Dex
Raw Dex Beta
As we promised earlier, we are here with Dex Beta!
Before you get too hyped, there’s one important thing we need to say: It is far from polished and we didn’t manage to implement and finalize everyhing we wanted.
We had a really tough time deciding whether to postpone it again (which sucks; we postponed the beta already!) or whether to release it in its current state. We finally came to a middle solution: We’ll put a big disclaimer, “Unpolished Beta,” on it to make sure you know what you are playing. (And yes, you are reading that disclaimer right now.) The main reason it feels unpolished is that although we have most of the stuff done – basically everything between Start and End – the very start (first two locations) and the very end (last chapter) are in rough-sketch form (not only visually, but also in terms of sound, music, and design).
Now, what is there:
You can play the whole game from the start (intro, Dex’s flat) all the way up to “labs” (let’s not be more specific, so we don’t spoil your experience!). There are dozens of new locations and NPCs as compared to the older build from December/January. So if you overlook the missing bits and pieces, we believe you’ll be pleased with the progress we’ve made and the amount of work that has been done!
What is not there:
The very beginning is unfinished, both as to gameplay and graphics. The last chapter we decided to cut for now (very work-in-progress). The hacking/cyberspace functionality is there, but it is very raw. It should be functional enough for you to see how it feels and how the system is generally designed – and to give feedback on – but it is probably the least polished gameplay system at this point, and it could still use a fair amount of visual, sound, and gameplay tweaking.
Who is it for?
We strongly encourage everyone who simply wants to enjoy the game to wait for the final release, as the many final polishing touches, the inclusion of voice acting, and the final rounds of testing, bugfixing and balancing will make a huge difference to your gameplay experience.
On the other hand, we welcome everyone brave enough to dive deep into the beta to give us feedback, report bugs, and generally paw through it and help us push the project to the finish line. So, if you want to go digging in the dirt and help us build the thing – or if you are curious and want to check the current state and new additions – come right in! But don’t say you weren’t warned! ;-)
How to get there?
We decided to publish this build as “Steam Beta” only. Therefore, the older build from December (with fewer features and less content, but much more polished overall) will still be the default branch that you launch normally through Steam client when clicking Play. If you want to participate in the beta, you need to right-click on Dex in your Steam library, select Properties, go to tab BETAS and select “Dex - Public Beta” in the drop-down menu!
We’ll be watching forums on Kickstarter, as well as here on Steam, for bug reports and feedback – and we’ll get back to you soon with new exciting updates!
We’re almost there, so keep your fingers crossed!
Post-EGX News
We are here with another development update and news related to Dex, so let’s get into what happened, what is happening, and what is going to happen in our dedicated Kickstarter update: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dreadlocks/dex-cyberpunk-2d-rpg/posts/1173541
PS: Dex Beta coming around next weekend!
Maintenance Update
we have released a new update for Dex. It is a maintenance/bugfixing update, addressing mainly the issues mentioned here on Steam forums as well as several bug reports we received from our backers.
Changelog:
- Visual improvements for some areas of the game
- More animations and animated characters added (ie. Afrodite Club)
- Added Clara (ship for Samaras, visible from Docks)
- Fixed the savefile corruption bug (or at least some of the occasions of it)
- Numerous minor tweaks and fixes
Cheers!
Dex Devs
“Developer Let’s Play” of Dex - Live Streaming!
Just a short notice this time: We will be streaming one of the newly added quests from the High Life update for Dex. Live today!
The streaming will be done in English and you are invited to join the chat.
Our team will be represented by Axel Droxler, our Senior Quest Designer, who was responsible for designing the new quests for the High Life update. He is the best person to talk about the demo and answer any questions you might have.
The streaming will go live today, Thursday 18th December 2014. Times and time zones for live streaming are:
- 6 PM GMT+1 (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Central Europe)
- 5 PM GMT (England, France, Western Europe)
- Noon (12 AM) EST (USA/Canada, East Coast)
- 9 AM PST (USA/Canada, West Coast – Greetings to our friends from LA!)
Developer GamesPlay of Dex with Axel Droxler (English):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJQ86vv5jQk
High Life Update (Early Access Phase 3)
We’re happy to announce a major content update that introduces several new quests and new locations, as well as over ten new NPCs and loads of minor additions and improvements!
We’ve made a new trailer that summarizes the cool new stuff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CY90HeZqqQ
Detailed changelog as follows:
- Four new major quests (with various branching points and outcomes based on player’s decisions).
- Three new locations within Harbor Prime (Highrise, Docks, and Red Light District), one new location outside the city (Eclipse), and over ten new interior locations.
- Over ten new NPCs, each with a unique back-story, art, and branching dialogues – and with each NPC somehow involved in the quests and events in the city.
- Three new enemy types (Armagear Mercenary, Security Guard, Robot) and one unique boss-type enemy (no spoilers here, you’ll have to discover him/her on your own!)
- New Skill: Charisma (Unlocks new Convince options at important points in dialogues, enabling added solutions to certain quests and situations. Each additional Charisma point gives a higher chance of succeeding with Convince; it also gives a discount for purchases and an increased sale price when selling items to traders.)
- Skill-level cap increased to six (Each skill can now be leveled up to level 6. And you will really need that for some of the more advanced quests!)
- Several new mini-games and puzzles (Optional. The puzzles and mini-games are not necessary to progress in the game and/or finish the side quests. They mostly contain some extra reward once discovered and solved.)
- Loads of in-game commercials (Billboards and commercials for in-game companies. These add spice to the dystopic feeling. Some of them are animated, some are really cheesy, and most are related to something in the real world.)
- Quest log now gets progress updates (You now get Quest Updated notifications when reaching an important point in the quest. It is easier to keep track of where you stand and to get back into the quest after a break. Plus it just looks more complete and finished.)
- Emails, PDAs, digital newspaper, and other data sources (Learn more of the back-story for the quests, locations, characters, and corporations through these additional in-game texts. Some of the emails are actually required in order to progress with the quests and find additional clues and leads, but most simply add depth to the story and the world.)
- New Journal functionality (Similar to the way the Quest log keeps track of your quests, the Journal keeps track of all the PDAs, emails, and valuable data you have read, opened, or somehow acquired.)
- Two new implants (Cannot be purchased, only received as unique quest rewards for one of the new quests.)
- New Audio system and over a hundred new or improved sound assets (We moved all of our current sounds to a new audio system. While this may not be very recognizable from within the game itself, it gives our sound designer a lot of new ways to tweak the sounds and adjust their parameters, so this will result in better overall audio quality. Plus we added a lot of new sounds to the new locations, enemies, and events).
- More elaborate level-up system (The XP and Level Up system is now more elaborate and should enhance the progressive aspect of the game. Originally, you simply got 2 skillpoints per 500 XP. In this more complete solution, the steps between the levels increase in size –500 XP, 1000 XP, 2000 XP – and the skillpoint rewards increase as well; levels 1-9 give you 2 skillpoints per level up, levels 10-14 give you three skillpoints per level up. etc.)
- Over twenty new items to be found/bought/sold/received (including some new cool art pieces, valuables, quest items, postcards, collectibles, etc.)
- Many minor fixes, tweaks, balances, improvements, and fixes all through the game.
Enjoy!
We look forward to your feedback!
Dex Team
PS: Since this is really a major update addressing almost every part of the game, please be patient about possible bugs. We tested the new quests thoroughly, but we almost surely missed some stuff (hopefully, only minor issues). Thanks!
Update v1.0.1.1.: Ranged Combat Focus
We've uploaded a new Steam build for Dex. It focuses mainly on improving the fluidity of ranged combat.
Here is the list of new additions and tweaks:
- Improved ranged combat camera (active automatically when you drag a gun)
- Enhanced recoil system for guns (utilizing more player's skills as well as RPG parameters of the character)
- Reload using "attack/shoot" instead of specific reload button ("R")
- Headshots (headshot gives x1.5 damage multiplier)
- Game Over screen fade out (prevents pushing "Exit" button by accident when dying in the middle of adrenaline combat!)
- Additional GUI tweaks (minor fixes and improvements compared to the version from last week)
- Several minor bugfixes as reported here on Steam forums and Dex forums.
High Life
We recently published an important Kickstarter update showcasing NPCs and locations prepared for the next major content update (expected for mid-December, approx.).
Read more in our dedicated Kickstarter update: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dreadlocks/dex-cyberpunk-2d-rpg/posts/1058534
Your Dex Devs
Dex Steam Early Alpha #2
We are back after two months of radio silence with a new major update. The notable improvements, tweaks, and additions include:
- Completely reworked GUI system – Not visible to players, but for us it was a necessary prerequisite for future development, for full gamepad support, and for future support of console versions.
- Full controller support – Simply put, you don’t even need a mouse or keyboard. You can access all menus and options, as well as core gameplay, using the gamepad.
- Options and Settings screen – You are now able to set graphics quality manually, which we suggest doing if you experience performance issues. Also, Options enables you to set key/button mappings for keyboard, mouse, and gamepad.
- Improved controls and faster reaction times – Resulting in smoother combat. Try it for yourself and let us know how it feels!
- Enhanced combat AI – We improved combat not only via the controls and smoother reaction times, but also via tweaks to the AI. While we expect to continually improve and elaborate on combat till the final full release, we feel the current version is more fun than the version we presented at Gamescom and released here on Steam in August. Check it for yourself and let us know what you think!
- Vastly overhauled sound design – We added several dozen new sound assets. Most of these are dedicated to environmental sound, specific for each location. The city center now sounds livelier, you can literally hear the atmosphere all around you and experience the noise of the crowded streets, police car sirens, and even gunshots in the neighborhoods.
- Major optimizations – We performed another set of major optimizations, some of them related to the new GUI system, some related to graphics, particles, and AI. The game should now run more smoothly on all PCs. We would appreciate your feedback here – if you experienced performance issues earlier, let us know how it works now!
- Numerous minor fixes and improvements – All around the game. Over the past few months, we have tweaked, fixed, or improved hundreds of minor issues.
For more information, details and news, please follow to our recent Kickstarter update dedicated to the new build.
Linux Support
We are happy to announce a major update introducing Linux support.
The only officially supported Linux version for Dex is Ubuntu 10.04 or later, at the moment. However, as with many games made with Unity engine, there is a very high probability that the game will run without problems on most of the other major Linux distros.
Please, share your experience running Dex on Linux with us and with other Linux gamers!
Thank you for your support!
Your Dex Team
PS: More news and updates coming soon.
Update v1.0.0.5
We have uploaded a new update focusing mainly on fixes. We solved the troublesome issues which could have caused the player to lose certain implants/items/skills after loading the game (or continuing after retry) and several other major issues reported in the forums, plus many minor issues.
- Fixed: Missing implants after loading game (error in item loading)
- Fixed: Missing unstackable items after loading (e.g. guns)
- Fixed: Freeze after loading saves from versions v1.0.0.2 and older
- Fixed: Quest persistence after retry
- Fixed: Not receiving cash or XP after completing certain quests (QuestComplete lua error)
- Fixed: Disabled horizontal flipping when knocked down (caused visual glitch)
- Fixed: Crouch back-kick is not interruptible
- Fixed: Jump animation interrupts turn
- Fixed: Losing items and implants after retry
- Fixed: Freeze after roll or getting knocked down
- Fixed: Medikit persistence
- Fixed: Gaining XP for killing enemies
- Fixed: Various minor visual glitches
- Fixed: Certain quest items now properly cost $0
- Fixed: Mouse cursor in main menu glitch
- Added: Disabled reloading of fully loaded gun
- Added: Vending machines have limited stock
- Added: Vending machine "Not enough cash" label
- Added: Teeter animation from idle state
- Improved: Entering room effect
- Improved: Ladder climbing visuals
- Improved: Visuals when entering interiors (black rectangle glitch)
- Improved: Improved pathfinding graph for Scrapyard
Your Dex Team
Update v1.0.0.4
We have uploaded a new update focused on bug-fixes, optimizations and minor changes:
- Optimization: Improved FPS in most scenes (FOV optimizations)
- Optimization: Removed performance spikes and minor lags every approx. 24 frames (garbage collection related bug)
- Fixed: Frezing when pressing roll + holster
- Fixed: Freezing while climbing when trying to roll or do combat moves
- Fixed: Ladder climb hint should show only when the action is available
- Fixed: AI visibility issues
- Fixed: Minor Visual Glitches in Junction/Labs interior
- Fixed: Minor issues with staircase in Chinese Gate
- Fixed: Elevator buttons in Scrapyard underground should by inactive by default
- Fixed: Freezing when entering/exiting Timmy's house
- Fixed: Reset combat stance when traversing between rooms
- Fixed: Clicking HUD buttons has priority over combat
- Fixed: Disappearing quick bar after Retry
- Fixed: Drag and drop trade bug
- Fixed: NPC overlap glitches
- Fixed: Emptying gun clip with a single click
- Fixed: Lockpicking started but interrupted when performed from higher distance
- Fixed: Wrong facing when lockpicking an object
- Fixed: Lockpicking freeze on mouse drag
- Fixed: Save/Load/Retry/Continue related character freezes
- Changed: Smaller land mine trigger collider
- Changed: Removed enemy from Taijo first interior
- Changed: Items from vending machines now go directly into the inventory and cost money
- Changed: Shorter AI FOV cone
- Added: You can now trigger land mines by shooting at them
- Added: Enemies now detect player when moving under their legs (crouched).
- Added: XP bar tooltip
- Added: New air roll animation
- Added: Click HP bar to open character menu
- Added: Click Weapon GUI to open inventory
- Added: Walk animation when switching scenes (interior/exterior)
- Added: Updated Help screen
This update is probably the last one related mainly to fixing issues.
Cheers!
Dex Devs