Alpha test v0.6.8

[lord midnight]

umar is zen and I enjoy talking to him.
Im not done exploring but the clue for lodars is clear to me, clear and tinkling.

[lizardninja]

my bad! its not a almighty rocky path, just a rocky formation and I think ya confusing umar in the thieves guild with ogam and his profound exiled teachings from a little shack in vilegard? 'clear and tinklin' maybe water or glass? but cant find any! it would appear lord that only you are one with him... because I cant figure him out!

[lord midnight]

ok I get what he is talking about, I still haven't found it though I am pretty sure I know what I am looking for...

looking.seeking.dowsing.

[oskarwiksten]

villegard is in the southeast, I was told go to the southwest, from thieves guild guy in fallhaven.

Fixed.

Sign above villegard says fallhaven to the south.

Fixed.

when speaking to umar you can either reply, n or nice to meet you, not sure what n means?

Fixed.

dunla says he is noone?

Fixed.

in vilegard when first arriving you can talk to people about stuff.. but they refuse to engage, when you win them over all they do is say thanks! what happened to the option to talk about andor?

Fixed.


Thanks for all the comments about things to correct. I am compiling a beta version right now.

[oskarwiksten]

A beta version of Andor's Trail v0.6.8 is now up on the usual place:
http://code.google.com/p/andors-trail/downloads/list

Changes from alpha2 are only conversation corrections, see above.

I want to give out a big thank you to everyone that has suggested ideas for this release, and to you guys that help alpha- and beta test this version. Hopefully, we can have this version out on Android Market in the next couple of days.

Please report any more issues that you find with this version.

I would be especially interested in hearing about people playing the Italian or Russian version, since some of the dialogue should be translated into your native language. Please give feedback on the translation quality so the translators can know what is good and what to improve.

Thank you again,
/Oskar

[Tomcat]

Again finished all new quests, no bugs. The weapons and armor were nothing short of mediocre, the new monster and new bosses were laughable however i am drooling for a tough boss that will give me that heartstone so i can get a really cool weapon. but until then im waiting paitently

I think it's important in judging the toughness of fhe new areas to consider that perhaps they're not all supposed to be tougher than the toughest of the old. Somw may be too easy for your old character that has hit level 16 from lots of bboring slash trips to the snake cave to run up stats and collect gold to buy those twin +6 damage rings while you were waiting for new maps. Consider instead how much more fun a new character will play when you can replace some of those snakemeat hunts with new low to intermediate quests.

Certainly, some new quests should be high level though. Haven't gotten through enough of the new stuff to judge myself yet.

[sdevaney]

You bring up an interesting point Tomcat. Oskar and I were just discussing this the other day. The new areas are gradually getting tougher. They were not made for characters that are at a high level for this point in the game (16+). The wait time between releases has caused some people to level up beyond what the new areas were created for. Unfortunately there isn't a whole lot we can do about that problem except try to get releases out sooner which we are going to try and do for the next release.

We would like to get status effects and hopefully a difficulty setting into the next release which should add just a little more complexity and fun to the game play.

[oskarwiksten]

The second and hopefully last beta version of Andor's Trail v0.6.8 is now up on the usual place:
http://code.google.com/p/andors-trail/downloads/list

Changes from beta1 are:
- Removed text "You found some items" when you step on a loot bag that only has gold in it.
- Loot dialog for containers is shown regardless of the "show monster loot dialog" preference.
- New movement method: directional. (Available in preferences)

Again, I want to give out a big thank you to everyone that has contributed with code or suggested ideas for this release, and to you guys that help alpha- and beta test this version. Hopefully, we can have this version out on Android Market in the next couple of days.

I would still like to hear from anyone that has tried the Italian or Russian translations, to verify that they are both usable and correct.

Looking forward to releasing this version soon, and begin working on the next version.
/Oskar

[Samuel]

Some thoughts to 6.8:
1. Containers

The only currently available container is at mikhail's home

Wouldn't it be easy to reuse the same container at each sleeping position. (beside crossglen townhall)
One could put something in on one location and it would be magically available on all other locations.
Perhaps then it should not be a bin, but a chest. (was handled as vault or depot in several issues)

2. Torilo in Foaming Flask tavern tells me: A room is available for only 250 gold. Then you can use it as much as you like.
Bela in Fallheaven still tells me: A room for the night will cost you 10 gold. Why not just remove the "for the night".

3. Join signs?
There are 2 signs at Foaming Flask tavern. IMO they could be joined. Looks strange now.

4. old and small bug:
There is a tree walkable on wild6.tmx. Its located north west of the rock in the middle. (adjacent)

5. possible another old bug: (fc)
If I switch the direction of the phone when it's loading a savegame it crashes.

6. Language
I think you currently change the language according to the system language. It would be better to make it customizeable. (with system language as default)
A Russian could want to play it on the smartphone of his friend from China. Also we could try to test other languages better.

7. Some beauty for the source code:
The source code is really well and structured, but your IDs are somewhat chaotic. (Names of levels, conversationlist, droplist, quests, etc)
I know translation would make a redesign hard but currently only 2 languages exist...

IMO the IDs should be standardized:
a) all levels (esp. the dungeons, wild and road levels) should be assigned to the nearest city:

Code: Select all

crossglen_home
crossglen_wild1
crossglen_wild2
crossglen_wild2_snakecave1
crossglen_wild2_snakecave2

b) for conversations and quests all items should have the map of the talking person in front of it:

Code: Select all

crossglen_home_mikhail_wakeup
crossglen_home_mikhail_brother
crossglen_home_mikhail_quest_andorstrail
crossglen_home_mikhail_quest_rats
crossglen_home_mikhail_quest_bread
crossglen_wild1_sign

c) droplists depend. Some are specific and some are common:

Code: Select all

crossglen_wild2_snakecave4_boss
crossglen_hall_gruil_items
alltowns_hall_food_items
wild_snakes_easy
wild_snakes_hard

It would be far easier for orientation when translating / programming... (But you loose backwards compatibility...)
Just some thoughts. Perhaps you can use them like this it in the future.

[Samuel]

I just found a little and old bug in your movement code Oskar:

Code: Select all

public boolean findWalkablePosition_straight(int dx, int dy) {
	if (tryWalkablePosition(sgn(dx), sgn(dy))) return true;
	if (dx == 0 || dy == 0) return false;

	if (abs(dx) > abs(dy)) return tryWalkablePosition(sgn(dx), 0);
	return tryWalkablePosition(0, sgn(dy));
}

When dx == dy and move(sgn(dx), sgn(dy)) fails, it would prefer and only try dy-movement.

Code: Select all

P#
.## works
..t

P..
##. does not work
##t

The code should be either like: (allowing both directions when dx == dy and move(sgn(dx), sgn(dy)) fails)

Code: Select all

public boolean findWalkablePosition_straight(int dx, int dy) {
	if (tryWalkablePosition(sgn(dx), sgn(dy))) return true;
	if (dx == 0 || dy == 0) return false;

	if (abs(dx) == abs(dy) && tryWalkablePosition(sgn(dx), 0)) return true;
	if (abs(dx) > abs(dy)) return tryWalkablePosition(sgn(dx), 0);
	return tryWalkablePosition(0, sgn(dy));
}

Or it should be like: (denying any movement when dx == dy and move(sgn(dx), sgn(dy)) fails)

Code: Select all

public boolean findWalkablePosition_straight(int dx, int dy) {
	if (tryWalkablePosition(sgn(dx), sgn(dy))) return true;
	if (dx == 0 || dy == 0) return false;

	if (abs(dx) == abs(dy)) return false;
	if (abs(dx) > abs(dy)) return tryWalkablePosition(sgn(dx), 0);
	return tryWalkablePosition(0, sgn(dy));
}