We hope you've been having a smashing time (quite literally) in Dome Keeper and are diligently keeping your Drillberts happy, healthy, and full of delicious treats.
Today we'd like to introduce you to The Assessor, Dome Keeper's all-new Keeper! With an exciting new set of skills and abilities, we reckon The Assessor will turn the underground Dome Keeper experience completely upside down as up until now, you've only been able to experience the wonder of Dome Keeper playing as The Engineer, the gritty, non-nonsense miner who powers through the bedrock with force.
A band of technologists living right on the precipice of experimental science, one might think of the Assessor as the high-tech yin to The Engineer's brute force yang. Here's everything you need to know about the all-new Keeper and their unique skill set…
Self assessor-ment
Furnished with the latest state-of-the-art equipment from the Guild, Assessors are equipped with their trusty electromagnetic power pack. Unlike The Engineer's separate drill and jetpack, Assessors use their equipment to levitate both themselves and their finds, zipping through tunnels and mining out iron, cobalt, and water not by drilling but by smashing up the rock with their astonishing kinetic spheres!
Initially, you'll have two spinning spheres you'll launch toward the rocks. They'll hit the wall, damaging it, and after a few hits reducing that rock to rubble.
Things get even more exciting when you start unlocking upgrades. One pathway, for instance - Sphere Reflection - lets the Assessor reflect the spheres to rebound, essentially creating a mini-game of breakout. That lets you quickly chip away with good timing. Another option offers to add more spheres or buff how powerful they are, helping you mine much more rapidly.
Carrying your resources back to the dome works differently, too; thanks to the Assessor's mysterious force field, you'll not carry your resources back up to the dome as much as they'll levitate alongside you. You can even fire the resources off, flinging them closer to the dome or straight into there if you're a good enough shot!
But all of the Assessor's fancy tech also requires you to do one thing well: plan your shots! Once unleashed, you have little control over the spheres. A bad shot will vanish quickly, a great shot will destroy swathes of rock, so you always want to make sure you place your spheres where it matters. Sometimes you won't find a great spot. Then you can rely on your rotational mining for help - often you'll be able to prepare the rock layout to maximize the power of your spheres.
Jeepers Keepers
No longer will you be playing in the straight forward fashion you get with the Engineer. It'll be up to you to ensure you properly plan your sphere shots and time your reflections well, to maximize your mining capabilities!
So go on then, get in there and let those spheres fly! Let us know what you think, and what ideas you have for any future Keepers that may join the team!
Make sure you're following Dome Keeper on Twitter or join our Discord to meet and swap tips with other Keepers, as well as tell us all about your favorite map modifiers, gadgets, and anything you'd like to see us bring to Dome Keeper in the future!
Changelog
<*> - added the Assessor, a new keeper based around control of gravity. Also comes with a completely new OST and 4 Achievements. <*> added a new monster, the Stingray. It's a lowest tier flying monster, bringing a bit of variety early on, replacing the flyer in some worlds. <*> improved sprites for Rockman <*> buffed orchard: - Root explosion deals a fixed, high amount of damage. - Fruit buff upgrades are much cheaper. - Shield last for much longer and is a bit cheaper. <*> more community translated languages now available <*> reworked sword impact recurperation and added visual effect for when it's active. It will now activate during the battle, as soon as the damage threshold is reached. <*> added alternative tooltips for other controller types than xbox. Automatic detection should work for Playstation and Switch Pro controller.
improved sprites for keepers in loadout screen
added option to set how often music plays
improved colors of orchard fruit in HUD, for better readability towards the end
improved animations for unlockable screen
improved some worm and sword sounds
wave counter and inventory now cost 1 water
Until the next one, Keepers - Dome Sweet Dome!
Dome Improvement: Gadgets Galore!
Dome Improvement: Gadgets Galore Although we've already spent time talking about the primary gadgets you'll encounter in Dome Keeper, how about a little more information about the other gizmos and gadgets you'll come across, too?
Sure, you get to choose your primary gadget before you kick off each new Dome Keeper run, but there's also an incredible smorgasbord of tools and gadgets hidden in the rocks below your dome. Here's a rundown of some of the types of gadgets you may find, and what benefits they bring…
Inspect-our Gadgets As well as the minerals and resources your Keeper needs to make upgrades and keep your dome in tip-top condition, beneath the surface you'll uncover secret chambers that contain helpful little gadgets, too.
Bring one back to your dome, and you'll get a choice: select one of two randomized gadgets, or sacrifice it for two extra cobalt pieces… and what you choose can make a big difference to your run!
Take Blast Mining, for instance. Drag it - or fling it! - to your preferred spot and it'll detonate, instantly excavating an area and saving you a lot of time. Alternatively, you can upgrade it so it digs out a long tunnel instead of a small square.
How about a Lift – that sounds handy, right? Set one up, gather your resources, and you'll be able to send them back to the dome, giving you extra precious time to keep digging whilst the elevator does the heavy lifting… literally!
A Teleporter, on the other hand, enables you to move quickly back and forth between the mine and the dome, cutting down your traveling time which - let's face it - can be the difference between life and death in Dome Keeper! What's that? You'd rather send back resources and fly home the scenic route? Well, you can do that, too, via an upgrade available in the Teleporter's tech tree – for that matter, every found gadget has its own upgrade pathways, too.
That's not all, though! We have a Condenser - a nifty machine that auto-magically generates water, which can be used to overcharge your primary gadget - and a Converter, which does exactly what it says on the tin and lets you convert excess materials, which is particularly useful if you're running low on one resource but have more than you need of another.
There's even a Probe that sends out an electronic impulse to show you exactly where nearby resources are hiding, saving your Keeper time and effort and ensuring your digging pattern is much more targeted.
Last but definitely not least: have you met Drillbert? He's your super cute dino pal who loves to dig and will scratch away wherever you place him, leaving you free to drill someplace else, essentially doubling your chances of unearthing something valuable. When he hits a dead-end he'll take a brief nap until you reposition him. You may even discover that he'll dig a little faster if a tasty treat or two is up for grabs!
Because each tech tree offers plentiful pathways and branches to upgrade your gadget, there are many, many ways to customize your gadgets, with every branch specially designed to address a particular aspect of the game: traveling time, resource management, getting materials back to the dome, and so on. Use them together, though – in synergy – and you'll open all kinds of neat shortcuts and ideas, making every run feel fresh and rewarding.
Make sure you're following Dome Keeper on Twitter or join our Discord and tell us all about your favorite gadgets, including your wishlist for the future! And don't forget: Dome Keeper is out now!
Until the next one, Keepers - Dome Sweet Dome!
Hot Fix for patch 5 movement issues
Greetings Keepers
Well, funny as the "top men" meme may be, we are fortunate to have an awesome team that got to it on this one. We have cleaned all the monster goo from the Dome and restored full movement functionality. Or in plain terms, we think we found everything causing the issues with sluggish movement, quirky stick and D-pad response, and keyboard input issues.
A quick note for controller users - in options on the input tab there is an on/off box for "automatically select preferred controller." This is for players using two different sort of controllers for different sessions, like if you use an Xbox 1 controller and switch to a PS4. If that is you, try selecting "on" for this. If you use the same controller all the time, leave it "off" which basically locks the game to the controller you are using right then.
As always Should you encounter any bugs/issues while playing, please visit our support desk where someone can assist you https://rawfury.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/portal/1
Now here's a cute picture of Drillbert. Thanks for your support!
MIX Showcase - Dome Keeper Accolades Trailer!
Keepers!
To celebrate the MIX showcase, we thought we'd share with you our beautiful accolades trailer! We super appreciate all the kind words 😍
a quick one this time, a hotfix if you will. Some of you noted that with the last update, movement with gamepad sticks was unpleasant, as it would slow down in strange ways. We immediately investigated it, and were able to reproduce and fix it. We also snuck in some very small other things.
v1.5.17
<*> fixed movement with gamepad stick slowing down unpredicatably. There were some other quirks around movement speed, but now it should all be fine.
skeleton cave won't spawn in Prestige anymore. Unlocks like worlds, difficulties, pets or modifiers are not available for prestige, so generating the cave in Prestige was misleading.
fixed skin selection not properly remembering last used skin
small balancing change of laser strength 3 with double laser. Combination was OP and probably still is, so the total damage and stun is reduced a bit.
For the laser, we'll see how it fares and how your feedback is, and continue to balance and improve accordingly.
To throw in something nice, here is a small sneak peek at some of what we were working on the last weeks in terms of monsters. Please not they are a work in progress without a release date tied to them - but a lot fo things happen under the hood ;) work in progress of some monsters that you might meet eventually
Celebrate Scream Fest with the Skeleton Keeper Suit & Flaming Skull Pet!
Keepers, it's spooky season!
To celebrate Steam Scream Fest, we have guild-approved cosmetic spookiness available to find by all Keepers! A newly developed Suit and Flaming Skull Pet will be sure to scare the waves of monsters coming to destroy your Dome!
The Skeleton Suit and Flaming Skull Pet cosmetic items are available to discover during the Halloween season, 25th of October - 13th of November, for anyone playing Dome Keeper during this time.
You will gain permanent access to these items, as long as you can find their hiding places, and complete a successful run.
Summary of Seasonal Content:
Skeleton Suit
Spooky Underground
Flaming Skull Pet
As well as this spooky update, we've fixed some creepy bugs, tweaked some cool sword mechanics and so much more! Check out the full patch notes for v1.5 below:
<*> Added a pet, a new cave, and decorations for Halloween. Only available until the 13th of November, but unlock permanently if you get it now. You can disable seasonal content via options if you prefer "vanilla". <*> Fixed pet and egg not saving properly <*> Improved many sounds <*> Gamepad bindings now also got alternative key bindings and the axis can also be bound (stick or trigger) <*> Laser strength 3 and double laser are not mutually exclusive anymore
Pets don't duplicate on reload anymore
Skin unlocks are now also listed when showing what was unlocked this run
Fixed keeper slowing down when moving the stick and then pressing and releasing d-pad in the same direction
Fixed prestige maps just stop at a fixed depth, instead of fading out naturally
Fixed double iron modifier not being remembered to be selected previously
Fixed lift not going through the middle of indestructible parts where there was no border tile
Added animation for sword dome in the loadout screen. Also added a dummy monster to show the sword's impact better.
Shield reflection stage 2 from 2s to 3s
Sword fast stab 2 adds 20 instead of 10 damage to the stab
Sword stab cooldown change for bomb upgrade goes from +3s to +1s
Sword stab last bomb upgrade now has 3 charges instead of 2
Sword javelin upgrade adds 40 damage instead of 50
Orchard roots now spawn 6 and 12 roots, instead of 4 and 8. Additionally, it lasts for 12s and 24s, instead of 10s and 20s. This is only a small step, orchard needs some more serious buffs or additions.
Removed empty Drillbert upgrade
In case you are wondering we switched the versioning to make more sense, so now you got v1.5 which is the fifth patch of the release version, instead of version v41.6.
Enjoy!
PS. The guild hasn't forgotten the Assessor, it's very much still coming soon, we just wanted to get involved in the festive, spooky fun! 🎃
Dome Keeper Patch 4
Hey Keepers!
Another week, another Patch! Thanks to your super helpful reports, we were able to fix some annoying bugs.
The bulk of our time is spent on the Assessor now, which enters Playtest this week, over on our Discord. We are also preparing something small but fun for Halloween :)
transcending physical limits
v41.5
<*> fixed some tiles being indestructible, that should not be. This affected resources sometimes beind inside in border tiles, but also unreachable chambers. <*> lift can now pass through indestructible terrain, so should be viable on all maps <*> fixed laser sound playing permanently in some cases <*> added option to detect used gamepad automatically. If you got problems with a gamepad, try changing this setting.
disabled HDR, so there should not be any effect on monitor brightness anymore
orchard root now pauses properly
exploit of reloading the game to "roll" higher yields from tiles should not work anymore
fixed a "fixed cobalt" run causing that no cobalt would spawn in next run
reduced amount of very hard and very soft rock a bit (effectively lowered the increase from last patch to 50%)
fixed all "fixed cobalt" runs markes as cheated, if the cobalt multiplier was bought
removed some false positives from the cheat detection
If you run into any issues please let us know here!
We are also active on the Steam Forums and the DIscord of course, though it might take us a bit to respond - a lot of activity right now, which is great!
It is patch time again. Thank you for all the feedback and bug reports you've shared! With your help, Dome Keeper can get better and better.
If you were struck by a savegame issue on Steam Deck, check out this thread for a solution. ZeP found a solution how to recover your savegame. https://steamcommunity.com/app/1637320/discussions/0/3391798007040691865/ The savegame is not lost, but Steam Deck has switched between the Linux build and the Windows+Proton build, switching save directories in the process. This is out of our control right now, but we are talking with the Steam Support in how to improve this
Behind the scenes we are also working on major content updates - more on that in the coming weeks.
double the iron, double the fun
v41.4.11
<*> fixed cheat detection having a lot of false positives. Old highscores might be gone now, as they falsely got flagged as cheated. This will be a thing we continuously improve, so more and more cheat/exploit runs are caught. We also clean the leaderboards from time to time. <*> added "double iron" run modifier for relic hunt as a challenge to your logistic setup. It doubles both the iron cost of upgrades as well as the iron amount found underground. <*> automatically switching to larger font sizes, when playing on steam deck <*> fixed big ticks going into a state of being stunned and invincible, when caught in an orchard root while burrowing <*> fixed stun laser trying to rotate underneath the dome <*> fixed maze and long cycle modifier being incomptible <*> memory upgrade of probe is now not exclusive to the other higher tier upgrades
changed condenser code slightly, possible fixing an issue with it stopping production
possibly fixed teleporter teleporting to the same place where it started
pet will now not wildly jump positions if out of sight
controller vibration will now only happen if controller is actually used
fixed orchard and repellent charging up in the initial grace period, where no monsters spawn
reduced number of monsters that can be on screen at the same time, more so for hardest difficulty
punishers are much more effective now, and won't trigger when not intended
fixed controller not vibrating, if any given vibration would go over 100%
focus continue button in main menu, if it is available
increased the density spread, so more tiles belong to the extreme hardness stages
increased difference between hardness 2 and 3, raised hardness 5 a bit and lowered progression between biomes slightly
fixed map being cut off when zoomed out in 16:10
changed font for hungarian
prestige scores of 0 won't be uploaded anymore
fixed mode button not switching correctly to the button left of it, for some languages
reduced drillbert drill upgrade costs a bit
Don't forget we have a list of known issues in the discussions thread here on Steam, so keep an eye on that and if you run into any issues please let us know here!
Feel free to join our Discord and share your feedback with us there too! Enjoy!
Introducing an upcoming new addition to your Keeper options, The Assessor. Their distinctive helmet and protective cloak provide more than good fashion. Each is part of the cutting-edge technology the Assessor employs for elegant operations. They don’t need to get their hands dirty, there are far more advanced ways to perform the work.
An experimental energy field generator developed by the science branch of the Keepers Guild provides their power. Able to bend the very gravity around them, the Assessor effortlessly glides through the world around them without the need for a cumbersome jetpack.
That energy holds mining applications as well. Focused into a powerful orb, it packs the ability to tear apart rocks. By launching the orb, its force becomes unstable and grows more powerful, ripping apart the surfaces it hits. Each rapid impact amplifies the effect, enabling rapid excavation in tight spaces.
To collect resources the Assessor reverses the polarity, using the field to draw free ores up for carrying. Not that they must be taken all the way to the Dome manually. A skilled Assessor uses the projection capabilities to fire resources back into the Dome without needing to go all the way there.
All in a day’s work for the Assessor, who is ready to get back to some welcome rest with their loyal companion the Seahorse.
We are back with another patch that squashes some more bugs, adds a new accessibility option, a new map size, and more!
Please do keep the feedback coming, we really appreciate it and it helps us make Dome Keeper the best it can be!
Build 41.3.7
<*> Full patch notes below: <*> Added accessibility option to always highlight monsters with an outline <*> Orchard fruit buff cannot be stacked anymore, but repeated use will refresh the buff <*> Added missing sword dome tutorial popup <*> Allowing bind of pick up and drop to the same key again, as in the Dome Romantik prototype <*> Added huge map for relic hunt <*> Showing up to 3 unlocks now, instead of 2 at most <*> Improved controller detection, which might solve issues with some models being unresponsive <*> Added information on which rule in the cheat detection was triggered, allowing us to improve it in the next patch, after seeing what causes the false positives <*> Lift now starts with an additional orb, and more orbs cost 1 water instead of 2 <*> Teleporter won't teleport resources during battle anymore
Fixed repair indicator on health bar sometimes staying visible after closing the tech tree
Fixed vibration setting from options not being applied
Fixed keeper not moving if exiting the station with an already rotated joystick
Fixed keeper being stuck in pickup mode if the station was entered holding the pickup key and use and pickup being bound to the same button
Fixed one instance of the cheat detection triggering erroneously
Fixed some small errors in the savegames
Fixed issue where final battle music was playing after the wave was over, overlapping the win music
Fixed condenser, converter, and drillbert achievements not counting properly, if the game was saved and reloaded
Improved blue underground biome color to be more distinct from grey
Rendering all percentage values without digits after the decimal point in the upgrade tree
Improved rock texture for medium rock hardness
Fixed unlock potentially getting lost if immediately exiting the game upon unlock
Selected gadget in keep gadget popup is now animated, for better visibility
Fixed button focus in loadout stage not jumping from gadget to mode as expected
Reduced condenser production delay on overcharge from 0.75 to 0.5 cycles
Don't forget we have a list of known issues in the discussions thread here on Steam, so keep an eye on that and if you run into any issues please let us know here!
Feel free to join our Discord and share your feedback with us there too! Enjoy!
