============================================================================== Sceptre of Shalimar Pre-Release Version History Copyright 1991, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2003 All Rights Reservered. ============================================================================== Whats new in this build? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sceptre of Shalimar Pre-Release 3 -- build 09_05_04 - Changed name from "Sceptre of Shalimar Alpha" to "Sceptre of Shalimar Pre-Release 3" - Windows "Front End" (GUI Menu App) to make it easier to start the game. - Lots of work on the ReadMe and Documentation files. - Quick Start now makes only one character with set stats (always the same numbers). - Changed Combat Help-Screen and Prompt. - Fixed a bug which caused any failed spell during combat to immediately exit combat. - A whole bunch of "behind the scenes" work which will be used for future features, including the ability to record and playback map-walking "movies" (You can press the , or . key, then walk around on the map, to see this). These "movies" will be used for Boatwright's "Ferry Services" and storyline elements in future builds of the game. - A new version of the Tarma Installer which should allow the game to be installed even if you do not have "Administrator Rights" on the computer. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sceptre of Shalimar Build 09_03_13 -- ALPHA TEST (Work In Progress) - Changed Teleport cheat/debug keys from X and W to ( and ), updated Help Screen to match. - Pressing ENTER will now abort Teleport cheat/debug (added check for NULL) - Fixed bug on Combat Help Screen (some yellow text was 1 character off) - Fixed "equipped items" bug when selling some items/weapons/armors - Updated Merchant's "nothing to sell" messages so they are more meaningful/accurate. - Cleaned up the Spell Screen some. - "Level up" message now correctly lists +5 HP (instead of +1 HP). - Melee Weapons no longer attack at Range when you attack with a Ranged Weapon. - Missile Weapons no longer attack in Melee (ranged only, as they should be). - Can cast healing spells in Combat now. - Changes to Falcon's Summit map (added Armor Merchant). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sceptre of Shalimar Build 09_03_10 -- ALPHA TEST (Work In Progress) - Healing spells work now - Items can be used now - Changes to Falcon's Summit, Dwarven Tunnel, and Terracon Maps. - Changes to Character Rolling (no more 1's for stats, additional HP) - Got rid of all the "invalid directory" and "invalid filename" messages. - Improved missile/bullet animation in Tactical Combat. - Modified Title Screen, including MouseOver text for the large buttons. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sceptre of Shalimar Build 04_12_04 -- ALPHA TEST (Work In Progress) - The game should run in any folder now (not just those with 8-letter names) - New Character Sheet (inventory/stats screen -- when you press the Z key) - Ability to pick up items on the map now (mainly used in Dungeons) - Tactical Combat shouldn't "eventually crash" (all known bugs fixed) - Some changes/additions to maps for Terracon and Pirate Cave Levels 1 and 2. - A few new items added to the game (however you still can't Use them yet). - A few "memory leak" bugs were fixed. - Minorly improved stability in Windows 2000 and XP. - Installer should delete all Icons and Folders when you un-install now. (that was Tarma's problem, nothing to do with my programs!!) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sceptre of Shalimar Build 04_04_03 -- ALPHA TEST (Work In Progress) - The game works in Windows 2000 and Windows XP now (has since last release). - The Priest in Terracon can heal you now. - Dungeon Exits no longer chase you around (some were being treated like monsters - The Dungeon Exit would wander around looking for you!!). - Added a "teleport to new map" cheat key (see the F1 help screen in game). Before there was only "teleport on current map". Now you have both types. - Talking to Merchants/Shops will now put up the Character's Portrait just like talking to Townspeople. - Added some more sounds - You can sell equipped items now - Map Editor will now display special shop types - Partially implemented Vehicles. If you try to buy something from the Boatwright in Terracon, it works now, sort of. You get a list of things, but you can't actually buy anything yet! - Added a cheezy "Quick Combat" mode (will improve this later). Mainly because "Tactical Combat" seems to contain a lot of bugs which will eventually cause the game to crash or cause an "illegal operation". Planning to maybe add a "Console Style" combat mode also, where it would just show monster tiles (icons) and let you attack or use magic (without moving around)... Same way most XBox/Sony/Nintendo/Sega RPG's do combat. - Added a bunch of new stuff to the Title Screen. Ability to choose combat type (Quick or Tactical), Debug Flag toggle, and Sound Test (previously available (but undocumented) by clicking on the Title). - Added shortcut (icon) for the Tile Editor to the Installer. - C++ Source Code is now included in the download. - Did a lot of work on some of the maps (unfortunately you either can't get to some of them at all yet (because key items aren't programmed yet), or getting to them is a little difficult (because you'd have to discover them by accident as there are no quests yet and none of the current townspeople mention them). You can use the "teleport to new map" cheat if you really want to see them). - There are probably a number of other bug fixes and/or added features I can't think of right now. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sceptre of Shalimar Build 03_10_05 -- ALPHA TEST (Work In Progress) Whats new in this build? - A couple minor Bug Fixes - Program should run under WinNT, Win2000, and WinXP now. (problem was that SHALGAME.EXE used the Dos XCOPY command to copy data... for some lame reason, when you run XCOPY from within a DOS program in WinNT/2K/XP it crashes hard. So I used COPY instead. The only drawback is this makes the program no-longer-function under MS DOS 5.x and below... Shouldn't be a problem since no one uses MS DOS anymore...!) - Planning to change the way Saved Games are saved soon, so the COPY/XCOPY will no longer be necessary. Maybe in the next release...? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sceptre of Shalimar Build 03_04_26 -- ALPHA TEST (Work In Progress) Whats new in this build? - Combat is working much better now. - Added "Hit Point Bar" to show Monster Hit Points in Combat. - Some changes to Character Stats Screen (including previous/next player). - Beginnings of clickable Buttons on Character Stats Screen. - Can get Item/Weapon/Armor info on Character Stats Screen. - "START NEW GAME" creates only 1 character in party now. - "QUICK START GAME" creates 2 characters in party now. - Fixed a couple other small bugs which could cause the program to crash. - Windows/DirectX version is still VERY far from being playable. I haven't had the time to work on this project (notice its been almost 3 years...) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sceptre of Shalimar Build 00_06_17 -- ALPHA TEST (Work In Progress) Whats new in this build? ** I STILL NEED AN ARTIST/ANIMATOR TO DRAW NEW TILES AND OTHER GRAPHICS FOR THE NEW WINDOWS/DIRECT-X VERSION OF SCEPTRE OF SHALIMAR. EMail me at seth@alphaomegasystems.org if you are interested. I will be using 640x480 with 16 bit color (thats 65,000 colors, or for all you Apple Mac Uses, "thousands of colors"). ** - REMOVED DEBUG MESSAGES. - New and greatly improved README file (yes, do go check it out). - Added some new tiles and animations. My younger brother (Joel Hopkinson) made the new monster tiles. I did the new signs. - Tile Editor is working now. A separate file called "STILEDIT.BAT" is included, run this to use the Tile Editor. It isn't totally finished, but it is quite useable. (this may show up as just "STILEDIT" if you haven't turned off the "hide file extensions" option in Windows). - Made some changes to Terracon and Falcon's Summit (check out the new Mage Shop sign in Falcon's Summit!) - Reduced the amount of DOS memory the programs use. This will help some of you who have been getting "illeagal operation" errors in Windows. - Combat still doesn't work quite right, but this will be fixed soon. - Most of the work I did this time around was to prepare the program to be converted to Win32/DirectX. There are a number of major differences between DOS and Windows Programs. Even though I kept things as "portable" as possible, there is still a fairly large amount of work needed to convert Sceptre of Shalimar from a DOS program into a Windows program. - I am also researching what would be needed for a Linux version of the game. If any of you know of a really good Graphics and/or Sound library for Linux, let me know. I know OpenGL does graphics. But does it do Sound too? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sceptre of Shalimar Build 00_04_15 -- ALPHA TEST (Work In Progress) Whats new in this build? ** I STILL NEED AN ARTIST/ANIMATOR TO DRAW NEW TILES AND OTHER GRAPHICS FOR THE NEW WINDOWS/DIRECT-X VERSION OF SCEPTRE OF SHALIMAR. EMail me at hopkins@smartlink.net if you are interested. I will be using 640x480 with 16 bit color (thats 65,000 colors). ** - Fixed a really odd bug which caused Terracon to show up as a huge ocean (all water tiles) when you entered the town sometimes. I really had to pray hard about this one, I couldn't figure it out... - Added some ranged weapons to the shops. - PLAYERS CAN ATTACK NOW IN COMBAT. Combat module is still very rough, but it WORKS! You will get experience and gold when killing a monster. You will go up levels eventually. When you fire a missile weapon, it will do damage, but there is no sprite ('bullet' graphic) for it yet. Combat will get better in the future after I've worked on it more, my eventual goal is to have something like the Heroes of Might and Magic series (check www.3do.com to see how Heroes does its combat). - Changed the Tile View function in the Editor. Full Mouse Support now. (Check it out, hit F2 in the Editor). - I've also made the Tile Editor a separate .EXE file. It is no where near finished yet, so I didn't include it in this release. - There are DEBUG messages that will come up thoughout the game. Just hit any key and the game will continue. I'll get rid of these in the next release, but for now you'll just have to bear with them... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sceptre of Shalimar Build 99_10_10 -- ALPHA TEST (Work In Progress) Whats new in this build? - Townsperson/Trader talk now has tile in chat window. - Made some significant changes to Terracon. - Signs come up in a Window now. - WordWrap function for signs, messages, ect. - Did a lot of work on the Combat Module. Lots of keys implemented. Players can move around now. Players can ALMOST attack now (about two or three more hours of coding should do it, so watch for the next release!!!). - Added DOS Memory Check to prevent program from crashing if not enough DOS memory is available to safely run the program. - EDITOR: Added coordinates to ThingEdit. - EDITOR: Finally fixed Tile-Editor bug that munched the first few lines of tile 0 when you exit and re-enter the tile-editor (unless you reloaded the program). - A number of other small bug-fixes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sceptre of Shalimar Build 99_08_15 -- ALPHA TEST (Work In Progress) Whats new in this build? - This build is basically just a bug-fixed* version of the previous build. It will no longer complain about files being the wrong version. This will also fix a lot of the strange DOS Errors some of you have been reporting. - My plans for Combat is to eventually have it be sort of a real-time strategy type of thing (ie: StarCraft, WarCraft, Command & Conquere, Dune II, ect). For now, it is turn-based, and as before, only monsters can attack... This will change as soon as I have the TIME to finish working on the player-attack rountines. * For you programmers out there, I had one of those famous pointer-problems. More data going into a structure than what I had allocated... So lots of things were being stepped on. I had hard-coded 200 text-messages in one part of the program. The message structure was set up for 128 text messages. So there was about 6K of stuff being over-written by the extra 72 messages (each message is 80 characters long plus a few extra bytes). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sceptre of Shalimar Build 99_07_04 -- ALPHA TEST (Work In Progress) Whats new in this build? - Added many new sounds (press X on title screen for sound test). - Some new debug keys (press F1 in the game to get a list of them). - Many changes in the Editor. - COMBAT WORKS, well at least partly... Monsters can attack. You can't. The player-attack part is still to buggy so it is disabled but I will have it working soon. There are 5 placeholder monsters. Oh, and during combat you can press ESC to exit combat and ~ (or `) to view the messages. I still have to do a lot of work on the combat engine, but you get the general idea. - THERE'S AN ANNOYING BUG that I have not figured out yet... The game keeps on complaining about files being the wrong version. - I haven't touched the project in MONTHS, I just don't have the time anymore to program like I used to. The last update was December 98. A few weeks ago I got the urge to go do some programming and I've been putting in an hour here and there... Hopefully I will continue to find the time and energy to keep up the programming... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sceptre of Shalimar Build 98_12_13 -- ALPHA TEST (Work In Progress) Whats new in this build? - Save/Load games work now. - "Start Game" works correctly now (you no longer HAVE to use 'Quick Start'). - Random Name Generator (for character creation) partly working now. - Some terrains working now: Lava: There's a patch of it east of where you start. Try walking in it. Elven Forest: Look for the "old forest" graphic in the patch of forest to the far east of where you start. Try walking in it. - Characters can die now, and the game can end. - Some conditions (poison, dead, ect) work. But you need to use the character editor to set conditions (try values: 4, 8, 16, 32). Check the Help Screen for info on how to get into the character editor. - Did more work on the maps. Go check out Falcon's Summit (town to the east of where you start, in the mountains). - Monsters and Combat is as before. The Combat Routine doesn't work right (yet). If you get into combat it will just beep and remove the monster. - TONS of "behind the scenes" stuff (.SOS file (which holds game filenames), file format changes, attribute's functions, ect...). - I'm going to convert Sceptre of Shalimar to Win95/DirectX soon. Once I start this, it will be a LONG time before I post any more pre-releases. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sceptre of Shalimar Build 98_05_01 -- ALPHA TEST (Work In Progress) Whats new in this build? - TOWNSPEOPLE TALK NOW! So go on, try it. Press the T key when you are near one of them. - MONSTERS! There are monsters in the game now. They walk around the map and actually attack you, but combat has not been programmed yet... - Some new maps. Go try the town and castle east of where you start. When you enter them, it will go to a smaller map with the town/castle in it. Enter this second town/castle and you go into it. - Some new animation. Just a couple more tiles. Haven't had the time to work with art very much. I'm going to make a list of the tiles I need then find myself an artist to draw them up, with animation. - Added a "console" function which keeps track of past events. Press the ~ key to bring it up. This is mainly used for debugging messages and will probably not be of much use to everyone else. - I did a whole lot more work on SMapEdit. Some of you have said you don't care about the editor and wish I would work only on the game... Well, I need the editor in order to finish making the game!! So quit complaining! - Added some "Are You Sure" prompts to SMapEdit so you won't accidentally erase your work if you hit "New Map". - You can now set the animation frames for a tile in SMapEdit!!! - Some more "under the hood" stuff that won't show up until next release. Namely, I'm right in the middle of re-programming the "add thing to map" routine, and the new one doesn't work yet so I left the old one in place. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sceptre of Shalimar Build 98_03_09 -- ALPHA TEST (Work In Progress) Whats new in this build? - Townspeople can walk around now. Should have monsters moving around soon. - Did some more work on Spells, but casting doesn't have any effect yet. - Tons of work on animation routines, especially in SMapEdit. The tileset has been completely virtualized. Both tiles and items/people/things can now be animated. Now all that is left is to draw up more frames for the tiles! - Got rid of three bugs present in the previous build: - The "SUBST" bug has been fixed. Sceptre of Shalimar will now work properly when it is installed on a SUBST drive letter. - The "Game Erases Itself" bug has been fixed. In some obscure cases, the game would erase itself when you try starting a new game. - The game would crash sometimes when ran under Windows. Under DOS, it would dump you back to the command line. This bug has been fixed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sceptre of Shalimar Build 98_01_19 -- ALPHA TEST (Work In Progress) Whats new in this build? - Got rid of the startup delay ("Loading Data Files..."). - Added Dwarven Tunnel map. Straight north of where you start. Goes through the Northern Mountains. Will eventually have more stuff in it. - The user-maps (around the hill, NW of where you start) have been updated. Keep them coming, people! These maps were made by Sceptre of Shalimar fans just like YOU... - Sound Test Function added (click on title graphic). - Spell Casting works, but since you can't buy spells yet this is of limited value... Should have that done next month. - Many changes to game help screens. - Form Party works now, but parties aren't saved yet. - Character Portrait implemented. Your characters can look like any tile now instead of the default guy. - Moved "View Storyline?" into New Game instead of having it come up every time you start a game. - Added a couple more animated tiles (I animated two monsters, but since monsters don't walk the map yet, you can only see them if walk through the Dwarven Tunnel). - Did some work on the editor (SMapEdit), implemented a few functions in the Tile Editor, started working on getting the editor to support separate games (but this doesn't QUITE work yet...). For now, just press any key on the title screen and the old menu will come up. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sceptre of Shalimar Build 97_12_14 (ALPHA TEST -- Work In Progress) Note: This is an "intermediate" build I uploaded by special request. I am still in the middle of working on certain things (especially game loads and saves -- Just pick Q (Quick Start), it works). Whats new in this build? - Numerous changes and bug-fixes. Lots of "under the hood" things added. Not much is VISIBLE yet, but give me another week or two to finish my work and you will see some real earth-shattering improvements to the game! - Game data files are now contained in a separate directory. - SMapEdit now (partly) supports spells. - New "scrolling menu" added (see spell editor). I will soon be using this scrolling menu to list filenames on disk (so you don't have to type them in anymore! Just point and click... Or use cursor keys...!) - Game loads and saves working (partly). - Characters are now saved to disk (but you can't load them yet). - Game (almost) supports spells. - Made some changes to the HELP screen (added LOOK command and others). - Teleporters work now. - Directly NorthWest (thats Up-Left) of where you start, around the other side of the mountain next to Terracon, there are three maps which were created by a fellow Sceptre of Shalimar fan. Feel free to explore them. Although, since they were not created by me, you explore them at your own risk... Some of them have no exits!! You can always hit ESC to return to the main menu. You also may need to press F3 and turn off Tile Checking (set it to 0) to explore some areas of them. - Undoubtedly some more stuff that I forgot to mention. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sceptre of Shalimar Build 97_09_27 -- ALPHA TEST (Work In Progress) Whats new in this build? - Some graphics changes (all done by me). - Couple of new sounds added in (still only PC Speaker). - Animation Engine now works (although only water is animated right now). - Tile types / Collision detection has finally been programmed (you can no longer walk through walls, water, mountains, ect) - Walking off the border in a city (Terracon) will now exit to main map. - You can buy and sell to both weapon and armor merchants now. - Townspeople partly programmed. - SMAPEDIT now lets you define tile types (There were several other changes made to the Editor as well). - Several changes to maps, plus a new Pirate Cave dungeon level (you will have turn off tile-detection (press F3) to get through the mountains. Don't forget to turn it back on once you are in the dungeon...!) - LOOK command. Press L to get a description of things around you! - Several other fixes and changes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sceptre of Shalimar Build 97_08_07 -- ALPHA TEST (Work In Progress) Whats new in this build? - THE "BEHIND THE SCENES" STUFF FINALLY STARTS TO SHOW...! - Added Merchants (you can buy stuff now, but can't sell yet). - Added Merchant Insults (like the QBasic version, with some new ones), just try buying something you cannot afford... - Weapon File (shalimar.wa) is actually loaded now, before the weapons were temporary defaults built into Shalimar.EXE instead of using the .WA file. - Did a lot more work on the Terracon Map. - Some changes to Character Generator. New chars get more Weapon Profs now. - Made more changes to Character Display/Inventory. Re-Arranged some stuff, and you can now equip weapons/armors that you have. - Fixed a bug in the Random-Number generator routine which prevented the lowest number from being returned (ie: random(1-15) would return 2-15). - Made a couple small changes to Editor, namely Item MerchantCodes (they were using the wrong numeric values before, and are in color now). - Now requires MATH COPROCESSOR chip. Had to switch to this because of an error in Borland C++'s floating point module when working with the HUGE memory module (started saying "Floating Point Error - Abnormal Program Termination" even though NO changes have been made to Shalimar's floating point code in MONTHS. After fucking struggling for hours trying to fix this, I switched it from EMULATION to FLOATING POINT... Then suddenly everything worked fine). This REALLY pisses me off...! Big time!!! - And, as always, there's probably some other stuff I forgot to mention. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sceptre of Shalimar Build 97_07_28 -- Alpha Test (work in progress) Whats new in this build? - Major changes to the Title Screen (graphics, buttons, ect). - Partly implemented party & character generation. - Implemented Scrolling Message Window (bottom of screen on main map). - Partly implemented merchants and townspeople. - Did a lot of work on Character Display / Inventory screen. - Changed some keys, press ? or F1 during gameplay to see them. - Fixed a couple of bugs (as always, this is a ongoing process). - Probably some other stuff I forgot to mention. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sceptre of Shalimar Alpha Test Build 97_05_30 Whats new in this build? 10,000 "behind the scenes" things that users won't be able to see... New Title Screen. Added some stuff to the Character Editor. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sceptre of Shalimar Alpha Test Build 97_05_18 Whats new in this build? - Added Mouse Routines and limited mouse support on some screens. - You can now click near player to walk around the map. - Included the WEAPON/ARMOR files (*.wa), forgot them last time. - X key skips character generation in main game file. - A whole bunch of behind the scenes stuff most people would never notice, like changing file/data formats, speeding up graphics, fixing minor bugs. In previous builds: - Trapped Control-C and Control-Break (go on... try it!) - F1 Help Screen now works. - Character stats screen now works (press Z) - Added Character Editor (press A) **** Copyright 1997 All Rights Reservered ****