Messages

1

Announcements / Re: An Angel Among Us!

« on: June 30, 2014, 07:40:14 PM »

Yay!

I don't know about how big a meeting you are looking for but I know Skype does some video calls. And Mumble has a nice voice chat capabilities.

2

SpiritWars Discussion / Re: Vampira, do you remember this link?

« on: January 19, 2014, 07:21:33 AM »

Someone remembers Valhalla Hall! Yay! Turin and I had a lot of fun building our baby. Unfortunately the site we used became a pay site and Ogrim Doomhammer hosted it for a long time. Not sure what happened to it after that unfortunately. I guess it decayed into the Aether.

3

SpiritWars Discussion / Re: What was your favorite Gallory?

« on: December 17, 2013, 07:25:01 AM »

Thor plus Shaman. I made Wandu cry with that deck. It was my best rated deck. I hated that it was a negative blue event that killed that deck... no idea how high I could have gotten. Oh right had a Frost Giant too...

4

SpiritWars Discussion / Re: Vampira, do you remember this link?

« on: December 03, 2013, 05:07:28 PM »

This list is invalid due to there being no mention of me

5

General Development Notes / Re: The Resume of a G33k

« on: October 27, 2013, 03:30:17 PM »

Ah. Impressive stats. Ya I think you will be pleasantly surprised at the number of old school gamers who frequented SW. I am not quite that old school but SW was the game that really got me started into computers and online gaming. That and Baldur's Gate.

6

Announcements / Re: How can I help?

« on: October 27, 2013, 02:46:33 PM »

You know I am willing to help. As is Fae. And Spankyhead. Cant wait.

7

News / Re: BIG BIG BIG NEWS!!!

« on: October 24, 2013, 05:30:28 PM »

!!!

8

News / Re: Status update + input needed

« on: January 03, 2013, 09:20:03 PM »

I could see a pack having a chance for a rare... or some deal where with every 2-3 packs you buy you get a rare. But the problem there still is if you don't put out enough new spirits a person with enough money can basically buy their self an amazingly powerful dungeon.

And I would, if at all possible, avoid a scenario where he who has the most money has all the toys.

But you also have to make money too.

I could see having packs of cards that are only flatlands/drylands, or other combinations like that. I dunno... it will be a work in progress... and it will need to be fluid with the current gaming situations.

But first I hope Mom is having some luck with a programmer.

9

News / Re: Status update + input needed

« on: December 31, 2012, 07:24:43 PM »

Awesome stuff Kevin... a very nice long read and many MANY thoughts that I mirror and have been trying to put to paper... but you said it much better than I could have.

One thing I wasn't clear on was... are you suggesting a) that f2p players can buy cards up to uncommon rarity (and allowing paying players to get rare/ultra rare in their packs); -OR- b) only paying players can buy packs, but only with common and uncommon?

That the Rare/Ultra Rare spirits not be available to purchase in packs. It goes back to the part where I would not like seeing it turn into he would has the most money has all the best spirits. Common and Uncommon spirits are what build a beck. And more often than not they are what win it.

10

SpiritWars Discussion / Re: HELP!!!

« on: December 26, 2012, 07:44:44 PM »

They are having to rebuild the game from the ground up.

11

SpiritWars Discussion / Re: HELP!!!

« on: December 25, 2012, 04:51:44 PM »

Spiritwars is not operational yet. Lyn is trying to get it up and working again for a future generation of gamers to love...

12

News / Re: Attention!!! Attention!!! Attention!!!

« on: December 12, 2012, 07:13:18 PM »

That game is not up yet unfortunately. Lyn is working on getting a programmer to rebuild the game.

13

News / Re: Attention!!! Attention!!! Attention!!!

« on: November 17, 2012, 05:45:36 PM »

I asked some friends (that run sites) about some of the bot problems that I have seen here and here are some replies I got from them.

to register for the forum is there some bot test? like a visual thing? is there an email check?

that'll keep out many bots but really some spammers are persistent so you have to ban some emails and ip ranges too. it's a constant battle really.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's difficult to prevent, because as Ontain said some are very persistent.  They will sometimes use a captcha solving service (think distributed captcha solving) or monitor it themselves while running these mass signup services. 

An easy win is to implement at least a basic captcha, that will catch many of the automated signups.  Another way is to use some of the more innovative/obscure ones out there that require you to draw or solve some sort of problem/quiz question.

Here's a list of some decent ones out there: http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/freebies/captcha-solutions-kill-spam/

If it's a game driven site, you may even consider some of the more silly/fun ones like http://www.securitystronghold.com/products/ironclad-captcha/?product_tab=example

One more option I forgot about, is put a hidden field into the form.  Humans won't see it and won't fill it out, but a bot will attempt to fill it out and submit the form.  You can then do a post check to see if the hidden field has a value, if it does then you can reject the submission.

If you have any other questions dealing with site management etc if you want I will ask him about it. He is pretty knowledgeable and doesn't mind helping with what he can.

14

News / Re: Status update + input needed

« on: October 22, 2012, 08:20:50 AM »

Free to play. This is by far becoming one of the most popular concepts in gaming now. League of Legends is the BIGGEST online game... bigger than WoW because it is free to play. They make their money on non game impacting sales. They (and I) agree that if you can use money to buy things it shouldn't be to give yourself an advantage over those who cannot afford to buy shinies. Even as I say that i could see selling small packs of cards with maybe up to uncommon rarity (like MtG). Cards that would help build a deck but not be game changers in themselves.  League of Legends sale the new champions and different skins that are available for all the champions. But if you are like me and are monetarily challenged then you can earn in game "money" to buy champions. And even if you don't buy them all you still get opportunities to play them thanks to there being a "free" rotation of the champions you can use. Sooner or later you can play everyone. 

There is another preemium model out there where they sell the game for a small fee (usually on an app... $.99-$3.99) with free updates etc but also offers other paid for services. Pocket God is done like this. And it is one of the most popular games out there now.

I think the biggest problem we will have this go around will be competing in an instant gratification world. Many of these games nowadays are short quick and simple. And you either win or lose in that same quick manner. As we all know SW often is not a quick process. However just winning was enough for most of us. Or having a great match. And then the victory mig was always nice as well.  We have to make sure that win or lose the game will keep people's attention.  Possibly offer an in game currency that you receive. A lot on win... half as much with a loss. That way people with not as much money can still purchase in game content... just slower. Biggest thing is making sure to make it so money bought services has little impact the played game... i.e. he who has the most money can't just just buy the best deck.

But another thing is content would have to be put out on a regular basis. To keep the game fresh and evolving. In a way almost like M:tG. Up population sizes and see where we go. That was always one of the things I enjoyed doing... creating a deck out of all the chaos.

15

News / Re: Welcome to SpiritWars / Rules

« on: October 08, 2012, 08:41:15 AM »

I asked some friends (that run sites) about some of the bot problems that I have seen here and here are some replies I got from them.

to register for the forum is there some bot test? like a visual thing? is there an email check?

that'll keep out many bots but really some spammers are persistent so you have to ban some emails and ip ranges too. it's a constant battle really.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's difficult to prevent, because as Ontain said some are very persistent.  They will sometimes use a captcha solving service (think distributed captcha solving) or monitor it themselves while running these mass signup services. 

An easy win is to implement at least a basic captcha, that will catch many of the automated signups.  Another way is to use some of the more innovative/obscure ones out there that require you to draw or solve some sort of problem/quiz question.

Here's a list of some decent ones out there: http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/freebies/captcha-solutions-kill-spam/

If it's a game driven site, you may even consider some of the more silly/fun ones like http://www.securitystronghold.com/products/ironclad-captcha/?product_tab=example

One more option I forgot about, is put a hidden field into the form.  Humans won't see it and won't fill it out, but a bot will attempt to fill it out and submit the form.  You can then do a post check to see if the hidden field has a value, if it does then you can reject the submission.