Fame 0.9.14 Released

[getter77]

v0.9.7

As you can see, I've drifted away from the "Release early, release often" philosophy, or rather I'm seeking for an optimal release frequency. My one-month cycle was not optimal as too much time was spent on preparing release notes, compiling the Linux version etc.

This version comes with many small changes, so let's focus on big ones. The inventory window is available in the ASCII mode and now it's - at last! - fully functional. This basically means that the whole thing had to be rewritten from the scratch, and that was a lot of work. You never know how complex your inventory is until you try to rewrite it. In fact you never want to do this, but if you want to handle both ASCII and tile modes in your game, you'll eventually have to. Mouse-driven GUI and keyboard-driven ASCII UI are totally different... Anyway, I'm very proud of the current design of the ASCII inventory in Fame. It's mostly based on ADOM's design, only a bit more complex. ADOM fans should find themselves pretty comfortable with it.

Fame now has music. That's right! Marcelo Fernandez has composed 4 beautiful tracks that can be enjoyed during the gameplay. See how it feels to travel the Creepy Forest with that "haunting" theme in your speakers...

I was quite upset that the system of feeding the hero, resting and related stuff did not really work, so there was a little revolution here. Now you don't lose "food points" while sleeping, food is generally more nutritious, energy restores itself faster, but corpses of killed monsters are no longer guaranteed to be generated (just like in many other roguelike games). It probably provides a more balanced system,but you can find it yourself!

Saved games from 0.8.4 up to 0.9.6 are still compatible with 0.9.7.

Quick summary:

    music
    ASCII mode inventory
    sleep / food / energy system redesigned
    "quick" quest messages

Detailed change log:

    music
    fully functional ASCII mode inventory
    aiming in ASCII mode
    new terrain type (burned ground)
    special rooms can be generated also in partially random dungeons
    messages appear during a dialog with NPC when an item is received/given or when a quest is completed
    items can be given to every monster or NPC
    hero is allowed to sleep if there are monsters in the location (unless they are really close)
    sleeping can be interrupted by an attack
    "sleep until healed" transformed into "sleep until fully recovered" (i.e. HP, focus & energy restored)
    energy is restored faster
    hunger does not increase when sleeping
    certain types of food (notably meat) are more nutritious
    corpses of killed monsters are no longer guaranteed
    monsters do not decide to attack the hero unless they have different align
    monsters stop fleeing as soon as they heal enough hit points
    monsters are able to use several additional potions
    potions of exchange and potions of gain have much more "noticeable" effects
    "empty" books and scrolls are no longer generated
    the Repair spell now repairs all of item's damage, but it costs 1 focus point for every damage point (can be reduced at higher spell levels)
    blessed or cursed status of an item affects its price when trading
    attacking a neutral monster alters hero's align only if the monster is not attacking someone
    Shonel will now tell item's story even if the item is already identified
    reading a spell book affects hero's intelligence much more
    much easier to successfully read a spell book with low Literacy skill
    "magical" clothes now have special features useful for spellcasters
    default durability of certain items (mostly scrolls) changed
    items with durability of 1 will have exactly 1 "hit point", independently of their material
    items lying on a special object (altar, stairs etc.) are always displayed on the side panel
    freezing traps are no longer generated
    arrows, belts and darts always made from 'other' material
    bottles cannot be blessed/cursed
    gold is always identified, except blessed/cursed status
    the exact value of required Strength is revealed if failed to wield an item
    the exact value of required Intelligence is revealed if failed to read a spellbook
    gems may be transformed only on aligned altars
    blessed water can be obtained by dropping a bottle of water on an aligned altar
    "do not show again" checkbox in the Tutorial not displayed if F1 had been pressed
    [dev] default location's terrain is used for 'Clear', instead of grass
    [dev] new command line option to launch editor with specified default terrain
    [dev] toolbar button for generating location in the editor
    [bugfix] the game no longer crashes when some monsters follow the hero to the next location and there is too little space for one of them
    [bugfix] the game no longer crashes when drinking a potion from the ground
    [bugfix] the game no longer crashes when pressing a key in the Keyboard Configuration window and there is no selection
    [bugfix] the problem with disappearing monsters during wilderness encounters ultimately solved
    [bugfix] in a newly started game scrolls are no longer initially identified
    [bugfix] bought items no longer replace first item in the sack (which usually happens to be gold)
    [bugfix] the inventory window no longer fails to properly update the scrollbar enabling to browse all looted items
    [bugfix] the game no longer crashes when entering a dungeon with monsters using ranged attacks
    [bugfix] item memory is now correctly updated when an item is picked up and nothing is left on the ground
    [bugfix] meat no longer transforms into goblin's meat after being cooked by Yveira
    [bugfix] Yldawin talk option is correctly unlocked after talking to Leran, so that the quest can be completed
    [bugfix] the "sleep until recovered" option no longer ignores the Esc key
    [bugfix] negative values are displayed correctly in the Item Details window
    [bugfix] the "Special Features" caption in the Item Details window no longer overlaps with item name
    [bugfix] corrected the 'Give' binding in built-in keyboard schemes (Fame, ADOM)
    [bugfix] the game no longer behaves strangely executing NPC scripts that have been modified in the current version
    [bugfix] script compilation errors are no longer ignored in the batch mode
    [bugfix] version is correctly updated in the game.ini file

Have fun!

[TheCreator]

This version was once planned as the last one before 1.0, i.e. an "almost final" release. This won't happen, we're still far away from 1.0. There's much to change and even more to add. Things must be balanced. Lots of content must be added. So, future versions will be 0.9.10, 0.9.11 and so on, until the game is good enough to be called 1.0. Quite challenging, but we'll get there!

Working on the new World Map I've had some headache about the content that currently fills up the game's world. Not because there's so little content - I had known it before. It's because the current content is presented in a very poor way. A World Map is typically the most suitable thing for this role. In Fame 0.9.8 the World Map doesn't even show all the locations and it doesn't change much as the player explores the world. I also discovered that some locations are not given any unique name and most of the area is simply named "Unknown lands".

Apart from the dynamic map, the world will no longer be the same every time you start a new game. Now that random settlements have been introduced, you will have some extra reasons to explore the land. Settlements can be occupied by several different races. They may be neutral or hostile towards you. Buildings in settlements can contain some valuable resources (typically locked). Certain citizens may want to trade with the player, others may offer some services (healer, blacksmith), depending on race and alignment. There's still a lot of space left for creativity here, so the next game release will probably contain more of that stuff.

I had lot of thoughts about procedurally generated content. This has been inspired by another game project, but also by my old notes complaining about numerous problems. The subject is actually never closed in a roguelike game, but this particular game hasn't even reached the playability treshold and I believe that problems with procedural generation have contributed big time here. One thing that has already been fixed are partially predefined locations. There were 8 such locations in Fame 0.9.8 (6 in the Forest Dungeon and 2 in the Altar of Fire) and they all looked the same - the procedural part to the left, the predefined part to the right. Very boring. Now the predefined part is placed randomly and can be of any (almost) size. The only limitation is that the part must have a rectangular shape, although this can be easily worked around (a single cell is still a rectangle). I'm very satisfied with the result and most likely this change will increase the total number of partially predefined locations in the game, which, in turn, should make it more interesting.

Another matter is generation of items and monsters. The old algorithm worked, but it did not give the player the feeling that encountered items and monsters are consistent with the difficulty level of the current location. The new algorithm uses normal distribution and should be much better (although it probably could use some tweaking).

Saved games from 0.8.4 up to 0.9.8 are still compatible with 0.9.9.

Quick summary:

• random settlements
• new locations and quests
• World Map improvements
• procedural generation improvements
• trade system bugfixes and improvements
• ASCII mode bugfixes and improvements

Full change log:

• new location(s): Black Tower
• redesigned Akeram Temple, with certain areas not accessible until completing some quests
• item generation based on normal distribution
• new spell: Destruction
• special locations appear on the World Map only when they are visited
• location/region description is available in the World Map
• partially random locations now have their predefined part placed more flexibly (in other words: they are more random)
• added missing Alchemy quests (available after talking with Babeneys)
• some terrain objects are now destructible
• NPCs are now able to cast offensive spells even (making sure they won't hurt their allies)
  
• Quest Log, World Map and the 'extra info' panel (on the right if Immersion enabled) now drawn entirely using characters in ASCII mode
• items can be kicked or thrown over water or lava
• door cannot be unlocked with a cursed key
• wooden boards and sticks thrown into lava transform into coal
• additional monster information available when looking at it (hostile/ally and experience level)
• additional wound status
• difficulty level tuning: lower parts of Forest Dungeon are somewhat easier, Large Dungeon is much harder
• portals are marked green on the auto-map
• skills not used for too long will not increase anymore when the Hero gains an experience level
• spell tuning: Daylight and Magic Bolt
• hobgoblins are no longer able to steal cursed equipment
• sleep is automatically interrupted when the hero gets attacked (this could happen if new monsters are generated while the hero is sleeping)
• Raylnen now "oficially" gives a quest when offered to be escorted back to town
• prices "per unit" in the Trade window are displayed for Hero's items as well
• Trade: no gold is automatically transferred from the merchant's inventory until all items offered for sale are from the correct category
• Trade: prompt message replaces trade result message as soon as any item is clicked
• reduced chances that early sacrifices would be rejected
• added messages for uncursing an item and teleporting self
• in the post-death statistics a percent of visited locations is listed rather than a number of locations; prayers are counted even if they were ignored
• [bugfix] no more crash when closing certain windows with Esc
• [bugfix] no more crash when starting a new game immediately after quitting a game where the hero had any allies
• [bugfix] no longer possible to cast a spell by using auto-aim when there is not enough focus
• [bugfix] the Elemental Storm no longer crashes the game when cast near the location's edge
• [bugfix] all encountered creatures now have correct AI (especially spellcasters & ranged attackers)
• [bugfix] trying to swap positions with an ally no longer caused them to be attacked by the hero
• [bugfix] grenades no longer fail to explode after being thrown
• [bugfix] red light in the Altar of Fire does not disappear after saving game
• [bugfix] repaired some dialog scripts (Raylnen, Upores) so that they no longer offer options that should appear only once
• [bugfix] prices are displayed correctly in the Trade window
• [bugfix] attacking an enemy by l-clicking it now works for all types of hostile creatures
• [bugfix] wizards no longer appear in the stats as "New Monster"
• [bugfix] items appearing in the stats are no longer unidentified
• [bugfix] the Old Key is no longer "invisible" in the inventory
• [bugfix] editor no longer crashes when entering portal's properties
• [bugfix] editor: clicking "OK" on item's properties automatically applies all recent changes to the selected item
• [bugfix] editor: autopickup no longer used when moving
• [bugfix] editor: door properties no longer display short sword as a default key
• [bugfix] editor: unlocking door from the property window now works correctly

Have fun!

[TheCreator]

This version is all about balancing. In general, balancing is crucial to every game genre, but roguelike games are particularly difficult to balance because of their complexity. That's why balancing in such a game never ends. I've done a lot of balancing stuff in the past, but apparently that was not enough and I know that this is currently one of Fame's most serious issues. For instance: attributes. Playing as a spellcasting character (of course Fame does not have character classes, mind you, but it still offers a choice of method for killing foes and earning experience points) you could notice that your Intelligence practically never raises, while Strength does. This was very unusual for this kind of a character and was making it quite difficult... well, that's not the proper word, let's say "not enjoyable", to have a spellcasting character with low Intelligence. This has been solved successfully in 0.9.10, although some similar issues remain (for instance, the Appearance attribute is still totally meaningless). There's always too little time to fix everything, but I can see that there's constant improvement in this area and that's great.

Playing as a spellcasting character used to be quite boring. The spell that is available from the start, Magic Bolt, provided that you've chosen the appropriate spellbook as a starting item and that your character is not illiterate, is good enough against most enemies. This means that you could just walk through dungeons, pressing [J] all the time and that was it. No one was able to hurt you unless you ran out of magical focus, but it regenerates very quickly, so that wasn't a big problem. This kind of gameplay wasn't even close to roguelike. It was a hack'n'slash in god mode. To overcome this issue, I've introduced a new, hidden counter for each spell. Now it is not possible anymore to just use one spell all the time. After a while the spell you overuse will become unavailable for a period of time and you will be forced to use another one, or have some sleep (not an easy thing in the dungeon), or just fall back to some melee weapon.

Trying to fight with a bow and arrows could be even more frustrating for the player, partially because there weren't enough items that support this kind of gameplay. I've added more bows and crossbows, as well as some armor designed specifically for "sharpshooters". This fills the biggest gap here, but I feel there's still more to do - I'm waiting for your suggestions!

Another big change in this release are dungeon "flavors". In previous versions you could observe that some dungeons have white walls; that's what I call "flavor". Unfortunately, this feature was hardcoded and did not offer anything beyond different tile look. Now there's more systematic approach to this feature. Every randomly generated dungeon in the game can get a custom flavor. This version comes with two flavors (white dungeon and the new one - flooded dungeon) and more are planned for future releases. Flooded dungeons will require the Swimming skill for comfortable exploration and will feature specific monster types (creatures that can swim or fly). This may (and should) enforce a completely different gameplay style!

Flooded dungeons come with two new kind of monsters that only live in the water, but there are more new species, each with some unique feature. There are monsters that explode when they come close to the player, monsters that will attack each other, monsters that will spawn other monsters when attacked and so on.

Being very close to the planned release date, during the testing phase, I became quite frustrated with the side effects of the increasing AI abilities. In the few recent game versions monsters have learned to open doors, pick up items, use items and now - to attack each other without an apparent reason. These are all cool things, but there are consequences, too. Until now you would enter a dungeon level and before you make a few steps, you would be welcomed by dozens of strange messages, saying that you have just walked into a trap and some monster has died in an explosion. Now these messages make much more sense. If a monster activates a trap and it is within your sight, an appropriate message appears just as it was before, but if you don't see the monster, you only get a message saying that something has exploded in the other part of the dungeon. The whole system is still very far from perfection (as I said, this is a last-minute change!), but the number of confusing messages has been significantly reduced.

Versions 0.8.4 to 0.9.9 used to try very hard to stay compatible with each other. I have removed much of this backward compatibility portions from the current code as it started to become more and more difficult to maintain it for a very little gain. Version 0.9.10 will still load games from 0.9.9, but not from older versions. I will strive to keep backward compatibility in future versions for as long as possible, but not forever, at least not until the game becomes stable enough for this :-).

Quick summary:

• new location
• new monsters and items
• spell system balancing
• ASCII mode improvements
• equipment sets fixes and improvements
• drew a stronger line between events that happen near the hero and events out of hero's sight

Full change log:

• new location (flooded dungeon) with a new quest
• 10 new monsters
• 8 new items
• balanced attribute gains (Intelligence vs. Strength vs. Dexterity)
• limited possibility to use the same spell every time
• added some corpse effects (mostly Dexterity or Vitality bonus)
• added brain disease
• diseases can now be cured by NPCs or by prayer or by drinking a potion of miraculous healing
• the hero can no longer read or cast spells when drunk or confused
• new encounter type - orc battle
• better names for unidentified books and plants
• added new starting item set
• Polymorph spell no longer resets monster's experience level to 1
• NPCs no longer cast "Ring of..." spells when the enemy is too far
• it is now possible to dip an item into a potion which is laying on the ground
• statistics now include all items from the inventory
• statistics now include deepest Random Dungeon level visited
• sheep, cow and family encounters will no longer happen so frequently
• experience level of monsters in random settlements now depends on region's difficulty level
• reading cursed scrolls no longer has any positive effect
• an explosion that should out of Hero's sight can no longer be seen - only the sound can be heard; the same applies to opening and closing doors, monsters picking up and using items etc.
• monsters can no longer carry items much heavier than themselves
• no treasure chests on easiest levels of the Random Dungeon
• human settlements is now inhibited by additional NPCs (female citizens, kids and beggars)
• ASCII mode: all windows look better in full screen mode
• ASCII mode: switching into Details view (Inventory) no longer requires Ctrl while displaying stuff
• ASCII mode: selection no longer change when scrolling the stuff list
• ASCII mode: items list (Inventory) no longer "collides" with keyboard shortcuts
• ASCII mode: a message appears when the player discover that an item is cursed
• ASCII mode: pressing Ctrl or Shift (in Inventory) changes keyboard tips appropriately
• ASCII mode: pressing V in the Details view (Inventory) switches to the previous view instead of always switching to the equipment view
• when the hero picks up an item that matches the current equipment set, the item is automatically equipped
• switching equipment sets no longer requires 2 extra inventory slots
• the Equipment Sets window (tiles mode) no longer displays item count
• music in the main menu is no longer looped
• editor - it is now possible to set random items
• dropped backward compatibility support for versions 0.8.4 to 0.9.8
• [bugfix] saves made under Linux no longer fail to load under Windows (does not apply to saves from 0.9.9 and older)
• [bugfix] fixed stupid error causing some random settlements to be inhabited only by sheep, cows etc.
• [bugfix] fighting with weird weapons no longer affects the 'Hand to Hand' skill
• [bugfix] incorrect location names like "plains" no longer displayed in random settlements
• [bugfix] auto-picking up ammunition no longer causes it to add itself to current equipment if the ammunition belongs to another (inactive) set; or shortly: you could pick 5 arrows and end up having 6 shields in hand
• [bugfix] switching to next/previous equipment set no longer cause items to disappear if only a part of a set is actually held in hands
• [bugfix] when switching to an equipment set, the log message informs about actual ammunition count, not about the moment when the set has been defined
• [bugfix] FOV correctly updates when a door is opened
• [bugfix] no longer possible to perform mouse actions (such as attack or move) in a question mode
• [bugfix] scroll of Repair no longer fails when the item is on a cell not occupied by the Hero
• [bugfix] no more "piece of meat [greater skeleton]"
• [bugfix] some spelling errors in Statistics

Enjoy!

[getter77]

v0.9.11

The automatic exploration feature, also called "autoexplore," has always been sparkling a lot of discussion. Many love it. Some people claim that autoexplore is just a way to compensate for poor dungeon generation algorithms. Don't generate boring rooms and you won't need autoexplore, they say. The problem is that dungeons cannot consist solely of ultra-interesting stuff. That's not natural and probably not as cool as it sounds. Interesting stuff condendsed in a relatively small area is not that interesting anymore, that's one thing. The other is that different people have different opinion on what is interesting. You've probably already guessed it - I'm in the autoexplore camp.

Autoexplore algorithm in Fame is very simplistic. It stops only when a hostile creature gets close or when there is no more undiscovered tiles. Items are picked up only if this has been configured prior to pressing the autoexplore key (X). Some item categories (most interesting, I guess) are enabled by default to be picked up automatically, both when autoexploring and during normal exploration. One more thing that will currently stop autoexploration is doors. Perhaps one day I'll decide that autoexplore should attempt to open doors automatically, but at the moment it doesn't seem to be a good idea. A door may be trapped, locked or (starting from this version) simply get stuck. This requires some thinking and a proper action from the player, so...

You may notice that the Character Creation window has changed a little. Now all "advanced" options are hidden by default and the only significant choice to make is the "Primary Skill" dropdown list. This is the classic choice between melee weapons, ranged weapons and magic. There may be more presets in the future, but for now let's focus on these three. It might look like I'm introducing something like "character classes," but I am not. That's just an interface improvement. It spares you some clicking and maybe some experiments (which you are still able to perform, anyway.) If you choose "Magic" and later in the game decide to use bow and arrows all the time, you won't be doomed. There are no "classes" in the game.

The Character Creation window now has also its ASCII mode. As always, I try to "convert" at least one game's window per version to ASCII. This way we're getting closer and closer to a "full ASCII" game and I don't get too distracted from adding new features and content. This is also a great opportunity to do some code refactoring, separating GUI from actual implementation, which is always a good thing.

There is a new town in the game. Inhabited mainly by outlaws of all kinds, Totdnum has an arena as a central place of interest. Currently you can only place bet on fights between various monsters, but in future versions in will be possible to take part in a fight. I've programmed the whole arena thing in half an hour (most of this were script interfaces for existing game mechanics), and then spent another 12 hours trying to make the dialog window display names of fighting monsters.

Quick summary:

    automatic exploration
    simplified character creation
    new town
    door improvements

Full change log:

    automatic exploration
    simplified character creation
    new town
    ASCII version of the Character Creation window
    a game is now set in a specific year of the history
    added some item interactions for monsters
    no more wall "bumping" when auto-moving with Ctrl
    auto-moving with Ctrl ignores opened doors
    kicking a door now does have an effect
    added simple kicking effects to certain special objects
    it is now possible to kick something even if the right leg is broken or missing
    information about permanently missing limbs is included in the Character window
    it is now possible to destroy doors with large rocks
    monsters will no longer attempt to open doors in special rooms
    ctrl+click on doors now enables the player to step into the doorway
    an option to completely disable movement using mouse
    added separate tile for destroyed door
    [bugfix] game no longer crashes during loading an old game
    [bugfix] dungeon doors no longer has the same type of trap on the entire level
    [bugfix] corrected AI for monsters using ranged attacks
    [bugfix] items given to neutral or hostile NPCs no longer fail to appear in their inventory
    [bugfix] when giving gold to monsters, the entire selected gold pile disappears instead of just 1 gold piece
    [bugfix] when giving gold from sack to monsters and the sack is scrolled down, an appropriate item is now selected

As usually, you can expect that saved games from versions 0.9.9 and 0.9.10 are still compatible with 0.9.11.

Have fun!

[getter77]

v0.9.12

This time I've spent a couple of months working on unfinished stuff from previous releases, as well as fixing bugs and preparing ground for future, hopefully more revolutionary versions. There are no new big features this time, but you may encounter some nice surprises if you dig into the game deep enough. The most important one is that you might come across a dragon again. Dragons were introduced in the game like 8 years ago, but later there were some location system changes and somehow dragons were 'missing in action' since then... Now, many releases later, it was insanely difficult to implement them back, because too much of the code has changed... I did it, though, and dragon code is once again working properly.

Quick summary:

    dragons back in action!
    executioner's job
    important bugfixes

Full change log (some tiny bugfixes may be omitted, though):

    added executioner's job
    magic can now be used even on low focus levels - at the cost of HP
    monsters can use weapons from their inventory
    a dragon may again be encountered in the dungeon
    hero can get poisoned when attacked by a monster using a poisoned weapon
    added two new items
    ASCII versions of: Spells window and Skills window
    poisoned weapons no longer lose their poison when the target is not hit
    bandits in the camp now have some items in their inventories
    hostile bandits can spawn in certain towns during the night
    certain guards now actually guard something
    monsters follow the hero to another level in the Random Dungeon
    the Repair spell's focus cost does not depend on item's condition
    more appropriate location name is displayed in the Statistics for partially or completely predefined locations
    the Ctrl + click action is now listed when looking at an opened door
    faster loading
    required focus is displayed in the Spells window
    clicking the 'Completed' tab in Quest Log automatically selects the first quest; switching to any tab automatically hides the detailed description
    clicking the 'Close' button when reading a long text from the Inventory window closes only the window containing the text
    the Inventory window remains open after pressing a mode button unless originally opened in the reading/eating/butcher mode
    [bugfix] fleeing creatures no longer crash the game when they get to a location's edge
    [bugfix] attempting to apply the change from the Options window (particularly under Linux) no longer crashes the game
    [bugfix] trying to trade with Zurgerr no longer crashes the game
    [bugfix] accessing Hall of Fame written by version 0.9.9 or older no longer leads to a crash
    [bugfix] the game no longer crash when typing 'H' (and probably certain other letters as well) in the Bestiary
    [bugfix] no more problems with the NPC identifying items
    [bugfix] monsters no longer get more HP above their maximum by drinking healing potions
    [bugfix] choosing 'no' when asked whether to autoexplore now actually prevents autoexploring
    [bugfix] heavy items no longer dropped by small monsters
    [bugfix] no 'Find Traps' action listed when looking at an opened door
    [bugfix] traps triggered by the hero not reported as being 'in the distance'

Saved games from versions 0.9.9 to 0.9.11 are still compatible with 0.9.12.

Have fun!

[getter77]

v0.9.13

The development slowly approaches the point where it makes sense to think more about the story as a whole. So far completing the game wasn't much more than a simple message box. This release introduces a special ending - you can become a Champion of deity you've chosen. What is more, the split of the storyline is already happening - currently "evil" characters will experience a slightly different ending. Eventually, in future versions, the gameplay should be totally different based on the choice you make... But that's future.

It's time to improve procedural generation. So far, wilderness locations were mostly boring and the only quite fresh piece of code in this area unfortunately applied to a specific type of terrain (burned ground). I have revisited other terrain generation procedures and you can watch the results - they're quite impressive. More will come when new terrain types will be implemented.

There are few new locations. They together make a stub of a very important piece of the story: the mines. Partially abandoned, full of mysterious corridors, you'll quickly find out that they are actually much bigger than they appear... In the current version there are only few levels, more will be added gradually with every new release.

Do you have the impression, while playing 0.9.12, that monsters are too tough and items are too cheap and useless? That's certainly not cool, but this version should be much better balanced. If that's not enough for you, just write me an e-mail and we'll see what else needs to be done :-).

Last, but not least: shops. So far you could visit just two shops that offered truly random items. All the rest would have the same old set of items every time. With that approach I needed to manually update all trade profiles of NPCs with new items every time I added new items into the game. Now I can just say "this NPC buys and sells food" or "this NPC trades in potions worth from 50 to 100 gold pieces". This generic way of creating trade profiles is supplemented by a manual method of adding specific types of items, so that you can still have guaranteed items in stock.

Quick summary:

    improved completing game and more possibilities of endings
    new content
    improved terrain generation
    improved shops
    balanced items and monsters
    important bugfixes

Full change log (some tiny bugfixes may be omitted, though):

    new locations, NPCs and quests
    added alternative ending for "evil" characters
    added special endings
    improved random terrain generation
    balanced item generation and monster experience level
    shopkeepers now offer mostly randomly generated sets of items
    new trap type - falling rocks
    aiming with a keyboard is available also in the tile mode
    ASCII version of the chat window
    quitting the game after completing it creates a Hall of Fame entry
    character statistics (and Hall of Fame) now contain information about completing the game
    attacking a neutral creature does not immediately prevent monsters from attacks on the hero
    using a cursed key on a door results in learning about the curse
    optional bigger font in the Chat window
    hero's rest can now be interrupted by stealing items
    hero can now prevent equipment items (weapons only) from being stolen
    thrown weapons and ammo can no longer have tin, bronze or copper as a base material
    Ybagid will still offer his quest directly after successful completion of the executioner's job
    Tokfor will still teach the hero swimming after leading him to the Temple
    Elumor will not offer the alchemy set for sale after giving it as a quest reward
    Elumor will not give the alchemy quest to an illiterate character
    added a possibility for illiterate characters to complete the main quest
    bow or crossbow used as a melee weapon does not train any skill and does much less damage
    healing potions are much more effective
    bloodstains do not appear on the surface of water or lava
    not attempting to automatically pick up items that are too heavy for the hero
    "level up" messages additionally show up in the log
    simplified log messages displayed when reading a scroll
    "quick messages" in the Chat window now include item's name
    weapon skill names unified with item category names
    added messages for dipping items into blessed potions of water
    added "welcome" messages for nearly all special locations
    added missing appearances of frozen hero for certain hero pictures
    the "rest until recovered" resting mode does not display an empty progress bar
    [editor] added possibility to enlarge location without losing its contents
    [editor] added undo/redo for drag&dropping portals
    [editor] hero has a fixed position after loading a location (or creating a new one, resizing etc.)
    [editor] the object toolbar no longer breaks after pressing F11
    [editor] attempting to load a broken file no longer crashes the editor
    [editor] walking onto a trigger no longer crashes the editor
    [bugfix] the game no longer crashes when a fleeing monster who was fighting with some other monster follows the hero into another location
    [bugfix] the game no longer crashes during rare neutral wilderness encounters
    [bugfix] Raylnen's script no longer fail after leading the character to the village
    [bugfix] monster are no longer able to pass through closed door in the flooded dungeon
    [bugfix] Chaos Beast's lair no longer generates an error message
    [bugfix] the Holy Bolt spell no longer causes an explosion
    [bugfix] huge gems can no longer transform into random items
    [bugfix] the message displayed after completing the game is no longer "STR_COMPLETED1"
    [bugfix] if the hero attacks and kills a neutral creature in the same turn, there is no message about the creature becoming hostile
    [bugfix] trolls no longer generate in lava lakes
    [bugfix] random settlements no longer generate in the editor
    [bugfix] helms and armor wielded as weapons no longer look like they were worn by the hero
    [bugfix] fixed help messages in the Character Creation window

Saved games from versions 0.9.9 to 0.9.12 are still compatible with 0.9.13.

Enjoy!

[getter77]

v0.9.14

Despite extraordinarily high temperatures outside, I've been able to put together this release on time. The most eye-catching feature of 0.9.14 is surely the new Dungeon Mode. I'm not going to compete with Brogue or similar games - Fame is certainly story-oriented and it will remain such. The new mode is primarily for those who need a quick glance into the game and don't want to spend hours just looking for any dungeon filled with monsters. It was a relatively small change that may produce interesting results, so why not?

Regarding the story.
I'm still working on the mines. The progress is quite slow as it's not going to be just another bunch of identical dungeon rooms. This new site is meant to be huge and complex, with every part essentially different from others (both in terms of appearance and survival strategy). Eventually it may become the main dungeon in the game, but there's so much work left!

I haven't forgotten the old quests - many of them have been reworked and are now (hopefully) less annoying and perhaps a little more challenging.

There were a couple of important improvements in monster AI and general behavior. Most notably, neutral creatures are no longer obstacles to the player character and will gracefully step out of his way when pushed (unless they are guards!). Guards will from now on return to their post instead of chasing the intruder forever. Neutral monsters will move randomly rather than stand still if they don't have anything better to do. Undead companions will now automatically select the next target to attack. All intelligent creatures will attempt to pick up and use items (just as in previous versions), but now the effect of drinking various potions will be more coherent - meaning that you may expect similar results for monsters as for the player character. Last, but not least - now you are able to hear some monsters present in the current locations before you approach them, so that sometimes you can prepare for the encounter or just avoid it.

Apart from all that stuff, there are two big things happening behind the scenes. One is that monsters and NPCs slowly but steadily gain features that were previously available only for the player character. When that is done, the game will get much more complex and interesting, but there is way too much work to complete in a single release. The second thing is the ability of creating mods. Such functionality was available in older versions of Fame, but it 'disappeared' as I decided to distibute all the important data files in single 'archive' file. To restore that functionality is a huge task and once again it cannot be done in just one release, so I will do it in several steps, most likely one step per game version.

Quick summary:
    Dungeon Mode
    new levels in the Mine
    improved monster AI and general behavior
    improved starting quests

Full change log:
    new game mode: Dungeon Mode
    new dungeon branch in the New Mine
    improved a couple of 'starting' quests
    new rules for altering the align
    monsters can (and will!) drink all kinds of potions, mostly with identical effect as if the player character did it
    the key to the Large Dungeon must now be obtained through a quest
    two more items can be constructed by player
    the dungeon under Yveira's basement is now randomly generated
    undead companions now attack hero's enemies automatically
    hero can sometimes hear monsters present in the location
    pushing a neutral creature causes it to move; Shift + direction can be used to attack a neutral or friendly creature; removed the 'swap' command
    weapon skills now significantly affect chance to hit during combat
    newly added locations are from now on available also in old saved games
    guards now have their 'favorite' post where they return after a fight
    lunatics are no longer hostile towards the hero (until attacked)
    neutral monsters now wander randomly if they don't have any target to attack
    improved tips in the Character Creation window
    ASCII mode for 'Hall of Fame' and 'Statistics' windows
    the key Shift must be used instead of Ctrl to move into an open door
    the 'Load Game' window now displays version number even for non-supported save versions (and '' for corrupted files)
    Shift is not displayed in keybindings containing a printable, non-letter character
    [editor] big objects consisting of any number of tiles are now properly inserted
    [editor] the 'big objects' group on the toolbar now contains only valid objects
    [bugfix] trapped Black Tower door (and other traps near the map edge) no longer crash the game
    [bugfix] staircases in caves no longer get overwritten by other objects
    [bugfix] the entrance to the Forest Dungeon no longer mysteriously disappear
    [bugfix] fleeing monsters following the hero into another location no longer crash the game
    [bugfix] certain artifacts no longer fail to appear in the statistics
    [bugfix] Quest Log no longer blocks keyboard after being closed by pressing [Q] while in details mode
    [bugfix] keyboard shortcuts firing skills in the Skill Window work properly again
    [bugfix] landmines left on a special cell (e.g. in a special room regenerating HP) no longer fail to explode
    [bugfix] the 'easy aim' item bonus is no longer displayed twice

Saved games from versions 0.9.9 to 0.9.13 are still compatible with 0.9.14.

Have fun!