17 February 2013

Planning for Growth

King of Dragon Pass has continued to grow since the last mention of what changed in the iOS version. There are still seven new treasures (it turns out to be tricky to add new ones without breaking saved games). There are now 29 new scenes, 4 more than when we first released. Two of the new ones have new artwork. And one of the bug fixes actually enables a scene that accidentally never showed up (a bug was introduced about a month before release back in 1999).

The way the save file format works, it’s not easy to add an arbitrary number of new scenes. And new treasures are also problematic. Luckily, the iOS version doesn’t need to worry about dealing with back-and-forth file compatibility between versions (since you can only upgrade and can’t move files between sandboxes). So I can add code to deal with old saves, and gain the ability to add a significant number of new scenes, as well as new treasures. Four scenes are coded, with one new treasure.

This is the first time we’ve changed the file format (we’ve always taken pains that updates could always read your saved games). It’s a bit of a pain, so I don’t want to do it again if I can help it. Accordingly, I want to release the next version with a fair number of new scenes. Fortunately, I have ideas for another 29. Unfortunately, most of these are not fleshed out, let alone coded and tested. Some may not turn out very interesting. So the update won’t be ready for some time.

This may hold up bug fixes and advice improvements. But hopefully one big update will end up better than a number of small ones, so all the story content is available at once (after all, you could easily play a game and not see a specific scene).

14 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  2. still no news regarding an updated pc version? :(

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  3. What? There will be an update for PC version?
    I thought they focus mainly on mobile now

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  4. There will not be an update for Mac or Windows. We are unable to rebuild it.

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    1. is there a possibility for a sequel or anything??

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  5. I just got an iphone and the first thing I did with it was buy the game, which I pirated (sorry) a long time ago and also bought the second it came out on GoG. I've had many hours of enjoyment with the PC version and the updated iphone version is even better. I just want to thank you. I am ready and willing to throw all my money at you whenever you decide to make a sequel.

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  6. I've been playing King of Dragon Pass to death last year. I'll wait for some more significant updates (or a couple of big ones) before I consider picking it up again.

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  7. A true sequel, a whole new experience, would be very much appreciated. I've been enjoying Battle of the Bulge a lot, but maybe, after finishing up El Alamein, you could convince your buddies at Shenandoah to give Glorantha another shot.

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  8. I second the idea of having sequel

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  9. I hope you guys do a Kickstarter for a sequel. So many old school games are getting a second wind because of Kickstarter and I would love if a KoDP sequel or spiritual successor could be done.

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  10. Well hell, I just found out about this.. Perhaps I need to actually buy a bloody smartphone so I can play the updated version of this wonderful game... I still have this game in physical form today, and am going to try and get it to work on my windows machine. Ah the fun times.

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    1. It's available on gog.com, see http://www.gog.com/gamecard/king_of_dragon_pass.

      $5.99 will spare you from having to wrestle with physical CDs and compatibility issues. :)

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  11. *sigh* This game is so wonderful and interesting I'd buy it immediately. But I already have an oldie GOG version and I don't really want to buy overpriced i-stuff, since I don't find them useable in general. So... Until miracle happens and things go well with Android, no KoDP for me ;(

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  12. Please make an android version

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