First commercial game using the cube engine

by otel on 01/18/2007 21:19, 39 messages, last message: 01/26/2007 10:21, 6727 views, last view: 05/18/2024 20:40

Blood Toll officially released today and is one of the first games to allow players to compete for real money. The game currently uses a highly modified version of the Cube Engine. It is still completely free to download and play so give it a try www.bloodtoll.com . The only time that it will cost you money is if you decide to make a credit card deposit to play for real money.

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#1: Convenient link

by eihrul on 01/18/2007 21:21

http://www.bloodtoll.com

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#2: working link

by otel on 01/18/2007 21:23

http://www.bloodtoll.com/

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#3: ..

by qwurty_ on 01/18/2007 22:08

They claim to be the first that you submit a card number and get money off it, 100% false. Entropia came first, though that's very easy to lose lots of money in (It's an mmo. Still around). Though, this looks very interesting. I'm gunna go look into it. I'm thinking, if people use modified cube engines wouldn't it be nice if someone started a SF Project for a Developer edition of the engine with documentation, added effects and maybe more multipurpose additions to the editor. I'm sure Eisenstern isn't going to be easy to use a fps map editor to make large terrains, NPCs, etc.

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#4: ..

by Passa on 01/19/2007 00:13

It has to be said. Your download system sucks hard.. why require your users to use Java to download the game? Think of the extra problems you cause for users not quite as computer saavy as the rest of us.

I'll post some comments of the game once I work out what your stupid installer has done to my computer :P

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#5: ..

by Passa on 01/19/2007 00:39

Gameplay is practically.. Cube.

Concept is confusing.. I start with $5000? But thats just training money? Like I have no idea how this whole system runs.

The installation process reminds me of SPYWARE.. thanks for letting me choose where to install it, and giving me an easy way to uninstall /sarcasm.

Anyway, after having to go to Add/Remove programs to find a way to uninstall Blood Toll.. guess what? The uninstallation didn't work! According to your uninstaller it did, but all of the Blood Toll program files are still sitting in their 'hidden' location (no.. not Program Files..)

Anyway after manually deleting the 30MB of wasted data, I'm left bored and with a sour aftertaste in my mouth.. Good concept (like SkillGround.com) but pathetic execution.

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#6: ..

by makkE on 01/19/2007 00:59

Yes I´d second that, make it insatll in program files.

Other than that, it´s a nice proof of concept, and basically : why not.

Every descent mod will help establish the cube engines :)

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#7: ..

by GNU Jeffz on 01/19/2007 05:34

the java webstart worked fine for me

but trying to join a game, i connect to the server and disconnect in a loop forever.

:/

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#8: Re: ..

by otel on 01/19/2007 09:27, refers to #7

Hi GNU Jeffz

Thanks for letting us know about this bug. The problem is your username has capital letters, but you are logging in all lower case. when you do this our system lets you login to our lobby, but will not let you join a game. We are currently working on a fix to this bug. For now if you would like to play you can either login with your username properly capitalized, or email us and we will reset your username to all lowercase. Thanks again for bringing this to our attention.

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#9: ..

by Drakas on 01/19/2007 17:41

Is it available for Linux?
Definately, the site needs much more information, cause I'm not even going to register if I don't know whether it is actually worth it!

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#10: Re: ..

by neal on 01/19/2007 18:18, refers to #9

Currently there is Windows and Linux support with Mac OS support coming shortly.

BloodToll uses Java Web Start to deploy the application. The application will be cached by Java until another application is in stalled that needs the disk space. The Java Web Start application manager can be accesses by typing javaws into the console. On windows you will want to go Start > Run > javaws. The application manager will allow you to add or remove shortcuts or clear Blood Toll from cache if you feel it's necessary.

Blood Toll stores your users settings and user specific resources in your home directory. On Linux this directory is usually /home/<your user>/bloodtoll.com and on windows it's c:\Documents and Settings/<your user>/bloodtoll.com/. This directory was used because Blood toll content is constantly being updated and the program needs to be able to modify the files.

I hope this helps to clear up some of the confusion. Thanks Neal.

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#11: Re: ..

by neal on 01/19/2007 18:39, refers to #10

If anyone installed Blood Toll without installing the shortcuts you can launch the game by clicking this link http://downloads.bloodtoll.com/bloodtoll.jnlp

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#12: ..

by penguinofdoom on 01/19/2007 22:08

Looks like they're using a certain amount of cube media. Is this entirely lega?

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#13: ..

by {LiD}CC_machine on 01/19/2007 22:28

i dont like the idea really... it's like gambling.

anybody else noticed the "service fee" when people are playing?
(i noticed in a 75c game when i die i lose 75c, but when i kill somebody else i only get 73c...)

IMHO, the money motivator will ruin gameplay. Instead of looking for a challenge for fun, people will always look for newbs to pwn for money. and that isn't good for newbs, either.

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#14: ..

by GNU Jeffz on 01/20/2007 07:51

the physics feel different from cube :/

I think the gameplay will take some getting used to.

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#15: Re: ..

by Passa on 01/20/2007 15:32, refers to #15

Mate, most sites limit passwords to six numbers/letters and also do not allow special characters..

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#16: Re: ..

by Passa on 01/20/2007 23:34, refers to #16

Alot of systems limit you to letters or numbers. With a combination of numbers and letters your password should be pretty good.

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#17: Re: ..

by rancor on 01/21/2007 01:14, refers to #16

Um, these sort of restrictions tend to imply a good deal of behind the scenes ugliness.

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#18: passwords

by neal on 01/21/2007 02:34

Actually that is not the case at all. The system limits all user input to a defined list of characters. Everything is carefully checked and validated. I will make the system more permissive as necessary but i have always felt that its best to over secure a system at the beginning and then relax security when issues are encountered. As a result the next update of the website will include support for some special characters. Thanks Neal.

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#19: Re: passwords

by rancor on 01/21/2007 04:17, refers to #18

In general that approach is quite good. However, in the case of passwords, the input data should only ever come into contact with a hash or encryption function, thus such filtering is counterproductive.

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#20: ..

by Drakas on 01/21/2007 11:05

..like why the hell would you limit the users on their passwords at all?

By the way, as rancor stated, and it sounds like this to me - you'r eputting the actual passwords directly into the database without hashing. Did you know that this is a strong security and privacy issue? On sites that don't use a known CMS, I always use different passwords (Have at least 20 passwords on top of my head xD), so I am ok - but some people are, say, using their personal passwords which might be an easy way to their e-mail and private stuff - come on, the admins can see the database data!

If you're not limiting anything, you create a simple hash that has to be verified alll the time... well, simple!

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