The next release of Rktcr is going to be a big one. First off, it will contain a few bug fixes -- a crash if a character is renamed many times during team selection, and a fix for name colors being too low-contrast on some occasions. So that's nice.

And, certainly part of my excitement about the next build has to do with publicity. I've already sent builds to a few let's-play-ers on youtube, but this next one I will be sending to everyone I can find. (By the way, if you are a press person or let's-play-er, and want to be sure you get a build, let me know.)

But that's not the exciting thing. The exciting thing is that the next release will be done enough that I'm going to allow, invite, and admonish you to actually buy it. (Price to-be-determined. Distribution via Desura, probably.)

But that's the future. Right now, I have...

The List

...of everything that needs to be done on Rktcr before it's ready for this next release.

Six new world zones with gems. [done] There are currently 28 world zones (the zones that connected together to make worlds -- the sprawling, diabolical, main challenge of the game). Of these, only 16 have gems. Since large worlds have 14 gems, you'll be seeing a fair number of repeat zones on different plays unless I add a few more into the mix. (Mind you, repeat zones aren't really a problem -- you'll probably see them in a different orientation and that changes things completely -- but having more variety should still be nice.)

[done] There are currently 28 world zones (the zones that connected together to make worlds -- the sprawling, diabolical, main challenge of the game). Of these, only 16 have gems. Since large worlds have 14 gems, you'll be seeing a fair number of repeat zones on different plays unless I add a few more into the mix. (Mind you, repeat zones aren't really a problem -- you'll probably see them in a different orientation and that changes things completely -- but having more variety should still be nice.) Two completed plots (new style). [done] After a lot of thinking about Rktcr's plots, I've decided to abandon my long-form dialogues and keep the character interactions succinct (2-6 total lines of dialog, per cutscene). This means I will need to curtail the current plots significantly, but it also means that it should be far easier to complete writing for the game.

[done] After a lot of thinking about Rktcr's plots, I've decided to abandon my long-form dialogues and keep the character interactions succinct (2-6 total lines of dialog, per cutscene). This means I will need to curtail the current plots significantly, but it also means that it should be far easier to complete writing for the game. Gem styles. [done] Right now, each gem has a carefully selected mineral type, but the look is generic. This needs to be fixed.

[done] Right now, each gem has a carefully selected mineral type, but the look is generic. This needs to be fixed. Configuration menu. [done] Changing settings in a text file is clunky. I owe y'all a menu.

[done] Changing settings in a text file is clunky. I owe y'all a menu. Better Worlds. [done] Now that I have improved world generation, I can write scripts to balance the appearance frequency of the various zones. This should provide a more interesting pool of worlds.

[done] Now that I have improved world generation, I can write scripts to balance the appearance frequency of the various zones. This should provide a more interesting pool of worlds. Etc... There are a few low-level code fixes that should go in, but don't have much external meaning, so I won't list them here.

All told, my TODO.txt contains 26 lines dedicated to this release. And, optimistically, I think I can make all these things happen within about two weeks. So, possibly incorrectly, allow me to state that Rktcr's first public full-version build will be complete on August 21, 2013. (With the demo version corresponding to that build available the same day, and the full version available for purchase soon after, depending on the latency of Desura's approval process.)

I will post news as I work through the todo's, and we'll see how far this date slips.