Development Updates (2023)
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January
- 01.01.23: Heralding a new year with the Dungeonmaker System! Check out the DungeonMaker Guide for more information. In lesser news, the ranges that define different layers of accumulated precipitation have been refined, and ships no longer show any accumulated precipitation on board. Also for ships, the SWAB DECK command has been added, and ship crewmate behavior has been refined.
- 01.03.23: Four new plants have been added to the world: Adelantean mossweed, northern holly, dandelions, and snowdrops. You can now forage for plants! While a plant can only be found in the wild in the climate to which it is suited, you can attempt to grow plants outside their native habitats in your garden. However, if they are very unsuited they will most likely die as they attempt to grow (there's a chance each tick.) A plant whose roots have all been harvested will die some time after. Several bug fixes and adjustments have also been made to horticulture abilities.
- 01.04.23: Performance abilities now exist in-game! There are many types of performers: dance, vocals, instruments. A new category of instrument has been added: keyboard instruments! You can play them with many of the old playing verbs, as well as a couple new ones, but you can also simply PLAY them. The skill and abilities work like those of any other performer. A CONFIG BRIEF option has been added to the game settings, so that those using screenreaders will not be audio-spammed with full room descriptions while trying to walk places quickly. You now have to move between ten rooms quickly, rather than three, in order to mechanically "burst into a run." You may still use BOLT, SPRINT, and any manual running or jogging movements for flavor (JOG EAST, for instance). You can no longer smell medium-to-low intensity scents on a person, unless you are within touching distance -- and you can't smell anything at all if you're not even at the same place in the room as they are. There is now a WEALTH command to show just the money in your coinpurse (if you want to check, but don't need all the rest of the inventory spam).
- 01.05.23: Bank tellers now tend to be actual people (that is, NPCs rather than VNPCs). There are now "journey" exits that will take quite a while to move between (think hours to days.) This will allow individuals to undertake journeys while still roleplaying on the way. The ferry between Plew-on-Sea and the Windhaven Monastery now rings a bell when it docks, and waits for longer before embarking on its trip.
- 01.08.23: You can learn the Tinkering skill through practice in any situation now. Items with durability attributes can now break and be repaired. For now, breaking happens generally in combat. Three abilities have been added to the Tinkering skill: tinker, fix, and salvage.
- 01.10.23: There is now a wandering poet on the Via Magna. Performances can be set up as either tragedy, comedy, drama, or thoughtful -- and this will change the reaction from VNPC onlookers.
- 01.11.23: Some small things about VNPC groups have been refined, and there is now a wandering minstrel at the crossroads in St. Loomis.
- 01.18.23: APPLY is now an alias for requesting a certain job title at a location. The affection an employing NPC has towards an employed PC will now be instrumental in adjusting that PC's pay. Further, jobs will now have small quests you can do in the workplace to "work" if you want to actively roleplay about it rather than considering it an off-screen chore. Some bugs with the quest system have been fixed, notably NPC ticks not firing during the waiting period and time display being skewed.
- 01.19.23: Added organizational pre-requisites for quests, and there is now a potential organizational relation to applying for jobs: gaining employment at an organization will automatically induct you to that organization at the requisite rank you applied for.
- 01.20.23: NPCs can now edit their previous cutscene posts, and cutscene posts will only show the last time they were edited rather than every time.
February
- 02.01.23: Updated to Evennia version 1.1. For players, this primarily means that you now get help file suggestions if you can't find your help file with a keyword. Several small tweaks have happened staffside, including more options in the django database web view and a new command to add or remove or check rooms on the pathfinding map. Evennia 1.0 also comes with the "tasks" command to check on ongoing delays, and script management commands have changed.
- 02.01.23:Some bugs have been addressed with ferry bell ringing, climbing with heavy loads, and guard patrol confusion when there's someone to arrest in the area who has logged out. Cohabitation between player characters can now be established with the COHABIT command. You can add also ROOMMATEs to your lodging, and in doing so grant them an extra key and rent-paying privileges. Plot notes have been reworked to show a date and whether they have been read or not, so that they will be sent as a recorded message when you log into a character. This means that all current plot notes have been cleared, and it looks a lot cooler when you view a specific plot note. Player characters can now leave each other plot notes, as long as they are cohabiting with each other, and these can contain information like: "Donna never came home last night", or "Waraqa's sleepwalking is getting worse".
- 02.02.23: There is now a command to check your current cohabitation situation (to see a list of everyone you are cohabiting with). The NOTES display has been changed, as well as how the ABILITIES command works. When checking abilities you will now get a list of abilities in each of your skills that come with abilities, and you can CHECK AB with a skill as the argument to see a more detailed list of abilities gained from that skill specifically. You will still be able to CHECK AB for individual abilities to see all of their details.
- 02.03.23: The webclient can now be connected to securely via the websocket without any need to fall back on Ajax, and the multiple lines in the account creation menu after the screenreader question have been dealt with.
- 02.05.23: Some updates have been made to the Mining skill! You can now learn mining in any ore-rich environment (most typically a mine). Builders can add ores to rooms from the RMENU. Veins and deposits of ores, minerals, or stone can be found via foraging in these areas, particularly by using FIND VEIN/DEPOSIT. If you have a pickaxe, you can then MINE.
- 02.06.23: People can now hire porters to carry things for them with the ability to ARRANGE TRANSPORT. The "quarry" ability has been added to the Mining skill. You can learn the Education skill if you're in the company of scholars (e.g., in a public library). Finally, ability lists are now alphabetically sorted.
- 02.08.23: You can now learn Smithing if you're near an anvil. Burning certain things (wood, coal) in a fire now creates ash. Coal will burn for a good while longer than wood, regardless of its weight, and it will turn to charcoal while in a fire. Vines will turn to vine charcoal. Charcoal of any kind can now be used to write with.
- 02.14.23: It is now possible to craft tools and other components for crafting with the Carpentry skill, not only furniture. Carpentry can be learned by practice if you're holding a saw. You can also now teach another person a unique design for any craft, and generic versions of crafting commands have been created that can be used for any type of craft. New abilities have been added to Smithing: "refine", to temper raw ore into ingots and otherwise manipulate mined objects into useable materials; and "forge", by which a smith can make various sorts of items out of metal with the use of hammer, anvil, and forge fire.
- 02.16.23: Perfumery, Stoneworking, and Dyeing have been added as craft skills. Custom crafting is now available with Smithing and Carpentry.
- 02.17.23: Separated Weaving into two skills: Weaving and Basketry. Added leatherworking abilities: "tan" and "fabricate". Protip: don't drink tanning solution, or you'll get the new affliction of food poisoning.
- 02.20.23: Updated some aesthetics of ability displaying, and slightly rewrote some ability descriptions to universalize grammar styles for the lists. More leatherworking base fabrications have been added, along with the capacity to design and craft custom leatherworking items. There has been a light tailoring revamp; you can now design adjustable parts in certain garments, such as hoods or veils. Carpenters can carve buttons and leatherworkers can make corded leather laces and rawhide ties to use in tailoring designs where a fastening item is needed.
- 02.21.23: Unsaved logs no longer show up when trying to make a new story development. Practice situations are set up for linguistics learning, which accordingly has the "practice" ability added. Gaining a new ability when learning a new skill will now notify you of the fact.
- 02.22.23: You can now use the self-referencing conventions of /me, /my, /mine, and /I in parentheses emotes. You can also use them in thoughts, memories, and feelings -- which now also support parentheses.