Cyclopean News

[h2]The Maelstrom![/h2][p]Introducing Cyclopean's latest feature, the Maelstrom! The Great Abyss has just gotten more dangerous. No longer can you simply sail peacefully between underworld ports...[/p][p][/p][p][/p]

[h3]The Big Level Up Bug![/h3][p]After introducing venom as a game mechanic, I did not realize it caused the player to die when they tried to level up. This escaped testing because it only happened if the player started a new game, then gained enough experience and tried leveling up without ever saving and loading the game. I will try to be more thorough in my testing![/p][p][/p][h3]No Items[/h3][p]The trader would start the game with no items in his inventory until after the player entered a dungeon, or loaded a saved game. Now, the trader should start off with a few items in his inventory as it should be.[/p][p] [/p][h3]Multiple Corpses[/h3][p]Previous versions only allowed you to access one dead enemy's corpse if there were more than one on the same tile. Now you can cycle through any number of dead enemies, each time you search it should show a different one, until all have been accessed, then it starts back at the first.[/p][p]
See the animation above, as the player cycles through two different corpses, in this case a Cat and a Stygian Aberration. This also works outside of the dungeons.
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[h3]Missing Maps[/h3][p]I had to radically alter the way in which treasure maps were generated. There are a limited number of possible map locations, so once it generated all the possible maps, no new treasure maps would appear. So, for instance, every time you left a dungeon, there were any number of treasure maps generated by the overworld creatures/NPCs. If you went back into the dungeon, and did not get those maps, they would be gone and the game would not generate them again. Very bad design![/p][p]In this latest build, it only generates a map once you open a treasure chest, or interact with a creature. This way, it will make sure you will have access to every possible map in the game (though you may choose not to take it, I guess). [/p][p]Since one quest now depends on using a treasure map, it was possible for that quest to be unwinnable. However, this would only happen if you started the game yesterday after the update, and played enough to exhaust all the maps. [/p][p][/p][h3]Dungeon Messages[/h3][p]The little messages scrawled on the walls of dungeons now provide a small XP boost the first time you encounter them. [/p][p] [/p][h3]Subterranean Sea[/h3][p]The Great Abyss is the name for the whole underworld, but also for the subterranean sea which fills much of it. Now that sea provides the appropriate ambient sounds when you are near the shore or in the boat.[/p][p][/p][h3]Bug Fixes[/h3]

• [p]Plate gauntlets provide better protection than chain gauntlets now.[/p]
• [p]Some descriptions were shortened to fit in the appropriate area.[/p]
• [p]Gold from buried treasure should no longer include decimal points.[/p]
• [p]Using Anti-Venom (Atterlothe) will now update your maximum life correctly.[/p]
• [p]Big error if you start a new game, then cancel and load a saved game, has been fixed.[/p]

[p]Several big changes have been made in this Very Big Update (henceforth called the VBU). [/p][p][/p][h2]New Game Required![/h2][p]Unfortunately, to access the new features of the VBU, you will have to start a new game. If you want to continue with your existing game, you can go to "Cyclopean > Properties > Betas" and activate "old_version_09928" so you can finish your current game. You may have to restart Steam in order to see this version in the betas tab.[/p][p][/p][h2]Bug Fixes[/h2][p]The VBU fixes a number of outstanding bugs. [/p][h3]Visual Bugs[/h3][p]There were a few minor visual bugs, like the boat overlapping things in a bizarre way and walls that failed to stop the player from passing through them. There was also a strange effect that messed up the look of the screen during combat (not the wits event, which is intentional).
[/p][h3]Missing Corpses[/h3][p]Some creatures in the overworld were not aligned to the grid properly, so you could not access the corpse after defeating them. Also, if you loaded a saved game in the overworld, corpses would appear, but were no longer accessible. Now you should be able to access corpses, even after loading a saved game. Note once you enter a dungeon, and emerge, the monsters in the overworld are randomized and corpses are removed.
[/p][h3]Missing Books[/h3][p]Two books would not load properly in the Crag of the Ghouls. They should appear correctly now. [/p][p][/p][h3]Attacking Allies[/h3][p]A strange bug allowed hostile creatures to attack your allies outside of an actual encounter. [/p][p][/p][h3]Traps and Secret Doors[/h3][p]If there was an active trap right behind a secret door, it became impossible to actually detect the secret door.[/p][p] [/p][h2]New Features[/h2][p]The VBU has a number of new features will will dramatically effect the gameplay in Cyclopean. I will try to summarize them here without giving away spoilers. I don't know exactly how all these changes will interact with each other, and with player's expectations, so I imagine I will be tweaking things in the next few days. [/p][p][/p][h3]Creature Features (like Venom)[/h3][p]More special creature effects have been added. I want these to be a surprise, but to give an example, Ghasts are now venomous (as they are described in the text) so you will want to find some anti-venom (named atterlothe in the game ... an archaic name I feel Lovecraft would have approved of) when you intend to go into the Vaults of Zin.

Other creatures have new unique effects, I will leave the rest for you to discover for yourself. I plan to add more, maybe not for every single creature, but at least two or three more.[/p][p][/p][h3]Expanded Ally Interactions[/h3][p]Having allies was always an important part of the game, and since the beginning, each type of ally would give the player certain bonuses to things like stats. [/p][p]Now this system has been greatly expanded upon. Each kind of ally will have an additional, stacking effect, depending on the other allies in your party. For instance, having cats and ghouls together will give you a limited night-vision in dungeons, which lets you take advantage of the darkness bonus, while still being able to see (though not as well as with a torch). [/p][p]These relationships are described in more detail in the inquiries panel, so make sure you ask your allies about the other creatures in the underworld. Note: not every creature is aware of these effects, so you will usually only learn of an effect from one of the two parties involved.[/p][p][/p][h3]Camp Fights[/h3][p]Also, some allies who are hostile to others will no longer join your party if their enemies are present. Also, if you do have alliances with two or more hostile groups (which is still possible) they won't like if you leave them together at camp, and will begin fighting. [/p][p]You can keep hostile allies in your party as long as you keep them separated, i.e. cats in the tent, and zoogs in your party, so you can switch them out as needed. Good luck![/p][p][/p][h3]New Items[/h3][p]A lot of new items have been added, most notably clothing and armor pieces. Helmets, gloves, boots and more can be equipped, which will improve your protection or sneak stats. Also, the aforementioned "atterlothe" which is a type of anti-venom, will be available.[/p][p][/p][h3]Artifacts[/h3][p]To dig deeper into the ally features, there are now unique artifacts that provide even further bonuses, but they are rare and there is no guarantee of finding them. The idea is that you may find an item that will provide a bonus from a particular ally type. If you find that item, it may encourage you to seek out that creature as an ally, to get access to the bonus. [/p][p][/p][h3]Doors[/h3][p]Once you interact with a door, it will "remember" your interaction. So, if you try to bash a door, and fail, it will tell you the minimum strength required to break it. The next time you meet that door, you don't have to try to bash it again, it will remind you what the minimum strength was when you interact with it again. This is the same for the skill+mind requirement for lock-picking as well as key type. [/p][p][/p][h3]Item Descriptions[/h3][p]Clicking on an item in your inventory will now describe very briefly what that thing does. Armor and weapons still shows the strength or skill requirement as before. [/p][p][/p][h3]More Corpse Features[/h3][p]Creature corpses will now display the type of creature whose corpse it is you are searching through. [/p][p] [/p][h3]Creature Fights[/h3][p]The creature conflict feature has been expanded further. You will now hear them fighting when you are close, but the sound effects will fade out with distance. [/p][p][/p][h3]Other Stuff[/h3][p]Other things are included in the VBU, but you will find them as you play. One of the possible "main quests" has been given an additional requirement, a new trader was added, and many things were tweaked in the process of making this update. I hope the game feels more interactive and emergent. Have fun! [/p][p][/p]

[h3]NPC Paths[/h3]
Some of the game's creatures will be traveling around the map now. They will be interacting with the other creatures as before, but occasionally they will also be going on trips to and from the trader and other locations. I want to add a few more of these in the next update, including perhaps some that will travel by boat. That will get a bit complex though, so we will see what happens.



[h3]Search Problem[/h3]
It was possible to disable the search command if you held it down when entering or exiting a dungeon. I was able to address this and it looks like it is no longer possible to disable the search command.

[h3]Crash Fixed (Maybe)[/h3]
The game was occasionally crashing when entering and exiting dungeons. I have tested the latest build quite a bit, but I cannot reproduce the crash. The unfortunate part is that I never figured out what was happening in the last version, so it's hard to say for sure whether it is fixed or not.

If you do encounter this crash again, please post a comment here letting me know. If it's possible to reproduce, that is super helpful in trying to fix it. I was able to reproduce it in the previous Steam version (0.9.927) but it seemed totally random. So far I have not encountered it in this version (0.9.928) so hopefully it's gone!