The Dungeon Paradox
EARLY ACCESS BUILD 23
After months of trying to both build a level that could contain a concept that looked good on paper, and then many weeks trying to find a solution for an optional game-mode, the conclusion is that it is better to reduce scope and build in steps and improve as is needed. There is no rule that a level must be 'finished' to be released. That is self-imposed and frankly lead to a situation where the lack of feedback ended up delaying a do-over. And it shouldn't have to be this way.
So in this release, is the current ongoing version of Level 5 -- it may change a little or a lot, but the stair-case down will not be unlocked until it is deemed ready, so no-one accidentally finishes it too early (missing XP and loot). Take note that the level is, as has been previously stated, is not finished and will change -- both due to actually being built out and changes based on feedback from play-sessions.
The alt. game-mode may become a reality in the future or be scrapped completely, depending if I can actually make it fun. As it was now, it wasn't, so it has to be halted.
In other news, the price-adjustment for the game will come soon - some currencies will actually remain the same (due to their fluctuations against the dollar), but the base-price will see an increase in $2.
Full changelog
* Added Mimic
* Added ForceBarrier actor
* Added dynamic highlight of Operators when holding space key
* Added Option to always highlight Operators
* Added level-indicator on Monster healthbars
* Added Blessing of Luck spell
* Added a few more Achievements, relating to Learning new Spells, and getting a Squad Wipe
* Adjusted puzzle of Level03, switches are now randomly allocated
* Adjusted rendering of Operator and Monsters to custom dedicated layers, allowing for future extension
* Adjusted outline solution for all Operators and Monsters to better handle complex combo-meshes
* Fixed animation issue for ranged weapons with non-interrupting animation
* Fixed some issues with outlines for Operators and Monster
* Fixed an animation issue for Snakes for when biting and needing to transition to moving
* Rebalanced some levels and stats for Monsters
EARLY ACCESS BUILD 22
The first thing is a comprehensive handling of error-states and exceptions that may appear due to bugs, logical errors, timing-issues or driver-flaws -- the case is reported back with information about the game and the latest part of current log from the session to help tracing the root cause of the problem. You will know an error-state was entered as the game will instantly load back to the Main Menu, via a loading screen that informs about what happened. This also makes sure that even though the game didn't technically hard-crash we still ended the current session as continuing may risk creating more errors or in worst case impacting even the save-game. And we don't want that.
The second change is on the surface a minor one but with the ongoing flawed gaming-press reports that loading-screens can/may destroy a graphics-card (they cannot) if running at unlocked FPS, it was decided to limit the max framerate of the Main Menu and any Loading Screen to 30 fps, as we don't have need for more frames. The main gameplay is still unlocked and will stay that by default for the duration of Early Access. Default and an option to limit frame-rate to a set number or force link to V-Sync will come later.
Full changelog
* Added reporting of errors and exceptions
* Added limited fps (30) in Main menu and Loading Screens
EARLY ACCESS BUILD 21
This will help any player that is having issues with a level and/or specific monsters and will help them overcome them with time invested.
Full changelog
* Added new 'TeamWiped' state, setting status for UI, Steam Overlay status and animated end-state of Level
* All Experience gained for level and Skills aswell as Attribute additions are now stored post-TeamWiped
* Exiting the game to Main Menu or to Windows also saves the Experience progression, as if TeamWiped
* Added hot-air effect to all torches
* Fix issue where Health and Action Points in Selected Operator Info Frame wasn't immediately updated when increasing Attribute points
* Fix issue with quick-keys after going through the Character Creation scene
* Fix issue with Player-named Operator having health set to 120 at start of Level 1 no-matter the attribute-values set
EARLY ACCESS BUILD 20
This balances things up a bit and removes the huge difference if the full 3-man squad stays together or not - or if one or two Operator(s) is downed or killed. To help out with exposing the impact of Terror and the Operators Defense against it, new stats-slots have been added to both the Team UI and the Character Overview UI for this.
One important aspect remains and that is to rebalance all Monsters Terror-values. Hopefully no huge reworks are needed, but please report any seemingly imbalanced scenarios you find during gameplay.
Other addition is a Quality of Life improvement in making sure quick-keys for all Orders are added, gathered around the default WASD/QE/ZX key-setting. All the quick-keys can be edited in the launch-dialog, but here is their default values:
- Reload Weapon Order -- R
- Look Order -- T
- Interact Order -- Y
- Special Ability Order -- U
- Overwatch Order -- F
- Attack using Mode 1 -- G / 1
- Attack using Mode 2 -- H / 2
- Attack using Mode 3 -- J / 3
This will drastically reduce the reliance on clicking on icons in the UI and will speed up gameplay. Note that since before SPACE clears all orders for an Operator, Enter/Return launches Action Phase and Tab-key toggles between Operators.
Full changelog
* Added quick-keys for all Orders
* Added Snake and Snake Small
* Added FlyingEye Hypno
* Added support for stacking multiple AppliedEffects of the same kind
* Added support for hooking up special handling for hits per weapons projectile
* Added new Hypno AppliedEffect
* Added TerrorDefense and TerrorObserved info to Team Overview and Character Overview
* Increased Troll and Golem textures from 2K to 4K resolution
* Adjusted Terror-impact calculations, both to fix bug regarding teammate support impact and to increase impact when Willpower is reduced
* Adjusted Willpower impact of Shaken (-2 to -1), Frightened (-4 to -2) and Paniced (-8 to -4)
* Adjusted Healthbar placement for Spider and Spider Small, Fishman and Bomberbug
* Adjust AppliedEffect height for Mushrooms, Plants, Spiders, Fishman and Bomberbug
* Adjusted so selecting an Operator with Tab-key now centers the camera on it
* Adjusted ammobar for weapons so a spent cartridge can easily be tracked by a dark cut-out
* Fixed walk animation for Spider Small
* Fixed Outline issue for Troll
* Fixed penetration-adjustment versus Downed or Dead Units for special (>0.85 pen) projectiles
* Fixed issue where hovering both an Actor and an Operator didn't allow for selecting the Operator on click
EARLY ACCESS BUILD 19
So to help with this and speed up the gameplay somewhat, any Operator that stands as Guard using Overwatch, but doesn't attack any Monsters in the current round, will carry over the order to the next round. This will continue until any Monster is finally observed and attacked, or the order is removed.
If a Monster is observed and there is enough time in the Round left to attack it, the Operator will call out 'Contact!' and the camera will move to show the action.
At the same time, the active Range for the Overwatch order is now rebalanced, to only extend as far out as the Operators Perception level in meters. To help visualize exactly what the Operator will cover, the area-overlay for the Order now scales with the actual range and has a new redesigned texture to give a clear outline of the boundaries.
The camera centering on the character on double-click on the Operator portrait in the Team Overview panel, and now also from an Operator engaging a Monster while in Overwatch, will now by default have the camera be rotated and placed behind the Operator in the direction the Operator is standing. There is also added options in the Options Menu to choose an alternative behavior, anything from 90 or 45 degrees rotated to the left, no relative rotation (default) and 45 or 90 degrees rotated to the right. If one would like the camera to behave like before with no relative rotation, there is a checkbox labeled 'No Rotation' that can be checked.
In addition, there is also some adjustments to several AppliedEffects, with additional impacts on Perception and Charisma, to better reflect the impact that should be experienced. See below for details.
Full changelog
* Overwatch Order is now carried over to next round if not triggered
* PreViz for Overwatch Order remade, sizes to the Operators Perception to indicate actual Range
* Overwatch range is now equal to Operators Perception, lowered from 2x PER
* Overwatch Animation now loops smoothly when not triggered and across multiple rounds
* Operator in sustained Overwatch will now yell 'Contact' when seeing a Monster and Camera will move to it
* Added new options to Options Menu: optional Default Rotation when moving the Camera relative to an Operator
* Adjusted font style and size for Merchant Note 1 to make it easier to read
* Recovering state now has a -50% penalty for Charisma for Team-mates Morale check
* Adjusted BoostInjection to also temporarily give +2 in Perception to injected Operator
* Adjusted AppliedEffect 'Hurt' to also have a -25% to Perception for afflicted character
* Adjusted StunNade's AppliedEffect 'Stunned' to also have -50% to Perception for afflicted character
EARLY ACCESS BUILD 18
Full changelog
* Added usage of Stats and Achievements
* Adjusted Mouse-pan speed to match key-pan
* Fixed that mouse-pan can still occur when mouse cursor is hidden during Action phase
EARLY ACCESS BUILD 17.1
* De-coupled FPS and Tick gathering for better resolution of information
* Adjusted Quality level Medium to High, added level Low
EARLY ACCESS BUILD 17
As such, all Monsters, either when an Operator is selected and a Monster is highlighted as being within their Perception range, or a Monster walks within range from a Light Flare and is highlighted, a Health Bar will be shown indicating from 0 to 100% the Monsters actual health.
This also means that the Light Flare once again get a minor buff, to bring it in line with some other Special Abilities.
In other news, development is, slowly, ongoing for the next level and the new monsters to find there. One of the important changes done to accommodate the current design, is to raise the theoretical max limit of the level by 4 times (double in both length and width). No date as for when it will be finished, as things have a tendency to take a long time for a sole developer.
Full changelog
* Increased possible maximum level-size to 4x the current limit (to 160,000 Sqr meters)
* Added HealthBar-support for all Monsters
* Adjusted title for book 'Dale The Merchant: Volume 7'
* Adjusted SpearDoor and SecretWall to handle non-set Interact-tile
* Adjusted Minimap to no longer render Decals
* Increased resolution for Clinging Wine and Blood decals to 4K
* Refactored all Lights for better streamlining usage and future performance passes
* Fixed issue that could allow an Operator to Interact with items in unreachable locations
* Fixed issue with Operator running in place if unable to reach location when Interacting with Actor or downed Operator
EARLY ACCESS BUILD 16
This will make sure that one cannot just leave an Operator to run off alone without any regards for their safety, because one may not be able to reach them and revive them before bleeding out. This should heighten the stakes somewhat again, even if the game is not as hard(core) as it was with the first builds.
Changelog
* Adjusted TTL for Downed Applied Effect, it is now 10 rounds
* Adjusted the Downed state, where timing out now cause a Bleed Out
* Added the Downed Icon to Team UI to indicate the active Applied Effects
* Added the Dead (skull) Icon to the Team UI for any Operator that is dead
* Added a new book (Merchants Notes) on Level 1
* Fixed AP left displayed to the nearest lower number, to handle visual cue for how much Actions Points that is actually left
* Fixed rare race-condition issue with a particle-collision against de-spawning objects that could raise an exception
EARLY ACCESS BUILD 15
While the changelog should be fairly self-explanatory, it can be worth briefly motivating 2 minor adjustments; The Lifetime of the Light Flare special ability is extended by 120 ticks (2 seconds, aka 1 round), and any Ranged Attack against a target further away than a character's Perception value in meters (1 tile = 1 meter) suffer a penalty of -15 against their Skill level of this weapon, to indicate that it is harder to accurately predict and aim towards a target that is too far away. Also note that the Light Flare bonus is to give +15 in Skill for attacks against any target that is Highlighted by it, so in part counteracts the penalty above. These Buffs for Light Flare should bring it closer to the value of other Special Abilities.
Full Changelog
* Added usage of Luck vs Luck for Damage Calculations for Close Combat
* Added descriptive hints to Character Creation for Attribute point allocation section
* Adjusted selected highlight outline to now be visible behind objects and walls too
* Adjusted Light Flare Time To Life, increase from 6 to 8 seconds (~3 to 4 rounds)
* Adjusted Status message animation slightly to reduce overlap when triggered with separation in time
* Adjusted Ranged Combat to now apply -15 to Skill if target is outside of Perception range in meters
* Fixed critical issue when Casting Freeze Spell and the target Monster dies at the same time (Thank you to THECHILIBOMB)
* Fixed issue where Operator that is downed could still cast BoostInjection in the same round
* Fixed scripted Actor de-spawning, such as removal of object based on triggers, to avoid late Look/Interact attempts
* Fixed critical issue when reviving team-mate as a secondary or later order in a round
* Fixed Freeze Spell icon shown for Operator in Team Info panel
Other Notes
If you ended up all they way down here then perhaps you are more than just browsing and actually follow the progress of the game. As was flagged during the soft launch into Early Access, the development phase is estimated to not be fast but somewhat fairly stable. I believe this has been the case for the past almost 6 months and it was the case during the Alpha and Pre-Alpha the year before that.
But that notwithstanding, during the next month a lot of equipment and computers will be on a boat traveling halfway across the globe as I am moving with my family back to another continent. While this will make it harder to perform some aspects of testing etc, I will have access to my main development machine and as such fixes and development will carry on.
In other news, since it was mentioned this would be flagged about well before in time, after level 5 is 'released' (with 2+ new Monsters), there will be a slight adjustment of the price for the game towards the final MSRP. It will not happen the day after and an exact date will announced when it is known - so there will be plenty of time ahead of it happening.