Messages

1

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Zorbus

« on: September 14, 2022, 05:15:51 PM »

The game is now available on Steam at https://store.steampowered.com/app/2125420/Zorbus/.

Release 56   (14-Sep-2022)

• The game can now be found on Steam.
• Steam version has currently 20 achievements: https://steamcommunity.com/stats/2125420/achievements.
• You can take screenshots to game library with F12.
• Possible future tournaments can be played with the Steam version only.
• Steam overlay is not possible because the game doesn't use DirectX or OpenGL.
• Changed some of the default keybindings:
• Screenshot: from [CTRL] + [F5] to [F12].
• Mapshot: from [CTRL] + [F6] to [CTRL] + [F12].
• Quickslot manager: from [F12] to [CTRL] + [ENTER] or [DEL].
• Item compare in inventory / shop: from [F12] to [INS] or [CTRL] + [BACKSPACE].
• Tiefling's Fire Ray talent's damage changed to: fire: 2d4 + 1 per 2 levels. Difficulty to dodge the effect now scales with the tiefling's level.
• Companions who are separated from the player behind unexplored tiles no longer group themselves around the player after autoexplore finishes.
• Removed device use checks from wands. Now using wands is always successful.
• Fixed a bug where some possessed creatures like dragons could not open doors. All possessed creatures can now open non-locked doors.
• Elixir of Cloning is dimmed in inventory if you already have a clone in your party. Cloning chambers won't clone you if one already exists.
• Effects from sitting on a throne and drinking from a well now last longer.
• New item: Scroll of Darkvision. This scroll enchants the currently equipped armor to grant the wearer darkvision of 7 tiles.
• Added darkvision-property to some of the existing items: Shadow Dragon Scale Armor, Night Club, Nightbringer.
• Renamed "Kit of Dimensional Anchor trap" to "Kit of Anchoring trap", and changed the effect to target only the creature that sprung the trap (was a level-wide effect previously).
• Renamed "Kit of Necrotic Field trap" to "Kit of Withering trap", and changed the effect to target only the creature that sprung the trap (was a level-wide effect previously).
• New trapkits: Acid, Sonic Burst.
• Fixed a bug in field of view postprocessing: sometimes it revealed wall torches of unexplored areas.
• Some new content, lore, and dialogue added.

2

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Zorbus

« on: September 04, 2022, 02:17:47 PM »

3

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Zorbus

« on: August 12, 2022, 11:58:13 AM »

Release 55   (12-Aug-2022)

• Resting until healed took quite a while in late game when you had hundreds of Health points. Optimized to be at least a bit faster.
• Companion tactics. You can now command a companion to prefer ranged tactics instead of the default tactics. Ranged tactics means that the companion tries to maintain distance to hostiles and use mostly ranged weapons. Default tactics uses both melee and ranged weapons, and wont't try to maintain distance to hostiles. Ranged tactics is indicated with a "R" letter on the companion image in the companion list. Default key for changing tactics is ALT + 1 - 9 (companion number) or ALT + 0 to change tactics of all companions.
• You can use "ranged attack and retreat" tactics if you set behavior to REGROUP and tactics to RANGED on all characters. Can be very useful in some situations, like when retreating from a group of oozes that would otherwise destroy the party with their acid attacks.
• Companions follow the player better in corridors. Companions no longer try to follow the player / chase enemies through unexplored areas.
• New talent: "Seeker Shots". With this talent you can target anything that you see within your shooting weapon's range. There's a -3 modifier to attack per each obstacle in the line of fire. Can not be used with Dualshot or Multishot.
• Tweaked autoammo a bit, so that regular or everlasting ammunition will be used against creatures with a "harmless" or "mostly harmless" challenge rating. There was a small bug in the previous implementation and it didn't take challenge rating into account, so autoammo would waste better ammo on harmless creatures. Autoammo can be toggled with CTRL + Q.
• Hoopak can be used for reach attacks and shoot attacks. If the DPR of the shoot attack is higher than the DPR of a reach attack, then a shoot attack is made when distance to target is 2 (or at distance 1-2 if you have the "Close Combat Ranged" talent).
• The area of effect of "Chain Lightning" talent and wand changed to "chain". Targets can now try to dodge the effect.
• Dodging vs spell damage now takes the spellcaster's Magic-skill into account. The higher the caster's Magic-skill is, the more difficult the spell is to dodge.
• Removed kick attack from playable character races. Unarmed fighting isn't really a thing for the player character, and previously punch + kick attacks in the beginning of the game were more powerful than most weapons.
• You can see skill and talent progression when you mouse over the Mind-ability in the character sheet.
• In-game Zorbupedia has a talent progression table in the talents info section.
• Changed weapon enchantment a bit:
• You can now safely enchant a weapon with 4 enchantments, and every enchantment point above 4 decreases the enchantment chance by 15 percentage points. Plusses, extra elemental damage points, holy-/returning-/vampiric-properties, and on-hit effects count as enchantments.
• With the "Expert Enchanter" talent you can now safely enchant weapons with 9 enchantments. Every enchantment point above 9 decreases the enchantment chance by 15 percentage points. This talent enables armor enchanting without any restrictions.
• You can no longer enchant a weapon with a "Scroll of (element) Weapon)" if the weapon already has that damage element.
• New enchant scroll: Scroll of Returning Shield. You need the "Shield Bash" talent to throw a returning shield.
• New item: Carillo Express Card. Included in the items from the "Silver Spoon" talent. With the card, you will automatically get discount from the regular shops in Carillo. The card has charges which can be used to teleport the party to the Carillo teleporter. The card vanishes once the charges run out.
• New item: "Unearthed Arcana" book (Halaster's diary) has finally some content. Some new text added to "Dungeon Master's Guide" as well.
• New item: Wand of Wind. Conjures forth a strong gust of wind, which extinguishes lightsources and disperses cloud effects in 15 tile radius. Environment lightsources (torches, braziers, etc.) and lightsources carried by creatures are affected. Creatures whose lightsources are extinguished won't be able to relight them for a small duration (10-15 rounds).
• New item: Arrow of Extinguishing / Bullet of Extinguishing. Ammunition that can extinguish lightsources. Environment lightsources (torches, braziers, etc.) and lightsources carried by creatures can be targeted. A creature whose lightsource is extinguished won't be able to relight it for a small duration (10-15 rounds). If you have enabled autoammo then this ammunition will be automatically chosen when the target cursor is on an environment lightsource.
• New character archetype (quickstart character type): "Noble". Has the "Silver Spoon" talent which includes the new Carillo Express card.
• Small adjustments to character archetypes.
• Some new monsters. The nastiest new one probably is the "Sentinel", which on a successful hit teleports the target to the most dangerous location on the level.
• The magic lamp djinni's inventory has now ammunition and some random devices (wands, horns, figurines). The djinni's inventory is different on each summoning, so you might have only one chance to buy certain items.
• Companion / monster AI tweaks.
• Death splash animation on by defaut. If you want the old skull death animation, uncheck "Death splash animation" from the settings. Several new death splash animations added.
• Fixed a bug where items from the "Silver Spoon" talent weren't always created.
• Fixed a bug where the rising indicator text was rendered over a wrong creature tile.
• Fixed a rare bug where the dungeon level was completely explored, but no XP award for exploration was given.
• Lots of other small tweaks here and there.
• Leaderboard has been reset. The previous leaderboard can be found here.
  

Finally wrote some text to Halaster's diary, you can read it online here. Spoilers obviously!

www.zorbus.net

4

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Zorbus

« on: September 19, 2021, 05:59:09 PM »

Release 53   (19-Sep-2021)

• New talent: Expert Trapper. Normally you can set traps to nearby tiles only, but with this talent you can set traps traps on tiles up to distance 3. Setting a trap never fails and takes only half the time it would normally take to set. Traps set by you are harder to avoid, and possible damage or duration is increased by 50%. You will also gain a +4 bonus to Disable-checks when disabling traps.
• New talent: Expert Enchanter. Normally you can safely enchant an item with 3 enchantments, and every enchantment point above 3 decreases the enchantment chance by 15 percentage points. Plusses, extra elemental damage points, holy-/returning-/vampiric-properties, and on-hit effects count as enchantments. With this talent you can enchant items safely without any restrictions. Tieflings get this talent automatically.
• New item: Elixir of Ability. Increases a random ability score. Only available in shops, restocked every now and then.
• Non-unique armor, shields, and weapons in shops are a bit cheaper now.
• Fixed a bug where companions would just drop a better item after you gave it to them through item exchange. Reminder: Companions won't change equipped items that are set by the player in companions' equipment lists. Ammunition is an exception.
• Trap tweaks. Fixed a bug where no dialog was opened when you walked on a known floor trap that was on a tile with an opened door. You can now safely walk on floor traps set by you (the dialog is still opened). Reminder: in some situations you may want to intentionally spring a known trap, for example Animate, Confusion, Dismiss, Summon, or Anchoring traps. If you spring your own Animate or Summon trap, then the created creatures will be friendly towards you, and attack creatures that are hostile towards you. Animated creatures without a master will eventually turn hostile against everyone.
• Fixed some grammar mistakes and typos.

http://www.zorbus.net

5

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Zorbus

« on: September 05, 2021, 11:15:03 PM »

Release 52   (06-Sep-2021)

• Fixed a bug where animated skeletons would needlessly pick up several armors and shields. (thanks to Faeren for reporting)
• Level-wide anchor/wither-effects are removed when you go to another dungeon level / Carillo. (thanks to nopenope for reporting)
• Golems and clones are no longer counted as real recruits when maximum number of recruits based on Spirit-ability is determined. (thanks to nopenope for suggesting)
• Holy Burst talent is disabled in quickslots and talents list if there are no evil creatures seen. Same for the wand.
• Some devices, mostly wands, are disabled in quickslots and inventory if they can't be used (for example, a wand might affect seen hostiles, but is disabled if none is seen).
• Health bars under creatures are now framed with black, making them stand out more. (thanks to Namsan for suggesting)
• New setting: White Health bars under friendly creatures. If enabled, Health bars under friendly creatures are white instead of green. Might help to distinguish friendly creatures from hostile creatures if you are suffering from red-green color blindness. (thanks to Namsan for suggesting)
• Clicking left mouse button on a distant hostile creature no longer throws a throwable weapon unless it's of returning-type.
• Clicking left mouse button on a distant hostile creature now respects the "Attack marked auto swaps to shooting set" setting, meaning that if the setting is enabled, and passive weapon set has a shooting weapon, then weapon set is swapped.
• Fixed several characters in in-game books and help texts, that caused odd characters in some non-English Windows-versions. (thanks to Namsan for reporting)
• http://building.zorbus.net has a roguelike development related "book" in PDF-format called "Building Zorbus one brick at a time".

Big thanks to Maximum Break (Gidon) and Another Dying (Jay) for making YouTube let's play videos of the game!
Another Dying: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLt8DIPRtpvB6Na5aBXH6ZIbMb0XDG6xdg
Maximum Break: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7yHTTOjLsXkZn7t5Qsuc3wcGXT8vjHii

6

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Zorbus

« on: July 24, 2021, 12:53:18 PM »

Release 51   (24-Jul-2021)

• Not so much new stuff in this release, but had to make a full release after some structural changes to data files.
• Fixed a bug where alternate paths to target were not properly calculated at distance 2 (affected reach attacks among others).
• Resting does not start if creatures that get gradually hostile are seen.
• You can now drop items from your or your companion's inventory when exchanging items.
• Creatures with lightsources waiting in ambush no longer lit wall tiles until the ambush is sprung.
• Lots of small tweaks.

http://www.zorbus.net

7

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Zorbus

« on: June 25, 2021, 06:11:35 PM »

Release 50   (25-Jun-2021)

• An alternate grid path for ranged targeting is now calculated and used if the first path is blocked. Also affects reach attacks and Charge-talent. Ranged attacks should now be symmetric, meaning that if creature A can target creature B, B can also target A. There are still some cases where you can see a creature but can't target it. Ranged attacks use Bresenham's line drawing routine to traverse grids, while the field of view algorithm does not.
• New command: Continuous autoexplore, default key (CTRL) + (E). Keeps exploring until a hostile creature is seen, something is detected, a trap is sprung, or until the whole dungeon level is explored. Can not be used when in low Health (controlled with "Health flash percentage threshold" from the settings).
• New command: Autopilot to next unlooted container, default key (CTRL) + (C). You can now autopilot to next unlooted container directly from the main game mode.
• Autopilot-screen shows the contents of peeked containers when the cursor is on them.
• Lidless / opened containers are automatically marked as peeked when an area is fully explored, unless the area has creatures that get gradually more hostile. Peeked means that you know the contents of the container.
• Hopefully fixed a bug where the autopilot-screen displayed wrong amount of unlooted containers. (thanks to Mkok for mentioning)
• Fixed a bug where encumbrance wasn't recalculated in all cases where items were picked up. (thanks to Nopenope for mentioning)
• Die Hard talent now heals the same amount as Health Surge. (thanks to Mkok for mentioning)
• Limited the amount of simultaneous similar sound effects when looting or dropping big amount of items, and in some other cases as well.

http://www.zorbus.net

8

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Zorbus

« on: June 05, 2021, 06:24:29 AM »

Release 49   (05-Jun-2021)

• Added some post-processing to the field of view -algorithm for better corner wall exploration.
• Made some optimizations to autoexplore.
• Fixed a bug where some throwable weapons without reach (hand axe, dagger, etc.) still could be thrown with the (R)-command when distance was 2, even if not of returning-type.
• Distances to items in blocked areas are listed in red in level loot list. Blocked areas also drawn in red in the minimap of that screen.
• Autotargeting for ranged attacks and talents (the red and yellow corners around creatures) tries first to target a non-summoned creature.
• New setting: "Autoammo uses anchoring & withering", on by default. If this setting is enabled, autoammo uses anchoring and withering ammunition automatically. Anchoring is used against creatures that can blink away with a talent (usually spellcasters). Withering is used only against unique creatures.
• Companions now use anchoring and withering ammunition automatically. So you can now give anchoring ammo to companions who will then shoot them at those annoying blinking spellcasters.
• Companions won't go to blocked areas to pick up items.
• Creatures summoned from traps set by the player won't get angry at player's companions.
• Traps won't be created on containers that are automatically opened / peeked (empty barrels and cauldrons, or barrels and cauldrons with only bones or corpses in them).

http://www.zorbus.net

9

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Zorbus

« on: May 29, 2021, 04:50:24 AM »

Release 48   (29-May-2021)

• Added navimap and map preview to the level loot screen. It now shows a path to the item. (thanks to Cadex Emu for the idea)
• New companion behavior: Regroup. When in this behavior, companions try to stay close to you, melee attack only nearby creatures, use ranged attacks or talents against distant creatures, and blink away only if surrounded. In the default follow-behavior, companions move around more, and when fleeing try to move to a nearby area or blink away.
• Related new setting: "Companion auto regroup-behavior", on by default. Companions will automatically enter regroup-behavior from follow-behavior when they need to flee, trying to move towards you. Does not affect animated, summoned or charmed companions.
• Related new setting: "Companion auto follow-behavior", on by default. Companions will automatically enter follow-behavior from regroup-behavior when in full Health, in at least half Stamina, and no hostile creatures have been seen for some time. This affects only companions that have automatically entered the regroup-behavior (see the setting above).
• Companion list is now shown also on top of the "items on ground" list in the right sidepanel (thanks to Cadex Emu for the idea). Valuable (sellable) items are now on top of the list.
• Added a new command: "(Toggle) mundane ground items in sidepanel" with default binding (CTRL) + (BACKSPACE). Toggles showing mundane (non-sellable) ground items in the sidepanel. If mundane items are not shown in the panel,  they're listed in the log, ensuring that quickslots stay visible.
• Continuous resting won't start if you're poisoned.
• Summoning traps set by the player should now be more useful as the summoned creature now attacks also other creatures that hate the player instead of just the trap springer.
• Disabling your own traps is now always successful (and you get the trapkit back).
• Creature wiggle is now asynchronous by default, controlled by "Wiggle synchronous" in the settings. (thanks to Lagi for the idea)
• Hopefully at least reduced the low health / poisoned flashing frame flickering that happened when you used mouse / controller.
• Hopefully fixed a controller error. (thanks to Renan for reporting)
• Fixed controller sensitivity when entering side panel.
• Added a note to (F)ire-mode's help-text: "A friendly creature needs to be manually targeted". So if you want to make a shoot or reach attack against a friendly creature, you need to manually target it. Cycling targets does not select friendly creatures.
• Replaced Homepage-button with a Zorbupedia-button in the main menu.
• Zorbupedia talent list is sorted to boost/combat/spell/utility-talents.
• Added better explanation for (CTRL) + (TAB) to the help text in the inventory-list. The command changes the inventory list type: When looting stuff from the ground or from a container, use it to switch to your equipment & backpack, and vice versa. When exchanging items to a companion, use it to get to your or your companion's equipment & backpack (depending on which side is active).
• Also remember: (F11) to switch companion in inventory-lists. (CTRL) + (E) to enter exchange-mode from your equipment & backpack -list. You can enter exchange-mode with a controller by pressing right thumbstick in personal inventory.
• Several typos and errors in item/creature descriptions fixed. (thanks to Cadex Emu for reporting)

10

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Zorbus

« on: May 21, 2021, 10:57:16 AM »

Video:
https://youtu.be/jEyJ-p9Hbug

Release 47   (21-May-2021)

• You can no longer return to the previous dungeon level. The reason for this was to remove tedious gameplay, where you returned to previous levels to find remaining secrets, and cheesy gameplay, where you returned to previous level to rest safely.
• Support for game controllers. I've only tested it with Microsoft Xbox Wireless Controller, hopefully others will work too. Controller needs to be enabled from the settings, and you can configure / test various things from there. The last page of the tutorial shows the controls, and the same page can also be seen if you enter the game menu with the controller.
• Replaced old raycasting-based field of view -routine with an algorithm by Adam Milazzo (http://www.adammil.net/blog/v125_Roguelike_Vision_Algorithms.html). If you are creating a game yourself, check it out. It's absolutely brilliant!
• Removed the Map-command (V). Autopilot-command (P) can now be used for map. It can now be opened even when hostile creatures are seen.
• Removed the map note- and journal note -commands.
• Creature AI changes:
• Some creatures can now track you by scent. Races have different odour intensities, shown in character creation.
• When you blink away, creatures might spread around to nearby areas to search for you.
• When searching for you, some creatures may lit a lightsource (if they have one), even if they have darkvision.
• Creatures can now set up traps when they're fleeing from you.
• Some creatures may enter a berserk-state if wounded enough. A wardrummer drumming may also trigger this state. In the berserk-state creatures get combat bonuses and never flee.
• Lots of other small AI tweaks.
• Challenge ratings for creatures.
• When you see a creature type for the first time, its name is shown on top of it for a few game rounds.
• The color of the name indicates its challenge rating, ranging from "harmless" (yellow) to "deadly" (red).
• Examine-mode and fire-mode show the ratings of all seen creatures. Also shown in creature description in the right side panel.
• A creature's rating is updated when its or your stats change.
• Just remember that while there are quite a lot of calculations behind the rating, it still is just a rough estimate.
• New effect: Tracking. Available as ammunition, flasks and as a talent.
• Tracking forms a mental link between the attacker and the target. The attacker knows exactly where the target is for the duration of the effect (the target is marked on the navi- and autopilot maps). The target also glows as if wielding a lightsource, making hiding in darkness impossible. Only one creature can be tracked at a time. The latest hit creature always becomes the target. The tracking link to a creature breaks if the attacker enters another dungeon level or Carillo.
• There's also a talent ("Teleport to Tracked") and potion ("Potion of Stalking", needs a better name?) which teleports the tracker near the tracked creature.
• Monsters can use tracking too. One might shoot you with a tracking arrow and know your exact location for the duration of the effect. And of course it will also inform its friends of your current whereabouts.
• This effect might not be as usable or fun for the player as I envisioned it to be, but at least the monsters seem to like it a lot.
• Character sheet has some changes. Some new stats on the 1st page, 2nd page redesigned, now showing the weapon sets with stats. Equipment and talent lists now have tooltips.
• Weapon and talent speeds are hidden from the player. Action Cost and APR (actions per round) are used instead.
• Weapons now have APR (actions per round) and DPR (damage per round) calculations.
• This was a UI nightmare since you can use some items one-handed, two-handed or dualwielded which changes the stats.
• Attack and defense values include all current ability-, skill- and other modifiers. Separate values are calculated for melee / throw / shoot attacks and melee / ranged defense. Ranged defense is only used with shields.
• Inventory item statistics for one-handed and versatile weapons are calculated with an (imaginary) off-hand shield in use. The actual statistics can differ when weapons are dualwielded or when a versatile one- handed weapon is used two-handed. Second character sheet page shows the actual in-use values.
• When you now blink, your companions are also teleported near you. Tweaked the algorithm behind blinking as well.
• The Health-bar and UI frame flash in green when you're poisoned.
• Autoattack target is now marked with two red triangles.
• Autoattack automatically swaps to the other weapon set if it has a melee weapon and the active weapon set does not, and there's a hostile creature next to you. This can be disabled from the settings.
• Attack marked -command (R) automatically swaps to the other weapon set if it has a shooting weapon and the active weapon set does not, and the nearest hostile creature is at least minimum distance away. Minimum distance can be adjusted from the settings.
• Throwable weapons are no longer thrown with the Attack marked -command (R) unless the weapon has the returning-property, so you no longer accidentally throw your weapon. You can make throw attacks with the Fire ranged -command (F). Why didn't I do it like this from the start?
• If you for some reason end up being unarmed, a warning text is displayed on the top of you character tile.
• Removed the extra 1.5 x speed duration for returning thrown items.
• Off-hand thrown attacks get 1/4 of positive Body-modifier added, full if the modifier is negative.
• Fixed various problems with the Multishot-talent:
• You no longer shoot at creatures that are blocked by other creatures.
• You shoot at creatures next to you if you have the Close Combat Ranged talent.
• In gameplay, the talent is enabled when your current Ranged-skill is high enough for at least 2 targets, and there are at least 2 hostile targets that can be shot at (the lines of fire to them must to be clear).
• When a large creature hits a smaller opponent, it's now possible that the opponent is pushed backwards by the strength of the blow.
• You can bump into furniture that has a noted-indicator ("!") on them to "wake" up the creature (mimics, statue, etc.)
• Autoexplore tries to struggle free from a restraining map effect (slime / web).
• You can now try to escape a map cloud effect into the direction where your companion is standing. With (CTRL) + direction you can try the same with a hostile creature.
• The inventory screen is no longer opened when you bump empty containers.
• Empty barrels and barrels with only corpses or bones are automatically opened and marked as looted. Same with cauldrons.
• Changes to quickslots:
• The "F1" slot is automatically reserved for the lantern even if you have it turned off when clearing the quickslots.
• Trapkits can be quickslotted for easier use, but they will never be automatically quickslotted.
• A quickslot is dimmed if there's no sense of using it at that moment. Disabled if you can not use it at that moment.
• (CTRL) + (D) clears set quickslots in the quickslot manager, but preserves player set quickslots.
• You can toggle allow/disallow quickslotting of a device/talent with (DEL) in the quickslot manager.
• You can lock a slot to certain item, which keeps it reserved even if you use the last of its type.
• Related new setting "Hide corpses and bones". Hide corpses and bones from the "items on ground" side panel. This has the benefit that the "items on ground" side panel won''t be displayed when there are just corpses and bones on the ground, so the quickslots stay visible.
• Remember, you can set up quickslots from the quickslot manager (F12), but also by pressing a quickslot-key that isn't yet binded to anything. For example, if the "5" slot is free, press it, and directly choose what to bind to it.
• Some renovations in Carillo (the shop hub level):
• Limited the amount of visits to Carillo per dungeon dungeon level. There's a chance that the teleporter is destroyed after you have visited Carillo 3 times.
• The Tomb Raiders Guild has opened a shop in Carillo. Their prices are double to standard unless you have a guild membership card. No, you can't actually join the guild, but have to obtain a card somehow else.
• The bouncer and the shopkeepers will tell you if they've added new items to their inventories. You can press (F10) when checking the shop inventory to filter only items that are new since  your last visit.
• Speech bubble from a friendly creature in Carillo no longer stops autopilot.
• When browsing a shop inventory, the item description states how many of those items you already have in your inventory (devices only).
• Hiding (in darkness) near plants and fungi now give bonus to Stealth-checks. Each neighboring plant/fungus gives a +1 to Stealth. This is not shown anywhere, but is used in calculations. Mentioned in the skill description.
• The amount that "Health Surge" talent will heal is listed after its name in parentheses (in quickslots panel and talent list).
• Two new switch rooms: anchoring and withering.
• You can no longer use teleporters when you're anchored or when there's a level-wide anchor effect active.
• Sound effects revisited, again. Even after removing and replacing many, there are now over 4000 sounds effects. Main menu now has music. It can be volume controlled from the settings, disabled if you set the volume to 0.
• There's now a name for the currency used in the game, instead of just "coin". It's now called "zorbit", of course.
• New settings:
• Closing doors by bumping at the wall tile right of them is now an option that you can disable from the settings (on by default).
• Option to require (CTRL) + direction to be pressed to interact with furniture, instead of just bumping at them. Does not affect bumping at doors to open them. You might want to turn this setting on if you constantly keep accidentally bumping at map objects.
• Option to pick up trapkits, on by default. Trapkits have no weight, but you may feel that they clutter the inventory, especially if you don't use them.
• Keybindings-menu can now be filtered with a keyword.
• Clairvoyance-talent didn't work when you used it from the talents-menu with a hotkey (happened in Tone's stream last year).
• Animal bones and corpses removed. I had an idea for them to rise as animal skeletons and zombies when animated, but don't have proper tiles for those.
• Life saving items (Amulet of Life Saving, Plot Armor, etc.) always save life even when you don't have any Stamina left. They also save you from death even if you're withered.
• Potion of Antidote cures poison, but now also gives immunity against poison for a duration.
• Potion of Extra Healing / Potion of Superior Healing give immunity against disease for a duration.
• New potion: Potion of Life. "This powerful potion restores 100 Health-points, cures disease and poison, and removes withering effect targeted against the drinker (map-wide withering effect is unaffected). The potion also grants regeneration and immunity to disease, poison and withering for the duration."
• Trapkits can now be set even if you see hostile creatures, as long as they don't see you. Trapkits can be quickslotted for easier use. Some new trapkits added.
• Summoning items (horn, figurines, etc.) have a longer duration.
• Small changes to the playable races. Odour listed in race descriptions (hostile creatures can track by scent).
• Talent progression changed. You now need Mind-ability of at least 18 to gain 1 talent per experience level.
• Lone Wolf -talent gives +1 to all abilities (was +2).
• New ASCII-mode setting: "ASCII wall / floor color adjustment". Random adjustment to wall / floor base color.
• Huge amount of tweaks here and there.
• Game balance has probably changed a lot, so the leaderboard has been reset.
• There's an external tool, "Zorbus Dungeon Generator", available at http://dungeon.zorbus.net. It's a random dungeon generator to create tabletop RPG -style maps. You can run it in step-mode to see how the algorithm creates the map.

http://www.zorbus.net

11

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Zorbus

« on: December 18, 2020, 07:07:29 PM »

Release 46   (18-Dec-2020)

• After character death, a new statistics table and maps of visited dungeon levels are shown. The maps show unexplored areas in blue. The statistics table shows "actions/s" which is a sum of keypresses and mouseclicks per second. You can switch between the tables with up/down or mousewheel. In the "game over"-dialog there's also a new button for opening the character obituary file (opens in system default text editor).
• New setting: Never blink. If on, creatures other than you or your companions never blink (teleport away). Off by default. Character obituary will not be sent to the leaderboard if this setting is on or turned on during a game.
• Autoexplore now picks up items that you have thrown. (thanks to Boomaye for reporting)
• Autoexplore now picks up items from nearby areas if the tile they're on is explored and near enough to current location.
• Autoexplore should now find a path to secret doors that are blocked by immobile creatures such as fungi or plants.
• If one of your companions has a higher Search-skill than you then it is used with autoexplore to detect secret doors. You can give equipment to companions to boost their Search.
• When you examine a creature the description now says if there is no XP awarded from killing it.
• You can press W in the autopilot screen to cycle between wells, thrones and switches.
• You get XP from killing a creature after its charm effect has ended (if the creature awarded XP in the first place). (thanks to Cookedpoo for reporting)
• Fixed a bug where the max distance for a ranged weapon was calculated wrong. (thanks to Cookedpoo and Boomaye for reporting)
• Fixed a bug where autopickup didn't pick up items with no weight when you were encumbered. (thanks to ZXC for reporting)
• You can only have one clone (or simulacrum) at a time, a second clone will go berserk and attack you. Some update broke this, the clone would not turn hostile. (thanks to Dynast for reporting) Added warning about several clones to elixir and talent descriptions.
• Fixed a bug where some unlikely creatures (golems, statues, etc.) were stealthy in darkness. (noticed from Tone's stream)
• Creatures that follow you to another dungeon level are now ready to act faster after arriving. (thanks to Boomaye for mentioning) Their distance to you determines in what order they arrive on the new level. Companions still follow you from anywhere on the level, but that might change in the future.
• Companions now react faster to creatures who slowly turn hostile against you. (thanks to Cookedpoo for reporting)
• Shop restocking is now tied to several values, not just game rounds spent away from the shop level. (noticed from Tone's stream)
• Skill tooltips in character sheet show the related key ability. Same for Zorbupedia skill descriptions. (noticed from Tone's stream)
• In the level loot list, the "0" filter now also shows weapons with at least 3 enchantments.
• Holy-damage now affects only evil-aligned creatures.
• Fixed a bug where 1.5 x negative Body-modifier was added to damage with two-handed and versatile weapons (negative modifier should be added as is).
• The visited dungeon levels table in the obituary files now show actions (keypresses / mouseclicks) per second per dungeon level.
• Added some clarifications to skill descriptions.
• Added examples of weapon combinations / sets to the manual. Also basic explanation of how the action queue in the game works.
• There's now support for smaller patches that only replace the executable files. These patches are much smaller to download (below 5 megabytes). Autoupdate informs if a patch is available. Save files should be combatible but I wouldn't risk it so it's best to update only after you don't have any unfinished games.

12

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Zorbus

« on: December 10, 2020, 03:04:55 AM »

Release 45   (10-Dec-2020)

• Autoexplore now picks up items that you would normally autopick, first from the current area that you're in, then after nothing to explore is found on the dungeon level, any remaining items from the whole level.
• As the autoexplore in the game works in bursts, area by area, it may look like it skips nearby items, but those items are then likely located on a different area number.
• If you press CTRL + ENTER in the level loot list when the selector is on the top position, it will automatically pick all items from the explored areas on the level that would normally be autopicked. Pressing CTRL + ENTER on an item in the lists picks up all items of the same type (only works with ammunition, devices, keys, trapkits and coins).
• Negative modifiers from equipment to Search-skill are not taken into account when autoexplore is used to detect secret doors. So you don't have to unequip your helmet even if it has a negative Search-modifier. This only applies to searching with autoexplore, not to normal searching during movement.
• You'll get no experience points from animated or summoned creatures that are created after initial level creation. These can be identified from blue Health bars if the setting "Blue Health bars" is checked.
• The inventory encumbrance bar now has slots for better encumbrance level visualization.
• Items show the price that they can be sold for. Items that can be sold are in green in loot lists.
• Buy / sell price adjustments now use modifier from the base, unadjusted Spirit-value.
• You can no longer transfer books or scrolls to companions.
• If you have an everlasting ammunition in your possession, same type of ammunition of equal or lower enchantment won't be autopicked. Branded and coated ammunition will always be autopicked. If the setting "Pick all ammunition" is disabled, then only ammunition for your currently equipped weapon will be automatically picked up.
• Changed a bit how Elixir of Experience works: now you get the needed for next level minus needed for current level xp added to your current xp amount. Previously it just set xp to needed for next level amount.
• Trapkits are now autopicked.
• Current dungeon level is shown in the corner of the minimap.
• Added color group descriptions to the keyboard help image.
• Keybindings menu now has some help text. Binding conflicts (same binding used twice) are in red. Changed the DCSS preset a bit as it had some conflicts.
• Obituary files now have more detailed dungeon level statistics (kills, xp total, xp from combat / skill use / exploration / other).
• Talent descriptions now list their speed.
• You can autopilot to containers which are mimics. Note that if some destination seems unreachable in autopilot mode, try moving the cursor around a bit.
• Fixed a bug where some creatures (guardian ghosts etc.) would forget their hostility against the player.
• Hopefully finally fixed a visual glitch where a map cloud effect like web or slime could stay on the map forever.
• Fixed a bug where enchantment chance to succeed was negative with some items. If chance is 0%, enchantment is automatically aborted. (thanks to ZXC for reporting)
• Fixed a bug where last log lines in obituary files would be wrong when "Log new messages on top" setting was no checked. (thanks to ZXC for reporting)
• If your base Mind-ability increases, the talent counter will be recalculated properly. Previously it was reset when you got a talent-point.
• Fixed a bug where taking the Lone Wolf talent didn't set the talent counter properly at the start of the game. (thanks to ZXC for reporting)
• Fixed a bug where using hoopak and the Dualshot-talent at an enemy in reach attack range resulted in a reach attack instead of two ranged attacks. There's still the problem that you can not make a normal ranged attack at that range, it always makes a reach attack. Sometimes you might want to make a ranged attack in that situation with special ammunition. (thanks to Cookedpoo for reporting)
• Fixed a bug where you could not reach attack using the mouse. (thanks to Cookedpoo for reporting)
• Fixed descriptions of the Silver Spoon talent and the Wand of Fireball. (thanks to Tone for reporting)
• Manual updated with some clarifications (experience, critical hits).
• Several typos fixed.

13

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Zorbus

« on: December 05, 2020, 07:55:02 PM »

Release 44   (05-Dec-2020)

First of all, big thanks for all the feedback and bug reports!

A tournament with Amazon eGift Card prizes is still running until the end of December.
For the rules and leaderboard check http://tournament.zorbus.net.

• Target mode renamed to examine mode.
• New setting: Furniture animations. Teleporters, lightsources and crystal formations are animated. On by default, can be disabled from the settings.
• In the autopilot-screen (P command) you can move the target cursor by 10 tiles with CTRL + arrows / numpad. Same works in the examine mode. (thanks to ZXC for the idea)
• Recruitable creatures no longer pick up devices (potions, wands, etc.). You can still give them devices, but can not transfer devices from them to you, so you can no longer recruit creatures just to get their potions. Companions may also have equipment that can not be removed.
• Changed weapon autoequip so that only thrown weapons are re-equipped (if you're still unarmed). Thrown weapons are also autopicked if no hostile creatures are seen. The notoriously buggy autoequip is hopefully finally fixed. (thanks Masterox and others before for reporting)
• Keyboard help screen is color coded: movement, combat, resting, items. The screen is quite crowded and couldn't really fit any description for the colors.
• Keybindings menu has presets for DCSS-style keybindings. Might need more tweaking.
• If mouse is disabled but mouse tooltips are enabled in the settings, you can now see tooltips of items / talents in the panels of the main game view. This makes it possible to quickly see descriptions of items / talents without risking accidentally using them. (thanks to ZXC for the idea)
• Mouse hovering over the current weapon set in the main game view shows the same extended info as the equipment screen.
• Fixed the behaviour of creatures animated / summoned by a charmed creature so that when the charm is broken they stay friendly with the animator / summoner. (thanks to Adam Skinner for reporting)
• Dismiss no longer affects multi-tile creatures. Some creatures are now immune to dismiss. (thanks to Adam Skinner for reporting)
• Fixed a bug related to Arrow of Dismiss / Bullet of Dismiss.
• Fixed a bug with the ability point-buy method in character creation. (thanks to Pieter Kirkham for reporting)
• Fixed a bug where CTRL or ALT + NUMPAD 4 / 6 didn't adjust item amount in inventory. CTRL pressed adjusts the amount by 10, ALT pressed adjusts the amount by 50. (thanks to Adam Skinner for reporting)
• Fixed several bugs related to multi-monitor setups. The game now remembers which monitor it was played on. (thanks to ZXC for help)
• Removed the penalty to Search-skill check from having your lantern turned off when using autoexplore to detect secret doors. (thanks to ZXC for reporting)
• Several typos fixed. (thanks to Tone and YARD, noticed them while watching / reading their let's play of the game)

14

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Zorbus

« on: November 27, 2020, 03:39:32 PM »

A tournament with Amazon eGift Card prizes is active from Friday 27-Nov-2020 to Thursday 31-Dec-2020.
For the rules and leaderboard check http://tournament.zorbus.net.

Release 43   (27-Nov-2020)

• A tournament version of the game is included (Zorbus_Tournament.exe). You can not save the game in this version. The "hostile creatures never flee" setting can not be used in this version.
• When you are about to use a Flask of Poison or a Flask of Slime, the item description shows which item it will affect.
• The wiggle effect of partially seen multi-tile creatures was bugged. Fixed. (thanks to lemon10 for reporting)
• If a default character name is set in settings, it is now used for archetype characters as well.
• As usual, small tweaks here and there.

http://www.zorbus.net

15

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Zorbus

« on: October 17, 2020, 04:24:04 AM »

Release 42   (17-Oct-2020)

• Fixed a bug where you would not get experience points from a creature (that you have damaged) dying outside of your view. A log entry is now also made in the style of "x dies elsewhere. (n XP)". (thanks to Robsoie for finding the bug)
• Autoattack now functions on blocked areas if you and the target are already on that blocked area.
• Two charm effect related bugs fixed.
• Added mass loot function to level loot. When you press CTRL + ENTER on an item, all items of that same type are picked up. Autopilot automatically pilots you through the items and picks them up. Mass loot can be used with ammunition, devices other than books (potions etc.), keys, and trapkits. Most of these items are normally autopicked, but autopick isn't used when hostile creatures are seen. It's best used after the level is cleared of hostile creatures, and you want to collect the remaining coins, potions, etc. Remember that you can use "0" on level loot to filter coins, special or unique items and devices (potions, wands etc.).
• Level loot now shows the distance to the item directly in the list.
• New setting: Always bright Health bars. Normally Health bars under creatures are dimmed depending on the light amount of the tile. If this setting is checked, health bars are always drawn at full brightness. (off by default) (thanks to BenightedAlizar for the idea)
• Added Archer and Leader quickstart archetypes to character creation.
• You can now change the gender of archetype / random / past characters by pressing G in the first character creation screen.
• Small fixes and tweaks.