Hello,

We are pleased to announce the release of a new <e-Adventure> release (1.2 RC1) available through sourceforge.net, the <e-Adventure> website and the downloads section of the website.

New features have been added to this release, as well as many bugfixes found thanks to intense testing of the platform.

• Better books: arrows can now be customized and bugs have been fixed
• Better trajectories: length of sections can be defined to simulate the depth of a scene and bugs have been fixed
• Improved performance (engine): performance is now be considerably better across all games, including the playback videos and animation of transitions
• Improved performance (editor): the editor should now use less memory and allow a more fluent creation experience
• Increased “action” flexibility: default actions are no longer forced upon games
• New “Drag to” action which allows the dragging and dropping of objects (both directly as an interaction and using a context button)
• Reduced size: the installer is now less than 20MB against the 40MB of previous releases
• Improved conversations: For instance, the last line in a conversation can remain in the screen while the answer choices are presented
• Better graphic resources: Default buttons and books have a new and improved look
• New licence agreement: is now pure LGPL software!
• Two new translations: Portuguese and German are now available (some errors are still to be found in the RC). This is thanks to the special effort of Adela Castillo and Enrique Lopez Mañas

We hope you enjoy the impovements in this new version.

Dear users, We are happy to announce that we have updated two classic <e-Adventure> games: 1492 and "Paniel and the Chocolate-based Sauce Adventure". You can try them out now! Thank you! The <e-Adventure> team.

Dear all,

Today our work on <e-Adventure>-LAMS integration is well under way. We have just implemented a LAMS activity and a specific exportation profile as Learning Object in the <e-Adventure> editor. This way you will not only be able to add a game as another LAMS activity but also you be able to take advantage of the information that <e-Adventure> gathers from students' interaction. The data exchanged with LAMS during the game execution can be used for automatic flow control at branching. Also, you can see the assessment report at LAMS Monotoring View and gather it with all activity reports at portfolio.

So we want you to try it out. We have developed a sequence to teach concepts of partity as case study and we added it to our Moodle. This is the first version, but we are improving it to put this sequence into use at "Ramiro de Maeztu" primary school in Madrid. You can access this sequence at English Forums or through this link.

If you still aren't a <e-Adventure> community member, you will need to register to access this test sequence.

We would really like to know your opinion through a survey that is the end of a sequence or through our forums.

We acknowledge the collaboration of Ernie Ghiglione (LAMS).

We hope you like it.

Kind regards,

The <e-Adventure> team.

Dear all,

From the <e-Adventure> team we are seeking to update the look of our platform to be more simple, natural and intuitive.

That is why we are revising our logos and we have some proposals. We would really like to know your opinions about the new logos, so we invite all of you to fulfil the next questionnaire: link.

Please note that the link will redirect you to a login screen. There is no need to be registered in the system to complete the questionnaire (it is completely anonymous), just press the button "Login as guest" and the questionnaire will appear.

Thanks a lot for your cooperation! Your feedback will help us to make <e-Adventure> better!

Warm regards,

The <e-Adventure> team.

We have added a new game: parity game. Two turtles will help us to understand the concepts of even and odd. This game has been designed to introduce the concepts of parity to students of first courses of elementary school.

Also we have actived the self-assessment profile. You will check your performance at the end of the game.

We hope you enjoy it!!

Best regards.

<e-Adventure> team

A prototype of an educational video game developed by the <e-Adventure> team was broadcasted by the Spanish National TV Channel (RTVE) during the sixth chapter of the documentary "El Mundo se Mueve Contigo” (If you go the world goes with you), on the 12th of April of 2010 at 15:00 (Spanish local time). The documentary is publicly available either on the RTVE web-site and the <e-Adventure> Youtube channel. Although the video is in Spanish, it has been subtitled in English for your convenience.
The prototype developed is an <e-Adventure> video game that has been enhanced with some accessibility features for people with limited vision or mobility. In this manner the universal access to the games is promoted, not only as products for entertainment but also as educational contents.
The demonstration for TV was performed by Juan José Montiel, a consultant of the Technosite Company. Technosite is a company of the Fundosa group (which belongs to the ONCE – Spanish National Association of Disabled People) which provides us with advice in terms of accessibility in the Spanish National I+D+i projects INREDIS and GAME•TEL.
"El Mundo se Mueve Contigo” is a documentary of 13 chapters produced by RTVE which covers the problems that people with any disability face in their daily life.
Currently the prototype is not available for download; however, we are working hard so our expectations is to release a first prototype of an accessible version of <e-Adventure> very soon.
So stay tuned!
The <e-Adventure> team.

It is our pleasure to announce that the Hematocrit game, which was already available to the public in Spanish, has been also released in English. This game has been used during the last two academic years in a real learning scenario by more than 800 students at the Medical School of the Complutense University of Madrid. If you want to read more about this research, you can access some related publications about:Edutainment 2009. Hope you enjoy it! Best regards, The <e-Adventure> team

The English version of the Fire Protocol game is now available. It has the same history but we have translated all the elements, from conversations to edition items (flags, information about characters, objets, scenes, etc.).

Also we have actived the self-assessment profile. You will check your performance at the end of the game.

We hope you enjoy it!!

Best regards.

<e-Adventure> team

It is available a video that follows the steps showed in the tutorial about the creation of a simple adventure with the editor of the version v1.0. It shows how to create a game in four minutes.

You can access this link or "Overview">> "Documentation".

It is available a video that follow the steps showed in the tutorial about the creation of a simple game using the version v1.0 of the editor. It shows how to create a game in four minutes.

Click this link or go to "General information" >> "Documentation".

Version 1.0 is finally arriving, packed with multiple novelties and featuring a completely refurbished user interfaces. We are still working on the final bugs, but it is ready for public usage. Please try it out and help us identify any remaining issues.

NOTE: The Win32 Installer presents some problems in the presence of some firewalls (including COMODO Personal Firewall). If you have problems running the installed application, please revert to the generic multiplatform version.

This release contains multiple new features. Special mention deserve some changes made on how <e-Adventure> is distributed. On the one hand, the multiplatform version has been improved in terms of general compatibility, and now works properly under Windows and Linux systems with Java JRE 1.6 installed. For Windows users we have also improved the Win32 version including now a bundled installer that does not require having Java installed on the computer. Mac users can use our deeply revised Mac version, which solves most of the compatibility problems reported by users. Given the improved compatibility with Linux environments of the generic multiplatform version, we will not release any more Linux-specific versions.

Besides, all the versions include two sample games for your convenience. Try them out!

The detailed changes are:

• New look and icons!
• The placement of elements in the scene has been completely redesigned and now is fully drag & drop. Besides it now allows users to adjust the size of the elements for each scene, along with the order in which each element must be painted thanks to a new layer system.
• Documentation has been updated and now is distributed along with the release.
• Movement system improved by the use of trajectories in combination with barriers.
• Set items can be defined now in <e-Adventure> to improve how the games will look.
• Interactivity has been improved by the inclusion of custom actions for NPCs and items.
• Now it is easier to implement a narrative flow in <e-Adventure> thanks to the inclusion of variables, macros and global states.
• Support for active areas has been enhanced.
• Export & Import system improved in both game editor and engine.
• New animation system: much more flexible, powerful and easy to use.
• The HTML books editor has been also improved.
• Multimedia-content compatibility has been improved.
• Compatibility with Mac and Linux systems has been enhanced.
• Multiple bugs fixed.

NOTE: The Win32 Installer presents some problems in the presence of some firewalls (including COMODO Personal Firewall). If you have problems running the installed application, please revert to the generic multiplatform version.

This release is one of the largest releases published. Under the auspices of a bigger developer force, the <e-Adventure> development team focused the efforts in developing new features as well as in solving old bugs. The detailed changes:

• A lighter version of the engine can be deployed within the editor, to check the games while developing them
• A major code refactoring has been performed. The new java packages distribution is more realistic, according to the <e-Adventure> structure .
• Multiple enhancements and bugs solved in the conversations: random selection is now possible.
• New screens mode: the full screen mode is now possible
• The implementation between the LMS and the game has been acomplished (based on AJAX) to allow some new features which will be later on used by a comunication based on SCORM
• Image format compatibility is now assured.
• The HTML books have been renovated.
• Multiple bug fixed.

This release is mostly a maintenance release, fixing some bugs encountered on the previous release. The execution options for the engine have been improved and the total size of the release has been significantly reduced. The detailed changes:

• Internationalization of the engine: The engine now also supports internationalization, with default versions for Spanish and English.
• Improved the general workflow (exporting and executing games is now simpler).
• Multiple bug fixed.

This release focuses on augmenting the features of the <e-Adventure> platform, with special focus on game elements. This is our complete change list:

• Barriers: There is a new type of element for third-person games (in which there is a main character always on screen). In order to prevent the player from accessing certain areas of the screen, it is possible to define barriers that impede movement. The barriers can be activated/deactivated using the flag system.
• Random events: Alternative effects can now be selected according to a random chance. This allows the creation of non-deterministic games.
• Updated the engine to allow the direct selection of a single EAD instead of a complete folder.

With this release we have tried to tackle <e-Adventure>'s Achilles Heel with a complete reimplementation of the way in which the editor manages the projects and game assests. From now on, the games are treated as "Projects" and stored into open folders. Downwards compatibility is assured by an "EAD import" feature that takes a compiled EAD file and deploys it as an <e-Adventure> v0.5 project. This should be a solution for all the bugs related to game-saving that could corrupt an existing EAD file. The other key feature is improved cross-platform compatibility. However, this is a major release with many other interesting additions. This is our complete change list:

• Project management: The editor no longer works with single-file compiled EAD files, but with open projects stored in folders. When you are satisfied with your game, you can export for execution.
• Importation of EAD files: Pre-compiled EAD files from any version of <e-Adventure> (0.1b+) can be imported from the editor and deployed as a project on your file system.
• Multiple exportation options: Commit your games as executable EAD files, as standalone games (with the <e-Adventure> engine embedded in the same JAR file) or as encapsulated Learning Objects.
• Improved GUI for conversation authoring. The position of the nodes is now remembered between executions.
• Internationalized versions in English and Spanish.
• Improved cross-platform compatibility. The platform has been tested in WinXP, Vista, Ubuntu and OSX. Please let us know of any platform-specific bugs that may have gone unnoticed.
• Solved the bugs related to the direction that characters faced in first person games.
• Most of the bugs reported by users have been solved (and new ones probably included).

This release is focused on enriching game features. The new key elements are active areas (portions of the scenario with active programmable behaviors) and timed events. The adaptation and assessment mechanisms have also received a complete GUI redesign and now are much more intuitive to use.

• Support for active areas: This new feature allows some areas of the background of a scene to be defined as "Active" with behaviors similar to objects. This allows adding behavior to objects already included in the background (like objects in photos)
• Timed events: The editor now supports timers, which can be triggered when a certain condition is satisfied and will run until interrupted or until they expire, executing a different effects block on each case.
• Automated comments for empty actions can now be activated/deactivated<./li>
• New interface for the definition of assessment and adaptation profiles. The same game can include several profiles that can be selected from the editor
• New types of assessment rules: The editor now allows the definition of assessment rules with different payloads depending on the time elapsed between

The most significant updates in this new release are centered on the educational value. It is now possible to export the games as standards-compliant Learning Objects. Besides, we now support advanced forms of content in the in-game books, including HTML & RTF rendering. tor, which now supports the authoring of adaptation and assessment files through a user-friendly interface. This is our detailed list:

• The games can now be exported as Learning Objects, packaged according to the IMS Content Packaging specification and described with IEEE LOM metadata
• Advanced HTML and RTF rendering inside in-game books
• New editor interface for the creation of book content
• Several performance improvements to avoid running out of memory
• Known issue: There is a problem when loading jpg animations for characters. Please use PNG files for better results

The most significant updates in this new release are centered on the editor, which now supports the authoring of adaptation and assessment files through a user-friendly interface. These are some other changes:

• Minor UI tweaks on the editor
• Improved video support
• New default cursors and pointers, plus the ability to customize them for each adventure
• You can now configure the pointer appearance and text when pointing to exits
• Fixed a bug with the music restarting on every scene change
• Now it is possible to include effect blocks in every node of a conversation, including sound effects (designed to support voiceovers for the conversations, but be creative!)
• Flag management improved
• New authoring interface for assessment and adaptation files

This is the first public release of the <e-Adventure> tools. We still expect some bugs and a few bumps down the road. We will appreciate any feedback you feel like sending back to us. If you tested any of our pre-releases, these are the most significant changes:

• Files are now encapsulated as (.ead) files. They are still zipped files containing XML, just open with your decompressor of choice.
• Added support for first-person games in which the main character is not displayed
• The editor has changed in order to be less focused on the structure of the language
• Added support for MPEG, MOV and some AVI-contained codecs
• Complete overhaul of the asset management interface in the editor (Windows only)
• Slight improvements in the management of big files (major improvements on the way)
• Added support for cursor customization