Log in

View Full Version : Kunark Event - Behind the Scenes


Rogean
03-26-2011, 07:35 AM
Nilbog and I figured we would give a glimpse of the work involved in getting an event like last night's running.

Before I delve into the code and scripts, I'll pick out some of the jokes we had hidden in there that some may have missed, written by nilbog:

Jarsath Explorer
my $phrase1 = "At least there's no Rinna Lightshadow.";
my $phrase2 = "Has anyone heard the tale of an Erudian with rose-colored shoes?";
my $phrase3 = "I was relieved to find boats in working order. We'll need them to transport all these heads!";
my $phrase4 = "As a broodling, I dreamed of one day becoming a great healer. Time has caught up with me and I now realize I will never be a young doctor.";
my $phrase5 = "I miss Kunark.";

if($text=~/Rinna/i)
quest::say("We encountered a ferocious human female in a great valley!");
if($text=~/great valley/i)
quest::say("Your people called it East Commonlands.");Kylong Sergeant (South Karana)
quest::say("Greetings, $race. What an interesting place.. the landscape seems to go on for an eternity. We even encountered a flying horse!");

if($text=~/horse/i)
quest::say("It was killed within seconds of being spotted by another group. Odd, they didn't seem to have anyone that could track.");Nathsar Sergeant
quest::say("Greetings, $race. This area reminds me of a place I journeyed to long ago.. Skyfire Mountains! Are you here on business?");

if($text=~/skyfire/i)
quest::say("Pits of fire, despair.. and dispell! HA!");Anyways,

Here is the backend code that handled the backbone of the event:

Event.h http://codepad.org/VGlha3wk
Event.cpp http://codepad.org/UvhRXMVG

This runs on top of a new logging system that I coded mostly over the course of the last week that keeps better track of quests and drops. The system for encounters (engagements/fights) has been implemented for a few months now and runs through the same backend process.

The base quest scripts involved:

Explorer: http://codepad.org/LUL5R0mn
Bounty Officer: http://codepad.org/M5Spvq27
Jarsath Sergeant: http://codepad.org/hQH2TI9n

Most of the camps used one of the 3 scripts above with minor changes.

Achievements. Not really part of the "Event" but included anyway:

achievements.h http://codepad.org/sEYjTdnF
achievements.cpp http://codepad.org/FxnLDz9W

tj218
03-26-2011, 07:39 AM
Even though I didn't get a Rubi BP....:(

Great work on your part (and the other Devs too)

Thanks for all you do!

Honus
03-26-2011, 07:46 AM
Has anyone heard the tale of an Erudian with rose-colored shoes? LMAO

Great job guys, thank you!

Glaani
03-26-2011, 08:31 AM
To someone who has zero idea of how games and coding and events work, it all seems like some sort of wonderful magic to me.

Thank you for everything the Dev and GM team has done for the players. I got to see people dieing and training in and around KC last night for the first time in a long time. Good times! :)

Labyrrinth
03-26-2011, 09:06 AM
Amazing work Rogean. Sensational even!!! Thank you and everyone else involved for all your hard work and dedication to P1999.

Bruno
03-26-2011, 09:09 AM
It's definitely appreciated. Thanks guys.

Humerox
03-26-2011, 09:18 AM
You guys did an absolutely wonderful job.

The Kunark event was crazy fun...and 1500+ on server! Over the last year and a half you guys have brought back what you intended to...the gaming experience we all missed. The sheer number of people logged in last night are a testament to this.

Thanks!

:D

Vonkaar
03-26-2011, 09:22 AM
I had a blast... the event was awesome and I'm pumped to see the servers handled the load np. Great job everyone.

Alderac
03-26-2011, 09:24 AM
Such a fun event, thanks so much for all the hard work! =D

Yinaltin
03-26-2011, 09:52 AM
thanks for the event . and my ac ring :D

hedbonker
03-26-2011, 09:57 AM
Well I was part of the first group to get on a skiff in BB and then go LD when it tried to zone with 200 people on it or something. Then the server was locked. Then I got back on, got on a Skiff and made my way to KC. It was a HUGE blast omg.

Thanks to all of the devs for all the work you put into this. You guys are amazing. Even the devs that wrote this game could not get the boats running. But you guys did. Stand tall gentlemen.

Alawen Everywhere
03-26-2011, 09:58 AM
Add my vote to the long night of fun crowd. I didn't do anything special--got my group port, ran through Dreadlands and Frontier Mountains, randomly dinged 51, camped off see invis aggro in Burning Woods, killed a few blues, ran away like a little girl, grinded out a few blue, quaded some random junk, ran across to Firiona Vie, road the Maidens Voyage mostly for fun.

But it was like old times! The only thing that could have made it more nostalgic would have been flirting with Delyrium Sensorium or getting my head caved in by a bunch of trolls and ogres while I tried to level.

Thanks for all the hard work, developers and support staff! For every post on the forums, there are dozens of people who were having too much fun in game to be bothered with message boards.

Edit: I was pretty impressed by how well the server stood up to a load of 1500+.

Glorindale
03-26-2011, 11:33 AM
Awesome event. I hope we get to have another one in the future.

Ozudin
03-26-2011, 11:52 AM
I was thinking last night how cool it would be if one of the GM's posted a screen of what they see when they're running around fixing stuff.

Hobby
03-26-2011, 11:57 AM
heh... giant walls of yellow texts from people petitioning every 5 minutes is all i saw :p

Vaken
03-26-2011, 12:34 PM
Great Event, Great work!

Glorfinrod
03-26-2011, 01:44 PM
As someone beginning a career in software development this stuff is really cool to see. Thanks for the glimpse into your work!

Ongbak
03-26-2011, 02:09 PM
Thanks for all the hard work! I got on late toward at the end of the events, but seeing Iksar troops with froggy slaves was awesome! LOL!

GJ guys!

Cars
03-26-2011, 02:22 PM
In the name of keeping it short and sweet, it was like christmas in march. Thanks guys. You really don't get enough cred for all the hard work and its definitely appreciated.

Muchew
03-26-2011, 02:51 PM
Great job!

Still don't get most of the jokes though...

Jacko
03-26-2011, 02:52 PM
I hope the devs and support staff get some enjoyment out of what they do , because the commeners get so much fun from what you guys provide. Great work was a fun time last night I did not get anything speicial and still had a blast just from the excitement that the next mob might drop a mistwalker . Really how could it get better!!!

Many thanks to p1999 staff you guys have gave pleasure to many people, probably caused divorces already and created a cult following !!!

Awsome job

Salty
03-26-2011, 06:06 PM
I enjoyed it.

YendorLootmonkey
03-26-2011, 06:50 PM
quest::say("Half.. elf.. half human.. all fail.");


Heeeeeyyyy. :(

Lagaidh
03-27-2011, 10:36 AM
It's been a few years since I've pored over some C++. STL list iterators and the memory management alone make me want to run back to the carebear world of .NET, holding my global GC tightly while rocking to and fro sucking my thumb.

Rogean
03-27-2011, 10:53 AM
It's been a few years since I've pored over some C++. STL list iterators and the memory management alone make me want to run back to the carebear world of .NET, holding my global GC tightly while rocking to and fro sucking my thumb.

True the memory management is a pain in the ass, but when dealing with applications that demand performance for huge applications like MMORPG zones, the lack of overhead from a programming language that does automatic memory management or garbage collection is extremely beneficial.

Lagaidh
03-27-2011, 11:10 AM
True the memory management is a pain in the ass, but when dealing with applications that demand performance for huge applications like MMORPG zones, the lack of overhead from a programming language that does automatic memory management or garbage collection is extremely beneficial.

That's exactly what I was detailing to my wife when I told her about my joke. She asked why you guys didn't use something .NET, or other runtime, based language. I laid out the skinny.

I know what I'm talkin' about by now =) (I better be or else I've spent the last 12 years unwisely).

Come to think of it- last place I ever used C++ was an aircraft CAD software company. Lot of number crunching for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) optimization (particle swarm algorithms) and of course, rendering aircraft. Man I miss playing with OpenGL. I've been doing office-cow software since then. So C# foots the bill there.

Zarniwooop
03-28-2011, 12:30 AM
Desperately wanted a mask, but thanks for all the work.