Update and a new video by Cryofluid

After weeks of quirky bugs in the town control system, we are happy to notify our faithful community that we finally have managed to squish them. After the server maintenance and the latest restart, as of yesterday, it's not only the town control that has been fixed - the server stability has been vastly improved as well. Due to occasional crashes we had to start an investigation of the problems. The issues have been addressed and certain updates for several OS components were installed, which, in return, have brought some additional stability to the server.

We would also like to use this opportunity to announce the implementation of the first big faction in 2238: the Brotherhood of Steel. Although somewhat 'modest' update with 'only' 6 new quests and a further faction development line depending on the global events, this is the first step into the new direction the development of this game is about to take. You will be, of course, notified abut any changes in good time, so everyone can test the new feature(s) intensively, providing us the valuable feedback needed for the necessary adjustments in the future.

So, there is a reason for celebration, right? Just when we needed it most, Cryofluid stroke again with his new video. There is a bit of everything in it: FOnline 2238 factions history, current relations between new and old gangs on the server, a Christmas note, an homage to a great movie (or maybe two), a parody. Not sure what the hell is that all about? Seek the knowledge. Alternatively, you can always visit www.fonline.fr and browse through the virtual room created by our supporters from France. Anyway, long story short - here's the new video we all have been waiting for:

In other news, the community has been working on various art presentations, inspired by the world of FOnline 2238, but we shall leave this for another update. Merry Christmas and see you again with the next update just before the 2010 ends!

FOnline: 2238 among 100 best indie games 2010

Even in 2010, FOnline: 2238 has managed once again to find its place among the best indie games of the year. We have made it to the top 100, being placed in the Massively Multiplayer category along with "MoonForge", thus reaching the second voting phase.



Although it already was a great success for this game to be chosen by the players to be the 4th best indie game in 2009, thus winning the unofficial title of the best released indie title in the same year, it would be honour for everyone - the faithful players, the lazy developers, the corrupted game masters, the bizzare community - to confirm how rock-solid FOnline: 2238 is.

Moreover, I would be personally more than happy if all of us could show it to the current game industry that fun and gaming is not always necessarily pegged to shiny graphics, furious action, sheer amount of explosions or unstoppable corporational propaganda channeled through the modern video gaming "journalism". This is a good opportunity to send them a message that the fun factor is determined by players themselves and not by in-the-face served products and biased reviews. Come on you apes, you wanna live forever?! (Jean Rasczak)

You can vote for FOnline:2238 on our ModDB/IndieDB profile pages. There is exactly 12 days, 23 hours, 05 minutes and 47 seconds of time at your disposal (and counting).

As always, thank you for your support.

Community strikes back

The creativity of our faithful community can't be hindered, it can't be disputed. That very same creativity gave the birth to the new fan video based on the world of FOnline: 2238 - On the Way to Broken Hills by Cryofluid.

It is just too cool not to put it here. Enjoy! (High quality versions can be found here)

Changelog 30/08/2010 and Server Wipe

The summer is over, bugs have been fixed, features have been added. Also the server has been wiped and it is needed to create new characters to play again. In the following, the new changelog can be seen.

FIXES:
- Many.

FEATURES:
- Repairing cars requires tools and more skill than previously.
- Zooming is now possible by holding the Z key combined with using the scroll wheel on your mouse, or alternatively pressing page up/down.
- ~disbandparty away_team can be used to disband only party members that are outside of your current map (not location).
- Followers will now automatically reload their weapon while they are idle (this assumes they have spare ammo of course).
- Added active Vault City turrets.
- Be sure to visit the arena facility north-west of Hub.
- Having active Stealth Boy in one of active slots gives 60 sneak, while having active motion sensor (in an active slot) gives +2 Perception for the purpose of sneakers detection (it's not capped at 10).
- Get purple robes from the Children of the Cathedral.
- Four new quests (Lorraine in Audytum, Elmer at Necropolis watershed, Iguana Pete at he Hub, BoS Initiate trainer at lost Hills)

CHANGES (WIP):
- TC base countdown time has been changed to 15 minutes.
- Car prices adjusted, now works in a similar fashion to mercenary prices.
- Car left on the worldmap is visible only to its passengers.
- The travelling speed on the worldmap has been decreased.
- It's a lot easier to avoid encounters while in a car. Outdoorsman is not applied while in a car.
- Namecolorizing works only on players sharing the same faction.
- Picking up items from the ground while sneaked demands successful steal test. The weight is checked.
- Looting bodies while sneaked has 50% chance of desneaking.
- Looting containers and bodies by "take all" always desneaks.
- Sneak penalties based on fov: 135, 95, 55, 15 depending on direction.
- Widened the side drawbridges in Gunrunners stronghold, added antiblock to front drawbridge, guards will loot the bodies now.
- Reworked several drugs:
* Jet: +2 AP, -1 Ch, -2 Str, -15% DR
* Psycho: +15% DR, +1 Str, +1 En, -2 Pe
* Buffout: +2 Str, +2 En, -1 Ag
* Mentats: +2 Int, +2 Ch
* Beer: +5% DR, +1 Ch, -2 Pe
* Nukacola: +1 Ag
* Cigarettes: +1 Pe, -1 Ch
* Positive effects of the above drugs last 30 real minutes, after which time they subside with no negative effects, unless the player gets addicted. The addiction lasts for 1 real hour and reduces AP by 1.
* Only one dose of any addictive drug (or beer) is allowed at a time
- Armor Piercing ammo DT divider reduced from 5 to 3.
- Fast Shot trait works only with weapon modes that have aimed shot capability.
- Weapon changes:
* 10mm Pistol increased to 8-15 damage
* .223 Pistol increased to 25-30 damage
* Assault Rifle increased to 14-23 damage, increased to 12 shots per burst and magazine increased to hold the same number of bursts in normal and extended.
* 7.62mm Ammo increased to 12/10 damage mod
* 10mm JHP DR increased to +27
* FN FAL increased to 14-22 damage
* Combat Shotgun increased to 20-28 damage
* H&K CAWs increased to 6 shots per burst, magazine increased to 18
* Jackhammer increased to 20-31 damage, magazine increased to 15
* 10mm SMG increased to 8-15 damage
* p90c increased to 13-19 damage
* Tommy Gun increased to 12 shots per burst, magazine increased to 60
* Grease Gun increased to 12 shots per burst, magazine increased to 48
* Light Support Weapon increased to 22-37 damage
* Plasma Rifle range increased to 30
* Molotov Cocktail increased to 16-24 damage
* Frag Grenade increased to 5AP and 30-50 damage
* Flamer increased to 50-85 damage
* Improved Flamer increased to 70-125 damage

RECOMMENDATIONS:
- Update the game, make sure you receive the new DATs.

EXTRA NOTES:
- Any questions about GMs activity should be asked using overseer2238@gmail.com. The person operating this email (call him/her The Overseer) has access to all logs containing GM activity (logs are also more detailed now). He/she has been chosen from outside the GM team and his/her identity will remain unknown to anyone but the developers team. This email is now the only proper place for objections and inquiries concerning GMs.
- faction008.dat is deprecated at the time of this update. It can be safely deleted.

TO DO:
- Overhaul of the npc factions: Domination Wars, Factions Scenarios.

Changelog 25/03/2010 and Server Wipe

The third time in 8 months of time, the server has been full wiped, due to client and server improvements and a fresh game economy. Also the game server will be pleased with a big content update, which includes new jobs, quests and other game mechanics. Read the full changelog below:


FIXES:
- Doctors check for poison and radiation level properly.
- Fixed waterpump in scrapheap base.
- Fixed timeouts for 'upgrades'. Check how they behave with deteriorated/broken items.
- Item dismantling not possible during combat.
- Day pass bug - day pass was becoming obsolete after bartering with some trader.
- Fixed many follower-related bugs.
- Fixed Bonus Rate of Fire.
- First aid and Doctor impossible to use during turn-based combat.
- Fixed about 70-80 more larger or smaller bugs.

FEATURES:
- We introduced the first 3d models from Interplay's canned Van Buren. These are among others: Rats, Desert Stalker, Radtoads, Deathclaws, the Venus Mantrap and more.
- There are now a few mining locations, where it's possible to mine ore and minerals.
- Abandoned mines are for sale in certain places.
- It's now possible to trade (give) slaves to other players.
- Random fetcher quests, currently only available from Monte Carlo in Boneyard.
- New quests available in Hub bar, speak to Risto.
- New job available, lifting boxes at local caravans in a number of towns. The job is tough, but the caps are good.
- Certain locations are colored by their function. For example, faction bases are blue.
- Green contours for followers (note: they are still red right after being spawned. Relog helps).
- Some new locations, explore. Smiley
- Some treasures are now hidden in the game world.
- Three new faction bases added (2 generic, 1 via quest).
- One new car is added.
- Added NCR Ranger armor.
- Various encounter and city maps overhauled.
- Added barbers to at least Klamath and Vault City (Changes male hair between short and long. Visual needs to be "refreshed" with armor change.)
- Holodisks can now be used to read and store data.
- Doors can be smashed by producing an explosion at most one hex far from it. Metal doors may require more than one attempt. Doors in towns will regenerate in 30 minutes.
- Various new quests:
* Some basic stuff for starter.
* Abandoned Bunker, Scout in Junktown.
* It came from the desert, Dr. Wong in San Francisco.
* Stranded Rust, Trapper in Klamath.
* The sad wife, Woman in the Hub.
* The Rail Line Gang, Gunther in the NCR.
* Medical investigation, Dr. Andrew in Vault City.
* A Man's Job, Hammilton in the Boneyard.
* Montag's Water Pump, Montag in the Boneyard.

CHANGES (WIP):
- A lot of item prices are adjusted.
- New instanced starting locations.
- Reputation gain for selling items at traders.
- Player can send distress calls only for 10 minutes of encounter map lifetime. Every player who dies on visible encounter forgets the location.
- New/modified TC again. Closely follows this suggestion.
- Added ~timeouts command to toggle showing of nonzero timeouts on the screen.
- Suicide command (works only when you're knocked out): ~cuttheveins .
- Limit for a sum of all profession levels increased to 4.
- Sneaking:
* Sneak penalties for angle are no longer reducing the skill by a percent of total amount, but are substracting 0, 25, 50 or 75 points from it, depending on the look direction (back, back-side, front-side, front resp.).
* When the check for seeing a sneaked opponent is being done, observer's field of view is reduced (for the purpose of checking this one opponent) by 50%, 40%, 20% and 0% depending on the look direction.
* See change for a Ghost perk too.
- Flagging and flag-related issues:
* Flags are retained, but no longer visible for everyone. All flagged individuals are valid targets.
* Stealing: guards won't attack the thief, he will be flagged if he either fails with stealing or is spotted by them, they will say if he is. The victim will be informed in such case in the log.
* Blocking: guards won't attack the blocker, they will be fine with giving warnings and flagging him. "Pushing" option has beed added, temporarily accessible only via alt+click menu (the followers menu). It will move the blocker by one hex from the previous position (one has to be on a hex next to his and the blocker have to be formally flagged as blocking).
* Attacking, holding explosives: same as before.
* Wielding weapons and drugs: guards reaction time increased to 15 seconds.
- Ghost perk: 30% sneak bonus instead of 20%, added everytime the check is made. Can increase the skill above 300%.
- Critical tables reworked again. They are now in the middle of vanilla FO2 tables and pre-wipe tables.
- Slightly decreased impact of luck on aimed critical hit bonus.
- Cumulative timeout for gathering (up to 20 minutes).
- Weakened timeout after first aid, no xp for removing it.
- Tent garbaging delay increased to 4 weeks.
- Gangs with their bases are being removed after 4 weeks of not being used (terminal not accessed by a member).
- Slaves are not counted towards encounter scaling, and other followers have two "free" slots, so each follower above that limit counts as player.
- When entering wasteland from worldmap, player may face random encounters too (with twice as small chance as normal wandering).
- The crafting mechanics have been reworked. This includes shortened timeouts, cumulative timeouts (20 minutes), high/low quality materials and lower prices.

VANILLA INHERITED CHANGES:
- Several improvements to the server performance and stability.

IMPORTANT:
- Use the Updater to get the new client and game files. After the update, you have to login at least once in order to regenerate the default.cache file. If you just see burning people, restart the client.

Jumping into the 3d era

FOnline: 2238 Announcement, Jumping into the 3d era
(or: how we learned to not be that flat anymore.)

A long time has passed since we released our last developer video and really, it was about time this changed. The new developers video features a topic that we have been working on for some months and we are proud to finally have it in a shape to present it to the public: 3D models.

We decided to move the FOnline engine from a pure 2d to a 2.5d engine, due to the fact that sprite editing is a long and tiresome job. With every change on the player characters, it is nesaccary to edit more than 10.000 single images, even if it's something simple like a different hair color or a new armor type. The use of 3D models helps us in developing more and diversified content in a shorter timer span and still keep the look and feel of the original games.

After the release of the first 3d model converter for the Van Buren models (Van Buren - the code name of the cancled Fallout 3 by Interplay, for the ones who don't know it), we thought it was a great idea to reuse the material we could get out of the tech demo that has been released in 2007. Even if not complete, the build featured character models with already more than 90 animations and a lot customisations for body type or hair and beard styles.

In the third developers video, Anton "Cvet" Tsvetinskiy, FOnline main programmer, is talking about the details of how the new 3d critters are working and will work in the future of FOnline: 2238. Check it out:



Videos & Audio - FOnline: 2238 Game - Mod DB or YouTube.

The first update-wave will introduce 3d models for the animal creatures, such as models for the rats, ants, venus mantrap, thorn slinger, desert stalker or the lovely rad toads. Also a big content update is going to hit the server, which includes new game features and quests for both, PvP and PvE-friends.

In combination with this, the server has to undergo a full wipe. This will happen in approx one or two weeks at most, when the update will be available on the public server.

As an appendix, beside the video, here are some actual ingame screenshots:





- Cvet & Rotators

ModDB awards 2009 - We've made the 4th

The ModDB awards for the best indie game released and unreleased in the year 2009 are over now and we've made the 4th place! It's not that bad to loose against Natural Selection 2, Overgrowth and 0 A.D. to be honest.

Thank's to everyone who has voted!

Donation info

Hello,

We decided it's a time to clarify a bit more on the costs of server upkeeping. When we moved, we chose to acquire fairly cheap server, because we knew that server application requirements are not high. We've run into few problems at the beginning, but now we think it serves us pretty well (just to remind, server application unstability is not caused by the hardware).

So, the monthly fee we need to pay for the machine, is 60 euro (including PayPal fees). We've paid for 3 months, and we are running it 2 months already. So far we've gathered 93 euro, so we need a bit more.

That's why we are kindly reminding you to donate few caps from time to time.

New FOnline: 2238 installer released

No more complicated procedures, no more installation of additional software in order to keep everything in one place and updated - the FOnline: 2238 Client Setup is here at last.

The setup comes with the Launcher application included, which provides viewing changelogs, one-click update to the latest version of the client as well as simple configuring of your game preferences. The setup is extremely easy to use, intuitive and user-friendly, thus we hope our users will find it very useful, especially our new players.



Currently, you can download the installer from ModDB (preferred) or our server:
ModDB
FOnline2238.net

We would like to thank Mr. Wolna for helping us with the launcher.

ModDB awards 2009 - Vote for FOnline in Phase 2

After passing the initial voting phase, FOnline: 2238 has reached the second voting phase and is competing with other famous indie titles for the title "The Best Indie Game of 2009". We are currently among the Top 100 Mods and Indie games. As always, we count on your support and hope that the word about FOnline: 2238 will be spread throughout the cyber-space in the time to come.

Feel free to visit the ModDB website again and vote for FOnline: 2238 - just click on "Indie Games" in the TOP 100 BEST RELEASED MODS & INDIES and confirm your vote once you see the name. Your votes will have more influence on the final result if you are registered user and if you are logged in when voting. The 2nd voting phase has started!