Update: More info here.
Here’s a quick preview of something I’ve been working on.
As you can see, it uses the graphics from the original game. It is beginning to approach a state where it’s actually playable. Here’s some more screens for your viewing pleasure:
I just decided to release all the code for my Settlers 1 clone to GitHub. You can find more info here. It’s working, and semi-playable, but still pretty far from the full experience. I don’t know if I’ll ever get time to finish it, but at least now someone also can pick it up and hopefully do something nice with it.
I am happy to announce that there has been some progress in the freeserf project lately. I have had a little time to add some features, and a contributor (wdigger) has added sounds effects and music playback using the media in the data file, and is working on further improvements. In addition, there might be some work done on an Android port, but it is not certain yet if this will work out currently.
I will try to post new windows builds at least once a week if there has been any interesting development in that week. Linux/OSX users can check this out from github and compile – it’s quite easy.
Any problems or bugs can be reported preferably on github, or alternatively, in the comments. There is also an IRC channel on Freenode named #freeserf where you might be able to encounter someone working on the project.
The freeserf development is still ongoing although a bit slowly. I’ve not found much time to work on this since I’ve been busy with exams in January, and then moving back to Denmark. Today I have posted new Windows builds fixing just a few bugs. Since Github discontinued the hosting of download files I’ve had to move the files, so in the future they will be available from this location. In addition, Jonas Gerlach has kindly provided a build for Open Pandorda that is available here.
The current status is that only some few minor issues are missing for the 0.1 release. The goal of this release was that it should have an implementation of the core game play as close as possible to the original game, but without any AI or multiplayer support. This is more or less achieved already, except for some outstanding bugs and polishing of the code that need to be taken care of. I think it may be ready relatively soon. Please keep filing bug reports on Github when you encounter any issues!
Important: The freeserf repository on github has moved to https://github.com/freeserf/freeserf
Just a quick update on freeserf to let you know that the game has improved a lot over the past months. A lot of issues have been reported and fixed, and a few patches have been contributed as well. This means that the core gameplay is working as it should, and freeserf is getting ready for the first release. But before that happens I would like to have an opportunity to get the final critical bugs reported and fixed, and for this reason I’ve tagged a release candidate in git. I hope you’ll give this version a try, and if nothing major has been reported within a week this will be the 0.1 release.
The following description is the 0.1 milestone description that has been worked towards over the past months.
This release should have an implementation of the core game play as close as possible to the original game. The following features will wait for a later release: AI and multiplayer support; reliable increase of game speed (up to ~10 should work though).
Update: You need the original data file to run freeserf, and you need the uncompressed version which is about 1.3Mb in size. If freeserf does not work with your data file you probably have a compressed data file. You can get the uncompressed by actually installing the original game before copying the file.
After a few release candidates and a bunch of bugs fixed, I am now releasing Freeserf 0.1. The source code is available from the tag at the GitHub page, and is also packaged here. Windows builds are also available here.
This release features a fully playable game play with an improved interface compared to the original game, but still using the graphics, music and sounds from the original game data file. It is possible to play as single player on maps of many sizes, and also on some of the mission maps from the original game. To a limited extend multi player games are possible by changing the currently controlled player during the game.
For this release I’d like to send some thanks to people who have helped get Freeserf to where it is now:
For the 0.2 release some improvements have already been planned but it is not certain that everything in that list will make it. In addition, I have made a wiki page for suggesting further improvements over the original game. Feel free to contribute to the discussions there.
I would like to publish the next releases more often, with a 0.2 release within two months, but it will all depend on how much time I am able to spend on this project, and also how many patches and bug reports you all contribute. I hope that more people will take interest now that we finally have the first release.
