Master of Magic .NET

10/02/07 - Implemented foundation for City Enchantment spells and added the enchantments section to the City Management screen, the user can also opt to cancel spells they've casted upon their cities.

10/01/07 - Implemented the Life spells Holy Word and High Prayer, finishing off the Life combat spells.

09/31/07 - Implemented the Life spells Raise Dead, Prayer and Mass Healing.

09/26/07 - Lord Aramus from the forums has been creating portraits for all the original wizards. I've plugged the first four into the game, so now Merlin and a few others actually have portraits when you start a new game, they look great and provide a new look and style to familiar characters. (You can view these portraits in the forums, he's been posting them there in his thread).

09/25/07 - Hooked all the magic information into the combat interface. Skill, mana and ranged casting penalties are all implemented into tactical combat.

09/24/07 - Implemented the Life spell Dispel Evil.

09/23/07 - Implemented the Life spell True Light and unified a large amount of spell logic and processing functionality.

09/22/07 - Implemented and tested the first 'combat' spell: Healing as well as Star Fires. I've modeled Combat spells, implemented overland vs combat casting and tied those properties into the spell book UI. Also fixed a small issue with the ability list UI.

09/20/07 - Implemented the Life spell Righteousness.

09/16/07 - Implemented the Life spells Heroism, True Sight, Planar Travel, Lion Heart and Invulnerability.

09/15/07 - Unified spell logic functionality. Implemented the Life spells Holy Weapon and Holy Armor.

09/14/07 - Retrofitted the Unit Details screen so the list of unit attributes better handles unit abilities, spell enchantments and whatever else is needed down the road. I've also color coordinated them, similarily to the original game for easy identification of the types of attributes. Furthermore, from the attribute list, you may now remove a spell enchantment from a unit (though only while not in combat). Lastly, I've ensured that upkeep costs for spell enchantments is being accounted for.

09/13/07 - The Bless and Endurance spells have been defined through XML and implemented into the system fully. I've also added enchantments to the list of 'unit abilities' (the unit detail screen), so its easier to see what spells the unit may have on it. I've also added the fancy original MoM type font that I'm using in the game, to the downloads section of the site as per request on the forums.

09/11/07 - Defined the Bless enchantment spell and extended XML spell definitions to support Creature Enchantments. Plugged everything into the system and handled the physical enchanting of units through casting enchantment spells.

09/10/07 - I started implementing Creature Enchantment spells, the skeletal structure and casting procedures are all in place, the other spell types (such as City Enchantments and Globals spells) will feed off this general structure in the future.

09/09/07 - Archenemy has completed the Demon Lord, Demon, Angel and Archangel models which look really nice. Summoning spells have been completed and fully implemented along with some output UI to let the user know what is being casted as well as where summoned creatures will appear. Furthermore, the user can opt to change the currently casted spell and the spells in the spellbook now report how many turns it will take to cast the desired spell (based on magical skill and mana).

09/06/07 - Implemented and make use of the wizards skill level in determining the amount of time it takes to cast a spell. Added support for spell castings that span some length of time and verified everything works.

09/05/07 - I've effectively got all Summoning spells working, though obviously I've only actually implemented those that exist for the Life circle at this point. Regardless, it would be very easy to create some XML files for new units and create spells to summon them for example.

09/04/07 - Archenemy submitted a variety of tree models that will likely be used mostly on combat maps as decoration. Defined all current spell information to XML files and began writing routines to process them.

09/03/07 - Defined all the basic Life spell information, devised a way to handle the majority of unit effects provided by spells. Listed out all the Life spells on the website for easier tracking. I also attempted to write out the current status of the project on the forums.

08/26/07 - Researched spells and magic stuff and experimented around with some very basic saving/loading routines.

08/25/07 - Fully implemented ranged attacks; both the standard and magical varieties. Added even more verbose descriptions of whats going on in combat calculations, purely for testing purposes.

08/23/07 - Having walls surrounding a city affords the defender (only) increased protection against ranged attacks. Implemented logic pertaining to the presence of walls with regards to certain unit abilities. Implemented collateral damage when battles take place upon 'city' locations in combat, there is a slight possibility of a building being destroyed or innocent civilians being killed.

08/23/07 - Implemented the 'Wall Crusher' unit ability.

08/21/07 - Took some time to update the last page on the site that needed some work, that being the Art Lists page, now its all quite a bit cleaner and easier to read. I added two new screenshots to the site as well to highlight some of the recent presentational additions to the game.

08/20/07 - Archenemy has completed the (Death) Wraiths unit model. Implemented the Long Range, Scouting, Cause Fear, Luck and Cargo unit abilities. I also cut out a handful of things that weren't abilities so much as they were spell effects or errors on my part, then I organized what was left into general unit abilities, hero abilities and unit attributes.

08/19/07 - Archenemy has completed the High Men Priest, High Men Magician and (Nature) Colossus unit models. Implemented the Planar Travel, Regeneration, Pathfinding, Wind Walking and Invisibility unit abilities.

08/18/07 - Implemented Walking, Floating, Flying, Non-Corporeal and Teleporting unit abilities.

08/17/07 - Converted unit movement types and related information to actual unit abilities.

08/16/07 - Implemented counter-attacks and ability use related to counter-attacking.

08/15/07 - Greatly overhauled and consolidated logging output of special combat abilities to assist with testing and debugging.

08/14/07 - Implemented the Doom Gaze, Death Gaze & Petrify Gaze unit abilities.

08/13/07 - Implemented the Immolation, Fire Immunity, Fire Breath, Lightning Breath, Thrown and Missile Immunity unit abilities.

08/12/07 - Archenemy completed the High Men Paladin, High Men Settler and Giant Spiders unit models. Implemented the Poison, Poison Immunity, Petrify Touch, Petrify Immunity and Dispel Evil unit abilities.

08/11/07 - Created an ability specification document to better track the nuances and details of abilities as they are implemented. Implemented the Illusion, Illusion Immunity, Life Stealing, Death Immunity, Create Undead and Undead unit abilities.

08/10/07 - I've reworked the Artwork page a bit and showcased some of Archenemy's unit models.

08/09/07 - Walls are starting to come together though we're still ironing out some issues. Modified positioning and orientation of structural models to better align with the terrain. JP finished the Mysterious Cave model and Archenemy has completed the High Men Engineer and Pikemen units.

08/08/07 - I managed to get a start on rendering structures in combat based upon where combat is taking place. Archenemy also completed the Magic Spirit model and JP has been working on the Cave lair structure.

08/07/07 - I've finished implementing rendering figure positions when in combat, this follows much the same display as the original game so for example War Bears have two figures, so two bears will show up in combat, unless one is killed then obviously only one will show up, this is the easiest way to tell at a glance how a unit is fairing on the field of combat. I've also cleaned up some issues, mainly troop direction at combat start and some bugs I've been meaning to get to. Archenemy has finished up Phantom Warriors, High Men Bowmen, Swordsmen & Spearmen as well as Unicorns. Jean-Paul has finished the city stone wall models as well.

08/06/07 - I'm very happy to announce that the project has gained another valuable artist who goes by the handle Archenemy! He will be working exclusively on 3D models and textures as related to the various units in the game. He's already finished the Highmen Cavalry and War Bears units. I tweaked the UI so the strong units (such as the Great Wyrm) display their statistics correctly in the unit detail screen and began working on rendering the figures in a unit when in combat so as to easily discren how many figures are in a unit and as a way of showing damage to the unit as a whole.

08/05/07 - Lairs now populate across the world as well as the Towers of Wizardry. Started working on tweaking some UI things so all the critters statistics display better.

08/03/07 - All the various kinds of lairs (towers of wizardry, caves, ruins, keeps etc) have been fully defined and implemented into the game. Nodes have also gained generated garrisons as well, so nodes now functionality behave just as they did in the original game.

08/02/07 - Towers of Wizardry generate critters and treasure according to the original rules. However, for the time being, treasure will only consist of gold or mana, since spells are largely not implemented nor are heroes or artifacts. The treasure is accordingly rewarded upon successfully conquering a place of interest.

07/31/07 - Fixed some issues revolving around combat a bit due to all the recent overland changes.

07/30/07 - Started implementing lair army population, this takes into account the game difficulty chosen at game start. Implemented a hardcoded 'neutral' game empire that will essentially handle everything not strictly associated with a real game empire. This empire will be in control of essentially anything that would be considered neutral in the original game.

07/27/07 - Mostly completed the magic screen, research will be on hold until more spells are implemented, but mana production and spell casting skill production are both implemented fully. I've also gone through the trouble to define every single 'fantastic' unit from the original game.

07/26/07 - Added full support for models to unit definitions and modified rendering routines to make use of those models. Finished implementing the three sliders in the 'magic' screen and created structures around all the magic power logic.

07/25/07 - Focused on support for 3D models and integration into the system, textures are now handled correctly and since lighting is activated it's finally making use of the normals. JP has finished the model and texturing for the Catapult unit as well.

07/24/07 - Started implementing the 'Magic' screen from the original game, specifically the magical power sliders as well as the information relating to whats going on in the magical dept. (skill, research etc). JP completed the Catapult artwork as well so that's been included.

07/21/07 - Completed the representation of the magical auras when melding a node. Hooked up the production of mana from captured nodes. Implemented summoning spells in general and defined the arcane spell Magic Spirit. Lastly, magical node mana generation is now correctly tied to the magic power new game setting.

07/20/07 - Defined the first monster, the Magic Spirit. Implemented the 'Meld' ability of the spirit so that nodes can be captured. Nodes now have an aura which are the random segments around the node that actually generate magical power. I've begun working on handling the presentation of this magical aura as well.

07/19/07 - I cleaned up the website and generally made all the pages follow a similar theme and style, it should hopefully run faster as well. Project-wise I consolidated multiple map elements (such as Lairs, Nodes, Cities etc) into a single entity. The main reason for this is that I'm enforcing that any terrain segment can have only one point of 'interest' wether it be a node, a city, some kind of lair or dungeon or anything else I might extend.

07/18/07 - I got a bunch of new screenshots taken and published to the screenshots page along with a bunch of narrative information. I also rebuilt the page a bit and created thumbnails for all the images so it loads a lot quicker. You can then click on them to view the full resolution images. I put some useful information at the top as well to explain some things about the images. I also added a couple more images (actually images of 3D models) that JP has completed, you can actually see the Housing image used in a couple of the new screenshots.

07/17/07 - Cleaned up and slightly altered Army rendering, and fixed an issue with coastline rendering. JP finished the Housing image last week, I worked that into the game, I'm also doubling use of the image on the Outpost screen since it looks great and works perfectly for both situations.

07/14/07 - Finished up river and road rendering and added both rivers and roads as things that can be edited with the editor.

07/13/07 - Organized coastline and segment terrain rendering. Implemented cursor markers differently (more efficiently) and raised the sea level up as I hadn't realized all along the land had been hovering above it ever so slightly.

07/12/07 - The 'Construction' ability has been implemented, so engineers can now create roads within the game. Started cleaning up and organizing rendering routines after the addition of rivers and roads. I found some issues with roads/rivers in the original game and deviated a little from original rules, these are detailed in the forums.

07/10/07 - I've revamped how rivers are rendered and started on road representation as well, I scrapped my original solution for a better one.

07/09/07 - I've mocked up a solution for handling the roads (and possibly rivers) and I think it will work out quite well.

07/08/07 - Optimized some of the rendering and i/o routines quite heavily.

07/07/07 - Creating an city now first creates an outpost (a city with very little functionality), the outpost must grow into a hamlet before full city functionality becomes available and all positive/negative growth attributes have been implemented as they existed in the original, so in some situations an outpost can actually die off. Different races have different growth rates with regards to outposts.

07/02/07 - Implemented 'Create Outpost' ability of Settlers, so that you can now create new cities and expand your empire. Also implemented all rules surrounding cities in the larger scope of the game, such as distance limitations from other cities etc.

07/01/07 - Completed rendering of army path information when sending them to a location that takes longer than a turn to reach. Tested and fixed all issues with the new combining and splitting of armies as well as other the other movement related functions related to armies in general.

06/26/07 - Mostly implemented the splitting and combining of friendly armies.

06/21/07 - Completed overland UI. Implemented auto-cycling of active armies for player convenience and also tweaked army rendering just a bit so it displays the strongest unit in the army by default, again for convenience and common-sense.

06/20/07 - Continued to work on the overland army management UI, fleshed the full interface out. Started design on army rotation handling.

06/19/07 - Added an army management section to the overland UI and then connected it to the city garrisons so you can move armies from within your cities, out into the world.

06/18/07 - Heavily modified how I handle rendering different DirectX views, this is all a lot more streamlined and efficient. The Mini-Map and city Map View are now complete. You can now 'dismiss' units from military service.

06/17/07 - Added the city map view to the City Management screen. This shows all the surrounding lands controlled and worked by the city the player is currently managing. I also expanded the help system a bit more.

06/16/07 - Added shortcut to game setup for development purposes. Added some more UI elements to the main overland game view to track things like gold and mana coffers as well as production of gold, food and mana as the original game did.

06/15/07 - Defined the wizard Merlin. Tied the setup screens to game initialization, so now the program immediately loads the title screen upon execution. JP sent in images and icons for the spellbooks so I hooked those up as well.

06/14/07 - All the screens having to do with setting up a new game have been designed and mostly completed. JP sent in some more combat icons so I'll need to hook those up shortly.

06/13/07 - Further designed out other new game screens, added some more fancy functionality to the UI.

06/12/07 - Designed the 'Select Wizard' screen as part of the process of starting a new game and hooked the whole new game UI processing together.

06/11/07 - Implemented High Men racial information. Developed the first 'New Game' screen, where the player chooses the basic setup options of a new game, complete with fancy old english font. Massively overhauled the in-game help system. The help screens support a lot of new functionality and are overall very slick.

06/10/07 - Finished exploration and 'fog of war' routines, implemented any resources that had civic benefits and completed implementing all the remaining special building properties. Note: I noticed the original game did not display the 'fog of war', it simply just didn't render units that weren't within range of friendly units or cities. I've altered this so its more obvious, unexplored areas are simply black, 'fog of war' areas are rendered in a darkened state while explored areas that are within range of units and cities are render in full vibrant color. It's also worth noting that 'fog of war' areas will render cities and places of interest, it just ignores rendering units so the player and the AI don't really know whats out there.

06/09/07 - Started implementing the explored/unexplored rendering routines and logic. I've chosen to simply render any parts of the world that are unexplored as blackness, similar to the original game.

06/08/07 - No real work, but its worth mentioning it was because I got the priviledge of witnessing space shuttle Atlantis launch from within Kennedy Space Center for mission STS-117, merely three miles away (about as close as anyone's gonna get, short of the astronauts themselves or emergency ground crews). A truly awesome site to behold.

06/07/07 - Unit healing (in city garrisons and on their own) has been implemented. Unit experience is implemented up to the Elite status and unit's now gain experience each turn and through surviving combat; the benefits that come with higher status is also in place.

06/06/07 - Population unrest is fully implemented into city logic, now folks can rebel and cause all sorts of problems. Implemented three unit abilities (Hit Bonus, Magic Weapons & Weapon Immunity). Filled in the missing pieces of the City Production screen so that's basically finished.

06/05/07 - JP finished up the city related icons. I continued to hash out city logic and most importantly began implementing in unrest logic.

06/04/07 - Began implementing building information into the game and cleaning up what existed before. The whole building requirement hierachy is fully implemented into the system. JP finished a couple combat icons as well as the image for the Builders Hall (looks cool!). Finally, a little UI enhancement, I can now ask the player questions during the game for any variety of things that might need player intervention (fun user interaction stuff).

06/03/07 - Finished building definitions, plugged everything in and implemented building requirements into the game. Buildings are now a fully moddable entity within the game via XML definitions.

06/02/07 - Continued defining buildings.

05/31/07 - Started defining buildings into the game and overhauling how buildings used to be handled.

05/17/07 - Activated the Machinations.org Gaming Forums :)

05/16/07 - Unit markers in combat (and overland view etc) now display the appropriate image, so the temporary unit representation solution is now in place. I've added a couple new screenshots relating to the combat portion of the game.

05/15/07 - Finished off unit markers, fixed a significant issue revolving around animation and marker transparency implementation.

05/14/07 - Casting spells now actually costs mana; unified some casting logic. Experimented quite a bit with 3D models and have pretty well secured how we'll be handling those using Blender. Implemented unit markers into the combat system as a temporary solution to unit representations until real models are created.

05/12/07 - Spell casting is fully active within combat. Furthermore the unit abilities 'Fireball Spell' and 'Healing Spell' have been implemented into the system. Spell casting is now implemented as one of the major actions available within combat.

05/11/07 - Completely defined and integrated races and racial information. Races are fully moddable just like units. All units now have spellbooks available to them. This is a diversion from the original game for purposes of extensibility (now a unit if you wanted could have a custom set of spells available to them instead of just one, think tweaked units for special scenarios, or very high magic mods, etc). For now, to keep in the spirit of the original game I won't really be utilizing this feature for the core game, but its a great feature to have.

05/10/07 - I've implemented the Healing spell, added some new unit information and redirect verbose logic information to the active UI (massively helps with debugging).

05/09/07 - The Fireball spell has been implemented as well as the Magic Immunity special unit ability. Added a status bar type UI element to better provide situation sensitive information to the player (such as what to target when casting say, Fireball). JP and I have been continuing to perform a variety of 3D model tests.

05/08/07 - We're overhauling all the previous icon graphics with JP's new icon artwork, so I've torn out all the old graphics and started adding his new ones in, with transparency. Started implementing the fireball spell. We've also been doing some 3D model tests within the system. I slightly modified model orientation so things are now positioned more accurately.

05/07/07 - Ran into some unexpected compiler issues with the new compiler. Those have since been ironed out and everything is back to normal. Implemented all the unit graphics for the Highmen, and also implemented alpha-transparency so the images better blend in with the UI. Designed in a couple more sanity checks for myself.

05/04/07 - Good news, project is back up. I've taken the opportunity to do some code housekeeping which has been need for many, many months. I yanked out all the last remnants of the old UI that utilized windows forms (eww) as well as a good chunk of unused variables or deprecated and useless code. In short, this means the project is a little leaner and that much more efficient.

05/02/07 - It's been decided we will be scrapping the old icons and JP will be handling the entire icon catalog for the game. He's been submitting collections over the past week in fact. He's also starting to work on various static 3D models.

04/27/07 - JP has completed the 2D portrait artwork for the High Men by finishing the Paladin and Settler units. I continued to flesh out designs for magic. Due to their inherent uniqueness in terms of effects on the game, it is very unlikely that new spells we be able to be created, though I hope to allow for some modifications, at least in terms of casting costs, research costs and the like.

04/26/07 - The special unit abilities 'Holy Bonus' and 'Missles Immunity' have been implemented into the combat system. I've also done some preliminary research on spells since a couple of the unit abilities rely on spell mechanics.

04/25/07 - I've further fleshed out melee combat by incorporating the phases of combat as explained in the strategy guide. The special unit abilities 'First Strike' and 'Negate First Strike' have been implemented into the game. Combat was slightly tweaked so normal melee combat occurs simultaneously unless there is some special condition which would alter this (such as first strike). I've also updated the Concepts page with some new ideas (Alignment & Reactive World).

04/24/07 - Jean-Paul has finished the High Men Pikemen artwork. I've completed the 'tooltip' type unit information box that is in the upper-right corner of the screen when the mouse hovers over a unit on the battlefield. This effectively concludes the majority of the UI related to combat.

04/19/07 - Jean-Paul has finished the High Men Cavalry artwork, which has been added to the artwork section of the site as well. I've completed the unit detail screen that is accessed by right-clicking units within combat (friendly or enemy) to get detailed information on that unit like in the original game.

04/18/07 - Fully defined the abilities specific to the Highmen units through XML. These are semi-moddable; abilities are so unique and varied that they must be logically hardcoded into the system individually so the ability to allow users to create their own abilities isn't terribly feasible at the moment. The abilities: Large Shield & Armor Piercing have been implemented into the combat system.

04/17/07 - Enhanced the error logging screen, fixed some issues I found while testing out combat.

04/16/07 - Deviated a little again; units are now the first fully moddable entity within the game. This means that the player can define their own new units or alter existing units by editing the XML information files.

04/14/07 - Implemented real-time warning logging system as well as the ability for buttons to blink. Sound and music support has been added to the system.

04/13/07 - Finished defining Highmen units completely. Plugged missle combat into the AI architecture. Also unified the physical combat mechanics. Slightly tweaked movement so units that can only move one space per turn are still able to move into terrain that normally would require more movement points. Began logging warnings of undefined unit information from XML files (for my own personal sanity and for future user extensions).

The basics of combat have been completed next I need to begin to plug in the various abilities and unit properties that generally mix-up 'normal' combat. Suffice it to say combat can be played out from beginning to end, against the computer.

04/12/07 - Deviated a little; built some internal tools that will be responsible for generating the unit XML information. Defined all Highmen units as part of testing and plugged them into the game.

04/11/07 - Tested ranged combat and slightly tweaked some of the calculations in combat, defined the Highmen Bowmen. JP finished the Highmen Engineer.

04/10/07 - Designed a unified set of combat functionality, implemented ranged combat and created extensibility routines for the aspects of combat that can alter the behavior of 'normal' combat, such as special magical units, special abilities, etc. JP finished the Highmen Priest portrait.

04/09/07 - Implemented initiating combat from the overland view as well as the handling the conclusion of finished battle. Also brought over the segment marking system used in combat, into the overland map for consistency.

04/07/07 - I checked the melee combat routines off the information in the strategy guide I realized that blocking and applying damage were missing some key logic. Melee combat is now implemented correctly, exactly as it was done in the original game. I further refined the combat interface so the player doesn't have access to any interface elements while its the CPU's turn.

04/05/07 - Did a lot of work on the combat system in general. The logic sequencing system has been further refined and tested, resulting in a very versatile combat system. Player & CPU movement and melee combat have been fully implemented and the combat system in general is taking shape, it very closely resembles the way combat was handled in the original game. Jean-Paul has also finished his images of the Highmen Swordsmen and Magician as well.

04/04/07 - Implemented the Forester and Mountaineer unit abilities. Implemented movement costs into terrain types.

04/03/07 - I'm back. I've done a variety of miscellaneous work with cleaning up the project and standardizing some things, nothing worth going into detail about. Over the course of my respite, the project has gained an artist, Jean-Paul. He is currently working on the 2D portrait images of the units. Specifically he is working on the High Men race of units. I've posted the High Men spearmen unit up in the new Artwork section.

03/13/07 - Worked in basic movement types into the pathfinding routines and further enhanced and refined the routines based on the rules of the game. Updated UI for the selected unit after each unit action.

03/12/07 - Fixed some issues with the basic pathfinding routines and thoroughly tested them afterwards.

03/11/07 - Quite a bit has been done the last few days. A powerful custom animation and logic sequencing system has been designed and implemented mainly for combat use but it will serve other uses as well. Player combat movement and AI pathfinding have been implemented as well. Things are starting to come to life :)

03/07/07 - Defined a simplified AI strategy using the newly designed architecture with very basic testing. This AI strategy is for a melee fighting unit.

03/05/07 - Unit movement is mostly handled however I've decided to design a stronger and more cohesive archicture around the entire combat system. Consolidated combat input routines within the combat HUD, functionally separating it from the rest of the program.

03/04/07 - Unit movement is progressing, movement for the CPU is implemented as well as the standard melee sequence of combat. Added a UI combat display control to help with testing combat mechanics, and will probably use it later as a verbose way of describing combat (for everyone who likes to see the numbers and stats during combat like in Neverwinter Nights or World of Warcraft).

03/01/07 - Combat turn processing markers have been implemented as well as visual cues that a unit is selected. Terrain segment marking system enhanced to support a wide variety of different markings and extensions for future overlays (spell area-of-effect and the like).

02/27/07 - Implemented some terrain generation failsafes along with adding in a combat terrain marker that highlights the segment your cursor is targeting for purposes of selecting your active troops.

02/19/07 - General research into overland points of interest (lairs, ruins etc) as well as some UI bug fixes have been made. I've gone against my own wishes and done some research into importing models and actually gone and implemented that so its more robust. I've also collected some sample models for testing purposes when I start working on tactical combat. Lastly, I've gotten rid of the ads, they annoy me :)

02/16/07 - I've added information in the new Features and Concepts pages of the site.

02/12/07 - Terrain resource bonuses and magical nodes have been implemented and are populated during world creation per the original rules. Graphical representations have been finished for the nodes for the purposes of identification. Survey tool has been updated to display resources, nodes and rivers.

02/10/07 - Massively optimized the system rendering routine. I estimate this has increased the speed of the program by roughly 200%-300% (it is much faster than is really necessary now :). I also increased the size of the playable map from 625 segments to 2400 seperate terrain segments, this is in accordance with the original Master of Magic.

02/09/07 - River generation and graphical representations have been completed; river toggling has been added to the editing mode. Rivers at the moment differ from the original game in that they now originate in mountains and spilloff into the ocean normally, passing through any other terrain on the way. I believe the original game only allowed rivers on standard grassland terrain.

02/07/07 - Heavily optimized texture and geometry generation routines.

02/05/07 - Rivers have been implemented both logically and graphically, some tweaking and fine-tuning is still needed however. Optimized coastline texture generation so they fall in line with all the other terrain types.

02/03/07 - All the basic land types have been put in place, creation of a fairly realistic terrain is in place in terms of user-definable islands, and mountain segments also come with snow caps on the very high peaks.

02/01/07 - Mountains and deserts have been included into the new map graphics, pre-rendering texture blending has been implemented so as not to impact the framerate negatively. Clusters or ranges of mountains and deserts now get created within the confines of existing landmasses when a new map is generated, more work is likely needed in this area but the tests so far look pretty natural.