Stable version 11.0 arrived

And so comes another big version of the game. This one brings quite significant changes. Some time ago, I decided to rewrite the game from the Ada programming language on Nim. The main reason was the overly complicated process of building the game, as well as the very limited availability of Ada on different operating systems. This task dragged through several versions of the game, causing solid problems with its stability, but it was finally done. The first, completely rewritten version of the game is available. ;) As I mentioned, this version should be much more stable than the previous ones. In addition, work on improving the game interface has been completed so far, so it also brings a few (almost literally a pair) of new things to the game.

Of course, I would not be myself if I did not start another revolution in the game code. :) This time, the part responsible for graphics and interface is "only" to rework. Time for a bit of technobabble: I currently use the Tk library. The main reason for this choice was the fact that this library is written in the Tcl scripting language, which can be easily embedded inside the program. Two things in one: UI and scripting language for game modification. Unfortunately, over time, problems with this library began to arise. They mainly concern the distribution of the game as, for example, a lot of additional dependencies. In addition, with the rewriting of the game in Nim, the need for a second scripting language disappeared. Nim can be used also in this form, and its syntax is more familiar; it resembles Python. That's why I decided to replace the Tk library with Nuclear and SDL. Work on the new version of UI has already begun, but players will not notice them until they are completed. So the problems will start only after finishing work and not as in the case of rewriting the game on Nim during. :) The new UI at the beginning will be very similar to the old one, but I would like to definitely improve them with time. We'll see how long this task takes.

As work on improving the UI has been completed for now, you can expect bigger changes in the game that have been waiting for their turn for a long time. The system of generating opponents will go to the first fire. Theoretically, work on it has already begun by adding a reputation of a player with factions, but this is the beginning of the road for now. It can be said that work on the game is slowly returning to its former tracks. If you do not take into account all those revolutions that take place under the hood. :)

Binaries are available for Linux and Windows (both 64-bit). Below, you can find major changes since the last development release:

Changed

• Updated color of no pilot warning icon to match the default colors of the game
• Added money name to reward info in the mission's info dialog
• Updated README.md

Fixed

• Removed colon from the end of lists of boarding party and defenders in the combat screen
• Setting a gunner in combat to Nobody removes completely gunner setting for the gun
• The info about positions on the player's ship doesn't upgrade when the player change a member's order in combat
• Crash when updating a base's population during the game
• Showing the enemy's ship's damage during combat
• Showing or hiding options in trade screen after changed the type of items to show
• Showing or hiding options in shipyards in bases after changed the type of modules to show
• Showing or hiding searching field when buying recipes from bases
• Assigning crew members to boarding party or defenders during combat
• Hiding the crew managing option in the player's ship's info screen
• Rounding the time needed to repair the player's ship in bases
• Gaining or losing reputation in factions
• Don't create bases at the map's borders
• Showing information about availability of new missions in bases in the knowledge screen
• Showing information about home base when there are new missions available in the selected base
• Hide info about an item in the player's ship's crew member's inventory with Escape key
• Hide drop item from the player's ship's cargo dialog with Escape key
• Hide the assign crew member dialog to the player's ship's module with Escape key
• Tab key doesn't select the first crew member in the assign crew member dialog
• Tab key doesn't work in the assign ammo dialog
• Giving orders to the player's ship's crew members during boarding an enemy's ship
• Hide the module's info dialog with Escape key
• Crash when using Tab key in the module's info dialog
• Tab key traversal in the module's info dialog
• Hide the give item's from the player's ship's cargo dialog with Escape key
• Hide buying or selling dialogs with Escape key when Max button is selected
• Hide the recruit's info dialog with Escape key when Negotiate button is selected