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Whack's Development Log #1 Graphical User Interface Hello everyone, welcome to my first dev log! For the past week, I have been working on the GUI, or the graphical user interface. Basically, it is the buttons and visual pieces that you use in game to view your characters stats, your inventory, people talking, and other things not part of the Nin world. For the most part, I am done with the menu interface. It looks beautiful, feels smooth, and the sound effects and music really finish it off. As soon as you open the menu, it will immerse you into the fantastic and exciting Naruto world, and that is definitely something that we want. Although it might seem like an easy task, GUIs are one of the most time consuming and boring parts of programming. I program because I enjoy it, but when I tell you that I hate GUI programming, I'm not exaggerating. It's pretty bad! Alas, I am nearing the end of it, as all I have left is renderring common windows such as inventory, character, options, friends, missions and others. It should only take a few more weeks to finish up, and then I will be working on core gameplay features. Speaking of features... There are a few things I have already programmed into Nin Online. For one, there are over 20 animations for each player. Walking, running, attacking with two hands, hand to hand combat, punching, kicking, breathing, standing, and even dead bodies. This took a lot of work from Rory, and a lot from me as well. No matter how hard a mapper works to make the game look good, animations are what makes a game feel beautiful. The constant moving of water or players makes the game feel alive, and makes it fun for everyone. Anyways, thanks for reading, and I'm looking forward to bringing you all more content soon! Regards, Whack

Dear Shinobi, Today, we are happy to celebrate the 1st year of development of Nin Online in it's current form! To celebrate, I've written out a short article in hopes of getting you to feel my joy. Back in the days Back in 2006, when I was just 12, I got really into the Naruto series. I thought to myself "how cool would it be to have an online game where you could be a ninja in this universe". This was way before I even knew what copyright laws were. I had set too high expectations for myself and started a community in which I could not satisfy, and I ended up disappointing them time and again. In 2009, I announced the end of the game's development. I knew I wouldn't have been able to finish the game with my abilities. I was 16 at that point. It's been 1 year since the day I opened Adobe Photoshop and re-envisioned the game of my dreams as it is today. On this day a year ago, I restarted the project which I had attempted to create as a kid, the game which back then I realized I was too incompetent to create, with the promise in one final email to my supporters that "I'll bring back the project one day, and make it work." A ray of hope With the knowledge and experience I had gained in the years following Nin Online's death, I decided to bring back the game. I didn't expect much, I set my targets low. I just wanted to make a simple RPing game as a tribute to the old times. I opened my usual design tools and started pixeling away at what would now be the basis of Nin Online's new visual style. Overwhelming support Then came everyone in this community. A large community of members flocked here and put their hopes in me and my new attempt. We managed to launch a great, successful first alpha test where hundreds of members logged in at once to explore the world developed by our team. An overwhelming amount of people with faith in our team have donated to the game to keep the project funded, allowing us to have conveniences such as a server to work with 24/7 and to commission artwork for the game. Helping hands from Eclipse community ensured the smoothness of the alpha, with people familiar with the engine providing us support in our time of need and offering support to the members of the forum as well! Determination This support from our community of course powered our determinations to create a great game and to continue to grow our vibrant community here on the forum and here we are a year later, with our developers working hard at creating content and features for the game and our moderators managing the community and all it's spunk. Words of thanks No words can express my gratitude, which goes out to all the long-standing members of the community, the ninjas here who have stayed with us since the start of the project. The whole team is thankful for your support, and we hope that you continue to do so for as long as it takes for us to create this game! Personally, I am moved by the enthusiasm that everyone has shown since day one. Your community and game There has been so many occasions in which the opinions and ideas of the community members has impacted the decisions made on the game itself, and as such, your criticism (though I make myself out to be a authoritarian leader) has shaped the game to what it is and will be in the years to come! Alpha Test 3 Now for the announcement you've all been anticipating. We are set to open the game world for testing again on the 31st July for all Gold/Silver Ninjas. This will be in a matter of weeks! There is a lot of new features and contents, and we've refined out base systems a lot, ironing out old bugs. However, as we anticipate new bugs and problems, we will be weeding it out to our biggest supporters, the Gold/Silver Ninjas before opening it to everyone. Once we've done substantial tests with this closed group and deemed the game stable enough for an open release, we will open the servers to everyone. I hope everyone is as excited as we are! Sincerely, Rory

Dear Shinobi, You know here at Nin Online, we love you. But we love the Gold Shinobi much much more. Hence, as a reward for Gold Shinobi who buy their badges before August 1st when we launch our early alpha / demo phase. We'll be giving each Gold Shinobi a Gold Forehead Protector item. Remember, this will not be given to shinobi who purchase the badges after the release. Don't miss out on this exclusive reward! Click here to donate and earn your gold shinobi badge! Regards, Rory

Whack's Development Log #4 Jutsus and Shops! Whats up everyone, I'm going to sleep early tonight after a hard days work. It was my day off and I spent the majority of it programming. In the past few days I have accomplished a lot. Here are the deets. Hiding and Concealment Jutsus NPC Conversation Shops Bugfixes Hiding and Concealment Jutsus Hiding jutsus make your ninja invisible to other players, but based on their sensory skill, chakra, they may be able to see you partly or fully. It only lasts until attacked, or you attack someone, or the jutsu runs out of the time it was prescribed. Concealment jutsus hide your identity from other players, and can last much longer. Many more jutsus will exist in the near future, I just wanted to do these first! Oh, also Jutsus will be added slowly, but there will eventually be hundreds. The reason that this took up such a huge chunk of my working time is because I had to write many new packets, and edit the logic of NPCs so they could not detect invisible players, but use algorithms to detect if a player is nearby. It was a fun experience, but a long one! I would show a picture of this Jutsu in action, but it makes you invisible, so yeah. NPC Conversation Next up was NPC Conversation, where you can speak to NPCs and hear what they have to say, which will eventually lead to events, quests, and bounties! Shops This is something that I needed to do for awhile, because it was obvious that there would be places to buy food and clothing in Nin. Introducing, the amazing, the spectacular, shop interface! It's nothing special...or is it? Or am I just talking gibberish because I'm super tired? You decide! Anyways, thanks for reading you guys! Suggestions below or in the suggestions forum! Regards, Whack

Whack's Development Log #5 More Jutsus & PvP Hello everyone, here's an update on what I've been working on recently. Most importantly is Jutsus. In the last dev log, I spoke about Hiding & Concealment Jutsus. Hiding jutsus will make your player invisible to other players, while concealment jutsus will hide your identity. This means that they can see you, but they won't know who you are, unless they remember what you looked like. Concealment jutsus will last much much longer than hiding jutsus will. The ability to see a player using a hiding jutsu will be determined based on their chakra stat, and the hidden players intellect. Here are the newest Jutsus. Cloning Kawarimi Elemental-based weapon speed/damage bonus Stun Animated projectiles These jutsus require lots of testing, which has been done by Rory and I. In the next alpha, these spells will be used by players so that we can test for bugs and other errors. We have tested these in PvP, and on players. Cloning Jutsu Cloning Jutsus are used to distract and confuse other players. These jutsus do not last very long, and are buff (time) based. When used, a number of clones based on your jutsu's ability will appear around your player, which looks exactly like you in every way, shape, and form. Kawarimi Jutsu Kawarimi Jutsu, when used, will make you appear behind your attacker when they attack you next. If they shoot you with an arrow or fireball from 10 tiles away, you will suddenly appear behind them to fight back by surprise. Elemental based bonuses These jutsus will charge your weapon with electricity, fire, or other elements to increase the damage you will do to opponents. Stun Jutsu This type of jutsu will stun your player for a small amount of time, allowing you to get the upper hand and gain some time to cast a more powerful jutsu, or attack them without them attacking back. Animated Projectiles Thanks to Keezus, we now have animated projectiles for things such as fireballs, including starting up animations, as well as fading away animations and a collision animation. Animated projectiles are also now pixel based, which makes gameplay look much smoother. And here is a video of the Jutsus in action (remember, this was to test for bugs!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFC7BoJMJrU Also, kickback is now pixel based, which will make gameplay smoother as well. I am also working on kickback for PvP. I have also been working on many server side improvements and fixes. Anyways, I have to go now. So thanks for reading, and hope you enjoyed the video! Regards, Whack