Author Topic: Infra Arcana, a horror/Lovecraft roguelike (now at v22.1.0!).  (Read 307882 times)

NON

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Re: Infra Arcana, a horror/Lovecraft roguelike (now at v17.0).
« Reply #330 on: February 27, 2015, 09:40:59 PM »
Aside from hopes for a spiked mace echoed throughout eternity, given any thought to taking a hammer and chisel to the FATE point system from Arcanum to roughly adapt for Infra Arcana as a balance/flavour-aiding tool?  For whatever reason, it really just jumps out as thematically a better fit for IA than just about anything else that comes to mind in the Roguelike world.
Oh wow, this is crazy, I was just thinking about something like this today!

I don't remember what the fate points does in Arcanum though, haven't played that for many years. But what I was thinking about was something like "Fate cards" you could play to alter the world, or change events. It would be inspired by tarot cards, like you could play "The Sun" to remove all darkness from the level, restore your shock, and cure all negative mental effects. Or you play "The Moon" to visit a dream world. Or "The Hermit" to remove all monsters from the level.

It's hard to think of good effects though - it must not be just another consumable like potions and scrolls - it must really feel different. Sure, you could have a card like "Strength" that restored your HP. But that would just be a health potion with a different name. Not very impressive.

If this was a board game, an obvious use would be to play these cards to re-roll failed dice rolls. But in a game like this the interface doesn't allow it - you can't ask after every failed attack or failed dodge "Would you like to play a Fate card and re-roll this attack? (y/n)".

What did you have in mind with the Arcanum fate points?

Edit: After some brief reading, it seems like the effect of Fate points in Arcanum is to guarantee that your next action is successful with the best possible effect. I guess that could be worked into the game, you use a point (which does not spend a turn) and then perform some action with the best possible effect. Sometimes there could also be "upgraded" effects that you'd never see otherwise. For example if you drink a potion of insight on the turn that you use a fate point, all your items are identified, not just one random item. Or if you shoot at monsters standing on a line, the bullet continues and kills the next monster too (although this can already happen with the shotgun if they are adjacent). Also bad stuff could happen for your enemies during this turn, like their guns explode when they attempt to fire them, or they fumble and drop their weapons, etc.

Edit 2: The second system sounds more interesting (or at least easier to make more interesting). It sounds fun as a player to discover and learn what kind of effects can happen when a fate point is active.
« Last Edit: February 27, 2015, 10:02:52 PM by NON »
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AgingMinotaur

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Re: Infra Arcana, a horror/Lovecraft roguelike (now at v17.0).
« Reply #331 on: February 28, 2015, 12:07:56 AM »
Go for it!

As always,
Minotauros
This matir, as laborintus, Dedalus hous, hath many halkes and hurnes ... wyndynges and wrynkelynges.

getter77

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Re: Infra Arcana, a horror/Lovecraft roguelike (now at v17.0).
« Reply #332 on: February 28, 2015, 01:11:13 AM »
Yeah, sounds like you are onto the thought process I had in general from what I've seen of the game and how things play out---the trouble with Arcanum was mainly that it was the only game to make use of it in terms of rules as far as how it might fare in general application.   So much of the game was a glorious mess of systems held together with Troika-styled duct tape, but the FATE points were the diamond in the rough.

You can leverage it to not only wrangle critical successes, but also critical fumbles, on top of miscellaneous other effects environmental and otherwise.  The best part of the canvas that is IA, is that unlike Arcanum where you actually usually never managed to earn very many fate points despite it being a very lengthy game since most times they had to shoehorn it into narrative quest chains at best, here you can readily drip them out tied to successful descents, discoveries, special situations survived, interactions with the perks with each class, implications of actually trying to stockpile them to further influence just what becomes possible/varied challenge mode themes---it just goes on and on with potential while serving as a useful foil against balance troubles.   Coming up with an airtight Roguelike system/apparatus is nigh unto impossible much the same as tabletop games generally hinge on a competent DM, so having a legitimate/fun means to fudge your way beyond rough spots and yet more tools to improvise as the game continues to grow and evolve without it turning into inventory consumable bloat is good times.
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Vanguard

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Re: Infra Arcana, a horror/Lovecraft roguelike (now at v17.0).
« Reply #333 on: February 28, 2015, 06:07:23 AM »
Congratulations!

Now do it with the other classes too! ;)

Maybe some other time.

One thing I noticed about IA's leveling system is that there are a lot of abilities that would be fun to have but that I would never take.  You only get a few level ups over the course of the game, and most need to go towards keeping your character's main abilities up to date.  I'm glad that rogues start with observant, it's a nice quality of life bonus, but I would never use a level up on it unless I was going for treasure hunter.  My characters inevitably wind up hopelessly incompetent at all but one or two things, and it doesn't ruin the game but it could be a lot more enjoyable than it is.

You should bundle more of those less necessary abilities together with something else.  I like what you did with tough/rugged/unbreakable.  A bonus to breaking chests and opening tombs is not worth spending a level on, but since it comes bundled with more health and more carrying capacity it's a viable option and it feels good to get that little quality of life bonus without gimping my character.

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Re: Infra Arcana, a horror/Lovecraft roguelike (now at v17.0).
« Reply #334 on: February 28, 2015, 07:32:37 AM »
Oh yeah, and I remember that some enemies could see through my cloud mind ability unless I used it outside of their line of sight.  I think leng spiders were one of them.  Do they have great perception scores or immunity to cloud minds or what?  Is there extended documentation anywhere?

NON

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Re: Infra Arcana, a horror/Lovecraft roguelike (now at v17.0).
« Reply #335 on: February 28, 2015, 11:16:32 AM »
Oh yeah, and I remember that some enemies could see through my cloud mind ability unless I used it outside of their line of sight.  I think leng spiders were one of them.  Do they have great perception scores or immunity to cloud minds or what?
The Cloud Minds ability is not an ongoing effect, it just makes all monsters forget about you. There is nothing stopping them from discovering you again the next turn, if they succeed the roll. I tested it right now with Leng spiders just to make sure there wasn't a bug, and I could stand in its field of view for hundreds of turns without being detected. If anything it seems almost too powerful.

Perhaps you had your Lantern on? Standing in light makes it a bit harder to hide (you can also light up cells to more easily detect hidden monsters, it's a good idea to activate lantern when there's Clear Oozes around). Or maybe you wore armor? Iron Suit now makes it much harder to hide (as per the item description), the Asbestos Suit and Heavy Coat also decrease your ability to sneak (but not nearly as much as the Iron Suit).

All monsters have equal chance of detecting you, but fast monsters is harder to hide from simply because they act more often than you (so they get many checks).

Is there extended documentation anywhere?
Nope.
« Last Edit: February 28, 2015, 11:19:32 AM by NON »
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Re: Infra Arcana, a horror/Lovecraft roguelike (now at v17.0).
« Reply #336 on: March 01, 2015, 03:55:00 AM »
The Cloud Minds ability is not an ongoing effect, it just makes all monsters forget about you. There is nothing stopping them from discovering you again the next turn, if they succeed the roll. I tested it right now with Leng spiders just to make sure there wasn't a bug, and I could stand in its field of view for hundreds of turns without being detected. If anything it seems almost too powerful.

Oh yeah it definitely isn't underpowered, I just didn't understand what was happening.  I probably left my lantern on like you said

NON

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Re: Infra Arcana, a horror/Lovecraft roguelike (now at v17.0).
« Reply #337 on: March 01, 2015, 01:32:53 PM »
One thing I noticed about IA's leveling system is that there are a lot of abilities that would be fun to have but that I would never take.  You only get a few level ups over the course of the game, and most need to go towards keeping your character's main abilities up to date.  I'm glad that rogues start with observant, it's a nice quality of life bonus, but I would never use a level up on it unless I was going for treasure hunter.  My characters inevitably wind up hopelessly incompetent at all but one or two things, and it doesn't ruin the game but it could be a lot more enjoyable than it is.

You should bundle more of those less necessary abilities together with something else.  I like what you did with tough/rugged/unbreakable.  A bonus to breaking chests and opening tombs is not worth spending a level on, but since it comes bundled with more health and more carrying capacity it's a viable option and it feels good to get that little quality of life bonus without gimping my character.
I know exactly what you mean. The goal is that each trait should be a significant and tangible improvement, but some of them are probably too much "luxury traits" since you have to pick whatever maximizes your change to just stay alive from moment to moment.

However, there are some nice traits which can only be unlocked by picking less obvious traits (e.g. Self aware is extremely useful for both Rogue and Occultist, but the path there is perhaps not what you'd immediately consider choosing).
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Legend

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Re: Infra Arcana, a horror/Lovecraft roguelike (now at v17.0).
« Reply #338 on: March 05, 2015, 06:59:55 AM »
any chance there is a usable 12x24 or 14x24 dos font around? the 16x24 dos font won't fit properly on my screen monitor unfortunately. :(
« Last Edit: March 05, 2015, 07:21:29 AM by Legend »

Legend

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Re: Infra Arcana, a horror/Lovecraft roguelike (now at v17.0).
« Reply #339 on: March 06, 2015, 07:31:16 PM »
Why does it seem like I become diseased at random without having an encounter with anything?  I will just be walking then notified that I'm diseased. Has happened twice so far.

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Re: Infra Arcana, a horror/Lovecraft roguelike (now at v17.0).
« Reply #340 on: March 07, 2015, 08:35:56 AM »
Untreated infections become diseases

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Re: Infra Arcana, a horror/Lovecraft roguelike (now at v17.0).
« Reply #341 on: March 17, 2015, 05:56:44 AM »
I made a couple new 12x24 fonts in case anyone was interested.

12x24 bold:
http://i597.photobucket.com/albums/tt51/Brewtal_Legend/12x24.png

12x24 typewriter:
http://i597.photobucket.com/albums/tt51/Brewtal_Legend/12x24TW.png

I did both with just ms paint and resizing some of the existing ones. Just kinda thickening up the original 12x24 plus making most characters look closer top the 16x24 dos  font. so it's kind a mish-mash of the two.

The typrewriter font was just re-scaled then edited slightly. I intend to make a bold 12x24 typewriter font too. Just gotta make sure I do it in the same kinda creepy and distorted way of the original while still making it more visible.

Anywho, hope someone enjoys and gets some use out of them.

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Re: Infra Arcana, a horror/Lovecraft roguelike (now at v18.0).
« Reply #342 on: January 30, 2016, 01:43:29 PM »
v18.0!  8)   Handier site also:  https://sites.google.com/site/infraarcana/home

Quote
Gameplay
* Added more monsters
* Added invisibility property
* Ghost-type monsters and Polyps are invisible.
* New Potions: Invisibility and See Invisible (can see all invisible and sneaking monsters, prevents blindness)
* Bumping an unseen monster (sneaking or invisible) that you are unaware of no longer performs a melee attack, instead it prints a message such as �There is someone here!�, and makes you aware of the monster (you see it as a �!� on the map)
* New background: Ghoul
* New property: Infravision (the Ghoul background starts with this, and many monsters has it), which allows you to see infra-visible creatures in the dark
* Made several changes to how traps work - most importantly, when they activate there is usually a delay of a couple of turns from when they activate until the effect occurs - this means that you can (sometimes) avoid the effect by moving away from the trap
* Added command [R] for organizing Colt magazines (the game will reload your wielded or readied Colt, or move single rounds between magazines, whichever is better)
* Added command [N] to make noise (for luring monsters)
* Monsters fighting each other now generates sounds (�I hear fighting.�)
* Unequipping any item spends a turn
* Critical misses for melee attacks (1% chance normally) now cause various bad things to happen, such as becoming exhausted, or dropping the weapon
* Disarming traps gives a small amount of XP
* Potions of Fortitude no longer cures all insanity symptoms (phobias, etc), instead they only heal one random symptom
* There is now a delay when quaffing Potion of Descent until the effect happens
* Changed Potion of Antidote to Potion of Curing, which acts like a light version of Potion of Healing
* All Potions are now guaranteed to identify when you drink them
* Added new item class �Rods� - these are similar to Devices, except they never break or malfunction, and instead have a cooldown time before they can be used again
* The Wound system (which was removed in v17) is now back again - when you take heavy damage in one hit you receive a Wound - each wound reduces your fighting abilities, maximum HP, and HP regeneration rate - wounds can be healed with the Medical Bag
* Chests are never made of iron until at least dungeon level 3
* Added more traits
* The Melee Fighter skills now also gives extra damage (in addition to better hit chances), Master Marksman (the final Marksman skill) gives extra ranged damage
* The Mobile trait now only makes every third step a free action (instead of every second step)
* Walking in liquids stops Burning
* You can no longer read scrolls in darkness
* Items which in the previous version raised your shock when carried/equiped (such as Jewelry or the Mi-go armor) now raise your insanity instead (as long as you keep the item).
* Removed cold damage, and all items/monsters related to it
* Removed Potion of Frenzy
* Added Frenzy as an insanity symptom
* Braziers light up cells around them, and can be kicked over to do fire damage in a small area (similar to a small molotov explosion)
* The Spirit traits now also gives spell resistance - a harmful spell cast on you will be blocked, then it takes a certain number of turns to regain spell resistance
* Any melee weapon can now be thrown
* New spell: Animate Weapons - causes melee weapons to rise into the air and protect you (after a while they will drop to the ground and become normal weapons again)
* Added more Insanity symptoms

Interface
* Migrated to SDL2 (fullscreen mode may work better for you now, if you had problems with this before)
* In window mode, the window is created centered on the screen
* In some menus, options can now be selected directly with letter keys
* Page Up / Page Down can now be used in menus to jump to the top/bottom (if menu fits on screen), or to the previous/next screen (if menu takes up multiple screens)
* The [a] command is no longer a shortcut for Medical Bag and Electric Lantern, instead it opens a filtered inventory view only showing items which can be Applied (read, quaffed, activated, ignited, etc)
* Changed Inventory key to instead of [w]
* [w] is now used for kicking/bashing instead of [q] (*Wham*)
* Intrinsic properties that lasts indefinitely are now spelled with upper case (e.g. you can be �DISEASED� or �Diseased�), to clarify that waiting will not end the effect
* Added an option for using symbols such as a heart for Hit Points, and a brain for Insanity in the interface (the old text based way is the default option)
* Reworked background and trait picking screens
* Removed the [D] command for jamming doors - instead using the �Close� command [c] on an already closed door will now attempt to jam it
* Removed uppercase [X] command, and instead made lowercase
  • bring up the spell selection menu (instead of re-casting previous spell)

* Added another typewriter font
* There is now a log of �historic events� (such as identifying a potion, or killing a unique monster) viewable from the character info screen or from the game info screen after the game is over
* If you are Dexterous, the turncount is marked green on turns where you will get a free step
* The monster description pages shows more information (e.g. how many turns they will remember you, how frightening they are, and also their current properties such as terrified, burning, flying, etc)
* Added more sound effects (events and ambient sounds)
* While aiming aiming, the marker shows if the path goes through any seen blocking cells

Bug fixes
* Fixed a bug that could crash the game, especially during map generation (thanks �stevebob�!)
* Fixed a bug that caused the player�s dodge chance to be calculated the wrong way when Ghosts attempted to �touch� you
* If you ignited an explosive (Dynamite, Molotov, Flare, Smoke grenade) while already holding another, the first one would just be erased - now the game prevents you from igniting a new explosive instead
* Fixed a bug that prevented Flare Guns from burning the target
* Fixed a bug where bumping a hidden door would print a different message than bumping a wall (and thus indicating the presence of the door)
Brian Emre Jeffears
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Legend

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Re: Infra Arcana, a horror/Lovecraft roguelike (now at v18.0).
« Reply #343 on: February 01, 2016, 07:28:08 AM »
Black Mamba's who slither up through the cracks of the floors?
Crawling intestines that spew forth from a reanimated corpse?!
Got binded by a raven pecking at my eyes!!!
A croc headed mummy?!?
A severed hand trying to strangle me?!?
Spitting cobras that blind me?!?!
And just what in hell came out of that coffin which I could not identify, hitting me with an ethereal scythe, backed me into a corner, surrounded by worm masses and zombies spewing out their intestines and severed hands, slowing me down, and literally terrified me to death!?!?!?!

You sir, are devious!

Loving the new update!

Code: [Select]
Ash
   * Explored to the depth of dungeon level 3
   * Was 15% insane
   * Killed 87 monsters
   * Gained 301 experience points
   * Gained a score of 332

Traits gained:
   Adept Melee Fighter, Adept Marksman, Dexterous, Lithe, Tough

Unique monsters killed:
   * None

History of Ash
            0: Started journey.
          323: Identified a Potion of Confusion.
          325: Identified a Potion of Curing.
          483: Started babbling incoherently.

Last messages:
   I am terrified! The Worm Mass misses me. It misses me.
   I am too terrified to engage in close combat!
   The Worm Mass bites me.
   It reaches for me... I dodge! It reaches for me...
   Everything around me seems to speed up. I am no longer terrified!
   I dodge an attack from The Worm Mass. I dodge an attack from it.
   I swiftly swap to my prepared weapon (a Dagger).
   My attack passes right through it! The Worm Mass bites me.
   It reaches for me... Everything around me seems to speed up.
   My attack passes right through it! It reaches for me...
   Everything around me seems to speed up.
   It slices me with an ethereal sickle. My spirit is drained! I am terrified!
   I dodge an attack from The Worm Mass.(x2) It misses me.
   I am too terrified to engage in close combat!
   The way is blocked.
   I hear a click...
   An alarm sounds!
   I am no longer terrified! It slices me with an ethereal sickle.
   My spirit is drained! All my spirit is depleted, I am devoid of life!
   I am dead!

The final moment:
                                                                               
                                                                               
                                                      ##########               
                                              #########,'....,.#               
          ########################            #...,...'',,#.#.'#               
          #@w-?}w'.............;;#            #,#######.'``.''`#               
          #/]-)##############,;.'#            #.#     #.,`.`&..#               
          ####'##           ##'###   ##########.#   #####'####'#               
             #[}#           #   #    #....;.'.#.#   #.....#  #.#               
             ##)#           # # ######...#.,`.#.#   #.#####  #.#               
               .            #   ,....'........#.#   #.#      #.#               
               ..           #+########.#.,.,..#.#   #.#      #.#               
               ..                    #.&......,.#   #.#      #.#               
                ..                   #####'######   #.#      #.#               
                .                       #..#        #.#      #.#######         
               ###                      #.##        #.#      #.......#         
                                        #'######    #.#      #######'###########
                                        #...,..######.##########....}&.'.......#
                                        #...#,.'.................#.0;|.#...#.#.#
                                        #......###################.....#.......#
                                        #......#                 #.....#.......#
                                        ########                 ###############

I did notice something that I thought was a little funny. I was trying to fend off a rediculous amount of black ooze by throwing cocktails and tnt at them. There was a couple cocktail pickups next to the ooze. after throwing two cocktails of my own and a tnt bundle, the two cocktails were still right there to be picked up. I assumed that they would have been destroyed and\or made the fire spread more.

I think maybe those black ooze should maybe appear a little bit later in the game? They are quite devastating in the first couple levels. Especially when combined with worm masses. both of which keep multiplying.

The ghoul is pretty fun to play as. Though, I would think that if I ate a zombie corpse, it would vanish and not come back to life. But when I eat one, the corpse does not disappear and will still rise.

My custom distorted font that I used to use, doesn't seem to look quite right anymore when I tried using it with the new version for some reason.  :(
http://forums.roguetemple.com/index.php?topic=4803.0

I miss the cool ascii tree/moon/tombstone kiil screen!
« Last Edit: February 02, 2016, 08:02:11 AM by Legend »

NON

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Re: Infra Arcana, a horror/Lovecraft roguelike (now at v18.0).
« Reply #344 on: February 11, 2016, 10:26:15 PM »
Haha great post Legend 8)

Sorry about late reply.

I did notice something that I thought was a little funny. I was trying to fend off a rediculous amount of black ooze by throwing cocktails and tnt at them. There was a couple cocktail pickups next to the ooze. after throwing two cocktails of my own and a tnt bundle, the two cocktails were still right there to be picked up. I assumed that they would have been destroyed and\or made the fire spread more.
Yes it's a little weird. But this is just because there is no item destruction at all for items on the floor. I mean, every item should get destroyed by a dynamite explosion, and dynamite getting hit by a Molotov's explosion should also ignite it. It's just something that the game doesn't simulate at all. I might open that door some day, but for now floor items are simply invulnerable.

I think maybe those black ooze should maybe appear a little bit later in the game? They are quite devastating in the first couple levels. Especially when combined with worm masses. both of which keep multiplying.
Possibly yes. Although they are super slow, so there's ways to run from them or deal with them. Concerning the worms - the split rate of those should definitely be lowered. Others have raised this issue too. Ooze do not multiply btw.

The ghoul is pretty fun to play as. Though, I would think that if I ate a zombie corpse, it would vanish and not come back to life. But when I eat one, the corpse does not disappear and will still rise.
They do disappear if you eat all of it, but if you just take a few bites they can still get up. Yes realistically they should probably have reduced health or something when they get up after you have taken bites from them - but at the moment, the game just considers them to be either completely intact or completely destroyed.

I miss the cool ascii tree/moon/tombstone kiil screen!
Hm, yeah. Actually, I think I'll put it back for ASCII mode. It just looks wierd in tiles mode.
« Last Edit: February 11, 2016, 10:28:33 PM by NON »
Happy is the tomb where no wizard hath lain and happy the town at night whose wizards are all ashes.