Xenomarine (now at Alpha 5.2!) $

[getter77]

http://www.ascifiroguelike.com/  7.99GBP  Win/Mac/Linux/more later
https://logophil.itch.io/xenomarine
http://store.steampowered.com/app/676830/Xenomarine/  $9.99

XENOMARINE is a sci-fi-horror themed roguelike in which you play a space marine exploring a dark alien-infested space station.

You start out with nothing but a crowbar, a torch running low on battery and some damaged armor...and high hopes of finding some powerful alien tech!

Xenomarine combines classic 'roguelike' gameplay (including procedural level generation and 'permadeath') with atmospheric visuals and an intuitive interface.

GAME FEATURES:

    Classic turn-based gameplay with lots of strategic depth
    Infinite, randomly generated levels (15 in Alpha)
    Atmospheric 3D lighting
    Unique useable items such as scanners, stimpacks and directional forcefields
    Over 150 unique enemy types (80 in Alpha)
    Over 70 learnable skill upgrades
    Multiple damage types and status effects
    Crafting (craft items from scrap and upgrade weapons and armor)
    Intuitive user interface, with mouse-only and keyboard-only support
    Realistic sci-fi sounds including randomly generated atmosphere sounds

Alpha 1  (comparison chart onsite between free Demo and Alpha release)

Skills and Class
NEW: ‘class’ stat (e.g. soldier, engineer) added to terminal and highscores
NEW: ‘hacking’ skill,-used to hack and acquire drones
NEW: ‘alien tech’ skill used for mind-control devices and other tech
NEW: skills flash when available for clarity

Drones
NEW: combat drones (which can be hacked!)
NEW: scout drones (which can be hacked!)
NEW: hacking devices (required for hacking)

Level Design/Graphics
NEW: 12 new levels available (Alpha only)
NEW: 70 new enemy types available (Alpha only)
NEW: more variety for 1x1 rooms
NEW: ‘medical alternate’ room styles
NEW: ‘terminal’ style desks
NEW: 3x3 vaults
NEW: add additional 2x2 vaults
NEW: egg ‘hives’
NEW: floor scattered with scrap
NEW: procedurally generated atmospheric sounds improved (and game music removed)
NEW: desk objects (laptops, tablets, paper)
NEW controlpanel sprites as alternative to desk
NEW: new status-causing ‘goo’ tiles for later levels
NEW: 3x3tile floor area sprite to replace centre of rooms
NEW: yellow lights for radioactive rooms with new siren sound
NEW: coloured lights for special floor tiles
NEW: sprites for crates, crates also renamed
NEW: chest lights stop flashing when used
MOD: change corridor generation for vaults to allow connections to different room shapes
MOD: delete more rooms for more varied map layouts
MOD: reduce alarm volume
MOD: more varied level sizes
FIX: bug where no suitable locaton for vault found
FIX: less likely to spawn near teleporter
FIX: remove disconnected rooms
FIX: bug causing rooms connected only by secret doors to be deleted
FIX: med vault layout bug (see screenshot)
FIX: bug where being in water causes enemies always to miss
FIX: blood spatter disabled on water tiles

Weapons and Armor
NEW: 24 new weapon types available (Alpha only)
NEW: 12 additional grenade types with new sound effects
NEW: armor and helmet types
NEW: 2 additional shield types
NEW: minigun sound effect
FIX: minigun no longer has range 1

Items
NEW: status effect upgrades for player weapons
NEW: mindcontrol devices using alien tech skill
NEW: night-vision goggles (longer range than torches, shorter life);
NEW: 25 weapon enhancements
NEW: 20 new trap types available (Alpha only)
NEW: improved scanner animation and sound effects
MOD: turning torch/goggles on during a turn now costs 1 power
MOD: torches and goggles weight reduced to 1
FIX: bug where weakness antipack ineffective against severe weakness

Controls
NEW: ALT+ mvmt keys to move map using keybaord
FIX: auto-mouse-movement no longer goes through dangerous floor tiles
NEW: improved dual-wielding controls (second weapon is skipped if no enemy in range)
FIX: auto-mouse movement disabled when hallucinating

Inventory and Quickslots
NEW: delete button pulsates when available to make it easier to find
NEW: can now swap quickslots when using keyboard shortcuts
MOD: removed torch restriction from second slot on belt
NEW: more belt utilisation sounds

Help/Tutorial Text
NEW: help message when dragging usables to equipment slots
NEW: help message when dragging item to ineligible quickslot (torch/medkits)
NEW: help text when trying to repair armor with no scrap/other help for workbench
NEW: log message ‘you are low on health’
MOD: increased log font size
NEW: experience now shown on char stats?
NEW: message in main log to indicate encumbrance
NEW: help tips between levels
NEW: dual-wielding help message when unable to equip second weapon
NEW: info about changing movement controls on controls screen
NEW: log message ‘you now have enough experience points to learn a skill’

Log/Info Text
NEW: black background to log during LSD trap
NEW: remove ‘in the equipment crate’ from find messages (too long)
NEW: severely injured and close to death message now come after welcome messages on new level
NEW: added outline to hover info to stand out against light areas
NEW: text indicators for ‘out of ammo’ and status effects
NEW: mouseover alien show to hit with current weapon
MOD: more accurate info text for multi-vaccine
FIX: shield resistance info formatting
FIX: bug with hidden log messages when resizing log

Other
NEW: UI scaling for small and large screensizes, with improved sprites
NEW: improve demo and alpha completion experience, showing highscores for game
NEW: some game sounds improved
MOD: ‘illness’ debuff made less powerful
MOD: enemy distribution changed so more ‘themed’ levels
FIX: resting disabled when poisoned or radioactive
FIX: bug with some damage types not impacting health bar

[getter77]

Alpha 2

The second Alpha version of Xenomarine is now available to download on itch.io. Alpha 2 finally removes the level cap of previous releases, meaning there are now infinitely many levels of increasing difficulty. Other new features in Alpha 2 inlude randomly generated miniquests, 27 unlockable achievements, and 21 new item/armor/weapon types.

Here is the updated feature comparison chart:


..and a full list of changes:

Infinite Levels
NEW: Level cap removed: infinite number of levels (though content for later levels still limited)

New Feature: Miniquests
NEW: Random miniquests to gain extra XP, aka ‘Security Missions’ (3 basic types)

New Feature: Achievements
NEW: 27 achievements added
NEW: Non-steam achievements panel accessible from splash and options screen

New Weapons
NEW: 3 new weapons added

New Armor
NEW: 1 new armor and helmet class added (8 base types in total)
NEW: Armor can now have multiple resistances, including special resistance features such as ‘nonocarbon coating’
MOD: Improved naming system for armor types, so armor, helmet, belt, boots and shield can be ‘good’, excellent’ or ‘exceptional’ based on bonuses
FIX: Some inconsistencies in previous armor naming system

New Items
NEW: 8 new scanner types includig structural analyser and bio-analyser
MOD: Scanners now have limited energy and can be recharged with batteries
MOD: Greater rarity of biohazard traps

Other Improvements
NEW: Add log info when player resists status effects
NEW: Sound effect for lightsword
NEW: Sound effect for egg hatching
MOD: Chance to accidentally trigger traps when disarming increased
MOD: Enemies now have 50% chance of attacking other enemies when confused
MOD: Enemy blindness now reduces enemy chance to hit as well as confused movement
FIX: Update to controls help page to reflect changes to quickslot functions
FIX: Handle cases where trying to apply devices to wrong kind of item
FIX: Error where inventory help message stays on screen after closing inventory
FIX: Bug where item names are not generated for some belts and shields
FIX: Error with auto-torch help text in settings screen
FIX: Bug where resistances do not protect against effect of floor tiles
FIX: Bug where ramblers appear to move under traps
FIX: Status effects and effects of armor are now calculated when player is caught in the blast of own weapon
FIX: Effects of armor are now calculated when player is caught in the blast of an exploding barrel
FIX: Clicking no longer attempts to resize log on small screen resolutions

[getter77]

Alpha 3

Xenomarine is now available on Steam early access (as well as on itch as before)! Here is a full list of changes in the new version (with credit given to the game testers on Reddit who recommended the changes)

New game mode
NEW: Adventure mode (no permadeath but highscores disabled)

Drones
NEW: 2 new drone types (heavy combat drones and advanced heavy combat drones)
NEW: proportion of drones begin level as hostile in higher levels
NEW: drone mousehover description includes hostile/neutral/friendly status
MOD: increase hit points for drones
FIX: drone lights sometimes turned off even when in line of sight

Missions
NEW: animation showing location of mission targets
NEW: log messages for mission outcomes
MOD: improved mission generation with more varied and achievable mission targets (baconcow/meangreenmachine)
MOD: better balance of number of equipment crates to find in salvage missions
MOD: better balancing of experience gained from missions
FIX: bug with alien count (used for mission generation) on loading levels

Hacking
NEW: data terminal which can be hacked to access level data

New items
NEW: new energy fields: stealth field, cloaking field, phase shift field
NEW: new forcefields (wide angle and full)
NEW: new stimpack types: vitality shots and regeneration shots
NEW: new large (long-range) torch type

Better support for large and small screen resolutions
NEW: new option to choose log font size
MOD: clicking on log no longer toggles height of log (removed because of interference with other mouse controls)
MOD: removed background image for game log
MOD: ammo/power/condition bars enlarged for improved visibility at different resolutions
FIX: bug with screen resolution preventing closing of mission terminal panel
FIX: bug where unable to change settings on some screen resolutions
FIX: stretching of background image for options screen on very large and very small resolutions
FIX: improved scaling of inventory and achievement icons on different resolutions
FIX: improved scaling of value bars (ammo/condition/power)
FIX: errors in scaling position of armor resistance icons on inventory panel

Game balance:
MOD: improve health skill increases actual health as well as maxhealth (augustdream)
MOD: slight increase to overall number of interactable level features, with more regularity for key features like terminals and workbenches
MOD: radiation rooms removed from levels 1 and 2
MOD: minor adjustment to difficulty level
MOD: average power for goggles increased
MOD: reduced taser dmage
MOD: reduce trap frequency

User interface
NEW: belt slots keyboard shortcuts shown
NEW: improved keyboard targeting to allow targeting of crates and eggs (lapislosh)
NEW: improved keyboard targeting for devices and throwing weapons (lapislosh)
NEW: warning text to confirm death when starting new game, or exiting game
MOD: add option panel for use of teleporter for next level
MOD: increased basic log dimensions
MOD: slowed flashing of text colour for available skills in terminal (baconcow)
MOD: controls info added to splash screen (lapislosh)
MOD: long range scanner blips now stay on the map until the end of player turn
FIX: bug where unable to close inventory by clicking inventory button
FIX: add menu sound to game mode toggle
FIX: bug where closing help screen for terminal/workbench unpauses the game
FIX: bug where pressing escape from armor screen opens options screen
FIX: bug with ‘inventory full’ log message not showing correctly
FIX: bug making it impossible to close splash screen windows using ‘enter’ (lapislosh)
FIX: encumbrance help text now shown when hovering over encumbrance bar as well as encumbrance text(lapislosh)
FIX: panel exit buttons not wokring on splash screen
FIX: problem with menu sounds not playing on settings screen
FIX: bug where icon for alien in cover overlaps icon for alien debuffs
FIX: bug where some actions (e.g use of quickslots) are still possible while game is paused
FIX: added value bar background for scanners
FIX: changing focus to another application and then clicking back in the game no longer generates mouse input (lapislosh)

Log messages
NEW: log messages now show enemy chance to hit
MOD: improve log messages for exploding barrels (to allow stacking of similar messages)
FIX: log message error for low log detail when being hit by non-blockable attack
FIX: incorrect log message for egg damage from main weapon (corruptsoule)
FIX: occasionally missing log text when finding radioactivity vaccine
FIX: bug with duplication of log messages when opening equipment crates
FIX: bug with empty log messages on low and medium log detail levels

Sound
NEW: added drone damaged/destroyed sound
MOD: improved low health sound effect (baconcow)
MOD: adjusted sound effect when generating level (baconcow)
MOD: changed sound effect when changing option settings (baconcow)
FIX: bug with egg hatch sound not playing when eggs are visible
FIX: fixed scanner sound for new scanner types
FIX: bug where sound effects get turned on by equipping an item from a belt slot
FIX: incorrect sound volume for level up sound effect(baconcow)

Other
NEW: new achievement icons
NEW: torch now shows range as part of standard info
MOD: improved scanner animation for map scanners
MOD: increased frequency and more irregular distribution of floor vents
MOD: improved dual-wielding help text to clarify shield requirements
MOD: torch renamed flashlight (lapislosh)
FIX: bug with impact of terrain and illness on to alien to hit chance
FIX: bug where cancelling new game select stil resets character
FIX: bug when increasing weapon skill at terminal with active skill debuff
FIX: wurms no longer spawn new wurms on poisonous etc tiles
FIX: bug allowing occasional alien movement onto dangerous tiles
FIX: improve egg spawning to avoid blocking path to teleporter (lapislosh)
FIX: bug where egg can be damaged by normal weapons after a special weapon attack (corruptsoule)
FIX: fixed dual-wielded chainsaw sprite

[getter77]

Alpha 4

Time for a pretty big update! 40 new alien types/variants, alien plants, destructible environments and lots more…

NEW ALIENS
NEW: Added 'alien plants' which grow in alien caverns (from level 2; 8 variants)
NEW: Added new base enemy type: ‘slicer’ (from level 9; 12 variants)
NEW: Added 3 new enemy variants for all base alien types: 1) phase-shifted, 2) dark blue and 3) multicoloured
MOD: changed level generation to increase range of enemy variants on levels 1-10
MOD: improved drone AI to allow targeting at up to range 3
MOD: improved alien AI so they find alternative route when blocked by other aliens

NEW ITEMS:
NEW: 3 new base scanner types for detecting traps and secret doors

DESTRUCTIBLE ENVIRONMENT
NEW: Walls, furniture and doors can now be destroyed by weapons with 'explosive' damage type
MOD: Weapons with 'explosive' damage type automatically destroy crates and barrels

UI
NEW: ammo now shown numerically for equipped weapons
NEW: camera follows player option now uses smooth camera panning
NEW: improved map scrolling with mouse (scroll speed frame-independent and relative to zoom level)
FIX: ‘no ammo’ pop-up text now shown for weapon equipped in left hand
FIX: added info about scrolling map with mouse+alt-key to controls screen
FIX: increased width of top-left ammo display text to avoid text-wrapping with more than 99 ammo

GAMEPLAY/BALANCE
MOD: increased rocket launcher to hit chance
MOD: power of mind globes increased from level 8
MOD: can now retain battery when scrapping flashlight with full (>=1000) battery power
MOD: reduced duration of radioactive damage debuff by 40%
MOD: increased weapon range of combat drones

HACKING
MOD: improved display for results of hacking data terminal
MOD: more detailed information shown for hacking electronics data
MOD: hacking aliens data now includes drones, eggs and alien plants
FIX: bug with data shown when hacking electronics data

OTHER
NEW: 7 new random tips added
NEW: New Unity splash animation
NEW: pressing F1 shows random tip in main log
NEW: added log message for when combat drones become hostile on taking damage
NEW: character stats screen now shows effect of encumbrance on weapon skill
NEW: added support for Mac Retina screens
FIX: information panel (e.g. for achievement) sometimes hidden behind terminal/inventory panels
FIX: log message for destruction of barrel no longer refers to ‘crate’
FIX: destroying a barrel no longer unlocks the ‘vandal’ achievement
FIX: error with item description for blade converter, and for weapons with blade conversion
FIX: removed visual artefacts (white vertical lines) while scrolling map on high-spec systems
FIX: speed of movement with keys held down now frame-independent (better for high-spec systems)
FIX: bug with mechanic for missed thrown weapon attacks
FIX: bug with target indicators when using mouse to target area effect weapon
FIX: stimpacks introduced in Alpha 3.3 can now be used from inventory
FIX: bug with occasionally failing to unpause game after using security terminal
FIX: hallucination visual effect not loading from save
FIX: improved log message when aliens trigger traps
FIX: improved formatting of mousehoverinfo for drones
FIX: bug with description of traps in inventory screen

[getter77]

Alpha 4.1

Alpha 4.1 now available on Steam. There are 10 new weapons, including 5 new alien weapons, and cool new weapons (with new sound effects) like the ‘void laser’. All weapon stats have also been thoroughly checked and rebalanced. There are also 3 new assault mission types.


NEW WEAPONS

NEW: 10 new weapon types, including new alien weapons, sniper rifle and void laser
NEW: improved sound effects for some weapons
MOD: rebalancing of all weapons
FIX: shotgun and mini-lascannon can now be dual-wielded

NEW MISSION TYPES

NEW: 3 new assault mission types: 'breach from below', 'drone virus' and 'plant life'

OTHER

MOD: add low-battery scanner to starting inventory
MOD: crafting costs reduced for ammo and medkit
MOD: line of sight for generator-lit rooms increased to 12 tiles
MOD: exploding barrels now cause explosive damage and destroy nearby walls etc
MOD: hallucination visual effect modified to be easier on the eyes
MOD: secret doors are now automatically spotted from within secret passages, even after failing earlier spot test
FIX: bug where chests spawn at edge of map in alien caverns (causing a 'tile not recognised' error)
FIX: bug where plants and equipment crates spawn on top of large equipment crates
FIX: bullets gained from workbench increased to 10
FIX: bug with mission time limit for salvage mission
FIX: bug with shadows not updating correctly when destroying walls with explosive weapons
FIX: formatting problem when showing 3 or more 'to hit' adjustments in inventory screen

[getter77]

Alpha 4.2

As aliens coming up through the floor proved to be quite a popular idea, in 4.2 this happens more frequently, meaning you are never quite safe from the alien threat! In this patch there are also more weapons, and - finally - the ability to close doors!

MORE NEW WEAPONS

NEW: 8 new weapon types

MORE ALIENS COMING UP THROUGH THE FLOOR!

NEW: aliens now come up through the floor more often and at random (rather than just for missions)

SECURE THE DOOR!

NEW: close doors with 'right-click' or 'o'-key

OTHER

NEW : mouseover info for aliens now includes health, attack damage and attack type if player has previously killed aliens of that type.
MOD: shooting an alien on same tile as trap now triggers trap
MOD: aliens hatching from eggs are less dangerous types on average
FIX: bug where shooting at teleport trap teleports self
FIX: incorrect mousehover info for 'open door' and 'floor with hazard markings'
FIX: ability to dual-wield no longer affected by 'to hit' penalties, e.g. from illness
FIX: error in number of targets in mission description for 'drone virus' and 'plant life' missions
FIX: scanner sound effect not playing for some scanner types

---

A NOTE ON MIGRATING SAVED GAMES

It will sometimes not be possible to continue a saved game with a new patch such as this one. If you prefer not to update until you have finished your existing run, either change your Steam update settings, or 'roll back' to the previous version

To do this first quit and reopen Steam, then right-click Xenomarine in your game library and select ‘Properties’. Then go to the ‘betas’ tab and choose the version called ‘lastversion’ from the dropdown. When you close the window Steam should roll back the game automatically.

Then when you are ready to upgrade, follow the same procedure but select ‘NONE’ from the drop-down.

[getter77]

Alpha 4.3

This release adds 12 new base item types with new game mechanics, including some high-level alien tech and...jetpacks! Also some much-need bugfixes.

NEW ITEMS:

NEW: 3 new base stimpack types (each with many variants)
NEW: 4 jetpack types
NEW: Energy barrier
NEW: Hyper-teleporter
NEW: 3 new alien globe types (each with many variants)

QUALITY OF LIFE:

MOD: when right-clicking usable to add to quickslot last slot is selected by default rather than first
NEW: can now use 'enter' key from new game panel to start new game
NEW: improved size, look and location of inventory contextual menu
FIX: some annoyances relating to selection of inventory items

SOUND AND GRAPHICS:

NEW: sound effect for aliens pushing aside floor tile
MOD: Trilinear filtering added to player, alien and level sprites (less pixellation)

BUGFIXES:

FIX: bug with player armor resistances not protecting against enemy status effects
FIX: problem (in some resolutions) with overlapping text in link from controls screen to setting screen
FIX: total number of log messages shown reduced to ensure most recent log messages always fit in log
FIX: bug where log message not shown when using item from inventory
FIX: bug where batteries do not charge energy fields
MOD: it is no longer possible to target friendly mobs
FIX: auto-target no longer targets friendly units
FIX: bug causing occasional 'teleportation' when activating auto-mouse-movement by clicking on inaccessible square
FIX: error in probability for success when using mind globe
FIX: bug allowing enemies to move twice when pressing 'f' to attack with throwing weapon or other device
FIX: bug with inventory contextual menu for weapon enhancements and batteries
FIX: mousehover info for aliens now includes special powers (e.g. regeneration) where appropriate
FIX: bug where character screen does not show impact of 'weakness' status on 'to hit'
FIX: bug where combat drones ignore effects of player cover when firing from a distance
FIX: corrected description of dual-wielding skill in terminal screen

[getter77]

Alpha 5

It's a pretty big one! The 'Drones and Turrets' release add gun turrets to the game for the first time. Turrets can be either neutral or hostile and can be hacked in the same way as drones, and basic ones can also be found as placeable inventory items. This release also finally adds player move animation to the game! More details below.


DRONES AND TURRETS:

NEW: 3 types of gun turrets
NEW: scout drones and gun turrets can now be found as equipment
NEW: drones can now have weapons with incendiary or electric damage
MOD: 'fire at nearest' command now ignores neutral drones/turrets as targets
FIX: sound effect for combat drones
FIX: bug where drones do not turn to face player when making ranged attack
FIX: drones are now resistant to poison
FIX: bug with mouseover info for drone resistances

GRAPHICS:

NEW: smooth movement animation for player
MOD: 'key repeat delay' option changed to 'move speed'

NEW ITEMS:

NEW: power tool that can cut through walls/doors
NEW: new hacking devices variants including hacking bonuses

NEW ROOM LAYOUTS:

NEW: 1600 new extra-large vault layouts

BALANCE:

MOD: stealth field battery life increased by 500%
MOD: salvage mission targets now have minimum distance from player

JETPACK FIXES/IMPROVEMENTS:

MOD: jetpacks now come with enough fuel for two jumps
FIX: jetpacks no longer allow movement through walls/doors
FIX: jetpacks and field generators now sorted correctly in inventory
FIX: using jetpack no longer avoids terrain status effects

OTHER BUGFIXES:

FIX: various inventory items incorrectly set as stackable in inventory
FIX: incorrect number of unopened large equipment crates shown in data terminal

[getter77]

Alpha 5.2

This is a pretty significant patch: with the new armor types and alien tech in this release, Xenomarine is now complete with respect to equipment (weapons, armor, items), at least in terms of having all items originally planned (I may actually add one or two more things yet, but these will be a bonus rather than part of the original plan).

In addition this patch adds 7 new perks (special abilities gained through skill progression) to the earlier 5, including such things as auto-reload, and 'push back' abilities - as well as a perk that introduces 'critical hits' to the combat mechanics. There's also a major overhaul of the way knowledge of aliens is gained and used, including new log messages to make this part of the game more accessible to players.

Finally this patch brings a significant adjustment to the difficulty curve that should be directly noticeable by players. While Xenomarine is still very much intended to be a 'hard' and intensely tactical game, the aim of this balance adjustment is to make the ability to get past levels 3-6 less dependent on lucky equipment finds. Instead you should experience a more gradual increase in difficulty as levels progress. However I would welcome further feedback from players on the new difficulty curve!

Overall Xenomarine is now close to being ready to ship: look out for the first 'Beta' release in the coming weeks!

NEW WEAPONS AND ARMOR:

NEW: 'superheavy' armor types
NEW: 'heavy' and 'superheavy' helmet types
NEW: high-level alien tech including 'singularity globe'

XENOBIOLOGY:

NEW: log messages for when knowledge gained about alien species
NEW: +5 to hit bonus for a species earned after killing 20 aliens of same species
NEW: ability to predict presence of aliens after killing 10 of same species

PERKS:

NEW: 7 new perks to be gained through skill progression

GAME BALANCE:

MOD: set trap should be on player square
MOD: replaced 'throwing knife' with '10 powerpacks' in workbench
MOD: number of shells/fuel gained at workbench increased to 10
MOD: minor reduction of number/difficulty of aliens in early levels, minor increase in later levels
MOD: number of alien eggs reduced for early levels, increasing with level number
MOD: limit (skill-dependent) on number of simultaneous drones

BUGFIXES AND MINOR CHANGES:

FIX: bug where neutral combat drones/turrets sometimes attack player at close range
FIX: bug where unable to block when alien attacks from the right
MOD: alien ammo renamed 'alien powerpacks'