MAngband

Alright... with the 1.1.7 release and the slowdown in the V and MAng development, it is time to think about what will come next.

Short term:
- 1.1.7 build 2: this will fix a couple bugs and add very minor things (should be out tomorrow)
- 1.1.7 build x: bugfix releases, maybe some features from V3.3 (if needed)

Medium term:
- 1.1.8: this will be based on V3.3, which is currently under development (the V roadmap forecasts a release for the 16th of july)
- 1.1.9: this will be based on V3.4 (no date set)

Medium-long term:
- 1.2: for this one, I *hope* that the MAng 1.2 version will be finally released... so that I can add the new features currently in trunk (new network code for example)

Long term:
- 2.0: this will be based on V4.0 (which *should* be more variant-friendly) and will require recoding from scratch (take V code, add scheduler, add network code, add PWMang unique features)

I'll probably release a 1.1.7 build 4 this week to fix a client bug and add some spells for archers (they are currently unplayable due to their shooting range reduced considerably compared to LOS range). Considering 1.1.8, the V devteam have now frozen the source code for the 3.3 release and will now only fix bugs/balance features during next month. Since the new version is around the corner -- and I've only scratched the surface of the new features to add -- I will really speed up the coding to keep pace with V development. I don't want to stay too much behind this time, so that when 3.4 development starts, I have a stable environment for 1.1.9 ready.

Time for my annual 3-week break!

Just a small update on the 1.1.8 development... Angband 3.3 release is imminent, and I still have 16 pages of changesets to implement. This means there won't probably be a new release in the next few months...

Back home... and V3.3 is out. More headaches to come...

14 pages of changesets to go... 1.1.8 is coming closer... slowly, but still ;)

Damn all the code refactoring is killing me :(

13 pages left...

Currently, I am stuck with some code refactoring which replaces calls to functions taking a player index as parameter by a call taking a player structure as parameter. Changing one function (inc_timed) made me modify 80% of the function calls!!!

As far as V goes, a bugfix release of 3.3 will be out at the end of October... so 1.1.8 will be based on that release (3.3.1) instead of 3.3 to fix some bugs.

V3.3.1 has already been released... this means that work on V3.4 has already resumed.

... and while I'm stuck doing all that silly refactoring, more changesets have been added, so I'm again 14 pages behind.

Refactoring is now mostly done. It seems there is gonna be a V3.3.2 release, so 1.1.8 will be based on that.

Good news!

All changesets concerning V3.3.0 have now been implemented. I'm now only 8 pages behind compared to latest source code. V3.3.2 has been (or will shortly be) released, which will be the latest of the 3.3.x series, so the V devteam will now concentrate on the 3.4 version.

This leaves me the following to implement:
- features/fixes added for V3.4 that have been committed prior to the V3.3 tag
- fixes for V3.3.1 and V3.3.2
- fixes for new V features that don't work properly in PWMAngband (knowledge menus with gfx, delayed monster messages, labyrinths/caverns/circular rooms, SDL client keymaps, NPP's visible targetting feature...)

Expect a beta release of PW1.1.8 in the next few weeks!

Just finished implementing everything from Vanilla!!! Woohoo it's finally done!!! Man, all that refactoring was driving me nuts... I'm slowly catching again with V dev (only 4 pages of changesets related to V3.4-dev left, they will be implemented for 1.1.9, or maybe even for later 1.1.8 builds if the V team decides to release V3.4 early). Unfortunately, there is still a lot of work to be done before a beta will be available (I don't even know if the current code compiles...)

Seems that V3.4 won't have many new changes. I'll add the features from that release to PWMAngband 1.1.8 and keep 1.1.9 for future 3.x versions. Btw, the V devteam have started to work on Angband v4 on a separate source database and the changes seem epic...

Today is a great day... I finally catched up with the V dev all all changesets currently in V have been implemented in PWMAngband 1.1.8.

Since there's nothing much more to add from V and MAng at this time, I'll try to investigate on how to add a 3D or ISO port to PWMAngband. Up to now, two ideas come to mind:
- modify the SDL port to allow ISO display with a separate set of tiles
- port main.gcu to allow direct output to console and then use Necklace of the Eye's frontend
Maybe it's really ambitious, but we'll see...

Great plans as usual - here one suggestion which is problably several people on win machines preventing them to learn the game - A mouse interface. It is proabbyl a huge UI change and a major project to undertake.

- movement must be simple "left click into direction?"
- scroll whell should cycle through the spells (and current spell must be displayed somewhere)
- middle mouse button should open context menu or smth with more commands?)
- All available / possible actions must be shown somewhere on the screen. like a long "bar" of icons that shows all possible actions where as the possible actions are highlighted, impossible actions are greyed out (e.g. quaffing if no potions), recommended actions should be even highlighted more (maybe these could then in certain situations be linked to the right mouse or smth.
- Intelligent mouse behaviour?
- clicking on item "pickup"
- clicking on door "opens" / "unlocks"
- clicking on open doo "closes"
- menues must be added for all the windows in the UI to have context sensitive mouse support (items, drop, inscribe, wear, quaff, zap etc)

V has mouse support and PWMangband was already using parts of this in menus, but this was never fully implemented. I decided to remove these bribes of mouse support simply because in real-time you don't really have time to click on menus, and using the mouse to move could be disastrous when monsters are around.

Note that the mouse support is already fully functionnal in V, so it could be easily added in a future version.