Week #35 update 2016

If someone asked me what I thought the trickiest part of this Lode Runner Online: The Mad Monks' Revenge remake has been, I'd say figuring out the Presage resources, followed by collision detection. After that, I'd say it was the monks.

The main part that gets me with monks is what I call "hump 'n bump" or "catch and release policy". Without the Secret Sauce (get it, 'source'), I've got to record hundreds of videos of the Original and try to replicate as best as I can. While the "hump 'n bump" code is quite complex, I like to think that the game is very sympathetic to the Original.

It also appears the last months' massive editor overhaul was not friendly towards regions. Quite a few bugs popped up (all fixed) and they all came down to not enough testing on my part. Sorry for that.

I've decided to update all the builds you won't have to wait another month for the fixes. Head over to the downloads page and get the update.

A name in parenthesis and in bold is the finder of the bug/quirk. Thanks to all, I really do appreciate your time and support. Cheers!

Editor

numerous fixes to regions (select/cut/copy/paste);
fixed bug that did not draw buried tools correctly
fixed bug that crashed when selecting null items (Leandro, Ali)
fixed bug when copying a selected region (Ali)
fixed bug flipping selections
fixed bug that did not paste a player
editor-only sprites (like phase, fall-through) now draw correctly
flip horizontally (CTRL+< ) and vertically (CTRL+> ) added to toolbox

Flipping support was added to the editor in June last year. You can read about here in the Cut/copy/paste + now with flipping support post. Until now, you could only use the shortcuts but it is nice to have UI elements to go along with the cut/copy/paste buttons. The other change to the toolbox is the undo and select region buttons: I've moved undo up so all the region manipulation tools are grouped together.

Flip horizontally and vertically now on the toolbox

Game

significant changes to monk AI;
monks no longer get bunched together too closely on ladders
monks entering a puzzle above another monk remain in idle pose - this matches the Original
monks will now roam about and not idle when all runners are dead - this matches the Original
monk positioning on ladders now matches the Original
monks can no longer cross to a ladder when starting in the air
fixed bug that allowed monks to share a blasted hole (Howie)
runner positioning on ladders now matches the Original
fixed tools that animate not drawing the correct sprite
goo falling through regenerating blocks will now "stick" as per the Original (Leandro)
players can no longer run through a wall if on goo;
this was due to a bug in collision detection that did not report a hit
huge thanks to Leandro for helping to track this down
you can no longer move left/right if the up/down key was held down first - this matches the Original

Changes to monk AI is an ongoing process but it shouldn't stop any puzzles from being able to be solved. If of course you find a problem, just let me know.

Monks no longer get cramped on ladders

Monks sharing a blasted hole

Running through a wall

LAN

if a remote player falls too far behind then any buffered input sent to the host will be dropped in order to catch up

General

seconds added to screenshot filenames (Gareth)
file dialog;
fixed bug that did not move the options toggles along with the file selected when dragging the scrollbar widget
the saved game/puzzles folder toggle is no longer static at the top

Bugs being worked on

runners not entering exit doors (Howie)
players on goo being able to enter the side of a block (Leandro)
some Windows machines not be able to detect LAN games (Steve)
machines with a different Windows on host/client are affected

What I'll probably do next week

improve monks on ladders
improve LAN