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Sunday, May 31, 2009

Version 1.00 Released

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Update #1 - Edited the Mac command-line script below based on commenter Mark's suggestions, and removed my reference to Mac-users as Mac-heads. I didn't mean it to be insulting, but re-reading it this morning, it certainly comes off that way, so I just removed the line. Sorry if I offended anyone!
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Update #2 - Just a couple of notes from the comment thread for this post:
  • The optional solitaire "No Dwelling Start" option is broken. It will cause the game to stop after choosing a clearing, but no character window will be showing.
  • If you are running on Linux, you will also have to heed the advice in this post (below) for Mac users, and adjust your classpath.
  • Linux users should use the "Cross Platform Look and Feel". Apparently there is some problem with the "Native L&F" for Linux: at least the way I'm using it in RealmSpeak.
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I meant to get this out earlier in the day, but we decided to go to Knotts Berry Farms today, and we're just now getting home! Our season passes expire tomorrow, and we thought we'd get in one last hurrah before the summer crowd hits.

Well, it's finally here, a little over a year after the last release. A project I thought I had put away forever suddenly regenerated itself, and came back with a vengeance. I decided to bump RealmSpeak to version 1.00, since it's about 99.95% the way there (will it ever be 100%?-NO). Before you skip all the boring chat here (maybe I'm too late), I want to bring your attention to a number of things that will be important if you want to enjoy the new version:

  • Mail Support Means Mac & Linux Scripts are Broken
  • Networking menu has changed a bit
  • New images folder
  • Lots of new game setup options

Let's deal with these one at a time:

Mail Support Means Mac & Linux Scripts are Broken

If I had planned this better, I would have had someone help me with this before the release, but the apple scripts will NOT work with RealmSpeak, because they lack a reference to the two required libraries: mail.jar and activation.jar. I was able to fix this in the Windows batch files, but without a Mac, I have no ability to update the apple scripts. If you want to play RealmSpeak on the Mac, you'll need to open a unix window, cd to the directory where RealmSpeak.jar is, and type the following:

    java -mx384m -cp mail.jar:activation.jar:RealmSpeak.jar com.robin.magic_realm.RealmSpeak.RealmSpeakFrame

To keep all the config file local to the directory RealmSpeak is launched from, type this instead:

    java -Duser.home="." -mx384m -cp mail.jar:activation.jar:RealmSpeak.jar com.robin.magic_realm.RealmSpeak.RealmSpeakFrame

To play with CHEAT enabled:

    java -mx384m -cp mail.jar:activation.jar:RealmSpeak.jar com.robin.magic_realm.RealmSpeak.RealmSpeakFrame CHEAT

To run the battle simulator:

    java -mx384m -cp mail.jar:activation.jar:RealmSpeak.jar com.robin.magic_realm.RealmBattle.CombatFrame

To run the character builder:

    java -mx384m -cp mail.jar:activation.jar:RealmSpeak.jar com.robin.magic_realm.RealmCharacterBuilder.RealmCharacterBuilderFrame

If somebody wanted to write apple scripts, or whatever is equivalent to batch files on Windows, and send them my way, I would greatly appreciate the help! I don't own a Mac, and I no longer have access to them at work, so I have no way to create these scripts, or even to test them.

Networking menu changed a bit

In the previous versions of RealmSpeak, I had two complete menus with identical items, with the exception that one was for playing a local (non-networked) game, and the other was for playing online with friends. THIS HAS CHANGED! NOW, when you start RealmSpeak, there is a File menu for all actions related to playing the game (save/load/restart/exit), and a Network menu with just a few non-redundant items. If you want to play online, you'll have to FIRST turn network hosting ON. You do this by clicking on the "Network Hosting OFF" menu item under Network. This will add the words "Networking Active" into the title bar. Any game you play with networking active, will make your game visible to the internet community. RealmSpeak remembers your last setting, so if you close RealmSpeak with Networking active, it will open with it active again.

New images folder
You're going to need a new images folder, which means you'll have to download the latest resource pack with this release. I would recommend keeping whatever version of RealmSpeak you have intact, and download this release into a new location. That way, if there is anything major broken in this release, you can still get back to playing the game until I get it fixed. I've playtested it a bunch of times, but you never know!

Lots of new game setup options

You are going to want to look through all the new options on every page of the setup dialog. You'll find there are a lot of new things there, and you may or may not want them. By default, new stuff is turned OFF, so if you click through, it should keep your favorite options in play. However, there were some minor changes, and stuff moved around a teensy bit, so its probably a good idea to familiarize yourself with what's there!

Okay, THAT's out of the way. Let's not wait any longer. Here's what's new:

Version 1.00 - Changes since 0.60
REQUIRES NEW IMAGES FOLDER
NEW FEATURES:
  • email notification
    • When you host a game, you have the option to turn on e-mail notification. You'll need to provide and SMTP host, and a home e-mail address to get started.
    • A "Test email" button will allow you to verify that you set things up correctly.
    • The application will automatically e-mail any player when it is their turn, when combat starts, or when it is a new day.
    • The application will only e-mail players that provide an e-mail address when they join, and then only if they are offline when the event occurs (no need to send e-mail when they are online!)

  • Completely removed player/character count restrictions. As long as there are still characters to play, you can add them.
  • Added a "player password" concept for joining players. If you use a password (it is optional), then your player name and password must match before you are given control of the character. This would prevent someone else from grabbing your character while you were offline (especially possible in a "slow" game)! The host will have control over this, and will be able to reset a player password if a player forgets it.
  • New game option tab: "Other House Rules"
  • New game options:
    • [1230] - Optional Magic Rules
      • [1457] - Optional Automatic Enchanting implemented
      • [1458] - Optional Enhanced Magic rules implemented
      • [1459] - Optional Enhanced Artifacts and Spell Books rules implemented

    • [1460] - Revised Enhanced Magic rule implemented (under "Other House Rules")
    • [1315] - Optional Quiet Monsters rule implemented as two separate options:
      • Hidden characters and hirelings do not cause chits to flip, or monsters to be summoned. New "Tile Chits" button on character frame appears when appropriate to allow you to view chits secretly.
      • When positioning attackers on a character sheet, they do NOT have to be positioned in as many red boxes as possible.

    • [1101] - 3rd Edition Extended Grudges implemented
    • [1210] - Advanced Dropping Items rules implemented
      • Buttons that read "Abandon" will abandon the item in the clearing (can only loot)
      • Buttons that read "Drop" will drop the item in the clearing at your feet

    • [1477] - Advanced Sudden Death rules implemented (on the first tab of game options)
    • [1420] - New house rule to allow native leaders to remember discoveries between hire terms. However, killed natives still lose their discoveries. Monsters are unchanged.

  • New character builder features:
    • [1142] - New "Evaluate" button in character builder checks your custom character for flaws that would make it non-Hamblen-like.
    • [1473] - New "Export Gear" button in character builder allows you to create an image file which you can print, so you can create chits for boardgame play.
    • [1483] - Custom Weapons can be set to start with the Visitor's now.
    • [1221] - In the "Edit Symbol" dialog, you can now generate a default icon, which is simply the first two letters of the character name, or if you have two words in the name, it will use the first letter of each.

  • [1096] - Remapped the menu controls a bit (hope that's not too annoying), and added a new menu item called "Restart Last Game", which will allow you to start a game over from the VERY beginning, using the same setup.
  • [1237] - Many more monsters added to custom advantages "Companion" tab in the character builder, including Tremendous monsters, and natives. Take it easy now!
  • [1338] - New characters can choose where their starting inventory comes from now (or you can continue to have your starting inventory taken from random dwellings)
  • Added a few more credits to the "About Box", and fixed the 3rd edition citation.
  • [1262] - New voluntary Unhide button (looks like a lantern) next to Trade/Share and Block buttons on character frame
  • [1478] - New "Shout Out" button allows you to share all relevant discoveries in your clearing to every legal character in the clearing you choose, with one action. Makes group play a bit easier.
  • [1298] - New feature to view running Fame/Notoriety/Gold tally on the combat sheet by mousing over the character tokens.
  • [1482] - Added mission/campaign chit information to view menu.
  • [1474] - Notes page now keeps track of inventory stolen by previously hired leaders, and potions after they have regenerated.

BUGS/ISSUES:
  • [1310] - Memory Leak is fixed! This should resolve the "Out of Memory" crash we are all familiar with on long games with many characters. You'll also notice that RealmSpeak performance has improved somewhat.
  • [1343] - Couple of harmless NPEs fixed
  • Fixed a problem with the HTML generator that would sometimes put map messages on the final image.
  • When highlighting clearings (blue circles), use the word "Exit" on map edges rather than "-1"
  • IP address is trimmed to remove any external whitespace.
  • [1348],[1361],[1382] - Fixed a bug that prevented you from running from a clearing you ran towards.
  • [1349],[1435],[1445] - Incentive payments to take treasures off a native's hands during TRADE (like the Order getting rid of the Black Book) is fixed.
  • [1410] - Fixed a Power of the Pit bug that caused the game to crash on a result of THREE, when a hired leader is following another hired leader.
  • [1362] - Fixed a bug in the turn panel that put secondary actions (like a PoP roll after searching Toadstool Circle) in the wrong order on the screen.
  • [1129] - Empty cache's will no longer appear on the treasure setup card
  • [1286] - Roman numerals on enchanted artifacts no longer duplicated
  • [1233] - Fixed a bug when Garb of Speed or Belt of Strength was used by a custom character with a three asterisk chit.
  • [1353] - No more Great Great Elves (or Light Great Elves) (or Great Light Elves) (or...)
  • [1351] - Timeless Jewel can be traded between characters now. (no more "must be deactivated" warning when its obviously NOT activated!)
  • [1444] - Fixed a bug that was allowing you to redo the prebattle by reloading the game!
  • [1438] - Fixed a bug that could leave the game hung when between mountain clearings in the ice/cold.
  • [1446] - When looting treasure that is heavier than your character, you have the option to abandon it now.
  • [1215] - Can cancel out of REST dialog now, in case you want to rearrange your inventory first.
  • [1449] - Custom characters with starting gold other than the standard "10" is figured correctly now in "starting worth" calculations.
  • [1448] - Commerce rules no longer affect visitors
  • [1441] - Characters following in frigid weather (fatigue one asterisk per phase) will have to pay for fatigue equal to that which the leader got.
  • [1443] - Heat Wave will no longer kill transmorphed characters because they have no chits.
  • [1415] - Fixed a bug where sometimes a character chosen at a lower development level would get all 12 chits at the start.
  • [1437] - Pressing "Play All" will now stop anytime you arrive at an invalid move action (in case you need to energize a spell to walk woods, or fly).
  • [1402] - Hired leaders killed in the line of duty will regenerate properly now.
  • [1425] - FightAlert chits (like BERSERK) will be limited by the monsters on your sheet now.
  • [1395] - Fixed a problem with GRUDGES where a hireling (NOT a hired leader) killing a FRIENDLY or ALLIED native was not having an effect. Now ALL hirelings will work as expected.
  • [1419] - Changed how "speed 8" is represented in the log, so that you don't see "infinitely slow".
  • [1396] - Being on a roadway connected to the Chapel no longer heals curses, or provides WHITE magic.
  • [1461] - Natives that start a fight with the character will not change friendliness when killed using extended grudges (e.g., characters are allowed to defend themselves without penalty)
  • [1439] - Fixed a bug where absorbing a monster off another character sheet with multiple monsters was causing that character's attack to be canceled.
  • [1405] - Can no longer pickup a campaign chit where the foes are already dead. Same bug also made finishing Pillage impossible.
  • [1414] - Wish for Vision will include the Visitor boxes now (assuming they have any treasure).
  • [1411] - Destroyed armor will no longer remain activated when you buy it back.
  • [1404] - Pruitt's dragons (Wyrm and Firedrake) are included in the Quest chit now. If the dragon can never come out because of clearing type (Pruitt's rules), it isn't counted.
  • [1392] - Dialog that shows who was regenerated will only show ONCE per online player (used to be once per character)
  • [1397] - Fixed a problem with custom character item restrictions, that was failing on any weapon with a space in the name
  • [1390] - Hired Leaders and Controlled Monsters will have a Spells tab (like the character) so you can see which spells are bewitching them
  • [1385] - Dark Forest no longer prevents entry from off-map, in a solitaire game.
  • [1373] - Viewing Clearing Detail (right-click on map) no longer causes face down treasures to turn face up.
  • [1375] - Changed spelling of "Gray" to "Grey" to match the rulebook.
  • [1398] - Trading with hired natives on the day of hire work correctly now.
  • [1381] - Fixed Pruitt's Cockatrice to automatically kill like a RED-side-up T Monster, as per the rules for this monster.
  • [990] - Orc Archers will now change tactics on a 5 or a 6, as per the rules.
  • [1379] - Blend into Background spell will work properly with hired leaders now.
  • [1463] - Fixed problem with Witch's familiar badge button, when saving and loading a game without exiting RealmSpeak.
  • Added an exception to the situation where the game handler is calling a DEAD client. This should quickly reveal the source of any other game freezes that are the result of this problem.
  • [1470] - Character following another character can now trade with others at beginning of phase
  • [1378] - Horses no longer count as kills for purposes of the multiplier
  • Allow the host to transfer a character during combat
  • [1345] - Running with horses logic is fixed. You can choose either side, and if you fail on gallop side, you wont be able to gallop during melee.
  • [1469] - Die rolls will no longer appear when you are selling to natives, and commerce rules are off.
  • [1283] - No longer lose your horses between tiles after flying away from combat.
  • [1297] - Enchanted Meadow/Altar, and Toadstool Circle/Shrine summoning boxes will work on multiple boards now.
  • [1471] - Move/Fight chit conflicts during positioning are fixed.
  • [1440] - Fixed a problem where transformed magic users couldn't ride flying steeds
  • [1355] - Daily combat checkbox should be a bit more persistent now, and remember what you last had set it at. This will be helpful for long server games!
  • [1231] - Character card correctly shows how much gold you start off with, for custom characters with special gold allowances.
  • [1472] - Sleeping characters will not be able to trade anymore.
  • [1464] - Custom character speed 8 chits will not be excluded by filters when determining which chit can be played.
  • [1429] - Pack horses will no longer support the weight of activated items!
  • Fixed a bug that was preventing flying characters from dropping items.
  • [1416],[1480] - Fixed a problem where a spell interrupted by hirelings could never be cast again. The same problem affected Enchant Artifact and other spells.
  • [1366] - Fixed the order of treasure locations on the discovery tab of the character window.
  • [1481] - Fixed a problem with the logic for determining whether actions were sheltered or not.
  • [1302] - Fixed the text of the Amulet treasure to include "(discard to shaman)"
  • [1205] - If you create a custom character that uses the familiar, it will adopt the character name, rather than always being the "Witch's Familiar"
  • [1295] - Fixed the "drop/abandon" buttons on the turn panel to allow dropping of activated items (used to only be inactive items).
  • [880],[1479] - Fixed how simultaneous attacks are handled, to a system that should be much more robust.
  • [1432] - Fixed a problem where character horses were absorbing non-simultaneous hits.
  • [1342] - Added the correct filtering to the logic behind choosing a chit to charge another character.
  • [1484] - Fixed a bug that would allow you to skip choosing attack spell targets if you also had a native pick a target, which eventually lead to a locked up combat.
  • [1209] - Invalid custom character files will no longer prevent RealmSpeak from launching.
  • [1222] - Fixed some problems with how abandoned color-source treasures were shown on the map, and in the "View Clearing Detail" window.
  • [1350] - Fixed a problem with casting Control Bats on a transformed bat. Also made similar adjustments to other monster-specific spells, so that transformed dragons, goblins, spiders, etc can be targeted too.
  • [1367] - Fixed a bug with Magic Sight, that would cause a treasure card site (like Enchanted Meadow) to jump to the backwoods when a "Treasure cards" result was rolled!
  • [1347] - Fixed a bug that allowed monsters to attack a character playing a horse directly, if another character targeted the rider.
  • [1204] - Fixed a problem with random assignment, that was allowing two hidden characters with hirelings to take monsters not assigned to them, and end up in a game deadlock.
  • [1344] - Extending the game with low level characters, no longer leads to negative VP assignment!
  • [1134] - Unhired Native Leaders killed by PoP will drop inventory in the clearing correctly now.
  • [1227] - Fixed a deadlock related to Control Bats and Wish cast by two characters at the same time.
  • [1456] - When you start the game with a low level character, and seasons, you still must (at the least) record 2 VPs.
  • [1306] - Fixed a bug that was preventing hired leader's inventory from dropping into the clearing when killed by a monster.
  • [1384] - Persuaded Giants/Goblins will no longer block your hirelings

29 comments:

Steve said...

A project I thought I had put away forever...NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

I never suspected last year, and I don't believe you now.

Steve

DewKid said...

LOL! Well, it's definitely alive and well now. I'm looking forward to the next phase of development: expansion treasures/spells. I have even considered .... wait for it .... Book of Quests. I made a stab at it for this version, but abandoned it before it consumed me. I want to build a system that allows YOU GUYS to create quests, so I don't have to enter them all. Still haven't settled on the perfect system yet, but I may try again very soon.

Mark said...

A Mac-head here. For the unix command, the list of .jar's following the -cp option need to be separated by colons (:) not semi-colons (semi-colons are command separators). At least that's the case for the bash shell I use. Like this:

java -mx384m -cp mail.jar:activation.jar:RealmSpeak.jar com.robin.magic_realm.RealmSpeak.RealmSpeakFrame

Also, you'll probably need to first cd to the directory containing RealmSpeak.jar. Easiest way: type cd on the Terminal command line, followed by a space, then drag the folder to the Terminal window, then hit return/enter.

Bane said...

Very sweet - many mahalos for all the kick arse work!

scotherns said...

Awesome work!

Many thanks for your dedication to this fine game. Your version is so good, I am unlikely to play the paper version again :-)

Anonymous said...

Good job! MR is really a great game and RealmSpeak makes it even greater!!!

DewKid said...

Mark - I probably shouldn't have said "Mac-head", I hope you didn't take that the wrong way! :-] Thanks for the pointers. I'm sure the other Mac users will appreciate that!

DewKid said...

For Mac users, I updated the script you have to type on the command-line , based on Mark's suggestions.

MWrynn said...

Very awesome, Robin! Can't wait to try a big, slow game now that the memory leak is fixed and you've got the email notifier working.

telengard said...

Wow, that's a lot of changes. Thanks so much for your hard work!

Anonymous said...

I don't know if it's just me but I can't get the black knight to work. His character card will come up, but he won't come up on the list of characters and hence the game won't start. Amazon and Berserker have been fine.

DewKid said...

Hmmm, I just downloaded RS onto a different computer, and here's what I've found:

1) If you choose the optional solitaire rule "No Dwelling Start", the game will crash after you select the edge of the map you are trying to enter from, and no character window appears.
2) The Black Knight works fine.

I'll bet you have the "No Dwelling Start" turned on?

Another note from one of the official RealmSpeak playtesters:

"I spent some time on this before I remembered that I need to set the Cross Platform Look and Feel on when running from Linux or else I get odd behavior like character windows not showing up. Maybe you can add a startup option to enable this or at least make a note of this requirement somewhere."

Anonymous said...

Yes that was it (#1). I had that optional rule on. Once I turned off the no starting dwelling it worked fine. Thanks!

Tarotmoon Press said...

So awesome... just looking at that long list of requests and bugs you fixed makes my head spin. THANK YOU for your efforts on this.

And I can't believe you're teasing us with the Book of Quests :) That would be the ultimate in wonderfulness!! - Teresa

Josh L said...

Thanks again! I'm really happy about the e-mail support; I'm going to try to get my friends interested in another slow game...

Steve said...

I'd love to help you think out how to make the Book of Quests (or a generic scenario generator) work. That's what I had in mind when I tried to convert the Book of Quests into the Questing the Realm variant that replaced the victory point system.

Steve

DewKid said...

That would be great, Steve! My initial goal, was to break the quests down into logical units, but that got to be pretty insane. I was hoping I could end up with a set of building blocks that would work for EVERY quest, but I kept finding that each new quest broke my ruleset pretty quickly. I did end up with about 10 quests broken down, but I dropped it there.

I'm almost thinking that if we could capture at least 80% of the quests in the book with a generic system, that would be good enough for the most part, especially if people could come up with their OWN quests, and make them available to the community. If you've already given this some thought, I'd love to hear what you are thinking. I'll be we could even get a page on the Magic Realm wiki to work out our ideas.

Αλέξης Χαρισιάδης said...

Once again, I want to express to you my gratitude for creating RealmSpeak. I would never be able to play Magic Realm without it.

Since you are in a creatie mode I will take my chances and express my wish. I don't know if it's feasible or easy to implement. As a beginner I soon realized that the most difficult part of the games is to understand combat. I use RealmSpeak to help me learn the combat system. But combat in RealmSpeak is resolved instantaneously. I am aware that there is a detailed description of how the game was resolved but it's simply not too convenient going back and forth, trying to read and understand what happened. Usually I don't bother to read what happened. But part of the games charm, at least for me, is to agoinize over each and every roll during the battle. So, my wish is that we had the choice of resolving the combat step by step. In that way we would enjoy the thrill of combat resolution a bit more but more importantly we would be able to understand and learn the combat procedure.

Thanks for everything.

DewKid said...

If you look at this post, you'll see that there is a combat summary button that shows, step-by-step, what happened. You can also look at the detail log, to see exactly how things were figured out.

That's as close as I think I'll ever go with this. I realize that a lot of people use this as a Magic Realm training tool, but it wasn't intended for that purpose directly. I made it for these reasons alone:

1) To allow me to play Magic Realm with friends who live thousands of miles away.
2) To allow me to play a quick game of solitaire now and then.

I recommend that newbies study the manual, and use RealmSpeak as a guide. Spend a minute or two after every combat, and look at the log and summary pages until you see HOW it was resolved. Even better, play Magic Realm face-to-face with a friend - if you want to learn the mechanics, that will do it better than any.

Thanks for the kind comments about RealmSpeak: I'm glad you enjoy it!

Steve said...

Robin,

I know it's been a while since I posted this BoardGameGeek, and even longer since I posted it to the MR List, but check out this variant where I did what you tried to do, that is, break down the quests into components that fit into the existing MR construct.

There are some liberties that I took, but we can discuss in another forum how to make them work.

Questing The Realm. I didn't upload the file to BGG, but rather, it links to my webspace where the doc is located.

It's a start, anyway. I changed the whole point system around, too, so that the "quests" that appear during the game (rather than the quest being the game) make the living in the Realm the goal. The more you do, the more points you get, and killing monsters and looting treasure only add points if they are a part of the quest.

What you end up with would be different, I suspect, but the objective would be how to make a scenario generator that overlays on top of the existing parts.

Steve

DewKid said...

Wait - so these are all the same quests, or is this a completely novel set of quests? Honestly, these look a heck of a lot easier to implement than Jay's, but then I wouldn't be implementing the Book of Quests anymore... That said, Jay's BoQ may actually be TOO hard to implement, and something like you have here would be the perfect compromise.

Steve said...

Robin,

I took Jay's quests and broke them down into their component pieces, and then created the quest cards to replace the victory point scheme, all in a way that played like a normal Magic Realm game.

All but the last handful of quests were replicated in my system. However, instead of making each quest its own game, I made the quests be goals the player would undertake to earn points, but you only earned the points if you held the quest card.

Some quests are trivial, such as discovering all the discoverable sites. These mundane quests earn the minimum of points. Going beyond, traveling certain paths through tiles earn additional points for being the first to explore a tile, you earn points for meeting a visitor, etc. The true quests earn the larger points (3-5 per quest), and the game was intended to play via sudden death to a pre-determined number of points.

I alter some rules, such as using the mission chits as proxies for quest objects if you have the right quest card.

So, you can begin to see my thinking in how to create a new way to "live" in the Realm, and earn points by playing a series of "mini-quests" instead of mindlessly killing monsters and looting treasure for no other purpose than to meet victory conditions. With my system, you only got points for doing those things if they were a part of the quest goal on a card in your possession. However, the original victory conditions are preserved as their own quests ("You are famous/rich/notorious/great/magical"), so you can still hunt down other characters to earn the quest points by killing them and then playing the quest card (if you have it or hope to get it during the game).

For RealmSpeak, we'd still have to work out how some basic features like companions and minor characters. Companions would be treated as permanently hired natives. Minor characters would be treated as permanently active treasures that give the character a special advantage, such as an extra move or rest, or an increased relationship, for as long as the companion was with the character. The companion would only be removed when the quest is completed, otherwise it is permanently attached to the character.

I know my system goes beyond the original Book of Quests attempt to make each quest its own game. Perhaps that would still be possible with an underlying architecture that allows for quests to be randomly combined into larger epic games. These would be the quest cards that would be available for drawing/swapping at dwellings, simulating hanging out and overhearing gossip.

We can explore this more over time. But in short, yes, it is Jay's quests, not new ones.

Steve

DewKid said...

Got it! Actually, your offering is a bit more "computer-friendly", and probably has more chance of getting incorporated than Jay's anyway. As it is really pretty close to the BoQ, it could work.

The Companion concept is practically already in place, with the custom character builder stuff that I added a year or so ago. Tying it to a quest wouldn't be that hard.

Minor characters as a treasure item... I like that! That serves the purpose without requiring a lot of new code... I probably would still create a custom tab for the character window, though, so the minor characters could be viewed easily.

DewKid said...

I just created a new page on Peter Morris' Magic Realm Wiki:

Realm Speak Quests

It would be good to get your word document posted there, and we can start putting together some implementation ideas. I put some initial thoughts there already. When I have more time, I'll put up more information.

It would be fun to have a trial Quests option (a few quests) in the next release!

Jay Richardson said...

I too am surprised that you are actually considering adding the Book of Quests to RealmSpeak... I always figured it would be a programmer's nightmare with all of the insidious little tweaks that a given Quest can make to the game.

:)

I think you have the right idea, however, in working towards something more basic, rather than inplementing the BoQ in its entirety. I do have a copy of Steve's "Questing the Realm" variant, and I have read through it (but not used it in a game). From what I recall, it might well be a better approach for RealmSpeak.

I'll be interested to watch your progress on the Wiki page. Both you and Steve should still have my e-mail address, so don't hesitate to ask if there's anything I can help you with.

Steve S said...

I'll need some instruction on how to make comments on the Wiki page. Maybe we can take this to email and you can show me how to move the dialog to the Wiki.

I like your early thoughts.

Steve

DewKid said...

he he he. I asked you to do it, because I didn't know how either. :-) I have a copy of it, so I'll see if I can figure out what it takes to upload it to the wiki.

Jay - No promises yet. I expect that not all of the quests, even as Steve has them, will make it in because they are just too... convoluted. Insidious tweaks, you aren't kidding!! ;-)

Steve, I'll contact you via e-mail.

Patrick said...

Hi Robin, I have not had a chance to play MR for a long time but this looks like a major step up and worthy of the title version 1. I will be giving it a try soon. Thanks for your dedication to this project.

DewKid said...

Definitely a more stable release, and highly worth the trouble of downloading it (if I do say so myself). However, I would recommend getting version 1.06, as that has quite a few bugs fixed.