Cyclopean News

[h3]Footsteps[/h3][p]Player footsteps will now better represent the surface being walked on. [/p][p][/p][h3]Hostility at Captors[/h3][p]Players who capture creatures will no longer be able to dialogue with the same kinds of creatures or their allies. [/p][p][/p][h3]Bugs[/h3][p]Starting a new game after a failed loading of an old game (due to it being from an older version) was causing some strange issues. For instance, the dungeons of that old game could get loaded into the new game. This has been addressed, and should no longer be a problem. [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p]

[h2]Quick Save/Quick Load[/h2][p]Several players have requested this over the coarse of this Early Access period, and I finally got around to starting it. There are some important limitations to keep in mind. Right now it does not have any controller button, but you can use the F5 key to perform a quick save, and F8 to do a quick load, once you have loaded the game from a save slot.

[/p][p]I am a little nervous as adding a feature like this may introduce unexpected bugs. So let me know if you encounter any problems.[/p][p]Also, it does not work with Roguelike Mode, since that only allows you to save the game on exit. [/p][p]For people using a controller, if you use Steam Input, you can assign a button to the F5 key and another one to F8. If you are using the built in controller interface ... I pity you. It is not very good, and I feel like I may have to cut it before the full release due to weird bugs. I will have a look at it again tomorrow to see if it can be salvaged. [/p][h3][/h3][h3]Exit Encounter and Obstacle Menu[/h3][p]Now you can press ESC to exit a non-hostile encounter or an obstacle (door) menu. No need to navigate through all those nasty buttons. But for hostile encounters you still have to finish them before you can exit the menu.[/p][p][/p][h3]Map Marker[/h3][p]Now if you are in a dungeon, you have a custom map marker that you can set, and reset by pressing the space bar (only when you are looking at the map, and only 1 marker can exist at a time). I hope this is helpful for you dungeon delvers. Use it wisely!
[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]Other Stuff[/h3][p]I added an ambient cave sound to the whole game, since it all takes place in the underworld. [/p][h3]
Controller Interface[/h3][p]This is some bigger changes than I was really planning on in this last week to be honest, but I think it's good because I realized how poorly designed my controller interface is right now. It would be good to know how many of you are using the built in controller interface, vs. Steam Input. I believe Steam Deck users would use Steam Input by default, but I am not 100% sure. [/p][p][/p][p][/p]

[h3]1.0 Coming Thursday[/h3][p]Cyclopean: The Great Abyss is nearly ready for its 1.0 release!

It has been an amazing journey, and I want to thank all the people who have played the game and contributed by providing feedback. It's exactly what I hoped for when I put the game up as Early Access, which is really great, because I know it does not always work out that way. So thank you!
[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h3]Roguelike Mode[/h3][p]I hope you are all aware of the new, optional "Roguelike Mode" which I hope will provide a bit more re-play value for this game. The game is not terribly long for an RPG, but the challenge of doing it without dying has been included for those interested in this genre. I myself have only recently become captivated by roguelikes, so forgive me if I did not abide by all the necessary restrictions. I think it being a turn-based rpg with grid based movement, randomized dungeons, monsters and loot made it a perfect candidate to include perma-death as an option, so I hope you feel the same. [/p][p][/p][h3]Thursday![/h3][p]Please be mindful of the Thursday release. As a solo developer, it is tough to find your market niche, so any help to boost the Steam algorithm will be a huge benefit to the game, and to me. If you are waiting for the 1.0 release, please consider buying it on Thursday when it hits full release status. [/p][p]Also, if you are as excited as I am about this game, please tell your friends to consider getting it on Thursday too. The more activity on that first day, the more likely it can get into the trending category, and reach even more people. The people are longing for a game like this, but its' our job (should we agree to this mission) to help them learn about it. So putting emphasis on Thursday will allow it to reach as many potential players as possible. [/p][p]If you already have the game, and like it, please consider writing a review if you haven't already. Thursday would also be a good day to post your review, as that may help contribute to the trend. [/p][p][/p][p]
Featuring a 2D overworld like the old CRPGs of yore.[/p][p][/p][h3]Challenges of Solo Dev[/h3][p]I know all this sounds like marketing and I feel very cynical about writing it. But I do really enjoy making games and I hope to be able to continue doing so. A successful release means I can start on my next project sooner, and also spend more time supporting the games I've already released. Being a solo developer means I can have full creative freedom over my projects, and it has been a great honor and blessing to have been able to do this as long as I have. I want to thank all the folks who have bought, played, reviewed, streamed, provided feedback for, insulted me over, and interacted with my games in any capacity. You have made it all worthwhile. So thanks! You are all peaches in my book.[/p][h3]
Thursday...[/h3][p]

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[h2]Darkness is your Friend - Sometimes[/h2][p]I have been testing some more and I decided to tweak the darkness mechanic even more. Now you can no longer find secret doors in the dark too. Also, in order to gain a stealth advantage, the game will compare your armor's sneak rating to its protection level. Only if your sneak exceeds the protection will you be able to take advantage of the darkness.

In additions to this, you can actually have a negative sneak value. Previously it could not go below zero. So having heavy armor and additional protection like plate gloves and boots, will make it harder for you to sneak. [/p][p][/p][p]There are a lot of advantages to using darkness, but I felt they needed to be balanced a bit more. This way each piece of armor you choose will have an effect on how you play. Also, items that can increase your sneak more will become more valuable to players who opt to choose the path of stealth... [/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p]

[h2]Small Updates[/h2][p]I have been playtesting and taking notes. So I am finding little things that may upset the game balance and making little changes to address those things. [/p][p][/p][h3]Traps in the Darkness[/h3][p]For instance, navigating dungeons without a torch is actually very advantageous, as it allows you to sneak past monsters much easier. However, it was kind of easy to abuse this feature, so now you can do it, but you will not be able to successfully search for traps in the darkness. [/p][h3][/h3][h3]Ghasts Everywhere![/h3][p]Also, ghasts appear too readily in low level dungeons. So now I have made their appearance less likely.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p]