Sentience

mmmkay...
stay cool:cool:

:eek: Why don't you use MSN Messenger or create an IRC channel or something for real time conversation? :D

Ben's To Do List:

Add in screenshot function
Trap menu's falling off screen
Trap divide by zeros when nexting on chooseplayer screen
Find out why it creates a 'close.bmp' in the root of C
Beat Behemoth soundly until he gives me more graphics
Add in project detail screen
Add in project toggle
Add in industry/research tap control
Correct display issues with mainmapscreen

Hairy Bloke,

Did you say you're ok to give me a lift on Friday?

Ben's To Do List:

Add in screenshot function
Trap menu's falling off screen
Trap divide by zeros when nexting on chooseplayer screen
Find out why it creates a 'close.bmp' in the root of C
Beat Behemoth soundly until he gives me more graphics
Add in project detail screen
Add in project toggle
Add in industry/research tap control
Correct display issues with mainmapscreen
Add in communications clues
Add in profiling to faction stats
Add in more factions?
Add in benefits to projects
Add in infiltration screen
Compile definitive list of infiltration effects
Create infiltration code blocks
Create project code blocks
Find out why monster houses can't be killed
Script bonus resources for killing houses
Code benefits for house death
Add in code for generating monsters
Add in monster AI
Add in event effects for diplomacy
Tidy up research screen
Compile definitive list of weather effects
Create weather code blocks
Cry

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Arbiter
Hairy Bloke,

Did you say you're ok to give me a lift on Friday?

---

probably...whats the plan. are you going to ring me, or do you want me to turn up?

BTW if I do, I'll probably be in no smiling mood. Don't take it personally.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Behemoth
probably...whats the plan. are you going to ring me, or do you want me to turn up?

BTW if I do, I'll probably be in no smiling mood. Don't take it personally.

---

Is probably a yes then? So I call you about 30 mins before I'd like to be picked up?

Why will you be in no smiling mood?

Ben's To Do List:

Add in screenshot function
Trap menu's falling off screen
Trap divide by zeros when nexting on chooseplayer screen
Find out why it creates a 'close.bmp' in the root of C
Beat Behemoth soundly until he gives me more graphics
Add in project detail screen
Add in project toggle
Add in industry/research tap control
Correct display issues with mainmapscreen
Add in communications clues
Add in profiling to faction stats
Add in more factions?
Add in benefits to projects
Add in infiltration screen
Compile definitive list of infiltration effects
Create infiltration code blocks
Create project code blocks
Find out why monster houses can't be killed
Script bonus resources for killing houses
Code benefits for house death
Add in code for generating monsters
Add in monster AI
Add in event effects for diplomacy
Tidy up research screen
Compile definitive list of weather effects
Create weather code blocks
Cry
Add in win scenario code
Add in project complete screens
Add in win/lose screens
Add in unit scoring system
Add in resource scoring system
Create mfd in place of textbox
Stats breakdown
Energy graph
Faction comparison
Might graph
Create some form of unit overview screen
Add in the unit cycle +/- keys

Ben's To Do List:

Add in screenshot function
Trap menu's falling off screen
Trap divide by zeros when nexting on chooseplayer screen
Find out why it creates a 'close.bmp' in the root of C
Beat Behemoth soundly until he gives me more graphics
Add in project detail screen
Add in project toggle
Add in industry/research tap control
Correct display issues with mainmapscreen
Add in communications clues
Add in profiling to faction stats
Add in more factions?
Add in benefits to projects
Add in infiltration screen
Compile definitive list of infiltration effects
Create infiltration code blocks
Create project code blocks
Find out why monster houses can't be killed
Script bonus resources for killing houses
Code benefits for house death
Add in code for generating monsters
Add in monster AI
Add in event effects for diplomacy
Tidy up research screen
Compile definitive list of weather effects
Create weather code blocks
Cry
Add in win scenario code
Add in project complete screens
Add in win/lose screens
Add in unit scoring system
Add in resource scoring system
Create mfd in place of textbox
Stats breakdown
Energy graph
Faction comparison
Might graph
Create some form of unit overview screen
Add in the unit cycle +/- keys
Expand on tutorial screens
Correct fault with mech design screen and tutorial
Correct fault with template listview being back to front
Add code behind the load/save buttons on template screen
Add in delete template command
Correct fault with component display screen crashing
Flesh out options screen
Add in ranged combat
Add in pod code blocks
Add in bonus resources
Correct documentation navigation faults
Expand on documentation
Change Gaming_World to Chris Kaynor
Add in DNA screen
Add in Monster research
Add in monster contact checks
Add in faction contact checks
Add in AI's
Road Laying
Mine Laying (similar to above)
Correct flaw with AI that prompts infinite loop
Compile definitive list of buildings
Correct flaw with walls not drawing properly
Add faction knowledge to comms screen
Add in creation of sea units
Add in framework support for sea buildings (maybe new graphic set?)
Correct frmMechDesign to display torsos correctly

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Arbiter


Is probably a yes then? So I call you about 30 mins before I'd like to be picked up?

Why will you be in no smiling mood?

---

Because it will be 01:30 in the morning :rolleyes:

Ben's To Do List:

Add in screenshot function
Trap menu's falling off screen
Trap divide by zeros when nexting on chooseplayer screen
Find out why it creates a 'close.bmp' in the root of C
Beat Behemoth soundly until he gives me more graphics
Add in project detail screen
Add in project toggle
Add in industry/research tap control
Correct display issues with mainmapscreen
Add in communications clues
Add in profiling to faction stats
Add in more factions?
Add in benefits to projects
Add in infiltration screen
Compile definitive list of infiltration effects
Create infiltration code blocks
Create project code blocks
Find out why monster houses can't be killed
Script bonus resources for killing houses
Code benefits for house death
Add in code for generating monsters
Add in monster AI
Add in event effects for diplomacy
Tidy up research screen
Compile definitive list of weather effects
Create weather code blocks
Cry
Add in win scenario code
Add in project complete screens
Add in win/lose screens
Add in unit scoring system
Add in resource scoring system
Create mfd in place of textbox
Stats breakdown
Energy graph
Faction comparison
Might graph
Create some form of unit overview screen
Add in the unit cycle +/- keys
Expand on tutorial screens
Correct fault with mech design screen and tutorial
Correct fault with template listview being back to front
Add code behind the load/save buttons on template screen
Add in delete template command
Correct fault with component display screen crashing
Flesh out options screen
Add in ranged combat
Add in pod code blocks
Add in bonus resources
Correct documentation navigation faults
Expand on documentation
Change Gaming_World to Chris Kaynor
Add in DNA screen
Add in Monster research
Add in monster contact checks
Add in faction contact checks
Add in AI's
Road Laying
Mine Laying (similar to above)
Correct flaw with AI that prompts infinite loop
Compile definitive list of buildings
Correct flaw with walls not drawing properly
Add faction knowledge to comms screen
Add in creation of sea units
Add in framework support for sea buildings (maybe new graphic set?)
Correct frmMechDesign to display torsos correctly
Factory & Construction yard back to front in tutorial
selecting options from the game menu (and I discovered later from the main menu) gives an error [ERROR.JPG]
The mountains look dark on the world map (in fact all the graphics look odd.
When alt+tab ing out, you cant get back in.
pressed '5' to centre the map, but this just made the unit tile (was mobile admin) black
Unit started on a monsterhouse, and was unable to go back after it had stepped off.
chip graphics are mixed up under industry screen
mech graphics in-game are very dark

Wow, lots to do.

I think more fractions would be a good idea, along with giving them better names (instead of Research or Conquest). Stuff like: University of Planet (taken from Alpha Centuri).

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Arbiter
Ben's To Do List:

Add in screenshot function
Trap menu's falling off screen
Trap divide by zeros when nexting on chooseplayer screen
Find out why it creates a 'close.bmp' in the root of C
Beat Behemoth soundly until he gives me more graphics
Add in project detail screen
Add in project toggle
Add in industry/research tap control
Correct display issues with mainmapscreen
Add in communications clues
Add in profiling to faction stats
Add in more factions?
Add in benefits to projects
Add in infiltration screen
Compile definitive list of infiltration effects
Create infiltration code blocks
Create project code blocks
Find out why monster houses can't be killed
Script bonus resources for killing houses
Code benefits for house death
Add in code for generating monsters
Add in monster AI
Add in event effects for diplomacy
Tidy up research screen
Compile definitive list of weather effects
Create weather code blocks
Cry

---

Add a routine to DO something when you walk into a pod

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Gaming_World
Wow, lots to do.

I think more fractions would be a good idea, along with giving them better names (instead of Research or Conquest). Stuff like: University of Planet (taken from Alpha Centuri).

---

They will be. The names are configurable in the scripts, so all you need to do is change a text file and you've got a different name.

In fact, you can add entirely new factions just by adding stuff to the text files. When the diplomacy routines are included then the factions behaviours will also be changable via the scripts.

Super eh?

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Icheb


Add a routine to DO something when you walk into a pod

---

It already on the to do list above Icheb.

Industry: (rare)
*Bonus processed resources (common)
*Bonus components (not so common)
*Free factory (v. rare)

Colony: (v. rare)
*Free unit (common)
*Free building (not so common)

Resource: (common)
*Bonus raw resources (common)
*Bonus energy (common)
*Bonus processed resources (rare)

Data: (not so common)
*Bonus research points (rare)
*Bonus tech (v. rare)
*Phone number for other faction (rare)
*Randomly explore piece of land (common)

That's the current list of effects, can you think of any more that should be included?

Ian,

Where do you think the threshold should be then?

Any map where the x>80 or the y>60?

its something we'll only be able to establish through rigourous testing, but 80 x 60 seems a good place to start...

Sounds like a plan. Are you going to be available on the forums today?

Also, what are you doing at about 1900 on Friday? Would you be able to drop me off at the hotel type place? I'd give you a big sloppy kiss...

And what are you up to this evening? Fancy coming round for a couple of bevvies?

PS - Did you manage to get anything done last night?

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Arbiter
Sounds like a plan. Are you going to be available on the forums today?dunno, I'll try, but things are kinda hectic

Also, what are you doing at about 1900 on Friday? Would you be able to drop me off at the hotel type place? I'd give you a big sloppy kiss...it'll cost you more than a kiss :rolleyes:

And what are you up to this evening? Fancy coming round for a couple of bevvies?no, its quiz night. If I do come round, it'll be early, and not for long. I'll see how much petrol I've got

PS - Did you manage to get anything done last night? well, I remembered what we needed off tucows, and have now downloaded 2 differen icon editors, so I'll have a play tonight (assuming I'm not at your house ;)

---

Good man - I'd forgot all about that!

Ok, np if you don't pop over tonight - save your petrol. As you can see by the insane to do list I have rather a lot to do.

I'm also anticipating a massive surge of work today (for reasons I'll explain when I next see you) so I may not be mr forum today.

I'll do my best. I'm giving a little thought to the monsters and stuff that we can have.

Are these houses going to be able to fight back, or is their complement of critters assumed to be enough. What about houses with no critters (petrol plants) or if all the critters has ran off?

I'm sure we had some maths outlined for troop positions affecting diplomacy.

How are we going to record which troups have been spotted or not? A simple 'seen' flag on the unit relating to each player?

That could work - that could also be used to calculate the affect on diplomacy.

But then, how would the faction overview reflect this? If we base it on what the other factions can see and not on the real amount, then everyone will see a different faction might graph.

If not, then how are they finding out the overall strength of a faction for the graph and not for their military intelligence?

I think we should go with the idea that what you can see of a faction is what you base your moves on. That way, it's perfectly possible to attack a faction which looks weak, but actually turns out to be bloody tough.

As more of their troops become visible then the complex will begin to change to reflect this. This wil represent the faction getting into a battle and then rapidly realising they're in serious shiite.

exactly :D

This was pretty much what I was going to post in response to your first post, prior to reading your second. Great minds think alike...

Also, there should be some fairly simple and high chance of success infiltration activities to allow you to ping your enemies and get a better idea of what kind of forces they have. Won't allow you to see anything, but will update their stats on the communications screen.

Probably be best to do this before declaring war on a faction.

ok, so PING is a function that can used from the diplomacy/infiltration screen (perhaps after a fairly basic networking tech discovery). it maybe takes a little bit of energy, and has a tiny chance of the opposing faction realising they're being pinged and taking affront to it. It simply gives a snapshot overview of what the faction is up to.

Yeah.

I think there should be different levels, each with a different irritation effect.

A basic ping would be undetectable, guaranteed success, but tell you fairly little.

A mid range ping would give more accurate details of troop/building details, irritate slightly and have a chance of failure.

A heavy ping would reveal all, seriously annoy and have a big chance of failure.

We could also have any number of inbetweens...

I think that we should have a success rating and a detect rating. That way you can fail and be detected, fail and not be detected, succeed and get away with it or succeed and be found out.

Sound familiar yet? :rolleyes:

why reinvent the wheel? :D

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Arbiter
We could do with a definite list of events/triggers which affect the players diplomacy settings...

I'll kick the ball off:

Attack
Troop Movement in Sphere of Influence*
Building a project #
Researching a tech #
Troop build up #
Insults/Compliments
Forming/Breaking alliances
Outset/Resolution of wars
Gifts

*We still haven't worked this out yet...
#How are they going to know this?

---

Whilst we're in a listy sort of mood - do we have a list of infiltration options?

Again, I'll kick it off....

Pings
Steal Tech
Steal Resource
Send insult from one faction to another (he he he)
Scramble waypoints
Scramble autopilots


There we go - you do some

Thinking about the ping some more - I think the effects should be cumulative.

When you pig someone, it marks a couple of units (based on your infiltration kills) as seen. The next time you do it, it marks some more.

If you see some then they are marked as seen also. Over a period of time, you'll slowly be getting more accurate as to how powerful that faction is. As they're probably going to be constantly making mechs then you're going to be a few turns behind all the time I'd guess, unless you use a more powerful ping.

Once a unit has been seen, then its stats are included in any and all calculations of that factions might. No matter where it is.

Sounds promising so far, though the diplomacy screen needs a major overhaul!

Right,

Important Questions...:

How do we calculate a components might?
----(A units might will be dependant on components)

How do we calculate a buildings might?

How do we calculate a factions economic might?

How do we calculate a factions technological might?

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Arbiter
Whilst we're in a listy sort of mood - do we have a list of infiltration options?

Again, I'll kick it off....

Pings
Steal Tech
Steal Resource
Send insult from one faction to another (he he he)
Scramble waypoints
Scramble autopilots


There we go - you do some

---

interrupt research (lose all accumulated tech points so far)
interrupt industry (ditto industry points)
-- these together would interrupt special projects ;)

(sorry, I thought I'd successfully posted this half an hour ago :mad: )

AHA!

how about disrupting someones ping data as an infiltrative skill

corrupt the information about an enemy faction, they think a big faction is a little one, hurl abuse and get trodden on (very funny :D)

Expansion on Might

VB Code:

Military might
 
    Units
        1* the value of every component in every living mech + unmodified energy involved in building
 
    Buildings
        No idea - maybe we need to have a value manually assigned
 
Economic might? 
    
    Components
        1* The value of every component in stores
 
    Raw Resources
        The amount of each resource * the resource value *These will need to be assigned
 
    Process Resources
        The amount of resources * the resource value + the unmodified energy involved converting *if we have this...
 
Technological might?
 
    Projects
        3* the industry and research points invested in a completed project and 1* the amount in incomplete projects
 
    Technology
        3* the research points invested in a completed tech and 1* the amount in incomplete techs
 
    Exploration
        1* the number of explored squares
 
 
*** Are we going to manually assign values to components? I think so... :(

Right,

Important Questions...:

How do we calculate a components might?
* a components might will be dependent upon its level and military value. (a big gun has a higher might than a little petrol tank)
----(A units might will be dependant on components)

How do we calculate a buildings might?
* level and value

How do we calculate a factions economic might?
* (CashInPerTurn-CashOutPerTurn)+CurrentCash
[this might need work]

How do we calculate a factions technological might?
* ((techs completed + projects completed) * research buildings)/number of turns)
[i really have no idea...this seems like a logical direction to take]

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Behemoth
Right,

Important Questions...:

How do we calculate a components might?
* a components might will be dependent upon its level and military value. (a big gun has a higher might than a little petrol tank)
----(A units might will be dependant on components)

How do we calculate a buildings might?
* level and value

How do we calculate a factions economic might?
* (CashInPerTurn-CashOutPerTurn)+CurrentCash
[this might need work]

How do we calculate a factions technological might?
* ((techs completed + projects completed) * research buildings)/number of turns)
[i really have no idea...this seems like a logical direction to take]

---

Wonderful, you managed to answer absolutely nothing there.

Read my expanded might reply and insert comments into that....

• Everything that exists in the game that is individually scripted (buildings, techs, components) must have a value attached. Everything that is generated dynamically will have a value attributed to it through a particulary formula.

although this is obvious, its a start...There's no point wasting processing time calculating a value that's going to be the same every time, and it isn't feasible to hard code values for every possible combination of mech for example.

• everything that is built of smaller elements (ie mechs built from components) ought to be slightly greater than the sum of its constituent parts.

this represents the effort that went into making the item. It also tallies with traditional though.

• Every item that has a level will multiply its basic value by this.

duh! obviously.

Yep - those are the basic ground rules.

This means more script format changes to support vaules...

Tedious.

Morning Hairy Guy!

You gonna be available on the forums today?

Did you get any more piccies done last night? Come on dude - pull your finger out, you've **** loads to do!

Do you fancy coming round for a chat this evening? With or without beer is fine by me.

Righto,

Thinking about adding a Sentience Launcher.

Features it should include are:

*Game not kicking off unless Launcher is used
*Launcher running in background whilst Sentience is going
*If Sentience is not running, resetting the resolution
*A list of options to change before the game is run
---Sound settings
*A little doobry to set the screen res
*A little doohicky to check for updates (mint!)
*A little thing to manage:
---Templates
---High Scores
---Saved Games
*Fish! (Todays fish is Trout á la créme)
*A Script editor (that's you boyo!)
*Launching straight into last saved game (quick start)

If the launcher sets the res to 800x600 prior to game launch, theoretically the map generation will be faster...

SenLauncher trial...

Ian,

Some more buttons please:
---Run (bright)
---Running (faded)
---Update (bright)
---Options (bright)


I could also do with some form of a Sentience logo for the launcher - whatever you like really...

Quote:

---

SenLauncher trial...

---

Lol :D Almost looks like Unreal Launcher, nice job, since when did you start designing graphics instead of Behemoth? :eek: :p

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Arbiter
SenLauncher trial...

Attachment: naamloos.jpg
This has been downloaded 4 time(s).

---

Maybe you should make it, uhhm, better to look at ;-) (yes i know it's an early version)

How come u use 'naamloos.jpg' as a name ?
I thought i was the only one who did that...

Icheb

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Jotaf98


Lol :D Almost looks like Unreal Launcher, nice job, since when did you start designing graphics instead of Behemoth? :eek: :p

---

I only posted it there so Behemoth could let me know what ideas he had for making it pretty in case it influenced the form layout....

As you can tell, I'm no graphic designer.... ;)

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Icheb


Maybe you should make it, uhhm, better to look at ;-) (yes i know it's an early version)

How come u use 'naamloos.jpg' as a name ?
I thought i was the only one who did that...

Icheb

---

I used naamloos.jpg as a name in honour of you Icheb.

How would you like your name in the credits btw? As Icheb, or as your full name?

PS - do you have any further comments on the new version?

Arb :
Ever tought about making a homepage for the non vbforums people too ?

(don't know if you have one)

Btw : u asked me if i wanted 'Icheb' or something else on the creditscreen.
i was wondering if you could change it to 'Icheb - www.sebsoft.nl'
or something similair...
I really need something to show people on what i worked... ;-)
ATM the site is dutch only but i'm thinking of rebuilding it when i get PHP or a better database system to work there.

U also asked me to further comment about the new version.
I'll retest it on a new computer (a nice and clean install too).

Icheb

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Arbiter


I only posted it there so Behemoth could let me know what ideas he had for making it pretty in case it influenced the form layout....

As you can tell, I'm no graphic designer.... ;)

---

ok, here is a idea.
I've seen only one screenshot on the forum of the current launcher, haven't installed it.


Create a dark background with a/the logo of Sentience on it in the center (topside) and place dark (random) binairy code in the background, not too dark, it must be visible.
If you like it, i'll make a 'sketch' of the idea in M$ Paint (/me has photoshop, /me just doesn't know how to operate it)

Icheb

Hehe me too, I have PSP7, GIMP, MS Photodraw, 3D Studio MAX and a lot of other programs like that, my problem is that even though I'm not that bad at drawing (I won some contests, one of them was at european level ;) ), I hate reading huge manuals, so I can't do much with them... :p

(worthless post :rolleyes: )

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Icheb
Arb :
Ever tought about making a homepage for the non vbforums people too ?

(don't know if you have one)

Btw : u asked me if i wanted 'Icheb' or something else on the creditscreen.
i was wondering if you could change it to 'Icheb - www.sebsoft.nl'
or something similair...
I really need something to show people on what i worked... ;-)
ATM the site is dutch only but i'm thinking of rebuilding it when i get PHP or a better database system to work there.

U also asked me to further comment about the new version.
I'll retest it on a new computer (a nice and clean install too).

Icheb

---

Icheb,

I'm unwilling to put links to other peoples work within the game itself, but I shall include it in the detailed credits which reside within the documentation (currently not even begun). You may add a blurb/synopsis of your work there.

The in-game credits screen will merely contain names....

Do you wish your full name to be there?

Also, we will eventually have a homepage for non-VB-World people, but this is currently under construction. You may also place a link to your homepage there... :)

I'll look forward to hearing your comments in the G&GP forum... :)

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Icheb


ok, here is a idea.
I've seen only one screenshot on the forum of the current launcher, haven't installed it.


Create a dark background with a/the logo of Sentience on it in the center (topside) and place dark (random) binairy code in the background, not too dark, it must be visible.
If you like it, i'll make a 'sketch' of the idea in M$ Paint (/me has photoshop, /me just doesn't know how to operate it)

Icheb

---

I imagine it will look similar to the splash screen, but as it's entirely in Behemoths hands I'll have to wait and see.... ;)

In much the same way as I don't have him coding, he doesn't have me drawing. Once he's done something, he shows me and then I comment (and vice versa). It may take many revisions of graphics (and code) before we're both happy with the outcome.

That's what's made the game so good, so far.

PS - you want to see the new main menu screen - he's done quite a funky side panel which is under review at the moment.... :)

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Arbiter


I imagine it will look similar to the splash screen, but as it's entirely in Behemoths hands I'll have to wait and see.... ;)

In much the same way as I don't have him coding, he doesn't have me drawing. Once he's done something, he shows me and then I comment (and vice versa). It may take many revisions of graphics (and code) before we're both happy with the outcome.

That's what's made the game so good, so far.

PS - you want to see the new main menu screen - he's done quite a funky side panel which is under review at the moment.... :)

---

Ok, i'll review it... (Prepare for a large message ;))

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Arbiter


Icheb,

I'm unwilling to put links to other peoples work within the game itself, but I shall include it in the detailed credits which reside within the documentation (currently not even begun). You may add a blurb/synopsis of your work there.

The in-game credits screen will merely contain names....

Do you wish your full name to be there?

Also, we will eventually have a homepage for non-VB-World people, but this is currently under construction. You may also place a link to your homepage there... :)

I'll look forward to hearing your comments in the G&GP forum... :)

---

Ok, this message is a bit larger than my last one.

The page doesn't have to be a link, it's just VBforums useing a option i should have turned off :rolleyes:

a blurp/synopsis ? < /me doesn't understand (i just am still bad at english :mad:)
If there is enough room in the credit screen you can make it :

Code:

---

Sebastian Berm - Sebsoft

---

Or something like it ;)

Since when is there a Non VB page under construction ?
Is this specially for this project or just for everyone ?

Just a question coming to mind :
You have used .ini's everywhere in the game, are you going to make a program to modify the game too ?

Icheb

Icheb,

I'll put Sebastian Berm in the credits for you - but there will be no mention of SebSoft....

There's been a web page for Sentience for AGES, but it's a bit **** 'cos neither Behemoth nor I have time to work on it...

And yes, we are going to have a program to modify all the little script files for Sentience. It's going to be Behemoths first project (he can't program in VB and this will be a good learning exercise for him).

A blurb / synopsis is basically a taster of what you're on about. A blurb is the writing on the back of a book telling you what it's about - a synopsis is a small document doing the same.

I'm going to get some work done on the launcher today - you'll be able to download the latest copy of the launcher on the website cunningly names 'launcher.exe'

Copy the contents onto the Sentience directory, overwriting as you go...

Ian,

I need a dimmed close button from you as well please... :)

I haven't posted in here for ages, so here I am.

Ben, sorry, I posted the gubbins in the wrong forums. I assume you got it ok.