The Energon Pub

News Credits: 402 · Updated Oct 21, 2022

It's official. As of yesterday evening Omega Sentinel has tendered his resignation as programmer of HMW. It is a very sad time as he did more for this game in the 9 months as programmer as anyone has done in the past 5 years of its existence.

OS left for two reasons. The first was real life work has him working 60-80 hours a week and add on HMW coding, he found it difficult to spend time with his wife and friends. The other reason was that he wasn't used to the community here, and the drama that can be generated on here from time to time killed the fun that he saw in this game. We are sad to see you leave OS, but you're always welcome to come back.

But like everything, life goes on. HMW isn't in a state where it can be left to be self-sufficient, so I've volunteered to pick up the code and Ryan has agreed to do so. So as of tonight, I'll be the new HMW programmer.

First off, my qualifications: I have a Bachelor of Computer Science and am familiar with several computer languages: Pascal, Java, C, UNIX Shell, C++ and VisualBasic.NET. At this point, I'm just beginning to learn PHP, but it seems that it's very similar to Java so I should pick that up all right. I'm not a programmer by trade, and have picked this up out of a) a desire to further contribute, b) a chance to learn and c) out of necessity. I don't want v2 to be a pipe dream; I want it to be a reality.

My life isn't as hectic as Glyph's or OS's. I work on a 4 day on/4 day off schedule, which means that every 8 days, I should have some progress made. After I finally get into the swing of things, I'll most likely start a blog on site somewhere so you guys aren't kept in the dark as to what's going on.

As for various things that I'm going to do:
--For the most part, I'll be keeping OS's vision of v2; a warmap with 4 factions fighting for dominance. There are some details that I'll change, but for the most part things will be as OS intended.
--First thing I want to do is give love to the maximals and predacons. This means setting them up with missions, altmodes and give new players the ability to choose those factions upon startup
--Get the HMW admin panel fully finished and functional, and then figure out how to outsource parts of it to other non-staff members (mission creation, mini games, front page advertising etc.)
--Minicons will return, as will Quintessons and maybe some other NPC missions.
--I didn't like the idea of robot modes boosting stats. I'll work on restoring them, but there will be no benefit to them at this time. They'll be purely eye candy.
--Subfactions: I'm not keen of turning HMW into a purely clan-based game, but I'm not going to marginalize those that exist either. I'm not sure yet what I want to do, but I'll think of something, after getting input from all subfactions of course. Naturally I'll make sure that your forums will actually work in phpbv3.
--I want to add features right: Triplechangers for example should allow a player to choose between two of ANY altmodes that they have available, not be set in stone as previously previewed. Yes this means that they may take some time to figure out but I would hope that the results will be worth it.
--Sure, I'll bring back Goribus, just as soon as I get access and figure out how.
--I like Glyph's idea of victory points, and will look into adding Lucky's and Glyph's Ranks/Awards. Of course this means I'll have to find someone willing to make some for the Maxs/Preds, but that'll come in time.

Since I'm just starting out, I will be ignoring most of the PMs that come in requesting side changes, extra xp, etc. If there's a real glitch with your team, I'll check it out. Please don't pester me on MSN/YIM/email about them either as the end result will be the same. The more of my time you waste tending to your personal wants, the less time I'll have working towards the betterment of the game as a whole.

The bottom line is this: I'm not leaving. I won't be as fast as OS so please don't expect change to come overnight. Rest assured that I want v2 here as much as every one of you so it will come.

News Credits: 2 · Thu Jan 31, 2008 9:56 pm

Well he had to do what he had to do, Good luck Mkall if I can do something let me know please.

News Credits: 7 · Thu Jan 31, 2008 9:58 pm

I'm sorry to hear about OS. But it is the order of things, for the greater good. Good luck to you Mkall. I'm sure you'll do fine

News Credits: 3646 · Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:05 pm

Thanks for posting this announcement to the community so quickly, Mkall. I am happy to have you onboard and will miss our good friend Omega Sentinel. Hopefully he will continue to be part of this community ... he was a great addition to the history of HMW. I fully understand that life can get in the way ... as many of you have noticed has happened to me as well during the past 6 months.

Welcome aboard, Mkall. I'm looking forward to this next phase in the evolution of HMW.

Ryan

News Credits: 1 · Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:11 pm

good luck Mkall we are here if you need us.

News Credits: 7 · Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:20 pm

Oh wow...

Long Live Mkall! This game should move foward like never before, go get em'!

And good luck.

News Credits: 226 · Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:21 pm

So ... I can't have an xp boost then?

News Credits: 7 · Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:46 pm

Interesting turn of events... RL happens.

Good luck, MKALL!

Thu Jan 31, 2008 10:49 pm

Good luck Mkall, if you get stuck with PHP let me know and I can point you in the right direction. You know my MSN.

Thu Jan 31, 2008 11:01 pm

Good luck

Thu Jan 31, 2008 11:06 pm

Well it's sad to see OS go, the last few months have truly gotten me back into this game after taking several years off, but he has to do what he has to do. I'm sure Mkall will not let us down! Thanks for picking up the pieces Mkall!

News Credits: 1 · Thu Jan 31, 2008 11:45 pm

whos mkall?

Fri Feb 01, 2008 12:08 am

well its sad to see the maker of hmw leave, he created the game ( i think) and made it work and for a young programer like me its something i can respect.

News Credits: 226 · Fri Feb 01, 2008 12:10 am

kuzzy wrote:well its sad to see the maker of hmw leave, he created the game ( i think)

He didn't. OS came on board after the game had been going for a few years.

News Credits: 7 · Fri Feb 01, 2008 12:11 am

kuzzy wrote:well its sad to see the maker of hmw leave, he created the game ( i think) and made it work and for a young programer like me its something i can respect.

Nope, I think he was at least the third progammer, I don't remember the first one, but the programmer before Omega was a guy named Glyph.

Fri Feb 01, 2008 12:19 am

Chaoslock wrote:
kuzzy wrote:well its sad to see the maker of hmw leave, he created the game ( i think) and made it work and for a young programer like me its something i can respect.

Nope, I think he was at least the third progammer, I don't remember the first one, but the programmer before Omega was a guy named Glyph.

glyph ay do you know if he was good?

News Credits: 226 · Fri Feb 01, 2008 12:43 am

They've all been good in their own little ways.

Fri Feb 01, 2008 1:26 am

so the Alt God,Becomes the HMW God,could not happen to a nicer guy.
I wish you well good Sir.

Ribbons
i have made a lot of ribbons in the past for a few games,and dabbled in some in this one for a few sub-factions,if you could make a topic,or post here the size/requirements and such,i am sure a few others can make them quite fast as well.
i would post my work,offer my services but i have some medical issues that will make me AFK for 6 weeks plus starting on the 2nd.
and i have no free time before hand. but i am sure you are able to see some of my work in the RDD forum. making ribbons for me is very easy,-mil background/mil family-and if i can help out when i get back i will,but that will not be till mid April,maybe sooner,but that is not up to me.

News Credits: 38 · Fri Feb 01, 2008 3:09 am

Mkall, I applaud you for 'stepping up to the plate' to continue to move HMW further toward it's goal of V.2! I'm sure if you need help with anything, you have the resources at hand to help you out... I've talked to & seen the ribbons that Waylander is speaking about, and think they're a pretty neat idea. -And of course Sustain's skills with the previous HMW tournaments!

Good luck, and I hope your inbox isn't already full of people asking for 'favors'! :lol:

Fri Feb 01, 2008 3:52 am

Thanks MKall.

Hope you can bring HMW truly to the next level and curious to find out what you've got cooking up there.

Glad you decided to join up.

News Credits: 1 · Fri Feb 01, 2008 6:16 am

Don't worry about your pace, all that matters is that it's going forward

Fri Feb 01, 2008 7:00 am

OS will be missed, I haven't been playing here very long but I have been excited with the changes he proposed. I don't know MK very well but from the board chatter with him and others i think it'll be fun to see a rather fair minded person remain in control. I hope that OS can pop in occasionally as a player thoug.

News Credits: 42 · Fri Feb 01, 2008 8:04 am

Vampir wrote:Don't worry about your pace, all that matters is that it's going forward

Well said Vampir!

Mkall, I love your vision of the game's future apart from the animal-love bit, that just sounds wrong.

Dive in dude, were all behind you.