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It has taken around 18 months to level up so it should be a bit easier in the near future.

The 100,000 GS has been my target when i got my 360 late 2008 and i wanted to get it before the next Xbox came out.

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I thought it made for an interesting-ish story so I decided to write it all down and share. 

Phase 1 - Collect Underpants - The time before C117 Games

http://c117games.blogspot.com.au/2013/06/dear-diary-as-today-marks-momentous.html

Phase 2 - Getting a team together

http://c117games.blogspot.com.au/2013/06/phase-2-chickan-preperation-techniques.html

Phase 3 - Making and fixing mistakes

http://c117games.blogspot.com.au/2013/06/phase-3-defecit.html

So have a read and let me know what you think. It was originally meant to be the first of a series of developer diaries however I think I went a bit off track and it's more personal than I intended. 

However it's still meant to be a dev diary so future installments will have bits and pieces from all the guys, maybe some vids, maybe we'll make them only available to people who back us with our crowdfunding project. Who knows? Well... I do actually.

Anyway, I'd appreciate any feedback.

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NEW CHARACTERS: While the original WeaponLord only had room for seven characters, the team had plenty more ideas for other barbaric fighters. These included a spear-wielding orc, two gargoyles stacked on top of each other, and a demonic pit beast that would have been the tortured pet of Zarak. Having more dual-wielding characters was also something the developers wanted.

EXPANDED STORY: As outlined in this document, the canonical story would have Korr's long-lost brother, Kang (who was also Bane), returning to lead his brother's tribe after Korr is mortally wounded; Zarak's father, Raith, who is mentioned throughout the original game, would become a fully-fledged character; and Zorn would have also returned, however, as Goddard noted, "he would have been changed by his encounter with the possessed shield." The idea of WeaponLord 2 being able to read your save data from the original game and tailor the story based on how you played and which endings you received was also tossed around, though Goddard admits this would be a nightmare to program.

SMOOTH DIFFICULTY CURVE: This was a big issue for Winstead and Goddard. WeaponLord was a complex game, and the designers think its sequel could retain the first game's play style without being so impenetrable. As an example, they mentioned how, in Street Fighter IV, a new player could pick up the controller and start throwing fireballs and doing ultra combos without too much effort; they could feel badass right away. Then, when those new players saw combos using one-frame links and focus attack canceling, they were incentivised to improve their skills so they too could use those techniques. The original WeaponLord didn't have this; if you weren't already proficient at the game you got destroyed.

2D VERSUS 3D: The debate between making WeaponLord 2 a 2D or 3D fighting game is still up in the air. Should it be a fully 3D fighting game, like SoulCalibur, or a game with 3D character models fighting in a 2D arena, like Street Fighter IV? That decision hasn't been made, yet. In either case, Goddard is confident he could use 3D characters and still retain the same soul of the original game--while also adding in a ton more animations.

So, why hasn't WeaponLord 2 (or WeaponLord HD) happened yet? There are lots of reasons: time, money, and the fact that Namco--publisher of the original WeaponLord--still holds the rights to the WeaponLord IP. Goddard and Winstead considered trying to buy the rights from Namco after launching their joint-venture Crunch Time Games. However, when Crunch Time's first game, Shred Nebula, didn't take the world by storm, the idea of buying back WeaponLord was put on the sidelines.

A crowd-funding campaign was also considered, but ultimately deemed unfeasible as well. As Goddard explained, "In early Spring of 2012, [Winstead] and I were considering a Kickstarter to build a 3D WeaponLord that would have featured a professional fighting 3D engine that, after the project was completed, would have been open source for the community to do non-profit games with (the 3D equivalent of MUGEN, but with much easier work flow and pro-grade tools).

"However, if we were going to ask for crowd funding to build that, it was critical we be able to ship it and not run out of cash. The estimates got up to the $5 million mark and we decided that was not the right way to go. That project was very much motivated by building a fighting engine equivalent to unity for the community and the goals blew out the budget. Neither [Winstead] or I were in a position to take on, despite having built many combat engines and worked on so many fighting and combat games."

The fate of WeaponLord is still up in the air. The creators definitely want to make sequel, and it sounds like a lot you readers out there want to play another WL game as well. Rest assured that if the stars align and the opportunity presents itself, Goddard and Winstead will dive into WeaponLord 2 as soon as possible. They've learned a lot over the past 18 years, and have received a lot of feedback on the original game. "Honestly, that's the worst thing," said Goddard, "we didn't get the chance to take that feedback and do the right thing by growing the franchise into what players wanted." Hopefully, some day, they'll get that chance.

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Then I remember that at one time I used to be that stupid. Looking back a couple of years ago to when I first joined I must of been around 13 at the time, I'm nearly 18 now. The sh*t I used to come out with. Here's an example of a thread I posted when I started in Computer Hardware Discussion in which no one replied. Can't say I blame them. 

My windows 98 internet wont work but works on my PS3 .Im using a brodband modem and a wirerless USB called Ralink.My internet connections status in the bottom right corner.Its a picture of the Ralink logo its black at the moment but when its works its turns from yellow to green.When run it,it say - Ralink Wireless LAN Card Configuration Utility is already running- ive reinstalled it many times but nothings happens,it worked before but it just suddenly stop working please please please please please please please help ALSO is there a way to like totally reset windows 98 like restore to like when you first got it

My windows 98 internet? Did I really just say that? I couldn't even spell broadband right. I find it hilarious because now I'm a hell of a lot better with computers. This was my first computer, it some oversized white tower running Windows 98 and I had to get a USB Wifi adpater to get the modem to work with it because it was so old. Whenever I'm in school if there's ever a computer related problem my name gets screamed out a bunch of times until I get up and fix it and it'd be something really simple but I always say to myself "You too were this dumb with computers at one stage"

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He didn't pull me from a burning building or rescue me from a frozen lake. But when I was suffering from a depression that had me constantly on the brink of suicide, he was the man who kept me on this side of the abyss. 

He was my therapist, but that word is so clinical, and doesn't accurately describe who Dan was to me. Friend? Yes, even though I usually only saw him in the confines of the office of a mental health clinic in Warren, PA. Father figure is more accurate, I suppose, but whatever you call him, he was the one that convinced me that life was worth living. His office was the safest place on the planet. It was there that I felt most vulnerable, and most cared for. He is the reason I am still here today, rather than a memory, or at very least, rather than a human husk, withering away in a hospital for the remainder of my days. 

He shared with me stories that a professional therapist shouldn't generally be sharing with his patient, and yet it was exactly the right thing to do in my case. I would record myself playing Christmas music on cassette tape and give it to him as a Christmas gift. I went to a church where he was a guest pastor one Sunday and marveled that this man could radiate such kindness and generosity. I read about his exploits with his boy scout troop, and wondered if those young men knew how fortunate they were that someone like Dan could be in their lives. 

I also know that Dan was an imperfect man. But I wasn't prepared to discover that several weeks ago, this man responsible for me being here to share this story today went missing. Vanished from his house, his wallet and keys left behind. No note, no goodbye to his wife Penny, no sign of a break in, no indication that something was wrong. He was simply gone. 

The police have searched, and the Conewango Creek and local branch of the Allegheny River have been scoured. No one knows if Dan, at the age of 69, wandered off to take his own life, or fell into the river and was washed away. Perhaps he was discontent and troubled, and decided to travel where he couldn't be found and live out his last days in peace. Perhaps he simply went for a walk to some unknown place and suffered a heart attack, and hasn't been found in spite of the exhaustive search. 

But it doesn't seem that Dan is coming back. 

The last time I talked to Dan was a few years ago. He sent me an email entitled "The real story...for those with a warped sense of humor." It was a typical viral email that people might send, this one with pictures of fairy tale princesses as they might have ended up. Snow White with her several babies and a good-for-nothing prince sitting in front of the TV. An obese Little Red Riding Hood wandering through the forest, sipping on a Big Gulp and carrying a basket full of bread. It certainly wasn't the most socially sensitive communication, but it's what I have. 

I love you Dan. I hope that you are close to God now. 

Edit: My mom shared this YouTube link with me of Dan leading vespers in 2012. http://youtu.be/dmVaCIoxeI0

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Because I Said So is the only game of the year awards you should care about...because I said so.

Part 1 - Most disappointing, favourite unplayed and top old game.

Part 2 - Favourite HD remake, best range of costumes and top virgin sacrifice.

Part 3 - Platform awards.

Now for Part 4, my GOTY, or GOTPFMSICRTWY, which stands for my game of the past few months since I can't remember the whole year...

In third spot - The Unfinished Swan (PS3)

I loved the fairy tale story, I loved the unique gameplay and I loved the creative visual presentation. For some, it may even be one of those games that strikes an emotional chord, everyone else will probably say it sucks.

Runner up - The Walking Dead Series (Mac)

I've purchased many of the Telltale episodic games, but none had me waiting so eagerly for the next installment, or in fits of rage when an installment was delayed...

THE WINNER - Gravity Rush (Vita)

Atmospheric, beautiful, exciting, challenging, emotional and refreshingly original, especially in a year full of so many sequels and remakes. I know there's some complaints about the controls and combat, but I think it just takes a little more practice to appreciate.

One of the most impressive things about Gravity Rush is the amazing world it is set in. It's beautiful, detailed, busy with activity and easy to get sucked into.

As I said above, once you get used to the controls, you'll have a blast with Kat's ability to shift gravity. It makes exploring the world and combating enemies a blast.

That's it from me. Thanks for those who read and commented. Be sure to share your favourite game of the year as well, but remember only my choices count ... because I said so!

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As some of you probably know,I'm in a strong disagreement with most of the site policies lately introduced,which made me spend less and less time here,I don't comment on the news articles anymore,just skim through some blogs,and ocassionaly make a few forum posts...

However,few days ago,I think I found myself a new community for myself:OCN

I've been a member for a few days now,and I'm already very impressed.The community is very well organized and maintained,the overall attitude in most of the forum is very level-headed and professional,the site is very stable,and I still haven't experienced any issues or glitches.It feels light years ahead of GS in its functionality...

The site is obviously geared heavily towards PC enthusiasts(though there are some console gamers around the site),so the focus is heavily on hardware discussions,but there are still news sections constantly updated about gaming,so I guess I can still easily stay in touch with the latest stuff,which is a big plus.Anyway,my stay there simply eliminates most of the reasons I have to visit GS...

I'll probably still stick around here a little to stay in touch with some of my friends,but my GS time is becoming more and more limited with each day.At this rate,won't be long before I fully drift away from the site...

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CPU: AMD FX-8120 Zambezi 3.1GHz Socket AM3+ 125W Eight-Core Desktop Processor

GIGABYTE GA-970A-D3 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

Thermaltake V4 Black Edition Gaming Chassis Mid Tower Steel Computer Case Fully Black Powdered Interior

Thermaltake TR-700P TR2 BRONZE 700W ATX 12V V2.3 / EPS 12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply

These are my new parts, I already had a GTX 260 GeForce card, and a really old 320 GB HDD both of which I will be replacing soon!

Excited!!!

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Yet, when it comes to Videogames, 'Free' has unfortunately developed some sort of negative connotation on the PC platform. The word 'Free' has become so stigmatized to the point where the word is ironically excluded from the classification of such business models--hence, Pay2Win, and understandably so.

I am no stranger to Free games. I have been playing F2P games for awhile and not just on web portals like Newgrounds, but those larger and persistent online games you may have come across while browsing the interwebs. Gunbound was the first F2P game I got into, it is probably a game that you have never heard of, but it was certainly an enjoyable one. it was an online game in the vein of Worms, with stats, equipment, a multitude of different projectiles at your disposal, robust communication features, the 2D sprites looked fantastic and it ran on any PC.

"I bet you thought Gunbound was an FPS"

As much as I enjoyed it, I never paid a single damn cent, my friends didnt pay a cent either. But we didnt care, there were many laughs to be had, alot of shenanigains, plenty of memorable trickshots and our experiences spilled over during lunchtime school discussions. With all these discussions we shared about the game, Gunbound started to become viral through our grade. Most were eluded by the idea of a completely free game that didnt involve piracy, but with such low barriers of entry, almost half the grade ended up installing the game on their home computer.

For a few weeks, the game was flooded with people from my school during our peak hours. It got to a point where a public game would have you pitted against someone you knew. Gunbound quickly became our own online community: we set up teams, had one on one matches to see who was better, used our own signature projectiles and we even humbly acknowledged who among us was the most skilled at the game. We had in-game ambitions, gear and equipment that we wanted and mechanics to master. but none of us were aware of the sad truth lay ahead of us: The sense of our own compeitive community was all but a damn lie.

We were in a closed server for those starting off, once you reached a certain experience level, you become restricted to an open server of players. One by one we started breaking into the open division with excitement. But this exitement quickly became discouragement once we found out that we were all but fish taken out of its bowl and thrown into an ocean.

We tried to rebuild the sense of community that we had, but there was a substantial playerbase that had language barriers. We tried to remain competitive, but we were crushed by other players with high powered equipment that were well beyond us. We tried organising matches, but the discouraging nature of the open server kept people from playing. We became too segregated. School lunchtime talks about it became inexistent, people lost interest and we stopped playing. It was over. Our enjoyable Gunbound evenings ended, our in-game ambitions thrown out the window and my last memory of Gunbound was us just getting completely swept by an opposing team formed from a public group.

"This is what the open server was like"

Gunbound released at a time when Free to play games was still at its infancy. From my understanding, the model was formulated as a means to provide an accessible barrier of entry to make a business out of the Eastern PC market, where Piracy of PC games are at its most abundant.

I never understood the concept of the Free to play business model at that time, but after seeing the model develop over the years, I quickly understood why our wonderful time with the game did not last. Our biggest mistake in Gunbound was not that we were bad at the game, we were actually quite good at it.

Our biggest mistake was that we did not pay.

That's a damning thing. We were getting beat by people using real money to overcome this barrier by purchasing virtual goods that had statistical attributes to give them advantages. So what little of a barrier Gunbound had to form such community was destroyed by a monetizing barrier that we never foresaw. One could say that we deserved it, we were leeching off of a game that we were clearly enjoying and refused to support; but as a service, it defintiely wasnt a fair one. After several poor experiences with other F2P titles that followed after, the F2P model quickly started to rear its ugly head. I stigmatized free games and I have never made a microtransaction since.

Gunbound was 2004. Fast forward to 2012 and it finally happened. I made a microtransaction purchase in a F2P game.

It's excellent. It's rich with production values, has great core mechanics, it has a high skill ceiling, it looks fantastic and it has some nice persistent online features. I never learned my lesson: I wasnt intending to pay anything for a free game. It was still in Beta and I thought I would hit that similar barrier like what happened several years ago, but it just never happened. I was getting by quite competitively even though I didnt have access to other cIassees, weapons and perks. Although, it is odd to compare such different games, Tribes: Ascend is as compelling as Gunbound, but the difference was that Tribes Ascend just offered a better service.

So, I finally caved to the model for the first time. I was quite willing to part ways with my money like it was the most natural thing for me to do in a videogame. It wasn't a virtual good or an in-game currency that won me over, it wasnt the XP boosting and I don't think it was done out of fear that I will be spat out of a free game I am enjoying. It was something else, something seemingly familiar to an everyday gesture and I ended up making a transaction on the grounds that I felt that I was provided a good service in the same way that I would have done towards a Taxi Driver, a Bartender or an incredibly hot Waitress.

The benefits I got for my transaction was just a bonus and in return with the extras I recieved, I didnt get better, nor did I get competitively complacent. I ended up getting more from a game that I was already enjoying and that is a service that works.

This is probably a turning point for myself as a consumer, especially with other F2P titles in the works like FireFall, Planetside 2, Hawken, Mecharrior Online, End of Nations, Dust 514, Super Monday Night Combat, DotA 2, Heroes and Generals--all of which show impressive production values and hopefully a solid framework for a Free to Play model as well as a compelling multiplayer experience.

And I am certainly asking ALOT of questions towards other games. Other Multiplayer titles where I have shelled out $40 up front for. You have a game that is trying so hard to win you over with a quality service and eventually had me voluntarily parting ways with my money to what is otherwise a free game. Then you have Manshooter 3: a game that has this fear of consumers being discouraged by a demo, wanted my $40 up-front purchase and is backed by a publisher that seems so damn convinced that all we want to do is pirate, or buy used.

Free is my favorite word. My recent experience has restored it to what it deserves to be. With the bar set with TF2 (a game that I paid for and excluded it from this blog), Tribes: Ascend and other online games having a crack at the model, F2P seems to have a very bright and positive future. It's one that we should stop ignoring and start embracing.

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Hello my fellow gamers,

just writing this blog to let everyone know that I am still alive and kicking in my GS profile. I been away on holidays from work, while I been away I have decided to conduct my own research in creating a AAA rated game for the near future. The challenge has proven to be a very complex and interesting tast at hand. The good news to this, is that so far I have actually managed to come up with a few art work, story lines and game design software intel.

I am currently looking for people who are also interested in doing the same task or is looking to just join me in obtaining more information in this topic. All are welcome to send me message in my inbox or continue to blog me on my page with the information they have at hand. I believe together we can create some interesting gaming conversation online about this idea.

Well I guess that is all for now peeps, if anything else pops up I will make sure I keep everyone informed as soon has I get more updates. Peace and hope to get some interesting replies from you all. Thanks!

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