TMN & tmnX Staff Blog

Back home, TMN offline

2012-02-28T14:22:00.003-05:00

Last Saturday morning I arrived back in the Netherlands after a fun (yet busy) trip to Brazil, where myself and 15 others were doing research in the field of IT. The trip involved many visits to research institutes, companies and university departments, as well as some places important to the local culture and history (and beaches are part of that as well, logically).

After some rest, I pulled the plug on TMN in the evening, and replaced the game by a static page providing everyone with some information. Because of a slight jetlag (and being tired in general) nothing much was done on Saturday or Sunday.

Right now I am preparing a test environment, so we (Devious and myself, for now) can test the updated features, so the next round will have a smooth(er) start (than last round).

Some questions that were sent to my inbox have not yet been answered, so I will address those here:
* The percentage of credits that will be returned has not yet been decided;
* Properties will not be dropped before some players are ranked hitman+ and own more than 10mil;
* Property pickup fees will be there at the start of the round, but may be lowered/raised/removed later on, depending on the state of the game economy;

Marc

TMN Reset Announcement

2012-02-12T13:46:00.004-05:00

Rumors have been around since week 3 of this round, but logically we never took those seriously. Even in early January we didn’t take them seriously, but when the economy dropped from more killings (and more after that), we had to get thinking and planning. As mentioned before; those two activities aren’t easy on me (), and consume most time. My personal planning is not so straightforward either; I have to plan around exams, projects, visits to cool countries and other occasions of extreme workload. For that reason we only had one option for the reset, but as players last year really hated me for announcing the reset early, I decided to wait with the announcement. Now is the time to post it though!

So, what’s the date? Here’s a draft of the planning I have in mind:

On February 14th I leave the country for a warmer place
On February 25th I return home, and pull the plug on this round of TMN :’(
On Saturday, March 10th Sunday, March 11th we launch the next round, with improvements based on suggestions made (more on that later)

Below you’ll find a list of accepted suggestions and our own ideas:

Fewer cities and networks
Artillery Bunkers: keeping some bullets after you die (credits store option)
International Prison (possibly with minimum jail-times before someone can break you out)
Losing health on numerous occasions (OC, jailbreak, GTA) to limit scripting a little
Easier killing of people wearing protection (this seems to have been a bit extreme this round)
A TOS update on “duping”; we’ll be more strict
A TOS update on “scripting”; manual script tests may return

Marc

Due to another meeting on March 10th, the launch had to be postponed by one day, and will be on March 11th.

Pre-registration, more updates

2011-10-31T18:12:00.005-04:00

Like last year, you will be able to register your account prior to the launch. This time, pre-registration will open on Tuesday, November 1st somewhere in the afternoon (TMN time, GMT+1). From then on, the communication platform will only be accessible from http://platform.tmn2010.net.

And as promised, some more updates:
- If you use a mobile device, or a (relatively) low screen resolution, you will now be able to switch to a more mobile-friendly layout.
- The TOS has been updated: Doing an OC with another player (1!) on your IP is no longer a problem, and interacting with others on your (mobile 3g?) IP is not a problem as long as amounts are reasonable.
- Profiles are a lot more customizable now, you can choose to show or hide avatar and phone, the amount of kills on your name, all kills (including name and rank) and other statistics.
- Bankrupting a casino now makes you the owner of the casino.
- The minimum casino bet has been raised to $1000, to keep casinos at least playable when the owners are away.

Marc

TMN Launch Date!

2011-10-10T13:07:00.002-04:00

Ouch, has it been this long?! Yes, it’s been like half a year since TMN was replaced by a boring communication platform. I am however glad I made the decision to create this with top priority, as it’s a lot better than an empty page!

It is time to end the communication platform phase though: as of November 3rd 2011 18:00 (GMT+1 timezone) , the communication platform will be replaced by the good old (yet new) TMN again!

The final weeks before the launch will be spent on the new features as well as testing features we didn’t give testers access to (for security reasons). Like last year, pre-registration will be enabled a couple of days before the launch*, allowing you to reserve your name. From then on, the communication platform will no longer be accessible from the main website, but from another link instead*

*: Information regarding pre-registration and the new link for the communication platform will be provided later.

Marc

ps. If you applied for a staff position and were rejected before, please check your e-mail inbox again. We just invited a few more players to help us during the final phase of testing.

Updates and changes

2011-08-30T17:38:00.002-04:00

Staff applications have been flowing in, and Devious is already working on the selection. Unfortunately university courses have already started for me, so part of my time will be spent on that (and traveling). I've made quite a bit of progress during the last couple of weeks though, so a launch isn't that far off. Keep watching twitter / facebook / TMN / blog for more info!

In the rest of this blog post I will describe some of the changes made, and some of the features added. Of course a lot more was changed, but to keep it (at least a little) short, here's a summary:

Layout changes
You may have read somewhere that the layout will change a lot since last round, this is correct, but not entirely… Although everything was re-created, the layout appears very similar to what it used to be (check out the screenshots). On a technical level, however, everything changed. The changes made allow for a better experience from any device (cell phones and tablets included), and will also enable us to provide you with a choice of layouts and some additional feedback during the gameplay. Although we will most probably kick off with one or two layouts, we may in the future launch a safe-for-work version, or a version specifically meant for mobile devices.

Page changes
All pages have been re-created, and many pages have also been merged. This allows for quick navigation between the pages, and will also result in a smaller menu. Besides that, instead of the ±110 pages we used to have, we now have roughly 35 doing the exact same thing! To share some details:

Everything a player can own (except for casinos and Bullet Factories) can now be managed from one page. This includes money, credits, bullets, businesses, cars, weapons, explosives and protections.
Phones and phone plans now break and expire. This way the phone provider owners will earn a little more money. Additionally, you can repair your current phone or extend your current phone plan with a discount.
Everything network-related can now be found on one page with 4 sub-pages that can be opened on request. It will be easier to find certain options (“network information” and “network manage” were way to generic!).
An addition to ‘regular’ killing has been made: You can now prepare your kills; select whether or not you wish to reset your shooting timer (with credits), select the amount and type of bullets, select your gun, and when ready, all you have to do is pull the trigger!

The feature that will have even more impact on the game, will be the Name Buyback option. This (credits-only) option allows you to keep your old name after getting killed. If you don't care about players knowing who you are, and like your name, this is the option for you! Also the process of registering a new account after your death is a lot faster than before.

Some more features and changes will be revealed during the beta-test, and I am sure you’ll find some more changes after the launch. I hope to see you then!

Marc

We need your help!

2011-08-24T09:22:00.001-04:00

I’m back from a short vacation and have been hitting the pages hard! Updates and changes have been made to all pages, but I’m still working on a couple of new features and final touches. Altogether we’re getting closer and closer to a launch…

So, what has been done?
I have been spending a lot of time going over the coding (parts had never been touched since 2005!) to eliminate excess coding, fix known bugs and to optimize pages for a better TMN experience.

And what’s next?
The next step is to finish the last new features we want to add before the launch, and (also while doing that) get to testing these pages. Although a lot of testing will be done by myself, I definitely need some help from the players: all features must be tried at least once before the launch. Are you interested in helping me? Please read the instructions at this page.

Marc

Status update

2011-06-06T14:58:00.003-04:00

University is really consuming a lot of my time... It's all about logic and mathematics at the moment, and both aren't the easiest subjects around! At least 4 days a week are reserved for uni, and the "couple of hours" left are spent wisely on relaxing and TMN.

Luckily, TMN is taking shape too. Although slower than expected, my print-out with the list of pages that need work is starting to turn orange from marking the jobs that were finished. There's still a lot to do though! Pages already finished (but not thoroughly tested) include crimes, GTA, OC classifieds, messages, profile and notepad, booze cartel, jail, underground stores, OC, DTM and blackjack. That leaves about 30 pages that still need work, and testing.

So, when will TMN be back? Many players have e-mailed me asking this question. Sadly, I can't answer it just yet. The first estimate was "the end of May", but at this moment "the end of June" even seems too optimistic. So, July? August? Maybe. I hope so!

Marc

TMN offline, communication online

2011-04-19T12:10:00.003-04:00

It was tempting to write a long long story about the subject, but because of exams and other important work, it was delayed - and can now contain some positive news too!

Offline
TMN went offline after some players decided to break it by using an exploit. Sad, but true. After a couple of days -and many supporting e-mails- we decided that TMN will definitely be back, but it will require some more changes than "small tweaks". This would be the time to make the changes we wanted to make a year ago!

Communication platform
For the meantime, we decided it would be nice to open up a communication platform for players to communicate with us as well as the other players. This system was created partially during my exams, and partially in the following days, but now it is ready! You can access it from the TMN home page at http://www.tmn2010.net

Future
As stated, TMN will definitely be back, but it may take quite some time. I personally think the end of May should be possible, but all that depends on how busy I am at uni, and how fast development goes in general. We will make changes that will stimulate game activity, allow faster game rounds (and ranking), and make playing a more fun experience in general. More information on that can be found on the Game Forum that's currently online.

Marc

Killfest, Gambling and Reset

2011-01-10T11:02:00.004-05:00

On the game forum as well as the in-game news page you'll find an announcement regarding the killfest, gambling day, and reset. It was quite difficult to schedule it, and I really had only two options; do it in January, or late March. I chose the first option.

The game will go offline on January 21st
There will be a killfest on January 22nd
There will be a gambling day on January 23rd
The next round will start on January 24th at 19:00 (GMT+1)

For more information, read the Game Forum or in-game News Page.

Marc

Update #1: Added launch time, which is 19:00.

Christmas and Snowballs!

2010-12-23T18:44:00.004-05:00

On December 14th we announced our holiday schedule, which included the following items:
- Dec. 14 – All I Want for Christmas Poll
- Dec. 14-25 – Christmas Gift Giveaway
- Dec. 18-19 – Jail Break Parties 2PM, 6PM, Midnight
- Dec. 20 – Drug Transportation Unveiling
- Dec. 22-25 – Snowball Fights
- Christmas Eve (Dec. 24) – Lcuk’s Christmas Riddles
- Christmas Day (Dec. 25) – Peace On Earth, 24 hour ceasefire

The Drugs Transportation Missions launch went quite well, although some players at first didn't realize it's an extra way to rank, and only drugs will be removed from the Drugs & Booze page. Just before the launch the kill records page was renamed to Personal Stats, which includes counters and timers for DTMs, OCs, Crimes, GTA. This page may in the future be used for other statistics as well.

At this moment the Snowball Fights are active, and proved to be quite a lot of fun! Using a special page (link is on the game forum) players can throw virtual snowballs at other players, who will receive a notification, and (in most cases) a small gift (some money, a credit, a car). At the same time, the Shoutbox is updated with a similar notification, visible to all other players.

In addition to the snowball throws in the shoutbox, we figured it would be nice to disable these messages too. Today (24-12-2010) I made the change; two buttons to toggle visibility of jailbreaks or snowball messages were added. While doing this, I also updated the shoutbox in general, allowing possible new features such as network chat and/or personal messages to players. These possible updates haven't been scheduled for creation yet.

Finally, I would like to wish all TMN players (and other readers) a merry Christmas and a great 2011!

Marc

Halloween, Thanksgiving, Activity, Shoutbox

2010-12-06T04:31:00.004-05:00

And again it's been way too long since I last wrote something. This time I'll cover the recent activities on TMN, for those who missed it (and those who are just generally interested to see the numbers).

Halloween
Alright, it's been over a month, but it was fun anyway. Devious thought it'd be fun to make collecting a prize somewhat more interactive, so we used a pumpkin to click on in order to claim a prize. I had a friend create an animated 'wheel of fortune' kind of thing, which worked quite well (although there was a bug somewhere...). In the end 28% of the participants got "Scared to death by Marc" and lost 2% health, but the remaining 72% received a better prize. Other prizes included were 5 expensive cars (8%), 5 semi-expensive cars (8%), 5 bombed cars (15%), $1,000,000 (10%), some Experience Points (9%), and 20 credits (11%). The remaining players received bullets, and a few were in the race for a network. In total 546 players participated in the Halloween giveaway.

Thanksgiving
Because Thanksgiving isn't really a weekend, and the day wasn't a very good one for me personally, we spread it over 2 weekends. During the first weekend we did some forum giveaways (first 10 to post, etc), and let players shoot players with the names of former moderators for a GMW reward. Also everyone who did an OC during the weekend was able to collect $1,000,000 from a special page (188 players did this).
During the second weekend we set the OC timer to 6 hours instead of 8, and did some more giveaways. Using another special page where players could claim a prize, we gave 356 players a total of 19 OCs with Devious and Marc, 290 Arnages 1685 Credits, 14000 Bullets, more than $865,000,000 (exact number is unclear because of less structured giveaways), and 500 lottery tickets.

Activity
Shortly after the game economy hit 16bil, partially thanks to our giveaways, it happened... SOA and SI emptied their AWPs and shot hundreds of high ranked players. The economy dropped to below 10bil, and we were unsure on what would happen. Some players had no hope and quit, others stayed and are now quietly ranking. To stimulate the economy, we did some giveaways during Sinterklaas (google it, it's a Dutch national holiday), and increased the money you get from OCs and GTAs. We are now trying to think of and implement ways to keep players interested, and make them realize this was only the first half of the game: the second half is almost starting....

Shoutbox
A new feature was added to the game, even though it isn't finished yet: the shoutbox! There's a preview inside the game forum topic, but you can open the pop-up (looks better and is easier to use than the preview) by clicking a link in the right top of all forum topics. There is also a link on the jail page, because the shoutbox displays all jailbreaks as well! This has been requested ever since we disabled the "jail break messages" a few years ago, and now it's live! Devious lead the first couple of jail break contests, and it's up to the players to continue it now. I will keep improving it, and eventually it will most probably replace the Game Forum topic. Other ideas we have for it include notifications of new messages, kills, OC inviations and status and possibly private chats.

Marc

About me

2010-10-25T06:22:00.003-04:00

As many players have asked questions about me, I thought I'd dedicate an entire blog post to it. I hope you'll enjoy reading it!

My name is Marc, and I'm 22 years old (19-05-1988). I live in the Netherlands, and have a Bachelor's degree in Information and Communication Technology (BICT). I'm currently in university (Radboud University Nijmegen) doing a MSc in Information Science, which will probably take another 2 years. It is fair to say that I got my degree partially thanks to TMN and its creator DragonCurse.

How it started
Back in June 2004, DragonCurse asked me if I was interested in testing somehing. I ended up testing and later managing the game we now know as TMN. We grew from 0 players to 2200 players online at the same time within a year, and even though we had our share of corrupt moderators, it was a great time.

Development
With no knowledge of programming, databases or even webdesign, DragonCurse trusted me with administrator access to the server (this was early 2005). He explained the (very) basics of getting data from a database, and soon I was on the way learning T-SQL. About 2 years later (January 2007, I was in the first year of my ICT study), I started programming in ASP.NET. I e-mailed my first code updates to DC on January 12th 2007 (although I may have updated more before that).

Misjudging
Because we were still too young to handle a successful game, TMN kept shrinking... From 2200 players online we shrunk back to less than 500 online, so halfway through 2007 we thought it'd be good to launch a new version of TMN: tmnX. We launched the game in January 2008, but unfortunately we misjudged the TMN players, who really didn't want another game! After 8 months of tmnX we decided to pull the plug and update TMN to a version we could manage: TMN Classic was born. TMN Classic was a 90% recoded version of TMN that performed a lot better and was easier to manage.

More recent
In 2010 the game had shrunk to less than 12 players online at times, and since I was in the middle of graduating (February - June 2010), I didn't have much time on my hands. Eventually TMN went offline. Because I personally wasn't done with TMN (and realized the players weren't either), I stepped forward and started working again. The rest can be read in the previous few blog posts.

Future
We can't predict the future, but we won't expect any luck (like in 2004). For that reason we'll be carefully planning new features, advertising, updates and promotional events such as holiday weekends. From the credit purchases we don't need to worry about server fees, but we do need to make sure the game attracts new players and keeps its current players. We may continue to work with DragonCurse and his new game (TMN4).

Marc

Polls, new possible feature

2010-10-11T10:02:00.009-04:00

On October 8th a poll system was introduced to the TMN players. This system allows the TMN staff to attach a poll (with unlimited amount of answers) to a topic, so all players can vote (once). As a first test, we asked players how old they are. The result of this poll (after 3 days) is shown on the image below.

This poll was only the start though! On 11-10-2010 another poll was added to a forum topic. In this topic a new feature is explained, and player opinions are requested through replies and the poll. The idea s the result of a brainstorm session the TMN staff had, and may be a fun addition to the game. I won't explain the feature in this blog post, but it is related to Drugs, and it will function as a middle-type crime that gets more XP than GTAs and Crimes, but less than an OC.

Marc

Upgrade 1, 2, 3!

2010-10-01T14:16:00.003-04:00

Moving the database
Yesterday we transfered the database to the VPS, which (long story short) caused a rollback of roughly two hours, and about 4 hours of downtime. Since I was in uni, I couldn't do much to sort it out any faster. When I got TMN back online it lagged a lot, so I was forced to disable jail. We decided to move the files and the domain (tmn2010.net) to the VPS on Friday morning, and hoped that would solve the lag...

From hosting package to VPS
Unfortunately this VPS was not powerful enough, causing even more lag! CPU usage was at 100% constantly, and every single file update by me would cause 5 minutes of even more lag! Even for me it was too slow to handle, so I kept jail closed and ordered another upgrade.

This upgrade really seemed a lot better (doubled the memory, and opened up another CPU core), and it was quite responsive at first. Unfortunately this only lasted until (you guessed it) jail was reopened! This was simply too much, so jail was once again disabled, and the 3rd upgrade was ordered. This upgrade will have again double the memory, and another CPU core opened. We're now waiting for it to become active (the hosting provider needs to read his e-mail first ;))

Marc

Too busy to write a blog post...

2010-09-27T05:35:00.005-04:00

Wow, it's been 22 days since I last wrote a blog post, you can guess the reason for that: I've been busy!

On the player side things seem to work out nicely, I've seen players from 2005-2006 return, and the online players list is steady at more or less 300 players (max was 421 players). People are reporting possible improvements on a daily basis, and I've already updated over 25% of all pages since September 1st (and over 50% of all pages since I gained control).

As for my side of things, I've been seeing a lot of good numbers, I'll list a few:
- Direct traffic to TMN has gone up to 81%, where linking websites take roughly 14% of the traffic, and search engines the remaining 5%;
- Google Adsense reports that 15 million ads have been displayed on TMN (an average of 555,000 a day!);
- Most TMN players are from the UK, USA, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Canada, Finland;
- We're still consuming roughly 11GB of bandwidth each day;
- We have had roughly 6400 unique visitors since September 1st;

Bullet Factories
Yesterday was the big day for anyone wanting a Bullet Factory; everyone ranked hitman+ had a fair chance at winning one. Although my alarm didn't go off at 10AM, and I wasn't awake yet at noon, I did manage to complete the entire process before 12:40.
The next few hours were very interesting; anyone who held a BF seemed to have a cross-hair on their heads, and most of them died. It was a very interesting day (for anyone who didn't get shot).

Two players haven't claimed their BF yet, they have one more day to collect it (or the 8th and 9th winners of the lottery will get it). The 4th winner violated the TOS (just a small violation, but still) so he didn't get his BF.

Marc

Properties, Performance, Bandwidth

2010-09-05T19:19:00.003-04:00

Properties
I will start dropping properties on today (September 6th), but this process will take at least a few weeks. That way players will get a chance to rank to Hitman too. I will use a random order, and I will not drop (for instance) London before Amsterdam or New York. Messages regarding the dropping of properties are not answered, as it's unfair to give one player a bigger chance of getting a property than others. Please don't ask me (or any mod) what time the next property will drop, or what property is next.

Bandwidth and performance
Being Dutch, saving money is in my nature. That's why we are running on a (cheap) hosting package with only 300 megabytes of space, and 6 gigabytes of bandwidth each month. Of course the possibility of reaching the 6GB limit crossed my mind, but I didn't expect it to hit 6GB each day!

At the moment we are consuming betwen 10 and 13GB a day. This results in over 300GB of bandwidth each month. Going with the 'official' prices, this will make the hosting package about 8 times more expensive (still reasonably priced though). A somewhat surprising fact is, that the traffic is not caused by images; it's simply the pages that are loaded (16,353,539 in 5 days)! Although I am trying to improve this, it seems like we'll be upgrading big time soon. I'm thinking a VPS is probably better than the hosting package. The hosting provider offered to discuss it by the end of this month, so we'll have to wait for that...

Marc

We're back!

2010-08-30T18:56:00.004-04:00

We're back! And to understand why I think this day was successful, you'll have to know my targets... Here they are:
- I was hoping to hit 150 registered accounts on Friday 27th of August (we did not get that amount until Saturday).
- I was hoping to hit 450 registered accounts on the day of the launch (we got roughly 500 accounts).
- I was hoping to get 10 credit purchases on the first day (we hit that about 2.5 hours after the launch).

Not everything went so great... I forgot to create a phone and plan for the first few hours (while only System has a phone provider), and found a bug creating them too. There were also a few smaller problems, and complaints about the logouts (that occured mostly because I was fixing these issues). A few hours after the launch it started to look like it was going alright.

At this moment, there are roughly 200 users online, including 2 mods, 2 forum mods (including DragonCurse, who offered his help too) and one admin (myself). OCs are starting to pop up, the forum is quite active, and more than once a player told me this is what he/she had been waiting for: TMN. TMN is back.

Altogether, it seems like this round will be interesting!

Marc

TMN Launch

2010-08-24T18:32:00.003-04:00

I hope many people have been expecting this post, but unfortunately I've been more busy than expected. Here it is anyway!

Next Friday, August 27th, you can pre-register your TMN account for next round. That way you can reserve your name even if you aren't available at the launch day. This pre-registration opens at 16:00 in the GMT+1 timezone (10:00 AM in EST).
The pre-registration process works as shown on screenshots a few blog posts back, but the username + password combination won't log you in just yet.

Next Monday, August 30th, TMN 2010 will launch, and you will be able to use the login information from the e-mail to login to TMN. This will happen at 16:00 in the GMT+1 timezone (10:00 AM in EST).

I also announced that I picked two moderators already, their names are Devious and Mercer. Both have proven to me in the past that they are loyal members who are always willing to help. Devious during her time as a moderator (2007), and Mercer during his time as forum mod (2009). I wish them a lot of fun on TMN, and I hope the players will appreciate my decision!

Besides these two mods, the team of testers consisted of the following members: mama1971, PDX, InfernoRain, Stev, Stipe, Kazirem and RBG. I would like to take this opportunity to thank them all for the useful input as well as testing results they have provided me with. At the launch a few forum moderators will be selected from the testers team, I will ask them before I post their names.

I look forward to seeing all of you on TMN!

Marc

Domains....

2010-08-19T06:38:00.003-04:00

Unfortunately I will not be using the old domain themafianetwork.net for TMN. This because DC wishes to keep that domain himself, for possible future projects. I am trying to convince him to update the announcement and add a link to tmn2010.net, so players know where to find TMN.

I am allowed to use tmnx.net, another domain we've had in the past. This domain is the one I always used when browsing to TMN, as it's nice and short, and easy to type.

Marc

ps. No status updates at this time, have a look at the twitter page for the latest news.

Screenshots

2010-08-15T18:22:00.009-04:00

Some players on IRC asked if I could upload some screenshots, so I did. The registration process has changed somewhat, and the cities page has had an upgrade as well (although that one isn't finished). Screenshots are below.

Update #1:
This is the new Cities page (old screenshot can be found here)

Update #2:
Below you'll find a screenshot of the new Bullets Factory page:

update, testing, IRC

2010-08-13T12:51:00.008-04:00

Update
- Registration is now fully functional (although disabled for players)
- Double Up needs some more work
- I think TMN will launch before september 1st
- I set up a page where you can chat to others (including me, at times) using IRC
- I was unable to setup paypal at this moment, will have to do that later

Testing
Today I invited 7 (former) players to help me test TMN. As practically all pages have been updated, there's a lot of work to do.
I also asked 2 of them how they'd feel about becoming moderator (I will publish the name when they say yes). The others will probably become forum moderator at first (they may be promoted to mod later).

IRC
Rage and Silentbob host an IRC server that can be used for TMN. You can use the pjirc script I set up, or use your own IRC client (server: irc.g33kd3n.net, channel: #jail) to start chatting.

Marc

Ps. Keep advertising the TMN website, blog, twitter, facebook group. The more players we get, the more fun it'll be for everyone!

Help needed!

2010-08-04T16:01:00.004-04:00

Since details related to weapons, explosives and protections were lost, I request the following:
If you have screenshots of the inventory page from last round (2009-2010) or the round before (2008-2009) please send those to my e-mail address or upload them and post a link in the comments.

Thanks in advance!

Quick update:
I opened up a twitter account for TMN, it's called TMNOfficial. I am not a fan of twitter, and don't personally use it, but for "spreading the word" and providing more updates than large blog posts, I think it's good to have one for TMN. On the right side of the blog you'll see the latest few tweets.

In the past few days I fixed about 14 pages and tested most of them too. Two important pages have't been tested yet, as they rely on data requested above (weapon, explosive, protection): Organized Crime and Killing.
I'm still having trouble getting registration to work, it seems like there's abug in reCaptcha (it was reported too), but I can't seem to fix it. I'm looking into alternative registration possibilities now.

Marc

Game and features

2010-07-31T10:08:00.004-04:00

I announced that I'd provide a full update. Unfortunately the decisions I wanted to post about haven't been made yet, so I haven't posted that update yet either.

The most important thing is that I will be the one to host and run the game. For the rest there are a few things I don't know for sure yet:
- The name of thegame might change (by adding a prefix or suffix);
- The original domains (tmnx.net, themafianetwork.net) may be used (I'd prefer this, but DC is the owner of those domains, and you can guess they are worth a lot of money);

As for features, I heard many of you want Double Up back as casino game. No problem, except for the fact that I can't remember why we ever took it out! Could anyone answer that question? I still have the source code, so with about 5 hours of work I could get it back in action.

Are there any more (old) features you'd want to see back? Post them in the comments!

Marc

Ps. Thanks for the support guys, it's really appreciated!

tmn2010.net

2010-07-27T15:17:00.010-04:00

Good news: I have registered tmn2010.net

Since I didn't receive any reply from DC, I decided to simply continue where I left off. The next logical step was to register a domain, order a hosting package (no more dedicated server, I hope it'll work out), and get something online.

http://www.tmn2010.net already hosts the "portal" used during the last round of TMN. Soon it'll be expanded with the rest of TMN, although there's still some work to do.

I don't have much more to tell you guys, just the fact that I repaired phones, phone plans and phone providers today.

Marc

Update: (28-07-2010)
For DC's side of the story, view the original domain.

Update #2: (28-07-2010)
DragonCurse replied to another e-mail, things are looking promising, and he'll be online somewhere today I hope.
TMN now runs on TMN2010.net but is not accessible to players yet, I still need to do a lot of repairing, but at least I got it working on the new host. I hope DC and I can come to an agreement so we can run TMN on all existing domains, and provide a fun game + community again.

Update #3: (28-07-2010)
I will post a full update tomorrow, but from the chat I had with DC, there's one easy conclusion to draw: The TMN2010 project (still need a cooler codename) will continue.

Continued...

2010-07-25T17:59:00.002-04:00

As some of you may have read in the blog comments of last post, through facebook, or from other TMN players, I finally got a response from DC at July 21st. This of course is good news, but the response was as quick as "Hey Marc, did you get my text message? Let me know your schedule and we'll talk soon". I did not get any text message, and my schedule for TMN-related things is as easy as 'any time you are available'. I didn't receive any replies since that day.

Since I returned from holiday (I spent 8 days in Crete, Greece) last monday I haven't done too much on TMN, but today I continued where I left off. I worked on the following items:
- Online players page
- Friends List
- Online / Offline status improvements (also for performance)
- Gambling on Blackjack now works (others should as well, need to test that)
- Casino owner panel now works
- Registration process improvements
- Travel to other cities now working
- Performance updates regarding game forum

As you can read I'm still not waiting for DC to fix TMN, although getting the most recent files from him would actually speed up the process.

Stayin' busy

2010-06-30T20:41:00.004-04:00

Celebrating my graduation, enjoying the good weather, drinking beers with people I haven't spoken in a while... Yeah, I've been enjoying myself since I graduated! But in the meantime I'm working quite hard to earn some money, to try and contact DC, and to 'repair' my version of TMN for possible future usage.

With small steps I'm getting the game ready, but since I don't have any recent database backup (I was busy with the graduation project and never thought of making one), it's a time-consuming and difficult job. Because I do have the entire source code it isn't an impossible job (I wouldn't have started doing it in that case), but it still takes a lot of time.

I started off with a database from 2008, which is one major version and hundreds of minor versions previous to the "TMNClassic" we used last round (October 2009 - March 2010). I couldn't login, register, or even attempt anything. I'm now at a stage in which I'm able to "fake" an account, login, and view my mailbox without getting any errors (see screenshot below).

What most of you will want to know, is whether or not I'll be bringing TMN back online. I can't really answer that question, but if there were no hope at all I wouldn't be repairing it. I've done everything I can to contact DC, so I'm not waiting for him. There are however a few things I will need to do before I can bring it back online, here's a quick list:
- Repair the database and test the game
- Port database to mySQL to save about $50 a month
- Research possibilities to run TMN on a cheap (virtual) Linux server
- Beg for money to cover at least 3 months of server fees
- Request support from players willing to help moderate the game (and forums)

Marc

ps. Besides e-mails, text messages, voice-mail messages and messages in paypal money transfers could you think of any way to contact DC? let me know if you do, I'm out of ideas!

Offline.....

2010-06-12T20:05:00.004-04:00

Wow, and this had to be the title of the next post!

I assume everyone who reads this already knows TMN is off-line, but the bad news is that I don't know why and for how long (though I could guess, I won't). After numerous e-mails and text messages, and even some messages on facebook, I still haven't heard from DC.

So, what's next? That's my question really... If DC's had enough of TMN, I'll buy the domains and cut him a deal as I'm sure players are willing to help and revive the TMN community. I'll be busy as always (although the 55-hour weeks of graduation are over), but with some help from people who actually communicate it might work.

For now all we can do is wait, sadly.

If you would like to stay updated, you could either join the Facebook group ("TheMafiaNetwork") or keep watching the TMN domains (themafianetwork.net, tmnx.net) and this blog.

Marc

Ps. The message below was posted on Facebook earlier this week:

Since TMN has been offline, I've been trying to contact DC to figure out why... I assume he just 'let it die'. Especially since he has ignored text messages as well as e-mails on all e-mail addresses I know, I'm afraid I'm right.

Anyway, if he responds, we'll see what we can do. The least we could do is get a website o...nline to explain things. As for now: the future is unknown.

Up and running

2009-09-22T05:56:00.003-04:00

As you may know, TMN is back up and running. It doesn't look bad at all from my perspective; between 150 and 300 players online usually, forums are quite active as well, and overall TMN seems alive again.

Before we re-launched we already made a lot of changes, and it seems like we're not stopping yet! Unfortunately we didn't have much time to test the new layout, also because we're more focusing on this game round and its features. I think we'll eventually find a nice way to implement the new layout though! I can't share any screenshots yet.

As for me, I'm currently doing 5 courses at another university, and though I have to spend a lot more time on studying and traveling now, it's a nice set of interesting courses so I'm not complaining.

Marc

Back from holiday

2009-08-13T18:50:00.002-04:00

Only a few days back I returned home from 8 days of fun in Rimini (Italy). I spent my nights in multiple clubs including Baia Imperiale, Club Life, Shooters Bar, Copa Cabana, Altromondo Studios and Blow-Up. This holiday was a (well-deserved) opportunity to relax.

Back home I replied to all e-mails and PMs (not too many, lucky me!), to continue with development. Today I started off slow* by implementing Youtube videos for player profiles, which works quite nicely now.

Marc

*: Italians do everything slowly, I apparently got used to that!

TMN Beta Testing

2009-07-16T18:00:00.003-04:00

The TMN Beta Test is going very well. Most players I e-mailed about it were happy to help me test TMN on a 100% voluntary basis.

So far I've spent most time on a few improvements:
- Properties on Trading Center had a few bugs in it, those were fixed
- Business Names are now scanned for illegal characters (on creation)
- Replaced one crime with a pick pocket function, that will pick another player's pockets (you can type in the name yourself!)
- Added a Sell All Damaged Cars button to garage

Other improvements we have been discussing on the forums include:
- Sorting of garage
- Car Bombing
- Allowing players to update a topic they created
- Network invitation messages and slogans
- Drive-By Organized Crime
- MTAs
- Explosives Lab (entirely different than the way it used to be!)
- Bullet Factories

The above things are still being considered, but I'm hoping to improve TMN as much as possible.

Empty!

2009-07-12T16:28:00.003-04:00

The game forum counts max 3 pages. Topics stay on for days. Online players 'list' is just a few lines of names, less than 60 usually. I get less than 10 messages a day.
All sad signs of one thing: The reset

People say we should reset sooner, but we assumed people would be pissed if we'd announce it later. It seems like this wasn't such a great step to take after all!

Should we change the announcement? I think that decision requires some insight in donation records (which I don't have myself). I should have a chat with Huy within a few days that could help us. We could possibly do the killfests earlier and bring TMN back up earlier as well.

For now, I've set up another server (besides the regular test server) to test TMN with about 10 players. The forums there will be used for discussing new and improved features for next round, and to test these features as well. I hope that'll save the trouble we had with tmnX, and I hope that will make next round a little more exciting.

Marc

Design Contest

2009-05-25T18:02:00.008-04:00

I've received a total of 6 screenshots that matched the criteria enough to be published. All screenshots can be seen by visiting this page.

Use the comments below this post to judge each design. To make it easy, just use the number of each screenshot when discussing it. Instead of saying "X is crap" say "I like "Y and Z because.... ", remember people spent time to create these!

I'd like to thank all players who took their time to create a design, and I hope to soon choose one of these, or the to-be-received screenshots (I will add these when I get them).

Marc

Update #1 (26-05-2009): Added 7th screenshot
Update #2 (27-05-2009): Added 8th screenshot
Update #3 (03-06-2009): Added 9th screenshot
Update #4 (18-06-2009): Added 10th and final screenshot

Current status, New forum mod

2009-04-16T13:35:00.005-04:00

Current status
Currently I'm working on Trading Center. On the testserver it is already possible to trade your blackjack table for credits, bullets, or money by adding it to Trading Center. Other casinos and properties need to be added, which is a time-consuming job.
It also needs some more testing, but should be ready somewhere next week.

New Forum Mod
I added a poll for players to vote on a new forum mod. I have to say some others were good, but I (sometimes randomly) had to take out a few.
I think I will add two forum mods, but whether or not those two are in this list isn't decided yet.

When voting, think about what a forum mod needs to do and what you personally think is a good forum mod. Don't vote for your friends because they're your friends!

If you don't like any of these for whatever reason, just choose the last option, and I'll re-select some.

Marc

Updates, TMN, DC, Marc

2009-04-08T18:12:00.002-04:00

A few things to say today.

Updates
Today we launched the new Trade Center, which is a place where you can trade your money, credits, bullets, for someone else's goods. It includes private offer (Only valid for one buyer), and anonymous offer (Only valid for one buyer whose name will not be shown). It seems like most players enjoy it, and it will solve most scams.
Today I also sold the Houston Blackjack table, which allowed me to take out about 9bil out of the game's economy (Someone paid 3.5bil for the property). The BF will remain mine for the time being.

TMN
I was asked if I was the new owner of TMN. At first I laughed about the question, but it isn't that weird of a question. Technically, I own half of TMN at this moment. In the real world however, the business is DC's, and I'm not a registered employee.
We have been looking for ways to make TMN more interesting, and probably found a few good ideas. We have also discussed the whole "duping" and "same IP" thing, and will also chat about that again later.

DC
The question "Is DC Back?" is one I asked myself a few times. To be honest, I think he is. The improvements and hard work he put into it in the past week is quite good, and our (Skype) chats were quite nice as well. I hope we can continue this way.

I hope soon TMN will be a more fun place to be for everyone, including new and bored players.

Marc

Contest, Updates, Social Networks

2009-04-06T19:41:00.003-04:00

Contest
Today, an important post on the game forum was added about a contest. In this contest, we want as many TMN players as possible to create a design for a TMN Website, that will later be used to attract more players. For more information, see the Game Forum.

Updates
Today we updated a few pages. Most important, is the blackjack page, where the odds were slightly changed in favor of the gambler. If this ends up being too much, we'll tweak them some more, to make it fair.
The general stats page was updated also. On this page, I added "Active game money", "Alive GDis" and "Alive Legends".

Social Networks
As you may have noticed, TMN has joined a few social networks. We have a group on facebook, and a page on myspace.
Please join these groups, and help us attract more players to make TMN more fun again. (The facebook group is owned by DC himself, the myspace is run by a player with our permission)

Marc

DC Back?

2009-03-30T18:41:00.002-04:00

Today, just before I had to leave, my brother alerted me saying "DC is online"... After asking if he was joking, I spammed DC's inbox with about 6-10 messages asking him to get on msn, and what he's up to.

When I got back, about 90 minutes later, DC was in fact on msn!

After having a nice chat, we got to the conclusion that TMN really needs to grow in order to make it more fun again. We are now thinking of ways (use the Comment function on this post if you like) to make TMN a more fun place again.

Things discussed include the TOS, Duping, Scripting, Social Community, mobile ways to access TMN, and so on.

I hope soon we'll be able to continue this discussion, and actually implement some of the ideas. I do know DC is currently working on some usefull things.

Marc

Ouch!

2009-03-25T07:08:00.004-04:00

I can only hope I'm not right here, but we (read: I) could be in a little trouble...

Last night I was called downstairs, but I left the server connection open (as I do all the time). When I got back, it wouldn't respond, so I just closed it, and tried to re-open it. Guess what: It wouldn't!

As we only have 2 licenses for remote connections, and I have one open that is frozen, there isn't much I can do. DC must have the other connection open, but he asked me to kill his connection in the past as well (as it had frozen for him). With only one password, there isn't much I can do.

Solutions? I thought of a few, none of them is any good:
- Wait for it to time out (but I have no idea how many hours, days, weeks this will take)
- Calling DC (but that wasn't too successful in the past)
- Hacking DC (but I bet he uses stronger passwords since I warned him)

For now, I can only make changes to the database (we do have more connections for that).

Marc

Update:
Problem solved. Most websites are spreading deprecated command line switches. MS decided to rename "console" to "admin", which worked. The server now thinks I'm physically in front of it, how nice.

Update

2009-03-23T07:07:00.003-04:00

An active weekend for me once again, below you'll find the latest changes on TMN, and some extra information.

Login page
The login page is now a little easier to use -if you get used to it, that is-. You no longer have to press the tab button 4 times to get to the recaptcha field, just once (from the password field).
The error message was also removed from the login page.

Credits trade
The trade credits page now has the option to select an MTA (Money Transfer Agency). This means that instead of the default 5% tax, buyers have to pay up to 15% tax (depending on the MTA's setting*). For MTA owners this is a good thing, and for the economy in general, I think it is too.
*: This was changed from a max of 50% to 15% to prevent "almost free credits".

Profiles
On your personal profile, you can now (again) add the [OCStatus] tag, to display your current OC status. It works just like a few years back with TMN.
Update: Bullet Factory owners can put [BFStatus] on their profiles to publish the amount of FMJ and JHP bullets in stock.

Networks
I added one network, and gave it to the m33 account I still had. The network will be for sale later on, keep reading the forums for more information about that.

Personal
DC was online last week, but as my internet connection wouldn't work the day he was on, I didn't know about it. Again he sent me a "We'll talk soon" message, but I'm still waiting for him to get on MSN. If he reads this: You have my number, give me a call. (if you don't have it, it's 00316.... Hm, best not to mention that here)
College is still quite easy for me, so that's a good thing. Next plans for TMN include adding a city, one or two more networks, and handling some more requests I got a while back.

Marc

Yesterdays' discussion

2009-02-17T17:45:00.007-05:00

When handling my inbox yesterday, as I try to do weekly, I got to a scam, where the victim had lost about 500,000,000. So I created the money on my account, and was about to send it to the victim, to see MTA owners had set their interest rates to 10%! A quick calculation lead to 50,000,000 of created ("dirty") money going to an MTA owner.

The solution? Adding an MTA, and using thatone instead. So I did, and put the rates at 8%... A few hours later people on msn messaged me asking about all that. I put the rates back to 10%, kept the MTA for future (scam) usage, and logged out instantly, to then get curious about the forum topic.

After explaining, we got to quite a nice chat with a load of players, hitting up to about 200 posts. Of course it was all about the MTA situation at first, but we then got back to me. Why am I here? Why isn't TMN updated as everyone (probably including me) would want it?

My answer: I respect DC, and I care about the game, so I can't just upload a game myself and run it instead of TMN. I won't take down the credits page, and I won't sell credits for money on my own PayPal account.
So what am I doing here? Keeping my inbox clear, updating really important things (bugs, exploits), and waiting for DC.
Why am I not (for example) implementing MTAs on trade pages, and why am I not adding Casino, Business and BF sales on a trade page? Because I'm doing work I actually get paid for. PHP work mostly, and it's quite interesting too.

Me
So, about me. I finished the internship/traineeship at Logica, and got a (rounded upwards) 8.0/10, not bad. The SMS game works, and it's a shame I can't get it to work with any regular cell phone.
I'm now doing the Create a Rich Internet Application Semester, which seems very easy. I'm in the 3rd week, and I haven't done any exciting things, besides some nice Javascript exercises.

That'd be all for today,

Marc

Scams, email to DC, Marc

2009-01-18T18:39:00.007-05:00

Scams
We've all seen the bullet scams, and we've also seen me, not doing anything about it. Why? Because I can't!

We never undo actions with scammed goods, so I can't in this case either. It's a shame, and I disagree to it, but it's like this (for now). One lesson: Don't get scammed!

What I'm talking about? Bullet scams, where the victim gets shot with his own bullets.

DC
Today I emailed DC. Here's the email:

So, where are you at?

What’s with the “I’ll have time for the next six months” statement from last October?
And what’s with the “I should have the escrow system ready by today” statement of about a month and a half back?
And what’s with the “I’ll be online tomorrow” statement of… many times?

Marc
Internship is almost over, one week to finish up on some parts, then my final presentation and assessment, and I'll be done! I'll then have some more time to fix up TMN, I hope. ]

Marc

2009

2008-12-24T17:45:00.004-05:00

2008 was the year of tmnX, which wasn't as good as everyone (including me) had expected. Unfortunately it took 8 months of 2008. The last 3 months were a lot better; TMN grew to about 400 active players again.

2009 will be the 5th year of TMN, and the 5th year I'm working on TMN as well. Which brings me to the future of TMN as it's in my head...
I hope TMN will hit 1,000 active players again in 2009. I also hope Huy will notice what has been going wrong, so we can work on these things.

Besides TMN, there's also my personal life. 2009 will be the year I have my final 2 semesters before graduation, and the year I turn 21 as well. Besides that, I'm looking at lots of learning, working, and having fun.

One more thing:
I wish everyone a merry Christmas, and a great 2009!

Activity of DC

2008-12-22T21:35:00.003-05:00

I think we all agree that DC isn't active enough. No news, right?

So, why am I posting this? Because I have a chart to show you guys how active DC is, and -most important- when he is active.

The chart below shows when he updated pages, or files in general. You'll see that I set it all up, and DC started using it most (when he had a few weeks off) when he created TMNClassic. He worked hard for about 4 weeks, and then it all slowed down. My line, the green one, stays visible, where DC's disappears for a few weeks, until he fixed the cred retrieve from tmnX.

Chart is generated by TortoiseSVN.

Poll

2008-12-18T17:37:00.007-05:00

A problem TMN has always had, is ISPs. Some seem to think it's best to throw all users through one proxy server, resulting in many players having the same IP address. Why is this important to us? Because players having the same IP Address, look like duplicate accounts to us. And if these accounts have interaction, it becomes a violation of the TOS.

"so, why don't we publish a list of users on my IP", is a question I often get. The reason is quite simple. Our TOS simply states we will never provide 'private information' to any third party. This third party can be a company or person, including a player.

Now, I would like to know what you find more important; Being safe, or having the TOS changed so your username and ISP details can be published to others.

Please let other players know they can vote here, I really am interested in your opinions. You can also comment to this post, if you want to add something. Thanks in advance.

Update #1
Option 1: You will get a page where you can see everyone who has accessed your IP. You will appear on lists of other users, who have logged in at your house/school/internet cafe as well.

Option 2: When you're about to send someone who has been on your IP anything, you'll get a warning. Something like "this user has used your IP, if you continue, you will be in violation of the TOS".

Option 3: You will get a page where you can see if other (active) accounts are on your IP.

Option 4: You are responsible, read the TOS and watch out!

Option 5: Place your own opinion in a comment to the related blog post.

Bad websites etc

2008-12-15T16:37:00.002-05:00

I think it was last Thursday I heard about all these hackings, but... As always: I was too busy to do something about it. On Friday I started internship at 8:30 AM, and got home at about 3:00 AM, as I had a Christmas party.

This weekend I was finally able to produce a possible fix, but I couldn't test it because I wasn't sure how these hackers did it. I did talk to DC about it, but he didn't have a clue on how it was done either.

Today, I heard of more hackings, and decided to ask around about it. I got a working hack-site, and had a quick look. I implemented last weekend's fix, and it worked! I tested it a few times, but it kept working.

After updating it on TMN, I decided to update a few other thigns:
- Global Most Wanted page not giving out rewards
- Killing scums using 150,000 FMJ bullets threw me an error
- Adding a fix to stop certain scripters on crimes and gta pages
- Adding a nice warning image to possible bad links on game forums etc

Then it was time to handle 15 days of inbox... busy busy busy!

updates, DC, IRC

2008-11-30T12:12:00.006-05:00

IRC

IRC can be used to chat to other TMN players, and it's quite easy to use. You can use mIRC to connect to it, or use this website that only requires you to install Java. The details below can be used to connect to our IRC server. It's managed by myself, so it's quite safe. The rules are stated when you connect to it. For more information google it (or visit this page), or wikipedia.

Server: irc.themafianetwork.net

Channel: Jail

Nickname: The name you use on TMN, or a name people know you by.

I don't like it, but it's starting to look like DC isn't as active as he used to be at the start of this reset. I hope he returns very very soon, to fix some things I don't have time for myself. Adding mods is one of those, but also setting up mod rules and guidelines.

Updates

Although I don't have much time myself, I did manage to update a few things. One is related to networks being sent from one scum to the other: this is fixed. Boss+ is the new rule, just like when creating networks. Another update done today is related to crimes and GTA while in jail: this was possible for the past 2-3 weeks, because we had another bug. I think it's fixed now too (and I hope you all enjoyed it). Also I think we had an exploit, which should be fixed now too (I won't provide any info on it though).

Donations / Payments

2008-10-29T19:22:00.006-04:00

SMS
After typing the same message 5 times, I decided to update my TMN profile, requesting players not to ask that question again. What question? "Will you have SMS Donation implemented?"

The message I wrote to all players asking it, did contain an explanation, but I didn't enjoy typing it over and over again (and each time I thought it'd be the last player asking about it!).

As you may have read, my current internship project is all about SMS, so I read lots of boring articles about it, and I'm actually writing my own SMS Service. That means I know how things like SMS work, and why I'm not a big fan of donations over SMS.
However, at least a year ago, I did some research on SMS Donation services, to find two possibilities:
1) We pay €1500 (about $1900) a month (!!), and get about €1.30 (about $2) per SMS
2) We get €0.80 ($1) per SMS, where players still pay €1.30 ($2)

The first one is too much of an investment, and the 2nd one is a scam both we, and the customers wouldn't like. Besides the fact that an SMS would only get the players a few credits.

iDeal
I got a few requests from Dutch players, about iDeal. iDeal is a service most online shops in The Netherlands offer, to directly pay for the goods online. It has close contacts with banks, and works fast, easy, and safe. I'm not sure if it is used internationally, but didn't have time to have a look at that either.
So, will we implement this? I don't know!

TMN is registered in Canada, and I don't even know if we have a bank account. Therefore I really have no idea.

Paypal
So, instead of attempting to use other payment methods, I think it's still best to just stick to paypal, which is safe, fast (almost instant), and is used all over the world. In some countries you won't need a creditcard, in case you didn't know.

Mess-up and mod tools

2008-10-26T19:33:00.004-04:00

It's my task to get some nice mod and admin tools made, that are intuitive and get the job done as fast and easy as possible. Though, with the lack of time, it's not going too fast. But: I think it's getting better by the day, especially now I'm starting to empty my (flooded) mailbox.

Yesterday we kind of messed up, giving all new players a server error. The problem(s)? I made a change to the table structure of a certain table, so technically it was my mistake. But... If DC had written some better statements, it wouldn't have happened! So we really both made a mistake haha.

Technical:
You can insert rows in a database table in 2 ways:
1) INSERT INTO TableName VALUES('1','2','3')
2) INSERT INTO TableName (Row1, Row2, Row3) VALUES ('1','2','3')

The first way was used during the registration process, leaving one column out. The result? Errors! The column added was a column to log some user information, that isn't needed for all users.

My next week is starting, and I hope I'll be able to fully empty my inbox (Unfortunately I failed at that this week).
Goals for this week: Empty TMN mailbox, succeed at writing some functionality and documentation for the internship project.

Busy week, mod interviews

2008-10-24T16:31:00.003-04:00

This week both DC and I have been very busy. I've spent about 53 hours at work (including travel time to get there), and really didn't have any energy left for TMN. So, why was I this busy?

I've had a few meetings at the internship company, I went paintballing with the internship company, and went to play soccer with a few collegues too. Those were the past 3 days, exhausting!

Though, with the 0.0 energy I had, I did manage to create some forum mod options, and made those work today (friday). And, this weekend, I'm hoping to empty my inbox and e-mail inbox as well as updating some other things on TMN.

We have had a few mod interviews so far, and some of them do seem Okay to me. We have had one voice interview, and tried another (which failed because Windows Live Messenger kept crashing, nice eh). The text interviews on IRC went quite well, and it seemed like a nice way to communicate.

Things to do, performance, scripting

2008-10-17T23:11:00.002-04:00

Many many many things to do. I decided to go for the Post-It method of remembering thing: Writing everything down on small post-it notes. It works nicely, but the pile really is growing... Every comment on TMN is written down, so I can look at them tomorrow.

Tonight I handled my TMN inbox for the first time, and was amazed. Not just by the IQ of the people messaging me (read: No "plzzzz mke ma bruv mod plzzzzz" messages), but by the game's performance. Every time I clicked a link, it'd think for 0.2 seconds, and it'd be done! Not bad.

How is it this fast? Because of the coding. We're using a less good server than we used to, but the coding is all updated, better-looking, and more tuned for performance. It seems like it's working!

Everytime I looked at online players, I'd see between 220 and 260 players online, not bad if you ask me. But... It seems like people are already using scripts to get there. Pathetic? Yes, but it's how things go on TMN. We'll probably spend a few hours limiting it, but we won't eliminate scripting.

now I know...

2008-10-15T18:53:00.002-04:00

"now I know why you love SVN :D"

That's what DC just said to me on msn, and my thoughts? I did it! I convinced him!

SVN means subversion, and it's a version control system for when you're working in a team, on the same files. I use it on my own too, for backup purposes.

How it works?
I create a file, I enter some code, or just add comments. I Press Commit, and it's uploaded to a server. When DC wants to continue with that file, he presses Update, to get my last version of it, and he can work on it too.
In practise, it means that when there's a bug, I can fix it, commit it, and DC can see I fixed it before starting to fix it himself.

It's a great system, and I'm gladd I convinced DC of using it, so we can now be more productive than ever before.

Wow... stress

2008-10-15T01:44:00.003-04:00

We've been working very hard, and got most bugs fixed.... I have to say I'm surprised by the speed DC operates at. The testers also did a good job, though I wasn't too sure of that when I got home yesterday. I think TMN will have a lot less issues than it ever had in the past.

Unfortunately, yesterday I thought of the activities today... to find out I won't be home when TMN is launched. There's a thing at the internship company I'm working, and I really need/want to go there. When I get home (at about 10 PM? I have no idea really), I'll continue to work hard on a few more things I was going to do. I hope the launch goes well, and that the players like the new TMN.

Testing

2008-10-14T13:19:00.004-04:00

Last night and this morning my time (so till about midnight TMN time) we have chosen about 15 testers, and added them to the test environment of TMN. If you were not contacted, you were either not chosen, or you were too late.

So far we have found a few bugs already, and a few things that influence gameplay in a general way.
We will now try and fix all these minor things, and let the testers find even more, before we launch.

We have thought of who to keep and hire for mods, but haven't really concluded anything. This means DragonCurse and Marc will just look on gameforum often to see what players would be a good addition, and look at their pasts as well.

Earlier today DC e-mailed me asking me about credits... I gave him my opinion:
- We could give credits for donations in the last 3 months of tmnX
- We could give credits for 5% (or anything reasonable) of the donations in the last 3 months of TMN
I don't know what we'll do, but we haven't been able to discuss it any further yet. We'll inform you guys.

Progress Report + Countdown

2008-10-13T00:56:00.002-04:00

As of now, TMN is fully functional except for one feature. Marc and I are performing tests on every aspect of the game to make sure it runs smoothly on the launch date. I am looking to expand our testing team to experienced players who are honest to report any bug/exploit found during the testing period. So if you think you are qualified, please send an email to admin@themafianetwork.net.

There was a small problem with the countdown timer on http://themafianetwork.net a couple days back. The timer took the local's computer as reference instead of server's time. We have moved the launch time 12 hours later, due to Marc's unavailability for the former time. Plus this will be easier for most players from the UK as it will be 5 P.M. GMT now for the launch time. So again, if you are an experienced tester and wish to join our testing team, email admin@themafianetwork.net. Hope to see you all on the 15th!.

Countdown Until TMN Launch....

2008-10-11T08:59:00.003-04:00

You may have seen it already, but we're actually counting down!

TMN seems to be ready, and DC and I are currently testing it, to make sure everything works. I noticed a few changes so far, but those are minor ones:
- Text color and buttons look a little different
- City names
- Login page
- One feature from tmnX added (but don't worry, you'll like it)
- Drive-by button on OC page is gone

There'll be more changes, but I personally think, and hope, they're improvements to the game.

Update #1:
- It will be a total reset
- Scripting at this moment is possible, but if it's up to me, it'll be script-checks on login page and auto-logouts
- DC and I haven't discussed credits in detail yet, but I'll see what's possible there.
- Credits sell & buy will be concidered
- If you need me, get on IRC*

*:
Server: irc.themafianetwork.net
Channel: #jail
My username: marc

Permissions, mod team, progress, internship

2008-10-06T17:40:00.004-04:00

I had a nice chat with DC last night, and really made clear how happy everyone (including myself) has been with him. I explained to him why I haven't been to happy with him, and also (finally) got permission to do whatever I think is best for TMN, without verifying it with DC.

Staff
You all know, the way we chose mods isn't perfect. Last round people applied for a job, which was better, but still not perfect. So, how should we pick our mods? Share your thoughts!
Use the comment option (no need to login) to tell me what's best, what requirements we should stick to, and how to pick mods in general. I'll discuss the comments with DC.

Progress
I haven't seen any progress since yesterday, but I think DC will have some time on his hands. Next milestone: Converting about 100 pages to .NET 3.5, and we'd like to do that within 2 weeks.

Internship
I already told some people about this on IRC, and I also mentioned I'd post about it once or twice. So here it is.
On September 1st I started internship at Logica, researching, and eventually creating an SMS Service. It's very interesting, and I'll use languages, tools, and hardware I haven't worked with before.
Technical: I'll be using a C#.NET application to communicate with a Terminal using AT-commands, to get a service running, that can respond to SMS messages it receives.
Very interesting!

Server

2008-10-04T08:33:00.004-04:00

The server is ready, and the details should come my way later today, when DC gets on msn. From then on we'll be working hard to get it all back up.

I will first set up SVN (SubVersion, version control system), so we can work together. Then we will update the code, so it will be compatible with the newer version of the language we want to use.
Then we will start re-coding it, so it will be more secure, faster, and less buggy in general.

I'm not sure at what step we will launch the game, this could be just after making it compatible with the new version of .NET, or after re-coding it all. It's a decision that will be made, depending on how long certain parts take.

Technical
For those who are interested in all this, I'll just include it.
TMN was originally coded in ASP.NET 1.1, this means it's ASP (Active Server Pages), working with the .NET Framework (read: Dot Net Framework). .NET can be seen as a large toolbox, that can do many things for you. It is not just for web applications, but can also be used for desktop applications, I'd assume Microsoft Office requires it as well. The problem about the old version, is that it's old, less secure, and slower than the newer versions (such as 3.5 that's available now).

Update 1 (October 5th):
The server we now have is, as in the past, a dedicated server. This means we're the only ones using it. As promised, DC sent me the server details last night (saturday night, so I wasn't home myself), and I played with it a little today.
Although we got a nice deal for a cheaper server, it's still a very good one. We are, as in the past, running Windows Server and Microsoft SQL Server.
Today I set up SVN, and updated the TMN home page's content by adding a link to this blog. This should keep the players updated a little more than that main page.

Future of TMN / tmnX

2008-10-01T16:30:00.003-04:00

This is what happened:
All fuzzy, through a full-screen application, I noticed Outlook had come up with a balloon stating I had received an e-mail from DC. I quickly sent an e-mail asking him to get on msn, and, more surprising than the e-mail, he got on msn, and we started talking. We talked through microphones for a while, and chatted over msn some more after that.

A quick summary:

TMN will return
We'll change as little as possible to the look, feel and gameplay of it
We won't merge tmnX into TMN
We may use scripttests on login page, and use auto-logouts to prevent 24-7 scripting
We will save money by using a cheaper server
The server should be up today or tomorrow
We will try and really work together this time
We may publish PayPal donate records every 3 (or so) months*
I will try and keep up this blog, to inform players, staff members, and total strangers
DC will be more active for the next 8 months
I will no longer wait for his permission, and just act when I feel it's needed
We may re-launch tmnX later, when we changed the things we didn't like ourselves

*: Not daily, weekly or monthly, because it may influence the game. I proposed this because I'm a fair person, and think the players deserve to know at least some of it.

So... lets start!

2008-10-01T15:44:00.003-04:00

I have to admit: I've never done this before, but I think keeping a staff blog will be fun and informative for both me, the other staff members, and the players of TMN and tmnX.

On this blog I will post my experiences on TMN/tmnX, as well as technical issues and (limited) information on my own life. For now this blog will not be official, but we may later use it to inform players of what's happening when (for example) things go wrong.

For those who don't understand any of this...
TMN stands for TheMafiaNetwork, which is a text-based "mafia" game, launched in August 2004. We started with nothing, grew to 2400 players online at the same time, and shrunk back to about 500 players online at the same time in 2007.
In January 2008, we launched the new version of TMN; tmnX. Unfortunately tmnX wasn't much of a success. We shrunk back to a sad 50-150 active players, because of many things, but I don't feel the need to mention those here.