I catch the train for two hours every working day and this time is dedicated solely to development of Asciilands. That's at least ten hours a week plus extra bits of time that I find for the project. This means that the rate of improvement and refinement is very constant and satisfying.
Sometimes, however, there will be a major change that requires more than a one hour block and needs to be done all in one hit so I'll have to save it for the weekend. The last one was to completely rebuild the way the map was rendered from scratch; the one I just completed was re-writing the way the javaScript handles the directional input so that the controls feel more like the RPG games I grew up (better handling of multiple key-presses / releases in various combinations). I've always felt that the feel of the controls of a game can make or break it and I don't want Asciilands to feel in any way sub-par. It's feeling good at the moment so I am, too!
In other, more visible news; the interface has been completely re-imagined! No more nastily placed windows, no more top-left aligned map! It looks like a game now!
The map feels much better in the middle, especially when the light radius is shrinking and growing. Having the player right in the middle always rather than jumping around because of different draw-distances is much more user-friendly.
The other panels of information work much like they did previously except for the Text panel which is part of a new method for making the server-side code interact with the user interface. The new method allows for more interesting interactions than just displaying text. The example shown is a book that allows the user to turn the pages.
Oh the possibilities!
I feel I must apologise, or at the very least acknowledge that it's hard to get much out of these posts when so few of you have used it hands on but some of my more technically inclined friends might be interested in some of the methods and lessons being learned behind the process.
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