Char (now at v1.0.1.31)

[getter77]

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=168517224

An old-school rogue-like where ascii characters rule the realm and interact with beautiful particle effects!

Key differentiators between this and other Rogue-like's:
. Particle effects! Fireballs aren't just * moving around!
. Monster's have interesting behavior. Some are pack animals and will flee if there aren't enough around. Mini-bosses will react intelligently to player behavior.
. Designed to be a short game. Estimated time (assuming you win) is 2 hours per game.
. Maps are pre-generated, but the selection of which maps are in play is random.
. A high difficulty level. There is no natural healing in the game, and there is no instant healing.

Latest build is up. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/49629397/char%20-%201.0.1.25.zip

Known issues - particles are not rendering correctly on ATI graphics hardware.

Seems to have some rather slick little touches going and some somewhat Sil-level AI at play even at this stage of doings.

Some dev statements:

I appreciate all the feedback - post positive and negative. I do recognize that I am targetting a niche of a niche.
Quick answers to some of the questions:
1) How much? Good question. I can't imagine charging more than $5 for this, and likely less than that.
2) Story - yes, there is some story and depth, though I would rather finish implementing that than describe it.
3) Multi-platform - likely no. Roguelike's can be done without a keyboard, but unless I can get the feel to be good enough, I won't attempt other platforms.
4) Pre-generated / randomized levels - Definitely sticking with pre-generated at least for now. The included level editor is how I generate each map.
5) "It's pretty much nethack" - No, not at all. The closest to it is Larn.

[getter77]

Latest v1.0.1.26

Two flavors of builds now:
With music (100 mb) https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/49629397/char.1.0.1.26.zip
Without music (9 mb) https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/49629397/char.1.0.1.26.NO_MUSIC.zip

Release notes are in the game, highlights are:
Features:
Auto-pickup can be enabled from the settings menu.

Bugfixes:
Music volume would spike on transition between songs.
Crash due to incorrect usage of SlimDX.
Crash due to incorrect setup of real-time ranged attacks (all real-time ranges attacks are working again. Beware pirate ships and goblin archers.)

Work-around:
If the game is ever stuck in "Block on Message Queue", F3 will force the game back to the correct state. Root cause is being investigated.

[getter77]

v1.0.1.27

Two flavors of builds now:
With music (100 mb) https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/49629397/char.1.0.1.27.zip
Without music (9 mb) https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/49629397/char.1.0.1.27.NO_MUSIC.zip

Release notes are in the game, highlights are:
-Necromancers - raise monsters from the dead.
-Lightning bugs - you may be shocked.
-Jellies are now many colors.
-Fixed crashes.
-Fixed bug causing particles to not render on ATI/AMD hardware!


Detailed release notes:

-Implemented a lightning bug. Wanders around, occasionally shoots lightning bolts - and will target any other lightning bugs in the area (like Pikmin)

-Fixed fireball related hang (if it didn't hit anything). Fix should prevent any form of this issue from happening again.

-Working on the trouble maker monster - will wander around closing doors, splitting jellies, and generally be a nuisance.

-Made jellies spawn as many different colors.

-Fixed particles not rendering on ATI - PS/VS version mismatch (herp derp on me)

-Fixed rare crash in the sound engine - attempt to play an effect before it had been loaded by the sound thread.
-Fixed item/money steal monsters (thank you unit tests)

-Monsters that are raised as undead will now animate as they are being brought to life.
-Implemented Necromancer - will raise any enemies killed from the dead (nice animation to it too)

-Updated picking up/dropping items to more or less correctly pluralize words and show the count.

-Fixed inventory bug found by Alex2290 - dropping items did not remove item from the player's inventory.

Also looks like some wranglings afoot for a 3D mod to join the ASCII one.

[getter77]

v1.0.1.29

Followup 3D release. 3D mode is reliable (unlike the last release), and most effects are in.

A couple of updates - I'm going to put together a new video soon showing off 3D mode working better.
I've also thought about it, and a lot of the negative feedback has been around the lack of randomized maps. I still want to be able to craft certain bits, but I can easily incorporate little set pieces in with a random level generator.

So yes - Char will have randomly generated levels in the near future.

Char - with music (100 meg)
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/49629397/char_1.0.1.29.zip

Char - without music (10 meg)
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/49629397/char_1.0.1.29.NO.MUSIC.zip

Music edition download seems to be sized the same as the non-musical version, hopefully this gets fixed.

[getter77]

v1.0.1.30

More work/cleanup on the look of 3D mode. It's definitely looking much better.

Char - with music (100 meg)
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/49629397/char_1.0.1.30.zip

Char - without music (10 meg)
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/49629397/char_1.0.1.30.NO.MUSIC.zip

Music edition link is working fine this time.

[getter77]

v1.0.1.31

Not dead - but I didn't want to release this version without something major new and.

Char - with music (100 meg)
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/49629397/char_1.0.1.31.zip

Char - without music (10 meg)
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/49629397/char_1.0.1.31.NO.MUSIC.zip

Big Feature - Random map generation! Cave based and room based.

Feature - Hooks for animating the player movement (this needs some major refactoring to be able to work)
Feature - Updated BoxProjectile to work in 3D. Shows this in 3d now when you are asked to pick up an item or enter a building.
Feature - Made auto-pickup default.
Feature - When picking up items, the name of the item now floats up for 3 seconds.
Feature - Finished monster splitting animation. Looks good in 2D and 3D.
Feature - Added a config option for hp/mp bars.
Feature - Modified wandering monsters to attack once aggravated.

Undocumented Feature - Re-added camera control (1-6 for translate or SHIFT 1-6 for rotate)

Bugfix - added map legend, tweaked it to show traps
Bugfix - player changes color to purple when poisoned.
Bugfix - fixed 3d mode flashing when changing levels (stairs)
Bugfix - store was shifting the player description too far over.
Bugfix - fixed a few crash bugs.
Bugfix - Enabled traps to appear in 3D mode.
Bugfix - Fixed rubble's height in 3d - and any other 1/2 height floor tiles.
Bugfix - If the player is on a wall/building, it will now show as translucent.
Bugfix - crash in AI accessing pathfinding data outside the maze.
Bugfix - Some fixes to lightning in 3D.
Bugfix - Started the player near the dungeon entrance.
Bugfix - Added Floats parameter to monsters that float on water. Pirate ships float now.
Bugfix - Changed Lightning bug to be significantly stronger.
Bugfix - Modified wandering monsters to attack once aggravated.