Cities Game

21:07 / 26.10.05

Not if I see you first, pal. Someone nicked my crown a couple of days ago, and I won't rest until I get it back and build a 10,000HP behemoth with squillions of APs hiding in the Barrier Mountains. Until then, where IS that sodding pinata?

08:06 / 27.10.05

Ha. At some point I was planning to add bling, similar to hats.

3 x elven bling, 9 x human bling etc...

I can so see you hiding under a mountain with the one bling. Which will give the option of being invisible

. This also raises the idea of bling wraiths.

Actually I have a notebook full of silly ideas, but I really need to do some coding for work for a bit. I'm not going to keep trying to keep the top 3 players busy, just to make sure the "pack" doesn't get bored.

The city of Brighthelm on the coast was added after my holiday in Brighton with Quantum. Although to reach it is a pretty big effort. There's a desert in the way, with some nasty beasties.

It's nice to see people having fun. Although to have your girlfriend leave at 4am and go home to finish the time/space quest in the game made me feel like I really am living in a silly cyberpunk novel.

The Timaximus, The!

18:44 / 30.10.05

I was pretty close to killing the undead dragon, went off to the nearby healer, and then someone else had killed it while I was off. Major suck. Then I lost most of my best weapons to a large living tar. Still pretty fun, though.

19:09 / 30.10.05

Hmmm. No response from the game today. Update or crash? I need my fix - some of that sweet Cities loving.

mikej

10:15 / 31.10.05

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/31/south_research_fire/ - don't think Cities is a top priority right now

11:51 / 31.10.05

Ooh, blimey. What a shame.

08:06 / 02.11.05

The cities server was in the scorched building behind the totally gutted one. Getting our webserver and databases back up is a high priority (and will happen to bring cities back too.)

Chances are the backup restore will be from late Thursday night.

I think it'll be up and running on our replacement servers by the weekend at the latest.

moonweaver

04:31 / 03.11.05

Ouch C.E, I hope nothing was badly lost, any ideas how it happened?
looks like there is a couple of big LPG cylinders just in front of the gutted building. That would have been quite nasty.
thanks anyway for the information.
I have to tell you, that this has been a very bad week at work without this game, actually have ended up having to do something instead of looking seriously at the screen.

11:52 / 03.11.05

The server should be up soon (as it's also the primary webserver for our department).

It is not being treated as suspicious, but the fire brigade website describes it as the worst fire in Hampshire in several years.

We thought we'd be allowed to work in the white building on the right where most of the key servers were, but it turns out to be within the danger zone for demolition so sysprogs in hard hats have been rescuing kit.

And it could have been _much_ worse. I believe that one of those cylinders contains LOX not LPG.

16:46 / 03.11.05

Good thing they didn't blow. There are probably not enough bagels in the country to deal with that.

Bastard Tweed

21:28 / 04.11.05

It's back up everyone, if a tad wonky.

Thank you, Mr Elseware, you've created a simple but engaging game.

11:30 / 07.11.05

Simple? Not too simple I hope. There over 200 objects now. 70 monsters and 60 different types of location!

I was thinking of snagging a spare PC for cities after the crisis to reduce load on our core server, and from there making a cities2 with identical code but a seperate database. Maybe if it gets any busier.

Bastard Tweed

17:29 / 07.11.05

You walk around, you click on things, you walk around, you click on things. The very soul of simplicity and to my mind one of the greater aspects of its charm.

The gauntlet is hard as hell, though. You think to yourself, "Well, I just successfully finished a duel and it would seem that the gauntlet is the next logical step so I'll just go ahead and >click< . . . Oh, fuuuuuuucck."

10:47 / 08.11.05

It is in part inspired by a board game called talisman, which I love as there is no huge strategy - at any time you have a few options which are usually a case of stupid, safe or risky.

I love that game. I got sick of strategic games which you can lose in the first 15 minutes but can't quit because it annoys the other players.

17:53 / 09.11.05

Say, what happens when you get poisoned? I just got nipped by a Triffid twice - poison level of 2, whatever that means. Is it like an anti-hat, diminishing health over time? And is dragon's blood the only route to cleaning my poor ass up?

20:15 / 09.11.05

No idea. Healers don't help. Don't eat the sting! Then again, dying seems to be no big deal in this game unless you're in combat, so I wouldn't fret. Probably the best thing to do is just keep popping away at small dragons until you get a cure. Or maybe get into a duel and lose. That might work. You'd die and get resurrected with all your stuff.

21:37 / 12.11.05

I tried dragon's blood, and only managed to loose 3 AP and 3 hp permanently. I think I'm through with that shit. Getting killed by a fellow duelist worked, though. I actually asked a chap I recognized to run me through, but I think someone else got me.

23:55 / 12.11.05

I take it General Store prices have changed since the wiki was last updated?

09:31 / 13.11.05

Dragon's blood can be dodgy, but there is more chance of getting something good than bad. If you top five or six dragons in a row you're likely to get a detox eventually. Good to know the duel thing works (not that I can use it any more).

Quantum

18:13 / 14.11.05

You triffid victims need Antidote, gained from slaying cave bats if you're lucky.

I just ground a sheaf of wheat to get a bag of flour to make a handful of dough to bake a loaf of bread to get two slices of bread to make a cucumber sandwich for the King to become a Duke, then realised I needed a sliced whole cucumber and a vial of salad dressing for each sandwich, so (vial+olive oil+vinegar+3cloves of garlic) I need to get wood and sand to make molten glass to blow into a vial, 40 olives and a bottle of wine to spoil and some more garlic...and the King wants 5 sandwiches...and I need more cucumbers...

To avoid my job I find myself playing a game in which I smoke fags and drink coffee to get the energy to make sandwiches. Why don't I just get a job in a cafe?

06:50 / 16.11.05

You can get poison cured for 500 Gold by "Jude" the healer in Brighthelm. About 60 E, 45 S. Note thats _south_ not _north_.

Laughing

08:15 / 16.11.05

Woo-hoo! I'm earth initiated and piss drunk.

Is there nowhere to buy coffee in Earth City?

18:17 / 16.11.05

I like the cosmetic changes to the wiki and the login screen. Nice.

Quantum

19:59 / 17.11.05

Yeah, like it!

Dammit, I just found Ultimate Cow wearing the Crown, and ran out of AP just as I was about to steal it... grr, argh.

00:04 / 18.11.05

Never be without coffee and fags. This is bad advice for life, but essential in Cities. The crown is soo sweet.

Char Aina

17:06 / 21.11.05

i'm dave.
i'll kill anything.
can i kill other players?

Quantum

17:22 / 21.11.05

< HAL9000 > "Register for the duel, Dave." < /HAL9000 >

Char Aina

17:34 / 21.11.05

oh, DUDE.
you are so going to be a skull on my necklace!
just as soon as i can find a decent sword...

current weapon of choice?
sacrificial dagger.
pah.
and also meh.

you have til the fates allow me a masamune;
one that burns with the flames of my hatred for your continued existence and resonates with the pure tone of my foucused will to end it.

i think i saw one by the lake.

21:29 / 21.11.05

can i kill other players?
Only once. Choose your target wisely, my padawan. In this game, stealing hats is the ultimate buzz. Oh, that and the 4AM alarm. You'll find out what I mean.

Char Aina

23:19 / 21.11.05

i got booted!
i dont remember my password either...
please tell me i can getitsomehow...?

00:56 / 23.11.05

Why don't I just get a job in a cafe?

'Cause, uh, there aren't any golden gun shootouts with sandworms in cafes. Normally. At least, I haven't noticed them.

21:38 / 23.11.05

< victory dance >

I just ran the Gauntlet! I just ran the Gauntlet! I just ran the Gauntlet, and it wasn't even that hard (for me)! Wooo!

< / victory dance >

Now I shall create a new rock epic - 'Ode to my Longbow.' It shall be great, oh yes. It shall be great.

16:13 / 01.12.05

OK, so I've followed the Magic compass, I'm in the right place in the desert... Now what?

18:50 / 01.12.05

Dig with your spade.

You did get one in the brighthelm lanes right?