MadMathLabs

The Traipse ‘Pious Paladin’ release is one step away from Beta. A lot has changed since I’ve last posted a blog account, so I will go over some of those changes now. Below is by far not all of the changes added.

Recent Changes

Meta Server

The server now communicates with the meta server. This required a small meta update, but at that time I took care of a ‘duplicate rooms’ bug that was causing problems. I really love the new way the server and client communicate with the meta server. They can actually communicate with more than one meta server.

Each server is created in its own class, so all of the data received is specific to that meta server. To me this is a great way to allow for innumerable meta servers which can reduce the strain on one meta server and still propagate large lists of data. Also, because each meta is in its own class, it has its own register thread and can take care of itself quite nicely.

Die Roller

I am quite happy with the new die roller. It is clear and easier to understand, it groups data nicely, and still remains as extensible as before. Even more so now with the addition of the base DiceBar class. Die roller creators will love the option of creating a dice bar that replaces the standard 1d4 – 1d100 dice bar. It is really easy to create die rollers and dice bars.

Right now I can see only one problem with the die roller, but I am considering how to correct it. When a die roller method is used it tends to grab too far to the left if more die rolls are added as a list. Ex. [5d10, 5d10.vs(5)] will actually grab the 5d10 roll as the first roll. It’s really minor since it only happens when you roll dice in a list.

Overall I am really pleased with the new die roller. I am going to be poking the community for ideas on output design. The output can be formatted with HTML, which I think is an excellent way to help players see the results they want to see.

Game Tree

The Game Tree has seen a few updates as well. Splitters, Columns, and open node dialogs now save their sizes. Icons are being added to common nodes that don’t have them. A new HybridMap method in InterParse reduces the load time of large nodes and referencing data.

The Final Step

The final step is completion and refinement of all the data that is sent over the network. The map is going to see quite a few changes over time, and I may still need to complete some map features before Beta. I am getting into the finer details now though, and it becomes increasingly difficult for me to find them so I will be referring to the community.

I’m excited about going Beta because I get to open my doors again to listen to feedback. There are a lot of little changes that I expect the community to want, and they may not like some of the changes that I have added. During Beta I get to take the time to listen again.

This will probably be the last time that I work in an Alpha release so closed off from input. But this was a huge change to the software and I needed to focus on the bigger structure changes instead of little details that community users tend to ask for.

But that’s it, really. I’m stoked. I hope you are too.