Revision to cross-platform support and updates
UI redesign
Creator experience redone
More packs/skins
Twitter integration
More restrictions for adverts/rewards
EU RGS fees halved to 1p
Go Gold. — Runescape (@Runescape) August 8, 2013
It’s been a long time coming but Runescape Gold (formerly RuneScape Gold) is finally available across all devices. If you’re reading this it’s highly likely you’ve heard of the Old School Runescape client and its emphasis on light-hearted interaction with other players and in-game loot, and while you’ll be able to continue using the same client on RGS as you would on SWR, the actual experience won’t be all that different, particularly in terms of system changes.
The critical difference is that while the RGS client’s technology allows you to directly contact other players over various means, on Old School Runescape the only way of doing so is through a public bulletin board (specifically the Community Board), and while you’ll be able to communicate with other players via RGS, there is no way to direct others towards you. Additionally, while the RGS client will be able to be used on every platform (i.e. PC, PS4, Vita, PS3, WiiU, Xbox One), the lack of cross-platform support means that you won’t be able to play with friends on the other side of the world.
We recently took a look at some of the promised features of Runescape Gold – the game’s revamp – so we wanted to share a few of our thoughts, as well as provide a short preview of some of the new features in the game (we also want to emphasize that we only have very limited experience with RGS and we cannot yet make any definitive statement on whether it will be a worthwhile addition to the Old School world.)
Runescape gold
Although most people won’t have heard of Runescape Gold (the Old School Runescape client has not been publicly announced yet), its inclusion in the game is probably the most significant change of all. As the name suggests, RGS is more limited than the current version of Runescape, in particular, it will not support death passes or unlock badges. As a consequence, it’s unlikely that it will receive as much attention from the general player base as the normal game, but there’s still a lot to like about the project, so we’re going to take a look at some of the main aspects of the release.
The first change to the client from the normal version of Runescape is that the interface is split into three parts: a player-oriented bar on the left, and a persistent info panel on the right. This is currently the only way of interacting with the RGS client, and the information panel is really only useful if you are interacting with other players. These elements of the client do a better job of distinguishing between the traditional onboarding process of playing RGS versus its counterpart on the classic client and should be much more intuitive for newcomers.
A decent, old-school Runescape client
In order to interact with the client, you can either type /run, /talk, /trade, /item, or /report, and once you’ve done so, you will be able to see a list of users with whom you are able to communicate (we will refer to these as “friends” for the purpose of this article). The bar on the right also features four special buttons: up, down, log out, and profile. These buttons only appear for the user you have designated as the “Owner” of the client, and in order to use the buttons you must grant ownership of the client to the user. Once you’ve done this, the Owner can send /perform, /see, /cancel, or /show message messages to the players on the friend list. You can also send messages to the Owner directly, which she can then forward to her friends by pressing the corresponding button.
The equivalent functionality on the classic client is not much more intuitive, with one exception. You can only access the players list in the options menu (which can be accessed through /operations). When you’re in the options menu, pressing up or down on the d-pad will display the list of available characters, whereas it is accessed via the chat box in the lower right-hand corner. You will also be able to see a list of available characters at any time by pressing the number 7 button. These functions are much more widely-used on the classic client, and it is a shame that they were not present in the RGS client from the get-go.
The chat box is the main method of communication with the RGS client. You can send /perform, /show, or /notify messages to any player on the list of friends by pressing the corresponding button. In addition, you can issue /reply to messages by pressing down and choosing to send a message to the user who initiated the conversation. The owner will then be able to view the conversation in the right-hand panel, and the original player will be able to view it in the chat box. You can change the player in the left-hand panel to be a “random” option, meaning that it will appear in the chat box rather than your friend’s list of friends.
The messages you can send will generally follow the same format:
Request a Friend Message… Request a Message… or Request a From Friend
The user will be able to see all of these messages in the Chatbox, with each corresponding button serving the same purpose in the classic client. The purpose of this article is not to suggest that RGS has been improved upon the classic client in any meaningful way; rather, it is to demonstrate that there are a number of interface elements that are significantly more intuitive to use.
Meet the developers!
As we will discover in the next article, the developers at Runescape Studios have embraced the classic server to provide a true emulation of the service. You can find Runescape-geniuses.com here.
The solution is currently in alpha and is only available on Linux and OS X. You can download the package from the Runescape site. If you want to build it yourself, the project files for JAR are on GitHub.
The next article will focus on the interface from the player’s point of view.
Multitasking tips for JIRAs
The Jira team at Jagex has worked extremely hard to develop the most advanced task management solution for the Java platform. The solution is offered in two forms:
The common tool of Jira is to provide a snapshot of your entire To-Do list to the computer. To-Do Lists, which are based on the functionalities of the popular Todo.txt software, are to-do lists that contain sub-lists (or tasks). The list contents are divided up into lists and sublists to make it easier to organize a list and view the tasks. To-Do Lists, which are based on the functionalities of the popular Todo.txt software, are to-do lists that contain sublists (or tasks). The list contents are divided up into lists and sublists to make it easier to organize a list and view the tasks.
The multitasking tool of Jira is to provide a view of your entire To-Do list to the computer. To-Do Lists, which are based on the functionalities of the popular Todo.txt software, are to-do lists that contain sub-lists (or tasks). The list contents are divided up into lists and sublists to make it easier to organize a list and view the tasks.
Use the platform’s power
With Java 8, users can utilize the multi-core architecture of their computer to process tasks at incredible speeds. With multi-threading, tasks are completed very quickly. For example, the TaskMaster’s TaskRunning class, for example, can process 100 tasks/per second, while the TaskOrdering class can process 100 tasks/per second.
Of course, like all things in the software world, there are some trade-offs. With TaskMaster, you cannot specify a due date for tasks, and you cannot get two tasks to run in parallel with one another.
Multitasking makes it easy to ensure that tasks are completed as quickly as possible, or completed in a predetermined order. If a task is selected to run, the task can then be run in any order, although tasks that are run more frequently will become more sensitive to delays in other tasks.
Multitasking allows you to split up the execution of a task into two or more parts that may be run at the same time, or run in different orders. This way, it is possible to optimize the speed and quality of work.
Ready for a run?
In this article, we will see how to use the Jira multitasking tool, and how to optimise the speed and quality of work with it. The utility was designed with Java 9 in mind, so you will need to install J2SE 8 and Java 9 on your computer. For a more complete J2SE 9 installation, click here.
The Jira task management software takes a set of underlying tasks and splits them up into smaller tasks. In this article, we will see how to use the multitasking tool.
Run the application
The current version of Jira offers a limited number of utilities for developers:
JIRA: The application used for tracking Jira tasks, queries, emails, and other documents.
LOBVS: The system for storing and updating task lists, along with upcoming tasks, due dates, priority, size, etc.
Threshold: The system for running tasks as a task.
