tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82505601233775367262023-06-21T05:01:51.542+01:00Shields DownA blog from the Shields-Down creator - Robinb. Containing news on Shields Down, and on general thingsRobin Bournehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12825096579215396000noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8250560123377536726.post-6744540982398092262013-10-09T16:34:00.001+01:002013-10-09T16:34:55.242+01:00This site is not going anywhere :)Hey all,<br />
<br />
Just had my domain and site renewal in today, and even though I haven't updated this site in a scary number of years, I have decided to renew for another 2 years :)<br />
<br />
There are a number of reasons for this, mainly because I want to experiment with new HTML5 features, new frameworks, and also expand Shields Down into new games.<br />
<br />
Not only that, but also that I now have my own personal server sitting at home, and a new broadband line being installed this week (76Mb down, 20Mb up). This allows for a serious amount of flexibility of hosting new -things- and services. (Excluding hosting my own game servers, something I've wanted to do for oh-so-long!).<br />
<br />
So this site is not going to disappear. When I get time, I will update this with the new framework, with the new user-editable pages, but alas, time is short for me at the moment.<br />
<br />
So this will all happen one day. I'm nto sure when, but one day :)<br />
<br />
Have a good one!<br />
<br />
RBourneRobin Bournehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12825096579215396000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8250560123377536726.post-6174745104156961182013-01-20T15:43:00.000+00:002013-01-20T15:43:52.109+00:00New framework... Yet again<br />
<b>TL;DR:</b> Fell out with PHP (site program language), but new tech means I'm rebuilding the site from scratch using a new PHP framework. No timescales yet, but I will be opening a "build schedule", progress, and a "poke" to keep me active. More info later.<br />
<br />
Article:<br />
<br />
Some of you will have noticed this site is built in PHP, but I would imagine only a few of you will realise that I coded this site over 10 years ago. Back then I didn't know anything about keeping my code tidy, readable, user-friendly etc. and that's hindering my development efforts as some of my code is, well, scary. Real scary.<br />
<br />
But at the time, this code worked and I had no need to go back and re-do it; I had so much more I wanted to code instead. This was a mistake. And I'm paying the price for it as every time I revisit the code to redevelop it, I shudder and lose motivation, easily becoming distracted. <br />
<br />
So why am I telling you this? Well, apart from hoping a new coder somewhere will take note of my mistakes, it's more of a "What I'm going to do now". I want to get ready for HTML5, I want to get ready for all that new technology and have something in place to experiment, play around and see what work and what doesn't. So I've made the decision to rebuild the site from scratch. That's not a decision I take lightly as, well, I made that decision last year, and that was also a mistake...<br />
<br />
I started building a new site using the PHP Framework <a href="http://kohanaframework.org/">Kohana</a> and it was going well, but when I wanted to get something more complex involved, I found I had to do a lot of configuration to do something simple. Maybe I was doing it wrong, trying to be too complex with Model auto-committing and eager loads, but it just didn't click. I was spending too much time tweaking to make it work and not enough time building the content. This was coupled with a catastrophic hard disk failure and I lost a lot of the tweaking. I didn't go back after that (NOTE: Make backups. Now. Because you never know when the same will happen to you!)<br />
<br />
This also came with the famous "<a href="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7226/7095238893_5000f6e57d_m.jpg">PHP Hammer</a>" (<a href="http://me.veekun.com/blog/2012/04/09/php-a-fractal-of-bad-design/">and related article</a>, well worth a read if you code). I laughed when reading the "bugs" on PHP as about 3 of the issues I was experiencing were documented, and to be completely honest, I lost every ounce of motivation for PHP. And, hence, the site wasn't updated since. <br />
<br />
But another article recently appeared, stating "<a href="http://net.tutsplus.com/articles/editorials/why-2013-is-the-year-of-php/">Why 2013 is the year for PHP</a>" and it appears the latest versions of PHP has fixed a number of the issues that I experienced last year, and included a number of new, needed functionality (finally, <a href="https://sheriframadan.com/2012/08/finally-keyword-in-php/">literally</a>!). The release for this PHP 5.5 is in Feb/March, and I for one cannot wait.<br />
<br />
There's also been a large amount of chat about a new framework, <a href="http://laravel.com/">Laravel</a> and I've heard nothing bad about it. So that's what I'm using, and after 3 days I am absolutely loving it. I still have a ton of coding to do before I can get close to having a website online, but it's progressing nicely and I'm not being blocked by constant "tweak this" and "re-work this". It just.. works. And as a coder, that's all I want for now.<br />
<br />
So, that's my plan. New PHP Framework, starting from scratch, and to keep me motivated I'm also going to make my "todo" board public where you'll decide what's more important, and help me decide what to work on next. I'll also have a "poke" button so if I do go quiet again, you'll be able to poke me for an update and/or to get it done.<br />
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I hope this will be a new era for Shields Down, for myself, and something you will enjoy and use in the future.<br />
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Have a good one!<br />
<br />
Robinb<br />
Robin Bournehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12825096579215396000noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8250560123377536726.post-66233003385859602202012-04-19T17:36:00.007+01:002012-04-19T23:45:45.132+01:00ICO Cookie - Login may be disabled soon<span style="font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "><span style="font-size: 100%;"></span></span><span>Hi Everyone,<br /><br /></span><div><span>The EU will soon put into force the ICO cookie EU directive which basically means websites must explain if cookies are being used, how they are being used and in some circumstances allow the user to opt-in before the cookie is created. Some work is required to make this site comply with this directive, but I thought this would be an appropriate time to explain the current situation and what needs to be done.</span><div><span><br />First, note the "some circumstances". Essential cookies don't require permission, and this is something I am reading on to see what classifies as "essential". IE to access certain parts of the site, I need to use a cookie to remember who you are...</span></div><div><span><br />Also I need to update (*cough* create *cough*) a privacy policy.</span></div><div><span><br />In fact, that's about it... the advertising doesn't use cookies/tracking/etc (one of the reasons I love Project Wonderful!) and the only time a cookie is placed is when you log in. I need to change how the cookies work on the site as well - I have them on a persistence basis (so it remembers who you are) - this will need to change to a session basis so it removes the cookie once you close the browser.</span></div><div><span><br />So in a nutshell - there may be some "behind the scenes" changes to how cookies are handled, also I may have to temporarily deactivate the login section of the site next month (I'll warn you all before that happens).</span></div><div><span><br />Anyway, that's enough from me. Sorry I haven't been active, mix of economic climate, workload, external projects and other external projects means most the time I'm exhausted or working on other major projects. The new site code is still there and I will hopefully be working on it again soon. Feels that every time I finish one job, two more gets added...</span></div><div><span><br />Take it easy!<br /><br /></span></div><div><span>Rb<br /><br /></span></div><div><span>PS This post was edited at 23:43GMT 19/04/12</span><div style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 100%; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; "></div></div><div><span><br /></span></div><div><span><br /></span></div></div>Robin Bournehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12825096579215396000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8250560123377536726.post-13068127978764300812011-07-23T13:37:00.005+01:002011-07-25T21:03:26.352+01:00The ARG<div>Well the ARG event is complete, and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. But you may be asking what is an ARG and how it may have involved you and Shields Down. Well, let me explain.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>ARG</b></div><div>ARG stands for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_reality_game">Alternate Reality Game</a>, an event where you, the player, participate and affect a story based on your actions or ideas. In this version I based it on the highly successful <a href="http://valvearg.com/wiki/Valve_PotatoFoolsDay_ARG_Wiki">ValveARG</a>, (it's end result was releasing <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/app/620">Portal 2</a> earlier in the week). I wanted to try this on a small scale (seeing as the ValveARG was MASSIVE!)</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Why</b></div><div>Two reasons. </div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><i>Generate Hype</i> - Shields Down had been offline for a while and my fear was if I flicked the 'on' switch, no one would notice. I wanted to generate some hype, some chatter around the site returning. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><i>Interest</i> - I loved being part of the ValueARG, and I wanted to try one out myself. It looked fun, and I thought "why not" and "when would there be a better opportunity?"</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>The Plan</b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">The initial plan was to send a large, encoded message, partitioned to many players based on their activity on Shields Down, IRC chat and activity on Core Exiles. Decoding and placing the fragments in the right order would have produced a CE related spam message, but with a hidden embedded URL. The url would have taken you to the "he/is/safe" website. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">These messages would have been sent to players and staff alike - I didn't even tell the staff this event was happening! (Apart from Coops; he kindly gave permission to use Core Exiles as the host for the event)</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">*The next step has been removed from this post as I think it's a great idea, and I might use it again in the future - Sorry!*</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Finally, the mech battles. A couple of core mechs to start a timer, followed by more mechs to quicken the timer.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>What Actually Happened</b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >With advise from some close friends, I decided to test the water before jumping straight into it. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >And am I thankful that I heeded the advise of others.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >In the end I decided to encode a small phrase containing some key words - specifically about a <a href="http://community.core-exiles.co.uk/comments.php?DiscussionID=3988&page=1#Item_3">Phoenix</a>. If successful I would have reverted to the original plan. If not, I would modified it. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >The first few hours didn't go well. Some players were concerned it was a hacker, taking control of my SDLottery account, trying to scam other players. Other players didn't know what to do, so deleted them without reading the message. It got to a point where the Core Exiles staff took administrative action on the account, resetting the account's password and limiting my access. I realised my errors too late, and thought this event was lost. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >But, the following morning, I found players had started posting on the forums about it - decoding & putting different fragments together. Successfully, you got the quote, so I continued the ARG. I changed the scenario though, skipping the next step, claiming the password was the quote's author (Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra). In IRC, I placed a link to the he/is/safe link.<br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" ><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" >The event went well after this: 6 major mech battles over the weekend started a clock, followed by many minor ones to quicken the clock. As you hopefully saw, the clock was the time remaining until the site came back online, reducing after each minor mech was destroyed. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>What I learnt</b></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">A heck of a lot. Almost too much to put in a blog post, but a couple of key points:</span></div><div><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span">Build up a background story. I instantly went into an ARG with 1 line giving a background - and that made players concerned and confused. I think building up a story will ease them in, or realise a game is being played</span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span">Be ready for anything. An ARG is directed by you, the players. The creator may have a plan and may even have players following it, but others will see things that aren't there. This isn't a bad thing - I found a couple of routes they saw that I didn't, so coded them in as I liked them. </span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span">Confusion by other players. I couldn't customise the mechs names any more then the next person, so if someone else used a mech prefix of SD, others may think it's part of the ARG when it isn't. </span></li><li><span class="Apple-style-span">Monitor and intervening - I was monitoring the chat and the forums, seeing where you were looking and going with the ARG, but there were many times that I wanted to intervene and steer you to my path/plan. But, doing so would make me a director, preventing you from being a player of the ARG. Most the time I was developing on your ideas and thoughts, realising any plan I had was useless. I did make one, major intervention though - when the CE staff got involved in regards to the hacking suggestions. Apart from that, this ARG was created by all of you!</span></li></ul><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><b>The Conclusion</b></span></div></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">Overall, I would classify this as a success. The beginning was iffy, and I'm confident that if I went for the original plan to begin with it would have been a complete failure. I'm happy that you found the pattern and worked together to combat the mechs. I learnt a lot from this, and I personally really enjoyed expanding the story based on your actions. </span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span">I'm already planning the next ARG, but I'll leave it to you to find it when it starts. </span></div>Robin Bournehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12825096579215396000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8250560123377536726.post-44825991736562566892011-07-23T13:31:00.006+01:002011-07-25T21:02:41.985+01:00The Recovery<div>I realised last week that I wasn't progressing as much as I wanted on my new framework, and with each passing day I was delaying my relaunch. After a long coffee I decided that the delays weren't fair on you, the players, the community who want the site back. As such, I changed my goal:</div><div><br /></div><div>Get the old Shields Down back online and re-secured, and then work on the framework.</div><div><br /></div><div>So, that's what I did, and that's what happened. It's the same site as before but with each query being checked and going through a vigorous query checker before being executed. I am confident the attacks that happened will not affect the site again. </div><div><br /></div><div>I've updated some of the schematics, but some of the very new schematics caused my script to collapse. I'm reworking the issue and will update you when the remaining are updated. </div><div><br /></div><div>Apart from there is one change. You might notice a new tab above. You might want to check it out - especially if you are going to be actively involved in the <a href="http://community.core-exiles.co.uk/comments.php?DiscussionID=3995&page=1#Item_0">Stomp The Staff</a> weekend on the weekend of the 29th July 2011!</div><div><br /></div><div>Take care,</div><div>Robinb.</div>Robin Bournehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12825096579215396000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8250560123377536726.post-71022678397646499442011-05-19T13:25:00.001+01:002011-05-19T13:27:13.571+01:00Alert: Virus Outbreak - Starbase 70 (Derren)This just in from the <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/coreexilesdev/status/71187151336906753">ISN Twitter feed</a>:<div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(54, 43, 54); font-size: 13px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; ">Deadly virus found infection captains on Starbase 70 in the Derren system of the Furnace Galaxy. Dozens infected!! More later.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(54, 43, 54); font-size: 13px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; "><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(54, 43, 54); font-size: 13px; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; ">More news as and when it comes in. </span></div>Robin Bournehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12825096579215396000noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8250560123377536726.post-63178153510380175052010-10-16T20:22:00.003+01:002010-10-16T20:34:23.455+01:00Resolutions...I have a strong feeling that 10 months, 16 days ago I made a resolution to care and promote Shields Down to the best of my abilities. Sufficed to say I didn't even get close to this. There are reasons why and excuses, but at the same time I look back at the past 10 months and I think 'I could have done more'. <div><br /></div><div>Saying that, I'm not going to promise that I will update it. Don't get me wrong, I will try, but I have new work projects that need to take priority, often leaving me at my desk until the wee hours of the night. </div><div><br /></div><div>The site will remain alive, I've got no doubts about that. I'm also keeping eyes on the latest developments in Core Exiles, and noticed a HUGE number of new schematics have become available. I will attempt to get them on here as soon as I can :)</div><div><br /></div><div>I will apologise to all of my users, it must be hard and frustrating not knowing when an update will happen or if the information is up to date, but feel free to kick me on an email if I seem to be failing on my task to update this site.</div><div><br /></div><div>If anyone has anything they want to see on the site which they could use please email me or catch me in chat. </div><div><br /></div><div>Robinb.</div><div><br /></div><div>PS, What's the penalty for breaking a new years resolution? </div>Robin Bournehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12825096579215396000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8250560123377536726.post-62248107314673885782010-04-26T22:27:00.001+01:002010-04-26T22:30:33.977+01:00Deposits OnlineDeposits are back online.Robin Bournehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12825096579215396000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8250560123377536726.post-36185024429303665992010-04-14T21:26:00.004+01:002010-04-14T21:54:58.600+01:00New Schematics & The Truth...As some of you will know, a whole bunch of <a href="http://community.core-exiles.co.uk/comments.php?DiscussionID=1992&page=1#Item_0">new schematics</a> have been created in Core Exiles. Seeing as such a major change was put into play, I stopped working on my new site and decided to concentrate on getting my schematic pages updated. Through blood, sweat and tears, it has been done.<br /><br />The one downside is the categoriser that identifies the schematics and places them into a group was edited for my new web page and is incompatible with the old site. This means the majority of the new schematics are in a group called 'Unknown'. I will slowly make my way through them one at a time, but please be patient whilst this is done. The new web site will add a community theme, allowing you to suggest if a schematic belongs in another group (or even shared between groups). In the mean time might I suggest searching for a schematic in the top right section of the site?<br /><br />I'm talking a lot about my new site - but unfortunately I don't have much to show you at the moment. If your interested, I'm building up a new framework first before adding the skin and colours. Because of this all you would see is an unusable dump of debugging information (unless you're a geek like me...). For that I apologise but please follow this blog if you want to be kept up to date. I'm also on Twitter (<a href="http://www.twitter.com/shieldsdown">shieldsdown</a>).<br /><br />On another note, my current method of placing these news articles onto my site is about to change - currently I'm using Blogger and transferring the files across to here, but due to a system change this is not going to be possible(1st May). I should have a new system in place by then, but I would recommend following my Twitter account to be updated on this just in case its delayed.<br /><br />Finally, I know I have been away and neglected this site far worse that it & any of you deserve. The fact that even in such a huge absence you are still here, reading this post, looking at my schematics pages and still giving positive feedback on it, makes me realise I really don't deserve you lot. Truthfully, I honestly thought I had left it so bad that none of you would be here, that it would be a throw away job when the domain name expired. You guys are amazing, and thank you all for still being here.<br /><br />I forgot how much I enjoyed coding for my site, I forgot how fun it was to produce useful, meaningful tools that will help players develop and expand their knowledge and use of Core Exiles. I hope this continues for a long time, and that Shields Down will be with you all the way.<br /><br />Thanks again all,<br /><br />Rb<br /><br />Shields Down<br /><br />PS I have changed my mail's spam filter (I got very concerned that I have not had an email for a a year and a bit). Appears the old filter was feeding them into a blackhole never to be seen again. My new filter is producing emails that I need to answer which were previously spammed out, but good news is the contacts page is back online. Please feel free to contact me.Robin Bournehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12825096579215396000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8250560123377536726.post-53354019629548360742010-04-14T19:34:00.003+01:002011-07-24T20:37:11.243+01:00Expect Disruption - CompleteHi all,<div><br /></div><div><s>I'm about to launch a serious update to the Shields Down schematics pages. Unfortunately this update could potentially cause disruption to the user crafters page, players resources may go missing or be reallocated. I will attempt to keep the disruption to a minimum, but if you are working on any major projects (with manually entered values) I would seriously consider postponing the use of the tool until this upgrade has been completed. </s></div><div><br /></div><div>I have backups of all the relevant databases so if something does go wrong, give me a shout and I'll restore it for you.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'll keep you updated and let you know when the update has been completed.<br /><br />This is the note to say the relevant pages have been updated and you can use the site normally again. Thanks :)<br /></div>Robin Bournehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12825096579215396000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8250560123377536726.post-4624759717595994762010-04-14T19:08:00.001+01:002010-04-14T19:09:14.416+01:00Outage fixedAccount creations should be back online - drop me an email if this is not the case.Robin Bournehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12825096579215396000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8250560123377536726.post-58559148266885135282010-04-14T10:33:00.002+01:002010-04-14T11:19:19.357+01:00Outage - Account CreationAll,<div><br /></div><div>I am currently working on a new blog post but this is marked as important. </div><div><br /></div><div>It appears attempting to crate a new account is currently causing a 'CRITICAL ERROR' and to contact an admin. Unfortunately the admin is currently away from his desk, but will be able to look at this problem in the evening (GMT). </div><div><br /></div><div>Further news to follow along with a new, more detailed blog post.</div><div><br /></div><div>Robinb</div><div><br /></div><div> </div>Robin Bournehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12825096579215396000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8250560123377536726.post-47156255838129552032009-01-20T12:39:00.002+00:002009-01-20T12:43:33.110+00:00EmailsHey all,<br /><br />Apart from my mail box is being spammed beyond belief, some of the 'correct' mail is being filtered out. Unfortunatly this was instantly deleted. I am not sure how long this has gone on for, but it would explain the recent downturn in emails.<br /><br />I am setting up a new system for my emails, once online you will be able to contact me again.<br /><br />For now, if you need/want to get in touch, please reply to this blog post. The Contact Us page will be modified soon to incorporate the changes.<br /><br />Appologies, if anyone has sent an email recently, either PM me (Robinb) in the forums. Otherwise, i will get the new contact screen opterational as soonas I can.<br /><br />Cheers,<br /><br />Shields DownRobin Bournehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12825096579215396000noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8250560123377536726.post-78747532726491634152008-12-21T23:20:00.001+00:002008-12-21T23:26:26.356+00:00Updated SchematicsCall it an early Christmas present - the Schematics & resources pages have been updated to the <span style="font-weight: bold;">latest</span> possible version I could find. If you knew how long I have been wanting to do this for, you probably wouldn't be anywhere close.<br /><br />I am calling this the first step in a long journey. The site is knackered, old, creasing at the seams, but still it stands. And if your reading this, then its still in use - so Thank You!<br /><br />So apart from long time promises from months back, all I can say is I am still here, I am getting back on track, and if there is one thing I seriously promise, when I relaunch this site, it will come with more goodies then you can shake a stick at!<br /><br />For now, in case I don't post again, Happy Christmas from the SD team, may Santa et al. bring everything you have ever dreamed of!<br /><br />Take care,<br /><br />Robinb<br />Shields Down<br /><a href="http://twitter.com/shieldsdown">http://twitter.com/shieldsdown</a> for all the latest as it happens!Robin Bournehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12825096579215396000noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8250560123377536726.post-39030651376743891772008-12-07T13:23:00.000+00:002008-12-07T13:26:24.288+00:00Been busy...You may have noticed, the sites not a little outdated? All hell broke recently, and I am still working through the backlog, but I am managing and soon be back on my feet.<br /><br />All in all, I will be doing a complete re-launch of the site when its back up to date, and with some exciting new features!<br /><br />More soon, don't want to give it all away now :)<br /><br />RbRobin Bournehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12825096579215396000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8250560123377536726.post-86454468692897258022008-09-23T12:30:00.001+01:002008-09-23T12:34:40.076+01:00Tad Busy...Hey all,<br /><br />Been a tad busy, work is taking most my time at the moment, so I know there are a lot of things out of date, outstanding and such. It should be settling down soon, and will be re-coding again.<br /><br />I didn't cater that I would be out of action for 2 hours a day for driving... 2 years ago I was able to do work on the train - last I checked there is no device that would allow me to code whilst driving :( There are rumors of a direct train line from my home town to my place of work - although they have been talking about it for the past 4 years, I ain't expecting anything to happen this side of the century. Currently, it would take 1h50m to get from home to work on train, and then another set back. Great for coding times, but not great for relaxing - also I would be riding close to the last train. Joys!...<br /><br />I got some other news, but I will post it later.<br /><br />Take care,<br /><br />robinbRobin Bournehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12825096579215396000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8250560123377536726.post-74042768770671458252008-08-16T11:41:00.000+01:002008-08-16T11:43:40.017+01:00My Bad...Hey all,<p>Currently in Starbucks near my local town. Plan was to take my laptop <br>and do some work out here whilst I wait for someone to finish work. <br>Foolishly fotgot to pack it, stupid me. So, no updates his morning, <br>just a little insight as I am bored out of my mind.<p>Let's start with planning, something to wet your tastebuds. It's no <br>secret I have not been about much, and the time I have been about I <br>had hardware failures - all fixed now, moved away from an svn server <br>and running it on my localhost. If/when my personal server comes back <br>online I'll use it as a backup rather then the main content machine.<br>So, what is planned? First I have a reverification of all existing <br>content: some of it I'd missing, wrong or currupt. Any help on that <br>would be awarded :) (HINT)<p>Next is for new content. I have something I am calling a "secret game" <br>in construction. Basically you pay ingame credits for a board, and <br>weekly using a secret calculation it works out how many points you get <br>for that board. It can edit elements, rotate pieces etc. It's "secret" <br>as you don't know how the score is worked out. Prizes weekly, monthly <br>and special occasions. You don't have to wait for the work out to <br>play, single player will be available. More soon.<p>Second is one that's already created, but needs tweaking- Slot <br>machine! Last time my so played it, SD won 1 billion credits in 24 <br>hours. Good news for me, but unfair for you lot. Some tweaking needed <br>me thinks.<p>Third, incorporating a new game to Shields Down. If you have a game <br>(large, small etc) let me know by posting a comment below (click title <br>to get to comment screen). It will have all the same games in,with <br>help tools And looking towards inter game trading!! Should be fun.<p>Forth, Market alerts. If you are after something, and someone puts it <br>on the pm at a price you are looking for, you will get an email about <br>it! Simple, plain and maybe your shouting about th GBM - if someone <br>gas a large request for 10,000 of something, but if want 10 this tool <br>should help.<p>Fifth, signiture tools for forums. I am in discussions with Core <br>Exiles and Transporter Tycoon to see if I can obtain a players <br>statistics (with the players permission), creating a dynamic pup <br>signiture so you can add it to core exiles fouls, transported forums <br>or any others you want. Facebook, myspace, the list goes on.<p>Sixth, newsletters. You may have noticed that in your settings you get <br>automatically added to tne mailing list. To keep it all legal, <br>everyone will be emailed to confirm you want to be added. Anyone who <br>doesn't will have to change that setting. Newsletter will include <br>important information, latest news and compertitions. I would strongly <br>advise signing up for it, the first compettition will be a very big <br>one!!<p>Right, wasted an hour and a half in starbucks, almost time to pick <br>people up. Again, sorry to people with withdraw requests, they will be <br>done when I get home.<p>Tell you one thing though, I love this iPhone. Amazing what a small <br>device can do<br>Take care all,<p>Robinb on iPhone, so forgive the mistakes!!Robin Bournehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12825096579215396000noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8250560123377536726.post-87921397014211951482008-08-13T13:24:00.000+01:002008-08-13T13:30:12.660+01:00so many things... so little timeHey all,<br /><br />Been a tad bit busy recently with a holiday, new job, new car, selling an old car, killing a wasps next and having an operation on my wizdom teeth, all in a very short time.<br /><br />With that happening, strange things have been happening to Shields Down, - I got a clump of emails in one day dating back 14 days+ (and I check it regularly). likewise, a bot has got access to my email address which is causing havok on my mail filters. I'm processing them all, so anyone who has sent an email i will be in contact with. Meanwhile, I am in the process of creating an intellegent system to filter spam and real messages, should have it operational soon.<br /><br />There are a lot of withdraw requests (and i see the main lottery was won - well done :) ) - again I have only just been notified so I will sort that out soon.<br /><br />I am trying to find more hours in the day, and I will find a schedule I can work to. In the mean time the site is not dead, I am not dead and will be back in action soon.<br /><br />Call this period an 'extended unscheduled' holiday - I'm sure you understand.<br /><br />Take care all - I'll update soon.<br /><br />RbRobin Bournehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12825096579215396000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8250560123377536726.post-39246603682814482062008-07-10T13:54:00.000+01:002008-07-10T14:05:21.433+01:00And back, but backloggedHey all, back from my holidays today - been unpacking and getting everything back to how it was before I went away.<br /><br />Having some severe PC problems at the moment, ranging from random reboots to hal.dll failures. Its strange how a PC can break from being off-line for a fortnight, might be its way of telling me not to go away again!<br /><br />I have a backlog of emails, and with the Pc problems its slow process of getting them actioned and replied. I am running through them, so please expect a reply in the next few days, if not today.<br /><br />Right, I am needing to run into town to get a compressed air canister, and a XP recovery CD - one thing I hate about commercial PC's is it only comes with there recovery CD's - no good if you want to get into the XP recovery console. Joys.<br /><br />Hopefully be fixed soon - Might get a new PSU whilst I am at it - the random reboots are at the same time that the fans loose a bit of power. Chucked on some loggers, see if it is a faulty PSU that's causing the problems.<br /><br />Back soon,<br /><br />RbRobin Bournehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12825096579215396000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8250560123377536726.post-64116904546723027502008-06-19T19:49:00.000+01:002008-06-19T19:52:30.927+01:00Holiday!I'm outta here - on holiday for 14 days. Sorry for the lack of updates, been doing some projects on the side for multiple people and ended up so I didn't have much time to get Shields Down Updates.<br /><br />I will get more done when I am back, most the projects are complete now. The navigator is 95% complete - setting it so you can go 'via' a place (maybe places if you want - let me know on the comments be clicking the title above)<br /><br />Until then, have fun, take care, and I will be back back in a forghtnight!!<br /><br />RbRobin Bournehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12825096579215396000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8250560123377536726.post-22787532425255137842008-06-02T21:13:00.000+01:002008-06-10T11:01:16.155+01:00In UpdatesHey all, All my exams are now finished, so apart from celebrating I am now coding my site back to right :D<br /><br />So, this post is going to be updated this week with everything fixed. There will also be an email shot to everyone (that has not opted out from the users options) with these fixes, as some are classified as critical and high.<br /><br /><ul><li>Casino: Scratchcards are now back in stock. If you were affected by the shortage, please let me know and I will look into it</li><li>ItemDetails: Problems detected in Iexplore. Still working on an solution. - expansion: Going to change from a total JS solution to AJAX.<br /></li></ul>More to add soon. Keep an eye out as this is going to update rather then a new post created each time.<br /><br />Cheers,<br /><br />RbRobin Bournehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12825096579215396000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8250560123377536726.post-25020657600110853462008-05-30T20:22:00.001+01:002008-05-30T20:24:36.417+01:00Still hereIts been a while since my last post (if anyone does read this that is). My exams are almost complete, in fact I only have the one on Monday left. Afterwards its spanners, nails and a sledge hammer to get this site back to fully working conditions. So, please bare with me whilst I sort everything out :)<br /><br />Week starting Monday, you won't know what's hits you when I'm finished!<br /><br />Take care all!<br /><br />RbRobin Bournehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12825096579215396000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8250560123377536726.post-46925000446775434532008-05-20T11:57:00.000+01:002008-05-20T12:00:39.216+01:00Engineering items are history!All,<br /><br />If you have not heard the news, then I suggest heading to the <a href="http://forum.core-exiles.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=704">forums</a> double time. Engineering items have been abolished, leaving crafting wide open again. Anyone who wants to experiment in this area, now is the time!<br /><br />In relation, Shields Down has already started removing and verifying the schematics for engineering items. There are also a few new schematics that would be interested. This blog post will be updated as development progresses.<br /><br />Cheers,<br /><br />RbRobin Bournehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12825096579215396000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8250560123377536726.post-46524102745712857752008-05-03T13:58:00.000+01:002008-05-03T14:01:31.671+01:00Fully Intergrated!The schematic pages and the crafters user page have been integrated with the engineering items and are highlighted yellow :)<br /><br />This has been extended to the tree being coloured :) <br /><br />Hope it helps - I am going to enjoy the sun now and hopefully create a BBQ!<br /><br />RbRobin Bournehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12825096579215396000noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8250560123377536726.post-33966591422084938512008-05-02T03:31:00.000+01:002008-05-02T03:36:39.957+01:00Updated Again!See, told you I would be doing more when the dissertation was completed. Have a look at the <a href="http://www.shields-down.co.uk/crafters/schematics.php?schemid=374">Schematic Pages</a> to see what I have done.<br /><br />Engineering Items have been incorporated with thanks to Wolfje for the spreadsheet which this data is based on. Engineering items are highlighted yellow in the components section, whilst derbies are highlighted yellow in the resources section. Also added a whole list of components required for a schematic - thought it would be useful :)<br /><br />I am confident it is 100% correct as of this post time, but if you see any mistakes please let me know.<br /><br />This also means that if you find one of these, you can search to see what it belongs to. Working on a better buying pages, more info as I have any :)<br /><br />Take care all! All comments welcome - I am a coder, not a designer. If I don't get any feedback nothings going to change!<br /><br />RobinbRobin Bournehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12825096579215396000noreply@blogger.com0