The Dink Network

The incredible hole unmaker, Seseler, is at it again; this time with Minor Sprite Fixes, patching holes in multitudinous Original Dink sprites, as well as mending some unnatural goblin head growths, detached stone giant fingers and the like.

They are individually minor errors, but they stack up when there's a lot of them. I know I've been annoyed by those see-through pixels before. This seems like a no-brainer patch to apply to original Dink, and included are also comparison images so you can look at all the changes easily.

Mr. Seseler has updated Dink Smallwood Questlog Edition to version R5. This version fixes "holes" on about 350 sprites, which I'm assuming is either referring to transparency, or someone went on a shooting rampage between versions.

Mr. drone1400 has updated WinDinkEdit Plus 2 Drone Edition to V2.5.12.1. This version comes with several bug fixes to the previous version released in August, which introduced juicy updates like increasing the max frame limit in sequences to 99 (50 in older editors) and total sequence limit to 2000 (less than 1000 in older editors), and it's the 7th update to WDED this year already. Now Mr. drone1400 might look like just an innocent goblin on the Dink Network, but I have it on good authority his profile picture on the Dink Discord is that of a worker drone from Starcraft, and indeed it seems like he has been working diligently.

SimonK has released Ric's Windemere Graphics with .ini files, a demonstration dmod showcasing the many graphics that were created for the Windemere project, an ambitious and by now legal to drink fan project that was supposed to be a next generation Dink engine. Ric released the graphics in 2006, but the problem was they didn't play nice with the engines available at the time and never saw as much use in dmods as they perhaps would've deserved.

ENTER THIS FILE! Newer engines are nicer playmates and SimonK has created .ini files and sample enemy scripts for the graphics, meaning you can just nab everything with the time-honored copy paste method of making dmods. Simon says you should use YeOldeDink or Dink HD to run this, which means you have to do it or you lose the game.

After more than a half a decade break, Mr. Toof comes out with a new romp called Adventurer's Adventure. Here there lie adventurers, and adventures, and the two may even be related...

A good start to August, I'd say! Make more dmods! Play more dmods! Write more reviews! Frolic madly on the ground!

Three new files have been released on the mighty Dink Network. With each new release, the network's power level increases, until...

*AHEM*

Two of them are submissions to YeOldeToast's Development jam: Modify the main game!, which got a whopping 5 entries. <- make sure to check them out in the actual contest thread, because 3 of them still haven't been uploaded to the Dink Network proper. Entrants... feed us...

The first is Hack n' Slash by SimonK, which... which... replaces ducks?! Well, if you thought SimonK wasn't a dark magician before, this should pretty much clear that up. NOTE: This dmod should be played on DinkHD. The in-development YeOldeDink might also work, but FreeDink is blocked and BoomerDink just crashes.

The second is Dink Smallwood Questlog Edition by Seseler and Elpo, and it is in fact their first release. The primary function is adding a quest log, but it also includes bug fixes, some new dialogue, and who knows what else... you'll have to play it to find out! (Because I'm lazy and only took a cursory look to see it works. Bite me!)

The third and final uploaded file is NOT an entry to the contest, but a translation patch: Futrzak - Furball (spolszczenie) by Pradawny, a Polished version of Furball. To use, get your original Furball ready, then extract the contents of the translation patch into the same folder and overwrite everything. If you did it right, all the text will be changed to mostly consonants, and Dink's name will be changed to Dinka Smallwooda. I'm not even kidding. Honestly, Polish seems pretty cool!

Rabidwolf9 has emerged out of the shadows, bringing with him a nifty development file: Bow Plus.

Do you despise the workings of the original bow?
Do you find it annoying and a suffering of the soul to use?

This file improves that and gives you a running choice on how to use your bow.

Want to spam arrows? You can do that.
Want to use it like the regular old bow? Sure, it does that too.
Or time the shot to release on the correct frame when the spark is visible and do a powerful shot that pierces through enemies!

Although the changes made to the bow functionality are subtle, it already feels a lot more use-able in a Dmod, and the timing requirement for the power shot adds an actual degree of "skill" to the bow. Instead of it being random, you get rewarded for timing it correctly.

Comes with a small play-able Dmod to showcase it. Go check it out!

Some updated files have dropped this month, and I've been too busy beheading ducks to type up a news post.
Well here we go..

SimonK has updated Stone of Balance redux. This update includes a few tweaks/changes and also some bug fixes across multiple stories. See the file page for the full list of changes.

Drone1400 has updated Windinkedit Plus Drone edition fixing various bugs, and also Dink Blender Template which fixes the issue of shadows not rendering in blender 4.1.
Martridge Launcher was also updated to include the missing x64\7zip.dll file, which fixes issues on windows 11.

What are you waiting for, make sure to grab those updates if you haven't already!

Drone1400 has released another update for Windinkedit Plus 2 Drone Edition, with some very useful features including:

- 'Focus Mode', which shows only the current screen and all of it's sprites, even if they are out of bounds.

- Cycle to next/previous sprite while in focus mode, using F3 & Shift+F3.

- Added 'Sprite Report' in the tools menu, which generates a report containing information about out of bounds sprites and invalid seq/frame definitions.

- A bug fixed with MultiSprite mode which could previously lead to unwanted selections being performed.

Go check it out, these certainly are interesting features. Want to see how many sprites you accidentally teleported out of bounds because you changed the Y coordinate instead of depth que and wondered why your sprite vanished? .. Now you can.

New files, new files everywhere, I'm drowning in new files!

First up: Prilgrims Quest Redux
Simon Klaebe strikes again! This time releasing Pilgrims Quest Redux. This one also comes with a launch trailer to get you excited to dive right in. First the Stone of Balance Redux and now this? Let's hope this is a 3 course meal because my Necromancer taste bugs are tingling..

Simon has conveniently made a post right here with a nice summary of the various changes, ultimately encouraging my laziness of half-baked news posts.

Second: Martridge Launcher
Drone1400 also enters the arena with the Martridge Launcher. according to a reliable source this is a brand new super secret weapon that launches tiny wizards at people, sweet, sweet dangerous little Martridge projectiles that destroy all your previous Dink Smallwood/Dmod front ends and sprinkles convenience all over your PC, automagically installing various versions of the Dink Smallwood engine for you, allowing you to browse Dmods and download them directly, and many other cool things that will surely make your dinking life a whole lot easier.

Three new files have been released. Evolving Magic is Pupperoni's very first file, including the Evolving Fireball spell, which gets stronger as your magic stat increases, an acid rain spell that also seems to get stronger, and a Close Wounds spell. Oh, and a test dmod featuring giant ducks and easter eggs! Definitely worth a gander if you're looking to spruce up the magic in your dmod, or just for fun for the amusing demo.

The second file is the Dink Blender Template by drone1400, which generates Dink sprites with directions and checker grid shadows from a blender model. It all sounded like magic to me, so I just downloaded the file on a USB stick, inserted it into my blender, and at first I thought it didn't work... however, as the sun came up, my blender DID cast a shadow! Alternatively, full instructions are included.

The third file is Dink Smallwood Chinese Edition by xjnzhidao0, which seems to have been originally posted in 2018 on a Chinese forum. Thanks EMP for submitting this. The file was lying around for a while because we weren't sure what to do with it, but I reckon such a high quality file deserves to be on the Dink Network. It's not just a simple translation patch, it's the full suite. Included are Chinese translations of Original Dink and Mystery Island, with even the title screen buttons translated, the full CD version of the game, as well as a DOSbox emulation of Windows 95. For that authentic retro experience of playing Dink Smallwood on Windows 95, because Dink has been retro for a while now, and we're really all incredibly old.

Simon Klaebe is back, and decided to release Stone of Balance Redux today! Which is in some ways very cruel. Today is April 1st, after all. We've gone down this road before with Necromancer. Why would you believe this is real?

But it is real! If you haven't been to the forums in a bit, Simon shadow-launched a YouTube channel that showcased him playing through Stone of Balance a few weeks back, and there's even a bloody launch trailer for Redux with some snazzy music. And besides - he tried to release it a couple days ago, but I wasn't paying attention.

So, what's new and improved? Here's an abbreviated list:

• Many tweaks, a few new midi and sound files plus quite a few new graphics.
• Overall story has not changed.
• Added more clues and less running around overall.
• Added 'good' ending to the Land of Reverence story.

Maybe we can continue the tradition of doing cool things on April 1st instead of jokes? That'd be cool!

megadogV2 has updated his D-Mod Silence to v1.03, nearly nine years since v1.02. Time is a wild, wild ride.

This version includes a number of improvements, like:

• Collecting gold and choosing not to quit the game after selecting the option to do so no longer make Imogen talk.
• "Buying a house" section removed: game simply ends at the cliff face.
• Issue with fireball spell remaining on counter fixed.
• Altered dialogue to fix some things as mentioned in COTPATD.
• Issue with intro cut scene not drawing Lilith's possessions fixed.
• Changed some interactions that implied Imogen could read (she can't).
• Added interactions for showing Peter and the Librarian Lilith's note (prior to showing it to Micheal).
• Improved leveling system.
• Can no longer skip the dialogue for opening the forest.
• Added a pair of hidden secrets.

I think this D-Mod is worth playing even if you just have a few minutes for the introduction. I still get shivers thinking about it, and I haven't played it for a over nine years now.

The only bread product in the land to survive since before the invention of the word 'the', yeoldetoast has released some of the prettiest potions you'll ever see in Dink Smallwood: PNGtions.

Even though DinkHD has supported the colorful png file format for almost 6 years, I don't believe many D-Mods or authors have tried to incorporate it yet. But this is a perfect example of where it can make things look pretty darn nice.

I bet you aren't even reading these words. You're just so captivated by the animation to your right. I can write anything I want here. I thought this would give me more freedom, but in reality I always just write what I want. Hmm. Well, I guess I'll just stare at that animation a bit more and finish up this post.

If you happen to be working on D-Modding again, you might want to take a look at WinDinkEdit Plus 2 Drone Edition. drone1400 has been advertising this edition on the forums for a while, and it kind of snuck into the Files list with little fanfare last year. It continues the tradition of slathering another layer of goodness on top of Gary Hertel's original WinDinkEdit, this time with:

• support for 600x550 tile-sheets!
• PNG sprite support!
• fixed a nasty crash related to the undo-queue becoming full
• fixed wrong hardness rendering for resized sprites
• easier tile-sheet hardness editing
• a bigger toolbar with bigger uglier buttons
• command line arguments: "-game" same as in DinkHD and FreeDink, can be used to specify what DMOD to open on launch "--refdir" same as in FreeDink, can be used to specify a specific core DINK installation to use
• a crash logger, same one as in DinkHD (do not delete the WinDinkEditPlus2.pdb file for the crash logger to work properly!)
• and more!

This latest version specifically fixes a big here visions weren't rendered in the editor view immediately. A forgivable bug, given that visions are a terrible feature

The incredibly prolific rabidwolf9 has released a demo to his D-Mod entitled Relic Hunter.

While this is only the third D-Mod our lupus pal has contributed to, he has created nearly three dozen developmental files over the past twenty years. That expertise definitely shows in this demo, where deft scene work and clever scripting show a great deal of craftsmanship. For example, in the dungeon you learn of a new feature where you can press 'Q' to see where enemies are located on the screen, very useful for screenlocks where enemies are hiding behind opaque walls.

Even though this is a demo, and will likely never be finished, it's definitely worth taking a peek to see a D-Mod full of quality.