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[st33d]

Going to reduce the amount of levels from 20 to 16. 4 levels per zone.

Content progression will still roll out over 20 levels. But it will pick 4 from 5, then the last will be added to the pool for the next zone and so on. With the balrog and underworld portal also starting at 16 (or perhaps at a random level in Chaos), it could mean you could play the whole game without experiencing some of the content - unless you stored it in the Overworld.

It's a tough choice but I think this will help the pacing/replay and let me throw in a big sprawling level at the end of each zone.

The big levels will have an elite character to fight in them with extra health, a special ability and nice loot. I'm planning on one elite character to represent each race. So far I've got:

Balrog: The Balrog, can use stairs, the boss of the game that has the amulet of Yendor.
Drow: Crowley, regenerates health, all of my MMO characters are named after my Baldurs Gate evil-elf-cleric.
Kobold: Pun Pun, max kobold stats, named after the most powerful character ever.
Vampire: Edward, sparkles, yeah, enjoy killing him.
Goblin: Golfimbul, always suffers decapitation, after the lord of the rings character whose fate allegedly gave rise to the game of golf.
Troll: Forchan, level 20 regeneration - will prove difficult to kill. May have him call you a faggot.
Nymph: The Bitch, always succeeds every steal attempt.
Gorgon: Medusa, attack inflicts slow as well as stun.

Suggestions for the remaining races are welcome.

I'm also boosting equipped monsters health (champions) - if you see them with weapons/armour, it will mean an elite or a champion - and a worthwhile fight.

[killozapit]

If you are going to make the game shorter, maybe you could have have nethack style "branches". For example at the last level to a zone there could be two exits to two different alternate zones. It might be a good way to provide more content variety without making the game any longer. You could also have multiple difficulty settings which altered how many levels there were till the end.

[bartholomew]

for the last day i had problems with your menu, it was unresponsive, strange text scrolling, i couldn't go down a dungeon by pressing down. I didn't think much about it because it only started at the beginning of a game and i just pressed refresh and that solved it.

I noticed now when this happens: i have a non american keyboard and i switch to american layout by pressing alt+shift and that seems to mess with the menu(at least for me)

[st33d]

That could possibly be Flash not liking foreign layouts. Can you still navigate with arrow keys? What is the default keyboard?

[st33d]

Update 378

zones are now four levels long
content per zone is divided among the zone levels with the remainder going to the pool for the next zone
missile aggro bug fixed
kick smite attack added - if a character is falling when they attack then they roll for smite based on their character level
sounds added for various things
fixed minimap new game bug
fixed and tweaked other things

Currently working on whirlwind attack (activates when surrounded and dual wielding) and tutorial gui.

[bartholomew]

i dont think it is the layout because i've never had problems with flash before, besides it's only a qwertz keyboard so not actually much different(i think).

It happened to me now on two different machines after i press alt+shift and i can reproduce it more or less(it doesn't happen everytime):

The menu doesn't respond to input but the arrows are blinking. Space works as usual to get in and out the menus, outside of the menus i haven't noticed any changes besides that i can't use down to change the level.

edit: oh and i never find loot in secret rooms

[st33d]

I can't reproduce this error on any of my machines.

You need to tell me the operating system, the browser, whether the arrow keys and w,a,s,d respond in any way and the language being switched to.

Without this information I can't do anything. There is no bug for me to fix because I don't have any information about how to reproduce it.

Sorry.

[st33d]

Update 380

various optimisations
fixed the colour of blood coming out of heads and corpses to be consistent
fixed traps not being removed by disarm
traps can be disarmed without being revealed by the search skill now (owing to the new partial visibility of most traps)
added dual-wielding-whirlwind attack

When surrounded on both sides a character attacking with a throwing weapon in hand will now execute a whirlwind attack. They will flick quickly between the attacker at the front and the one behind, attacking forward with the main weapon and then backwards with the throwing weapon. Letting go of a direction will stop the whirlwind attack. The attack changes sides when the action bar is half-full.

This provides a way out of being dropped into a group of monsters as well as encouraging that sort of attack. Like the kick-smite, it's a skill that will feature more in the late game but can be used by very skilled players.

[st33d]

Okay, bartholomew has helped me isolate the keyboard layout switching issue. Basically when you switch layout (german especially because the shift key moves) the game thinks you've still got some keys held down (because those keys have now jumped to somewhere else on the keyboard).

We got a basic hack that fixes it but still leaves a little damage that doesn't affect gameplay anymore. I'd like to add a bit more so it self-repairs after a layout-switch.

And that's two requests for content in secret rooms I've noticed (one request: crazy person, two requests: maybe I should fix that), so I'll try get both of those in the next update.

[nahkranoth]

Really great how your game has grown st33d! I could remember it being a bit difficult, verry big dungeons and sometimes not enough loot to keep you alive. All this has balanced out nicely. Also i love the atmosphere changes in music when you get into another part (sewer, etc).

Before i start to give critique i must say that i haven't read your still-to-do list.

You could graphicly enhance the atmospheric change even more too. When i came down into the sewer it was a bit different looking, but i expected it to be a bigger change. More green goo and shit.
Maybe not even gray tiles, but more green too. Like the whole color of the level changed a shade.

Another thing: when you die you could pop up a screen with the question if you want to restart. It took me a bit to find the start new game option. It felt more like a bug; that i was stuck or something.

Make sure the locked door always has some loot behind it (or the exit).
I found it a bit disapointing to find no loot after searching the whole level for a key.

But i must say again, this is a great game allready.

[st33d]

note to self: new drop smite logic is in the wrong order

Maybe not even gray tiles, but more green too. Like the whole color of the level changed a shade.

Nope, no green. The colour scheme is a lot of hard work to maintain, but it creates a strong sense of style. Red, Black and White - that's all.

I'll see if I can put some drips and outlets in the sewers - it will be difficult as the plain background makes it easier to see stuff. If you check my first build that was a popular complaint, being able to make stuff out.

-

Turns out the lack of content in secret rooms was totally a bug. They were being missed out of the distribution stage and added to the wrong list. Sorry guys 

I'm setting it so that if there is secret rooms on a level then at least one will have treasure in.

[st33d]

Update 382

fixed smite logic bug
foriegn keyboard switching support
the chance drop smite now stacks with a blessed weapon's chance to smite
secret room content bug fixed
and fixed this:

[JobLeonard]

That took me a while...

[st33d]

eh?

[rek]

Wow, I haven't played this in months (but have been following the devlog daily). It's really coming together!

[JobLeonard]

It took me a while to see what the bug was.

[st33d]

Yeah, it's easier to see with the stars exploding.

I was having a really epic run up to that point. I meant to save the random seed but that bug kinda soured the mood.

Note to self: turn on all critter death sounds with volume by distance so the player can use them to detect movement.

[st33d]

Bug spotted: shooting a gate isn't resolved properly - will fix for next build.

[Swaggermuffin]

"Arm yourself, darling." I saw that in one of the messages that are scrawled on the wall. That should be the tagline for when the game is finished.

[st33d]

http://redrogue.net/

The guide will be hosted on the new site, all historical builds and fun stuff will be at the old address on my personal site for now.

Changes in Build 384:

bug when shooting a gate fixed
secrets and traps that are disarmed / attacked without being revealed by a search will yield double experience points
equipped monsters have double health - making them champions
death sounds of critters can be heard when they are killed other than by the player but the volume is distance based, adding another way to detect monster movements