• https://lwb5.svn.deepclone.co.uk/ for IPv6 users,
• https://secure.nocternity.net/deepclone.co.uk/svn/lwb5/ for IPv4 users.

This source code is the one that was used prior to the shutdown. It also includes a separate patch for an abandoned development branch that included a partial rewrite of the in-game forums and some engine improvements.

If you want to take over the project’s maintenance and evolution, feel free to email me.

The full source code to the game will be made available some time after that – it needs to be sanitised first, I’m rather sure it contains quite a few rude comments, amongst other things. This includes:

• the web front-end (server-side code and HTML/JS/CSS code);
• the various server-side tasks: ticks, proxy detector;
• the database;
• command line management tools;
• the administration site and associated data;
• various extras (Dashboard widget, planet image generator, etc).

A copy of the game’s current database will be kept – it will be used to restore some of the Beta 5 forums to the Beta 6 milestones when forums are added, and to restore e.g. PayPal donation histories.

In the meantime, thanks to everyone who’s stuck around for the past few years; that was quite a ride! Enjoy B5′s last days

Cheers,

T.

As was said in the initial description, this release is not anything like Beta 6 should be in terms of game or interface. It is meant to be a test of the system’s architecture. As Tim’s preview pointed out, a few things have changed – some in the right direction, some … not.

The release can be found at http://b6m.legacyworlds.com ; it is open for registration as of now. The game itself will start on July, the 15^th.

While the most important new feature in Milestone 1 is the minute-by-minute game updates, quite a few improvements made it into the release. For example, M1 offers customisable e-mail reminders for various types of messages, a better planet overview, an integrated bug tracking system… On the other hand, a great many of Beta 5′s features have been removed (trusted allies, forums, beacons…) or simplified (research management, fleets…) The interface itself is much simpler, relying solely on good old HTML. While the new rules are listed on the game’s site, a short, general introduction will be posted on this blog on Wednesday.

The game, however, is not what Milestone 1 is about. There is absolutely no code shared between Beta 5 and this new release (with the exception of some parts of the interface, obviously). It is a complete rewrite, in a different language, using a different architecture, which will be described in a later post.

The new version was designed from the start with ease of administration in mind (which was really not the case with Beta 5): it can support administrators with various sets of privileges, and most of the system can be affected through the administration interface. Because this is an important part of the work that was done here, and because most of you are unlikely to ever see this interface, there will be a post here on the subject.

Last but not least, reaching Milestone 1 means that… well, work will start on Milestone 2. However, because I do not have much time for it, it will be released in quite a while – a consequence of that being that it should include more features than originally indicated. Another, more important consequence is that Milestone 2 will actually be what was announced as Milestone 3, in order to make the game a little more interesting. Of course, expect yet another post on the matter.

In the meantime, enjoy M1!

It would appear that the schedule I gave for milestones was a bit too enthusiastic.

As you know, LWB6 is a complete rewrite of the game. In a different language. And therefore, using different libraries, some of them chosen completely at “random” (that is, based purely on API cleanliness).

Two weeks ago I noticed that, despite the fact that everything I had actually worked, I was having major performance problems. This prompted a rewrite of 75% of the code I already had.

I have rewritten most of the code already, but it is not really “clean” code, needs additional testing, and more commenting. In addition, some parts which used to work no longer do.

In addition to the above, I am currently (1) working on a government-funded contract, (2) trying to turn my job experience into a diploma and (3) buying a house. While all of these are important (to me, anyway), I’m afraid they aren’t compatible with heavy LWB6 development work.

Because I want to make sure that B6 development starts on a clean basis, Milestone 1 is delayed until July, the 15th. In addition, other milestone releases will also be delayed – probably with a 6-month release interval, but I need to think about it some more. I will post the new schedule when M1 is released.

Please accept my most sincere apologies.

The Legacy Worlds team wanted to wish all of you a happy new year 2009.

Also, we’re still working. While LWB6 might look more and more like vaporware to many of you, the truth is we are trying to write something really different, and really big. Besides, it’s not like any of us can spend his or her full time working on it … To quote from 3D Realms, it’ll be done … when it’s done.

The regular posts about the game will be back shortly (starting next Monday).

In the meantime, enjoy New Year’s Eve!

TSeeker

It’s been a while since we last updated this blog. Both Ju and I have been busy with other endeavours (work-related stuff, mostly) so we haven’t been able to work on Legacy Worlds as much as we’d have wanted to. Add this to the fact that the latest additions to the development wiki are mostly formulas, which are not something we’d want to publish.

But here we are. In the coming weeks, we are going to publish a few posts about the geography of the Beta 6 universe – mostly about the organisation of systems – and I will try to continue on the “Writing formulas” series. Speaking of that, my current “todo list” contains, well, mostly formulas that need to be written – distance computations (which is very boring, but almost finished), trading system, mining, corruption, influence and propaganda, happiness, population growth and migration… I am not looking forward to working on most of it, to be honest… but it has to be done.

Last but not least, I have kept on improving the planet pictures for Beta 6; at this stage, it looks like the ones I had uploaded to the current website for you to vote on are completely outdated. Since the new generator almost always manages to generate decent pictures, we might actually skip the voting part. Here are examples of the latest versions…

The “New and Improved Features” forum has been an endless source of suggestions for future releases.

As those of you who go on irc.legacyworlds.com on a regular basis already know, we have started working on Beta 6 in a more organised way about two months ago. For now we are in a design stage (which should still last for quite some time).

What is somewhat frustrating for us is keeping everything that we plan for ourselves. Once again, the IRC regular visitors may have heard some words on the design plans and may have had some spoilers.

TSeeker and I both think the sharing of what we do has always been our first interest and is in my opinion the strength of the LegacyWorlds community. Sharing development progress shouldn’t be limited to IRC.

As a consequence, we chose to create this blog dedicated to Beta 6 progress updates. The only persons entitled to create topics there will be persons involved in the development of Beta 6. However, comments (answers) will be open to everyone.

As for the form of the progress updates, well: quotes from the development wiki, thoughts, perhaps single concepts for your imagination and curiosity to explore…

Hoping you’ll enjoy that.

Ju