Newsletter #64 - Volund Preview 1 Release Date

News

Volund Preview 1 will be released on Saturday, April 10th, 2010. Be sure to checkout the Volund website at http://www.volundgame.com for a countdown to the release and information about the game.

The Volund Facebook page has been given an easier to remember address. http://www.facebook.com/Volundgame


From the Testers
Written by Jay

The beta has gone through many game versions in order to make sure that all the bugs are found. When one version is created, most of the previous bugs were fixed; however, we had to test to make sure more bugs weren't created. There's the rub: there have always been some new glitches and bugs with every version. This is not necessarily bad, because the newer bugs have usually not been as serious as the older ones.

With the announcement of a release date for the first Volund preview, a rush of orders came in that, when summarized, told us to do absolutely everything anyone can do and make sure it works properly. This is when testing the balance of classes became important. Though it's a pretty easy task to test everything, it is extremely time consuming. Making sure classes are balanced, testing the banking system, testing the trading system, leveling to the level cap with every class possible, testing out group combinations for both PvP and PvE. Hopefully our efforts will not be wasted and the preview will be released without a bug or glitch in sight.

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A prime example of a "bug".


A video created by Jay to show InvisibleMan and GreyKnight a glitch with the map so they could fix it.


From the Programmer
Written by Invisible

The network server system has been touched up a bit. Rather than having a single class which handles all connected and connecting clients, there is now a server object which listens for incoming connections. When a connection has been established, the server creates a client object, connects it to the client who has just connected, and hands this to its owner. The owner is from this point responsible for the connection; the server object has no control or knowledge of it. This same client class is also used for connecting to servers, removing the need to have a server-client and a client-client. There may be unforeseen problems with this design, but at the moment it is working well.

The engine now uses a result code system modeled after HRESULT. It allows me to easily check if the result is a failure or success, and retrieve additional information about the result. Each result is tagged with the code of the system which generated it, along with a system specific code describing what happened.

Due to time constraints, the Volund Preview 1 will release without an automatic update system. Fortunately, the download is relatively small so reinstalling to update your game shouldn't be too much of a hassle.

I have spent most of the passed month fixing bugs. There are still a few problems, but all majors issues have been fixed. We are very close to the release of the first preview!


Artist's Easel
Written by GreyKnight

iScribble Sketches #22

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Community Spotlight

With the release of the first Volund preview announced to the public, the Ifthen Software community has gotten a surge of activity. Members that have not been around for a while have come, and new members are coming. The forum, which is usually relatively quiet, is now bustling with posts all over. Volund has restored the community to its former glory.
-jaythemage

After a long time of silence and secrecy, the Stick Network announced it's return. The clan was resurrected by AbyssalPhoenix and is already getting new members.
-Eeevil

Well, I doubt any of you care, but the banned RageMan1990 is back to play Volund (if you haven't known yet). AbyssalPhoenix's fan site at http://volund.isgreat.org/ has been created. Also, Ironhide has made a Volund Wikia, editable by anyone, at http://volundgame.wikia.com/wiki/Volund_Wiki Furthermore, the excitement has caused players to create clans before the game was even released. This shows that Volund may be the greatest thing IfThenSoftware has created. Oh yeah, I forgot about my 'Volund History thing": http://www.ifthensoftware.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=1904 And if you want to see Miotatsu's SAO history: http://www.ifthensoftware.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=1776
-Clignotement

All in all everyone is excited for the release of Volund in a few days.
-SadisticusMaxim

To contribute to future community spotlight articles, please visit this forum: http://www.ifthensoftware.net/forums/index.php?showforum=37


Funny Quote of the Week

Background information: Jay (a Volund tester) was talking to some people in IRC about Volund.

Jay: I believe all of the testers' accounts are going to be wiped before it goes public
Jay: But yeah, I know all about the game
xXLonelyEmoXx: Yea..
xXLonelyEmoXx: So a big headstart..
Jay: If they're not wiped, then I'll have the most amount of money that anyone will ever get
Jay: Well, at least with this version
xXLonelyEmoXx: How much is that?
Jay: It was in one of the newsletters
Jay: It's around 620,000
Jay: I think
xXLonelyEmoXx: Wow nice..
pifreak: hax
pifreak: dirty duper
Jay: Indeed
Jay: But now that bug is fixed
Jay: Good thing I tested it thoroughly
Jay: ;)