Prototype 1.027 and Closed Test

Hi guys,

Version 1.027

I’ve been working sleeplessly the last few nights to get saving and loading working for the October 31st start of the closed prototype period. Sadly, I didn’t quite get it working yet. However, I think that *world* saving and loading works just fine. That is, you can generate a continent, save it, and later use that continent for a new game (but you can’t yet save or load game state properly).

We’ve also got a few new (better looking) GUI things, like a better loading bar and widgets:

Closed Test

Version 1.027 will be the last free, publicly available release of the prototype. From now on, releases will be available exclusively for our Kickstarter/Paypal backers until we’re ready to release the game. We have uploaded this version to Steam and are waiting on the Humble Bundle guys to deliver Steam keys and a DRM-free build of version 1.027 to our backers of $20 and more (on both Paypal and Kickstarter). This should hopefully happen sometime tomorrow (October 31st).

In the meantime, you can get this version on our Download page.

Here’s the full list of changes for version 1.027:

Changelog

• – Fixed some GUI focus bugs (particularly with combobox)
• – Added GUI popup windows for some info
• – Started to create new (prettier) GUI skin
• – Improved behavior of the “scroll view” GUI widget
• – Added ability to save and load “worlds” (not game state yet.)
• – Added a “world” field to generated worlds
• – Limited ability to save and load game state implemented (but currently disabled for further testing)
• – Fixed invisible wood/apple bugs
• – Balloon timer set to minute/two minute cycle
• – Up and Down keys now go up and down in 1 level increments instead of 2 (was a bug)
• – Added a (buggy) slider to go up and down slices
• – The bottom of the world is now invincible to dwarf pickaxes, and has a cobblestone texture
• – Dwarves get properly lit while at the bottom of the world.
• – This version no longer checks for automatic updates.
• – This is the last version to be publicly available.

Hiring

I went to the Pittsburgh Halloween studio crawl dressed in a $20 Dwarf costume I constructed out of a plastic construction helmet, a horrible “biker beard” and a plastic shovel. There, I distributed free postcards and demoed the game, in hopes of finding some like-minded local game developers to help us make DwarfCorp. No idea whether that was successful or not, but I got to meet a lot of cool local people making cool games! Thanks to AlphaLab and the PIGDA for letting us set up a booth.

We’ve also resorted to “Plan B” in hiring local people: physical flyers at CMU. We’ve started getting a few responses to these flyers and are looking through resumes now.