iDevGames, the site dedicated to helping foster and support Mac game programmers, has started a new development diary for the upcoming sequel Spaceward Ho! 5. Joe Williams, president of Delta Tao, gives the scoop on what will make this new version even better than previous incarnations of the classic turn-based game of galactic conquest. Spaceward Ho! 5 will feature a new streamlined interface, better computer AI, and the ability to play over the Internet.

Two posts to the diary have been made so far. The first gives a nice overview of the history of the series and Delta Tao's goals for the game. The second is a shorter update with more info on their artificial intelligence plans. Mac OS X fans will be happy to learn the game will be carbonized. Williams also describes their Internet scheme as similar to Blizzard's Battle.net service. Clients will connect to a main server hosted by Delta Tao, where players will be able to find and arrange games.

Here's an excerpt with more on the changing user interface:

Our programmers have been optimizing parts of the game engine so you should notice a faster response in game play. The graphic-user interface has also been completely rewritten. This supports our mission to make every new version of Spaceward Ho! more intuitive and faster than the previous versions. That means for every new complexity, we have to eliminate one old complication. Overall, the current codebase is about as slim as it gets, so don’t expect the feature list to grow much. Here is a run-down on some of the improvements to cleanup the interface:

* Tech spending is now part of the main map window (with the other spending).

* Chat and Message windows have been combined into one window.

* Star data now shows up directly on the star map, right next to the selected star, which clears up some confusion.

* The fleet information also appears right next to the fleet.

Delta Tao

iDevGames: Spaceward Ho! 5 Diary

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