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THE ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT TAKES REAL ROOTS (SLR Exclusive)
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Written by Xavier Soderstrom
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Sunday, 10 June 2007 |
 I am here interviewing Dimentox Travanti, creator of the battle hud known as DCS, or Dynamic Combat System. Dimentox is the epitome of the entrepreneur; he is a person who saw a need, filled it, and ran with it. With considerable hard work and an uncanny knack for understanding and anticipating a rolepayer’s, and a SIM owner’s, needs, DCS is truly an original, and exceptional, creation. In fact, DCS is now used in over 26 SIMS, and those numbers are climbing.
XAVIER: What was your inspiration for the DCS?.
DIMENTOX: A sim I used to play in used a system that kept making changes that affected us without thought of our using it. That hud also did not update much for bug fixes, so I said, “Hey. I can make this.” And DCS 1 was born. It allowed us to do what we wanted.
XAVIER: What did you want your DCS hud feature that the other hud did not?
DIMENTOX: I wanted my DCS hud to have races, powers, bug fixes.
XAVIER: The other system didn’t have races and powers?
DIMENTOX. No, it didn’t. So to start with we had angels, vampires, humans and lycans. We gradually expanded to add Dark Elves, Supernaturals, Machines. I may have missed a few but you get the gist. And they had powers associated with that race.
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XAVIER: I know many roleplayers, myself included, like choosing types. But I’ve seen more types than those you mention in DCS 2. I’m curious now. What was the evolutionary leap from DCS 1 to DCS 2?
DIMENTOX: I didn’t want to limit sims on MY idea of the game. I want to give them a framework for their game. DCS 2 allows players to have one system they get which lets them play many games. DCS is all about choice.
XAVIER: So let’s say I want to be a vampire in Toxia, a witch in DC, and a demon is Welles. How does the DCS 2 system accommodate all of that?
DIMENTOX: DCS 2 dynamically reconfigures itself for the sim a player is in. It matches the types the player chooses for the sim, so the person doesn’t need to buy a hud for each sim. One of the problems I saw while doing a combat system was that players had to buy a system for each sim. Which gets costly.
XAVIER: Very much so. And I feel roleplayers will like the idea of playing a Dark Elf in one sim, and then jumping into a Supernatural character in another, without paying for a separate hud.
DIMENTOX: The DCS 2 hud lets them do that. When they enter the new sim, the DCS 2 hud reconfigures automatically. The DCS 2 hud will configure to the type of the player’s choice in each separate sim. All the player needs to do is enter the region, and the settings specific to that sim download into the DCS 2 automatically. And the player doesn’t need to pay for separate huds in each of these sims.
XAVIER: What about the sim owners? How does the DCS 2 help them with their vision? Sims are expensive, and I know sim owners would most likely enjoy creating their own unique worlds.
DIMENTOX: The sim owners can create their own types. All without touching code. So they can create Travelers, Warriors, whatever they want. That’s the basic idea of DCS 2. It’s 100% dynamic. Every little thing in DCS 2 is configurable.
XAVIER: This gives sim owners a lot of room to create their worlds, then.
DIMENTOX: Yes. Sim owners have the complete control of the system. They choose what they want. DCS has a ton of features but no one is forced to use them. In its simplest form it can just be a meter.
XAVIER: That’s great for military sims where all you as a player need to know is how many hit points you have. How many sims can I look forward to playing in with the DCS 2 system?
DIMENTOX: As of today you can roleplay in over 26 sims. There could be more than 26 types. DCS 2 doesn’t limit sim owners in any way, so the types are limitless, really.
XAVIER: I wish there were more hours in a day. (chuckles). So what’s next for DCS 2?
DIMENTOX: There is now a capture feature. In a fight when you get down to zero health it allows you to become captured by your attacker. Some sims allow the full spectrum of what it does while others just allow you to lead your prisoner around and roleplay. Some systems disable it completely. It all depends on what the sim owners want in the way of creating a roleplay experience for the players. I try to keep it as realistic as I can but also allow fantasy. In DCS 2 it can be way out there or very realistic. It’s up to the sim owners, so DCS 2 really expands beyond combat. It’s a roleplay assistant for sims. The DCS 2 lets sim owners customize graphics. They can pick animations, particles, sound effects, the works. And they can also set the hud to control spammy guns so a player doesn’t take unrealistic damage.
As we look around there are other players, including a GM, whose name is Poblano. GMs have a lot of responsibilities in the SIMs. They can change a player’s type, help out with questions, and oftentimes serve as mediators during tense situations and help keep cheating (and griefing) to a minimum. As we talk, we are joined by Xoza, who runs a sim, and a player named Zelda.
ZELDA: I love the powers we have with the new DCS. The light effects are pretty awesome.
POBLANO: I’ll speak as a roleplayer first and as a GM second. As a roleplayer, I like the fact that just from a mechanical perspective the system is responsive to combat and is flexible enough to let me use any safezone weapons I like. Additionally, it’s not tied to a specific sim. There are enough themed sims for me to get a change if I want to.
XOZA: The fact that every class can have their own special abilities and set of powers… gives the encouragement of RP a good start.
POBLANO: With the animations and effects, using the powers is kind of fun. And as a GM or sim owner, DCS 2 has some great built-ins. You can’t go noncombative while injured. You restrict what people can do while dead, so DCS 2 does things that minimize what most people would call “cheating.” But the DCS 2 really helps to minimize cheating, which a sim owner and a GM appreciate more than many can imagine.
XAVIER: I’ve seen the fallouts of cheating, and they’re usually ugly, so it’s nice to know the hud can control for a lot of that. I’m jumping to a new topic here, but one I’m wondering about because I’ve been watching my DCS 2 info for a while now. How does DCS 2 “level up?”
DIMENTOX: Through RP and kills, and there aren’t levels per se.
POBLANO: As a GM I’ll tell you that hotspots are created, one at a time, that award experience points for RP. This discourages camping and idling, where people hide to cheat their way into experience points.
XOZA: DCS lives up to its name, Xav… heh… Dynamic Combat system. As Dim is… he is fully willing to work with everyone… and any sim. I do help run a sim, and I gave him some sounds… and animations… and the block request… within 2 days it was added. It’s fully customizable.
Xoza isn’t the only one to feel this way. Kanda Tiramisu, the SIM owner (along with Laser Plasma), of Dark City – The Original Dark City, tells me,”I think [Dimentox’s] DCS2 system kicks @ss! I love him to pieces for being so supportive of us here in Dark City – The Original DC…”
And these accolades by players and by SIM owners, of course, translate into business opportunities! With more than 26 SIMs using the DCS2 system, that means 26 SIMs for business opportunities.
For SIM owners who use the DCS system, the profit’s can be substantial with the DCS2 profit sharing plan. DCS 2 has a user base of well over 5,000 players. For every DCS product sold within a SIM the SIM owner receives 10% of all sales in the SIM. This includes every combat system and every weapon. This does not include 3rd party developers that are DCS enhanced, only DCS products.
When I asked Dimentox how the sales of DCS help him with his own SIM of Toxia, he tells me that these sales help support the entire SIM! A SIM is not inexpensive, and Toxia is not small, so the inventor is able to share his love of gaming with many people. And after visiting Toxia, battling it out with a mysterious City Wraith that kept burning us up and seemed very difficult to track and damage, I must say the DCS system delivers! The scuffles I had using my spells, and my guns, added greatly to the fun of the RP experience. I only wish I had more time to involve myself in some of the complex, and compelling, storylines that were taking place when I was there. I think I have some vacation time! So it’s off to the realm of DCS 2 for me!
Truly DCS 2 epitomizes Dynamic. And in this reporter’s opinion, Dimentox Travanti epitomizes The Entrepreneur. SL is filled with business opportunities and visions. Dimentox Travanti is one person who made his vision real.
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