Spring is Coming! So we decided to push an update for those still longing for a proper winter...
New Content This update contains two brand new bosses: The Ice Dragon and The White Wizard. There are also two new enemy types: Walkers and Frost Giants (well, to be honest, by accident the frost giants already occasionally popped up in version 1.6.1).
There are now also more variations of magic stones for you to play around with. One type is connected to the new Walker enemies, while the other two are not related to ice or cold at all...
Bug Fixes One important reason to push this update today, and not next week as originally planned, is that a nasty bug appeared in the game for anybody that was playing the game on 4:3 screen. That should be fixed now. Along with the following others:
- Fixes issue with cold/fire wards and freezig/hot water.
- Fixes a number of potential crashes.
- You can exit the game with a controller even with the hidden UI.
- Guardian should not respawn after you killed and the game reloads.
- Guardian should also give better chase.
- Heartless Ogre can be killed even if you destroy its heart on a different floor.
Feedback Appreciated This game wouldn't be the same without all the feedback given by you the players. So please keep on doing that. In particular, there is still room for an air-themed dragon for which we didn't have any inspiration just yet...
UI Update (version 1.6.0)
Today we are rolling out the UI Update, so everybody can enjoy Unexplored unobscured by a prominent UI and on wide screens!
Hiding your UI is optional, to activate this mode you need to go to the options menu, click Graphic Options and than deselect the button 'Show UI'.
There you can also find options to keep showing the minimap and/or keep showing your health and other status bars.
The effect is a whole different, more immersive way to experience the Dungeon of Doom...
We Want Your Screenshots! One important reason to make this change is to make the game look better. You can help us prove this point by posting screenshots of the UI-less game to this thread. We would very much like use your best screenshots to update our store page.
There also have been balance updates and bug fixes:
New Features - Makeshift Time Trial: a new extra hard, competitive mode where the objective is to complete a short dungeon as quickly as possible, but you can only start that dungeon once.
- You can click many status bars to get more info on that particular status.
- Aggregates small damage messages into one log entry.
Game Balance - Stopping power of arrows is reduced.
- Reduces the damage of bows.
- Archer starts with 24 arrows.
- Green Hexarocs are immune to poison.
- Lord Grievous accepts orc teeth and the orc teeth necklace as offers.
- Torches at the entrance of a dark level are always lit.
- Flasks of water can damage certain fire based creatures.
Bug Fixes - Cauldrons that emit gasses do at the right location after being dragged.
- Fixes issue with uncursing the Death Bringer Sword.
- Hulking Rats no longer appear in the retinue of the Giant White Rodent.
- Fixes bug with the way back up music stopping too early.
- Fixes issues with levers that need to be pulled twice to reopen auto closing doors.
- Fixes issue with marked keys obtained from figurines.
- Stacking identified potions or scrolls with an unidentified potion or scroll is going to identify the previous ones.
- Player step count is saved properly.
- Fixes issue with (silver) keys indicating the right level they were used at.
- Repairs faulty battle axe speed.
- Fixes bugs with (burning) chests in water.
- Fixes long stuns.
- Lich cloaks' cannot be picked up (and can no longer be duplicated in that way).
As always, we very much like to hear what you think!
Hey, where did the UI go?
In the Unstable Branch (as of version 1.5.1) we are currently testing wide screen support and how the game plays without an UI. In this mode the UI will automatically hide, but pop back when needed. For example when opening a chest, inspecting your map, or pausing the game.
This gives you an uninterrupted view of the game, allowing you to keep an eye on what really matters...
The mode is optional, in the options menu you can chose to disable it if you prefer having your inventory, map, and status visible at all times. There is also the option to hide the entire UI except the minimap, and there's even the option to toggle between the two modes by binding a keyboard key.
It's all still in an experimental state, so your feedback is definitely appreciated!
Music update + soundtrack as free dlc
More music Today’s update is a little different, since it focuses on music. Firstly: we changed some of rules that trigger the different adaptive ingame music. This should add slightly more quiet and diverse moments and increase the relation between environment and music.
Secondly: we’ve added a new adaptive track. It has slightly laid back basic track with additional tracks for heavy percussions and some light violin upbeat melodies.
Sountrack as free dlc Equally important: we just launched our first free dlc: the complete original soundtrack! Especially for this album composer Matthijs Dierckx (of twocomposers.com) redid a part of the now famous menu theme and created down mixes of the adaptive tracks. The whole album has been remastered using authentic analog equipment to give it a slight ‘vinyl sound’.
To get the album just click on the dlc banner on the store page or in Unexplored’s page in your Steam client. You can then play it in the Steam client ( library > music ) or copy it to whichever device you like ( library > music > Unexplored OST > show in system ).
Other changes In the Unstable branch we are testing out a new competitive gameplay mode. For now it is called a Speed Run, but we need a better name for it. In this mode, you'll get a hard dungeon with only 10 floors. The objective still is to find the dragon and to escape. There is a leaderboard to track the best times. However, it is not speed running in the traditional sense, as the seed is going to be randomized every time you play. That's why we need a better name for it. Suggestions and ideas for this mode are welcome.
Finally, we also did do some bug fixes and balancing:
- Reduces effects of Haste items.
- The Flaming Whip can be drained.
- Firing a bow from hiding reveals you.
- Improves AI.
- Fixes a couple of bugs with assigning hot keys.
Balance Update, part 2
Bugs and balance issues are top priority. Therefore we kept focusing on addressing them this week and decided to give the balance update a reprisal. Below you can find all the changes we made.
Game Balance - Bog worms deal less damage.
- Limits healing ability of the Orc Shaman.
- The Werewolf is immune to normal weapons.
- Hell Hounds are not blinded by smoke
- Enemies cannot attack you after they were killed.
- While descending or teleporting you cannot quit the game.
- Magic missiles (and other spells) cannot be fired through walls or doors.
- Reduces chance of Dryads appearing.
- Gas/Flame type staves have a minimum activation time.
- Adds a little wind to the smoke, gas, myst, and poison staves.
- Certain key items are automatically recognized if you read something about them.
- The Death Bringer sword no longer drains from scoring hits (only over time), it also gains more charges from killing enemies.
- Swinging weapons have a slightly increased range when swinging.
- Healing water no longer restores HP, but cures bleeding, stuns, drains, poison, and deafness.
- The arms dealer also sells arrows.
Bug Fixes -Inspecting items after you died no longer prevents you from going to the high score list and recording your scores.
- Items stored in forges (or any other container) are properly saved.
- If you are cursed not to benefit from Life potions, auto heal ignores such potions.
- Fixes issues with burrowed but active creatures.
- Creatures are more mindful of their teleportation destination.
- Skeletons are destroyed when they die on lava and disappear when they fall into chasms.
- Fixes issue with items or ingredients floating over chasms after a kill.
- Fixes bug where creatures under ice could attack you on the ice.
- Barrels, chests, and other furniture keep pressure plates pressed, even when out of sight.
- Fire operated secret doors no longer open when only one brazier is lit.
- Fixes issue with incorrect character placement after using a descend scroll.
- Wearing an identified Stone Skin ring properly shows the increase in strength.
- Fixes bug with arena doors.
- If a tool or lock pick snaps in your hand your hand slot is not removed.
- Staff of Steal Life cannot be used anymore to heal from damaging barrels.
- Plugs one possible cheat.
- Fixes bug with minor mysteries...
Polish - Wardens display an immune message when you shoot them with magic.
- Adds messages in the game screen when items are identified or corroded.
- Adds a visual cue when enemies can smell you.
What's Next? For next couple of weeks we've got a couple of nice surprises in store: features that will change the way you can experience ths game. For example, we plan to work on a short run with a separate leaderboard. And probably some extra content here and there as well.
In any case, we are always want to hear to your feedback and suggestions.
Balance Update
We keep improving Unexplored. This week we focused on more subtle improvements. One important change being made to the mechanics of swinging weapons: they should be easier to use now. Due to circumstances we did not get as far as we planned this week, but we did address a whole bunch of other balance issues and a fair number of bugs as well.
Weapons - Improves timing of swinging weapons.
- Increases swinging speed for swinging weapons.
- Increases knock-backs when something is hit by a melee weapon.
- You stop lunging forward when you hit something with a stabbing or swinging weapon.
Praying and Offerings - Praying for help can destroy statues, tombs, turrets or columns that block narrow passages.
- Grievous is more picky about who/what you killed with a weapon before accepting it.
Classes and Starting Gear - Adds Items of Parrying.
- The Warrior starts with anextra Ring of Parrying and a dagger.
- The Adventurer starts with some extra torches and an extra ration.
- The Cleric starts with a couple of scrolls.
- The Wizard starts with a Scroll of Recharging
- You can only buy 1 Scroll of Enchanting at the start of a run.
- The random items you can buy are tied to the dungeon's seed.
Magic Items - Steal Life Staff uses more energy at high levels and deals less damage.
- Cloak of Mending no longer recharges automatically over time but when fully charged can heal 100 hp.
- Vampiric Blades no longer recharge automatically over time.
- Black Stinger Staff uses more energy.
- Staff of Surprises learned a lot of new tricks.
- Changes how Hardened weapons work (no extra bonus, but a minimum enchantment of +3).
Dungeon Generation - Improves sensitivity of auto closing doors.
- Torches are more common on dark levels.
- Enemies can no longer spawn at the dungeon's entrance.
- Wraith and Warden spawn counts should be slightly reduced.
- Slightly increases the number of enemies and hazards on Hard difficulty setting.
- All dungeon branches of 2 or more floors have a teleporter in the end.
- Interlevel teleporters need to be confirmed.
- The four spike rocks you'd occasionally find is now replaced by a single spike rock.
AI and Enemies - AI doesn't unsuccessfully keep trying to go through the same door.
- Makes the AI in general and dragons in particular more aggressive.
- Bows are less effective against Dragons (because they have scaly hides).
- Makes the Blue Dragon more dangerous as it can emerge from the water.
- Certain retribution abilities (such as Teleportation) are no longer triggered by surprise attacks.
Miscellaneous - When a tool snaps, it will not trigger the trap.
- You can also use lock picks and tools by equipping them and clicking the corresponding button.
- Blood cannot be collected from small patches and stains.
Bug Fixes - Fixes crash when enchanting items in a container.
- Fixes bug that caused key items and clues to go missing if you replay a dungeon.
- Starting a Daily or Weekly dungeon does not affect your start game settings.
- Fixes bug that caused items to snap to the upper left corner of the screen.
- When you are killed you do not attempt to automatically heal with a potion (which led to confusing messages in the log...).
- Dryads do not spawn every run.
- Improves the placement of fallen items.
- Recognizes a generation flaw in the dungeon plan that caused the daily of march 15 to fail 3 times in a row.
- Fixes issue with descend scrolls that could cause you to descend into a wall.
- Items and bosses cannot spawn inside a shop.
- Wind Stones cannot be pushed into walls.
What's Next? We'll keep fixing bugs and addressing balance issues. We also promised to add more achievements and unlocks. We haven't forgotten.
RockPaperShotgun interviews Unexplored's creator
Now on RockPaperShotgun, a great and in-depth article on Unexplored's dungeon generation, featuring JD:
How Unexplored generates great roguelike dungeons
"Unexplored creates great hero’s journeys. [...] It consistently generates some of the best ever roguelike dungeons. They often feel like they’ve been laid out by hand, organic caverns giving way to rooms and corridors, each space sprinkled with foliage and architectural details, as well as puzzles, traps and obstacles to cross."
It has been brought to our attention that the Dungeon of Doom is frequented by so-called 'adventurers' who deem it perfectly acceptable to open any chest they might find, and take all the gold and treasure stored therein.
To stop this menace we introduced a new creature: Mimics!
Open any chest you like, but don't file a complaint when it decides to eat you.
The second part of the Creatures Update is now live. There's a whole bunch of new creatures, some of them specifically requested by players on the forum, others more loosely inspired on the discussion, or enemies you might find in other games. In addition, you'll find many sounds are improved and there's also a lot of balance tweaks and bug fixes:
New Bosses - The Blighted Boar
- The Jabberling Chief
- The Jitterling Chief
- The Wasp Queen
Game Balance - Burrowing creatures cannot emerge right under your feet.
- Dark levels are more frequent.
- Wasp Hives spawn wasps less frequent.
- Reduces number of wasps spawned by hives.
- You can no longer pray to unlock a blue puzzle door.
- Praying for help 'costs more'.
- Earth Elementals are little less tough.
- The Ant Queen and Spider Queen cannot lay eggs too close to each other.
- Healing pools heal and increase your life.
- Improves eye sight of Hulking Rats, but makes them less frequent.
Bug Fixes - Bow of Shrapnell no longer destroys all cavern walls.
- Destroying the metal dragon should give the dragon slayer achievement.
- Treasures no longer lose their value when you enchant them.
- The Guardian is immune to slaying weapons and does not reflect that damage onto the player.
- The Guardian should no longer respawn after you defeated it.
- You should get achievements for pushing bosses into chasms.
- Repairs striking and reaching weapons.
- Improves boss retinue selection.
- Fixes crash caused by throwing activated staves from your inventory (voluntarily or whilst being disarmed).
- Fixes crash when The Conjurer takes environmental damage.
- Fixes crashes if you caused by inventory management after you died or escaped.
- Fixes crash caused by enemies dropping unknown items.
- Warden and mech spiders retain their type after reload.
What's Next? The next week we intend to focus on game balance and a couple of related issues. This includes looking again at the starting classes, but also introducing more achievements that might affect your starting gear.
In any case, enjoy the new content, and let us hear what you think!
The Unstable Branch
See that boar? It's not in the official game. Not yet.
But it is in the Unstable Branch...
This branch contains the latest, experimental content; it is updated more regularly than the official branch. However, it is not as thoroughly tested as the official branch, and it will not allow you to start daily or weekly runs (as these might be different).
If you are interested in seeing where the game's headed, and don't mind helping us out finding bugs and balance issues you can switch to this branch. And don't worry, you can always switch back.
To switch to the Unstable Branch you need to right click on Unexplored in your steam library, click properties, and select the Unstable Branch from the beta tab:
One more thing. If you do opt in to the Unstable Branch, please report any bug or discuss its content at the special forum section.
Creatures Update, part1
You wanted more content... We made you some more content!
This update introduces 7 types of lizards and two new lizard bosses: The Amphibian, and the Lounge Lizard. Wasps now also make an appearance in the Dungeon of Doom.
We wanted to add more critters, but we also wanted to fix bugs... So more critters, and bug fixes, can be expected next week, as we keep working to update the game.
Updates to the game balance - Storm winds can only blow you away when you are on a bridge.
- It has become a lot easier to stay in stealth mode.
- Auto heal option prioritizes Healing Potions over Healing Water.
- Using a Scroll of Descend no longer causes falling damage.
- You can not descend or teleport on top of turrets, teleporters or containers.
Bug fixes and optimizations - Optimizes code that saves files, which caused some lag (thank you Nypyren!).
- Windmills should behave a lot better at high fps
- Fixes a couple of possible crashes (thanks for sending in those save games).
- Fixes a couple of issues with the gamepad targeting.
- Fixes a number of typos.
Well, let us know what you think. And we're still taking suggestions for more creatures to include in next week's update. If you have any ideas please post them here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/506870/discussions/0/135509823669906069/
