.: News

Thursday, May 14th, 2009. Version 0.6.9I

I have decided to adjust and reshape my schedule for Incursion substantially recently. I am setting a fairly firm release date for the new, "next-generation" version of Incursion for October 31st, 2009 -- in part because it seems oddly appropriate to me that a game about goblins should be released on Halloween. This is substantially later than had been previously discussed, and I'm very sorry to disappoint people.

There are a few different reasons for the delay. Real life has been taking more of my time recently, but I hope most of those issues have been resolved. Also, my scheduling the refactoring tasks proved to be overly optimistic, and I'm now taking a more realistic perspective on the timeframe needed. Some of the changes I embarked on involve far more details than initially anticipated.

There is also a recurring theme of "if I don't do this now, it will be much harder to do later." This applies to a lot of different aspects of the game; three of the most prominent are the quest subsystem, monster targeting and the IncursionScript language itself. The latter is particularly notable, as recently I have been focused primarily on improving the language and making it more robust, reliable, typesafe, self-validating and user-friendly -- including developing tools to aid myself (and later, when I release the SDK, others as well) in adding and maintaining Incursion content. I hope that this will reduce the work in the long run, but it's taking a fair amount of time in the short run. (To be fair, I also have a great deal of enthusiasm about computer language design in general right now.)

However, I'm going to have to revise all the scripts anyway, to match the new language rules, so it makes sense that if there are any language changes to be made, they should all be made right now, so the scripts only have to be revised once.

I also have a strong desire to add new content to the game, which motivated the change to a later-than-might-be-expected release date. I've got a lot of designs and mechanical ideas that I want to implement. I'm not going to talk a lot about them for a few reasons -- firstly, because I want them to be a surprise, but more notably because this gives me a buffer of variable time if I need extra to get some difficult features (like the new monster AI) to work correctly. I don't want to continually announce and fail to meet release dates, so I'm choosing one that gives me lots of time to get the basic game rebuilt, and then some extra time to either add content or fix things that take longer than scheduled. Regardless, I'm reasonably sure I can have something impressive to show by 10/31/2009.

I am working on either Incursion or related projects every week these days, and very actively adding and revising code; the game is far from dead or on hiatus. As I've noted in previous posts, the game will be more "Return of the Forsaken" under the hood than it will be "Halls of the Goblin King". The only things missing at that point will be character level 12-20 content, the overland map, towns and cities, and some memory- management things that will support a larger world. Otherwise, though, the new engine will be the same one as in RotF.

Saturday, Feb 21st, 2009. Version 0.6.9I

I am back actively developing Incursion, and have been since the first week of January. Currently I am deeply involved in refactoring the code, to increase stability, fix persistant issues and add new features. The refactoring is expected to take a while longer, with the earliest possible release date being at the end of April 2009. I post news and updates more regularly on the development list, and they often get propagated to Something Awful, so check those places for more up-to-date progress news.

Other news: there was one final release of Incursion, 0.6.9I, that got made and released to the dev list on June 24th, 2008, but never made it to the general public as a result of my being very pressured around that time with other things, and then forgetting completely. It's now up on the website, and the change log is also up to date.

As a further extension of my forgetfulness, 0.6.9I lists on the screen as 0.6.9H, but it's not, and the issues listed in the changelog are fixed.

0.6.9I will probably stay a Win32 release, because there's a totally refactored game coming fairly soon (hopefully), and it just doesn't seem worth the trouble to port. There will definitely be Linux and Mac builds of the April/whenever release, however. :)

Wednesday, July 9th, 2008. Version 0.6.9H4

Very quick patch release to fix three bugs fixable by script code alone. Also, the Mac port is now up!

Thursday, June 26th, 2008. Version 0.6.9H3

There is a new version of Incursion now available on the Download page; this is a forked version off of the 0.6.9A sources made during a period of extended refactoring over which the main sources won't compile -- hence the strange version numbering.

The Win32 and Linux versions are both up; the source is in the hands of the Mac developer. As of now, I am on a development hiatus from Incursion, and am reasonably likely to remain so until early 2009. A tentative guess put the next release sometime in February 2009. I'll still read mail about the game, however, and participate in design discussions on the playtest group.

Since I am working on a heavily altered version of the sources at the moment, please don't send me any buggy saved games, since they won't be very useful to me at the moment; I'll need saves from the new version again in 2009, of course.

I want to give an special thanks to my many playtesters, most notably Frumple, Aaron Lambert, XenoTheMorph, Davzz, purge383, Alik, grdice, Elethiomel and Adam Smith. The game would never have become playable without them!

The newly refactored version of Incursion that I hope to get out early 2009 is going to have a lot of new features. A teaser of things that will show up then or very shortly afterward:

• Much smarter monsters, with better pathfinding, more intelligent spellcasting and use of special abilities and more customizable strategy.
• Monster rules that are much more compilant with the SRD, including increased hit dice for monsters by rules similar to the SRD, as opposed to the current template-kludge. Also, monsters using player-character classes, and much more monster-player symmetry overall.
• A much more three-dimensional dungeon, with more sensible terrain handling and terraforming effects.
• Several new prestige classes, including the angelic Celestial Initiate and the dark Crimson Adept!
• A greatly expanded scripting ability in the game, allowing for new feats, races and classes to be added with much less effort and spaghetti code.
• The skeleton of the psionics system, overland map, quest mechanics and guild system -- implementing these things later is being accounted for now, so this kind of major refactoring won't be needed a second time.

Tuesday, May 27th, 2008. Version 0.6.9A

The Mac port is done, and I've put a link to it on the download page. I'm also putting up a link to an older (0.6.5B) Linux version, since I've had at least one person say 0.6.9A Linux is unstable for them and they wanted to have an older version available.

I am currently in the process of tearing the guts out of Incursion and heavily refactoring the source. The improvements will be substantial, from both 'code maintenance' and 'able to implement features' directions, but it's going to be a while before I get the game working again, so no updates for the next little while.

I'm going to be working on Incursion until the end of June and then be on another hiatus. I really hope to get a new release out by then, but it isn't certain, because I decided it would be the easiest to do a large amount of refactoring at the same time. It really will make development of the game both easier and more fruitful in the long run, I hope. Once the new engine supports such, expect to see features like monsters leveling up and using player character classes, a more '3D' dungeon map, vastly improved monster AI and group dynamics and a much greater degree of customizability via the script engine.

Sunday, May 14th, 2008. Version 0.6.9A

There is a new version of Incursion available for both Win32 and Linux (and the code will be in the Mac maintainer's hands ASAP). This is mostly a bug fix release (with a few new monsters), but playtesters seem to think it's significantly more stable than the crash-prone 0.6.8A. Next on the schedule is prestige classes and refactoring the way the game handles class abilities fairly extensively -- I've had some major strokes of inspiration in terms of design in this area recently.

Sunday, May 4th, 2008. Version 0.6.8A

I have finished a long revision of the encounter generator subsystem and am told the game plays very differently now. The initial version was too hard at points; this version is hopefully better, but may still need revision if it is too difficult.

I am still going to try to get another version of Incursion with more new content (prestige classes, bug fixes) out to the general public by the end of May or early June, before I start my next development hiatus.

Sunday, March 2nd, 2008. Version 0.6.5B

There are new Win32 and Linux versions of Incursion up on the website. The bug list, down for several days, is now fixed. I'm going to be refactoring the Encounter Gen code next, so no updates (other than hopefully a Mac port of 0.6.5B) for a little while.

Saturday, December 8th, 2007. Version 0.6.4E

I've put up the Mac OSX port completed by Steven Hamilton. I'm behind schedule on my other projects, so I'm not sure if I'll be developing Incursion again right away at the start of Feburary 2008, but it shouldn't be long after, and I have a lot of enthusiasm for adding new content and refactoring some of the uglier code!

Wednesday, September 12th, 2007. Version 0.6.4

Incursion development is officially on hiatus. Thank goodness -- I was seriously beginning to burn out. My plan is to return to intensive development mid to late January 2008, but of course this date is tentative and depends on my personal life and progress on other projects. Barring a very quick patch release to fix anything I might have broken in 0.6.4 sometime next week, I won't issue any releases over the hiatus. I will still keep up a web presence related to the game, though it will be more infrequent.

I am actually quite happy with the final, newest release, 0.6.4. (063 never made it out of my playtest group due to scheduling and time issues.) I think that it's fixed most of the serious issues, and implemented a lot of different requests from a lot of different sources. The Win32 version should be up now; the Linux version will be up in a day or two.

Please don't e-mail me bugs or (especially) saved game files while I'm on hiatus. Depending on what computer I check my mail from, I don't necessarily have a good way to sort and catalogue them. Bug reports can still be sent to incursion@shaw.ca, though I'll be checking it infrequently and probably won't have time to respond individually -- though I will read any mail I get there (eventually). Please don't e-mail saved game files to either address -- they fill up my mailboxes very quickly. By far the best way to log bugs and send saved games is to use the buglist on the website, and it ensures that I won't lose or forget about your feedback and suggestions.

Thanks again to everyone whose shown an interest in Incursion. I'm still a little amazed by the magnitude of the response the game has had, and very regretful that I can't develop it full time.

Above all, as always, have fun! That's what games are for, right?

Thursday, September 6th, 2007. Version 0.6.2F

Just a scheduling note: due to next week at my day job being very hectic -- we're having a User's Conference -- my deadline dates will be extended a bit. I will post the final new version of Incursion before my hiatus (barring a possible patch release to fix one or two unexpected new bugs) on the 11th or 12th. To facilitate focusing on debugging as strongly as possible over the next few days, I'm also going to be completely offline from Friday evening until the release.

Wednesday, August 29th, 2007. Version 0.6.2F

Major revisions to the game have strongly improved the way that allies, social actions and alignment function, according to feedback from playtesters on prerelease versions. I'm very happy with this, and think that a functioning social dynamic is very central to the game. The Win32 version is up now; the Linux version will be up by the end of August.

Other good news is that I've made some arrangements in my life allowing me to continue to work on Incursion on a more frequent, albiet still irregular, basis. I'm going to be doing a four-month/two-month cycle rather then letting the game linger for a year or more; I'll be working on my other, more immediately demanding projects for four months, then back to Incursion for two months, then back on hiatus again for four months, and so on for the foreseeable future. I still hope to have a more polished version of the game out just after Sept 10 2007, after which I'll put active development on hiatus and scale back my Incursion-related web presence, though I'll still be here listening and willing to converse about the game more infrequently. Very early in 2008, I'll be coming back to the game for two more months of intensive development, provided that my other project work and research stays on track (which is never certain, but I can hope...)

I want to offer a very sincere thanks to everyone who has contributed comments, ideas and especially bug reports to my roguelike project -- whether by e-mail, using the bug database, or on forums on Usenet, Something Awful or Penny Arcade. The game would be much weaker and less stable without the constant stream of feedback from players, and I'm thankful it has that kind of support. If I haven't had an opportunity to respond to you personally, it isn't because I'm disinterested, just because I'm busy.

Sunday, August 19th, 2007. Version 0.6.1A

There's now a new version of Incursion available for Linux systems; it's on the main download page. Go give it a run and let me know if you have any OS-dependant problems.

I've been sick this weekend, and as a result don't have nearly as much debugging done as I had hoped I would. I'm going to be working intensively on debugging, and on implementing the revisions I've talked about on various forums, over the next few weeks.

There may be a Mac OSX version of Incursion coming soon. I've been in communication with someone who would be willing to work on such a port and will post here as this situation progresses.

I'm not going to be able to support Incursion as intensively in the future as I have been to date. Starting September 10th, I will have a number of other personal concerns in my life that are going to take a fair amount of my time, though I'm certainly not abandoning the game -- just taking a hiatus where it will hibernate for a while, as I have several times in the past over its development cycle. I'm going to try my level best to deliver a version of the game that is stable, roughly balanced and free of severe bugs by the 10th.

Tuesday, August 14th, 2007. Version 0.6.1A

I've put together a new release fixing most of the issues that people have had with the game to date. Also updated the website to remove any references to trademarked terms, to avoid any question of Incursion's legal status. My current plan is to wait a day or two and see if a patch release is needed, and if not try for a Linux build on the 20th.

I've been very flattered by the attention that Incursion has garnered recently, including discussions on the Something Awful, Penny Arcade and Quarter to Three forums and close to three thousand downloads (!). One of my playtesters, Aaron Lambert, has also set up a detailed Wiki for Incursion, with lots of information useful to new players; check it out here. If you have any issues to report with the newest version of the game, don't hesitate to contact me!

Monday, August 6th, 2007. Version 0.6.0.

I've been sick this long weekend, and have also introduced bugs into the game while refactoring the inventory system, so I won't be releasing today or tommorow, as I mentioned I might. However, my current plan is to release 0.6.1 (which should heavily improve on the inventory interface, color scheme and fix many of the bugs noted by the initial rush of players) on August 14th, and then try for a Linux build on August 20th. We will see if reality agrees with my ambitions!

Saturday, July 28th, 2007. Version 0.6.0.

For once in my life I have successfully met a deadline that I set for myself!

Incursion now has its first public release since the unplayable one in 2002. Download Incursion: Halls of the Goblin King, version 0.6.0, on the download page. This is definitely a milestone both for me personally and (obviously) for Incursion itself.

Monday, June 25th, 2007. Version 0.5.7.

I don't seem very adept at keeping websites up to date. Regretably, you can expect that to continue for the forseeable future.

Incursion now has a fairly active mailing list for playtesters, and is coming quite close to public release. My testers have beaten the game a few times; you can check out their successes in the new victory garden. Our targetted public release date is by the end July 2007 at this point. This will be a Windows release; the game has been ported to Linux, but instability issues prevent it from operating correctly there. This issue is still under examination.

You can look at a change log for the playtest versions of Incursion here ( downloads).

Thursday, February 1st, 2007. Version 0.5.0.

Well, it's done. YAY!

The first semi-public alpha release of Incursion is now in the hands of the playtesters. I've updated the list of now over 500 known bugs, found here, and most of those have been fixed. The bug database on this website is now live, and I'm waiting for reports from the testers. I hope for a public release in the next 2-3 months, but of course that all depends on the issues reported by the testers. If you'd like to beta-test Incursion, drop me a line at incursion@shaw.ca.

I'm feeling quite tired out now, actually. I'm really glad this is done.

Sunday, November 26th, 2006. Version 0.4.0.

The Incursion website has been put up to showcase the game, and to establish interest in its forthcoming release. Our sincere hope is that the game will be have its first public release very early in 2007. If you are interested in playtesting an early, likely quite buggy beta of the game, contact the author at incursion@shaw.ca, and we'll send you one likely midway through December.

As of now, there is very little new coding left to be done on the game -- a list of around twelve minor tasks -- but there is a great deal of debugging left to do; a list of the 300+ known bugs in the current build can be found here. Most of these are easy to correct; a few are not. Further updates forthcoming.