An early version of the new client is ready to test! It comes with a new theme, dialogs, support for large inventories, a built in d-pad, chat system, and more. Some of the graphics are still in transition to the new resolution so please excuse anything strange looking for now. We have a lot of new content still on the way. Much of this release is to prepare for the phone app and some new game mechanics that are coming in the next few patches.

The large inventory with weight capacity has been implemented. Right now everyone will have a weight capacity of 2000 for testing, but that will be changed later so you can spend upgrade points to expand it. You can still hold items beyond your capacity but you will move slower and have a chance to drop items occasionally.

You can see your current weight in the character dialog (formerly /stats). From there you can check your quests and access the new skills dialog. Eventually the upgrade and appearance dialogs will also live there. The skill dialog will sort your best skills to the top and show your mastery in them as stars: 1 star for every 10 levels in a skill. Only 4 star slots need to be filled to ‘complete’ a skill, but you can go beyond that of course. Another improvement is that you can see how much of your skill level is from equipment bonuses. The build dialog (hotkey ‘b’) is now separate from the inventory so you can see the materials leave as crafted items appear in your inventory.

We have also transitioned to a single name system. All players now go by their family name. You can request a name change in the forums for a limited time. Whenever you die you’ll see a simple death dialog and a respawn button since you no longer have to type in a new name.

Chatting works like before but you can also hit ‘c’ or click the chat icon to toggle to other modes like global, tribe, and tells. The chat field, loading bar, and scrolling chat box have been incorporated into the game itself rather than living outside the game as html elements. This will make it easier to release on other platforms, but we’ve also lost some functionality for the time being (like multiple colors per line of text). I’ll be adding more chat features in the future. You are still able to scroll the chat by dragging it downwards, which reveals an arrow button that lets you return to the bottom.

The npc and player sprites have been scaled/squished some for now. It wont stay warped looking forever don’t worry 🙂 The new theme system is very flexible so the interface and color scheme could easily be changed at some point. The darker theme was chosen for a cleaner look that will be nicer for phone batteries and human eyeballs.

Not too much changed on the server for this release. Floor decay has been increased. Certain ‘scared’ animals are easier to catch. Some skills are going to have their experience rescaled soon to prepare for reincarnation.

Report bugs and feedback in the forums, everything is subject to change. Thank you as always for your support and patience! I’m excited for all the new features coming – especially upgrades, new overworld areas, and music 😀