2010-01-02 Java Tech Release 0.4.1 released

We have switched the release cycle to one release every three months, and this version is the first to follow this pattern. The changes in this release are:

• Client-server handshake rewrite
  While this may sound rather boring and technical, rewriting the setup code fixed several bugs, streamlined the Lobby form a bit, and we also implemented some other changes along the way. These are colorized chats, proper client authentication, the display of player titles, and guest players that can watch a game without participating.
• Interface improvements
  A crude version of variable mouse cursors and an overview map were added. Some of the standard dialogs can now be closed by a simple click. A couple of drawing glitches when scrolling around were fixed.
• Various other improvemens
  The external libraries have been updated, the changelog is now read from an external file, and the code base got a big boost in comments, and was simplified in some parts.

Ulf

2009-09-30 Java Tech Demo 4 released

After half a year of coding, the principal goals for the next tech release were met. The game is still not fun to play, and there are bugs if you use a randomly generated map. You can start the demo map with all players to get an impression. Big changes this time are:

• Graphics update
  The tile size has been increased to 128 pixels. The game supports different building graphics now.
• Gameplay changes
  You can now produce units in cities, capture and raze enemy cities, and fight (though the fights are still rudimentary, one unit one hit). If you lack gold to upkeep your units, they desert.

Ulf

2009-06-24 Forum migration and new Wiki

We have migrated our forum to the hosted apps service of sourceforge because of better maintainability. We also started a Wiki which is currently populated with Tutorials for programming FreeLords. With this we hope that our community will expand.

Tril

2009-02-11 Java Tech Release Demo 0.03 released

It took another year of coding, but here is the next release of the Java port. It is still not properly playable. We intend to speed up the development a bit and care about playability in the next releases. Apart from the usual things like bugfixing, the changes this time are:

• Simultaneous movement
  There have been various chat sessions how to proceed, and one of the ideas that came out and has been implemented is that the units of all players shall move simultaneously.
• Tons of new graphics
  If you open the demo map, you might notice that especially unit and building graphics have hugely improved.
• New dialogs
  You can now set preferences via the preferences screen, and it is possible to view (though not yet equip) items in a separate dialog.

Ulf