Google Code to GitHub, Subversion to Git

Google Code is shutting down.

Although there was no need to rush our decision (the site will not become read-only until 24 August), the FreeRCT dev team began discussing alternatives straight away.

The discussion started with where to move the project to (GitHub, SourceForge, Bitbucket, or self-hosted). Of course, moving the project to one of the aforementioned options also meant a likely change in the version control system (VCS) used (see: allowed).

• GitHub (GH) primarily supports Git (of course), with some Subversion support that we did not think would be worth dealing with.
• Bitbucket would give us more flexibility with its support of both Mercurial and Git; nevertheless, the interface is somewhat lacking when compared to GH, and searching for projects as an anonymous user is not as user-friendly (not helpful for project visibility).
• SourceForge (SF) would allow us to stay with Subversion; of course, this would mean using SF's interface, something that none of the devs seemed particularly excited about. 
• Some other sites and VCSs were mentioned, if for nothing more than to provide a bit of jocularity to the serious discussion. 
• Finally, the team briefly discussed the possibility of going the self-hosting route. Although we may eventually go down this road, it was decided that there is no real need for it in the project's current state.

After receiving feedback from the rest of the team, it was decided to make the move to GitHub. Admittedly, the team was in a state of wonder as to how the entire process would go, especially with regards to how GitHub would handle Google's wiki format and the fact that we already had a Read-only mirror in place at GitHub.

Lucky for FreeRCT, we had the unique combination of our own LordAro, as well as Google's (admittedly fancy) 'Export to GitHub' functionality.

Operation successful: FreeRCT.

With the move to GitHub complete (minus a few small changes being made as I write this), the team can refocus its efforts on making this awesome game.

Hopefully this post gave you a good overview of what was involved in moving the FreeRCT project from one site and system to another. As always, you can continue to stay up to date on FreeRCT happenings through all your favorite sites, including checking here at this blog. :)

Until next time,

The FreeRCT Dev Team

"FreeRCT is really good value!"

Q1 2015 Report

Hello fellow FreeRCTers!

It has been an interesting past half of a year for the FreeRCT dev team, and we wanted to take the chance to update our eager followers with what we have been up to.

Real life aside, the dev team has been contributing as much time as is possible to the entire FreeRCT project, pushing updates ranging from necessary bug fixes and improved continuous integration support all the way up to entirely new features that will excite end users, most of which are highlighted in the Changelog below.

As noted in the upcoming changes sections, there are significant features and improvements in the pipeline (or queue path :D) that we are working hard on and will hopefully be adding to the official project within the next couple of months.

To those eager for more frequent updates, there can, of course, be no promises from us; nevertheless, with this post, the hope is to continue updating you all with the most significant changes as time allows. On the plus side, the less time we dedicate to writing posts, the more time we are probably using to improve the code and assets of the game, as well as brainstorm further improvements and ideas to add to our ever-growing ideas/to-do list. :)

Until our next official update, you can follow us on Twitter (and like us on Facebook), visit our home page, watch for code updates at the official repository, read our other posts on this blog, join our subreddit, check out the wiki, and/or get involved.

Until next time,

The FreeRCT Dev Team

"FreeRCT is really good value!"

Changelog (1 September 2014 - 4 March 2015):

• Guests 'going home' walk to the edge of the world before disappearing.
• Thunder and (ride) state lights (not in game-play use yet).
• More items for shops to sell to guests.
• Toilets (Building and guest visitation support).
• Guest mood changes based on weather and umbrella possession.
• Initial support for guests on rides.
• Guests are informed of ride destruction.
• Guests exit rides.
• Multiple improvements to the renderer.
• Initial queuing for ride support for guests.
• Removal of guests from a ride upon its deletion.
• Guests stop buying food/drink upon bathroom necessity.
• Initial path decoration support.
• Support for Unicode character input and handling key input.
• Underground mode view.
• Support for single tile click (and hold-drag) path placement (and removal).
• Ability to change (override) path type of currently placed path(s).
• Coverity support (Travis CI).
• Numerous bug fixes, documentation improvements, and other behind-the-scenes updates.

Upcoming gameplay changes:

• Ability for persons in the world to handle (walk on) non-path tiles correctly.
• Ability to pick up, move, and drop persons in the world.
• Initial staff (employees) support.
• Further enter / exit ride support for guests.

Upcoming engine changes:

• Replacement of SDL2 with GLFW.
• Replacement of window mouse modes with an improved approach.