Messages

1

Off-topic (Locked) / Re: Linux and Python

« on: April 05, 2013, 09:38:09 AM »

Slackware is fast and actually quite simple to setup (just install everything). Python3 can be found as a SlackBuild. I just did some programming with it myself, no problems.

I like Debian too. I've found that starting with the default XFCE setup works well, even if you actually want to use some other light window manager.

2

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn-based) / Re: Mikko's Epilogue Thread

« on: February 05, 2013, 07:38:59 PM »

I find the Defence proficiency in particular interesting, because it allows you to choose between Melee or Ranged in every fight, depending on circumstances -- not only on the opponent's skills but also on positioning. It's like an extra layer of tactical thinking on top of everything else.

Oh, and wasn't one of them Melee + Magic, that's similar. Magic + Bows is the least interesting of the defensive proficiencies.

Tellingly I forget which was the boosted defensive skill in these cases... The combination of two offense skills is all I think about.

3

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn-based) / Re: Mikko's Epilogue Thread

« on: February 05, 2013, 02:03:00 PM »

I like to play characters that are good at one defensive and two offensive skills. In the previous version when I hovered the mouse pointer on an enemy, I saw that my hit chance with a bow was, say, 42% and with magic 72%. It was easy to choose which weapon to use.

Now that information has been replaced with elemental vulnerabilities... Seems like these characters got a lot worse.

At the moment I'm playing a Defense character, and in each combat I need to choose whether to use melee or ranged. How should I make the decision? I've no clue whether a Blob Assassin is better at Defense or Deftness...

4

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Halls of Mist (now at v1.3.2)

« on: February 04, 2013, 07:06:03 AM »

Mushroom of Restore Strength helps, Potion of Restore Vigor restores STR and CON.

Dropping a Powder Vial of Heal Monster on a broken magic circle and succeeding in an Alchemy skill check creates a Circle of Lifeforce which restores STR and has lots of other effects.

5

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Halls of Mist (now at v1.3.2)

« on: February 03, 2013, 07:48:31 PM »

Thanks for the useful feedback, kraflab!

If the game feels too easy, you could try diving faster. That allows you to spend more time on deeper dungeon levels (and collect better loot), or alternatively to go for the big score multiplier that you get if you win with a low Min Depth. The best strategy might be to dive so fast that the difficulty feels challenging but not suicidal.

That said, the beginning might be too easy for warrior-type characters.

Some items, like healing potions and scrolls of Phase Door, are traditionally cheap in *bands. You should usually carry a big stack of them. The stacks are somewhat smaller in Halls of Mist than in Angband, but I haven't had any radical rethinking of their role.

In the next version I'm going to remove Mages and Mystics, so you might want to avoid them. Their gameplay is too repetitive with the new mana system introduced in version 1.3. Besides, I've always liked warriors and semi-spellcasters more, and most Mist players seem to agree.

6

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Halls of Mist (now at v1.3.1)

« on: January 16, 2013, 12:33:15 PM »

Yay, Halls of Mist 1.3.2 is here!

Windows executable
64-bit Linux executable (runs fine on Debian and Ubuntu)
Source.

I'm now using Mercurial, which makes coding faster and more enjoyable. The source package is actually a zipped Mercurial repository, meaning that it includes a hidden .hg folder. Halls of Mist doesn't have an online repository yet, but if you want to contribute patches, we can easily work something out.

I'm too tired at the moment to create a change list that makes sense... A couple of notes will have to do for now. I just want to get this more polished Halls of Mist out, quickly!

Notable changes:

    Lots of bugfixes. I combed through all reports here on oook, and I think I managed to fix everything (?).
    Lots of balance problems fixed. Most importantly, Spellswords and Absorb Hit tuned down. Semi-spellcasters have less mana.
    Mist phantasms start appearing sooner, and they are always awake.
    All torches have only 2000 turns of fuel, like the basic Wooden Torch. Torches are somewhat lighter.
    The Circle of Knowledge abilities -- Identify Pack and Fully Identify - always work, but you need to spend two identify points to use them. Also, the weak Scroll of Lore is gone, and Scroll of Identify is back. (It is quite expensive, though.)
    You become acclimatized to the Mist when you spend multiple dungeon levels underground. When you take the stairs down in the dungeons, you receive a randomly chosen skill bonus to Perception, Spell Save or Stealth. You can only get each bonus once -- after three down staircases in the dungeons you are have gone "native" and have the full bonuses. If you return to the surface you lose the bonuses. (Basic idea by Derakon.)
    Berserk Rage now heals 45% of wounds + 15 hits, makes you immune to fear, gives free action and extra blow, and doubles thrown damage. That's all. (Free Action was Magnate's idea.) Rage doesn't gives bonuses to hit anymore; to compensate, Bless and Heroism give bigger bonuses.
    'R'esting now waits for 50 turns or until you are fully healed. Hit the button repeatably if you need to. (Thanks, buzzkill.)
    All resistance bonuses are capped at 60%. With temporary bonuses they can rise up to 90%. No weird exceptions.
    The maximum stack size is now 30.

A big thank you to everybody who has provided feedback! Without it, Halls of Mist wouldn't be half as good a game.

7

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn-based) / Re: Mikko's Epilogue Thread

« on: January 08, 2013, 09:25:11 AM »

Save & quit doesn't need a confirm. In fact, having to confirm it would be slightly annoying. If you just add a confirm for suicide, it should stand out more.

8

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn-based) / Re: Mikko's Epilogue Thread

« on: January 07, 2013, 08:25:10 PM »

Oh no, now I accidentally commited suicide!

I was previously thinking that yikes, Save & Quit and Quit (Kill Character) are much too close to each other in the menu... And now I proved it. The game didn't even ask for confirmation.

On the positive side, I'll probably get some Halls of Mist bugs fixed tonight instead of playing Epilogue.

I'll return to Epilogue later this week. I feel that my testing and learning period is over, and I can now start playing "for real", playing every character at the top of my ability. I'll even destroy my savefile to reset the Character Stats "corrupted" by lots of test characters. We'll see how many characters it takes to win the game. 

9

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn-based) / Re: Mikko's Epilogue Thread

« on: January 07, 2013, 08:09:37 AM »

I thought that the Shield skill replaces the other defensive skills when a shield is in use? That's why I've been avoiding shields with my Fortitude character. Your answer seems to suggest that the highest of the two skills is used instead.

I'll take notes if I find a weapon with unusable bonuses. I've no proof at the moment, and perhaps I'm mistaken.

Zhangroh rewarded me three times, but I haven't noticed what the effect is. I haven't been paying close enough attention to my skills -- I suspect Zhangroh might have given skill bonuses but I'm not sure.

10

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn-based) / Re: Mikko's Epilogue Thread

« on: January 07, 2013, 06:42:37 AM »

There are also some item bonuses that are never useful. Shields may have bonuses to other defensive skills, two-handed melee weapons bonuses to Magic, off-hand weapons bonuses to Shield.

11

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn-based) / Re: Mikko's Epilogue Thread

« on: January 06, 2013, 06:21:16 PM »

You are right about stamina on equipment.  Personally, I completely disregard the bonuses on equipment, but they're there for people who enjoy paying attention to that type of thing

I like the item bonuses otherwise, but IMO the stamina bonuses on items are weird and unintuitive. Were I the developer, I'd get rid off them. Not a huge issue, though.

That is a very odd bug.  Are you saying that you could move the mouse pointer around still, but there was no way to exit the screen (in other words, not a crash or freeze, but just stuck on this blank screen)?

Were you getting to level 4 or 7 when this happened?  When you reach level 4 and 7 you unlock new character traits, at which point a menu opens up prompting you to choose one.

Yes and yes.

12

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn-based) / Re: Mikko's Epilogue Thread

« on: January 06, 2013, 01:14:41 PM »

Uh oh, something very bad just happened.

I was at 90% Exp, wearing all my stamina boosting items. I shot a potentially lethal arrow at a monster, there was a sound (leveling up?), and the screen went blank. There was just the mouse pointer on the menu  background image, no map, no text, nothing else. Controls didn't work, and I was locked to this screen, unable to even quit.

I was also extremely fatigued and about to fall in sleep any moment. Perhaps I leveled up and fell in sleep on the same game turn, and that froze the game?

OK, kill the program and start again. Thanks for the autosave at the beginning of each level, that saved me.

13

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn-based) / Re: Mikko's Epilogue Thread

« on: January 06, 2013, 12:41:43 PM »

Am I correct that stamina-boosting equipment are only useful when you level up, giving you more max health? So I should start using my Glowing Dark Bow with Stamina +20% when Exp reaches 90% or so?

14

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn-based) / Re: Mikko's Epilogue Thread

« on: January 05, 2013, 06:58:08 PM »

Kraflab, I admire your bug crushing speed!

Thanks for the tips, mughinn. For now I think I like destroying chests in the name of Zhangroh, since I'm getting flooded by constant inventory choices... I took Scrounger for my new character to practice alchemy more efficiently.

Another bug: the effects window doesn't handle Running properly. When you mouse-over effects, the window behaves as if Running weren't there.

15

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn-based) / Re: Mikko's Epilogue Thread

« on: January 05, 2013, 09:06:42 AM »

I found a bug: when I save/quit and reload a game, the game forgets information about previously seen terrain. The small map remembers everything correctly, but squares that are visible on the small map are black on the big map.