Halls of Mist (now at v1.3.2)

[getter77]

Right on, I'll leave the update posting per se to you then since you've got the format down.   

[Mikko Lehtinen]

The bugfix release 1.3.1 is now available, in time for the Halls of Mist competition held soon on angband.oook.cz!

Windows executable
Mac OS X executable (courtesy of Darian; some info about the build here)
64-bit Linux executable (runs fine one Debian and Ubuntu)
Source

Changes:

- A great overhaul for the dungeon generation! I stormed all the places where bugs loved to hide.
- The player always starts near walls. That's a more logical place for an up staircase (if you get one), and also a bit safer place to start.
- All cul-de-sacs now have either stairs or faery portals. Faery portals are a bit more common, but I didn't change the numbers for staircases. There are still two down staircases and a 30% chance for an up staircase.
- The two guaranteed down staircases can't be near each other. This should make escaping tough levels easier.
- Similarly, faery portals can't be next to each other.
- Phantasm clock tightened. "Mist-die" still starts at 1d250, but the game now rolls 1d900 (not 1d1000) every turn when trying to remove one side from the Mist die. You now roll the Mist die *twice*, and if either of the rolls is 1, you get a phantasm. (Thanks buzzkill and Starhawk.)
- Mana cost of Holy Sigil reduced from 15 to 2. Mana cost of Glyph of Warding reduced from 55 to 5. (Thanks, Scatha.)
- Bugfix: Scroll of Lore gets properly identified when read. (Thanks, Starhawk.)
- Show only two (different) messages about torches running low on fuel: at 100 fuel and at 10 fuel. (Thanks, buzzkill.)
- Summon scrolls and Circles of Summoning now summon real monsters. Returned them to the original monster level. (Thanks, Starhawk and Scatha.)
- The faeries you get from Fountains of Summon Faeries are real.
- Wizard mode summon monsters also summons real monsters.
- Summon scroll are somewhat rarer and come in stacks of 1d2 instead of 1d3.
- Everybody now leaps instead of hopping. (Thanks, buzzkill.)
- Resting doesn't have options "rest for SP" or "rest for both SP and HP" anymore. (Thanks, ekolis.)
- Hitpoints are now generated non-randomly.
- +2 bonus hit points to everyone at first level! (In total, everyone gets +5 bonus hit points at first level, compared to Angband.)
- Mage gets +3 to Perception. He's pretty good at it.
- Rings of Mana are much shallower, 32 -> 20.
- Wand of Magic Missile is slightly more common and slightly more expensive. One less charge on average. Made it positively tricky to use for beginning characters, more difficult than Wand of Slow Monster. Damage increased from 2d6 to 2d10. It's a treat to characters with a high Magic Device skill.
- Wand of Stinking Cloud is slightly more difficult to use.
- Elemental attack wands have a bigger chance of appearing on shallow levels.
- Wand of Harpoon starts with an extra damage die. (They depend on player level.)
- Many deep devices are slightly less deep.

[Mikko Lehtinen]

Yay, Halls of Mist 1.3.2 is here!

Windows executable
64-bit Linux executable (runs fine on Debian and Ubuntu)
Source.

I'm now using Mercurial, which makes coding faster and more enjoyable. The source package is actually a zipped Mercurial repository, meaning that it includes a hidden .hg folder. Halls of Mist doesn't have an online repository yet, but if you want to contribute patches, we can easily work something out.

I'm too tired at the moment to create a change list that makes sense... A couple of notes will have to do for now. I just want to get this more polished Halls of Mist out, quickly!

Notable changes:

    Lots of bugfixes. I combed through all reports here on oook, and I think I managed to fix everything (?).
    Lots of balance problems fixed. Most importantly, Spellswords and Absorb Hit tuned down. Semi-spellcasters have less mana.
    Mist phantasms start appearing sooner, and they are always awake.
    All torches have only 2000 turns of fuel, like the basic Wooden Torch. Torches are somewhat lighter.
    The Circle of Knowledge abilities -- Identify Pack and Fully Identify - always work, but you need to spend two identify points to use them. Also, the weak Scroll of Lore is gone, and Scroll of Identify is back. (It is quite expensive, though.)
    You become acclimatized to the Mist when you spend multiple dungeon levels underground. When you take the stairs down in the dungeons, you receive a randomly chosen skill bonus to Perception, Spell Save or Stealth. You can only get each bonus once -- after three down staircases in the dungeons you are have gone "native" and have the full bonuses. If you return to the surface you lose the bonuses. (Basic idea by Derakon.)
    Berserk Rage now heals 45% of wounds + 15 hits, makes you immune to fear, gives free action and extra blow, and doubles thrown damage. That's all. (Free Action was Magnate's idea.) Rage doesn't gives bonuses to hit anymore; to compensate, Bless and Heroism give bigger bonuses.
    'R'esting now waits for 50 turns or until you are fully healed. Hit the button repeatably if you need to. (Thanks, buzzkill.)
    All resistance bonuses are capped at 60%. With temporary bonuses they can rise up to 90%. No weird exceptions.
    The maximum stack size is now 30.

A big thank you to everybody who has provided feedback! Without it, Halls of Mist wouldn't be half as good a game.

[kraflab]

Finally got around to trying this out.  Here are some thoughts:

I would like a lot more arrow key navigation in this game.  When I saw that I could use arrow keys in character creation I thought that was a good sign, but then that style completely disappeared.  I should be able to move thru the inventory with the arrow keys, hit enter on an item (giving me a prompt of things to do, such as examine) and then enter again to choose an action.  I agree that the shortcut keys are great for people that know them, but it is just so much simpler for a new player with arrow keys, and it's much more intuitive.

I think there should be a prompt to read the tutorial if the game is being run for the first time (or heck, even just opening the tutorial text file when the game is run).  This isn't something I personally needed, since I knew the roguelike routine, but it might help someone who is playing for the first time.

Escape backs all the way out of a help file, but it would be much better to back out only one level.  I.E. to read help files faster rather than getting sent back to the game screen.

Two typos I noticed: in "races.txt" the word "standong" should be "standing", and in "magic.txt" the word "asteriks" should be "asterisks".

The tutorial mentioned food, but I don't have any and I haven't noticed any meter for hunger, plus the general store doesn't have any.  Was it removed?

My torch ran out on the first floor, which apparently gives you a confusion type effect.  I'm sure this is more interesting if you are deep in the dungeon and in a dangerous situation, but the only effect for me was an annoying trek back to the staircase full of interrupted stumbling.

I'm not sure if there is any way for me to tell how powerful an enemy is, which may be intentional.

I'll have to play some more before I can make any real judgments on the game as a whole, but I am enjoying it thus far.

------------------------------------------------------

How do I use/what are identify points?

I think the alchemy system is rather interesting, although I didn't get to explore it before meeting my end.

I like the fact that the game forces you to keep going deeper into the dungeon.

I feel like the prices on some items are unbalanced, i.e. i got a stack of healing potions for essentially nothing.  I may have just gotten lucky though.

In terms of difficulty the game felt too easy.  The only time I felt threatened was when I realized I was dead

[Holsety]

Halls of Mist removes the food clock and has your light source take its place.
Basically the dungeon is not a place fit for mortals and you're boned if you don't have a source of light.
Stairs up (if they spawn on the floor you're on) take you all the way back to town, and you can't revisit a depth you've already been on, so how much light sources you bring with you directly influences how deep you can go/how long you can stay.

Identify points can be used with (p)roficiencies. Later on (depending on what race you are) you get proficiencies for healing and escaping too.

(Tip: If you see a broken magic circle you can try to complete it by (d)ropping any powder on the spot where its broken)

[Mikko Lehtinen]

Thanks for the useful feedback, kraflab!

If the game feels too easy, you could try diving faster. That allows you to spend more time on deeper dungeon levels (and collect better loot), or alternatively to go for the big score multiplier that you get if you win with a low Min Depth. The best strategy might be to dive so fast that the difficulty feels challenging but not suicidal.

That said, the beginning might be too easy for warrior-type characters.

Some items, like healing potions and scrolls of Phase Door, are traditionally cheap in *bands. You should usually carry a big stack of them. The stacks are somewhat smaller in Halls of Mist than in Angband, but I haven't had any radical rethinking of their role.

In the next version I'm going to remove Mages and Mystics, so you might want to avoid them. Their gameplay is too repetitive with the new mana system introduced in version 1.3. Besides, I've always liked warriors and semi-spellcasters more, and most Mist players seem to agree.

[kraflab]

I seem to have a STR-2 effect on me.  How do I remove such things?  I tried cure disease and also letting time pass but that doesn't seem to do anything.  It's rather frustrating because I can't use my weapon now.

[Mikko Lehtinen]

Mushroom of Restore Strength helps, Potion of Restore Vigor restores STR and CON.

Dropping a Powder Vial of Heal Monster on a broken magic circle and succeeding in an Alchemy skill check creates a Circle of Lifeforce which restores STR and has lots of other effects.