Sunday, February 21, 2010
I've added a chart in the Statistics section of the web site that shows the total number of games of En Garde that are played in Second Life, each day for the past 30 days.
Friday, February 19, 2010
The En Garde Rally is ON!
From now until March 1st, it's a race to see who can win the most games against the most people at locations across the grid.
L$10,000 in prizes will be awarded!
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Congratulations go to Jessie Kalinakov! At 8:02PM on February 13th, she won the 100,000th game of En Garde in Second Life.
En Garde has been in Second Life for about two and a half years. So 100,000 games in 2½ years is on average...
- 3,348 games/month
- 781 games/week
- 111 games/day
- or, one game every 12.9 minutes
When I showed up to congratulate Jessie, she didn't know who I was! Such is fame in Second Life. But once I explained her special place in En Garde history, she seems suitably impressed.
For being the lucky 100,000th winner, Jessie won 1000L$, and her choice of any Procyon Games product. She chose a copy of Take it Easy (Head-to-Head edition).
Don't forget the other half of the 100,000 Games of En Garde celebration — The
En Garde Rally, which starts Friday Feb 19th. If you own a copy of En Garde, please
register for the Rally! It's very simple. You don't need to coordinate with anyone, or even make a landmark. All you have to do is have your En Garde piste rezzed (and register at the kiosk).
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
En Garde Owners! Register now for the En Garde Rally!
In celebration of 100,000 games of En Garde, Procyon Games is holding a special Rally Event! All En Garde owners are invited to participate. All you have to do is pay the registration fee (L$50) and rez your En Garde piste in a publicly-accessible location.
The registration kiosk is at the front of the Procyon Games store [SLURL]
Rally Dates: Friday Feb 19th - Monday March 1st
How it works
The Rally will be open to all En Garde players. While the Rally is on, everyone will be trying to win a game of En Garde at every registered location. The locations will be secret, initially, but every time you win you will be given a clue (teleport location) to another Rally Location. Points will be awarded for every location where a player wins a game. The top players in terms of rally points will be awarded prizes. Over L$10,000 in prizes will be awarded!
It's kind of like a shopping hunt, except instead of buying things at a bunch of stores, the players will be playing games of En Garde. Whoever can win the most games, in as many different places as possible, against different opponents, will win the Rally.
Participation Benefits
Every owner who participates will see a steady stream of new players coming to their location.
- It's a great way to meet new En Garde players.
- Show off your themed play area.
- Get new players to join your team.
- Every owner will be able to review a list of everyone who plays on their piste during the rally.
Other questions? IM Rifkin Habsburg or email me.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Here's an article on real-life fashion designers whose designs are influenced by fencing. Some of those designs are really amazing—I wonder if there are any SL clothing designers who could implement those designs in Second Life?
Remember, if you make any En Garde-related items, including fencing-related clothing, you can get a free vendor in my En Garde arena.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Ordinal Malaprop has left Second Life, derezzing her entire presence on the grid.
For those who don't know her, she was known for Ordinal Enterprises, a purveyor of whimsical steampunk-ish scripted items. Ordinal was one of the first creators whose products had a definite style—a personal mode of execution such that when you looked at it you knew, "Oh, this is something Ordinal would make." She called it a narrative. Unlike the thousands of cookie-cutter clothing and skin shops, Ordinal was unique.
It was for that reason that I asked for her help when I created En Garde. Ordinal made the very first custom for-sale En Garde weapon, the
Galvanic Swordstick. There's a vendor for it at the En Garde Arena [
SLURL]. With the rest of Ordinal's shops gone, it might be the last place on the grid where you can buy an Ordinal Enterprises product.
Why did she leave? The proverbial straw seems to have been a permissions problem. I've been there. Managing permissions of products for sale is a nightmare for anyone trying to sell something in Second Life. Especially for a complex item like a game (Danger Zone, for example) which rezzes an object (the game platform you stand on), which in turn rezzes another item (the explosives), which contains several scripts. Now if you need to edit the script, you have to take the entire thing apart, make your change, then put the script back in the bomb back into the platform back into the game. There's no other way to do it. And if you get the permissions wrong on any of those items, your whole object becomes un-sellable.
Linden Lab did install a new feature in their viewer, a "bulk permission change" function, but it quickly broke; it was discovered that someone using it could
easily and accidentally sell full-perm versions of their stuff. So now the official recommendation is to use the bulk changer if you want, but be sure to check everything before you put it up for sale. In other words, you still have to unpack and repack everything.
And this is just one example. Permissions problems are just one of the hassles SL creators have to deal with. Linden Lab gets a lot of flak for having designed a viewer with a UI so awful that only 1% of the people who try it stay more than 10 minutes. But, however bad the viewer is for users, it's even worse for creators. Second Life is the worst environment for development I've ever experienced. Trying to build and sell items in SL is like repeatedly jamming meat thermometers in your ears. It's just so painful.
Here's a comment from Cubey Terra: "I have many times felt [similar feelings] myself and have come within moments of wiping everything and walking away." I've felt those feelings myself. I'm sure every SL creator has, as well.
Suicide is a form of violence. Instead of killing someone else, you kill yourself. Violence is born of anger and frustration. As Shakespeare put it,
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them?
The slings and arrows of Second Life have claimed another victim. Ordinal was not the first SL suicide, and she won't be the last. She will be missed.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Nonsmokergirl Tulip and Fruitcake Altstatter are hosting the En Garde World Open tournament. Here is the tournament info:
Tournament Begins January 13th 6 AM
Tournament Ends January 27th 6 AM
Prizes (guaranteed minimums):
- 1st Place 1500
- 2nd Place 1000
- 3rd Place 500
- 4th place 250
The entry fee is 100 L. Pay the entry board here [
SLURL]
Rules
- You can play any player in SL...regardless of whether they have entered the tournament or not. All your games count!
- You can play ANY player ANY number of times. All your games count!
- You can play on ANY En Garde Platform ANYWHERE in SL! All your games count!
- To Win prizes, you must have entered the tournament. Non-entrants will appear on the scoreboard, of course...but they won't win any lindens! Also, they will be considered decidedly uncool.
- The Tournament Ranking system will be The SL world ranking system. If you want to check your ranking quickly, just hop on any En Garde Platform., and you will see your up-to-date rank.
- To Win, you must enter the tournament. The highest ranked tournament entrants will win 1st , 2nd , 3rd place and 4th place.
- In the event of SL weirdness (such as rolling restarts, or system-wide problems) the organizers will improvise to do their best to ensure accomodate En Garde Players
