Sightings.biz is the sister site to Ravenblack Grimoire. It is a mapping and navigation site for the Ravenblack vampire game allowing users to find their way around.
While there are other programs around, such as Dark Alleyways Interactive Map (DA:IM), we feel that Sightings.biz fills a niche: where DA:IM can be thought of as a big Cadillac automatic wallowing around on cruise control, Sightings.biz is more of a tight stick-shift Ferrari. You have to work that little bit harder to get around, but it is so much more rewarding.
As it is a pure website serving up basic HTML, Sightings.biz can be accessed from anywhere with an Internet connection and a web browser.
Specifically, Sightings.biz is aimed at people who can not or will not use DA:IM, including:
people who don't use Windows, such as Macintosh or Linux users (like us!)
people who play RB on computers where they cannot install outside software (such as at work or college).
People who like to exercise their brain in the course of playing Ravenblack (we didn't think there were many of these originally, but now most of the user base fall into this category).
Like the sound of it? See the next section to find out how to sign up.
How To Register
While Sightings.biz is open to all, there is no automatic registration process. This is mainly because the management like to know all members personally, but also because potential users are a small, select group, so there is no need.
If you do want to sign up you can:
register with Ravenblack Grimoire and post a comment on this very page
OR
drop an email to matt at madeye dot com
Either way, please state your desired username and clan affiliation, if any. If your reputation preceeds you, the chances are you will get an administrator's account giving you the ability to create other users.
Your password will be emailed to you (either to the address with which you registered for Ravenblack Grimoire or the address from which the request was sent).
User's Guide
This section explains in detail how to use the range of navigation features that Sightings.biz provides. It covers all the core navigation features of the site as well as discussing administrative tasks such as creating new users.
Coordinates Explained
The Ravenblack vampire game is played on a large grid. For a basic understanding of how this grid works, please read this description by the late Andronicus.
In order for Sightings.biz to know where you are so it can draw maps for you, we need a way to explain exactly which square you are in. The basics of this are very similar to describing where you are in pretty much any American city: you give the name of the East/West street you are on together with the name of the North/South street.
So, in the example below, Madeye would be on Hessite & 97th.
But what if you are not exactly on an intersection? Well, in that case you need to say where you are in relation to that intersection. So, in the preceeding example, the McAllister Tavern is South East of Hessite & 97th, or Hessite & 97th (SE). Incidentally, in the Ravenblack game, if no compass direction is given, it is assumed to be South East. The previous picture shows all the possible compass directions that can be used, including X marks the spot
The sharper readers may have noticed that most of the squares on the grid actually has two names, depending on which square you are measuring from. This next example shows this:
As far as Sightings.biz is concerned, you can call the square either name and it will know what you mean.
When using the navigation features of the site, you will enter your position using three drop down menus: the first giving the East/West street (eg. Hessite), the second giving the North/South street (eg. 97th) and the final on e to give the direction (eg. SE). It looks something like this:
What is your current location?
Easting
Northing
Modifier
User Menu
The User Menu lives on the right hand side of the page and contains all links for setting options to related to users including creating new users, changing preference settings, changing your password and logging out.
When you first arrive at the site, the right hand section of the page is occupied with username and password entry boxes. In order to log into Sightings.biz, please enter your supplied user name and password into the entry boxes and press the Go button.
The User Menu should now appear, in addition to new options in the left hand menu.
Logout
Available to Registered Users who are logged in.
This link allows you to log out of Sightings.biz. Additionally, there is a duplicate link at the bottom of the left-hand menu for your convenience.
If you are inactive on the site for more than 5 minutes, the system will automatically log you out.
Change Password
Available to Registered Users who are logged in.
This menu option allows you to change your password. Selecting it gives you three password entry boxes on the screen. You must type your old password in the first one. Your new password must then be entered identically into the following two boxes. Once you are happy the information has been correctly entered, press the Change Password button to change the password.
If the old password is wrong, or the two new passwords don't match, the site will refuse to change your password and will give you a message explaining what has been done wrong.
Change Settings
Available to Registered Users who are logged in.
The Change Settings option allows users of Sightings.biz to alter their personal preferences. Currently, there are two user-configurable options, but more may be added in due course.
Timezone: This option allows you to set Sightings.biz to your timezone. This will cause all times on the site to appear in your local timezone, making it much easier to know when the shops and guilds are next due to move.
Results for Find Nearest: The Find Nearest function allows you to find the nearest banks, pubs etc. to any location in the game. This option allows you to specify what kind of results you wish to see. The Vanilla option shows one of each, while the kinky alternative, Refractomatic*, shows loads of banks. The Combat 1 setting shows the nearest targets to the specified location in the military version of Sightings.
Auto-Sight Pire Name: currently unused.
Auto-Sight Pire Password: currently unused.
Blood Threshold:changes is in blood greater than this amount will be highlighted on the target screens for users of the military version of Sightings.
To change the settings, select the desired values from the drop down boxes and click the Save Settings button.
* Named after Refraction, the infamous bank robber.
Create User
Available to Administrators
This menu option allows administrators to create new users. The name of the user must be specified, together with a password. The password must be typed identically in each of the password entry boxes.
The affiliation of the new user will be the same as that of the administrator who created him or her.
The administrator may also choose whether the new user is allowed to report sightings of shops and guilds etc. It is recommended that only trustworthy people be allowed to report sightings
The system also makes a note of which administrator created the user.
Ravenblack Places Menu
The Ravenblack Places menu lives in the left-hand menu and provides access to the areas of the site that provide navigation aids to players.
Lists
Available to Everyone
The Lists option can be used to show, well, lists of all the places in the game. If you are a registered user, it can also be used to find the nearest bank, pub etc. to a particular place and to show maps of the local area.
To use Lists, click on the menu link and select the kind of place (Pub, Owned Building etc) you wish to list. Clicking the Go button will produce an alphabetically sorted list of all the locations of that particular type that Sightings.biz knows about and it's last known position on the map.
In addition, registered users will be presented with additional links for Find Nearest and Show Map. Clicking these links give the same result as using the Find Nearest or Show Map function centred on the location of the shop, bank, guild etc.
If the position of the place is not known, then no information will be given and the additional links will not be available.
Find Nearest
Available to Registered Users who are logged in.
The Find Nearest function is probably one of the handiest bits of Sightings.biz. It allows you to find the nearest pub, guild etc. to your current location. This can be really useful, if, say, you've just robbed 2000 coins off some poor pire and you need to find the nearest bank quick.
The first thing to do is work out your current location (read this description if you are unsure). This information should then be entered into the three drop down boxes at the top of the page that appears when you click the Find Nearest link.
Below these three boxes is a check box lablled "Use Transits". Leave this box checked if you want Sightings.biz to use transits when finding the nearest locations. Clear the check if, say, you're on a Celerity quest and don't want to use transits.
When you press the Find nearest button, a table of the nearest game locations is displayed. The table shows the type of the location (bank etc), it's name, how far away it is and whether a transit journey is required to reach it.
The number of locations of each type shown in the table depends on which option you have selected in your Settings.
Generally speaking, the nearer you are to a transit station the more likely it is that Sightings.biz will find a nearest pub or bank that requires a transit journey to reach.
The name field is a link that can be clicked to get directions from your current position to the desired location. The directions use compass points for direction (NE, S etc) and give a number of moves in each direction. For example:
The route from Aardvark & 1st (SE) to Calliope (48AP) is:
1. SE x 48
If you are unsure about which direction is which, here is a handy map:
Directions
Available to Registered Users who are logged in
The Directions feature of Sightings.biz gives you detailed directions from your current location to any other place within the game. This can be really useful for finding your way to guilds or to pubs on a Celerity quest.
To get Directions, click on the link of the same name on the left-hand menu bar. The first thing you will be asked is what type of place you are trying to get directions to. This can either be a well known place such as a pub, a transient place such as a shop/guild, or some random location (any old square on the map).
Please note that if no locations of a particular type (such as potion shops) have been sighted recently then that option will not be availaible in the list.
Once you've decided what kind of place you are trying to get to, click the Continue button. Suppose you have chosen Owned Buildings. The next screen would look something like this:
What kind of place are you trying to get to?
Owned Building
What is the name of the place you are trying to get to?
What is your current location?
Easting
Northing
Modifier
Use transits?
Simply select the location you are trying to find, enter your current location (see here for more information), check or uncheck the Use Transits box and press the Get Directions button. The directions will be given as the number of moves and the compass direction in which those moves should be taken. Total distance will also be shown. For example, the following directions show how to get to WhiteLighter and oOPHYy's Abode from Tapir & 47th:
The route from Tapir & 47th (SE) to WhiteLighter and oOPHYy's Abode (63AP) is:
1. SE x 6
2. E x 16
3. Take the transit from Melpomene to Uranie
4. SE x 2
5. S x 36
If you want to get to an arbitrary location in the game, in order to, say, rendevous with a lover, the approach is similar, but instead of getting a list of places to choose from, you have to enter you current location and the location you want to get to. Be careful not to mix the two up, or you will end up at the exact opposite of where you were trying to get to.
Show Map
The Show Map feature of Sightings.biz is similar to the Find Nearest feature except instead of telling you what is nearest it draws a map. After entering your current location (just like Find Nearest, see here for more information), press the Show Map button and the map is displayed. The map drawn shows every building within a 15* square radius of your current position.
* if it looks like there are less than 15 squares in any direction it is probably because you are near to the edge of the map
The buildings are colour coded according to the following key:
Bank
Guild
Owned Building
Pub
Shop
Transit
Vampire (You)
You can find out what each is by hovering your mouse over it. The map is intentionally basic to allow as much of the game to be displayed at once, hence the lack of street names. For example, this is a map of Haddock & 49th:
Andron's Map
The Andron's Map left-hand menu item links to the final version of Andronicus' map of the whole Ravenblack game. Every bank and pub is on it. Although it does not show where guilds and shops are located (they move around), it has to be considered a timeless classic.
Sightings Menu
The Sightings Places menu lives in the left-hand menu and provides access to the areas of the site that allow the sightings of movable buildings (guilds and shops) to be viewed and reported.
Show Recent
Available to Everyone
The Show Recent menu option lists all of the current sightings of shops and guilds. As shops and guilds move around often, this page is handy for checking if Sightings.biz knows the current whereabouts of somewhere you may be trying to get to.
This page displays the name of the person who made the sighting and the time at which the sighting was made. This hopefully ensures that people check carefully before making a sighting as their name will be up there in lights.
Sightings.biz also makes an estimate of the time at which the shop or guild will move next. If you have set your settings right, these times will be displayed in your local timezone.
For guilds, this is pretty accurate as the times of the moves are well documented. For shops, it's a bit hit and miss as the move is guessed to be 12 hours after the sighting was made. Once the move time is reached, Sightings.biz forgets where the building is until the next sighting is made.
Report a Sighting
Available to Registered Users who have Sightings enabled by their Administrator.
Within the Ravenblack game, there are two kinds of buildings that are always moving: shops and guilds. The Report a Sighting menu option allows you to tell Sightings.biz where these are when you find one.
It doens't matter whether you have found the location by chatting to the bartender of a local pub, wandering past in person or by cribbing from the Freedom Trade Alliance: this menu option allows you to report a sighting. As soon as the sighting is made, the building will appear on maps, find nearest and be available for getting directions.
Before reporting a sighting, you should be sure that you know what the correct location of the correct guild or shop is (including whether it's a scroll, potion or magic shop). At the moment, the only way to correct an erroneous sighting is to make the correct sighting after (which is tricky if you've actually entered the wrong building). If you do make an erroneous sighting, it's not the end of the world. Just email Madeye.
Once you are ready to make the sighting, click on the Report a Sighting link. You will then be asked what kind of place you have sighted:
What kind of place has been sighted?
If you don't know the answer to this question, then it's best you go away and think about it for a while. You can use Show Lists to list the different kinds of shops until you find the one you spotted, then come back.
Suppose you were reporting the location of a Guild. You would get this as the next page:
What kind of place has been sighted?
Guild
What is the name of the place that has been sighted?
Where is this place located?
Easting
Northing
Modifier
Sighted by
matt
Time of sighting
14/06 20:27
Once these details are filled in (see this description if you are unsure about coordinates), press Report Sighting and the details will be entered into the system.
People who report sightings are generally held in high regard on the site even if they make the occasional mistake.
Note from the Author
Sightings.biz came about for a number of reasons. Mainly, I needed a means for finding my way around Ravenblack's vampire game, as I rarely use Windows and won't use DA:IM. But it was also very rewarding to use the skills gained in a decade and a half as a coporate whore of the highest calibre for something fun for a change.
I would love for it to be the tool of choice for connoisseurs of the game, but if no one uses it but me, it was worth it because it was fun to make.
Happy hunting,
-- Madeye
Credits
The following people contributed to the making of Sightings.biz:
Technology
Sightings.biz is 100% Pure Java. It is built with J2EE and the best in open source technology from Apache. The database layer was generated in no time at all using Torque, the front-end uses the highly acclaimed Struts and the RSS feed is generated using Velocity.
