If you don't want to watch that here are the same words below, followed by some extra words:
I know it's been a long time since the last update. There are a lot of reasons for that, but to keep things short, it's because I'm much busier now than I was before - in a good way, working on UFO 50 with Derek Yu and Paul Hubans and a couple other Super Rad Dudes - and because I was working very very hard on rewriting a pretty fundamental part of the game. Namely: the level generator.
So, here, have an update.
The Generator
The aforementioned rewritten level generator can now produce proper lock-and-key situations, or switch-and-gate situations, or switch-and-furnace situations, or whatever other kinds of "need to get X to go to Y" kinds of scenarios I decide to add in the future. The new generator also features many, many other tweaks to the levels that are probably less immediately obvious but no less impactful. There are also a boatload of new premade rooms that take advantage of some fun things now possible in the new level generator. I finally made myself a proper editor for making premade rooms that makes the process significantly faster and less of a headache than it was before, so just about every update from now on will probably feature some new premade rooms and setpieces to some degree or another.
The Rewards
While I was making all those fancy new premade rooms, I realized that there weren't enough things I could use as general reward type items other than Fancy Chests, so I added a few!
There are now Soul Chests, which are special treasure chests that power up by consuming the corpses of nearby slain enemies. The more corpses they consume, the better the loot they drop will be!
In addition, you can now find extra learning points and free spells just floating around sometimes.
I've also added a new kind of item called "Blessings", which are permanent passive powerups, sort of like never-ending trances but a bit less potent. You can only have one blessing at a time though, so choose wisely. There are only three implemented currently but more are definitely on the way.
The Boons
I've also added four new leveling boons, two STR and two SPD.
Weapon Master lets you use any weapon skill that you have access to with any weapon regardless of its type.
Living Weapon lets you use weapon skills while unarmed and removes the damage penalty on unarmed attacks. When you first learn it, it forces you to pick a weapon class to hate, but you then gain that weapon class' full moveset as unarmed attacks.
Breakthrough lets you charge up a super-jump to launch high into the air, bust through single-tile-thick walls and ceilings, and crash through crush traps and boulders.
Spider-Spin lets you charge up a roll that clings to surfaces as you zip around.
The Other Stuff
I've completely rewritten a certain boss enemy from scratch, so look forward to that.
I've completely overhauled the way the encyclopedia looks, and added a few new illustrations and entries to it.
I've added a stats screen on the encyclopedia where you can see things like your best depth, total kills, and most frequently cast spell.
That's about it for the major new features, but there are also a lot of smaller changes and big bugfixes.
I know, I know, there's no new environment yet, but part of the reason for the level generator rewrite is that as I was working on the Deep Dark I kept running into a lot of things I wanted to do that just weren't supported by the old generator. In any case, I hope it was worth the wait, and now that the generator rewrite is done I'm going to be laser-focusing my attention on adding the midgame boss, the Deep Dark, and bringing back wayward kids in a way that isn't crashy and buggy and broken.
The Plea
As I'm sure you've noticed, I'm really bad at keeping these here forums up to date on the game's happenings. I'm...super active basically everywhere except on Steam - especially the Catacomb Kids Discord, and my Twitter, and my weekly Twitch Dev-streams - the ones that I've been doing pretty consistently for several years at this point. Even on the Subreddit, when it's not super quiet there. I kind of hate using Steam as both a player and a dev, and frequently forget it exists. I will probably always hate it, especially now that Slack and Discord occupy the space in my life that forums used to.
BUT! Now that I've finally admitted that to you all - and to myself - I figure it's probably only right that rather than continuing to neglect this significant part of the community, doing a great disservice and injustice to all you great many players who have and continue to support the game, I should reach out for help! I'm REALLY BAD AT COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT, but I know there are people who are NOT THAT and would probably be willing to help out with keeping folks here appraised of the game's progress in a way that I never could.
So uh. Yeah. If you're good at community management and want to volunteer to help make this steam forum an informed and welcoming place to new and old players alike, hit me up at tyriq [at] ckgame [dot] net.
Thanks for stickin' with me.
Sorry I'm bad at this.
Hope the update is fun.
I'm not dead yet.
0.1.5c
More bug fixes, and bringing Linux+Mac versions up-to-date.
Fixes
Crash when wraiths have no target
Player is annihilated upon entering a floor in a snowdrift
Humanoids trying to chase through locked doors constantly jiggle the doorknob loudly
AI_action_backhop crash
Energy bar looks weird when you changing to equipment with less MAG
Regeneration overwrites owl wings when flying
Ceiling spikes draw beneath jump-thru platforms in the AC
Lava bridges are now destroyed when lava loses it heat (Reaper fight, siphon, etc)
Pressing select+cancel at the same time over a gravestone select backs to class select but still shows the custom kid dialog
Backing out of kid select shows particles for destroyed mana batteries
Shopkeepers get mad at you if you're infected with any plague flies
Pressing select+cancel at the same time on the level-up screen levels the selected stat without advancing its tier
Flame cone traps shoot at the wrong angle
Crash when going through the tank door in co-op
0.1.5b
SORRY. MY BAD. 0.1.5b should fix the "Fishahna Crash". It's only out for Windows right now, but Mac+Linux versions will be on their way later in the week.
Fixes
Fishanha crash when eating corpses
0.1.5 Patch Notes
New
Added "Look" menu!
(default bound to "tab" on keyboard or "select/option" on controllers)
4 New Boons!
Multi-Cast
Siphon
Dangersense
Calculations
New shop type - Gadgeter!
4 new arm types!
4 new leg types!
2 New tinkerer items - Mana Battery, Spring
Changes
Reduced amount of durability damage done to shoes from mighty stomp
Throwing enemies upwards with Grapple no longer tumbles the player
Slamming enemies into walls with Grapple now deals 1 damage
Can more precisely place where enemies are thrown with Grapple
Increased time to aim grappled enemies
Added boon icons to level-up menu
Rewrote flame cone code (Dragon breath, fire pipe traps, etc)
It should behave mostly the same but perform much better
Plague now persists after creatures die rather than needing to re-plague corpses separately
Changed appearance of plague flies
Increased damage dealt by plague flies
Grumbul Tank Cannonball no longer destroys bridges
Slight changes to Grumbul Tank behavior
Reduced size of holes in side of Grumbul Tank arena
Water washes off acid
Kicks deals damage based on which leg is kicked with (differs based on facing direction)
Added gamepad rumble enable/disable option to controls menu
Grumbul turrets are now battery-powered
Grumbul turrets now have sfx when drawing and firing
Increased power of zap grenades
Gas grenades now continue to emit their gas for several seconds
Empty grenades can now be refilled if you have Alchemy
Armor of reflection now reflects boulders
Tracker and Pathfinder no longer stop tracking any items when descending floors
Increased distance of wanderer's farsight
Lanterns no longer reduce their effective distance when low on fuel
Rewrote screen split handling
Co-op split screen bubbles are now a constant size
Reaper platforms once more disappear after a moment when stood upon
Fixes
Spell inspection doesn't work from the skill grid
Undead creatures can drown
Screen steps back a frame when paused
Anticropolis ruin generation crash (for real this time)
Inputs are sometimes ignored when the player is Slowed
Tank door no longer spawns
Grappling enemies can cause the player to shift around strangely
Traveling through lava with Dark Phase still lights you on fire
Crash with certain bow shooting animations
Crash when trying to access a clogged pipe
Eating gorhounds and burrahbois doesn't heal with butcher meal effect
Gorhounds and burrahbois can't be cooked, and don't reflect seasoning in their names
Can no longer manually dodge with Acrobat using keyboard
More gamepads should be compatible, now/gamepad detection should be better maybe???
A shopkeeper crash
Not immune to fire or ice while in Dark Phase's dark phase
No spell description for Orbis Malus
Learning free spells (from the reaper pearl or spell-dealers) doesn't work in co-op
Tracking doors and crush-traps doesn't properly work when using a gamepad
Ceiling-portals repeatedly warp items in 1-high corridors
Crash when trying to track Grumbul Tank door
Screen sometimes continually splits and un-splits in co-op
Orbs summoned by soul weapons can take damage
Striking enemies while pouncing degrades your weapon and counts towards skill increases
Reaper platforms can be destroyed by fire
Reaper rooms don't remove lava drips from vanished platforms
Crush traps stuck between vanishing platforms shake the screen like crazy
Fixed crash upon resizing, moving, alt+tabbing, etc. the game window
Summoning the reaper destroys co-op ghost players if they're in the room
Slimes become faux-blighted when nearly but not-quite destroyed by crush traps
Stone platforms are discolored by burning
Frozen water surfaces can cause the player to clip into walls
0.1.4c
A few bugfixes, and bringing the Mac version up to date.
Unfortunately we're still having issues with Linux. We've finally managed to get it to compile after transitioning to GMS2, but there are some severe issues with drawing the screen (ie. it doesn't) that need to be addressed.
This'll be the last update until after New Year's! Hope y'all all have a happy holiday season and New Year! See you in 2018!
Changes
Stronger Byats' eyes now leave glowing streaks to help with color-blindness
and also look rad
Some other stuff maybe.
Fixes
Context button tips appear in the wrong place on the screen
Crash dealing with bows and grave monoliths
Some other stuff probably
0.1.4b
Just a quick bugfix build - Windows only for now but again, mac/linux shouldn't be too far behind later this week.
Changes
Removed V-sync option as it's no longer necessary for Win 10 fullscreen
This may or may not fix the game running too fast on certain computers?
I couldn't reproduce that so I'm not sure.
Fixes
Screen goes black when picking up encyclopedia pages
Shaders draw over dialog boxes
Can't equip tomes from the spellbook menu
"Step Softly" pops up whenever you speak to the Ghost
Text popups draw twice at an offset on certain resolutions
0.1.4!
Yo! It's update time!
This one might not seem too big at first but there are quite a few changes of note beyond just bug fixes:
Firstly, I've finally moved development fully over to Game Maker Studio 2. This is a much more friendly development environment from my end, and in addition to a number of improvements to the IDE that will make the game much easier to work on it also addresses issues that were a result of using GMS1.4, such as the black fullscreen on windows 10.
Secondly, I've started implementing shaders! I'm still learning about them so don't expect anything too fancy just yet, but with the first couple effects implemented -- heatwaves over lava, distortion to things under water, and a much improved "loud noise" effect -- the way is being paved for implementing much cooler visuals and replacing old ones with more computationally economical effects, which should ultimately help with the game's performance.
However! I am! Aware! That this build does have a few visual oddities as a result of both of the above facts! For instance, the shaders will occasionally render on top of UI elements, and the scrolling text that shows up when you level up or learn a spell might come with some strange side effects. These are all things that I'll be working through in the coming builds, but they tend to be relatively minor (as far as I know!) and don't impact the game too much aside from very occasionally looking pretty silly.
And of course, if you don't like or have technical issues with the shaders, you can disable them in the Options menu to go back to the way it was before!
Lastly! After much ado we've finally got Windows and Mac versions building in the new dev environment, but unfortunately Linux users will have to wait a wee bit longer! We literally (literally literally, not figuratively literally) only just got the Mac build working late last night after hours of trying, and, fingers crossed, the linux version will be coming sometime later this week.
New
Game is now being developed in Game Maker Studio 2!
Added 3 new meals and meal effects
Added new environmental hazard to upper dungeon
Added shaders!
Changes
Can now track entrance/exit doors, boulders, and teleport traps
Tracked objects now have arrows pointing to off-screen instances of them
Increased Catacoin value for depth
Invisible byats' eyes are no longer visible unless they're attacking
Removed hold-to-aim for spellwright to avoid conflict with trance and overload
Can now see the exact health of undead followers
Changed the behavior of teleport:
It now can either warp immediately or leave a waypoint
After leaving a waypoint, casting teleport again will bring you to it
Can now cancel teleport aim by jumping or attacking
Mushrooms now lose their poison regardless of how they're cooked
Cooked mushrooms no longer poison water forever; only when they're first cooked
Improved Anticropolis ruins
Fixes
Black fullscreen in Windows 10
Crash when tinker-bot picks up chests
Unable to cast spells when stuck in a wall
Teleporting into a wall with your last charge of teleport doesn't kill you
Incorrect description text for clothiers enchanting headgear with +Light
Fishanha meal does't work
Tracking light-emitting objects as a pathfinder lights all such objects
Owl-men corpse and zombie heads don't change color to match the rest of them
Potions of might, regeneration, and haste last for 660 ticks with resourceful
Tank door spawns on floor 10 in anticropolis
Tank still spawns in place of the twins
Amulets are equipped to missing arms when looted from corpses
Looting corpses behaves strangely with hates/likes weapons
Weapons near explosions and fire sometimes burn forever (behaving infernally)
Weapons thrown with deft throw and trajectory don't deal any damage
Shops sometimes don't upgrade your equipment (fixed?)
Arrow ammo draws incorrectly in co-op
Crash when attempting to loot the other player in VS mode
Cold burst has no name when casting
Near Future TO-DO
Leaderboards (for serious this time)
Flesh out Encyclopedia
0.1.3b
UNFORTUNATELY this patch is only out on Windows for the time being. We've been having mad issues building for Mac and Linux but fingers crossed they'll be coming before too long. Alas, we're not entirely sure what the fix is yet so I can't provide an ETA.
In the meantime, Windows folk, have a bunch of bug fixes!
CHANGES
Reduced Tinker-Bot max hp increase from class-up from +5 to +3 each
Classing to Engineer lets tinker-bot carry heavy items
Reduced Tinker-Bot stat increase when going from Mechanic to Engineer
Added option to tinker-bot to only pick up unusable objects
Added input prompts to tinkerbot's manual mode
Added input prompts to character select menu
Engineer's Tinkerbot changes sprite to reflect improvement
Tinkerbot repairs damage from poor repairs by descending floors
Headaches now last for 2 floors instead of 1
Tinker-bot is better at avoiding shifting platforms in the AC
FIXES
Undo isn't removed from the spell bar when maximum charges reach 0
Missing leg causes air dash to behave strangely
Orb blinks when intersecting walls even when carried by Tinkerbot
Barrels sometimes burn them forever
Can be moved while going through doors
Moving Platforms in the AC can overlap the entrance/exit doors
Bot hits self with thrown arrows
Bot weapons don't disintegrate when broken
Can give bots heavy objects through the idle menu
Likes/Good With [Weapon] doesn't specify weapon type when loading a template kid
Spellbooks stolen by rats become invisible
Reaper weapons fly away after unpausing from tinker mode switch
Spikes in reaper room float when walls disappear
Wind-up turtle can be poisoned
Thrown weapons not reflected by armor of reflection
Potions deal damage incorrectly
Can't change Tinkerbot mode in coop while the screen is split
Bear trap keeps you caught after Undo
If you ride a boulder into a wall, the boulder may push you slightly into it
Weakness and a few other status effects aren't reciprocated by reciprocity
Lava bridges sprite turns to wooden bridge sprite when crushed by crush traps
NB sometimes spawns in walls and other strange places
Tinkerbot mode cannot be changed when class ability is assigned to SPELL
Custom Kids can't start with amulets
"gml_Object_par_player_Step_0" crashes
Locked rooms often generate without treasure
Wooden barricades can block off areas
New Class - Tinkerer Update!
So, it's been yet another while and a half, and here we are again. I come bearing gifts.
Watch this:
https://youtu.be/S0DF43O-3mU
If you don't feel like watching that then read this stuff (it's mostly the same words):
The Tinkerer!
First things first, this update adds a new player class to the game; The Tinkerer. Tinkerers are crafty item-users, planners, and mechanics, and as such they are associated with Intelligence. Their class ability isn't really an ability so much as a companion: All tinkerers have a flying robot buddy that can carry items and fight alongside them.
The Tinker-Bot has four different modes that the player can switch between at will:
In Defensive mode, the tinker-bot will only attack enemies that you're already in combat with, but won't fly off and start fights on its own.
In Offensive mode, it'll attack any nearby creature regardless of whether they're aware of you or not.
In Manual mode, you control the robot directly, letting you move, attack, and pick up items with it, but you lose control of your Kid while doing so.
In Idle mode, the tinker-bot enters an inactive standby state: You can use this mode to tell the bot to wait somewhere out of the way while you go do something dangerous. You can also interact with the tinkerbot in this mode to manage its held item or modify its behaviour.
Of course, nothing lives forever, and the tinker-bot will be destroyed if it takes too much damage. When this happens it breaks into three pieces that are scattered around the level, and in order to restore it you'll need to reassemble the parts and then take a moment to power it up again. When you repair your bot this way, you'll become mentally exhausted for a couple floors, during which time if it breaks again, repairing it might result in some...lower quality results - or else come at a high cost.
In addition to their tinker-bot companions, Tinkerers also have a chance to start with items unique to their class, called "Contraptions." There are only two kinds of contraptions so far - Grenades and Wind-up Turtles - but more are planned for future updates.
Those are the essentials of the new Tinkerer class, but there's much more to them that you'll have to discover for yourself. I'm excited to finally have the fourth class implemented and I think they'll find their place alongside the bully, wanderer, and poet as a valued addition to the game.
Catacoins
The next major addition to this update is the introduction of Catacoins. These coins are a kind of currency that you gain over the course of multiple runs by getting far and gaining reputations. Different reputations are worth different amounts of Catacoins based on how difficult they are to get, but even if you don't get any reputations at all, you'll still slowly gain Catacoins over the course of your runs to spend.
As for what you do with these coins, there's only one thing to spend them on so far, but I think it's pretty neat: You can spend coins to customize the otherwise randomly-rolled Kids, tweaking certain starting traits and equipment to create a kid that suits the way you play, but keep in mind that the more specific you are, the pricier the kid becomes. I've also removed the ability to continually re-roll new random kids at no cost: backing out to the menu and going forward again a million times won't get you what you want!
You can choose to spend just a few coins for a simple quality of life improvement, or save them up to roll an expensive all-star suited to your tastes -- but play well, to make sure they survive and make the investment worthwhile.
Shops
I've also made some changes to shopkeepers: They're no longer generic sellers-of-all things, but are instead divided into four different shop types: blacksmiths, magic dealers, potion brewers, and clothiers. In addition to each shop type offering different kinds of items, shopkeepers themselves now offers a service unique to their profession.
Blacksmiths can improve your weapon's stats and repair damaged equipment.
Magic dealers will sell you a single spell that doesn't require learning points to acquire.
Potion brewers will identify any potion type, for a price.
Clothiers offer enchantments for your armor and shoes.
What's Next?
So, now that this new class is out and the groundwork has been laid for meta progression in the form of Catacoins, my next major goals are the implementation of the third environment, the Deep Dark and the addition of Tier 3 boons, and transitioning development to Game Maker Studio 2. But like, in the reverse order from what I just said. Of course this all will be aalongside the continued fleshing-out of existing systems - adding more meals and meal effects, more things to purchase with catacoins, more spell overloads and trances, etc.
I'm Still Not Dead
Lastly, as I've mentioned before but will continue to mention for as long as it remains true: If you ever think I'm dead or have dropped off the face of the earth (like I know sometimes happens) Check out my Twitch.tv on Mondays or Fridays - unless I'm out of town I'll always be dev-streaming from 3-6PM PST. We've also got a relatively active discord channel that y'all're all welcome to party in. But like, not a rowdy party. A really chill low-key one because honestly we're all tired but it's only Monday and we still have to be up tomorrow morning, and it's not even like we don't see each other often anyway, so there's no need to get all wound up when we all know we're just going to be back here again in a couple weeks.
So anyway, sorry this build took such a long time getting out - there were a lot of irritating and common bugs in the last version, and going so long without at least addressing them was pretty unacceptable of me. My bad. I'll try to do better forever. After all, what can we do but strive evermore for betterment - of ourselves, of the world around us - or else be crushed by the sameness and the worseness of all prior existence; softly smothered by the enticing and outstretched arms of the grand beast named Contentment with Mediocrity.
So you strive, stumbling at times, sure, but resisting that beastly embrace. And so shall I strive too - until I am Better. Until I am Best. And even further, until the infinite endeavors which lie beyond.
. . .
Seeing as how this is a pretty big update and this has already been a lot of words, I'll post the patch notes separately.
0.1.3!
New
New Class! The TINKERER!
New Items - Grenades
Robot Follower
Catacoins!
Custom Kids!
Battle music!
AC Forts!
Changes
Oog now have energy for the void amulet to drain
Changed some reputation requirements
Large mushrooms are now heavier and bounce away creatures when not upright or when struck
Mushrooms are know knocked away by attacks
Improved Magic 101's charged tome attack
Improved Magical Combat's charged tome attack
As a Spellwright, projectiles from tome attacks will auto-aim
Undo is now removed from your skill grid when its max charges reach 0
Arrow types can be swapped by holding "Stow", even when having held/stown items
Made Anticropolis background details better and more unique
Added splash visual effect for entering water
Added bubble effect to lava surface
Changed explosion visual effect
Changed flame wave visual effect
Made icy slopes much more slippery
Added a V-Sync option in Graphics options for Windows users
Setting V-Sync to "ALT" should help WIN 10 users
with their black fullscreen issue but may introduce other issues
!!-This is only a temporary fix. A true solution is coming soon-!!
Added option to disable contextual prompts in Graphics options
Some changes to lighting in the Anticropolis
Orb of Leveling light now cycles through colors
Classing up as a wanderer more dramatically increases farsight distance
Improved camera point of interest functionality
Doubled charged duration of Soul weapons and added a damage penalty for losing charge
Changed behavior of shadow strikers for Soul weapons
Stronger enemies generate more shadow strikers when killed with soul weapons
Changed the behavior of lanterns to make them more useful
Lanterns now remove invisibility from lit enemies Wearing sandals, going barefoot, or being naked in the AC increase heat loss
Sandals have less durability...
Sandals/bare feet kick faster and increase freerun wall-run speed
Boots have higher durability...
Boots kick slower, and decrease freerun wall-run speed
Heavy weapons and equipment increase freerun startup time
Boots reduce damage from ground spikes 1 at the cost of durability
Helms and Coifs reduce damage from ceiling spikes by 1 at the cost of durability
Slightly reduced input window for heavy lifting creatures
Added learned percentage of weapon skill to "Likes [Weapon]" description
Increased shop security Shops now come in different types
Shopkeepers offer different services based on their store type
Added living space to shops
Added background details to shops
Merchants will buy your items for closer to their actual value with higher LUC
Mixed potions now identify if their components are identified after being made
Weapons clashing gains the attention of nearby creatures
Disarming enemies while you have [Pilfer] now [steals their weapon] Using Grapple on enemies now [disarms them] if you have [Disarm] Made gamepad input for mighty stomp harder to do accidentally
Refined Air Dash behaviour
Improved input responsiveness for quickly throwing things
after taking Trajectory or Deft Throw
Changed appearance of Trajectory throws
Trajectory now briefly slows time when initiated
Deft throw now has a slight auto-aim
Weapons thrown with trajectory only bounce once
Realized Amulet of the Void now only activates upon stealing energy/magic Reduced Amulet of the Void's range
Increased INT requirement for enemy amulet use
Can now ride boulders
Can now initiate trajectory bow shots downward
Crush trap chain reeling sound is now emitted from the crushing head
Corpses are no longer valued by name length
Humanoid corpses' worth now take into account their equipped items
Added ruin structures to Anticropolis
Fixes
Fixed pools of water spawning incorrectly
Fixed amulets de-identifying when INT drops
Energy with Void Amulet drains one from max
Input icon for class ability doesn't display when using controller
Arrows behave a bit better in tight corridors
Crash when drinking Potion of Cleansing Flame
Icicles are fine in lava
Flame pipes add excessive "Charred"s to corpses
Teleport traps can spawn on the ghost and other "up-to-interact" features
Boulder traps don't trigger over too-short distances
Flame Wave, Infernus, and burning enemies don't properly produce light
Fixed a bug with disabling out-of-view instances
Interactable object title text is drawn in the wrong color
Burrah-boi meal doesn't work at all
Strange transparency artifacts with alphas while in fullscreen
Solidified Lava in reaper room is rendered incorrectly
Still climb up and down ladders while tracking/aiming lantern
Can heavy lift creatures while already holding an item
Heavy lifted creatures can be picked up by humanoids
other than the one who initiated the heavy lift
Ghost sometimes provides too many, too few, or incorrect trait options
All the music was in mono BECAUSE I'M AN IDIOT
Crash when ogo slime on feet explodes in a gas trap
Crash when losing one's weapon-arm mid-attack while using a bow
Potions are overly resource-intensive
Firing a bow homes in on switches even when they're behind you
Missing particle effect upon level up
Breathing Masks don't work
NB becomes unresponsive after being blocked or shield parried
Using raise dead on a player in co-op doesn't restore their charge stars
Dead things gain value as they degrade
Near Future TO-DO
The Deep Dark
Tier 3 Boons
More Minibosses
