Fame 0.9.15 released!

This version took a little bit more to complete... It was originally scheduled for October. There were several causes for the delay, including a tremendous number of internal code changes that were necessary for proceding further, even if have little or no observable effect for a player. One of the biggest things I'm currently working on is bringing back the possibility of modding the game. This work spans over several releases (at least 8), but the flexibility it grants when it comes to strategic content decisions is definitely worth the effort. Another exciting feature is making monsters the same (or almost the same) as the Player Character. Easy to do when a game is written from the scratch, very challenging to introduce in an old game, but I love such nearly-impossible coding tasks :-).

I have finally said goodbye to the awkward PDF manual. Now the game manul is built into the game, with a nice keyword search feature. So far it's available in two languages and utilizes the same big font as the ASCII mode. The idea is stolen from ADOM. I always admired how easily you can find any information in ADOM's manual, especially if we compare it to "classic" documentation, stored in a file and opened by an external program.

The main dungeon in the game is getting larger. The New Mine already has 3 levels, and there's a spider nest nearby. No good for the miners -- go and save them!

If instead you decide to wander into the never-ending halls of the Random Dungeon, you may stumble upon some mysterious levers, opening passages to treasure rooms (or trapped monsters, so beware). They are going to be used even more extensively in the future versions, to make quests more interesting. Lever rooms open a brand new chapter in the Fame's book of random generation. Building more complex rooms with transformations and interactions is now possible and soon will become even more sophisticated.

That's all for now. I feel ashamed to have done so little in 8 months, so the best thing to do now is probably to start working on the next version :-).

Enjoy!

Quick summary:
• built-in manual
• levers and gates
• new location, monsters & quest

Full change log:
• manual built into the game
• levers and gates
• 3 new monsters
• new location (Spider Cave) and quest
• 2 new special rooms
• monsters can get stuck in a spider's web
• monsters have limited carrying capacity
• monsters are able to protect themselves from diseases (e.g. by wearing rings)
• duration of monsters' diseases is based on their attributes
• no longer possible to just sleep over spell casting frequency limit
• Axokaropeh won't react to the amulet until the hero actually wears it
• torches vary in amount of "fuel" left in them
• quitting at the very beginning of the game always results in having score of 0
• slightly changed monster generation in the Mines
• damage done by lava is much higher
• dying in lava has a separate description
• weekly merchant re-supply updates more items
• looking (right-click) at unrevealed area always lists the 'come closer' action, so that the player cannot determine objects in the area
• clicking on an open door - [Ctrl] allows to escape the default action instead of [Shift] (this way it is possible to attack a neutral creature standing in the doorway)
• no weather reports while the hero is sleeping
• the Equipment Sets window has ASCII mode
• the Inventory window in ASCII mode now allows to handle equipment sets
• the Keyboard window now says 'Conflicts!' if any conflict exists
• the message saying that you have entered a new location appears before other 'welcome' messages
• older messages in the Messages window have a 'time stamp' next to them
• a "quick message" is displayed after successfully using Alchemy or constructing a new item
• [editor] if the file is not saved after pressing "Run", nothing happens
• [editor] character creation no longer pops up after pressing "Run"
• [bugfix] attempting to read: Elumor's recipes, Babeneys' recipes, orcish document, the Untitled Book, investigation report no longer crashes the game
• [bugfix] casting Reveal Map in a location that is already completely revealed no longer crashes the game
• [bugfix] casting Freeze on an empty cell no longer crashes the game
• [bugfix] the '?' button in the Tutorial window no longer crashes the game
• [bugfix] attempting to load a custom location from command line no longer crashes the game
• [bugfix] encountering an orc battle in a small location no longer crashes the game
• [bugfix] dividing stacked items in the tile mode works again (did not work properly since 0.9.14)
• [bugfix] graphical spell effects are correctly displayed for cells visible to the hero
• [bugfix] Pityus will no longer give the key multiple times
• [bugfix] Ergeion will no longer give the ring multiple times
• [bugfix] monsters are no longer able to sacrifice the hero if they cannot see him
• [bugfix] Totdnum no longer appears as 3 separate city icons on the World Map
• [bugfix] throwing items or casting spells no longer produce ugly effects in the Altar of Fire
• [bugfix] welcome message of a "surface" location no longer appears when "bumping" against its borders
• [bugfix] the red bar in the Spells window is properly scaled
• [bugfix] corrected world map positions of underground locations in the ASCII mode
• [bugfix] long log messages no longer cause it to display misaligned text

Saved games from versions 0.9.9 to 0.9.14 are still compatible with 0.9.15.