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DR4X News
New Mechanics?!?! Devlog!
Hey guys!
I just wanted to do a little devlog to let you know whats happening in the next (major) update (Which will hopefully be out this weekend!)
This next update balooned in scope massively! I didn't do the "small updates" this time because the pace was very brisk!
But It ended up being the case that this update is similar in scope to the previous Major update (A8B9C0)!
Some important standouts:
I'm adding a new major mechanic in the form of tile effects, which makes building and unit deploy spots actually matter! It is similar mechanically to the advantage/disadvantage system. Where different tiles are color coded to show you what they do!
Some of them play out as Major Faction powers, like kingdoms new ability to instantly annex any independant/wildlife/new republic/Tenebris capturables via placing guardhouses adjacent to them kinda similar to the game slay!
Some are more subtle!
Like Bandits ability to give their units permanent bonuses based on deploying them on their own buildings! (Kingdoms have some of this too, but they are less direct :P)
(Bandits also have a whole suite of different faction specific tile effects that act as new powers for them that instantly infest all adjacent tiles with crime etc, grant major combat/resource bonuses and encourage them to harass other players.
This should also make them more viable on world ages like Novus Imperium and Grex Tenebris
Some are More SImulationist!
Like some mountains have "diamonds" or "iron veins"
And businesses benefitting from being placed on "scenic" or hard to reach tiles.
And other weirder effects!
The goal of these is to have more strategic choice and to make the games pace even brisker as well as reducing frusteration, like having to take forever to capture a city controlled by wildlife on a mountain or something)
I have added the ability to change the way "teams" are displayed, which was used for these screenshots, it hides the healthbar and tints the tile so it is more like a conquest of elysium style way of displaying things.
I have multithreaded many of the more intensive operations the game can perform, which should lead to better performance! (Especially for AI)
The AI is now capable of actually using their deploy range and intelligently builds on tiles that benefit them the most in the long run! As well as many new AI personalities and other tweaks, that make them more willing to use the new boats, smarter in general etc.
Yo-ho-ho, I've brought Boats into the game! It's not exactly an 'ocean update', but hey, it’s gonna spice up your strategy big time, especially on maps with lots of water (Like the pangea ones). Plus, the AI is fully capable of using them too (And spamming them lol). These boats? They've got their own rock-paper-scissors thing going on, countering each other just like other units do with their hard counter bonuses, but with their own twist on the hard counter triangle!
And hey, between you and me, I've been really wanting to sneak in pirates for the longest time. Who knows, maybe they'll sail into Chapter 2...
(Yes, yes they will, i need to avoid being vague, there will in fact be at least one major pirate guy)
So, yeah, you can see I've been kinda busy! The whole point of dropping this devlog now is 'cause I've been off the radar for a couple weeks, and I didn't want you guys thinking I'd vanished into thin air or something. Just wanted to confirm that, yes, skirmish mode is getting some love with big updates. (And, just between us, all these new cool additions? They're STILL actually part of my master plan to spice up the missions for Chapter 2!) Heh.
I just wanted to do a little devlog to let you know whats happening in the next (major) update (Which will hopefully be out this weekend!)
This next update balooned in scope massively! I didn't do the "small updates" this time because the pace was very brisk!
But It ended up being the case that this update is similar in scope to the previous Major update (A8B9C0)!
Some important standouts:
Tile Effects
I'm adding a new major mechanic in the form of tile effects, which makes building and unit deploy spots actually matter! It is similar mechanically to the advantage/disadvantage system. Where different tiles are color coded to show you what they do!
Some of them play out as Major Faction powers, like kingdoms new ability to instantly annex any independant/wildlife/new republic/Tenebris capturables via placing guardhouses adjacent to them kinda similar to the game slay!
Some are more subtle!
Like Bandits ability to give their units permanent bonuses based on deploying them on their own buildings! (Kingdoms have some of this too, but they are less direct :P)
(Bandits also have a whole suite of different faction specific tile effects that act as new powers for them that instantly infest all adjacent tiles with crime etc, grant major combat/resource bonuses and encourage them to harass other players.
This should also make them more viable on world ages like Novus Imperium and Grex Tenebris
Some are More SImulationist!
Like some mountains have "diamonds" or "iron veins"
And businesses benefitting from being placed on "scenic" or hard to reach tiles.
And other weirder effects!
The goal of these is to have more strategic choice and to make the games pace even brisker as well as reducing frusteration, like having to take forever to capture a city controlled by wildlife on a mountain or something)
New Options!
I have added the ability to change the way "teams" are displayed, which was used for these screenshots, it hides the healthbar and tints the tile so it is more like a conquest of elysium style way of displaying things.
Multithreading!
I have multithreaded many of the more intensive operations the game can perform, which should lead to better performance! (Especially for AI)
AI Improvements!
The AI is now capable of actually using their deploy range and intelligently builds on tiles that benefit them the most in the long run! As well as many new AI personalities and other tweaks, that make them more willing to use the new boats, smarter in general etc.
BOATS!
Yo-ho-ho, I've brought Boats into the game! It's not exactly an 'ocean update', but hey, it’s gonna spice up your strategy big time, especially on maps with lots of water (Like the pangea ones). Plus, the AI is fully capable of using them too (And spamming them lol). These boats? They've got their own rock-paper-scissors thing going on, countering each other just like other units do with their hard counter bonuses, but with their own twist on the hard counter triangle!
And hey, between you and me, I've been really wanting to sneak in pirates for the longest time. Who knows, maybe they'll sail into Chapter 2...
(Yes, yes they will, i need to avoid being vague, there will in fact be at least one major pirate guy)
So, yeah, you can see I've been kinda busy! The whole point of dropping this devlog now is 'cause I've been off the radar for a couple weeks, and I didn't want you guys thinking I'd vanished into thin air or something. Just wanted to confirm that, yes, skirmish mode is getting some love with big updates. (And, just between us, all these new cool additions? They're STILL actually part of my master plan to spice up the missions for Chapter 2!) Heh.
Art Stream
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Where we art teh DR4X.
https://www.twitch.tv/natch_evil
Where we art teh DR4X.
https://www.twitch.tv/natch_evil
Gallery and QOL. DR4X Changelog #84 1/14/2024
Hi everyone!
So this last week I had a bit of a motivation issue, i wonder if it was because of the fact that I jumped right back into game dev right away the week after vacation. But i pushed through it and there is a good new chunk of content added now :P
This will be the new changelog! Mostly all the changes from the last few "smaller changelogs" which you might not have seen (Unless you were really really interested in following my logs) as they're not directly shown on the store page (unless you are on itchio anyway). But also with some additional changes, fixing typos people pointed out and adding the Gallery in finally!
Also added new steam capsules fully in that i think reflect the game and the theme of the game better!
What is the theme you ask?
Uh, [NODEOSERROR]
-Added three new music tracks (See if you can find them!)
-Added Gallery
--The Gallery available to you will depend on whether or not you have completed the neutral route of the campaign, and a few other things. The plan is to also make more images unlock over time! Players who haven't yet beaten the campaign have some additional silly content to play with..
-Added Door Boss FIght (No context)
-Added Less Haunted version of Gallery (No context)
I also made some updates based on feedback from this video!
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Thanks for checking it out BTW
-Select ranger popup on tutorial now also explains how to move the camera and also is more comprehensible
-Out of AP/MP hourglass now more opaque
-At the end of the tutorial the popup doesn't start jumping around until khan appears and ends when you click continue, i dont think this turned anyone off the game but it feels more polished now lol
-If you win a Skirmish or Mission and choose to continue anyway and then go to the menu it now changes the "Resign" option to "Finish Game"
-If you win a skirmish or mission and choose to continue anyway it now changes the "You have resigned" text to "You Were Victorious Awhile ago!" when you click "Finish Game"
-Continue anyway text is now "You've won, continue anyway?"
-Someone reported the halfway to unconventional victory menu 'glitches' as a bug so i updated it to make it hint at what you need to do as well as still looking like an error. This should reduce confusion.
--Thank you Reelacks
-Finally got around to adding back the old "hidden" files on the terminal emulator. They used to not be hidden, than i hid them. Now it hints at the command you need to do to access them.
-The game properly hints at this now in the library aswell as some other story bits. And other more broadly apllicable hints.
--It also gives a name to a previously unnamed character
-Resolved numerous instances where the game displayed incorrect terminal operating system names. This ensures that players who got ProNode, for instance, won't encounter any references to NodeOs, and vice versa. (If you still are let me know heh)
-Now, many of the popups animate (e.g., float up or sideways, etc.) instead of just immediately appearing in the middle of the screen.
-Some of the treasure popups now include icons, so it's not just text.
--I also changed a few other bits here and there with them
-Fyegrayed's Tutoringtons tips now have a slide whistle sound and slide in from the left side. It's hilarious.
-Treasure now descends from the top of the screen instead of just popping up instantly.
-The unit info box now slides in when you first select a unit, or hit next unit or next building. If it's already open, it just switches content instead of animating again.
-The goal screen now slides down.
-News now slides up from the bottom of the screen.
-Added contrast slider to options menu
-Added saturation slider to options menu
-Added menu contrast slider to options menu
-Added menu saturation slider to options menu
-Made it so that UI changes from graphics options now affect all the menus and loading screens instead of just some (It was causing eye strain)
-Added little bits of text in options that lets you know you can scroll
-Fixed bug where some sliders didn't update anything while in a skirmish or scenario but updated upon restart, now they should update if they can.
This makes it so you can have fun and just make the whole game grayscale if ya want. There are some UI elements in game that arent affected though but its a very mimimal amount (Intro popups, tutorial popups, dialogue popups, and the buttons in game (end turn etc)) But it shoudl go a long way to improving the experiance and reducing eye strain!
-Fixed please typo
-Fixed "Reccomended" typo on scenario screen
-Fixed some typos in some in game descriptions (I didnt write them down but i know i did them lol)
Bella is doing great! Here is her in a doggy sweater!
Here is her using the doggy sweater as a doggy scarf.
So this last week I had a bit of a motivation issue, i wonder if it was because of the fact that I jumped right back into game dev right away the week after vacation. But i pushed through it and there is a good new chunk of content added now :P
This will be the new changelog! Mostly all the changes from the last few "smaller changelogs" which you might not have seen (Unless you were really really interested in following my logs) as they're not directly shown on the store page (unless you are on itchio anyway). But also with some additional changes, fixing typos people pointed out and adding the Gallery in finally!
Also added new steam capsules fully in that i think reflect the game and the theme of the game better!
What is the theme you ask?
Uh, [NODEOSERROR]
Changes:
-Added three new music tracks (See if you can find them!)
-Added Gallery
--The Gallery available to you will depend on whether or not you have completed the neutral route of the campaign, and a few other things. The plan is to also make more images unlock over time! Players who haven't yet beaten the campaign have some additional silly content to play with..
-Added Door Boss FIght (No context)
-Added Less Haunted version of Gallery (No context)
I also made some updates based on feedback from this video!
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Thanks for checking it out BTW
-Select ranger popup on tutorial now also explains how to move the camera and also is more comprehensible
-Out of AP/MP hourglass now more opaque
-At the end of the tutorial the popup doesn't start jumping around until khan appears and ends when you click continue, i dont think this turned anyone off the game but it feels more polished now lol
-If you win a Skirmish or Mission and choose to continue anyway and then go to the menu it now changes the "Resign" option to "Finish Game"
-If you win a skirmish or mission and choose to continue anyway it now changes the "You have resigned" text to "You Were Victorious Awhile ago!" when you click "Finish Game"
-Continue anyway text is now "You've won, continue anyway?"
-Someone reported the halfway to unconventional victory menu 'glitches' as a bug so i updated it to make it hint at what you need to do as well as still looking like an error. This should reduce confusion.
--Thank you Reelacks
-Finally got around to adding back the old "hidden" files on the terminal emulator. They used to not be hidden, than i hid them. Now it hints at the command you need to do to access them.
-The game properly hints at this now in the library aswell as some other story bits. And other more broadly apllicable hints.
--It also gives a name to a previously unnamed character
-Resolved numerous instances where the game displayed incorrect terminal operating system names. This ensures that players who got ProNode, for instance, won't encounter any references to NodeOs, and vice versa. (If you still are let me know heh)
-Now, many of the popups animate (e.g., float up or sideways, etc.) instead of just immediately appearing in the middle of the screen.
-Some of the treasure popups now include icons, so it's not just text.
--I also changed a few other bits here and there with them
-Fyegrayed's Tutoringtons tips now have a slide whistle sound and slide in from the left side. It's hilarious.
-Treasure now descends from the top of the screen instead of just popping up instantly.
-The unit info box now slides in when you first select a unit, or hit next unit or next building. If it's already open, it just switches content instead of animating again.
-The goal screen now slides down.
-News now slides up from the bottom of the screen.
-Added contrast slider to options menu
-Added saturation slider to options menu
-Added menu contrast slider to options menu
-Added menu saturation slider to options menu
-Made it so that UI changes from graphics options now affect all the menus and loading screens instead of just some (It was causing eye strain)
-Added little bits of text in options that lets you know you can scroll
-Fixed bug where some sliders didn't update anything while in a skirmish or scenario but updated upon restart, now they should update if they can.
This makes it so you can have fun and just make the whole game grayscale if ya want. There are some UI elements in game that arent affected though but its a very mimimal amount (Intro popups, tutorial popups, dialogue popups, and the buttons in game (end turn etc)) But it shoudl go a long way to improving the experiance and reducing eye strain!
Bug Fixes
-Fixed please typo
-Fixed "Reccomended" typo on scenario screen
-Fixed some typos in some in game descriptions (I didnt write them down but i know i did them lol)
Bella Update!
Bella is doing great! Here is her in a doggy sweater!
Here is her using the doggy sweater as a doggy scarf.
Art Stream
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https://www.twitch.tv/natch_evil
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