MMORPG Tycoon 2 Milestone 7

/ 7 December, 2014

Updated 9/12/2014: Resolved a DLL issue in the Windows build.

Downloads

If you’re new to MMORPG Tycoon 2, skip down to the ‘First-Time Instructions’ section below. The game is still in development, and does not yet have a tutorial to teach the basics, so reading that section is the best way to get started!

Note that both builds require video drivers which support an OpenGL 3.3 core profile. Most discrete video cards from the last five or six years should be fine. Integrated chipsets may have trouble. I’m unaware of any virtual machines which support OpenGL 3.3 (if you are, I’m very interested to know about them, please let me know!)

New in MS7:

  • Unowned regions now appear ‘dark’.
  • You now need to visit the ‘grid’ view in order to activate regions, instead of being able to select regions directly. Use the ‘On Grid’ button, in the system button area (bottom right).
  • In the grid view, you may activate regions by using the ‘Zone’ action. While the ‘Zone’ tool is active, a window will appear which lets you set the level(s) which will be assigned to the regions you activate. Every building/NPC/etc. inside the region will be in the level range you set here.
  • You can now manually give or take away levels from a PC, if you’re in that sort of mood.
  • Crashed regions now appear offline from the normal view, and pulse red in the grid view. Crashed regions may be restarted from the grid view, using the ‘Restart’ ability (click ‘Restart’, then click the region to be restarted). A notice is added to the chat window if any region crashes.
  • “Passes” have been added. Passes level the terrain between two points, and must be placed across a region boundary. These are used to allow travel between regions. Passes are available in the “Roads” action bar tab.
  • Improved terrain rendering tech, which makes the terrain look much nicer when zoomed out.
  • PCs now consider exploring nearby regions, if they haven’t visited those regions before.
  • PCs now refuse to take part in many activities if those activities are below their level. For example, they will not grind in low-level grinding zones. Similarly, they will not pick up or complete quests which are below their level (they will turn in any quests which were already complete, though, even if they’ve outleveled them since completion). PCs don’t care about level for socialising, or for exploring.
  • PCs will now consider activities in other, outside regions, if their subscriber has ever visited that region using any character. They will do this whether or not their own region contains activities of an appropriate level for them. (Note, though, that the travel time between regions will tend to keep PCs from considering long journeys when not actually necessary)
  • Somewhat improved the appearance of intersections between roads. (Still not 100% right, but closer)
  • Different regions now have different sky colors and different fog settings. (Not yet user-modifiable)
  • NPC placements no longer snap to roads, as they did in MS6.
  • NPCs now wander around in a small region, when idle, as they were supposed to in MS6 but didn’t.
  • Cursor no longer draws larger in larger windows.
  • Fixed game crash when connecting too many roads to a single intersection.
  • Cursor selection is now indicated using a glowing circle, instead of outlines.
  • Roads may now only be laid inside active regions.

Known issues

  • There are a few crash issues around destruction of buildings and NPCs, mostly to do with PCs who are working on quests given by those NPCs or which send the users to those buildings. In this build, my advice is to not remove buildings or NPCs once subscribers are let into the world.
  • There are a few awkward ways to wind up with the wrong action bar visible while in the ‘On Grid’ view. If you do, just click on the ‘On Grid’ button twice to bring the correct action bar back.
  • There’s a known crash bug if an AI developer places a building in a region, when that region doesn’t have a respawn point in it.
  • Similarly, there’s a known bug that if you place a building into a region without a respawn point, and then place a building into a region with a respawn point, neither building will be placed until you place a respawn point in the first region — the developers try to place buildings in order, but cannot place the first building until a respawn is present in its region.

First-Time Instructions

  • When you start the game, the screen will be blank for a short time while the world is generated. This may take up to a minute, depending on how fast your CPU is. Once it has finished, it will draw the map and you may begin.
  • You can move your view around using WASD on the keyboard. Rotate the view by holding the right mouse button and dragging the mouse left or right. Use the mouse wheel to zoom the view in or out.
  • Initially, the map has no active regions — they all appear dark. Your first task will be to pick one or more regions to activate. To do that, click the ‘On Grid’ button (the leftmost button from the bottom right group) to switch to the ‘grid’ view of the world. Next, activate the ‘Zone’ button from the action bar on the bottom left. Finally, click on a zone to activate it. When you leave the grid view, you will see that the active zone has ‘lit up’, and you will be able to edit it.
  • Inside this first zone, you want to place a respawn location, using the “Build Respawn” button in the ‘Buildings’ tab of the action bar. Players who die in this region will respawn here. Additionally, AI developers and game masters will enter and leave the world through this location.
  • Next, build a town somewhere in the region, using the “Town On” button in the ‘Terrain’ tab of the action bar. Towns are required, in order to hold many useful building types.
  • Notice that initially, there are no entrances to the town. From the “Roads” tab, choose the “Build road” button, and use it to lay down a road leading to one of the circular markers at one of the sides of the town. This will open up an entrance into your town on that side. In this way, you may open as many entrances as you wish. PCs will tend to follow roads when they’re available.
  • Now build an Inn inside the town, using the “Build Inn” button in the ‘Buildings’ tab of the action bar. Inns are used as a player’s “home”. They will tend to start and end each game session at the Inn, and when they move to a new region, the first thing they’ll want to do is to set a new home.
  • Next, build a few grinding zones, using the “Build Grinding Zone” button in the ‘Buildings’ tab of the action bar. Grinding zones are places where monsters live. Players will come here to gain levels, if they have no other way to do so.
  • Next, place one or two quest-giver NPCs, using the ‘Build Quest Giver’ button in the “NPCs” tab of the action bar. Quest-givers provide quests for players. By default, they provide just two quests each. You can modify those quests or add more by clicking on the quest-giver to select them, then clicking on the ‘Info’ button in the selection header. The available quests will appear in a window on the right side of the screen.
  • When you’re ready, place a starting point, using the “Build Starting Point” button in the “Buildings” tab of the action bar. Subscribers will begin to join your MMO, and will travel to the Inn to set their home, visit quest-givers to do quests, and so on. You can click on players to see their name and vital stats, and you can see more information about them and about their subscribers by clicking on the ‘Info’ button in the selection header.

I’m very interested to get people’s feedback on this. Please let me know how well it performs for you, whether you have any crashes, etc. If you do experience any asserts or crashes, it’d be extremely helpful to have the contents of the text console as part of the crash report. You can report crashes to me either in the comments here, or via e-mail to ‘trevor’ at this website domain. Thanks so much for your help, everyone!

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