news archive

Here are listed older news bits that were once on the main news page. They are here for history purposes; note that some links may be outdated.

As some ask about the status of Underworld Adventures and if it's abandoned, I thought I post a new project news item to give a status update of the project.

The current release is the 0.9 release from two years ago. There was some work in CVS until the end of 2005, including a Mac OS X port, but nothing releaseable. In the beginning of 2006 I decided to rewrite the game, using the algorithms and functions already in uwadv. Until now I've rewritten about 20% of the classes in uwadv. Additonally unit tests were added for every class in uwadv, to ensure code stability.

I expect that I have something releaseable by the end of the year (2006, that is!), but until then there won't be any releases that can be tried out. For an alpha version of the game, try out the latest release: 0.9 "mojito".

I updated the "devlog" with some of the recent ongoings on the uwadv project. I also added some screenshots of the new Underworld Adventures Debugger I'm currently working on. And the Underworld Adventures Developer Log got a RSS 2.0 feed recently. So if you want to be up-to-date, just add the feed to your favourite aggregator. If there's a problem with the feed, just drop me a mail.

Today the debian package for the 0.9 version was released. The packages were prepared for Debian/testing (the package should work for unstable, too). Grab it on the download page.

I'm happy to announce that after *mumble,mumble* months, we have released a new version of Underworld Adventures!^[1]. This release codenamed after the cuban national drink doesn't have new features added. In fact it misses some features that were present in 0.8, but the source code was heavily restructured and refactored. Source code and binaries for Windows and Linux are available on the download page. From now on releases will be done more frequently. It is planned to have a release at least every 2 months.

We also released a new version of the digital music soundtrack pack that contains the 2 new and unreleased tracks "Wanderer" and "Maps & Legends" from Martin Gircys-Shetty (QQtis). The package is also available on the download page. Thanks Martin!

The project always searches for people to help out coding, porting and testing. We especially search for someone who ports the code to Mac OS X. Also some artwork is needed for the splash screen and a new installer. Please see the development section for more information.

We also wish the Underworld Adventures a happy 2nd birthday anniversary! Two years ago I got the mail from SourceForge that my project is approved. Although readers of the dev log know that the idea of the project emerged earlier, it's nevertheless a good date to release a new version. So enjoy this release!

[1] blatantly stolen from positron's news announcement.

For those of you who keep reloading the uwadv page for months and not a single new release - the project is not dead! In fact there's some major code restructuring going on in the depths of CVS. This gives me the chance to keep the source code structured and maintainable when uwadv is expanding its features. If you're interested in the technical details, head over to the developer's log where the daily ongoings are logged.

Today the first debian binary package is released. In the future both RPM and Debian packages will be released to the Linux community.

Made another release to fix some bugs in the game. A Win32 binary is available. Sourcecode can be obtained via CVS, the release tag is hot_chili_08a.

Another release, this time named "hot chili"! Here's the list of new things in Underworld Adventures:

* added simple NPC animation
* added picking up items from the underworld
* added animated lava and water textures
* added switches, levers and pull chains
* implemented some traps and triggers
* added bridges
* added savegames loading/saving
* added quicksave functionality
* fixed 3d models sizes

For those that really thought the yesterday's news bit was real: it really was an april fools joke. The source of the games (according to Doug Church) probably is lost. If you want to read the posted text, just click here.

Today I noticed that Sir Cabirus finished his Ultima Underworld 1 Walkthrough which helps greatly to replay the game. Good work, Sir Cabirus!

Release names are getting worse :) ... Today's release features initial conversation support (no inventory interaction yet), support for 3d models for static objects (some models from Sam Matthews are included) and usage of big textures larger than 256x256 is removed, which should help Voodoo3 card users. The digital music pack of course still works with this release.

It is now required to be subscribed to send mails to the list. This change was necessary to protect list members from unsolicited mails sent to the list.

This release of Underworld Adventures (named "rotworm stew") has a lot of new features inside: Looking at objects in the underworld was added, NPC and critter sprites are rendered now (no animation yet), added mouse movement, custom key mappings, visiting more of the underworld (via some cheat keys), a rewritten collision detection and fixed midi playback and manual pages for Linux.

Martin Shetty started to rearrange the underworld soundtrack for Underworld Adventures in digital form, and a music pack is ready to try out. As always, there is the source package, the Linux binary RPM and a nice Windows installer with config program. Just head over to the downloads.

No, the project is not dead, there is just nothing really worth to show in a new release. Meanwhile development goes on with internal things like Lua scripting and resource file decoding. If you want to know what happens on the project, just read the "dev log" or join us in the #uwadv IRC channel.

In the meantime you also could look at the Labyrinth of Worlds project which aims at recreating the second underworldly adventure.

The Underworld Adventures Team currently searches for a 3d modeler to join. Fans of the Ultima Underworld game series are especially welcome. The ingame 3d models should replace the objects, NPCs and monster sprites for the "enhanced" user interface of the game. Details can be discussed per mail () or in the #uwadv IRC channel (on irc.freenode.net).

The next source and binary package for Underworld Adventures (codename: "butterfinger") released today features a complete character creation, a finished Linux build system, an installer and configuration program for Windows users, some bug fixes and many changes under-the-hood. Beginning with this release, Linux RPMs are available, too.

Today a source code release was done, mainly to test the almost finished Linux build system. Linux fans, have a try! (in the download section)

There now is an official Underworld Adventures IRC channel! Connect to irc.openprojects.net (port 6667) and join #uwadv. Most developers are in the channel from time to time. #uwadv channel logs are available thanks to the wonderful "exultbot".

Today a new version called "cheesecake" was released. Additions were:
* introduction cutscene
* acknowledgements
* ingame: inventory handling
* fullscreen mode option
* collision detection (almost) fully functional

This new release called "poppypastry" is a big step forward. uwadv now has the intro splash screens, the game's menu (although, only "Journey Onward" works), collision detection and the Underworld is darker now. Some bugs are still in, happy bug chasing!

Made a new release, "grainroll". Tools now contain the uw1 conversation script decompiler and an animation viewer for the uw1 cutscenes (tools can be found in the binary release). For the main program, the abyss now has objects, and textures are rendered correctly. uwadv should work on Linux and MacOS X, too.

Some tools for Ultima Underworld are available now, as win32 binaries. There's a level map display program, a uw1 conversation script debugger and a little tool to convert the xmi midi files to ordinary midis. All available at the download's.

I released first working alpha version of Underworld Adventures. The release is called 'ricecraeker' (why this is so? read about it in the download section :-). It lets you run through the first level of the abyss (no wall collision detection, though).

Of course I search for more people willing to help with the project. For more, read in the development section.

I redesigned the Underworld Adventures project home page today (looks a bit like the Ultima Underworld 1 handbook). Work on the game framework continues, and soon a first build can be downloaded.

SourceForge project page was set up today, so development can start. Sources will be checked in soon.