- April 16, 2024, 08:54
- Welcome, Guest
Show Posts
This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.
46
Post Mortem / Re: [0.8.5d|U|AoC|Te|14|YAAM] Technical Carnage (Rocket Gold and CRI Gold) :)
« on: December 23, 2019, 02:55 »
Hopefully you're maintaining a separate list for achievements that are doable by mortals... Tormuse doesn't exactly set the standard of what the average player can hope to achieve ;)
47
General Discussion / Re: Wiki / game info?
« on: December 16, 2019, 18:33 »
As another example of non-permadeath mechanics in a roguelike game, consider TomeNET. It divides players into two groups(there are further distinctions, but two major classifications): Everlasting and Unworldly. Everlasting players are allowed to instantly respawn following a death, but still face penalties in experience loss and potential item loss, whereas Unworldly players die permanently and completely. However, Everlasting players are completely separate from the game's high scores, and even have a separate system of titles for winning the game - that is, all meaningful achievements as far as the game is concerned are restricted to Unworldly characters.
As an MMO, items can be traded between different characters, but they are firmly divided along these lines - that is, Unworldly players cannot use items found, purchased, or otherwise generated by Everlasting characters, and vice versa. This means that players can't use an Everlasting character to jumpstart an Unworldly character, for example, which preserves the integrity of the Unworldly achievements.
As an MMO, items can be traded between different characters, but they are firmly divided along these lines - that is, Unworldly players cannot use items found, purchased, or otherwise generated by Everlasting characters, and vice versa. This means that players can't use an Everlasting character to jumpstart an Unworldly character, for example, which preserves the integrity of the Unworldly achievements.
48
General Discussion / Re: Wiki / game info?
« on: December 14, 2019, 01:56 »
I'm not especially familiar with the Fandom wiki system, although I am aware of it... would this be a project that could benefit from volunteer effort, like the original wiki?
Edit: I mean as far as skinning it and other such behind-the-scenes customizations - obviously as a wiki, the fanbase is already empowered to update it in the more obvious fashion.
Edit: I mean as far as skinning it and other such behind-the-scenes customizations - obviously as a wiki, the fanbase is already empowered to update it in the more obvious fashion.
49
General Discussion / Re: Best place for giving feedbacks ?
« on: December 14, 2019, 01:55 »
As far as an action log, even if there are a lot of actions per turn, the log wouldn't necessarily have to be overly spam-y. Another game I play, Dominions 5, implements three different toggleable levels of detail for its combat log, which means I can find out the exact details of what's happening down to specific numbers, or just get a brief overview of the most important events, as I choose.
Another possibility is a message recall - a way to open up and browse the log on a separate screen at leisure(given that this is, after all, a turn-based game, even if it can be played a lot faster if desired). This seems to be an element in many roguelikes I've played, especially those with limited space to display detailed messages on the proper game screen.
Just some thoughts on that point - the others seem to have been addressed satisfactorily, but there're definitely ways to do a log that don't cause excessive additional clutter on the screen. Even dumping to a text file for post-game perusal would be helpful for players who value such a log, and is almost trivial to implement, assuming there's any sort of standardized infrastructure already tracking those events in some form.
Edit: I'm also well aware, perhaps better than most, that there's always more to do than there is time to do it on a game development project. I'm sure you have quite a lot on your plate as it is, so I want to be clear I'm simply offering ideas, not demanding features, here =P
Another possibility is a message recall - a way to open up and browse the log on a separate screen at leisure(given that this is, after all, a turn-based game, even if it can be played a lot faster if desired). This seems to be an element in many roguelikes I've played, especially those with limited space to display detailed messages on the proper game screen.
Just some thoughts on that point - the others seem to have been addressed satisfactorily, but there're definitely ways to do a log that don't cause excessive additional clutter on the screen. Even dumping to a text file for post-game perusal would be helpful for players who value such a log, and is almost trivial to implement, assuming there's any sort of standardized infrastructure already tracking those events in some form.
Edit: I'm also well aware, perhaps better than most, that there's always more to do than there is time to do it on a game development project. I'm sure you have quite a lot on your plate as it is, so I want to be clear I'm simply offering ideas, not demanding features, here =P
50
Nightmare! / Re: [N!|32%|YAVP] On a Roll 2: The UAC Diamond Strikes Back
« on: November 20, 2019, 22:46 »
Nice wins.
While it's great that JH is in active development and as a result responsible for most of the activity here, I'm always happy to see someone bring back the original DoomRL mortems.
Next!, indeed ;) keep 'em coming.
While it's great that JH is in active development and as a result responsible for most of the activity here, I'm always happy to see someone bring back the original DoomRL mortems.
Next!, indeed ;) keep 'em coming.
51
Nightmare! / Re: [N!|AoD+AoRA|69%|YAVP] Completed my Platinum collection :)
« on: October 23, 2019, 08:58 »
That combination of challenges sounds like one of the Angelic pairings... and if you need both a benevolent RNG and Tormuse level skills to complete it, then it should indeed be Angelic.
Should we call that number 10, then? ;)
Should we call that number 10, then? ;)
52
Post Mortem / Re: [H|AoPc+AoMs|6%|YAVP] Masochistic Pacifist (Masochist Platinum)
« on: September 08, 2019, 20:18 »
That's not a combination I'd ever have considered... you are truly a masochist, lol.
Congratulations on wrapping up that platinum, and on yet another unbelievable challenge run.
Congratulations on wrapping up that platinum, and on yet another unbelievable challenge run.
53
Off Topic / Re: Working on a roguelike...
« on: April 24, 2019, 21:29 »
The new project will also appear here once I have something ready for public testing.
I'm currently not much past the planning phase on the actual game - I do have a superior console program to the one Viridian Abyss was using, but that's as far as I've gone with actually coding anything. I have lots of ideas for the new game, as I did with VA, but it took me quite a while to realize them there, and that was with rather poor design and rushed coding, leaving me loads of technical debt which contributed heavily to my decision to halt the project.
I will also be busier than usual with real world commitments for the forseeable future, so I expect progress will be slow, and a release-ready version may be a long way out. However, I'm now confident that I am capable of putting together a decent, somewhat enjoyable game, and I fully intend to keep doing so, improving on my previous work as much as possible.
I'm grateful to you and the rest of the alpha testers for allowing me to do so, and I hope to have your feedback on the next one as well, so I'll definitely keep you informed - if you'd like, I'd be happy to send you a private message or e-mail when that time comes.
I'm currently not much past the planning phase on the actual game - I do have a superior console program to the one Viridian Abyss was using, but that's as far as I've gone with actually coding anything. I have lots of ideas for the new game, as I did with VA, but it took me quite a while to realize them there, and that was with rather poor design and rushed coding, leaving me loads of technical debt which contributed heavily to my decision to halt the project.
I will also be busier than usual with real world commitments for the forseeable future, so I expect progress will be slow, and a release-ready version may be a long way out. However, I'm now confident that I am capable of putting together a decent, somewhat enjoyable game, and I fully intend to keep doing so, improving on my previous work as much as possible.
I'm grateful to you and the rest of the alpha testers for allowing me to do so, and I hope to have your feedback on the next one as well, so I'll definitely keep you informed - if you'd like, I'd be happy to send you a private message or e-mail when that time comes.
54
Nightmare! / Re: [N!|100%|3|YAAM] Masterless conquering N! (Veteran & Elite Angelic)
« on: April 24, 2019, 21:20 »
Well that's quite an impressive return. Two angelics I've never even approached, and you make it look easy. I'll admit I was doubtful when you claimed you'd surpass Tormuse, and while I think that's still a very tall order, you clearly have the talent necessary to attempt such a feat.
Good luck on the next one.
Good luck on the next one.
55
Off Topic / Re: Working on a roguelike...
« on: April 03, 2019, 20:18 »
03 APR 2020 - Demo 0.1.3.0:
Study time now scales from 10-30 minutes of game time depending on knowledge of the language the studied grimoire is written in. Experience has been replaced by score, which can be increased through kills and additional levels of completion.
I now consider Viridian Abyss to be complete from a gameplay perspective, although there's still a lot of polishing to do. I've posted the following update to the original post:
As of 03 APR 2019, I have iterated from Alpha to Demo. At this point, I had planned to move into a Beta, but due to other projects, I am indefinitely suspending active development on Viridian Abyss. I will, however, continue to support it with balance updates and bugfixes based on player feedback.
Thanks to everyone who helped out with testing the Alpha, especially Tormuse and mihey1993, my most prolific players. Your feedback was essential to getting the game to its current state - I greatly appreciate your participation, and I welcome continued feedback on balance issues and bugs - there are definitely a lot of these still out there, which I'd love to get cleaned up.
I'll also probably bring my other projects here in the future, but that may be a long way out - I intend to spend much more time on design and quality assurance so I can avoid the massive amount of bugs I experienced with Viridian Abyss, and keep the code cleaner and more conducive to continued development.
Study time now scales from 10-30 minutes of game time depending on knowledge of the language the studied grimoire is written in. Experience has been replaced by score, which can be increased through kills and additional levels of completion.
I now consider Viridian Abyss to be complete from a gameplay perspective, although there's still a lot of polishing to do. I've posted the following update to the original post:
As of 03 APR 2019, I have iterated from Alpha to Demo. At this point, I had planned to move into a Beta, but due to other projects, I am indefinitely suspending active development on Viridian Abyss. I will, however, continue to support it with balance updates and bugfixes based on player feedback.
Thanks to everyone who helped out with testing the Alpha, especially Tormuse and mihey1993, my most prolific players. Your feedback was essential to getting the game to its current state - I greatly appreciate your participation, and I welcome continued feedback on balance issues and bugs - there are definitely a lot of these still out there, which I'd love to get cleaned up.
I'll also probably bring my other projects here in the future, but that may be a long way out - I intend to spend much more time on design and quality assurance so I can avoid the massive amount of bugs I experienced with Viridian Abyss, and keep the code cleaner and more conducive to continued development.
56
Discussion / Re: Are there any angelic badges that haven't been won yet?
« on: April 03, 2019, 18:04 »
I look forward to those mortems... good luck in your endeavors, both digital and otherwise.
57
Off Topic / Re: Working on a roguelike...
« on: March 31, 2019, 17:44 »
It also makes no sense to study it in the first place, if that's the case. Studying does two things - first, it gives a chance to learn more of the language the grimoire is written in. If you already knew the language at 100% proficiency, you will not gain any benefit from this effect. Second, it unlocks the ability to cast spells from the grimoire. If you already had a read copy of that grimoire, you already have access to those spells. Note that negative effects, such as sanity penalties that can occur for reading certain particularly eldritch grimoires, can still occur, so studying such a grimoire in this situation is not only pointless, it's dangerous without any compensating benefits.
Currently(and probably permanently - this type of effect annoys me, so I am unlikely to add it to my own game), inventory items cannot be affected by external effects(for example, fire burning scrolls or cold shattering potions, as in Angband and its variants), so keeping a backup of a non-degradeable equipment item like a grimoire does not convey any benefit I can think of. Studying it when you already know the language and have access to its spells is just a slow way to get rid of extra oil =P
All that said, I have introduced knowledge based scaling in the development version along the lines I specified before - half an hour for a totally foreign language, down to ten minutes for a perfectly fluent one. Actual times will probably be faster, since casting speed is the base modifier for the studying action - however, you'll definitely still be consuming appreciable quantities of oil, so there will still be an advantage to studying under permanent light if you have access to it.
Currently(and probably permanently - this type of effect annoys me, so I am unlikely to add it to my own game), inventory items cannot be affected by external effects(for example, fire burning scrolls or cold shattering potions, as in Angband and its variants), so keeping a backup of a non-degradeable equipment item like a grimoire does not convey any benefit I can think of. Studying it when you already know the language and have access to its spells is just a slow way to get rid of extra oil =P
All that said, I have introduced knowledge based scaling in the development version along the lines I specified before - half an hour for a totally foreign language, down to ten minutes for a perfectly fluent one. Actual times will probably be faster, since casting speed is the base modifier for the studying action - however, you'll definitely still be consuming appreciable quantities of oil, so there will still be an advantage to studying under permanent light if you have access to it.
58
Off Topic / Re: Working on a roguelike...
« on: March 31, 2019, 09:44 »
I'll fix that typo for the next release - thanks for catching it.
Grimoires must still be read to access the spells contained, even if you already know the language, and this will still take a while - but perhaps it would be interesting to modify total reading time with the player's level of understanding of its language. Of course, the intuitive way of doing this would make studying unknown grimoires take much longer, and known ones the same as current - the base time to read a grimoire, if memory serves, is about 20 minutes of game time, which is really fast proportional to reality. Probably in the interest of gameplay I could scale the time from 10-30 minutes or so alongside 100-0% language knowledge.
Glad you figured out the Mercurial Font - another one of those pseudo-puzzles that isn't meant to be *too* hard for the player to solve, but since I wrote it and know exactly how it works, I don't have a good sense of exactly how easy it is for anyone else to understand it =P
Transmute is intended to take a base item and attempt to improve it to an item of a higher rarity tier. Since recent modifications to the loot system, it no longer behaves as it originally did, and will need a review and rework to force it to behave as intended again. Thanks for including the error message - it's part of the misbehavior from the changes, but it's actually a very specific failure I'll need to address differently from the general problem, and may not have recognized without the error, so I'm glad you sent that.
Grimoires must still be read to access the spells contained, even if you already know the language, and this will still take a while - but perhaps it would be interesting to modify total reading time with the player's level of understanding of its language. Of course, the intuitive way of doing this would make studying unknown grimoires take much longer, and known ones the same as current - the base time to read a grimoire, if memory serves, is about 20 minutes of game time, which is really fast proportional to reality. Probably in the interest of gameplay I could scale the time from 10-30 minutes or so alongside 100-0% language knowledge.
Glad you figured out the Mercurial Font - another one of those pseudo-puzzles that isn't meant to be *too* hard for the player to solve, but since I wrote it and know exactly how it works, I don't have a good sense of exactly how easy it is for anyone else to understand it =P
Transmute is intended to take a base item and attempt to improve it to an item of a higher rarity tier. Since recent modifications to the loot system, it no longer behaves as it originally did, and will need a review and rework to force it to behave as intended again. Thanks for including the error message - it's part of the misbehavior from the changes, but it's actually a very specific failure I'll need to address differently from the general problem, and may not have recognized without the error, so I'm glad you sent that.
59
Off Topic / Re: Working on a roguelike...
« on: March 30, 2019, 16:23 »
30 MAR 2019 - Alpha 0.1.2.5:
Save and Exit now also responds to Ctrl-S in addition to Ctrl-X. Improved contrast in several game interfaces. Spell Reagents are now condensed in Inventory, and appear in full detail in the casting menu. Rebalanced amulet rarities and split protection, resistance, and speed into tiers. Increased the power of Partial and Total Eclipse spells, and significantly increased the root duration. Doors which are closed or locked are now highlighted in memory. Added several extra checks against certain bugs.
Alright, got a lot of that done sooner than I anticipated. As far as the bugs, as the changelog says, I added some extra checks, but I was not able to reproduce either of them, so I cannot be certain I addressed the true cause. As always, do please let me know if they persist.
Save and Exit now also responds to Ctrl-S in addition to Ctrl-X. Improved contrast in several game interfaces. Spell Reagents are now condensed in Inventory, and appear in full detail in the casting menu. Rebalanced amulet rarities and split protection, resistance, and speed into tiers. Increased the power of Partial and Total Eclipse spells, and significantly increased the root duration. Doors which are closed or locked are now highlighted in memory. Added several extra checks against certain bugs.
Alright, got a lot of that done sooner than I anticipated. As far as the bugs, as the changelog says, I added some extra checks, but I was not able to reproduce either of them, so I cannot be certain I addressed the true cause. As always, do please let me know if they persist.
60
Off Topic / Re: Working on a roguelike...
« on: March 29, 2019, 20:12 »
Thanks for the additional feedback. Unfortunately, I've been a bit busier lately, and on top of that I've started a new project to build a much better console than the one Viridian Abyss currently runs on, so most of my spare coding time has been devoted to that recently. What this means is that I don't have a new version ready to go, nor is it likely in the immediate future.
However, I do plan to continue supporting Viridian Abyss with bug fixes and balance adjustments, so I continue to welcome such feedback.
Viridian Auras are intended to be the most dangerous enemies you can encounter in the current version. They do magic typed damage, which the player tends to have fewer sources of resistance against(your armor is focused mostly toward physical typed damage), and they move quickly. A weapon change action, while significantly faster than it was prior to recent changes, is still significantly slower than a basic move or strike action, and the Viridian Aura performs those faster than the player. Additionally, there is no monster pause on level creation - the player will have the first move, but every other monster is queued up and ready to begin acting right away, too.
The current balance is not kind to on-the-fly equipment changes. Perhaps this will be a problem in the long run and will need to be looked at, but for now, that's intended - I don't want players swapping gear as a reaction. I prefer to favor advanced planning - selecting the gear that the player believes will be most effective for the type of enemies they anticipate encountering, and carrying extras not for situational swapping, but for backups when their current gear degrades. If informational spells are available, these can certainly be used to plan situational swaps in a timely fashion, and I don't mean to completely discourage a playstyle of keeping a more powerful weapon in reserve to spare its durability, as you seem to have been doing. Perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to switch to a more potent weapon as a precaution before heading for the stairs, just in case something bad is waiting for you - if you do end up needing to make a few attacks against weaker enemies, it won't cost too much off the durability, since they'll likely die in one or two strikes.
I already hack doors to be brighter than surrounding terrain when lit, to make them easier to notice, so it should be trivial to do the same when remembered.
Good job working out the eclipse spell - it's meant to be somewhat opaque, so that the player does have to work out from the spell book lore or the spell description how to correctly employ the spells(as one might expect of our intrepid adventurer), but they aren't meant to be dragonslayer hard, so I'm glad you were able to find the solution without too much trouble.
You are correct that using a reagent isn't supposed to consume it - I'll address that along with the overall reagent reorganization suggested in your previous post - I certainly need to do something different with displaying those, so I may as well handle that too.
Sounds like Partial Eclipse needs a significant buff - I don't always have a great sense of what's balanced, what's overpowered, and what's too weak, and it looks like I erred on the side of way too weak in this case. Expect a damage increase and a significant lengthening of the root duration for the next release, and please do let me know if you come across other spells that feel underwhelming - Grimoires are rare, the languages aren't easy to learn, and the RNG can play havoc when it comes to finding the precise reagents you need, so while I don't want magic to be godmode, I also don't want it to be disappointing.
I'll try to get some work done on this over the weekend, and hopefully I'll have something to show for it by early next week, but unfortunately I'm not quite able to promise a release date for these changes just now.
However, I do plan to continue supporting Viridian Abyss with bug fixes and balance adjustments, so I continue to welcome such feedback.
Viridian Auras are intended to be the most dangerous enemies you can encounter in the current version. They do magic typed damage, which the player tends to have fewer sources of resistance against(your armor is focused mostly toward physical typed damage), and they move quickly. A weapon change action, while significantly faster than it was prior to recent changes, is still significantly slower than a basic move or strike action, and the Viridian Aura performs those faster than the player. Additionally, there is no monster pause on level creation - the player will have the first move, but every other monster is queued up and ready to begin acting right away, too.
The current balance is not kind to on-the-fly equipment changes. Perhaps this will be a problem in the long run and will need to be looked at, but for now, that's intended - I don't want players swapping gear as a reaction. I prefer to favor advanced planning - selecting the gear that the player believes will be most effective for the type of enemies they anticipate encountering, and carrying extras not for situational swapping, but for backups when their current gear degrades. If informational spells are available, these can certainly be used to plan situational swaps in a timely fashion, and I don't mean to completely discourage a playstyle of keeping a more powerful weapon in reserve to spare its durability, as you seem to have been doing. Perhaps it wouldn't be a bad idea to switch to a more potent weapon as a precaution before heading for the stairs, just in case something bad is waiting for you - if you do end up needing to make a few attacks against weaker enemies, it won't cost too much off the durability, since they'll likely die in one or two strikes.
I already hack doors to be brighter than surrounding terrain when lit, to make them easier to notice, so it should be trivial to do the same when remembered.
Good job working out the eclipse spell - it's meant to be somewhat opaque, so that the player does have to work out from the spell book lore or the spell description how to correctly employ the spells(as one might expect of our intrepid adventurer), but they aren't meant to be dragonslayer hard, so I'm glad you were able to find the solution without too much trouble.
You are correct that using a reagent isn't supposed to consume it - I'll address that along with the overall reagent reorganization suggested in your previous post - I certainly need to do something different with displaying those, so I may as well handle that too.
Sounds like Partial Eclipse needs a significant buff - I don't always have a great sense of what's balanced, what's overpowered, and what's too weak, and it looks like I erred on the side of way too weak in this case. Expect a damage increase and a significant lengthening of the root duration for the next release, and please do let me know if you come across other spells that feel underwhelming - Grimoires are rare, the languages aren't easy to learn, and the RNG can play havoc when it comes to finding the precise reagents you need, so while I don't want magic to be godmode, I also don't want it to be disappointing.
I'll try to get some work done on this over the weekend, and hopefully I'll have something to show for it by early next week, but unfortunately I'm not quite able to promise a release date for these changes just now.