Epilogue Incubator Thread

[kraflab]

Version 2.11 is out now.

SAVE GAMES ARE INCOMPATIBLE

Changes:
Changed the fontsize in notes so you don't need to scroll them
Reworked the note system tutorial
Removed the teleport particle effect from simple swaps (such as with an ally)
Removed the chance for certain creatures to spawn as allies of the player or enemies
Removed the chance for passive creatures to spawn as Kings, etc
Fixed Baked Steel having 2 less stat points than it should
Fixed an autoexplore issue
Fixed certain effects not waking you (Void for instance)
Fixed traps appearing in locations where they cannot be picked up (fountains, etc)
Added a stun cap of 5 turns (after which you break free automatically)
Added a small boost to combat skills when in view of your god's altar
Added a screen prior to trait picking to stop you from accidentally selecting one
Added a better architecture for playing music tracks (under the hood)
Added the Cyclone Swordsman to the 1st floor (full version)
Added the Amphibiman to the 1st floor (full version)
Added the Gloomworm to the 2nd floor (full version)
Added the Huskling to the 2nd floor (full version)
Added the Powder Keg to the 3rd floor (full version)
Added the Martyr to the 3rd floor (full version)

[kraflab]

Version 2.2 is out.  Lots of fun additions in this update, as well as some old requests seeing fruition.

SAVE GAMES ARE INCOMPATIBLE

Changes:
Added 20 abilities to the game with various effects
Added stone tablets from which characters can learn the above abilities
Increased the possible character builds to over 333 billion as a result of this
Added champion and veteran knowledge bonuses
Reworked the knowledge page
Added a full menu to the title page (so you can access stats without creating a character)
Added a character stat page
Added a high score menu for easy access to all score lists
Added a new ui configuration for the following resolutions: 1366x768, 1680x1050, 1920x1080
Removed quick-keys for achievement and knowledge pages
Reworked a lot of menus, so there is now a group of things under a stat menu heading
Increased Burn Bright's skill bonus to 125%
Increased scrolling speed to 3x
Increased the noticeability of secret doors slightly
Changed the flask to target using the same mechanic as spacebar, which greatly increases the chance of success
Changed the font size in numerous places
Changed the potion sprite to follow the usual constraints
Edited some text
Cropped map tiles on the edge to always take up a specific area
Fixed the weakling mode score list
Fixed the mouse control for running
Fixed a mysterious flask issue
Fixed a note bug
Fixed a formatting bug in the ui code
Fixed a potential problem in the ui code
Fixed a missing line in certain character dumps
Reduced the executable size

[kraflab]

Version 2.3 is out.

Changes:
Added a new game mode: Infinity: infinite dungeon arcade mode
Added a new game mode: Easy: 20% less monsters
Added particle effects for burning and poison
Added a "wobble" motion to movement and attacking
Added a stealth debuff to the Burning effect
Added a further light smoothing effect, which creates some nice effects
Added a slow trap
Changed the way the game modes are displayed, to organize them a bit
Changed some particle effects so that the "glowing" one only applies to powerful foes
Changed the sound effect for magic attacks
Changed ally follow distance
Fixed an autoexplore issue
Fixed an apparent preference for spawning certain monsters
Removed the particle effects from enemies with bonus drops since it was superfluous

[kraflab]

There was a bug causing too many traps to spawn...hotfix is out....recommended update for anyone using v2.3

[Ancient]

Epilogue is giving wrong numbers when switching from two one-handed weapons to a two-handed one. It only considers your main-hand weapon for calculating gains/losses.

Help note "Begin" could give keyboard shortcut of praying. Otherwise I found them unobstructive. Good job.

Stats in main menu is another well done thing.

The fading of tiles not in your view should be accelerated every time you issue movement. Otherwise it looks quite silly when field of view fails to follow you. The fading effect makes good impression on me only when falling asleep. Getting blinded removes the monsters immediately but darkens tiles slowly creating disjoint experience. As if being blind made you stop see monsters immediately but everything else only one second later. Me, I'd throw away the whole thing altogether. Can't remember if it is possible to turn it off from options menu. If not, please add such possibility. If yes, thank you and I'll gladly turn if off next time I play.

Suggestion: add some effect (particle? glowing outline?) to altar of your god while in your view.

[kraflab]

Epilogue is giving wrong numbers when switching from two one-handed weapons to a two-handed one. It only considers your main-hand weapon for calculating gains/losses.

Help note "Begin" could give keyboard shortcut of praying. Otherwise I found them unobstructive. Good job.

Stats in main menu is another well done thing.

The fading of tiles not in your view should be accelerated every time you issue movement. Otherwise it looks quite silly when field of view fails to follow you. The fading effect makes good impression on me only when falling asleep. Getting blinded removes the monsters immediately but darkens tiles slowly creating disjoint experience. As if being blind made you stop see monsters immediately but everything else only one second later. Me, I'd throw away the whole thing altogether. Can't remember if it is possible to turn it off from options menu. If not, please add such possibility. If yes, thank you and I'll gladly turn if off next time I play.

Suggestion: add some effect (particle? glowing outline?) to altar of your god while in your view.

I thought I did get it to show the two one-handed to one two-handed comparison properly...I'll have to give the code a second look.

I'm actually thinking of making a full-blown tutorial, for which I have a decent script planned.  I think the notes work pretty well, but it's hard to make the player understand how/when to use a lunging weapon.  I was thinking about having the player pick one up and use it to leap across a swamp...But at the same time I like the fact that there is no hard split between the game and learning the game.  I'll have to think that through.  I'll add Q to the begin note at any rate

Yes, I really like the stats.  It's nice to see a large table with your progress against monsters.  Glad you like it.

I actually really like the "light trail" following the player.  Imagine the there is a light source following the player rather than the player holding a torch.  I think there is a game that does this but I don't recall the name.  At any rate you can turn off "smooth lighting" in the options.

Perhaps some glowing light emanating from your god's altar is in order.  That's a good idea.

Thanks for the feedback!

[kraflab]

2.4 is out.

Weapon comparison issue is fixed.  I changed fonts in a lot of places again...every time I do I feel I get a better look out of things, although it could just be seeing something different.

Changes:
Changed fonts here and there
Increased the stat menu font size to fill the screen
Fixed some buffs that were deactivating too fast
Fixed two-handed weapons not comparing against two one-handed weapons
Fixed tablets breaking after loading a save game

[kraflab]

2.5

Added a line in creature mouse-over that indicates if it is an ally
Added a 5% healing effect to gold
Removed hit % calculations from allied characters
Changed the Star Minstrel to heal both friend and foe
Changed the Glasses trait to make you immune to eye injuries
Changed Oob dynamics: summoning aid only restores 10% health
Changed Oob dynamics: summoned creatures cannot summon additional creatures
Fixed a bug affecting honed, etc items

[Z]

I have not played for a long time, but it seems much nicer now, with the new graphical effects.

Still, I feel that the game is about guessing. I can carry several weapons and armors, but how can I tell what to use against a specific enemy?

I don't like the colors in the Alchemy screen. They are confusing, I have lost valuable ingredients because I thought that I am creating something, but in fact I have selected something else. You are using color to mark the ingredient under cursor, ingredients tested against it, selected ingredients, and combinations. I think you should display which ingredients are selected, and which ingredients are tested/tested against, using two separate methods.

Should not the list in the Knowledge screen display which enemies are special?

[kraflab]

I have not played for a long time, but it seems much nicer now, with the new graphical effects.

Still, I feel that the game is about guessing. I can carry several weapons and armors, but how can I tell what to use against a specific enemy?

I don't like the colors in the Alchemy screen. They are confusing, I have lost valuable ingredients because I thought that I am creating something, but in fact I have selected something else. You are using color to mark the ingredient under cursor, ingredients tested against it, selected ingredients, and combinations. I think you should display which ingredients are selected, and which ingredients are tested/tested against, using two separate methods.

Should not the list in the Knowledge screen display which enemies are special?

I generally just pick the most balanced equipment, and try to minimize elemental effects.  Since you will generally not see a majority of any one type of enemy, it doesn't matter a huge deal which armor you wear.  You're always going to have advantages and disadvantages, and how you react to when things go bad is the real "game" of it all.  Short answer: it doesn't matter and you can win without understanding even which enemies use magic and which use physical.  That type of micromanagement isn't possible in the inventory space anyway.

Alchemy does need some reworking, i agree.

I'm not sure what you mean by special, but it does in a way, since minibosses/etc do not have veteran numbers for instance.

[kraflab]

I added an expected damage to the hit rate table on mouseover, such that if you really wanted to, you could see whether one or another armor worked better, or if a certain weapon was better on a specific enemy.

I have avoided an explicit stat list because I don't want to bog down the mouseover with a ton of information (as well as I think it is unnecessary), but this seems reasonable to me, and perhaps some people will benefit from it.



Any thoughts?

[kraflab]

I've concatenated the last 4 updates below.  The only feedback I would specifically look for is on the recent addition of the stat affinity system, but to be honest I'm pretty satisfied with the way things are over all.  Feature requests are of course always welcome.

2.6

Added 10 enemies (2 bosses), 18 weapons, 10 armors, and 2 achievements
Added a challenge level: Slimenopolis
Added a damage estimate to enemy mouseover
Added a new class: Slimeomancer (psychic/slime abilities)
Fixed an ability bug
Fixed an ally bug in the ai
Fixed two shields missing shield bash
Increased the tabbing of selected alchemy ingredients
Reduced the enduring poison duration to 30 turns
Reduced the stealth potion duration to 15
Removed some log spam

2.7

Added a new monster: AI Convict (level 5)
Added a new class: Physicist
Added the phrase “This does not work on powerful foes” to certain descriptions
Reduced the blood tribesman’s ability costs substantially (40-60%)

2.8

Added the Acid Demon optional boss (floor 5)
Added an effect that you receive if you collapse from exhaustion
Added acid traps
Changed the Cartographer’s first ability
Changed the way UI windows look a bit
Changed the Cold Feet trait to also freeze swamps
Changed the Soulful trait to correctly stack with Paciscraux
Fixed chests not having access to all the traps
Fixed a bug involving tile changes
Fixed a poison immunity bug
Increased the necessary favor for Kagh rewards
Increased trap spawn rates slightly

2.9

Added a new class: The Drifter
Added a stat affinity choice to character customization
Added a particle effect associated with each type of elemental damage
Added a time limit for spawned allies (affects the level 4 bosses and the Summoning Stave)
Added two new variations to the list of dungeon generators
Added an autosave feature that restores your progress in the event of a crash
Changed the ui scaling system to support almost any resolution 800×600 and up
Changed the loading screen (this is generally only visible for an instant)
Changed the level 4 generator to prevent terrain from breaking into the safe room
Fixed the rate of rare levels appearing in the infinite dungeon
Fixed a bug where the wrong music would play under certain circumstances
Fixed a bug where the Cyclone Swordsman was getting too many extra turns
Fixed a bug that caused the Acid Demon to be more deadly than intended
Fixed a weapon that was missing a few stat points
Fixed some creatures missing from the knowledge page
Reduced the length of the healing particle effect
Replaced Smoke Bombs with Ink Bombs

[Xan]

I've only played a few games of Epilogue, but I've noticed a few things that may be unintended behavior:

1) Autoexplore in some cases says level is fully explored, when in fact it is not.
2) I'm pretty sure hit rate shows incorrect numbers when you have damaged limbs.


Also, I found it somewhat annoying that pushing space will skip your turn if it doesn't do anything else.  I would much prefer it if it did nothing, rather than waiting.

It seems to me that the multiple damage type stat affinities are basically never worth getting;  after level 4 or 5, most enemies will generally have >5 or so on almost all resistances, making the 1-2 points damage on the various types your weapon doesn't have essentially useless.  This is unlike the defensive stat affinities, which are generally always useful.

I think this has been mentioned before, but all the levels before the blobopolis or whatever its called don't really present much of a threat.  Not necessarily a bad thing, but I think it could add to the game if one or two slightly higher level enemies appeared on them.

As I said, I've only played a few games, so when I have more time I'll probably have more to say.

[kraflab]

Yes on autoexplore, it indeed misinterprets the player's ability to explore certain areas at certain times.  I think this is due to enemies blocking tight passages and the algorithm seeing a wall, although it might perhaps be more involved than that.  I've been ignoring it since it doesn't have a particularly big impact on play.

Hit rate is missing limb effect.  I'm not sure if this is intentional or not.  The main purpose of these numbers is to tell you which weapon type would be best to use, so I think the magnitudes are maybe not so important.  It should give the correct value though.

Spacebar is meant to use whatever items you are holding, and this includes swinging your weapons at an empty tile.  I can see why you might think this should have nothing happen, but there are instances where you would want to try attacking what you cannot see, when you are blind for instance or when there are invisible creatures around.  I can't have nothing happen because then you could exploit it when trying to attack while blind, and I don't want to remove the ability to try to attack things you cannot physically see either.

I'm not sure why you think that most enemies have >5 on most resistances late in the game as this is completely false.  As a matter of fact, armor starts carrying lots of negative protection values the further in the game you go, so elemental offensive stat affinities get even better.  Defense is generally better than offense, although if you kill slowly you are more likely to get into long fights, which has various consequences.  I think I would always pick offense personally.

The levels before the blob city are more interesting in the full version of the game, because there are more enemies, each of which has a unique ability.  Some people struggle to make it to the blob city though, so I'm not sure there is room to make things particularly harder there.  It also depends on what type of character you play.  I think the mage has it pretty easy early on whereas the melee is more enjoyable (to me at least).  As far as harder enemies appearing, they already do, though perhaps maybe they aren't hard enough (e.g. the snake demon, fire blob, and ghost on the first level, and champs/kings/etc varieties).

Thanks for the feedback.

[Xan]

Ah, that makes sense about the spacebar.

Maybe I just haven't got far enough into the game (or wasn't paying enough attention), but it seemed like after the first four or five levels, most armors would have 1-2 negative values, and all of the rest positive.