Dedicated this week to updating all the game clients and fixing all the issues, updating the Steam clients is hard work, it takes time, but it's relatively fun - changes are instantly live, on the other hand, Mac App Store is sad, for some reason the existing version can't be downloaded properly from the App Store, I guess something happened when they teased to feature the game then didn't do it. I submitted the updated version, it's still pending. Overall Mac App Store is definitely not worth the effort for a non-established game
Fixed the "Authorization in Progress." issue some were experiencing (thanks to Generol's debugging help on Discord). When the client is alive for long, some still experience singular window crashes, hope to tackle that issue soon too (if it's possible)
Most noteable game change this week (not live yet) - is the armor / resistance and attack speed formula, resistance multiplier is now 1 instead of 1.5 - there's also a cap for gains (160 for str, 180 for int, 160 for dex), after the cap, gains are reduced - for armor/resistance, it's reduced 75% - attack speed is more homogenous comparedly (by shifting the dex gains more to lower levels, hoped to make dex favorable for non-dex classes as well) - in the coming days, going to document edge details like this about the game in the Guide
Progressed on the new scroll system, it's not ready yet, couldn't decide on the naming either. Main challenge is to distinguish the new system The property scrolls aren't all too intuitive for newcomers either. Might end up making it easier to understand as well. For property scrolls, the `Stat: 7` attribute indicates a scroll-less item, but for this new "Special" scroll type, unsure how to indicate the availability - anyway I'm rambling, hopefully we'll see the result on Week 75
Early Access: Week 72,73 in Review
Lost week 72 almost entirely while switching to a new Macbook :( When you lose one week like this, usually the following week is a slow one as well, it takes time to regain the momentum - Other than this hiccup, things are generally good, both development wise and life wise
There's the new Code UI, Pros: It clearly shows which Code slot you are using/editing, the slots have new colors as well, makes it easy to differentiate between character/code slots Con: For new players, loading a code slot might not be easy to discover, you have to either click the existing code slot, or the gray code slot type text in the new UI
Launched CLI on week 72, and it's been improved a lot in week 73, it has a functional localStorage support, and a native implementation for CM's (code messages) - also there's an upcoming Code article that will make it easier to use and extend the CLI (yet to release these features)
Week 73 was dedicated to adding new attributes, I feel very limited while trying to come up with new items, with the new defensive attributes, it should be a bit easier - most monsters can drop accessories that don't directly compete with high level accessories, yet, could be favored for alternate builds
I also started working on the "Cards" idea, they won't be cards, but rather, specialized scrolls and properties - The discussion: https://discord.com/channels/238332476743745536/259894563047473172/723085712689332265
Americas III is live again
Armors have been re-balanced, T1's ended up getting nerfed, T2 stayed the same, T3/T4 are boosted - Haven't finalised all the details yet
Goblin and Ponty now favor items with properties, even if there are 5 items of that kind already, they replace those with the special items (Thanks to Dre4mc4tcher's reminder on Discord)
Spent most of the week fixing the initial issues with the updated Code system, spent the rest for the CLI - Lost a lot of time this week due to hardware issues, getting a new macbook hopefully tomorrow - Wish me luck please, as these things can fail out of the box too :(
The CLI is very dirty, but it works and it works well, the external smart_move calculation ended up being a bit too unaesthetic for my taste, it's very practical but it just uses a copied/modified version of the runner_functions code, ultimately I might make the CLI master pull functions from the actual runner_functions and run them instead, I was going to release CLI today, but the main menu interface wasn't ready yet (for the subscription), so I'll release it later on
CLI usage will cost something like 29 shells / week to start with (not per character, account-wide), as I divert more time to its integration and features, going to increase the cost - Ultimately it'll probably be 2-3$ a month at most
Going to initially put the raw code on Github, later versions will probably be more seamless and it'll probably come bundled within the libraries folder
Got some major good news today, Adventure Land got it's Google Cloud credits extended, thanks to these Startup credits, I can build the game without immediately worrying about the costs, they help immensely.
Early Access: Week 70 in Review!
This week's update is one of the most major updates to the game, I'm really proud of finally being able to make it happen - Hope it gets enjoyed too. It was by far the most requested feature: Being able to edit/maintain code files locally.
The update includes tons of small changes around how code is handled, I'll try to list them all
Type /codes in chat to open your local code folder
Each change gets auto uploaded and auto downloaded (if it happened elsewhere)
You can make changes with the client open or closed, they get synced when you open the client, if there is an online change too, the local file is moved to /clash
The /libraries folder includes an up-to-date copy of library .js files
Code is no longer being maintained on localStorage, the server sends the last used code slot with the character - the "slot" and "run" flags are still local, so you can have your character using different code slots in different places
New character code slots, the # is the Character ID
To prevent issues, old codes are still on the storage_get("code_cache_backup")
When you run or stop code, it gets auto saved if there are changes
When you make changes locally, it gets auto updated on characters that use that slot directly
Adding "autorerun" phrase to a code somewhere, in comments, makes the character automatically re-run the code, but it doesn't make the character run the code if it's not running
When you use your character on a new place, like a new browser, it now loads it's character slot on default - but it doesn't auto run the code
The /history folder backs up codes on deletion, or when an external update comes in, so if you unintentionally overwrite a slot on the browser, you can hopefully recover it even if the game client is open (still best to use mac/windows auto versioning/backups or code versioning etc. if you care enough)
Renaming local files automatically renames the code slot
Deleting the local file while the client open asks confirmation to delete the code file, if you delete a code file when the client is closed, that file just re-downloads when the client opens
You can now make code slot changes in the bank
load_code now reads the local file on the game client
New function: require_code
X.codes includes information about the code slots
parent.code_slot includes the current code slot, parent.code_ref includes information about files that is persisted through the data.json file
Slot names can only include: "0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghiklmnopqrstuvwxyz_-.+ "
Early Access: Week 69 in Review
Started the week by adding bundles to cosmetics, so related stuff drop together from exchangeables, bundles are transferred as bundles too, so it was a bit complicated integrating them to everything - especially making sure they can't be sent, when a piece from a bundle is in use
Got very distracted mid-week, started making some life simplifications, improvements - hope they bare fruit in the coming weeks
At the weekend, started working on the Code versioning and external editing system, each character will have it's own auto versioned and synced code slot - which will also be editable in a physical folder - lately it's been the most demanded feature (the external ide usability part) - hopefully, once tackled, it'll improve the experience significantly, I'm personally very excited, even though I've always just used the in-game editor, I can feel a new chapter starting for my own characters with this change too :)
Early Access: Week 68 in Review
Week mainly dedicated to releasing the first cosmetics pack, hairs, improving the cosmetics system, adding new hoodless options to priests/mages, fixing the initial issues - next pack will likely be armors - going to add bundles this week, so some stuff will unlock in a bundle, include variations of the same thing etc. - Asked Jayson to work on lots of alternative skin shades to add small variations to how characters look
On the content side, a slow week, new monster: Pink Goblin, Skeletor now drops a T3 Scythe, a new dead weapon, Spear of the Dead, and all Dead weapons are dismantle-able/craft-able
The new bank levels are also live, for the time being, the keys drop from Pink Goblin's and Franky
Great ideas on Discord this week too, most probably going to add a Reap skill to Warrior, and there are still a lot of simple/enriching ideas leftover to implement from earlier weeks
Early Access: Weeks 66,67 in Review
It was sadly not a very productive 2 weeks, started a lot of things but didn't complete any, Jayson worked hard
Almost ready to release the hair cosmetics exchangeable, in the end, decided on a hybrid solution that I think satisfies everyone - cosmetics are account-locked, easily transferable between characters, they can be repetitive, some are rare, to unlock them, requires a variable amount of shells - this way the market won't be flooded with cosmetics, yet, rare ones will still be marketable - seems to tick all the boxes
There's a new Rewards NPC, for Tutorial rewards, Level based rewards and so on - the experience is incomplete
There will be 2 new bank levels, basement and underground, the underground level connects to the underground - each level requires a unique key to unlock - will drop from monsters - ultimately, it will be possible to unlock 48 bank pages in total
There are new upcoming items, there should be an update before Friday - there were also a lot of awesome ideas on Discord this 2 weeks, I will try to integrate as much as I can into the game in the coming days
Early Access: Week 65 in Review
Finally switched to live cosmetics by converting all existing main character sprites, eliminated the gender option and added a secondary default skin color option - along with more masculine and more feminine looks
Couldn't decide how to proceed with the release of new cosmetic items, there were a lot of feedback and ideas on Discord, probably going to pick a hybrid approach, where cosmetic exchangeables will drop repetitive cosmetics, some cosmetics will be rare, players will freely move cosmetics between their own characters, but when the cosmetics are bottled in a `cxjar` - it will be account locked on default and will require shells to be unlocked - this way the market won't be flooded
(Example of an account bound item look)
Integrated some of the materials to the monsters, also added rare cosmetics/glasses drops to Mr. and Ms. Dracul - more drops from existing monsters/bosses are on the way
Early Access: Week 64 in Review
We had a major bug, not endgame, but it was a fun one, discovered by Archalias on Discord, you could equip any weapon to offhand, which resulted in some interesting combo's
Most important/noteable event this week is my commitment to release cosmetics, and just concentrate on it until it's done, the first step is replacing each class's existing skin with interchangeable cosmetics - this will likely eliminate genders in the future too, as it will mostly depend on how you end up looking
(Female ranger vs. her potential new look, the armor belongs to a paladin tho)
Changes this Week: - Belt is available from Cole in exchange for collectables - Ring of Armor / Resistance boosted - Digestive Stones drop from Stone Worm's - Stinger drops from Stone Worm's - Improved the new item equipping/tiering interfaces - Drafted All Skills/Conditions and All Recipes
Early Access: Week 63 in Review
Overall a very very productive week, 2 major achievements: New cosmetic weapon glow and the completed weapon tiering system and initial balancing - Started experimenting with the Paladin class too
