TotalDownTime!

Well, the site is down, possibly because Jim might be adding the new forums or fixing the "ABOUT" page. If so, there might be a new layout coming or something! Adura stated, " Performing some maintenance (DB resync). Sorry abourt the downtime.
  --Server Admin Guy". And yes there are typos he made like "abourt", haha!

New news post: Blurb

Hey, so my bastard brother is attempting to do a video project with some funding and has a kickstarter here. If you are feeling at all generous, please check it out.

As for my previous post, I'd just like to clarify a few things. Happy Wheels in its current form will always be free and available as long as I can afford hosting. I'm always going to need a database no matter what I end up doing, so I don't see that changing. I will still update flash Happy Wheels on occasion. The reason I'm working on a game in c++ is because flash is very limiting. I'm not just converting what currently exists. I'm making a new game.

I plan on keeping things 2d, but I'll be using 3d modeling to create the graphics. I've started using sculptris and it is awesome. Textures will still be flat, but the depth of the models will allow me to use normal mapping, which means I can make use of dynamic lighting. I plan on using a similar look to the current art style, but objects will be lit differently as they rotate.

I'll ramble on some more as I progress.

FORUMS UPDATED!....oh.

The Total Jerkface forums as seen on Nov. 27, 2012.

Well I saw that i couldn't get onto Total Jerkface, i was hoping Jim was adding the new forums, but later afterwards i decided to see if the site was back up, clicked on the forums. I see a short message read "Maybe there'll be a forum one day...". Here's the link if you want to see it in person: http://www.totaljerkface.com/forum.php. If you can't get on the site, here's a picture:

New News Post: oh haaay

Hello friends, 

Very sorry for the long absence. Rereading the last post, I was a bit shocked at how miserable that made my situation sound. I shouldn't have left that up there so long. I may have been quite frustrated that day, but I AM IN FACT DOING SPLENDIDLY. I'm currently in Los Angeles, California for two weeks. I've eaten nearly 800 tacos.Yesterday we shot guns. Before that I was in Portland for a week. I've never been to either, and decided to visit when Jason had some obligations over here. 

As for the site... we are actually testing a new version Sean recently completed and will make the transfer once we're done. It looks the same, but the site will now be on a much stabler, more secure framework. Once that is done, it will be much easier to pinpoint inefficiencies in the database...which is the constant source of the site troubles. 

I've been spending my own time creating a new version of Happy Wheels from scratch. At least, I assume it will be Happy Wheels. I'm learning c++ and opengl. It is fun to have something new and challenging, so I'm pumped to have something showable soon. I promise it will be awesome (if you liked Happy Wheels and my judgement hasn't expired). The plan is to sell a version of the game for $5-10. I think this will eliminate a lot of horrible levels from being created. I'd still like everyone to have access to the game though, so I will see about the possibility of releasing a free version eventually that doesn't include the level editor. Perhaps that could be in webgl. This is all very far off and just speculation. 

Probably the most exciting part of this news post for myself is that I will have a booth at PAX East next March in Boston. I actually can't wait, but I suppose I am forced to. I missed my chance to do this several times before due to stupidity. It will be wonderful to leave my mother's locked basement and meet anyone who has played Happy Wheels (as this is actually very rare in real life). Just please, NO DIRECT SKIN CONTACT. Latex gloves will be available.

Null?

Just today, i found out that all usernames in the game (Featured Levels and Browser Levels) were read as "null".I found out that it was just some bug or something that Jim was doing, and i also had trouble logging back into my TJF account because of it. Jim will fix hopefully. The picture on the right shows (in my level browser) a picture of the bug. I'm just letting you all know about some strange thing happening, well at first i thought it was a glitch, but it's just some messed up bug. I don''t know how this happened.

Irresponsible Mom!!!

The new character is out on V1.70! Related to Irresponsible Dad, this character has 3 characters, like Santa Claus! A baby boy in the front in a basket, has Timmy's voice, and the little girl in the back, who has Effective Shopper's voice, but higher pitched. The mom i wouldn't say is the Dad's wife, maybe, the little girl could be a sister of Timmy too, or Timmy's girlfriend! Jim will hopefully add different brand new voices that he will record. The little girls voice might stay because it's its first use. The mom someday might react to the death of her children, like Irresponsible Dad.

New news post: ARG!

Jim said: I have been tremendously frustrated lately with the way things are going. Despite moving to a new hosting setup, the site is still struggling to deal with traffic. There were, and still may be, several new problems that popped up when we went from one database server to two. Data must be replicated from one to the next, and so some new functionality had to be created.



The large problem is that I'm not getting the help I desperately need. I have Sean (Adura) in Canada who has been acting as my systems admin, but it has not been enough. He has no experience with a multi-server setup and is learning as he goes. I was under the impression my new host would be able to put more time into helping with site optimizations, but that does not seem to be the case.


If I were very familiar with these things, I would do this on my own. Unfortunately, I am not a backend programmer/systems admin. I have a decent understanding of things. Several times I've known more about these things than the people I'm trying to hire, which is very disappointing. I do not want to spend the massive amount of time that would be necessary to learn these things when I could be spending that time creating things in the game. It is absurd to me that I can't just find someone willing to accept my money who is capable of fixing this crap.


I do not want to lose massive amounts of daily users just because the site will not function properly.


I'm writing this post just to let everyone know that I'm trying my best to fix these things, and it's seriously stressing me out. Every day I sign into facebook or gmail and see complaint after complaint. It sucks.


I would love more than anything to work on a new character, but I cannot do so while the game is broken. My time has been spent ineffectively reaching out to people for help. I guess I have to keep doing this until I find someone, or get to learning and fixing everything by myself.


PUUUUUKE