Topics

1756

Warsword / My notes on potential improvements

« on: February 28, 2010, 02:06:32 PM »

Okay, most of these are naming things, you might already have 'em sorted but I thought I'd post anyway.

OVERALL
Add more cities, even if that means making lots of carbon-copies. Each Imperial province should really have a city, several Dwarf holds have been missed out too. Also don't be afraid of factions having an odd balance; the Dwarfs should have few castles as all their small forts often get nabbed by Skaven, but several large cities, whereas Orcs rarely if ever congregate in cities but will hold lots of forts/castles acrss the map. The map's big which is lovely, but it needs to be mroe populated.
More bandits would be nice too, making lil' marauder parties spawning round the Drakwald would be good.

DWARFS
Karak Karin should be Karak Kadrin
The Dwarf King is called Thorgrim Grudgebearer
Other lords should be Ungrim Ironfist in Karak Kadrin, King Kazador in Karak Hirn.
Karak Norn should be in there (in the pass between Nuln and Brettonia).
Zhufbar is (in Dwarf terms) a large city not a village. Karak Hirn is a city likewise.

EMPIRE
Marienburg is not an Imperial city, it's independent. Praag is Kislevite not Imperial, too.
Volkmar's title is arch-lector not Lord.
I'd give each province a city, to make the Empire look bigger and more balanced (not with many more Lords, mind, but plenty of cities).
I'd call it the Empire of Sigmar or just The Empire, since Men exist in many other places (Brets, Estalia, Tilea)
Brass Keep is overrun by Chaos.
They have too many archers/crossbows in their armies, more handguns would be nice.

RATS
Skavenblight is actually south of those mountains at the bottom of the map, dw about that too much though.

ORCS
Why is Skarsnik an Orc?
Can you decrease the numbers of arrer boyz the orcs get? The balance being very mcuh towards combat would be better.

BRETS
The King is called Louen Leoncour.
The archers should have a type of crappy kettle hat, then they'd look wonderfully like the models.

DARKELVES
Car Karond should be Clar Karond
The King is called Malekith.

1757

Southern Realm / Faction Overviews and Background FAQ

« on: February 20, 2010, 02:42:25 PM »

The Factions

OK, here's a quick overview of all the SR factions and very potted backgrounds of them!

CALRADIA and the NORTH

The Vaegirs
Old enemies of the Swadians, the Vaegirs are a northern Calradic people whose split with the Swadians helped to cause the breakup of the once great Calradian Empire. Their excellent footmen and tough knights make them good all round fighters, not perhaps the most given to discipline but certainly brave and personally tough, from their footmen right up to their mounted nobles.

The Swadians
The flowers of Calradic chivalry, the Swadians (and their vassals in the Duchy of Suno, which contains Calradia's old capital city) consider themselves the direct successors to the old Calradian Empire. Their knights are second to none, with peasant crossbowmen dragged to battle by their feudal lords.

The Rhodoks
Mercantile, community-driven, and strong believers in tactics over personal valour, the Rhodoks are one of Calradia's newest realms. Once part of Swadia, the oppressed merchants, peasants, and nobles of the rolling southern hills rose in revolt, and their semi-elected kings have been vigorous opponents of the reduced Swadian realm ever since.

The Vorroks
Mountain cousins of the Rhodoks, good healers with a traditional religion and a strong sense of community who live and mine around Calradia's highest peaks to the south of the Rhodok lands.

The Princedom of Curaw
A revolt against the Vaegirs by the northern sub-tribe in Issakev, over the mountains, has now found its centre in the larger town of Curaw, captured by the Issakans some years ago but now ruled by a native upstart from Curaw who rules both Issakan and Vaegir lands from his power-base there.

The Nords
Raiders from their homes far to the northwest, the Nords sweep down to the shores of Calradia for loot and battle. They now hold the port of Wercheg, and have long been a terror on the Alanian coasts too.

The Alanians
A realm between the Swadian mountains and the sea, famed for its deadly longbow-wielding archers and bold knights, and built strong in the face of repeated Nord invasion attempts.

Zendar
The mercenary capital of Calradia, based in the fen and river lands of the west.

THE GEROIAN PENINSULA and the SOUTHWEST

The Commagene Empire
A major power to the south of the Geroian peninsula, the Commagene realm is protected from the Gorin Empire by formidable mountains. This old realm once dominated more of the plains to the east, but has been beaten back to its old heartland in recent years. It may recover, however...

Geroian Republic
An alliance of mercantile city-states under the powerful thumb of Geroia, their largest city.

The Grand Duchy of Monemvasia
The Monemvasians, in the turmoil of the Gorin Empire's rapid expansion, have recently gained their independence from both Gorinia and the Commagenes.

Lacontia
In the mountains of the central Geroian peninsula, the city state of Lacontia is famous for its pikemen, operating a vigorous training regime from birth with a military class of total professional warriors who are led by their two kings into battle.

Tenthala
A smaller city state on the west side of Geroia, famous as a haven for merchants but also smugglers and pirates.

THE GORIN EMPIRE and LUSITANIA

Aurothia
The isle of Aurothia lies just to the west of the Lusitanian peninsula. Centred around the old city of Estarinia, the Aurothian rulers and people are perhaps the most ancient realm still in existence, with ancient stores of lore guarded from other peoples and an effective trading fleet.

The County of Thuralia
A tiny independent duchy founded by a freebooter.

The Dharroks
Southern cousins of the Vorroks and Rhodoks, living in an upland region and causing no end of trouble for the Gorin cities of the plains.

The Duchy of Mallardia
A tiny independent duchy founded by a freebooter in the southeast of the Lusitanian peninsula.

The Duchy of Rhonewar
A tiny independent duchy centred around an exceptionally defensible castle in a hilly, forested region just north of the plains.

The Empire of Gorinia
A vast Empire stretching from the Lusitanian peninsula across the southern plains and up to the borders of Calradia. Their disciplined sword-armed infantrymen and tax-funded army are currently one of the world's dominant military forces.

The Empire of Lusitania
Something of a rump state, the Empire once dominated the Lusitanian peninsula and beyond before Gorinia revolted and rose to far greater prominence and power. Their professional soldiers still fight in an archaic but efficient infantry army.

The Hematite Emirate
A small emirate in the southern Lusitanian peninsula, unlike most other Emirates which are across the sea to the east.

Lexandia
The most southerly Orinite faction, protected behind a string of mountains along the coast and with a powerful trading fleet as well as a recently reformed feudal system on the model of that in Swadia or the Vaegir Kingdom.

THE EAST and the STEPPES

The Khergit Khanate
The huge Khergit hordes have exploded out of the east to dominate the steppe regions where their horse archers and tactical flexibility have made them an almost unbeatable force.

The Red Khanate
A southern offshoot of the main Khergit horde, the Red Khanate is now a powerful force in the bloodily contested Holy Lands.

Harlaushia
The city of Harlaushia was once part of a far greater eastern realm, but has retained its independence primarily through its status as a wealthy trading post on the route between the southeast and Calradia.

The FAQs

This is also going to be a sort of FAQ thread for SR's background. Here I'll post questions and answers to any questons like; "How was Alania formed?", "Why is Geroia a Republic when in Native Lezalit is the count's son?", "What the hell is up with Taugard anyway?", and so on.

So go for it! Questions!

1758

Southern Realm / SR: How You Can Help

« on: February 14, 2010, 01:27:50 PM »

This thread will be a list of competitions and minor contributions YOU can make to Southern Realms. Anyone who does will get their name in the credits, and possibly even a lord/character named after them ingame!

Okay, current things I need doing;


COMPETITION: DESIGN A CLAIMANT

I need you to design a faction claimant for either the Duchy of Rhonewar, the Duchy of Mallardia, or the County of Thuralia. All you need to do is fill in a convincing, interesting, and clever dialog into the Module framework. The one below is an example, my claimant for the Red Khanate:

Spoiler: click to toggle

  ("rkhan_rebellion_pretender_intro",     "I am Kharkan, Chief and rightful ruler of all the peoples currently suffering under the yoke of the Red Khanate."),
  ("rkhan_rebellion_pretender_story_1",   "I was a young boy at the time of the first Crusade, when the westerners came. We were glad of it at first, for the Harlaushians were harsh masters. But then the Khergit started joining, as mercenaries at first, with other minor eastern princes. When the Crusaders had finally been beaten back to their castles, Jaharan, brother of the Khan, remained and forced us back into servitude."),
  ("rkhan_rebellion_pretender_story_2",   "So now we have suffered under the Harlaushian and the Khergit lash. It is time my people united and took control of the Khanate for themselves. We have numbers, and power, but we lack leadership and resolve."),
  ("rkhan_rebellion_pretender_story_3",   "Jaharan must be taken and captured. His nobles I will give the chance to serve under my rule, in my country. This is my word, and my word is my bond... one day I will ride back, and not all the horsemen in the worlds shall stop me taking my own."),
  ("rkhan_rebellion_monarch_response_1",  "So you say you have met Kharkan? That is good, for it is good to sometimes see things that are so pitiable, that you you should not let yourself become one. He wants his land back? Why should it be his? In this world rule is by the strong, servitude by the weak. I am strong and my people are mighty. This is our age, our time for glory."),
  ("rkhan_rebellion_monarch_response_2",  "If you see him again, tell him this: I have kept his lands well for him, and have them in my care. If he wants them, he can come and take them from the flashing swords of my men and the thundering hooves of our cavalry. We are Khergit, and we do not bargain with out foes. Only fight."),

All the faction claimants use the same pattern of dialog: an intro and 3-part story for the claimant, and a 2-part response from the reigning monarch. Feel free to name your characters what you like, and make up all sorts of ways in which they were justly or unjustly thrown out of the kingdom. Fill your story (in proper standard English) into the pattern given below:

Spoiler: click to toggle

  ("rebellion_pretender_intro",     "{YOUR TEXT HERE}"),
  ("rebellion_pretender_story_1",   "{YOUR TEXT HERE}"),
  ("rebellion_pretender_story_2",   "{YOUR TEXT HERE}"),
  ("rebellion_pretender_story_3",   "{YOUR TEXT HERE}"),
  ("rebellion_monarch_response_1",  "{YOUR TEXT HERE}"),
  ("rebellion_monarch_response_2",  "{YOUR TEXT HERE}"),

The best claimant for each of the 3 mini-factions will go ingame and the maker's name added to the credits!

TASK: SCENE BUILDING
As you've probably all worked out, there are lots of scenes in SR that are incomplete or nonexistent, and several of the ones that are there are rehashes of native. So here's how you can help:
- First, start your game in edit mode. This can be selected on the options when you load up M&B.
- Play the game!
- When you DO come to a scene that you feel needs work, press cntrl + E, then get on with building it up.
- When you're done, go in Windows Explorer to Mount & Blade -> Modules -> Southern Realms -> SceneObj
- Using the below list of places, find the scene you were working on. The list is kinda long, so I'd advise putting the list into a document so you can use search on it for the town/castle/village you want.
- Zip your scene, post it as an attachment in this thread.
- Look on with pride as your name is added to the SR team list!

Tutorial on AI meshing (there are many locations without them or with bad ones so please check).
http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,61126.0.html

Tut on getting started with edit mode
http://s9.zetaboards.com/exilian?topic=467530

FINALLY, if you need someone to ask for advice, xGhost4000x is the team's most experienced scener so looking in at his "scene progress" thread and/or talking to him or myself would be good ideas.

TASK: TRADE ROUTES

This is both the most boring and the most useful task. Basically, the below bit of code creates the trade routes between cities. And it ain't finished. I need someone to go through, decide which cities should trade with which (routes should be to should be 2-4 of the closest cities), and fill them in. As you go down you'll have less new entries for each city as ones from lower numbered cities wil already point there.

Look at the city lst for scene editors: that will tell you which city is which.
Aaaand this is the set of script calls you need to edit; it all goes in the same pattern as the ones here, just continue from what I've given you.

Spoiler: click to toggle

      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_1", "p_town_2"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_1", "p_town_4"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_1", "p_town_8"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_1", "p_town_9"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_1", "p_town_11"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_1", "p_town_12"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_1", "p_town_13"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_1", "p_town_15"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_1", "p_town_16"),

      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_2", "p_town_4"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_2", "p_town_6"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_2", "p_town_8"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_2", "p_town_12"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_2", "p_town_13"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_2", "p_town_15"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_2", "p_town_16"),

      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_3", "p_town_4"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_3", "p_town_5"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_3", "p_town_6"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_3", "p_town_7"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_3", "p_town_14"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_3", "p_town_15"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_3", "p_town_18"),

      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_4", "p_town_6"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_4", "p_town_12"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_4", "p_town_13"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_4", "p_town_15"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_4", "p_town_16"),
     
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_5", "p_town_6"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_5", "p_town_7"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_5", "p_town_14"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_5", "p_town_15"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_5", "p_town_17"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_5", "p_town_18"),
     
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_6", "p_town_7"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_6", "p_town_11"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_6", "p_town_13"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_6", "p_town_15"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_6", "p_town_16"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_6", "p_town_17"),

      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_7", "p_town_10"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_7", "p_town_11"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_7", "p_town_13"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_7", "p_town_14"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_7", "p_town_15"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_7", "p_town_16"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_7", "p_town_17"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_7", "p_town_18"),

      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_8", "p_town_9"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_8", "p_town_11"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_8", "p_town_12"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_8", "p_town_13"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_8", "p_town_16"),

      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_9", "p_town_11"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_9", "p_town_12"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_9", "p_town_13"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_9", "p_town_16"),

      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_10", "p_town_11"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_10", "p_town_14"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_10", "p_town_17"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_10", "p_town_18"),

      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_11", "p_town_12"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_11", "p_town_13"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_11", "p_town_14"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_11", "p_town_16"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_11", "p_town_17"),
     
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_12", "p_town_13"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_12", "p_town_16"),

      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_13", "p_town_16"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_13", "p_town_17"),

      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_14", "p_town_17"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_14", "p_town_18"),

      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_15", "p_town_16"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_16", "p_town_17"),
      (call_script, "script_set_trade_route_between_centers", "p_town_17", "p_town_18"),

1759

Southern Realm / New Bugs Thread

« on: February 12, 2010, 10:23:21 PM »

Please report errors and bugs with the latest release here!

KNOWN BUGS (Please read before posting)
- Tataca's exploits dialog doesn't work.
- The fenlander sword gets held wrong (out to the right)
- Some item values are oddly low/high

1760

Announcements! The Town Crier! / New Mod Releases!

« on: February 12, 2010, 10:22:09 PM »

Bring out the trumpets! Hark!

For this day I declare that Exilian had brought forth two more mighty MODS for you to play, both for Mount & Blade;

Jubal's Southern Realms mod has its best EVER beta edition, with more stability, more features, and more crazy ***t to mess around with than ever before. The features list is pretty vast, and the faction and troop trees are as giant as ever.

Download thread is HERE:
http://s9.zetaboards.com/exilian?topic=7186329

But not only that! Dimos has released his Europe 1080 mod, which transforms the base of SR into the dark world of Mediaeval Europe. 22 historic factions are vying for control of a continent; will you join the struggle?

Download thread is HERE:
http://s9.zetaboards.com/exilian?topic=7151207

Many thanks, and happy gaming!

1761

Southern Realm / New Screenshot Thread (With Gallery Link)

« on: February 12, 2010, 10:18:19 PM »

Please post all your screenies here!

The main gallery can be found here; Southern Realms

Here's some shots to start you off, please post your own:


Gorin troops on the march...

The older parts of Calradia, plus new additions.

A view over some of the new Southern Realms of Calradia.

The Imperial Palace at Myriocephalum and its fortifications.

1762

Southern Realm / Southern Realms; Main thread and Latest Release

« on: February 12, 2010, 09:52:01 PM »

This is Mount & Blade as you've NEVER seen it before. Southern Realms adds a lot of variety to the game, giving you more opportunities, skills, and... and I'll let the features list do the talking, since I'm rather chuffed with it myself.

<big>MBRepsitory Download Link</big>

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

Main Features List:
- Map almost doubled in size from native, showing the Nord homelands, the mighty Empire of Gorinia to the south, and more!
- An extra 18 factions, each with new lands, troops, and heroes.
- Naval travel and combat adds a new dimension to the game; battle cutthroat Nordic pirates or the proud Alanian navy at sea with 2 different ship types and improved boarding ability.
- Foxyman's formations give you the ability to command your troops with deadly precision, but beware; morale failing is now a real problem that can crush the cohesion of your forces.
- Huge troop trees, including several non-faction ones.
- Religions; join the Orinite, Varalite, or Conirile churches to gain access to their holy men, healers, and (of course) battle-hardened religious warriors...
- Face enemies with powerful special abilities such as healing nearby troops, raising morale, or even regenerating health in battle.
- Become a Town Watch commander, with control over the defences of one of the many new or old cities in Calradia
- Hunt deer and boar for food or trophies; these latter can even be taken and sold to those who want them...
- New locations, including country taverns, two universities, and the rogue outpost at Jarren's rock
- Learn one of three skill sets, allowing you an incredible amount of choice in your character development. Either train as a barbarian with the Doaghan, or an Assassin in the alleys of Harlaushia, or learn the arts of command with general Tataca.
- Pubs are rather more interesting; meet the gamblers and drunks of Calradia, along with new mercenary forces that you can hire!
- A ton of other special features; villages now spawn refugee parties when burned, new bandit types roam the map, several companions require quests to allow you to hire them, and troops can be hired in city marketplaces.
- Other new features include shield bashing and spear bracing, both employed by the AI as well as your own forces.

New Factions List

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Kingdom of Swadia
Kingdom of Vaegirs
Khergit Khanate
Kingdom of Nords
Kingdom of Rhodoks
Empire of Gorinia
County of Zendar
Kingdom of Voroks
Republic of Geroia
City of Harlaushia
Kingdom of Lacontia
Kingdom of Alania
Princedom of Curaw
Red Khanate
Kingdom of Aurothia
Realm of Lexandia
Duchy of Mallardia
Duchy of Rhonewar
County of Thuralia
Kingdom of Dharroks
Commagene Empire
Grand Duchy of Monemvasia
City of Tenthala
Hematite Emirate
Lusitanian Empire

1763

Discussion and Debate - The Philosopher's Plaza / Iran: A Second Revolution?

« on: February 11, 2010, 01:54:53 PM »

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8509765.stm

Thousands of Iranians, on the 31st anniversary of the revolution, are more split than ever within the republic. The Islamic Republic had never had any real protests until last year; the governement there is now permanently off balance, helped along by the driving force of opposition leaders demanding change and of course the rising power of the virtual revolution; twitter has, through ordinary Iranians, learned how to squawk and squawk loudly.

This is probably one of the decisive conflicts of our generation; a pro-freedom revolt in one of the main bastions of fundamentalist intolerance in the middle east would be an perhaps destabilising step in the region but would nevertheless deal a major blow to those who see Iran as a powerhouse able to resist modernity through strength of arms.

As ever, the world watches.

1764

Spring Cleaning 2019 / New Member Banners!

« on: February 10, 2010, 04:18:50 PM »

Please use these banners on other forums to try and get more people on here.

To use each banner simply paste the code given into your forum signature. Many thanks.

Code: [Select]

[URL=http://www.exilian.co.uk/forum][IMG]http://www.wavcott.org.uk/exilian/Sig_axe.jpg[/IMG][/URL]


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Announcements! The Town Crier! / We have 1000 members!

« on: January 30, 2010, 01:19:47 PM »

YAY!

Well, any excuse for a party eh?  

1766

Discussion and Debate - The Philosopher's Plaza / Haiti

« on: January 23, 2010, 06:32:48 PM »

Haiti is, as you prolly all know, in a mess. Please feel free to discuss the future of the country here.


Also, please go to this link and you can send a pre-prepared email from Oxfam to the head of the IMF to ask him to cancel Haitian debts:
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/get_involved/campaign/actions/haiti_drop_the_debt_email.html?ito=3521&itc=0

1767

Game & program tutorials / Jubal's Web Tutorials 2: Images, Formatting, and Hyperlinks

« on: January 23, 2010, 01:36:10 PM »

Okay, this is the second of my web creation tutorials. In it, I'll tell you how to use a variety of useful tags to make webpages that look like more than just a block of text.

To find the first tutorial, click here;
http://www.exilian.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=659.0

Firstly, we're going to carry on where we left off; formatting your webpages. The first two tags in this section are important for making your webpages make sense to a user. Firstly, there's the paragraph tag, <p>. Putting a <p></p> around some text will put it into a paragraph, not much else to say there. The other, a tag which we have no way of covering a tenth of the applications of here, is the <div> tag. Make friends with the div, you'll be seeing it a LOT. The div separates pages into chunks, which can then be manipulated more easily, making it a vital part of more dynamic webpages. Right now, I'm only going to talk about one use of it, using its align attribute. The align attribute exists for many tags (<p> included) and has three normal forms; left, right, and center. Center is always spelt the American way, as shown. So this:

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<div align="center"><h3>This Title Will Appear In The Centre Of The Page</h3></div>
Will appear centred.

The final formatting point for now will be colours. In the last tutorial, you used colour names such as "green" and "red" to get colours for text and backgrounds. Now we're going to do it properly...
http://html-color-codes.com/
Take any of the codes from the above site and put a hash in front of them to get your code.

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<body bgcolor="#ff0000" color="#ffffff">
This will create a red webpage with white text. Also, use the "link", "alink", and "vlink" attributes as well as "color" and "bgcolor". These three new ones are for hyperlinks, which is the next part of our tutorial.

Hyperlinks are a vital part of the world wide web. The difference between a document and a webpage is, essentially, that the latter can be linked to other pages and documents. A hyperlink is a piece of text or an image that, when clicked, takes you to another page. To make them, we need a new tag; the anchor.

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<a></a>
Anchor tags, or <a>, allow you to do things with whatever you put inside them. However, just putting an anchor tag around some text;

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<a>Why isn't this a link?</a>
Does not make it a link. You need the most important attribute of the anchor tag to allow that; the HREF attribute. Before we can use it, though, we need to have something to link to. Save two HTML pages (made in the way you saw in tutorial 1) in the same folder. Name one “index.html” and the second “me.html”. Now open index.html, and put an anchor round some text. Now add the href attribute with the value “./me.html”. The “./” shows that the file is in the same folder as the page it is linking from. Using “../” shows that the file is a folder above in the file structure, and for folders below use a forward slash, the below folder name, and then another forward slash before the filename. Finally, remember that to link to other websites you just need to copy the full URL (including the “http://”) into the HREF attribute.
Okay, your link should now look like this;

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<a href=”./me.html”>This is a link!</a>
And when you load up index.html you should be able to go to me.html. Add a link into me.html to go between the pages. Well done, you can now do hyperlinks!

The final part of this tutorial will be about images. The <img> tag is used to put images into HTML. The only attribute you need for it now is the src attribute, which works like the href attribute for links; just put in the location of the image you want. Remember that for web use images have to be in .jpg, .gif or .png format. So if you have an image called image1.jpg in your website folder;

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<img src=”./image1.jpg”>
Will show it.

You know have seen how to make all the most basic elements of websites; links are the movement and information highways of the internet, well-structured pages its backbone. Pictures are useful, too, and make your site look like more than a boring text-block.

In the next tutorial, I’m going to show you the final stages in basic HTML; making your webpages look cleverly and properly structured. Tables, element sizing, and lists will all make your pages look far more professional.

1768

Raiders and Traders / BETA RELEASE

« on: January 03, 2010, 07:42:43 PM »

http://www.wavcott.org.uk/RaT/Final/

This is the open beta release. Please report bugs, etc.

Many thanks,

Jubal

1769

Game Reviews / RuneScape (By Jubal)

« on: January 01, 2010, 02:25:17 PM »

RuneScape

Game Type: Free online play
Genre: MMORPG

Link: http://www.runescape.com

Graphics rating:
Gameplay rating:
Immersion rating:
Overall rating:

Runescape is one of the most popular MMORPGs (Short for Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games) on the internet, with over a million players. It runs in a browser instead of (as most do) a downloaded game client program. The graphics do not have the quality of those in games that are run on your PC, but nevertheless it is still very popular with people who don’t want gigabytes of download on their hard drive.

Runescape is certainly no worse than most RPGs – its levelling and quest systems allow newer players to get into it without too much boredom or being too out of their depth. There are different attack styles with different animations, and a large range of music. Also ‘emotes’ which cause the player’s character to do a certain action (waving, blowing a raspberry, etc.) can be unlocked. The ability to play in part of the game for free is probably the major attraction.

Runescape uses Java to manipulate 3d animated graphics. The graphics are reasonable but by no means stunning, with things like attack animations quickly getting boring and repetitive to watch. The quests are often not very funny and at the same time are hard to take seriously, and the freestyle game play gets quite boring as the player has little effect on the result of a combat besides their level going into it – watching the two characters sit and take turns to hit each other with the same animation each time can get boring. The music is over-dramatic for a game that seems unsure if it is grounded in high fantasy, comedy or simply surrealism, and the emotes are just silly. The slight comedy in the free area is overridden, too, by the marketing that Non-Player Characters throw at you from all sides (“Perhaps I might talk to you on a member’s server”, etc). The game is overall somewhat lacking in humour, and yet not really serious enough to be classed as epic.

1770

Game Reviews / Peasant’s Quest (By Jubal)

« on: January 01, 2010, 02:24:18 PM »

Peasant’s Quest

Game Type: Free Online Play
Genre: Single Player Adventure

Link: http://www.homestarrunner.com/disk4of12.html

Graphics rating:
Gameplay rating:
Immersion rating:
Overall rating:

Peasant’s Quest is a game made in the style of 1980’s text-and-animation adventures, following the player’s attempt to kill the dragon Trogdor. The graphics are entirely in a very basic style, the music is designed to be the most annoying game jingle you’ve ever heard, and the game is mostly an attempt to poke fun at the genre.

If you’re looking for graphical beauty, you came to exactly the wrong place with Peasant’s Quest. Everything is stripped down to pixellated, basic animation and badly made music, which can get very annoying after a while. The animations are repetitive and boring, and the effect is, obviously, a vast comedown from modern, detailed 3d graphics with all the realism and effects we now have.

On the other hand, the beauty of the game is that that doesn’t really matter. Even if you’re not old enough to have a nostalgia for the old adventure games of the 80s, the humour is genuine and unaffected by the graphics. In many modern games the graphics have been pumped up to the point at which gameplay is very much second fiddle or even is compromised – Peasant’s Quest has a humorous plotline and a lot of text which would be less workable in a more modern game format. The text-based commands cut down on menus and make the game more elegant in terms of gameplay too (the ‘die’ command is always good). There is no better way to get me to give a five for immersion than really zany plot ideas, and setting yourself on fire, putting a baby in a well bucket, and the prompt saying "night falls like a clunky PowerPoint presentation" are good ways to fit that bill.

In general Peasant's Quest was a game I found enjoyable and very funny indeed; would highly recommend as long as you don't mind pixel art...