Official Release 0.3

It's release time again.

The introduction/character creation sequences are the highlight of this release. Both intro sequences have been completed along with the gypsy character creation and the main menu logic.

What's new in this release.

• Bootup introduction sequence.
• Introduction sequence.
• Gypsy character creation sequence.
• Acknowledgements.
• Main menu.

• Trap effects
• Lens animation
• Balloon/raft movement
• Ship's cannon
• Double handed weapons in inventory.
• Ship combat logic. Party flees in raft when ship is destroyed.
• Fade out magical creatures when they die.
• Powder kegs
• use lockpick
• Remember previous attack target when attacking with player.
• Numerous bug fixes

Version 0.3 can be downloaded from our download page. Offical builds are available for Windows and Mac. Source code is provided for other systems including Linux.

Please report any bugs or missing features using the tracker on our sourceforge project page here.

Eric

Official Release 0.2

The magic release

We're pleased to announce Nuvie's second offical release! Version 0.2

Magic has been the focus of this release. All 81 magic spells have now been implemented in Nuvie. This brings the project a lot closer to our initial goal of full compatibility with the original Ultima 6 game.

What's new in this release.

• Added all 81 magic spells!
• Added gui spellbook selector.
• Use crystal ball.
• Use staff.
• Added storm cloak logic.
• Added regeneration ring healing.
• Restore party magic points over time.
• Decrease player alcohol level over time.
• Lit torches now burn out.
• Added chance that storm cloak, invisibility/regeneration rings disappear over time.
• Added correct moonstone/moongate logic.
• Added spin to certain combat projectiles.
• Acid slugs can now dissolve metal objects when attacking.
• Gremlins now steal food when attacking.
• Added brawling worktype.
• Numerous bug fixes.

Version 0.2 can be downloaded from our download page. Offical builds are available for Windows and Mac. Source code is provided for other systems including Linux.

Please report any bugs or missing features using the tools on our sourceforge project page here.

Eric

Official Release 0.1

In Mani Corp

We're pleased to announce Nuvie's first offical release! Version 0.1

A quick summary of changes since our last news post.

• Completely re-written combat system. This should be much closer to the original game logic.
• Monsters can cast spells in combat.
• Monsters now carry weapons/armour/treasure.
• A new boot console which shows errors to the user.
• Numerous new spells.
• Re-worked sound engine (Removed the reliance on SDL_mixer).
• Added SFX frame work.
• Started work on PC-Speaker SFX.
• Started adding FM-Towns SFX.
• More acurate damage tiles.
• Sleep,Poison,Charm,Paralyse logic added/improved.
• Fixed lots of bugs.
• Added slime logic.
• Added Corpser logic.
• Fixed tangle vine spawning.
• Default config files are now created automaticaly on Win32 and Mac platforms if no config file could be found.
• Guards can send party to jail.
• And much more...

Version 0.1 can be downloaded from our download page. Offical builds are available for Windows and Mac. Source code is provided for other systems including Linux.

It's been awhile between posts which has led many to think that the nuvie project had died. But this isn't the case. We've come along way since the last news post (280+ code commits) and I feel that we are finally ready for our first offical release. There are still missing features but compatibility with the original game has been greatly improved.

Please report any bugs or missing features using the tools on our sourceforge project page here.

Eric

Yearly Update

I was going to wait for the 'olds' to be a year old... and now I have.

Sorry... Yes, we really should update more. While major development has progressed on and off this past year (as with most open-source projects, when RealLife[tm] permits), we *have* continued working. We tend to focus the time we can spend on Nuvie on actual code work (and sometimes idle chat), neglecting the website until there is quite a bit to report. All changes to the source can still be reviewed in detail from the ChangeLog link on the menu to the left.

As for new additions since the last report, the majority has been Eric's work on scripting. Nuvie is now powered by a Lua scripting engine, the result being that all magic spells (and eventually object Usecode, perhaps more) can be written quickly in scripts, without having to recompile the main program.
This was done in a separate code branch, so you don't see any mention of it until 2007-08-02. Here's a quick rundown of the new additions from the scripting branch:

• New Magic! As mentioned above, the magic system has been rewritten. We already placeholders written for all spells, and quite a few of them already completely functional.
• Spells that are working at least somewhat:
  Create Food - (imy) Detect Trap - (wj) Douse - (af) Harm - (am) Heal - (im) Ignite - (if) Poison - (inp) Telekinesis - (opy) Trap - (ij) Unlock Magic - (ep) Untrap - (aj) Dispel Field - (ag) Magic Lock - (ap) Fire Field - (ifg) Locate - (iw) Poison Field - (ing) Sleep Field - (izg) Energy Field - (isg) Kill - (ic) Eclipse - (val) Resurrect - (imc) Summon - (kxc) Tremor - (vpy)
  (Note: magic target location is currently hard coded for the tile directly above the avatar.)
• Fixed torch and powder keg usecode. Explode kegs over actor or container holding them, and don't allow equipping a torch from a container (for now)
• The game now looks inside held containers for items. This enables Talk to find actors carried in a container by a party member, if you - for example - stuff Dupre's body in a backpack and forget where it is when you go to resurrect him.
• Some random blood is added at the actor's current position when they die. Still need to do some work on "blood handling" in Nuvie.
• Did some work on how the avatar respawns at Lord British's castle after dying.
• Added the ability to search desks.
• Moved the Party roster and sun/moon locations by a few pixels. We're aware that this introduced a slight display glitch during sunrise and sunset, and will fix that soon.
• Lots of work on how objects are managed by the engine, and making them accessible to Lua scripts.
• Eric added dithered EGA and CGA mode simulations, using the original palette-conversion tables from your U6 data, for nostalgia purposes. You can activate it with <dither_mode>cga|ega|none</dither_mode> in nuvie.cfg.

Besides that, we've accomplished a bit more since last August. A summary of other work done:

• Started on Blue Moongate support
• Moongates don't (dis)appear yet based if there are(n't) any moons in the sky, but they do work now, since their usecode is in. Try the permanent moongate at the Spirituality shrine.
• Moonstone usecode needs fine tuning but basic functionality is there. You can bury the moonstones somewhere else and the destination/burial table is updated.
• Added Tangle Vines and some vine dropping code. Initializing new tangle vines is still very broken.
• Added tangle vines to list of damaging objects, and added damaging tiles lava and swamp, which doesn't poison the party while wearing swamp boots.
• Sleep fields make the actor fall asleep.
• Now you can use the plus and minus keys on the numpad to change which party member's inventory is shown. This was possible in U6. Keys 1 through 9 can now be used to select party members for certain actions, like Talk.
• Musical instruments (play_instrument) now take key input.
• Can use keypad keys to browse through inventory.
• Can no longer talk to party members offscreen.
• Can now only Get objects that are on the ground, to prevent it being called for objects in inventory.
• Changed newly-spawned silver serpent length from 5-9 to 4-8.
• Actors with the "converse" worktype now change to "wander" after talking to the player.
• Prints a message when player's glass sword breaks while attacking.
• Don't try to play ultima6 native music when loading martian dreams or savage empire.
• Small improvement to thrown weapon support
• SE/MD portrait support. Functional (barely) but needs work.
• MD/SE dialogue gets loaded and used. Basic support, but probably needs further work to make it fully compatible.
• Mouse pointer is now set to crosshairs when getting input.
• Fixed a bug in the spellbook, which was showing itself in the equipment list twice when used. You're not really supposed to be able to Use it.
• Fixed bug [1766551] Killing party member crash.
• Fixed memory leak in Converse with script not being freed on stop()
• Fixed crash when quitting caused by bad obj handling in EggManager.
• Fixed up some Obj container functionality.
• Fixed a few bugs with torches.
• Several subtle bug-fixes, likely replaced with more subtle bugs. (gotta keep it interesting)

We realize there was more that could have been done so far, however. So we are continuing to work on the engine core and add new features. The input system is being improved right now (including key-binding support), and advanced monster combat behaviors and dropped loot will be added soon. Expect Ultima VI to be completely playable, and completable from beginning to end by the time the next news report is posted.
Now I have to go update the Development Progress pages.
See you next year!
(just kidding)

(...or am I?)

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