Changelog - Free Tennis

New in 0.4.8

New in 0.4.7

New in 0.4.6

New in 0.4.5

New in 0.4.4

New in 0.4.3

New in 0.4.2

New in 0.4.1

New in 0.4

New in 0.3.15

* Fixed crash (the human player was unable to find a good initial
  trajectory on forwards strech shot).

* AI - Fixed bug. The computer-driven player was updating his tactics
  only in those games when he was serving.

* AI: ivan, on the clay, was doing interlocutory shots that were too
  short and not rewarding on that surface.

New in 0.3.14


* major AI: computer now learns whether it is best to take the net or
  to stay back. Affects gameplay.

* gameplay tuning: computer is more forgiving in passingshot; computer
  covers the diagonal more when at net; decreased running speed of
  mats; improved Pete's logic in choosing the shot;


* gameplay: sometimes the (linux) kernel would halt the game for a few
  milliseconds (e.g. when swapping memory). Then, when the game would
  resume, the ball would travel too much in a single frame, making it
  impossible to reach. This is now fixed with a new algo for
  calculating the amount of time passed since the last frame.

* AI: changed logic with which _human_ players choose the impact
  point. High impacts are preferred. This implies your passing shots
  will be faster (since your impact is higher, your shot will be more
  straight and therefore more powerful).

* crash fixed: sometimes the game would crash on volee, especially
  with ivan. (the reason was that the default trajectory was too
  vertical).

* control logic: if you increase the shot height (right mouse button),
  and the resulting shot happens to be too vertical, then the shot
  length is increased as well. This makes lob more difficult and more
  realistic.

* bug fixed. Sometimes the initial shot was stuck, i.e. impossible to
  change.

* sound engine improved. If -nosound is given, there is no attempt to
  initialize the sound system. This might (and might not) allow those
  people who have trouble with the sound driver to play.

* improvement for distro packagers: you can now customize the location
  of the graphics and sfx dir by editing the first two lines of
  freetennis.ml

* changed default surface to cement: on the clay, newbies may find it
  too difficult to place a killing shot.

New in 0.3.7


* major bug fixed: sometimes, especially on volleys, the initial aim
  would be impossible to change. This is now fixed.

* major bug fixed: in two player mode, after starting the game once,
  the server would refuse to start again unless you change the port or
  wait a minute.

* gameplay: tuned various attibutes (running speed of Pete, player
  speed under net, bounces on the grass, computer passingShot skill,
  computer sprint speed...)

* graphics: the court lines and net ribbon are drawn with a less
  saturated color. More realism.

* AI: improvements in choosing the shot

* gameplay: slightly improved the mouse input logic: players who are
  weak at net have more trouble managing powerful passing shots. More
  realistic.


* tuned fps calculation, so that the game is now smoother at high
  refresh rates.

* bug fixed: the human player was able to respond to service with a
  volley.

New in 0.3.5


* gameplay: it is now possible to finetune the camera height with the
  keys I and K.

* new camera algorithm. The camera is steadier and oscillates
  less. Also, the camera gets lower when you take the net. Finally,
  there is a more clever logic to determine whether the player covers
  the net and should therefore be transparent.

* bug fixed: in 2d mode, on the client, the player below would appear
  behind the net ribbon (wrong drawing order).

* fixed minor bug in event management which caused slight delays in
  the response.

* bug fixed: the extent to which you can alter the running speed
  during sprint was dependent on frame rate.

* gameplay: lob is not so easy anymore.

* AI: the computer-driven player does not do smashes that are
  unrealistically weak anymore.

* the string "too late" does not overlap the score anymore.

New in 0.3



* major bug fixed: on slow computers, the game was totally unplayable
  because mouse input would be ignored for aiming (though not for
  moving).

* major bug fixed: in 2player mode, sometimes the game would hang or
  crash at startup; the player would not start serving.

* major crash fixed when diving unnecessarily;


* major gameplay: drop volley was too easy, by just pulling the mouse
  backwards. Intuitively, in real tennis, if the opponent's shot is
  very powerful, it is difficult to do a drop volley. But it wasn't
  difficult in Free Tennis.

  This is now solved as follows: I introduced a "minimal shot power"
  that depends on the speed of the opponent's shot. The power of your
  volleys should not be less than this minimal power. If you try to
  shorten the shot so that the power becomes less than the minimal
  power, the height over the net is decreaased, and the ball is likely
  to hit net.

* major gameplay: dive is now reasonably easy to execute. It does not
  hit the net by default, but is like any other volley (except you
  have to press D to execute it). This is now acceptable because doing
  drop volley is not so easy anymore (see above).

* major gameplay: by just pulling backwards on a groundstroke, it was
  too easy to turn it into a dropshot that bounces backwards, and is
  therefore unreachable. This is not so easy anymore (increased the
  minimum distance of the bounce from the net).

* major gameplay: tuned difficulty of passing shots and volleys;
  passing was too difficult. Fine-tuned some player skills as
  well. Players now have different speeds at net and back, in order to
  better simulate their skills and height.


* major gameplay - camera logic: sometimes, when you were decentered
  horizontally, you were unable to see the court corner and therefore
  could not aim properly. This is now fixed.

* major gameplay: sprinting in the right direction is now easier: you
  can slightly alter the running direction _during_ the sprint.

* bug fixed: in two player mode, the client player was unable to aim
  service properly (the mouse response was flipped - left went right
  and viceversa).

* crash fixed when doing dropshot that bounces backwards.

* AI: when taking the net, the computer was covering too much the
  diagonal, and too little the downtheline.

* AI: on passing shot, the computer now aims close to the line even if
  the skill level is low. (Passing shot makes no sense if not close to
  the line.)

* AI: the computer was doing some very long shots even in low
  difficulty setting.

* gameplay: in realistic mode, tuned the parabola visibility.

* AI: attackers have a better attacking logic: now they can choose
  to attack with a power shot (as opposed to an approaching shot).

New in 0.2


* compilation: made Makefile portable. If you had problems compiling
  Free Tennis, please give it another try.

* gameplay: fixed bug where mouse sensitivity would depend on refresh
  rate, making the player too slow or too fast at some refresh
  rates. If your player was too slow or too fast, try again.

* fixed crash: the game would crash when entering tiebreak.

* score: games are now displayed on the screen (previously, only
  points were).

* AI, gameplay: improved the logic to decide the shot

* AI: the computer now aims service;

* gameplay: there is a new sprint system: when you press X, the
  current mouse direction is locked, and the player starts
  sprinting. As long as you keep X pressed, the player keeps sprinting
  in that direction, regardlessly of mouse movements. When you depress
  X, sprinting ends.

* graphics: the available sprint energy is now displayed in a vertical
  yellow bar.

* score: fixed bug: on 7-5, the set would not finish.

* graphics: the clay court has a better texture. the previous one was
  too light.

* fixed bug in hotspot calculation. Some animation frames would have
  wrong position, resulting in jerky animation.

* graphics: more player animations (the players run instead of sliding)

* renamed command line options: -p0name to -p0 and -p1name to -p1.

* fixed crash: sometimes the players attempted to hit a ball below the
  ground, and the game would crash. Thanks to Tuukka Hastrup for the
  report.


* gameplay: volees were unrealistically powerful

* gameplay: in realistic mode, the parabola was invisible for volleys.

* learnability: displaying a hint to press either F or G to grab the
  mouse input.

0.1


This is the first release.