28.12.2004
(by Tero)

Finally, the task of translating the comments is over! This also means Tracksail 1.0-rc2 is out. This should be the last release candidate before 1.0 release.

The new release has some more visible changes as well. I removed the broken tracks that were provided as an example and added the olympictriangle contributed by Rob. Also, the scripts to make running the game easier are included, but you need to chmod them to be executable for now. I'm going to fix that for 1.0. Due to the inclusion of the scripts, I have updated the readme files - also those available online - to provide information about their usage.

Go get rc2 from our downloads section and let me know of any bugs you find or ideas you have for improving Tracksail!

14.12.2004
(by Tero)

The final university exam of this year was today and finally getting the study pressures off of my back gave me some extra energy that I used to - among other things - work on Tracksail. The greatest achievement of today probably is that the comments of Tracksail.java and Server.java are now fully translated :) In addition, I updated several non-code files in the CVS and created scripts to make running Tracksail client and server in Unix-like systems a breeze. I recommend trying out the current CVS and reading its readme-files instead of those available online.

Now, here's the plan. After I have translated all the comments, I'll release a new rc. If I don't find any showstopper bugs in it with a few weeks of testing, I'll release 1.0. I'm also thinking of including the shell scripts in the next rc, since they make things a lot easier and don't touch the code at all. I would appreciate bat-files for Windows, though, since Windows-users are still stuck with the harder ways of running Tracksail.

If everything goes well, the rc will be released during this year and we'll reach 1.0 on January. Here's hoping :)

05.12.2004
(by Tero)

Still being a busy man, I took some time to do more translations today. I've been approached by someone wishing to use Tracksail in his project and he needs english comments, so I have some more motivation to do them now :)

Also, I added a new track to the CVS version, olympictriangle. I honestly thought I had added this already, it's the first track contributed by someone, so I was really enthusiastic about it when the patch came :) Sorry for such a late inclusion, Rob!

07.10.2004
(by Tero)

Long time since the last update. I've been busy, but the project isn't dead. I just commited some more comment translations and at least attempted to create a branch for 1.0.x development in the CVS so the code could move forward in some more interesting ways. I actually have received some patches to Tracksail, which I'll be commiting to open 1.1.x development series soonish :) I must admit that just translating comments to get to 1.0 is tedious, time-consuming, boring job that doesn't motivate very much...

And why the commits and news today? I did have these on my TODO for this Friday, actually, but I did it a bit sooner since I just noticed someone has joined the tracksail-users mailing list! Nothing like seeing some interest from the outside to motivate me :)

Anyway, I am very busy at the moment, mostly with my studies, but I will try to increase the development speed of Tracksail and hope to get some more patches and developers to make the project more independent of myself.

03.06.2004
(by Tero)

I'd like to inform beforehand that I'll be quite busy until the MEP elections on 13.06. I'm heavily involved in some activities related to them.

The 1.0 release should have all comments in english, although the code itself might not change at all. It means quite a bit of work, so I'd assume that the release will happen at the beginning July at the earliest. Can't give a more exact date yet.

I'm glad to notice there have been at least some downloads of 1.0-rc1 :) If you try Tracksail out, I'd be very happy to receive any feedback, even just "it works" or "it sucks". Positive feedback would almost certainly make the release cycle shorter as well, since knowing people like what I've done would obviously motivate me :)

30.05.2004
(by Tero)

Several things have delayed this, but here goes 1.0-rc1. This is the first release that has both source and binary downloads available. Installation should be a lot easier as a result.

The implementation of keyboard control for the sail using a slider proved to be trickier than I thought, so I decided not to do it. Instead, I'll revamp the UI for 1.2 in a way that makes it a lot easier to code and increases usability at the same time.

20.12.2003
(by Tero)

Well, the development kind of stalled due to me getting the influenza and spending quite a while at the bottom of my bed. Before Christmas. You can probably understand that this has a big effect since I'm so far the only developer (any new ones are welcome, of course ;)).

I have done a couple of minor things, though, that I've committed to the CVS today. The ant control file is a bit saner now (and my Java environment is fixed so 1.0-pre3 will come with binary class-files for easier use :)). Also, I implemented keyboard control for turning the boat, which does miracles to playability. The sail control is still mouse-only, but I'm looking into it. After it's keyboard controlled, it's probably time for the next pre-release.

20.11.2003
(by Tero)

In case anyone wanders here, the sources for 1.0-pre2 compile and run. During the next week, I won't have time to do any coding on this project. If you try the game out, I'd appreciate any feedback through the mailing list. I'm mainly interested in things that require fixing before 1.0, especially bugs, but any suggestions for future enchantments are of interest as well.

Yes, you can interpret the above as "this will not be just another dead project".

17.11.2003
(by Tero)

I fixed some issues and put the sources for 1.0-pre1 available as a nice tar.bz2 package. Unfortunately untested, but my Java environment wasn't what it used to be :(

After a little Googling I found out there are some issues with ant and I found a workaround. That enabled me to test the sources and find out they didn't even compile. I should be shot... In an attempt to save myself for such a cruel punishment, I promptly fixed the bugs and made another source release, 1.0-pre2.

15.11.2003
(by Tero)

The project is now hosted on SourceForge. The original code, as accepted in the university, is in the CVS. A couple of completely useless files were removed and this front page rewritten. I changed the release number to 1.0-pre1 as there are some fixes that should be made before _really_ calling it 1.0, which was the version number when we gave the code to the university. No files in download section yet, will appear with rc's.

Please note that the change to SourceForge and the change of name from PurjehdusPeli to Tracksail have resulted in some silly things, like the game binaries still being called PurjehdusPeli. Some of the documentation could be a bit outdated as well, although I did do some updates. These belong to the fixes that should be made before 1.0.