Version 0.402 -- MUST BE MANUALLY DOWNLOADED!

[x4000]

This version is now out.  Sorry for the all caps in the title there, but this is a very unusual release in that it updates the updater itself, which was nonfunctional in the past on the Mac in particular, and so I really wanted to draw attention to it.  We'll also be posting news notifications about this, and on the download page for Tidalis, as well.  We're also in the process of uploading the replacement installer packages so that new folks will just get the good 0.402 version and won't have to worry about the manual patch, etc.  We'll make our news posts after that is all finished, later tonight.

The short version
Basically, if you have already downloaded 0.400 or 0.401 for windows, you need to download and run the following manual patch:

https://tidalis.s3.amazonaws.com/TidalisPatch-windows-0.4.0.2.exe

Or, if you had 0.400 or 0.401 for osx, you need to download and run the following manual patch:

https://tidalis.s3.amazonaws.com/TidalisPatch-osx-0.4.0.2.zip

Please note that if you changed the installation folder for Tidalis away from the default, then you'll need to point the manual patch to the custom location you previously chose.  It will simply point to the same default location that the original Tidalis installer was pointing to.

More info, for those interested

The issue was a permissions problem on OSX (that made the game unplayable after a patch), but there were also issues on a minority of machines on windows.  These things can sometimes happen when dealing with a new technology, and we are dealing with three that are new for Arcen: Bitrock installer, OSX in general, and Unity 3D as our engine.  The fact that more hasn't gone wrong is pretty amazing, actually.  Bitrock and Unity 3D are really solid, and we're really happy to be using them.

The goal is that in the future we won't need to do any more manual patches, but we'll see how that goes.  The idea being that the in-game automated patcher will always be able to notify you of updates, and apply them in sequence, as needed.  For "official" patches down the line, post-release of the full game, we're going to be doing manual patches for those folks who simply don't have a direct internet connection on the affected machines, etc.  Very much like what we do with AI War, except better.

Thanks to everyone for their patience with us with this patcher stuff, it's been an unusual pain in the rear for getting this working just right on OSX, but it should be good to go now and we can move forward more rapidly with actual features for the game, rather than worrying with the patch distribution mechanism for it so much!

[Fiskbit]

-Changed the description for "Allow Drag Across Any Colors" setting to match the feature (it previous described the opposite effect).

[Fiskbit]

-All of the advanced tutorials have been updated
-A new advanced tutorial (9 - Using Falling Blocks in Reactions) has been added

[x4000]

The following has been corrected for 0.402 (in 0.401 it was saying the Shift key for both Windows and OSX):

-There is now a new "Use In-Game Resolution Settings" checkbox in the settings menu.  When checked, the game will listen to the screen resolution that you choose on this page.  When unchecked, it will use whatever screen resolution is configured directly through Unity.  To configure a screen resolution on startup, hold the Shift key (on Windows) or the Option key (on OSX) while clicking to open the game.  This provides a workaround for a bug in the current version of Unity for OSX.

[keith.lamothe]

A bunch of changes over the weekend, though didn't post them til now.  We're still batting around ideas about changing trial mode (removing the 20-minute timer, focusing the experience, etc), so some of these will probably be non-trial-only.  Also, we're probably looking at a release tomorrow (Tuesday) as the Mac stuff is being a bear, making tonight look unlikely.

Anyway:

- Changed Custom Game and Level Editor Properties Game Style single-select dropdowns to multi-select toggle sets

- Implemented basic extrinsic adventure rewards system.  Beware the sheep.

- Added Color frequency controls to Level Editor Block Frequencies Window

- simplified computation of "how many blocks were in the chain leading to this block's removal" and thus the setting of the block-above's "what block count do I contribute to a chain I start by this fall-and-emit?" (this fixes the scoring inconsistency based on the order of chain merges of a chain involving a block that caused the hard fall of a block above that started another chain)

- opening the play menu no longer rescans disk for saved adventures (was causing some slowdown)

- fixed bug that wasn't erasing the contents of a saved adventure file before appending the next state to it

- now saves a .bak file of the saved adventure before deleting the .dat and re-writing it

- added X Chains of Y Blocks objective type

- added X Combos of Y Depth objective

- objectives now continue to show after win/loss

- combo detection for objectives counting now waits 20 cycles after the last of one of these: stream on the board, block in dying animation, block hard-falling

- special loss condition fulfillment now takes priority over special win condition fulfillment inside the same frame (any frame difference has priority)

- added the following objective types:
-- X Combos of Y+ Blocks
-- X Combos of Y+ Chains
-- X Blocks Dropped
-- All Blocks Cleared
-- All Blocks of Color Cleared
-- All Blocks of Special Type Cleared

- Objective progress display on in-game HUD now color codes by:
-- is this a win or loss condition (it was already doing this)
-- is this complete
-- is this impossible (currently this is only true if it is incomplete and the game is over; we could get more sophisticated on this determination)

- Clearing all blocks on a puzzle with remaining incomplete win objectives now results in a loss (it waits about 60 frames after the last block clear to make the call, since combo objectives take about 20 frames or so to update with the last combo)

[Fiskbit]

-Lots of adventure mode changes. 6 new levels, some updates to existing levels.

[x4000]

-When the game is in trial mode, Quick Games now only allow for 1 or 2 minute time limits per quick game, but there is no longer an overall time limit on the trial mode in general.  The prior 20 minute time limit was annoying players in early beta versions, so we listened to that feedback and have come up with something that is less annoying as a way to evaluate the game without us "giving away the farm."

-The "Puzzles" items on the single player menu is now called "Levels" instead, to be clearer.

-Now that there is no overall time limit on the game trial, the following features are instead disabled:

- Level/Adventure/Theme Editors (was already previously disabled)
- Custom Games (was already previously disabled)
- Player-Created or Standalone Levels
- Quick Games Limited to 2 minutes maximum
- Only the first 15 levels of adventure mode are available
- Not all special blocks, game modes, etc, are available. (All of the prior ones that were present will still be available, but not all future ones will be)

[keith.lamothe]

- updated loss/win visual cues and "what do I do next" buttons

- moved the HUD closer to the board

[x4000]

-The Tidalis Auto Updater tool has been updated rather extensively to have a Tidalis-themed GUI that is now shown instead of always working in unattended mode.  This adds three clicks for players who are getting a group of updates (three clicks no matter how many updates are being batched together), but prevents the prior issues with the updates not really working, or encountering locked files because the program was still open, etc.  The Tidalis Auto Updater tool also now supports deleting files and folders from the game installation, to properly support file renames (thus not having duplicates of the same level just because it was renamed).  The Auto Updater is ONLY allowed to delete files and folders in the Tidalis folder, so no security concerns there.

-Because the Tidalis Auto Updater was not functioning correctly in 0.400 and 0.401, the prior update path has been cut off, and a new manual patch has to be installed before the auto updater can again be set to work with 0.403 and onwards.

-This definitely should solve the comparably rare issues with the updater on windows, and further testing will not be done with how this affects the Mac.

[x4000]

-Previously, the application was not exiting on command in OSX (when launching the updater).  Fixed.

-Previously, the updater was corrupting the permissions of the files and folders used by the game on OSX, causing it to be unable to run after an update.  Fixed.

-An external patch has been developed to bring versions 0.400 and 0.401 up to the new 0.402, also fixing any corruption caused by past updates on OSX.

[keith.lamothe]

Please note that if you changed the installation folder for Tidalis away from the default, then you'll

Had you a sentence to finish?

[x4000]

Please note that if you changed the installation folder for Tidalis away from the default, then you'll

Had you a sentence to finish?

Whoops, yeah, several.  Pablo I'm'd me in the middle of my writing that, and apparently I lost focus.