News Sat, Jul 31, 2004 @ 20:04:20 -0700 - New Project Ownership - last message from John-Paul As of today, I'm handing ownership of this project over to Stephen Thorne. I feel that my original goals in creating the game were accomplished as of release 1.1.3, but I don't think I've had the dedication necessary for ongoing maintenance. Thanks Stephen for agreeing to take on the project! Hopefully you'll be able to breathe a bit more life into it. Wed, Jun 2, 2004 @ 08:47:34 -0700 - New FAQ Page The website now includes a Frequently Asked Questions page. Tue, Feb 17, 2004 @ 19:03:57 -0800 - RPM Package Submission Thanks very much to John Murray for submitting a Mandrake 9.2 RPM package! This package should apparently work on other RPM-based distros too. Please let me know of any successes/failures. Mon, Feb 2, 2004 @ 10:08:17 -0800 - Newsforge Article Joe Barr has published a great review on NewsForge. According to the SourceForge stats, page views shot up by a factor of 50! Thanks Joe for the amazing publicity! Wed, Nov 5, 2003 @ 07:36:56 -0800 - GUI Board Editor Ivan Linty, a Linux user from Italy has written a simple graphical level editor in Gambas. A screenshot and downloads can be found on his site. Sat, Oct 4, 2003 @ 21:38:36 -0700 - Contributed Boards There've been 27 boards submitted so far since the release! Thanks to the contributors Court-Jus, Paul Ferrell, Chris Seager, David Walker, Grandma Wags (Joan Wagner) and Denny Peeples. I've really enjoyed playing these new levels! It's fun to see what people come up with. You can download all of the contributed levels either as a ZIP file or as a plain text file. Read the comments at the top of the file for an explanation of how to try them out. Please keep the contributions coming! Sat, Oct 4, 2003 @ 11:52:34 -0700 - MacOS X Package Many thanks to Bob Ippolito for submitting a MacOS X package file for version 1.1.3! Note that there is a known problem when toggling fullscreen mode on the Mac. This package is completely self-contained, so there is no need to install Python or Pygame. Tue, Jul 29, 2003 @ 16:36:15 -0700 - Debian Sid Pathological is now available in Debian Sid. Thanks very much to Debian package maintainer Joe Wreschnig! Debian Woody users should continue to use the .deb file from the downloads page. Thu, Jul 17, 2003 @ 11:27:52 -0700 - Release 1.1.3 Release 1.1.3 is available in .tar.gz form only. This release contains no functional changes. Its focus is on simplifying packaging of the software. Here's the changelog: Changed the default data directory to /usr/share/games/pathological Removed all packaging scripts, etc. from the release files. Eliminated the ^= operator, to improve compatibility with old Python. Specified use of /bin/bash explicitly in the wrapper script. Sun, Jul 13, 2003 @ 12:08:12 -0700 - Gentoo Linux Pathological is now available through Portage for Gentoo Linux users. Thanks to Michael Sterrett for making this happen! Wed, Jul 9, 2003 @ 19:48:43 -0700 - Release 1.1.2 Release 1.1.2 is available. The only change from 1.1.1 is a fix to the bug mentioned below. Sun, Jul 6, 2003 @ 21:59:55 -0700 - Major bug fixed The game currently crashes whenever the player tries to eject a marble off of the right or bottom edge of the board. This bug is quite nasty; it seems random, but it's most likely to occur when the player is in the middle of a tough level. Here's a patch that fixes the problem. Thanks to Tim Oertel and Keith Jones for reporting it. Thu, Jun 26, 2003 @ 11:14:06 -0700 - Release 1.1.1 Release 1.1.1 is now available. This is a minor release that fixes a crash bug when sound is unavailable, and improves a couple of files for packaging purposes. Wed, Jun 25, 2003 @ 14:05:38 -0700 - Release 1.1.0 Pathological 1.1.0 is available for downloading. This release provides three major improvements for Windows users: The music should no longer sound crackly/staticky. The install no longer requires Python and Pygame to be installed separately. Switching to fullscreen mode now works. (This may affect other platforms besides Windows) If you are running Linux, you don't need to upgrade. Here's the changelog since 1.0.0: Enabled toggle fullscreen on platforms where Pygame doesn't support it Major code cleanup Increased the audio sample rate and buffer size on Windows platforms Added some scripts for generating the release files Fri, Jun 20, 2003 @ 07:43:52 -0700 - Release 1.0.0 Pathological 1.0.0 is finally available for public download! Please download it and have fun! Go to the feedback page to let me know what you think. :-) There's a known problem with the sound quality on Windows platforms. I've noticed some crackling noise, and Matthias has experienced crackling and hissing in the background. If this affects you, please check back every few days to see if we've fixed it. Here's the changelog from 0.9.0: The active marble limit no longer restricts ejects between adjacent wheels Added Matthias' new improved intro music Re-did most of the sound effects Tue, Jun 17, 2003 @ 19:09:43 -0700 - Pre-release 0.9.0 Version 0.9.0 is now available on the download page. I expect this to be the last non-public release. Changes are as follows: Added code-level volume control Added a command-line option for starting with sound disabled Added support for command-line options to the wrapper script Added a loading screen in case the music takes a long time to load Highlighted the new highscore on the highscores screen The program now shows highscores automatically at the end of the game Added the Random-Levels feature after the final level More new levels Fixed a wraparound bug when the user hits 'b' after losing level 1 Fixed the replication-overload bug Added special graphics for colour-blind people New in-game background graphics New intro-screen graphics Added a command-line option for starting in fullscreen mode Added the intro-page music Fri, Jun 13, 2003 @ 08:42:27 -0700 - In-Game Music Complete! Matthias has finished the in-game song! It's six minutes of cool non-repetitive ambient music (mainly percussive). Matths clearly has a talent for creating unusual pieces that uniquely suit a purpose. Definitely well worth the wait! Volume levels still need a bit of tweaking, but that's on its way. I'll also be adding a music section to the website soon, so people can download the soundtrack in different formats and quality levels. All of the game pieces are now in place. Time to start preparing the public release. :-) Tue, May 20, 2003 @ 05:37:00 -0700 - Move to SourceForge Pathological is now hosted by SourceForge! I expect this move to ease project maintenance, and ensure that the site can handle unexpected traffic peaks. Wed, May 7, 2003 @ 12:26:28 -0700 - Intro Music Complete! Matthias has completed the intro music! In his words: "It's funk and groovy music style with guitars etc..." I think the song really helps to define the mood of the game. Thanks Matths for the great work! In-game music is still to come. I'll be adding a separate web page for the music once both songs are complete. Mon, Apr 28, 2003 @ 08:57:35 -0700 - Pre-release 0.8.4 Pre-release 0.8.4 is available for download. All of the in-game graphics have been revamped for this release. Sun, Apr 27, 2003 @ 18:35:37 -0700 - New Graphics I've redone most of the in-game graphics, at the prodding of Mr. Brenneman. The old graphics were much flatter and more boring. There are still a few more things that I wouldn't mind touching up. Fri, Apr 25, 2003 @ 18:30:17 -0700 - Revamped Website At Matthias' request, I've spiced up the website. I'll be adding more content later on. Sat, Apr 19, 2003 @ 07:54:56 -0700 - Music The talented Matthias Le Bidan (of Frozen Bubble fame) has agreed to write some much-needed music for Pathological! I think that we can expect some really nice work. Mon, Apr 14, 2003 @ 10:14:16 -0700 - Intro Screen We finally have a nice logo, and some intro-screen mockups, thanks to Carrie! A fancier intro-screen background is still to come...

Please send questions or comments to pathological@gignac.org.