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The Indie Stone is burgled, loses code for latest Project Zomboid update
The homebase of Project Zomboid developer The Indie Stone was broken into last night, and two computers containing much of the code for the latest update were stolen -- this wouldn't be as serious a problem had the code been backed up externally. Unfortunately it wasn't, and The Indie Stone has been set back months. Many Project Zomboid fans, some of whom have invested personally in the game's development, were miffed at The Indie Stone's "unprofessional" approach to managing its code, and how it publicly handled the break-in. "Homebase" is the apartment where Chris Simpson and Andy Hodgetts, two of The Indie Stone devs, live and work, making the burglary personal on a deep level. Intense emotional stress is not the time to turn to Twitter, but Simpson did, expressing his fears and sense of violation openly. It didn't end well and Simpson has since removed his account from Twitter and has written a formal apology. Writer Will Porter has explained the situation in full on the Project Zomboid blog, saying the game will "come back stronger." "During this time we will clearly be asking for the understanding and patience of our community," Porter wrote. "We are gutted, we are despondent and -- most of all -- we are sorry that this has thrown yet another bump into the road towards PZ completion. We also REALLY want to wring the neck of the arsehole that did this to us." If you have any information that could help The Indie Stone wring some necks, contact the Northumbria Police. If you don't, remember what mommy always said: If you don't have anything nice to say.... [Thanks, @unff!]
Massive games by the Numb3rs: MMOGs on prime-time TV
Discussion of a prime-time television show is probably not something you'll see in this space often. But today, it's highly appropriate. Last night's episode of the CBS series Numb3rs featured a plot that any reader of this site can relate to. The show stars Rob Morrow as an FBI agent and David Krumholtz as his math professor sibling. Krumholtz's character is regularly involved with federal cases, where he makes use of mathematics to solve real-life problems. It sounds like a gimmick and, to be honest, in some episodes it is. Generally the skilled acting and competent writing keeps the show interesting. This week's episode centered around a Massively Multiplayer Online Game and the Alternate Reality spinoff that accompanied it. The killer-of-the-week was competing with other groups for a $1 million cash prize, and used lethal methods to dissuade others from playing. The show heavily featured MMOG jargon, the realities of online play, and the kinds of people who play these games. It actually did a fairly respectful job of it too, and I thought it might be worthwhile to offer a mini-review of the episode. If you're curious about the episode, "Primacy", ARGNet has a few words on the show from the perspective of an Alternate Reality gamer. For more on the math used in the episode, including combinatorics and evolutionary algorithms, a site dedicated to running the numbers on Numb3rs has you covered. And, of course, if you'd like to actually watch the episode you can do so for free on CBS's Innertube service.Read on for my thoughts on this intriguing episode of Numb3rs.
