Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Bi-weekly ADOM Update: Pending release schedule, roguelike conference, ADOM Lite RPG & progress

Hi everyone!

A couple of days later than planned here we go with the latest ADOM update:
  • Yesterday (Tuesday) I spent 12 hours with Jochen, among other things discussing our pending release schedule. We (and the whole team) agreed that we'll now ASAP release the next version, first to our prerelease testers (for a first public quality control), then as a Steam beta (for a controlled Steam quality control) and then as a general Steam release. We want to have the prerelease test version out within the next 5-7 days (Jochen still has a couple of minor things to fix, otherwise we are ready), then spend about 5 days for each of the test phases and then go to Steam (barring any unforeseen critical trouble). In the end I hope that the next bi-weekly update will announce the general Steam release. The graphical character generation now is fully functional and pretty cool - we have more ideas for minor optimizations and enhancements but don't want to delay the next release any further.
  • ADOM Lite RPG has been edited and fixed once more, fixing all problems found that I reported here. The next (and hopefully final) version has been sent to Lulu (the POD service I'm using) and I'm now waiting for the next (and hopefully finally) print test version. If that version is ok I'll start ordering about 600 print versions of the RPG and also will open the address check process (maybe earlier). We are finally getting there. I guess there will be very good news in the next bi-weekly update.
  • I have continued working on the new Rolf and Volcano quests as well as on ideas for minor maps. Things are progressing. But it's all for the release after the next ;-)
  • I am trying to free up some more time for ADOM and I am pretty optimistic that I will be able to spend the next 2-3 months in a kind of part-time sabbatical that will be dedicated to two major tasks (and several private minor tasks): (a) Finishing the ADOM crowdfunding features that were promised so long ago and (b) selling my birth house (which has been standing empty for two years now and I really need some time to tackle this). Things are looking good for the time I'm craving and I hope to be able to report very positive confirmed news with the next bi-weekly update. Keep your fingers crossed.
  • I was made aware of an awesome Roguelike Celebration going to happen on the 17th of September in San Francisco (here's the Facebook page). I totally want to go there and have submitted a talk about "24 years of ADOM in 24 minutes" that has been accepted. I already bought the tickets for the conference, found a very good flight and now am fighting with the hotel prices in SF - they are nothing but insane for anything decent. As I am kind of a tourist fanboy of SF and love the Wharf area and everything nearby I'd like to have a hotel close to the Wharf - but prices seem to have at least tripled in the last couple of years and now are completely ridiculous (more than $4.000 for one week? Come on - that's insane). I yet have to find a good solution - the AirBNB offerings I found did not make me happy as they were missing parking lots for a rented car and I seem to remember that not having a parking lot nearby in SF could be a very miserable thing defeating the whole purpose of a rented car. So any advice and tips are very welcome while I'm trying to find a good (and comfortable) solution (I'm getting older as it seems and do not like camping-style or hostel-style arrangements ;-) ). I'll post more regarding the celebration as I am totally excited about the chance of getting to meet so many roguelike legends and already have been digging in ancient ADOM files for nice stories for the talk - and I have found quite a few very funny things already that I had completely forgotten about. And I guess I'll probably be showing some source code at the talk ;-) But more in future posts about that.
  • Finally the ADOM Memorial website for all crowdfunding donors (who wanted to be listed) is live. Thanks once more to everyone who supported us (also the unnamed heroes that preferred to remain anonymous). It's also nicely linked from the main page (refresh if you can't see the badge in the upper right). Thanks to Krys for the great new art!
That's it for the past two weeks. Hopefully we have some release news very soon up here :-)

7 comments:

  1. Great news! And a release in the pipeline, wow. Looking forward to that.

    Have fun in SF, and good luck with the rest of it.

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  2. Travelodge is a little motel right down the street from the San Francisco international airport that I almost always stay at whenever I visit San Francisco, because it's basically the cheapest place you'll find in the entire bay area. It's fairly nice for what it is, and it has it's own parking lot, and an iHop. The wi-fi is frequently frustrating, unless you're close to the main office, though.

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  3. "Donor Memorial" link is missing from the "Press Kit" page.

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    1. Just for the record: fixed :) Changes will go online sometime soon (I hope).

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  4. Looking forward to the release!

    First time one of my characters sprouted tentacles I laughed so hard I nearly wet my pants ;) That's 20 years ago and I still find it funny.

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