Maps and Space

I managed to get the mapmaker to compile on my Gentoo system. Woohoo! Perhaps I'll make an awnsome Awnage map. I remember back when I was in grade school how I would go to the school library during recess and make maps of imaginary worlds, complete with cities, roads, and polar caps. I think those early skills may come in handy. I just wish that we could rewrite the entire EL engine because it is seriously inefficient right now and limits what can be designed. I mean, look what can be done in 19MB of space, or even 96kB!!

Essentially it would be awesome to do procedural generation in EL, if only for the coolness factor.

People Ready Business

This is not a post about a new version. Just a note to bother someone. As it was noted in a Slashdot article, ill things are afoot. So I want to let people know about a true People Ready Business. If I was not using Gentoo, I'd probably use Ubuntu.

Awnage Client: YoHoHo and a Bottle of Ale

Changes since last version

• New version 1.4.0 compatible
  
• CVS updates
• Clickable Continent Map
• Spell rearranging now in CVS (Shift R/L to move up/down)
• All the normal awnage goodness
• No more ugly nag message, but some features are only available to guild friends and supporters.
• No need for extra Cal3D libraries.
• Slightly smaller filesize
  

Download Awnage 20070613 for Windows
Just place it in your EL folder and run it.

Known issues:

• Some people are having problems seeing the exp hovers at the top of the screen. I cannot reproduce it.
• Screenshot taking is disabled as this is not an official client
  

1.4.0 almost ready

I am very close to getting a working version for windows released. After some futzing around I got it to compile late last night. Apparently it does not need the extra cal3d libraries that the older awnage clients needed, which is a good thing. Unfortunately, I have not been able to get the icon to bind right, and the file size is huge (7MB as opposed to the release client's 2MB). Once I fix those I think it is good for release.

In the meantime, enjoy this smeg that I found while on my vacation. The fridge on the right is in the colors of the FC Barcelona team. I wonder if there is a FCB guild that we can taunt with it...

Rested

I am back from my vacation. I did not bring a laptop with me, so I missed the 1.4.0 update. Oh well. I should have a awnage client for it by this weekend if all goes according to plan. It only took 45 seconds from when I logged in until I got the first request.

There is now a 1.5.0 roadmap thread up in the EL forums. Interesting read at this point, and I am sure it will get more interesting as time goes on. At any rate, when I got back from my vacation and parsed my 100+ gmails I found that ttlanhil accepted several of my patches for the official client which will then appear in the 1.5.0 release. They are now in CVS for you self-sufficient people. Patches Toggle Analog Clock 806, Visual attack/spell highlight 809, Reorder Quickspells 814, QuickSpell Hover Highlights 833 (though Berlios says it was rejected). All you awnage users have enjoyed these for a while now. In my roadmap (as I mention in that thread) I hope to have some more HUD related updates.

I thought of another one while lying in bed last night wide awake because of jetlag. Some of you know I was a major StarCraft player. I am not sure what is going to happen once SCII is released. Anyway, I really like how in SC you can alt and ctrl click to perform various functions, in addition to using more than one mouse button. So I was thinking of making ctrl-click do a force move. I find it frustrating that I have to find the exact walkable tile by a harvest resource (especially in caves). The ctrl-click would work backward to find the nearest walkable tile and move to it instead. A similar situation is when you want to stand next to someone/thing and you click on them instead. You get the green target on the ground but you do not start moving. Thoughts?