Thursday, September 30, 2010

Dweller 1.5.0 - sleeping monsters and tile scaling

The latest version introduced automatic scaling of map graphics on high resolution handsets. I thought this was a good feature to add since I had received some feedback that it was hard to play on high resolution handsets. Apparently a lot of people did not agree with this... I've received a bunch of e-mails about it so I decided I had to bring back the scaling option to the menu. I have moved all settings to a separate sub-menu, and you will now be able to access tile scaling (Android only), popup toggling, keybindings and language settings in there.

In this version some monsters may be generated asleep. This means that you have a chance to sneak past them or simply move up close and whack them on the head! I will add a lot more features around the new sleep status. Spells that will make monsters fall asleep, backstabbing of sleeping monsters and so on

Rangers should also rejoice as I've upped the chance of finding a better bow and also added an Elven Bow and a Crossbow to the ranged arsenal.

NEW FEATURES
  • Added Elven Bow. Low weight, high damage.
  • Added Crossbow. High weight, very high damage.
  • Monsters can be generated asleep
  • Added a settings menu and moved key bindings and language settings there
  • Android - Reintroduced the option to change tile size
  • Language settings shown the first time Dweller is launched

BUG FIXES

  • Selected language is now properly saved between games
  • It is no longer possible to kill yourself if a spellcast backfires

15 comments:

  1. I was playing this today on my phone and hit a teleporter. It sent me to a room with no doors at all. I could see the main dungeon as it was sharing a wall with this room.

    Boy that was a pretty funny thing to happen. Well played dungeon, well played.

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  2. Oh, really? That was a nasty dungeon. Are you sure there was no secret door along one of the walls? If you move around the edges of the room or rest next to each section of wall a secret door should hopefullt be revealed. Otherwise there's a bug in the dungeon generator.

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  3. Hi,
    I have some bugs on J2ME:
    - First two progress labels on splash screen (too fast to be able to read them but I think they are INIT_LOADING_SETTINGS and INIT_LOADING_LANGUAGES) are not translated
    - When selecting character on 240x320 screen, ranger is on the bottom so that only icon and name is visible. There is scroll bar but screen does not scroll when ranger is selected, so it is not possible to read description
    - Version of jar is 1.4.2 instead of 1.5.0

    Also I have suggestion regarding scroll of recall. What about creating teleport which transports you back from surface to level which you leave?Just like portal in Diablo. (yesterday I was stuck around level 5 because on my way down I've always found some valuable and heavy artifact which I wanted to sell before going deeper:o) )

    Petr

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  4. Petr the recall does do that. Use scroll of recall to go to the top, sell goods, use scoll of recall from outside of dungeon and it will take you back to where you were.

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  5. Wow, it never occurred to me to try using a scroll of recall outside :o) Thanks for tip. However I see you are returned not to original place but to new random level. Maybe in this case original level should be persisted even in case of random levels. Of course in that case it would be harder to use scroll to escape swarm of monsters :o)

    Petr

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  6. Bug. The exp from perfect hits is not obtained. You even don't get them. Same with crits, or 'catching offguard'
    plx fix, you can't train on oozes. ;[

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  7. @Petr: Thanks for reporting the language bug. I have solved the text srolling issue. The fix will be included in the next release.

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  8. @Petr: I think I quite like the way the Scroll of Recall sends you back into a random position in the dungeon. I'll keep it as it is for now.

    @Azebu: You are not playing the latest version right? I simplified melee a bit and removed the off-guard and perfect hit.

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  9. Yes i do. Why removed?
    Also, can't scroll char select and credits.

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  10. Now score from coins is 0ea. Rly?
    Also, imho perfs and crits are a must for good balance. Without that, ranger is just a weaker wizard, and warrior is total fail. High level let's warrior to chase enemies.
    Sorry 4 doublepost

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  11. @Azebu: In 1.5.1 (released today) it is possible to scroll char select and credits.

    Yes, Gold does not contribute much to the score anymore. Now you get one extra point per 100 Gold. The main source for scoring is accumulated experience and to some extent the maximum depth reached. I think I need to work more on scoring, but I have not decided anything yet.

    The combat resolution is still complex enough I think. It is still based on your attack value against the opponent's defence value. The damage dealt follows a gaussian/bell shaped curve which still means there is room for high damage values. There is also a small chance for really weak opponents to still hurt a much more powerful target.

    I think the warrior is easiest to win with.

    The challenge with the ranger is to stay at a distance from mobs, and I may need to give the ranger more means of staying at a range. Things like being able to set traps to slow/stop approaching monsters.

    The wizard may need to be nerfed, and I think the change to draining spells is a change in the right direction.

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  12. You're right.
    But ranger gameplay is kinda different. The bow is more like an addon, than basic attack, but still it's an advantage.
    After getting good dagger, or even dagger of draining, you just keep holding direction button.
    I use bow if:
    enemy retreats
    he is behind push stone or gate
    he is 2-3 tiles away
    The good method of exp gain is(was) to keep hitting oozes. Cheap exp from kill, nice exp from hit. I always trained like this to lvl 7-9

    Also, have you removed random items names generator? I have spotted item Era 3 times today!
    If yes, the Kast dagger hits double per turn ;)

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  13. I think you will find Daggers of Draining less powerful now as the effect is reduced on an already drained/damaged monster. No, random name generator is still there, but it has been changed recently. I guess I may need to tweak it slightly. The dagger you found that seems to hit twice probably got an extra damage effect added to it when it was generated.

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  14. It looks like:
    You hit Goblin (1hp)
    You hit Goblin (9hp)
    Goblin hits you (2hp)
    End of turn.

    Think about return of perfs.

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  15. Yes, it definitely has an added damage effect that gets triggered when you manage to damage the monster. The double messages look a bit weird, but it's too much of a hassle to change it.

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