Some players requested additional information regarding the launch, and although it's not so easy to plan ahead at this moment (I'll be away on Saturday and part of Sunday), I'll do my best to update you guys.
The full launch date and time time will be 11-03-2012 at 18:00 in the GMT+1 timezone (which is 17:00, 5PM in the UK). Before that (a couple of hours earlier) the pages you currently see will be replaced by the 'regular' pages (including login and registration page) displaying a countdown.
There will be no pre-registration, simply because there's too little time for that. From 18:00 on you will be able to register your new account.
As for properties: Properties will be dropped when we believe the economy holds enough money, and enough players meet the requirements. We believe having 25 hitmen in a game economy with close to 400mil, the properties will fall in good hands. Before that, System will hold them with reasonable maxbets, but no bullet production.
Marc
Friday, March 9, 2012
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Back home, TMN offline
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
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
Sunday, February 12, 2012
TMN Reset Announcement
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!
), 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.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Pre-registration, more updates
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
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
Monday, October 10, 2011
TMN Launch Date!
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.
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.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Updates and changes
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:
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
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!
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
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
We need your help!
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
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)