Nexus (HTML5) client updates!

Tecton

We're overjoyed to announce that the beta version of our Nexus (formerly just called HTML5 client) client is now live! In case you missed the previous announce post, here's a list of all of the changes in the new version:

* A complete graphical overhaul.

* A new character information tab, with your afflictions, defences, rage levels, and class-specific information.

* More F-key buttons (7), which will now be automatically populated when you level up. Battlerage abilities on these buttons will highlight when that ability is ready to use.

* Icons for items in your inventory and room.

* HELP files now pop up into multiple windows, allowing numerous files to be read at once.

* All of the UI elements can now be toggled on/off.

* Tabs can now be dragged to different panes, allowing you to customise your layout.

* Right-clicking on a tab will give you the option to unpin it, letting you move and resize the pane.

* You'll now get a notification when you get new communication and that tab isn't active.

* The client will scale based on your screen resolution/device, with presets for tablets and phones.

* Improved network backend, allowing you to use the client in many places where it was previously blocked.

If you're a regular user of our Nexus client, please be sure to "force" a refresh in your browser to ensure that you've got the up-to-date version! Additionally, if you've got any additional feedback, or encounter any glitches or bugs, please submit them via the "Feedback" tab in the settings window.

Aodfionn

THANK YOU SO MUCH

Snapplepan

This is absolutely amazing, great work!
My most genuine gratitude to everyone involved in making this.

Aodfionn

Having messed around with it more, I can't begin to tell you how awesome this is. Having eternally felt somewhat left out being unable to get in on Mudlet and cool layouts people have there, this is awesome. 

Also, whoever's idea it was to have the HELP scrolls look like paper scrolls is a goddamn genius and deserves a heartfelt high-five.

Khurgan

Maybe I should try something other than a virtual console.....

I have been resistant to using the html5 as it takes me a few minutes to get on a roll. If I have the internet right there on other tabs I'm worried I'll get distracted.

Sarapis

@Khurgan I'd suggest it really will be nicer than playing via virtual console!

Aktillum

The HTML5 client looks more awesome with every update and becomes increasingly tempting to make the switch entirely from mudlet. The only thing holding me back is that all my scripts, triggers, etc are already in mudlet and I'd hate to re-make everything.

Since the HTML5 client and mudlet seem to share a lot of the same scripting support (regex, functions, etc) will there ever be any sort of cross-compatibility? Importing triggers and stuff from mudlet to html5 would make the migration so much easier.

Vanceroth

Great work with the new client, guys. It's right nice!

Borran

Are add-ons pretty limited for the HTML5 client? If I can add a target affliction tracker, I may just make the switch from Mudlet.

Antonius

Aktillum said:

The HTML5 client looks more awesome with every update and becomes increasingly tempting to make the switch entirely from mudlet. The only thing holding me back is that all my scripts, triggers, etc are already in mudlet and I'd hate to re-make everything.

Since the HTML5 client and mudlet seem to share a lot of the same scripting support (regex, functions, etc) will there ever be any sort of cross-compatibility? Importing triggers and stuff from mudlet to html5 would make the migration so much easier.

I assume the HTML5 client exports triggers and such to XML for importing again? Mudlet definitely does.

Writing a tool that parses the XML from one client and generates the correct XML structure for the other would definitely be possible (though this isn't me expressing interest in doing such a thing). The major problem is that they use two different scripting languages (JavaScript for HTML5, Lua for Mudlet) and converting those automatically would be a recipe for disaster; you'd still have to re-write those parts yourself.

Tecton

Antonius said:

Aktillum said:

The HTML5 client looks more awesome with every update and becomes increasingly tempting to make the switch entirely from mudlet. The only thing holding me back is that all my scripts, triggers, etc are already in mudlet and I'd hate to re-make everything.

Since the HTML5 client and mudlet seem to share a lot of the same scripting support (regex, functions, etc) will there ever be any sort of cross-compatibility? Importing triggers and stuff from mudlet to html5 would make the migration so much easier.

I assume the HTML5 client exports triggers and such to XML for importing again? Mudlet definitely does.

Writing a tool that parses the XML from one client and generates the correct XML structure for the other would definitely be possible (though this isn't me expressing interest in doing such a thing). The major problem is that they use two different scripting languages (JavaScript for HTML5, Lua for Mudlet) and converting those automatically would be a recipe for disaster; you'd still have to re-write those parts yourself.

The client exports to a .js file, here's a sample (of the default settings):

// +++++ GENERAL OPTIONS +++++ //
client.font_stack = "Verdana"
client.font_size = "13px"
client.stack_delimiter = "|"

// +++++ VARIABLES +++++ //
client.variables = new Array();


// +++++ REFLEXES +++++ //
client.reflexes = {"type":"group","name":"MASTER","enabled":true,"id":1,"items":[{"type":"function","name":"onLoad","enabled":true,"id":2,"code":"// Place any code here you'd like to autorun when the system is loaded"},{"type":"function","name":"onGMCP","enabled":true,"id":3,"code":"// Place any code here you'd like to run when a GMCP message is received\n// - The GMCP message is received as \"args.gmcp_method\" and \"args.gmcp_args\""}]};
client.packages = [{"name":"numpad movement","enabled":true,"description":"Move around the world with your keyboard's number pad. 8=north, 9=northeast, etc. Use '/' for in, '*' for out, '-' for up and '+' for down. The 5 key will look at the room you're in.","type":"group","id":1,"items":[{"type":"keybind","name":"sw","enabled":true,"id":2,"actions":[{"command":"sw"}],"key":"97","key_alt":false,"key_ctrl":false,"key_shift":false},{"type":"keybind","name":"s","enabled":true,"id":3,"actions":[{"command":"s"}],"key":"98","key_alt":false,"key_ctrl":false,"key_shift":false},{"type":"keybind","name":"se","enabled":true,"id":4,"actions":[{"command":"se"}],"key":"99","key_alt":false,"key_ctrl":false,"key_shift":false},{"type":"keybind","name":"w","enabled":true,"id":5,"actions":[{"command":"w"}],"key":"100","key_alt":false,"key_ctrl":false,"key_shift":false},{"type":"keybind","name":"look","enabled":true,"id":6,"actions":[{"command":"look"}],"key":"101","key_alt":false,"key_ctrl":false,"key_shift":false},{"type":"keybind","name":"e","enabled":true,"id":7,"actions":[{"command":"e"}],"key":"102","key_alt":false,"key_ctrl":false,"key_shift":false},{"type":"keybind","name":"nw","enabled":true,"id":8,"actions":[{"command":"nw"}],"key":"103","key_alt":false,"key_ctrl":false,"key_shift":false},{"type":"keybind","name":"n","enabled":true,"id":9,"actions":[{"command":"n"}],"key":"104","key_alt":false,"key_ctrl":false,"key_shift":false},{"type":"keybind","name":"ne","enabled":true,"id":10,"actions":[{"command":"ne"}],"key":"105","key_alt":false,"key_ctrl":false,"key_shift":false},{"type":"keybind","name":"out","enabled":true,"id":11,"actions":[{"command":"out"}],"key":"106","key_alt":false,"key_ctrl":false,"key_shift":false},{"type":"keybind","name":"down","enabled":true,"id":12,"actions":[{"command":"down"}],"key":"107","key_alt":false,"key_ctrl":false,"key_shift":false},{"type":"keybind","name":"up","enabled":true,"id":13,"actions":[{"command":"up"}],"key":"109","key_alt":false,"key_ctrl":false,"key_shift":false},{"type":"keybind","name":"in","enabled":true,"id":14,"actions":[{"command":"in"}],"key":"111","key_alt":false,"key_ctrl":false,"key_shift":false}]}];
client.reflexes_fix_parents();
client.reflexes_convert();


// +++++ BUTTONS +++++ //
 client.buttons = [];
 client.bottom_buttons_set_count(7);
client.load_all_reflex_packages();


// +++++ LAYOUT INFO +++++ //
client.display_tabs = client.unstringify_display_tabs ? client.unstringify_display_tabs({"el_version":5,"container_1":["map"],"container_2":["affdef","skills","inventory"],"container_3":["room","tasks","quests"],"container_4":["all_comm","who"],"main_container":["main_output"],"floaters":{},"channel_windows":[],"disabled_central":[]}) : undefined;

Klendathu

I don't even see the code, all I see is blonde, brunette, redhead...

Greys

It definitely looks pretty amazing and you guys also fixed a bug that make the wilderness map go away while sailing. Hopefully, it will help with us retaining new players.

Aktillum

Okay @Tecton gave it a whirl, a few things:

1: I'm using a 32" screen that only does 1360x768 resolution, so the client tabs and buttons are automatically making themselves huge. I couldn't find a way to resize the gauges and buttons. I'm losing alot of screen space because of it, even with smaller text, the health bars+battlerage buttons are taking up like 25% of the bottom of my screen.

2: Comic Sans is not an available font option.

Tecton

Aktillum said:

Okay @Tecton gave it a whirl, a few things:

1: I'm using a 32" screen that only does 1360x768 resolution, so the client tabs and buttons are automatically making themselves huge. I couldn't find a way to resize the gauges and buttons. I'm losing alot of screen space because of it, even with smaller text, the health bars+battlerage buttons are taking up like 25% of the bottom of my screen.

2: Comic Sans is not an available font option.

1) The gauges can't be resized at this time, but you cant toggle them off by right-clicking on them and removing the elements - I'll take a look and see what we can do there in terms of defaults at that resolution/scaling options.

2) I'd pondered comic sans being the -only- option, but looking at it all day every day would drastically lower my life expectancy. I can see it now "Video game producer jumps in front of train as a result of too much comic sans."

Ahmet

Aktillum said:

Okay @Tecton gave it a whirl, a few things:

1: I'm using a 32" screen that only does 1360x768 resolution, so the client tabs and buttons are automatically making themselves huge. I couldn't find a way to resize the gauges and buttons. I'm losing alot of screen space because of it, even with smaller text, the health bars+battlerage buttons are taking up like 25% of the bottom of my screen.

2: Comic Sans is not an available font option.

Such wasted potential  

Theris

I love it, but why is endurance purple now?

Tael

I love everything about this.

Even having been using the beta client already, being able to autologin from the chrome extension again is wonderful.

And I would be seriously, seriously surprised if this doesn't help player retention. The addition of the map alone probably helped more than anything, but now this little display and the automatically-populating battlerage buttons? Get out of town.

I am, however, with Theris on the endurance/willpower colours. They seem backwards, both in terms of their relationship to mana (willpower is definitely more linked to mana drains, and purple to blue) and to convention (purple for "mental" things in games, yellow for "physical" things).

Vakvyr

1) My game window is so small I can't read all of my score without scrolling up.
2) Can this function on par with another client (mudlet, specifically)? I haven't had a GUI since I played on the Nexus client so it's really cool to have such a nice one without jumping through all the scripting/importing/whatever hoops.

Reif

I decided to try looking at the HTML5 client today, and keep getting some message before it flashes back to the login screen. Something like:

[object Event]
See browser console for more details.

Edit: I'm able to connect from Mudlet and from the old old flash client on Kongregate, so I can definitely connect.

Any advice on this? In anxious to see if it will work on my home computer or not. But I do agree, the GUI looks awesome for the brief flashes that I saw of it.

Thanks in advance!

Morkado

Awesome! @Tecton @Sarapis

Antonius

@Reif F12 is usually the key to open your browser's console. What does it say in that?

Tecton

Reif said:

I decided to try looking at the HTML5 client today, and keep getting some message before it flashes back to the login screen. Something like:

[object Event]
See browser console for more details.

Edit: I'm able to connect from Mudlet and from the old old flash client on Kongregate, so I can definitely connect.

Any advice on this? In anxious to see if it will work on my home computer or not. But I do agree, the GUI looks awesome for the brief flashes that I saw of it.

Thanks in advance!

It's possible that your connection is being blocked, so it attempts to connect, fails, then returns to the login screen (the html5 client doesn't use a basic telnet connection like the older clients/mudlet).

Jurixe

Once I realised that you could unpin stuff and I rearranged the layout to make it look a little more like what I wanted, total thumbs up. This should make it a whole lot easier for new players to follow what's going on, especially with the channel capture that will be particularly useful for raids. Map as well!

One thing - is there any way the gauges and buttons could be made smaller at all? I like having them there but they're just so fat-looking and they take up space that I'd rather have the main window fill more of. If they could be shrunk in size a bit, this would be perfect for me.

Sarapis

No way to shrink those I'm afraid, sorry! (Or rather, no way to easily enable it without building new graphics and/or a new layout, which we're not going to do right now.) I could see doing a 'thin' version of the bars and gauges in the future though, because they do actually take up quite a bit of vertical room depending on the resolution you're operating at.

Sarapis

Actually, scratch that, I bet we can offer that pretty easily. Will look into it.

Reif

@Antonius Here's what it says:

KeyboardEvent.key value "MediaNextTrack" is obsolete and will be renamed to "MediaTrackNext". For more help https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/KeyboardEvent.key jquery-2.1.0.min.js:3
syntax error play.achaea.com:1
Firefox can't establish a connection to the server at ws://achaea.com/socket/.

I have no clue really what all that stuff is. But yeah, any advice would be great.

@Tecton if the connection is blocked, do you think that would be from the computer itself, or by the network/domain that I'm on?

Tharvis

@Reif which browser is that? Have you tried with a browser other than firefox?

Reif

Yeah, I tried chrome, but I couldn't even get anything to come up in the console.

Tecton

Reif said:

@Antonius Here's what it says:

KeyboardEvent.key value "MediaNextTrack" is obsolete and will be renamed to "MediaTrackNext". For more help https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/KeyboardEvent.key jquery-2.1.0.min.js:3
syntax error play.achaea.com:1
Firefox can't establish a connection to the server at ws://achaea.com/socket/.

I have no clue really what all that stuff is. But yeah, any advice would be great.

@Tecton if the connection is blocked, do you think that would be from the computer itself, or by the network/domain that I'm on?

Would be a network issue, you might be going through a proxy server that doesn't allow websockets (the technology we use to connect).

Reif

Ahh, alright. Thanks a heap,
@Tecton
At least it'll still work at home!