LambdaRogue 1.4 released

[mariodonick]

It is done. I have released LambdaRogue 1.4, the most important update of this roguelike RPG since the 0.3 beta version.

Changes include:

* enhanced main quest and new sidequests, including the epic search for a danger from the past
* re-balanced nearly everything, to smoothen the gaming experience
* new dungeon features
* enhancements to the magic system
* lots of interface improvements, both in SDL and in console mode
* an overall new look and feel (at least in SDL mode)
* two additional music tracks
* sound effects (in addition to the music)
* tons of bug fixes and minor changes

Download: http://lambdarogue.net/dl-showentry.php?n=4

[getter77]

Woohoo!   

I offer my sincerest thanks for this tremendous effort to keep improving the game.  Your hard works on this and to come will surely be appreciated by many people.

Edit:  Also, with the feelies, please do consider some method for one to just order the goodies with a credit card and no trouble at all as I did for the Legerdemain set.

Fantastic trailer for 1.4 too...didn't expect that at all!

[mariodonick]

please do consider some method for one to just order the goodies with a credit card

Sending me a (real world) postcard shows me much more that somebody really likes the game and the effort I put into it than sending me money by credit card or paypal ever could.

A button is clicked quickly; throwing a postcard in a postbox is not _that_ easy.

Mario

[getter77]

please do consider some method for one to just order the goodies with a credit card

Sending me a (real world) postcard shows me much more that somebody really likes the game and the effort I put into it than sending me money by credit card or paypal ever could.

A button is clicked quickly; throwing a postcard in a postbox is not _that_ easy.

Mario

   Well, then you can't ultimately make fun of me too much when you can't read a word of my handwriting when this whole thing gets going!   

Oddly enough, and as such, this may well be the first postcard I've ever sent to anybody at any time.

[Krice]

The story is quite generic. I could not concentrate into it or characters which I guess is a bad sign. Didn't see any changes in user interface. I died when I got stuck in web (I fell on that from a trapdoor) and nightmare was kicking me at the same time. I don't know if that's a bug, but the web didn't disappear. Maybe you need to step towards an empty space to decrease the web counter?

[mariodonick]

Krice, it is impossibe to fulfill your requirements on a game.

The story is quite generic. I could not concentrate into it or characters which I guess is a bad sign

It's still a roguelike, not a CRPG. For a roguelike it is rather detailed, but you still need to connect the things told ingame with your own imagination -- you are the hero and you have to imagine. Of course you also have to talk to all NPCs and you have to read the scrolls and books.

Didn't see any changes in user interface.

None?? It starts with the replacement of status numbers with graphical bars in SDL mode and ends with the save game menu which does not require you to enter the name of a character anymore. Shops and inventories show if an item is better than your currently equipped item, and messages are shown in a message log. This all counts to user interface.

but the web didn't disappear

It disappears after about 20 - 100 turns. It is true that it can't be destroyed if you are on it, because you can't move. But you could try to pray, for example.

Mario

[Slash]

The story is quite generic. I could not concentrate into it or characters which I guess is a bad sign

It's still a roguelike, not a CRPG. For a roguelike it is rather detailed, but you still need to connect the things told ingame with your own imagination -- you are the hero and you have to imagine. Of course you also have to talk to all NPCs and you have to read the scrolls and books.

For a person with such a great level of creativity as Krice, it should be piece of cake.

[Krice]

Of course you also have to talk to all NPCs and you have to read the scrolls and books.

You invented the most boring way to advance in a game.

This all counts to user interface.

I don't know if changes in graphics are counted. Playing feels the same.

It disappears after about 20 - 100 turns.

Too many turns and too large range. What makes 100 turn web more difficult to break than 20 turn web?

[mariodonick]

For a person with such a great level of creativity as Krice, it should be piece of cake.

Sounds ironically, correct me if I'm wrong. I just don't like this eternal Krice-bashing. His creative non-roguelike output on his website as well as Teemu show that he indeed _is_ creative. That Teemu gets very repetitive after a while and that Krice is snobistic and arrogant are other questions

I don't know if changes in graphics are counted. Playing feels the same

I explicitly did not mention graphical changes, to avoid this argument. For me, interface is the way how to access gameplay functions, for example entering the name of a saved character instead pressing an associated key to load that savegame.

Or directly pressing F1, F2, ..., F12 to chant associated spells instead first opening the songbook, pressing c and then selecting a spell by pressing an associated key.

Too many turns and too large range

Here you're right, I have a bad feeling about the duration, but for this release I kept it that way.


Now the most disturbing thing, the story question.

You invented the most boring way to advance in a game.

I invented nothing Telling a story in a roguelike is very difficult. You have to ensure that all story elements the game forces you to recognize are as short as possible, to not annoy the player with it when he/she plays it the 5th, 10th, 50th ... time. Thus, most things are told by lore that is optional to read, and players who are not interested in the background don't need to do it. Other players, however, who want to know more about the setting, the world and the events that lead to mankind's current situation have the possiblity to get these information.

It is like appendices in fantasy novels. You can read Tolkien's explainations about languages and culture of the people in Lord of the Rings, but nobody forces you to do so.

[Krice]

Telling a story in a roguelike is very difficult. You have to ensure that all story elements the game forces you to recognize are as short as possible, to not annoy the player with it

I thought you have to talk to characters in order to advance, but you don't need to do that? Anyway, I think there are other ways to tell stories. Like for example the details in the game world, something which tells its story without words. In Kaduria there are level themes that have the feeling of being an abandoned place and it tells a story:)

[mariodonick]

I thought you have to talk to characters in order to advance, but you don't need to do that?

Depends. You _have_ to talk only to 3 or 4 (I don't remember exactly :-P ) NPCs for just winning the game (and the game tells you who these NPCs are). This is mainly for people who are not interested in any store, but just want to dive into the dungeons. But if you want to know more about the background, you have to talk to more NPCs and solve their side-quests. And from these, especially one sidequest is important for the story and changes the way how the game is won.

the details in the game world, something which tells its story without words

This is true, of course. And I think you are again referring to the levels in LambdaRogue which you find are boring. It is great if Kaduria will manage to have many interesting level themes, but obviously this is one of the reasons that this game never will be finished.