Fame 0.9.5 released!

I have spent the last 2 months mainly on fixing bugs. Many "big ones", haunting the game for months (or even years) have been finally hunted down. The biggest success was fixing some "impossible" Linux bugs. Ironically, the Linux version is not ready yet for another reason.

Among new features the most important one is the auto-aiming feature. By pressing J you either cast the last offensive spell used or shoot your current ranged weapon (if any). The target is also selected automatically and it is usually the closest enemy or (if there are several enemies at equal distance) the most wounded one. The whole system is probably not perfect yet, but it already works pretty well, eliminating the constant need for aiming manually. Now you do the manual aiming only when you feel that the auto-aim would be inappropriate for some reason, which is very, very rare. I'm really satisfied with this one.

I've spent some time trying to provide ASCII mode counterparts for various parts of the UI, but so far only the basic functionality of the Inventory window works well in the ASCII mode, so I have disabled it in the release version. It will be (hopefully) available in the next release, when the full functionality of the window is implemented. As of other dialog windows, I will strive to implement them incrementally in the future releases. It's a hard task, comparable only with implementing a new window from the scratch. It's probably much easier to provide a graphical version for an ASCII-mode-only game...

Oh, enough of this grumbling. As long as I have a computer with a working C++ compiler, there's no need to worry about this kind of stuff ;-).

Saved games from 0.8.4 up to 0.9.4 are still compatible with 0.9.5.

Quick summary:

• auto-aiming
• important bugfixes

Detailed change log:

• auto-aiming
• two-handed staves can now be used to block attacks
• main purpose description in item details (Inventory)
• it is now possible to give orders to multiple companions simultaneously
• with the Two Weapon Fighting skill, when a target of the first attack is killed, another hostile monster is attacked automatically
• immersion mode now available on Linux
• removing an item from the ground (in Inventory) no longer causes the scroll bar to reset to the position zero
• monsters ignore unique (or otherwise important) items instead of picking them up at will
• repair cost for cheap items is no longer zero
• mouse middle button used for changing location instead of the wheel
• ASCII mode: changed characters used for some monster types and items
• [bugfix] spellcasting no longer leads to undefined behavior (including crashes)
• [bugfix] switching from ASCII mode back to tiles mode no longer causes weird effects
• [bugfix] the game no longer crashes at exit (Linux)
• [bugfix] close button now works on Linux
• [bugfix] game no longer crashes when a friendly creature follows the Hero to another location
• [bugfix] monsters that follows the Hero to another location no longer immediately disappear if the location has not been visited for a long time
• [bugfix] NPCs no longer "forget" their default text after saving game
• [bugfix] fixed a rare bug that occurs in the Random Dungeon when the player using a stairway is informed that he cannot enter the location, but is transferred to the new location anyway - saving game at that point would corrupt the save file
• [bugfix] selecting the hero when attempting to 't'alk no longer crashes the game
• [bugfix] certain monsters in randomly generated locations no longer "forget" to use ranged attacks
• [bugfix] sacrificing items on an altar now works correctly
• [bugfix] certain items are no longer permanently damaged
• [bugfix] switching to immersion mode by pressing F11 is now correctly saved in game configuration
• [bugfix] corrected message order when a monster opens a trapped door
• [bugfix] missing +/- in resistances statistics
• [bugfix] corrected actions listed as available for special objects from different distances
• [bugfix] item details for shields no longer has doubled text "Chance to Block"
• [bugfix] incorrect text in statistics when the hero dies at certain time

Have a good time sacrificing poor goblins!