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Forum: Announcements

     New level sets (Reef AND Mountains) November 2004.
     
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Australia (WA)Wil

Single Player
wilamristar.com.au

Mon Nov 1, 2004 7:44 am   Post subject: New level sets (Reef AND Mountains) November 2004. Not logged in.

Hello,

After a crazy few weeks of post production and testing BOTH new level sets are almost ready. Reef is pretty much there (general levels) and Mountains (puzzle-type) are more or less done (well, the teamwork levels are only half there). The final 20-30 levels of a total of a new 204 levels are not done and others still need naming. Despite this, it's announcement time!

The level sets will be made along with a slight upgrade (better F-keys and small changes) will be made this month. Keep an eye here to see exactly when. I will send an announcement with a "little" notice, but expect it to be midday GMT on a Thursday, probably the 25th.

Questions, comments, suggestions, etc welcome here. Some levels may be a little easier to get 1000 points on than usual (I *may* have been influenced when trying to unbiasedly set score) but other than that expect one general set and one challenging set. I was pretty happy to finally solve levels 78 and 79 on the weekend : ... since it's hard to set levels that you can't solve and always a good idea to ensure levels are possible (in teamwork too).

These will be the last standard level sets released. After these are out I will concentrate on the web site, Java version and game improvements (sound, etc). The next level set release will have been made by the players... expected 2006!?

Enjoy the new level competition ... coming soon...

:
Germany (Mainz)Dirkimops

Single Player
dirkimopsgmx.de

Mon Nov 1, 2004 9:32 am   Post subject: Not logged in.

That sounds great! Till then I'll try to get better scores in some Fruity levels and maybe in Homelands, and maybe I'll try level 42 in the Forest again. So I think time will fly till the release date.
Australia (Qld)DREAM

Single Player
dream68gmail.com

Wed Nov 3, 2004 2:29 am   Post subject: level editor Not logged in.

Once you've released them, we all might need that level editor to make these player made levels possible..........cant wait for the new level sets even though i am only half way through levelset 6 having completed 5 in a week, but they were easy. I must say i am looking forward to the mountain(puzzle) set....I like puzzles........quite a lot
Finlandasarkila

Single Player
ari.sarkilahtigmail.com

Mon Nov 8, 2004 6:35 am   Post subject: Not logged in.

Quote (DREAM):
Once you've released them, we all might need that level editor to make these player made levels possible..........cant wait for the new level sets even though i am only half way through levelset 6 having completed 5 in a week, but they were easy. I must say i am looking forward to the mountain(puzzle) set....I like puzzles........quite a lot
I love'em too. Nice to have new levels.
Australia (WA)Wil

Single Player
wilamristar.com.au

Tue Nov 16, 2004 9:37 am   Post subject: Not logged in.

Expected release date 29th Novemeber. All levels ready, pending teamwork possiblity testing.
Germany (Mainz)Dirkimops

Single Player
dirkimopsgmx.de

Fri Nov 26, 2004 7:17 am   Post subject: Not logged in.

Quote (Wil):
Expected release date 29th Novemeber. All levels ready, pending teamwork possiblity testing.

Only three days to go. Will the release date be kept? Have to plan my holiday. :
Dirk, curious about the competition in the new level sets
Australia (Qld)DREAM

Single Player
dream68gmail.com

Mon Nov 29, 2004 2:16 am   Post subject: Not logged in.

With baited breath we wait.........
Australia (WA)Wil

Single Player
wilamristar.com.au

Mon Nov 29, 2004 9:43 am   Post subject: Will be delayed. Not logged in.

Sorry guys, after my holiday and a big party I managed to catch a virus (a really nasty one) which in combination with lack of sleep, dehydration, alchol consumption, etc, left me unable to do a great deal. :

I've just turned on my computer for the first time in 9 days and consequently am in no condition to make a quick release. I plan to do some testing tonight or tomorrow. If all goes really smoothly I'll make a release tomorrow (about midday GMT), otherwise later in the week (probably the 1st or 2nd of December).

I'll email an announcement soon after, otherwise keep an eye out here for the exact time.

I've made all my solid deadlines before, pity life got in the way this time. :

Australia (WA)Wil

Single Player
wilamristar.com.au

Mon Nov 29, 2004 9:57 am   Post subject: Not logged in.

shit, they're 88 things that need attention on the Mountain level set, mostly names, with some testing and score setting. Maybe I'll just release Reef for now.... thoughts?
Germany (Mainz)Dirkimops

Single Player
dirkimopsgmx.de

Mon Nov 29, 2004 10:12 am   Post subject: Not logged in.

Quote (Wil):
shit, they're 88 things that need attention on the Mountain level set, mostly names, with some testing and score setting. Maybe I'll just release Reef for now.... thoughts?
You could send some screenshots (not too big) of the levels which need to be named. Maybe for some of them a good name can be found just by looking at them. Okay, the name wouldn't say anything about the gameplay of the level, but who cares?
By the way "Cat be still" is still one of my favorite level names. ;-)

In any case you can send me some screenshots per e-mail. If you like.
Australia (Qld)DREAM

Single Player
dream68gmail.com

Mon Nov 29, 2004 10:05 pm   Post subject: Not logged in.

sure release the reef set first no problems and some screenshots so we can name the levels....hehe.....sounds good
Australia (Qld)DREAM

Single Player
dream68gmail.com

Mon Nov 29, 2004 11:24 pm   Post subject: Not logged in.

i just thought better still release the mountain set with no names and let us play them and suggest names...
Finlandasarkila

Single Player
ari.sarkilahtigmail.com

Tue Nov 30, 2004 5:23 am   Post subject: Not logged in.

Quote (DREAM):
i just thought better still release the mountain set with no names and let us play them and suggest names...
First of all, update your antivirussoftware : I wouldn't wanna see the levels because part of the thrill of bd4 for me is to see the next level as I complete the levels. As fas as the naming goes, I sure wouldn't mind levels without names and naming those afterwards but if that is something you feel you shoud do then you got to do it. I think we can wait a few days more ... or can we ?
Germany (Mainz)Dirkimops

Single Player
dirkimopsgmx.de

Tue Nov 30, 2004 7:46 am   Post subject: Not logged in.

Just another idea for naming the levels. Well, the level set is called Mountains, so why not give the levels names of mountains? The harder the level, the higher the mountain.
So you would start with levels like Ben More of Mull, Buachaille Etive Mor, Bruach na frithe, Ben Nevis (for our Scottish dashers), continue with levels like Mt. Kosciusko, Mount Ruapehu, Zugspitze, Mt Erebus, Großglockner, Mount Cook, Matterhorn, Montblanc, then climb Popocatepetl, Kilimanjaro, Tupungato and finally reach (or not) Nanga Parbat, Kangchenjunga, K2 and Mount Everest.
Ok, I sit down and am quiet...
Australia (WA)Wil

Single Player
wilamristar.com.au

Wed Dec 1, 2004 7:06 am   Post subject: Getting close Not logged in.

Okay, I took a day to "finish" things off and I'm glad I did. At least 5 levels were impossible, 4 in teamwork and level 80 (singles) for mountains. I had notes to replace a bomb with a green gem but hadn't done it, yet the "needed" was changed, hence you needed one more gem than was there (and none could be created). Teamwork issues were oversights like one player has no keys, rocks block the second player or the absolute classic, one exit.

I now have recordings of all but 6 levels. Two of these are teamwork levels and I believe possible (haven't had time to find a skillful player and test them and can't be done (easily) with two hands (one mind). The others are level 80 which I believe are possible, teamwork Mountains is definately possible (have done both sides but not in the same game) and reasonably easy once a method has been found.

Level names: Unfortunately it's not that easy to change the names without making server changes so levels are recognised (since the name is actually part of the level)... this makes it hard to change them often, etc. Sorry about that. Dirkimops, I may have already mentioned "Cat be still." was inspired by an Autstralian Film called "Bad Boy Bubby" which is a pretty cool film of several levels. It's generally quite disturbing so it may be better to think of the level name as being cool without seeing the film! Hey, last time I saw it was Sept 11 three years ago. Pressing stop revealed something very unexpected.

Thanks for the mountain name suggestion.... I may still use one (or two) ... 9 levels to name (of 204 new levels).

Release: It will most probably happen today, I'll make it midday GMT to be consistent with last time. The levels will be up the web site but not be able to be played before then so you can have a look. I'll get it all sorted and make the files available at 12:00 GMT.

Good luck and spread the word, especially to sleeping bd4 players! :

Australia (WA)Wil

Single Player
wilamristar.com.au

Wed Dec 1, 2004 9:25 am   Post subject: Not logged in.

Anyone got ideas for names for mountain levels ... 23, 34, 53, 61, 62 and teamwork levels 44, 56 and 60. :
Germany (Mainz)Dirkimops

Single Player
dirkimopsgmx.de

Wed Dec 1, 2004 10:19 am   Post subject: Not logged in.

Well, the pictures are pretty small, so I've no idea how the gameplay might be. So here are just some proposals for names, and of course you'll think now I'm crazy.
23 Singles: City map
34 Singles: Haven't I seen that before?
53 Singles: Vegetable patches
61 Singles: Not the English flag
62 Singles: Lots of ivy
44 Teamwork: Afterglow
56 Teamwork: Jumping boxes
60 Teamwork: Level without a name
Well, maybe someone has got some better ideas.
Australia (WA)Wil

Single Player
wilamristar.com.au

Wed Dec 1, 2004 11:35 am   Post subject: Sneaky! Not logged in.

Well, seems lasttry hs managed to post a few games. Since the levels are there he was able to play via the server..... I thought I'd got around this since the server currently "does not know" about the new levels. The problem was "the server did know" about them a little while ago when I was doing the final testing..... and it cached this fact. When I "made it unavailable" I forgot to tell the cache to reset, hence while I'd tried to play and failed "lasttry" managed to slip in under the net. Hmmm, I feel I should let him play for managing this. Nah. :

Sorry dude, wait another 20 minutes!

Germanylasttry

Single Player
jfls6.cs.uni-dortmund.de

Wed Dec 1, 2004 11:52 am   Post subject: Not logged in.

Quote (Wil):

Well, seems lasttry hs managed to post a few games. Since the levels are there he was able to play via the server..... I thought I'd got around this since the server currently "does not know" about the new levels. The problem was "the server did know" about them a little while ago when I was doing the final testing..... and it cached this fact. When I "made it unavailable" I forgot to tell the cache to reset, hence while I'd tried to play and failed "lasttry" managed to slip in under the net. Hmmm, I feel I should let him play for managing this. Nah. :

Sorry dude, wait another 20 minutes!

: Yeah, I jumped at it :
Australia (WA)Wil

Single Player
wilamristar.com.au

Wed Dec 1, 2004 11:55 am   Post subject: Not logged in.

And it seems since you're playing the PC version all you had to do is press "play" from the web pages.... maybe I should have let you go :
Finlandasarkila

Single Player
ari.sarkilahtigmail.com

Wed Dec 1, 2004 2:09 pm   Post subject: Not logged in.

Quote (Wil):
And it seems since you're playing the PC version all you had to do is press "play" from the web pages.... maybe I should have let you go :
Could you add ticket support for new levels ?
Germany (Mainz)Dirkimops

Single Player
dirkimopsgmx.de

Thu Dec 2, 2004 7:02 am   Post subject: Not logged in.

Quote (asarkila):
Could you add ticket support for new levels ?
Ticket support? You mean playing offline and checking tickets in and out? This should work. That's the way I played yesterday.
Haven't you downloaded the new version yet?
Australia (WA)Wil

Single Player
wilamristar.com.au

Fri Dec 3, 2004 12:30 am   Post subject: Not logged in.

There was never an issue with tickets not working, just that if you are behind a firewall you need to use the web pages to check tickets out... these had tick boxes to include/exclude level sets. When asarkila tried there were no boxes for Reef or Mountains. I added them (changed one line of code) and updated the live site without bothering to reply. So, you're both doing fine :
Finlandasarkila

Single Player
ari.sarkilahtigmail.com

Fri Dec 3, 2004 6:33 am   Post subject: Not logged in.

Quote (Wil):
There was never an issue with tickets not working, just that if you are behind a firewall you need to use the web pages to check tickets out... these had tick boxes to include/exclude level sets. When asarkila tried there were no boxes for Reef or Mountains. I added them (changed one line of code) and updated the live site without bothering to reply. So, you're both doing fine :

Yep, that's what I meant. Thanks for fixing it.
BTW. The feature of changing levelsets by pushing a button is great but when one is using a ticket every push results in a popup dialog which says something like "you have 1500 games and 30.0 days left". Is this really necessary to show on every levelset ? I guess it's either this messagedialog or an errordialog if the user's ticket does not include the selected levelset ? It would be more convenient to the user if it was shown only after you have "logged in".
If they(popupdialogs) are necessary (and maybe even if they are removed) maybe a dropdownmenu of levelset names would be more convenient when jumping to a levelset at the other end of the list so that one doesn't need to go through all the levelsets in between.
Minor things I know, but bd4 so damn near perfect that I can concentrate on these kind of things :