Update - Roaming the Land of Death (alpha v1.48)

download now (10MB)

Change log

- Enemy sprite changing more accurate
- New enemies and a new demo level
- Improved water texture
- Fixed bug with dying and added respawn points
- Updated lava texture animation and added glow
- Refined dungeon textures
- Turned on movement cheat for quick-start for easier testing
- Modified portals and added lights
- Modified day/night cycle
- Modified player lights
- More shrubbery
- Enemies get less stuck on pillars in the dungeons

Blog notes

This is the third anniversary edition of the game. It's come a long slow way and may take more years to complete, but that's OK. It's been a great learning process and creative exercise.
I said this was going to be a fast update, but it doesn't really matter that it isn't. The progress is very slow because I don't have much motivation. This game is for myself more than anyone else, but I intend to put many strange jokes and lighthearted humor to entertain potential players.

Update - Roaming the land of Death (alpha v1.45)

Download - 6.5MB

- Added spawn tile
- Improved boss variance
- Updated portals to "teleporters" with particles
- Added quick start button
- Fixed: doesn't snow at game start any more
- AI enemies can no longer walk into solid objects
- Changed how enemies react when colliding with each other
- Added shrub cover similar to rocks and now makes player invisible for 2s
- Updated textures on covers
- Can no longer shoot from cover
- Enemies can shoot through trees
- Stealth powerup (purple) now works, 15s
- Rewrote stealth script
- Replaced "clouds" with particles, now accompanies rain
- Updated sprites for trees and bushes
- Removed old transport pads to second area

Update - Roaming the land of Death (alpha v1.4)

Download - 6MB

Misc + bug fixes
- Improved performance since last version
- Merchant offers reiki
- Dungeon tiles updated and pillars added
- Walls and pillars have sfx
- Pathing updated
- New Cryomancer ability that shoots ice spikes
- Power-ups spawn in the dungeons (only blue works)

- Water tiles updated

- Inventory, power-up bar, score display- disabled until working

- Name change dialogue no longer shows up in game (bugfix)

- New fire tentacle beast with a special attack
- New brick path added and map altered
- Fireball sfx added
- Auto mapping grass
- Weapon upgrade merchant (upgrades are cosmetic only right now)
- Depth improved for walls
- Rock decorations added
- Dark ground textures improved

Dev Blog - Roaming the land of Death (alpha v1.4)

Why have I not updated recently?
I have upgraded my computer from an AMD 990X and Phenom II x4 955 3.2+, to an Intel i7-4770 3.4-3.9 and H97 board. The transition was delayed by operating system and hard drive problems, but I now have Windows 10 installed on an Intel 330 SSD.
I was able to make progress on design and level ideas while that was happening.

I delayed releasing a new version because I felt there were too many bugs and too little progress. But now some good progress has been made, particularly in the areas of texture and map work.

What are the plans for the release of the new version?

Improved textures. There is a pattern here... the textures are always in need of improving. I got rid of the variance in ground textures and just made them better. I made grass auto spawn on regular ground, making mapping easier. Improved path tiles have been added, but they aren't perfect yet.

Randomly generated power-ups. This version will have cooldown reduction power-ups (blue).

Improved pathing for all enemies and minions. This means that I don't have to place the pathing points individually, they spawn themselves. Creeps will hopefully no longer walk over water/lava and through walls.

Removal of features that don't work. As someone has rightly pointed out, there are things in the game that have no functionality but are there to make it look better. I will strip them from the game until they work.

What are the plans for the version succeeding that?
I plan to add a new level that I have been brainstorming for a while. I may introduce a level key system so you have to unlock levels by completing quests. I will wait to reveal much more about it.

Update - Roaming the land of Death (alpha v1.30)

Download - 6MB

Bugs and Map improvements
- Fixed lighting in boss room
- Added lighting directly under the player
- Some player lights have been tweaked
- Dark wizard area has been improved with some walls
- Water now has perspective, and cannot be walked on
- A river has been added to the first map
- A lake has been added to the first dungeon
- Lava now has perspective

- Shortcuts added to first part of the level (mages only)
- Teleporters now lead to a town level with minimal content
- Dark ground now always turns to snow

Known bugs
- Shortcut text gets too big with change of room
- Ground tiles don't update to the conditions after switching rooms
- Mobs can walk over water/lava

Dev Blog - Roaming the land of Death (alpha v1.30)

25/09

I have been working on the new systems that I will be using to provide interesting ways to navigate the game world.
The first of these systems is shortcuts. I have an object that teleports the player when activated by the correct ability class, if the player has the required level.
Soon I will be  making some more content now that most of the effects are looking good.

29/09

Made some more floor tiles. some of them are for the first dungeons and some will be for future rooms.

02/10
Made teleporting easier/better, and opened the new area as a hub/teleporting zone.

04/10
Fixed some bugs and improved part of the map where the dark wizards are.

10/10
It took longer than it should have, but to got auto perspective tiling working for water and lava. This is quite good for the feel of the game as well as saving me wasting my time with spaghetti code.

11/10
 Fixed the bugs with auto tiling and added more to the dungeon. Tidied up a lot of the map, still more to work on. Currently the second level looks like a total mess.

This is probably the end of the 1.30 dev blog, it will be released shortly.

Update - Roaming the land of Death (alpha v1.28)

Download (6.4MB exe)

Dungeons and Misc
- Improved xp bar and level display text
- Reduced size of enemy health text
- Hunter sprites finished
- Class rotating previews smoother, added scientist and hunter
- Abilities are once again destroyed if they kill an enemy
- Improved dungeon tiles, and walls are now solid
- Cleaned up dungeon mapping
- Improved enemy shadow wizard


Lighting
- Player lights added for more vision at night and in dungeons
- Day/night cycle and in-game time is now persistent between rooms

- Day/night cycle lengthened

- Torch lights upgraded
- Added ability lighting effects
- Added lighting for loot drops