Added an overland map, I'm working on a second location, and I've begun preparing for a more detailed walkabout menu that allows item use, item giving and spellcasting outside of battle .

Few more updates as of late. Fixed the bandit shack battle and I've been enhancing a few maps...

Oh, I took that variable out altogether now, referring to the dynamically maintained Buffer.Party.size() now .

As far as I can tell, it works properly now. Feel free to let me know of any other feature requests etc!

Hey guys,

Thanks for testing it! Clearly a lot still should be done, but I guess you like it so far then?

One issue I found is that when I install it cleanly, it doesn't work out of the box for me because the class files haven't been generated yet. I'm not yet sure how to best solve that...

If time allows (I have a lot of trips this week), I'll check the shop too, and see what I can change/improve there .

I guess she dies...this time (she does some damage though even without MP, right?).

Either way, thanks a lot for your bug reports! The next version will have at least one extra repeatable battle, more treasure chests and I'll look into the item and writing issues as well .

And if I get around to making more graphics, I might add a monster or character or two .

Latest (buggy) version is always available on SVN .

lol! That's not bad at all though .

Did you manage to get to the full party size of 5?

I'll be sure to make some improvements to the item interface soon as well. It's all early days of course. And I'll look into the game restart as well.

You can quicksave the game with F4 by the way, and load with F8. If you haven't saved yet, you may be able to load my game, which is post-Bonewalker battle .

It will be fun to get past the Bonewalker battle, as you will be able to face the evil Medusa .

Much work remains to be done, but here's just a package to show you guys how things are progressing. I think there may be close to an hour of gameplay in there now...

http://ccs.chem.ucl.ac.uk/~derek/SSTDD.rar [edit: fixed this link now too, thanks Elv!]

Of course, the documentation is nearly non-existant as it's a total alpha version, but I hope the game will work for at least some of you!

More changes now. Added several new maps and one new battle involving a Medusa. The Medusa is *very* tough to deal with, and requires more tactical smarts than raw grinding power .

Hi guys,

Thanks for the advice. I guess I'll stick to the current Java application format for now, but I'm still open for other options on the longer term .

For the first time ever BABS now has full QuickSave/QuickLoad support. It saves/loads everything that is remotely relevant in the game.

I'm still thinking what kind of saving/loading interface is the most elegant, but currently I save with F4 and load with F8...still very simplistic.

Hi all,

The game is making solid progress, but I am now wondering how to best package it. At the moment I tend to run it as a Java application, but perhaps it's better to convert it to a Java Web Start thing, or even do a port to Android?

Do you guys know what kind of packaging structure you would like for the game, and how much work it would roughly be to package it in that manner?

There's now a way to bucketfill tiles on the map..by holding down the shift button while placing tiles .

More updates as of late. I added a tiny and oddly tactical battle in the Downstairs bar, and I've implemented a mechanism for treasure chests, and item rewards.

I also added a few more shallow NPCs. I'm still short of artwork as usual, but I'll just make do with what I have for now .

It is, albeit at a sluggish pace .

I added a few more small things today, after having done so about a month ago. Main change now is the ability to enter maps at custom locations, instead of the default startx, starty locations.

I logged in again and it looks way more sophisticated than last time!

Btw. feel free to rip sprites from BABS for this if you like . there are plenty there, including oozes, werewolves and rats