Introduction

DarkWorld is a space based massively multiplayer realtime strategy game. Each player starts off with their own home planet. From there they can build ships, start exploring the universe, colonize other planets, and attack other players. What makes this game unique is that the game is always running at a very slow speed even when you are not connected. When you send a ship to another planet it may not arrive for hours or days and likewise the message it sends back may not arrive for hours or days. This allows many players to engage in a realtime strategy game that could last for months. Also, new players can join the game at any time.

0.2.1 Released

Version 0.2.1 was released on October 6th. Many bug fixes were made in this release, so it should be much more stable than 0.2.0. In addition to the bug fixes a few new features were added. On the client side, counts were added to the Universe view and gather and auto explore options were added to the Ship View.

The count option shows you at a glance information about each planet such as how many Carriers are there or how much metal is there. Obtaining this information before 0.2.1 required clicking on each planet.

The Gather option allows you to quickly gather all Carriers or Exterminators on the screen to the selected planet. The Auto Explore option allows you to send all probes from the selected planet to all unexplored planets on the screen.

On the server side, a history logging feature was added which provides data for post game analysis . This logs contains all high level events that occurred in a game. This feature was inspired by a player, mds1. mds1 dominated the last game I ran before releasing 0.2.1. I wanted to review the game, and see what actions mds1 and all of the other players took during the game but could not. When a game finishes (crashes or someone completely dominates the universe), I will make this log available. If you are interested in inspecting the log, the server distribution contains a very simple Java program that parses the log. Email me if you have questions about this feature.

Game Server Status

Status of dw.deenlo.com A sixth game was created on October 27th at 0120 EST.

Status of dw.deenlo.com:5002 An 8th game was created December 8th at 0235 EST. When connecting to this server use "dw.deenlo.com:5002", make sure you include the ":5002".

For detailed server status and game results click here.

Since this is version 0.2.1 of the game it will have bugs and does not have all of the features implemented yet. Give the game a try and let me know what you think. The easiest way to try the game is to download the client and then connect to the game server dw.deenlo.com. Please keep in mind that this is version 0.2.1, so if you try connecting to dw.deenlo.com and the server crashes or you try to login only to find the user you created is not there do not be surprised. When a game crashes I will start a completely new game and this is why your user will disappear. I do not anticipate the server crashing after fixing all of the bugs that caused 0.2.0 to crash, however it is hard to predict what will happen when a lot of people connect. If the client crashes you can always try to connect again.

If you have any feedback or questions send a message to darkworld-users AT lists.sourceforge.net or contact me directly at weef AT users.sf.net. You can also post questions on the forums.

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