Full graphic makeover, dynamic lava, and a ton of new content! Here is the trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Luo9ua-b2A
This update took me much more time than planned, so I thank you for your patience!
With this big update I had various things in mind:
- Adding lava. That was not something I had originally planned to do, as I always wanted to avoid doing things too much like Terraria. But with the dynamic liquid and pressure simulation, I think I achieved an experience very very different from it.
- Adding a few surprises and secret areas I had thought about. Part of them are not mandatory at all to complete the game. If you want to be sure not to miss them, try to get all achievements!
- Improving the end of the game, make it more epic and challenging. Don't escape from the planet too easily, so player stop suggesting some crash on another planet after escaping this one ;-)
v0.2 Change Log
GENERAL - Lava! with nice and hot features like: burn player, burn monsters, burn and melt constructions, burn plants, melt basalt back into lava, make water evaporate, cooloff to basalt if in contact with water or with time. Also with nice some nice plants and monsters, and a boss at the entrance. And also with a special feature: ***** (no spoiler, sorry!).
- New area below the crystal caverns, with its minerals, flora, monsters and a boss
- New special area with ***** and ***** and *****. It rocks!
- Improved end game with a last defense stand, plus a secret bonus
- New devices: Miniaturizor Mk5, Drones for the AI, Advanced Flashlight, Water Detector, Invisibility Bracelet, Speed potion, Defense Shield
- New weapons: Particles Shotgun, Particles Sniper Rifle, Flamethrower, Grenade launcher
- New defenses: Powered Repair Turret, Particles Turret, Explosive, Electrified Spikes, Powered Testla Turret, Flame Thrower Turret
- New machines: Autobuider MK5, Thorium Reactor
- Steam Cards
- Achievements
- New Help screens
- New colored lighting system.
- New Auto-buider system: now they can be upgraded, and autobuilders show also all the previous tier items. Some filters button added to show recipes by item category.
- Improved electricity system, much easier to use (wires placed on cells edges with auto-snap, better overlay). Wire item is now a Machine item.
- Improved pathfinding (still work in progress).
- Massive refactoring of code to better store dynamic data in cells, and clean flags (ok this one is not very interesting for you)
- Refactoring of code to better manage the saving (and future multiplayer use) of game and items variables (same remark)
- New dynamic resources loading/unloading system
BALANCE - Change various numbers in weapons, monsters and recipes.
- Repair turret now in tier2, less efficient (+ a new and more efficient powered one)
- Decrease Explosive Firely explosion during night
- Monsters stop following player earlier (during the day)
- Jepack now doesn't work very well near the basalt (radiations causing interferences).
GRAPHICS - Graphic makeover of the whole game!
- Improve heating display (red dot in the center during the cooldown).
- Improved dynamic ground borders (progressive)
- Decreased water splash particles intensity
- Do not show wet version of top ground sprites but for grass
- Show armors on player character
BUG FIX - Fixed projectiles sparks visible in dark
- Cannot plant a plant on a plant :o)
- Fixed a minor bug with auto-saved game names
MINOR - Upgrade to Unity 5.3
- Change of order in the inventory (minerals/materials at the end of it)
- Teleport can be set on one of 4 different network (colors)
- Improved selection when a door is next to an activable item
- Change of starting location ground shape (no more forced cliff on the left, more random)
- Remove huge storm gun flash (should be much better for epileptics players). Doesn't produce water in dry areas anymore
v0.2 progress: colored lights, playable alpha
The graphic makeover will be finished soon! Terrain, monsters and items are done ; only the UI, some work on the player sprite and a few details remain. For my part, I worked on the lighting simulation so the light is now colored (more explanations here). As you can see on the pics here, the lava emits red light, weapons projectiles color the terrain, etc.
The v0.2 has been playable in alpha version for a few weeks, so don't hesitate to try it if you are not afraid of bugs, unbalanced game and big missing parts. All infos here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/315460/discussions/0/458604254424469913/
I finished the biggest code changes so theoretically the saved games shouldn't be reset anymore.
Now, about what is planned: I'll work on the AI drone items and some change in the game ending, and then i'll push the version into the beta branch.
This beta will be used for:
- a lot of balancing, bug fixes and interface improvements
- adding new sounds
- adding a tutorial (some static screens with image/text like in mobiles games, probably)
- adding 7 steam cards (i was waiting for the arts to be completed)
And then I'll finally push the version live for everybody! And after that I'll work on minor update v0.2x in order to add some new items like the minimap.
As a remark, this post will probably be the last one before the v0.2 release and the price change ($8).
v0.2 progress: lava, electricity and new items
Here is a little video about the lava:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWWSBPkVSQg
As you can see, the lava easily destroys and melts any player's building, and can start fires on vegetation. Lava will definitely be the greatest natural danger in the v0.2 update!
About the graphic makeover: almost all items are finished, and Say is now working on the monsters and bosses.
For my part, I've finished working on the monsters, lava mechanics and the improved power system, and i've added all the simple new items. I'm now working on the new unique autobuilders system (as it was discussed in the forum).
One more time, i'm very sorry for the delay of the v0.2 and my bad planning. I think i'll publish a very early v0.2 alpha version (very rough and with a lot of missing things) to show you something, at least. Check the forum, I'll add a post about it soon.
To conclude, a few screenshots from the game:
Here you can see the new electricity system, much easier to use than before. You place the wires directly on the cell's edges, and the overlay is improved: everything powered is in bright red (else dark red), and the total production/need is displayed on the wire closest to the mouse.
The crystal area:
And one of a new area:
v0.2 progress, and why no discount on Dig or Die
The terrain, backgrounds and skies relooking is now finished. Say just started working on the items (next will be monsters, player and finally the UI.).
You'll see in v0.2 I did some various changes in the inventory, interface, etc. I also think about reorganization of the Auto-Builder. I would love to get your thoughts about it on the forum here.
I've also finished the behavior of a "sort of" boss - I'll set an achievement for those of you (probably very few !) that can beat it. And now I'm working on all the new monsters characterics, spawning and behavior.
Now, as you may have seen, Dig or Die is not on the Steam Automn Sale. And it won't have any discount nor bundle until its release (and then only minor discounts during at least one more year). That's because I prefer to set the price based on the finished content during the Early Access period: the game is now $5, and will be released at $12 (and probably $8 for v0.2 and $10 for v0.3). You pay for what is already done. So adding sales on top of this idea wouldn't have much sense.
Road to v0.2: new graphics first look
Here have a first look of the new arts:
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/SL4VJEz.png[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/nf1mpDt.png[/IMG]
Only the ground, minerals and part of plants are done. The sky, backgrounds and all the rest will come gradually!
They are done by Say, the great artist who did the n°12 & 13 tests pictures which had been the most appreciated ones by far. You can have a look at its porfolio here.
As you can see the game style will not change that much, I pay attention to keep something very calm and not too much overloaded. It wish it pleasant to look at and explore, not spectacular.
Now about the development progress:
- The world's layout is complete. That means all the new areas are shaped, with their rocks, minerals and plants. It's great to finally be able to walk and explore the whole world!
- I'm now working on the new game mechanics, like lava and other little surprises I've prepared for you :-)
- I've also spent some time on the Wiki to correct all the false informations (out of date from v0.06) as that was really bothering me. There are still some missing items but all existing informations should be correct: http://digordie.gamepedia.com/
Unfortunately I'm quite late on my planning. It's mostly due to the graphic makeover that takes me more time than I thought. But I think it will be worth it! So, I'm sorry for the delay, and I hope you'll have the patience to wait for the v0.2 a little longer.
Don't hesitate to follow me twitter Twitter and Facebook to get more news and images of the v0.2 progress!
Road to v0.2!
Sorry for the lack of news recently! With the various fixes for v0.1x, the preparation of the graphic make-over and a week of vacations I took, I took some delay on my planning. But I'm fully back to work and thing are going to move forward again! So here are the news:
- I started working on the major (and only real) technical challenge of the v0.2, the lava. I'll not give too much details, but it's working just fine :-)
Here is what it looks like for now:
And wait to see it moving... v0.2 is going to be hot!
- All v0.2 new monsters and items are now defined! So there will be 4 new monsters (+ 2 variations), 2.5 new bosses (I'll keep this "0.5" as a surprise!), 49 new items (11 devices, 7 weapons, 5 defenses, a few machines, and the rest as minerals, plants and loots). I might add more on minor updates later but that is what is planned for now for v0.2
- The graphic make-over work will start tomorrow! I initially wanted to wait for it to be completed before publishing it, but that would force me to maintain olds arts while doing changes for the new ones. So finally I'll release what will be already done in v0.2! Probably most of the scenery, but not yet the items, monsters and player. Another advantage is that it will permit you to give early feedbacks about it, so we can do modifications and improvements in later updates.
Here it is for now. More news soon! And I'll try to start again my daily dev blog (on twitter mostly), as it was a good way to push me to work harder so I get some interesting things to show you!
So don't hesitate to follow the progress on one of those pages:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GaddyGames
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gaddygames?fref=ts
TigSource: http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=50414.0
Canard PC (french): http://forum.canardpc.com/threads/87121-Dig-or-Die-v0-1-%28A-K-A-Flood-Simulator-2015%29?referrerid=908
v0.13 update just released!
This is the last minor update before I work on v0.2.
The main change is the weapon reloading system that has been replaced by an overheating one. However i'm still not sure about this system... ideas and feedbacks are most welcomed!
Especially on the idea of replacing the overheating lock by a cooldown time increase - check the discussion here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/315460/discussions/0/523897277924945472/
And here is the complete list of modifications and improvements:
Dig or Die v0.13
GENERAL - Replace the weapon clip/reloading systems by a heating one. Add heating feedback on cursor
- Add range indicator for turrets and auto-repair turretes (when choosing a position to place it)
- Improve graphic performances (about +13% global FPS on my computer)
- Add slow water evaporation (depending of the light) and plants absorbtion
- Now possible to replace a wall by another one without destroying it first
- Improve Ants movement: no more jumping, handle better the movement on outdoor
- Improve forces system on ground/walls that are almost flat - forces are better spread
- Add links to the wiki/forum/twitter in the home screen
- Add steam basic steam stats: game progression (Tiers) and time played.
BUG FIXES - Don't reset saved inputs at load anymore!
- Can save at night in Peaceful mode
- Jetpack bar doesn't overlap HP bar anymore
- No more falling damage on dead units
- Fix wrong tooltips of item in item bar when over an item in inventory
- Fix ants pathfinding
GRAPHICS - Improve display of trickling water from a ceiling
- Improve display on platforms (no more side-anchored when natural background - new sprite for left & right anchored case)
- Add bullets particles on ground impact
- Add crack sprite for damaged blocks different than the "force" crack
MINOR - Modify texts (turrets & weapons tooltips & help, related to the cooldown)
- Update Russian, Japanese, English & French texts
- Add an AI sentence about the water not being water
- Fix help text and miniaturizor description
v0.12 update now live!
This minor update contains mostly bug fixes, balancing and little improvements.
I also added options to customize the key bindings, and to choose the language from the game.
Next step is a last minor update v0.13 ; and then I'll start working on the next major update v0.2, that will complete the solo part of the game!
v0.12 (build 100)
GENERAL - Add key binding options
- Add a language option ingame (overriden by a language change in the steam properties).
- Add dynamic data on turrets and weapons tooltips (hp, damages, cooldown).
BUG FIX - Fix bullets going through units sometimes
- Fix bullets going through ground blocks sometimes
- Add a 2s cooldown between day spawn (to prevent fast spawn when little space to spawn)
- Prevent loading/saving/creating game at the same time
- No damage if shooting the overcharged plasma gun while flying and touching a ceiling
- Cannot plant plants over walls anymore
- Remove escape during ending scene. Don't avoid sky crash detection when launched from deep down
- Jetpack energy saved
- In windowed mode, contain the mouse inside the game window (unless game is paused). To launch the game in windowed fullscreen, launch it with -popupwindow parameter
GRAPHICS - Use two custom cursor (arrow / aiming)
- Remove light white outline on ground surface tilessurvivant
- Use a drop-down list for resolution choice
BALANCE - Ants HP up from 130 to 200 and damage increased from 15 to 20
- Stop spawning monsters 10s before end of night
- Monsters spawn from further away - so they have more chance of finding appropriate spots to spawn
- Trees and plants grow and spread slower
- If no spawn without backwall available, try to spawn first in water if possible
MINOR - Update japanese, french localizations
Dig or Die graphics makeover: need your opinion!
I had announced a few months ago that I was searching for an artist to do a graphic makeover of the game. I have asked the candidates to do a little test (explanation below) and here are the results I received until now:
As I've not been yet entirely convinced by the candidates, I would be very interested to get your feedback on the pictures, if you like some of them.
The idea is not to make the game looks exactly like one of those design, but to evaluate if the artist would be able to draw something nice for the game, if he would be able to express a good feeling and atmosphere.
You can post a comment here or discuss about it on the forum's post: http://steamcommunity.com/app/315460/discussions/0/527273452869570262/
The artists had to relook the red area of the following picture:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=506475519 With those instructions:
- To draw the dirt, grass, rock, rock surface, one plant and a static sky but no other elements. I asked a very simple scene on purpose, so it would not take too much time and so we can see if the artist is able to create something nice and a good athmosphere with very few elements.
Some artists did add background elements but that was not asked so don't take it into account ^^ - To do a "fake" reskin, but to simulate the scene technical constraints: one large texture for dirt, rock and sky, sprite tiles for grass and rock surface, single sprite for the plant. But it's not very important if they did not.
- To create something enchanting, calm, joyful and exotic. The references I gave: Bastion, Dofus, Gaia Defense, Rayman, Steamworld Dig, Ori and the Blind Forest, Avatar. More details on the original announcement.
As long as I've not made my choice, new artists are most welcome to send me other relooking tests! And don't hesitate to contact me (contact [at] gaddygames [dot] com) for more information about the mission.
The most important to know is that it's a freelance job (so you would need an appropriate status) with a correct pay - no volunteer help. The duration would be about 1 or 2 full time months, depending of the final content and the animations quality required (to be discussed).
Also, this test is not made to thinks and discuss about all the technical possibilities to enhance the game's graphics - that will be part of the actual mission
One last point I had already said: there is a real chance I don't do this relooking at all, if i'm not entirely convinced by someone. I cannot afford to spend a lot of money if i'm not sure that will really give something more to the game.
EDIT: thank you everybody for your feedbacks. And it's just great as you mostly have the same thoughts than me about the pictures!
So the 12/13 are definitely the winners. They need some change (dirt looking too much like rock, not enoug exotic) but they are really nice, consistent, nothing is really wrong in them. They show that their artist really masters its art. I cannot say yet for sure with who i'll be working (planning constraints, costs discussions etc.) but whoever it is the make-over design will definitely be something close than the 12/13 pics!
v0.11 update now live!
Here are the main changes of this new minor update:
- Improving the UI. if you are confused about the changes don't hesitate to check the list below.
- Transforming the 180° turrets into 360° ones - and you can anchor them to the wall and ceiling!
- Adding some more buff potions (and cooldowns, sorry!)
- Lot of balancing (MadCrab stronger, etc).
And you can discuss about this update in the forum: http://steamcommunity.com/app/315460/discussions/0/541907867788304473/
v0.11 (build 75) Change Log
GENERAL - Plasma, Heavy and Repair turrets are now 360° turrets and can be anchored on walls and ceilings. Enjoy! :-)
- Add a HP Regenerating potion (+200% hp over 30s)
- Add an Armor potion (+ 4 armor over 30s)
- Add a Precision potion (+30% critical hits over 30s)
- Add a cooldown of 1min on every potion
- Stacks of 0 items left stay in the inventory. Double-click on it (= move to inventory) to remove it.
- It is now possible to select an item inside the inventory and use it without adding it into the items bar (like potions)
- Press X to select the last selected item
- Add 2 items bar slots
- Monsters AI improved (various pathfinding fixes)
- All monsters but fireflies can now swim into water for a time, and then come back to the surface to get air. If they cannot, they drown.
- Rocket top is now usable instead of engine. Oh, and now you might want to check if the path is clear...
- [E] key select in priority items that are in from the player. Much easier to manage a tiny airlock
- Weak monsters don't attack player anymore if he has a too strong armor (day only).
BUG FIX - Fix electricity bug when consuming more than 15kW
- Prevent water pump from pumping into blocks
- Hydroelectric generator: block water if not enough pressure to produce at least 1kW
- Fix crash or "gray screen" when sometimes the player was duplicated (often due to fast load during save)
- Save player current air value
GRAPHICS - Reduce a bit an item's slot icon size. Display more items in inventory
- Add a warning when player's hp is below 30%
BALANCE - Increase a lot the falling damages. Decrease push when shooting up
- Increase the T4 monsters damage: 15 to 20 for ants, 10 to 15 for shark. Increase Ants HP from 110 to 130
- Decrease the distance for monsters stop following you to 27 blocks
- Madcrab attacks increased from 20 to 30, 100 to 150 against buildings. Attack all turrets nearby in one hit. The reinforcements he calls (number depends of the number of turrets in the area) are now effectively attacking turrets. Armor has been increased from 5 to 6, hp increased from 2500 to 3500. Improved following behavior
- Bats can swim
- Add 1 aluminum to the specialized AutoBuilder, to force building the miniaturizor MK III first (to prevent to build un-minable walls)
- Fishes doesn't attack blocks anymore
- Add a T4 crafting recipe: 1 coal from 10 woods
- Spawn a little more sharks and a little less fishes in the deep ocean
- Increase dwellers damage from 4 to 6.
MINOR - Add 2 items slots in the inventory
- Update English, French, Russian, Japanese, Spanish localization
- Add subtitles to the difficulty choices
- Add a sound for potion drinking
- Press F1 to close help - pause in help screen
- Cannot save during a cinematic anymore
