Saturday, April 30, 2011

Solo player endgame progression

In the current model of level-based MMORPGs, the game is stupidly divided into two very different parts: A leveling part which is mostly played solo, and an endgame part where progression is limited to group content like raiding. There is an increasing gap between the two, and developers are starting to think how to close it. Now I'd think it would be better to make the leveling game more group friendly, but given the extreme attitude against "forced grouping" some players have, the alternative would be to create an endgame progression for solo players. Thus while applying patch 4.1 to World of Warcraft, the developers already announced the Regrowth and Molten Front feature for patch 4.2.

This basically is a way for solo players to experience some sort of endgame progression which is completely their own. Unlike previous daily quest hubs, the progression this time isn't shared, but unique to every player. Players do daily quests for Marks of the World Tree, tokens which can not only be used to buy gear with, but also to unlock progression of the story.

The interesting part of that is that this personal progression is done without phasing. Thus while two players standing next to each other might see a different scene and different quest givers depending on how far they progressed, they will also see each other, and even be able to do quests together. While there probably isn't a perfect solution to the conflicting demands of people wanting to change virtual worlds, but them having to offer the same content for everybody, this is at least an interesting approach.

On the downside this sort of gameplay structure is still not very friendly to people with lots of alts. Not only will all your alts have to play through the Mount Hyjal regular quest chain, but the Molten Front progression will also be identical for each of them. 60 different daily quests is more than we used to get, but it still will involve a lot of repetition. And with patch 4.2 still being months away, this might well be a case of too little, too late. But then, lots of players might be back in WoW at the end of the year, if SWTOR is really such a dud as some previewers claim.

Friday, April 29, 2011

Turn-based MMORPG

A reader wrote me after having loved the turn-based combat of King's Bounty with the question: "Why oh why couldn't this be integrated nicely into a MMO?" The idea being that the general part of the MMORPG would run in real-time, but combat would be turn-based.

If you think that is impossible, I have to point out that this already works quite nicely in Wizard 101. Of course players don't get all that much time to complete their "turns", only some seconds. But between having to react in fractions of a second, and getting 10 seconds for your turn, there is a huge difference. The main advantage of turn-based combat is that designers can't hide their trivial combat moves behind the "challenge" of twitch-based combat; in turn-based combat players need to think more, and get the time for thinking.

Turn-based, tactical combat works best if you don't just control a single character, but a whole army. Again, that does exist in MMORPGs, for example in Atlantica Online, albeit without the troops moving over the battlefield like in King's Bounty.

So, in summary, turn-based MMORPGs seem to be possible, but the examples are few and far between. In fact, turn-based single-player strategy games appear to be nearly exclusively be produced in Eastern Europe these days, with the rest of the world creating rarely anything but real-time strategy games. So turn-based games in general are evidently a niche genre, and turn-based MMORPGs even more so. A pity! If you know any good turn-based MMORPGs, I'd love to hear about them!

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

I'm so happy I lied to them

I just got mail from the PlayStation Network:
Valued PlayStation Network/Qriocity Customer:

We have discovered that between April 17 and April 19, 2011, certain PlayStation Network and Qriocity service user account information was compromised in connection with an illegal and unauthorized intrusion into our network. In response to this intrusion, we have:
1) Temporarily turned off PlayStation Network and Qriocity services;
2) Engaged an outside, recognized security firm to conduct a full and complete investigation into what happened; and
3) Quickly taken steps to enhance security and strengthen our network infrastructure by re-building our system to provide you with greater protection of your personal information.

We greatly appreciate your patience, understanding and goodwill as we do whatever it takes to resolve these issues as quickly and efficiently as practicable.

Although we are still investigating the details of this incident, we believe that an unauthorized person has obtained the following information that you provided: name, address (city, state/province, zip or postal code), country, email address, birthdate, PlayStation Network/Qriocity password and login, and handle/PSN online ID. It is also possible that your profile data, including purchase history and billing address (city, state, zip), and your PlayStation Network/Qriocity password security answers may have been obtained. If you have authorized a sub-account for your dependent, the same data with respect to your dependent may have been obtained. While there is no evidence that credit card data was taken at this time, we cannot rule out the possibility. If you have provided your credit card data through PlayStation Network or Qriocity, to be on the safe side we are advising you that your credit card number (excluding security code) and expiration date may have been obtained.
Fortunately for me the PlayStation Network is not very user friendly even if it works. When I created my account, it asked me what country I was living in. It turned out that if I said the truth, Belgium, I could only run the Playstation Network in Dutch or French. I really didn't want that, but the only way to get the thing to run in English was to pretend that I lived under a fictious address in the UK. That caused all sorts of hassle later, as then of course I couldn't use my credit card, but had to buy game cards to load up my PSN wallet and buy games. And bizarrly the Playstation Network account management doesn't allow you to change which country you live in, thus if you move to a different country you can't update your address.

But in consequence the PSN hackers got a fake address from me, and no credit card data. Enjoy!

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Power gain per level

Klepsacovic plays Pirates of the Burning Seas and is positively surprised that he can group in a meaningful way with a player 20 levels above him. Why does that work in some games, but not in others? A big part of the answer is that how much power you gain per level is completely arbitrary, and varies a lot from one game to the next.

In World of Warcraft the power gain per level is relatively large. There is easily a factor of 1,000 between for example the damage per second of a low-level character and that of a level-capped character. As a consequence grouping with somebody 20 levels above you results in an experience which is probably boring for one of the two players. If you fight mobs appropriate for the lower level character, the higher level character just one-shots them. If you fight mobs appropriate for the higher level character, the contribution of the lower level character to the fight is minimal. And with loot being strongly correlated with level, it would be hard to find a target that gives useful loot for both characters.

But that is a design decision, and not inherent to MMORPGs in general. It would be totally possible to make a MMORPG in which your power went up by only a very small amount every level, so that a max level character is only twice as powerful as a level 1 character. In such a game it would be much easier to make meaningful groups with players of widely differing levels. And you could even design it in a way that the loot would be useful for everybody: With characters having less difference in power level, there would be less of a need to have level restrictions on loot.

A game with a lesser difference in power between levels would also lead to zones remaining useable for longer. Monsters in one zone remain challenging for a wider level range, and their loot remains useful for longer too. Ideally you'd get rid of the strong level restrictions on quests, so that any group can find a suitable challenge for themselves, regardless of how many players are in the group, and what their level differences are. A player with 20 levels more might still *want* to group with somebody 20 levels lower, because the lower level player's contribution would still be significant enough for the higher level character to be able to tackle a more difficult challenge than if he would solo. And although it isn't my prime concern, obviously a game with less power difference between characters would also be automatically much better balanced in PvP.

I do think that getting more powerful with levels is an essential part of RPGs in general and MMORPGs in specific. But it is the perception of advancement that motivates players, while the actual size of the power gain is secondary. It is great to know that if you have trouble with some mob, you can level up and kick his ass later. But the extreme power gain many modern MMORPGs have per level leads to nobody even considering to go back and kick that mob's ass, because it is now so trivial to be not even fun any more, and the possible rewards are useless now. Everybody just fights his "level-appropriate" fights, and as a consequence in spite of all that power gain you don't even notice you are getting stronger! In many games you actually *feel* weaker after leveling up, because the designers made it harder at higher levels. You run Deadmines and Shadowfang Keep with relative ease around level 20, and when you return at level 85 the same dungeon is now much harder in it's level-appropriate for 85 version.

Thus I do think that diminishing the power gain per level would be generally a good idea for MMORPGs. I hope developers of future MMORPGs stop the ongoing power inflation and hand out power gains much more sparingly. I think that would result in better games. What do you think?

How can we discuss the viability of public quests?

I have a blogging conundrum: I am very interested in MMORPGs in general, how they work or don't work, how they could be made better, and what features or design decisions are good or bad. Thus I would very much like to discuss the viability of public quests in level-based games. The inherent problem I see in this feature is that people "outlevel" zones, and with time lower-level zones become underpopulated, leading to there not being enough players around for the public quests. The problem is that I can't possibly discuss that theory without a certain recent game coming up in the discussion or in the sources I'd link to. And then the fans of that game turn up, accuse me of being biased against their game, and being a fanboi of a game I just quit (as if that would make any sense).

How can we have an intelligent discussion of game features without descending into tribal warfare? What I really want to know is whether public quests are something you'd think would improve some hypothetical future MMORPG, not whether "your game is better than mine".

Monday, April 25, 2011

Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes

Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes is the love child of Heroes of Might & Magic and Puzzle Quest. It used to run only on the Nintendo DS, but high-definition versions just got released as downloadable games for the PS3 and XBox 360 for a very affordable $15. A free demo is available. I bought the game 2 weeks ago, and quickly got hooked, playing the single-player campaign(s) through in 35 hours.

The single-player game is divided into 5 campaigns, telling a continous story. In each campaign you play with different troop types, starting with the elves, then moving on to the knights, and so on. In each campaign you collect the 8 existing troop types (3 core, 2 elite, 2 champion, and 1 secret unit), and battle various enemies with the army you form that way. Unlike in the HoMM series, you have unlimited numbers of core troops, and need only 1 each of the other troops to be able to use them, the rest is just backup if you lose troops. Each campaign has a linear story to follow, but also offers side-quests and "random" battles in some places, which are useful if you want to level up your hero and his troops.

Each battle is a turn-based puzzle. Starting from a random placement of troops, you have a small number of moves each turn in which you try to stack the same color and type of troops in rows or columns of at least 3. The column stacks then "charge up" over a number of turns, before attacking. The row stacks form walls to intercept the enemies' attacks. As in most of these puzzle games, the skill lies in forming combos and chains, for extra moves and more powerful attacks.

As you use the troop icons themselves for the puzzle, that feels less abstract than Puzzle Quest, where you just move colored balls. The troops are animated when attacking, so you see elven rangers firing arrows, nightmares charging, and wizards throwing fireballs. Both the hero and the troops gain xp and levels, getting more powerful over time. But troops are level capped at level 5, and the hero at 10, so you can't simply do random battles until every fight becomes trivial. That keeps the game challenging, and particularly the last campaign is pretty hard to win.

I can't tell you about multi-player as the PlayStation Network has been down for days now. The single-player game has medium replay value, as while the battles are always different, the story and boss fight will be the same the second time through. But given the price, I'd say that is still good value for money. Recommended.

[By the way, if you are waiting for Might & Magic Heroes VI, I have bad news: The release date just got postponed to September 8th.]

WoW's target audience

Syncaine asked a very good question, which necessitates its own thread: As for WoW, do you really think the target audience is the same for the game today as it was in 2004? Or, is it possible that Blizzard changed WoW between 04 and 2011, and has replaced those who originally played with those looking for a slightly deeper Farmville?

I can't say what audience they are shooting for, or what their intentions are. But I *do* know that whatever the target audience is, they are very inconsistent in approaching it. While during WotLK I might have answered you that yes, WoW is heading towards being the easiest and most accessible MMORPG (and nothing wrong with that), I find the target direction for Cataclysm extremely confusing: The leveling game has been made easier, to the point where my ultra-casual wife is complaining that she is leveling new alts too fast (without ever having even seen a heirloom); but the heroics and raiding game has been made far more difficult and time-consuming than in the previous expansion.

I honestly think that EITHER game would be okay, an ultra-easy game, or a game that is consistently challenging. But making the leveling game easier and the endgame harder makes no sense to me at all, because there was already a rather nasty gap between the two before. Why would you want to make your casual players level FASTER, and then not offer them anything to do in the endgame? Why would you design a challenging game, but not use the opportunity to teach players how to play their class during the leveling part? I really wished Blizzard would make their minds up about who exactly is their target audience. As the old saying goes, you simply can't please all the people all the time.

Dapatkan hasil maksimal dari Pick tool di CorelDRAW

Pick tool di Corel Draw : Pernahkah Anda merasa memakan waktu untuk memilih objek dalam proyek-proyek yang kompleks, atau untuk benda ukuran dan teks paragraf? Atau mungkin Anda sudah mencoba untuk membentuk kembali kurva objek dengan cepat dan kemudian menemukan bahwa Anda harus beralih alat untuk memilih node pada objek? Tips berikut ini menunjukkan kepada Anda bagaimana untuk melakukan semua tugas ini cepat dan mudah dengan menggunakan Pick tool.
 pick_01_tool
Untuk memilih salah satu objek
  • Menggunakan Pick tool, drag marquee sekitar objek untuk memilihnya. Jika bagian obyek yang tersembunyi di balik obyek lain, tahan Alt sambil menyeret, dan lampirkan hanya sebagian objek. Menggunakan pengubah Alt membantu Anda dengan cepat memilih objek dalam proyek-proyek yang kompleks.
    pick_02_select_sky
Langit di clipart ini dipilih dengan menyeret tenda di sekitar sebagian kecil dari langit sambil menekan Alt.
pick_03_night_sky
Warna yang dipilih langit berubah menjadi biru tua dengan satu klik pada palet warna pada layar. Warna air berubah menjadi biru gelap dengan menyeret sebuah swatch warna
  • Untuk memilih semua objek dalam sebuah gambar, klik dua kali tool Pick.
Untuk ukuran objek
  • Untuk ukuran objek yang dipilih secara proporsional, tarik sudut pegangan. Untuk beralih ke mode bebas-ukuran, tahan Alt sambil menyeret. Free-ukuran mode memungkinkan Anda ukuran objek namun Anda inginkan. Anda bahkan dapat flip obyek sambil menahan tombol Alt .
pick_04_size_proportion
Anda mendapat ukuran objek yang dipilih secara proporsional dengan menyeret sudut pegangan.
pick_05_free_size_flip
Anda mendapat ukuran objek yang dipilih tidak proporsional dan flip itu dengan menekan Alt sambil menyeret sudut pegangan.

Untuk ukuran  teks
  • Untuk ukuran frame teks, klik teks paragraf dengan Pick tool, dan drag pilihan sudut menangani. Untuk ukuran bingkai teks dan teks secara simultan, tahan Alt sambil menyeret sudut pegangan. 
pick_06_text
teks paragraf yang dipilih dapat diubah ukurannya proporsional dengan menyeret sudut pegangan
pick_07_sizefr
Hanya bingkai teks telah diubah ukurannya dalam contoh ini. Perhatikan bahwa teks dalam bingkai sekarang meliputi lima baris bukan empat.
pick_08_sizefr_text
Dalam contoh ini, baik teks dan bingkai telah diubah ukurannya dengan menekan Alt sambil menyeret sudut pegangan. Perhatikan bahwa teks mencakup empat baris, seperti dalam paragraf teks asli

Untuk memilih sebuah node:
  1.  Klik Tools> Options.
  2.  Dalam daftar Workspace kategori, klik Display, dan pastikan bahwa node pelacakan Aktifkan kotak cek diaktifkan. Ketika node kotak centang Aktifkan pelacakan diaktifkan, fitur gertakan tidak tersedia.
    pick_09_display
    Halaman Tampilan kotak dialog Opsi. Simpul Aktifkan kontrol pelacakan dilingkari merah
  3. Menggunakan Pick tool, klik objek kurva. 
  4. Memindahkan penunjuk ke node sampai bentuk kursor negara alat itu muncul, dan klik node.
    pick_10_node
    Node dipilih dengan Pick too  
- ( Baca Juga : Menggunakan opsi spacing di CorelDRAW  )
- Referensi : www.corel.com

      Menggunakan opsi spacing di CorelDRAW

      Anda dapat menggunakan opsi spacing  dalam CorelDRAW ® untuk menyesuaikan tampilan teks paragraf dalam gambar Anda. Bila Anda tidak memiliki banyak ruang untuk teks, Anda dapat memodifikasi spasi sebelum dan sesudah paragraf.

      Anda juga dapat mengubah jumlah ruang antara baris dalam sebuah paragraf.
      Dengan indentasi gantung, di mana semua kecuali baris pertama dari teks lebih menjorok, Anda dapat menerapkan pandangan yang berbeda untuk kedua teks spacing dan daftar bullet.

      Jika Anda mengetik di luar baris pertama dalam daftar bullet, Anda akan menemukan bahwa teks tetesan ke kiri, melawan bingkai teks. Dengan menerapkan indent gantung, Anda dapat memiliki indentasi teks sehingga sejalan dengan kata pertama pada baris pertama dari daftar bullet.
      Anda dapat mengakses pengaturan untuk jalur spasi dan indentasi menggantung di Formatting docker, yang dapat anda buka dengan mengklik teks> spasi Format.

      Untuk mengatur jarak antar paragraf

      1. Pilih teks.
      1. Di daerah jarak dari pekerja galangan spacing Formatting, pilih unit pengukuran dari list box.
      1. Ketikkan nilai dalam spacing Sebelum atau Setelah kotak spacing.


        Ruang setelah paragraf pertama naik menjadi 14 poin.
      Untuk mengubah spasi baris dalam spacing teks
      1. Pilih teks.

      2. Dalam format docker  spacing , ketik nilai pada kotak Line di daerah jarak.





        Garis spasi di paragraf pertama meningkat.
      Untuk indent teks ayat
      1. Pilih teks paragraf.
      2. Dalam Formatting spacing docker, ketik nilai dalam salah satu kotak berikut di daerah indentasi:
        • Pertama line - indentasi baris pertama dari teks spacing
        • Waktu - menciptakan indent tergantung di mana semua kecuali baris pertama dari teks lebih menjorok
        • Kanan - indentasi sisi kanan teks spacing



      Untuk membuat indent tergantung di daftar bullet
      1. Pilih teks paragraf.
      2. Klik Bullets teks>.
      3. Aktifkan centang kotak  Use Bullets
      4. Aktifkan Gunakan gaya indent gantung untuk cek list kotak .

        - ( Baca Juga : Menggunakan cara pintas keyboard di CorelDRAW ® X3 )
        - Referensi : www.corel.com

      Menggunakan cara pintas keyboard di CorelDRAW ® X3

      Anda dapat menggunakan cara pintas keyboard (juga dikenal sebagai hotkeys) untuk segera mengaktifkan perintah menu banyak dan Tool dalam CorelDRAW ® X3. Cara pintas keyboard untuk sebuah menu perintah ini ditampilkan di sebelah kanan item menu; cara pintas keyboard untuk alat ditampilkan dalam tooltip ketika Anda membawa di atas alat tersebut.


      Contoh ini menunjukkan cara pintas keyboard (Ctrl + N) untuk memulai sebuah proyek baru.


      Contoh ini menunjukkan cara pintas keyboard (F10) untuk mengaktifkan tool Shape.
      Berikut adalah cara pintas keyboard untuk beberapa tugas yang biasa dilakukan.

      Tugas

      Pintas keyboard

      Membuka file Ctrl + O
      Simpan file Ctrl + S
      Impor file Ctrl + I
      Ekspor file Ctrl + E
      Mencetak file Ctrl + P
      Catatan: Untuk daftar lengkap shortcut keyboard, lihat CorelDRAW X3 Kartu Referensi Cepat disertakan dalam paket perangkat lunak Anda.
      - ( Baca Juga : Merancang Akurasi di CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X5 )
      - Referensi : www.corel.com

      Merancang Akurasi di CorelDRAW X5


      Dalam tutorial ini Kita akan mempelajari cara menggunakan
      • Dimensioning baris
      • Dimensi Segmen garis
      • Call-out
      • Konektor baris
      CorelDRAW memiliki kekuasaan dan fleksibilitas untuk memungkinkan Anda untuk membuat bahkan yang paling detil dari gambar atau desain dengan mudah dan akurat. Dari lurus ke depan panggilan-out untuk dimensioning baris yang menawarkan akurasi sepuluh tempat desimal.

      Bekerja dengan Dimensi Lines
      CorelDRAW memungkinkan Anda untuk dengan mudah menambahkan berbagai jenis garis dimensi dan-panggilan out. Dengan menggunakan garis dimensi, Anda dapat menunjukkan jarak antara dua titik dalam sebuah gambar atau ukuran objek. Secara default, dimensi garis dan pengukuran ditampilkan pada baris berubah ketika Anda mengubah ukuran suatu objek. Hal ini disebut dimensioning sebagai dinamis dan dapat sangat berguna jika Anda perlu untuk mengubah ukuran suatu objek atau kelompok objek dan ingin menghindari untuk menciptakan garis dimensioning.
      Ada empat tool baris dimensi, sejajar vertikal / horisontal, sudut dan segmen. Alat Dimensi Paralel memungkinkan Anda untuk menggambar garis dimensi di setiap sudut. Untuk menarik garis dimensi paralel, klik tool dimensi paralel di kotak peralatan. Untuk menggambar garis dimensi vertikal atau horizontal, buka flyout Dimensi alat dengan mengklik panah di sudut kanan bawah tombol alat dimensi paralel di kotak peralatan, dan klik tombol Horizontal atau Vertikal dimensi alat.
      • Klik untuk menempatkan titik awal, dan tarik ke mana Anda ingin menempatkan titik akhir dari garis dimensi.
      • Pindahkan pointer ke posisi garis dimensi, dan klik untuk menempatkan teks dimensi.
      Secara default, teks dimensi berpusat pada garis dimensi, namun hal ini dapat diubah pada property bar interaktif.
      Untuk menggambar garis dimensi vertikal atau horizontal, buka flyout Dimensi alat dengan mengklik panah di sudut kanan bawah tombol alat dimensi paralel di kotak peralatan, dan klik Horizontal / Vertikal tombol dimensi alat.
      • Klik untuk menempatkan titik awal, dan tarik ke mana Anda ingin menempatkan titik akhir dari garis dimensi.
      • Pindahkan pointer ke posisi garis dimensi, dan klik untuk menempatkan teks dimensi.
      Untuk menggambar garis dimensi sudut, klik tanda panah di sudut kanan bawah alat Paralel dimensi tombol untuk membuka flyout Dimensi alat-alat, dan klik alat dimensi sudut.
      • Klik di mana Anda ingin dua baris yang mengukur sudut untuk berpotongan, dan tarik ke mana Anda ingin baris pertama sampai akhir.
      • Klik di mana Anda ingin baris kedua untuk mengakhiri.
      • Klik dimana anda ingin label sudut untuk muncul.

      Menciptakan segmen garis Dimensi
      Untuk menggambar garis dimensi segmen, di toolbox, klik panah di sudut kanan bawah alat Paralel dimensi tombol untuk membuka flyout Dimensi alat-alat, dan klik alat dimensi Segmen.
      • Klik segmen yang Anda ingin untuk mengukur.
      • Pindahkan pointer ke mana Anda ingin posisi garis dimensi, dan klik di mana Anda ingin menempatkan teks dimensi.
      Dengan alat dimensi Segmen, Anda juga memiliki kemampuan untuk mengukur jarak antara dua node yang paling jauh dalam beberapa segmen. Menggunakan alat dimensi Segmen, tenda pilih segmen, tarik untuk posisi garis dimensi, dan klik di mana Anda ingin menempatkan teks dimensi. Anda juga dapat mengukur segmen berturut-turut secara otomatis dengan mengklik tombol dimensioning Otomatis berturut-turut pada property bar, dan tenda pilih segmen yang ingin Anda mengukur. Seret ke lokasi di mana Anda ingin menempatkan teks dimensi dan lepaskan.
      Seperti yang telah kita disebutkan sebelumnya, Anda dapat mengatur bagaimana garis dimensi ditampilkan. Sebagai contoh, Anda dapat menentukan unit dimensi, gaya, dan presisi serta menambahkan awalan atau akhiran ke teks dimensi. Anda juga dapat mengatur nilai default untuk semua baris dimensi baru yang Anda buat.
      Kami juga menyatakan bahwa secara default, teks dimensi dinamis. Jika Anda mengubah ukuran objek mana garis dimensi terpasang, teks dimensi diperbarui secara otomatis untuk menampilkan ukuran baru. Properti ini set dari property bar interaktif yang dapat diakses ketika Anda memiliki salah satu alat dimensioning dipilih.
      Untuk dapat menggunakan konektor, callout, dan garis dimensi dengan presisi, Anda perlu snap mereka untuk node tertentu dalam obyek. Untuk informasi lebih lanjut tentang patah dan gertakan mode, lihat "Snapping objek" di file membantu CorelDRAW

      Membuat Panggilan-out
      Call-out dapat dengan mudah dibuat untuk mengidentifikasi bagian-bagian gambar atau untuk menarik perhatian ke bagian tertentu dari desain.
      Pada toolbox, klik tanda panah di sudut kanan bawah alat Paralel dimensi tombol untuk membuka flyout Dimensi alat, dan klik 3-Point alat callout.
      • Klik di mana Anda ingin segmen callout pertama untuk memulai, dan tarik ke mana Anda ingin segmen pertama berakhir.
      • Klik di mana Anda ingin segmen kedua untuk mengakhiri. Sebuah kursor teks ditampilkan pada akhir baris callout, menunjukkan di mana untuk mengetik label untuk objek.
      • Ketikkan teks callout.
      Anda juga dapat mengubah gaya callout dan jarak antara garis pemimpin dan teks callout. Hal ini dilakukan dari property bar interaktif.

      Konektor Lines
      Anda dapat menarik garis penghubung antara objek. Objek tetap terhubung dengan baris-baris bahkan ketika Anda memindahkan satu atau kedua objek. garis Connector, yang juga dikenal sebagai "garis aliran", digunakan dalam gambar teknis seperti diagram, diagram alur, dan skema. Untuk informasi tentang menggambar bentuk flowchart, lihat "Menggambar bentuk standar" di file bantuan CorelDRAW.
      Ada tiga jenis baris konektor yang Anda dapat menarik. Anda dapat menarik garis lurus konektor. Anda juga dapat menggambar garis konektor kanan sudut dengan sudut yang tajam atau sudut bulat. Anda dapat mengedit garis konektor dengan memindahkan, menambah, atau menghapus segmen.



      Menggunakan kontrol pada property bar, Anda dapat memodifikasi lebar dan gaya garis konektor serta menerapkan panah. Anda juga dapat mengubah warna garis konektor. Untuk informasi lebih lanjut tentang garis Format dan garis besar, lihat "Memformat baris dan menguraikan" di file bantuan CorelDRAW.
      Dengan alat baru yang telah ditambahkan mudah untuk melihat seberapa akurat Anda dapat membuat desain Anda dan untuk menyampaikan informasi ini untuk penampil.
      - ( Baca Juga : Pusat Toko Online

      Sunday, April 24, 2011

      Pusat Toko Online

      Pusat Toko Online




      Pusat Toko Online
      - ( Baca Juga : Menyoroti Fitur Baru di CorelDRAW Graphics Suite )

      Menyoroti Fitur Baru di CorelDRAW Graphics Suite

      Anda sekarang memiliki cara sederhana untuk mengidentifikasi fitur-fitur yang baru di versi sebelumnya CorelDRAW ® Graphics Suite - dari versi 9 sampai 12. Anda dapat menyorot semua perintah menu dan alat yang baru untuk versi tertentu dari CorelDRAW ® atau Corel PHOTO-PAINT ®. Fitur ini sangat berguna jika Anda melakukan upgrade dari versi sebelumnya CorelDRAW Graphics Suite.

      Untuk menyorot apa yang baru di CorelDRAW ® Graphics Suite

      1. Peluncuran CorelDRAW atau Corel PHOTO-PAINT.
      2. Klik Help Sorot> Apa yang Baru, dan klik salah satu dari perintah berikut:

        • Sejak Versi 12 - menyoroti perintah menu dan tool diperkenalkan dalam versi
        • Sejak Versi 11 - menyoroti perintah menu dan tool diperkenalkan dalam versi 12 dan
        • Sejak Versi 10 - menyoroti perintah menu dan tool diperkenalkan di versi 11, 12, dan
        • Sejak Versi 9 - menyoroti perintah menu dan tool diperkenalkan di versi 10, 11, 12, dan


        Setiap tool baru atau perintah menu disorot dalam oranye.
      Untuk mematikan menyoroti, klik Bantuan> Sorot Apa> Sorot Baru No.
      - ( Baca Juga : Pintasan Keyboard Dalam CorelDRAW ® X3  )
      - Reference: www.corel.com

      Pintasan Keyboard Dalam CorelDRAW ® X3

      Pintasan Keyboard Dalam CorelDRAW ® X3 membantu Anda menyelesaikan tugas yang biasa dilakukan lebih cepat. Apakah Anda tahu bahwa Anda dapat menjadi lebih produktif dengan menciptakan shortcut keyboard kustom yang sesuai dengan gaya Anda bekerja? Misalnya, jika Anda menggunakan alat Bezier sering, Anda dapat menetapkan cara pintas keyboard untuk mengaktifkan alat Bezier.

      Untuk menetapkan cara pintas keyboard untuk perintah

      1. Klik Peralatan> Customization.
      2. Dalam Customization daftar kategori, klik Perintah.
      3. Klik Tombol pintas tab.
      The Perintah halaman dari Pilihan kotak dialog memungkinkan Anda membuat cara pintas keyboard kustom untuk perintah menu umum digunakan dan alat. Klik Tombol pintas tab untuk mengakses kontrol yang Anda butuhkan.
      4. Pilih tabel shortcut key dari Tombol shortcut tabel daftar kotak.
      5. Pilih kategori perintah dari kotak daftar teratas.
      Kotak daftar teratas memungkinkan Anda memilih kategori perintah seperti menu, toolbar, atau kotak peralatan.
      6. Klik sebuah perintah di Perintah daftar
      Dalam contoh ini, kita memilih Toolbox dari list box atas dan alat Bezier di daftar Perintah.
      7. Klik di Baru tombol shortcut kotak, lalu tekan kombinasi tombol.

      Jika kombinasi tombol sudah ditugaskan untuk perintah lain, perintah yang tercantum dalam Saat ditugaskan untuk kotak.
      8. Klik Menetapkan.
      Dalam contoh ini, kita menetapkan Shift + D sebagai cara pintas keyboard untuk mengaktifkan alat Bezier.
      Catatan: Jika cara pintas keyboard yang sama sudah ditugaskan untuk perintah lain, tugas kedua menimpa yang pertama. Dengan mengaktifkan Navigasikan ke konflik pada menetapkan kotak cek, secara otomatis Anda dapat menavigasi dengan perintah yang pintas Anda ditugaskan kembali dan menetapkan shortcut baru.
        - ( Baca Juga : Menyesuaikan antarmuka pengguna dalam CorelDRAW Graphics Suite  )
      - Reference: www.corel.com

      Mine Things

      Somebody spammed several of the threads with a link to a browser game called Mine Things. Mine Things is running a standard word-of-mouth advertising campaign, where players get a link with a reference number, and new players signing up using that reference and spending money on that game give advantages to the referrer. I don't mind people placing that sort of links in threads talking about browser games (e.g. this one), if they add a bit of intelligent comment of why they would recommend that game. But with just the link spammed over several threads, I just deleted the spam. Nevertheless I did have a look at Mine Things, and found the game interesting enough to sign up, so now I got my own referrer link to Mine Things. :)

      So what do you do in Mine Things? Well, surprisingly, you mine things. At an EXTREMELY slow rate. Different browser games work of different time scales, which is good because players have different amounts of time available. Mine Things is the most extreme time-lite browser game I've come across yet. You basically need to log on every 20+ hours to recharge your batteries. Playing this for 5 minutes twice a day, e.g. in the morning before going to work and in the evening, is totally sufficient to keep Mine Things running at near optimum efficiency. It would be actually quite hard to play this for more than half an hour at a time without running out of things to do and having to wait again. You have been warned, that pace is obviously not suited for everybody.

      Mining runs automatically, no action required from the player. You start out with one starter mine, which is manned by a mining robot who mines at a speed of 30 buckets per hour. As far as I read you find something every 185 buckets, thus at the start you'll only find something every 6 hours. That tends to come as a shock to new player, especially since in the tutorial you find things every 30 seconds.

      Mines can be set to either mine things or gold. At the start, and if you don't want to spend any real money, it is recommended to mine gold, which will give you a steady income. The gold can be used to buy equipment for your robot, which will increase his buckets per hour, and thus make him find gold or things faster. Once you have a bit of gold and equipment, you can switch to mining things.

      What are things? Things can be pretty much everything. Many of them have no use of their own, but can be combined into "melds". You can't wear the "dress shoes" and "sneakers" you'll mine as some of the common finds of your starter mine, but you can combine those two into a meld. And the number of different melds you have thus created is your "level" in Mine Things. The more melds you have, the more professions open up to you, giving you access to other parts of the game. Thus leveling up requires you to find or buy a lot of things. Things can also be useful, like equipment for your mining robots, or vehicles to travel between cities, or weapons, or various other things. By the way, the number of melds also increases your battery timer by 1 hour each.

      Now each mine produces up to 50 different things, in 5 levels of rarity. And there are 18 different types of mines, with different sorts of mines being available in different cities. But you can make melds only in one city, your home, and while you can move to a new home, that move disassembles all your melds. Thus you need to gather items from different cities, which means transporting things from one city to the next. This is where Mine Things becomes interesting to me: At the heart of it Mine Things is a game about trading. Different professions can either transport things on land or on sea, or they can try to rob such transports on land or sea, or they can chase such pirates and highwaymen. Items tend to be cheap in the cities where they are mined, and more expensive in cities where such a mine isn't available. 7 years ago I wrote a post about a game I wished there was, which would have trade and dangerous journeys to transport goods. Of course I would have wanted that to be MMORPG in 3D. But from all the games I have seen (except SciFi space games), Mine Things comes closest to that design I wrote about.

      Now Mine Things certainly isn't a perfect game, if such a thing even exists, and it has its flaws. I think many players of the "gimme now!" fast action attention deficit disorder generation will find Mine Things far too slow for their liking. And like in EVE there is a way to buy something in-game with cash (in this case mines), and sell that on for the in-game currency. I did that to accelerate the otherwise extremely slow start, but of course the ability to buy in-game currency legally kind of defeats the purpose of a game about trade and economy. The alternative is taking a loan or gift from a more advanced player. The cash shop is also used to buy increased inventory space, or to buy extended batteries that will keep your mines producing in case you are on holiday and can't log on for an extended period of time. Compared to other browser games I've played recently, the cash shop stuff is rather unobtrusive, and reasonably priced.

      Well, if you are interested in Mine Things (Tobold's reference link), I'm playing on the Bromo server (Different servers have different maps!). You can send me an e-mail if you decide to play and want to know my character name.

      Saturday, April 23, 2011

      Turning back time

      Spinks is posing a challenge: "Open a new trial account in WoW, pick a character based on looks/ class description, and play it up to level 10. Then see how fun you found the gameplay." Well, apart from the "trial account" part, I just did that in Cataclysm, leveling up a new goblin hunter and worgen warlock. And I found the experience fun enough. In particular I found the quests more fun than the equivalent first ten levels of playing two characters in Rift, which I also did around the same time. But of course that is highly subjective. And not really a good measure, because it is impossible to turn back time.

      "Fun" doesn't exist in a vacuum, it is a feeling which melds from the what you are currently doing and all your previous experience. Me, personally, I'm a bit sick and tired of the standard kill 10 foozles quests, so subjectively I liked the WoW new player experience more than the Rift new player experience, because the new WoW starting zones have a lot more non-standard quests, more use of vehicles, scripts, and other "modern" quest telling gadgets. Somebody else might be sick and tired of how classes and talents work in WoW, and might find the Rift new player experience with its souls more fun. Or he might find WoW too static and prefer the slightly less static rifts in Rift.

      Thus unless you take a really new player who never played MMORPGs before, and let him play through the newbie experience, it is impossible to get an accurate reading of how "fun" a newbie zone is. Everybody falls in love with his first MMORPG. People who started with EQ will still reminisce about how great that was, before this or that developement "ruined the game". And so on with every MMORPG, every veteran player can tell you exactly what "ruined the game" of his first MMORPG. When in fact people simply burned out, and are just blaming some minor changes in the game to a mental development which took place in their own heads.

      I burned out from World of Warcraft, which is why I cancelled my account. I need at least some months of break before I can play a similar quest and level-based game again, which will most probably we Star Wars: The Old Republic. As I realize that the burnout is in my head, and not the fault of WoW, I don't believe in the solution of just switching to a new game already now, which is over 90% similar to WoW. I'm pretty certain that in the coming months there will be a lot of people realizing that once the new shiny feeling has worn off, Rift plays a lot like WoW. And as their burnout with the WoW-like gameplay is in their heads, they will burn out from Rift quickly. Watching the MMORPG blogosphere I can already see the writing on the wall. That is not the fault of Rift, but the natural effect of playing through similar gameplay for thousands of hours over the last years. Some people will blame some change in Rift ("that new patch totally ruined the game"), others will bizarrely find a way to blame WoW for their Rift burnout. But the simple fact is that you can't turn back time and "unplay" the thousands of hours of MMORPG you already did. "Fun" is something that suffers from diminishing return.

      Playing together

      While I cancelled my subscription, I still have a month paid for in WoW, so I'm still occasionally playing a bit. Today I was playing around with my level 17 goblin hunter, doing quests in Azshara. Goblin humor isn't everybody's thing, but I can smile about SFGs (Surface-to-Face Grenades).

      My wife is sitting next to me, on her computer, playing her new paladin. Same server, same faction, and as it happens level 17 as well. So we think for a moment what we could do to play together which would make any sense: Monsters or quests you'd want the help of another player for, or at least things we could do together which would go faster or smoother than if we did them alone. No luck, there isn't anything. Quests are faster solo, and for dungeons you need more players. Tackling higher level mobs together makes no sense, as we can't get any quests for those.

      There is no use for playing together with one other player. I find that somewhat sad.

      Menyesuaikan antarmuka pengguna dalam CorelDRAW

      Tip ini telah ditulis untuk CorelDRAW ® Graphics Suite X4. Sementara fitur serupa mungkin tidak tersedia di rilis sebelumnya ujung akan sepenuhnya berlaku untuk CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X4 dan versi yang lebih baru saja.
      Untuk perintah yang sering Anda gunakan, adalah praktis untuk menggunakan tombol shortcut untuk menerapkan perintah. Namun dengan semua perintah yang tersedia, mungkin sulit untuk mengingat semua tombol pintas.
      Untuk membuat ini lebih mudah, anda bisa membuat tombol disesuaikan untuk perintah favorit Anda. Anda kemudian dapat memindahkan tombol ke tempat di mana Anda dapat dengan mudah menemukan dan menggunakannya saat bekerja dengan CorelDRAW Graphics Suite.
      Perintah Convert to Curves adalah contoh yang baik.

      Convert to Curves

      Bila Anda telah menciptakan bintang dan kemudian ingin membentuk kembali untuk memindahkan beberapa poin yang lebih jauh dari pusat, Anda perlu mengkonversi bintang untuk kurva pertama.
      Dalam gambar di bawah ini, poligon dengan 12 poin adalah mengubah bentuk dengan bentuk tool dengan menarik node dalam poligon. Semua node bergerak secara bersamaan.

      Tapi hasilnya seharusnya seperti di gambar di bawah ini.

      Anda hanya bisa mendapatkan hasil ini dengan mengubahnya bintang untuk kurva.
      Anda akan menemukan perintah ini dengan memilih Atur-menu | Convert to Curves
      Perintah ini sering digunakan dalam CorelDRAW Graphics Suite, dan karena itu layak tempatnya sendiri dalam program ini. Anda dapat menggunakannya untuk mengkonversi persegi panjang, elips, poligon, bintang dan teks ke objek diedit.

      Membuat tombol disesuaikan - contoh "dikonversi ke kurva"

      Dalam Tools menu, pilih Customization dan Anda akan melihat Pilihan kotak dialog. Klik Perintah.

      Gulir ke Mengatur daerah di Cari lapangan, dan menemukan perintah Convert to Curves.
      Klik pada perintah, dan drag field yang disorot ke suatu tempat dalam program di mana ia akan selalu terlihat, misalnya ke kanan Standar Bar atau di bawah alat-alat dalam Alat Kotak.
      Sekarang perintah muncul sebagai tombol.
      Pada gambar di atas, Anda dapat melihat Convert to Curves tombol, serta tombol Pindah ke halaman depan, Dan Pindah ke belakang halaman. Dengan cara ini, Anda dapat menyesuaikan antarmuka pengguna CorelDRAW Graphics Suite untuk merampingkan alur kerja Anda dan menghemat waktu ketika Anda sering menyelesaikan tugas-tugas serupa.
      Jika Anda perlu untuk menghapus tombol, klik kanan pada tombol, pilih Customize | Toolbar Item | Hapus.
      - ( Baca Juga : Memilih objek di CorelDRAW  )
      - Reference: www.corel.com

      Memilih objek di CorelDRAW

      Untuk memodifikasi objek dalam suatu pekerjaan desain anda, Anda harus memilih terlebih dahulu dengan menggunakan alat Pick. Tips berikut akan membantu Anda memilih objek dengan lebih mudah.
      • Untuk mengaktifkan Pick Tool setelah menggunakan alat-alat lain dari toolbox, tekan Ctrl + Spasi. Ini cara pintas keyboard mengaktifkan alat Pilih bahkan jika Anda baru saja menggunakan Text tool.
        Pick Tool


        Menekan Ctrl + Spacebar mengaktifkan Pick Tool.
      • Untuk marquee benda memilih, Anda tarik Pick Tool diagonal untuk menyertakan objek dalam kotak marquee dengan garis bertitik. Jika Anda menekan Alt sambil menyeret too; Pilih, Anda harus menyertakan hanya sebagian kecil dari objek untuk memilih mereka. Metode ini berguna untuk memilih objek tertentu dalam proyek-proyek yang kompleks yang berisi objek yang tumpang tindih.


        Untuk memilih dua bunga di sudut kanan atas, tahan Alt, dan menggunakan alat Pilih, drag kotak marquee untuk menyertakan sebagian dari bunga masing-masing.

        - ( Baca Juga : Posisi obyek menggambar di corelDraw  )
        - Reference: www.corel.com

      Friday, April 22, 2011

      EQ2 thinks about skipping right to the endgame

      In news very relevant to the recent discussion here, EverQuest II Producer Dave “Smokejumper” Georgeson floated an idea for debate about a "return to EQ2 and buy Destiny of Velious, and you'll get a free level 90 character of your choice" winback campaign. I think that is a very good idea. If the leveling game has very little to do with preparing you for the endgame, and thus ends just as being an obstacle with very different gameplay from what you actually want to do, then why not just skip that part?

      Posisi obyek menggambar di corelDraw

      Berikut ini adalah trik menghemat waktu!  Tip ini sangat berguna jika gambar Anda berisi beberapa objek.
      Dengan mengklik kanan sebuah objek dengan objek-alat penciptaan, Anda dapat memindahkan atau menyalin ke lokasi baru di gambar Anda.
      1. Dengan objek-penciptaan alat aktif, klik kanan objek, dan tarik.
        Sebuah garis biru dari objek mengikuti pointer yang Anda tarik.
      2. Setelah Anda menempatkan objek, lepaskan tombol mouse sebelah kanan.
        Sebuah menu akan muncul.
      3. Pilih salah satu dari berikut:
        • Pindah ke sini
        • Salin sini
        Objek dipindahkan atau disalin.
            
        - ( Baca Juga : Cropping grafis dalam CorelDRAW ®  )
        - Reference: www.corel.com

      Cropping grafis dalam CorelDRAW ®

      Nirwana Sitoeking  : Apakah Anda bekerja dengan gambar atau bitmap yang diimpor, yang baru Crop alat yang memungkinkan Anda menghapus bagian-bagian dari grafis Anda dengan cepat dan mudah. Anda tidak perlu lagi ungroup objek, istirahat selain kelompok-kelompok terkait, atau mengkonversi objek dengan kurva untuk menghilangkan daerah-daerah yang tidak diinginkan pada grafik.
      Crop tool terletak di toolbox, di Croop tool flyout.
      Untuk memotong objek, anda mendefinisikan suatu area persegi (tanam area) yang ingin Anda simpan. Bagian dari grafis luar daerah tanam akan dihapus. Anda dapat menentukan posisi yang tepat dan ukuran dari area Crop, dan Anda dapat memutar dan mengubah ukurannya.
      Cropping clipart


      Crop bitmap yang diimpor


      Untuk memotong grafik

      1. Buka alat flyout Tanaman , Dan klik  alat Crop .
        Catatan penting: Jika suatu obyek atau bitmap dipilih, hanya item yang dipilih akan dipotong. Jika tidak ada objek yang dipilih, seluruh grafik akan dipotong.

      2. Tarik untuk mendefinisikan area Crop.
        Daerah Crop yang menunjukkan bagian-bagian dari grafik yang akan Anda simpan.
      3. Jika Anda perlu menyesuaikan area Crop, lakukan tugas-tugas berikut:

        • Untuk memindahkan area Crop, klik di dalam area tanam dan tarik ke posisi baru. Jika Anda ingin menentukan posisi yang tepat dari daerah Crop, nilai-nilai ketik Posisi kotak pada property bar.

        • Untuk mengubah ukuran area Crop, drag salah satu yang menangani. Jika Anda ingin menentukan ukuran yang tepat dari daerah Crop, nilai-nilai ketik Ukuran kotak pada property bar.

        • Untuk memutar area tanam, di dalam klik, dan tarik rotasi pegangan. Anda juga bisa mengetik nilai dalam Sudut rotasi kotak pada property bar.
        Rotating area Crop


      4. Double-klik di dalam area Crop.
        Cropped benda, termasuk benda teks, secara otomatis dikonversi ke kurva.
        Rotating area Crop

        - ( Baca Juga : Cara Cepat untuk menyalin objek dan posisi )
        - Reference: www.corel.com

      Cara Cepat untuk menyalin objek dan posisi

      Nirwana Sitoeking :Tip ini telah ditulis untuk CorelDRAW ® Graphics Suite X3. Sementara fitur serupa mungkin tidak tersedia di rilis sebelumnya ujung akan sepenuhnya berlaku untuk CorelDRAW Graphics Suite X3 dan versi yang lebih baru saja.
      Jika Anda ingin menyalin satu atau lebih objek di dalam CorelDRAW ®, Anda dapat menggunakan metode yang lebih cepat dari copy dan paste. Berikut adalah dua cara cepat untuk menyalin objek:
      • Gunakan Duplikat perintah.
      • Gunakan baru Ulangi langkah dan pekerja galangan untuk membuat dan posisi beberapa salinan pada satu waktu.
      Mari kita melihat lebih dekat pada pilihan ini.

      Duplikasi objek

      Menggandakan obyek dengan CorelDRAW membuat copy dari objek yang dipilih dan posisi salin sesuai dengan jarak offset yang Anda tetapkan. Tidak seperti copy dan paste, duplikasi tidak menempatkan salinan objek di Clipboard, dan memungkinkan Anda untuk mengontrol mana menyalin ditempatkan dalam gambar Anda. Dengan CorelDRAW, pengaturan jarak offset untuk duplikat lebih mudah dari sebelumnya.

      Untuk menduplikasi objek

      1. Pilih satu atau lebih objek.
      2. Klik Edit> Duplicate (Atau Ctrl + D).
        Bila Anda duplikat obyek untuk pertama kalinya dalam CorelDRAW, dalam Duplicate offset kotak dialog muncul. Untuk menentukan jarak antara duplikat dan objek asli sepanjang sumbu x dan y-sumbu, ketik nilai dalam offset Horisontal dan Vertikal offset kotak.
      Catatan: Offset nilai 0 tempat duplikat di atas aslinya; nilai offset positif tempat duplikasi dan di sebelah kanan yang asli, dan nilai-nilai offset negatif tempat duplikat ke bawah dan ke kiri yang asli. Anda dapat mengubah default offset untuk duplikat setiap saat. Untuk melakukannya, klik Tools> Options, Klik Umum dalam Dokumen daftar kategori, dan jenis nilai dalam Horizontal offset dan Vertikal offset kotak.

      Membuat dan salinan beberapa posisi

      Baru Langkah dan ulangi buruh pelabuhan di CorelDraw memungkinkan Anda membuat beberapa salinan dari suatu obyek dan kontrol bagaimana mereka diposisikan.

      Untuk membuat dan posisi beberapa salinan dari sebuah objek

      1. Pilih satu atau lebih objek.
      2. Klik Edit Langkah> dan ulangi.
      3. Dalam Langkah dan ulangi buruh pelabuhan, ketik nilai di Jumlah salinan kotak.
      4. Dalam Pengaturan Horizontal dan Pengaturan Vertikal daerah, tentukan pengaturan yang Anda inginkan.

      Gambar 1
      Gambar di atas menunjukkan Langkah baru dan pekerja galangan Ulangi.

      Contoh:


      Gambar 2
      Pengaturan pekerja galangan Langkah dan Ulangi untuk gambar di atas adalah:
      Horizontal Pengaturan: Jarak antara obyek, Jarak = 0,25 "; Arah = Kanan
      Vertikal Pengaturan: No offset

      Gambar 3
      Pengaturan pekerja galangan Langkah dan Ulangi untuk gambar di atas adalah:
      Horizontal Pengaturan: No offset
      Vertikal Pengaturan: Offset, Jarak = -0.5 "

      Gambar 4
      Pengaturan pekerja galangan Langkah dan Ulangi untuk gambar di atas adalah:
      Horizontal Pengaturan: Offset, Jarak = 0,25 "
      Vertikal Pengaturan: Offset, Jarak = -0,25 "

      - ( Baca Juga : Mengurangi jumlah node dalam obyek kurva di CorelDRAW Graphics Suite di CorelDRAW  )
      - Reference: www.corel.com