What in the name of bananas happened? (Also: Some questions)

The original, free Ace of Spades game powered by the Voxlap engine. Known as “Classic,” 0.75, 0.76, and all 0.x versions. Created by Ben Aksoy.
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TheSniperFan
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Greetings from Germany folks!

I stumbled upon this game years ago and, despite it's simplicity and the fact that it looked like arse, had a great deal of fun. I wasn't part of the forum community, just played the hell out of the game. I remember people eagerly waiting for the next update and the excitement over the screenshots from the development build of the OpenGL version.
Then shit hit the fan. I don't think I need to repeat what happened when Jagex came around. All I was, was furious and sad (for the original developer). I made an account here to vent a bit, then disappeared. Mostly, because I was totally played out. AoS (classic) just wasn't fun anymore. Playing the same few maps with the same few weapons over and over and over and over and over and over again was deemed to stop being fun sooner or later. With development coming to a halt, there was now nothing left to keep me excited.

However, this was about the time when I heard of efforts from the community to keep the original alive. "Great!", I thought, "Let Jagex have their shitty version of this game, we don't care." I was still exhausted, so I left this game behind me.


Time has passed. I don't even know how much. Two years? I don't know, but frankly, who gives a shit? Out of nowhere I remembered the good time I had with AoS and decided to look what happened, whether it was still around. I was so glad to see that the website was still alive and kicking. Not only was the website still available, but I was greeted by a server-list with full servers! (I haven't taken a closer look until later.)

I was so excited to find out how the game has developed ever since I left. So I hit the download button, read the description and BAM! 0.75 and 0.76?! These were exactly the versions we talked about and played back, before I left. Nothing has happened in all this time.
Sure, there's some eye-candy in the form of OS, but all it serves to do is making AoS look better while handicapping you. I mean, as cool as DoF and the new lighting are, you're simply at a disadvantage when playing against players who you cannot see because the (fucking awesome) lighting effects blind you.

I thought that given how furious most people were, given how they stood strong with the original community, given how Jagex mismanged their community, you people would take the opportunity and create something great. But apparently some things went wrong.


So here are my questions:
Where did it all go so wrong? What happened?
Why the fuck are there two main versions? Who could not foresee that the only thing this would cause is splitting the community?

Out of curiosity:
What are the differences between 0.75 and 0.76? You've either hidden the changelog too good, or I'm too retarded to find it.
What happened to the original developer? Is he still around? Any new projects?


Before anyone asks:
No, I do not know why I'm posting this here. Granted, I'd love to get some answers for those questions, but seeing the state this game is in, I don't really think it matters...





In the unlikely even that anyone cares: I did play the game again. Was it fun?
Well, let me put it this way. Aside from the fact that it seems to be "Hallway or GTFO!" for the most time, I don't think I've played a single match without cheaters. And I know that it's a cheater when you're hidden in one of the massive blocks in hallway, far away from any other player, keep erasing your tracks and still have one bloke being able to pinpoint your exact position, even though you're separated by roughly 50 meters of air and 10 meters of solid wall. He always knew my exact position and height.

He was persistent too. Probably killed him four or five times when he tried to get me (didn't die a single time btw). Thought he was being clever by sneaking up behind me and only digging when I did too. As if I wouldn't hear him coming. So you start hearing the sound of someone digging behind you and it gets louder no matter where you hide. So you create yourself a small room and wait for him to come, you equip your rifle, look at which block gets darker, then you aim at it, then he greets you with a shovel, then you greet him back with a shot in the face.

While the thought that somewhere someone sits in front of his monitor and repeatedly fails to kill you despite using cheats, has some entertainment value, it gets tedious very fast. Eventually I just started digging away when I heard him coming, then just left, wasting some minutes of his life on my way out. Green_Happy3
LeCom


Man, someone should make a FAQ section for veteran comebacks.

So, in a nutshell, development of AoS may not be continued because of law stuff caused by Jagex buying it. There were some community projects, but already at that time, AoS mainly consisted of 13 yo kiddies that were too blind to see that there are other projects, while BnS itself was completely controlled by 3 guys who did definitely not wish to push anything other than 0.75 and OpenSpades. (might be inaccurate)
noobofspades
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TheSniperFan
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Thanks for the replies.
So it was mainly three things:
  • Lack of direction
  • Shitty community
  • Jagex
Green_Nothappy

I wonder what the original developer did in all this time...
Surely must suck to see your project go like this.
Paratrooper
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TheSniperFan wrote:
Thanks for the replies.
So it was mainly three things:
  • Lack of direction
  • Shitty community
  • Jagex
Green_Nothappy

I wonder what the original developer did in all this time...
Surely must suck to see your project go like this.
He didn't get his hard drive destroyed, if that's what you're asking.

No one has access to AoS's original source, as far as I know. The only two projects that would likely succeed AoS is Grease's iceball (which has an active development team but small community) and yvt's ngspades (which hasn't been updated in over half a year).
TheSniperFan
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Joined: Sat Jan 05, 2013 4:54 pm


I see, but to be honest, I don't think it's a bad thing that the original Source Code was "lost". It didn't seem like a particularly good codebase. Zero portability and apparently some really questionable decisions in client-server architecture.*

*I've seen people with a "super-fast-digging-hack". Literally dug faster across half the map faster than you can sprint normally. This shouldn't even be possible.

I'm going to have a look at Iceball then. I wonder if this project will take off eventually. I mean nowadays Steam has a much bigger focus on indie games...
Warp
Green Master Race
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Joined: Mon May 19, 2014 4:07 pm


TheSniperFan wrote:
I see, but to be honest, I don't think it's a bad thing that the original Source Code was "lost". It didn't seem like a particularly good codebase. Zero portability and apparently some really questionable decisions in client-server architecture.*

*I've seen people with a "super-fast-digging-hack". Literally dug faster across half the map faster than you can sprint normally. This shouldn't even be possible.

I'm going to have a look at Iceball then. I wonder if this project will take off eventually. I mean nowadays Steam has a much bigger focus on indie games...
Iceball is pretty sick.
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