Dissident Powers Beta

Dissident Powers (Private) Beta Announcement [12/14/13]

 After a long 9 months of work, I can finally say that we are approaching the point where Dissident Powers is playable by the end user.  At the moment, all player primary classes (including their skills and equipment), the faction hubs, 90% of zone 1, and 70% of zone 2 are complete.  In addition, most of the game's core coding is complete, and it is simply a matter of copy and paste when we want to create something new for the game at this point.

The beta will begin something this month.  We have no set date yet because I have to make sure zone 1 and zone 2 have no development holes.  When that's done, I will be giving out the server IP to select players to enjoy.

The server is hosted off of a personal computer that will not be up 24/7.  This is because server hosting is expensive.  When we move to a public beta (or maybe the full release candidate), I will proceed to buying a server. 

In terms of when our survival server will go back up, that is uncertain.  I have spoken to a few people about our plans with a new survival server, but those plans are on hold for the moment.  I want to devote all of my development time to finishing Dissident Powers first.

Dissident Powers Trailer #1

  Dissident Powers Trailer #1 [10/06/13]

It has been over 2 months since the last blogpost, and things have been progressing smoothly.  We are currently nearing the end of zone 1's development.  It may sound like the game is far from complete, but that's only because on top of zone 1 we have been developing the core gameplay functionality beside it.  The other 2 feature zones will not take as long to complete (we hope).

I have neglected to post a video or picture here at all for a long time, so I made a trailer in about 2 hours.  It shows a few things I haven't mentioned before, so enjoy!

Player Stats [8/05/13]

Player Stats [8/05/13]

I haven't posted in a while, so I figured I'd just post a screenshot of the /stats command.  Below is what it looks like at the moment in the alpha.  Some of the values (namely health) are fairly exaggerated.  You will be able to increase all of the values shown below.

The circlet, ring, and medallion are all special items for certain classes.  I happen to be playing one of those specific classes at the moment.  Boosters are also small increasers that you can equip. 

 

Zone Updates

  Zone Updates [6/28/13]

-Parrothead

This game isn't just about solving mysteries and then going onto the next.  No, this game also involves securing and maintaining control points in the game.  At the player's spawnpoint, they will be able to see every point under and not under their control.  The signs update automatically every few minutes, so they'll always be up to date!

Long time no see!

Long time no see! [6/22/13]

-Parrothead

 It's been quite a while since my last post, but that doesn't mean Dissident Powers has stopped.  In fact, it has been going very smoothly (with a few hiccups here and there).  Thanks to FrostyPirate (terrain leader and team manager), we have acquired numerous new team members (who I will not list at the moment as they may want their privacy).  These new members will be helping in things like lore creation and coding.

We are currently aiming for a December beta.  When in December is uncertain.  If the game is not ready by December, we will delay it until it is ready.

Finally, we have started a wiki, among other things.  We will be periodically adding things to it and posting links here.  This wiki topic is crafting!

In case you don't like reading, here's a quick demo video of the crafting system.  For more explicit details, read the wiki!

 

Video - Skills

Video - Skills [4/12/13]

-Parrothead

I felt it was finally time to show a little bit of what we have been working on.  All I have posted thus far have been pictures and text.  The video below is running on a copy of our server's current build.  In the video you'll see mana (look at the experience number), the repeaterblast skill, and the sprint skill.  You'll also see a headless zombie, and ninja skeletons that redirect my projectiles :(.  The wooden stick is the magic wand you will be using for that specific skill, and the bluish orb is a mana potion that heals 1 mana per use.

Enjoy!

Lore!

Lore!

-Parrothead

 

For an RPG to have the right feels, it needs proper lore.  We've spent a few days throwing around ideas, and now have a rough reason for designing the world the way we are now.  In short, both factions cause the problem, and neither of them take a diplomatic approach to resolve it before one of them snaps.  We'll post more updates regarding lore in the future, but for now, it remains in the library!

Our saving system at the moment...

Our saving system at the moment...

-Parrothead

 This testing server that we use is run locally, so there aren't any special world-management tools that we use at the moment.  One of the problems we were having was saving.  Sometimes the script I wrote wasn't saving if I were to reload anything, so I had to come up with an alternative.  I won't take credit for this, as I think Sethbling was the original creator, but I built one of these!

This simply runs the minecart repetitively through a command block with the command "save-all" on it.  The spider webs slow down the cart so it isn't saving every 2 seconds.  The cow was included to make sure the cart rode correctly.

Frequently Asked Questions - 1

FAQ #1

-Parrothead

Q: Will this replace our normal server?
At this point in time, this will not replace our normal build server.  We will be hosting two separate servers. 

Q: How long will this project take?
We don't have any projections in mind at the moment.  We're doing things as they come up.  At the moment, I suspect the terrain is about 5% done and the coding at 7-8%.  I do think things with coding will speed up quickly, however, because when I write all of the core functions, all I will have to do is copy and paste.  After that, I will be able to assist in terrain creation.

Q: What is the name of the game?
We actually came up with this on March 31.  Right now, we're planning on calling it Dissident Powers.  This might change, but for right now we're referring to the project as that.

Q: How long have you been in development?
We started on March 25, 2013.

Q: What can I expect ingame?
We expect to provide many days worth of gameplay for the average user, along with several additions as time goes on.  We will provide most things that make RPG's great, and then some.  We don't want it to be overly complex, however.  If you want to know how simplistic we're trying to be, think about Paper Mario 64.  That's the type of RPG simplicity we're aiming for.

/Skills Command

/Skills Command

-Parrothead

 Commands are something I wanted to avoid entirely.  RPG's more often than not have a very intuitive interface with minimal command input.  I have been moderately successful in this endeavor, but there are some things that would be more confusing if I didn't make them commands.  The /skills command is what I hope will be the solution to everyone memorizing dozens of commands.

When you type /skills or /skill, you will be given an interface that includes almost all of the ingame commands that you will regularly use.  What you see in the screenshot below is hopefully around the amount of commands that you will see.

Faction NPC's

Faction NPC's

-Parrothead

 What better way is there to get people into the lore of [PLACEHOLDER] than by exploiting Minecraft's absurd amount of villager variations and adding custom textures for each faction?  Few things I would think.  These villagers will be a staple component of what each faction represents.

I think I clearly captured the spirit of the two factions here.

 Excuse the human in the middle, he's not part of either of the factions.

Tech Trees

Tech Trees

-Parrothead

 Tech trees are something you'd expect most RPG and MMO games to have.  Yes, we will also have tech trees in our game, but they will be much simpler.  Included below is a prototype for one of the many tech tree boards that will be around the cities.  

Players will be able to learn many of these trees, and won't necessarily be put into a box, limited to only certain trees as they progress.  You can progress in the tree, or just give up on it when you get it to a spot you like, and then start on another tree.

 This is a basic mage tree.  Notice how you have to level "Magic Wand 1" before you can either continue leveling magic wand, or branch off into one of the other two trees beside it.  If you really wanted to, you could just level Magic Wand 1 and then split off into another tree.  Doing this, however, negates you the bonuses listed by the signs at the bottom of the tree.

Introducing... [Placeholder]!

Introducing... [Placeholder]!

-Parrothead

So, what have we been doing?  Well, without exposing too much, we are creating a brand new mode of gameplay for Minecraft.  This mode requires ZERO client mods, and only requires the use of the texture pack that will autoinstall for you when you join our server.  Yes, you will be able to join without a single client mod and play a totally new Minecraft experience.

I (Parrothead) will be coding nearly everything.  FrostyPirate and his team will be doing most of the terrain, and Anton007007 will be doing the major bug testing.

I will go more into depth with explanations as time goes on, so I figured that I would post stuff that we finish or are currently working on.  I don't have a set time that I'll do this, but expect 1 blog post every day or so.

Mana Orbs

Mana orbs are those things that I posted yesterday in the screenshots.  They are ingame items that will provide your character with mana.  Your character's mana replaces the experience bar, and will always show how much mana you have.  Mana will be used for a plethora of things.

Where did the admins go?

 Where did the admins go?

-Parrothead

If you haven't noticed, for the past few days the admins and other regular faces haven't been on much.  We, however, have a very good reason for this, I swear!  I'm sure you find this fairly interesting.

I have been working with Frosty and other known members of the community in secret, developing something awesome.  What have we been working on?  Well, that's a secret at the moment.  It is for Minecraft, however, and it is going to be amazing.

I will reveal a lot more tomorrow (Friday, March 29), but for right now, I'll leave you with a few pictures:

When will the server be updated?

When 1.5 comes out.

http://dl.bukkit.org/downloads/craftbukkit/

Check daily.

CMNC Website 2.0

I have finally stopped being lazy and have uploaded the newer build of the site to the Internets.  No real performance upgrades (not that it needed any), but there are 2 big features, one you won't really care about.

First is that everything is better organized into one of the five (right now four) categories above.  Just scroll your mouse over the buttons to activate a menubar.

Second is the fact that I can now make pages that have the same layout without having to copy and paste lots of code.  That's mainly the reason for this site rewrite.

On another note, I cleaned up the code so I could read it.  Yay...!

If you want to use or just see the differences between the two sites, I have uploaded it to http://clancmnc.com/old.

On another note, here's Celldweller.

Do survey for a key (limited time)! - [02/21/13]

 Find our survey post on reddit below to participate in the survey!

http://www.reddit.com/r/cmnc

GET A FREE KEY TODAY ONLY! - [01/24/13]

Thanks for visiting!  To get a free key on Thursday, January 24, 2013, tell Parrothead the passcode "holdmyteeth" via a private message.
Example: /tell Parrothead holdmyteeth
This offer is only valid on this date!

Introducing . . . Crates! - [01/22/13]

If you've been on the server for the past couple of days, you have have seen a new message pop up for you or a friend.  If you have seen "You have found a crate!", then congratulations!  These crates are similar to TF2 style crates, where you need a key to open them.  HOWEVER, we will be offering many different ways to open them.  You won't have to donate to get keys.  We will be holding several contests throughout the year, and the crates feature mainly just gives us another possible option for prizes.

So good luck, get the crate you want (hint for readers: type /contents to see what's potentially inside each chest), and grab a key to unlock it!  Our first event featuring key giveaways will be our Valentine's Day contest coming up in February.

Site Update (Front Page) - [01/20/13]

I have done quite a site revision today, and have changed a few things.  I hope you like these changes!

Site Changes

•  Replaced Clan Members with Server Status.
• Replaced Join Clan with Server Down?.
• Clarified what the External Links were for.
• Updated copyright footer to include 2013.
• Replaced old news grabber with this one.
• This one is better because it only displays 5 old news where as the old one always showed every single one.  It was O.K. for a while, but after a large amount of news started piling up, it began to lag the page.
• You can now click the title of the submission to be taken to the Blogger.com page it was posted on.

Server Information (Minecraft) - [01/20/13]

You may have noticed that the server was down for a while January 20th.  For more information on that, click this link.  We now have a new provider, which I hope will be as good if not better than our old one.

Another Great Year! - [01/12/13]

This is just a post solely for the purpose of making it known that this website is not dead.  There's just simply not that much going on that I can't post in Minecraft / send to people for Dota2 on Steam.  The Xmas contest has wrapped up, with Zodils placing first in the Minecraft Mob Arena contest, and ___Jam___ placing first in the building contest!  All players have been rewarded for participating, and we can't thank you enough for making this server a great place to craft!

Here's some cool stuff:

1:The Fireworks Show

It's amazing how much you can do with Minecraft fireworks these days!

2:Xmas Contest Map Download

Visit http://clancmnc.com/w.rar to download the map from this year.  Be sure to get it quick!  I will be eventually deleting it from our server.