Dofus Beta7b— patch notes (2004)

A scan of the page devoted to Dofus in issue #156 of Joystick magazine (February 2004), "Net news" section — found and shared by YouTuber Liche (video "L'incroyable histoire du 1er gros drama de Dofus !"), part of a period-press scan collection made with Ankama's support.

The article (signed "CYD") introduces Dofus as a "cute little game" developed in Flash by Ankama Studio, still in beta-test at the time of writing. It describes a turn-based MMORPG where each player has a limited number of actions per turn (movement, spell, or attack), praises the game's graphics and colorful atmosphere, and mentions a monthly subscription still at the estimate stage ("around 5 euros", presented as two to three times cheaper than typical MMORPGs). The article points interested readers to www.dofus.com to sign up for the beta tests.

No beta version number is cited anywhere in the article — period print press didn't track internal updates day by day. This text is therefore evidence of contemporary press coverage of the beta, not a source on 7b's specific content.

According to the LIS-MOI.txt (READ-ME) file present in the game's files, v7b was released on February 25, 2004.

Based on this screenshot shown by Liche, you can see MP arriving; the interface has also been streamlined, chat is better presented, there's the addition of a + button above chat to expand it, the chat scrollbar is better presented, and there's a big change to the spell bar: melee is now symbolized by an orange tile and is separated from the rest of the bar that holds the spells. There also seems to be more room for spells (going from 8 to 12 spells). The character has 6 AP/3 MP; before, characters tended to have 4/5 AP — this update may have been the first with the default 6 AP 3 MP setup. This update also seems to be the one that added creature mode (at least the sprites).

This update also added new maps, but I don't know more about it (see Liche's video on the topic). The Kanojedo appeared with this update; the building seems to have simply been added to the map without it being modified, whereas the map of the Kanojedo's interior doesn't seem ready at all — not all the map's tiles are valid. The Kanojedo will also be the arrival point for new players.

One change in this version (note: or in v6b) is the switch of village pathfinding from 4 to 8 directions. Before, characters could only move to tiles adjacent to their current tile (long edges touching, like combat movement in Dofus Retro); starting with this version, the character can move "diagonally" across tiles (moving to tiles that touch via a corner of the current cell).

Another change is a change in how the action stack works. In version 5, several actions could be executed at the same time (for example, using a smiley while moving — something removed starting with v7).

The previous changes, along with other changes, mark the break from the initial project, and the one that makes it easiest to date a screenshot is the switch from gray tiles with a spiral to suns for map changes; this change clearly shows that the game is losing the modern side of the trailer (the 2003 trailer shows a lot of animations) and its slightly futuristic environment (the business office) — the game stays within a medieval world without adding modern elements.