Windows

Random Stats

Two years ago I gathered some interesting stats from the DCSquares score database. Here’s an updated version of those stats using the data as of today:

General Stats

* Total users that have submitted a score: 457
* Total games played: 54,132
* Total squares collected: 1,564,992
* Total time spent playing: 38 days (note: scores entered through the website do not record a time, so this is actually higher)
* Average games played per user: 118
* Average number of squares collected per game: 48
* Average score per game: 30,556
* Average combo per game: 47
* Average game time: 61 seconds
* The most users that have scored the same score is 74. They all scored 1,080 points.

Players by platform

* Windows: 55%
* Mac: 43%
* Linux: 2%
* Dreamcast: 0% (only 23 scores ever submitted for Dreamcast)

Hall of fame:

* Highest score: Harryfronman scored 677,472 points
* Highest combo: captain collected 354 squares in a row
* Most squares: Harryfronman collected 731 squares
* Longest time: jason survived for 16:47 minutes

Hall of shame:

* Lowest score: runkennyrun scored 1,000 points (scores below 1,000 are rejected)
* Shortest time: Baphmomet survived for 2.3 seconds

16 players only collected 1 square but managed to score more than 1000 points.
99% of players use the in-game score client, only 1% of scores were entered through the web.

Lenovo software rant

Sam: tell her if it doesn’t work you’ll send her an old IBM mouse with the stupid blue glowing joystick thing instead of a wheel. that should make her try harder
Sam: my workstation has one of those
Paul: lmao
Sam: it’s so annoying. the software to make the joystick thing work pops up a window every time you drag a scroll bar saying “Did you know you can scroll windows using your mouse?”.. gotta check the box NEVER TELL ME THAT THING AGAIN EVER! hehe
Sam: there’s no button for “I know that, but the joystick is so hard to use it’s easier to drag the scroll bar”
Sam: IBM needs to cut it out with the popups.. the thinkpads do it too the second time you login to them. “Did you know you can eject your thinkpad from a dock by pressing Fn+F9?”
Sam: and again, no button for “But my laptop is in a dock, so the lid is closed. How do you expect me to press Fn+F9?”

DreamZZT 3.1.500

A new build of DreamZZT is now available:

DreamZZT 3.1.500

New Features

  • DreamZZT Online support for Nintendo DS
  • Support for saving SuperZZT games
  • Directory listing in NDS file browser (contributed by ndsdev -at – thedopefish.com)
  • Lua interpreter for Nintendo DS builds
  • Reduced memory usage so larger games can fit in Nintendo DS RAM
  • Multi-line text entry widget for bug reports
  • ZZT-OOP script editor
  • Meter display for SuperZZT health
  • Support SuperZZT “hint” key
  • Hold-to-scroll in text windows

Bug fixes

  • Player can no longer travel between boards if there is an obstacle on the other side
  • Stop music playback when ending a game and changing boards
  • Fix dark grey RGB value in NDS palette
  • Display the pattern tiles in the editor
  • Fix board corruption issue when using a teleporter
  • Set color during #change and assign torches a default yellow color

Downloads

DreamZZT 3.1.0

I’ve put together a new build of DreamZZT if you want to play around with the SuperZZT support.

Known issues with this build:

  • Rapid firing is broken, tap the fire button instead of holding it
  • DS will freeze upon touching the door for level 2 of Monster Zoo
  • SuperZZT games cannot be edited or saved
  • R-trigger scrolling on DS is temporarily disabled
  • SuperZZT-specific enemies are not yet implemented
  • As this is a beta release, DreamZZT Online will connect to my internal server, not the public server.
  • Patterns are not visible in the editor

Downloads:

New features:

  • SuperZZT support
  • Slime and Ricochet objects
  • Optimized the board updating, the order should be closer to ZZT’s now

For a full list of changes for this and future 3.1.x releases, see milestone 3.2.0.

DreamZZT Lite

Got a PC without 3D acceleration? Introducing DreamZZT Lite, which uses SDL instead of OpenGL to draw the screen.

A test version is available for Windows 2000 / XP: DreamZZT-lite 3.0.8. The debug console is disabled, otherwise it should run the same as the normal 3.0.8 release. This build also includes the experimental Lua interpreter, but I’m not officially supporting it yet.

Let me know if it does / doesn’t work on your systems.

DreamZZT 3.0.8

DreamZZT 3.0.8 is released!

Downloads

New Features

  • Sound support for Dreamcast
  • Support STK-colored torches, ammo, energizers
  • Uses system clock for improved game timing
  • Game speed and volume can be adjusted from title screen
  • Integration with the Trac ticket system for in-game bug reports
  • Optimized rendering to improve performance
  • Mission:Enigma is now completable
  • Auto-update support for Windows

Bug Fixes

  • Centipede segments harm player (#23)
  • Centipedes could become disconnected if shot by an enemy (#27)
  • Board transitions may not work properly after saving (#39)
  • Change object search order to match ZZT (#13)
  • Support stat-less objects (#29)
  • Handle backspace key in debug console
  • ZZT-OOP objects could still receive messages when locked (#48)

DreamZZT 3.0.8 beta1

Whew! I wanted to get this out this weekend, and I made it with 15 minutes to spare!

Introducing DreamZZT 3.0.8 beta1.

Highlights:

  • Built-in bug reporting
  • Improved game timing and faster rendering
  • Many bugs fixed, Mission:Enigma is now completable

For the full release notes, check out http://dev.c99.org/DreamZZT/milestone/3.0.8

Downloads:
Windows
Mac OS X (10.4)
Linux (Ubuntu Feisty Fawn)

A Dreamcast build will be available soon.

Feel free to test Town and Mission:Enigma, but the focus of this beta test should be 3rd party games. Also, since this is a beta release, it connects to the beta DreamZZT Online server. You’re welcome to create accounts on it from inside the game, but there aren’t any tasks on there yet.

Speaking of DreamZZT Online, the source is finally ready to be released. It’s in the DreamZZT svn repo, and can be viewed from http://dev.c99.org/DreamZZT/browser/DreamZZTOnline/trunk/

DreamZZT update part 2

As a followup to yesterday’s post, here’s how the new icons look on Windows:

And using the standard Windows file dialog to open a file: