Version 0.38a Released

You will need a new resource pack for this release. Yes, I know I just released a resource pack for version 0.37, but there were just too many new images to include in the application itself. I'll try to leave the resource pack alone for awhile after this!

Wheee!! I'm a happy camper. I played a successful online game last night (see previous post), and fixed the few issues that harassed us during the game. I finished Seasons/Weather (mostly), and added a "Hall of Fame". The bug tracker is down below 80 bugs, and the game has been running like a champ. Still a lot to do, but its getting closer and closer to being complete!

[PS - THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO SENT IN PICTURES TO USE IN THE SEASONS INTERFACE - I HOPE YOU LIKE MY FINAL SELECTIONS!]

Oh, why v0.38a you ask? That's because the version I used last night was technically v0.38. Since I fixed a couple more bugs, I decided to bump the version slightly to 0.38a.

Here's what's new this time around:

NEW FEATURES:

• Created a new menu called View, and moved some things around to make more sense. The tables menu is now a submenu under View.
  
• BUG 499 - Added a "Hall of Fame"
  
  • No longer specify number of VPs in the setup dialog (since this would affect scoring range)
    
  • Not considered for Hall of Fame if VPs are disabled
    
  • View Hall of Fame from View menu
  
  
• Added support for Seasons and Weather
  
  • New dropdown list on first tab of game options dialog to choose a season, choose no season, or choose a random season
    
  • New optional rule (optional tab) for weather support
    
  • Sheltered phases work (see the rules)
    
  • Eye of the Moon allows you to see/change the weather
    
  • Click on season icon to view information about the current season and weather
    
  • Mountain move cost dependant on the season (new move icons show what the cost is for each character)
    
  • All six "special" weather conditions are handled
    
    • Fatigue chits based on location
      
    • HIDE/PEER tables disabled depending on season
    
    
  • Mission special conditions (delivery locations and rewards) are NOT YET HANDLED

BUGS/ISSUES:

• BUG 608 - Items with conditional fame are priced correctly now under COMMERCE rules
  
• BUG 488,609 - Using a Horse and "other" bonus MOVE in a cave is more logical now (horse is used as soon as possible)
  
• BUG 597 - Fixed game hang when a transformed monster winds up in an enchanted tile, and stuck in magic form.
  
• BUG 519,613 - Fixed a problem where a character receiving and activating the Timeless Jewel on someone else's turn, couldn't ignore their recorded actions.
  
• BUG 600 - Transformed monsters should prowl as normal now.
  
• BUG 614 - When I fixed Bug 305 (below), I inadvertantly introduced a problem when running without any monsters in the clearing. This is fixed.
  
• Fixed a problem with the action record interface: actions are now red when they are invalid, and black when they are not. Nothing else is changed, just the color, which was confusing.
  
• BUG 615 - Created a problem in the wound interface when I added color chits. This is fixed.
  
• BUG 218 - Color chits are now considered to be "in play" for purposes of determining death.
  
• BUG 617 - GodRob discovered that the enchanted side of the Crag had one too many hidden paths! Good catch!!
  
• BUG 510 - Flowers of Rest will no longer affect characters before being discovered.
  
• BUG 520 - Inconsistency in Cloven Hoof behaviour is fixed.
  
• BUG 544 - Cloven Hoof no longer affects denizen rolls anymore.
  
• BUG 533 - Kill tally no longer shows multiple hits for split kills
  
• BUG 548 - Effects of the poison spell and Oil of Poison will stack. In other words, you can add 2 sharpness stars to your active weapon.
  
• BUG 573 - Can no longer use Pony to infinitely traverse mountains.
  
• BUG 424 - REST stacking with the Berserker works correctly now
  
• BUG 490 - Unhidden hired leaders in a clearing with a monster can no longer press the END button to exit combat.
  
• BUG 475 - Burning a color chit is sufficient to continue combat.
  
• BUG 512 - Can hire Ogres with Persuade spell now.
  
• BUG 518 - Correct number of soldiers on Pillage campaign.
  
• BUG 542 - Vial of Healing will now activate wounded, non-asterisk chits.
  
• BUG 620 - Pressing END during a multiplayer game no longer permanently disables the encounter phase buttons.
  
• BUG 621 - Fixed a small problem with CACHEs.
  
• BUG 575 - Can no longer use MAGIC SIGHT to learn spells off inactive inventory
  
• BUG 623 - Attack Spells will trigger Grudges now.
  
• BUG 394 - Hitting friendly natives with Roof Collapses no longer causes them to turn on you (you target the clearing, not the natives)
  
• BUG 540 - Weapon altering potions will work with the Alchemists's Mixture now.
  
• BUG 622 - Timeless Jewel owners can do multiple REST phases at once now. Pressing REST will pop up a dialog asking "How Many". Hope this isn't more of a pain than before!

Great online game last night

Sweet. It's been a long time since I played RealmSpeak online (since April, v.0.30). That game went badly because RealmSpeak froze up too much, and we had to can it. Since then, I've been more than a little nervous to even try it again.

Well, last night I decided to give it a shot. Using the latest build (v0.38 - not yet publicly available), me and two buddies fired up a game. We chose randomly (sort of), and ended up with the Woods Girl (me), Magician, and the White Knight. Without going into great detail, the Woods Girl started off quite well, successfully offing numerous monsters with her alerted bow, but not in time to prevent the death of the White Knight to three bats. Respawning as the Black Knight, the trio continued to wander through numerous treasure locations: Cairns (found the lost keys!), the Vault (good thing too!), and the Hoard. The Woods Girl got cursed at one point, and then attempted to get healed at the Order. Making the mistake of doing a TRADE, the Woods Girl got blocked, and then pounced on by the Patrol. Dead. (that sucked!!)

Anyway, the game overall was a blast, and most everything worked as it should. There were a couple of minor problems:

1. Pressing the END button disabled all of the buttons in the Encounter panel for the rest of the game, or until saving and restarting.
   
2. Kills were not showing up in the usual place.
   
3. At one point, I was unable to move into a normal clearing with the timeless jewel, even though I had one phase left to use!

All in all, that was pretty good, and we were able to play as long as we wanted, with relatively few restarts. I'm excited to know that I can play this game online again, and know exactly what needs fixing. I should be able to get a good release up later today (if all goes well).

Version 0.37 Released

NOTE: You'll need to download a new version (0.37) of the "Resource Pack" for this release!

I spent a lot of time working on aesthetics for this release. All of the spells now have text information and tables straight from the 3rd edition rules, available with nothing more than a mouse-click. It's also easier to see who and how cast what spells, and what spells are currently bewitching you.

I also reworked the RealmSpeak Battle Builder. It's a lot more user friendly, and lets you edit saved battles, for the first time! Much easier to experiment now, and much less frustrating to run (in my opinion).

Here's what's new:

NEW FEATURES:

• BUG 593,594 - Spell information enhancements
  
  • New green bar on spell card identifies spells that are "Alive"
    
  • Table on character spell page displays all spell currently affecting (bewitching) the character
    
  • Right-clicking spells in inventory, or in "Bewitching Spells" table brings up a useful information panel that describes:
    
    • Owner
      
    • Caster
      
    • Incantation Chit/Item
      
    • Target(s)
      
    • Complete text from 3rd edition rules
      
    • Associated spell table, if applicable
    
    
  • Right-clicking spells in Spell Selector allows you to read the rules for that spell, and see any related table that might be used
  
  
• Most die roll tables are now available in the "Tables" menu
  
• RealmSpeak Battle Builder got a face lift
  
  • Entry dialog is a bit more user-friendly
    
  • Three choices: New Battle, Edit Battle, and Play Battle
    
  • Yes, you can edit battles you have saved (finally!!!), including game options!
    
  • The builder is a Frame instead of a dialog now. That means it will appear in your Taskbar, and not get "lost" in the sea of windows.
    
  • You can delete a character from battle
    
  • Treasures are sorted in alphabetical order, to make them easier to find (finally!!!)
  
  
• BUG 231 - New button to allow the HOST to change game options during the game. (Like, if Watchful Natives breaks again, and you got a good game going, you can turn it off)

BUGS/ISSUES:

• BUG 606 - Flying causes you to become unhidden now
  
• BUG 601 - Sharpness dampening is shown in log now
  
• BUG 553 - Toadstool Circle is exhibiting its effects again (BLACK magic and extra SPELL phases)
  
• BUG 305 - If you are playing with STUMBLE rules, and are unsuccessful running with a 2 asterisk chit, you are no longer penalized for fatigue twice!
  
• BUG 126 - When running away from combat with a horse, the correct side (trot/gallop) of the horse is shown.
  
• BUG 111 - Followers now get left behind if the guide uses a Pony MOVE, unless they themselves have a Pony active.
  
• BUG 373,596 - Native Horses are now made inactive when in a CAVE
  
• BUG 370 - New optional rule to play with "Seasonal Color Magic", which has been the default of RealmSpeak forever. Now you can turn this off, and use the "BLACK/WHITE" colors for the 7th day.

Version 0.36 Released

Thought I'd get a release out while I had a version that is working pretty good in my hands, and before I break into some bigger issues. I think Watchful Natives actually works in this release, so hopefully those of you that have been having trouble will find that the bugs are finally gone. I set up numerous combat situations, and coded until ALL of them worked as expected. Thanks to everyone who reported bugs on this rule, as you really gave me the direction I needed to get this done.

As mentioned in the previous post, there are some new optional rules in place (Commerce and Grudges), as well as the advanced CACHE rule. This gets RealmSpeak more into my own "comfort zone", as I have always played Face-to-Face games with these rules in place.

Okay, here's what's new:

NEW FEATURES:

• Advanced Rule CACHING is done
  
  • New option in game setup dialog under ADVANCED RULES tab
    
  • CACHE action is available
  
  
• Optional Commerce rules are now in place
  
  • Native groups modify the price of treasure base on FAME, NOTORIETY, or BOTH (depends on group)
    
  • Treasures with special FAME get that value added to the base price when dealing with a particular native group
    
  • Selling items uses the Commerce table
  
  
• Optional Grudges/Gratitude
  
  • Buying/Selling treasures with special FAME affect friendliness
    
  • Killing FRIENDLY and ALLY natives affect friendliness by 2 and 4 levels, respectively.
  
  
• Changed the spell selector a bit: removed the blue arrow buttons - selecting spells is now as easy as clicking the spell you want. I thought having to select spells and press buttons was a bit tedious.
  
• Power of the Pit dialog now shows who all was killed (if any), so it is clear what happened.

BUG FIXES:

• BUG 410 - Running as a transformed monster no longer adds the same monster to the "Used Chits" box, and available for attacks by yourself!!
  
• BUG 579 - Added some code to guarantee that NO situation leads to a target not moving to their own sheet. This should resolve "Watchful Natives" once and for all.
  
• BUG 588 - Fixed an issue with natives fighting natives under the Watchful Natives option
  
• BUG 582 - Fixed a problem where characters were unable to share TWT locations (ie., Toadstool Circle)
  
• BUG 589 - Treasures in battle builder are face up again
  
• BUG 587 - Characters transformed into MIST, and has hirelings, are no longer available for attack by monsters/natives.
  
• BUG 556,567 - Power of the Pit TERROR result was not killing hirelings following hired leaders. It is now.
  
• BUG 566 - Magic Sight no longer protects you from getting cursed by the Remains of Theif or Mouldy Skeleton
  
• BUG 411 - Read Runes allows a choice from awakened or Top Spell, as per 3rd ed rule 7.5.6.b.
  
• BUG 580 - Fixed spelling of Sorceror (from Sorcerer - technically correct, but doesn't match the game)
  
• BUG 578 - Fixed some fatal errors caused by fly chits expiring after use.

I'm experimenting with adding the bug links in here. It was kind of a pain, so don't expect to see these every time!!