I'm happy to make Everschmame available for all GameDev readers! This is a small, free MMORPG. I'm not a professional game programmer (my graphics will immediately evidence this), but a professional Software Engineer and avid gamer. My hope is to build a fun game community. The game has enough content that it is now in a position where we need more players! If you're interested in more details, read on below. If you'd like to give the game a shot, download it from here:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12712358/Everschmame%20Release.zip

Then run the Client.exe application in the Executables\bin\Release folder. Enter a name/password for your character, and you're off!

The game is still actively being developed - I probably do a new build every 1-4 days. It automatically updates itself. At present, there is a world quest underway. When completed, tunnels will interconnect the various zones of the world, allowing for a shorter transit time to get across the world.

There are still key pieces missing, and I have a long list of planned features. However, I value all feedback, especially from folks the likes of you! You can use the /idea command if you observe any bugs, or things which seem to be missing that you'd love to see added. I tend to favor user-submitted ideas which are low in cost to my own.

Hope to see many of you in-game soon!

-Jamie Russell,
in-game most often as Skarr

On the off chance I get too much interest, I'll need to put a password on new character creation and have it route through an email to me. To date, that hasn't been an issue, but if you're interested, I'd suggest you get yourself and friends on sooner rather than later.

Got a handful of players last night - it was really nice to get to see some of you! One small recommendation: If possible, try logging on close to the evening hours (8PM CST) - the game world tends to be more populated then, so you'll be more likely to receive help for any non-intuitive aspects of the game.

...and you can press Enter to bring up the chat textbox, so that you can ask whatever questions you may have. Hope to see more of you soon!

-Jamie Russell
schmame@gmail.com
in-game as Skarr

I logged on but found it to be unplayable, it was just too laggy. Basically had a 5 second delay everytime I tried to move or chat.

Edit: Just logged on again and the lag is gone.

Talk about HORRIBLE timing for me to introduce a defect like this!
I introduced something in last night's build that took server performance from around 15% of my CPU to having it stay pegged around 95% - thus the lag. I've not encountered an issue such as that before, so - my apologies! I'll bring things down, sort out what's going on, and should have things stable again shortly.

DpakoH, Darg, Jethro_T, and others:

The performance issue is resolved, and an auto-update available - restart the game and it will download.

I've got a group on Facebook, named 'Everschmame'. I regularly post updates there (and there's a screenshot or two as well). I'd suggest anyone interested joins that group. That way, I won't have to keep spamming the Announcement forums as game-related updates occur (such as the 'hotfix' I just had to apply).

And of course, you can shoot your questions to schmame@gmail.com as well.

I certainly don't mind questions asked in this forum. My only concern is that, as a relative newbie to the site, I wouldn't want to be breaking any etiquettes or rules about posting locations and such.

Apologies once again for the ill-timed performance bug, and I hope to see many of you in-game soon!

-Jamie Russell
(Skarr, Chainsaw, nooblet in-game)

Thanks to those of you who have to date checked out the game!
Players have nearly completed the first world quest, connecting a tunnel between two zones for faster transit, another new zone is in place, and work on building a shop is underway.

For convenience, here's the game download link again (run Client.exe in the executables\bin\release folder, press Enter to chat in-game)

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12712358/Everschmame%20Release.zip

I'm asking for a bit of help here: I'm 31, and grew up on games like Zork, text-based muds, and some of the old RPGs (Moraff's World, Telengard) that couldn't rely on graphics for their gameplay. That's the model I'm shooting for. I suspect that there is an effective way to appeal to that subniche of gameplayers - but am struggling to find ideas in that regard. Anyone have any experience or suggestions around that? (It is free.)

Hope to see you in-game soon, and I look forward to any ideas you may have!

-Jamie Russell
Skarr and Chainsaw in-game

(Thanks to Teddy for the suggestion of making a youtube video advertising it)