The Almighty Doer of Stuff

We are still in there.

Thanks for the interest in helping, Jewels! (Balladeer, you are Jewels, right? I may misunderstand, but either way!) CM and I are both in the IRC chat right now and will probably be for most of the day, as usual. Please join us!

I have a Blades of Exile section on my personal site, but the URL is "AlmightyWebsite" and the site also includes things like my "The Idiot" comics and a game where you hit space aliens with potatoes. I'll go register a new domain just for BoE, there's a great one available. Stay tuned! EDIT: openboe.com is now registered to me via JustHost! I'll figure out what to do with it later I guess.

Blades of Exile is free, open-source software that allows you to design, share, and play adventures using the engine of the award-winning Exile role-playing games, by Spiderweb Software. It uses a simple point-and-click, node-based system that involves no scripting or coding. Over 300 scenarios have been shared since Blades of Exile was released in 1997. It no longer works, so Spiderweb Software gave it to the community under GNU GPL 3.0. Classic Blades of Exile (Classic BoE) runs reasonably well on modern computers. Very little user-end functionality is changed from the 1997 version. It is not being maintained but may allow you to play scenarios immediately. +Classic BoE for Windows. Mac OS version currently unavailable. Open Blades of Exile (OBoE) is a project to fix many bugs, add a few unobtrusive features, maintain compatibility with legacy scenarios and save files, and provide stable code going forward. It is under development and may have major bugs. +OBoE for Windows and Mac OS (10.7 and later) +IRC webchat for OBoE developers and users. +Github Repository: Files and resources for OBoE, for developers. You can also report problems at the Issue Tracker. (Note: Despite the web address, this is for OBoE now.) Blades of Exile Resources: +At TrueSite4Blades you can download scenarios to play, read walkthroughs and tips, find graphics for your own scenarios, and more. +Encyclopedia Ermariana is a repository of both canon and non-canon information about the world of Exile. +Documentation for the game and the scenario editor +Original Blades of Exile source code and resources --- Celtic Minstrel: I don't think we should clutter the forum header with useless software like the original 16bit BoE that nobody will use or care about. As for github and the issue tracker, they both say cboe in the URL so I didn't realize they were OBoE. I put them in with a note, but it's kinda awkward. It'd be good to fix that if possible. But does Classic BoE actually work correctly? Since it's in the header I assumed it does, but I don't actually know.

Blades of Exile is a small software suite that allows you to design, share, and play adventures using the engine of the award-winning Exile Trilogy by Spiderweb Software, using a simple point-and-click, node-based system that involves no scripting or coding. Over 300 adventures have been shared since Blades of Exile was released in 1997. It no longer works, so Spiderweb Software gave it to the community under GNU GPL 3.0. Classic Blades of Exile (Classic BoE) runs reasonably well on modern computers. Very little user-end functionality is changed from the 1997 version. It is not being maintained but may allow you to play scenarios immediately. +Classic BoE for Windows. Mac OS version currently unavailable. Open Blades of Exile (OBoE) is a project to fix many bugs, add a few unobtrusive features, maintain compatibility with legacy scenarios and save files, and provide stable code going forward. It is under development and may have major bugs. +OBoE for Windows and Mac OS (10.7 and later) +IRC webchat for OBoE developers and users. Blades of Exile Resources: +At TrueSite4Blades you can download scenarios to play, read walkthroughs and tips, find graphics for your own scenarios, and more. +Encyclopedia Ermariana is a repository of both canon and non-canon information about the world of Exile. +Documentation for the game and the scenario editor +Original Blades of Exile source code and resources

Hi! I'm ADoS, a long-time Blades of Exile player and designer. I'm helping Celtic Minstrel with the development of the Open Blades of Exile project. Specifically, he does all the programming, creative direction, decision making, project maintenance, etc. (the hard part) and I do testing of various kinds, troubleshooting, some graphics work, provide suggestions and ideas, and assorted other miscellany that doesn't involve programming (I don't know how). Blades of Exile, for those who don't know, is a small software suite that allows you to design and share your own adventures in the game engine of Spiderweb Software's award-winning Exile trilogy (which was later remade into Avernum), utilizing an intuitive, easy-to-use point-and-click system. No coding required, just enter text and numbers, push buttons, and paint the maps, basically. Some amazing stories were told with this system and the community was very creative, with annual general design contests as well as occasional themed contests. Spiderweb Software included three short adventures with the package, and there are over 300 user-made scenarios to download and play. The program had some annoying and often pointless limitations, but with ingenuity we managed to get around many of them. Now that the software is available under the GNU GPL 3.0, Celtic Minstrel has removed or fixed many of the limitations, loosened many others, and fixed many, many bugs. It now runs on newer operating systems as well. Part of the design philosophy of this project is to keep the look, feel, and play of this software more or less the same, and just fix bugs, add a few spare unobtrusive features, and make sure it runs correctly. There was a short-lived Swords of Exile project, for example, where someone was trying to overhaul the whole thing so it was unrecognizable. That's what we're trying not to do. We insist that all legacy scenarios must continue to play as intended. We think it will be great when it's finished, and we hope the community will reignite. Unfortunately there is still a good amount of work to do. BoE was a passion of mine for a huge chunk of my life and I don't want to see it wither away, but it can be frustrating sometimes when we don't know who or how many we're working to please. It would be good to know how much interest there is in this project, as well as whether anyone would like to help out more actively. CM would especially like another programmer to help him. So could you take a minute and answer this poll? Thanks! (I'm posting this in the General forum because I suspect there are many people who don't scroll all the way down the forum list.)

Sarah Vowell is my favorite author. She writes "humorous narrative historical nonfiction", definitely a niche genre but quite fascinating. Her latest book is "Lafayette in the Somewhat United States". I haven't read it but I loved what I have read by her.

Thanks for your... sort of contribution to BoE! I'll try reading it at some point today, if my health allows me. Hopefully we'll have a release sometime this year if we can stay focused on it, and next time you might be able to make a scenario instead of a... sort of scenario.

It may be more sooner than later if people showed more interest. It would make the development feel less of a drag. I know there are more people out there who love BoE besides us four, but nobody else participates for very long. I guess you can consider this a call to action. Maybe I should post a poll. "Would you: []work on code []playtest []pokeholesinthingsandseeiftheybreaktest []design during development []design when there's a release version []play scenarios for fun" etc. ? Maybe it would get some silent observers to speak up or something, I don't know.

The hydra nest was my favorite part of Exile 2. This probably shows my frustration with Exile 2 as a whole compared to Exile 1, I guess. I never finished 2.

I will never forgive the removal of hydras. I love hydras. I have a corduroy hydra, probably hand-made as a gift for someone, which I bought on Ebay.

I do encourage that everyone plays BoE! (And BoA I guess but I've looked very little into that myself.) Right now the editor has fatal bugs but the scenario launcher seems to function well, so you can go on over 300 adventures! I'd guess around half of the BoE scenarios are terrible or boring, but the ones that are good will give you hundreds and hundreds of hours of enjoyment for free. Good deal, I think. They have very "retro" graphics and engines, which puts some people off, but I think the graphics are beautiful, particularly the Exile graphics by Andrew Hunter and so many of the wonderful custom graphics made by the community to match. Also, before Christmas, someone bought two shirts from the BoE promotional shop I set up. I don't know who that was, but it made me rather happy. Thanks, whoever you are!

It's very easy to get the idea, reading all the min-max guides posted all over sites like Spidweb's and similar companies', that the game will be terribly difficult if you don't know what you're doing going in. Really you can be awful at games and still win, especially on the easier difficulties. I forget what Jeff said about it, something about balancing his games for seven year olds and then including harder difficulties for serious gamers I think. Your party doesn't actually have to be great unless you're playing a harder difficulty or certain Blades of Exile/Avernum user-made scenarios. Jeff Vogel deliberately left a lot of wiggle-room for roleplaying on the easier difficulties.

Spidweb games, especially the Exile/Avernum series, are notorious for putting super-powerful enemies where they're way out of your league. There are usually a good number of encounters which you can reach early on, but which will pulverize you if you try. Sometimes you need to come back MUCH later, not just a few dungeons. Jeff doesn't ever include unstoppable enemies though. I think he actually toned it down for the newest version of the series, but I don't think he eliminated that feature altogether.

There is a rising demand from the Electors (70 of them last I heard) to see the evidence the CIA, FBI, and NSA have that Trump's victory was caused by interference from the Russian government, even Vladimir Putin himself, before they vote, and as I understand it there is even a protocol for delaying the vote while unfolding situations are considered. There are suggestions in the media that depending on the circumstances, whether it's actual complicity or just trying to hide it after the fact, Mr. Trump could be at risk of a charge of treason.

Things are heating up in the election: Republican Electors are starting to defect. I guess 20 have indicated that they will go against their states' popular votes if an additional 20 or so also decide to flip. We may yet avoid a President Trump. I got forwarded this by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (most known for their devotion to Senator Elizabeth Warren and their focus on putting more similar politicians in government). The whole time they were emphasizing that the electoral college protests they've been organizing at State Houses around the country would likely be just symbolic and get people moving to try to counteract Trump's baloney once he's in, but they seem to have been taken by surprise that it's actually working and gaining ground.

"Kill Self, Win Prize" is a masterpiece though. I enjoyed the BoE version of Nine Variations on Point B. I don't know how different the BoA version is though. BoE's basically took a simple concept, which is "You are at point A, go to point B" then step by step makes the task of getting to Point B a little more complex and interesting, sort of a meta-analysis of design to make novice designers think more creatively.

It's never irrelevant to post system specs when asking for tech support. It's not a software issue with the game maybe, but it may be a sound driver software issue, or something else related to sound in the operating system.

It looks like a recount is happening in three states, thanks to Jill Stein's organizing and fundraising. Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. Do you guys think we have a chance to avert a Trump/Pence administration? I don't know many of the details.

Like I said, you can put a solid wall where you want a treasure chest or bookshelf, place items there, and use Edit Item to mark the "Is Contained" option. Then all you have to do is change the wall to a container and the items will be inside, but not visible otherwise. I think one scenario ("Demon"?) has a puzzle where you have to push a crate around a room until it picks up a hidden item in the non-container floor. I'm pretty sure monsters don't have to be on a clear spot either to put them somewhere with the editor.

I assumed the idea was hiding it on the minimap. Like, so the player just assumes it's a forest or a cave wall, but there's really something there.

I believe you can place mobs and items onto solid blocks in the editor, so they'd still be there if you changed the terrain with nodes. You can even manually set an item to "in a container".

Hidden spaces connected via Stairway node or Move Party/Teleport to an unused corner have always had an annoying issue with the minimap: You couldn't be subtle about it, because the map would suddenly go black and they'd get a message in the text area. AFAIK you can't turn off the text area message in OBoE yet (I'll mention that to CM) but at least the designer can either grant the whole minimap or turn it off altogether in town settings, to prevent the sudden, obvious blanking, if so desired.

Ice Slime generates ice fields, but I think Ice Pudding, with the same graphic, has freezing touch.