Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Happy Holidays

Hey everyone,

Just taking a lunch break to get a post out to you guys.  As a few of you know, this year has brought a lot of changes for me, and I've had almost no time to myself for most of it.  I did have a long vacation a month ago, but aside from that I've been on the move constantly.  I do still check the forums though and it's good to see people still enjoying D2TGP.

Frontliner started up a new chat room that uses some security measures, so hopefully it won't get spammed into oblivion any time soon if I post it here:
http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=dune2TGP
We'll call this the "Official Chatroom" of D2TGP for now.  There is of course also the forums and the Steam group, and you can find other resources on YouTube and Facebook.  But when you want to find a game with someone else, check out this chatroom first.

As for me, I've still got a lot of work to do, and hope to get settled into a new place early next year.  I haven't had time for any kind of a project but I hope to get more free time after that.  We'll see how it goes.

I hope you all have a great holiday season!

Cheers

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Dunecraft world for download

Hi guys,
My new job is fantastic, but I don't have time for much else nowadays, and I've got some ambitious plans moving on.  So, I'll no longer be hosting the Dune 2-based Minecraft server.  The hosting company went down and I was lucky to get one last backup of my world files, and I don't have the time anyway.  So, head to forum and download the world files if you so desire.  I'd love it if someone else hosted it and spent more time on it.

Have fun guys.

-Drackbolt

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Dunecraft changes

Hey everyone,

Well things have moved along... I start my new job tomorrow, and I've successfully moved the Dunecraft server to an online hoster, as well as gotten a number of mods installed (my curiosity ran right over my apprehension :) ) and set up permissions.  So, the server is now open to the public at 50.22.62.244:25568, but you still need to post in the forums if you want permissions to modify the world.  However, this will at least give anyone interested the chance to come in and look around.

Cheers

Thursday, June 02, 2011

New job!

Hey everyone,

I just scored myself what looks like will be a fantastic new full-time job in Chicago, so I'm going to be pretty busy over the next month getting my old position wrapped up and settling into the new one.  This happened unexpectedly quickly so it's going to put a hold on my new projects for at least a while.  But, I think it will be a huge step up for me and has the potential to be the best job I've ever had.  :)

On a related note, I'm tired of the Minecraft server hogging my personal bandwidth and time, so I'm going to buy space on a hosted server to run it.  I'll keep the boards in the D2TGP forums updated to show the new address and keep you guys informed.  My plan is to keep up with the whitelist, but I might also use the hosted server's tools to add some mods or other neat stuff.  Stay tuned on that!

I hope everyone's having a good year so far.  See you guys on Steam, the forums, in Dunecraft, and YouTube. :)

Cheers

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Dunecraft!

I'm now making my Dune 2-based Minecraft server public.  It is whitelisted however, so you'll need to go to the forums and post your username in the General Topics board so I can add you.

Cheers!

Friday, April 15, 2011

New chat channel

Hey all,
Frontliner has found and set up a new chat channel for people interested in some D2TGP games with others.  Head to the forums to get the info.  It doesn't require Steam or anything but a browser to run. :)  However, since it is wide open in terms of security, please only direct people to the forum if you'll post about it elsewhere; do not post the link to the chatroom.  If you put the actual address up here (or if I did that), we'll end up with a ton of bots spamming the living daylights out of the room in no time.

Cheers

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Another status update

Hey everybody,
Well, the big changes in my life are still getting along.  Hopefully some things settle down soon.

First, about D2TGP.  I am basically ceasing development on a personal level.  The rest of the code that contains bugs and other issues is either too old or no longer supported much in the libraries that were used, and it's not equitable anymore for me to spend my time on it, especially since the game is actually pretty stable at this point.  However, I have begun a fledgling partnership with the honorable gentleman Tibit (creator of the early network library I used in D2TGP) and we are now embarking on at least one other project; sort of a "warm-up" game to see how good of a team we can make.  I'll probably put up details now and then on this site.  If things go well, we have many other ideas to work on afterward, so times are exciting and optimistic right now.  One of those possible projects may involve use of some of my D2TGP code, which is one of the reasons I can't yet commit to releasing the source code.

I'm also going to start creating a lot of YouTube content.  This will include the Dune 2-based Minecraft server I am putting up, some Dune 2 casts now and then, and other random topics.  It will all go up at the http://youtube.com/Dune2Online channel, so I hope you'll visit and subscribe.

One last thing; I won't forget you D2TGP Donators when and if we actually release something. :)  Stay tuned as we plan to have something to show for ourselves before end of the year.

Cheers
Drackbolt

Monday, February 28, 2011

1.1.16 fixed

Sorry about the bad uploads yesterday... should be fixed now!

Sunday, February 27, 2011

1.1.16 Release (Win)

I'm in the process of moving to a new place, so I don't know when I'll get back to coding.  It may not be the smartest idea to release at such a time, but I wanted to get something out for you guys.  These changes have been in place in the beta for a while and appear to be working pretty well.
Please PAY ATTENTION to these changes as some of them alter gameplay significantly.
Changelog since 1.1.15:

  • Spice is now very evenly distributed during random map generation.  No more giant "no spice zones".  This affects a lot of things so I'm looking forward to feedback.
  • Merc group costs raised by 25% (yeah you guys beat me down on this)
  • Carryall strength lowered by 25% and Harvester strength reduced by 33% to make harvesting easier to harass effectively (also happens to make offensive drops harder)
  • Fremen: +2.5 Strength, +3 Bonus Damage
  • Wall: production time halved
  • Gun Turret and Rocket Turret: +1 Range
  • And finally, drum roll please...  Tier 2 upgrades!  This includes damage and strength upgrades for all types of units, and also an upgrade here is required in order to be able to access Mercs.  These options can currently ONLY be accessed after ALL other IX upgrades have been researched.
  • Fixed bug with canceling Barracks orders not applying to Fremen
  • Fixed bugs with Alliance access to Barracks/WOR

Monday, January 31, 2011

General status update

Hey everyone,
As some of you know, I've got some big changes coming up in my life, not least of which is relocation.  I'm looking at places and have a heck of a lot to do and plan for, so I'm not devoting a lot of time to D2TGP right now.  Any free time I have goes to my personal life or playing Minecraft to chill out.  I just wanted to say THANK YOU to all the forum members who have donated and also to all those who have been working hard to get extra players involved in the community and bring them up to speed once they arrive.  I no longer feel like I have quite the burden I used to.  Currently the biggest contributors are Puxii (aka Frontliner), Sevain, and TheRaffy.  So, if you see any of these players online or have the pleasure to talk to them, rest assured that you are talking to long-time users with a ton of experience and knowledge to pass on.
Thanks for your patience everyone.  Things will pick up again in a couple months most likely.  I'll keep slowly chipping away at betas though in the mean time.

Jesse

Sunday, January 09, 2011

1.1.15 Release (Win)

Many, many fixes for stability and bugs.  This version was taken a long way through beta in the Donators forum and is now ready for public release.  I've also had reports that network games with more than 2 human players are at least sometimes possible with no lag or crashes, which is great!

Linux release will come later.

Changes since 1.1.14b:

  • Altered map sending from network to client to send only Seed value when in Random mode
  • Updated and fixed many issues in Mapmaker mode
  • Enabled Vertical Sync to smooth graphics
  • Some resolutions are now available only in full-screen mode
  • Fremen are now Infantry units with altered statistics (Forum Manual will be updated)
  • Map scrolling is now restricted to map boundaries
  • Fixed bug with larger maps causing client to timeout in network games before all data is received (adds a 1-second delay to the game start)
  • Fixed bugs with crashes in full-screen mode
  • Fixed bug preventing Infantry from being visible after losing Radar or changing Zoom level
  • Fixed bugs with some objects being visible in certain positions in unexplored areas
  • Fixed bug with Frigates drawing in unexplored zones
  • Fixed graphical bugs with drawing stealth circles, turrets, and damage smoke at high Zoom
  • Fixed bugs with disconnect messages sometimes not showing names
  • Fixed bugs with selecting buildings in high Zoom
  • Fixed bugs with unit Deviator Conversion having previous Orders locked in place
  • Fixed bug with client not showing harvested spice as cleared sand on minimap
  • Fixed bug with system timer causing crashes if a user's computer was on for many days in a row