Dome Keeper News

One of our favorite parts of being a Keeper comes from that moment while digging when the next piece of buried treasure becomes visible. It could be that sigh of relief from a cobalt deposit to make dome-saving repairs. Then there are the unknown gadgets and the anticipation bringing them back to see what we have found. And then there are caves. Their unexpected rewards add another incentive to mine one more block because who knows what might be there.

Caves hold so many fun opportunities (well, at least only fun ones for now…muhahaha) that we figured, hey, let’s mix it up and add some more fun things to the game. Now, you might ask, “wait, why not make these new gadgets?” Gadgets have multiple elements to them that can be developed in unique ways in the tech tree. This also makes them figure into your resource use decisions.

Caves, on the other hand, are a power up (note to us, quad damage cave…mmm!). When you discover a cave, you get its reward and that instantly becomes part of your moment-to-moment play, while not changing the upgrade path you’re on.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

So, yeah, four new caves are waiting to be discovered. With the new caves you can

• make tunnels in all directions
  
• expand your vision
  
• improve your bedrock scanner to see beyond
  
• unleash a caged squid
  

While you’re down there spelunking away (always wanted a good reason to use spelunk!) you will also find some other new denizens. These critters have been there since before you arrived and they’ll be there after you’re gone. They won’t really bother you, at least, not so far as we can tell. And if you’re adverse to them altogether there’s an option to turn them off.

There you go, new caves and critters await beneath your dome. Have fun finding them and playing with the new toys. We have more cooking for you before the end of the year along with continued tuning and quality of life updates. But more on that another time…

[h3]Changelog v2.1[/h3]

added 4 new caves
added critters, small creatures roaming the mines. They can be disabled via options.
shield can now be overcharged during battle
changed how double laser affects movement speed and damage
improved Assessor movement
smaller Assessor rebalances: spheres reload a bit faster, some upgrades are a bit cheaper, re-arranged some upgrades to access sphere split earlier. Deeper changes will come in a later update, thank you for all the feedback!
• improved all icons for Assessor
  
• Assessor now always shoots at full force
  
• Assessor can now pick up things from caves with the pickup button. Not ideal yet, but slightly more consistent.
  
• translated thousands of words across many languages
  
• fixed dome sometimes being destroyed before invulnerability on shield depletion was able to take effect
  
• shield hud now also shows overcharge status and ability duration
  
• fixed last bomb upgrade for sword long stab not having an effect
  
• divers will now spawn again
  
• fixed butterflies only coming from the left side
  
• improved all monster energy projectile sprites
  
• improved resource distribution in maps slightly, in preparation of bigger maps
  

Happy Keeping,
Guild Council

Keepers! Thank you for all your support, ideas, feedback, and camaraderie as part of the Keepers Guild. While we are hard at work developing new content for the game, there is something only you can help with - The Steam Awards.

We are hoping you will nominate us for [h3]Most Innovative Gameplay[/h3]

Creating Dome Keeper has been a fantastic journey as we discover, develop, and improve various aspects of the game. If like us, you too enjoy the trek as we experiment, prototype, and create new types of gameplay, then please share the love with a nomination.

Thank you again for all for your continued support and we will keep being busy with all the new things we're excited to bring you.

Until the next one, Keepers

[h2]Hey Keepers![/h2]

thank you for the feedback regarding problems with the waves. In the Assessor update, we changed a bit how waves were generated, and that magnified a bug that always existed.
A bit of insight :)

[h3]Wave Designer[/h3]
The Wave Designer, one of many tools we made to make dome.

That's a small tool i built to help create snippets.

[h3]Snippets[/h3]

Snippets are small sequences of monsters. The intention of having them was to combine pre-designed challenges with procedurally generated waves.
Tasked with generating a wave, the wave generator would then look at all valid snippets, and combine them freely until the desired wave strength was reached. You can see that a monster either spawns left or right. Randomly, the whole snippet could also be flipped, to spawn on the other sides.

[h3]Do we even need snippets?[/h3]
In the last update, i removed all snippets except for single monster ones. With the stingray, it suddenly did not make sense to have all these premade flyer snippets - instead we'd need a stronger system to support "one of those" as a placeholder, like "use a tier 1 flying monster". Before doing that, i wondered if the snippet system was actually beneficial, or if not having it would feel any different. You see, this is complexity, and avoiding complexity is usually great. There are many risks in there too, like some monster appearing overproportionally often, because they are in many snippets. This gets harder and harder to balance the more monsters we have.
Because of this, i decided to remove all snippets and only keep single monster ones. So the most basic setup. Divers didn't appear as a single snippet, so i accidentally culled them too.

[h3]The Bug[/h3]
Remember i wrote that snippets could be flipped? What happened here is that flipping a snippet would cause every occurance of that snippet to be flipped. This is a bug - each snippet should be flipped or not flipped individually. Before, this was not very obvious, as every monster appeared in various snippets. But now with only one snippet per monster, it meant that all monsters of the same type would come from the same side. Very bad. Especially if you suddenly have 7 drillers coming from the same side.

That's not right.

[h3]Fixed[/h3]
It's an easy fix, just making all used snippets independent of each other (separate instances). But it shows well how bad complexity can be - in this case, it hid this bug that was always causing some obscure shenanigans. If you saw very strange waves that were lopsided, like 5 ticks coming from the same side, it might have been this bug. It can still happen now, which is also ok, but less often and we also know why it happens.

[h3]v2.0.15[/h3]

• fixed monsters of the same type only coming from the same direction within a wave.
• less lopsided waves - some of it is ok and interesting, but it's a bit less random now
  
• divers will spawn again
  
• fixed rare crash when starting a new game or loading an old save
  

I recently wrote a small post on the Assessor feedback, for which we are very thankful!
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1637320/discussions/0/3547176090237501720/

Hotifxes always have a chance to break some things, so please tell if you notice something being very off.

Have fun!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1637320/Dome_Keeper/

That's right, Keepers, Dome Keeper is now 20% off for the Midweek Madness sale!

Have you been waiting to get digging? Then here's your time to get going! With our new Assessor Update, there's even more new content for you to enjoy.

Now's the time to dig, survive and be kind to Drillbert; he needs his rest.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]Dome Improvement: Meet the Assessor!
[/h2]
[h3]Greetings, Keepers![/h3]

We hope you've been having a smashing time (quite literally) in Dome Keeper and are diligently keeping your Drillberts happy, healthy, and full of delicious treats.

Today we'd like to introduce you to The Assessor, Dome Keeper's all-new Keeper! With an exciting new set of skills and abilities, we reckon The Assessor will turn the underground Dome Keeper experience completely upside down as up until now, you've only been able to experience the wonder of Dome Keeper playing as The Engineer, the gritty, non-nonsense miner who powers through the bedrock with force.

A band of technologists living right on the precipice of experimental science, one might think of the Assessor as the high-tech yin to The Engineer's brute force yang. Here's everything you need to know about the all-new Keeper and their unique skill set…

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]Self assessor-ment[/h3]

Furnished with the latest state-of-the-art equipment from the Guild, Assessors are equipped with their trusty electromagnetic power pack. Unlike The Engineer's separate drill and jetpack, Assessors use their equipment to levitate both themselves and their finds, zipping through tunnels and mining out iron, cobalt, and water not by drilling but by smashing up the rock with their astonishing kinetic spheres!



Initially, you'll have two spinning spheres you'll launch toward the rocks. They'll hit the wall, damaging it, and after a few hits reducing that rock to rubble.

Things get even more exciting when you start unlocking upgrades. One pathway, for instance - Sphere Reflection - lets the Assessor reflect the spheres to rebound, essentially creating a mini-game of breakout. That lets you quickly chip away with good timing. Another option offers to add more spheres or buff how powerful they are, helping you mine much more rapidly.

Carrying your resources back to the dome works differently, too; thanks to the Assessor's mysterious force field, you'll not carry your resources back up to the dome as much as they'll levitate alongside you. You can even fire the resources off, flinging them closer to the dome or straight into there if you're a good enough shot!



But all of the Assessor's fancy tech also requires you to do one thing well: plan your shots! Once unleashed, you have little control over the spheres. A bad shot will vanish quickly, a great shot will destroy swathes of rock, so you always want to make sure you place your spheres where it matters.
Sometimes you won't find a great spot. Then you can rely on your rotational mining for help - often you'll be able to prepare the rock layout to maximize the power of your spheres.

[h3]Jeepers Keepers[/h3]

No longer will you be playing in the straight forward fashion you get with the Engineer. It'll be up to you to ensure you properly plan your sphere shots and time your reflections well, to maximize your mining capabilities!

So go on then, get in there and let those spheres fly! Let us know what you think, and what ideas you have for any future Keepers that may join the team!

Make sure you're following Dome Keeper on Twitter or join our Discord to meet and swap tips with other Keepers, as well as tell us all about your favorite map modifiers, gadgets, and anything you'd like to see us bring to Dome Keeper in the future!


[h3]Changelog v2.0[/h3]

added the Assessor, a new keeper based around control of gravity. Also comes with a completely new OST and 4 Achievements.
added a new monster, the Stingray. It's a lowest tier flying monster, bringing a bit of variety early on, replacing the flyer in some worlds.
improved sprites for Rockman
buffed orchard:
- Root explosion deals a fixed, high amount of damage.
- Fruit buff upgrades are much cheaper.
- Shield last for much longer and is a bit cheaper.
more community translated languages now available
reworked sword impact recurperation and added visual effect for when it's active. It will now activate during the battle, as soon as the damage threshold is reached.
added alternative tooltips for other controller types than xbox. Automatic detection should work for Playstation and Switch Pro controller.
• improved sprites for keepers in loadout screen
  
• added option to set how often music plays
  
• improved colors of orchard fruit in HUD, for better readability towards the end
  
• improved animations for unlockable screen
  
• improved some worm and sword sounds
  
• wave counter and inventory now cost 1 water
  

Until the next one, Keepers - Dome Sweet Dome!