Warp Rogue 0.8.0

[copx]

Warp Rogue 0.8.0 has been released! Windows and Linux binaries only this
time, the project needs a new Mac porter.

Get it here:
http://todoom.sourceforge.net/

Changelog:

Default Scenario
================
New default scenario 'Proelium'. Changes compared to the old scenario:
Quests! The scenario features five quests.
Multiple dungeons (cave, tunnels, ruins, ..)
Improved career tree.
Selling items is possible again.
More items are buyable.
Recruiting costs are back.


Engine
======
Improved look: clearer font, recalibrated colours, more custom symbols.
Improved psychic power system.
Improved timing system (no more hyper speed characters).
Improved scripting engine.
Improved random character generator.
A real faction system.
A new stat set.
Standard stat advance reduced to 5.
New unarmed combat rules.
The player character now automatically gains all perks of his initial
career.
The 'power rating' concept was replaced by new concept called 'power level'.
Support for non-reloadable weapons (RELOAD:No:).
World map tiles can now have alternating colours.
The career description format now supports required minimum stats and perks.
Colours moved to RDB.
Gore features moved to RDB.
Fullscreen/windowed mode toggle added to the game controls screen.
New debug command: get object ('o')
New debug command: set quest status ('q')
New object attributes: "Cannot be parried", "Environmental".
New character attributes: "No unarmed attack", "Plant".
New gore feature: "Plant parts".
New perk: "Unarmed combat".
New career type: "Elite".
The drug 'Focus' was buggy. Fixed.
Reload:x: did not actually consume x actions in all cases. Fixed.
"Force channel" halved the close combat evocation penalty. Fixed.
The maximal number of perks a character can have was increased to 10.
The maximal number of psychic powers a character can learn was reduced to 8.
The EP limit no longer applies to the total amount of EP gained. It still
applies to the number of unspent EP, though.
The effect of the Nomat drug was changed.
The melee damage bonus for high Strenght now starts at 50 (instead of 60),
and no longer applies to unarmed attacks.
The effect of the Leader perk was changed (made more powerful).
The effect of the Battle tactics perk was changed (made more sensible).
The force weapon effect no longer requires passing a stat test.
Non-unique character stat randomisation removed.
Object attribute renamed: "No parry" -> "Cannot parry".
Character flags were renamed to character attributes.
Object attribute renamed: "Plague" -> "Disease".
Center on player option removed.
Brightness option removed.
The "Environmental protection" object attribute was removed.
The "Disease attack" perk was removed.
Tomes were removed.
Perks removed: Imperial language, Doctor, Manufacture drugs, Die hard,
Persuade
The body count feature was removed.
SDL_ttf dependency removed.
License changed to GPL v3.
Windows: new Vista compatible icon.
Windows: user data is now stored in the "My Documents" folder.

[corremn]

Cool, I have not played this for years but really enjoyed it when it was TOD.  Quests and overworld have got me interested again.

So far it is very familiar, very easy to learn and very polished.  Good work!

[Adral]

I really like the overworld and the quests. Also, the new dungeon generator for caves is really cool, and I like the "false ASCII" it uses. The game overall is pretty fun.

I have some suggestions, though:
* Is it possible to add an option to auto-center the playing character? Sometimes I didn't see my enemies and had to start 'l'ooking everywhere...
* Related to that, is it possible to add a "fast look" movement mode while in look mode, for instance by pressing shift? It would make less of a pain when you have to look at the level as a whole.
* A travel command, like in Crawl, would be *excellent*.
* The tiles for rock and metal hurt my eyes. Is it possible to make them so they look more pixelated? I mean, they are now 1 pixel of a color, 1 black, etc. and my screen does really strange things, as if it was flickering. Hurts a bit after some time playing.

Also I encountered a bug: I was in the Fort, killing 'R'enegade soldiers with my bolter, and when I killed one of them I got a segmentation fault. The last thing I remember doing was shooting at it, I didn't get to move afterwards. I think the soldier in question was in the edge on the screen. I am playing the Linux precompiled version, but I don't know if there is some kind of log that I can send you or something.

And I think that's all for now. If I can play the game any more, I'll try to drop some more impressions! Keep up the good work!

[Anvilfolk]

*AWESOME*

I'll have to try it when I get the time!

[corremn]

I have some suggestions, though:
* Is it possible to add an option to auto-center the playing character? Sometimes I didn't see my enemies and had to start 'l'ooking everywhere...
* Related to that, is it possible to add a "fast look" movement mode while in look mode, for instance by pressing shift? It would make less of a pain when you have to look at the level as a whole.

I second these but I seem to remember requesting such things 2-3 year ago

Also I encountered a bug: I was in the Fort, killing 'R'enegade soldiers with my bolter, and when I killed one of them I got a segmentation fault. The last thing I remember doing was shooting at it, I didn't get to move afterwards. I think the soldier in question was in the edge on the screen. I am playing the Linux precompiled version, but I don't know if there is some kind of log that I can send you or something.

I have got the same bug many times. Often when someone dies on the edge of the screen the game simply vanishes.  Win32.  Maybe you are generating blood or bodyparts off the edge of the screen.
 Luckily there seems to be some sort of autosave.

Also after I won the game I cannot find the honour.txt file that is mentioned. Do I need it installed correctly as I copied the game from the original installer space and then uninstalled.

P.s Installers are evil for roguelikes (almost up there with fullscreen by default)

[copx]

I really like the overworld and the quests. Also, the new dungeon generator for caves is really cool, and I like the "false ASCII" it uses. The game overall is pretty fun.

Glad you like it. The dungeon generator is not my invention BTW. I just implemented  an algorithm designed by someone else. The algorithm is based on cellular automata. I have not even bothered trying to understand it, I just implemented it

I have some suggestions, though:
* Is it possible to add an option to auto-center the playing character? Sometimes I didn't see my enemies and had to start 'l'ooking everywhere...

That is the idea, using the look command to look ahead I mean. I am not going to add such radical interface options. Options in general do not fit my design philosophy.

* Related to that, is it possible to add a "fast look" movement mode while in look mode, for instance by pressing shift? It would make less of a pain when you have to look at the level as a whole.
* A travel command, like in Crawl, would be *excellent*.

Won't happen.

The tiles for rock and metal hurt my eyes. Is it possible to make them so they look more pixelated? I mean, they are now 1 pixel of a color, 1 black, etc. and my screen does really strange things, as if it was flickering. Hurts a bit after some time playing.

It should not flicker.. Are you running the game in fullscreen mode? Some graphic cards/drivers/TFT screens suck at scaling things up, so everything will look messed up. The wall tile is one of the standard IBM Extended ASCII solid block symbols. I like the look because it reminds me of the old days.

Also I encountered a bug: I was in the Fort, killing 'R'enegade soldiers with my bolter, and when I killed one of them I got a segmentation fault. The last thing I remember doing was shooting at it, I didn't get to move afterwards. I think the soldier in question was in the edge on the screen. I am playing the Linux precompiled version, but I don't know if there is some kind of log that I can send you or something.

This is a known bug, I have not managed to locate the source of the problem so far. However, the bug is not as critical as it seems. Warp Rogue's save files are unaffected, so you can just restart the game and choose "continue game". It should work.

[copx]

Also after I won the game

Congrats!

I cannot find the honour.txt file that is mentioned.

The game writes to My Documents/Warp Rogue on Windows. $HOME/.wrogue on Linux.

Do I need it installed correctly as I copied the game from the original installer space and then uninstalled.

It should not matter where you put the program directory.

P.s Installers are evil for roguelikes

They are the standard way to distribute software on Windows, and I try to follow standards. I do not care about genre conventions. Warp Rogue is kinda meant to break with most of them. The other major thing being UNIX text editor style UIs designed for "efficency". So do not even try to suggest a Crawl/Nethack/Angband/whatever style UI for Warp Rogue. I think those UIs are horrible.

[corremn]

I cannot find the honour.txt file that is mentioned.

The game writes to My Documents/Warp Rogue on Windows. $HOME/.wrogue on Linux.

Umm ok, is that a standard too? Damn I have already overwritten it.  I like the idea of a time stamp included in mortem files names to keep them unique. (not that I do it)

The game is looking good, and I enjoyed playing it again. IMO The biggest annoyance is the constant looking around. Please have a second think on the shift-look suggestion.  Shift look moves the cursor 20 places or something, I think it is really needed in a game where the avatar can see the entire screen, put the player can not. It would be so much better to see all around the player in just 5 key presses as opposed to 50. Please, please, please.

Also have you ever given though to annimations for shooting.  This would add a lot to the atmosphere I think.

Also have you plans on adding orcs, to the final game     " Waaagh!"

[Adral]

The game is looking good, and I enjoyed playing it again. IMO The biggest annoyance is the constant looking around. Please have a second think on the shift-look suggestion.  Shift look moves the cursor 20 places or something, I think it is really needed in a game where the avatar can see the entire screen, put the player can not. It would be so much better to see all around the player in just 5 key presses as opposed to 50. Please, please, please.

Add like 10000 more "please" from me.

[Adral]

* Related to that, is it possible to add a "fast look" movement mode while in look mode, for instance by pressing shift? It would make less of a pain when you have to look at the level as a whole.
* A travel command, like in Crawl, would be *excellent*.

Won't happen.

See my other response:P

The tiles for rock and metal hurt my eyes. Is it possible to make them so they look more pixelated? I mean, they are now 1 pixel of a color, 1 black, etc. and my screen does really strange things, as if it was flickering. Hurts a bit after some time playing.

It should not flicker.. Are you running the game in fullscreen mode? Some graphic cards/drivers/TFT screens suck at scaling things up, so everything will look messed up. The wall tile is one of the standard IBM Extended ASCII solid block symbols. I like the look because it reminds me of the old days.

No, I didn't play in fullscreen mode. I'll try that and see if I get the same behaviour.

Also I encountered a bug: I was in the Fort, killing 'R'enegade soldiers with my bolter, and when I killed one of them I got a segmentation fault. The last thing I remember doing was shooting at it, I didn't get to move afterwards. I think the soldier in question was in the edge on the screen. I am playing the Linux precompiled version, but I don't know if there is some kind of log that I can send you or something.

This is a known bug, I have not managed to locate the source of the problem so far. However, the bug is not as critical as it seems. Warp Rogue's save files are unaffected, so you can just restart the game and choose "continue game". It should work.

Didn't know that, that's great! I thought I would have to play the first quest all over again...