Random Too hard to see? Wed Jul 16 01:40:45 PDT 2008 "Has anyone else noticed the invisible unit outside of the castle wars next to a bush? " ~ Patchy Well, I don't think we hid the fact that there were going to be stealth units in the expansion, on both sides. A while back we posted a screenshot of the new skill tree system - and it included this: Yeah - with the more realistic look of the art things on the map stick out a little less. That is what the selection circles are for. Sarfin is still working on all of the graphic effects that will be on the battle screen. An extra glow effect behind all of the characters might still be possible. Animating the selection circles or selection effect (or red enemy circles) in some way could also help units stand out. There is also a "Next Unit" button for easy cycling through your players. Also, while zooming out gives you a bigger view of what's going on, for smaller tactical engagements you can just leave the camera zoomed in and focus on the squares where the action is. ~ Random

Random Mercenaries of Dosbar: The High Seas - Barant Siege Preview Tue Jul 15 13:06:12 PDT 2008 The image tells a thousand words... ~ Random

Random Developer Journal: Mercs Expansion Game Design Theory Fri Jul 11 01:02:19 PDT 2008 Hey again Random Thoughts users, As the Mercenaries Expansion is taking ALL of our development resources, I know that things have been a little more quiet over the last two months. I can give you glimpses of the game to come, but that is all for now. Mostly that has been in the way of new artwork. But I'm guessing that some of you in our community want to know where we are going with this expansion, what we are thinking, and why. We all like Mercs, and it was one of our first projects and our first collaboration. Still, liking the game and saying it can't be made better are two different things. We all are pretty individualistic, and egos and ideas clash when you do a collective work. It can be a painful process - but I think it always produces a better game in the end. There has been talk of a Mercs 2 for many, many years... but the ambitious nature of the project was really outside of our resources. It still is. Sarfin and I got to talking that we could update our oldest game if we decided that rather than starting from scratch for the game - just doing an expansion. So what have we decided to improve? Artwork And this one was a slippery slope. The original Mercs art was very stylized, and pulled from several different sources. I liked the retro feel it gave the game. But our artists and art ability have really improved over the last 10 years. The problem was, once we redid one bit of art, it looked too good compared to anything else. After the first new pieces of art were finished, it was pretty obvious that every single piece of art for the whole game would have to be redone. That is no small task. But that was only the beginning. In addition to redoing every single piece of artwork, new art had to be done to support all of the NEW things we are putting in the game. Lucky told me recently that his Mercs Expansion folder on his computer is the same size as all of the art he has done for all of our other games (including upcoming titles) combined. Wow. But, you can see the new art direction in the demo in the Lab. I think you will be pleased with the update. Difficulty Oh, I loves me a good hardcore grind as much as the next person, but much of our feedback over the last years on mercs is that it was just too hard to get into. Even for people that played a lot, generally speaking the game was easier at the end and hardest at the beginning. In one way this is OK... it means that players notice as they become more powerful. But on the other hand, it turns away a lot of players. We are doing several things to "change the curve" - and make the early game easier and the late game continue to offer more challenges as party strength grows. The first change we already implemented in the original - more starting gold. This should help a party to overcome early mistakes. The second change will probably not effect most veterans: Tier 0 monsters. Truly pathetic foes, worth little fame and less gold. Still, they will give new players an opportunity to get to grips with the controls and interface, and few people should ever start the game and get their party wiped in the first mission. The new Tier 0 enemies will appear in special early game missions, along with two tutorial "story" game missions. Once the tutorial missions are finished the Tier 0 missions and monsters go away. If you already know how to play, all you need to do is accept the always available new tutorial missions... and retreat will be an option for victory from the get-go. So two quick missions with instant retreating and a small gold boost and you are back into the early game you used to play. But for new players they can take some time to beat up on patsies if they want to. The third change is in stat ups. Currently going from STR 5 to 6 is just as easy or hard as going from STR 95 to 96. This is changing, to make the game easier in the beginning, and also make it more viable to keep your starting mercs throughout the game if you choose. The lower a stat is the easier it will be to level if you do the necessary action (kill an enemy or dodge). This means that leveling a Recruit's Dex or a Scout's Str should be a little easier now. The fourth change is the combat formula. The way the current combat formula works you need to randomly roll 7 times the dex roll of your opponent to score a critical hit. This is very easy to do when all of the numbers are reasonably low at the start of the game. This means that both mercs and monsters crit often at tier 1. By Tier 4, however, crits are much more unlikely, except against a few monsters with really low dex, or BY a few monsters with super high dex (Tailents). I'm changing the combat formula so that dexterity is still compared, but that critical hits are just as likely at the high levels as at the low levels. Be warned high level players.... Items We had plenty of ideas for more items over time, but the way the original data was structured it was impossible for us to add any items. The entire system has changed so that we can add as many items as we like. We are also adding several new slots to equip gear. This should lead to a lot more customization options for players. But there is a lot more going on behind the scenes with items. First off, in the original we only had 2 restrictions... bows and magic staffs. That list has expanded to 9 restrictions in the expansion as more new types of gear and classes are being added. With all of those new restrictions we were worried about too much restricted gear showing up for sale. So we have changed the item generator to filter out gear with restrictions you don't meet. This means that in theory (assuming you have the Strength) almost every piece of gear you find for sale can be used. This also means that if you have no archers in your party, no bows will show up for sale - so after hiring a new archer you will have to run a mission before you can start buying new items. Also, going back through the item lists there seemed to be large gaps in the items we had offered. I've mostly finished redoing new sets of weapons and armor for Tiers 1 and 2. But there is more to come. Where are the Tier 4 crossbows? I don't know either, but all sorts of gear had no top level choices. I haven't added it yet, but I plan to really flesh out the items from top to bottom so that you have more and more choices with how to equip your characters. Another new feature being added are going to be Tier Elite items. These are going to be items with weight requirements for a lower Tier with stats for a higher Tier... but generally at about 10-20 times the cost. If you really have money, there will be something more to spend it on. So if you NEED to have your brand new Archer equip a bow with 25 attack right away, you CAN do it, but it will cost you. Classses Here our thoughts were simple. Keep all of the original, but expand. As they get closer to being finalized, I will continue to highlight each new class as I already did for the Dryad. We are adding several mercs to each Tier, and adding Tier 4 mercs. Some of the mercs are going to require quests or items to unlock, some will require premium membership, and some will be available as soon as you reach a new tier. Currently we have 2 new Tier 1s, 3 new Tier 2s, 4 new Tier 3s, and 2 Tier 4s. That is 11 new classes added onto the already existing 12. Premium Membership We know this will be a little more of contentious issue, because not everyone wants to be a premium member. Still, we need to have paying customers to keep the site running, and we want to offer something of real value for those that decide to subscribe. In this case, we've decided to be sure that our paying members get what they pay for. New classes and a huge list of items top the list, but there are also a (small) number of unique story mission type quests that only premium members will be able to access. Premium members will also get more save slots, if they decide to play with multiple parties. However, for the community at large, nothing the premium members will have access to will be necessary to beat the game. Indeed, the original 80 story missions should be quite a bit easier to beat with all the new classes, items and options that we are making available. The vast bulk of the new content is available to everyone. In a lot of ways its going to be like the demo of Cave Quest. Premium members get access to Valkyries, which are one of my favorite classes, but they are still balanced with the other classes and it doesn't stop someone playing through the game with a Wizard. I could talk more, but its getting late and I have more work to do! Enjoy and discuss. ~ Random

Random Mercenaries of Dosbar: The High Seas - New Mercenary Revealed! Mon Jul 07 13:48:25 PDT 2008 I thought maybe you would all enjoy a sneak peak at one of the new mercenaries available in the new game: The Dryad Dryads are mystical magic using creatures found in the lush forests of Thalasirmon. They rarely venture from their homeland, so their numbers are few. Their singing, magic wielding and shape changing abilities are all well recorded in the tales of the elves - and its the elves who have been seen adventuring with these fey folk. It is said that in their younger years they look human, but as they age their tree form becomes dominant. Many believe that much of the magic in the forests of Thalasirmon is due to large areas of woods being inhabited by many thousand year old dryads who are simply at rest in their arboreal form. As adventures have been increasing in the east, civilization is encroaching on the untamed jungles of Crobas. Among the many deadly encounters there are rumors of wild Dryads. These crazed creatures attack anything that encroaches on the jungle. It is thought that perhaps a few dryads are entering mercenary bands as a means of travel to Crobas, to find and heal their long lost sisters. If true, the dryads could become a powerful ally against the magic of the awakened Tailent temples in Crobas. Within the new game Dryads are a Tier 2 merc, but they will not be easy to hire. They have balanced stats, but also come with a variety of additional powers. They can use a new restricted class of gear that often contains minor magic spells. They are able to shape shift into a tree form. In tree form they cannot move or cast, but they have greatly increased defense ability. And they may come with an inherent spell. Within a party dryads will be able to fill a variety of roles. They don't have high Blood, so they will be an early target for parties of all Tier 2 and higher mercs. However, their tree form will let them resist large amounts of physical attacks. Also in tree form they can perform close range physical attacks. If not in tree form they can easily provide the minor backup healing, or even main healing for a low level party. Finally, with a variety of ranged spells they can do ranged damage or buff other party members. Dryads have no advanced form, so a tome of enlightenment will simply up their existing stats. Getting items that increase their blood will be important to use their magic abilities to their full extent. Still, even in their basic form, their ability to weather many, many attacks will let parties with these mystical tree-people worry less about who is going to be able to take the hits. The mercs expansion is coming along, and much of the new things are finally getting added (at first we needed to implement everything that existed in the first game). A simple alpha without real missions may be available in the coming weeks. Enjoy, ~ Random

Random Mercenaries of Dosbar: The High Seas - Memory issues Sat Jul 05 00:36:57 PDT 2008 Well, some things are changing in the expansion as we start to run into memory issues. There will probably be a brief loading screen between the different party management screens and before every battle I'm sorry to say. Also, some people may not be able to have all of the sound and image options operating at the same time. We still want the core game to be good, inviting and accessible to almost everyone on the internet. This means that the default game will have to start off with a selection of more minimum requirement options enabled, so that lower end computers can get into the game. If you are able to increase your memory for Java, you can still experience all of the fancy graphics and sound effects by going to the options and turning everything on. The good news in all of this is that none of it effects the core gameplay... everyone will still be able to play the game. And even the minimum options are still a significant improvement over the original. Just a little update on what we are working on. The demo in the lab may be updated in the next few weeks, as soon as we are ready to let people start getting dirty with some basic testing. ~ Random

Random And then there were houses... Sat May 24 18:49:45 PDT 2008 Work continues behind the scenes on the Mercs expansion. Featured here is a mockup screenshot of the new Calidia town maps. I'm very happy with the work done on the new houses. We are still debating exactly how fire will work in the expansion, because it really doesn't look right to knock out part of a house with these new images. We may change the game to giving houses hitpoints, and you need to destroy an entire structure. There are also several changes to the Avatar Quest system still in the works. Stay tuned. ~ Random

Random The Long Push Thu May 08 04:19:56 PDT 2008 Hey Random Thoughts users! Just wanted to drop a quick note to let you know what's going on behind the scenes. Work on the Mercs Expansion is starting to hit full swing, and that is going to be taking the majority of our time until it is done. Between Sarfin and I there should be one more game release and an update to the Avatar Quest game. Other than that, things are going to be rather quiet as far as releases go while we push to get the expansion done. We are confident its going to be worth the wait. Still, working on such a large project doesn't lend itself to us posting news items or the like every day. We aren't dead, just working hard. I've been trying to give periodic updates on the behind the scenes work on Mercs, and I will continue to do that. Fang Arena may also be finished soon, although that's not my project so its a little harder to know the timeline on that sucker. Just keeping you in the loop, ~ Random

Sarfin Forgotten Planet Tue Apr 29 11:05:00 PDT 2008 Due to popular demand, the current development state of Forgotten Planet has been uploaded to the lab. The primary reason this was not done earlier is due to a massive interface rewrite and the skill system has not been re-attached to the buttons. This will be added back in soon. Also coming soon is saving. I know I said that saving was going to be added late due to the changing code behind the scenes, but things have changed. The game now drops players at a random location on the planet and for test purposes it is useful to have the same map every round... so saving is needed.

Random Mercenaries of Dosbar: The High Seas - Battle Screen Mockup Mon Apr 28 21:23:23 PDT 2008 I wanted to give our users a little bit more of a behind the scenes look at where we are going with the Mercs expansion. Seen here is a very rough mockup of what the final battlescreen will look like. The battle section of the game is still not in a playable version in our demo in the lab. The black box in the lower right hand corner is for mini-map support, which will allow us to support both larger maps, as well as zooming features to get in closer on the models/action. We are still hoping for a late July release, but we don't have a release date. Don't throw stuff at me if it isn't up until September... ;) ~ Random

Sarfin Johnny Rocket and Avatar Questing Sun Apr 27 15:58:15 PDT 2008 The Avatar Quest system had the following minor updates: 1) The shrine will not overdraw your available money. 2) Bosses will only show up if a player has not already defeated them. This was done to pave the way for longer story-driven quests. Johnny Rocket is now running our new fullscreen code. This includes an image anti-aliasing layer that smooths the edges of the sprites. ~ Sarfin

Random Silent Frontier 2 Wallpaper Thu Apr 24 11:36:14 PDT 2008 Enjoy, ~ Random

Random Silent Frontier 2 Preview: The Vor Wed Apr 23 05:02:30 PDT 2008 The Vor are the alien race encountered by mankind in Silent Frontier. Like much of the art in that game, the models have been re-worked from the ground up. However, while the new models are much better, they are still evolutions of the original designs. Here is a preview of several of the Vor ships that have been redone. The Dragon preview I actually posted some time ago, but here it is again: The Leviathan has also been redone. As well as the Titan. I'm really getting excited about the games that we have coming down the pipeline in this universe. Hopefully there will be several releases of the spinoff titles this year. ~ Random

Random Silent Frontier 2 Preview: Trade Post Tue Apr 22 00:51:28 PDT 2008 Slowly but surely more games come closer to completion in the Silent Frontier Universe. At this point, in addition to the big RTS sequel of Silent Frontier 2, also in the works are Starblade, Starforce, Privateer, Absolute Power, Arena Tanks and Armada. That's a LOT of spinoff games for one universe. One of the advantages of having many games take place in the same universe is that it lets our artists spend longer on each item in the universe... and then the models can be re-used for multiple projects. Given that we are a pretty small development studio, this really helps us to optimize our resources better. To that end, much of the original Silent Frontier artwork is being re-done with new, much higher quality work. I'm very happy with how this is turning out. And I would like to share the progress with you! Here you can see how the new and improved Trade Post from the original Silent Frontier has been updated. Below is another shot featuring more of the detail of the station, especially the Vor docking bay. I think its a big improvement on the color blobs from the first game! Enjoy, ~ Random

Random Fang Arena v. 0.9513 Mon Apr 14 12:17:04 PDT 2008 A newer version of Fang Arena was uploaded today. This version makes minor tweaks and solves three major bugs: - Chain casting by using the "Cancel" button is no longer possible. - An error where the "frost nova" spell wasn't working as intended was fixed. - A crash when casting the "death" spell was fixed. Death now works as intended. ~ Random

Random Mercenaries of Dosbar: The High Seas - More Art Tue Apr 08 00:09:24 PDT 2008 Work continues behind the scenes on the Mercenaries of Dosbar expansion. There is still not an updated demo in the lab, for now. The Apprentice Wizard and Berserker images have both been redone: We will try and keep you updated as this project progresses. We are still hoping for a late July release for this title. ~ Random

Random Fang Arena v. 0.9458 Mon Apr 07 19:51:22 PDT 2008 Well, an updated version of Fang Arena was added to the lounge. I'm told that several of the bugs were fixed. Most importantly, trained Strength should remain after you gain levels. Also, many of the cheat short-cut keys (which were being used for internal testing) have now been removed. More to come, ~ Random

Random New Game! Well, almost... Thu Apr 03 23:04:54 PST 2008 Hey Random Thoughts users, Today a new game was added to our Lab. Fang Arena is a turn based strategy game set in the same world as Mercenaries of Dosbar and Diib's Dilemma. Fang Arena is a new experiment for us, because it is the first project done by a new programmer for our team. Elaith (who happens to be my brother-in-law) also worked on Hover Tanks with me a looong time ago, but at the time he did not know Java. He is still learning, but for his first Java game ever, I think this project is really coming together well. I've written some of the code to get him off of the ground, but the game design is his. This game has been close for a while. While he works hard at tracking down the last few bugs and tweaking the difficulty, he would really like to hear from you! Feedback (try to stay constructive) will help him to learn on this project and for his future projects. Premium Members can enjoy the Paladin class, and (when the game is finished) premium members will also be able to save the game between battles. Check it out here: There are more projects on the way, and hopefully Fang Arena can join our games page soon. ~ Random

Random Treasure Keeper Multiplayer Bug Fixes Tue Apr 01 14:08:44 PST 2008 Alright, I have uploaded several bug fixes for the Treasure Keeper Multiplayer today. - Added sounds to many actions in multiplayer screens. - Bug where using the buttons allowed you to move one extra space has been fixed. - Bug where you could sometime not target "Hireling 1" of the opponent's force was fixed. - Various sound and music bugs in multiplayer were fixed. I know there are still supposed to be spell problems, but I haven't been able to replicate any problems with spell casting yet. I plan to run a test with whoever shows up later today, to see what other bugs I can get data on, or if it is pretty stable at this point. Hopefully this helps you all to enjoy this feature to Treasure Keeper. ~ Random

Random Orbs Update Tue Apr 01 01:04:26 PST 2008 Added sound and music toggles to the game Orbs using the F1 and F2 keys, and updated the Orbs game page to include the instructions. More to come, ~ Random

Sarfin Links Page Sat Mar 29 16:41:50 PST 2008 Most of the bugs in the search engine were fixed. It now fully works in Internet Explorer, and the bugs I had causing conflicting data to be displayed has also been resolved. Occasionally the system still drops one game on longer searches, which is odd because it does find and count it toward the search total. Don't worry, though, I'll find it. Also the links page went through a display overhaul, which should make it easier to differentiate between the games on the list. It was a bit hard to read previously. ~ Sarfin

Sarfin New Links Page Thu Mar 27 23:17:39 PST 2008 After searching the internet after our last few game releases Random and I can to a startling realization. There is nowhere left to announce new Java games. Presumably due to the shorter development time of flash games, all the major games link pages only accept flash submissions. This seems strange to us as Java games are always clearly better. Just compare Runescape to AdventureQuest and you will see what I mean. This just would not do. So in the interest of promoting Java game development, giving Java developers a resource for promoting their games and, of course, to make it easier for gamers to find Java games, I have spent the last week building a Java game submission and search engine. It currently has mostly our games, but this will change as we add more links. The system supports easy submission, so if you have a favorite game that is not on the list feel free to submit it. ~ Sarfin

Sarfin Quest Link Thu Mar 20 13:59:31 PST 2008 An Avatar questing link has been added to most pages. Additionally, errors in some of the Random Thoughts Inn links have been fixed. ~ Sarfin

Random Treasure Keeper Multiplayer is Back! Thu Mar 20 11:16:43 PST 2008 Great news today Random Thoughts fans! Sarfin and I have been working like mad, and have managed to restore the Treasure Keeper multiplayer. Finally this feature works again! Several improvements were made on the old code (you can now use the arrow keys to move your guys in multiplayer) - and several of the old bugs have been resolved. We really hope you enjoy it. That being said, it is a very old game, and at this point is kind of held together with duct tape and staples. Feel free to report bugs you encounter with the multiplayer, but probably any bugs at this point are there for good. There CAN be problems with launching games, but if everyone doesn't report in time the people who successfully launched will bomb and everyone gets sent back to the chat room. It is just an avoidable problem if for some reason there is a dropped packet at a critical moment. Any FUTURE multiplayer games (and the inn) will be able to take advantage of our newer code, and should be more user friendly and a little more stable than this old project will ever be. But I probably sound too negative. I am PUMPED! You can now finally face other players with your party! Also, with this update all of the old features of the site that were lost over time have been restored. We are BACK baby! Now, onto the mercs expansion... Enjoy, ~ Random

Random Really the final Rex Patch - 1.4 Thu Mar 20 04:12:27 PST 2008 OK, One last bug related to the new movement code was closed. It seems it was possible to get stuck moving towards an npc while talking to them, which may have made the game appear stuck after exiting the dialogue. That problem is now fixed. Also, patch 1.4 was applied to the no-hardware acceleration version. Also, a link to the version without hardware acceleration was added to the games page under the game description text. You can still find that version with a colorful link all its own in the graveyard. I'm glad people are enjoying this game, but unless something really, REALLY serious pops up I'm moving onto other projects at this point. By the way - things being too hard is not a bug. Game balance is not going to change for Episode II. ~ Random

Random Rex Adventures - Patch 1.3 Wed Mar 19 17:57:34 PST 2008 Alright, so I didn't test patch 1.1 as completely as I should have. A bug where high ice resistance could actually lead to being perpetually frozen (the opposite of the intended effect) has now been fixed. Ice resistance at all levels will now work as intended. Thanks to Sarfin for catching that bug. Good luck out there, ~ Random

Random Rex Adventures - Patch 1.2 Wed Mar 19 08:54:42 PST 2008 OK, well apparently the new movement code created a few collision bugs where it was possible to walk through walls either up into Episode I or into the green nothingness of space that exists outside the rooms. Also, sometimes it was possible to get stuck going in one direction with no keys being pressed. (oops). Both of those bugs have now (I think) been fixed. Thanks to Qix for notifying me about the errors so quickly! ~ Random

Random Rex Adventures - Patch 1.1 Wed Mar 19 02:56:13 PST 2008 Based on feedback I have made a few changes to Rex Adventures Episode II, and these were uploaded today: - Movement code improved so that Rex doesn't stutter step. You can now hold down the keys for easy movement. - Strength now gives a very small resistance against being frozen. The stronger Rex is, the easier it is to break ice! However, you can still get trapped and killed if surrounded by ice monsters. Also, some people have mentioned that the new Rex runs very slow in Firefox. One thing that might help is to increase your memory cache for Firfox. Goto: Tools, Options, Advanced, Network In the middle of the page should be an amount of MB allocated to cache, and a clear cache button. Try clearing your cache, and then setting a higher MB limit. Also, a version of Rex Episode II without hardware acceleration has been added to the Graveyard. If this version runs faster for anyone, please let me know (post to the message boards is fine). I plan on using hardware acceleration in future games, so I need to find out if that code is a problem for some people now. Enjoy, Random

Sarfin Ask the Hat Sun Mar 16 20:45:13 PST 2008 The Random Thoughts Oracle has undergone a major upgrade. Check out it's spiffy new look in the Lounge. ~ Sarfin

Random New Site Look Sun Mar 16 10:33:29 PST 2008 Greetings Random Thoughts users, Today we have given much of the site a facelift. There are still a few bits of art that we will update over the coming weeks, but most of the new look is done. Hopefully with this redo the site looks a little more professional, the text on our pages is easier to read, and the eye is more easily drawn to the content in the middle of the page. As always, we are working to make your Random Thoughts visit the best possible experience. ~ Random

Random Rex is back with a New Game! Sun Mar 16 00:04:36 PST 2008 Hey Random Thoughts Fans, Today we are happy to announce that another new game has been added to the Games Page. Rex the Red Adventures: Episode II is finally here. Check it out here: This new game features: - New game engine that takes advantage of hardware acceleration. - New adventure, story, and quests. - 5 new types of enemies to battle - Almost 100 new rooms to explore - New spike traps - New and better treasure - Improved the AI on several monster types - New artwork added - New NPCs added - New spells, weapons and armor - Sound effects were added - New musical track for the new episode - Level cap now raised to 100 - Ability and Scroll cap raised to 50 - Gold cap raised to 99,999 And for our Premium Members two very special treats: ++ Premium Members can now save at all save points. ++ Premium Members have access to all of Episode I from within Episode II. This means you can play through both adventures taking advantage of the new engine! As Episode II is harder, it is strongly recommended that you play through Episode I first so that you can start Episode II at a higher level. Also with the addition of this game several updates were made to the Games Page. The Feature Game was changed (sorry Orbs), the Rex Adventure series was moved to the top of the Fantasy section, and Rex the Red Adventures: Anniversary Edition was moved to the Graveyard. Rex the Red Episode II is one of the last remnants from the abandoned CD project. This game was originally going to be a CD only release. With our decision to focus on purely online content this game then just had to be adapted for the web. And really, what website revival would be complete without another Tale for our Mascot? Believe it or not its been 5 years since the first Rex Adventure, and almost 3 years since our last Rex release. I suspect it will be a while before our NEXT Rex game now. Hope you enjoy, ~ Random

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