5.0.20 out now

Version 5.0.20 is now out. This has a fair few enhancements and bug fixes in it. The main enhancements of note are version 3.90 support, text colour support in Runner, and suspension of text when it fully fills the screen. The full list of changes is as follows:

Enhancements

• Encrypt v5 TAFs (ID 8543)
• Add adventure versioning (ID 8528)
• Conversation node with matching most keywords (ID 8489)
• Implementation of %turns% variable (ID 8372)
• v3.90 support (ID 8347)
• Name the Alternate Description tabs (ID 8072)
• Change colours (ID 8298)
• New Restriction: Ref Character must/must not be Character (ID 1504)
• Option to clear Recent Document History? (ID 4499)
• Ability to turn off auto complete for specific commands/objects (ID 6623)
• Display images in v4 games (ID 8214)
• Text break (ID 523)
• Add [more] to Runner. (ID 4517)
• Ctrl+S to Save in Developer (ID 5149)
• Giving worn objects (ID 5524)
• First/Second/Third person perspective (ID 5310)

Bug Fixes

• Game crash when restart running an .exe file (ID 8381)
• Entire contents of map page jumps to page 1 (ID 8208)
• Search/Replace excludes simple text (ID 8330)
• Runner - Examine me (ID 596)
• Ribbon doesn’t remember if it’s minimised upon close/open (ID 969)
• Tasks, Objects, Events, etc. Numbers not updating (ID 987)
• Text Overrides Do Not Work On Bottom Bar (ID 7538)
• Text Override Last Updated Not Updating (ID 7908)
• Switching Characters (ID 8122)
• Deleting graphics once added to game (ID 8124)
• Examining characters (ID 605)
• Characters starting on Characters (ID 8154)
• Items Not Closing On Opening (ID 8213)
• Setting Character Property values in actions is ad-hoc and not quite right (ID 7313)
• Cutting a folder causes popup and leaves the folder in sidebar but not in any displayed folders (ID 946)
• Objects part of character disappear when character or player is on another object (ID 7289)
• Darkness When On Objects Fails (ID 8173)
• Double Spaces in Alternate Texts. (ID 4051)
• Dropping Characters (ID 6389)
• Asking/telling conversation system (ID 7663)
• Objects part of character (ID 7478)
• NPC’s handling objects (ID 3383)
• PUT ALL in container - BUG (ID 4192)
• Move Character to Parent Location... (ID 6391)
• Again (g) Command Not Working as Expected (ID 7937)
• Dragging folders doesn’t update tree (ID 7955)
• Drag folder onto subfolder of itself (ID 7952)

Release 19 out now - (the Free one)

I have just uploaded ADRIFT 5.0.19.  This is the first version of Developer to be released (since 3.9.20 anyway) to have no registration restricting the use of the software.

There aren't a huge number of changes in this release as a large chunk (sorry!) of my time has been spent getting Blorbs working.  This now means images can be packaged along with the adventure into a single file, and run directly.

The full list of changes in this version is:

Enhancements

• Add Blorb support (ID 6170)
• Make Developer free (ID 7380)
• Set full screen view as default in runner (ID 6995)

Bug Fixes

• Runner Crash - Char on Himself (ID 6392)
• Retroactive Property Assignment/Edits (ID 952)
• Characters No Longer Listed By Default (ID 6390)
• Spaces in variable names (ID 6162)
• password system failure (ID 6322)
• Change & Use of the Character Name Property (ID 7539)
• Debugger does not list failed restrictions (ID 6329)
• Disambiguation broken (ID 7308)
• Conversation Keyword / Uppercase (ID 7128)
• Error when detaching map and creating new folder (ID 6236)
• Arranging non-existing windows (ID 5893)

New Website

I have just launched a new ADRIFT website at http://www.adrift.co.  The old site should now redirect to this site.

The layout is based on the old site, but has many improvements including:

• Single Login - all authentication on site uses the forum logins.
• Profiles - every user has a profile, showing uploaded adventures and any reviews they have created.
• Searchable adventures - you can now filter on title and description.
• Page per adventure - each adventure now has it's own page showing the most useful reviews.
• Cover art - can be assigned to each adventure
• Amazon style ratings - Ratings can be rated, meaning the most useful ones are displayed first.
• Integrated blog - the blogger ADRIFT blog is now the News page.
• New post highlight - If new posts have been added to the Forum, the link will become highlighted.
• Facebook LIKE button - Each game now has a like button, allowing people to promote their own games.
• Latest forum posts - This mini-list is now properly tied into the permissions of the user.
• Self Reviews - It is no longer possible (without creating a separate account) to review your own games.

There is still a little tidying up to do, so please let me know if you find any problems.

At what cost?

I have decided to take the plunge, and offer ADRIFT 5 for free.

There are several reasons for doing this. These include the release of Inform 7, which is easier to use than it's predecessor (although still not a patch on ADRIFT!) and makes it simpler for non-programmers to get started with. Also with Quest becoming free it increases the number of no-pay alternatives, making the decision of which system to use somewhat more difficult. In addition, a large proportion of the ADRIFT user-base are minors who do not have easy access to online payments.

I really think ADRIFT 5 has the potential to become a major player in the IF world - but only at the right price. It is by far the easiest system to use, and has been for some time. Now at least, that ease of use will be open to everyone.

The first free version will be 5.0.19. I don't anticipate this will be ready for release for a good few weeks yet however.

Linux version now available

I've uploaded a Linux version of Runner to the ADRIFT website. This makes use of the Mono Framework.

The software is still pretty buggy, especially the Mono version which is not 100% compatible with Windows, but it should be possible to run games reasonably well.

I'm obviously new at creating Linux distributions, so if anyone has any suggestions of improvements, please let me know.

I also introduced a couple of major bugs in 5.0.18, so I have fixed these, and the versions on the website are now 5.0.18.2.

5.0.18 out now

I have just uploaded 5.0.18 to the ADRIFT website. Along with the usual load of bug fixes, there are some nice enhancements such as improved flexibility of specific task overrides and Undo. The full list is as follows:

Enhancements

• Bracket Check For Restrictions. (ID 4610)
• wait and again (ID 5560)
• Improve Intellisense (ID 4619)
• Run sub task Instead of/Before/After parent task (ID 5503)
• Saved game file option (ID 5525)
• Linux Runner (ID 4558)
• Undo (ID 4792)
• Room Names (ID 58)

Bug Fixes

• Restore Error from Start Location (ID 5167)
• Syntax Highlighting Minor Issue (ID 5403)
• Runner not to close when quitting game (ID 5492)
• Map Tools|Add Location ribbon button is non-functional (ID 5521)
• Move Character To Parent Location (ID 5602)
• Conversation not counting as task output (ID 2694)
• Map - Deleting Links (ID 2664)
• Developer memory leak (ID 5526)
• Properties scrollbar (ID 5634)
• Adding Properties (ID 3048)
• Reordering Restrictions (ID 4569)
• Command color in the transcript inconsistent? (ID 4437)
• Starting Character On Objects - Runner Crash (ID 5454)
• Alternate text tab re-ordering (ID 5510)
• Alternate Descriptions in Properties. (ID 5449)
• Alternate Descriptions in Text Properties (ID 5007)
• Objects in worn or held containers considered worn or held (ID 4229)
• Moving folders (ID 5381)
• Unregistered version not saving modules of any size (ID 5380)
• Object Recognition Using %Objects% (ID 5130)
• Error when saving game (ID 5277)
• Runner Crash - PC in Same Location as Any Object (ID 4736)
• Character Sub Object Error (ID 4759)
• Prevent Task From Being Inherited (ID 4656)
• LongLocationDescription property isn’t working (ID 4565)
• Unselecting Selection Only Properties in Actions (ID 4414)
• Problem loading/saving files on different regional settings (ID 4346)

Linux Runner

I've been working on a Linux version of ADRIFT 5 Runner, which runs using the Mono Framework. This has required a few tweaks around Window-isms and stripping out the third party libraries, but it is looking quite promising so far, and I don't anticipate any major problems.

All being well I will be releasing this shortly after the next Windows release.