The Blue Mango Quest 0.6.0
Agust, 1st. 2001 Release

Release Notes (last update : August, 1st. 2001), by Clément 'phneutre' Bourdarias (programmer)

In the following text, "BMQ" refres to The Blue Mango Quest, and "MP" to MangoPeeler (the game's level editor).
- This game is released under the GNU General Public License (GPL)

- Thanks for your interest in The Blue Mango Quest. This is our very first game, and we are working on it since May, 2000 (we didn't know a lot of things about game programming / game arts when we started this project, that's why it took so long). It took us a lot of time and we learned a lot. We said we'll finish it, and i think we'll do :-)
NB: The Blue Mango Quest was called "ShmixMan 3D" until July, 2001.

- The version numbering system of MangoQuest and MangoPeeler is defined as follow : version 1.0.0 will be the game as we thought about it when we decided to make this game and freeze gameplay / features.
Version 1.0.0 will contain a scenario mode and a skirmish mode. Currently, only skirmish mode is here.
The goal is to be able to play on a single map (chosen on command line or using the launcher for win32 users).

- This is version 0.6.0 which means we have done 60% of the work . This version contains all the mechanisms of gameplay (all bonus, "monsters", and so on).
At this time, there is no sound, no music. It is planned for next version, or maybe 0.8.0.
This rule is not true for the level editor. Its version is 0.6.0 but it is fully functional (only a config file and some code cleanups / bugfixes will be added).
Design of monsters is not completed, it is even not created at this time. We use textured spheres in this version.

- Mango Quest uses a home-made portal-based engine. Currently, the geometry (walls...) is very simple (not very beautiful) but the game aims to be fast. Maybe it will change.
The more your map contains walls, the more FPS you should have.

- We provide two separeted programs : the game (mangoquest) and its editor (mangopeeler) are separate executables. However, mangopeeler depends on mangoquest for textures.

- Requirements : OpenGL-capable graphic card, a working operating system with working drivers for your graphic card.  SDL, SDL_ttf and SDL_image libraries are required (included in win32 binary package for windows users).
See www.libsdl.org for downloading if you don't have them.

- Don't hesitate to submit patches :) and please, give us feedback.

- We hope you'll have some fun playing our game !
- In order to reduce packages size, and since this is a test version, only the first world textures set is available. Don't try to create maps for the 3 other worlds, otherwise it will won't work and produce errors.

- type : 'mangoquest -h' and 'mangopeeler -h' for quick help on command line

- if you have troubles, please subscribe the devel mailing-list (see the bottom of this page)

- Map search path for BMQ :
* linux users : when you load a map in BMQ, the game search in this order :
 - if you specify a complete and correct path and filename, it uses it
 - if you only specify a filename or an invalide complete path :
   - it looks in the current working directory
   - it looks in the general map (built-in maps) directory ($(prefix)/share/...)
   - it looks in your personal BMQ folder (~/.mangoquest/maps/)

 * windows users :
  - if you use the loader, it use the selected file
  - else :
     - it looks in the current directory
     - it looks in the built-in maps direvtory (data_jeu/maps)
     - it looks in your personal maps directory (customs/maps)

MP : when you create a map, it will be saved in ~/.mangoquest/maps/ for linux users or customs/maps for windows users.

- Read INSTALL (linux) file for installation instructions.
Basically, you'll have to type: "./configure && make" (as users) and then "make install" (as root)
 (without the quotes).
 
- Collision detection between player and walls will be rewritten for version 0.7.0. The current collision detection is buggy : on some special cases, you can enter in wall, which is detected, exits the game and writes the error on the command line. This bug appears more on slow computers.

- You must place walls all around the map when you create a map and at least one wall square inside the map. This will be fixed soon. This is a consequence of the portal-based engine : if you don't place walls inside the room, no portal needs to be created, so no sector is created, so there is a problem. It is easy to fix, thus it will be done in next minor version (0.6.1).

- In-game timer : if you pause and unpause (with P) or respawn (once you're dead), the remaining time might increase.... well, i fact, it WILL increase.
- 1 week before this release, the code of the game was totally rewritten from scratch (the old code was not as I wanted). As a result, there might be some stupid bugs (mainly typos) remaining.
Moreover, there are very few comments. This will be fixed very soon.
- The code of Mango Peeler has not yet been rewritten, but it will be one day (before 0.7.0 I hope). Currently, it is very badly coded (variable names are in french and so on).
- Never forget it is our first game :-)

If you are interested in following the developement of BMQ, please subscibe to our devel mailing list (see the bottom of this page).

To subscribe or get info on our mailing-lists, please see :
  1. Development mailing list : http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/mangoquest-devel
  2. Announces-only mailing list : http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/mangoquest-announces
Contact Clément 'phneutre' Bourdarias (programmer) for bug reports or further informations : phneutre@users.sourceforge.net