Topics

61

Dwilight / Post Dwilight News Here for our Facebook Page

« on: October 06, 2012, 03:41:32 AM »

I'm not sure if people stray into the other forums so I'm posting in all the islands.

Please post interesting items (spice them up) to go onto the Battlemaster Facebook page.

Cheers,
Scott

62

Far East Island / Post FEI News Here for our Facebook Page

« on: October 06, 2012, 03:40:07 AM »

I'm not sure if people stray into the other forums so I'm posting in all the islands.

Please post interesting items (spice them up) to go onto the Battlemaster Facebook page.

Cheers,
Scott

63

Colonies / Post Colonies News Here for our Facebook Page

« on: October 06, 2012, 03:37:31 AM »

I'm not sure if people stray into the other forums so I'm posting in all the islands.

Please post interesting items (spice them up) to go onto the Battlemaster Facebook page.

Cheers,
Scott

64

Beluaterra / Post BT News Here for our Facebook Page

« on: October 06, 2012, 03:37:09 AM »

I'm not sure if people stray into the other forums so I'm posting in all the islands.

Please post interesting items (spice them up) to go onto the Battlemaster Facebook page.

Cheers,
Scott

65

Atamara / Post AT News Here for our Facebook Page

« on: October 06, 2012, 03:36:52 AM »

I'm not sure if people stray into the other forums so I'm posting in all the islands.

Please post interesting items (spice them up) to go onto the Battlemaster Facebook page.

Cheers,
Scott

66

East Island / Post EC News Here for our Facebook Page

« on: October 06, 2012, 03:36:36 AM »

I'm not sure if people stray into the other forums so I'm posting in all the islands.

Please post interesting items (spice them up) to go onto the Battlemaster Facebook page.

Cheers,
Scott

67

BM General Discussion / Feedback Requested: Welcome Email Contents

« on: October 05, 2012, 08:45:00 PM »

Greetings all,

When a new person signs up for the game they are sent an activation email.  I'd like feedback on how to improve it.  What should we add to it?  This first email helps set the atmosphere of game and is an opportunity to reduce the new player learning curve.

Currently it is:
===
Welcome to BattleMaster,

You have just signed up successfully to the BattleMaster online game.

In order to join the game, please click on or enter this URL into the
address bar of your browser:

http://battlemaster.org/activate.php?token=xxxxx

Your login details:

E-mail:        swholmes@gmail.com
Password:        xxxxx

In order to leave the game later on, log in as when playing, then
on the first page, look for the red "Delete Account" link in
the top-right area.

(If you did not sign up to any online game, then someone used your
e-mail address to sign up. He or she may also have made a typo. If
this worries you, contact tom@battlemaster.org)
===

Cheers,
Scott

68

BM General Discussion / October 2012 Roadmap: Battlemaster Facebook Page

« on: October 04, 2012, 08:16:00 PM »

Greetings all,

I was unsure if this should go here or in General Discussion so if a mod wants to move it go ahead.

One of my tasks for the October 2012 Roadmap is to use Facebook to help promote the visibility of Battlemaster.  I have extensive social media experience and Facebook is the best place to start.

The goal is to show that Battlemaster is truly an engaging game, and this is where I need assistance.  My goal is to post 1 or 2 updates to Facebook a week, but since I don't play on all islands, I need help getting content.  One big key here is that this must not require any developer time, which is why I'm doing it manually.

What should be posted:  Anything dramatic. This can be a battle, a character being killed, a new ruler, political relations changing, etc. 

If you see something like this in game, just come to this thread and post it.  If you can, spice it up a bit (feel free to RP if you want) and I'll simply copy and paste it over to Facebook.

I have categorized all my FB friends (I don't know most of them, I just made friends when trying out a few games, then discovered the FB games suck).  This way I can share Battlemaster posts to the people I know who are in to games and not annoy those that are not.

What are our expectations?  They are low, but social media is just a numbers game.  The more FB posts there are the more people will check out Battlemaster.  I will be happy if we can get 1 new player per week, and even happier if 1 a month stays.

I have invited all my FB game friends to like the BM page and I ask you to do the same.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/BattleMaster/105269019532689 There's a button on the right hand side of the page to do that.

If you have ideas on what to do with the FB page, I'm all for it.

Cheers,
Scott

69

Development / October 2012 Roadmap [Updated October 26]

« on: October 01, 2012, 07:51:24 PM »

Greetings all,

October is another busy month for the dev team!  Listed below are the items we plan to achieve in October 2012.

October 2012 Goals:

Siege Engines in Scout Reports
Automated Market Offers
New Message System
Facebook updates
Continued Doctrinifying the Guild scripts
Continued updating of the Admin backend
Continued Bug Fixes
Region Subtypes

As always, questions and comments are welcome.

Scott

edit: added Region Subtypes - we weren't sure if it should be included on the roadmap as it's a database entry but since phase 2 of it will be noticable I've added it.

70

Development / Battlemaster September 2012 Final Status Report

« on: September 28, 2012, 09:56:18 PM »

Greetings all,

The primary goal of September was an aggressive bug fixing campaign.  I have to commend the Development Team for not only meeting their goals, but for exceeding them.

As always, I invite all questions and comments.

September 2012 Roadmap: Final Status Report

Overall Status: GREEN (All tasks completed on or ahead of schedule)

The Goals Were:
- Fix 34 bugs
- Community Vote on New Features

Tasks Completed as Planned:
Fix 34 bugs (35 bugs were fixed!)
Community Vote on New Features

Tasks Not Completed as Planned:
None

Tasks Completed That Were Not Planned:
New Testing System
Start the Conversion of the Admin scripts
Re-activate the Testing community (Thank you guys!!)

Best regards,
Scott

71

Development / Battlemaster September 2012 Roadmap [Updated Sept 21]

« on: September 07, 2012, 06:41:09 PM »

Greetings Battlemaster Community,

Below you are going to see the "September 2012 Roadmap".  I'd like to explain what it is, and how it came to be.

About a month ago I posted a message asking if Battlemaster needed a QA Project Manager.  From there Tom and I started emailing back and forth so I could understand how the Battlemaster development team worked and to see if a fit was possible.  Tom, the development team, and I worked together to come up with a plan to stream line their process without compromising some very important values.  The entire Development Team are volunteers, so we needed a process that provides both flexibility and efficiency.

The first thing we did was get together to talk about what each person thought was important, specifically what development should happen, the priority of each item, and how long it would take.  This was the foundation for the September 2012 Roadmap you see below.  You will also see the progress we're making, and it will be updated weekly so you know what's going on.

If you have any questions about the September 2012 Roadmap, feel free to ask!

September Roadmap - Week 1 Update

September Roadmap Status - Green (All items are either on-time or ahead of schedule)

Our agreed upon goals:


Short Term Goals (1 month)

- Select 10 features for the community to vote on - Status: Complete
Notes:  The top 3 features voted were:

• Erecting Statues and Monuments
• Siege Engines in Scout Reports
• Automatic Market Offers

These items will be added to the October Roadmap

- Fix 34 bugs - Status:  Ahead of Schedule (12 out of 34 fixed.)

Bug burn down chart (Bugs remaining to fix to get to 34):



Long Term Goals (3 Months)
- New Message system
- Database Redesign


Again, feel free to ask question!

Best regards,
Scott

72

BM General Discussion / Natural disasters?

« on: August 06, 2012, 11:01:20 PM »

I searched before posting but didn't find anything.  Has there ever been any thought to adding natural disasters to the game?

Some of the greatest events in history have been caused by nature (Xerxes losing over 1 million men due to a storm destroying his ship on the eve of him attacking Greece, Pompeii, earthquakes, etc.)

Even a simple man made disaster (fire http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Fire_of_Rome) can have devastating affect on a city.

While these events should be extremely rare, it would reflect the real world a bit better.

Cheers,
Scott

73

BM General Discussion / Battlemaster Newspaper (Oracle?)

« on: August 06, 2012, 10:52:49 PM »

Greetings all,

About a month ago I started to do research on the past rulers of Eston and it turned out to be quite the struggle to find information.  Most of the newspapers are inactive and there's not really any repository of recorded history. (an Oracle?)

What I would love is to see an automated newsletter that listed, by continent, major battles, political changes (declarations of war, change of relation status) and government changes.  Battlemaster has a rich history but finding it can be hard.

If this exists anywhere please let me know.

Best regards,
Scott

74

Feature Requests / Chat with merchants should reveal surplus/deficit for directly connected regions

« on: August 06, 2012, 05:00:18 AM »

Title:  Chat with Merchants should reveal surplus/deficit for directly connected regions

Summary: When a trader chats with local merchants they are currently told about if a marketplace exists in
a directly connected region.  They should also be told about the daily surplus/deficit of that region

Details: In regards to the surplus/deficit of the directly connected region, you can use the traders skill to determine the accuracy of the information.  If they had a high skill you could see the existig total surplus or deficit of that region.

Benefits: It allows traders to establish talks with local Lords and to plan future trading missions.  This also enhances the Trader class as they employ local connections to increase their knowledge base.  As a trusted advisor, this information can be very valuable.

Possible Exploits: This is just information (which is power), the character has no ability to do anything with it except to report it.  In a time of war this would provide useful among allies, but may also provide a reason to distrust, or exposure.

75

Development / Do you need a QA Project Manager?

« on: August 05, 2012, 02:39:20 AM »

I've noticed (and Tom has mentioned) that there's been quite a few bugs lately.  I have 10 years experience in the software field writing requirements, performing quality assurance, creating regression tests from the requirements, and doing general project management for software development. (I am formally trained in PM for IT and will be writing my certification in a few weeks)

If this is a skill set you need, I am happy to volunteer my time, if this is a platform that would support such a role. (and by that I mean all changes go through the test server and are promoted to live once QA signs off, otherwise, forget it, it's just an exercise in frustration)

Cheers,
Scott