It's been more than two weeks since the last alpha release, so it's time for a short summary, followed by general plans for Alpha19.
Let's start with bugs :). This release was especially prone to them. The first type are bugs caused by changes in game logic to accommodate the campaign mode. Those are usually simple to figure out (as they exist purely in my own code). Most involved breaking something in the single map mode, which I didn't test enough before releasing. I hope to have the majority of them fixed in the next "hotfix" update in the following week. The other type of bugs were caused by porting the game to the Microsoft Visual Studio compiler. One does not simply copy sixty thousand lines of code into software developed by Microsoft and expect everything to work :D.
There is one nasty bug that crashes the game during saving (or perhaps only while autosaving). The nastiness comes from the fact that it doesn't get reported, i.e. it crashes the program so badly that reporting also goes down. All my knowledge about it comes from anecdotal reports from players, which is a very bad situation. I suspect it might have to do with high RAM usage by the game. I'll work on improving this in Alpha19. Meanwhile, I hope to get more data on the crash. If it has happened to you, I'll be very grateful for an email or a post on the forums with your system specs (especially RAM), details on the game you were playing (whether single map or campaign, number of villains in the campaign, etc), and if it has happened to you just once or more frequently.
There are also a few low level bugs, mostly concerning the graphics and multimedia library SFML, which I'm planning the replace with SDL soon (which will replace current bugs with new ones, hopefully fewer :P). They usually manifest themselves by the game not starting at all or by weird crashes not connected to gameplay. There are also missing dll errors caused strictly by the port to the Microsoft compiler. I think I've done everything correctly to resolve them, but some players still have problems running the game, so I'll have to spend some more time on this.
The feedback about the campaign mode was very positive, which makes me very happy. I think it adds a lot of freshness to the game, and breaks the routine of the old single map gameplay. I hope to continue this trend with future updates, watch out for big announcements soon :).
Alpha19 will feature various small gameplay improvements, mostly involving the campaign mode. Among them, adventurers will be able to roam the campaign and fight multiple keeper dungeons. Maps will be filled with extra content, besides the main occupant. On your home map you will find minor enemies and some surprises. Keepers will be able to place notice boards on their maps, where passersby will be allowed to add notes. The notes will be stored on the server, so the boards will function as primitive, medieval chat rooms. :)
More details on Alpha19 coming soon.