Posts on Jul 2011

Graphics overhaul + tutorial

We are working hard on the next release which will basically be a graphics overhaul. One of the things I can show you now are new fir trees. Here’s a screen but I should really show a video of this because these have new branch destruction effects. Also I rewrote the whole tree code. The first thing you’ll notice is that the trees fall down correctly without change of appearance.

Geti is producing more and more cool tiles and sprites. What you will see down here is part of new tutorial maps I am developing. I decided to make tutorials, not because there is a lot to learn in KAG, but because I thought they will be fun. Tutorials will be like a mini singleplayer experience. I think I shouldn’t even call it a tutorial. So expect this to be a fun part of KAG, especially for new players.

Premium account pre-orders are going well. Already half of the 100 are gone!
There are some questions about them, specifically availability. The only thing that you can use now is the map editor although you need a map editor code. I will send these out this week. Sorry for delaying it, we’re just madly busy and the 53+ accounts have sold really quick. 

The test version will be still available for everyone until all pre-orders are sold. After that and proper premium account logging is coded I will lock the test version. This is to ensure there is enough people available to play. So hurry up if you want to go premium before everyone else (click).

MM

Gold Servers Premium Access

Due to community request (forum thread) we are taking pre-orders for Gold Servers Access.

What are Gold Servers?

Gold servers will basically be normal KAG servers but only, so called premium players, that have paid for access be able to play on them. Pre-orders will be taken until the functionality is made and ready, which should be in about 2 weeks.

What’s in it for you?

1. You get to play with an elite group of true KAG fans
   (better, more fun matches with players that have learned the game and love the game)
2. Griefing will be probably nonexistent since doing that will mean account banning and loss of money
3. You can thank us developers for making this free game + help to pay for all the server bills

How to get it?

We decided for start to take a small amount of money, but enough to not allow everyone. That is 9$. This amount will rise in the future if the demand goes up. To buy it now you’ll need a PayPal account or credit card.

Premium accounts are limited!

In the beginning there will be just 2 servers: one US based and one European.
To make sure everyone fits and has a guaranteed playing slot the amount of premium players is limited to 100.

This means, hurry up before they all get snatched and reserve your place now!

BUY NOW or JUST READ MORE ABOUT IT + CHECKOUT THE BONUSES + FAQ

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About lag

1. Some server owners set their player count to 32 but their servers can’t take that much. This is a cause of big lag.
   Server owners! Set the player limit to less if your server lags! (variable: sv_maxplayers)
2. I need to make a servers list with ping sort so people don’t join a server far away.
3. We need some Australian and Japanese servers!
4. I will code an anti-lag technique for knights which should fix all of their issues.
5. There are some bugs that look like characters are falling down when in fact they don’t. This needs to be fixed and will improve archer combat.

I’m recoding a fair amount of rendering code at the moment. First of all it will be much faster, second there will be foreground and background layers. This means you will be able to hide in grass for example. Geti will post details and some eye-candy soon.

I can confirm that a Mumble client crashes the game on start for some unknown reason. You will need to turn it off.

‘COMBAT BUILD’ 90 RELEASED

After a long period of play testing this build it is finally time to make a final test, that is, release it publicly! I like how Minecraft names major releases so I decided to do the same and have named this build the “combat build”. We have worked mostly on Knight & Archer combat. I decided to slightly overpower each class to make the game more dynamic and fun. But this was of course balanced during play testing. What you will experience here is a result of hours of testing so please play for at least that much time before criticizing, I’m sure you’ll see the changes are for the best. From this point I’d like to also THANK YOU everyone that play tested and posted their comments on the forums!

The game auto-updates by itself when you launch it. When it updates, the first thing you will notice is that you have to login to browse the servers list. Game accounts are from now on mandatory. This was probably one of the most requested features. It will help prevent anonymity and griefing, so that we can all have a better gaming experience. 

Account registration is super easy now. Just fill in your user name and password on this page (click).

Your username is also your nickname in the game so choose it carefully (clans can add a clan tag in Player menu). If you experience a user is abusive please report this on the forums.

Some other highlights of this build…

* Builders can drop a castle block while standing still

* Block repairing (just place a castle/door/bridge block over the damaged one)

* You can already jump on top of a knight’s shield but now I added the ability to help out your teammate below. You can simply climb a knight with shield up from below:

* You can now see how much damage you’ve dealt to an opponent or check your teammates health by hovering over him with your mouse.

* Added mapcycle! This means that every round change a new map will be loaded with a different map generator (currently there are 3 types; see change log for details and usage)

* Arrow ladders! Have you seen this in sword & cloak movies? Now you can do it in KAG!

Here is the detailed list of all changes:

Changes build 80-90:

– added mandatory game accounts
  * player nickname is the same as account user name
  * added optional clantag in main menu Player settings

– Archer changes:
  * offscreen arrows deal only half damage
  * removed blocked jumping when bow fully charged
  * added arrow ladders (archers can climb their own arrows on a wall)
  * archer full charge is faster
  * arrow gravity and maximum speed changed
  * archer charge decharges when after reaching maximum point
  * archer charge bar appears on mouse cursor
  * arrow leaving archer is properly positioned
  * added knockdown period for arrow hit
  * slow arrows deal half damage
  – archer arrow deals max 1 heart damage

– Knight changes:
  * changed knight sword mechanics
  * 2 hits available: quick jab (1 heart), charged swing (hold fire button; 2 hearts)
  * hitting with charged swing stuns the opponent for a moment
  * charged knight jumps lower
  * knight has same movement speed as archer and builder
  * new knight sword strike animations and sounds
  * knight can only dig with fully charged swing
  * shielded knights always pushes other players in the shield direction
  * new ability to climb shielded upwards knight
 
– Builder changes:
  * builders can’t penetrate knight armor
  * building is delayed and requires builder to stand still
  * added possibilty for builder to drop castle block
  * builder square cursor is always drawn
  * added repairing destroyed parts (takes always half of full block materials)
  * increased builder build radius
  * builder sees more into the map

– new score system
  * earn points for: building, killing, capturing/returning flag
  * lose points for: suicide, mining structures
– fixed resolution changing when desktop is the same size as window
– fixed wrong resolution ratio picked
– fixed resolution change offset bug 
– improved open door/bridge mechanics
– more dirt particles velocity
– players have less acceleration on ground
– fixed background dirt bugs
– scores render over player labels
– fixed trees not growing on right side of map
– trees don’t lose coronas when chopped
– fixed server disconnection errors
– fixed collapsed blocks create random blocks
– fixed outpost not giving supplies on start
– outpost during capture does not give out supplies
– changed all damage using discrete values
– fixed grass appearing underground
– half hearts health are drawn on HUD
– can’t throw bomb while holding flag
– fixed player names appearing as one letter on Linux
– fixed spikes not collapsing
– disabled periodic automap saving [temporary]
– fixed not able to join own team again if teams unbalanced
– added server variable “sv_require_auth” (default: yes; requires clients connecting to server be logged in master server)
– optimized server tree storage
– added sky gradient
– emoticons and point frame stay until key pressed or chat above head dissapears
– changed vote kicking mechanic (takes into account players time on server and score)
– added server mapcycle (Base/Scripts/mapcycle.cfg)
– two new map generator files added to mapcycle (generator_ctf_hole; generator_ctf_mountain)
– fixed png maps not saved or loaded on Linux server
– fixed outpost color not changing after capture
– added take screenshot sound (F4)
– flag carrier is slower by 10%
– fixed bomb-block damage miscalculation
– lowered ping kick time to 15 minutes
– vote minimum time lowered to 3 minutes
– fixed players not respawning after map change
– removed bridge gibbing
– fixed catapult spawning at right map edge
– main menu change : “Map editor” instead of “Start game”
– fixed ground and other blocks not appearing in editor block palette
– fixed not being able to destroy blocks around tent
– only main tent restores health
– fixed infinite outpost volcano
– fixed gold bullion not destructible by catapult
– fixed catapult ground collision sound
– fixed shield collisions
– above head chat stays shorter