The Road to Amber

These are the 2008 notes. For the current ones, see the Code Updates page.

November 9th, 2008

• +props player shows props for which a player is the owner or propco
• NameWhen() function colors by last login time

October 20th, 2008

• +flag/status flag checks the scoring status of a flag

October 14th, 2008

• +flags/readnew reads all new flag tokens

October 12th, 2008

• Staff command +token/gifteffort allows powered gift tokens to be converted into personal effort tokens, for fixing creation mistakes.

October 11th, 2008

• The unseal cost of a packet can now be set to -1, indicating that it's not individually unsealable (and therefore the group cost must be paid).

September 22nd, 2008

• +packets/check notes the existence of public packets newly-available to you.

September 21st, 2008

• GM command +resources shows current status of all resource pools.

September 20th, 2008

• +packet/next slices up its output more finely, and can be filtered.

September 19th, 2008

• Staff command +packet/reseal
• Players can use +reqs player's whatever on characters that trust them (alts, etc.)

September 18th, 2008

• sacrifice prereq can now take a resource token

September 15th, 2008

• Added challenge-N powerbits in conjunction with the ability to challenge a token written using a gift with one of those powerbits.
• Added ANY prereq that is simply a pass (for prereqs that default to LOCKED if blank)
• Added staff command +lore/nodelay that sets a no-delay prereq for a lore; if a character passes it, he never incurs a delay in learning that lore. (For instance, House lores are now no-delay for anyone with the appropriate Blood.)
• Capped maximum possible delay in learning a lore.

September 13th, 2008

• +lore/learn modifications for required learning intervals

September 12th, 2008

• +ship/walk ship shadow-walking

September 11th, 2008

• +packet/wipe allows a GM to wipe the contents of an unfinished packet
• +packet/decompile allows a GM to dump the commands to re-create a packet

September 10th, 2008

• +gossip/altping altpings the author of a gossip

September 9th, 2008

• GMs can now create tokens specifically for flag use, with a particular score

September 7th, 2008

• +ed/toss works on task notes/replies now

September 6th, 2008

• +reqs command

September 4th, 2008

• Gift category prereq cat
• +altcheck command

September 3rd, 2008

• Resource Awards system and award pre-requisite

August 27th, 2008

• +packet/give and +packet/receive allow setting prereqs for giving and receiving a packet when a player attempts to share it with someone else.
• You can now attach a token to a packet section you've unsealed (and detach it later, if you're still holding the token), with +packet/attach. The list of attached tokens is visible to those who have the packet and can view that section; normal token permissions still apply, though.
• The +token syntax now understands packet/section's token-ID
• Packet data storage restructured.
• Added a variety of "coop" action list parameters allowing actions to be run on others.
• GM +plist search now indicates last on time, with names color-coded by last (green = last week, yellow = last month, normal = inactive).

August 26th, 2008

• +packet/rename allows the re-titling of a packet.

August 24th, 2008

• Looking at a gift you can't yet buy, now also displays its powerbits, bonuses, etc.
• The local command is an OOC place-talk.

August 23rd, 2008

• GM command +packet/status can now take a range of sections

August 13th, 2008

• Token permissions now take full-fledged authorization lists

August 2nd, 2008

• New GM command +gifts/tree category shows a prereq "tree" for the gifts

July 30th, 2008

• New prereqs sigspread and sigalts for signoff diversity
• Obfuscated lore prereqs now indicate if the lore must be at 6+ ("high")

July 29th, 2008

• Public Trumps

July 28th, 2008

• +walk/guide (support for the walkguide powerbit)
• Timelocks
• Staff command +tokens/allfind

July 22nd, 2008

• +zoom now understands exit names
• +zoom/near takes you to one room away from your final destination
• +zoom now simply bypasses locked paths, rather than complaining if the shortest paths are all locked
• +help/find does a keyword search (supplementing +help/search, which does a string search)

July 21st, 2008

• The various +features commands now indicate known absences (also indicated by the VACATION flag).
• An area +broadcast will now reach ships within the area.

July 15th, 2008

• +declare/offer allows you to let targets read the declared gift/item without spamming them with it immediately

June 30th, 2008

• +tasks now colors the last-action column data if you were the last person to comment
• When reading a token that embeds a gift that you possess (or you're an admin), only the summary is shown, rather than the whole gift desc

June 20th, 2008

• +who now underlines people with idles set, and colors idle times in the same way WHO does
• +todo/all lists all of your to-dos

June 14th, 2008

• There is now an 'obscure' powerbit that allows +recognize-able gifts to be hidden

June 1st, 2008

• If you would notice something via +recognize, it's now in the box when you look at a player
• If a room has a +setting, anyone can add temporary ignored keywords there

May 30th, 2008

• Discount-N powerbits allow powered tokens of N-Focus written using that gift to have a 1 Focus discount

May 29th, 2008

• +flag/extend allows manual extension of flag expiration times
• +flag/info now shows the flag's score in a general sense
• +packet/search allows packets to be arbitrarily searched

May 23rd, 2008

• Compact sheet format (+sheet/mini, +config parameter Misc.MiniSheet)

May 22nd, 2008

• Powerbits can now be associated with code help, displayed automatically with gifts
• Trump deck display colors changed: players are shown colored by idle time, and places in inverse
• New signstat prereq allows group contribution towards a stat total

May 19th, 2008

• New challenge prereq allows a challenge to gate a packet prereq
• The cardinals "up" and "down" are now explicitly recognized by the default exit messages.

May 17th, 2008

• +task/kill closes out a task and terminates its job, silently and without actions

May 16th, 2008

• +temproom/rename allows creator to rename the room

May 15th, 2008

• Walking the Pattern with a Chaos taint now has specific coded effects
• Mutter speech fragments entirely in pipes, i.e., :does something. "|Omit all my words.|", are omitted

May 13th, 2008

• +declare of a sealed packet section now shows its seal

May 9th, 2008

• New action token-feed:token-ID clones a token and adds it to the triggering player's sacrificed list

May 7th, 2008

• New action lore-bank:lore+Focus grants that amount of Focus towards learning a lore (the actual expenditure for that, not training)
• New +signoffs command shows who signed off on someone's prereqs

May 6th, 2008

• Donating Focus to a group unseal of a packet automatically adds you to the seal's signatories (just as if you had been part of a cooperative unseal)
• Multiple alts of the same player can no longer contribute to a target's donated Focus for a seal
• If you are a signatory to someone's seal, your other alts will be prevented from accepting a reveal offer for that section from that person

May 3rd, 2008

• +gossip/trivial can take multiple groups at once; it's all free

May 1st, 2008

• +lore/changes now remembers when you last used it and doesn't display changes older than that
• +token/sacrifice and a new sacrifice:gift-or-token prerequisite

April 28th 2008

• +prereq/check, GM command to see who can pass a prereq

April 23rd, 2008

• New prereq PENDING is identical to LOCKED, but notes that a +submit should be done

April 19th, 2008

• +prop/allocate, delegate resource levels to sub-props

April 18th, 2008

• +signoff/need allows GMs to add additional required signoffs to a background

April 17th, 2008

• +packet/next shows just visible sections, divided into what you can and can't open
• Roleplay hooks in +finger; +hooks command

April 16th, 2008

• +lore/search allows a general text search of lores

April 15th, 2008

• +token/destroy works remotely for staff

April 12th, 2008

• New "summary" data block added for gifts, for a short description
• +trouble/find finds all players with a certain trouble setting

April 11th, 2008

• +packet/reveal lets you reveal an opened section to someone else (at a price, with prereqs)
• +packet/chown allows a packet's GM owner to change
• SHIP_DESC, SHIP_EXITS substitute in a room when looked at from on board a ship
• +retire player sheet

April 9th, 2008

• +where is now color-coded; +where player restricts to where a findable player is
• +vote/reward

April 8th, 2008

• +vote, by itself, shows you what you haven't voted on
• +packet/revoke

April 7th, 2008

• New prereq token-read:token
• +packet/seal and +packet/desc can take text directly now, bypassing invoking the editor

April 6th, 2008

• New action hide:packet/section, changes view prereq on a packet seal to LOCKED
• Public packets (can be taken by anyone who meets the prereqs)

April 4th, 2008

• Whuffie
• New prereq tokenclone:token
• +ed/pre and +ed/prelit let you insert text into the beginning of the editor buffer (without inserting a space)

April 3rd, 2008

• Redone Flagpole
• +zoom shows population count for each shortcut
• New <TOKEN></TOKEN> markup tags for gift descriptions, indicating only that portion of the gift will be shown when it is displayed as part of a token
• New prereq signreq:prereq pick list
• Trouble preferences

April 2nd, 2008

• Ship sailing

April 1st, 2008

• Ships

March 31st, 2008

• Most commands that use the editor can now take an abort via +ed/toss
• The "power source" distinction is gone; these are now just ordinary gifts

March 30th, 2008

• +packet/view now sets optional pre-reqs for viewing the packet seal and the unsealing pre-reqs
• Action lists can now take a notify action, which notifies real-time (or sends +mail if not connected)

March 25th, 2008

• +packet/coop now sets an optional group-unseal cost instead (allows multiple players to donate Focus into a pool for the holder; holder pays the difference)
• Added +packet/donate for donations; various packet commands altered to show group costs

March 22nd, 2008

• Tasks system has a continue template parameter, indicating that the next node should keep the initiator, and if not specified, the previous assignee.
• Admin, GM, and background app task requests now have a "hold" state

March 21st, 2008

• New action type, reseal:packet/section, reseals a previously-sealed packet (allows "replay")
• New rechargeable powerbit allows tokens created with such gifts to be recharged by any holder
• Bitfield data facility
• Packets can now have on-off bitflags controlling behavior; noshare prevents sharing of a packet
• New typo +submit category
• Packet seals can be signed off on
• New pre-req, sigcount:number counts number of sign-offs

March 13th, 2008

• New action type, packet:packet, grants a packet to a player

March 11th, 2008

• +contact/alert (support for the alert powerbit)
• +trump/nocard (support for cardless contact)
• +trump/jam (support for Trump jamming)
• +trump/disrupt (kills communication)

March 9th, 2008

• Updated server to current snapshot: page reply
• An open conduit now shows in the bottom left-hand corner of the room box, as an OOC warning
• Brief +deck format now shows a card count for multi-card aliases

March 4th, 2008

• When you fail to unseal a packet section, the prereqs are now verbosely displayed to you
• Resource-related prereq messages now contain the prop name as well as the ID

March 3rd, 2008

• The sign:player pre-req implicitly passes player now
• GM command +packet/open gives a player a free unseal of a packet, overriding prereqs

March 1st, 2008

• Authorized() can take a general pre-req list

February 29th, 2008

• Bonuses extended to take a nullification option (gifts whose bonuses are nullified by this one)
• +compare now takes nullification into account automatically
• OOC command respects the new _Chatter flag
• Character default description format

February 28th, 2008

• The chargen note on a gift is now always displayed if you view a gift you don't have.
• The formatting of the pre-req display on a gift has been changed to a single line if possible (if there's only one short pre-req), word-wrapped paragraph if there's a single long prereq, and word-wrapped bullet points for multiple-option lists. This should hopefully make distinctions clear regardless of client word-wrap settings.
• Doom counters are now incremented by +compare and +challenge, if relevant
• Explicit +signoff command (previously signoffs were only implicit, for packets)
• Bonuses can now have optional pre-reqs which are checked at the time of +compare/+challenge. This allows the creation of bonuses that only work when, for instance, a doom counter is above a certain value.
• New prereq delegate:resource/level
• New prereq resource:resource>state and resource:resource<state
• +neighborhood command in Amber City

February 27th, 2008

• +access/other supports the new access-other powerbit
• +sheet/bg now shows the last background edit
• Staff +sheet/redo command sends someone from the sheet stage of chargen back to the background stage

February 26th, 2008

• New places code
• +mutter and whisper updated to deal with new places
• +compare can now take multiple gifts, and a token can be combined with gifts
• +compare now enforces bonus-token requirements
• +token/recharge, for refreshing expendable tokens without having to destroy and re-create
• New action lock:packet/section changes a packet section's seal to LOCKED when run. (This can be used to prevent more than one person from unsealing a section.)
• +packet/coop controls whether a packet section can be cooperatively unsealed.
• New prereq only+number:options to indicate 'fulfill exactly N of the following'.

February 25th, 2008

• New prereq pick+number:options to indicate 'fulfill any N of the following'.

February 22nd, 2008

• Use new internal movement hook to do guaranteed cleanup of RPG states when any movement occurs

February 21st, 2008

• Gifts with the recognize powerbit can now have a list of gifts they can be aware of
• +declare/combo, with associated new gift markup tags <WITH:gift></WITH> and <ALWAYS></ALWAYS>

February 12th, 2008

• Supplemental room desc addition/alteration via Settings

February 7th, 2008

• +packets shows time of last update to a packet section, plus more info for GMs
• Lore prereq primitives

February 5th, 2008

• Staff command +gifts/embed finds gifts that embed other gifts.
• You can no longer buy a gift if it's embedded in a gift that you already have (preventing you from accidentally wasting your points).
• +packet num/section now returns the seal info if that section is unsealed.

February 4th, 2008

• Action lists (attached to RPG triggers)
• Unsealing a packet can cause an action list to be run
• +gossip/obscure allows raising the view level of a gossip without lowering its intensity
• +mail recipients can include org:ORG (send to all members of an org)

February 3rd, 2008

• +packet/share command allows a player with a packet to send it to someone else.

February 2nd, 2008

• The +prop command can take a string as well as a number; if given a string, it tries to find matching props.
• New pre-req loc:room-dbref allows a lock to location (primarily intended for packets).

February 1st, 2008

• Resources

January 31st, 2008

• The room format now indicates the presence of +lhelp.
• Pattern walking.
• Teleportation from the center of the Pattern.

January 30th, 2008

• Task reply notifications now contain a pointer back to the task rather than embedding the reply in +mail. Added +task/notes to see just notes/replies on a task (can also take -N for last-N-comments or a list of comment numbers).
• +tasks display now shows the last time a task was commented on
• New locked pre-req is an auto-fail, explicitly locking something down
• New sign:player pre-req (automatically fulfilled when someone helps unseal a packet)
• +recognize command allows people with certain gifts to recognize others who also have those gifts

January 26th, 2008

• Packet unsealing extended to allow cooperation (let one other character contribute his gifts and lores to the prereqs for the seal)
• +task/assign and +task/return allow changing of task assignments
• +pbg/search allows searching for a string in public backgrounds (PBG and PBG_FINGER attrs)

January 25th, 2008

• Doom system

January 20th, 2008

• When +mail is sent to parties who may need to sign off on a background, if at least one propco of a particular prop has signed off, the other propcos of that prop don't receive +mail (since their sign-off isn't necessary).

January 19th, 2008

• +packet/lock and +packet/unlock for temporarily administratively preventing seals on a packet from being opened (useful when a packet in circulation needs to be modified)

January 18th, 2008

• Player/propco signoff for mentioned players and props for players with unapproved backgrounds

January 17th, 2008

• Players without an approved background show up in inverse color in the room contents
• New pre-req, token:gift, requires a token that has used gift in its creation
• New pre-req, token:number, requires a particular token number in the player's possession
• You can now +declare packet:packet/section

January 15th, 2008

• Separated powerbit and bonus storage from gift data
• Gift markup tag INCLUDE, +gift/include and +gift/includes
• +gift/note, for attaching a note to a gift visible only to those who have it (for code notes, etc.)
• Pre-reqs extended to allow !req (which permits branching packet paths, mutually exclusive gift initiations, etc.)
• +gifts modified to indicate (with an underline and dash) gifts that you already have

January 13th, 2008

• +tasks/todo job-types — extends +tasks/todo by allowing filter on one or more job types
• New pre-req type, packet:packet-number/section-number

January 11th, 2008

• Updated server to current snapshot.
• Hardcode: @end (@break/@assert)
• Hardcode: itext() substitutions - %i0-%i9 and %i-0 - %i-9 (delta up from current level).
• Hardcode: %+ argument-count substitution.
• Hardcode: Can put commas in @@().
• Hardcode: iftrue() and iffalse(), like ifelse() but with the condition substituted as the #$ switch-token.
• Hardcode: usetrue() and usefalse(), return condition if condition is met, otherwise return default.

January 9th, 2008

• Updated server to current snapshot: affects lor()/land()/etc., extract(), partial-paging hidden-on-WHO players.

January 8th, 2008

• Temporary channels via +tempchannel

January 7th, 2008

• +jobs/purge command, archives closed jobs

January 6th, 2008

• +trust works for characters in chargen, as well as approved characters

January 3rd, 2008

• OnMyTodo(), intended for PBG embedding, shows if someone's on your to-do list.