A new version of Frets on Fire is now out. This time around it is only a minor bugfix release with some assorted performance improvements, mainly intended to verify that the reworked build system does its thing properly. Perhaps the most notable feature in this release is the fact that the Mac build is now on par with other other platforms.

• Wrote concise instructions for building and installing the game.
• Removed runtime SVG support. All images must be pre-rasterized as PNG graphics now. This also removes the dependency on Amanith, making the game simpler to build and package.
• Reworked the build system. Now an installation package can be created with a single command for Windows and Mac OS X.
• Added textured fretboard strings and bars.
• Updated the translations.

A fresh version of Frets on Fire is out. This time around we focused on general bugfixes, performance improvements and making the game run more smoothly, especially on older computers. Only a few new features were introduced, most notably the support for importing songs from Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s.

If you used the Windows installer package of the previous version, please uninstall it before using this latest release.

Here’s a more complete changelog:

• Graphics performance improvements
• Effects optimization
• Font rendering optimization
• Miscellaneous bug fixes
• Added import support for Guitar Hero 80s
• Translation updates
• World Charts standing is now reported after each game

As you might have noticed, it’s been awhile since we’ve put out a new version of Frets On Fire and generally things have been a little dormant around the project. I hope to somewhat clarify the situation with this post.

Well, first off, rumors about the death of the project have been greatly exaggerated. We have a new version in the works and at this point it is nearly finished. This time around the focus has been on performance optimization and general bug fixes, so no major new features are being introduced. Hopefully we’ll have the new packages up later this week.

That said, in the long run our intention is to gradually move Frets into a maintenance mode and concentrate more on our next game project. It’s been a blast working on Frets On Fire, but at the same time all these other awesome game ideas have been fighting for attention in our respective heads. This does not mean that we are abandoning Frets completely; the only implication is that major new features will probably not be implemented by us in the near future.

I’ll try to write something more about the new game as it materializes. In the mean time, you might want to check out this General Games Podcast, where I’m interviewed by Justin Amirkhani about all things Frets On Fire.

Lately our web host has been somewhat concerned about the database load generated by the Frets On Fire World Charts web application. While the app does employ a number of caching schemes, it executes some pretty large queries in the process, which are reportedly hindering other users of the system. Given the choice of shutting down the service or mitigating the load, we opted for the latter by adding a process that removes old scores from the database.

The charts now list the best 50 scores for each song and expire all others that are at least three weeks old. The expired scores will disappear from all views, including the personal player pages. This is a pretty aggressive scheme, but it is needed to keep the amount of data bounded. Note that instead of deleting the scores, we are simply moving them to an offline table.

Next we’ll monitor how well this scheme performs in practice and tune it accordingly. Please post your questions and suggestions in the comments below.

The Frets On Fire World Charts were down for some time due to a configuration error. Now everything should be working smoothly again — drop me a line if something isn’t.