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[Dragyn]

This is where I'll be putting the updates.  For now, I'll just put the whole log in one post.  Future additions will be in separate posts, however.

------------------------------------------------
[spoiler=Update List]
   Feb 1, 2010:  Project Started.  Rudimentary platforming engine constructed.
   
   Feb 2, 2010:  Gravity added, sprites for Mitz Aeori begun
   
   Feb 3, 2010:  Mitz Aeori implemented as player character
           HUD added.
   
   Feb 10, 2010: (Poor record keeping.  Lots added since last note)
            Platforms, Blocks, Hazards, and Props added to environment.
            Weapons added.  Mostly Just ranged projectiles for now.
            Several  tentative "final" maps added.
            
   Feb 13, 2010: Basic Combo system implemented.  Combos now need to be added for each character,  but can be used once added. 
            each combo will need it's own animation, or to be mapped to a default.
            
   Feb 14, 2010:  Combo MP cost implemented, along with MP regeneration and MP HUD display.
                              MedKit item added, and Item Framework built.
   
   ------No info for some time, here.  My fault.  Not been logging things.    -Dragyn
   
   March 22, 2010:
       XNA Redesign in progress, and has been for some time.
      To Date:
         --Rudimentary platforming engine (re)constructed.  Gravity added.
         --Platforms to stand on and blocks to run into re-implemented.
         --Bullet lists added, and basic functionality restored.
         --Mitz Aeori implemented as player character.  Walk, standing attack, fall and jump animations added.
         --Jump Attack and crouch attack functionality restored.
         --Xbox controls added.
         --Local Multiplayer control loop implemented.
               
               
   March 23, 2010:
      -HUD re-implemented
      -Re-implemented decorative props.
      -Re-implemented Traps and Hazards (Acid and Lightning traps), with Invul and Knockback
            ® Hazards are a subclass of Sprite, and use the Sprite draw function, allowing me to leverage the Sprite's  Stretch/Loop image, as well as the newly-added animated Sprite (for which you add an array of Textures instead of a single texture in the constructor)
      -Add Death Animation to Mitz
         
   March 24, 2010:
      -Minor bug handling changes.
         
   March 25, 2010:
      -Sprite rotation handling added.  Call function setRotationInc(float angle) to set up the rotation.  Origin will be centered.
      -Hazard class rotation handled.  Moves the collision rectangle to reflect the centered origin.
      -Idle Animation added to Mitz
      -Fall Attack animation and functionality added to Mitz.
      -Walk animation bug fixed.  Now shows all frames of animation, rather that all but the last.
      -Hero graphics load script optimizations.
      
   March 26, 2010:
      -Allow for "zoning" between maps.  (Offload one map, load up the next, put people in fairly close approximations to their previous positions.)
      -Added bullet collisions between players.  You can't shoot yourself, and a Boolean value is to be set to determine whether team damage is on.
      
   March 27, 2010:
      -"Impact" graphics added.  A cartoon-esque burst appears whenever damage is dealt, or a bullet hits a wall.
      -Added destructible objects (Doors).  Such objects have graphics for full health, half health, and dead.
      
   March 28, 2010:
      -Item handling added.  Falling items will bounce, and items will slide off the edge of platforms they aren't all the way on.
      -Medkit item added.  Heals 25 HP.
      -Dead players who somehow gain health, by medkit, cheat, or theoretical special ability, now come back to life.
      -Enemies added.  So far, only Mitz (and that only temporary), but the framework exists.
      -Enemies can only shoot allies.  Allies can only hit enemies.  (The rules change when ally damage is on, though)
      -The AI will now move to avoid hazard, if it can.  Sort of, anyway.
      
   March 30, 2010:
      -Extensive character Load script modification.  Characters now load data from a text file, which allows for more diverse information to be readily modified and stored.
      
   March 31, 2010:
      -Load script modification:  characters now store "Collision clip" values for each side, allowing for space where image is drawn, but collision does not occur (esp. Mitz' tail and Hair)
      -Debug Toggle key set (0)-- I'll probably disable this before any actual release, but it's still good to note.
      
   April 1, 2010:
      -Black Mask added around map edges.
      -Moveable Sprite support added.
      -Moving hazards added, leveraging the newly added Moveable sprite system
         -Sprites that move off the edge of the map re-enter the map from the opposing side.
   
   April 2, 2010:
      -Bug Fixes.  Nothing major, here.
      
   April 3, 2010:
      -Item collisions fixed.  Collision area now matches the graphical representation of the object.
      -Basics of a combo system implemented
      -Mitz' Super Jump combo implemented.  Yay for Castlevania standbys.
      
   April 4, 2010:
      -(Happy Easter, all, and Happy Birthday, Me!)
      -Ranged Attack combos added
      -Mitz' Doubleshot (ranged attack combo) added
      
   April 5, 2010:
      -Move Action mirages modified.  Color can now be set.
      -Multiplayer Framework rewritten for versatility--any combination of controllers can be used.
      -Close Actions (Melee-Range specials) now load, though they don't do anything yet.
   
   April 6, 2010:
      -Close action implemented
      -Mitz' Electric attack added.
   
   April 8, 2010:
      -Level building in progress.  Nothing specific, just setting up the layouts and zone points, for the most part.
      
   April 9-12, 2010:
      -Bugfixes and grinding levels.  Nothing really noteworthy, here.
      
   April 13, 2010:
      -Engine rewrite.  I realized the current method wouldn't do what I wanted, so I changed some things.  Pretty much the whole thing, actually.  Should run more efficiently, as well, though not likely enough to notice, even on an old machine.
      
   April 14, 2010:
      -Engine rewrite, continued.  Maps are now defined in their own, individual files.  This gives me considerably more freedom, and the ability to script events on a by-map basis.
      -Combo fix:  No longer does the "retreat step" style movement combo occasionally move you the wrong way.
      -Combo change:  combos now have cooldown entries, and can't be used until cooled.
      -Frame Rate displays in debug mode
      -Character Variables added for scripting and cutscene handling.
      
   April 15, 2010:
      -Boss Fight Arena 1 built.  Needs a boss and scripting, still, though.
      
   May 18, 2010:
      -General Debugging, Vacation Time, and basic level design  happened between listed dates.  My recording needs work.
      -Moving blocks can now crush players/monsters, provided the block is moving downwards.   Platforms cannot be used to squish players, because platforms only interact with players from above.
      
   May 22, 2010:
      -Rewrote the moving object script.  Multiple movement paths can be applied to a single object, allowing for more intricate paths.
      -Versus mode functionality added.  Still unfinished, but present.
   
   August 3, 2010:
      -Character "Phase" dropped from list due to complications with abilities.
      -Character "Black" adopted as next character for work.  Human form walk and Atk1 animations added.
      -Melee attack animation handling implemented.   Melee attacks still unable to deal damage.
      
   August 6, 2010:
      -Character Load system rebuilt, allowing for greater flexibility and differences between characters.  Each character now has their own class.
   
   August 7, 2010:
      -Melee enemies no longer kill themselves when attacking.
      -Enemy Class merged with Character class, and AI script added under Character.  This allows me to reuse character-specific scripts for enemies as well as allies, if necessary.
      -Melee Attacks now do the proper amount of damage, rather than dealing damage each frame
   
   August 13-15, 2010:
      -Black has jump, fall, walk, attack1, walkAttack1, and rough versions of recoil and death animations.
      -Support for moving while attacking added.  Character with no walkAttack graphics will have to stand still in order to attack.
-Knockback can no longer push people through walls.
-Jumping while directly underneath a block object no longer pushes you through the floor.
   
   August 16, 2010:
      -Minor bug fix regarding combo input--holding the attack key will no longer interrupt combos with a duration.
-Sketch version of Black's crouch and Crouch attack animations added.
      -Crouch attack stats divorced from primary attack  (Melee only, at the moment)
      -Rudimentary stun functionality added.  Graphics still needed.
-Bugfix:  Melee characters in versus/ally damage modes can now hit players other than player 1.
      
   August 17, 2010:
      -Stun Effect fully implemented, complete with stars over stunned characters head.
      -Mitz' Stunned graphic added.
      -Melee Jump/Fall attack functionality added
-Black's Jump and Fall attack graphics added in sketchy version.
      
   August 20, 2010:
      -Double Jump Rewrite--Holding the jump key no longer makes you bounce forever.  Pressing jump mid-jump now is a proper double jump (rather than having double jump be a combo).   You must land before you can double jump again.  Mid-air jumps of the old variety still exist, but aren't standard.  Giving a character a double jump is now a simple boolean toggle.
      -Black's "Stunned" animation finished.
      
   August 22, 2010:
      -Characters now have character specific color entries, used for HUD interactions.
      -Game now returns to main menu if all party members are dead
   
   September 1, 2010:
      -Minor change to backend combo handling.  Should allow more versatility for programming, but shouldn't affect gameplay.
   
   September 2, 2010:
      -"Default ability" now mapped to the action key (X).  Mitz uses his lightning ability.  Characters with no default ability will treat the button the same way as before, and not do anything unless it's part of a combo.
      -Controls have been mapped to variables to allow control customization in the future.
      -Added a character selection screen to both versus and storyline mode.
      
   September 3, 2010:
      -Xbox controls added for character select.
      -No'Dachi master added
      
   September 4, 2010:
      -Updates to character selection screen backend.
      -Modification to draw area when on an Xbox--it shouldn't have any problems with important elements getting "cut off" by the edges of the screen.
      -Game now loads resolution values from config.ini  on PC.  However, it has to be changed manually, for now.
   
   September 5, 2010:
      -Clone function added to Character class.  This means that multiple instances of a unit can be spawned without having to reload everything each time.
      -Basic level up system added.  Still needs work, but it exists, nonetheless.
   
   September 6, 2010:
      -Background music implemented.
      -Background Music added to Acid plant areas.
      -Nodachi hitboxes adjusted.
      -Animation bug fixed.
      -Sound Effect added for Mitz' gunshots.
      
   September 7, 2010:
      -Sound effects added for Nodachi attacks.
      -Game now loads sound volume factor from config.ini file.
      -Game now loads fullscreen value from config.ini file.
      -Music file compression increased.
      
   September 28, 2010:
      -Update order changed.  Players now updated after everything else.  Looks much better w/ moving platforms.
      -Team handling changed.  Players are now on team 1, enemies on team 2, by default.  Enemies on different teams will fight each other.

[/spoiler]

[Dragyn]

Only 1 thing done since last time, but it's significant enough I'll put it here.

[spoiler]
   October 25, 2010:
      -Updated to XNA 4.0
      -Graphics calls optimized for 4.0 (which is actually more efficient than 3.1)
      -Load calls optimized for 4.0
[/spoiler]

What this means:  Not much.  It looks and plays just like it used to.  As for you end users, all it means is you'll have to download the newest version of XNA, so sorry about that.

Why I made the switch:  because I no longer own a copy of Visual Studio 2008.  I thought I'd backed it up, but apparently I didn't, and my liscence to it (apparently) expired as soon as I no longer had a copy.  (A caveat to students who get things through the MSDNAA (Microsoft Developers Network Academic Alliance):  that licence lasts forever, or until the software is no longer installed and you don't have a backup.).  My old CS teacher gave me a copy of 2010, but 2010 only works with XNA 4.0, so I have to catch up with the times.

So yeah.  That took a day.

[Tvorsk]

You know, you can do XNA in the free Visual C# 20xx Express Edition... but either way, yay for optimization!

[Dragyn]

I am aware, yes, but either they no longer offer XNA 3.1 for download, or that part of their website was just broken.  Either way, I figured I need to learn 4.0 eventually, anyway.

[Tvorsk]

Microsoft XNA Game Studio 3.1
XNAGS31_setup.exe - 73.2MB
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=80782277-d584-42d2-8024-893fcd9d3e82&displaylang=en

First hit in Google search... I agree, the internal MS's search is really bad.

But hey, if you have machine that can handle VS2010 (I don't), sure, 4.0 IS better.
Best of luck!

[Dragyn]

Ah, well.  Looks like they've fixed it, then.

When I did a google search like that, the first hit took me to that page, but I got a database error, instead of an actual page.

[Dragyn]

[spoiler= updates]
   October 26, 2010:
      -Begun adding hooks for multiple computers/network play.
      -Increased the number of players possible to 8 (from 4).  Only 4 will be available from a single computer.
      
   December 27, 2010:
      -Added support for scaling sprites in-engine.
         -The Inflate function uses a flat value for constant size changes/adjustments.  Scale uses a float value multiplier.
      
   February 8, 2011:
      -Player characters can now drop down through the top of certain platforms.  This is accomplished by holding down, and pressing the jump button.
      -Platforms and blocks have been merged into a single list, for efficiency and versatility.
      -"canPhaseThrough" Boolean added to blocks.
      -Level editor tool partially created.
      
   February 9, 2011:
      -Editor now shows index of selected object in addition to showing object name.
      -Editor now shows X,Y coordinates of selected object.
      -Editor now has a proper map load function for loading preexisting maps.  (Not DRMaps)
      -Editor:  Certain types of objects can now be resized or scaled.  There is a slider for scale, and pressing 'R' enables resize mode.
      -Editor:  There are 2 sliders for scaling prop objects, for both the X and Y axis.  A "Link" button is used to link or unlink them.
      -All:  Fixed a bug regarding placement of rotating props. 
      
   February 11, 2011:
      -Editor now has a "resize" button in the toolbox.  This functions the same as pressing R on the keyboard.
      -Editor:  Enter now finalizes resizing.
      -Editor:  There are now sliders for rotations and draw depth (the layer it is drawn in).
      -Editor:  Rotations and Draw Depth have a text field that can be modified, allowing keyboard input.
      -Editor:  Objects being drug now scroll when the camera does.
   
   February 12, 2011:
      -Editor: Objects now scroll correctly when the camera does, and not any time you use the arrows keys to scroll.  (Fixed)
      -Editor:  Added a Reset All button, which resets to a blank black map with no objects. Useless without a way to add objects or change the background.
   
   March 5, 2011:
      -Fixed the collision rectangle for items--it is now in the same location as the item is.  (This affects both the editor and the main game.)
      -Fixed a bug where vertically moving blocks could push a player out the bottom of the level
      -Editor-Cloned  Sprite objects (and child objects) now show up in their actual positions (Objects created in in-code maps will still sometimes "jump" by about half-offset when they are moved.  This doesn't affect their in-game position at all, and should show up where they appear to be.)
      -Objects that are animated now animate in the editor--exceptions being characters and items, since they have gravity applied to them.
      
   March 7, 2011:
      -All objects can now be copied in the editor.
      -The basic Save/Load background mechanics are in place, though not yet implemented.
      -Both the editor and the main game now properly draw the background using the background sprite's draw function, allowing for proper tiling.
      
   March 10, 2011:
      -Zone point areas can now be modified in the editor, for position and size.
      -One of the map backgrounds has been replaced with a smaller file, which repeats to fill the same size.
   
   March 16, 2011:
      -Added on-hit and on-connect functions to the Character class.  These are scripts that run when the character gets hit or when one of their attacks makes contact, respectively.  These will be used to interrupt attacks or make a charater counter or reduce damage, and/or add lifestealing or similar on-hit effects to attacks, though at present they don't do anything.  These functions are defined on a character-by-character basis.
      -Solidified the code used to interrupt attacks and combos into a single function.
      -Added the ability for ranged abilities to fire multiple projectiles at a time.
      -Fixed a bug where Mitz' could continue to maintain an area of lightning with no power left, which also allowed him to move, when he shouldn't have been able to.
      -Mitz' retreat step can no longer be used at the same time as lightning.
      -Scratch that last one, Mitz can use his retreat step and lightning at the same time, again.  I found the real source of the graphics/activeCombo array problem I set out to fix in the first place, and fixed it properly  (It was in the Character.ActionKeyPress function, which wasn't correctly adding the power to the list if it wasn't already there. )  Added bonus:  the other fix fixed a separate problem regarding sustained powers, so I'm leaving both in place.

[/spoiler]

[Dragyn]

It's been a bit since my last SW update update, so here we go:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[spoiler=Updates]
March 17, 2011:
      -Editor:  Destructible Movement can now be undone.  I found the problem:  When I ran the Destructible's parseDRMString function, I was never properly loading the sprite data from the string itself, but using the value from the source Destructible.  This worked fine when copying, so I didn't notice.  It's good to have found it now, though, since without this fixed, all destructibles would have ended up in the same spot whenever the map was loaded.
      -Editor:  Movement undo now undoes to the starting position, rather than in small segments.
      -Editor:  You can now undo deletions.  This puts the deleted object back where it was in the correct array.
   
   March 18, 2011:
      -Added a geometry library, so I can make basic geometry to use.
      -Added lines to the geometry library.  They don't do much, yet.
      
   March 19, 2011:
      -Lines can now properly determine if they intersect a rectangle.
      -Lines now have directionality:  If the start point is to the left of the end point, they are (+), if the end point is left of the start point, they are (-).
      
   March 20, 2011:
      -Characters can now store a secondary special ability, currently mapped to the C key on a keyboard, or the B button on an Xbox controller.
      
   March 23, 2011:
      -Editor:  You can now undo resize, scale, and recolor actions.
   
   March 24, 2011:
      -Editor:  You can now undo Rotations.
      
   March 25, 2011:
      -Characters now store a value (idlePoint) which determines how many frames of gametime they have to stand idle before it plays their idle animation.  (Defaults to 500, which was what all of them were using, before) 
      -Editor:  Animations and map scripts can now be paused, for ease of placement.  The button is in the lower right.
      
   March 28, 2011:
      -Fixed a bug which could cause crashes when abilities were used.  (related to secondary actions)
      -Black now creates small dust clouds on landing above a certain speed.
      -Made the Character.jump() function overwritable
      -Black now has a 1/3 second delay before her flat footed jump.
      -Fixed a bug regarding scrolling when tiling backgrounds were present.
      -Character.land() is now overwritable
   
   March 30, 2011:
      -Made a minor change that should prevent crashes on closing the program while a sound is playing.
   
   March 31, 2011:
      -Implemented line-based collisions for higher falling velocities.  The old method is still in place for lower velocities, since it works much more smoothly.
      
   April 9, 2011:
      -Bullets now also use linear collisions, allowing for much higher bullet velocities.
      -Black now has a limited bunny-hop ability, for when she needs to stay off the ground.  (May or may not stay.)
      -Mitz has a new special ability.  While channeling, he soaks damage to his mana, and returns electric bolts at his attacker, though there is a minor delay before it is effective.
      -Character. Draw is now overrideable.
      -Character.ActionKeyHold and Character.SecondaryActionKeyHold now have access to the effects lists.
      -Mitz has several new graphics.
      -Fixed a rare hang when checking line collisions.
      
   April 12, 2011:
      -The HUD drawing has been relegated to the Character class, and is overrideable, allowing different characters to have different HUD graphics and functionality.
      -Mitz' Electroburst ability now correctly counters melee attacks as well as ranged attacks.
      -Linearly colliding bullets that barely miss no longer slow down permanently, only for 1 frame.[/spoiler]

[Dragyn]

Updates!  This is here to prove that I'm not being completely idle.

[spoiler]
2/6/2013:
• GENERAL IMPROVEMENTS:
   ○ The engine no longer draws every sprite in the map, instead only drawing those that are on-screen.  This includes only drawing what instances of a looped image are currently on-screen.  This will allow much larger maps without slowdown.
• CHARACTER SELECT:
   ○ Character Select now displays "Press Attack To Join" in each slot if the slot is not active
   ○ If a player has joined, but has not selected a character, the game will not advance.
   ○ Added Nodachi to all current player lists.  (DEBUG)
• MAPS:
   ○ Added a "Template Map" to make creation of future maps more efficient
   ○ Continued Work on map 100
• BUGS:
   ○ Fixed a bug where Keyboard input was not properly executing Combo powers.
   ○ Fixed Slowdown on large maps (See GENERAL IMPROVEMENTS).
• DEBUG:
   ○ Added a line to the debug overlay to output the current mouse position on the map, to aid in placement of platforms and blocks during map creation.
[/spoiler]

I still feel that progress is slow, but using quick but rough graphics lets me get things in place, if not terribly impressive.  On the other hand, it's helping me find bugs that were previously slipping under the radar.

Still not sure how I missed the fact that combos weren't working for keyboard controls...

[Dragyn]

New downloadable pre-alpha, new update.

[spoiler]
2/7/2013:
• CHARACTERS:
   ○ Created a rudimentary enemy soldier
      § Added Standing Sprites
      § Added Crouch Sprites
      § Added Attack 1 Sprites
      § Added Crouching Attack
2/14/2013;
• CHARACTERS:
   ○ Continued work on jungle soldier
• MUSIC:
   ○ Worked on theme for Jungle level
      § Not sure if I like it yet…
         □ Needs a flute intro…but not too much like Mitz' theme...
   ○ Continued search for appropriate background music or inspiration
      
2/21/2013:
• AI:
   ○ Reworked Base AI Target Acquisition, to streamline data usage
   ○ Reworked Base AI movement script, to make it move toward its current target more intelligently
   ○ Split several AI Functions into smaller functions, to make individual character AI scripts simpler to code.
   ○ Added documentation to several functions.
• GENERAL:
   ○ Split several functions into smaller, reusable functions
   ○ Added documentation to many functions, to make reusing them simpler
   ○ Added functions simplifying distance calculation between characters and objects.
• TESTING:
   ○ Loading the test bed map now sets player 1 to be controlled by either the Keyboard or Controller 1, simultaneously. 
   
3/7/2013:
• GENERAL:
   ○ Using the Player-Mapped Attack key on the Keyboard now works to make selections on the main menu.  (Previously, only Enter worked)
      § Note that there is currently no way to remap keys from the defaults.

3/9/2013:
• CHARACTERS:
   ○ Bug Hunting/Fixing

3/10/2013:
• NETWORKING:
   ○ Began preliminary design work on Chat System.

7/9/13:
• COMBO HANDLING:
   ○ To allow for more interesting combos, and to keep combo entry from constantly turning characters away from combat, there is now a slight delay before the character turns around. 
      § If the button is tapped quickly, it will produce the combo string "bb", but if held too long, it will instead produce "bf", as the character will turn around before the second press.
   ○ Mitz' reverse slide now uses "bb" instead of "fd".  This feels more natural, and is part of the reason for the previous change.

• MUSIC:
   ○ Removed the Acid Plant track from the game.  It isn't very good, and bloats the filesize needlessly.
   ○ Preliminary research done to allow for less bloated filetypes for musical tracks.
   ○ Work continues on jungle theme.  New music program makes this simpler.
   
• GENERAL:
   ○ Added documentation to additional functions.
   ○ Starting a new game loads map 0 again, as map 100 has nothing to fight. 
   ○ A tutorial area needs to be made fairly soon...

   
• RELEASE: 
   ○ Pre-alpha 0.0.0r7 
[/spoiler]

[Dragyn]

Some more updates.  Nothing terribly thrilling, but it shouldn't be much longer before multiplayer is at least partially functional.

[spoiler]
7/11/2013:
• INPUT:
   ○ Pressing the player defined Action 2/Cancel key will back out of the character select screen.
      § There is currently no way to redefine this key.
   ○ Left Alt + Escape is now required to quit to desktop without confirmation, rather than just Escape
      § Alt + F4 also works
      § Back + Start still works as before on a controller
   ○ Main Menu now properly tracks previous keyboard state on selection…no more unintended auto-joining
   
• COMBOS:
   ○ Mitz can now dash forward with 'ff'.
   
• GENERAL:
   ○ Double Jump Mirage effect is now grey, rather than light blue.  Blue works for Mitz…not so much other characters.
   ○ Mitz' Forward/Reverse dashes are now Blue tinted
   
7/12/2013:
• NETWORK:
   ○ Networking code scrapped and restarted due to lack of functionality.
   ○ New network coding started using Lidgren Network library
      § This replaces the standard C# network libraries

7/13/2013:
• INPUT:
   ○ Quit to desktop reverted to just Escape, due to conflict with Windows standard (Alt+Esc minimizes)
   
• COMBOS:
   ○ Mitz' dash abilities are now affected by gravity.
   ○ Mitz' Super Jump is no longer affected by gravity.
   ○ Gravity affected movement abilities and combos are now properly affected by gravity (as they should have been…not sure how long that wasn't working.)
   
• MAPS:
   ○ Starting Jungle map floor changed to single stretched square, rather than thousands of tiny 5x5 pixel squares, to improve framerate when floor is visible
      § Final version will be an actual image, so this is just for testing.
      § For the record, at 1024*768 resolution, ~6000 squares were being drawn per second.  Framerate was stable around 45 fps, but should have been 60 fps.  Honestly, that's not terrible for several thousand draw calls, but definitely not optimal.

7/15/2013:
• NETWORK:
   ○ Network Backend progress
   
7/17/2013:
• CODING:
   ○ Game modes assigned to constants, to make future programming easier.  .
      § This has no effect on gameplay.
   
7/30/2013:
• NETWORK:
   ○ Basic Client/Server Link established.  Currently does nothing, but no longer gives errors
   
7/31/2013:
• NETWORK:
   ○ Client now sends timestamp spam to linked computers (for testing purposes)
   
8/1/2013:
• NETWORK:
   ○ General background work.
   
8/2/2013:
• NETWORK:
   ○ General background work.
   
8/3/2013:
• NETWORK:
   ○ Additional background work.
      § Removed timestamp spam.
      §  Modification to connection updates.
      § Added integer identifier to aid in parsing received data appropriately.
         □ This will allow the parsing function to check that integer, and pass the remaining data to the appropriate function.
• GENERAL:
   ○ Minor bug fixes

8/5/2013:
• NETWORK:
   ○ Added Multiplayer Selection menu. 
      § This is the menu where you can select from local and networked multiplayer modes.
• MENUS:
   ○ "Game Start" now reads "Main Adventure"
   ○ Selecting either Main Adventure or Versus mode now calls up the Multiplayer menu.
      § Multiplayer menu is currently useless, but is necessary for future updates.  Only local game is currently functional.
   ○ Pressing the Secondary Action button (C on the keyboard, X on a controller) will back out of either the character select or multiplayer menu, back to the title screen.
[/spoiler]

[Dragyn]

A few fairly important updates happened a while back and never got logged:

[spoiler="Updates 8/15/13 - 8/16/13"]
8/15/2013:
• INPUT:
   ○ The Quit To Desktop/Boss Button for controllers is now LB+RB+Back+Start.  This makes it harder to execute by accident.
   ○ Boss Button now works from any menu/screen, instead of only in-game.
   ○ Fixed a bug where it was impossible to select the main game mode with a controller (but you could select a nonexistent option below "Quit")
• NETWORK:
   ○ GUI work for menu screens for hosting or joining a game already hosted.
   ○ Basic Host/Join menu added.
      § Not yet functional--"Back" is the only option that does anything.
• CODING:
   ○ Separated Keyboard and Controller control loops into separate functions for ease of readability/editing.
      § This has no effect on gameplay.
   
8/16/2013:
• INPUT:
   ○ Cleaned up various small bugs in keyboard controls.
   ○ Began to implement Text Chat input.
      § Fortunately, because the Text Chat engine is part of a custom netcode library, once it is done, it will be reusable in other projects, so I should only have to do this once.
   ○ Text chat strings can now be edited.
      § Implemented support for special characters and international layouts.  This took forever, as XNA has no built-in way to read typing inputs.
   ○ Fixed a bug in the text chat system that would cause a crash if you tried to backspace with an empty working string.
   ○ Text chat history is shown for 3 seconds after a message is received, or when text input is active, instead of only in debug mode.
   ○ Chat history is now shown in white instead of green.
• NETWORK:
   ○ Text chat messages are now sent and received successfully…though still only on a single computer
• CODING:
   ○ Deleted outdated code that was still lurking in the background.
      § This has no effect on gameplay.
[/spoiler]

Bit of a gap here...life happened.  Today:

[spoiler="Updates 6/20/2014"]
6/20/2014:
• NETWORK:
   ○ Network Connection screens have been implemented. 
      § This screen has both Host and Join functionality.
      § You should, theoretically, be able to connect to another computer through these screens
      § This has, as of yet, not actually been tested on more than a single computer…should work though.
   ○ Network Join Screen added.
      § This is where you input the IP Address you are attempting to connect to.
   ○ Exception Handling implemented
      § If a Join attempt fails, the game will inform you and return to the previous menu.
• CODING:
   ○ Added additional notations for future reference.
• INTERFACE:
   ○ Added a blinking text cursor to indicate active text dialogs.
[/spoiler]

Feels good to have made progress on this again.

[Felblood]

§ If a Join attempt fails, the game will inform you and return to the previous menu.

So even in this early alpha stage we already have features that many professional products lack at launch. =P

[Dragyn]

It works...mostly.  I've encountered a few bugs in it, and I'm sure we'll find more.