Infra Arcana, a horror/Lovecraft roguelike (now at v22.1.0!).

[Legend]

The tiles look pretty nice. I especially liked how the character tile changed depending on whether I was wielding a melee weapon or a firearm.

The flare worked nicely.

Died by getting swarmed as usual. :p

When I did, the info screen did not show all of the map that I had uncovered. Only a tiny bit where I died. Also, the info showed the map in ascii instead of tiles.

I got pus'd on!

***EDIT***

Found a bug.

When playing with font 3 (16x24) in ascii mode with solid walls, the walls do not appear. There is just black space. The tombstones in the cemetery don't appear either.

[NON]

Oh yeah, I didn't make special symbols, since I intend(ed) to go pure ascii for that mode (that is, I would also erase all special symbols from the other fonts as well). I want to be able to run it in a console eventually, if it's not too much work to adapt input/rendering for it. So that font can be considered not supported for ascii mode.

Hm, the problem is if someone else tries to switch from tiles to ascii without changing the font...

The flare worked nicely.

Yeah it's actually useful. Especially in the "wall-crumble" rooms.

When I did, the info screen did not show all of the map that I had uncovered.

Noticed it too. This coupled with the font problem may be reason enough for a 11.1.

[NON]

11.1 uploaded

http://infraarcana.wikispaces.com/Downloads

*Added a Flare Gun
*There was some problems with the map in the postmortem screen
*The 16x24 font is unfinished for ascii mode, removed that option from the config file

[Legend]

The 16x24 font is unfinished for ascii mode, removed that option from the config file

I rather liked that font. My peepers ain't so great, so the bigger the font, the easier to read. The font worked fine with ascii walls.

Can't wait to try the flare gun.

[NON]

If you want you can just add/draw the special tiles yourself on the 16x24 font sheet (just look at another font sheet to see their positions),  then set 3 as the font option (it's still available even though it's not listed).

Or just use nr 3 anyway as it is. You won't see a few things, like graves, though. 

[Legend]

If you want you can just add/draw the special tiles yourself on the 16x24 font sheet (just look at another font sheet to see their positions),  then set 3 as the font option (it's still available even though it's not listed).

Or just use nr 3 anyway as it is. You won't see a few things, like graves, though. 

Will that font come back officially in a later version after it's fixed?

I tend to get swarmed a lot and it's usually how I end up dying. Maybe some sort of 360 attack/spell would be nice to have. As a spell it could be either an attack or something like in Hexen where it just pushes the enemies back away from you so hopefully you could make an escape.

As an attack, maybe it could be some sort of special move that has a possibility of happening when swarmed. Something that has a better chance depending on how many points you have put into the melee skills?

[corremn]

Buggy bug bug!  Version 11.0

A phantom turned up on the 12th level, with a blue underscore. As I went to hit it I moved into the square it occupied!
Then I moved off and 'l'ooked at it. It showed the "this is a specter press 'l' for more info" and my stats at the bottom but the map screen was totally black!
Then I pressed ESC and the map screen stayed blank, I did see the blue '_' move around a bit.  Note that I had no effects affecting me. E.g no blinding etc.

Hmm disconcerting.  I saved the game and quit. Thankfully upon loading I got my map back. However I did notice I was not in the same place anymore  which was weird and the map seemed different, a large room with single blocks everywhere.
Then I got attacked by two mummies, since there was really nowhere to hide, I whipped out my incinerator, and consequently missed, it traveled to the edge of the screen and exploded.
Then the map went blank again, I pressed a move button and the game silently crashed. D'oh.

"No save games found." D'oh x2 Got me thinking I probably should of backed my game file up after the first weirdness.

Anyway some other points;

• Flares do nothing to shock percent in dark rooms.
• Is it my imagination but do monsters not step on corpses.
• I would like a character screen: shows skills, phobias etc.  'C' or '@'
• Also I would like a Items Identified screen which shows all the current potions etc that I have identified. ( I could of sworn I swallowed the same bad unidentified potion twice.)

Starting to get the hang of this game, I find that the biggest issue is the insanity factor not the monsters. Quite often I die because I was not really paying attention rather than a dangerous situation.  maybe if you threw in a monster that did larger damage earlier on it might be more scarier. But that said that insanity seems to do the job enough, there is a balance between exploring and descending which I quite like.

[NON]

A phantom turned up on the 12th level, with a blue underscore. As I went to hit it I moved into the square it occupied!

Do you know what cell the monster was on? Was it a wall or some other cell which blocks the player? If so I have a rough idea what the problem is.

However I did notice I was not in the same place anymore

You know that when you save you also travel down the stair?

the map seemed different, a large room with single blocks everywhere. Then I got attacked by two mummies

Congratulations on getting that far.

Flares do nothing to shock percent in dark rooms.

This is known, and something I intended to implement the right way later.

Is it my imagination but do monsters not step on corpses.

Possible. The methods for checking if a cell is blocked was recently rewritten, so I could have missed checking if the creature is dead.

I would like a character screen: shows skills, phobias etc.  'C' or '@'

Also I would like a Items Identified screen which shows all the current potions etc that I have identified.

They are both on the to-do list.

( I could of sworn I swallowed the same bad unidentified potion twice.)

It could have been potion of corruption and potion of searing (or whatever it's called). The first decreases your max HP, and the other only does damage. They are easy to confuse. In fact I think the latter is redundant, I might remove it.

maybe if you threw in a monster that did larger damage earlier on it might be more scarier

I'm not really attempting to make a scary game. I've never felt fear in a game myself (and I've played Undying, Penumbra, etc), so it's seems like a futile attempt. Same thing when I read Lovecraft. What I get from his stories instead is a sense of wonder. It's rather this sense that is the long-term goal for the game, coupled with the black humour from the Evil Dead series et al. Your character is supposed to be a mix between your typical Lovecraft protagonist + Ash from Evil Dead + Caleb from Blood. 

[NON]

I have not been able to reproduce the step-into-monster bug. I tried it many times both when it stood on floor and on a blocking feature, and when it was aware and not. I just do a melee attack as it should be.

Btw, a hint for using the incinerator; Don't aim at the monster you're trying to hit, aim next to them at the floor.  

[Legend]

uote
Flares do nothing to shock percent in dark rooms.
This is known, and something I intended to implement the right way later.

I think you should still be shocked the same amount if you enter the room first. It should only lower it if you throw the flare in the room before you actually enter it. Like throwing it from the doorway or just outside it.

It could have been potion of corruption and potion of searing (or whatever it's called). The first decreases your max HP, and the other only does damage. They are easy to confuse. In fact I think the latter is redundant, I might remove it.

I don't think it seems too redundant. One is more sever than the other. If I had to pick one to check, it would be the first one.
 

I'm not really attempting to make a scary game. I've never felt fear in a game myself (and I've played Undying, Penumbra, etc), so it's seems like a futile attempt. Same thing when I read Lovecraft. What I get from his stories instead is a sense of wonder. It's rather this sense that is the long-term goal for the game, coupled with the black humour from the Evil Dead series et al. Your character is supposed to be a mix between your typical Lovecraft protagonist + Ash from Evil Dead + Caleb from Blood. 

I think you've done a very good job conveying these feelings in the game. I don't think higher damage enemies earlier on is really needed. I rarely make it past level 4 myself. Sometimes 5.

[NON]

What I mean implementing the dark rooms "the right way", is to have darkness cause shock instead of the room.

I think you've done a very good job conveying these feelings in the game.

Thanks man. It'll get a lot crazier though if I ever find time to implement everything I want.

Will that font come back officially in a later version after it's fixed?

Sure. I found some more nasty stuff today so a version 11.2 is totally needed, I'll fix the 16x24 font for ascii then as well.

[corremn]

The specter was near the top of the screen, I believe one square away from the topmost wall, remember it had not seen me yet. I attempted to bump it and I went into it. I walked off it and there it was. If it happens again I will

The only thing I can think of is there might be a memory problem somewhere generated from a c array, if you are writing in C/C++ that is.  I.e. the specter was not really in that dungeon cell but by some bug the graphics engine thought it was, so when I attacked it the combat engine determined that there was no monster there. 

Possibly it was not even on that level, but for some reason was shown on that level??

Just throwing ideas out there.

maybe if you threw in a monster that did larger damage earlier on it might be more scarier

I'm not really attempting to make a scary game. I've never felt fear in a game myself (and I've played Undying, Penumbra, etc), so it's seems like a futile attempt. Same thing when I read Lovecraft. What I get from his stories instead is a sense of wonder. It's rather this sense that is the long-term goal for the game, coupled with the black humour from the Evil Dead series et al. Your character is supposed to be a mix between your typical Lovecraft protagonist + Ash from Evil Dead + Caleb from Blood. 

The atmosphere is great, exploration and a sense of wonder, good good good.

Ok let me reiterate, I meant more difficult, not scarier. How can an ascii game be scary, although they can raise the heart beat sometimes   I really meant that I find the combat a little too easy, and when I die, I die because of lack of attention rather than not having the necessary skills to avoid death.  Lack of attention happens because I dont think anything around me can kill me, because they do so little damage.  My suggestion was to up the damage or some "scarier" monsters so I was more wary of encounters.
I never seem to use ranged combat, I hardly ever use explosives except for fun.  I just thought maybe you can inject some heart stopping moments in the early levels, or force a reason for me to use ranged combat, but if other people find it too difficult then maybe it is fine the way it is. I guess roguelikes don't have to be impossible. Come to think of it I enjoyed DoomRL more when I could win it with out problems.

I find the same problem in ADOM, where I am killing hundreds of wolves and then I dont see that werewolf amongst them and I die, because I get complacent easy. Games like doomrl and crawl you never get complacent. Complacency in crawl is a death sentence.

Cheers. 

[NON]

The only thing I can think of is there might be a memory problem somewhere generated from a c array, if you are writing in C/C++ that is. I.e. the specter was not really in that dungeon cell but by some bug the graphics engine thought it was, so when I attacked it the combat engine determined that there was no monster there.  

Yeah it's C++, but actors are stored in a vector, and the actors store their own coordinate.

Possibly it was not even on that level, but for some reason was shown on that level??

All actors except the player gets deleted when leaving the level.

I need to get my bot up and running again. Letting it go through few thousand levels might show something.

Ok let me reiterate [..]

You know what, this is absolutely right. When I begun this project I played a lot of Angband and Adom, and one thing I found annoying in those games were the way they lulled you into complacency. Here's a post I made on RPGCodex on April 4th 2010:

I'm having a hard time grasping the pacing in ADOM (and probably RL:s in general) - the game spams you with 500 messages from unimportant guaranteed-win fights, and then suddenly some shit goes wrong that you don't notice and you die.

When I begun my own project, I swore that the game would be tough from the start and that all fights should be a risk. But it's not so much so today. I think it's because you have a lot more HP in the later versions. Or maybe it's the free (except for sanity loss) healing...

*EDIT*
One good thing about the increased HP pool is that you can have some interesting scenarios that doesn't really occur with a small HP pool. For example, you are in a big fight and lose HP gradually, then you start to realize that you won't make it and you're going to die if you don't do something different quickly.

*EDIT 2*
One solution may be to DECREASE the damage of monsters in general, while INCREASING the damage from monsters with strong attacks. This will differentiate the monsters more, and you can have both the scenario where your HP is slowly chipped away, and monsters that you are terrified of getting near (the axe-zombie would be such a monster).

[getter77]

A question from elsewhere:

Infra Arcana window size is like twice as long (but not tall) as my desktop resolution and I have no idea how to resize it.

What's up with that?

[NON]

That right there is why I need to make a console version...

But damn, that person must be running on a really low resolution. The width is only 1280 pixels in tile mode. I thought everyone had at least that by now.  

*EDIT*
If you are in contact with that person, please tell him/her to play in ascii mode (if they don't find ascii repulsive), and set a smaller font in config.txt.