Jun 162014
 

Lots of bug fixes, balance changes, big changes for the Necromanser, and some new monster tricks await you! Here are the patch notes. As a reminder,

This build will require you to begin a new Academy!

Crash Fixes

  • Dying while bleeding or poisoned.
  • Polearms attacking off the edge of the map.

Save Corruption Fixes

  • Attempted fix for crashing while writing out map or save data.
  • Fix for Academy and World corruption based on switching between save files.

Bug Fixes

  • Status effect particles should display on monsters once they enter LOS if they cast the effect while outside of LOS.
  • Particles should stick with the player on stair transition.
  • Banner effects no longer persist forever on stair transition.
  • Inventory no longer shuffles on first sale or purchase.
  • Polearm attacks now only extend two tiles, no sneaking in that third tile.
  • Wandering Monsters now continue to spawn after loading a save file.
  • Dungeons should no longer spawn inside of mountains.
  • You can no longer accidentally pass your turn while targeting a ranged attack or special power.
  • Proofs of Stremf no longer cap at 255.
  • Vault Storage works correctly.

Quick ID

Shift-click (or press shift-enter on) an unidentified item in your inventory to automatically spend a Scroll of Identification on it.

Keybinds

In your save folder (users/[you]/appdata/roaming/Dungeonmans) you’ll find keybinds.txt, with instructions on how to bind keys to do whatever you like. There is no ingame UI for this yet.

Monsters

  • Added the Brigand Tricksonometrix, a shifty villainess who uses deception and misdirection to support her criminal allies.
  • Reduced the regen value on the Triger’s Roar.

Champions

  • From level 4 and up, enemy Champions have an increased health pool.
  • Champions will, in nearly all cases, scale up to the level of the player if they are not there already.
  • Some monsters now have additional powers they receive if they are promoted to Champions, Bosses, or Ancient Kings. Eventually this will extend to all monsters, but not yet.
  • Champions will now only drop one Proof of Stremf regardless of level. Higher level Champions now have an increased chance to drop better loot.

General Perk / Power Balance

 

  • Mana now regenerates a fixed percentage per tick, and at a slower rate.
  • Mad Thirsty has been adjusted to allow for one extra potion per round. I should probably mention that in the power description.
  • Foomsplosion has a faster cast animation and will now hit each tile in a 3×3 area exactly one time. Tiles out of LOS will not be hit.
  • Drink the Typhoon fires half as many attacks as before. It will still hit creatures out of LOS, for now.

Bannermans

  • Banner of the Tide Turned now only restores resources on attacks, just like the tooltip says.
  • All other Banners save Septentrion Cross have had their durations increased to 20 rounds, and in some cases their ranges may have been increased.

 

Necromanser

  • Manabones has been changed to give you a one-round shield that reduces damage taken by 50%.
  • Deathcharged is a new passive that gives you a 20% bonus to damage on the round following a round where you pick up a Deadpulse.
  • Detonate Deadpulse may now cause hilarious chain reactions.
  • Freeze Hatred now is limited to one Hateglacier at a time. The Hateglacier now scales with your level and will hit harder as you level up.
  • Conjure Gravemooks now creates more skeletons. They will decay after 2d4+20 rounds.

 

Tricksonometry

  • Vanish and Hero Cloud have been removed from the tree. They will return in a different format later.
  • Big Bamf is a controlled teleport that will Pin and Addle enemies near your original location. This power causes you to become Unstable, and prevents the re-use of that power until the condition passes.
  • Gift Exchange swaps all buffs and debuffs on you with those on a different creature.

 

May 152014
 

At long last. After an extended Greenlight campaign, months of development and mountains of player feedback, Dungeonmans is on the way to Steam! Monster crushing high adventure will be available to more people than ever before, and you won’t have to constantly re-download the game when updates go out. Huzzah!

Why Early Access?

Because the game isn’t complete, but it’s in great shape and full of content. Getting more feedback and gameplay data can only help make Dungeonmans a better game. We’re moving to the point where balance becomes super critical, and the late game (and post game!) are beginning to take shape. We’re going beyond the basics, and starting to develop the unique and interesting events that help create the storied adventures that roguelikes are known for. Feedback from Early Access will help ensure that Dungeonmans meets its full potential.

Pre-order here to save some coin!

Dungeonmans pre-orders are live for $10.00 right now on the sale page. On May 28th, the price goes up! Pre-orders will receive the Early Access version of the game on May 28th, as well as a Steam version.

Already purchased Dungeonmans?

If you picked up the Early Access version, or purchased the Dungeonmans Pre-order, you’ll receive Steam access on that day. I don’t have the exact details on whether you’ll receive a key in the mail or just link your Humble version to Steam, but I am in the process of figuring that out right now.

Do you want to know more?

Follow Dungeonmans on Facebook and Twitter for timely updates and new information, and about zero cat pictures.

 

 

 

 

May 072014
 

The latest version of Dungeonmans Early Access is now available! If you’ve already picked up an Early Access version, you can grab the latest version from your Humble library. If you haven’t joined us in Early Access, what are you waiting for!?

Alpha 2.02

Bug Fixes

  • Selling to the shop should no longer trick the game into thinking you’re wearing scrolls as pants when you load your save game.
  • Assigning powers to the power bar, via hotkeys, mouse, or both, should work correctly.
  • The Dungeon Bookkeeper hang has been fixed!
  • Invisble trees are now visibile.
  • Some cases of jankily positioned doors have been fixed.
  • Bookshelf sprites fixed.
  • Sound and other feedback added to scrolls of Eat Curse and Curse Gear.

New Features

  • The game will now draw pixel-perfect at resolutions above 1280×800. Just make that window as big as you like. Fullscreen mode isn’t implemented yet, and there are still some elements of the presentation that don’t draw pefectly. Shrinking the window to below 1280×800 will cause the game to scale down to fit inside the viewable area. One day I’m going to just add a drop down to select a resolution.
  • Consumables (potions and scrolls) can be slotted to the power bar. Drag them over with the mouse, or press shift+number to hotkey them, just like you would with powers.
  • Monsters will explode into little bloody bits and make sounds when killed.

General Gameplay

  • Any monster that sees a Dungeonmans head through a stairwell will be emboldened by the base cowardice on display and heal to full health.
  • Wandering Monsters won’t spawn in the entrance room of a dungeon, specifically not in sight of the stairway. Wandering Monsters also now spawn with more aggression and will sometimes hunt a resting player down.

Southern Gentlemans

  • Ire generation has been increased when players take hits that deal any damage, and reduced to zero for hits that deal no damage.
  • Rapier Wit now triggers on blocks as well as the guaranteed parry, meaning that it is again useful for 1H+Shield users.

Bannermans + Heavy Armor

The early Bannermans power set wasn’t working together well, primarily because the Stamina cost of the first Heavy Armor power was too (damn) high. Neither Battle Fervor nor Banner of the Tide Turned were bringing value for their cost. Both skills have had their effect increased and cost reduced. Battle Fervor might be too powerful now, I’ll keep an eye on it.

  • Stamina cost of all Banners reduced.
  • Regeneration granted by Banner of the Tide Turned has been increased.
  • Battle Fervor: Stamina cost reduced to ~20% of baseline Stamina, duration and regeneration increased.
Apr 222014
 

The latest version of Dungeonmans Early Access is now available! If you’ve already picked up an Early Access version, you can grab the latest version from your Humble library. If you haven’t joined us in Early Access, what are you waiting for!?

Bug Fixes and UI Improvements

  • Fixed bug where selecting “Sell all my unequipped gear” would cause all sorts of failures, including sale of your equipped gear and save corruption.
  • Not fixed: Rare hanging on shopkeeper interaction. If this happens to you, please let me know via jim@dungeonmans.com.
  • Power hotkeys and the quickslot bar are cleared on death. This fixes many situations where powers would fail to activate from bogus requirements.
  • Mouseover tooltips should now work on the quickslot bar.
  • Fixed rare crash caused by Hammer and Anvil power.
  • Dashing Charge no longer is blocked by adjacent enemies, and also deals additional Bleed damage on each strike.
  • Bandit Sparktossers and other enemies who use Villain Cloud now have less clones to attack through, and a longer cooldown between casts.

Trivial Dungeons and Monsters

In an effort to keep Dungeonmens adventuring onward, the rewards for fighting monsters weaker than you in less-dangerous areas are reduced. At the top of the screen you can see the approximate danger level of the area you are in. When you have notably outleveled the content in an area, it becomes Trivial– a mere annoyance for a champion like yourself. What does that mean?

Monster is Trivial if all the following conditions are met:

  • The area you’re fighting in is marked as Trivial.
  • You are higher level than the monster.
  • The monster is not a Boss, Champion, Ancient King, or other specialty monster.
Trivial monsters give no XP or loot when killed, and often cause your hero to yawn in boredom.
If you are about to enter a dungeon from the overworld that is Trivial, you’ll receive a warning about that and the dungeon will only have one floor. Will this encourage exploration or cause lesser Dungeonmens to grind scrobolds and puppy molds for Proofs of Stremf?

Potions, Status Effects and Science

Many more status effects have been correctly tied to your Science score. Stat potions in particular gain a notable benefit from Science. If you need to really put the hurt on some monsters, a Potion of Stremf can make that happen. If you have a round or two to plan ahead (and of course you do, because you’re Careful, Cautious and On Guard) you can pre-game with a Potion of Science. Enjoy this madness before the nerfs come down.

Beware the Triger!

You are not prepared.

Apr 142014
 

I’m happy to announce that the Dungeonmans Early Access program has begun! Buy in to Early Access at a new, lower price and get to playing instantly:

Whoops: If you haven’t already, don’t forget to grab the XNA 4.0 binaries! Dungeonmans needs those, the installer with the binaries will be up shortly!

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=27598

Jump into the Alpha 2.0 (Balpha!) build and see for yourself all the exciting changes that have gone in since the Summer Preview:

  • New Classes: Control the battlefield as a stalwart Bannermans or raise hell with the Southern Gentlemans’ frantic temper tantrums!
  • 30+ New Skills: Both new classes bring three distinct masteries to mix and match, as well as an all new Armor mastery collection.
  • New Dungeon Styles: Explore twisting, dripping Swamp dungeons and raid fast-action Towers for their huge treasure vaults and Warlord bosses.
  • Expanded Academy Features: See WIP versions of the Academy Armory and Museum and help shape them with your feedback.
  • All New UI with full Mouse and Keyboard support:  Like the mouse? Use the mouse! Hate mice? Go keyboard only, it still works.
  • Brand New Art: Every environment, monster and hero has been overhauled, with more new art on the way!
  • More Excellent Dungeonmans Music: Five brand new tracks and extended versions of music from the Summer Preview.

Get in early and help guide the course of Dungeonmans. Data from every adventure and your critical feedback help fine tune the combat, masteries, layouts, and every other aspect of this in-development adventure.

 

 

 

Feb 242014
 

Alpha Backers: Download Here

Besides a bushel of bug fixes, there’s been an update to Towns, the Sword and Board skill line, and a whole mess of new art. Most magically, this should be (fingers crossed!) the last time you ever need to start a new Academy due to a game update. That S won’t fly come Beta, and I’m trying out my solution now.

Greenlight Progress

Right now Dungeonmans is sitting at #49 on the Greenlight charts. Is this month the month? Is that the summit we see ahead? Perhaps it is a monster with a summit-shaped crest, which it uses to lure in prey. You won’t be fooled though: careful, cautious, and on guard!

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=114781779

 

 

Build Notes

Alpha 1.2

Crash / Bug Fixes:

  • Fixed crash that could spawn from empty inventories.
  • Occasional crash leaving Scrobold Warrens fixed.
  • Fixed crash involving spell targeting.
  • Fixed crash related to status effects and Mostlies.
  • Raise Mostly once again costs Deadpulses and an action.
  • Fixed Ghost Dungeonmans / Big slides after being pushed back.
  • Lizardmans Pope should register as a boss and spawn an exit portal on death.
  • You can now cancel out of the Use Item on Item screen, however you still consume the scroll that you read.
  • Fix for Brigand Foominologist drawing incorrectly.

New Art!

  • New art for nearly every creature in the game. They should still feel familiar, let me know if you see a change you feel is for the worse.
  • New overworld icons for Towns, the Academy, and the Convenient Scrobold Warren.

Sword and Board Overhaul

Wreck Armor and Danger Shuffle were unintersting powers that no one used. I’ve tried to make the skill line more interesting. Sword and Board continues to focus on a mix of defense and offense, using rushes to get you into (and out of!) trouble.

  • One Stood Against Many: Replaces Wreck Armor. This power is a battle cry that gains effectiveness for each enemy nearby. Enemies hit by the cry have their buffs stripped away, and you receive a bonus to damage taken and delivered that lasts for 2 rounds per foe within 3 tiles.
  • Furious Assault: Replaces Danger Shuffle. Bull-rush an adjacent enemy, pushing them up to 5 tiles away, and make a flurry of melee attacks while doing so.

Town Improvements

  • Towns now render correctly, and shops work once more.
  • Shop interface now works with mouse or keyboard.
  • Towns have been simplified, with guaranteed shops. Inn and special shops are not complete.
  • Towns have a Prosperity ranking, which you can increase by finding Purloined Inventory and bringing them to the Mayor of the town you like the most.
  • Prosperity expands shop collections, reduces prices, and adds a greater chance of magic items.
  • The first specialty shops are in, Blacksmiths who focus on a particular type of item. More to come!
Feb 032014
 

The Alpha has been updated, and (over the next hour or so) Alpha backers will be notified via a series of emails, KS messages, and fastest possible birds. For the curious, the notes are below.

If you want to join the Alpha, there’s still time!

 

Patch Notes

Alpha 1.1 Patch!

Crash Fixes:

  • Dying in the overworld or asking the bartender for dungeon tips no longer dooms your game to endless crashing.
  • Binding a hotkey to 0 no longer crashes.
  • Rapier Wit will no longer cause the game to crash.
  • Armor Racks and Bookshelves should no longer cause the occasional crash.

Bug Fixes:

  • The last two character sprites can now be properly selected.
  • Health and resource bars no longer jankily creep up the side of the inventory bar.
  • Rangermans now starts with 1 point in Medium Armor.
  • Dungeonmans class now starts with a polearm in the bag.
  • Polearms are listed as such in their item card.
  • Main menu options page works– help button not so much.
  • Light Shield and Flux Shield draw in the correct position on the sprite.

UI Improvements:

  • Mouse/Skill/Hotbar use all significantly improved. Binding to the hotbar should feel much more natural via mouse or keyboard.
  • More icons and proper tooltips added for masteries.
  • Some powers that let you target an empty square no longer let you do so. These are powers like Shield Rush and Lightspear, which have no benefit when not cast on a target.
  • The map now draws over other UI elements.
  • The Masteries panel now shows you how many points you have remaining.
  • The Skill selection panel now shows you what your weapon/armor loadout grants you, and powers you cannot use are listed as greyed out in the panel.
  • Skills in your hotbar that you can’t use due to your loadout will be greyed out as well.
  • Use-item-on-item interface improved.

All Mana Using Classes:

  • Picking a class with a manapool (such as Necromanser or Bannermans) and taking the first point in Applied Wizardry will now result in a 20% bonus to your maximum mana. Previously, the Wizardry pick was just a wasted point.

Bannermans:

  • Lightspear is no longer an unstoppable ray of destruction. Will probably still ruin all scrobolds though.
  • Added proper information for Banner of the Fallen Tower and Banner of the Cowardly Shadow.

Necromanser:

  • Raise a Monstly has changed. You may now only have 1 Mostly in the field at a time. When your Mostly dies or is replaced, it explodes in a cloud of poison that damages enemies nearby. Group your enemies correctly and use those horrid Mostlies as poison bombs!

Still Broken

  • Towns and shops
  • Road, field, and badlands battles
  • The purpleonian wastes and The Dread Spire
  • Graveyards
  • Caves
  • Academy Armory
  • Academy Museum (“True Things About _______” books)
Jan 232014
 

Dungeonfans! Lots to cover today, not all of it is Dungeonmans related but it sure is related to gaming and adventure, stuff I know you enjoy. Still, I’ve tried to keep it all sorted with big headlines if you want to just get your quick scroll on, and the Dungeonmans stuff is up front.

Closed Alpha in 4 days (!)

This will be the most Kickstarterest thing yet done in the Dungeonmans adventure, letting people into a genuine early alpha. This goes beyond the Summer Preview, this will be a chance to play a game as it is being developed, warts and all.

  • Upgraded UI with mouse and gamepad support.
  • Nine new masteries to start including totally redesigned Armor masteries.
  • Bannermans Class and Polearms!
  • Southern Gentlemans Class
  • New swamp dungeon set.
  • Academy expanded with a Museum and Armory
  • Lots of shiny new art and music.
  • Bullet points bullet points woo

Ok that’s enough. If you’re interested in taking part, find out how right here: http://www.dungeonmans.com/?page_id=362

 

Art Update and New Weapons

Lots of upgraded monsters! Hell there are even three *all new* Purpleonians and I’m not going to show you them because that would be spoiling!


Bluebelle doesn’t afraid of anything.

 

Dungeonmans on Greenlight: The SAGA(c)(r)(TM) Continues!

I have no doubt that each and every one of you has created four new Steam accounts (and purchased 100s of games on each) to create extra Greenlight votes for ol’ dmans. But just in case you haven’t yet:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=114781779

The January batch of Greenlight games just went through, Dungeonmans wasn’t on there but there were some real gems. If you like Dungeonmans (and you do), you should take a look at these:

Quest of Dungeons: From zero to Greenlit in FIVE DAYS. How is that even http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=216200309

Claustrophobia: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=92940102

Claustrophobia is much like Dungeonmans in that it took more than a year to get through to the top 100. Never quit, never surrender! I’ve been thinking about that lately and thought it would be fun to share with you some examples I’ve seen of projects and businesses that stick it out through all sorts of trials and tribulations, in a brand new Dungeonmans Kickstarter Update segment called…

 

Never Say Die #1: The Gladius

I’m a big fan of hardware experimentation and evolution, and while I don’t have the time and money to personally indulge in it very often, I’m always interested in what people are doing on the cutting edge. When the fancy tech dovetails with a story of dedication and hard work, I can’t resist.

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-gladius-world-s-first-passive-submersion-pc

The Gladius is pretty wild, it might be ahead of it’s time or it might just be too crazy for our plane of existence. What makes it something I’m writing about here is the story of the small team behind the project. Tech Armory has busted their tails for years on trying to get this right, and if you’ve spent even the smallest amount of time with liquid cooled machines you know how the smallest design mistakes can multiply into a big sloppy a mess.

Tech Armory worked for a few years on this project fueled by personal money, and they had scheduled a Kickstarter for later in 2014. However, as it often does, life and circumstance got in the way and just around New Year’s Day it was do or die: close up shop, or go out fighting with an earlier than planned crowdfunding campaign. So here we are.

Yeah, I know, 6k/100k isn’t looking great, and you might also be thinking that roguelike players, who play free games with ascii graphics, aren’t exactly in need of submersion cooled war machines. All true! But it’s the spirit and courage of Tech Armory that moves me, and the more people that get to see their future tech, the better. Take a look, and maybe run that link by the friend of yours with seven spare PC cases and 3.2km of tubing coiled around the broken fridge in the basement.

 

Never Say Die #2: The Adventure Game Store!

The Adventure Game Store is my old hometown Friendly Local Game Store. If you’re enjoying Dungeonmans, you owe a nod of thanks to Brian and his crew down in sunny South Florida. In fact, the term “Dread Purpleonian” came from him as he was explaining a space battle minis game at a nearby table, decades ago. There really aren’t two words that describe alien menace better and more succinctly than those, right?

https://www.facebook.com/AdventureGameStore

I started slinging dice in middle school and never stopped. And while there were actually quite a few great game shops in South Florida during the 90s, this place feels like my alma mater. Endless games of all types were hosted at this shop, plenty of RPGs, Battletech, Warhammer, and oh man they had one of the most vibrant and friendly L5R communities. I remember bringing in a Ric Flair action figure clad in jade armor to serve as the emperor’s favor. They were the place where I picked up my very first copy of Knights of the Dinner Table.

Anyway, who cares why am I mentioning this place? Because they should have gone out of business 10 times over now, and yet they live– they thrive! There were the downturns of the late d20 era when lousy game content flooded the market. There were, in grand South Florida tradition, multiple storms that ripped off ceilings, tossed around air conditioners and generally brought wrack and ruin to many businesses down there. They’ve moved… six times? Seven? When things were looking good, they’d expand into a bigger location with more room for play tables and extra displays. Then one bad thing happened, and another, and they’d move or shrink and each time it seemed like there’s no way they’d bounce back. At one point the shop was down to what was basically a cubby hole in a strip mall, barely large enough for two tables… AND the AC was broken.

But bounce back they did!

There were plenty of chances to quit, plenty of opportunities to give up, but The Adventure Game Store lives on. They’ve picked back up on their feet, expanded to a larger (and air conditioned!) space with a fancy new gaming table to boot. They just recently celebrated their 25th Anniversary! 25 years of spreading the fun and good cheer of the world’s greatest hobbies, I can’t help but be inspired. I’ve just started on my own solo adventure, and I hope when metaphorical hurricanes come and metaphorically rip off my metaphorical roof and air conditioners, I’ll have the same courage and tenacity.

40th Anniversary of Dungeons and Dragons

This month (or late last month, or some other dates depending on whatever who cares) D&D turns 40. Anybody who’s ever played an RPG, hell most video games really, should take a moment to think about how the jolly pastime of crushing monsters and taking their stuff came to be. I’ve run countless tabletop games, in every city I’ve lived in, and it has informed every aspect of how I work, play, and do business. Rogue itself, our genre’s progenitor, was inspired by D&D decades ago.

There’s plenty of articles out there on the Anniversary, and more news to come as we approach the weekend, but I’ll share with you this excellent video sent to me by a friend this morning that takes a thoughtful and interesting approach to the genesis of the game. Watch it over lunch!

Dec 272013
 

Dungeonfans!

As promised, Dungeonmans development is powering along with blistering speed and unstoppable force, much like an angry freight train racing through traffic to catch the last train to the freight train convention. Everyone knows better than to mess with the FreyTreyCon crowd.

New Forest Tileset!

You are not prepared!

 

 

I can’t believe how awesome that set turned out, and it’s still a WIP as there’s new barrels, camp props, and banners that need to get into place. It’s ok if you need a minute, I could barely handle it either.

Monster WIP!

The dreaded Beeholder arrives to stalk hopeless Dungeonmens through whatever evil hive they infest.

Swamp Dungeon WIP

I’ve spent the last couple of days getting a Swamp Dungeon style in place. All the art right now is placeholder, but the combat and layouts are getting there. The idea is to provide a mid-game area with the same sort of open feel as the Scrobold Warrens but with an additional layer of tactical complexity. Swamp tiles will ask players to make different choices in movement and positioning. While the tiles themselves don’t do any direct harm, they are home to new monsters that have an advantage in the disgusting murk. Traveling through swamp tiles might mean encountering swarms of swift, biting snakes, while staying out of the water makes it impossible to reach the Spitting Swamp Serpents who harry you from the coasts.

 

I just want to blow up monsters.

[youtube id=”whmCaChNoho”]

ok!

Thank you!

Drop some comments up in here, what do you think of all this? Remember, I’ve got Jeramy right here behind me for the next few days so if you’ve got burning art questions they can be doused with a firehose of cold wet answers.