Status of KsirK

• Current status
• README
• ChangeLog
• TODO

Current status

In the current version (1.1), KsirK is a multi-player mono-machine game with a basic AI. It is also (mostly, some french translations are missing) internationalized in two languages (English and French). Planned future versions will be really network-enabled multi-playered with a better AI and a lot more enhancements.

For all parts of the development (programming, help, internationalizations, etc.), any help would be greatly appreciated. See the Contacts page.

I wrote that in 09/2002 : Note that I will soon start a new job and it's possible that I will not have a lot of time for KsirK in the near future. But trust that: the project only starts and it will not die quickly !

Now (01/05/2003), I pushlish a new version: KsirK is alive !!

Below, you will find the README, the ChangeLog and the TODO file of the KsirK distribution.

README

HISTORY OF KsirK

I started this game during 1995 (?) in order to learn C++ and Windows 95 programming. It was initialy named "Risk". I used a book about WinG, one of the first Microsoft attempts to give gaming abilities to Windows. But a lot of the examples of this book were in assembler, that I never learned :-( I used these routines but whithout being able to fully understand them. This first version never got an acceptable status.

Some time later I heard from Java and decided to learn it. So, I decided to convert Risk to JRisk. I obtained, if I remember well, a version that was running not so bad, but really slowly.That was due to the use of an early version of Java but also to a really uggly programming.

In the meantime, for my work, I learned Smalltalk (VisualWorks), THE OO language (try it, you really cannot experience higher OO programming pleasure ; I'm addict)and so discovered all the power of good OOP. I started also to use Linux and KDE. I wanted to learn KDE programming and so decided to convert back my lovely project to C++ ! KRisk was born ! But with my experience of Smalltalk and the APIs of QT and KDE, my work has been, I think, quite better.

At the time of 04/24/2002, some architectural problems due to this complex history remained, but it worked good and I think I could release a public version. I choosed to rename it in order to avoid copyright problems : welcome to KsirK !

Now, in early 2003, the evolution continue with a minimal AI (for artificial idiot as its decisions are choosen completly at random) and the themability of the world. This last point is a direct consequence of the improvements of the overall architecture of the game.

In parallel, the online tools linked to the game continue to improve: with the current version appear a mailing list and a CVS repository (See the Contacts and Download pages of the Web site) !

INSTALLATION

USING KsirK

• map scrolling : place your mouse near a window border or use your mouse wheel (with the Alt modifier for horizontal scrolling)
• armies distribution : Left-click to put an army, Right-click to remove one
• to setup a move or an attack, click and drag from the source country to the target one

CONTACT

ChangeLog

2003/01/03

• Implementation of the countries-map mask method to find the position of the mouse.
• Generalizing the previous point, all world-related data come from external resources. Consequently, the game is now themable, even if this themability is not really user-friendly (files to be put in 2 or three directories, no DTD for the XML configuration file,...)

2002/12/29

• Implemented movement by AI
• End of the silly AI (random choices)
• Removed support for exceptions as they are not widely supported by KDE, it seems.

2002/12/14

• - Partial implementation of the AI (started a long time ago)
• Added support for exceptions
• Using more and more the STL (I learned to use it at work. It's great !)
• Compile with gcc-3.2, KDE 3.0.3

Sept. 8, 2002

New release of KsirK ! Version 0.9.1-2 is out. Please mail me if you have questions, suggestions, bug reports, etc. !! Or use the Guestbook...

The new version of ksirk (0.9.1-2) offers the following improvements:

• The bonus for players that own complete continents is implemented;
• You now have a guestbook on the site to give your opinin about the game and the site itself

2002/09/05

New release of KsirK ! Version 0.9.1 is out. The new version of ksirk (0.9.1) presents some important improvements. The three first are usability enhancements. The three others are conception and programmation improvements:

• Added a button in the status bar that diplays the flag of the current player (see the snapshot below);
• Allowed sprites to navigate from Alaska to Siberia directly. They no longer need to go through all the map. This is generalized to all movements that would be shorter by the side, on x and y axis. It will help for the future version that will be able to handle completly different maps;
• Stop the timer when the window looses the focus. Start it again when the window gets back the focus. Previously, the map was scrolling when you was using other windows if the pointer were upon a border of the KsirK window;
• Added a Nationality class. It is used to put the player flag in the status bar. It will also be used to add some choices to the users (name, flag, etc.);
• The need for a graphics pool (archeologic artifact) is removed. Each sprite has its own file and the canvas do not need to be subclassed;
• Finished to switch all members names to English (Country, KGameWindow and Player). All the API is in English. Only some local variables and some implementation comments are still in French.

2002/08/22

• First public release (0.9 for tests)

2002/04/28

• ready for first public release (0.8) ?
• tested up to the end of a game
• changeed back the number of armies at the beginning

2002/04/27

• corrected the problem of relative path to resources (good KDE programming)

2002/04/25

• changed all french texts to english (sigh...) with i18n
• finished to change the "changeItems" (to correct status display)

2002/04/24

• change program name to a non copyrighted one. (KsirK ?)
• Put a maximum size for the window (and also a minimum) (min and max for the center frame)

TODO

Known Bugs:

Nearly all known bugs are corrected. 1.1 (= 1.0 with most points of 1.2 done) is released 01/05/2003

Before 1.0 version:

bugs correction.

Before 1.2 :

1. comment the implementations ;
2. [DONE] stop the timer when the windows looses the focus ;
3. [DONE] implement basic AI ;
4. [DONE] stop to use a graphic pool (archeologic artefact !), use separate images ;
5. [DONE] flag to indicate the current player inside status bar. Remain to do: add all the updates ;
6. translate the map... ;
7. [DONE] allow sprites to navigate from Alaska to Siberie by the short link ;
8. change the buttons disabling solution from toolbar hiding to "graying" ;
9. [DONE]
   • change the gestion of "multiple-territories countries" : generalize it. Each country should be composed of a number of separated territories ; with a centralized gestion
   • by extension, use the "mask solution" for the map

Before 1.4 :

• implements goals ;
• [DONE] make possible the changement of map : all map-related data should be placed in resource files.
• networked multiple players game

Before 2.0:

• perfect implementation of Risk rules (optional if some enhancements are implemented) ;
• use ksirk as a TEG client.

Middle to long term:

• game periods (distribution of armies, attacks, ...) should be simultaneous for all the players. But keep a turn-by-turn organization (partly-real-time) ;
• map = 3D model, map = earth or other planet; could be zoomed and rotated. sprites = flat images or (better) 3D models too.