[RELEASE] LoneWolfDS - Flight From The Dark

[fredc]

Hi all!

I'm pleased to announce that my port of the first Lone Wolf book on the DS is done!

You can visit the official site and get the ROM here: www.projectaon.org/staff/frederic

For those who don't have a DS linker and who would like to see how it looks like, I asked a friend to shoot a clip showing the gameplay elements. You can watch it on the "Screenshots" page.

Hope you like it!

VERSION 1.4 IS NOW AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH AND SPANISH!

Changelog:
2008/04/27: version 1.4
- Fixed a memory leak during random rolls, making the numbers disappear after many rolls.
- Fixed some vicious inventory bugs.
- Fixed many sections.
- Updated the events handling engine so future books will be easier to port.
- Spanish version! (thanks A LOT to NewKuato and El Clérigo Urbatain!!!)

2008/04/08: Version 1.3
- Fixed section #197, where a sword and some gold coins were not available (thanks Steven!)
2008/04/06: Version 1.2
- Added a left-handed mode finally! I recoded many things to support this new mode, so if you find a bug, please tell me!
- Now you throw the dice manually during combats, to make them more enjoyable and add a bit of suspense.
- Fixed a screen brightness bug occuring sometimes after flashing the screen.
- Fixed a combat skill bonus bug when you had taken "MindBlast" discipline.
- Added a "Close" button to the map. Also you can now display the map by pressing START/SELECT.
- Other small fixes and improvements.

2008/03/22: Version 1.1
- LoneWolfDS should now work properly on M3 Real and G6 linkers (many thanks to all the testers!)
- Fixed a small issue on section #33 were gold was not increased properly.

2008/03/09: Version 1.0
- Fixed a nasty bug that was not flushing inventory correctly when you were restarting a new game,
causing various strange behaviours when trying to pick items (thanks Raion!)
- Fixed a bug causing Gold to increase regularly, and limited the number of crowns to 50.
- Fixed a loading saved game bug which was not restoring all events properly (thanks Kirsty!).
- Fixed several sections events
- Smoothed and improved map scrolling using the stylus.
- Fixed a bug where "Previous/Next" buttons were staying in black & white after dying.
- You can't no longer pick/unpick the "Weaponskill" discipline and roll a random number each time.
- You can't drop and lose the map now.
- Various other small fixes and improvements.

2008/03/04: RC6
- First public release candidate

Frédéric

[mckinstry]

Congratulations for your well polished program.

The visuals look great! Plus the DS has a perfect user interaction for such a game.

I'm positive you'll recieve enough interest for further ports of the rest of the series. All the best with your project.

[Black Cat]

Wow, love the video. I need to find that DS linker...

[Taryn]

This looks awesome.

How do I play this on the DS? I assume I need a blank cartridge and some kind of cable or device to attach it to the computer?

Is it possible to play with any alternate rules? What rule interpretations does it use?

Edit: One of my questions was answered in the original post, so I removed it.

[fredc]

Thanks for the kind words

@mooncheese:
Well indeed, you need a specific cart called a linker. They are pretty popular and can be found everywhere. There are many models, but the most acclaimed ones are generally the R4 and CycloDS Evolution. I'm not sure this is the most appropriate place to promote DS linkers though, so I'll let you Google it

About the rules, there is only one set now, the original one (at least as I understood it by reading the rules at the beginning of the book)

[lljktechnogeek]

If I may be allowed an expletive, this is [fudgeing] AWESOME.

Excellent job, I'll toss in a donation as soon as I get my next check, now please finish the rest of the books.

EDIT: Apparently I may not be allowed an expletive. Nonetheless, the sentiment remains.

EDIT 2: Found a bug. In Section 307, the hermit offers you a Warhammer, but the game thinks it's a Spear.

[fredc]

Version 1.0 is now available!

(see the changelog in the first post)

It should fix the bug you mentioned lljktechnogeek

[alderaine]

I note you have a dontations reference on your pages.
Please could you also include a link to the Aon donations page?

It might be worth saying a little more about how your program works with Aon on your site, rather than just redirecting the reader.

[fredc]

Yup, good idea. I'll try to do it soon.

BTW, I'd like to insist on the fact that I try to promote the Project Aon site as much as possible: in my readme files, in the credits screen of the game, in all the posts I did on forums to announce the project, and even in interviews that I gave to some sites.

[redstar]

Hey,

Just completed Flight from the Dark. It was awsome and brought back a lot of memories

Looking forward to new installments and am willing to test if needed.

[haskellpaul]

Hands down, this is easily the best thing to happen to Lone Wolf since Projectaon, or the new re-releases, in my humble opinion.
I truly think that this project deserves to be on the projectaon's main entry page somewhere, with a link to your main-page for the DS.

I have just completed the game and I must say that everything about this port is perfect. The presentation, the icons, the intuitive status menus and even the font could not be any better. I do however have a few suggestions that might even make this already awesome game, possibly even better.


*a "notebook" option in the character's menu. (with a little icon at the top among the other menu/save options) I've seen this sort of thing in several DS games such as Dementium, and it would definitely be helpful to take notes "in game" in one such as this.

*in the disciplines menu it would be cool to be able to click on each one, and be able to get a description of what each one is capable of, instead of having to go back to the beginning of the book to get it.

*this may be a bug or maybe I'm just too stupid to be able to figure it out but, I can't seem to initialize mindblast. Also in section 136 I noticed that my combat skill remained the same, instead of getting the height advantage bonus.

*backpack/item organization = being the OCD type of person that I am, I think it would be cool to be able to drag items around to different slots to re-organize them, this could apply to disciplines as well

*This is very minor but when choosing disciplines at the start, it would be helpful to hear a little sound when you click on the discipline to know that you've chosen it, then maybe a different sound will occur when you un-select it. Sort of like when you plug or unplug a usb device into a pc.

*When it comes to special items, (and some might disagree) I believe the maximum should be 12 starting with book one, although I think that the map should not be regarded as a special item, since in future books it is not.

*It would be cool to see the "safekeeping" option available in the game. Where an infinite number of items could be stored or accessed in-between adventures at the monastery. Certain items have weird exceptions though so I could see how troublesome it would be to implement this feature.

*This next suggestion would be something that would be neat to see in the far far...FAR off future but its still a pretty cool idea nonetheless. I would LOVE to see a single ds game that has lone wolf books 1-20 and for it just to be called "Lone WolF DS". Another example might be "Grey Star DS" which would be a four greystar books of course, or Banedon DS or Lone Wolf New Order DS etc. It would also be extra sweet if each book in the game was regarded as a "chapter". Such as "Chapter One - Flight From the Dark". Then as another dream suggestion, it would be nifty to see two different difficulty ratings. "Easy" would be the same as it is now(where you can save almost anywhere), and in "normal" mode, you would only be able to save it at the END of each chapter(aka book). I also suppose that the current chapter you are in, should be listed in the status menu somewhere along with it's corresponding number.



p.s. = I also just wanted to mention that i thought the way section 144 was handled was perfect. This was the section where an item is stolen from you in town. I Like how the item in possession that is taken is random. It definitely makes it more realistic than the way its handled in the book.

[fredc]

Hi,

Thanks for all those suggestions!

Some of them are interesting, but some others would just be a pain to code (like the remaining number of sections before reaching the end)
I'll see what I can do!

About the fact that Project Aon should put the project on the homepage, maybe it's a bit exagerated, but I admit it would be nice to relay the information on the PA site itself (for example I was surprised that there was no info about Dave's PC port on the site). Maybe the PA staff prefer to focus on the site itself, or they were just too busy

Have fun!
Frederic

[outspaced]

Hi

Quoth Jon Blake, Project Coordinator:

"If we feel that they're ready for primetime - even if they're not perfect yet - then a link on Main/Books would be appropriate. If they're still under development, then perhaps we should start another page for them. Since the website's a wiki, no one is stopping the developers (or anyone else) from adding their own links.

"We might even think about adding a "Software" category to the site."

If you have any proposals for how to publicise the current batch of software readers on the PA website, by all means run it past us, and then go ahead and wikify! ;D

[fredc]

Hi!

A new version (1.1) is now available, and should fix the compatibility problems with M3 Real and G6 linkers (and maybe others!).

On a side note, LoneWolfDS has now officially entered the NeoFlash Competition 2008! So if you want to support this project or just
check all the great entries, click here: www.neoflash.com/forum/index.php/board,98.0.html

Have fun!

PS: Thanks outspaced for your reply, I'll try to update the wiki when I come back from holidays

[smakx]

Lone Wolf DS is great. Thanks alot for creating it. I will be donating on the project page once I get a friend over here w/ paypal (I don't have it). Please continue to develop the project. It runs great as it is. Your presentation and production are top-notch, real pro looking work. It all runs great and the interface utilizing the ds touch screen couldn't be better. The only suggestions I have are more books, and maybe a few more tunes. The music you have is perfect but there is not enough of it. Thanks again, you (and project aon) rock!