Gene Endrody is the man behind the free MMORPG Sherwood Dungeon and other multi-player games on maidmarian.com. Despite the fact that Gene had little programming experience, he’s managed to do all the development himself using off-the-shelf tools and build a loyal following that often reaches 4000 simultaneous players.

So how did this one-man-team do it? I wanted to know, so I interviewed him. We talked about his background, the technical aspects of doing an MMO with off the shelf tools, and how he built up his user base. Here’s part 1 of the two part interview.

Thanks for taking the time to chat, Gene. Tell us a bit about yourself. What is your background?

I started an Amiga Video Toaster dealership in the early 90s with a friend. The Toaster came with an early version of Lightwave 3D and that was my first exposure to 3D modeling. After Commodore went belly up, I became a 3D Instructor and Program Manager at the Center for Digital Imaging and Sound and later the British Columbia Institute of Technology. I joined Radical Games as a Technical Art Director in 2000. It was really the experience at Radical that put me in a position to pursue 3D web games. I got the opportunity to art direct on a few projects, but a Technical Art Director is mostly responsible for solving technical issues related to stuffing 3D art and special effects into games. It’s a great position because unlike many game industry jobs, you get exposed to the entire process of making games rather than just one specialty.

Tell us a bit about Maidmarian.com. When did you start it, and what were your goals for it at the time? What was motivating you to start it?

I’m a card carrying, Lord of the Rings loving, fantasy freak. Read the rest of this entry

Tuesday, all anyone could talk about (including myself) was the iPhone. But the iPhone wasn’t the only piece of news; Steve Jobs also announced the availability of AppleTV. Clearly it wasn’t on people’s minds and Apple’s stock dipped during the announcement of Apple TV before skyrocketing when Jobs was talking about the iPhone.

But I believe we are being blinded by the bling of a sexy new gadget and overlooking the facts on these new devices, because Apple TV is the real gem of this Macworld. Here’s why. Read the rest of this entry

I’m not going to explain the details of the iPhone. To find out about them, go to Apple’s site. I’m going to take a stab at how its keyboard might work.

If the Quicktime/Flash demos on Apple’s site are to be believed, this phone is going to change everything: Voicemail with on-screen UI, menu options without overloading, gestures for mouse-like operations, and more.

However one thing that some people may be skeptical about is the on-screen keyboard. It looks like it is quite small and difficult to type on, especially without tactile feedback to let your fingers know you’ve touching the right key.

I’ve been thinking about the Slamdance Super Columbine Massacre RPG debacle since details first emerged. I think it’s funny, actually. Why? Because Slamdance is getting exactly what they wanted. They lobbied to have the game included in the first place. Something attracted them to it. Was it the graphics? Uh, nope. Was it the gameplay? Probably not. What could it have been? Perhaps the controversy that surrounds it? Hmmm, it could be.

Why do I believe that? Because the gameplay has been pretty much panned. And frankly if I released a game that had graphics and design flaws like it does, but was set in a Fantasy world, I’m sure I’d get universally crushed Gigli-style.

In short, I don’t think someone should be able to attach an “important subject” to a shitty game and get praise for it. That doesn’t automatically make the game important. If people believe SCM is “art”, as has been argued by most who have defended it, then it should be entered in an art show. If it’s a finalist in a game contest it sends the message that gameplay doesn’t matter, which is wrong.

Slamdance was drawn to the controversy -- they were blinded by the so-called importance of the subject matter -- but came to their senses when they realized the game actually sucked, and they’re now getting the controversy they wanted. The reason for removing the game is the very same thing that made them include it in the first place. And for the record I believe that both of those decisions were bad. They should have had a better screening process.

I do feel that games can be high art, and can tackle controversial subject matter. But we should never get too heady about it. SCM is not a good example of game making and never got praise for that. At the end of the day, that’s what matters to me.

Note: I attempted to play the game but lost interest in it very quickly, because it just wasn’t fun. I gave it as fair a shake as I could.

Social game-sharing website Kongregate launched their alpha this week. Kongregate is like YouTube for games -- you upload your own Flash games and play others that are there. Ad revenue is will be split with the game uploaders (and, um, you’re supposed to be the copyright holder of the game). Reps from the site tell me they’re planning on adding Shockwave games to the mix, which I think is a great move because Shockwave still holds the title of best web game tool. I think this has a lot of potential; the kind of “screw the submission process --let everyone upload their stuff and the best will rise to the top” mentality that made Youtube and Digg so popular.

Sign up to Kongregate for free through this link, and I’ll gain some Achievement Points for it!

So I’ve seen a few blogs and Digg link to the Xbox Live’s Achievement Points Success article. Here’s the lowdown on Achievement Points, courtesy of the article:

Here’s how the points system works: Microsoft mandates that every developer of Xbox 360 games “hide” 1,000 achievement points in every retail game and 200 in every casual game. Players earn points for certain successes in the game. The more challenging the task, the more points are added to the player’s profile -- or Gamerscore -- which is visible to anyone who cares to look.

The article is all about what a smashing success Achievement Points are, to everyone’s surprise.

Except it shouldn’t be. It’s basically a meta-highscore of all the games you play. High scores have been around forever, and hardcore gamers care about them. To have a system that kinda combines the scores from all your games into a master total is pretty damn cool, and having to hunt for them in each game just adds to it. I find it odd that Microsoft stumbled upon this game mechanic accidentally.

Note: I’ve never played a game hooked up to Xbox Live.