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It has already been 3 weeks since the last update, and I don't have a new alpha today but I wanted to talk about several things.
Beta
I would like to talk about "Beta". Some people might not want to try the alphas, because the alpha might be not feature complete and have more bugs. While this is true, they might not realize what beta means.
Beta means that all the features that suppose to be in the game are done, and that all known bugs are solved. Once beta testing begin, bugs might be discovered and decisions about removing features or adding new ones are made. But Beta means that the developer created a version that is suppose to be finished.
The confusion might come from games and software(both indie and big companies) that call an unfinished game beta. So I fear that the term beta might be confusing.
The "Wonder engine" still have a long way to go and many features to add, but "Wonder: The Evil" is quite complete game-play wise. I won't be calling "Wonder" beta for a long time, so it might be a good time to play the alpha version of "Wonder: The Evil".
Bottom line, I am not sure when "Wonder: The Evil" will become beta, but you most likely will be able to fully enjoy it soon, even if it's still alpha.
I believe the next alpha will be pretty stable, and you should all try it out. It also helps me when you try the alpha.
Development
I have began working on supporting Tiled's XML format for the game maps. I also began integrating Lua as the events scripts. This is done to make creating new Wonder games more easily, and of course allow user content.
I will start a new game for the Wonder engine that will be longer and have more features than "Wonder: The Evil". Things such as Levels\XP, Items, Equipment, Magic, Projectiles and etc.
I will also try to migrate "Wonder: The Evil"'s events from being hard coded to using Lua scripts instead.
What do you think of the choice of Lua as a scripting language? Which features would you like to see in an RPG(both single and multi player)?
Ofer.
