Dev-Corner: the challenges of developing long, plot-heavy FOSS games

Xenogear: Fighting Elly's Gear

Xenogears is one of my favorite games of all time. For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, it was a Japanese RPG for the Sony PS1 in 1998. Not everyone agrees that it was an amazing game, but it's undeniably one of the longest, most plot-heavy RPGs ever made, especially given the fact that most of the plot is in the form of the main story line as opposed to random side-quests that have very little to do with the overall goal. Xenogears is particularly interesting in that each time you play it through, you'll pick up more and more little plot details that you missed the first time around. This is because not only does it have a massive main plot, it also has a massive back story spanning several thousand years, which is only really revealed in small details that are only apparent once you're already familiar with the main plot.

By this time, some of you are probably wondering why I'm raving about a proprietary console game on a FOSS gaming blog. Well, there's another interesting fact about Xenogears that makes it very relevant to the topic of developing games with long, linear plots: it was never really finished. There's all sorts of speculation as to why this might have been; my own pet theory is that upper management decided they'd been waiting too long and paying too much, cut the project short, and told them to shove it out the door as-is. This becomes very apparent when you reach the second half of the game -- it goes very abruptly from a deep, plot-heavy game to an irritating scene where they briefly summarize massive amounts of plot that would have added about thirty to fifty hours of gameplay, before finally releasing you back out into the world to do a few last quests and fight the final boss.

So Xenogears, the Unfinished Symphony of JRPGs, is as example of two really important points:

• It's difficult to predict the real scope of a project until after you've already committed to it, and...
• Even big teams with large amounts of money often have trouble finishing ambitious projects in a timely fashion.

Painfully, these issues apply in even greater force to non-commercial game projects (a category that the vast majority of FOSS game projects fall into). On average, FOSS developers tend to have less time and be less reliable than people working on large, proprietary, commercial projects. This isn't because they're less reliable people in general, but because they're real people with real day jobs who are largely doing their FOSS coding work on a volunteer basis. Hence, developers and artists tend to come and go, and even when they're with the project for a long time, they tend to have a wildly variable amount of time that they're able to devote to it, depending on what else is going on in their lives. As such, maintaining a level of coding an artistic consistently equal to that of a large, heavily funded project is a tremendous challenge, because in general you're working with smaller units of work from a much larger team.

So as I see it, if we as FOSS developers want to create the sort of plot-heavy games that I'm referring to (be they JRPGs or whatever else), the odds are stacked against us from the outset. So here's what I'd like to discuss:

FOSS software development undeniably has certain strengths that closed development lacks -- the sheer volume of ideas, as well as the fact that, since FOSS development is primarily done on a volunteer basis, you aren't limited by time or budget in the traditional sense -- your project can continue as long as people remain interested and dedicated, and there's no one in upper management to tell you it's time to throw away your efforts. With this in mind, I'd like to pose some questions for everyone, and hopefully get some discussion going:

• How can we, as a community, apply these strengths to the sort of project that requires a large development team and a grand, unifying vision?
• How do you go about convincing a large number of people to join an ambitious project? As someone who has been following FOSS game development for quite a while now, overly ambitious projects tend to make me very skeptical. How do you overcome this skepticism and convince people to help you out, if you're dealing with the sort of project where it's not practical to start small?
• Once people are on board, how do you keep the quality consistent? How do you keep a ton of people interested in working on a grand plot line that's already been fleshed out essentially from start to finish? FOSS developers need (and deserve) to give input to the projects they're helping with. How do you maintain a vision while simultaneously leaving room for input?
• One bit of advice I find myself giving out over and over is not to be too ambitious to start with. Sometimes, though, you need to be ambitious in order to make a project work. How can you divide things up in such a way that you can be ambitious yet still start small enough to get your project going?

Anyway, I'm serious about these questions. I've been giving ambitious projects (not a particular ambitious project, but rather the idea of them in general) a lot of thought lately, and I'm hoping that maybe we can put our heads together as a community and come up with some sort of strategy for tackling them.

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Peace,

Bart K
Founder, OpenGameArt.org

Cara Dashyat Dan Mudah Dapat Ribuan Back Link Gratisss…!!

Cara ini saya baca ketika berkunjung di blog sahabat, kemudian saya lihat widget alexa yang terpampang di sidebar blognya. Woowww…. backlinknya banyak sekali, hingga puluhan ribu. Sudah lama sebenarnya saya menemukan posting seperti ini, namun dulu saya sanksi apakah benar cara ini bisa berhasil menaikkan PR dan backlink. Setelah saya membacanya kembali dan masih kurang yakin atas backlink yang saya lihat di alexa-nya sayapun kembali agi mengunjungi blog-blog yang telah mengikuti cara ini. Dan ternyata benar, blog-blog yang menerapkan cara ini PR meningkat namun yang paling menonjol adalah backlink yang dimiliki blog-blog tersebut sungguh banyak sekali.


Jika kita memiliki PR yang bagus dan backlink yang banyak, maka sangat cocok jika kita ikut program semacam paid reviews. Saya sungguh menyesal tidak menerapkan cara ini sejak dulu. Lebih baik terlambat daripada tidak sama sekali. Karena saya ingin memoneytizekan blog ini ke program paid reviews.

Caranya sangatlah gampang, anda hanya tinggal copy link yang berada di bawah ini dengan syarat anda harus menghapus link pada peringkat 1 dari daftar, lalu pindahkan yang tadinya nomor 2 menjadi nomor 1, nomor 3 menjadi nomor 2, nomor 4 menjadi nomor 3, dst. Kemudian masukan link blog anda sendiri pada urutan paling bawah ( nomor 10). Dan silahkan ajak teman anda untuk mengikuti cara ini serta sebarkan cara ini ke sebanyak-banyaknya teman anda.


1. Ilmu-Kompi

2. Alfacroon

3. Trik-Gue

4. Pabrik Info

5. Word Press Paper’s

6. Bootingsko Blog

7. Rajwa Info

8. Harto Hadi

9. pakde sulas

10. griya dalem

Danau Buyan & Tamblingan

danau Buyan

danau Tamblingan


Danau Buyan dan Danau Tamblingan seolah danau kembar yang memiliki daya tarik yang sangat mempesona. Keaslian alam di kedua danau ini masih sangat dirasakan, misalnya dengan tidak adanya penggunaan perahu bermotor di kedua danau ini. Masyarakat setempat menggunakan perahu-perahu kecil yang disebut "pedahu" untuk memancing. Dengan udara yang sejuk dikelilingi pegunungan yang serba hijau, suasana udara yang segar memberikan suasana yang tenang dan nyaman. Danau ini sangat ideal untuk rekreasi air seperti mendayung dan memancing. Bagi mereka yang menyenangi alam dan rekreasi, kedua danau inilah tempatnya. Adanya kera-kera yang tidak jauh dari kedua danau ini, yaitu di jalan raya sebelah danau Buyan jurusan Denpasar-Singaraja, yang semakin hari semakin banyak jumlahnya, menambah daya tarik kawasan ini sebagai obyek wisata.
Danau Buyan dan Danau Tamblingan berlokasi di Kecamatan Sukasada, 21 km sebelah Selatan Kota Singaraja, terletak di pinggir jalan Denpasar-Singaraja. Letaknya yang cukup tinggi yaitu kurang lebih 1000 m dari permukaan laut menyebabkan udaranya agak sejuk dan dingin pada malam hari. Sedangkan Danau Tamblingan dapat dicapai melalui pertigaan ke arah Desa Munduk, desa Gobleg dan tembus di Lovina. Sepanjang jalan ke danau ini dapat dilihat pemandangannya secara utuh. Dari Desa Munduk dapat dicapai danau melalui jalan swadaya masyarakat. Mobil dapat mencapai pinggir danau yang masih asri, dengan kawasan hutannya yang belum tersentuh.
Fasilitas yang tersedia adalah tempat parkir untuk mobil tepi danau, penyewaan perahu untuk keperluan memancing ataupun sekedar berekreasi, dan fasilitas akomodasi. Dari pengamatan secara umum, kebanyakan wisatawan yang datang ke tempat ini adalah wisatawan mancanegara yang independent, mereka membawa kendaraan sendiri. Setiap saat danau ini ramai dikunjungi wisatawan mancanegara maupun wisatawan Nusantara.
Lokasi 0byek Danau Buyan dan Tamblingan terletak di kawasan yang sangat strategis yakni diapit oleh tiga obyek wisata terkenal yaitu Bedugul dengan Pura Ulun Danunya, Air Terjun Gitgit, dan Lovina Beach. Sebagai latar belakang adalah gunung Lesong dengan ketinggian 1860 m memagari kejernihan air danau sekaligus menciptakan keheningan yang sangat alami.
Kabupaten/Kota : Buleleng

Bunut Bolong

Bunut Bolong merupakan sebatang pohon bunut yang tumbuh tepat berada di atas jalan aspal. Bunut adalah sejenis tumbuhan yang beranting yang keberadaannya bisa menjadi cukup besar. Pohon Bunut yang satu ini mempunyai keunikan tersendiri, dimana pada tengah bunut itu terdapat lubang yang lebarnya selebar jalan aspal. Kendaraan bus besarpun bisa melintas dibawahnya. Bunut Bolong disamping sebagai tumbuhan yang alami, juga mempunyai nilai magis menurut keyakinan masyarakat sekelilingnya. Di bagian depan-selatan Bunut Bolong itu terdapat sebuah tempat suci berupa pura yang bernama Pujangga Sakti. Dengan bentuknya yang penuh lekukan-lekukan menambah daya tarik Bunut Bolong itu.Disamping keunikan Bunut Bolong itu sendiri, di sebelah baratnya juga terdapat hamparan hutan yang membentang dari selatan ke utara yang sangat mempesona untuk dinikmati. Karena bila kita berdiri di sekitar Bunut Bolong kita akan dapat menyaksikan perkebunan cengkeh yang juga memiliki keindahan tersendiri.
Bunut Bolong terletak di daerah pegunungan yang termasuk wilayah Desa Manggisari, Kecamatan Pekutatan, Kabupaten Jembrana. Untuk mencapai Bunut Bolong dari Kota Denpasar harus ditempuh jarak lebih kurang 86 km. Untuk menuju Bunut Bolong dapat dicapai dengan kendaraan roda empat maupun roda dua.
Bunut Bolong sebagai tujuan Wisata masih sangat asli dan alami, sarana dan prasarana yang mendukungnya masih belum memadai. Tempat parkir, toilet umum, penginapan, restauran maupun kios-kios souvenir belum tersedia. Udara dan suasana yang sejuk serta nyaman di Bunut Bolong membuat setiap pengunjung betah untuk tinggal disana. Pengunjung yang datang adalah baik berupa wisatawan nusantara maupun wisatawan mancanegara. Di Bunut Bolong pengunjung akan disapa dengan ramah oleh seorang petugas yang ditugaskan khusus mencatat data pengunjung.
Kabupaten/Kota : Negara

Bungy Jumping Blangsinga

Dengan semakin meningkatnya kunjungan wisatawan yang datang ke Pulau Bali khususnya ke Kabupaten Gianyar, pelaku kepariwisataan harus mampu menyediakan dan mengembangkan bermacam–macam atraksi yang diperlukan untuk konsumsi para wisatawan, terutama wisatawan mancanegara.
Untuk mengantisipasi hal itu kini di Desa Blangsinga, Kecamatan Blahbatuh, Kabupaten daerah Tingkat II Gianyar, tepatnya di lembah Air Terjun Tegenungan, telah berdiri Bungge Jumping, yaitu tempat atraksi bagi wisatawan yang senang terjun dari ketinggian kurang lebih 50 meter. Tempat ini sangat tepat untuk atraksi karena alam sekitarnya masih asli dan areal terjunnya leluasa, sehingga kemungkinan bahaya yang timbul sangat kecil.
Kabupaten/Kota : Gianyar

Bukit Jambul

Bukit Jambul terletak di Desa Pesaban, Desa Nongan, Kecamatan Rendang, Kabupaten Daerah Tingkat II Karangasem, jaraknya kira-kira 12 km dari Klungkung atau 51 km dari kota Denpasar dan dilalui jalan jurusan ke Besakih. 0byek ini terletak diatas bukit, daya tarik obyek ini terletak pada perpaduan panorama perbukitan, sawah, lembah dan panorama laut. Dari tempat ketinggian ini wisatawan dapat menyaksikan keindahan alam yang mempesona. Dipinggir jalan yang menanjak dan berliku dapat disaksikan petak-petak sawah yang bertingkat dan pohon-pohon cengkeh yang subur.Di sebelah Timur tampak bukit menjulang tinggi di wilayah Sidemen dan disebelah Selatan kelihatan areal persawahan Kabupaten Klungkung dan sekitarnya serta pemandangan laut lepas di Selatan Klungkung. Bukit Jambul banyak disinggahi wisatawan yang akan pergi ke Besakih atau pada waktu kembali dari sana.
Kabupaten/Kota : Karangasem

Brahmavihara-Arama

Brahmavihara-Arama, yang lebih dikenal dengan nama Wihara Buddha Banjar, merupakan Vihara Buddha terbesar di Bali. Letaknya di daerah perbukitan di Desa Banjar Tegeha Kecamatan Banjar, 22 km sebelah Barat Singaraja dan 11 km dari kawasan wisata Lovina . Dengan suasananya yang sepi dan tenang serta dapat memandang langsung ke pantai Lovina sebagai kawasan wisata di Buleleng, menyebabkan Vihara Buddha ini menjadi daya tarik yang kuat bagi wisatawan, baik mancanegara maupun nusantara. Secara garis besar Vihara ini terdiri atas 5 kompleks penting, yaitu:

a. Uposatha Gara
Terletak di puncak sebelah Barat, sebuah ruangan yang nyaman dan tenang. Pada dinding-dindingnya terpahat panel kelahiran Sang Buddha, dan di tengah-tengah terdapat patung Sang Buddha dalam keadaan mencapai "Sama Sang Buddha" (Nirwana). Ruangan ini fungsinya untuk penasbihan para bhiku samanera (calon bhiku), tahap awal untuk mengikuti latihan tahap berikutnya.
b. Dharmasala
Semacam ruang kuliah terletak di sebelah timur. Di tempat ini para bhiku melakukan kebaktian, memberi khotbah-khotbah, dan juga tempat ini dimanfaatkan sebagai tempat untuk melakukan segala aktivitas spiritual.
c. Stupa
Sebuah bangunan yang bentuknya menyerupai lonceng raksasa yang terletak di sudut Barat Laut, yang seluruh sisi-sisinya terbuat dari beton dengan relief yang sangat mengagumkan.
d. Pohon Bodi
Di sudut barat daya bangunan terdapat pohon besar yang disebut pohon bodi, yang di sekitar pohon tersebut dihias dengan relief. Tempat ini merupakan simbul kemenangan Sang Buddha pada waktu beliau mencapai Sammia Sang Buddha (kesempurnaan yang abadi).
e. Kuti
Kuti ini merupakan tempat tinggal para bhiku maupun para siswa yang sedang menuntut ilmu dan kadang kala tempat ini juga dipergunakan sebagai tempat latihan para bhiku.

Di komplek Vihara terdapat beberapa patung Buddha yang menghiasi setiap sudut taman maupun ruangan. Diantaranya terdapat dua buah patung Budha yang sangat menarik yaitu patung Parinirwana dan patung Buddha sebagai Sang Buddha sedang mencapai sama atau moksa dalam istilah agama Hindu.
Kabupaten/Kota : Buleleng

Bedugul

Bedugul merupakan suatu kawasan Pariwisata yang terletak pada ketinggian + 1240 m dari permukaan laut. Daerah ini sangat sejuk dengan temperatur rata-rata 18 derajat
C pada malam hari dan 24 derajat C pada siang hari.
Kabupaten/Kota : Tabanan

AVWW Interview on Co-Optimus

Chris sat down with Nick Puleo of Co-Optimus for a more in-depth look at the recently revealed multiplayer and co-op features for A Valley Without Wind.




In it, they discuss MMORPG aspects, retention of the isolation theme, solutions on playing together with varying levels, avoiding the grind, the first season of LOST, and much more.




Read the full interview over on Co-Optimus.

Batu Klotok

Pantai Klotok letaknya 5 Km dari kota Semarapura ke arah selatan. Tempat ini sangat menarik untuk dikunjungi karena dilatarbelakangi pemandangan persawahan dengan Gunung Agung yang nampak di kejauhan dan hamparan laut di depannya. Wisatawan juga dapat menyaksikan dan menikmati pemandangan yang sangat menarik pada saat ada kegiatan upacara melasti.
Kabupaten/Kota : Klungkung

Bali Art Centre

Taman Werdhi Budaya yang terletak di Jalan Nusa Indah Denpasar merupakan salah satu tempat terluas dan paling komplek untuk pergelaran budaya di Bali dimana setiap tahunnya Pesta Kesenia Bali dilaksanakan di tempat ini. Dirancang oleh arsitektur termuka Bali yakni Ida Bagus Tugur, tempat ini dirancang berdasarkan arsitektur pura dan arsitektur Istana Kerajaan di Bali.
Pada pokoknya kawasan Taman Budaya yang dibelah sebuah sungai dari timur ke barat ini dibagi dalam 4 komplek :
1. Komplek Suci meliputi Pura Taman Beji, Bale Selonding, Bale Pepaosan, dll.
2. Komplek tenang meliputi Perpustakaan Widya Kusuma
3. Komplek setengah ramai meliputi Gedung Pameran Mahudara, Gedung Kriya, Studio Patung, Wisma Seni dan Wantilan
4. Komplek ramai meliputi Panggung Terbuka Ardha Candra dan Panggung tertutup Ksirarnawa (keduanya berada di Selatan Sungai)
Kabupaten/Kota : Denpasar

Alas Kedaton

Alas Kedaton terletak di desa Kukuh Kecamatan Marga + 4 km dari kota Tabanan. Pura ini mempunyai dua keunikan yang sangat menarik. Pertama memiliki empat pintu masuk ke dalam Pura yaitu dari barat yang merupakan pintu masuk utama yang lainnya dari Utara, Timur dan dari Selatan yang kesemuanya menuju ke halaman tengah. Keunikan yang kedua adalah halaman dalam yang merupakan tempat yang tersuci justru letaknya lebih rendah dari halaman tengah dan luar. Tempat suci ini dikelilingi oleh hutan yang dihuni oleh sekelompok kera yang dianggap keramat. Disamping itu pula terdapat sekelompok kalong yang hidup bergantungan di dahan-dahan pohon kayu yang besar dan sewaktu-waktu beterbangan, merupakan suatu atraksi yang sangat menarik bagi wisatawan baik bagi wisatawan Nusantara maupun mancanegara.
Upacara piodalan di Pura ini adalah jatuh pada hari Selasa (Anggara Kasih) dau puluh hari setelah Hari Raya Galungan. Yang mana upacara dimaksud dimulai pada siang hari dan harus sudah selesai sebelum matahari terbenam. Pura ini sering pula disebut Pura Alas Kedaton atau Pura Dalem Kahyangan.
Kabupaten/Kota : Tabanan

Air Terjun Singsing

Pada waktu musim panas, volume air terjun relatif menurun. Jalan menuju air terjun yang sedikit mendaki merupakan kegiatan yang menyenangkan untuk kegiatan "trekking". Letaknya yang tidak jauh dari kawasan Lovina, bahkan dapat dicapai dengan jalan kaki dari Lovina, menjadikan obyek ini banyak dikunjungi wisatawan yang umumnya mereka yang tinggal di kawasan Wisata Lovina. Tidak jauh dari air terjun Singsing ini, terdapat monumen Belanda. Monumen ini dibangun oleh Pemerintah Kolonial Belanda untuk memperingati gugurnya seorang Perwira tentara Belanda didalam perang Banjar pada tahun 1868. Sekitar tahun 1956 monumen ini dihancurkan karena dianggap menghormati penjajah. Akan tetapi pada tahun 1992 monumen ini dibangun kembali oleh Pemda Kabupaten Dati II Buleleng dengan maksud bahwa sejarah tidak bisa dihapus, disamping monumen itu juga melambangkan kepahlawanan rakyat Banjar yang mampu menewaskan perwira tentara Belanda. Air Terjun Singsing terletak di Banjar Labuhan Haji Desa Temukus Kecamatan Banjar, 3 km dari Lovina dan 13 km dari Singaraja. Untuk menuju obyek wisata ini dapat dicapai dengan kendaraan bermotor sampai ke jurusan desa Tigawarsa. Sebuah tanda penunjuk arah menunjukkan jalan yang harus diikuti dengan berjalan kaki (sepanjang lebih kurang 600 meter) untuk sampai kepada air terjun yang pertama. Untuk mencapai air terjun kedua yang letaknya lebih tinggi harus melalui jalan yang terjal.
Fasilitas parkir dibangun dan diusahakan oleh banjar setempat, dan warung disekitar kawasan inipun telah tersedia. Wisatawan baik Nusantara maupun mancanegara banyak mengunjungi air terjun ini karena suasananya yang tenang, damai dan cocok untuk kesegaran jasmani. Lokasi Air Terjun di daerah perbukitan, yang memberikan pemandangan hamparan pantai Lovina di arah Utara, menjadi daya tarik yang cukup memikat bagi para wisatawan.
Kabupaten/Kota : Buleleng

Air Terjun Dusun Kuning

Di bagian selatan sekitar 6 km dari kota Bangli, di Desa Taman Bali terdapat sebuah air terjun. Karena letaknya di Desa Dusun Kuning maka dinamakan air terjun Dusun Kuning.
Air terjun ini berada di ketinggian 25 meter diatas permukaan Sungai Melangit yang mengalir ke arah selatan. Lokasi ini dapat dicapai dengan beragam jenis transportasi dan dari desa kecil ini dapat ditempuh dengan berjalan kaki sejauh 500 meter. Daerah yang dingin dengan udara yang sejuk dikombinasi dengan hijaunya dedaunan meningkatkan pesona air terjun alami. Dan tidak jauh dari tempat ini terdapat hutan yang dihuni oleh ratusan kera.
Kabupaten/Kota : Bangli

Air Panas Penatahan

Air Panas ini terletak di desa Penatahan Kecamatan Penebel + 13 km dari Kota Tabanan ke Utara 34 km dari Denpasar dengan panorama alam yang indah dan dikanan kirinya dilatarbelakangi oleh sawah yang berundak-undak. Mata air panas ini berada di tepi sungai Yeh Ho dan air panas Penatahan oleh masyarakat di kenali dengan nama Yeh Panes. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian dari laboratorium Departemen Kesehatan, air panas ini sangat baik untuk mandi karena mengandung belerang dan mineral lainnya yang sangat baik untuk menyembuhkan penyakit kulit.
Kabupaten/Kota : Tabanan

Air Panas Banyuwedang

Air Panas Banyuwedang bersumber dari mata air panas yang muncul di pantai. Air panas ini berada di bawah air pada waktu air pasang. Merupakan sumber air panas terbesar, bangunan beton pengaman dibuatkan dalam bentuk lingkaran yang berfungsi sebagai tanggul, sehingga pada saat air pasang air panas tersebut tidak bercampur dengan air laut. Air panas ini banyak mengandung belerang dengan rata-rata suhu 40 derajat celcius.
Karena kandungan belerangnya yang cukup tinggi, air panas ini dipercayai secara meluas bahkan sampai ke pulau Jawa karena air panas ini dapat menyembuhkan beberapa penyakit terutama penyakit kulit. Tidak mengherankan apabila banyak orang-orang yang datang ke tempat ini dengan harapan penyakitnya dapat sembuh. Pantai dimana terdapat sumber air panas ini ditumbuhi tanaman bakau yang mencegah abrasi pantai. Dapat dikatakan pantai Bayuwedang ini bebas dari abrasi.
Adanya teluk dan beberapa pasir putih di sekitarnya menambah asset pariwisata di sekitar Banyuwedang ini. Air Panas Banyuwedang terletak di Desa Pejarakan Kecamatan Gerokgak 60 km dari kota Singaraja, dipinggir batas kawasan Taman Nasional Bali Barat. Di sebelah selatan jalan raya ke Air Panas Banyuwedang termasuk kawasan Taman Nasional, sedangkan di sebelah utaranya adalah kawasan Batu Ampar yang terdiri dari tanah berkapur. Kawasan Batu Ampar ini oleh daerah tingkat II Buleleng telah direncanakan sebagai kawasan wisata baru, mengingat adanya potensi daya tarik yang besar, diantaranya adalah adanya Taman Laut di sekitar Pulau Menjangan.
Jalan menuju air panas Banyuwedang dari jalan raya jurusan Singaraja-Gilimanuk telah dikeraskan, demikian pula telah dibangun fasilitas parkir. Di sumber air panas yang ditanggul dibangun sebuah bangunan dengan beberapa kamar mandi tertutup. Di areal Air Panas Banyuwedang terdapat juga beberapa fasilitas WC yang dibangun oleh Taman Nasional Bali Barat, dan beberapa tempat berteduh. Jumlah kunjungan wisatawan Nusantara tinggi jika dibandingkan dengan Mancanegara. Pengunjung yang datang kebanyakan dengan tujuan untuk berobat. Pengunjung yang dari pulau Jawa kebanyakan berasal dari Daerah Banyuwangi.
Sesungguhnya sumber air panas Banyuwedang terletak ditengah-tengah hutan bakau di pinggir pantai. Daerah sekitarnya relatif gersang karena tanahnya terdiri atas tanah kapur dan tidak terdapatnya sungai yang dapat menjadikan sumber air untuk penghijauan sekitarnya. Oleh karenanya tanaman yang banyak tumbuh adalah tanaman yang tidak banyak membutuhkan air, seperti yang dikenal di Bali sebagai pohon "bekeul" atau "bangyang". Adanya air panas yang mengandung belerang yang terletak di pinggir pantai ditunjang dengan daerah yang jarang penduduknya sehingga dapat diciptakan suasana tenang, menyebabkan Pemerintah Daerah Propinsi Daerah Tingkat I Bali akan mengembangkan daerah ini sebagai Kawasan Pariwisata Untuk Kesehatan, atau yang umum disebut "Health Tourism".

Kabupaten/Kota : Buleleng

A Valley Without Wind Progress Report 4: Multiplayer, The World Map, Regions, and Windstorms

Arcen Games continues its weekly report on its procedurally-generated action-adventure title A Valley Without Wind with information on the game's multiplayer, server support, world map, regions, windstorms and more.




Multiplayer is coming to AVWW through the support of servers. The plan is for mainly co-op play, but there's room for pvp content if the server administrator wants to allow it. You'll be able to launch the game server on any computer, and then other players can connect to it (including the computer running the server, if you wish). At the moment there's no explicit limits on the number of players per server, but a game should run smoothly with up to 16 players depending on the players' and admin's hardware and connections.




Also introduced this week is the World Map. Each tile on the map represents a "region" consisting of one big outdoors area with a variety of buildings, caves, tunnels, and so on leading down into the earth or up into the sky. Windstorm events occur occasionally as you make your way across the map, sweeping you into the region you're standing on, and forcing you to deal with inclement weather and more, stronger monsters than typically dealt with until all characters have escaped from that region. This result brings more risk to traveling, particularly in parts of the world map with levels higher than yours.




The development of new regions are on display as well. Currently seven different regions have been created and there will be many, many types in the game as it moves toward version 1.0, with hopes of having around 20+ in place by the start of alpha. Arcen's own Chris Park goes into full detail on everything mentioned above and more in the game's latest dev diary: http://christophermpark.blogspot.com/2011/02/multiplayer-world-map-regions-and.html




A whopping 16 new screenshots of the latest build are now available on the game's feature page: http://www.arcengames.com/w/index.php/games/avww-features




And our latest gameplay video shows it all in action (HD link): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eyhf9PxOU7U&hd=1




We'll be back next week with the latest progress report containing all the new reveals, footage and screens. A Valley Without Wind is targeted for official release on PC and Mac late this year with a playable Alpha build available to all pre-order customers in spring.




About Arcen Games




Arcen Games entered the PC indie scene in 2009 with their cult classic AI War: Fleet Command, which was named the 40th best-reviewed PC game of the year by MetaCritic. Their second year was a busy one, seeing the release of The Zenith Remnant, the first full expansion for AI War; Tidalis, an innovative block-based puzzle with casual appeal and hardcore depth; and Children of Neinzul, a micro-expansion for AI War with all profits benefiting the Child's Play charity, of which Arcen is a platinum sponsor.




AI War's third and largest expansion Light of the Spire marked Arcen's first release of 2011, and now the company has shifted its focus and excitement to the development of A Valley Without Wind. Originally a one-man shop, Arcen Games has grown to have half a dozen part-time or fulltime contributors to its various titles.

AI War and LotS Review on IncGamers

Peter Parrish has written a great review of AI War and the Light of the Spire expansion over on IncGamers. In it he awards the game a 9 out of 10 on their review scale and sums it up as "an exceptional, unique strategy title with near-endless customization and unparalleled post-release support."




A particular excerpt that put smiles on our faces:

"Having played this title at two distinct points in its life cycle what really stands out is the incredible dedication of Arcen Games in keeping one top of how the game evolves and expands. Even though a great many features have been added and tweaked and refined, it was possible for me to drop back into AI War after more than a year away and not find it to be a confusing mish-mash of feature overload. The post-release support is, quite honestly, the best I've seen for any game."

Read the full review on IncGamers.

Top 10 Smartest Dogs

1. Border Collie

The Border Collie is the smartest of all dog breeds. It is literally a workhorse as this dog type needs to work in order to become happy. It is the best among all breeds when it comes to obedience, agility and speed.


2. Poodle

A lot of us may be surprised by the inclusion of the poodle and at the top spot at that. Your minds are playing tricks on you. The Poodle has to be your best choice of smart dog breed next to Border Collie. It is used as rescue and hunting dog.


3. German Shepherd

As immortalized by rin tin tin, the German Shepherd is widely acknowledged as one of the most intelligent dog breeds. It may come across as fierce and mean. However, this dog breed is one of the most lovable types. They are usually utilized as police dogs and rescue dogs.


4. Golden Retriever

Don’t confuse this breed of dog with Labrador Retrievers. The Golden Retrievers are very popular as companion dogs. It is perfect as hunting dogs although this breed of dogs is also widely used as sniff dogs, guide dogs and even as rescue dogs.


5. Doberman Pinscher

This dog breed takes on the 5th spot. It is another German breed that has made to the top 10 list. It is the perfect breed of a dog which is both fierce and loyal. The modern Dobermann Pinscher is an energetic and lively breed suitable for companionship and family life.


6. Shetland Sheepdog

This dog breed is sometimes considered to have the same level of intelligence as that of humans though it is not a popular dog breed as the other dogs in the list.


7. Labrador Retriever

This is dog breed is reputedly the sharpest among all breeds and the most popular of all breeds in the list. A Labrador Retriever can be used for bomb sniffing, rescue and as guide.


8. Papillon

This breed of dog is considered as the smartest and the cutest breed among all types of dogs. These dog breeds has been used as symbol of elegance and is the preferred dog breed of royalties.


9. Rottweiler

These are breeds that are considered as erstwhile vicious and fierce animals. This type of dogs is popularly used as police dogs and rescue dogs. They can also carry large heavy objects and can be relied upon as protector of precious properties.


10. Australian Cattle Dog

This breed of dogs are very popular for being one of the smartest dog breeds. These dogs have been widely used in Australia in herding cattle which is the concrete proof of their level of intelligence.

When three became two - Glests Uniting!

So, to all those familiar with the Glest project...

Not familiar? Glest is a popular 3D RTS that wowed the Free gaming scene with it's high quality graphics and polished gameplay back when it was released in 2006.

...it has evolved into 3 distinct codebases, with differing features:

• Glest
  The original Glest, which is barely developed any more and suffers from significant issues that will likely never get addressed, and lacks many features compared to the continuations.
• Glest: Advanced Engine aka GlestAE
  A community-led continuation of Glest by adding features and rewriting significant portions of the Glest codebase.
• Mega Glest
  With frustrations growing about the lack of stability of early GlestAE work, and the length of time between releases, a prolific modder started to add key features such as improved multiplayer, a 'mega pack' of mods (which inspired the name), and port useful changes back from GlestAE - the result was MegaGlest.

For some good videas of both forks, go to player UltiFD's youtube channel.

My impression of the different development approaches for MegaGlest and GlestAE is that MegaGlest development is driven by a "whatever works" mentality to make rapid improvements and bring more features to players. GlestAE development seems to be based on a much longer term outlook, with most work being fairly significant in nature and few basic improvements.

Where are they now

Both MegaGlest and GlestAE have remained much lower profile than perhaps the efforts of the developers have deserved. Whilst Glest remains popular, and enjoys many downloads due to high Internet profile, there is no mention of MegaGlest and GlestAE on the homepage and only people diving into the forum will discover them.

Lacking features and stability, players who fall away after trying Glest may have stuck around if they encounter MegaGlest or GlestAE, but they are unlikely to ever try them. Hopefully this will change now MegaGlest has an amazing website and will start to gain an Internet profile of its own.

Another issue is the increasing amount of time spent porting improvements between the two forks.

A further issue is that, since GlestAE has features that MegaGlest doesn't (and, to a lesser degree, vice versa), there is an increasing divergence in the modding communities.

Glest forms to join forces?

Well, the story may yet have a happy ending. After a brutal conflict, with bloodshed, riots, toppled dictators, eathquakes and... wait, I'm looking at the wrong screen...

After much pressing by Internet trolls and well wishers, it seems that a joining of efforts is in the offing.

Even if the efforts do merge, they may still remain separate entities. Reading through the post, there's talk of official liasons between the projects and all sorts. It seems a bit more complicated than you might expect.

There's even a distant hope that the resultant efforts of the GlestAE/MegaGlest merger may result in Glest 4.0 if the community finally takes over the now-abandoned Glest project.

In Other Glest News

Glest forks (MegaGlest, at leasT) now can have cliffs! This opens up a lot of possibilities when it comes to map design and gives the game a bit of vertical depth, making it look cooler (in my opinion - and I am incredibly cool).

Somebody with a peculiar middle name is making a fully-3D Glest-inspired game called GlestNG - it will use Glest assets but otherwise be completed written from scratch using Ogre3D. Will it ever become playable? Who knows, but it's intriguing nonetheless. So just when two forks merge, another project arises to take the spare seat. Hah!

A completely cool mod Annex Conquer The World (moddb) has been teasingly dangled in front of us, with acclaims already including: "Easily the best Glest mod since the original Magitech!!"

Let's hope it gets released as Free software! ;-)

Engines of War: Not dead!

I made the mistake of writing the Spring DOTA-like game Engines of War off as dead the other day; I could not have been more wrong. In case you are unfamiliar with the term DOTA-like, the gameplay basically consists of controlling a single hero "Engine" unit and battling waves of AI controlled units, as well as opposing player controlled Engines.

They released a playable alpha a couple of weeks back with a very un-TA like UI and gameplay (take that Julius :P). So yeah, check it out!

Top ten hobbies for man

1. Fishing

As a hobby, fishing is very relaxing- what could be better than basking under the warm sun with water all around? It is even better when one goes with a few good friends! You may not get any bites, but at least you will have a good time!

2. Training or Coaching

If you were on the football or basket ball team of your High School back in the good old days, you can always use the knowledge to coach young kids. This hobby will also allow you to spend some quality time with your own kids.

3. Billiards

Even though this hobby will require you to use your logic skills, it is a good way to pass your time. If you do want to some time alone, this hobby is meant for you. Make sure you read up on the rules and regulations before you play though.

4. Brewing

Those who indulge in this hobby usually have a lot of patience and the basic know-how. Therefore, if you are thinking of homebrewing, log onto the internet and find yourself making beer in no time!

5. Collect Something, Anything

If you cannot get over certain celebrities’ autographs or have always been fascinated by stamps, you can start collecting the same. It is difficult somebody who has never collected anything through their life, so don’t be one of them! There is a definite plus point attached to this hobby- the memorabilia may be worth millions one day.

6. Darts and Target Shooting

This hobby is ideal for those men who pride themselves to have the perfect hand-eye coordination. You can always use pistols or rifles and shoot at a target placed at a distance. It is a great stress reliever and there is no great pleasure than hitting the middle section of the object!

7. Water Sports

If you live by the beach, you can spend your time out in the ocean and treat yourself to water sports like jet skiing or scuba diving. The thrill and the adrenaline rush will keep your head clear and your body fit. Besides, what can be better than swimming with the fish?

8. Video Games

Men can spend hours with their Play Stations and Nintendo’s no matter how old they get. Even though it has a negative impact on their health, it is the best way to wile away precious time. The fact there stocks of games in the stores only seems to get bigger is apparently the best part!

9. Chess

Even though the rules are pretty simple to remember, the game is as hard. But if you don’t mind sitting for hours at a stretch in front of your opponent, you should start learning the game. After a few lost games, you will realize that you need to sharpen your logic and plan your strategy beforehand.

10. Social Work

If you have always been troubled by the plight of children or the situation of poverty in your country, get out there and make a different. There is nothing more fulfilling than the thought that you made a difference in someone’s life. If you own a business, this hobby will add to your goodwill and credibility.

AI War Beta 5.002 Released!

This one continues our bugfix/polish work, and also includes some small additional features that were the top requests on our idea tracker.  Namely: triple-clicking units allows for a new kind of selection ability; there are now keybinds for showing strong/weak info; and the selection description window in the bottom right has seen some added functionality.



This is a standard update that you can download through the
in-game updater itself, if you already have 4.000 or later. When you
launch the game, you'll see the notice of the update having been found
if you're connected to the Internet at the time. If you don't have 4.000 or later, you can download that here.

Lugaru animations, maps and skeletons are free (ShareAlike)

Remember when we talked about Lugaru getting ripped?

I just got reply (twice) from Wolfire that the licensing information described in this file is correct. [first ticket (img) | second ticket (img)]. Probably the permission was given in private conversation or in the hidden Wolfire forum.

I'm so glad they did license hard-to-recreate data as open content! Hopefully some completely free/open source project will come out of this. (There are many more steps/files to go though.)

Dev-corner: m64's Development Lessons and Agile in Free Open Source Game Development

In his first Lessons from Bulletstorm post, m64 talks about the importance of Level Design, Editors, Core Gameplay and Mechanics Tweaking for open source games (although most is general gamedev related).

First, a disclaimer – Bulletstorm is a big, single-player heavy, action game. If your game is different, the observations might not apply. Some observations are shaped by how Unreal Engine 3 works and might not be easily applicable to games created with other engines. Some might be difficult to apply due to technical limitations of an Open Source process – like having to exchange data through the Internet. Without any further ado, here goes.

Speaking of development: PARPG is doing an Agile/Scrum-style one-month sprint. This means that the whole team is working towards a handful of goals and that there are 30-minutes progress and planning reports twice a week [announcement]. The main theme of this development month is "Player Character Creation".

I'm currently contributing as UI designer on the project and am very motivated by the feeling of 'single-mind development' - the knowledge that man people from different spheres work on one main task at a time. It's great to know that not only I finish a design task but that it's going to be working in-game soon.

One of the mockups I produced during the sprint [more mockups]

Please note that this is not a one man's work. I actually created no part of this image but only drew some lines and moved around existing images by other artists! See this file for a list of the work in the mockup.

Do you consider m64's suggestions relevant to free game dev? Are there any principles/structures you have seen in foss game projects that improved development? What do you think of applying Scrum to open source games?

10 celebritis korea tercantik

Wanita adalah sesuatu hal yang terindah yang diciptakan tuhan kedunia ini,lengkap dengan pesona dan daya tarik untuk memikat lawan jenis.Jika berbicara seputar wanita pasti tidak beranjak jauh dari yang di sebut dengan keindahan paras wajahnya atau lebih familiar dengan istilah kecantikan. Tiap wanita pasti menginginkan kecantikan yang bersinar baik kecantikan dari luar maupun kecantikan dari dalam kepribadiannya.
Di bawah ini adalah 10 nominasi celebritis tercantik di korea :

1. Song Hye Kyo

2. Kim Tae Hee

3. Han Ga In

4. Jeon Ji Hun

5. Huang Mi Hee

6. Han Chae Young

7. Park Si Yeon

8. Han Chae Ah

9. Lee Da Hee

10. Kim Hyo Yeon

semoga anda menikmatinya,......