Dweller 1.19.1

This is a minor release to fix some issues with 1.19.0. Here's the change-log:


#267 Standing on stairs to training grounds incorrectly shows "Standing on stairs to the dungeon"
#265 Add tutorial message about perma-death
#268 Add tutorial message about risk of triggering traps when disarming them
#269 Minor graphics glitch on kill animation
#270 Never show +0xp messages or animations
#271 Reduced chance of finding enchanted items
#272 Unsellable items should not show a value when selling items to a merchant
#273 Do not add items to portals

Source and comments: http://www.dwellergame.com/2012/05/dweller-1191.html

Initial thoughts on 1.19.0

Ok, so I was playing the new version of Dweller on my way to work and my first observations was that a) the tutorial quest givers didn't actually provide any quests at all and b) the frequency of enchanted items is way to high. Please post your thought on the new version as well either here, in the original announcement post or on the forum.

Source and comments: http://www.dwellergame.com/2012/05/initial-thought-on-1190.html

Dweller 1.19.0

Dweller 1.19.0 is here! I'm taking a bit of a chance releasing now since I have a feeling that new version will need a bit of balancing before it's stable. I do hope that as many of you as possible will send me feedback on the new version. I will probably release a few minor updates in fast succession once feedback starts to pour in.

The new version features a lot of changes to data formats, especially how levels are defined. This unfortunately means that save game compatibility is broken (1.x.0 to 1.y.0 denotes incompatible save game versions).

Here's a full list of changes. Enjoy!


#245 Summoning traps are undetectable
#241 Do not show the value of items that cannot be sold
#237 Unique items should never be enchanted from the start
#243 Monster spell casting was broken when mana was introduced
#236 Nerf stun on weapons
#248 Remove cast speed and have all spells take equally long to cast
#249 Add a new creature to the maze
#247 Dragon's Breath spell still show targets too far away as valid
#225 Axe hitting multiple targets not working properly
#250 Wands are not depleting their charges properly
#242 Double "It can damage enemies" in some descriptions
#217 Add a hunter pet
#251 Show mana/energy cost of spells in quickslots
#252 Improve the way the name of items in quickslots are shown
#63A dd a one-way portal back to the main dungeon from a dungeon branch
#157 Add a tutorial dungeon with tutorial quests
#254 Nerf levitate
#255 No exp gained when killing a monster using poison
#244 Pushing stone into brazier toggles it
#256 Remove minor healing from Antidote potions
#220 Do not show "Use until full health" on consumables that doesn't heal you
#219 Add the new side-branch The Crypt
#261 Cancel auto-travel on user input
#258 Crash when moving cursor outside the map
#235 Increase difference in spell costs
#260 Trying to enchant a normal quiver forces you to re-equip it
#259 Moving cursor over a non-discovered chest trap shows "Disable?"
#263 If you run out of special arrows you need to drop and requip your normal quiver to use it
#19A dd bitmasking to walls
#266 Add promo and feature graphics to Google Play
#257 Pets should increase in power over time

Source and comments: http://www.dwellergame.com/2012/05/dweller-1190.html

Bitmasking on or off

I recently added something called bitmasking to smooth out the walls and make them look like proper walls and not separate blocks of stone laid out to next to each other. Personally I like the bitmasked version better, but who knows, maybe you guys prefer the old way? Have a look at this before and after picture and let me know what you think:

BEFORE

AFTER 

Source and comments: http://www.dwellergame.com/2012/05/bitmasking-on-or-off.html

Roguelike Radio #35

Roguelike Radio #35 is out. In this episode Darren Grey, Ido Yehieli, Andrew Doull and Keith Burgun discuss Diablo and Diablo like games and how they relate to roguelikes. It's a really interesting episode and there's some really good discussions in the comments section.

Dweller is now on Twitter

I've been convinced to finally get a Twitter account, both for me personally (@bjornritzl) and for Dweller. In case you're a Twitter and Dweller user you may want to follow @dwellergame since I'll cross post there as well.

Source and comments: http://www.dwellergame.com/2012/05/dweller-is-now-on-twitter.html

Pets and allies in Dweller

In Dweller there's a Bag of Monsters that you can come across while exploring the dungeon. When opened a charmed monster will pop up and fight along side you. It's the same as using a Book of Charms on a monsters, but it gives the warrior and ranger a chance to get an ally. Yesterday I added a Dog whistle and gave that to the ranger as a part of the starting gear. The whistle has an unlimited number of uses and when used it summons a dog (although you can only have one dog summoned at a time). The dog will work as any ally and it will try to attack targets adjacent to the player.

I am now contemplating if I should give the wizard the ability to summon elementals, but I'm afraid of the difficulty balancing this. The wizard is already powerful as it is.

Status update

There's a lot going on with Dweller and it will take a couple of more days before I can release a new version. I thought I'd share some of the things you'll come across in the next version:

The Crypt
This will be a new side branch of the dungeon, filled with all kinds of undead. At the bottom of the crypt there will be a new mini boss for you to fight. There's going to be a new kind of undead, Ghouls. Ghouls will be fast and come in large packs so you better watch out and don't get caught in the open.

More goblins
The main branch of the dungeon will host more goblins now that the undead are moving into their own side branch. Goblin Captains and Shamans will be among the new dungeon denizens.

The Ranger's best friend
As was mentioned earlier the ranger will now have a fierce dog to fight along his side.

Tutorial dungeon
New players will be able to visit a small tutorial dungeon to learn some of the basic concepts in Dweller. The tutorial dungeon will be accessible from the forest.

And of course a whole bunch of bugs have been squashed since the last release...

Stay tuned!

Dweller 1.18.0 - The return of Mana!

I have released a new version of Dweller with a lot of fixes and new features. One of the main changes in 1.18 is the return of the mana stat. The wizard will from now on use mana to cast spells. Mana is regained each turn and fully replenished on level up. Chose your spells carefully and don't spend mana on costly spells if a more efficient spell does the job equally well. Players who prefer to play Wizards will either love me or hate me due to this change. The game will be harder as a wizard, but then again, the wizard was the easiest class in previous versions.

Other notable changes is a lot of tweaks to item probabilities. In general it has become easier to find some of the rarer items. The game does from now on also offer a full screen mode that can be enabled from the settings menu.

#221 Add mana/energy as a stat used by the wizard when casting spells
#222 Add Mana Potions
#223 Add melee thrust attack to Halberd
#218 Add a length parameter to the Line area of effect
#149 Remember position in lists when selling
#109 Getting multiple books from bookshelves overwrites previous book
#224 Add a thrusting attack to Halberds that hit two targets in a straight line
#60 Add a fullscreen option
#229 Increase probability to find enchanted items
#230 Increased probability to find some rare items
#227 Adjust chance to find enchanted bows
#228 Evaluate chance to find Dwarven Mining Helmets
#226 Book of Sleep graphics wrong
#231 Fix freeze when leveling up while handing in a quest and getting a reward of an item type that is not yet equipped
#232 Fix performance degradation when message box gets flooded
#203 Rats do not move on the forest level when starting a new game
#128 Make sure that artifacts are only generated once per game
#130 Adjust out-of-depth monster generation
#233 Adjust random artifact names