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1

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Infra Arcana, a horror/Lovecraft roguelike (now at v19.1!).

« on: November 06, 2017, 10:08:35 PM »

Infra Arcana v19.2 released.

Downloads:
https://sites.google.com/site/infraarcana/downloads

Changelog:

Gameplay
* All items which gave XP on identification now instead gives XP when that item is found for the first time (except "Strange Devices") - the reason for this is to reduce the pressure to identify consumables as soon as possible, and also to have a more "natural" continuous stream of XP, rather than occasional bursts
* When carrying a Potion, the player eventually gets a "feeling" for if the Potion is benign or malign
* Increased minimum distance from player when spawning monsters (when entering a new map, or spawning over time)
* Hounds can no longer bash doors
* Reduced group sizes of Hounds
* Hound bites cause physical damage instead of elemental
* Leech type monsters apply indefinite properties (which can be cured) instead of directly affecting stats
* Slightly fewer monsters are spawned on the map
* Monsters can no longer cast "See Invisible"
* Some monsters now have more specialized spell selections (too many monsters could cast too many different spells)
* Monsters spawned from summoning spells only remains temporarily
* Summoning spells no longer have a risk to spawn hostile creatures
* Monsters cannot summon other monsters near the player from a distance (summoned monsters always appear as near the summoner as possible)
* The "Transmute" spell costs much less spirit to cast
* The spells "Summon Creature" and "Summon Mummy Servant" costs one less spirit to cast
* Animated weapons are stronger, but are permanently destroyed when "killed"
* When cast intrinsically (i.e. not from Manuscripts), some spells can be cast without making noise (this is specified in the spell descriptions)
* The Horn of Banishment now also works on Khephren's summoned Locusts, and on monsters spawned from traps
* Monsters spawned from traps now wait a bit before acting
* Using Rods causes less shock than before
* Removed the "Demolition Expert" trait
* Removed the "Observant" trait (the effects are Rogue background bonuses instead)
* The "Vigilant" trait grants awareness of all monsters within three steps - even if they are invisible, around the corner, or behind a door, etc (instead of only preventing backstabs)
* The "Silent" trait also prevents alerting monsters when wading through liquid
* With the "Rapid Recoverer" trait, Hit Point regeneration is 1 HP every 2nd turn (previously it only regenerated 1 HP every 5th turn)
* The "Survivalist" trait no longer has "Tough" as prerequisite
* The "Self-aware" trait has "Cool-headed" as prerequisite instead of "Observant"
* Melee traits no longer improves chance to evade melee attacks
* Room templates (loaded from file) are now considered unique, each type may only appear once per game
* Fountains with bad effects always dry up on the first quaff
* Added map feature "Alchemist's workbench", similar to bookshelf but may contain potions
* Some monsters such as Molds or common Rats have negative dodging ability (i.e. they are extra easy to hit)
* Leng Spiders have a ranged attack
* Polyp monsters can be knocked back (e.g. by kicking)
* Invisible monsters causes shock (with a fixed amount), provided that the monster cannot be seen, and the player is aware of the monster ("!" sign on the map), and their map cell is seen
* The Spirit Dagger does 300% extra backstab damage (just like normal daggers)
* While the player is using the Medical Bag, infections cannot turn into disease, and the infection turn count is frozen
* Updated the score formula to include turn count (lower turn counts give higher scores), also a winning game now guarantees higher score than a non-winning game
* Removed the Rod of Purge Invisible
* The Shockwave Device is a Rod instead
* The Horn of Deafening is a Strange Device instead
* Nicer tombs are guaranteed to contain better items (and common tomes MAY contain better items)
* Pitchforks gives +15% chance to evade melee attacks
* Sledgehammers no longer knocks the victim back
* Monsters become unaware after the player teleports, if they cannot see the player at the new position
* Ghoul characters can use their claws for destroying corpses (and cannot get sprains from this)
* The Ghoul traits "Foul" and "Toxic" also gives +1 claw damage
* Ghouls do not have access to any ranged weapon traits
* Removed armor bonus for Ghoul characters
* Ghoul characters never gets sprains from breaking down doors, destroying corpses, etc
* Removed the "flickering" effect of the Electric Lantern
* Shock is completely restored when taking a sanity hit
* The Incinerator is always aimed at the floor of the selected cell (no need for players to select a floor cell adjacent to the monster they are attacking)

Interface
* Monsters are drawn with magenta background when they have temporary negative properties (such as paralyzation)
* When viewing monster descriptions, temporary negative properties are listed
* Added information on high scores and memorial files in the manual
* Each section of the manual is shown on a separate screen, accessed from a menu
* The "auto move" feature stops at junctions etc (instead of after a fixed amount of steps)
* When selecting "New Journey" from the main menu, and a saved game exists, the game asks if you really want to start a new game
* Added option for disabling ambient sound effects
* Added option to ask for confirmation before drinking malign potions
* When playing in text mode, the old ascii art graveyard is shown in the postmortem menu screen again

Bug fixes
* Fixed a crash bug for the Incinerator weapon (the game could crash when the projectile reached its max range)
* Energy Vortexes were not resistant to electricity
* In the game summary, insanity symptoms were written in the wrong format (e.g. "Phobia of spiders", instead of "Had a phobia of spiders")
* Monsters no longer spawn over time on special levels (e.g. the "Egypt" level)

2

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Infra Arcana, a horror/Lovecraft roguelike (now at v19.1!).

« on: November 06, 2017, 08:29:53 PM »

p.s. I miss the tombstone, tree, moon, spider web ascii end screen.

Hey Legend!

3

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Infra Arcana, a horror/Lovecraft roguelike (now at v19.1!).

« on: August 20, 2017, 05:52:57 PM »

Infra Arcana v19.1 released

Downloads:
https://sites.google.com/site/infraarcana/downloads

Changelog:

Gameplay
* Spells have basic/expert/master tiers instead of a skill percentage - higher tiers can be achieved by picking traits for various spell domains (e.g. "Lesser Invocation" to cast all attack spells at expert level)
* Reworked the spell skill bonuses for all spells
* Lowered the spirit cost for many spells
* The Occultist receives halved shock for casting spells (not just from using strange items)
* Spellcasting is now generally more powerful than before, and scales to be more useful by mid/late game
* Darkbolt and Azathoth's Wrath do random damage within a range, instead of a fixed number
* Being Blessed/Cursed affects the shock cost of casting spells, instead of the spirit cost
* The spell "Healing" is now also available for the player
* The potion "See Invisible" is now a spell instead
* Added spell "Transmutation" (convert items)
* Added spell "Subdue Weapons" - learned simultaneously as "Animate Weapons" (very cheap spell which drops all visible Animated Weapons)
* Added spell "Spell Shield" - grants spell resistance until a spell is blocked (same effect as the spirit traits)
* Removed Potion of Clairvoyance
* The Potion of Invisibility effect ends when attacking or casting spells, and has much shorter duration
* Removed the "Sacrifice Life"/"Spirit" spells
* The spell "Summon Creature" picks more sensible monsters when cast by the player (e.g. a Wolf will not appear when cast at Master level)
* Improved AI of player allied  monsters - they are now much more active in pursuing enemies
* Added trait "Stout Spirit" (before "Strong"/"Mighty Spirit")
* Added trait "Absorption" for Occultists - blocking a spell restores 1d6 Spirit
* Added trait "Resistant" - halved damage from fire and electricity
* Mind Eaters (now called Mind Leeches) can no longer paralyze the player
* The "snake emerge" and "wall crumbling" events are much rarer
* "Snake pit" rooms now contains much fewer monsters (instead of filling the whole room)
* Oozes have much shorter awareness duration and tend to spawn in smaller groups
* Keziah Mason starts together with Brown Jenkin, instead of spending a turn to summon it when she sees the player
* Monsters now attempt to detect the player by vision on standard turns, instead of on their own turns (to prevent very fast monsters from detecting the player too easily)
* Ravens, Bats, and Vampire Bats no longer actively moves towards the player, but will attack if adjacent
* Byakhees are slower
* Ghoul characters have +10% speed and +1 natural Armor Point
* "Infravision" has been changed to the ability to see in darkness instead (this means Ghoul characters can fully see in dark rooms)
* Adjusted Potion of Poison duration so that it's guaranteed to be non-lethal for any non-diseased player character with full hit points
* Poison damage is slower, but poisoning generally lasts longer
* XP gained from Monoliths increased from 15% to 20%
* Rod of Cloud Minds (which the Rogue starts with) now only requires 90 turns to recharge (or 45 with the Electrically Inclined trait)
* Unidentified Rods do not display their recharge countdown - attempting to use an unidentified Rod before it's recharged wastes a turn (with the same message as if the effect is unknown), but does not reset the countdown
* Removed the damage bonuses from the Marksman traits (it made ranged combat very overpowered)
* Removed Armor Points bonus from Tough/Rugged traits
* Added trait "Thick Skinned", which gives +1 Armor Point
* Each melee trait gives +5% chance to evade melee attacks
* The War Veteran starts with a Flak Jacket instead of a Leather Jacket
* The base chances for bashing doors open and pushing lids are higher
* Throwing knives do 2d3 damage (avg 4.0) instead of 1d6 (avg 3.5), and have +10% hit chance
* Rocks no longer have a hit chance bonus, and do less damage
* Increased backstab bonus for Daggers and for the Vicious trait
* The Imperceptible trait is only available for Rogues
* The Mi-go Electric Gun runs on Hit Points instead of Spirit, and does less damage
* The "auto move" command ("e") now also stops before hanging vines
* Greatly reduced the ability penalties for wearing Iron Suit, and slightly reduced the penalties for the other armors
* Putting on, taking off, or dropping armor now takes multiple turns
* Properties applied from monster attacks (such as paralyzation or blindness) have a certain percent chance to get applied - many attacks still have 100% chance to apply their effect, but some now have a lower chance (such as paralyzation from White Spider bites)
* Paralyzation can be re-applied while already active
* Paralyzed actors always have 100% speed, so that very fast monsters (such as  Bats) does not immediately start moving again
* Much higher chances that monsters become "wary" first, instead of immediately detecting the player
* When monsters detect the player due to sounds, they pause for one turn (just like they already did when detecing by vision)
* Burning no longer completely prevents reading manuscripts or casting spells - instead there is a 50% chance to fail (wasting the manuscript or spirit upon failure)
* Removed the regeneration aspect from the Orb of Life
* The Horn of Banishment now also works on Major Clapham Lee's summoned "Tomb Legions"
* Gas masks now also protects against gas explosion traps
* Insanity increments are higher than before, and randomized
* Shock from carrying disturbing items reduced to 0.05% shock per turn (from 0.1%)
* The Rogue background receives -25% passive shock (instead of -50%)
* Reduced the penalty for each wound to -5% melee hit chance (instead of -10%), -5% dodging (instead of -10%), and no penalty to ranged attacks (instead of -5%)
* The Survivalist trait completely removes the penalties to hit chance and dodging from wounds
* Being Frenzied allows waiting in place (with "5" or ".")
* Added some new mid/late game monsters
* Weakening now causes halved melee damage, instead of minimum melee damage
* Removed the Wolves from the intro level
* The Rejuvenator Device causes heavy shock when used
* Good properties no longer interrupt player actions when they are applied (e.g. using medical equipment is not interrupted by regaining spell resistance)

Interface
* Weapon names show average damage instead of dice rolls - melee weapons also show their "plus" damage bonus (not including any damage bonus from traits), e.g. "Machete 9.0 {+2} +0%" - the exact dice rolls can be seen in the detailed item description when viewing the item in the inventory
* Brighter interface color scheme (some menus could be difficult to read before)
* The descriptions for armors and gas masks includes their exact ability penalty values
* Multiple monsters had a red "E" as symbol when playing in text mode, they now use different colors from each other
* "Ornate Tombs" are now colored cyan instead (they were hard to distinguish from normal tombs)
* When viewing monster descriptions ("v"), the monster's hit chances and properties are no longer displayed (only the player's chance to hit the monster)
* Fixed Fire Hound projectile animation in tiles mode (a small "blast" tile instead of a bunch of forward slashes)
* When walking through water or mud, more descriptive messages are printed ("I wade slowly through the knee high water") instead of "splash" or "glop" - this is to emphasise that they cost an extra turn to move through
* When not wearing armor, the armor icon is drawn slightly darker than before
* Ravens are brighter (they could be hard to see)
* The high score list now also shows player background
* A game summary text file is always stored after the game (there is no menu option for this)
* You now also go to the postmortem menu after winning the game, and a game summary file is written
* When browsing high scores, selecting an entry shows the game summary for that entry
* The game no longer pre-loads the ambient sound effects (they are now only loaded on demand) - vastly reducing the program load time (should be nearly instant on most systems) and initial memory usage
* Seeing fire on the map now interrupts actions such as waiting or using medical equipment

Bug fixes
* On some machines, the random number generator would have a fixed seed (apparently, the C++ std::random_device can silently fall back on this method if it cannot find a source of randomness...), resulting in deterministic map generation, etc - the RNG is now seeded with the current time instead
* Fixed a bug which prevented accessing the manual ("Tome of Wisdom") from the esc-menu during a game
* Fixed a bug which removed the Sentry Drone monster from the game - preventing both usage of the Sentry Drone device, and hostile Sentry Drones from spawning on the map
* When Mi-go commanders dropped their armor on death, this was treated as if the player tried to unequip the armor
* The "wall collapse" event could crash the game in some situations
* The descriptions of "fast" monsters said that they appear to move "slowly"
* Fixed some typos

4

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Infra Arcana, a horror/Lovecraft roguelike (now at v19.0!).

« on: July 21, 2017, 08:50:44 PM »

Hey NON. I didn't get to try the version I originally saw which said it was 64 bit. But just downloaded and tried the x86 version that is now on the page and it seems to work fine. Thanks. And yeah, I have xp sp3.

Excellent!

The version you downloaded now is exactly the same build. All I did was to rename the folder and zip file to "x86" instead (since it actually already was).

5

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Infra Arcana, a horror/Lovecraft roguelike (now at v19.0!).

« on: July 21, 2017, 12:34:19 PM »

OK so I don't think the problem has anything to do with SP versions anymore.

I think the problem I'm having is because I'm trying to run it on a virtual machine, and that hardware acceleration is not supported.

I re-uploaded the IA Windows version now, renamed as "x86" instead, since that's clearly what it is.

Would still be great if you could download and try it out on your 32bit machine Legend.

6

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Infra Arcana, a horror/Lovecraft roguelike (now at v19.0!).

« on: July 21, 2017, 09:42:53 AM »

But there doesn't seem to be a win 32 binary 

Any chance to get a 32-bit version that will run on win xp for your biggest fan???

Sure I can.

Just a question though, did you try playing the "64 bit" Windows version?

I'm suspecting that it was actually built with a 32bit compiler, and is in fact a 32bit binary.

Could you try running it please?

Edit: Tried it myself on a 32bit Windows installation - it did not start.

Edit: Someone reported that they could in fact play the "64bit version" on their 32bit Windows XP machine. I'm really confused now.

Edit: OK the reason it won't start on my 32bit Windows XP is probably that it's running Service Pack 2. I'm now 99% certain that the "64bit" IA release is actually entirely a 32bit release. If this is the case, I just need to rename it and upload it again. Please try running the current version Legend!   ... also, are you running SP3?

7

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Infra Arcana, a horror/Lovecraft roguelike (now at v19.0!).

« on: July 20, 2017, 09:29:36 PM »

v19.0! 

Thanks getter77, I was just gonna write this myself

Download link:
https://sites.google.com/site/infraarcana/downloads

8

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Infra Arcana, a horror/Lovecraft roguelike (now at v18.2).

« on: June 18, 2017, 05:44:10 PM »

Don't tease me NON.

Hey Legend, I've got something for you (I don't know why this took me several years to add...)

9

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Infra Arcana, a horror/Lovecraft roguelike (now at v18.2).

« on: July 25, 2016, 11:10:29 PM »

I gotta say that I am extremely happy to see Infra Arcana still being worked on. Especially when it seemed that NON was going to shelve it a while back.

Almost half a decade ago (if you refer to the Roguelike radio interview)

This is an extremely interesting, intricate, and tough roguelike that takes the best elements from some classics, a couple newer ones, and it's own innovative aspects to boot with a great yet under-used theme in roguelikes.

It is still my most played and enjoyed roguelike today since I first discovered it.\

Thank you very much for the new release NON.

Thank you so much!

(P.S. I'm sorry, but I have to... Spiked Mace?)

Alright, alright. I'm making a note of this for next version right *now* 

10

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Infra Arcana, a horror/Lovecraft roguelike (now at v18.0).

« on: February 11, 2016, 10:26:15 PM »

Haha great post Legend

Sorry about late reply.

I did notice something that I thought was a little funny. I was trying to fend off a rediculous amount of black ooze by throwing cocktails and tnt at them. There was a couple cocktail pickups next to the ooze. after throwing two cocktails of my own and a tnt bundle, the two cocktails were still right there to be picked up. I assumed that they would have been destroyed and\or made the fire spread more.

Yes it's a little weird. But this is just because there is no item destruction at all for items on the floor. I mean, every item should get destroyed by a dynamite explosion, and dynamite getting hit by a Molotov's explosion should also ignite it. It's just something that the game doesn't simulate at all. I might open that door some day, but for now floor items are simply invulnerable.

I think maybe those black ooze should maybe appear a little bit later in the game? They are quite devastating in the first couple levels. Especially when combined with worm masses. both of which keep multiplying.

Possibly yes. Although they are super slow, so there's ways to run from them or deal with them. Concerning the worms - the split rate of those should definitely be lowered. Others have raised this issue too. Ooze do not multiply btw.

The ghoul is pretty fun to play as. Though, I would think that if I ate a zombie corpse, it would vanish and not come back to life. But when I eat one, the corpse does not disappear and will still rise.

They do disappear if you eat all of it, but if you just take a few bites they can still get up. Yes realistically they should probably have reduced health or something when they get up after you have taken bites from them - but at the moment, the game just considers them to be either completely intact or completely destroyed.

I miss the cool ascii tree/moon/tombstone kiil screen!

Hm, yeah. Actually, I think I'll put it back for ASCII mode. It just looks wierd in tiles mode.

11

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Infra Arcana, a horror/Lovecraft roguelike (now at v17.0).

« on: March 01, 2015, 01:32:53 PM »

One thing I noticed about IA's leveling system is that there are a lot of abilities that would be fun to have but that I would never take.  You only get a few level ups over the course of the game, and most need to go towards keeping your character's main abilities up to date.  I'm glad that rogues start with observant, it's a nice quality of life bonus, but I would never use a level up on it unless I was going for treasure hunter.  My characters inevitably wind up hopelessly incompetent at all but one or two things, and it doesn't ruin the game but it could be a lot more enjoyable than it is.

You should bundle more of those less necessary abilities together with something else.  I like what you did with tough/rugged/unbreakable.  A bonus to breaking chests and opening tombs is not worth spending a level on, but since it comes bundled with more health and more carrying capacity it's a viable option and it feels good to get that little quality of life bonus without gimping my character.

I know exactly what you mean. The goal is that each trait should be a significant and tangible improvement, but some of them are probably too much "luxury traits" since you have to pick whatever maximizes your change to just stay alive from moment to moment.

However, there are some nice traits which can only be unlocked by picking less obvious traits (e.g. Self aware is extremely useful for both Rogue and Occultist, but the path there is perhaps not what you'd immediately consider choosing).

12

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Infra Arcana, a horror/Lovecraft roguelike (now at v17.0).

« on: February 28, 2015, 11:16:32 AM »

Oh yeah, and I remember that some enemies could see through my cloud mind ability unless I used it outside of their line of sight.  I think leng spiders were one of them.  Do they have great perception scores or immunity to cloud minds or what?

The Cloud Minds ability is not an ongoing effect, it just makes all monsters forget about you. There is nothing stopping them from discovering you again the next turn, if they succeed the roll. I tested it right now with Leng spiders just to make sure there wasn't a bug, and I could stand in its field of view for hundreds of turns without being detected. If anything it seems almost too powerful.

Perhaps you had your Lantern on? Standing in light makes it a bit harder to hide (you can also light up cells to more easily detect hidden monsters, it's a good idea to activate lantern when there's Clear Oozes around). Or maybe you wore armor? Iron Suit now makes it much harder to hide (as per the item description), the Asbestos Suit and Heavy Coat also decrease your ability to sneak (but not nearly as much as the Iron Suit).

All monsters have equal chance of detecting you, but fast monsters is harder to hide from simply because they act more often than you (so they get many checks).

Is there extended documentation anywhere?

Nope.

13

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Infra Arcana, a horror/Lovecraft roguelike (now at v17.0).

« on: February 27, 2015, 09:40:59 PM »

Aside from hopes for a spiked mace echoed throughout eternity, given any thought to taking a hammer and chisel to the FATE point system from Arcanum to roughly adapt for Infra Arcana as a balance/flavour-aiding tool?  For whatever reason, it really just jumps out as thematically a better fit for IA than just about anything else that comes to mind in the Roguelike world.

Oh wow, this is crazy, I was just thinking about something like this today!

I don't remember what the fate points does in Arcanum though, haven't played that for many years. But what I was thinking about was something like "Fate cards" you could play to alter the world, or change events. It would be inspired by tarot cards, like you could play "The Sun" to remove all darkness from the level, restore your shock, and cure all negative mental effects. Or you play "The Moon" to visit a dream world. Or "The Hermit" to remove all monsters from the level.

It's hard to think of good effects though - it must not be just another consumable like potions and scrolls - it must really feel different. Sure, you could have a card like "Strength" that restored your HP. But that would just be a health potion with a different name. Not very impressive.

If this was a board game, an obvious use would be to play these cards to re-roll failed dice rolls. But in a game like this the interface doesn't allow it - you can't ask after every failed attack or failed dodge "Would you like to play a Fate card and re-roll this attack? (y/n)".

What did you have in mind with the Arcanum fate points?

Edit: After some brief reading, it seems like the effect of Fate points in Arcanum is to guarantee that your next action is successful with the best possible effect. I guess that could be worked into the game, you use a point (which does not spend a turn) and then perform some action with the best possible effect. Sometimes there could also be "upgraded" effects that you'd never see otherwise. For example if you drink a potion of insight on the turn that you use a fate point, all your items are identified, not just one random item. Or if you shoot at monsters standing on a line, the bullet continues and kills the next monster too (although this can already happen with the shotgun if they are adjacent). Also bad stuff could happen for your enemies during this turn, like their guns explode when they attempt to fire them, or they fumble and drop their weapons, etc.

Edit 2: The second system sounds more interesting (or at least easier to make more interesting). It sounds fun as a player to discover and learn what kind of effects can happen when a fate point is active.

14

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Infra Arcana, a horror/Lovecraft roguelike (now at v17.0).

« on: February 27, 2015, 04:53:26 PM »

I finally beat this game.  10445 points.

I can hardly imagine getting through the final sprint through the last 10 or so floors without the rogue's ability.  I thought I was gonna die or go insane on the final boss, but luckily I discovered his crippling weakness to lightning in time.

Congratulations!

Now do it with the other classes too!

15

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Infra Arcana, a horror/Lovecraft roguelike (now at v17.0).

« on: February 26, 2015, 07:40:26 PM »

The occultist has a penalty to their health and their one starting perk is the bare minimum for making their abilities work.  Maybe I'm doing something wrong and occultist gunner builds or whatever are amazing, but it feels to me like rogues are way ahead.

I think good timing of Darkbolt in combination with melee attacks is very effective. You shouldn't just spam Darkbolt. Utilize the paralyzing effect to the max by alternating between casting and melee attacks (you get huge melee hit chance bonus vs paralyzed targets).

You can also kill Ghost type monsters much easier with the Occultist than the other classes.