Release plans

DPjudgesters --

The next release of the DPjudge, which is currently being tested (at
http://www.floc.net/dpjudge/new) will be coming soon to a DPjudge near you
(USDP and others, to be specific).  Exactly what "soon" means, I don't
exactly know yet, but the feature-set for the upgrades is now
nearly complete, and being tested.

This next release of the DPjudge will be called release 1.9.  I have decided
that 2.0 will mark the point when I am happy with the (so-called) new
(though it's six years old now) and (not really) improved Master's Webpage
that has been a half-completed thing you GM's have lived with for a long
time.  Personally, I must admit that I miss the days of the previous
Master's Webpage, with the GM able to directly edit the game's status file.
There is talk (inside my head) of at least bringing that capability back as
an option that the GM can use.  The nice checkboxes for all the rules are
cool (yes, I'm at least proud of those) in that they don't let a GM set up
any combination of rules that is invalid, but as I say, the whole of the
Master's Webpage got to only about 80% complete (as some of you knowl; for
example, there's no easy way to do a couple of things in there, like
changing the game's timing) by the time I began my sabbatical in 2002.
Anyway, yeah, when I announce "release 2.0", that will mean it has a
Master's Webpage that yours truly is once again happy with.

Another way-cool thing that I am hoping you will see in release 2.0 is
something called DPeye.  I won't say much more than this about it for now,
but the hope is that DPeye will greatly speed up the process of creating
maps for use on the DPjudge.

The 2.0 release will also see some other changes to important stuff (some of
which you might not even notice, like mail handling) -- especially the
DPPD.  The DPPD, too, was something that got to where it got and then I
walked away for my six-year recharge, leaving the plans for and the
implementation of the DPPD remain only nascent.  In 2.0, the DPPD will come
a good distance closer to being a separate entity from the DPjudges on the
network it supports, and hopefully there will be more and cooler
functionality in the DPPD, allowing you to better manage the games you play
on the DPjudge network of judges, with searching for games of various types
and other pie-in-the-sky ideas.  We shall see....

In the meantime, 1.9 has a whole lot of cool stuff coming too.  Here's a
(partial?) list:

   - The ability to read and review (on the Web interface) all the press
   messages you receive and send.
   - The Ambition & Empire variant.
   - The Sengoku variant.
   - A whole gob of new rules, which initially were either inspired by or
   necessary for the new variants coming in, but very useful for GM's who want
   to introduce a little variety in their own games on any map.  Some examples
   of these are VASSAL_STATES, DUMMY_FIRE, IMMOBILE_DUMMIES, and well, a whole
   bunch more.
   - Support for "leagues", which can be used to introduce restrictions to
   things that a unit can do (with various degrees of restrictions
   against acting against other units in your league, or other leagues).  This
   could be used to set up situations in which groups of powers are naturally
   more given to amity than enmity (or vice-versa), etc.
   - The ability for powers to claim new home centers during the game (a
   different way of doing so, at times decided by each individual player
   eligible to do so -- thus, this is different from the already and
   still-existing way of doing such a thing, which has all powers each
   suddenly decide upon an entire new set of home centers at the end of
   specific game-years).
   - A way for omniscient observers to use the Web only (so they don't get
   overwhelmed by getting all the press in email).

Sure, maybe only the first one of these items (and in rare cases, the last
one) are of interest to those of you who only play the standard game -- the
rest of the stuff is for the variant-lovers out there -- but even for the
standard player, the new "press archive" stuff should (I hope) make the
release something you'll want to look forward to.

Release 1.9 will see the removal of the current "groups" feature, which was
meant to allow GM's to set up games that are open only to specific groups of
players (kind of an alternative to the privacy-password way of handling such
things).  This "groups" feature hasn't been used much, unfortunately, but we
believe in it, and it will return in a future release.

Anyway, I felt like it was time to give an update on the happenings in the
test judge.  Things seem to be getting hammered out and solid there, so
since the day when 1.9 will be installed for everyone to use on USDP is
coming closer by the minute, I figured I would give everyone here on the
list a heads-up.

And I'm probably forgetting some other cool things in the release.  I've
been busy.

Stab you soon,
Manus