I'm so happy ! As you can see on the front page, Kyodai Mahjongg has received this year's Shareware Industry Award for best non-action game ! It means my little baby has finally been recognized by the industry actors. A long lost dream has come true (I'd been following the awards since 1997), and I'm a proud and happy man. Thanks again to everyone who voted for Kyodai Mahjongg !  It's been such a busy month again. Not only in real life (as usual since last May), but also for Kyodai Mahjongg, because I've spent the last two weeks rewriting the windows internal display code (combo boxes, labels, etc). I've still got a lot of work ahead of me before I can consider this done, but all in all, this will add several advantages to your little game. First of all, it will be much (much !) easier for me to switch to DirectX 8.1 then DirectX 9.0 this way. Then I'll be able to make a few special effects when showing or hiding the dialog boxes and other windows. I'll probably even try for some nice transparency effects. I've also been working on converting most of my DelphiX code to the Direct3DX helper library, which happened to be more of a hassle than a helper, but well, I guess it might help reducing the number of crashes some users have seen. And even if it doesn't, maybe switching to DirectX 9.0 will help. There's always hope... Or maybe someday I will become a good programmer and find all of the small mistakes I made years ago !

Hello... Been offline for a whole week... I just wanted to say I'm back. And there's a lot of e-mail backlog. Phew. At least I'm very happy that no new bug has appeared in version 18.75. I'll probably go back to work (ah, programming !) next week. And maybe I'll be a little more talkative by then...

Well, as you may have noticed already, Kyodai Mahjongg 18.75 is out... I hope you'll like it. I'd like to ask you not to send too many e-mails in the next couple of weeks... I'm going to be busier than ever in real life, believe me. I just wanted to give you a little present (the new version) before this. If the new version doesn't work for you, you can still try the previous one(s), their links can be found on the download page. Enjoy.

 

• [Language] New translations : Latvian, by Mix de Rax, and Basque, by Adei Alonso. I didn't even know these languages existed in the first place !
• [Language] Updated translations : Finnish, Hungarian (rules), Romanian, Greek, Swedish, Ukrainian and Polish. Also updated English and French menu help files (a few options were left out, some dating from v16.00 ! Oops ! )
• [Background] New background : Blue Black, by Arewan. I didn't think such a quick fix could produce such good results in 32-bit mode
• [Tileset] New tileset : Tribal, by Adam Lindberg.
• [Cool] Managed to stabilize a very low polygon count version of the Realistic Tiles.
• [Cool] Also managed to remove the delay when switching between the Realistic Tiles options.
• [Cool] Added improvements from Kyodai 3D's menu system to Kyodai 2D's menus.
• [Cool] Added the (often asked !) ability to disable stacked matching tiles (just refer to the Menu help file, in the Configuration section).
• [Fix] Switched Kyodai 2D's timer system to a threaded system, hoping to get rid of a speed issue I was only able to reproduce once.
• [Fix] Fixed various Access Violation issues that happened for example when switching resolutions while playing Kyodai (you'll still have to press Escape to exit and restart, though !) and clicking on a web link in the About box while in fullscreen mode.
• [Fix] Mouse movements out of the playing field (menu, toolbar, ...) are now taken into account for the Contemplation mode. Small detail but I like it.
• [Fix] Fixed a rare but frustrating bug : after playing a Rivers game, and launching some specific layouts, you would be unable to finish the game because some tile would refuse to be selected.
• [Fix] Fixed a minor glitch in the back of Realistic Tiles.
• [Fix] Fixed invisible borders in Small Tileset games when Realistic Tiles are enabled.
• [Fix] Fixed "Normal" button for Hashira in the Game Selector so that it doesn't set the default starting level to 2 anymore. Use the level button to set your starting level.

(French)

• [Langues] Nouvelles traductions : Lettonien, par Mix de Rax, et Basque, par Adei Alonso. Je ne savais même pas que ces langues existaient !
• [Langues] Mises à jour de traductions : Finlandais, Hongrois (règles), Roumain, Grec, Suédois, Ukrainien and Polonais.  Egalement une mise à jour du menu dans les versions anglaises et françaises (certaines options dataient de la v16.00 ! Oups ! )
• [Fonds d'écran] Nouveau fond d'écran : Blue Black, par Valentine. Je ne pensais pas qu'un fond d'écran aussi basique pouvait donner de si bons résultats en mode 32 bits
• [Tileset] Nouveau tileset : Tribal, par Adam Lindberg.
• [Nouveau] Version plus rapide des tiles réalistes (moins de polygones).
• [Nouveau] Délai supprimé lorsqu'on sélectionne l'option Tiles Réalistes.
• [Nouveau] Améliorations du menu Kyodai 2D.
• [Nouveau] Ajout d'une option permettant d'empêcher des tiles identiques d'être l'une sur l'autre (pour plus de détails, allez dans les fichiers d'aide, section Configuration).
• [Correction] Kyodai 2D passe d'un système de timer à un système threaded. Avec un peu de chance, ça corrigera un problème de lenteur que je n'ai pu reproduire qu'une seule fois.
• [Correction] De divers problèmes d'Access Violation qui apparaissaient, par exemple, lorsqu'on changeait de résolution pendant une partie (enfin, ça ne signifie pas que vous ne devez plus quitter le jeu et le relancer pour qu'on la prenne en compte !) ou lorsqu'on cliquait sur un lien Internet dans la fenêtre A propos en mode plein écran.
• [Correction]  Les mouvements de la souris hors du plateau de jeu sont maintenant prises en compte dans le mode Contemplation. Petit détails, mais je l'aime bien.
• [Correction] D'un bug rare, mais frustrant : après une partie de Rivers, si on lance certains layouts en particulier, vous ne pouviez pas finir le jeu car certaines tiles ne pouvaient pas être sélectionnées.
• [Correction] D'un problème mineur au dos des Tiles réalistes.
• [Correction] Des bords invisibles dans les jeux Petits Tilesets lorsque les Tiles réalistes étaient activées.
• [Correction] Du bouton "Normal" pour Hashira, dans le Sélecteur de jeu, pour ne pas qu'il lance par défaut le niveau 2. Utilisez le bouton de niveau pour choisir votre niveau de départ.

I've fixed an issue with the download page that made it incompatible with Opera. I would still recommend to use Internet Explorer 5 or 6 to view the site, but you should now be able to browse all pages if you don't use them. Doing my best. If you're looking for Kyodai Mahjongg news, well... The new version is definitely going to be released very soon. Maybe this week, maybe next week, I don't know yet for sure. It could be out anytime, even in a few hours. Keep coming back !

As you may have already noticed, I changed the website's layout to finally get rid of these lousy frames while keeping the same design... It won't look so good if you have an old browser, but it's still okay. If you find a page on the site that I forgot to change, feel free to e-mail me. I'm putting the final touches to the new version. Yes ! It will definitely be released soon... A beta testing session is currently being run by my registered users and they all seem to be happy with it. I just have a couple of features to add, and it will be done. See you soon, then !

My, I'm definitely doing less updates than I'd like to... Sorry about this everybody. Especially to those of you who come by every day to check for updates !  Yes, I'm still working on Kyodai Mahjongg (of course !). My recent efforts have been put in the 2D version. I'm not planning to bring it up to date with the 3D version, but I wanted to fix some annoying problems with it anyway, especially in the menu and timer systems. I believe I've reached a state where my new versions are quite stable and ready for release. You might expect to see them out before the end of the month...  Another frustrating thing with releasing new versions, is that you're somehow playing with fire when you try to change something in the overall structure. Something that's working perfectly on my machine will not always work on other configurations, and sometimes from a version to another, the compatibility rate will evolve in such a chaotic manner that I'm helpless when trying to figure out what's wrong and what's not... In short, if the latest version is not working for you, trying the previous one, maybe it will. You never know. Especially me !  Oh, there's good news for me though : I've learned that for the first time, Kyodai Mahjongg has been nominated for the Shareware Industry Awards. I guess it's always when you stop hoping for something that it happens ! I do not expect to win, of course... Who can win against a Solitaire-type card game ? Especially when it already won the People's Choice prize last year (please, please, make some room for me ). Anyway, if you're a registered voter for the SIA, I'm sending you a big thank you if you're planning to vote for me. If you aren't registered, you can still vote for Kyodai Mahjongg in the People's Choice awards, just follow this link. And, no, I'm not going to be mad at you if you don't vote for me, of course ! I'm just glad all of you have been supporting me for all these years. That's just plain nice to me. Thanks !

Again, I'm really sorry for not updating the website enough... I've had a lot of work this month. I'm not going to explain what I've been doing, nothing interesting for you. There are just other things than Kyodai Mahjongg in my life right now. I'm still working on the game from time to time, though... Lots of things have been added or improved, I'm banging my head on the wall for not having the time to release a final version for you to see...  Yes, I have to tell you : releasing a new version is really not so fun for me. Basically, I have to make sure my English help files and French translations are up to date. Then, I update my installation script. I compile the final project. I upload it on my server. I contact Tucows to ask them to mirror the file. I then have to wait for about a day, until they actually have the file online. Then I have to update my website, send an e-mail to my registered users, contact some other websites to propagate the release information. And then, I anxiously hope that nobody will write to complain about the latest version. And, strangely, that nobody either will write to congratulate, because I will feel compelled to answer... Then, usually after a couple of days, I will realize that I forgot to include an important feature that was supposed to make it into the final version. And I have to start again from scratch... You may have noticed that I tend to release a new version every other month, and a minor update less than two weeks later (sometimes the following day). Then, I get back to my usual work, adding several new things at the same time, and I have to wait for another couple of months before I'm convinced there are enough additions to make a new version worthwhile... I would release a new version every week if it wasn't so hard to go through the update process.  Which explains the gap between the new versions in these last months... Sometimes I really need to take a break. But I never can rest for more than two weeks without having everyone coming to ask what I'm up to...  My silence is also, somehow, proof that Kyodai Mahjongg has reached a state of completion that I never thought I'd achieve before. In short, everything in Kyodai Mahjongg is fine, I could even consider it a finished product and start another project instead. But this is not the case, in my opinion -- I still have things to do with it. It's just that the longer I work on the game, the harder the goals I assign to myself. Did anyone see the last episode of Quantum Leap ? Ah, what a good show this was. I sometimes feel like I now have the opportunity to choose my own "leaps", and that I'm therefore going to make sure these are useful leaps. I mean, noticeable features. Things I can be proud of. Things that will make everyone go, "I never thought that game could become even better, but you did it !". Reaching the top is tough to achieve. So I need time. I need to think. I need to choose my directions. I need to discover, by myself, what Kyodai Mahjongg needs right now, in order to mature, to become something better than it should have been.  Speaking about completion, I wanted to add something. Several months ago, I was dying to upgrade to DirectX 7.0, but I'd been really disappointed by how much people had rejected my first attempt at it (Kyodai 15.00). Crashes everywhere except on my machine. But the initial beta process for version 18.00 was really exciting for me. I had the feeling that I had done things better than previously, and that this time, it just wouldn't crash anymore... And I think I managed to do this indeed. We're still getting some technical support e-mail here, but it's nowhere as abundant as it used to be last year. Maybe people simply upgraded their machines to something that can actually show some good 3D. I don't know. What I know, is that I've fixed all the 3D problems I managed to reproduce. And I'm so happy with that. It gives me some confidence for the future...  Now, wasn't that a long update... Eh eh, it should make up for my recent silence ! Add to this the new website design I've made in a few minutes earlier today... I hope you like it. I like changing things, from time to time.  Speaking of change, my friend Miguel Samiez, whom you all know of course (if you don't, check out the Original Soundtrack page), paid me a visit 3 weeks ago... He used to live near my place (North of France), but now he has moved to Switzerland (which made me a bit jealous, eheh). But from time to time he shows up to say hello ... This time he made me listen to his new works. There are so many songs he's working on, it's pretty impressive. Not only that, but any single song he made me listen to, is easily ten times better than everything he did in the past. Simply put, he's now a real professional, and my feeling that he was going to become a great composer, is even stronger now. If you like his first album, you're going to enjoy the new one so much. I can't wait for the official release. Plus, he's going to give me a few of his songs to include in future versions of Kyodai Mahjongg, of course !  Now, if you'll let me rest for some time until the next update (which hopefully will be posted along with the next version of Kyodai Mahjongg !), I think I'll just sit on a more comfortable chair and start reading another French independent comic book... Yes, I've become a big fan of these lately (especially books from L'Association). You can partly blame them for my being so lazy...  Good night

Hi ! Sorry for the lack of updates... I've sort-of finished a new version of Kyodai Mahjongg but I'm definitely too lazy to release it right now... I guess it'll have to wait until next month. I'll probably make some more improvements. It's hard to think of anything to add to my software, now... I have this huge "to do list" but it's full of surrealistic requests from fellow users... (and some more realistic but painful to implement )  The fact is that my "real life" has been busier than ever this month. Major changes in my life are upcoming. And after some time, all I can do is crash on my chair, read a couple of French comic books or watch a DVD. And since I'm not going to start talking for hours about how excited I'm about a movie or TV series (you really don't want me to write endless rants about Berserk !), I guess I'm better off being silent... Maybe I should start programming a new mini-game, so that I can waste my time playing it instead !  Anyway, here's a list of additions and fixes made to the current version -- I mean, the one I'm going to post here one day, if I'm not TOO lazy  - Managed to stabilize a very low polygon count version of the Realistic Tiles. - Fixed various Access Violation issues that happened for example when switching resolutions while playing Kyodai (you'll still have to press Escape to exit and restart, though !) and clicking on a web link in the About box while in fullscreen mode. - Mouse movements out of the playing field (menu, toolbar, ...) are now taken into account for the Contemplation mode. Small detail but I like it. - Fixed a rare but frustrating bug : after playing a Rivers game, and launching some specific layouts, you would be unable to finish the game because some tile would refuse to be selected. - Fixed a minor glitch in the back of Realistic Tiles. - Fixed invisible borders in Small Tileset games when Realistic Tiles are enabled. - Fixed "Normal" button for Hashira in the Game Selector so that it doesn't set the default starting level to 2 anymore. Use the level button to set your starting level.

And here they are... The new and improved Drivers 6043 have been leaked for Windows 2000 and Windows XP. Now you can experience Kyodai Mahjongg's Realistic Tiles option at over 100 FPS (120 FPS in 1024x768x32 using all options and the 16-bit texture mode) on a Radeon 8500 card. What did I say last time ? Oh, yes : enjoy !