[SDL] ANN: Kobo Deluxe 0.4.1 - finally!

[David Olofson]

	Kobo Deluxe 0.4.1 released
	--------------------------
	Too many other projects, and as Kobo Deluxe is one
	that doesn't bring food to the table, it tends to
	get rather low priority. However, for various
	reasons, I've decided it's time to start actively
	working towards a 1.0 release.
	   Lots and lots of changes in this release of
	course, but there are still a bunch of patches and
	quick fixes left for a soon to be released 0.4.2. I
	just figured you lot might want to have a look, now
	that I FINALLY have it all working properly (or so
	I hope) again. :-)

	Five skill levels
	-----------------
	Early experimental stuff, but there are now five
	skill levels, one of which is of course the good
	old 100% true to XKobo "Classic" mode. The others
	have slightly modernized game logic with player
	health and cannon overheating. That is, you can
	take some damage before you lose your ship, and you
	lose some firepower if you keep firing constantly.
	This makes for smoother and less frustrating
	gameplay, or at least, that's the idea.

	New graphics
	------------
	Not much of it yet, and some is just quick playing
	around in GIMP - but the new graphics is drawn for
	640x480 mode, as opposed to the original 320x240.
	Scaling by any N:16 factor is now supported, which
	means it's still possible to run 320x240, despite
	the new "native" resolution of 640x480.

	New sounds
	----------
	Some new sound effects were added pretty long ago
	(0.4pre7, IIRC), and there is more to come. There
	will be new music, specifically written for Kobo
	Deluxe.
	   However, I decided to stay away from this for
	now, as I have new technology in the works, and I
	don't feel it's worthwhile to spend any more time
	on the old Kobo sound engine.

ChangeLog:
	http://www.olofson.net/kobodl/ChangeLog

	Some interesting highlights, somewhat decrypted:

	* Simplified the configuration menus, and and
	  cleaned up the menus in general.

	* Losing window focus now pauses the game.

	* Hammering on Escape is trapped and aborts the
	  game when loading, or switches to a safe video
	  mode when running.

	* It is now possible to play the game even if the
	  scores for some reason cannot be written to disk.

	* Sound effect timing has millisecond resolution
	  regardless of audio buffer size. That means you
	  always get correct sound; you just get more delay
	  with more buffering.

	* Sound effects can now be cached on disk so you
	  don't have to wait for them rendering every time
	  you start.

	* The playfield area is now square, with only
	  slightly rounded corners. Better looking and more
	  true to the original.

	* Widescreen displays properly supported - the game
	  is not stretched to fit! (Provided you select a
	  video mode suitable for your display, of course.)

Known Issues:
	* Some page flip flickering in the transition
	  effects in glSDL mode on some OpenGL drivers.

	* The new skill levels need proper balancing, and
	  most importantly, tougher settings should make
	  the enemies smarter and/or faster - not just
	  speed up the whole world and cut down on
	  firepower, as they do now.

	* The title song is supposed to be looped, but the
	  current one (old placeholder) isn't.

	* A game in progress is aborted afer toggling
	  fullscreen/windowed mode on some platforms.

	* Y/N keys no longer work in the "ask" dialogs.

Home:
	http://www.olofson.net/kobodl/

Download:
        http://www.olofson.net/kobodl/download.html

Direct download:
	http://www.olofson.net/kobodl/download/KoboDeluxe-0.4.1.tar.gz


//David Olofson - Programmer, Composer, Open Source Advocate

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