Hello everyone!  0.3.1 is out!

This is a client-side update, so servers don’t need to be updated, strictly speaking.  It’s optional for clients too.

Major changes are, avatars are back, (!) chat is less terrible, (!?) and favorite warp-points are fixed.  (!!!)  This smooths out a few of the most glaring issues with the game at present.  (Besides the crashes, which don’t seem to happen on my computer.  Terribly sorry about those.)

Supplementary stuff: you can hit L to keep the chatlog onscreen while playing, and you can use the mouse to zoom in.  (The latter mostly so you can get a nice close look at other players’ avatars.)

I'm making a cat! Use multiple colors so you're visible against various backgrounds.

Please refrain from making any catty remarks. ZIIINNGGGG

Me placing a favorite point in a little cave.

I fiddled with the ‘help’ dialog a little bit, so you may want to reread it.  I also made several small changes and fixes:

Hopefully fixed the "glErrors" crash on window resize.
Made antialiasing ON by default.  (pg.ini)
Fixed a spelling error and wording in one of the connection errors.
Changed music key to TAB (Due to a mistake, P is still the un-pause command on Mac!)
Added preview for avatar size in avatar selector
Added preview for avatar in world select
Fixed brush tool cursor
Changed avatar color key to a dark gray.
The 'cancel' button in chat no longer shows a confirmation screen.

You can download the new version here:

0.3.1 for Windows

0.3.1 for OS X 10.6+

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While those upload I’ll brain-dump a bit.  Things I’m thinking about doing soon:  (disclaimer: no guarantees I will)

• A favorite servers list — since the next update will have the lobby system, this will probably only apply to private servers
• A way to check if a server is online before connecting — a “knock” feature, essentially.
• addressing the horrific awkwardness of jumpthrough (red) platforms, possibly retconning all existing ones into some kind of ladder-substance.
• Creating a ‘mask’ function for the painter that will allow things to be drawn inside selected areas.
• Adding some more wall-class materials (water?) and making all the tools (rectangle, fill, etc) usable for walling.
• Possibly allowing characters to be of differing sizes.
• Administration tools
• Commands for erasing, and possibly rolling back cells
• Configurable limits for delay between new cells, minimum work time on new cells
• Configurable default permissions for new users, ways to elevate permissions from visitor -> normal -> moderator -> admin
• Tying said elevations into the free-teleport feature, or possibly enabling it for all users (ruins the fun of exploration!)
• Placement of new entry points, which will be presented when the user connects (ties into the new map system)
• Tools to deal with disk usage on both the server and client, like clearing the cache.

And a million more things.  But so it goes.

Have fun, citizens of the Blank.  Build some worlds.
–Cellulose

0.3.0 is having a nice little start.  Two part-time servers yesterday and a new one brought up today, all seeing nice growth.  I’ve done a little doodling in all three.  And it’s nice to see this thing alive again.

My attention is drawn now to the biggest among the many issues with the program, especially those relating to how players interact with one another.

• A lobby that shows all running non-private servers and their statistics.  This will be coming next update or the one after, hopefully.
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• No custom avatars, makes other players much less interesting than they should be.
• Advanced:  If you want to hack around this early, press ~, type in ‘figedit’, hit ENTER, hit control-L or the folder button, and load “../blank/menu/avatar.fig”.  This editor tool takes some figuring out and lets you select, layer and shift things.  Hit Control-S twice to quickly save over the file.
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• The ‘chat’ window covers most of the screen, possibly blocking what other players are saying.  This is a huge problem.
  
  

  Use number 73 for the banter tool: making grumpy faces at the banter tool.

• There’s no interaction with players who are drawing something, and really ought to be.  A spectator-mode would be great, though that’s hard to implement.
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• Some issues and bugs in the draw tool.
• A non-randomized palette and some smarter color selection tools.
• Fill acts strangely around the outside edges of a cell.
• There needs to be some kind of feature to aid in drawing things “behind” or “inside” other things.  (Layering and/or masking)
• Some features, like right-click erasing walls and zoom, aren’t very well explained.
• Some kind of vertex-count warning (*possibly* a limit the admin can set) so users know when their cells will start to get laggy.
• A way of testing the cell without having to upload and re-edit it, or at least having an indicator of characters’ jump height / length.
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• Better admin features.
• Re-blanking cells.  (used to be in, removed when I made passwords more secure)
• Editing without altering the password.
• In the long run, setting default permissions and appointing moderators, probably with a password elevation system.

These are the things I’m currently going to pick and choose from as priorities in coming updates.  I’m curious what YOU guys think is important, though, so let me hear what you think I should dedicate my (rather limited) time to first.

Over and out–
Cellulose

FOR SHE HAS SEEN FIT, WITH HER MANY EYES, TO GRANT US A NEW VERSION OF THE BLANK!

I’m sorry, I get this way when I stay up late.  (ie, when I wrote most of this)

Anywho, admidst much late-night debugging I’ve managed to get the code to what appears to be a functional state.  What you see above is the extent of my testing.  That is to say, I haven’t tested extensively, so there may be some bugs, but I wanted to get this out tonight soon as promised.  I’m dubbing this version 0.3.0 — it’s not a spectacular change from the last, it’s not sporting tons of new features and fixed bugs, but it does represent a different direction for the project.  I’m interested to see what comes of this and what sorts of worlds arise.  I’m happy that some other folks will get to experience the strange brew of emotions as little worlds grow in the dusty old desktops they appoint as server-boxes.

If you missed the last post, this version of Infinite Blank is hosted by YOU GUYS, so some folks will need to set up servers and announce them online before anyone can play.  I’ve set up a new board in the forums for that, with instructions on putting a server together.

>> Infinite Blank forums :: Servers <<

Downloads:

0.3.0 for Windows
0.3.0 for Mac OS X 10.6+ (intel)  –  This *might* work on Leopard too.
Linux/Unix users, try WINE for now; I hear IB emulates well.

As with 0.2.9, teleporting and avatars are broken.  Expect fixes for those in 0.3.1.  (there’s a workaround for teleports, but if you use it they’ll end up shared between all the servers.)  Also in 0.3.1, or perhaps 0.3.2, will be a lobby system that servers can register themselves with, which will make finding and connecting to servers much more straightforward.  I’m getting some help from my friend Adam Reineke with the back end of that.

0.3.1 release tentatively scheduled for next weekend.

Report any other bugs you find in the forums.

Have fun.  I’m excited to see what you guys create.
–Cellulose

Okay, bear with me here.  I finished the update, and the client and server appear to work.  (!)  I’m hung up on the Mac build and it’s really late.  I’m going to get some sanity sleep and push the update out tomorrow.

This project has been in a sorry state for some time.  That’s changing.

I’ve made a decision.  Upon the next release of Infinite Blank, the server software will be distributed and the game will launch without a central server.  The reasons for this:

• I’m having a lot of trouble finding a way to host a central server right now.
• I can’t commit the time to moderate worlds with my current obligations.
• It will allow players to experiment with the game in some new ways.
• It’s in the spirit of the game, I’ve realized.  Anyone can host.

The central server will return in the future, but it may be a while.  I apologize to those who have been promised private/public hosted worlds in this version, but at this point Infinite Blank needs to avert complete failure.  (On the upside, I finally have the tech to make renderings for the prints!)

I’ll need to make some changes to the client and a small database interface to allow players to find servers.  If I can swing it, I’d like to get avatars working again, too.  Because I’m working on a team project and contract work right now, I can’t say how long this will take.

For now, I’ll tell you about an interesting trick.  You’ll need a wifi network, two or more machines that can play the game, and an equivalent number of humans.

1. Download the latest version of Infinite Blank onto the computers.
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2. Choose one to be the server.  (Anything more powerful than a netbook, with some free hard drive space, should do.)
   Open a copy of the game on that machine, and press control -0 at the menu.  Now it’s a server!  (Yes, you could do this all along.)
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3. On the SAME machine, open the game again.  (You can use the same copy.)  Press control-1 at the menu and it will connect to itself.
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4. This part’s a little buggy.  You’ll fall through empty space if I recall right.  When you fall across the border, choose NOT to edit.  You’ll bounce back and be asked again whether you want to edit.  This time, accept.
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5. Draw the first cell!  Players spawn at the center.  If you’re really mean, you could box it in, but don’t expect it to go over well.
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6. After you save, have your friends boot up their copies of the game, pressing control-3 at the menu screen.
   (if this fails, have them make sure they’re on the same LAN)
   For bonus points, stare interestedly at the console output of the server program as they do so.
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7. Proceed to have an Infinite Blank party.  Consider sharing your results in the forums!
   All your stuff will be saved in the “blank/server” folder tree.  A complete backlog of world history is saved.
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I’ll document admin functions and release a tiny patch to allow connecting to remote servers soon.  I might do this faster with some encouragement.

My thanks to those who have prodded with comments and the odd forum post over these last months.