AI Roguelite News

[h2]Start game without quest[/h2]

In the new game view, you now have the option of starting the game without having the quest tracked and without the initial quest plot hook. The two new options are non-quest story intro, and no intro at all. If selecting one of these options, you start with the quest untracked, and can track and start it at any future time (and, if you pre-generated the quest in the new game view, it will still be used).

[h2]Save/load image presets in JSON form[/h2]

Due to popular request, in image gen options there are now export and import buttons for your image geneneration settings. These include the height, width, iterations etc for each entity type, as well as the negative prompt.

[h2]Configurable entity ordering[/h2]

Right click to change the ordering of a Thing, NPC or Enemy in the exploration view. It has the biggest effect on NPCs (only if you have a lot of them) because the game currently limits the prompt to the first 5 in the location.

[h2]NovelAI v4 image gen[/h2]

Added NovelAI v4 image gen support, and revised default values for prefix and negative prompt. The default prefix is "(no text, best quality, very aesthetic, absurdres). " (without quotes). The default negative prompt is "nsfw, blurry, lowres, error, film grain, scan artifacts, worst quality, bad quality, jpeg artifacts, very displeasing, chromatic aberration, multiple views, logo, too many watermarks, white blank page, blank page" (without quotes)

[h2]Misc[/h2]

• Added option to delete locations
  
• Added separate sliders for crop/stretch depending on whether image is portrait, square or landscape
  
• Added option to provide guiding instructions for starting ability
  
• Fixed spawn NPC/enemy/thing cheat bug; the last turn should be included correctly now
  
• Added option to specify task branch when using task adv cheat code
  
• Added farm cheat code: farm 1 or farm 0 will enable or disable farming in the current location
  
• Added a debug log warning when any AI Roguelite service had to use a fallback model due to an outage or the content being rejected by the preferred model. It is purely in the log and not in the UI.
  
• Removed outdated and incorrect warning about player physical description’s lack of inclusion in the story in new game view
  
• (Server side) fixed an issue with high-cost video generations
  
• Fixed QTE not triggering enemy turn in combat
  
• Fixed bug where if you deleted every single story turn and tried to do anything the game would throw an error
  
• Added button to open Player.log in console
  

[h2]NPC description auto-update tweaks[/h2]

• Increased frequency of NPC description update or turn history summarization to help with coherence
  
• Tweaked summarization prompts to prioritize important changes over trivial events
  
• Tweaked prompts to differentiate between description vs history summary
  
• Changed auto-update description to default to off (disable NPC description update is now checked by default), thus using history summary instead of description to reflect recent story events
  

[h2]Image gen override[/h2]
Added a field for manually overriding the image gen prompt when editing an entity. It is used only for image generation and never used for text generation.

[h2]Better max tokens control in OpenAI/Oobabooga API[/h2]

• Added config files for per-generation-type param overrides. View the README file for more detailed instructions. This should allow for compatibility with reasoning style models.
  
• The HTML-tagged "" and "" text which pervaded initial releases of these models is trending downward and moving towards putting think tokens in a separate field. If you still require the game to remove "think" tokens, please message the Steam forum or Discord with your request as well as which app you're using to generate text.
  

[h2]Support for Korean, Thai, and Hindi[/h2]
Korean, Thai, and Hindi were the last languages that almost had full support except for the fonts. Added the fonts so now they’re actually supported. Note: There may be an issue when using the keyboard to type in Chinese, Japanese, or Korean when using Steam deck. If you have any experience with this (whether positive or negative) please report it in the Steam forum or Discord.

[h2]Better NPC spawn via cheat[/h2]
Added some context for world background and previous turn for when using cheats such as spawning an NPC

[h2]Better Skills[/h2]
In a bid to reduce the chance of weird skills being generated, new games now start with a default of 30 skills, with up to 3 skills you can pick to start with an initial bonus.

[h2]System Prompt tweaks[/h2]

• Migrated to using Gemini’s actual system prompt, which has a minor improvement in instruction-following over the fake system prompt (the latter was created before Gemini supported real system prompts).
  
• Added a list of overly common AI words such as “Elara” and “Whispering” as banned words to default system prompts. The efficacy of this is not guaranteed and varies greatly based on the prompt and model. I don’t recommend going crazy with it unless you know for a fact it’s helping your use case. It’s expected to improve in the future as LLMs get smarter and cheaper.
  

[h2]New game announcement: Life of an NPC[/h2]
For the past couple months, I have been working on a new AI colony sim game, called Life of an NPC. It will release soon on Steam.

[h2]Misc[/h2]

• Migrated some Sapphire prompts, including initial locations generation, to a better model with less chance of cliche words
  
• Fixed adventure mode scaling logic killing followers too easily
  
• Tweaked faction logic to cap out at a depth of 2 for some prompts, to prevent some random merchant (or whomever it may be) from spawning in a closet
  
• Fixed bug where quick-time events used an older turn as context
  
• Fixed bug where error messages often wouldn’t display correctly
  
• Fixed error that would often happen during player death
  
• Added world context for loot and foraged item generations
  
• Tweaked system prompt to reduce chance of NPCs being silent (thanks to B00D0 and others who suggested it)
  
• Fixed entity names such as “9mm pistol” being butchered by some ancient logic which was meant to accomodate older LLMs
  
• Added prompt hint for animals to be generated in NPCs (e.g. if you’re in a barn)
  
• Loosened silver and sapphire character limit for BACKGROUND_WO_NEWLINES
  
• Fixed bug where NovelAI would fail for certain prompts
  
• Fixed Kobold Horde not working, by capping max tokens to the common Kobold Horde limit of 1024
  
• Tweaked blocking thing prompt to encourage it to be an inanimate entity
  
• Fixed bug where sometimes story editor text would be stuck in cyan
  
• Fixed bug where faction debuffs were incorrectly green
  
• Fixed bug where player pronouns dropdown didn’t update when selecting a world preset
  
• Fixed story preset dropdown overflow when text is too long
  
• Fixed quest log UI not refreshing when starting new quest
  
• Added a more informative error message in case OpenAI/Oobabooga API response wasn’t as expected
  
• Added basic support for NovelAI v4 image gen. For best results you may need to modify the params in the config file.
  
• Fixed error when starting game if changed location on first turn
  
• Fixed bug with map not updating when generating sublocation
  

[h2]Video gen fixes[/h2]

• Added button and UI to display information about the generated video
  
• Added ability to regenerate a video
  
• Improved reliability of high-cost video generation
  
• Improved soundtrack and lyrics/voiceover logic
  
• Improved audio balance via compression and making the narrator louder relative to the soundtrack
  

[h2]Ability descriptions[/h2]

• Ability descriptions are now being generated, and finally actually used in prompts to the AI.
  

[h2]Sentiment minor overhaul[/h2]

• Improved sentiment checks by expanding it to +15 and -15, as well as letting the AI choose the magnitude from 1, 2, or 3. This largely prevents your life-long friend suddenly turning on you just because you mildly annoyed them a few times.
  

[h2]Tiktok TTS[/h2]

• Both the preferred and fallback Tiktok TTS services had failed. After doing some research I was able to build my own workaround. The new system might still break periodically but should be significantly more stable. Please continue to report any breakages in either Steam or Discord so I can fix them ASAP.
  
• Note: Tiktok also appears to have sunset some of their non-English voices. I've marked them in the game as "flaky". I was able to find only two of the new non-English voices they're using, Alejandra and Julio, both Spanish speakers. Please let me know if you ever find out how to see their new non-English voices in the app, because in my case I only found Alejandra and Julio under "trending" and am still wondering how they became trending in the first place if they weren't listed in any other category.
  
• Update: Tiktok was banned in the US on 01/19/2025, but the API appears to still be operational so the TTS is unaffected for now.
  

[h2]Misc[/h2]

• Modified logic to display story text earlier while event checks are still loading
  
• Fixed wrong language for death turn hints if interface language didn’t match game save language
  
• Tweaked side quest event check to reduce false positives
  
• Fixed bug in new game factions view where it would sometimes say TBD when it should’ve said unused, if toggle was unchecked.
  

[h2]Procedural AI-generated videos[/h2]

When you complete an epic (5-task) quest, a video will start generating in the background. You’ll get a notification when it’s done generating, and it will be viewable in the quest log. Note: In order to be eligible for video generation, a quest must be an epic quest and have been started after receiving this update.

There are currently two types of videos: High-cost and low-cost. Sapphire users get 2 high-cost per day and unlimited low-cost thereafter; everyone else gets unlimited low-cost videos. These limitations will be relaxed in the future as the technology gets cheaper.

High-cost videos are actual AI-generated videos paired with an AI-generated soundtrack. Due to frequent hallucinations and extra limbs, they are currently an experimental feature.

Low-cost videos are a slideshow of images accompanied by a Tiktok TTS narrator and a pre-made Max Loh soundtrack. They have less of a wow factor but are more grounded in reality than high-cost videos.

[h2]Misc[/h2]

• Tweaked money change prompt to reduce false positives
  
• Fixed issue where faction change event would be surfaced even if NPC or place was already of that faction
  
• Added logic to make place initial generation respect a custom faction, should the player have edited it before venturing into that place for the first time
  
• Fixed issue where you couldn’t select “misc” when editing an item’s category
  
• Fixed copy button in story editor not working
  
• Added option to name a new sublocation during sublocation discovery in creative mode
  
• Fixed combat/ephemeral turns out of order after exiting combat
  
• Fixed starting faction bug when making a new universe via portal
  
• Added alternate parsing logic for small side quests for better compatibility with llama models
  
• Fixed issue where hotkeys wouldn’t work after pressing enter in conversation input
  
• Fixed adding a faction when there’s 0 factions
  
• Fixed a few issues when opening map/journal too fast after loading a game
  
• Fixed side quest delete button being obscured when opening the quest log for the first time
  

[h2]Factions[/h2]

When starting a new game or a new universe, several factions will be generated. This is an optional feature that can be disabled by unchecking the checkbox. There are also 6 new faction-related Steam achievements.

Factions can be viewed in the journal view, on the 3rd tab. You can also use the hotkeys F for factions, J for quests, and L for story/log editor.

Locations and characters can be associated with factions. In rare cases, they can also change factions. New factions can also be formed during the story as part of an event check (up to a maximum of 10).

Faction reputation may be influenced by a faction member liking/disliking your actions, or after completing a quest. A positive faction standing grants construction and farming privileges for locations controlled by that faction, as well as providing a mood/hunger boost and reducing merchant restock time. As you gain reputation with a faction, you can also unlock up to 3 faction-related abilities.

New NPCs which spawn and belong to a faction that hates/admires you will have their initial sentiment set accordingly.

When talking to an enemy in a faction where you have high reputation, the game will use the prompt for NPC rather than enemy conversations (giving a bonus to the outcome).

Added faction-related cheat codes:

• Add a new faction: facadd [faction name],
  
• Set faction reputation: rep [0-indexed faction number] [reputation amount]

[h2]New Event Check: Money gained/lost[/h2]

A new event check will trigger if you gained or paid money in the story, rated as one of 3 magnitudes (small, medium, or large). For game balance purposes, the game generally won’t follow any exact coin values mentioned in the story (e.g. “10 coins”).


[h2]Misc[/h2]

• Slightly increased free cloud character/token limit
  
• Improved Sapphire image gen by increasing number of steps (server-side change, about a week ago)
  
• Moved Sapphire initial region/location and faction generation to the smarter model. Telling it to avoid certain words like “whispering” actually sometimes works now.
  
• Modified death event check to exclude sleeping
  
• Added explanatory help text for factions, quests, story editor, attributes, abilities, and skills.
  
• Fixed user experience when starting a new game by preventing the confirm button if required fields were missing
  
• Added warning for invalid save entities if playing a newer save on an older build
  
• Added “Import” button beside “Export” button for starting a new game
  
• Improved native monitor resolution detection, and also added “RESOLUTION_OVERRIDE” to config.txt which will be used if set to something other than 0,0
  
• For a1111 API, changed “sampler_index” to “sampler_name” and added it to moddable a1111-image-params.txt, to improve compatibility
  
• Fixed bug where you could force recruit a corpse