Get further into the game with the push of a button! See everything at twice its previous size.
Press [Backspace] , roll your mouse-wheel , or click the new magnifying-glass icon.
And the "map legend" turns into a mini-map, so you'll always know where you are:
(If you're still wondering, that was the secret feature!)
Here's what else you can expect in 1.6D
Watch your away team die in real time!
No more cheating the system :D
When the landing party's health drops below 40%, someone dies immediately. But if the away team survives that encounter, they can rest for a few turns and heal back to their (now lower) full HP.
Field medic, ship's surgeon, self sealing suits, and other previous means of healing have been adapted to work with this new method.
And not only that, but there is also a quick melee attack animation, showing which monster is hitting you (or which one you're striking). It's a great piece of simple visual feedback that players have enjoyed in the beta.
Empty Slot Listing
Now, when your ship can have an extra weapon or shield, or if you haven't fully equipped your away team, you'll get visual feedback about it. It says "Empty Slot", and tells you what should go there.
It even works for officers:
Terrain Affects Movement Speed
Makes sense...
This is mostly important in tactical situations, because speed is a measure of how long your actions take, versus that of other beings in the world. If you're "slower", then another entity might get to make an extra move. If you're particularly fast, you might get to hit twice for every time a certain big slow creature hits you.
Walking on water and mountains (which require special skills or equipment) incur the biggest speed penalties. You can find this information by tool-tipping or using the Peer/Look command. If it doesn't list an affect on speed, then there isn't one.
Hypno-Flowers
There's a new life-form out there, and all it wants is to be admired.
Your crew has no defense against it: They just can't help stopping to stare at the wonderful pulsing colors...
Of course the other creatures on the planet just don't appreciate beauty like you do, and they have no trouble ignoring the flowers and taking a bite out of your away team.
Melee weapons have damage types
From now on, all melee weapons you find, buy, or craft will use the game's damage types. Knives do piercing, swords do slashing, hammers do crushing, and eviscerators do hybrid damage, which is very hard to resist. Your old weapons won't obey these rules, but you'll find something better ;)
More!
You can look through the other news items from the recent beta to see what other changes have been made...or you can just try it for yourself!
I'm Listening...
I just released the "Die Faster" update over the weekend, but it's time for another Beta Branch upgrade. This will hit the main branch this coming Friday, barring any major bumps.
I listen to what you're saying here on steam, and in the Approaching Infinity channel of the Roguelikes Discord. Much of this update relates directly to player feedback. Here's what's new now:
Empty Slot Listing
Now, when your ship can have an extra weapon or shield, or if you haven't fully equipped your away team, you'll get visual feedback about it. It says "Empty Slot", and tells you what should go there.
This should especially help new players understand their ships and load-outs, but will also be useful when bringing in new features, like the recent addition of grenades and swap-weapon slots.
Melee Attack Animation
Now when an entity melee-attacks, there's a very quick "move towards your target then back" animation. It helps to visually communicate what's going on. And don't worry, those are "killer bunnies", not the lovable, fluffy, pet-able kind.
Better Tool-Tip Information
Improving tool-tips is a constant work-in-progress. Now when using the look command, or tool-tip everything, you see the hit points and damage of monsters, as well as whether or not they resist any of the types of damage you can do with your current equipment. If not, it will clearly say "no resistances".
Melee Weapons Have Damage Types
From now on, all melee weapons you find, buy, or craft will use the game's damage types. Knives do piercing damage, swords cause slashing damage, hammers do crushing damage, and eviscerators cause hybrid damage, which is just about irresistible.
The system is designed to make sense wherever possible: slashing damage is great against plants and zombies, but is easily deflected by hard silicoid creatures. Smashing damage works well for bugs and rats, but bounces off of spongy blobs. Let me know if there's one I've overlooked.
Field Medic, Self-Sealing Suits, Medical Bay, Ship's Surgeon
These skills and devices were about the only way to heal your away team in the past. But now that you can rest to heal, they've changed.
Field medic/SSS now heals you more often, while medical bay/SS makes it harder for your crew to die in the first place. These skills will definitely undergo further changes, but they are intended to still be useful.
Fixed Grenade Tool-tips
There was an error in the grenade tool-tips that was listing a stat called "Recharge". That is fixed. Your grenades definitely do not "recharge". Once they're gone, you'll need to install new ones in the shuttle.
First Away Team Weapon Cool Down!
Launchers are great, right? Well, they're kind of *too* great. So now launchers have a cool-down. With their long range, high damage, and blast area, they're still very useful. But you'll also need a swap weapon. It's great fun at first, blasting your enemies with wild abandon, but after a while, it starts to feel too easy... Roguelike players need a challenge, right?!
Instant Weapon Swaps
It has been said that maybe weapon swapping should not count as a turn. Sometimes, by the time your swap is complete, the tactical situation has changed. Well, let's try it a different way, and see what happens!
Weapon swapping is now instantaneous. Enjoy it, and please let me know whether you think it's a good change.
That's it for now, see you Friday!
DIE FASTER! (in the Beta Branch)
For years, you never knew how many crew were going to die on an away mission until you made it back to the shuttle. It was determined by your health at the moment you returned to your ship.
No more!
Now, whenever your landing party's health drops below a certain percentage, one of your redshirts will die!
This will put your away team's health back up to about 80% (it was mostly one badly injured person bringing everybody else down, and they just died). It also *reduces* your maximum HP because, well, one less person...
And then,
Once combat is over,
The away team will start to heal. That's right. Now you can
Rest to heal!
Once you're out of combat for a few turns, your away team will start to heal, no field medic needed, and you don't have to feel like you're cheating the system anymore.
I'll be interested to hear whether you feel like this makes the game easier or harder. Remember, this is only in the Beta branch for now, but anyone is free to join.
Happy weekend!
The 31 Grenades of December!
You know about daily codes right?
8-digit codes you enter from the options menu to give you money, items, or even a quick heal. Sometimes I give them out, but you can find them in the game yourself, if you look hard enough.
Oh, and you can only use one code per day per character, so if you happen to have several, choose wisely...
Well, with the introduction of grenades, I wanted to make sure that codes worked for them, and sure enough, they didn't, so you get another update :D
Welcome to 1.6c4 which includes a few fixes for whitespace, automatic "reddening" of text for effects you already know during artifact identification, and the necessary grenade code handling.
So here they are,
The 31 Grenades of December:
12/2 : D^CjUyB8
12/3 : RmDj2yE#
12/4 : wZJj2pX3
12/5 : EoF4DWBD
12/6 : SoKFUyBi
12/7 : wmhj2WLx
12/8 : 8oejDBS7
12/9 : 3maFDHfp
12/10 : #^EFUfX8
12/11 : aZAjUfXW
12/12 : wopFUAff
12/13 : zZ8JUBA6
12/14 : J^MF2uSx
12/15 : d^YFU6p5
12/16 : 5o7j2AgE
12/17 : gmZ42pXg
12/18 : ^owF2HMb
12/19 : 7oBjDuAu
12/20 : HmjFDfKN
12/21 : b^QjUWu9
12/22 : 6^SjDBSb
12/23 : 3ZqJDBS8
12/24 : MZoFDuAj
12/25 : RobJUHqW
12/26 : Bmz42OQw
12/27 : 5myF2fxi
12/28 : Xor42AgU
12/29 : TZsJD6qo
12/30 : #odjDyLc
12/31 : wmnJ2OQh
1/1/2021 : Dg94UyBo
And did you know... If you copy a code into your clipboard, you can use control-v to paste it into the code entry box. No more typing required :)
Back to work!
I have to introduce the new away team death method by Friday, and that's not even the "secret feature" :O
Upgrade to Version 1.6c3
Thanks to everyone who nominated Approaching Infinity, and welcome new players!
I've been busy the last few days... Here's what happened:
Fixes:
Added some pretty new space backgrounds.
Tried to remove invisible monsters that were killing people in star temples.
Fixed the spawning of black hole data for the Tentaculon quest.
Fixed a bug where players always start at 1,1.
Grenades now spawn as loot.
Improved geode caverns with gemstones and glow-cubes.
Limited oxygen warnings when you have >60 oxygen.
"Chainsaw" skill now hurts Allikudzu monster, since it's a plant.
When you die in a non-perma-death game, you will no longer see all the information screens that you get when you actually lose your character (or win the game).
The printing speed of scans and hails has been increased.
I also made some preparations for a secret new feature that I think will kinda blow your minds a little...
Changed Monster Threat Display
There is no "threat" percentage readout anymore. You see the monster's HP and damage when you target it. Compare that to your own numbers and decide for yourself how threatened you feel.
Area Level-Locking
From now on, the first time you visit an area (sector, planet, wreck, etc.) its difficulty level is saved. This should make backtracking easier: if it's too hard now, it will be easier later, with better equipment. That has always been the *intention*, but this method should ensure it.
The game will also give you warnings about particularly dangerous (or easy) areas when you enter them.
Tac-Nuke Launcher
Many of you have found tac-nuke grenades, and I've heard complaints about the fact that they explode in such a large area that there's no way to use them safely. And that makes sense. It's a weapon of last resort. And I'll tell you now: one probably won't kill you.
There's only one other possible tac-nuke weapon (right now), and that's a launcher. I found one of these in my game, and when it just exploded like anything else, well, I had to make some changes.
So nukes are even worse now. They set fires and create swaths of radiation. And the tac-nuke launcher will definitely get you with proximity damage, and induce painful status effects. But with a range of 5 or 6, you should be able to avoid it.
Oh yeah, and using a tac-nuke weapon increases your infamy.
Every. Single. Time.
Reputation Advice
When you dock at an alien embassy and go to their "quests" section, if they don't have any quests available, and if your reputation with them is too low...
They'll give you advice on how to get on their good side. Often, having a high "fame" is desirable, but that can take a while. Another good bet is to attack that race's enemies. But the specifics are now in the game, for all to see.
Modified Planet Scan Output
Planet scanning is great, but it does have its limits. And thanks to player feedback, it's being improved. Now, once you've picked up the source of the "alien signal", it's not reported anymore. And if you kill all the monsters on the surface, the read-out changes to "no life signs". Progress!
But even better, the most important data from the scan is now added directly to the planet's tool-tip, so there's no need to re-scan all the time.
This will cause some text overflows for now! But I think it's worth it to have all that information easily at hand.
You can toggle "tool-tip everything" in the settings menu or click the middle mouse button any time. You can also hold [SHIFT] to get selective tooltips, or you can use the "look" function. Enjoy!
Thousand, Million, Billion
I've changed the readout of long numbers in equipment to use K,M,B notation, meaning "183,472" is now displayed as 183K (*IF* you can find a weapon that powerful!)
What's next?
The rest of this week will be spent working on the roll-out of the secret feature, and preparing for the officer skill remodel.
Labor Of Love sale
Let's start with the the part where I'm not asking for anything, I'm *giving* you something:
What?
A 10% discount!
If that's what you've been waiting for, now is the time.
Now let me ask something of all you space explorers out there:
Please nominate "Approaching Infinity" for the 2020 Steam "Labor of Love" award.
As you may know, AI is an enormous project that could continue for years. The goal of EA is to get to version 2.0, and that will be an amazing transformation. In 3 months on Steam, we've already seen the addition of many game-changing new features: planet scanning, hailing alien ships, throwing grenades, burning forests, and a lot more.
Today someone on Discord said, "dwarf fortress is a simulation of a fantasy world my hope is that Approaching Infinity becomes a simulation of a sci-fi world doesn't need to be as crazy and over the top as DF just you know, pretty good with lots to do, lots of freedom"
That is secretly my hope too :D
I need your help to get there. The community has already been hugely supportive and it's really motivating to read what people write. Let's keep the momentum going!
You can nominate 1 game in each category, so I'm asking you to consider Approaching Infinity for the "Labor of Love" award.
Thank you!
Oh yeah, and a mid-week hot-fix:
I fixed a fatal crash when the Sil demanded an artifact
I fixed an error where nano-machines were being tool-tipped as gemstones.
I removed some debug text that was being printed to the screen.
I fixed an error where nano-swarms would arise out of toxic gas. This part is a bug. Things can still rise out of nano-swarms. They look like bugs. And they will kill you.
I Fixed an error where historical relics were being accidentally spawned on barren planets.
I fixed an errer where you could hail a ship for help in defeating... itself!
Sonic and corrosive grenades now have an effect on walls, boulders, and rubble.
I Added a readout in tool-tips about monsters' resistances and weaknesses to your equipped weapons.
I took out, fixed, and put back in, a function designed to ensure quest items would be found.
I addressed an input problem where some people where moving multiple times from a single key-press.
I basically did a week's worth of work in 3 days, and made big progress on a secret new feature...
Too-awesome-to-name Update 1.6c
Version 1.6c: Deeper Interactions, part 1
When version 1.5 was completed, I said the focus would shift to deeper interactions. This started with a huge upgrade to terrain: and not just the 300+ new planetary images:
but also a system of transformation for things like freezing, burning, digging, and exploding.
Then fire was introduced, as well as various kinds of gas and other nasty propagating effects.
Then we needed a way to deliver those special effects into the world, so away team weapons were overhauled with 22 different damage types, from physical effects like piercing and smashing, to the standard elements like incendiary and cryo, all the way up to repulso beams and nano-weapons.
The first true consumable was introduced:
The Grenade
Throw them at hordes of enemies to do massive damage and deliver myriad status effects or even destroy terrain features. Just be aware that you can run out.
And with monsters now being able to resist some of these damage types, you need a way to carry two weapons at once, and switch between them:
The Swap Slot
Equipment icons also got an upgrade:
Helpful Hails:
I've expanded the "hail" function to allow you to call for help!
If you're in combat, and you see an alien ship you have good relations with, you can hail them and ask for assistance. If they like you enough (or if they dislike your enemy), they will come to your aid. You can then either escape, or team up and destroy the offending ship.
Be careful though!
If you betray your allies (attack races you're friendly with), they may call on *their* allies against YOU. So don't betray your friends, OK?
Extra Mouse Buttons:
If you have a "gaming mouse" (or any mouse with some extra buttons), you should try pressing them.
Clicking the middle mouse button will toggle tool-tips on or off. Another button is set up to hail (in space) or throw a grenade (on planets), and yet another is mapped to scan planets or swap away team weapons. TRY IT!
I've executed the greatest speed optimization in Approaching Infinity history.
Lag no more!
https://youtu.be/jTa_xy0KRN4
Space has been updated too, with some beautiful new features:
All these additions are in public version 1.6c, right now. But wait, there's more!
Fixes:
Chances are, if you've reported an issue, I've fixed it. I think it would be much easier to talk about what I haven't fixed:
I can't seem to do anything about the "disappearing mouse cursor" when you cycle mouse pointers.
I haven't addressed the "text too small" issue for the captain's log when using custom 4K resolutions.
Otherwise, I think I've tackled just about everything. But if there's something still bugging you, let me know...
What's next?
Hopefully, a mind-blowing surprise feature.
And then, for sure,
Officer Skills Overhaul
And I'm not talking about "+2 instead of +1"
I'm talking about skills like "Perform an emergency warp up to 7 tiles away", or "deploy an automated turret that shoots monsters for 10 turns", or "Detect the ion trails of every ship in the sector".
Those kinds of skills.
After that, you're going to be so god-like that monsters will need a serious upgrade of their own :D
But that'll come later.
For now, enjoy your new-found powers of exploding and burning and corroding.
A note about new weapons and crafting:
Currently, you can *not* craft the new effects of weapons and grenades. You can make "normal" versions of weapons, and frag grenades.
The crafting system will need to be overhauled eventually too, and then you can decide on whatever you want to make. For now, you have to buy things, or find them.
Video Series
You can see a lot of this stuff in action in my new video series, "Bob plays Approaching Infinity". I'm up to sector 17 now, having started from scratch. Doing these videos really helped me get a handle on some player issues, and I've fixed most (all?) of the issues that I've found. https://youtu.be/LvVAgXHxhfA
Wait, did you say something about a "Xenocide" blaster?
Yes.
Short story: it's a combination herbicide and insecticide, so it's great for bug-infested jungles. And yes, the name is a Card reference.
And hey...
If you haven't left a review yet,
I'd really appreciate it.
Event just a "thumbs up" and then name your one favorite thing...
It helps.
THANKS!
Beta 1.6b2
After the beta release, some *really* big issues were discovered:
Fixed: some bullet images were terrain tiles (hills).
Fixed: monsters wouldn't attack you!
Fixed: sound settings weren't saved.
There are bound to be some small issues transitioning from the old away team weapons to the new. But they will be cleared up when you start a new game, or just buy a new gun!
The monsters issue was created by an "and" that should have been an "or", in the part of the AI section that now keeps you from accidentally melee attacking friendly creatures on away missions.
The sound thing has been haunting me for ages, and is *finally* fixed.
Transition to main branch is still planned for this weekend, so if you've got a problem, let me know NOW!
Final Beta Test of 1.6b1
Most players haven't seen the beautiful terrain upgrades yet...
They haven't had the pleasure of throwing a grenade...
They haven't held a corrosive cloud-gun or a terror beamer...
They've never even been chased by an evolving nano-organism!
All this and more is coming to everyone, as soon as possible! I just want to make sure its as stable as it can be. If you're interested, you can opt in to the "betafromnowon" branch on Steam, test it and post feedback here on the steam boards (F3 from in-game should take you to the bug reports).
Here are the major changes since the last main-branch update:
Over 300 new planetary terrain images have been added.
Fire and gas can now propagate across the map.
You can change the environment (blow up walls, burn down trees, etc.)
Away team weapons have been remodeled to have over 20 modifications, like cryo, incendiary, and sonic.
Monsters can now resist (or be weak to) these damage types.
You can buy grenades and throw them at groups of monsters for fun and profit (and survival).
You can now do alien quests much sooner.
There are gas giants and enormous black holes.
I fixed the slow-downs!
And to my existing beta testers, here's what I've done recently, according to your feedback.
I fixed the Gruff Giant Squither quest, and the Tentaculon ion accumulator quest
I increased the effectiveness of seismic grenades.
I made more monsters available earlier (look out!)
I fixed an endless loop when landing on planets in whitespace.
I reduced the cost to re-stock the store.
I gave each gun its own shot images, which can be affected by damage type.
I fixed a bug where "game ending" victories were allowing some players to continue.
I found and fixed a bug that would let the captain survive away missions when everyone else died.
I discovered and fixed a bug where a former human colony would be replaced with a desert.
I found and fixed a bug where using grenades on planets to destroy wreckage would leave an impassible terrain.
You can install a trade beacon or warp point detector any time and get the full effect.
I fixed the Pac-Man gas giants!
That's it. Whether or not you test the beta, all this should be coming to the main branch this weekend.
Developer Playthrough
I started recording a game to test new features, but I loved it so much that I just kept going! I'm playing from the beginning, normal difficulty, perma death on, with no pay it forward. Here's part 10!
https://youtu.be/ZF701HxqkCw
Introducing AI's First Consumable: The GRENADE
The Past:
Approaching Infinity: The Space Adventure Roguelike has a long and complex history. 7 years ago today it launched on Kickstarter. It didn't even have a save function back then! It was successful, and went on to be completed and released, in a box with a manual, by a war-game publisher. And it stayed exclusively with that company for years, not getting updates since 2015.
Then 3 months ago, after I regained control of the game, I brought it to Steam Early Access, where it's been well received and started growing at a furious pace! If you're asking "Why is a 7 year-old game in early access?", the answer is simple: I'm adding so much that it's basically going to be a whole new experience when I'm done!
But really, a rogue-like without consumables?! No potions, no scrolls? Nope. AI's design was always meant to be streamlined and uncomplicated: maximum effect for minimum player effort. And while that ethos is still a guiding principal, big changes are coming!
What's a "consumable"? A powerful resource that you can use up. Healing potions, scrolls of identify, those are the basics. But how about a single-use emergency teleporter? Or a probe you launch from your ship that fully maps a planet, then crashes? Or something you throw at monsters to make them die: Grenades!
The present:
(Please note that everything discussed here is in the Beta Branch "betafromnowon", which you are free to join or leave at any time.)
If you've been following the development here, you've heard about version 1.6, and what that means. The first part was a remodeling of terrain and adding over 300 new images. That was released into the beta branch 2 weeks ago. Burn down forests and explode walls and generally wreak havoc on the environment.
After that, the player needed a method for actually bringing those effects into the world, so away team weapons had to be remodeled. There are now 23 possible weapon modifications, many of which are capable of modifying the environment in some way. Also, planet monsters can be resistant to these damage types (or vulnerable!).
For example, robots are usually immune to poison and resistant to fire. But they also take *more* damage from corrosive and electrical attacks. Pretty soon, you'll need to carry around 2 or 3 weapons, just so you can handle all the different challenges you'll face... Luckily 2 "swap slots" are planned ;)
(Wait, carnivorous plants can't move!)
Some weapons also have knock-back now, which is really pretty exciting. Tired of getting swarmed by gnashers or rad-rats? The repulsor shotgun was made for you! The shotgun hits multiple targets and causes knockback on its own, but adding the "repulsor" effect amplifies both of these abilities.
But guns only cause these effects sometimes. I know you want more. So. Enter the grenade!
Space stations now sell grenades and the away team has a slot for them. The standard Frag grenade will hit a 3x3 area, damaging all monsters and possibly knocking down trees or cave walls. But there are lots of other types too. An incendiary grenade will always start fires, cryo will freeze lakes, and if you can find it in the later sectors, the Tac-Nuke grenade will incinerate everything in a blast zone so large you can't throw the grenade far enough to keep yourself out of harm's way. Buyer beware!
Speed Optimization
Some players have mentioned that the game slows down sometimes, and I hear you! So I've spent a lot of time, thought, and coding on *fixing* that. Please try the beta, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with how much I've been able to increase the speed.
Let's Play Series
Before releasing the latest beta, I wanted to test it to see the balance of grenades, as far as how much damage they do, how much they cost, and how many you get before you run out. I learned a lot from this, and they were way too powerful to begin with. They might still be. You tell me.
But I also had a lot of fun. So much so in fact that I decided to turn it into a video series. I'm up to 4 installments now, in sector 7, with one artifact, an incendiary shotgun and an assortment of grenades. I hope to survive long enough to make a good run out of it. Here's the first video in the series:
[previewyoutube="Vzi2655q8b0;leftthumb"]
The Future
1.6 isn't done yet, not by a long shot. After a week of having this in the beta, I intend to move it (with any fixes and re-balances that need to be done) into the main branch so that this version becomes the default experience.
Either adding more consumables or else a complete remodel of officer skills will be the next big project. We'll see what the coming week brings. But when I re-do skills, it's going to be a big deal. I'll introduce activated skills with cool-downs: things like jumps and double shots and defensive slides and who-knows-what. Maybe a tactical warp or emergency hull repairs. I'll kick out any skills that are boring and possibly even consider a new point-based stat-improvement system. It will be *way* more interesting.
