Hi everyone,

this has been a very, very messy morning.

In an attempt to stop some antivirus software from mistakenly identifying Linkrealms as a threat, we have released a patch that has causes login issues to several of our Steam users in an absolutely unexpected way. This has been coupled with some downtime and the necessity of a short server rollback due to a human error.

As an apology for all this troubles you had to bear, we have have gifted 15 credits (5$) to all players who have logged in to Linkrealms since the launch on Early Access.

We are now reviewing our internal processes in the company to ensure you that faulty patches and server downtimes won't happen again, and if the latter need be, they are announced in advance with clear start and end times.

Below are a couple other news that have been included in this patch.

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1 - The Sorcery spells Meteor and Comet are now enabled.

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1 - The Map Editor now allows Steam users to upload realms without requiring a Username and a Password.

2 - Skill gains in safe zones are no longer limited to 40 levels. This is a first small change on the way to the upcoming newcomers protection system and criminal system that will prevent new players from getting hopelessly harassed by more experienced players in their first days on Linkrealms - a protection one will always be able to give up any time if willing.

It's been more than two weeks since the last alpha release, so it's time for a short summary, followed by general plans for Alpha19.

Let's start with bugs :). This release was especially prone to them. The first type are bugs caused by changes in game logic to accommodate the campaign mode. Those are usually simple to figure out (as they exist purely in my own code). Most involved breaking something in the single map mode, which I didn't test enough before releasing. I hope to have the majority of them fixed in the next "hotfix" update in the following week. The other type of bugs were caused by porting the game to the Microsoft Visual Studio compiler. One does not simply copy sixty thousand lines of code into software developed by Microsoft and expect everything to work :D.

There is one nasty bug that crashes the game during saving (or perhaps only while autosaving). The nastiness comes from the fact that it doesn't get reported, i.e. it crashes the program so badly that reporting also goes down. All my knowledge about it comes from anecdotal reports from players, which is a very bad situation. I suspect it might have to do with high RAM usage by the game. I'll work on improving this in Alpha19. Meanwhile, I hope to get more data on the crash. If it has happened to you, I'll be very grateful for an email or a post on the forums with your system specs (especially RAM), details on the game you were playing (whether single map or campaign, number of villains in the campaign, etc), and if it has happened to you just once or more frequently.

There are also a few low level bugs, mostly concerning the graphics and multimedia library SFML, which I'm planning the replace with SDL soon (which will replace current bugs with new ones, hopefully fewer :P). They usually manifest themselves by the game not starting at all or by weird crashes not connected to gameplay. There are also missing dll errors caused strictly by the port to the Microsoft compiler. I think I've done everything correctly to resolve them, but some players still have problems running the game, so I'll have to spend some more time on this.

The feedback about the campaign mode was very positive, which makes me very happy. I think it adds a lot of freshness to the game, and breaks the routine of the old single map gameplay. I hope to continue this trend with future updates, watch out for big announcements soon :).

Alpha19 will feature various small gameplay improvements, mostly involving the campaign mode. Among them, adventurers will be able to roam the campaign and fight multiple keeper dungeons. Maps will be filled with extra content, besides the main occupant. On your home map you will find minor enemies and some surprises. Keepers will be able to place notice boards on their maps, where passersby will be allowed to add notes. The notes will be stored on the server, so the boards will function as primitive, medieval chat rooms. :)

More details on Alpha19 coming soon.

It's been more than two weeks since the last alpha release, so it's time for a short summary, followed by general plans for Alpha19.

Let's start with bugs :). This release was especially prone to them. The first type are bugs caused by changes in game logic to accommodate the campaign mode. Those are usually simple to figure out (as they exist purely in my own code). Most involved breaking something in the single map mode, which I didn't test enough before releasing. I hope to have the majority of them fixed in the next "hotfix" update in the following week. The other type of bugs were caused by porting the game to the Microsoft Visual Studio compiler. One does not simply copy sixty thousand lines of code into software developed by Microsoft and expect everything to work :D.

There is one nasty bug that crashes the game during saving (or perhaps only while autosaving). The nastiness comes from the fact that it doesn't get reported, i.e. it crashes the program so badly that reporting also goes down. All my knowledge about it comes from anecdotal reports from players, which is a very bad situation. I suspect it might have to do with high RAM usage by the game. I'll work on improving this in Alpha19. Meanwhile, I hope to get more data on the crash. If it has happened to you, I'll be very grateful for an email or a post on the forums with your system specs (especially RAM), details on the game you were playing (whether single map or campaign, number of villains in the campaign, etc), and if it has happened to you just once or more frequently.

There are also a few low level bugs, mostly concerning the graphics and multimedia library SFML, which I'm planning the replace with SDL soon (which will replace current bugs with new ones, hopefully fewer :P). They usually manifest themselves by the game not starting at all or by weird crashes not connected to gameplay. There are also missing dll errors caused strictly by the port to the Microsoft compiler. I think I've done everything correctly to resolve them, but some players still have problems running the game, so I'll have to spend some more time on this.

The feedback about the campaign mode was very positive, which makes me very happy. I think it adds a lot of freshness to the game, and breaks the routine of the old single map gameplay. I hope to continue this trend with future updates, watch out for big announcements soon :).

Alpha19 will feature various small gameplay improvements, mostly involving the campaign mode. Among them, adventurers will be able to roam the campaign and fight multiple keeper dungeons. Maps will be filled with extra content, besides the main occupant. On your home map you will find minor enemies and some surprises. Keepers will be able to place notice boards on their maps, where passersby will be allowed to add notes. The notes will be stored on the server, so the boards will function as primitive, medieval chat rooms. :)

More details on Alpha19 coming soon.

We are pleased to announce another quick patch to JNPG. This patch includes:

Fix for Skytrak putting sensitivity
Fix for tournament scoring when double clicking continue button
Fix for Practice Toggle not showing swing data
Fix for practice mode buttons not returning after score card
Fix for manual aim with arrow keys not creating new PROS screen
Possible fix for Concede Bug
Possible fix for multiplayer free camera getting reset when opponent aims
Fix: Alt Shot Resume starting on Tee
Fix: Alt Shot Resume Failing to load
Fix Other Resumes Failing to start

Minor Upgrades to Crystal Pines Course

ES16 Integration now working
Added Swing data to practice mode on regular courses so players can understand the correlation between shot result and data
Hole by Hole Stat Tracking

The Stats are not available in game at the moment but will be available once we have redone the UI but can be viewed over at social.perfectparallel.com under the My Career -> Lifetime Stats section.
You can view stats for a course / course->swing type / course - > difficulty / course -> swing - > difficulty / difficulty and swing type.

We are pleased to announce another quick patch to JNPG. This patch includes:

Fix for Skytrak putting sensitivity
Fix for tournament scoring when double clicking continue button
Fix for Practice Toggle not showing swing data
Fix for practice mode buttons not returning after score card
Fix for manual aim with arrow keys not creating new PROS screen
Possible fix for Concede Bug
Possible fix for multiplayer free camera getting reset when opponent aims
Fix: Alt Shot Resume starting on Tee
Fix: Alt Shot Resume Failing to load
Fix Other Resumes Failing to start

Minor Upgrades to Crystal Pines Course

ES16 Integration now working
Added Swing data to practice mode on regular courses so players can understand the correlation between shot result and data
Hole by Hole Stat Tracking

The Stats are not available in game at the moment but will be available once we have redone the UI but can be viewed over at social.perfectparallel.com under the My Career -> Lifetime Stats section.
You can view stats for a course / course->swing type / course - > difficulty / course -> swing - > difficulty / difficulty and swing type.

It has become clear from reviewing the reviews that there are a number of misconceptions around our plans for DLC and Microstransactions. This post while we appreciate it is a little late, attempts to clarify many of the concerns people have raised around the game and what our future plans are.


As previously communicated we will be releasing Course Forge for free to all purchasers of JNPG for non commercial purposes as soon as we have resolved the licensing issues around plants and trees distribution. This will enable the community to create their own content for the game.

As also previously stated on the store page, this content will be free to use by all players of the game provided that they keep their game up to date with the latest releases of the game. All users on the latest release of the game will be able to play user courses at no additional cost.

This enables us to continue to develop the game make improvements add new features.

We are investing in building highly accurate and detailed renditions of real courses. In many cases we have to obtain a license to use the course name and likeness. As a result we have to charge a small fee for these courses. There may be some premium courses that will be released as a free download where we do not have to pay any licensing costs. The cost of these courses will be set based on volume. If we sell lots of these courses then we can reduce the cost of them down the road. Because we are a small independent developer we can only make deals with courses that are based on a per download amount. The more data we have and the higher the average course download is the less we can agree to pay per course with the licensee. This brings the course down. So if you want lower cost real licensed courses in the future the best way to support us to deliver that is to purchase the early courses we license.

Currently there is only one item in our store which is the Caliber Ball. A number of people will look at this as pay to win. We do not see it this way but we can understand the thoughts of those who feel strongly about this. All we can do is explain what our purpose is behind it and let you all be the judge.

Golf is a game where equipment is a key component to the game. Different balls have different characteristics, Clubs and Shafts also have different characteristics. In the real world some golfers like to purchase equipment that improves their game at the expense of being able to have a fine level of control over the ball. There are referred to as game improvement clubs. Others prefer to purchase clubs that give them a very fine level of control over the ball at the expense that a mishit will have a much bigger impact. We are trying to bring this type of customisation into the game to give people a wider variety of ways to play the game.

The goal of this equipment will be to provide a balance. A lot of work goes into balancing these items such that one item does not necessarily have a major overall benefit. Ideally each item has an equal negative and positive. But for people who have a challenge playing a game where they can hit a 3 click snap using game improvement equipment will help them keep the ball in play but they will be at a disadvantage when it comes to shaping the ball and distance meaning longer clubs into the greens and less ability to hit tucked pins.

Many will argue that this is Pay to Win. But at the end of the day you can only put 14 clubs in your bag and one ball and you cannot change them during the round, so whatever you put in your bag you will still have to play to the strengths of that equipment set. If you dont you will inevitably find yourself losing to a player who does, regardless of the equipment in play, so we regards it as a feature that adds to the gameplay.

These items will all be very cheap in the store designed to cover a small amount of the cost that goes in to creating and balancing these items.

We do have one pass in our store that is for Simulator Users. Traditionally studios that have created golf games distribute a separate version of the game to people who want to use that game in a simulator. For some the difference in price can be several hundred dollars if not thousands of dollars for the exact same game but used in a simulator environment. We did not believe that this was a good way to promote the game and felt that simulator users were being taken advantage of due to a lack of options. So we have integrated Simulator integrations into the game and allow people with simulators the ability to play the game with the same purchase they have made.

Our approach makes it a little more difficult for us because we have to integrate the season pass for these simulator users into the game so they dont have to purchase an additional copy of the game. In addition we have to enter into agreements with each of the hardware companies.

There is no content associated with the Simulator Season Pass it is merely a way for us to recoup the cost of building the integrations with all the hardware companies into the game. It represents a major shift in reducing the cost of simulator software.

Again people have mistaken a genuine attempt on our behalf to reduce the cost of golf simulation to the community as an attempt to gouge the consumer. This is not the case at all.

While much of this is speculation and no firm decisions have been made as to what will be built or what the model is we are committed to making improvements to the game and adding features. One of these will be a highly detailed career mode. This career mode will probably be a free DLC. It will be a full blown career mode, involving managing your career and financial resources in the game. It is likely that there will be a number of microtrasactions that you will be able to buy although almost all of these will also be earnable in the game play too. None of the items inside career mode will be available for use in the regular game, except pehaps for a couple of items that are rewards for leveling up from one level to another (eg Turning Pro). You will be able to complete career mode without needing to purchase anything via microtransactions although those who want to accelerate their careers will be able to do so as well. There will be much more on this in due course.

In addition we are planning some major upgrades and improvements to the game, the exact timescale for which is not fixed at this time but once released will be available as a new DLC which will probably be priced reasonably. We cannot continue to develop the game and add new features without charging a small amount for this DLC.

We will not go into the long list of improvements and adds in this post as it is focused on explaining our approach.

Once additional Feature driven DLC is available access to play user created content will be limited to those players who are on the new version.

Those choosing to not keep the game up to date with the new DLC will continue to be able to use Perfect Golf with all the content they have purchased or we have released as free DLC or was included with the game but user courses will no longer work with older versions of the game.

We want to highlight this aspect as it is important people understand what our intentions are. We are not trying to hide this. The purpose is to ensure that JNPG is continuously developed, upgraded and added to. However we cannot have a team of people working on this without selling the future upgrades to the game.

We have just opened up our new Method Of Play creator under the Tools tab at Social.PerfectParallel.com. Here you can create and customize your own methods of play for the game. This service is provided completly free of charge to all our customers.

Jack Nicklaus Perfect Golf does not have any requirement to pay an annual or monthly season pass.

Jack Nicklaus Perfect Golf will offer equipement customization options to its users to add a variety of game play options all of which will be balanced and should not adversely impact anyone who chooses not to use any of these cutomisations.

Jack Nicklaus Perfect Golf will include a Simulator Pass to allow simulator users for the first time to use a PC game connected to their simulators without having to purchase a separate copy of the game at a massively inflated cost.

Jack Nicklaus Perfect Golf will offer both free DLC as well as Paid DLC. There will be annual paid milestone updates to the game with significant added content and functionality. These will be considered an upgrade to the game for the purposes of continuing access to all the community built courses which have been built with our FREE course creator software, CourseForge.

It has become clear from reviewing the reviews that there are a number of misconceptions around our plans for DLC and Microstransactions. This post while we appreciate it is a little late, attempts to clarify many of the concerns people have raised around the game and what our future plans are.


As previously communicated we will be releasing Course Forge for free to all purchasers of JNPG for non commercial purposes as soon as we have resolved the licensing issues around plants and trees distribution. This will enable the community to create their own content for the game.

As also previously stated on the store page, this content will be free to use by all players of the game provided that they keep their game up to date with the latest releases of the game. All users on the latest release of the game will be able to play user courses at no additional cost.

This enables us to continue to develop the game make improvements add new features.

We are investing in building highly accurate and detailed renditions of real courses. In many cases we have to obtain a license to use the course name and likeness. As a result we have to charge a small fee for these courses. There may be some premium courses that will be released as a free download where we do not have to pay any licensing costs. The cost of these courses will be set based on volume. If we sell lots of these courses then we can reduce the cost of them down the road. Because we are a small independent developer we can only make deals with courses that are based on a per download amount. The more data we have and the higher the average course download is the less we can agree to pay per course with the licensee. This brings the course down. So if you want lower cost real licensed courses in the future the best way to support us to deliver that is to purchase the early courses we license.

Currently there is only one item in our store which is the Caliber Ball. A number of people will look at this as pay to win. We do not see it this way but we can understand the thoughts of those who feel strongly about this. All we can do is explain what our purpose is behind it and let you all be the judge.

Golf is a game where equipment is a key component to the game. Different balls have different characteristics, Clubs and Shafts also have different characteristics. In the real world some golfers like to purchase equipment that improves their game at the expense of being able to have a fine level of control over the ball. There are referred to as game improvement clubs. Others prefer to purchase clubs that give them a very fine level of control over the ball at the expense that a mishit will have a much bigger impact. We are trying to bring this type of customisation into the game to give people a wider variety of ways to play the game.

The goal of this equipment will be to provide a balance. A lot of work goes into balancing these items such that one item does not necessarily have a major overall benefit. Ideally each item has an equal negative and positive. But for people who have a challenge playing a game where they can hit a 3 click snap using game improvement equipment will help them keep the ball in play but they will be at a disadvantage when it comes to shaping the ball and distance meaning longer clubs into the greens and less ability to hit tucked pins.

Many will argue that this is Pay to Win. But at the end of the day you can only put 14 clubs in your bag and one ball and you cannot change them during the round, so whatever you put in your bag you will still have to play to the strengths of that equipment set. If you dont you will inevitably find yourself losing to a player who does, regardless of the equipment in play, so we regards it as a feature that adds to the gameplay.

These items will all be very cheap in the store designed to cover a small amount of the cost that goes in to creating and balancing these items.

We do have one pass in our store that is for Simulator Users. Traditionally studios that have created golf games distribute a separate version of the game to people who want to use that game in a simulator. For some the difference in price can be several hundred dollars if not thousands of dollars for the exact same game but used in a simulator environment. We did not believe that this was a good way to promote the game and felt that simulator users were being taken advantage of due to a lack of options. So we have integrated Simulator integrations into the game and allow people with simulators the ability to play the game with the same purchase they have made.

Our approach makes it a little more difficult for us because we have to integrate the season pass for these simulator users into the game so they dont have to purchase an additional copy of the game. In addition we have to enter into agreements with each of the hardware companies.

There is no content associated with the Simulator Season Pass it is merely a way for us to recoup the cost of building the integrations with all the hardware companies into the game. It represents a major shift in reducing the cost of simulator software.

Again people have mistaken a genuine attempt on our behalf to reduce the cost of golf simulation to the community as an attempt to gouge the consumer. This is not the case at all.

While much of this is speculation and no firm decisions have been made as to what will be built or what the model is we are committed to making improvements to the game and adding features. One of these will be a highly detailed career mode. This career mode will probably be a free DLC. It will be a full blown career mode, involving managing your career and financial resources in the game. It is likely that there will be a number of microtrasactions that you will be able to buy although almost all of these will also be earnable in the game play too. None of the items inside career mode will be available for use in the regular game, except pehaps for a couple of items that are rewards for leveling up from one level to another (eg Turning Pro). You will be able to complete career mode without needing to purchase anything via microtransactions although those who want to accelerate their careers will be able to do so as well. There will be much more on this in due course.

In addition we are planning some major upgrades and improvements to the game, the exact timescale for which is not fixed at this time but once released will be available as a new DLC which will probably be priced reasonably. We cannot continue to develop the game and add new features without charging a small amount for this DLC.

We will not go into the long list of improvements and adds in this post as it is focused on explaining our approach.

Once additional Feature driven DLC is available access to play user created content will be limited to those players who are on the new version.

Those choosing to not keep the game up to date with the new DLC will continue to be able to use Perfect Golf with all the content they have purchased or we have released as free DLC or was included with the game but user courses will no longer work with older versions of the game.

We want to highlight this aspect as it is important people understand what our intentions are. We are not trying to hide this. The purpose is to ensure that JNPG is continuously developed, upgraded and added to. However we cannot have a team of people working on this without selling the future upgrades to the game.

We have just opened up our new Method Of Play creator under the Tools tab at Social.PerfectParallel.com. Here you can create and customize your own methods of play for the game. This service is provided completly free of charge to all our customers.

Jack Nicklaus Perfect Golf does not have any requirement to pay an annual or monthly season pass.

Jack Nicklaus Perfect Golf will offer equipement customization options to its users to add a variety of game play options all of which will be balanced and should not adversely impact anyone who chooses not to use any of these cutomisations.

Jack Nicklaus Perfect Golf will include a Simulator Pass to allow simulator users for the first time to use a PC game connected to their simulators without having to purchase a separate copy of the game at a massively inflated cost.

Jack Nicklaus Perfect Golf will offer both free DLC as well as Paid DLC. There will be annual paid milestone updates to the game with significant added content and functionality. These will be considered an upgrade to the game for the purposes of continuing access to all the community built courses which have been built with our FREE course creator software, CourseForge.

On 20 May, we had a booth for Banzai Escape game. Visitors visit and ask us many question about the game. The kids seems enjoying the game very much. Some adult anger soo much because its difficulty level XD but all seems well. Last event on 22 May ended very well. We got lot of contact and possible internship student that going to intern with us. Thank you for the support

Pic:

On 20 May, we had a booth for Banzai Escape game. Visitors visit and ask us many question about the game. The kids seems enjoying the game very much. Some adult anger soo much because its difficulty level XD but all seems well. Last event on 22 May ended very well. We got lot of contact and possible internship student that going to intern with us. Thank you for the support

Pic:

Fixed unblockable crouch attacks

Removed clunkiness of some animations

Retweaked combo timing and windows for some characters

Added more combo possibilites for certain characters