Messages

16

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Path of Achra "Lapis Gate"

« on: May 02, 2023, 10:47:30 AM »

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2128270/Path_of_Achra/

Path of Achra is a bleak, dark fantasy traditional roguelike, with a focus on streamlined controls and rapid hero customization. A "broken build sandbox." Fight through the deadly lands of Achra to reach the horrors of the Obelisk, and discover what lies beyond...

Before you lies the Path of Achra...

Inspired by Tales of Maj Eyal, Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup and Rift Wizard, it is the ongoing passion project of a solo developer, who humbly thanks you for visiting

Merge culture, class and religion to establish a starting hero, unlock more options as you play, with 1000+ potential combinations

Customize your hero with 50+ elementally-aligned powers such as Pyrokinesis, Necromancy, Blood Retort, Obedient Ice...

Discover and freely equip unique weapons and armor with impactful abilities

Explosive synergies await...

A "broken build sandbox" - create devastating combos by combining triggered effects. Shoot bolts of lightning when you pierce enemies with vines, teleport while emitting psychic beams, etc...

If you wish, summon armies of powerful allies

Swiftly play through levels with automove commands. With caution! Enemies can be brutal...

Seek the mysterious Obelisk, as the world floods behind you...

Hello! What a delight it is to be here. Thank you for checking out the ongoing work of this solo developer.

This is the first version of early access - it represents the beginning of a path. For the demo players, there are new things to play with and combine, and many more to come. To the rest, welcome!

These notes will go over what is immediately new:

Steam

    Cloud saves
    Steam achievements for beating different stages of the game, high instances of damage, and unlocking prestige classes - more to come

General

    The initial "healing" prayer for several religions dramatically increased
    Added unique items to the Void: Toothed Sword, Lapis Glaive, Jade Helm, Thunderblade, and more (repeated items will now never happen)
    Strength now increases total Armor by 2% per point
    Dexterity now increases Armor and Block by 5 per point
    Enemies and allies now all have a different fixed % chance to recover from each harmful effect every game turn

Hero

    Culture

    Volkite, increase armor and retaliate with Fire damage through Encumbrance
    Ihra, gain extra scaling with Strength, Dex and Wil, but gain Encumbrance from increased Life
    Tengu, fragile, apply Charge when attacking
    Alhaja, extra prayer chargers, perform max damage Hits when praying

    Class

    Abdi, performs extra Hits when attacking for each fully charged prayer, starts with a ranged area-of-effect Varichakram
    Warlock, applies Inflame and deals Fire damage to the closest enemy on prayer and whenever an ally dies

    Prestige Class

    Mindpiercer, deal Willpower-based Pierce damage whenever you deal Psychic damage
    Blood Mage, apply Bleed in an area every turn, when you stand still, and when you damage yourself

Powers

    Martial

    Barbarism now increases your Hit by a %
    Stand Ground, convert standing still into extra attacks and Poise
    War Chant, summons axe-wielding Thralls, applies Poise to an area every turn

    Fire

    removed Order of Fire
    Master Scorch, protect yourself from Scorch's damage, convert it into area fire damage

    Lightning

    Chamakana, perform extra hits when dealing Lightning damage to full-life enemies
    Stormcalling, summon Ball Lightnings when attacking
    Sparkform, enter the level as an embodiment of Lightning damage

    Poison

    Plaguedrinking, apply Sickness to adjacent enemies, remove Sickness from enemies with attacks and heal off of the duration

    Death

    Hungry Grave, summon a motionless Grave Idol with a ranged area Death attack, gains hit and life when allies die

    Ice

    Order of Ice removed
    Frostpulse, deal Ice damage in an increasing area every turn based on your Encumbrance

    Astral

    Innervation now renders allies immune to damage dealt by you
    Astrostoicism, gain Meditate and teleport enemies when they hit you
    Shimmergang, summon swift Astrophytes when you teleport
    Star Cult, summon Star Priests, deal Astral damage to enemies whenever an ally attacks

    Psychic

    Mass Mind, deal Psychic damage to enemies in an increasing area every turn based on the number of summoned allies
    Psychic Retort, perform hits and gain Repulsion when enemies hit you

    Blood

    Blood Link, continuously summon Hemogoblins, heal yourself whenever an ally is healed

17

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Amulet of Iovar v1.0

« on: May 01, 2023, 10:45:04 AM »

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2346540/Amulet_of_Iovar/   Win 10+ (?)

Amulet of Iovar is an oldschool roguelike inspired by Nethack. Delve deep into the Dungeon of Iovar, steal the amulet of the divine and ascend to godhood!

For eons, the ancient wizard Iovar has sought godhood. In his never-ending quest, he's built a huge dungeon full of critters big and small. Now, hes finally crafted an amulet worthy of gods.
You, along with many others, have heard of Iovars mission. Time has come, as you and a colorful cast of critters strike to steal godhood from under Iovars nose. Delve deep into the Dungeon of Iovar, and prove godhood is rightfully yours!
Features

    Fully randomly generated dungeon using Wave Function Collapse algorithm
    8 Classes to play
    90+ Monsters to fight, including 6 powerful bosses
    30+ Weapons to wield
    60+ Armor pieces to wear
    200+ Items to use
    Cast spells by mixing and matching different spell elements and types
    Manage your hunger and weight
    Use potions, scrolls, wands and other items
    Enchant gear for additional strength
    Unlock information about items and critters with Tomes of knowledge

18

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Caverns of Xaskazien II Ver. 1.12.43 released!

« on: April 11, 2023, 11:00:13 AM »

Congrats on a wildly potent update. 

19

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Pathos: Nethack Codex now: Google Play, Apple iTunes Windows Store/Desktop v7.0!

« on: February 28, 2023, 11:55:27 AM »

I am pleased to announce that full source code for the official content and modules is now available on GitHub:

https://github.com/callanh/pathos-official

You are welcome to fork this repository and to start a new variant of Pathos! All game assets such as images, sounds and translation files reside in the public repository. The content definitions and module generations are declared as C# code. This code is built into an assembly so it can be executed by the Pathos game engine. The game installation files include automated tools to generate the asset pipeline.

Anyway, enough about modding, this release introduces three new player races:

    Kobold. Unfairly characterised as cowardly and weak, these diminutive reptilian creatures overcome their physical limitations by employing vicious and cunning strategies.
    Plasmoid. Amorphous beings who have no typical shape but often take on a translucent humanoid form. While unmistakable for anything other than a plasma-like ooze, this form enables the use of clothing and tools.
    Tortle. Tortoise-like nomadic survivalists who leave their birthplace, from the moment they can walk, to travel the world with the comfort and protection of home on their backs.

As well as three new player specials:

    Drunkard. The habitually drunk make for brazen yet slightly unsteady adventurers; just don't ask them to recite the alphabet backwards.
    Glass. Sculptured from living glass that reflects energy and refracts light, you are a perfect but delicate emulation of your natural counterpart.
    Quantum. Uncertain of your position, you are accustomed to being anywhere and everywhere all at once.

Tiles now support multiple frames of animation. New animated tiles include fountains, altars, water and lava. Animated gif files are supported only in the Windows Desktop version and are best used for custom portraits.

Polymorph has been significantly rebalanced. Characters now keep their current experience level, instead of taking on the level of the entity. This means your life/mana is rolled based on the polymorphed entity but at your current level. If you are lower level than your polymorphed entity, this will reduce your natural defence and damage as well. This change is intended to make it fairer when a low level character is polymorphed into something overly powerful.

There are numerous quality of life improvements, rebalanced mechanics and updated tiles which are detailed in the in-game Help > Updates screen.

20

Player's Plaza / Re: Looking for the next Roguelike

« on: September 15, 2022, 10:45:38 AM »

Triangle Wizard and Catacomb kids might stoke your intrigues with the former and further develop your appetites whetted by the latter.

21

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Rayel

« on: September 08, 2022, 10:54:50 AM »

Congrats on the new least on project life---keep at it as ever same as in the early days~   

22

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Grog 1.0.0 released!

« on: May 25, 2022, 10:49:50 AM »

Welcome back. 

23

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Pathos: Nethack Codex now: Google Play, Apple iTunes Windows Store/Desktop v6.8!

« on: March 20, 2022, 11:21:37 AM »

v6.8

Hail Adventurers,

This release features the Underdeep expansion of the Mines branch which was designed and contributed by the much talented /u/wyrdean. These seven, handcrafted levels are some of the largest Pathos has seen to date, and are chock full of secrets to explore. The deeper you go, the more you find, until you stumble across the secret remnants of the dwarven civilization, buried deep under the mushroom forest.

There has been an overhaul of elemental magic for consistency across the five elements (earth/flame/frost/shock/water). There are now five elemental sphere spells which introduced the earth sphere and water sphere. Representing each element, there are three elemental mercenaries (eg. flame binder, flame seeker, flame maker). New elemental specials were added as well, so you can play as a human frost knight or an demon flame wizard, etc.

In addition to the five elemental specials, there is a new psychic special. This special grants the gifts of telepathy, clairvoyance and telekinesis but is offset by the burden of hunger. Telekinesis is a new talent that can be used to remotely pickup items, push boulders, knockback entities, remotely trigger traps and open/close doors.

For quality of life, there is now a continue button that appears at the bottom of the screen. This can be tapped to resume your last target. For example, if you use the map to travel to the stairs but were interrupted by hostiles on the way. You can dispatch your enemy and then tap on the continue button to resume your path to the stairs.

While only cosmetic, there is now a shroud effect on squares that are not lit. Previously, it was not clearly distinguished if a square was lit or unlit. Dark areas now feel grungy and dim.

Sonyvanda is now the default tileset (selected when Pathos is first installed). There has been lots of updates to the Sonyvanda tiles, notably for blobs, fungus, jellies and puddings. While there is still plenty of love and support for the other tilesets, Sonyvanda has become the most popular.

For the PC players, please note that Windows Desktop version upgraded from .NET Framework v4.5 to .NET Framework 4.8.

Major changes since the last public release:

    new branch: Underdeep, seven new levels under the Mines.

    new property: telekinesis.

    new specials: psychic, earth, flame, frost, shock, water.

    new entities: cave bear, treant, earth sphere, water sphere, 15 elemental mercenaries.

    new items: kanabo, mithril plate mail, ring of telekinesis.

    new artifact: Deagle.

    new spells: crushing sphere, soaking sphere, telekinesis.

    new barrier: shroom.

    new ground: chasm, moss, sand, metal floor.

    new zoo: spider nest.

    unlit squares are now rendered with a shroud tile.

    'continue' button to resume your last interrupted target.

    filter by item type when trading and sharing.

    slower/faster animation setting.

    new animations for light/darkness and detection magic.

24

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Infra Arcana, a horror/Lovecraft roguelike (now at v21!).

« on: March 15, 2022, 11:21:45 AM »

v21

# Gameplay changes
##############################
# Backgrounds and traits
- Added a new background (class) "Exorcist"
- Reworked the "Resistant trait", it now gives +25% chance to resist paralysis, burning, and poison, and the duration of those effects is halved (also Tough and Rugged each give +10% chance to resist)
- Added trait "Crippling Strikes" - melee attacks have 60% chance to Weaken the target for 2-3 turns
- Added trait "Meditative" - applies a status effect which allows the next spell to be cast without spending a turn, and with the cost reduced by 1 spirit point - after casting a spell this state is reapplied again after some time has passed
- Clairvoyant Occultists also starts with the Premonition spell
- The Tough and Rugged traits give +6 hit points each, instead of +4
- Ghoul characters start with +8 hit points, instead of +6
- The Ghoul ability "Frenzy" no longer costs spirit to use
- The Ghoul trait "Toxic" has 75% chance to apply poison, instead of 25%

# Monsters
- Added more monsters
- Some monsters have a smell that can be detected by the player
- Monsters no longer become aware of the player from negative properties (burning, etc) or from taking damage (they are alerted by direct attacks or by attack noises) - so now it is possible to for example throw a Molotov Cocktail at a monster, and escape with Cloud Minds while it is burning
- Small crawling creatures (rats, snakes, crawling hands, etc) can pass through some terrain types such as gates and piles of debris
- Cultist have a different tile depending on their wielded firearm, and their description states what weapon they are wielding
- Cultists have a kick attack
- Worm Masses and Mind Worms are now blind, slow (instead of normal speed), have much more hit points, are unsettling (causes shock to see), take much less damage from piercing attacks (such as pistol shots or dagger strikes), and have a very limited hearing range
- Worm Masses and Mind Worms can no longer split while burning
- Added completely new descriptions for all Ooze monsters, removed Black Ooze, changed Putrid Ooze to be weaker and spawn earlier, renamed Clear Ooze to Lurking Ooze
- Removed the spawn level part of monster descriptions ("they usually dwell beneath level...")
- Monster descriptions display more information, such as resistances, if it has the ability to see in darkness, or the chance to stay hidden from the monster
- A generated description is now printed for all monsters - previously some monsters (such as Crawling Intestines) used to have the generated part of their description completely disabled
- Ghoul monsters become allied to a player Ghoul when they see the player, instead of starting allied on the map (to avoid the player missing out on joining the Ghouls in combat and just finding the remains of a battle)

# Items
- Added weapons "S&W Revolver" and "Winchester Rifle"
- Removed the Flare Gun
- Added miscellaneous rare items and artifacts
- Completely reworked and renamed the Spirit Dagger
- The Electric Gun also disables passive hit point regeneration for a number of turns
- The Talisman of Resurrection also teleports the player when activated, to avoid leaving the player in the same situation that killed them to begin with
- The Vitality potion can no longer increase hit points above maximum, but instead it applies a status effect that increases hit point regeneration, and gives a small chance per turn to heal a wound
- The Staff of the Pharaohs also has a chance to apply Doom on hit (a stronger version of Cursed)

# Spells
- Casting spells can occasionally trigger random chaotic side effects, typically affecting the surrounding area (for example walls may appear or disappear, statues knocked over, etc)
- Added spell "Erudition" - the next spell is cast at a higher skill level
- Changed the "Opening" spell to "Control Object", which can do more things (e.g. open/close/jam/strike doors, or strike statues/braziers, etc)
- Changed the Azathoth's Wrath spell to Azathoth's Gaze, which causes small damage and fainting (instead of acting like a "mass Darkbolt")
- Removed the Searching spell - instead this is a permanent ability for the Clairvoyant Occultist (upgraded at levels 4 and
- Added Curse as a spell available to monsters (Floating Skulls cast this now instead of applying the property directly, and mummies cast Curse instead of applying it on melee attacks, for example) - also added a stronger version of Cursed called "Doomed" which is applied instead when Curse is cast at master level
- The Teleport spell has a distance limit, which is increased with higher skill levels - also reduced the spirit cost of the spell
- The Summoning spell is no longer available to player characters (only to monsters)
- Added a message when spells are upgraded (e.g. by a Gong)

# Status effects
- Reworked the "Frenzied" property - instead of changing the player's movement direction on a move command, moves away from monsters are now simply prevented (not an action)
- The Cursed status effect also causes 5% chance to fail spell casting
- Being blind no longer immediately raises shock by 30% - instead the shock ramps up each turn up to 30%
- Players can melee attack monsters while nailed by a Spike Gun (but still not while entangled)

# Terrain objects
- Removed deep liquid and swimming
- Pylons now have different appearances, and it's possible to permanently identify their effects - also Pylons are now activated by touching them
- Hidden doors are always detected from adjacent positions (except if blind or confused)
- Standing next to a door will immediately reveal if it's stuck - if so it will change name and appearance
- Forcing a metal door open (e.g. with a Rod of Opening or the Control Object spell) also toggles all connected switches (this would previously leave the switches "inverted", so that it was hard to know if pulling the switch would open or close a door)
- A lot more terrain objects can be destroyed or lit on fire (for example altars or monoliths are destroyed by explosions, and wooden chests or bookshelves can be lit on fire)
- The stairs position is always lit, to make it less tedious to discover in huge dark rooms
- Statues no longer block line of sight, making them much easier to kick into monsters.
- The stealth penalty in lit positions is much higher than before (see also bug fixes below concerning stealth and darkness)

# Map generation
- The standard map generator can also split rooms, for more map variety
- Added more room templates
- The map generator no longer tries to reveal doors on the path to the stairs (i.e. the stairs may be behind hidden doors)
- Winning characters show up as statues inside the church building on the intro level, instead of graves outside the church

# Other
- Improved the player character memory of explored map positions - it is now possible to view the names of terrain and items on previously explored positions, items seen on the floor in dark rooms are remembered on the map, and bumping terrain like fountains and doors while blind instantly updates their visual status
- Removed the "masochistic obsession" insanity effect

##############################
# User interface changes
##############################
# Convenience / quality of life features
- Bumping a stuck door now automatically tries to bash it (no need to press "w" first)
- Added a warning when the player attempts to fire/throw outside the effective range, informing the player that the attack will do 50% damage
- Added an option to warn when throwing "valuable" items - i.e. potions or equipped items (enabled by default)
- When standing in a dark position, "DARK AREA" is displayed in the status lines

# User input
- All menus have shortcut keys (either with "(Y)es (N)o" style, or "a) b) c) ...")
- The "i" key is skipped as a letter index in the inventory (and drop menu), instead this key can be used for closing the inventory menu again (to allow more convenient toggling of the menu and to help prevent key press mistakes)
- Added "l" or "e" as a shortcut command for toggling the Electric Lantern
- Added "," (comma) as an alternative pick up command
- "C" is the standard key for the character info screen, with "@" as alternative key
- In the options menu, left and right can also be used to change option values

# Graphics
- Added the ability for displaying idle animations while the game is waiting for input, currently this is used for flickering the player color when holding an activated Electric Lantern, or randomizing the color of burning tiles or tiles corrupted by Strange Colors - and also for auto-scrolling item descriptions in the (rare) case that they do not fit in the window
- Instead of the "stretched" fullscreen mode option, there is now an option for attempting to scale the graphics to 2x size when running fullscreen (if the graphics can be scaled depends on the user's resolution, and the current font)
- All fonts have been replaced with new ones (the reason for this is that the origins and license information of the previous ones was unknown - now this information is clearly listed in a font license text file distributed with the game)
- Added a tile for unarmed player
- Added tiles for Cultists wielding different firearms (see gameplay changes above)
- Removed the options to draw the walls as filled rectangles in tiles mode

# Design
- Changed the appearance of popups
- Many screens such as the background/trait screens and character info screen use a nicer positioning for drawing, and they handle window resizing better
- Added more elaborate border graphics (used for example around the player information panel), instead of only simple lines (these graphics existed in older versions of the game)
- Using coloring more for the player stats to convey information (such as drawing the current hit points paler the closer to zero they are, or drawing the weapon info as yellow if ammo is depleted)
- The infection status effect is drawn with orange color instead of the usual red, to make it more noticeable and to hint that it will get worse and not better over time - also added a warning message when infection nearly triggers DISEASE
- The message log uses three lines instead of two (thus causing much fewer "more" prompts)
- General messages for events outside of the player performing an action are drawn gray instead of white, and a newline is always forced after a player action
- Removed the "game over" menu - instead the game summary is first shown, then the high scores, then you return to the main menu
- Added an option to toggle if the view should always be centered on the player, only move when near the edge of the screen (default is to always center)

# Sound
- Added more sound effects
- Removed the generic spell sound effect
- Added a master volume percent option

##############################
# Fixes
##############################
- Fixed a bug that prevented messages for Rogues sensing artifacts on the dungeon floor (there were only messages for sensing artifacts in item containers, such as tombs)
- Darkness did not give a stealth bonus
- The effect of the Silent trait was inverted for melee attacks  - i.e. attacks were noisy with the Silent trait picked, and vice versa
- The Asbestos Suite was not protecting against gas explosions (from gas traps)
- Energy Vortex attacks has a paralyzing effect as they were supposed to have, instead of burning
- Fixed problem with popups not being re-drawn correctly when alt-tabbing back to the game
- And much more...

25

Early Dev / Re: The Red Prison - roguelike based on 5th edition D&D

« on: March 09, 2022, 12:08:18 PM »

Hey guys, firstly, can I apologise for the really long delay between new versions with the game. I was distracted by other projects and only just made it back to working on this game.

There's actually a heap of behind-the-scenes changes, which I'll outline briefly, along with some important in-game additions, which I might actually start with because it's far more interesting.

Additions to the game are merchants and guildmasters. In friendly settlements throughout the Red Prison world, you can find merchants who are stocked with various goods, ammunition and sometimes magic items for you to buy. Prices are affected by your charisma. Players start with some gold now as well, which is also affected by your charisma. There's even a unique merchant placed somewhere within the game (ok... he's in Cindemere), who has an inventory of powerful magic items to buy (or steal - more about that below).

You can also sell items to merchants as well, for a far lower price than you'd pay to buy the same item, but the option is there. It's also affected by charisa.

It's still in a state of flux, but currently, there's no reason why you can't kill and loot a merchant for their whole stock. And of course, merchants aren't particularly tough opponents. So I added bodyguards to make sure that it was a risky enterprise. If you feel confident of defeating the bodyguard, then the merchant is all yours. This might change in later versions if it's too easy to exploit, but that's how the game works currently.

There is only one guildmaster at the moment, with more to come in the future. The plan is to create a roster of unique NPCs to potentially hire and to place them throughout the game. But for now, there is Ingefred the guildmaster in North Warren. She has a collection of hirelings who you can pay to join your party to flesh out your team and cover up and weaknesses. Again, these prices are affected by charisma.

And now behind the scenes: a fair while ago I changed the game's code over from an old version of Python (2.7, I think), to the latest version of Python 3. This actually required a fair bit of rewriting, which was annoying, but it all seems fairly stable. That created other problems though and my workflow of compiling and publishing was ruined because I couldn't get the game to play nicely with my previous setup.

So I switched my compiling over to a project called Nuitka. It seems to be working really well (after a bunch more headaches with compatibility). The benefit to this is that Nuitka apparently brings about some pretty significant improvements in performance, so I actually think that players might notice the game running a lot better than previous versions!

All in all, things are moving forward well and I plan at sticking at it for a while yet and putting out regular updates. Any feedback is more than welcome!

26

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Cthangband (now at v6.7.0)

« on: February 20, 2022, 12:29:43 PM »

v6.7.0

Yes, it's release time again.

This one has quite a few changes. It started as a simple bugfix to fix the vault issues and the whirlpool issue (both of which had been recently reported by a player), but rapidly got away from me and ended up as a pretty major release.

Here's the change log:

    Dead monsters no longer futilely try to flee in terror.
    Fixed bug where if a player had multiple natural attacks they’d not stop making them when the monster was dead.
    Fixed a bug where stumbling into a town while confused would mean you didn’t realise you’d visited it.
    Even characters with poor item sensing can now sense artifacts.
    Potentially offensively titled ‘Genocide’ spell (and its variants) renamed.
    Fixed longstanding bug that stopped you running along the edge of a room (eventually!).
    Monsters that steal gold will now drop it when killed.
    Monsters will no longer try to summon help against other monsters if there isn’t room to do so.
    Adjusted a few character history text fragments to make them more diverse and lose some sexism/racism.
    Fixed bug where a monster breathing on another monster would fire a ball instead of a cone.
    Fixed bug where a monster attacking another monster with a theft attack would continue attacking it after having blinked away.
    Fixed wrong message being given when a monster breaks through an Elder Sign.
    Fixed sanity checks not being fired when eldritch horrors come into view.
    Fixed Channelers’ ability not working on scrolls of Rumour.
    The chance of having your race changed through mutation has been reduced.
    Priests have a patron deity (based on the realm of magic they choose), and they get increased favour with that god.
    Sacrificing items to win the gods’ favour (at the temple) will give you benefits.
    Manual and Journal are now both accessible from within stores (racial high scores moved from ‘h’ to ‘v’ to make room).
    Exact dungeon offsets will vary from game to game (randomised on world creation).
    Cleaned up formatting of skill display.
    Small balance tweaks have been made to most classes; in particular Channelers and Druids have been given a bit of a boost.
    ‘Mindcrafting’ powers have been renamed to ‘Mentalism’ powers, since the Mindcrafter class is no longer the only user of them.
    The spell-using martial artist has now been renamed to ‘Monk’ and a mentalism-based martial artist (the ‘Mystic’) has been added.
    Abilities screen now highlights abilities you have to make it easier to see at a glance.
    Removed numerous annoying and useless wizard mode messages.
    Huge amounts of behind-the-scenes code refactoring.
    Fixed bug where monsters casting whirlpool on empty spaces would crash the game.
    Last bits of confusion between ‘allies’ and ‘pets’ cleaned up.
    The high score table now includes living characters from the three save slots.
    Added documentation for how martial arts works.
    When rolling stats, characters with too low a score in their class’s main ability score will be rerolled automatically.
    Fixed two vaults that had invalid definitions.
    Fixed occasional crash when placing a greater vault on a level.

27

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: The Ground Gives Way (now at Release v2.6!)

« on: January 22, 2022, 12:15:58 PM »

v2.6

Almost three years after v2.5, a new version is finally out. It has quite an extensive changelog. As usual there’s a tutorial that guides you through some of these changes (called “what’s new in v2.6”). You can also check the recent blogposts for details and reasoning behind the changes.

I would like to sincerely thank everyone who have played and provided feedback on the development version (and of course on the previous stable version as well). I don’t dare to name names since I might miss someone, but thank you very much all of you who have helped, it have really helped me make v2.6 stable.

Remember to check the included reference document, or the online version if you encounter effects that you don’t know what they do.

Content

    a LOT of little tweaks, rebalancing, changes to descriptions, prices, stats, upgrades to items and monsters. Too much to list individually.
    new items and monsters
    added some monster dialogue
    new effect: “Rage”. Gain +50% melee while your hp is 4 or lower
    most bows and arrows are reworked to account for new thievery mechanics
    some equipment now provides conditional bonuses kind of like “Rage”.
    slight alteration to castle layouts, mostly due to new features
    reworked items (different name and significantly different effects):
        potion of magic boost > wizard potion
        ring of death > signet ring
        lesser heal > heal
        amulet of charity > healer’s guild amulet
        all alcholic bevarages, there are also more of them
        all shadow weapons
        amulets of deflection, protection and defence
        the scroll of starvation is rarer, and have an upside.
        scroll of blindness now have upsides
    renamed (but not significantly changed):
        lesser heal -> heal (and slightly reworked)
        map -> scroll of mapping
        electric eel -> electric worm
        platemail -> plate armour
        ringmail -> chainmail
        iron boots -> sabatons
        plate boots -> greaves
        iron cap -> steel helmet
        full helmet -> great helm
        steel helmet -> bascinet
        money monkey -> stealing monkey
        ring of throwing -> ring of aiming
        rod of turn undead -> rod of destroy undead
        tranform blood -> blood magic (also slightly buffed)
        electric eel -> electric worm
    removed: iron staff, hard boots, chainmail boots, greater heal (censer), double axe

Interface

    you can now view discovered NPCs from the main menu [ununsept]
    you can now see a list of known monsters in the memory map view
    there’s now generic information about monster properties in the description window
    the maximum ep and food are no longer shown in the attributes panel (to make room for rep)
    you now get a prompt when you’re about to talk to an NPC while being scary
    fleamen are now represented by an ‘m’ and has slightly altered description to reflect this
    animation for monster spells “blink” and “phase out” are shorter [Vectis]
    air elementals are no longer yellow, to distinguish them from light elementals
    spells with “does not consume mp” are now called “cantrips” and have a specific description [kyzrati]
    changed the message when trying to sleep in the castle from ‘it is too noisy to sleep here’ to ‘the guards won’t let you sleep here’
    reduced the flickering of the word ‘monsters’ in the sidebar (I think?) [Carlos]
    you can now wiew the details about a spell on a piece of equipment equipment from the inventory by pressing ‘x’ and then another key [ununsept, icebox]
    dead adventurers are now purple instead of white to make them stand out more
    assassins now show the effect of their coats and gives you random tips [ununsept]
    removed all warnings about unused rods when resting, since they are rarely useful.
    the game now prompts you if you equip an item that would cause your martial attack to be ineffective [del_duio, blue, runagate]
    power circles are now “notable” in the map view [ununsept]
    changed the obscure message you get when a pit trap is triggered by an unseen monster [gambler justice]
    magic attacks for monsters no longer show percentage to hit (since spell resistance is rarer)
    added a remainder of the online reference in the base tutorial [Kyzrati]
    articles are no longer shown on objects that monsters carry items [Kyzrati]

Gameplay

    reputation system/censer overhaul (see blog)
        reworked censer/meditation functionality
        removed aggravation status from the game
        reworked healer NPCs
        some new meditations/censers, some others are reworked/renamed
    reworked how thievery weapons work(see blog)
    resist magic is no longer connected to max mp, but its own (rare) effect (post)[reddish kangaroo]
    rooms behind stuck doors will now always contain something of value and are never blocking the way to stairs
    being in light no longer prevents you from sleeping
    NPCs now pay 0 gold for common, nonsilver items. This should reduce the temptation to collect common items for selling.
    NPCs does not leave the dungeon anymore [everyone]
    being full no longer prevents you from consuming stuff
    there’s now a bell in the castle that gather all known NPCs around for easier shopping [Vectis]
    monsters now regenerate their Mp (see post)
    you can now reach everything (including shimmering water) even when flying, making flying an almost entirely positive thing
    Elec damage deals double mp damage to enemies
    used/active spells are now cancelled when your mp drops below zero
    you can now immediately execute unconscious monsters (regardless of what weapon you have) without fail [ion_frigate]
    heavy headwear/helmets no longer impairs martial arts [del_duio]
    power circles are reworked: they now provide 100% rMagic while standing on them and can be activated once to restore all mp
    the restore effect will now also remove all conjured items
    neutral monsters don’t like to be pushed around anymore
    you can now put out fires manually [andrek8]
    slightly increased the chance for portals to appear in rooms with NPCs
    iron debris now lowers maxMp while standing on it
    bones are categorised as ‘special’ instead of ‘dropped’ [kyzrati]
    slime rooms never contain stairs and are always single entry rooms, they also now always contain a reward
    arena rooms always contain a challenging monster selected from a list and almost always some reward
    minor adjustments to some other room types
    some items have the property ‘frail’ which destroys the item when unequipped (mechanic stolen borrowed from DCSS)
    the flail weapon cannot be blocked by monsters
    wall maps now cost 2Ep to use, but always maps the level (never does nothing or causes confusion)
    minor changes to some NPC services and trades

Bug fixes

    you can no longer use equipment spells that cannot be used in combat when you are in combat [del_duio]
    chickens and goblin apprentices are now frail, as they were intended
    the pickaxe no longer says it can be upgraded
    you can no longer attack detected enemies through walls with your reaching weapon [blue, ununsept]
    open/closed melee bonus is no longer shown as >100% when overburdened [chpmia]
    trolls no longer have negative martial combo [lici]
    maximum number of turns to autorun is reduced to avoid long loops [gza, Blue]
    taking fatal ep damage after death can no longer give the message that you survived [Vectis]
    cursed items can no longer be upgrades [gambler justice, Blue]
    unused NPC dialogue is no longer stored in savefiles [Vectis]
    skeleton archers no longer have range 2, and now have infravision
    more consistency in (non)capitalization of effects [kyzrati]
    flame swords are no longer sharp/cruel
    fixed upgrade to spiked chain
    typos, language [green, Muppet, ununsept, Kyzrati]
    fixed thornstem upgrade [GJ]
    fixed info leak when equipping unknown items [ion_frigate, Kyzrati]

Balance

    rebalancing of common melee weapons (post)
    default damage for arrows is now 1 instead of 2
    very rare and unique monsters have their droprate increased from 25% to 50%
    the risk to get slowed from cold damage is now greatly reduced if you are already slow
    arrows are found in slighlty shorter stacks
    snowballs now deal 2 cold damage (was 3) both for player and enemies but gives +15% missile bonus.
    nerfed cattleprod and swiftblade
    the chance to retain a scroll after reading it is now a flat 15% instead of depending on max mp [gambler justice]
    scrolls of vision are now uncommon (was common) and slighly more expensive [gambler justice]
    flaming bats are now uncommon instead of common [chpmia]
    The ‘webs’ spell now costs 1 mp instead of 2
    tons of small modifications to stats, prices, descriptions to items. Too much to list the details.
    average vigilance of NPCs have been slightly lowered
    iron knuckles, spiked chain are now cruel (disliked by healer’s guild)
    turning valves no longer spawns monsters [kyzrati]
    you can now occasionally find seeds in bushes
    containers spawning monsters should no longer be OoD [ununsept]
    raised minimum price for enchanting nonammo to 250 gold (was 150 gold)
    merchants that only buys items has less money on the average, to disencourage excessive backtracking/hoarding
    all invisible ghosts are now frail instead of immune to nonlethal (so they don’t trap you when you are weaponless)
    snow goblins are now slightly cold resistant
    amulet of inertia now provides immunity to knockback as well
    censers are slightly more common on the floor
    floating bows are now stealthier, but also weak to fire
    floating skulls are now undead (as they should be) [ununsept]
    fungi no longer have tentacles (because of magic regen)
    the guardian enemies have been nerfed slightly in armour and hp
    ghouls now resists cold
    zap guns now do 2 elec damage instead of 1

Content

    some new monster drops
    1 new type of potion
    “of the monk” enchantment on gauntlets now give martial combo instead of damage/block
    “of the ninja” enchantment (used to give a small martial bonus to martial weapons) have been replaced by a much more interesting enchantment.

Interface

    Your Ep is now listed in the character sheet.

Gameplay

    All your possessions are now identified when you win the game .
    You can now choose to cover pits when moving over them [gambler_justice].

Bug fixes

    Fixed bug where some monster spells (e.g. summonings) wouldn’t trigger
    Monsters who have their melee reduced to 0% no longer hangs the game [GnollSet, Blue]
    You are no longer unable to attack the turn after you were overburdened
    You no longer try to auto-pickup activated traps if you have a stack in your inventory.
    Hopefully fixed bug where pit traps would reappear after triggered .

Balance

    Reduced average stack of snow balls for snow goblins.
    Alterations to goblin bow’s description and price.

28

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Sil-quirk (now at v1.5.0!)

« on: January 04, 2022, 12:33:06 PM »

v1.5.0

Some highlights are:

    Sil-Q now has an excellent new tileset designed by MicroChasm
    Much improved Mac support thanks to backwardsEric
    Smithing has been rebalanced to reduce the need for smithing items to help with later smithing
    Guaranteed forges now exist at 100', 300' and 500'
    The Will tree has seen some reworking to replace passive protective skills with more interesting choices
    New egos, enemies, and effects added
    Score now takes into account the increased difficulty of playing as Naugrim, Sindar or Edain

It is not advised to use savefiles from the previous betas with the stable version. This may result in strange things happening with minimum depth.


- Tiles are now supported on Linux, Windows and Mac
    - This uses a new tileset designed by MicroChasm

- New manual by MicroChasm

- Ability changes
    - Melee
        - Smite now shows main attack in red to make it clear it is active
    - Archery
        - Puncture buffed from 3 to 5
        - Crippling Shot buffed
    - Evasion
        - Blocking changed, buffed
    - Stealth
        - Cruel Blow buffed
    - Perception
        - Forewarned replaced with Outwit (Scatha feedback)
        - Master Hunter buffed - bonus doubled
    - Will
        - Tree rearranged, Curse Breaking at bottom
        - Hardiness and Critical Resistance removed
        - Oath and Formidable added
        - Inner Light buffed - bonus doubled
    - Song
        - Song of Whetting removed
        - Song of Slaying added
            - This is mechanically different to the old Song of Slaying
        - Song of Mastery buffed, wider range of outcomes
        - Song of Staying Will bonus halved

Smithing changes
    - +Smithing items removed
    - Curses removed from artifact creation
    - Smithing costs reduced to compensate
    - Guaranteed forges now at the first entrance to or below:
        100', 300', 500'

- New egos and new effects
   - Resist Bleeding - as it says
    - Medic - increases health gained from healing items
    - Avoid Traps - avoids traps (but not webs, roosts or pits)
    - Cumbersome - the weapon does not get critical hits
    - Many new egos
    - Egos now conform better to weapon types e.g. curved swords have
      Angband rather than elven egos
    - Horn of Force can remove a certain crown
    - Staff of Earthquakes replaced by Staff of Dismay

- Objects tweaked
    - Handaxes now 4d2 instead of 5d1

- Lights
    - Mallorn torches added
    - Feanorian lamps buffed
    - Items on the floor no longer shed light by themselves
        - this is to avoid the behaviour where experienced players carried
          many lamps to debuff light sensitive foes

- New enemies
    - Attercops, spectres, wraiths
    - Unmourned removed
    - Human and elven thralls added as well as orcish thrallmasters
    - Human and elven thralls may request player character aid
    - Several enemies can now rally their escort, boosting morale

- Depth clock tweaked
    - Slightly more aggressive in the endgame
    - Responds to player - laggards get more time, divers a little less

- Score mechanism updated
    - Extra column in score between turn count and sils
    - 1 point for 5K start
    - 2 points for following iron man rules (formally or not)
    - 3 points for playing Naugrim or Sindar
    - 5 points for playing Edain

- Tutorial updated for Sil-Q abilities

- Many many bugfixes

29

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Caverns of Xaskazien II Ver. 1.00.84 released!

« on: December 25, 2021, 12:26:15 PM »

Fine work

30

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Frozen Depths (now at v1.06~)

« on: October 04, 2021, 11:30:24 AM »

v1.06

Hi there! You may be wondering what's up with this news entry on the website of a game whose last release was more than 7 years ago. I'm a bit surprised as well, and yes, something unexpected has indeed happened after this long period of silence. I've just released a minor update to the game, version 1.06!

A long time player happened to send me a mail at the exact right time, asking for a 64 bit build for Mac. I happened to be on my paternity leave so I had some extra time on my hands, and promptly decided to do some some minor development based on my old notes and some bug reports I've received since the release of 1.05. About a month ago I had no idea I'd be working on Frozen Depths.

Nevertheless, here we are, so what's changed? Not much to be honest, but you can check the list of changes here: click. No new major features or content, just some polishing, fixing and balancing. And of course the new 64 bit (Intel) Mac build, along with a new 64 bit Linux build. The Windows build is still 32 bit so it works everywhere. If there's need for a 32 bit Linux build, send me a message. Or if you'd play an ARM Mac build, and could compile it, feel free to send me a message about that as well and we can arrange it. I won't have access to the new ARM Macs in the near future.

This will be a stealth release, I won't be posting anything to Reddit (but I definitely won't object if you want to do that) or anywhere else. The release is so minor and I'm not planning to continue Frozen Depths' development. Definitely not in the near future, and probably not later either. The source code just isn't maintainable anymore. But I promise to keep a working build on the website, or if I can't do that, I'll just finally release the source code at some point. But not yet.

And even though I don't intend to continue development, I will try to fix any reasonable bugs that people report to me. So if you find something, especially in the next few months, don't hesitate to contact me! I don't want to have a buggy build out there.

That pretty much covers it. Head to the downloads page and have fun in the depths!