It's there, folks. Two versions in two weeks. Hopefully this will silence the doubting ones ;-)So what are you going to get?Still no complete game ;-)But a big improvement in many minor aspects over JADE 0.1.0, the initial release. Lots of details have been adjusted and many minor things have been added, among them the following from the version information:* Added weapon skills and weapon synergies and integrated them into the combat engine and high score calculation.* Highscore entries now list the long alignment description.* Settlements now also have an alignment.* Unified the way locations are called and fixed some broken sentences when entering locations.* A system for intra-game events has been implementing including broadcasting mechanisms on maps.* As an example for said intra-game events a new attack reaction system for inhabitants of settlements has been implemented.* Reordered the support menu and added the new JADE blog.* Added a configuration file update routine including automated backups for the game configuration.* Pressing the space bar now selects the default 'n' answer in [y/n] questions.* Refactored and rewrote half of the UI messaging infrastructure (taking into account senses, etc.).* Added hordes of monsters to the game.* One new monster type with eight subtypes has been added.* Added a cursor to the message display.* Added more differentiated descriptions for small item heaps.* Added the credits section I had forgotten in JADE 0.1.0 to the help menu.* Added the name of the current location to the statistics display.* Fixed a problem with beings being frozen after following the PC to another map (issue 185 and more).* Replaced the internal HTML history dialog with an ASCII based dialog.* Fixed a problem with multiple damage types in item descriptions (missing colon).* Fixed a problem with repeated kill messages caused by items with more than one type of damage.* Fixed some line height issues in the map display.* Fixed a problem with non-letter characters in translatable words (issue 164).* The "walk wait" command and the real walk commands now work (issues 166, 172, 220, 222 and 226).* Blessed and cursed weapons no modify the damage caused to undead. * Improved the command buffer in the game to prevent keyboard lag (issue 157).* Fixed the weight calculation issue (issue 161).* The popup dialog on gaining a level has been removed (issue 165).* Dungeon exits to the wilderness now use the 'stairs up' tile (issue 168).* Added the hall of fame display to the "View" game menu (issue 170).* Fixed the repetitive item heap message (issue 173).* Fixed hearing message about monsters noticing themselves (issue 162).* Fixed save/restore crashes once the Lucky Charm of Gygaz has been generated (issue 189).* Chatting while standing close to but one being auto-selects the being (issue 192).* Fixed the movement key bindings ('h' now is 'wait', 'n' is 'move south'; issue 198).* Fixed bumping into a wall which incorrectly used up a turn (issue 201).* Fixed the problem with closing doors blocked by others and others spawning on closed doors (issue 205).* Added a more humorous message for talking to oneself (issue 206).* Added a meter display for both hit points and power points (issue 208).* Fixed the 'girdle position' in the inventory (issue 209).* Fixed a problem with beings noticing themselves (issue 210).* Fixed the problem with the death message popping up too early (issue 221).* Fixed a crash problems with hostile monsters in the wilderness (issue 238).* Doors can no longer be closed if blocked by items (issue 238).* Fixed whitespace handling when entering a name initially (issue 239).* Fixed a rare problem with initial equipment generation for monsters.* Tweaked the positioning of the donation support on the download pages.Game features still mostly are missing but that's a topic for the next blog post in which I will elaborate on the plans for JADE 0.1.2 (which I will start working on almost immediately).As usual I am very grateful for any donations as my Macbook seems to start giving me trouble and is a tad bit slow for my current development speed. Hopefully it will continue to work for a while.So, no venture forth, remember that save files are incompatible and download the latest release of JADE. Feedback (bugs, RFEs) as usual are welcome in the project management tool.Read ya!
It seems to crash in Windows (after skill select, I have that problem too) but not in MacOS. It's interesting, because I guess java should be platform independent, but in this case something is different in Windows.
I am still ashamed of the problem with JADE 0.1.1. Happily I managed to fix the crash problem and parallely could add another dozen of improvements to JADE. JADE 0.1.2 thus should work on all supported systems and sets a new record: two JADE releases on one day (even if I have to admit that the first one could have used some more care).So without further discussion here is the list of recent changes:* Added an FAQ section to the help menu.* Added an NPE check to the error dialog so that it becomes even more stable even if JADE is breaking down.* Renamed "Donate to support ADOM" to "Donate to support JADE" on the main screen... because that's what it's for.* Pumped up shopkeepers. Now they are more worthwhile opponents (and with more equipment options will become even better; issue 231).* Fixed a problem with daggers (no melee weapon skill associated with them).* Fixed a special death message.* Fixed a problem which made items be generated on shop doors (issue 231).* Fixed the rather linear experience point progression (issue 240).* Fixed a serious crash bug on Windows (issue 255).* Fixed a problem with walk mode not stopping on stairs (issue 257).* Fixed a problem with walk mode that sometimes caused doors to be opened automatically (issue 258).* Fixed a problem with the "Credits" and "Dedication" menu (issue 259).* Fixed a walk mode crash bug in settlements (issue 262).
From now on I would like to change the development mode for JADE (barring problems like the one for JADE 0.1.1).The major change according to my plans will be that I now want to work a lot more on the content of the game (and not just funky UI things, technical features and all that). From now on the actual game shall be the focus and I have a couple (not that surprising) plans for the next JADE versions: First of all a lot more monsters must be added to remove the current boredom due to lack of beings. Since many special abilities are not yet implemented I will start with combat oriented beings and from there we grow. Next the skill system needs to be activated as it is not really workable so far. Then quite a few niggles with the actual rules need to be fixed - nothing major there but many tiny TODOs in the code ;-) Then we have to have more items, items, items. One major feature in the next version(s) will be story arcs that determine how the game begins. So far I have plans for but one beginning story arc but I'm pretty sure that you will like it. And then there some nice extras like magma flows with floating isles I would like to try out. And don't talk about workable country features.So in other words: Content should be king from now on. Let's see how it works out for the next release.
