Update 45 - Dungeon Colony Version 0.1.8.38

Today's update (v.0.1.8.38) brings balancing to the engine making resource-gathering faster:

Wall material such as dirt now takes less time to mine than rock. Also in the previous version, only two minions could mine on one wall-tile; now up to 4 can mine on the same wall, but that depends on how many tiles are open/free right in front of the wall. Also improved is the resource gathering behavior: before, a minion would mine or lumber wood and then bring that one resource back to a container. Now the minions mine until they can't carry anymore and then carry the loot to storage. I also adjusted the base carrying capacity and reduced it from 20 to 5. The carrying capacity has also become an up-gradable skill attribute, which increases by 1 point every time it is leveled up.

Here is the summary of the new version:

Game Balance/New Features:

• Changed the weight of certain entities, and reduced the amount a worker can carry from 20 to 5. Carrying weight is now a worker attribute which can be leveled up.
• Mining different resource types takes more or less work: Mining a dirt wall is much faster than mining a rock wall for example.
• Workers now occupy one tile when mining. This poses new benefits and challenges. Lumbering is one Axe per worker.
• Workers now stay at mining/lumbering target locations and mine/lumber until the wall/tree is removed or until they cannot carry anymore.
• When workers finish mining a wall, they carry the collected resources to each dedicated container.
• When mining, if a minion's bag is full and if no storage container is found, the loot is dropped on the ground.

Bugs (Exposed by Alpha Tester. Thanks for playing!):

• Fixes bug caused when fighting boars at map edges.
• Fixes bug caused by attempting to render torches on map borders.

Updates:

• Sending bug reports in separate thread.

Update 44 - Dungeon Colony Version 0.1.8.29

This is probably the shortest update so far as it fixes one ugly bug (null pointer exception) which has caused a lot of errors last night. The error occurred when manually commanding a unit to mine a dungeon wall.

Thank you for catching that alpha testers!

Update 43 - Dungeon Colony Version 0.1.8.28

This version (v0.1.8.28) concludes a week of eliminating bugs and refactoring lots of code. This week, since launching the new Bug-Reporting tool, I received a lot of bugs from my Alpah Testers. Thanks for playing and finding these bugs. 

Summary:

Bugs:

• Alpha-Tester-Generated-Bug: Fixes issue with placing torches on wall with various screen resolution settings. Thanks johnki!
• Fixes bug that caused creatures to twitch erratically during fights like they couldn't make up their mind which target to attack.
• Draws the command indicator over the entity where in some cases it wasn't drawn at the right location.
• Fixes another entity transfer bug which prevented certain transfers of items between containers.
• Fixes bug when trying to select overlapping entities, such as dead creatures overlapping each other.
• Fixes bug with the sunlight at the dungeon entrance. 
• Fixes problem when commanding a creature that was already executing certain orders.
• Fixes minor bugs with entity transportation.

Upgrades:

• Upgraded behavior when minions are ordered to move items and their inventory is either full or the destination is unreachable
• Adds error notification to the user if exception is encountered.
• Allows placing torches on walls which are also marked for mining. Yea, sound contradicting, but is actually useful.
• Allows to re-arm spike traps from a workers' bag.
• Allows to assign workers to existing mining operations
• Refactoring

Tomorrow, I will begin on some game balancing (most likely mining) and if time permits also continue on some entities. 

Update 42 - Dungeon Colony Version 0.1.8.15

Thank you alpha testers! I got a bunch of errors sent again to my Server. I can't believe how I functioned wihtout automatic bug-reporting for so long. Today I found two new null pointer exception and some index outofbound errors in the database. So thank's for causing them, especially since those happened in places I usually completly ignore. 

Today's update (v0.1.8.15) consists of:

• Alpha Tester Bug: Fixes bug when player tried to command Dungeon Master to lumber wood. The master doesn't do that kind of labor, his wisdom requires him to spend time reading books.
• Alpha Tester Bug: Fixes bug which crashed the game when trying to scroll an empty list in the recipe book frame.
• Alpha Tester Bug: Fixes NullPointerException with on screen tool-tips.
• Alpha Tester Bug: Fixes NullPointerException when trying to move Iron Rods from the furnace.

Update 41 - Dungeon Colony Version 0.1.8.11

This update (v0.1.8.11) fixes the first bug which was sent by my new Bug-Reporting tool to the server. I don't know who caused it, but thanks for causing it!!

Here are the updates:

Upgrade:

• Lots of Refactoring.
• Can now order worker to manually transfer an item to a container, ignoring if player put that item on the item-decline list of that container.

Bugs:

• Fixed bug caused by NullPointerException during combat rendering
• Fixed bug that caused NullPointerExcepiion with projectiles.

Update 40 - Dungeon Colony Version 0.1.8.8

This update adds much needed bug-reporting. When a bug crashes the game, the bug report is sent to the server if an internet connection exists. Additionally the game now tracks when the game is started and ended. Unfortunately, the bug-tracking only catches crashing bugs, not anything that is logically wrong but doesn't stop the game. For those bugs, I mainly rely on the community.

This update also fixes a couple of bugs:

• Fixes bug that caused the game to forget the username/passcode when the user checked to remember it locally.
• Fixes bug that allowed to place torches over water. 

Update 39 - Dungeon Colony Version 0.1.8.5

Hello Dungeoneers! 

Besides some web updates, i finally updated something that has been bugging me for a long time, which were the non-existing transitions between discovered and un-discovered land. This update fixes that issue:

To Download and Support Dungeon Colony, click here.

Update 38 - Dungeon Colony Version 0.1.8.3

Hello Everyone

Support Development of Dungeon Colony and Fund any amount that you want. In return get a copy of the game when it's completed.

This update fixes a bug with the Dungeon Master and the previously released BookStand and an animation that didn't quite look as expected. This update also brings order to the list of items that can be discovered. 

Update 37 - Dungeon Colony Version 0.1.8.0

Finally back!!! After travelling and launching another project, Dungeon Colony is back with a new version and this time with a new core item completed, which moves the version number up a notch, to 0.1.8!!!

This version adds a discovery system which allows the dungeon master to read books to learn new crafting recipes and, in future (currently in development), also new spells and other interesting things.

The discovery system is built into the Book Stand. If you build it, you will be able to open the reading list, on which you can choose new items to discover. Each such item shows you the points needed until the discovery is made and a description of what you will discover. 

Only the dungeon master is wise enough to read books. Reading the scripts requires Mana and if the master is hungry, tired or otherwise busy, he will refuse to study the scripts (but he will be nice enough to tell you that). 

The discovery system is still young and contains only a few items. More will be added gradually. 

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This update also brings a few refreshes to the UI. Some new graphics replace old stale ones. The following new icons have been added, among others:

Finally, there is a new item that can be crafted: The Cooking Pot:

This item, while still useless really, will become a new source of food for your creatures. Additionally, you will be able to cook different recipes, which will give bonus rewards when consumed as opposed to the ingredient by itself. Different ingredients will render different results. 

One such ingredient, which was introduced before, will be mushrooms. With the completion of the ShaderEngine 2, mushroom locations can now be determined, as those only grow in the darkness.

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Breakdown of the changes to this new version:

New:

• Dungeon Master Reading Books and Scrolls

1. Allows the DungeonMaster to study/discover. Select the Dungeon Master and right click on the BookStand to command him to study. 
2. That will use his magic and stamina, but it will also create discovery points.
3. Discovery Points are represented as a blue cross emerging from the book in the BookStand. If the BookStand is selected, the discovery points earned so far are displayed within the window, along with what the Dungeon Master is currently reading/discovering.

• Adds new Graphics

1. new Heal Button
2. new Level Up Button and animation
3. new Lumber and Mine icons
4. new entity allowed/not allowed button 

• Adds new object: Cooking Pot

Updated:

• Updates tutorial screenshots.

Bugs:

• Fixes bug when generating map and Dungeon Master getting stuck. 
• Fixed Button Pressed Sound error.