These are notes straight from the developer's desktop:
Alpha 5 (Completed February 18th, 2004) - In Alpha 5 the game underwent some major changes. Here are some of the highlights:
Changed to static IP support, the players no longer need to enter IP addresses
Better support for firewalled and networked computers
Added a EULA system
Fixed the update list bug
The network code was completely overhauled, and will now support massive levels of players
The database system was completely overhauled, and is both more stable and better featured
Repeat functionality for keypresses
Compass added to screen that shows the player facing
Player avatars are now shown in game
Movement speeds have been standardized no matter the speed of your computer
Added a mouse picking (choosing) system
Items were added to the terrain
Added a texture to the terrain
Added lighting to the terrain
Overhaul of the terrain file system, which is now better featured
Added the /debug command system
Added a functional inventory system
Added the ability to pick up and drop items from the landscape
Added a depth buffer to the world
Stale connections are now dropped after a reasonable period of time
Landblocks are now loaded and unloaded on the server as needed
Characters are saved every 5 minutes while in the Client, and upon logout
And those were just some of the things changed between A4 and A5. The full list is far too long to show here, and contains much the average player wouldn't care about anyway. But if you think that is something, wait until you see the A6 list that is coming. A6 is going to be a big treat for the players, and I'm very excited about it. Stay tuned...
Alpha 4 (Released March 2nd, 2003) - We're back again with our next, and possibly last, scheduled server test. Future server tests will probably happen on our brand new 24/7 server, which means you will be able to log on whenever you like. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Note: You must download the new Launcher from the website download page before running this Alpha. The Alpha 3 Launcher will not properly start the A4 build! If you can't get A4 to work, be sure you have the A4 Launcher (it will say Launcher Version 0.4.0.xxx.yyy at the lower right corner). Here are the notes for this build:
The Launcher will now handle client-side files in a somewhat more intellegent manner.
Removed the machine gun 3D model from the client files.
The color scheme of the Launcher has changed to be more readable. Let us know what you think!
Previously used accounts are no longer locked out. You can now use the same account multiple times.
A file was being downloaded by the Launcher even when it was up to date. This has been repared.
File packet sizes were increased to download more efficiently.
File transfer packet size estimates were improved. You should no longer see things like "346/345 packets received" in the Launcher download bar.
The Client now uses a new file format for terrain generation.
Two new /help commands were added, "/help Movement" and "/help Chat". Type these commands into the chat bar to get a brief description of how to use these functions. You can also simply type in "/help" to see a menu of available help commands.
3D models can now be loaded into the Client.
3D models can now be displayed with textures.
Multiple instances of the same 3D model can now be displayed, and are treated as separate objects.
The camera will now always stay a set height above the terrain. You will now go uphill instead of through it!
Camera movement is now limited to the edges of the map. You can no longer leave the defined terrain.
The machine gun place-holder model no longer displays. In its place is the beginnings of the paper-doll model.
The paper-doll model was given its own camera. It no longer moves inappropriately with keyboard input.
A somewhat rare authentication error that happened within the first few seconds of logging into the Client was repared.
Extra blank lines that appeared in the chat output box after 100 chat lines had been received, causing difficulty reading chat text, were removed.
The chat output box widget is now proportional to the chat box size.
Added a paper-doll 3D model (partial).
Added a barrel model.
Added texture for the barrel model.
Our longest list so far! And this doesn't even include the Server changes and an entirely new Terrain Generator program. Busy build :) As I said above, our next build is hopefully going to be on a brand new server, and this will necesitate a couple of changes to the Launcher. Other than that, the next build is still pretty much open. We should have a more complex terrain, possibly with textures. The A5 build list is very much still in development at this point, so if you have suggestions, send them in.
Alpha 3 (Released January 25th, 2003) - Our fourth public release is the first to allow the player to roam around the 3D landscape. Here's what we did:
The OpenProcess calls which have been so troublesome for WinXP users have been modified. They should now both accept the WinXP operating system while still allowing the security they were designed to provide.
The long periods between screen updates in the Launcher have been fixed. Related to this, a good deal of lag was removed from the file download system. We highly reccommend you redownload the Launcher from the download page. The old Launcher will still work, but it will take a much longer time to download the update. Why put yourself through that? Get the new Launcher and download any updates with alacrity!
In so much as we have had frequently requested improvements, this one was at the top of the list. You may now use the TAB key to move between input boxes in the Launcher. Only those boxes that are active will be tabbed into.
There are a great number of statistics now shown in the Launcher. If you are having problems, you may be asked to relate some of these numbers back to the developers so they can get a feel for what might be going wrong. These will probably be removed once the Laucher demonstrates more stability and less lag problems.
Loading and Saving of player accounts has been overhauled. As a result of this, the previous accounts were wiped. Please recreate your account the next time you log into the server.
A security issue involving the command line was fixed. You cannot start the Client without first going through the Launcher, as was intended.
A number of minor bugs with the chat box slider were repared. The slider should be much more intuitive now. There are a few more very minor issues still need to be worked out with the slider, but they shouldn't affect its use.
The chat box size was reduced to make room for other display items.
Input on the chat bar now uses a buffer. This fixes problems encountered by those with very slow systems experiencing character losses while inputting chat text.
An area for world view display was added.
A terrain mesh is created and displayed in the world view area, using lighting (but no textures yet).
Statistics relating to terrain triangles sent to the display engine and terrain triangles pre-culled were added to the display.
Movement commands were added. Use the arrow keys to move forward, backward, and to turn in place.
Quite a change from the previous Alpha! We now have a fully functional terrain display that the player can move around on. In the next phase, we will improve our display to incorporate textures, more models, and better rendering speed. Movement on the terrain will also jump to the next level (literally!). We will also be adding the first of the "chat" commands, a few basic /help instructions. It's an ambitious build, at least as complex as this one was. Stay tuned...
Alpha 2 (Released November 24th, 2002) - The third installment focused on player accounts and 3D model display. Here are the changes:
The "Unable to aquire process handle" bug seen by WinXP users was killed this time, really!
One of the file validation steps was taking too long. It was revamped to make the Launcher and Client file validation process much quicker.
The Launcher log-in process was completely overhauled.
Players can now create accounts from the Launcher. These accounts are stored server-side and are password protected.
The file upload and file download communication between the Server and the Launcher was revamped. They now talk to each other much more intellegently. This should translate into faster downloads of the file updates.
The Client screen size was increased.
An area for a 3D model was designated. A custom 3D model was created, loaded, and displayed in this area.
A rotational animation was added to the 3D model.
Added a Frames per Second display.
Added a Triangles per Second and Triangles per Frame display.
Added a Particles per Second and Particles per Frame display (currently both 0, as the particle system is not ready yet).
The addition of player accounts is a big step forward, as we now have a place to put information customized to the individual players which only they can log into and access. This will eventually include character information. Since this information is stored completely Server-side, it should be relatively safe from tampering.
The other big item was the 3D model. Displaying a 3D model is not a trivial task, even when your basic display system is already in place (as ours was). Axis rotation animation is a fairly basic form of animation, but it does allow us to investigate the smoothness of our display.
The next release will be a very interesting one, if everything goes as planned. Most of the listed changes are to the Client, so there will be a good deal of new stuff for players to see.
Alpha 1 (Released November 3rd, 2002) - The next installment of the new game. While basic functionality remains the same as in the previous version, quite a bit changed internally. Here is what happened:
The Launcher was repaired to make it functional with the WinNT group of OSes (this should fix the "Unable to delete" and "Unable to connect" problems WinNT users were experiencing in A0).
A somewhat rare exception error that occassionally occured when the Launcher exited was repaired.
The Launcher now displays a meaningful version number.
The Launcher will now detect out of date files and automatically update all files related to both the Launcher subsystem and the Client files.
The Launcher progress bar is now functional.
The Client now uses Direct3D and DirectInput for all display and input functions, respectively.
The Client displays who is online using a custom font derived from a system font.
Added a custom input box to the Client.
Added a custom output box to the Client.
Added a custom button class to the Client and added the "Exit" button.
The "who is online" list will now only display users in the Client proper, instead of also displaying those in the Launcher.
Fixed the bug where text moved to the output box was cut off by the edge of the box. Text will now wrap to the next line.
Client now displays a meaningful version number at the bottom right.
As you can see, a whole lot changed from the last version, considering it basically does the same thing it did before. All of the user interface graphics are now custom designed and use our own operating rules (as opposed to Windows rules, which are not always good for games). With that out of the way, we are ready to start adding a few new play elements to the game.
Alpha 0 (Released September 29th, 2002) - Our second game, which as of yet is untitled, makes its debut. Here is a list of things you will find:
The Launcher is functional, and can connect to the Server.
News is downloaded from the Server and displayed.
An update list is downloaded from the Server.
If needed, the Launcher will download an update file for itself.
If needed, the Launcher will restart to run its most current version.
The Launcher then disconnects, and runs the Client.
The Client connects to the server.
The Client knows how to send, receive, and display chat messages from all players.
The Client displays a "WHOIS" list, a list of who is currently logged into the server.
A short and pretty basic list. It is our debut, after all. Next time we will finish up the Launcher functionality and add graphics to the Client program. Stay tuned....
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