Liberal Arts Major
Still empty.
Instead, I'm going to continue working on it until the New Year. But, because I'm such a swell guy, I'll be writing some "previews" explaining the changes and so on and so forth that will be released on what I hope won't be a too-irregular basis as the week goes on.
Tonight I'm just going to provide some background on this update. Saturday I'll talk about those thirteen-odd white spaces you see on the map, and we'll go from there.
The Long Road To Version 3.0
The most observant among you may have noticed that we went from version 2.3ish to version 3.0 without paying any attention to the numbers in between. This was not originally the plan. When I first set out to make SS, my projection was something along these lines:
1. Alpha, Beta, Gamma: the basics
2. v1.0+: the basics... with more content
3. v2.0+: further development on game itself, including that MMO stuff
4. v3.0+: finalization
So, naturally, when I first began this whole year-end renovation project back in March, I figured I would just add some new features, fix some bugs, toss in some content and - HOLY JESUS WHAT IS THIS HOW DID THIS GET HERE I AM NOT GOOD WITH COMPUTERS.
You see, SS's code was always sketchy at best. Over the long hiatus I lost track of just how sketchy that was. So, I had to choose between building on top of a dubious base or functionally starting from scratch. I chose the latter.
Unfortunately, v2.0's contributions were all terrible, so the multiplayer-ish features introduced in that run were the first to go. In fact, v3.0 as of now allows for zero interaction with other players - even PvP has been disabled. The reason for this is that I would like to get the single-player aspects down before moving on to everything else.
Next, pages had to be renovated. Every single spell was redone (except for those that were removed, of course). The field system was remade. The battle system got a behind-the-scenes rewrite. The quest system was demolished and rebuild from the ground up. And so on. In all, a few thousand lines of code were added simply to prop up the existing structure.
Meanwhile, I had to develop the storyline, attacks, and so on. These were all left for last, since they're the least time-sensitive.
As I noted in the relevant topic, the ridiculous volume of work this implied forced me to focus my efforts solely on SS and ignore other concerns. Consequently, I changed that plan to encompass the whole of 2010 (and maybe 2011), beginning with this release.
The Future of Summoner's Seal
This release is still very much a work in progress. The main difference is that, unlike all previous versions, v3.0 marks a movement toward SS becoming an actual game as opposed to... whatever it was before.
It's also the last version: there won't be any 4.0 or above. Instead, the update scheme will now change to reflect builds in addition to versions. For instance, due to my being in Boise at the moment and the majority of my notes being in Seattle, a few things will have to wait until after the Christmas break in order to get done. When that update is finished, I'll change the version to v3.0.1. More major updates (like multiplayer stuff) might earn e.g. v3.1.x status, but there isn't anything after v3.9.x except more builds.
Other than that, there's not much to say. Owing to my schedule and laziness, I can't predict with any degree of certainty when anything will get done, but I can say that progress is far more likely when I'm not in school.
Merry Christmas
That's all I have to say for now. Merry Christmas, everyone!
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~ Ogordemir ~
"The sciences have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age." ~ H.P Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu
Message last edited by Ogordemir99 on 12/24/2009 at 08:27:16 PM
Editor
best christmas ever
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"There's a pony in the shop, but don't buy it. It might do something unfortunate to you." ~from the first Summoner's Seal topic