TalkWorld

Updates

Patch notes for every release, newest first. The browser version updates as soon as a release is out. The Windows launcher checks for updates when it starts and installs them with one click.

Version 0.0.21

Released 19 October 2026

New

  • The full intro from the original game: the Talkworld-Online.com title fades in from black and out again, then the TalkWorld globe fades in while the town loads and fades out as you arrive. Click or press any key to skip it. It plays once each time you open the game.
  • High quality graphics: chat text now uses modern fonts shaped like the game's three originals (Arimo, Tinos and Oswald), drawn at your screen's full resolution. Lines still wrap where they did in 1996, and colours from *help carry over.
  • The mailbox says "No mail." when you have no messages.

Fixes

  • Program Options: Semi-transparency now stays the way you set it after you reload, and a draw distance typed into the box (instead of set with the arrows) is saved.
  • Looks: a new look picked in the character editor before logging in is kept, instead of being replaced by the one saved on the server. In the 1996 game, the look you log in with is now saved with your name.
  • "Entering TalkWorld" stays in the status bar until the intro has finished, then changes to the players nearby.

Version 0.0.20

Released 19 October 2026

New

  • Chat: "name has logged on" and "name has logged off" appear when people join or leave your room, like the original server. Moving between rooms shows "has arrived" and "has left". Type *notify off to hide them.
  • Chat: *help lists every command in the original style, with the command names in red.
  • Commands from the original server: *passwd, *set_email, *status, *date, *restrict on|off (only hear voice whispered to you) and *echo on|off (hear your own voice played back).
  • Status bar: shows "Connected - 3 other players nearby", and while someone is speaking, "Coleman, embe are talking".
  • Characters move their mouths while their voice is playing.
  • High quality graphics: the chat box text is drawn at your screen's full resolution with the game's own letters smoothed.

Changes

  • Posting on a board or sending mail also prints "Message posted." in the chat box.

Fixes

  • The game picture is placed on whole screen pixels, so text, panels and the 3D view are no longer softened by an extra resize in the browser.

Version 0.0.19

Released 19 October 2026

Changes

  • Windows: in the 1996 classic layout, the game window now takes the shape of the classic window, so there are no black bars at the sides. It keeps that shape while you drag its edges, and maximise and full screen (F11) are turned off in that layout. The Standard and Big view layouts can still be resized freely and maximised.
  • Website: a new Updates page with these notes, and a refreshed home page that lists what the game can do.

Version 0.0.18

Released 19 October 2026

Changes

  • Screen layouts switch straight away. Picking Standard, Big view or 1996 classic in the View menu rearranges the window in place, without restarting or reconnecting, so you stay in the same room and spot.

Fixes

  • Windows: the chosen layout and the High quality graphics setting no longer go back to their old values after the game window reloads.

Version 0.0.17

Released 19 October 2026

New

  • Saved looks. With a registered name, your character's appearance is saved on the server and follows you between the browser and the Windows app. The launcher also hands it to the original 1996 game before it starts.
  • Server update notice. When the server restarts for an update, players see a short "Server update" message instead of "Connection lost". The game waits for the server to come back, reconnects by itself, and loads the newer version of the game first if there is one.

Fixes

  • Name tags sit just above a player's head instead of over it.
  • With High quality graphics, name tags no longer slide to the side while a player or the camera is moving.

Version 0.0.16

Released 19 October 2026

New

  • Official rooms. Server admins can turn a published map into a permanent room. Official rooms are marked with a star and always listed below Main, in the launchers and on this website, even when nobody is in them.
  • Windows launcher: a clear "Play in" choice between the new TalkWorld window and the original 1996 game (talkworld.exe). If a room uses a custom map, which the 1996 game can't show, the launcher offers to join it in the new window or to start the 1996 game in the main town instead.
  • Big view layout: the 3D view fills the whole left side and the chat box moves to the right, under the compass.
  • The mouse wheel scrolls the chat box.
  • Map Editor: a help window with every tool, key and mouse action, shown after the welcome window and from the Help button.
  • Map Editor: R turns or flips what you are placing. Walls and doors swap their inside and outside pictures (a small arrow shows which way the inside faces), floors turn their pattern, and Build picks which side gets the door.

Changes

  • Map Editor, Fly: Space goes up, Shift goes down, and the speed builds up while you hold a key.
  • Map Editor, Walk: drawn at a higher resolution, so it looks as sharp as the game window.
  • Map Editor: scroll bars in the same style as the game's.

Fixes

  • Windows: Export in the Map Editor (and Save History in the game) open a normal Save window. Before, the file was left unfinished in the Downloads folder.
  • Map Editor: unexpected errors now show a message instead of failing silently.

Version 0.0.15

Released 19 October 2026

New

  • Stairs and upper floors. Custom maps can join one floor to the next with stairs. Players walk up and down them, stand and chat upstairs, and see each other on the right floor. Upstairs, any square without a floor acts like a wall, so nobody walks off into the air.
  • Map Editor: a Stairs tool (U) with four styles made from the original textures: wood, carpet on wood, stone and black tiles. It adds a floor where the stairs come out if there isn't one.
  • Map Editor: furniture and other objects can go on any floor.
  • Map Editor: a "House with stairs" stamp with a furnished upstairs room.

Stairs work in the new TalkWorld window and the browser. The original 1996 game always stays on the ground floor, and only plays the original town.

Version 0.0.14

Released 19 October 2026

New

  • Skies for custom maps: one of the six original sunset skies, Random like the original, or one of the new skies (clear day, starry night, overcast, snowfall and thunderstorm).
  • Town maps for custom maps, drawn in the style of the 1996 map with roofs, trees and named plaques. In the Map Editor's Town map view, names can be dragged, renamed or hidden.
  • Map Editor: an Original and High quality switch to preview a map both ways.
  • Map Editor: pictures that admins add appear straight away, without reloading.
  • The owner of a published map, or a server admin, can delete it.

Version 0.0.13

Released 19 October 2026

Changes

  • Map Editor: the Walk view draws a map the way the game does, with the same skies, High quality graphics, view width and draw distance. The 3D build view shows the sky too.
  • Browser launcher: the official server list and, for admins, the Admin window, as in the Windows launcher.

Version 0.0.12

Released 19 October 2026

Changes

  • Map Editor: it knows when you are signed in to the launcher. If you aren't, Sign in and Register sit next to Publish.

Version 0.0.11

Released 19 October 2026

New

  • A new Map Editor. Build in a 3D view as well as on the flat map, or fly through your town as you build.
  • Stamps: ready-made houses, a pub, a church, a cinema, forests, a pond, a town square, a garden, a hedge maze, a bandstand and an ice house. Click to place, R to turn.
  • A forest brush that paints mixed trees and plants, a smart eraser, and copy, cut, paste and turn for any part of a map.
  • A picture library with plain names, search, categories and recently used pictures, plus new ice, snow and packed-ice textures.

Version 0.0.10

Released 19 October 2026

Changes

  • File, Exit saves your settings and takes you back to the launcher.
  • Windows: your character and game settings are kept between launches.

Version 0.0.9

Released 19 October 2026

New

  • Map Editor: start from a ready-made village with an inn, a cottage with a fenced garden, a church, a pond, paths, trees and furniture.
  • Custom pictures. Server admins can add new textures and objects that everyone can use in their maps. A published map carries the pictures it uses.

Changes

  • High quality graphics: sharper trees and objects.

Version 0.0.8

Released 19 October 2026

New

  • High quality graphics, in the View menu. The 3D view is drawn by your graphics card at your screen's full resolution, with every texture and character redrawn at four times the detail. Walls, doors, glass and movement follow the original engine exactly. The original 1996 look stays the default.

Version 0.0.7

Released 19 October 2026

New

  • The Map Editor: build your own town in the browser or from the launcher's Map Editor button, publish it with a registered name, and make a room that uses it.
  • Create Room has a map picker, and the room list shows which map each room uses.

Changes

  • Rooms with a custom map always open in the new game window, since the 1996 game only has the original town.

Version 0.0.6

Released 19 October 2026

Changes

  • A steadier frame rate on fast monitors, and faster drawing overall.
  • Phones: the layout fits the visible screen, the menu fits on one row, and the controls are shorter and clear the home bar.

Fixes

  • Floors no longer show a missing triangle beside the camera, and large floor tiles and long walls no longer vanish in the distance.

Version 0.0.5

Released 18 October 2026

New

  • A new game window on Windows. Join now opens TalkWorld in its own window with the wide view, smooth 60 frames per second movement, the game's menus and voice chat. The original 1996 game is still included as an option, and is used automatically under Wine or when Windows is missing WebView2.
  • Linux downloads: a .deb for Ubuntu, Debian and Mint, and a .tar.gz for other distributions. Both run the game through Wine, set up for you.

Changes

  • Movement is worked out 60 times a second. Walking and running feel the same as in 1996 but respond twice as quickly.
  • Name tags are centred over players and have a little padding.
  • Phones: the direction pad moves through menus and dialogs, its centre button selects, and Chat shows or hides the chat panel.

Version 0.0.4

Released 18 October 2026

New

  • The town's hidden rooms. The teleport list now includes the Maze, the cabins, the side buildings and eleven rooms that were never named before. Each has its own message board, and *goto reaches them.
  • Browser version: a widescreen layout, used by default on large screens.
  • New chat commands from the original tip box: *notify on|off, *speech on|off and *emote.

Changes

  • The tip box uses TalkWorld's own tips, lightly updated where they mentioned 1990s hardware.
  • Browser version: the Help menu points to this website, and the pointer and right-click menus behave like the original.

Version 0.0.3

Released 18 October 2026

New

  • The browser version at play.talkworld.org. The 3D engine, windows, menus, fonts and sounds were rebuilt from the 1996 program and draw the same picture, pixel for pixel. Browser and Windows players share the same town, chat and voice.
  • Voice chat in the browser, in the same format as the 1996 program, so both sides hear each other. Push to talk with the Record button.
  • Phones and tablets: a layout made for touch screens, with on-screen controls and the chat as readable text.
  • A Windows installer, TalkWorld Setup, with Start menu and desktop shortcuts and an uninstaller.

Changes

  • The launcher opens only once. Starting it again brings the open window forward.
  • The game starts even when another program is using its usual network port.

Version 0.0.2

Released 18 October 2026

New

  • Automatic updates. The launcher checks for a new version when it starts and installs it with one click. Every update is signed and checked before anything is replaced.
  • Room owners can remove and mute people in their own private room, change its password and close it.
  • An Admin window in the launcher for server admins.

Changes

  • Voice is push to talk by default, so nobody broadcasts by accident.
  • A clearer sign-in panel that checks your name and password straight away.
  • Updates no longer overwrite your game settings.

Version 0.0.1

Released 18 October 2026

The first release of the revival: a new server for the 1996 game and a launcher for Windows.

New

  • A new server that the original talkworld.exe connects to as if nothing had changed: login, walking, seeing other players, talking, shouting and whispering, emotes, the town's areas and buildings, doors, message boards, mail, the tip box and player descriptions.
  • Private rooms: separate copies of the town for a group of friends, with an optional password.
  • Voice chat, always relayed through the server, so nobody can see anyone else's address.
  • Registered names with passwords, plus moderation tools for admins.
  • The Windows launcher: a server and room list showing who is in each room, joining or creating rooms, playing as a guest or with a registered name, and starting the game without any network setup.