Post-Birthday Developments

So, after the smoke cleared and we cleaned up the cake crumbs, we got straight back into development.

(Note that a build with these changes hasn't been released yet)

Some things that have been fixed:

• Fixed bot archers not shooting arrows in multiplayer
• Fixed wraith explosion over network
• Fixed zombie position desync
• Fixed particles not spawning when inside a solid block (important for kegs/wraiths)
• Wall hugging doesn't occur on ladder
• Builder AI doesn't rambo quite as hard (still needs a lot of work...)
• Fixed build tutorial typo
• Fixed some HUD readout bugs
• Fixed trees heal when they get to the base (no more double-harvesting arrows)
• Fixed crash in menu when no player exists
• Fixed arrows going through walls
• Fixed body throwing sometimes killing the thrower
• Fixed archer stomping people (sorry archers)
• Fixed shield adding velocity on ground
• Fixed coins from frozen players
• Fixed (I think) custom heads for non-guard non-admins (basically just pawel)
• Reduced amount of coins from shooting catas

Some things that have been added:

• Spectator mode (still has some issues and needs the underlying mechanic reworked to not affect gameplay balance)
• Synced Messages + Bubbles on net (Migrant says hello and frowns when getting eaten by zombies)
• Workshops now cost 2 wood per tile in CTF and making them into actual shops costs 50 wood (no stone required) to leave more building mats.
• Lots of game variables bound to rules file

The last one is fairly important for server owners and people interested in game balance - you can change how long attacks take, how much stun they give, how long building takes, the thresholds for fall damage... lots of things. Be sure to bug me about things that are missing (damage from attacks and arrow speed among them) - I'm considering opening up what tiles each class can attack in the class config file as well (so people can try games with knights that cant break anything or knights that can break everything, or even archers breaking through solid stone).

There's some other stuff going on behind the scenes but zombies mode is becoming more stable over the internet - we've still got to add migrants as a respawn option (because its a massive pain as it stands to die and be stuck spectating for 15 mins as the last 2 players cling to life).

Our server guys, Joe and Ryan are still working on getting the build server up which would allow us to push changes to testers as soon as they're complete (no tiresome multiple building and uploading, hurrah!) - we're hoping it'll be done next week. As it stands testing is still relatively up to date (testers, get your asses ingame) and bug hunting has been refined to use mantis properly (thanks to Ryan again for getting that in gear and overseeing it).

In short, its been a pretty productive week. Hopefully we can iron out the major kinks and release this build tonight (no promises though)

Geti

 

NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...:(
I liked that feature...

Really? I will be excited to test this out.

Yeah, I reported that one. (0000239)

Do you have the option to switch between spectator and player in the middle of game?

That sounds...like it's going to be very hard to explain on the wiki.

With so many possible mods, I will be further confused by what's official and what isn't.

Yes please. (Wait..."tonight" for you can be more that twelve hours from now...)

 

"Geti, i have a question : are we still able to pick bombs on floor or do you remove that trick ?" - you still can, but its affected more by lag for some reason at the moment.

The MP archers is a nice fix, they still dont play nicely with lag (they see you teleporting a bit and can't get a good "bead" on you) but its at least possible for them to shoot now (which is a blessing for co-op).

Zombies build wont be tonight (technically, though the hacked servers will probably notice some improvements) but spectator + the pile of fixes is big enough for a release so we're polishing it up.