#itsperdix

Still cracking away on Victoria - the joys of queueing up HTML rendering events are the subjects of today’s video.

Oh, and btw, if any of you lot are illustrators - get in touch.  I’m gonna need some artists for this project.

In 2003 I was 13 years-old and leader of a local branch of the mafia.  On the side, I also maintained a small cavalry contingent for my liege - we started off small and insignificant but trained and later even overthrew our lord and started a kingdom of our own.  

I was a detective.  I was a knight.  I was a thief.

All without leaving the comfort of my browser.

I think it's safe to say that browser-based games were a staple of my childhood- not that I didn't play games that came on CD or that I didn't know how to torrent; it was just that it was so easy to share a link to the current game I was obsessing over, and then all my friends would be playing too; giving us something to talk about during our lunch-breaks.

I went back and played a few the other day and they really haven't changed all that much in the decade since I stopped playing them.  Why?  Was it because that this formula was the pinnacle of browser-based gaming?  Was it because this was the best that the browser could support?

Hell. No.

All grown up now - I'm a web developer, but my lust for gaming has not dissipated and now I'm working on a new browser-based game that will take full advantage of HTML5, CSS3, ES6, and all of the tasty features of the MEAN stack in a world of public APIs.  I'll be documenting its progress right here - plus putting some videos up on the ItsPerdix YouTube channel here if that's more your style.

But what is it?

This new game is an Empire-Management RPG set in the 1800s; you start the game as a nobody and, through making friends, allies, and followers, claim a part of the world for your own to look after and mould as you see fit.  Through HTML5 GeoLocation and the Google Maps API, you can claim the area around your current location (and all of the buildings and people in it) as part of your territory; if nobody contests you then it's all yours.

The Google Places API will calculate what buildings are in your territory - cafés, banks, shops etc - and what people occupy them based on their profession (ie. banker, security guard, cashier in a bank; chef, waiter, columnist in a restaurant), and add these to the territory.  Buildings will earn you money, and people can either be left to work, or to act as enforcers/soldiers in your new gang.

Why would you need soldiers?  Because you're not the only one playing.

Going to school and claiming the Science block?  Someone else who goes might want it too, and you're going to need to defend yourself.  Don't want to start a brawl in the streets?  Well, maybe you can make use of the not-so-trustworthy-looking characters you've recently gained and try a sneakier approach...

Want to train up some of your people?  Well, better log-in at the gym.   Want to give them an education?  They can be learning as you check-in at school. Want to pick up a pet for your avatar?  Head to a pet-store. Want to try and steal an ancient artefact?  Well, there's always that museum nearby...

What we're left with is a concoction of a game made up of influences from Swarm, Civilization, Europa Universalis, and Hearthstone.

Okay, so, here’s the reason behind my silence of late - I finally sunk my teeth into a project for reals, and it’s...well...it’s progressing quite nicely, thank you!  Here’s a quick introduction, but I’ve written out a series of more detailed posts, which I’ll queue up now and will submit periodically.

Hey peeps!

So, yesterday’s non-existent DD-MM-YYYY update finally showed up - sheesh, what a tardy prick, eh? 

Alrighty?

So, just to bring you tumblr folks up to speed, I've put together a schedule.  You can either 

1. Watch me talk about it here: Schedule

2. Take a peek on the blog here by hovering over the ‘today is...’ section. 3. Or take a peek at this wee picture I made up.  

HELLO.

ItsPerdix is what I'm calling the collection of games and social software to reduce worldsuck that I’ll be spending the foreseeable future making.  I've introduced three projects so far: Equilibrium, The Public Vote, and Lawmaker.  You can watch me introduce each of them in the videos below: Equilibrium

The Public Vote

Lawmaker

If these sound like neat ideas, then feel free to follow me on YouTube, and if they sound really neat, then drop me a quid or two on Patreon - I’ll be releasing everything that I make for free, so the only way I'm going to be able to keep this going is with your support!

Be good, be sound, be safe, everyone.

Hey peeps, and welcome to the first development update for Equilibrim!  For the majority of you that don’t follow me on YouTube, Equilbrium is a city-simulation game I’m making, in which you play as the hand-of-fate - trying to rescue its denizens through indirect means.

Basically, it’s the butterfly-effect in game form.  I talk about it in detail on my channel, so here’s a link to the introduction video.

So, today I livestreamed ~4hrs of development up on Twitch.  We’re going to be building this on Unity, so feel free to follow this blog for updates if you want to follow along.

Here’s how I got on :

Denizens navigate from point A to point B 

They walk faster on pavements

They stick to the pavements if it’s faster to do so

They avoid each other en route

If something unexpectedly blocks them en route then, as you can see, they are absolutely fucked:

This is where I’ve stopped for the day.  Until I can figure out how to get them to realise that this sodding great wall is in front of them, we’ve hit a roadblock (if you’ll excuse the pun).

If you have any idea why they’re doing this, then feel free to drop me a message here on tumblr, or be my saviour via email instead.

Until then, be good, be sound, be safe.