• Recompiled game.exe to get rid of new DirectX dependencies (the “missing dll” error message)

Cheers!

/ jeb_

During the past couple of weeks I (thewreck) have been working on laying the technological groundwork for the campaign. There has been and still is a bunch of structure dearly in need of restructuring, and that is what I’m focusing on now.

Kinten has been working on producing content for the campaign and realizing some of the concepts made by a man named Erik! I would love to show some them but that will have to wait until we know how things turnout ingame!

Frall has been streaming himself developing maps for Cobalt daily during office hours central European time. If you are interested in seeing maps being made real-time, or if you just want to hang out in the chat with others and discuss mapping, that is a great place to meet up!

Hit the jump for the full change-log!

Change Log

Alterations:

• bots will now randomly pick between the available actors
• teleport and entrance targets can now handle multiple matches. Picked one is random if many.
• sped up vendor purchase speed slightly
• improved/updated space/nightsky rendering
• new map bird temple!

Bug-Fixes:

• Pressing T after having a gamepad connected in the editor no longer crashes.
• going back and forth from the editor and menu could sometimes stop your keyboard from being able to control the menu
• Fixed editor crashing when making new locales.
• copying tiles from multiple layers would crash the editor
• tiles that are hidden as secrets now create their physics when discovered
• big gui in the editor now turns into multi column
• custom teams now work better
• some resolutions would have some overlap in the menu when selecting map.
• tile browser could have too big a surface in higher resolutions.
• editor failed to save and restore current selected layer
• certain ai concept could crash the game with certain actors due to a ai-concept default value initialization bug.
• ai would sometimes get stuck doing nothing.
• some optimizations regarding actor updates and theme updates.
• optimization for tile removal when using rain.
• debris heads are now considered part of the max debris count and will be removed as such.
• possible to select the same tile again in the tile browser now and have it close.
• space door sound was stereo and always very loud.
• rotation bug for fixed rotation tiles.
• smoothened menu preview loading

But most important of all!

We have changed the folder structure! Your profiles, controls and maps_dev folders should now be placed in the cobalt folder under /My Documents/! You can either make new profiles, or you can manually move them to the correct folders. This also means that you must login again before play offline will work (since setting files have changed locations).

1. Start game once to create the folders
2. Locate your cobalt installation folder, usually at c:/games/cobalt
3. copy the profiles, controls and maps_dev folders
4. Locate the cobalt folder under /My Documents/
5. Paste the copies folders!
6. Your profiles, controls and custom maps should now be usable in the game again!

The game now loads maps both from the cobalt folder (official maps), and from my documents (custom maps). If you place a map with the exact same name as an official map in the My Documents folder it will override the official map.

Note: If the launcher crashes after update, it has failed to replace the executable. You can download the installer from www.playcobalt.com or you can fix it manually: Cobalt.exe.new will be in your cobalt folder. Remove Cobalt.exe and rename Cobalt.exe.new to Cobalt.exe. Looking into what could be wrong!

Hit the jump for some pictures!

This is what Akarra looked like back then (screenshot from pre-release 3, May 2002):

This is what Akarra looked like at the end of 2003:

Here’s a pic of thewreck and Kinten  from the summer of 2006:

… and a picture of me and thewreck:

You can read more about Whispers in Akarra in its blog category!

/ jeb_

PS: There are still some active shards where you can play Akarra! Check out www.akarra.com.  /Kinten

Get the demo here: http://www.oxeyegames.com/harvest/download-now/

Or buy the game here: http://www.oxeyegames.com/harvest/buy-now/ (don’t forget to use the “TOMMASO” discount code, which is available this week)

Hey!

It’s over 1.5 years since we wrote about the 1.17 update to Harvest, and finally we’re able to release an updated version. It won’t be 1.17, but 1.18 (fixing a couple of more things), and this time also with builds for Linux!

The game changes are:

• Invert scroll direction setting
• Added drag-and-place buildings, if you keep the mouse pressed the game will place the next building at the edge of the energy range from the previous one
• Made it possible to select and sell multiple buildings at once, also added “getSelectedBuildings” Lua hook
• Added an option for the defenses to hold fire
• Shaded map edge
• Map expansion marker line
• Double-size minimap for resolutions larger than 800×600
• Changed damage calculation of missile turrets
• Removed the age limit of solar plants
• Removed the boss aliens
• Energy links will attempt to avoid sending energy to links that are pointing towards itself
• Made it possible to change language setting in the settings menu
• Changed so that Poseidon and Ares are unlocked by gaining award points

And we’ve also changed a bunch of stuff in the engine:

• Replaced the standard Lua intepreter with LuaJIT2
• Replaced BASS with OpenAL for sound effects
• Made profiles and save games “Program Files safe” (see more below)

Buy Harvest! It’s only $9.99, or $4.99 with discount code

If you don’t own Harvest: Massive Encounter, you should head over here and find the appropriate buy link:

http://www.oxeyegames.com/harvest/buy-now

Also, get an 50 % discount by entering the discount code “TOMMASO” when you buy the game! This code is to celebrate that the update was made possible by the nice Italian Tommaso Checchi (follow him on twitter at @_tomcc), and is valid until April 29th.

Try Harvest?

We also have a demo version if you want to try out the game before buying. We recommend you start playing the “wave mode” first You find the demo download links here:

http://www.oxeyegames.com/harvest/download-now

Already own Harvest?

If you already have a copy of Harvest: Massive Encounter, you can use your serial key to download the game here:

http://www.oxeyegames.com/harvest/update/getHarvestUpdate.php

Important! If you already have Harvest installed on Windows, you may notice that your profiles and save games are missing when you start the new version. This is because version 1.18 is “program files safe”, and will store your personal settings in “C:\Users\<your user>\AppData\Local\Harvest” instead of in the installation folder. To restore your save files, start the games once and then move your files manually from your installation folder to the documents folder.

Want Harvest on Steam?

As we mentioned in our previous blog post, Harvest: Massive Encounter is also available on Steam! The Harvest Steam store page is here:

http://store.steampowered.com/app/15400/

The Steam version was updated to 1.18 a few days ago.

Need Help?

This update contains a lot of changes, and if you encounter a problem we haven’t heard of before, you may need to contact somebody.

If it’s related to Mac OS X or Linux compatibility problems, try sending @_tomcc a tweet.

If it’s related to purchasing or Windows problems, please send an email to:

support@oxeyegames.com

If you just want someone to talk to, try our reddit community at:

http://reddit.com/r/OxeyeGames

Final Words

We would like to write a big THANK YOU to all who have bought and played our game! It means a lot to us!

Check out the stream here: http://www.twitch.tv/frall_

Please also follow @Frall_ on twitter for more info about the stream and Cobalt level design!

Puffdot on the cobalt forums has a great post that summarizes the hot-keys as well a number of other tips!

http://www.cobaltforum.net/topic/1659-tutorial-how-to-use-the-editor/

Hey

If you haven’t got it already, Harvest: Massive Encounter is 50 % off on Steam today! Get it here: http://store.steampowered.com/app/15400

This daily deal was supposed to be coordinated with the long-awaited 1.18 update of the game, and also the fresh Mac OS X version on Steam. Unfortunately there seems to have been some kind of misunderstanding with Steam, so this update has been delayed. We’ll post again when the update is released!

Cheers,

// jeb_ and Tommo

change-log

Alterations:

• profile names can now contain numbers as well as a number of special characters.

Bug-Fixes:

• Loading of some maps would crash because of trying to index status
• Placing tiles in the editor with a default id would crash the editor.
• hud now doesnt restart when moving through doors
• alarms would after being triggered many times lag the game down to a halt.
• some menus in the profiles had the options jumbled
• the old maps that would show up in the v103 menu will now be deleted in an ungly manner. This means that you cannot use those map names for now since they would be deleted…. =)… will remove this function in a later patch.

Cobalt v103 Alpha is finally ready, and it contains improvements in many spread out unrelated areas, however, the biggest addition is the Map Editor! For the people who have accessed the editor previously, there is a huge amount of unlisted changes that have been made, but for the others, this will simply be the first encounter with making your own maps.

Bugs discovered post upload:

1. Due to the reorganization of the maps, there are some oddities if you are updating from v102. You might see some duplicate maps with different names in your menu. If this happens, reinstall the game from a v103, or clean out the maps folder prior to updating. (all map files that does NOT have a .localization file next to it are old.)
2. The map editor will crash if you try to place a tile that has a default ID (which goes for a lot of important tiles). This crash is bad enough that if you are already using the map editor, it is advisable to keep separate installations.

If you find bugs, please post them at http://getsatisfaction.com/cobalt/ we will be making another update tomorrow!

Hit more to read all about it!

As of this writing there is no official manual on how the editor works, and since many things are likely to change, it is unlikely this will be written anytime soon. However, I know the community has been experimenting and documenting like crazy over at www.cobaltforum.net/. and while some of that will be outdated with the changes in v103, many concepts will be very relevant, and the forums are also likely to be your best bet for finding help on this topic.

To get you started, here is a quick guide how to create your first map:

• Open the editor from the main menu.
• Goto [File] and select “New”, pick “Outdoors” and “Small”
• Goto [File] and select “Save As…”, name the map “dm_myfirstmap”
• First thing you need to do is make sure you are in the correct layer. Press and HOLD Z, hover over “Collision” and release Z.
• Press T, select “Actors” from the list on the left, scroll down until you find the “Spawn Point” and click it
• Place a couple of spawnpoints around the map
• Press T again, now select “Boxes” and pick a box you like on the right.
• Place a couple of boxes around the map
• Press esc to stop placing boxes, then select a spawn point by clicking it. Then open [edit] at the top menu bar and click “Expand”. This will select all spawn points.
• Right click one of the spawn points, select “Spawn Settings” from the context menu. In the dialog, put a check next to all the teams to make this spawnpoint valid for all teams.
• Goto [Stage] and click “Set Game Mode”. Select “scorematch” from the list on the left, pick “kills” in the objective list on the right. Set the goal to 10.
• Goto [Stage] and click “Set Camera Mode”. Click “apply preset” and select pick “versus” list that pops up.
• There should be a gray tile looking like a character with a green outline somewhere on the map. Select it! If you cannot select it, it might be in a different layer than the one you are in. Hover the mouse over it, and press the middle mouse button to instantly go to the layer the tile you are hovering is in. If it does not exist, you can find it by pressing T, hitting ENTER, and writing “playerspawn”.  Right click the tile, click “Set Spawn Action”. In the dialog, check all the teams and hit OK!.
• Goto [File] and select “Save & Copy to Menu”
• Goto [File] and select “Close Editor”
• Find your map in the deathmatch list under after play!

For the prospective mappers out there, we have added rudimentary support for populating the in-game menu with your custom maps! If you are working on a map in the editor, you simply go to [File] and select “Save & Copy to Menu” and your map will show up in the menu! Keep in mind that the menu only loads maps that have one of the following prefixes in their name:

• ctp_ Capture the Plug
• dm_ Deathmatch
• sur_ Survival
• bo_ Bounty

If you have downloaded maps from the internet, place the maps in your /maps/ folder and they will be added to the menu (as long as they have the correct prefix!). The name and the description screen that comes up when you select your map will default to its filename, but there is support for editing this as well! First, under [Stage] in the menu in the editor, there is a button called “Edit Meta Data”. In the dialog  that pops up, you can define the follwing:

• author will show up as “by YOURNAME”
• workInProgress will add a strong red Work in Progress warning
• difficulty describes the general difficulty of the map
• minPlayers lowest suggested players
• maxPlayers highers suggested players

If you leave any of these as their default value, they will be omitted from the description of your map. Finally, to change the actual name of the map in the list or to write a flavor text, you must create a brand new file with the file extension “.localization”. For example:

dm_coolmap257.map
dm_coolmap257.localization

The reason this is needed is because the name and the description has to be custom written for each language that the map will support, while difficulty for example will be translated centrally by us for all maps. Edit the localization file with a text editor of your choice and paste the following:

{
    eng = { --English Translation
        name = "Cool Map", --Name of the Map, will show up in the list
        description = "This is a cool map", --Description of the map
    }
}

The map will work fine without a localization file, but it offers greater customization. I recommend you keep this file in maps_dev and use the “Save & Copy to Menu” action under [File] as it will copy both your map and localization file to the menu.

change-log

Alterations:

• Custom levels placed in maps with either ctp_ dm_ or sur_ will now be loaded into the menu.
• Removed all girders from cannon arena and tweaked design and weapons.
• Improved head flying off rendering, also made all body parts be colored by the original actor.
• Objects and items that are destroyed (by explosions and heat for example) now have better feedback
• Tweaked object healths
• Added new deathmatch map, Gladiator
• Added new ctp map, Frozen
• Added new ctp map, Volcano
• Added new bounty map, Rumble in the City
• New preference in profile for always showing your player name under your actor
• Plug now has health and will die from sustained explosions and lava, and will respawn when destroyed.
• Jet shoes now do less damage initially, but also do heat damage over time.
• Extended the map filters for future use.
• Added bounty AI and better bounty hud.

Bug-Fixes:

• Safest gate left door is now lockable again.
• Garbage Collection has been turned off by mistake. This has been a big since v101. This is likely the cause for many periodic performance drop issues.
• Score hud being incorrectly scaled in some resolutions.
• extended magazined and other ammo increasing upgrades now also add ammo as they used to.
• burners no longer generate bullet time warnings
• thermal bombs that were destroyed by lava and plasma for example would not explode.
• spare ammo icon no longer shown for salvaged weapons
• fixed some clipping metal hit sounds
• smoothed out a glowing trail jaggedness bug.