Two Little Bugs

I'm glad there are people who have already tried RealmSpeak! Unfortunately, two bugs have come to light.

The first one is a rule-interpretation bug: The familiar (and phantasm) shouldn't turn chits face up. I didn't know this, but a discussion over at the BGG Forum makes this problem clear.

The second one is a bit more annoying: alerted spell chits don't get the benefit of zero-speed! I likely broke this behavior when I added support for the spell Elvin Grace.

I'm not going to fling out a version 0.18.1 this time. I want to get some other bits in place, and maybe a few more spells, and do a v0.19 release. I'll make these two bugs top priority, but I want to make the download worth your trouble!

Update: I've fixed both of these bugs. I should be able to do a v0.19 release this weekend, provided all goes well with the new spells I'm working on. (Anybody want to try and Persuade me?)

Version 0.18 Released

This is it! I'm calling it the Spellcaster's delight for several reasons:

• Lots of new spells
  
• Fixed all casting bugs from v0.17
  
• Two words: Absorb Essence

I've really given this one a workover, and playtested it more than any previous release. I really wanted this one to be fully playable, unlike v0.17. I'm pretty confident everything is working this time, so give it your best shot!

Oh, important note: You're going to need to download a new resource pack (available in the usual place). Without this, RealmSpeak WILL complain (a new feature), and prevent the game from launching. Why a new resource pack? I added some images to support the Witch's Familiar, the Sorceror's Phantasm, and the future Transform and Melt-into-Mist spells. I'm not doing a patch this time, so you'll need to download the entire 4.5 Megs. If you are running on a modem, and really don't want to do the download, drop me an e-mail, and I'll see what I can do to get you the changed files in a smaller package.

Here's what's new:

NEW FEATURES:

• RealmSpeak now checks for the images folder - if not found, it reports the problem, and exits.
  
• When moving, you can opt to leave behind followers that haven't yet found hidden enemies
  
• Support for Day/Combat/Permanent spells
  
• New Spells:
  
  • Witch's Brew
    
  • Fairie Lights
    
  • Elemental Spirit
    
  • Unleash Power
    
  • Elvin Grace
    
  • Blend into Background
    
  • See Hidden Signs
    
  • Sense Danger
    
  • Absorb Essence
    
  • Dissolve Spell
    
  • Phantasm
    
  • Cancel portion of Remedy works
    
  • Exorcise now kills all spells in the clearing
  
  
• The Witch's familiar is implemented
  
• Replaced the "Give" button with a "Trade" button, for doing 2-way character trading (inventory and gold)

BUGS/ISSUES:

• Fixed problem where doing a PEER ADJACENT CLEARING would use the destination clearing as a reference, rather than your current clearing
  
• Better information in table for "Discover Chits" result on MAGIC SIGHT table
  
• Fixed a new problem from v0.17 where spell casting options were not getting refreshed. (Hopefully the last bug fix from the so-called "optimization")
  
• Fixed a bug where the Witch King was able to MOVE with L inventory
  
• Fixed a problem with the GUI where the Deploy/Charge step was shown every time, regardless of need
  
• Fixed a bug which would crash RealmSpeak when a character was respawned after being stripped of all his/her inventory, and no new inventory was available
  
• Adjusted the length of the Woodfolk HQ Bow from 14 to 16, as per Richard Hamblen's comment on Nand's magic realm site
  
• Fixed a problem where prowling monsters moving to a clearing where a character ended his/her turn were not being blocked.
  
• Fixed a bug where underlings following a hired leader vanish after becoming unhired
  
• Can no longer "peek" at native items during TRADE, and press cancel

Special Note - I gave Absorb Essence a LOT of my time, so its virtually perfect in every way. That said, there are going to be a few rules-issues I'm sure. For one thing, if you record a turn as a character, and stumble through some magic and transform, it will still let you play out your turn as the character. I realize this is wrong, but rather than work on the problem, I decided to let it slide this time. The spell is solid (its not going to crash your game!), and will do what you expect 95% of the time. Try it out and see what you think. I'll get the minor issues worked out in a future release.

Have fun!

Spellcasters Delight

The last release (v0.17) was rather buggy, and severely hampered the spellcaster side of things. So buggy, in fact, that I think most of you have stuck with v0.16, for which I don't blame you. That's what I get for rushing a release!

I'm trying to make that up with v0.18: Lots of new spells (11 at last count), and plenty of playtesting. I played a game tonight with the Witch that went fairly well. The Witch let her familiar explore the tiles ahead of her, while she strolled leisurely through some early treasure site finds. She absorbed a Giant (probably not the best monster to absorb...), and kicked some serious butt. At one point, she faced down both Tremendous Land Dragons, and beat them! I was fairly amazed (and probably really lucky).

I've played the Amazon, Witch-King, Elf, Witch, and Druid with very few bugs to report. I'm very close to wrapping up the last few bugs with Absorb Essence (man that's a fun spell!). I should have v0.18 out in the next couple of days, assuming my evenings aren't totally consumed this week! At the very least, there will be a Sat PM or Sun PM release.

Thanks for all your support, and I hope you will enjoy v0.18!

Absorb Essence

I've got this spell mostly done. You can absorb any monster, move/fly around the board as that monster, fight (clubs and heads included), and let it go inert. Still don't have a way to charge a permanent spell by fatiguing color chits yet, but that wont be very hard to complete.

I had hoped on getting v0.18 out this weekend, but seeing as it is late on Sunday, I doubt this is going to happen. I'm really playtesting this version hard, because I don't want there to be any game-killing bugs this time around. Stay tuned!

Ugly Spell Bug

This bug is soooo ugly, it needs mention here!

When I optimized the combat portion of RealmSpeak, I opted to "reuse" the combat frame, rather than spawn a new one each time. Because of this, I need to reset some of the parameters each time it is reused. Unfortunately, I forgot to reset one of the parameters, and its causing some rather unpleasant game play.

When you cast a spell for the first time, you'll get a realistic set of spell options: spells to cast, chits to use, etc. Unfortunately, these same set of spell options come up each after that, for every magic user in the game! Yes, you keep seeing the same spell, and same chits each time. (sigh)

This problem has been fixed in v0.18, and is quite possibly the last major bug from my optimization work. I do apologize to those of you who have been encountering this problem, but this is the very nature of a program that is a "work in progress". I try very hard to get working versions out, but the last several releases have been a bit buggy. Hopefully v0.18 will be more stable, and enjoyable to play.

As a follow-up to my previous post, I did finish "Absorb Essence". I'm still juggling what to work on next, but my short list looks like this:

• Enchant Artifact
  
• Absorb Essence
  
• Broomstick
  
• Control Bats

No promises yet though!

Minions

That's what I decided to call the critters that are controlled exclusively by a particular character. This includes the Witch's familiar, and the Day spell Phantasm. Both of these are finished, and will be included in v0.18. I even made some new icons for these two things, so this means a new resource pack will become available to go with it.

Side Note: I've never really used the familiar or phantasm in any live games. They were always such a pain to deal with, that I often neglected or forgot to use them, and they were wasted. In RealmSpeak, its a cinch to record actions for both, so I can see how these abilities are useful! I even played the Sorceror with multiple Phantasm spells. This is a cool way for the Sorceror to scout out territory!

I'm finishing up the spell "Unleash Power", and thinking about turning my attention towards "Absorb Essence", and "Broomstick". Yes, v0.18 is going to be a Witch's delight!

Long Duration Spells Working

I finally got some time this evening to work up some longer duration spells: Day, Combat, and (drum roll please) Permanent spells. That is to say, the logic is in place. I've worked up a few spells, with many more to follow very soon. Here is what I got so far:

• Witch's Brew
  
• Fairie Lights
  
• Elemental Spirit
  
• See Hidden Signs
  
• Sense Danger
  
• Blend into Background

Sense Danger is the only Permanent spell so far, but it works correctly: it goes into effect during the evening, it goes inert at midnight, and reenergizes as soon as it is in the presence of Purple magic. I don't have the logic in for energizing an inert spell with a magic chit yet, but probably will before version 0.18 is released.

How many total spells yet to do? I counted 30 (damn this game has a lot of spells!), so I've still got my work cut out for me! Version 0.18 will definitely pack a punch!

Version 0.17.1 Released

Okay, let's try this again! I played a v0.17 game last night with a friend of mine, and everything went well until we hit our first combat. Though I had never seen any in-game combat problems before, the !@#$ hit the fan when there were multiple players. Suddenly, we were deluged with 1-4 combat windows at once, and stages were getting skipped left and right. It got to a point, where combat stopped, and hung altogether. Bad news!

Looking into the code this morning, I had realized I made a dumb mistake. I had forgotten to take out a line of code I put in for some firewall testing, and it caused everything I had worked so hard to get right, to fall apart. I removed the line of code, made a couple of tweaks (I noticed during our game, that it was no longer describing the combat stages in the player list window), and tried it again with our save game from last night. Looks good this time, and nothing freaky going on.

I sincerely apologize to those of you that downloaded v0.17 and have to redownload v0.17.1. I took the link down as soon as I saw the problem, but I know it was too late for some of you. At least its not that big of a file to download (assuming you are on cable/DSL).

Just a few things, but they are worth mentioning:

• Fixed display of character status during combat (was only showing "In Combat"!!)
  
• Fixed multiple combat frame spawning (this is THE reason for breaking the link online!)
  
• Added a new menu item to restore games from the autosave file

Jumping the Gun

I may have jumped the gun with the v0.17 release. I tried playing an online game last night, and we ran into a game killing bug (happens during combat). Before too many people did the download, I decided to break the link. If you've tried to download, you have probably noticed the broken link by now. If you managed to get it before I did that, I recommend tossing it, and rolling back to version 0.16.1.

I'm really sorry about that! I did the release so my friend could get it, and we could play. I'm going to see if I can fix it today (not a lot of time today though....) and get it back online.

Version 0.17 Released

I put a lot of effort into this release to get all the little bugs surrounding natives and hired leaders resolved. I also did some optimization work, to resolve some issues with speed (see this entry).

Finally, I added a bunch of options to the Option Menu, and made these options persist from game to game. Yes, that means you won't have to tweak these anymore! Once you get them where you like, they should stay until you change them. This includes the location of your last load/save file (some of you, I know, will rejoice!)

I'm playing a game online tonight, so hopefully I'll hit any game killing bugs before you do. I've got my fingers crossed that v0.17 isn't a repeat of v0.16, where I seemed to break everything!!

Okay, here's what you are getting this time around:

NEW FEATURES:

• Warning if you press send before recording all your phases (option can be turned off)
  
• Menu options to set default "Daily Combat" setting for each new character
  
• Menu options to turn warnings off (heavy inventory, incomplete phases)
  
• Menu options and frame size are "remembered" from game to game
  
• Last Save folder for RealmSpeak is "remembered" from game to game
  
• Button in character chooser to select a random character

BUGS/ISSUES:

• Several speed optimizations
  
• Fixed bug where combat would sometimes "hang" when there were a lot of participants
  
• Character curses are now reset after death
  
• Magic chit effort is calculated correctly again (alerted AND non-alerted)
  
• Character token on frame doesn't appear "green" anymore when loading a game where the character is hidden
  
• Can unalert a weapon in combat (why? Example: Pilgrim with alerted mace speed 3, might want to use FIGHT M2 chit!)
  
• Reading Runes on Book with all spells awakened, allows a choice of spell to learn
  
• Stumble rolls now include the number of attackers
  
• Change Tactics roll not done on boxes containing ONLY Tremendous monsters or native horses
  
• Clarified INSULT and CHALLENGE result windows to identify the natives and character affected
  
• Fixed problem where a monster with a weapon was being counted as TWO attackers, and thwarting automatic assignments
  
• Fixed issue where monster and weapon/head were getting repositioned into the same box
  
• Fixed issue where unhired natives could be placed in the same box with their horse
  
• Hirelings following a hired leader are used in combat
  
• If you run from combat with hirelings, the hirelings will finish the battle.
  
• "Show Card" button is disabled on hired leader frames
  
• Cancel illegal MOVEs without blocking character turn
  
• Can FOLLOW a hired leader now
  
• Hired Leaders can no longer drop their horses in the clearing!!
  
• Shows interactive character when combat windows are displayed (guarantees correct character is shown when asked to buy drinks for natives)
  
• Suicide and Transfer buttons are not enabled on on Hired Leaders
  
• Tweaked the positioning stage a bit:
  
  • You position your own hirelings on any sheet
    
  • You position denizens only on your own sheets
    
  • For monster sheets, the monster's target gets to move denizens
    
  • You NEVER position hirelings that aren't your own

RealmSpeak Optimization

I spent some time this weekend working to optimize RealmSpeak. The reason for this, is that some people had reported having problems with 5 or more characters. As a test, I set up a game with all 16 characters, and RealmSpeak slowed to a crawl. The first combat to appear, caused the whole game to crash. Bummer!

Since the whole point of RealmSpeak is to allow any number of players to join, I really needed to get this fixed. After playing around with some code profilers, I was finally able to locate some of the problem code. I'm happy to say, that RealmSpeak is flying at about 3-times the speed it used to, and this is good for everyone, even if you are only playing a couple characters!

During this stage of coding, I also located and removed a bug that would sometimes cause RealmSpeak to hang during combat. A number of you have reported this behavior, and though the autosave allows you to quit and restart where you left off, it wasn't a desirable thing to do. I can hardly wait to get v0.17 out (this weekend, for sure), and see how this works for everyone.

Oh, I retried the 16 character game... and it worked normally! Yes, it was a pain clicking endlessly through all the stages, but they are fast now, and combat doesn't hang. Wheee!!

Now maybe I can start knocking those bugs off the bug tracker!

Maintenance Release v0.16.1

Due to a couple of annoying problems, I decided to get a quick fix online, so everyone could get to playing with the new features in v0.16. I apologize to those who already downloaded 0.16, but you are really going to want v0.16.1. Here's what I fixed:

• Fixed bug that prevented multiple color chits being chosen at start of game
  
• IP Address no longer relevant when saving/loading save files - in other words, you should be able to load those autosave.rsgame files now!
  
• Duplicate player names are disallowed when joining a game server (this was sorely needed)
  
• New button to allow transfer of characters between player names (in case someone leaves)
  
• Smarter client handling, when server is shut down

Autosave Woes

Thought I should mention a caveat with the autosave files. They wont work right if you try to open them on another computer. The reason for this, is that RealmSpeak is using the IP address to identify who get which character windows. This works great if everyone uses the same computer they used when they last played, but this isn't always ideal.

If you try to open a save file with a different IP address (different computer, different network, etc), then everything will open *except* the character windows. This is a problem I am aware of (the bug is posted over at Mantis), and will be a high priority for the next release.

Version 0.16 Released

This is a fairly major release. I reworked a lot of the combat logic to allow for Hired Leaders, and the absence of Hiring Characters. If you've been playing RealmSpeak for awhile, you are going to have to get back into the habit of assigning your hirelings to a guide. You only have to do this once after each successful hire (they remember their assignments from day to day), but if you forget, your hirelings will stand idly by when you move on. This also means you can no longer do a HIRE and move on in the same day. Hirelings can only be assigned at the beginning of the day, so you'll have to stick around for the night.

This release also sports a couple new spells: Remedy (by request) and Whistle for Monsters. I also fixed the "Stones Fly" spell, so it will behave like described in the rules. This should make the Druid character a bit more playable!

Oh, several new options in the host setup dialog. You can specify an "auto-save" now. What this means, is that the game will be saved every turn at midnight, to a file in the same folder as RealmSpeak, called "autosave.rsgame". It doesn't ask about overwrite, so if you start a new game, any previous autosave is lost (I'll fix this someday). If you don't want autosave turned on, simply uncheck the box.

Okay, enough blabbering. Here's the rundown of what is new:

NEW FEATURES:

• Native handling updated to match the rules
  
  • Underlings don't follow until Sunrise assignments
    
  • Underlings can be assigned to follow guides (including other characters!)
    
  • Running leaves underlings behind
    
  • Characters don't have to be present to manage the combat for their hirelings
    
  • Option in combat frame to exclude character from clearing
    
  • Native Leaders, and all that they do!
  
  
• Added the die result to Wish, Curse, and Power of the Pit result windows, so you can see what the dice did.
  
• Auto-save option in host setup window - saves a copy of the game every turn to a file "autosave.rsgame" in your RealmSpeak directory
  
• Remedy works (removes curses only - doesn't target spells, because there are no spells with a duration to target yet)
  
• Whistle for Monsters works
  
• New House Rule to keep sound/warning/treasureLocation chits from flipping face down once they are discovered
  
• Characters can be recycled after death (turn this feature OFF in my house rules)
  
• Window appears at the end of your character turn if you have unavailable maneuver options due to heavy inventory

BUGS/ISSUES:

• Can get negative fame/notoriety (I also added a house rule if you don't like this rule interpetation!)
  
• Can actually get the 50 gold from the Chest now
  
• Fixed "Negligible Harm" result on FUMBLE table (wasn't modifying harm!)
  
• Dead Native Horses regenerate properly
  
• Fixed a problem where a hidden CombatFrame was being created each round of combat, and never being disposed
  
• Spells cancel spells as per rule 41.1/1
  
• Spells that target the clearing do not affect hidden status
  
• Switched positions of Position/Attack hotspot on denizen battle sheets
  
• Added a hash to the base game object layer to improve data access speed
  
• Default # of characters per player is set to 16 now (though if you've played RealmSpeak before, it will keep your last entry for this)
  
• Fixed problem where not placing an attack was hitting non-maneuvering characters
  
• Fixed option chooser when the number of items is too many (used to run off the screen) - now organized into tabs
  
• Native group treasures are dropped face down on leader's death
  
• Wish for Strength is tested AFTER natives when attempting to open the VAULT (or other)
  
• Deploying hirelings against natives causes appropriate BATTLING response.
  
• Fixed rare problem where hired natives would sometimes battle their employer!
  
• Gripping dust stays with the affected weapon now
  
• Magic Sight shows ALL spells on a site/artifact with Perceive Spell before allowing user to choose a spell to learn
  
• Magic Sight "Counters" result will NOT take treasure from Site CARDS (like the Enchanted Meadow)
  
• Hireling Horses are included when checking MOVE strength (Patrol 1 is M, his horse is H)
  
• Fixed WoodsGirl's special ability: her die roll ability in woods affects all meeting rolls too.
  
• Relationships for Native Leaders are the same as character
  
• Stones Fly has a minimum of four attacks as per the rules
  
• Fixed problem with showing too many spell casting options

As always, let me know if you run into any problems. The most effective way to do this is through the RealmSpeak Bug Tracker. Many of you have been using this forum, and its worked out rather nicely. Thank you!!

First draft of Hired Leaders

I actually have working Hired Leaders now! It was remarkably easy to incorporate into RealmSpeak, and though there's still a couple of minor issues to deal with, they are working nicely.

I don't think I'll get a release out this weekend, but it shouldn't be too long - maybe next weekend.

Underlings on the Move

I've got a ton of bugs piling up over at the bug tracker, but that's primarily because I've been focusing all my effort lately to get the Underlings working correctly. That is, I'm moving away from the "Hirelings as Inventory" concept, and implementing the proper rules.

I've currently got the following working:

• Underlings can get assigned to follow any guide, and only during Birdsong
  
• Employing characters can control their hirlings in combat, even if they aren't there.
  
• Underlings are left behind if the character runs away
  
• Random assignment works correctly if the character is hidden or absent from the clearing: the character chooses which hireling gets the random assignment when he/she "wins" the random assignment roll.

Next step: Hired Leaders. As far along as I am, there's no way this wont happen before version 0.16. Then maybe I can get to some of those bugs.... ;-)

Version 0.15 Released

I didn't get to fixing the Natives like I had hoped, but I did fix a bunch of other things. Here's what's new:

NEW FEATURES:

• Flashing Button reminders when multiple players online
  
• New Spell: Curse (Power of the Pit is enabled, but not fully working yet)
  
• Join game options are remembered from game to game
  
• Detail about "Spoils of War" in the Combat Detail panel
  
• Added a "Close" button to the battle detail window
  
• Daily Monster Die is shown in action table

BUGS/ISSUES:

• Removed DEBUG code that was causing MAGIC SIGHT to only "Perceive Spells"
  
• Fixed bug where casting Small Blessing (or Curse) caused the game to freeze up when there were multiple characters
  
• Fixed bug where enchanted tiles would revert to green each time a new player joined the game
  
• Enchanted Meadow result #4 will now properly cancel the WITHER curse, in addtion to healing your chits.
  
• Fixed a bug where the GUI would crash when the Pilgrim casts Exorcise on demons while hidden
  
• Hidden natives can deploy to unassigned targets
  
• RED-side-up monsters can no longer be lured off a character sheet (I know that natives can do this, but I'm not doing this now)
  
• Hirelings no longer get the Pilgrim's HEAVENLY PROTECTION, and can lure demons/imp.
  
• WISH for PEACE no longer freezes combat when monsters are on caster's sheet
  
• MAGIC chits count towards effort
  
• Running from a peaceful clearing with other characters no longer freezes the game.
  
• Reworked Spoils of War code - this should be accurate now - (Exception: When hired leaders kill, their inventory score goes to the character for now)
  
• Multiple spell kills are sorted from most to least points (rule 43.4)
  
• Hireling kills appear on character table

Another Online Game

Played another online game last night, this time with four online players! Though I wont detail the game here, it went fairly well. The Druid, Wizard, Captain, and White Knight explored a good portion of the Realm without getting killed. We saved the game (it was getting late), to play another day.

At one point, the player playing the Captain had a problem with the interface: it said he was playing his turn, but in fact nothing appeared on his screen. A game killing bug? I suggested dropping out and rejoining, knowing that there was at least a chance that it would resync itself, and get going again. In fact, it worked, and the game was off and running again.

Some problems we noted:

• Each time a new player joined, all the enchanted tiles flipped back to their normal side. This is a bug, and quite annoying to the magic users!
  
• At one point, the Captain (unhidden) discovered the Altar, and no-one else in the clearing got the discovery. Argh, I know this USED to work. At least the "trade discoveries" feature worked, so we were still able to save us some searches, and get to looting.
  
• Something strange happened when a person tried to log on with the wrong password. It didn't affect the game, really, but it left a strange ghost row in the Connections window.
  
• People couldn't log on during a turn. Apparently, there is something preventing a new player from connecting to the server during a turn. The solution was to tell them to wait (we were using TeamSpeak to communicate) until the turn was finished (Midnight), and then it worked fine.
  
• Its frustrating when someone (including myself) forgets to press "Send", "Next", or "Done". At least the character list window makes it clear what is happening, so you can shout at the person who has forgotten, and keep the game moving. I'm thinking about adding a feature that flashes the button after a few seconds to remind you that you haven't yet pressed it.

Version 0.15 is moving along. I've already had to fix a game killing bug where casting Small Blessing with more than one character in a clearing will crash the game. There's also a problem with Magic Sight again, although this time it has to do with some debugging code I forgot to remove (sigh). I'll probably do another release next weekend just to get these bugs out of the mix. I finished the Curse spell (my first V), and I may be able to finish Power of the Pit by then too.

Hireling changes are next

I think the single biggest flaw in RealmSpeak at this time, is the way Hirelings are handled. They shouldn't follow the same day they are hired, and they shouldn't run when you run. There should be a mechanism to trade hirelings among characters, and/or leave them behind.

I intentionally wrote the code this way, as a sort of temporary way to handle hirelings, but its time to get this fixed. Look for a change in the way hirelings are handled coming very soon, likely the next release.

Hired leaders? Maybe, but I'm not sure yet.

Version 0.14 Released

First off, I want to thank everyone who has signed on over at the bug tracker database, and contributed a report. This system is working out nicely, and I think it keeps things organized in a way that everyone can track the progress.

Here's what's new in this release:

NEW FEATURES:

• New option for hiding DEAD Characters
  
• Manual zoom added to map as an option
  
• Chit adjustment panels (fatigue, wound, rest) gray out chits that can't be moved

BUGS/ISSUES:

• Followers remain hidden at the start of their turn, if hidden as a result of following their guide
  
• Magic Sight crash bug fixed (would freeze if doing Magic Sight on an artifact with all spells already learned)
  
• Berserker can play MOVE-H6 chit now after going BERSERK (used to say no moves were available)
  
• Toadstool Circle PEER ANY is implemented
  
• Fixed a bug with the Kill Character button that was preventing it from working
  
• Captain's action chits fixed
  
• Luring is no longer skipped when there are no unassigned denizens
  
• Maneuver hotspots added back on character sheet
  
• WISH for STRENGTH is implemented
  
• Character's with WITHER curse no longer fall asleep in a clearing with the Flowers of Rest
  
• Books with fully awakened spells no longer prevent searching
  
• More cleanup of the text of trade interactions
  
• WISH for PEACE is implemented