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Blizzard's APIs and You: Cool information and tools coming down the pipe
Recently, Blizzard disabled the WoWArmory Facebook application, signaling that the time of the modern WoW Armory is over and we will soon live in an age when new Blizzard APIs will transform our out-of-game experience. And change it, they will. These forthcoming APIs will change the way you interact with WoW outside of the game in ways you cannot even think up yet. How do I know this? That's the power of information facilitation, and some inventive hypotheticals will show you what Blizzard's APIs will do for you in the near future. Over the past few months, Blizzard has been preparing to roll out a new set of APIs that will take internal information from the Armory, the new community site, and more, parse it into easily manageable data streams, and make those streams available to application developers. With these new streams of information, savvy developers can craft web applications, smartphone apps, social media plugins, and anything else under the sun to provide you with new and dynamic WoW experiences on the internet. I know that sounds horribly cliché, but hear me out -- this stuff is pretty cool, and the back end could bring about a new standard for information availability and MMOs. I'm not a developer. In fact, a lot of us in the community are not developers. Writing this story felt like an exercise in obscurity because, frankly, all this back end information isn't in my wheelhouse. As I dug deeper and began to realize the potential of the systems being set up, I fell in love with the idea that Blizzard is opening up easy access to so much information. I thought it would be a good idea to illustrate for those of us who have no idea what APIs are capable of, to break through the programmer/developer talk and discuss what these APIs mean for us, at the end of the day.
Blizzard previews character, guild, and arena team APIs
Blizzard previously announced that certain APIs were going to become available for applications and players to access from the community website. We've finally got a preview of the information feeds that tap into character data in the near future. These feeds can be used in applications, websites, and more for user-created, World of Warcraft ... well ... anything. Blizzard's opening up of these information feeds is pretty cool, and you will likely see some ambitious applications of this data being used in the near future. One of the illuminating aspects of this preview is that after finding the right way to do it, the devs are thinking about opening up quest ID information so that you can see what quests characters have or have not completed. There are tons of applications of that data out there and I'm sure the community is really excited to make use of this API information. Check out the full preview after the jump.
The Daily Grind: Do you follow industry personalities?
Every field has celebrities of one stripe or another, and MMOs are no different. Some of them start off as programmers, some start as producers, and some start as commentators that later move into an official capacity. Some have a track record of success, some have a big success and a big failure, and some are considered to be solely at fault for anything that goes wrong in a game. But no matter what the background, they're personalities of note, whose words start having an impact on people even when they're not working on a big project. People listen to them, quote them, and take note of their various projects. Especially in light of recent personality-based developments, it's certainly worth asking how much people really follow the paths of programmers outside of playing their games. The MMO industry doesn't follow Richard Garriott like mainstream media follows Brad Pitt, but he still finds ways to be seen even when he's between major projects. Do you follow specific people in the gaming industry, either out of liking what they've done or wanting to avoid what they're working on? Or does the practice annoy you, and all you want to focus on is the actual games they produce?
Linux Foundation sets up Job Board, cites 80 percent growth in Linux-related jobs
As the Linux Foundation tells it, the Linux-related job market is today 80 percent larger than it was five years ago. Whereas other industries have had to shed workers in the current recession, the Foundation is hopeful penny-pinching measures might actually encourage businesses to transition to Linux-based software and thereby further stimulate employment opportunities within the sector. We're not told exactly what "Linux-related" means in this context, but the newly set up Linux.com Job Board indicates that the vast majority of new openings are for system admins. That's right, the corporate world is crying out for more geeks -- won't you answer the call? [Thanks to Overlord59 for the Tux images]
EpicAdvice.com lets you ask and answer Warcraft questions
Reader Jesta sent us a note about his new website. He's a big fan of Stack Overflow, which is a big Q&A/advice site for programmers -- you show up, ask your question, and then other folks who might or might not be working on the same problem post their answers, in moderated and organized threads for everyone to read. Jesta decided this same type of thing could work for our little game, so he put together EpicAdvice.com -- the idea is that you go there, leave a question about anything in the game, and then wait for your answer from other people browsing the site.Stack Overflow actually has a little "badge" system where answerers can earn reputation points for answering questions correctly, and Jesta says that they're working on doing something similar for Epic Advice (though they'll probably have Achievements, as that's more Warcraft-y). But as of this writing, the site definitely needs more questions and answers, so if there's something bugging you about WoW (that our own Queue hasn't answered yet), or you consider yourself an expert and want to clear some things up, head over and give the site a look.
NCsoft Seattle hiring for console programmers
What layoffs? In the wake of the recent "structural changes" from NCsoft, it appears they're now entering a strong wave of hiring, according to Gamasutra and the job section of their PlayNC.com website. Yet, it's not so much the fact that they're hiring, it's the fact that one of their many positions include a Programmer/Engineer for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. Speculation has arisen that this may be related to something ArenaNet is doing, although it's important to note that NCsoft makes the distinction between Bellevue, Washington, where ArenaNet is located and Seattle, Washington, where NCsoft West's headquarters are located.But if you want to actually talk about ArenaNet jobs, we can certainly do that. Currently, they're hiring for 14 positions, including Web Development, Programmers and Artists. If you think you have what it takes, head on over to their jobs board and see what they have for you. We look forward to hearing more about what NCsoft and ArenaNet have in store.[Thanks Nirolak!]
Want to build a dungeon?
If you've ever wanted to work on an MMO here's your chance. Providing you have the appropriately mad programming skillz that is.The folks at Dungeon Runners are looking for a few good men and/or women to help them on a little construction project... expanding the sprawling dungeon complex for DR. They're looking for a Programmer and Senior Programmer to come and join the crew in NCsoft's Austin office.So if you think you have what it takes check out the employment entries, polish up your resume, dust off the construction tools... and good luck!
Boat vendors still MIA
Yup, the boat crews are still missing in action. First they were there, then they weren't, and then they were supposed to be back, and they probably won't be back in for the foreseeable future.I'm sure the coding here is complicated (anybody remember how buggy the ships used to be? In the early days of the game, there was probably a 50/50 shot that you would end up out in the middle of the water, having to swim back to shore on your own), but clearly this is a feature players want and Blizzard wants to implement, so why not just buckle down and fix it? Why keep pushing it back farther and farther? Give a programmer a clean room, a fast computer (or two), a case of Mountain Dew, and let him go to town until vendors are sitting on the boats.It's probably not that simple, of course. There are probably a lot of issues with the code, and of course, programmers have lives, too-- even with Mountain Dew. But developers are always saying things like "would you rather us work on your crazy idea, or on something people actually want?" And this is something people actually want-- why not just get it done?
Xray your code with new dev tool
A few tipsters have dropped us notes (thanks!) that on Apple's Developer Tools page, there's a new tool. Along with Xcode and Dashcode, there's a new, very pretty app called Xray. The flavor text itself says the app takes "interface cues from timeline editors such as GarageBand," so what we're looking at here seems to be a realtime application tester and analyzer.The three windows in the screenshot show stats on "Network Traffic," "CPU Load," and "Reads/Writes," and Apple also says devs will be able to track user events and even the OpenGL video driver. Looks like it will bring all the new tracking tools and analysis junk (technical term) together in a browsable, graphical interface, which means an easier time for devs, which means better apps for all of us. Groovy!
Care and feeding of open source programmers
[Update: Brian Ganninger of Growl and Adium fame has posted on his strong disagreement with the HandBrake manifesto.]Since HandBrake got back under one open-source roof, the attention to everyone's favorite Mac DVD 'archiving' tool has heated up, and with said attention the volume of end-user feature requests has apparently risen. Over at the HandBrake forums, back on March 6, Rodney posted a manifesto called "HandBrake and Open Source - an end-user must-read," pointing out what he sees as the differences between F/OSS and commercial software when it comes to user-driven feature priorities. I quote:"Open source software is exactly what it sounds like: It's software written by a (usually small) group of highly-dedicated people that solved particular problems they themselves had and thought others might find useful as well. Like most things that are free, it comes with no warranty: If it does what you want, that's great - that's exactly why it was offered to you. If not, you have the freedom of choice to either modify it to suit your desires or find another software package that more closely meets your needs."The core of Rodney's message, as I read it: if you want something weird or customized, either pay someone for it or code it yourself -- don't knock on the glass with your crazy "why doesn't HandBrake do X?" requests, unless you're willing to pull your weight, 'cause everyone here is a volunteer. I don't agree with him on all fronts -- certainly, 'big kahuna' open source projects like Firefox, Webkit or OpenOffice are highly focused on the needs of the end user -- but for apps like HandBrake with a small core of developers, it definitely pays to ask very politely if there's something you desire, and to accept the fact that your priorities may not sync up with the developers' areas of interest. Now, off to learn C -- where did I leave that copy of Kernighan and Ritchie?
