Cyclopean News

The previous build introduced a new bug. Enemies in the overworld would spawn just a bit higher up than they were supposed to. It looked the same in-game, since you are seeing everything from the top down, but they could not properly interact with the player. So while you could fight them, they could not fight you back, and you could not search their remains after a fight.

This should all be working now. However, if you saved a game in the previous build, you may have to enter a dungeon and return to the overworld in order to reset the enemy positions.

The game's overworld received some slight graphical changes. Nothing gameplay related. I felt like some areas, such as the Zoogs area, the Ghouls graveyard, and the Gug Kingdom were pretty dense visually, and other places were a bit too sparse.



I just added some a few different visual elements to help things look more consistent.

A simple change that lots of folks have asked for.

Rename your save slots.

Renamed slots will not change when you save over them, you can manually rename them as needed.

[h3]New Text[/h3]
Not a major change to gameplay, but you will see some new text that appears when starting a new game and whenever you enter or leave a dungeon. I may add more things like this, just to offer some context and atmosphere to the game which is relatively mechanical in nature.

[h3]A lot of small fixes/features have happened as well[/h3]

• Added heal noise for tent
  
• Tent now heals in one turn, instead of by small increments
  
• Take All Button had a weird bug that made it make a loud noise
  
• Some inquiries have been updates with more useful information and hints
  
• Some spelling errors in inquiries have been fixed
  
• Some creatures could remain hostile after forming an alliance
  
• Some big changes to buying and selling - especially weapons and armor - margins will be less advantageous for player
  
• New "broken key" item added, and generally fewer keys will spawn
  
• Bug with swapping items was fixed
  
• Stealth mechanics were somehow available even when enemy was aware of your presence
  
• Strange camera bug in overworld was fixed - pixels were getting distorted
  
• Random searches will produce fewer rubies
  
• Searches limited to finding one item per grid unit at a time
  
• The Vaults of Zin got some added art and features
  
• Placing items in chest could produce incorrect amounts
  
• Some doors have been updated to require specific keys, instead of being random
  

There are some other significant changes, but I think they are better to experience via gameplay, rather than just being told. I'll just say that players who read the log and inquiries carefully may benefit a lot more than those who don't.

Several big changes have been made.

[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]
[h3]Dungeon Crash[/h3]
The game would occasionally crash when leaving a dungeon. I am not 100% sure if this is fixed, but I have not seen it happen since making some changes to the way dungeons and the overworld load.

[h3]Loot Crash[/h3]
Another possible cause of game crashes was when an NPC loaded with too much loot. It could have been a cause of the above crash when leaving a dungeon. Again, I am not sure this was 100% responsible, but it was definitely a potential cause of game crashes.

[h2]Updates[/h2]
The game options file will be reloaded to the default settings the next time you play. The reason is I have made a few small changes to the settings...

[h3]Log Entries[/h3]
Log entries now have two optional features (set to 'on' by default). Detailed log entries allow you to see details about all randomized interactions, like whether or not you hit an enemy, or how much damage you did. The other option is to turn off basic movement entries. If you don't want to see your log show

move north
move east
move east ...

Or if you don't want to see all the details of every random interaction, go to "C:\Users\-your username-\AppData\Local\Cyclopean" and open the "Options_5.cfg" file.

Change the following:

LOG DETAILS,1
LOG MOVEMENT,1

to:

LOG DETAILS,0
LOG MOVEMENT,0

[h3]Screen Shake[/h3]
Also in the same "Options_5.cfg" file, you will see another entry:

SCREENSHAKE ACTIVE,1

You can turn off the screenshake effect by setting this one to 0.

When the Early Access phase reaches completion, I will see if I can put all these options directly in the options menu. For now I will keep adding options to the configuration file.

[h3]Profitable Trade[/h3]
You can now gain money and experience when trading certain items with certain NPCs. Selling these particular items to the particular NPCs who value them, will gain you gold as well as Experience Points.

[h3]Items in Combat[/h3]
You can access your inventory in combat with the "I" key, or corresponding controller button. This is not new. But now if you use an item, like bandages, it will take up a turn. I hope this will make combat a bit more tactical and challenging. I have a feeling there will be requests for more potent healing solutions too though, so I am thinking about that.