Stations full version MEGA update

2008-01-31T23:48:00.000+08:00

Here's a super progress update on our work for the full version. I've been holding back for a few weeks but I think since we're quite close to launching this it's about time for an update. Below are some of the screen mock-ups for our full version due out in a few weeks:

These are work-in-progress screen mock ups so we'll be replacing the icons with our own and making a few more changes before the final version goes live. We hope the new interface will make navigating the game easier for players as well as streamline our database calls.

We're still committed to our mission of making Battle Stations the best MMOG app on Facebook and we'll be really rushing things along in the next few weeks to get all of this live ASAP.

New system updates
Some other changes in the full version besides aesthetics:

- New calculations for craft, gunnery, navigation bonuses
- New ship system (completely new, simpler than the one in the trial server)
- New combat system with skills
- New Tavern system where you can buy food and drinks <- used to power skills
- Class skills (Grappling hook, gold cannon, etc)
- Weapons rebalanced and with added effects (slowdown %, flaming, etc)

Not all the new character outfits and background images will be ready by the time we launch so we'll add those in progressively.

New ad network - ValueClick!
You might also have noticed the new banner ads displayed at the top of each page. I'm please to announce that Battle Stations is the first Facebook app in the WORLD to be added to the ValueClick, Inc. network (NASDAQ: VCLK), which is one of the world's largest integrated online marketing companies.

We'll need a few days to filter out the campaigns we want. I assure you that even though we need ads to support our continued development of Battle Stations and other games, we will try our best to ensure a enjoyable gaming experience. I'll be getting rid of the smiley and glittery ads.

For an added bonus here's the Aeros background. The city isn't colored yet so it's just a line art overlay for now.

Chill Pill

2008-01-29T01:49:00.000+08:00

Got this from the S.S.U. group page a long time ago. You guys need to chill because
a) it's a game
b) we're fixing it

New melee weapon - Chainsaw Blade

2008-01-19T23:45:00.000+08:00

Here's a preview shot of the new "unique" melee weapon. It's a "unique" weapon which means it's even rarer than the regular rare weapons. The ship mounted chainsaw blade was inspired by one of the ship designs from the Last Exile.

Thanks to Adrian for helping out with the demo.

We'll need to make some updates to the combat client to not display the drill image when attacking and allow the melee weapon to be shown on the outside all the time.

Battle Stations Tavern

2008-01-14T19:49:00.000+08:00

The label on the bottle is available to advertisers who want to advertise in our taverns. :-P

New Interface Design, Corxas Port Screen

2008-01-07T01:40:00.001+08:00

Here's a sample of the new interface designs that'll be in the full version. Just to show we're working on it. :-P

Textured Avenger MKII draft

2008-01-03T00:11:00.000+08:00

The red bits are definitely too intense so I'll probably want to get those recolored.

Corxas

2007-12-17T23:15:00.000+08:00

Battle Stations Preview: New Ship designs

2007-12-14T00:34:00.000+08:00

A Wooden ship!

A Metal ship!

I also have some bad news. I doubt we'll be able to roll out the full version before Christmas. I'll see if we can at least get a testing version with the new interface in by then.

A taste of things to come...

2007-12-05T03:14:00.000+08:00

We'll be using a lot more 3D effects for the "full" version.

Here's an example of one of the different environments that will be available in the December release. Shown here is the Maelstorm (yes, it's actually animated) environment which can actually be invoked by the player in the form of a rare level 80 skill. The ship's booster flare is also a 3D particle effect.

I should probably state that there's no way we can complete everything we listed for the full version by December.

We're going to release a ton of new stuff for the "full" version before Christmas but it's still not going to be 100% completed.

Good night, sweet prince

2007-11-27T00:04:00.000+08:00

Some of you might have already heard that TYLER's young and talented music composer, Reuben, has passed away after a tragic dragon boat race mishap.

The first time I met Reuben at our old office I remember thinking to myself: "Damn, this guy is a composer?! He should be a model or professional athlete". Guess what? He was all of the above.

Talented music composer, Mr. World Singapore 2007, member of the national dragon boat team, 3D artist, works with disabled kids, excellent DOTA player and all round a really nice guy. Honestly, he's achieved more in his 23 years than most of us will ever in a lifetime and doesn't brag about any of it.

Reuben scored and performed music for Mobile Weapon 1, MW:TC, Ramen Ramen! and Battle Stations. He volunteered to create music for Battle Stations even though we didn't commission any. He was very passionate about the game just as he was passionate about every other part of his life. I was also going to get him to kick start the audio section of our new MW portal.

He didn't get to see his work for Battle Stations put into the final product (that's due out in late December before Christmas) but we'll still release the full version with his work because it's what he wanted. I remember he kept bugging me on msn to find a feasible solution to incorporate the music into the Facebook game.

IMO the music he made for Battle Stations was his best work yet so I'm going to go the extra mile to make sure Battle Stations becomes my best work too so it'll do justice to his great music.

We'll dedicate the full version of the game to him and donate some royalties to the Reuben Kee memorial fund for under privileged kids.

For those of you who haven't heard his good stuff you can check out his website www.reubenkee.com which we'll help to keep live, hopefully forever.

Reuben! we were supposed to have a mega-DOTA session after my exams this week! We shall play DOTA again someday!

"Now cracks a noble heart. Good night, sweet prince,
And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!"

Class Progression in Battle Stations

2007-11-20T00:14:00.000+08:00

Here's a quick preview of some stuff that's going to be in the completed version of Battle Stations:

Class Progression:
Players will be able to advance to better job classes from the basic 5 jobs. For example: players on the commander track will start as the Soldier; advance to Officer; then to Commander.

Advanced classes get more stat points and special abilities they can use in combat. Here's the artwork for the female soldier and officer.

Class abilities:
There will be different abilities for different classes. Here are some examples (no prizes for guessing which are the respective classes they belong to):

Preemptive Strike – you fire first during defense
Black Barrage – all weapons fire for 1 more round
Augment – repair in combat + boost to SPD, HP, ATK
Gold Cannon – deal damage proportional to your gold
Maneuver – adjust speed to stay at maximum range

The special abilities cannot be used every battle because they will require strategy points (SP) to activate. More details after my exams end...

Better? Yeah right.

2007-11-10T01:59:00.000+08:00

Today, our Battle Stations forum got spammed by a player of some web game. Their game has more than 1 million registered players (launched Dec 2006), ours has 24,000 players (launched Oct 2007).

Let's compare traffic numbers:

We have lower traffic but it's almost on par. And we have 41.6 times less players. At our current rate of growth, guess where we'll be given the same amount of time?

This is the same web game that's been responsible for spamming a lot of other Facebook games like Warbook and Pirates.

MW.net's Alexa ranking breaks through the 10,000 level

2007-11-06T03:26:00.000+08:00

Like the title says. I was pretty excited when I saw it: 8,150! I hope we can raise our traffic to make 4-digit ranking for the 3 month average and shoot for 3-digit ranking!

Changeable character outfits for Battle Stations

2007-11-01T12:58:00.000+08:00

Very soon (when we're out of BETA), you'll be able to buy different outfits from a new clothing shop for your character. Check out this new pirate outfit!

All classes will be able to equip the new outfits, so even an engineer can wear the new pirate costume if they want. The hats are also now separate as well so you can mix and match hats with different outfits.

A big thank you to our contributing artist, Jonathan, for designing the new outfit as well as helping to make the changing system possible by breaking down the avatars into parts.

Most successful weekend event ever!

2007-10-31T00:29:00.000+08:00

Last week, we had what was probably the most exciting event ever held in Battle Stations yet. A giant ancient flying fortress appeared over the dunes of Al Amraan and airship captains from all over flew in to meet the challenge: To try to sink the fortress and get one of the 3 rare weapons given as a reward for sinking the legendary fortress.

8.5 million HP spread over 3 instances was not insurmountable as thousands of players participated in the weekend event, sinking the fortress 3 times!

Here's the traffic statistics for the weekend event:
Saturday > 12K unique users
Sunday > 15K unique users

Wow. That goes a long way to helping us hit our target of 50,000 UU per month!

Embed Battlestations... just like Youtube!

2007-10-23T20:24:00.000+08:00

Now you can embed fight replays in your blog/website/wherever just like a Youtube video! The code to embed the fight replay will appear just below the replay URL in the replay window.

Mobileweapon.net's Alexa site rank improves 2,273%

2007-10-18T14:33:00.000+08:00

About 2 months ago, I announced we'd be taking some measures to improve our site traffic and Alexa ranking. At the time of that post (21 Aug) mobileweapon.net's Alexa site rank was 381,945 and we had never gone lower than 244K.

Last week our ranking was still about 298K and we hadn't yet implemented our SEO initiatives yet. Then yesterday, our site ranking went up to.... 16,807! with a 1 week average of 21,323! That's a 2272.54% improvement over 381,945.

Not surprisingly, 78% of the increased traffic came from Battle Stations! (our facebook game). But what is surprising is the effect that the increased traffic had on our Alexa ranking.

We'll be expecting to see further improvements in our site ranking and increased traffic as we roll out more facebook applications and when our new mobileweapon online portal is ready end of the year.

MW: Battle Stations! - traders ready!

2007-10-02T00:41:00.000+08:00

At long last, the traders are ready and we now have the full set of characters for MW:Battle Stations!

Next on the to-do-list; More special avatar outfits to customize your character as well as graphics for all the ports, port buildings, sailing options, etc. Battle Stations! isn't only going to be the best game on Facebook in terms of gameplay, but the Facebook game with the best graphics as well!

Stay tuned for more updates!

Too late to get on the Facebook Bandwagon?

2007-09-30T18:44:00.000+08:00

Things got interesting earlier this week when it was reported that Microsoft was considering a stake in a 5% stake in Facebook for between $300 million to $500 million. Following the news, Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) shares rose to from below $29 to almost $30 mid-week before closing the week at $29.46 representing a gain of about 2.3%. More importantly, it got people really aware of the Facebook "phenomenon".

I was listening to the 93.8 live DJs discussing Facebook on air and I thought: Wow! Now EVERYONE (even those who aren't part of the usual social network demographic) is talking about Facebook!

Since we officially launched Singapore's first Facebook MMOG (Massive Multiplayer Online Game), MW:BattleStations! about 3 weeks ago, we've been contracted by 2 other companies to create Facebook apps for them. We actually had to turn down 2 more requests because our order book was already full.

While we were working on BattleStations!, I was tracking the user growth of Warbook (another Facebook MMO) when it still had no more than 1200 users. The day after I joined, it grew by 1500+ users; 2000+ the day after that and 2500+ the day after. Beyond that, I didn't bother counting and spent more time working on our own app. With those kinds of growth figures, it's no surprise that developers are churning out hundreds of new applications everyday hoping to enjoy the same success.

However, economic theory dictates that something this good can't last forever and there are signs that it might already be too late to reap the same exponential growth that the first movers did.

Take our app for example:

MW: BattleStations! is growing at the rate of about 300~400 installs per day (~4000 in total). Active user growth is about 100~150 a day (active users = ~50% of total installs). The growth is certainly accelerating, but it's not exponential. The inertia is definitely noticeable and a sign of increasing saturation in the Facebook app space.

I can think of 2 reasons for this:

1) If you think about it, there's a limited amount of real estate on a user's profile that they are willing to use for apps. The apps that manage to get onto users' profiles earlier tend to stay there. Facebook users have also started to get sick of the torrent of invites they get all the time and now tend to ignore new invites.

2) Facebook has been trying to prevent "spam" marketing by apps and they've changed a few things as a result:
- Apps are now rated according to the % of active users they have instead of just installs (total users with the app).
- FB API has changed to prevent apps from spamming users with invites. Earlier apps could allow users to send invites to all their friends and even reward users just for sending out invites. Not anymore, the new system restricts you to 15 invites and the developers don't have anyway to track the invites and new users.

Newer apps are going find it very hard to get any traction even if they are better than existing apps. The way I see it, if you want to launch an app now you have to either:

a) make an app that's very viral and is really going to make users want to add it to their profile
b) you spend alot of money either buying ad banner space from Facebook or advertising on apps with a larger user base.

I think the Facebook Platform still has some ways to go before it hits a mature stage of development. While most of the early apps were created by individuals, I expect to see more companies with bigger budgets really going all out to push higher quality apps which will mean better quality and variety for Facebook users.

For the application owners who are already on Facebook and have managed to secure a stable user base; that user base will become more valuable as time goes by and the barriers to entry start propping up...

...which is why we'll launching 2 more apps very, very soon.

Pocket Cafe Developer Diary #5

2007-09-30T00:26:00.000+08:00

I finally managed to find the time to review the screen renders for Pocket Cafe after my mid-term exam today. Pocket Cafe looks awesome! The sprites are an awesome interpretation of Lilian's anime character drawings.

I was just thinking to myself, hey, we should make Pocket Cafe into an MMO just like Mobile Weapon: Battle Stations! If we do that, Pocket Cafe will become the world's first restaurant MMOG!

MW: Battle Stations! - new character images!

2007-09-21T03:17:00.000+08:00

Here are the new character avatar images for the engineers, male explorer and female pirate. Kudos to our artist, Shaoyang, rushing them out so quickly! We're one step closer to make Battle Stations the best MMOG on Facebook!

We'll have these characters (as well as the 2 commanders) added into the game this weekend so you'll get to see the correct characters for your display avatar. Traders will have to wait a while longer but don't worry about it, we'll get them done ASAP!

"Man your BattleStations!" - a Facebook MMO from TYLER

2007-09-03T01:39:00.000+08:00

We haven't released any games for quite a while. That's because we were secretly working on this: Mobile Weapon: BattleStations! You can play the game now! just follow this link http://apps.facebook.com/battlestations/

It's our first MMO and we're pretty excited about it because we'll be launching it first inside Facebook and then later on mobileweapon.net. We've just finished an overtime, over the weekend session to get the game finished so we can launch it this week!

We've been doing ALPHA testing since 2 weeks ago and I must say that the game is really fun even though it's now just into BETA. Here are some screen shots of the game:

Explore the world!
We've made sure there's plenty to do in MW:BS. If fighting all the time isn't your kind of thing, you can go exploring or trading to make some gold and maybe find rare items. We've added more than 50+ ships, weapons and upgrades. There are plenty of secret items to be found as well.

Ship to Ship Combat!
Remember the characters in MW1 boarded and airship and flew to the Imperial City? In MW:BS you are the captain of your own airship. Airships are a big part of Sios and we decided it be fun if you get to fly your own and try to become the most powerful battleship in Sios!

It's not MAWs but finally MW players will be able to engage in PvP combat!

Make sure you add the game to your Facebook account ASAP!

If you love MW ...you love Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann!

2007-08-28T15:22:00.000+08:00

We don't normally do Anime reviews on this website but I've been watching this one recently and I think Mobile Weapon fans are really going to like this one.

The Japanese title roughly translates into "Break through the Heavens, Gurren Lagann!". It's not your run of the mill mecha Anime and the show is a great mix of comedy and over the top action. Definitely one of the best series I have seen so far this year.

I strongly recommend checking this one out. You guys may also want to check out the Wikipedia entry for more details!

TYLER aims to boost traffic to 80 million hits per month

2007-08-23T13:50:00.001+08:00

To achieve our financial target for Q1 2008, TYLER will aim to increase its traffic (and consequently ad revenue) to 80 million hits on any combination of our key website assets. Higher volumes of traffic concentrated on one site will allow us to get higher advertising premiums.

We'll be focusing most of the efforts on mobileweapon.net as well as our new release title "BattleStations!"

We'll be doing 4 initiatives to boost traffic to the desired level:

1) New Multi-player Content
2) Social Networking
3) Alexa
4) SEO

1) New Multi-player Content
We'll have a few new releases by end of year. MW: Battle Stations! will be released early September. While the beta version of MW: Online will be release end of the year.

Long over due is an advertising programme with ad rate card for advertisers to come direct to us if they want to advertise with us.

2) Social Networking
Su Yuen will be helping us get publicity through social media because she's more familiar with the blogging community and web widgets like twitter which I really can't keep track of.

We'll also be redesign Mobileweapon.net to have community features and allow for user submitted content. Mobileweapon.net will also have updated news from the TYLER blog by having an rss feed to show the news (instead of just the headlines as it shows now).

We'll also create a webmasters section for fan site kits and link banners to our game sites.

All of our new multiplayer games will also have widgets for blogs and social networks: Facebook, Myspace, Bebo, Hi5, tagged, Friendster

3) Alexa
I'll be working on the Alexa initiatives:
- Installing Alexa tool bars in all TYLER computers and setting Mobileweapon.net as the homepage.
- Write articles for authority sites such as Digg, Wikipedia, etc
- Add Mobileweapon.net link to my forum signatures and also blog about web marketing and how we're working to increase site traffic (like that I'm doing now).

4) SEO
Joel will be handling the SEO initiatives:
- Get listed in Yahoo Directory, Google directory, etc
- Perform keyword identification and keyword density measures to ensure that search referrals are maximized
- Write articles for authority sites

TYLER's SEO, Alexa initiatives

2007-08-21T19:37:00.000+08:00

A friend of mine, Joel, will be working with me to perform SEO (Search Engine Optimization) on all key TYLER websites i.e. mobileweapon.net, chocopets.com. We know the new MMO and portal projects we're working on will help to bring in a lot of traffic. But if there's anything more we can do to help people to find our sites and get more traffic, we're definitely going to try it out.

For the record, the Alexa ranking for mobileweapon.net was at 381,945 when I first started composing this post. The past record high was about 244K and it's been dropping ever since.

Will TYLER be able to bust into the 4 or 5 figure range by December? We shall see...

MW: Battle Online!

2007-08-04T00:15:00.000+08:00

Hi Guys, here's an update for MW:Online.

We'll be changing the name to MW:Battle Online! to show the new emphasis on the combat system (we had a big headache trying to make the exploration system so we'll add that only later). We've got a new combat system specially for our online multiplayer version that is unlike any of the other casual MMOs out there (or any other MMO for that matter).

The 2 promotional images you see here feature the remodeled Avenger MK2 with a completely new MAW. These are in game graphics! Well, the blur effects might be slightly different depending on how we want to optimize them for the engine.

We may introduce texturing later on but for now we'll be be using the same system as MW1 which let you guys customize the colors on your own MAW.

New MAWs for MW Online

2007-07-29T17:46:00.001+08:00

Those of you who have been following my tread on the forum will know we've decide to focus our efforts on developing MW Online.

One of the key factors in making a good online game is variety and you guys said we need more MAWs. To make sure we really have alot of new MAWs and enemies, we'll be adding MAWs from MWTC:mobile, MWA2(currently on hold), and some unrelased MAWs from MW1.

Here's a preview of MAWs taken from MWTC:mobile:

Mobile Adaptive Weapons (MAWs)

"Strider" - Assault / Anti-personnel Type
A fast, agile MAW equipped with dual gattling cannons for quick hit and run attacks.

"Rhino" - Defender Type
The Rhino embodies the typical defender type MAW; heavy frontal armor and armed with a heavy cannon loaded with armor piercing rounds which would punch right through lightly armored MAWs. The Rhino also has a MAW hammer to deal with melee attackers.

"Longbow" - Artillery Type
In large battles, mobile artillery like the Longbow are of great strategic value. The entire MAW is designed so it can brace from the recoil of firing its "firestorm" main gun. However this means that the Longbow is completely open to melee attacks with no means to retailate.

Conventional Weapon Platforms

"Goliath" Medium Tank
The backbone of the Imperial army. While not as manuverable as MAWs or as versatile in terms of armament, their main cannon packs a powerful punch.

"Impaler" Missle Tank
Often seen backing up the frontline tanks, "Impalers" provide range support fire.

We'll also be adding a few new MAWs specially for MW Online, so there'll be plenty of different MAWs for you to choose from when MW Online goes live in December!

We make some nice mobile games with Scrawl Studios

2007-07-24T18:32:00.000+08:00

TYLER Projects teamed up with Scrawl Studios to produce a few mobile games based on their Nanoboy TV series. The games look very nice, they have good artists. Their art + our programming = good games.

I will now entertain your rants on why are we working on things like this instead of Mobile Weapon. :-P

Mobile Weapon 1st Anniversary

2007-07-08T03:12:00.000+08:00

Mobile Weapon was launched on 7th of July 2006.

One year later, what better way to commemorate the first anniversary of Mobile Weapon than with our user counter going over 3 Meeeliiooonn.... exactly 365 days after the game was first launched (it was still less than 3mil on 6 July). Dat's right, more than 3,000,000 people (or unique computers) now know that Mobile Weapon is more than just a term for the ordinary tanks in Gundam.

To celebrate MW's birthday, here are some updates:

a) MW2 Progress - It's NOT 50% done. It's not 10% done. It's still in the ??? phase because it's going to take a long time to do it. I promised 3 times the length of the first game + console (PS2) game quality so it will take some time (meaning a LONG time).

I will say this though the graphics are SOooo much better than MW1 that it will blow your mind when you see them (I showed my fren Desmond and it blew his mind). You'll look at the "beyond god-like" 3D graphics and say: "Yes, this truely deserves to be on a console, I will pay for the full version of this game." Hehe.

Bad news is: I'm not going to show you guys anything because we still have to work out the details with our animation company. The good news is: you may be able to get a glimpse of some those gorgeous graphics in...

b) Mobile Weapon Assault 2 - We're making a commercial title out of the side-scrolling MW game. MWA2 will feature new characters, a seperate storyline, different areas, a much improved game system and of course, improved 3D MAWs.
Update 29/7 - This project has been put on hold

c) Mobile Weapon: Online - Honestly I wasn't expecting us to do this till next year but we will likely be getting some funding to do this pretty soon. We'll be using a simple turn based strategy system for MW:Online.

You guys will finally be able to beat each other up in MAWs instead of having flame wars in the forum!

Stay tuned for more MW updates!

TYLER Financial Performance

2007-07-04T16:30:00.000+08:00

Let me try my hand at spining financial figures so they look better than they really are.

TYLER's revenue for the first and second quarter of 2007 stands at $68.4K almost double the 2006 revenue for the full year ($38.3K). This is represents a 361.38% increase in revenue over the same period last year.

TYLER's CFO, Leonard had this to say about the company's improved financial performance. "We have exceeded our growth target for the year (because we didn't have one at all). I'll have officially graduated by the 2nd half of the year so I'm optimistic that we will do even better."

TYLER plans to release 2 game titles by the end of 2007 as well as a online multi-player game service.

"I haven't stated any profit figures but I would like to ensure all our shareholders that I personally ensure that our directors' salaries rises in line with our profits to ensure that we do not have to pay too much corporate tax." -quipped Leonard

Pocket Cafe Developer Diary #4

2007-06-27T09:48:00.000+08:00

Since you guys have been so enthusiastic about Pocket Cafe, here are 2 screenshots of our work in progress (a mish-mash of sketches, 3D, completed artwork and code):
- Above we have the serving counter screen where you have to serve the right deserts to match the customer's order.
- Below is the "recipe invention" screen where you can experiment to come up with new cakes and pastries for your cafe.

Don't worry, there won't be any vegetables or raw chicken as ingredients for the cakes when the game is complete). The ingredient sprites aren't ready yet so I just took the sprites from Ramen Ramen to use temporarily.

The character sprite is supposed to be a waitress in the game, not a chef but the chef isn't ready yet so I just used it as a substitute. The characters are done by our new artist, Lee Lian. You can visit her website at lian.exorsus.net

While we're at it, here's another one of her sketches for you to gush over that will eventually be colored and in the game.

Mobile Weapon 2: Developer Diary #6

2007-06-16T14:42:00.000+08:00

Comparing performance of Flash AS3 and AS2

Sometime ago we were all set to programme the MW2 systems in Actionscript 2.0 since it would be a real hassle to have to get adjusted to a new syntax of Actionscript 3 (and the new quirks that might come with it like this example).

Then I decided I should at least try to find out if there was a significant performance improvement if we switched from AS2 to AS3. I think the chart below speaks for itself:

I found the comparision chart here. You can check it out for more performance comparisons.

It seems that most of the improvements impact calculations and loops rather than the graphics rendering. This will make an important consideration for us since MW2 will be more intensive on the graphics so we might want to just ignore the preformance boost in favor of being able to code faster in a familiar language.

However, better math caculations means we can do more path finding, generate larger maps, have more moving NPCs on screen. Which means that the MW2 world would be alot more vibrant. Of course, it also means we need to buy a copy of Flash 9 (a.k.a. Flash CS3 Professional), US$699! which will probably cost more in Singapore.

A document from Adobe on the tuning that has been done for AS3 can be found here. A review by CNET on Flash 9, here.

Another consideration will be if our wrapper, Mdm Zinc, will have a patch to make it copatible with Flash Player 9. A possible alternative would be Apollo. I'm guessing since it's from Adobe it would certainly be compatible with Flash 9. Here's the video primer for those who haven't seen what Apollo is all about below:

Pocket Cafe Developer Diary #3

2007-06-15T05:21:00.000+08:00

Revamping the TYLER blog

2007-06-09T14:47:00.000+08:00

We've been using the same blog template for close to 2 years now, so I've decided the give the blog a new look.

The new blogger layout system drove me crazy at first (I still think it was easier to edit when everything was just one big chunk of HTML), but I think I've gotten then hang of things and this blog should be fully functional by tomorrow.

Perviously I avoided using Flash for any part of the blog because of I'd have to host the Flash files on tylerproject.com and that can get quit unstable sometimes. Addtionally I don't think there's any way to fix the IE "Activate Flash control" problem if you embed a Flash file on blogger.

Do let me know if the Flash header and other images don't load properly very frequently and I'll transfer them to one of our more reliable servers.

Ramen Ramen Preview

2007-05-23T17:06:00.000+08:00

6th of July, our deadline for the 2 mobile titles we're working on: MWTC and Ramen Ramen, is approaching.

I just finished my summer term today and worked with Malc on Ramen Ramen to try and get it up to speed. I'm quite pleased with the improvements. It looks alot more "vibrant" after enchancement.

"before enhancement"

"after enhancement"

Looks like it'll be all out MW2 development after this. Yeah!

Mobile Weapon 2: Developer Diary #5

2007-05-16T23:22:00.000+08:00

Proposed new MW2 combat system

There are 3 different rows which characters and enemies can be placed. The player party must have 1 character per row. A maximum of 3 enemies can be placed per row (maximum of 9 enemies versus only 5 for MW1).

Different rows have the following effects:

Front Row:
+10% damage taken, +10% melee damage, +5% melee accuracy
Middle Row:
Normal damage taken, Normal attack damage
Back Row:
-25% damage taken, No melee attacks against or from the back row

Mobile Weapon 2: Developer Diary #4

2007-05-08T00:31:00.000+08:00

New designs for MAWs

The model of the MW1 stinger shown is the original design. We changed the legs to wheels shortly after because as you might be able to tell the joint structure of the legs doesn't facilitate easy animation (actually it's pretty hard to picture it walking).

MW2 MAWs will have a more "agile" yet bulky, "built" look. It sounds like a paradox but the sketch sort of explains this. This style facilitates more interesting combat animations which you will see in the new combat engine.

You might have also have noticed the signature style of the armor shielding covering the knees and thighs is the same as that of the Luna MAW. I hope we can develop a style for MW MAWs that will be instantly distiguishable from other robot or mech series.

Your MAWs won't inexplicably change form overnight in MW2, I'll write the explaination into the story. Do expect the appearance of your MAW to change when one major upgrade is made in each episode. :-P

I realise we didn't have much info on the MAW statistics and armament in MW1. I promise I'll fix that in MW2.

Example of MAW Statistics:

Height: 4m and above in height. MAWs are slightly larger than powered armor but definitely much smaller than "mecha".

Weight: average 20 tons. Avenger and stinger are in the average weight class.

Armor: MAWs come with base armor plating but are usually outfitted with additional armor platting to protect the more delicate frame.

Power Source: you guessed it... plasma rock reactors. Additional power can supplemented from a generator.

Mobile Weapon 2: Developer Diary #3

2007-04-27T16:23:00.001+08:00

Here's the new concept sketch for your main character in MW. Well actually it's not that new since it's the concept sketch DZ did for MW:Multiplayer even before MW1. I just modified it a little to get a different style.

Please click on the image to see a larger version. Comments?

Oh yeah, "*pinkymermaid" has started working with Malc and I on Pocket Cafe. So expect to see a number of blog posts on development updates this new game series from TYLER.

Pocket Cafe Developer Diary #1

2007-04-25T14:44:00.000+08:00

Currently we are working on Pocket Cafe for my FYP and designing some characters for the game. So far, the characters have taken on a more anime look. We have just come up with 5 new characters sketches:

- a tomboyish looking female waitress on rollerblades,
- a farrah fawcett looking waitressing with a cute apron and frilly outfit,
- a female chef with chun-li hairstyle,
- a superhunky male chef,
- and a female manager.

We'll be outsourcing the artwork to an artist whose artwork designs we saw in indigo magazine(june issue).

Watched the first 2 seasons of Dave chapelle's show. damn that dude is funny! i especially loved the i'm rick james episode and the one on how prince whooped their asses playing basketball.

3 years back, i watched dave chapelle on def jam comedy hosted by martin lawrence and i didnt find him funny at all. in fact, i thought he sucked. but he's improved dramatically. killing me softly was hilarious!

i think he should go back and do season 3. too bad he quit all of a sudden.

Exams are over! + MWTC:mobile preview

2007-04-16T12:43:00.000+08:00

Screenshots!

MAW and animated enemy sprites!

Mobile Weapon 2: Developer Diary #2

2007-04-07T19:07:00.000+08:00

Meaningful Leveling
I don't know how many of you guys have played MMORPGs where you have to kill 100s (and at later levels 1000s) of enemies just to gain a level where you get just ONE stat point to allocate. This is extrememly frustrating because I really don't have the time to "farm/grind" that much just for one measly stat point.

On the other end of the spectrum we have games like AD&D where you can see a significant performance increase with every level counts and each opens up a variety of new skills, spells, etc. The disadvantage of such a leveling system is the amount of work the game developer and designer needs to put in for the levelling system. You also can't have as many levels.

MW1 gave you 3 stat points per level, increased the damage of the supers moves and unlocked new super moves at certain levels (5 and 15) but I'm wondering if that was sufficiently rewarding for amount of grinding needed.

Since we're introducing new skills and changing the overdrive (super moves) system I think we can work out a more "meaningful" levelling system that will ensure you get alot of bang-for-your-buck for each level. We can also have more quest experience.

BTW we will try to release a beta trial for MW: Tactics Command for mobile phones somewhere next month. It's meant for phones but we'll try to put it in a package you can play on PC. I'll post some screenshots and artwork after my exams are over next Saturday.

Mobile Weapon for Windows Vista

2007-03-18T17:22:00.000+08:00

Our publishers now require us to make our games compatible with Vista so we bought 2 new workstations (with 20" widescreen monitors! Core 2 Duo Processors! Radeon X1300 XT Graphics Card!) operating Windows Vista.

I tried installing some of my games on one of our Vista PCs:
- The Sims 2: worked fine, looks great on widescreen too
- C&C3 demo: lagged like crazy. Only playable on the lowest settings after getting a driver update
- Starwars: Knights of the old Republic: couldn't even start
- Elderscrolls 4 Oblivion: lagged like crazy.

We've tried Mobile Weapon 1 on Vista and it seems to be working fine but there were some potential problems that TY discovered like not being able to find the location of save files (but they can still be loaded ingame). MW1 has rather low requirements and our PCs are quite powerful so it might actually be running inefficiently without us even knowing it.

I've created a forum topic here if you'd like to discuss the issue with us.

New MW1:Premium Wallpaper - by TY

2007-03-11T15:31:00.000+08:00

Mobile Weapon 2: Developer Diary #1

2007-02-28T19:30:00.000+08:00

Hi Guys,

It's March and time to start a new series of posts for the developer diary for the 2nd episode in the Mobile Weapon Series... Mobile Weapon 2!

Currently, we're working on a few things at the same time:
- Mobile Weapon 2 (aka. Main Quest)

2 mobile games (aka. side quests)
- Mobile Weapon: Tactics Command (MW:TC)
- Pocket Café.

Malc (who was our game tester now programmer) and Dz (our game artist for MW1) are now working with us full time so we can get more things done more quickly. We'll be buying some new workstations this weekend. We've also budgeted more $ for music and additional artwork this time round.

We've done a review of all the MW1 systems. We've been listening to your feedback! I have a tonne of improvements planned for ALL of MW2's game systems (combat, exploration, upgrading MAW, etc). I'll post a list of these improvements as soon as we're done coding them.

I'll be taking over the writing for the story for the MW series from episode 2 onwards so expect many more mysteries, revelations, characters' backgrounds and more infomation on what's really going on in the vast world of Sios! The landmass for MW2 is about 10-12 times that of Acero Isle (There'll be a new free roaming world map exploration system). MW1 was just setting of the stage!

As for all your inquiries about the release date for MW2. I can't confirm it. MW2's main quest will be 2-3 times longer than MW1's, have improved graphics, gameplay, etc, etc, etc... so yeah, it will take us quite sometime.

I released my estimate for the release date on our forum a few months back. I can discuss the date with you guys in the forum but we won't be making an official announcement here yet.

Mobile Weapon debuts as the top submission on Newgrounds!!!

2007-02-04T15:20:00.000+08:00

Mobile Weapon is back on Newgrounds once more and this time we've got Daily First Place! after 300+ views MW's score was a record breaking 4.37!!! (Of course the score has fallen since then, but still.....a record high!)

Check it out here!
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/362199

MW Episode 1 Premium now available!

2007-01-28T21:58:00.000+08:00

Check it out MW:Premium is now on sale! and we have a brand new look for the official Mobile Weapon website too!

Grab your copy today! >>

THE DOOR TO THE RUINS HAS OPENED!!!

2007-01-26T00:13:00.000+08:00

You won't know the full Mobile Weapon story till you've played
Mobile Weapon: Premium!

NEW STUFF >

Monsterous Machines of Mayhem!

Remarkable, Recondite Ruins!

Spectacularly Shocking Supers!

Improved Intuitive Interface!

Chatty Compelling Characters! (I ran out of ideas for good alliteration)

List of Features!!!

- Hunter's Guild Quests
- Ruins Quest
- New playable character
- Level 2 supers for all 3 main characters
- More Monsters
- More Weapons
- New Tilesets
- More NPCs
- Slot Machine minigame in every inn/bar
- More secret stuff
- A longer animated ending!

MW Ep1: Premium is ready.

2007-01-22T23:01:00.000+08:00

Mobile Weapon Episode 1: Premium is done. There no need for a release date. It's done, completed, and sitting in the hard-drive of TY's computer.

What are we waiting for? Well we're trying to get the answers to a few of your most burning questions:

1) Will I need to start from scratch if I upgrade to premium?
Ans: Not if we get the server-side save ready. We'll put it up ASAP, you guys will need to complete the game and then register to save on the server. We'll need to do testing so we're sure the thing won't crash when more than 10 people try to save at the same time.

2) How can I buy the Premium version and how much will it cost?
Ans: We're setting up a Paypal page where you can buy it and recieve a registration key and a download URL. You'll probably need a use a credit card to pay for that unless you got some money in Paypal through some other means.

Shortly after, the game will be available on other sites that our Publisher has deals with. If they have alternative payment methods for those of you without access to a credit card, I'll be sure to let you guys know. However if you buy through the publisher or other sites, we only get 30% of whatever you pay.

We're looking at pricing the game at US$15.95. We checked and most of the games at Yahoo games cost US$19.99 and the more popular titles cos more than 20 bucks.

3) SO WHEN WILL IT BE OUT!?
Ans: Sunday.

*Update 27/1
We'll enable online server save for the online version next week or later. So if you buy premium this Sunday you'll have to start from scratch.

Could this be what it looks like?

2007-01-12T00:29:00.000+08:00

Ans: This looks like a tradeable card game for Mobile Weapon but it's actually going to be the base game for the cell phone version called Mobile Weapon: Shuffle.

As some of you might know we're quite short on cash so we need to created the mobile version next to qualify for some grant money. I'll post the full instructional details on how to play Mobile Weapon: Shuffle soon.

We'd also appreciate it if you guys who can afford to buy MW1:Premium version, buy it when it comes out. I'll be posting screenshots of it soon and it boasts a whole host of improvements and extended gameplay.

Mobile Weapon: Shuffle will be playable on most Smartphone, Java enabled handsets with a color display. It's a 1-v-1 game and we'll consider making an online version.
This is NOT MW:Arena or MW:TC.

Back in Town (SG that is).

2007-01-05T11:05:00.000+08:00

Hi guys, I'm back in Singapore. Thanks for all the advise from on where to get DVDs and PSPs while I was in San Francisco. Great city, love the place, definitely will consider setting up a branch office there someday. :-P

Just an informal update on MW: Episode 1 (Premium Version); The hunter's guild and guild quests are done. TY has done up the level 2 supers for the 3 main character MAWs. The 4th character's MAW and dialogue have been done. The ruins have been designed. I'll work with TY on the 4th character's supers and touching up the 2nd level supers.

Happy New Year! 2007!

2007-01-01T16:06:00.000+08:00

Happy New Year (San Fran time), everyone!

TYLER Interrupted

2006-12-27T21:43:00.000+08:00

A belated Merry Chirstmas to everyone!

I'm in wine country, Napa Valley, now. I've been Internet deprived for a few days and I didn't have time to really come online on Christmas Day anyway. Ironically because I'm in the US now, I'm probably the only one in TYLER who can really access our servers here in the US.

That earthquake in Taiwan damaged the undersea cables providing the Internet connection to Singapore. Thank goodness our dear Empress Pumpkin left Taiwan (and she is now safe and sound back in Singapore) just a few days before the quake.

Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed your Christmas! Right now I need to figure out how to get a crate of wine shipped back to Singapore.

Greetings from Fog City

2006-12-23T15:49:00.000+08:00

Hi Guys,

Greeting from Fog City, San Francisco. I just touched down about 24 hours ago. Managed to hand over the 90% done intro screen with credits to TY before I left.

First meal here was a really BIG breakfast this morning at Sears fine food(not the department store) on Powell Street off Union Square. The hashbrown was 4 times bigger than the ones we get in Singapore. Breakfast was expensive but then again it's the really nice and nostalgic atmosphere of the place that you're paying for.

I skipped lunch walking about the Pier.

Dinner was at the very nice Fog City Diner. Pricy again but then again I always like to have a good steak for my first dinner in a US city, and it was good.
As for desert:
"It's called the 'Sky High' Lemon Meringue pie.
When you see it you'll know why."

There was a minor tremor just now. Other than that not much else to talk about until after I meet with the VC and the results of the Nokia web2mobile competition. Hope we get into the finals then I have an excuse to fly to LA end of January.

I don't suppose anyone reading this knows a good place where I can get some DVDs in this town?

Tis' The Season to be Jolly!!!

2006-12-08T15:12:00.000+08:00

It's that time of the year again! Yummy Kushinbo company lunch and gift exchange ceremony- Yippy!

The Guest List includes:
1. Leonard
2. TY
3. Ron
4. Derek
5. DZ
6. Malc
7. Carrie
8. Jocelyn
9. Laura
10. Jezreel
11. Vincent

Date: 15th of Dec (next Friday)
Time: 11.30am
Meeting Place: Suntec City Level 3- KUSHINBO!

*Please remember to draw lots for the gift exhange, the lottery box is in Tyler office.
** Please note that the cap for the gift is $15.
*** Please remember to bring your gift and yourself!

"Ladies and Gentlemen, our company has served its 1 millionth customer as of 2 Dec 2006"

2006-12-05T01:02:00.000+08:00

Yep. It's official. Thanks for all the support folks. More than a million MAW pilots have started the quest to save Sios since 07 July 2006.

You can check out the Mobile Weapon population counter here.

Anyway exams are over, holidays have started, my main character in FF12 is level 27 and it's time to get back to makin' games @ TYLER! Stay tuned for announcements in the next couple of days.

Mobile Weapon BETA v0.5+ FAQ

2006-11-14T10:25:00.000+08:00

Q1) How do I get into the ruins? It's still blocked even after I've been to all the other places.
Ruins is a premium only quest. You get another party member who has some special skills in the ruins quest.

Q2) The generators still don't work :( What's capacity for anyways?
Capacity is the maximum charge the generator can hold. Recharge rate (energy) is the amount added to the charge every cycle as the generator powers up. The percentage shown is precisely that, a percentage. So if you upgraded to the Steam Generator which gives +30 capacity you can use weapons which require up to 130 energy. Your EP bar will now charge by the your MAW's base energy +1.5 from the Steam Generator.

For example, the Avenger with no generator charges at 3% (3/100) per cycle. With the Steam Generator equipped the Avenger now charges at 3.5% (4.5/130) per cycle, hence you get your turn faster.

In general, upgrading your generator lets you use more powerful weapons and increases the rate at which your EP bar charges.

Q3) Defense position doesn't take less damage
Defending adds 35% to your defense. So it gets more useful when you have more defense. Useful fights against powerful bosses.

Q4) Is there any difference during the day and night?
You will encounter more enemies in outdoor areas like the jungle at night. Other that that the high/low tide cycle is affected by time. Rest 6 hours if the tide is high in the tidal caves and you should be able to cross.

Q5) What phone models will be supported for the phone version?
We're still doing testing and development for the phone version. We'll have a full list of supported models when mobile version is offically announced. Chances are if you're using a smartphone, you will be able to play the game.

Q6) How much will the premium version cost?
We'll have to work that out with the publisher. We'll announce the price and where to get it as soon as we can.

Mobile Weapon: Ep 1, BETA v0.5+ Released!

2006-11-11T12:36:00.000+08:00

Hi guys, sorry for the delay. Thanks for waiting. And here's what you've been waiting for: Mobile Weapon: Ep 1, BETA v0.5+. The game is now officially completable (though the December release will have a better ending and premium will have an alternative ending).

We put in a good 36 hour day to get here. Let us know if there are bugs. Enjoy.

BUG reports and fix updates 12/11:

BETA v0.52
- Better looping of title music
- Strange monster in Calisto's house fixed
- Multi-hit bug recurring with Lazlo mines boss, increased delay as a temporary fix until a more permant one can be done after Monday.
- Lazlo mines boss damage lowered

- Removed "rare item" drops for gearfly and brass clock monsters because it halved the probability of them dropping gear and gryobolts. The drop rates are now 60% for both. Hope this helps with your augmenting efforts.

- Generators have been BUFFED. This may make the game imbalanced but at least you'll be able to see if they are working or not. New stats for the generators are
Steam engine +30 capacity, +2 recharge
Dyanmo generator +100 capacity, +5 recharge
Induction engine +50 capacity, +10 recharge

- Removed "Not connected to server" message

Mobile Weapon Developer Diary #40

2006-11-03T00:51:00.000+08:00

Avenger Super #1: MEGA-STRIKE!

After working with TY for about 45 minutes we came up with this animation for the Avenger MAW's first super attack (charged to 125%) move:

Still need to add in the boosters special effect and code in the enemy sprite.

There's a frame before this where the MAW twists and braces before the punch, we spent quite a bit of time getting the animation to be as fluid and "realistic" as possible. There's also some shaking here to show the impact of the punch but can't show it through pictures.

Cheesy zoom-in effect!

And then the white light emanating from the fist engulfs the screen!

Trust me, it looks much better when you view it as an animation. So stay tuned for our November the 10th release*!

In other news, we may be featured in a documentary on "Gaming in Singapore" so that's some additional motivation for us to really make the final release in December top quality. The documentary should be shown in the Gameplay channel on the Voom HD network. Hope you guys have HD cable.

Finally, I'd like to welcome our new associate, Ben a.k.a. Djlarazza who'll be in charge of Sales for Europe. Benvenuti, dude!

*We'll be releasing as a BETA testing version again and making some gradual improvements like we did with the current BETA because Matrix is travelling and I've got many reports due this coming week and an exam too.

Mobile Weapon Developer Diary #39

2006-10-21T14:26:00.000+08:00

New Machine-Gun effect. Stay tuned for more new and improved game FX.

TYLER completes Sony "Vibrant Shots" campaign website

2006-10-20T16:53:00.000+08:00

If you live in Singapore, go to www.vibrantshots.com and post a photo. It just might win you a Sony T10 camera if it's "vibrant" enough.

Anyway this is probably the last major project we'll be doing this year. The rest of the time we're going to be working on MW all the way!

MW Wikipedia = Cool!

2006-10-11T12:59:00.000+08:00

Hi guys,

Just want to give a big thank you to Falcon84 who created a wikipedia entry on Mobile Weapon. Check out the forum thread here!

And of course, check out the wikipedia entry at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_weapon

Mobile Weapon Developer Diary #38

2006-10-04T11:41:00.000+08:00

The following aspects are still W.I.P. for MW Episode 1.

These are of high priority and need to be finished before intensive play-testing takes place:

1) Tutorial Mission at the start
- We're done with it.

2) Weapons vendor at Aceros Terminus
- Done

3) Boss in Lazlo Mines
- Done

4) One more additional MAW
- Definitely Done

5) Visual effects and graphics of Super Skills
- 1 per character for a total of 3
- We've finished one

These are to be done together with intensive play-testing:

1) In-game balancing
- Done, but we're still going over it again

2) Debugging
- Multi-hits bug resolved by removal of interval.
- This is constantly going on

3) Enhancing certain monsters

4) Creation of new weapons
- Done

These are of relatively high priority and can be done during any phase:

1) In-game sound effects
- Sicshot added Menu sound-FX
- All hero and enemy attack sounds also added

2) Fixing any bugs in the Save System

3) In-game music
- In the process

4) Ending screen and endgame credits

5) More weapon visual effects
- Done

6) Possibly a quest status/log screen
- Working on it now

These are of lower priority and can be done during any phase:

1) User interface for MAW painter
- Done

2) Area name displays
- Done

3) Level restriction warning
- Do we have a cap warning (if you play past level 20 the additional XP won't be carried over to Episode 2?) or just have exponential rise in XP requirement beyond recommended level? Both?

MW Ep1 (Full) Release UPdate

2006-09-20T00:30:00.000+08:00

Remember how we said something about the full version of the game being released in September? Yeah well, I remember that too. To be honest I don't think we can meet our own September deadline.

School's really heavy this semester for some inexplicable reason. There's always the routine contract work. And I'm just trying to do up as much SFX for the games and working with TY on the animations for the supers. I crash everynight at 2am and wake up stoned at 7 in the morning.

Anyway, I don't want to leave you guys in the dark so here's what TYLER's been up to for the past month...

Last week, TY and I did a conference call to Sydney to get our game published with Trymedia. They're going to let us use their SDK to package the premium version of the game.

We got our first big contract from Sony. Unfortunately it wasn't for making a game but a contest webportal rather. Who knows, it might eventually lead us to Sony Computer Entertainment Division.

I also met a guy from the Singapore Lucas Arts Studio last Friday. He agreeded to have a look at the Mobile Weapon BETA. I sure hope he doesn't judge the game by the BETA cos we've got lots more coming in the final version.

Speaking of which I promise I'll post the pictures of one of the supers as soon as we have one completed from start to finish. Just so you know why we're taking the time to do our best work on the full version before we release it.

* Update 22/9
I should be able to get some grant from MDA (Media Development Authority) for our game which should cut our costs in half, and speed up our development. Hopefully I can get that done after my mid-term exams next week and week after.

Realistically, I think end of October or early Novemeber will be the likely release date. I need to take a day to have re-evaluate our production timeline then I can announce the official date.

We don't want to release it too late either because we don't want you guys to miss being able to play it during the school breaks for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Let me just say there is NO WAY the game gets released any later than November.

Ron's Garage 3D Render wallpaper

2006-09-13T17:03:00.000+08:00

As requested, here is the 3D render of Ron's Garage. Now available for you as high quality jpeg wallpaper!

Mobile Weapon Developer Diary #37

2006-09-05T13:07:00.000+08:00

We're planning a revamp of the Mobile Weapon website and the new design should be launched together with the launch of the completed Mobile Weapon: Episode 1 game.

Here's a peek at the design already done up by Ron. It's actually been uploaded for quite some time now but I don't think anyone has really found it yet. Anyway this design is just for Episode 1 but the new revamped design will be for the main page of mobileweapon.net.

The new design will have:
- the progression of the story,
- the episodes accessible from a side menu
- the official map (labeled this time)
- the counter showing the number of M.A.W. pilots
- FAQ

Mobile Weapon Developer Diary #36

2006-08-29T15:29:00.000+08:00

This is one enemy MAW you dont want to fight. :p

More info soon.

Mobile Weapon BETA v0.46+ FAQ

2006-08-24T00:48:00.000+08:00

Hi Guys,

Looks like the old FAQ post has been shifted off the blog into achives; here's a new post for you guys to post your issues with the latest build of the game.

Here's the changelog so far (changes since v0.43):

1) Ron's Macrogen quest completed
2) Added new recruitable party member: Calisto
3) New areas: Iron jungle + Acero Terminus + Costa De Acero
4) Able to paint all party members' MAWs
5) New monsters (monster may be reallocated so we won't give details)
6) Added Malc's store to Azure Cove
7) Random townsfolk in Acero Terminus (see if you can spot some of our forum contributors there!)

System Requirements:
Windows 98SE, ME, 2000, XP, XP SP2
Pentium III 700MHz or faster processor
128 MB RAM
Hard drive space: 14 MB available disk space

Known Bugs:
- None

How many people are playing:

F.A.Q.:

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

Q1) How come I can't save my game?
A: You can only save in safe areas (like town) or in boss areas.

Q2) 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.

Q3) The grass is blocking me.
A: Press spacebar to cut the grass. You might find some treasure hidden in the grass.

Q4) Whenever I save a window pops up asking something about www.theagoraedge.com requesting permission to store information on my computer.
A: That's a browser/flash protection thing. www.theagoraedge.com is one of the official servers we are hosting our game on. If you don't allow storing, your local game will not be saved. Additionally, if you set the allowed size less than the recommended 1MB, your saves will be corrupted.

Q5) After I completed the Plasma rock quest and took the Macro-thingy ma--jig to Calisto... I returned to Uncle Ron and he asks, "Ready for that delivery job?" Then a window will appear at bottom of the screen as if a response will be given by the Main Character. However the conversation is ends without any type of Quest Update.
A: Sorry Guys, this isn't a bug. It's just where the BETA ends. On hind sight we should probably have put a notice but since the full version will be out soon we're not making changes to the BETA. The Full version should be released on 10th November 2006 while the "Augmented" version should be out on 15th December.

Please Come for My exhibition!

2006-08-23T00:46:00.000+08:00

Mobile Weapon Developer Diary #35

2006-08-01T22:38:00.000+08:00

Just finished a side project for Mobile Weapon.

Basically a side scroller action version of MW. :p

Play it now at > http://www.mobileweapon.net/files/mwa1/

Mobile Weapon Developer Diary #34: New Releases and Updates

2006-08-01T04:20:00.000+08:00

We've been getting alot of questions along the lines of: "When's the story going to continue?" and "When's the full game coming out?". I'm just going to share with you guys what our plans are for the next couple of months as well as what we're working on now.
Hopefully, that'll answer everyone's questions.

We're currently working on the full version of MW:1 and aiming for a late September release.

We owe Walden VC and Starhub technical demos so you guys can rest assured we'll definitely be releasing in September.

In Dev updates:
TY's done up a side scrolling shooter mini-game for MW:1; Derek's adding the "super"s to the combat; Ron's working on the SMU Tangram game which may be included as a puzzle mini-game used for unlocking the ruins. I'll leave that up to them to blog about those projects if they want to.

I haven't been active on the forums lately because I've got a ton of work to do. I'll post some screenshots for MW:TC (which you might have heard me mention in the forums) when I have some ready.

Cheers.

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

2006-07-27T09:16:00.000+08:00

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.

TYLER scores 2nd runner up in LKY Global competition

2006-07-22T18:50:00.000+08:00

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

2006-07-22T04:21:00.000+08:00

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.

Mobile Weapon Developer Diary #33: Server Problems

2006-07-17T13:04:00.000+08:00

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.

MW: Episode 1 "Limited" version released!

2006-07-15T00:47:00.000+08:00

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.

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!

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

2006-07-11T21:14:00.000+08:00

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

Happy Birthday, TY!

2006-07-10T13:50:00.000+08:00

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

2006-07-10T13:34:00.000+08:00

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

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

2006-07-09T15:43:00.000+08:00

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

Mobile Weapon: Ep1 BETA F.A.Q.

2006-07-08T01:07:00.000+08:00

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!

2006-07-08T00:52:00.000+08:00

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.

Mobile Weapon: Episode 1 BETA is Launched! Yeah!

2006-07-07T23:39:00.000+08:00

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.

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

2006-07-07T21:04:00.000+08:00

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!

Team TYLER

2006-07-02T19:41:00.000+08:00

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?

Team TYLER now in LKY Finals

2006-06-28T13:43:00.000+08:00

TYLER is in the final round for the Lee Kuan Yew Global Business Plan Competition....yay! Check out the other finalists here! TYLER gets the chance to win big prize $$$ for the company so we can continue to make great games and technology!

Now begins the arduous task of convincing people to go for the award dinner. Yes that's right folks, it's MORE difficult to convince people to attend a free 5-course dinner at the Swissotel than getting them to go grab a late night snack with you.

Anyway, wish us good luck for the finals!
*Plays Metal Gear Soild 2 main theme*

"WE MUST SUCCEED!"

Official Announcement! -> MW: Episode 1 is DELAYED!!!

2006-06-25T21:35:00.000+08:00

Ok guys, this is an official announcement:

MW: Episode 1 (which we had planned / and announced that we would to release on 1st of July 2006) will be released instead on the 7th of July 2006. Not simply because the date is nice (7/7) but also because it gives us a good work week to do testing and add in more quests /items to the game! :-P

Set your calendars for the 7th!

Mobile Weapon Developer Diary #29: Preparing for the big day

2006-06-20T21:55:00.000+08:00

Before we launch MW:1 in July there's a couple of things we need to get done:

1) Need to get link banners ready.
2) Prevent "leeching" of MW:1 from our server.
3) Ready emailer for SG universities.
4) Figure out how to submit the game to MSN and Yahoo.
5) ??? - pls add

Remember everyone. Our target for MW:1 is 1 MMMmmmeeeellion unique players in 1 week from the launch date! We need to get well prepared before we launch.

Agenda for meeting this Saturday (same time and place):

1) Preparations for launch
2) SGGA www.sgga.net - what to do there and when to act
3) Funding proposals - Creative Community Singapore & MDA -progress and updates
4) Plan and Proposal for SMU Tangram web game

MW:0 Wallpaper

2006-06-18T11:32:00.000+08:00

Here's a new wallpaper for MW:0 I created for use in our Creative Community Singapore funding proposal. Featuring, the Avenger balanced class MAW from MW:0 and our 3D psuedo mascot, Calisto!

Click the image and grab it for your desktop now!

Naming convention

2006-06-17T12:18:00.000+08:00

The 3 MaWs:
==========
1. Melee
2. Gunner
3. Female

Currency
Start town
Transport town
Default male hero name
Default female hero name

Where to publish?

2006-06-17T01:52:00.000+08:00

I was talking to a friend about Diner Dash. It's like the #1 game for casual gamers right now. And it's something any of us could program in a few days.

Are we not showing our game in the right places?

I think we need to find out how we can submit MW:1 to
MSN games,
Yahoo Games,
Shockwave,
Real Arcade,
AOL Games,
Free Downloads Center, etc.

Here are some publisher programmes we could check out too:
Oberon Media
Game Trust