Archived News From October 2007

Due to the old age of most of these news items, all hyperlinks have been disabled. It is also not possible to comment on any of news. They are presented in their current form purely for your reading pleasure – it’s the closest thing to a time machine we can offer you!

Cutscene Competition Update
Posted by BrandNewCar on October 30th, 2007 @ 7:37 a.m.

Down in the Scenario Design forums our very own Mashek has been heating up the Scenario Design forums in this thread with a Cutscene competition. This was previously posted in the news and the submission date has recently passed, so expect to be able to play all the games soon!

Many of the maps are currently being uploaded to the Blacksmith here, ready to be marked by the judges. Feel free to discuss the designs in the competition thread. If your not feeling so patient, perhaps it would be worth playing through last years submissions.

I’m sure you guys are itching to see the results as much as me … ; )

Blacksmith Feature: When the Wheel Breaks
Posted by BrandNewCar on October 19th, 2007 @ 6:06 p.m.

After a long hiatus Age of Kings Heaven will now resume service of the Blacksmith Feature, looking at the crème de la crème of designs fortnightly. This week I have selected When the Wheel Breaks ~ Chapter 1: The Prophecy ~
by Ingo Van Thiel.

I’m sure most designers are familiar with Ingo Van Thiel, who has designed many great scenarios. His latest one centres in Japan during the Feudal period. With a mix of different goals throughout the scenario, the game will make sure you have to be quick on your toes!

You step into the shoes of samurai Akira, who loses his daimyo to his Shogun’s nightmares who subsequently takes his wrath out upon the common people. Take control of Akira as he looks to survive and gain his revenge.

The author has done his research starting with a haiku, a traditional Japanese poem, the shortest in the world – often no more than a few lines.This file features no less than a Miko (wise woman), Ronin, rumours of a prophecy and plenty of other memorable people and events. There is a great deal of fun and many novel ideas that will keep you left guessing.

As with more and more scenarios, When the Wheel Breaks features an impressive array of sounds to enhance the game further and add to the experience. When the Wheel Breaks has been reviewed twice, earning an average score of 4.8 out of 5.

Lastly the author has updated his file to include an epilogue scenario as well as a text file including the rest of the story. Unfortunately it remains unlikely that the rest of the story will be released, but don’t let that put you off downloading his work. If I could pinch a leaf out of CerberusXXL’s book, this contains “Lightning fast samurai action” … ; )

HeavenGames’ Staff System: A Revamp
Posted by CrystalCrown on October 11th, 2007 @ 7:31 a.m.
Source: The HG Blog

So now that things have been settled with HG’s identity, it’s time to go on to the fun stuff: the staff system! Woo!

It’s been discussed in a previous blog post that HeavenGames doesn’t operate as efficiently as it could from a staff perspective. A lot of issues have already been dealt with in the past several months, but there are two substantial problems that must be taken care of. First, there is no effective way to ensure quality and consistency of work across all of our sites. Second, we do not have dedicated jobs in a number of support capacities, including marketing, sales, and the like.

Revamped Staff System
The owners have thus discussed the issue with the HeavenGames staff and have come up with the following system:

As you can see, HeavenGames will still be run fundamentally the same: the Exco – chaired by the CEO – makes all of the network-wide administrative decisions and Seraphs work under the Exco as site administrators. What will be added to the system will be a Seraph Liaison and Support Departments. First, the Seraph Liaison…(Read more!)

Two New Cherubs Join the Blacksmith
Posted by CrystalCrown on October 1st, 2007 @ 11:49 p.m.
Congralutations Mashek and BrandNewCar! The two are the newest members of the Blacksmith Review Team, which is responsible for approving new uploads and moderating the comments and reviews.

Mashek has been an active helper at the Blacksmith. In addition to his review duties, he also runs the annual Cut-scene Contest.

BrandNewCar first became staff here in 2002, when he moderated the design forum and reviewed new scenarios. He also helped me organize Multiplayer Custom Scenario Night (MCSN). After taking a hiatus, he’s finally back on the team.

Please welcome them on our forums.