At long last, version 0.3!
www.asciisector.net/download.htmlThe most important change in this release is the character combat system. You can now attack characters on bases, and you have an inventory and health.
The full list of changes:
- Fixed bug that sometimes caused the program to crash when entering the movie player.
- Fixed a couple of pricing bugs when selling and buying a ship. This means that the jump drive is no longer included when buying a new ship.
- Ships will now try to avoid friendly fire, when shooting. If it is slowing down the game too much, switch Friendly Fire back to Yes in the options menu.
- Ships will now keep a greater distance to each other in order to avoid crashes between friendly ships.
- Repair Droid will now also repair while the autopilot is engaged.
- Holding down 'M' and pressing a directon key will now move the viewable area on a base without moving the player.
- Changed the load game menu slightly so that there is no more need for the SAVES.TXT file in the SAVES folder.
- Changed the icon for an ejected pilot to the dot that is also used for characters on the ground.
- Added 5 new systems.
- Added 6 new bases.
- Added character combat.
- Added new fixer mission: kill a person on a base or planet.
- Added new Mercenaries' Guild mission: bounty hunting capture alive.
- Added a player inventory/equipment screen.
- Added a shooting range on Manurhin in the Vichy system.
- Added equipment shops to most bases.
- Added AutoDoc booths to most bases.
- Added an in-game help screen (press F10 or 'H').
- Added military rank to names of some characters on confederation bases.
- New player's manual in PDF format with more detailed instructions and screenshots.
There are probably some bugs left and the character combat probably needs to be balanced a bit more, but it seems to work pretty well. Let me know what you think and be sure to report bugs and crashes!
Following this release, I'll be working on two different things. For version 0.4 I'll be adding the ability to walk around on your ship, both while flying in space and when landed on a planet. This will be extended for version 0.4.1, where you will be able to board other ships and engage in combat on board ships (other ships will also be able to disable your ship and board you). Besides working on these future versions, I'm currently moving away from programming in Borland Pascal 7.0. Instead, I'll be programming in FreePascal and use SDL for all video, keyboard and mouse functions. FreePascal and SDL is platform independent, which means that I will be able to compile the game for Windows, Linux and (theoretically) Mac. I'll also be able to add sound effects and music.
Post all your feedback at the Ascii Sector forum:
www.asciisector.net/forumEnjoy!
