Game Searching

Tuesday April 3, 2012 | by IncaWarrior

Better game result filters

The game results page has a few new filters available to narrow down games. Games can now be filtered by a player’s tribe, game result. hosting, and alliances.

These new options can be found on the left side bar by expanding the section under a player name. Options to filter by player names, number of players, map, date range, and rated games (those that get points) are also available in the section.

Facebook Optimizations

For all those that have been hoping to share their victories on Facebook, the site will now show better page previews for links shared for game results, maps, forum posts, news, users, etc.

Also, be sure to Like Populous Reincarnated on Facebook where you can get updates on new features and server issues.

Help out with Hosting

From time to time, people have expressed interest in donating to Populous Reincarnated in order to help out. In the past there was no way to do easily handle the money so it couldn’t be done, but now thanks to our webhost Dreamhost, anyone can Donate directly to hosting costs through PayPal.

Matchmaker Update

Monday March 5, 2012 | by IncaWarrior

Matchmaker 1.7.0.0

The latest matchmaker has a major update to the map pack system with a complete rewrite of the back end and a new method of installation. Map packs are now installed into a separate directory leaving the original Populous files untouched. This should cut down on the permission and corruption issues people have seen that require a full reinstall of Populous to fix.

There is a little bit of setup required to copy the files that is done the first run of the matchmaker. If there is ever a problem with the game not starting or issues with levels, just type !restore to recopy the files.

Map Testing

Another new feature in the update is testing of maps not in a map pack. Often map creators found that it was difficult to try out their map in a multiplayer setting to work out balance and game play issues, so this should help with that.

To test a new map, first submit the map to the website. The uploaded maps will show up on the user submitted maps page. Only maps #266 and higher can be played in the matchmaker.

In the matchmaker, enable map testing on the Populous tab in Options (all testers must do this). There will then be a new "map pack" available labeled "* Test Map" at the top of the map pack list. Click that and pick the map to play on the list for install. Only the host needs to select the map.

Achievements

Monday September 19, 2011 | by IncaWarrior

Unlocked: Read the news

Ok, there isn’t actually one for reading the news, but there are around a hundred other achievements that are now unlockable. Achievements are unlocked for performing certain actions or reaching milestones. For example, the achievement "Master Assassin" is given to a player who has killed 50+ shamans in a single game, and "Part of the Tribe" is given to players with 10+ ranked games (advanced from wildman).

Once unlocked in the matchmaker, the achievement will appear listed in your profile page with the medal (Bronze, Silver or Gold) for all the world to see. A description is shown by hovering over the title.

Some that require multiple games to unlock such as "Conquerer" will only include games from now on, but others that are accumulative stats will count all previous games in the new system.

Map of the Day

A new map of the day has been added that’s visible in the daily matchmaker message. Today’s map is Devil Worlds 2: Grass Worlds - Three Cats. Any wins on the map will receive double the traditional points for the game, and the player with the most wins will be announced Player of the Day (there’s even an achievement for your bragging rights).