Don't worry, we're nowhere near April 1 :-)
Posted: 17 Oct 2014, 19:41
Hey everyone,
I have been in contact with Jerome over the past month or so, and I have volunteered and agreed to continue the work on ZunTzu (1.x, Windows-only edition).
Jerome continues to be busy with Real Life[tm], but he will continue to monitor my progress from the sideline and OK any "big steps" we take with the platform. During periods where I have been able to get a slice of his time, we've already had design discussions about the direction ZunTzu should take.
I have been a site admin for about two weeks, and set up my development environment and with some work was able to run a debug version of ZunTzu 1.2 about a week ago.
It is my intention that we won't see any major changes in the way that ZunTzu plays or operates.
The interface will continue to target a non-computer, intuitive feel (so if you were hoping for right-click menus, that will remain out of the picture).
(though we are considering moving the interface closer to a tablet form of interaction).
----
There is another piece to the puzzle. Part of what drew me to this work was an agreement I've made with LnL Publishing to build gameboxes for their products.
Part of that agreement is that all future changes to ZunTzu will remain free, and accessible to ALL gamebox authors, so any company that continues to allow gameboxes to be built will have full and equal access to all new features.
For instance, we are currently working on a way of integrating the LnL online chat functionality with ZunTzu, and the method and parameters will be fully disclosed, so anyone else who is interested in doing the same thing will be able to do so.
----
I'm a huge fan of ZunTzu, just like you. I want to see it grow and thrive. The ZunTzu community remains very important to Jerome, and to me. We don't want any unnecessary changes or disruptions. The forums and web site will remain where they are, and the automatic update feature already present in ZunTzu should continue to operate.
I plan to make smaller and more frequent updates. In the beginning, you should see releases with the smaller items, like bug fixes, and adjustable alpha on the shadows. The stagger size and direction of stacks should be become settable. A "nudge" function.
Later, when I have my sea legs, we should see some bigger changes. I may change how card stacks lay out, or give better functionality to the hand. We have an idea how to ameliorate the issues with control of the tabletop. That doesn't mean separated player views, but we have ideas about how to make it less of a hassle and get the features out to you quickly.
I will say up front, Mac OS, iPad, Linux... these things will not be in the 1.x release schedule. They require a complete rewrite of ZunTzu. PBEM... MIGHT require a full rewrite. Don't expect anything like those features soon. But we have to start somewhere.
Also, I can't give you any news about ZunTzu 2.0 at this point. This news is about the existing, released application. For the time being, 2.0 remains up in the air.
Please feel free to ask further questions in the thread below, and I hope this news finds you all well.
-- joshua
Code: Select all
I am very pleased to announce new development and growth of the ZunTzu 1.x platform!
Jerome continues to be busy with Real Life[tm], but he will continue to monitor my progress from the sideline and OK any "big steps" we take with the platform. During periods where I have been able to get a slice of his time, we've already had design discussions about the direction ZunTzu should take.
I have been a site admin for about two weeks, and set up my development environment and with some work was able to run a debug version of ZunTzu 1.2 about a week ago.
It is my intention that we won't see any major changes in the way that ZunTzu plays or operates.
The interface will continue to target a non-computer, intuitive feel (so if you were hoping for right-click menus, that will remain out of the picture).
(though we are considering moving the interface closer to a tablet form of interaction).
----
There is another piece to the puzzle. Part of what drew me to this work was an agreement I've made with LnL Publishing to build gameboxes for their products.
Part of that agreement is that all future changes to ZunTzu will remain free, and accessible to ALL gamebox authors, so any company that continues to allow gameboxes to be built will have full and equal access to all new features.
For instance, we are currently working on a way of integrating the LnL online chat functionality with ZunTzu, and the method and parameters will be fully disclosed, so anyone else who is interested in doing the same thing will be able to do so.
----
I'm a huge fan of ZunTzu, just like you. I want to see it grow and thrive. The ZunTzu community remains very important to Jerome, and to me. We don't want any unnecessary changes or disruptions. The forums and web site will remain where they are, and the automatic update feature already present in ZunTzu should continue to operate.
I plan to make smaller and more frequent updates. In the beginning, you should see releases with the smaller items, like bug fixes, and adjustable alpha on the shadows. The stagger size and direction of stacks should be become settable. A "nudge" function.
Later, when I have my sea legs, we should see some bigger changes. I may change how card stacks lay out, or give better functionality to the hand. We have an idea how to ameliorate the issues with control of the tabletop. That doesn't mean separated player views, but we have ideas about how to make it less of a hassle and get the features out to you quickly.
I will say up front, Mac OS, iPad, Linux... these things will not be in the 1.x release schedule. They require a complete rewrite of ZunTzu. PBEM... MIGHT require a full rewrite. Don't expect anything like those features soon. But we have to start somewhere.
Also, I can't give you any news about ZunTzu 2.0 at this point. This news is about the existing, released application. For the time being, 2.0 remains up in the air.
Please feel free to ask further questions in the thread below, and I hope this news finds you all well.
-- joshua