News for Threediopolis

This should be the final release of my IFComp 2013 game. I've plugged a lot of holes with standard and helper verbs and even added a few jokes. But I'm up against the z-machine limit for debug mode, so I can't fit much else in.

The main feature is allowing for the header to track advanced mode puzzles. I got rid of a few of the sketchier locations. The game should be sped up slightly, though you may not notice the difference in Z-Machine.

https://github.com/andrewschultz/threediopolis/releases/tag/v4 holds the link. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/andrewschultz/threediopolis/v4/threediopolis_release_4_notes.txt has the changes.

Thanks to Zarf for the regtest.py regression script which helped me pinpoint changes to make and stop worrying if I'd tested this or that verb/feature. http://eblong.com/zarf/plotex/regtest.html -- give it a look if you're an Inform programmer.

Oh, and looking forward to other IFCompers' post-release efforts, big or small.

Threediopolis is now in release 3, with many bug fixes, text tweaks, and new aids for the player. The walkthrough/logic was tuned up.

While the game is being uploaded to IFArchive, the dropbox link on the game page should work.

Empty commands now nudge you to an easy puzzle left, and some "close" sectors even give hints.

But wait! There's even more! You now have a new game of sorts. There are 80 pieces of scenery to find in Threediopolis. They're not intended to be easy, and you don't have to solve them all.

Thanks to Sean M. Shore for some really great testing work to make sure my new features were up to scratch and even pointing out a really good feature that sadly had to wait for release 4. I fixed a lot with his help, aesthetically and technically.

Source code is available if you want spoilers.

Also, to view the scenery sub-game directly, type (Spoiler - click to show)SEE NEW SEENS.

Looking forward to other recent IFCompers' revised versions, too.

I've officially released version 2 of Threediopolis, after some post-competition testing and a very helpful ClubFloyd session. While some of the polish may've been part of a mid-comp release, I'd like to spell it out here.

You can now try different things with the header, including seeing friends (ff) or one line (oo) or even the reshuffled list once you find a place.

Hints are also given for failed trips and can be toggled with HH. They cover the hardest puzzles as well as the introductory ones.

I'm pretty sure I fixed the potential buffer overflow if you use the big header (t) from the mid-comp fix. I didn't realize I could--or needed to--change the maximum size of an indexed text buffer.

The game now has the rough semblance of a story, or at least musings every two points. The ending now contains a really, really awful joke based on the game mechanice that I couldn't resist.

The game also allows you an availableometer and an adrift-a-tron, and they can be used to find the odd scenery, which is clued better--and there are now 56, though they are not obvious. And there are more of them.

There are also two more things to find, but I think they make the game easier rather than harder. Your new friend definitely does.

The logic document is updated and clarified as well.

I think I also fixed the stack overflow that happened.

I've included dropbox links as I haven't yet sent a copy to ifarchive.org. However, I expect to update the source, the logic and the binary file.

A small patch post-release (1/5/2014) now fixes the scenery the game suggests in the AMUSING section, and I also added some scenery.

Enjoy!