A Quick Update

The Updater is nearly done. I will release it is the next few days unless something more unexpected happens.

I have already overcome a few unexpected problems. The Renpy game engine's cut down version of Python does not support SSL so updates have to be hosted on an HTTP site, not HTTPS. This means I could not provide updates from Dropbox which has all its updates on SSL. Fortunately MediaFire works ok for downloading zips.

The Updater works by finding out what parts of the Zip that you need and only retrieving that part. This means that it does a lot of small requests. It uses a config file to determine which is the current file.

Automated text file downloads do not work so well from MediaFire, so I had to put it the text file in a small zip and that worked ok.

Apart from that, all appears good for now. It needs a little bit of tidying up is all.

There are a couple of limitations, once you start an update, you cannot stop it except by killing it off. That should be ok because it does not overwrite anything until the download completes.

Status Update

It has been a slow couple of weeks. Real life issues have meant that I have not had a lot of time to work on the game. I am making slow progress on the updater and have just about got it going. I have also been working on the patrol images.

Sorry there have not been any fixes. Some of you have gotten quite a long way in to the game and are stuck at present, I am patching things a bit willy-nilly at the moment. I think I need to step back a bit and take a better look, attacking it in a more structured way.

For that I need time. Hopefully things will settle down and I can give the game the attention it needs.

Below is one of my latest images for you consideration. It is not postworked yet, but I thought you might like to see a work in progress.

New Alpha Patch

http://www.mediafire.com/download/qbxnlncfixynbfa/ROCER1.6.7-P-all.zip

Above is the latest patch. It is a patch, so you do need http://www.mediafire.com/download/s8g3boz6tzynmnb/ROCER1.6.1-all.zip as a base.

This patch fixes a few issues with the game so those of you who are well advanced should be able to get a bit further.

My plans for this weekend are to do some more testing myself, work on the updater, and get some of the graphics done.

Please do let me know if you are still stuck on something. I am sure even with this release there are lots of problems lurking.

Weekly Update

Just a quick update to let you know where we are at.

Firstly, some bad news. BGrisset who did that fantastic artwork for Cerise is unable to continue on the project. I can understand what it is to run out of hours in the day ...

At this stage, I am not looking to recruit anyone new and I will be looking to pick up the slack myself if I can.

Thanks everyone who has been playing the Alpha version.  GaronakVashnu seems to be out in front and is well into the game.

After some bug reports about things no longer working back in Part 1, I have gone back to make a run through that and fix anything I find.

I am also starting to work on the Patrol images myself and will be doing fixups in the Patrol code as I work through them.

JClyde and Elynda have been doing great work on their scenes and JClyde has started looking to do the Jade scenes when he finishes with Kitaxxa. Elynda is starting on Zarielle in the Gardens. She has given us a few more great ones for Zarielle in her bedroom that I have to incorporate.

I am looking into an incremental updater so that you will not need to download patches or full downloads any more. I have worked out how to do it I think. Now I just have to find some time to do it.

I leave you with my latest piece of artwork. Thanks everyone for your support.