Approaching Infinity News

I've loved roguelikes since 2006, when I was forced to find something to play on my wife's low-spec laptop while saving for a new PC. I released my first ASCII roguelike, Random Realms, in 2009. But the thing that really got me going was 7DRL (7-day roguelike), a game jam I competed in for 8 years.

This genre is a big deal to me.

In 2015 I got a chance to talk about an early version of Approaching Infinity at the International Roguelike Developers Conference (IRDC) in Atlanta. It was such a great time to hang out with all those other roguelike developers.

Now we do things virtually: Easier to attend ːsteamhappyː, but far fewer burger quests with new friends ːsteamsadː

"Roguelike Celebration" is a 2-day event (Oct. 19th & 20th) that takes place inside a custom-built environment that's a cross between a traditional roguelike and a MUD (multi-user dungeon), because all the attendees move @s around the ASCII space to visit various rooms with content and talks. I LOVE IT!

They've got some really interesting topics lined up this year. I will be there (but I'm not presenting).





My recent work on the auto-explore has been a huge success. It's faster than it used to be and much smarter. It opens containers, gets loot, harvests plants, explores all areas, and avoids danger according to your settings (calm, terrified, or reckless). You can even tell it to not pick up certain kinds of low value or illegal commodities.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]




After 4 years on Steam, 11 years in development, and as soon as this Roguelike Celebration Sale is over, Approaching Infinity's price will increase.

I've put an incredible amount of work into this game, and players *notice*. People play for hundreds of hours and still find new things. Heck, you can get at least 40 hours of unique experience just from the free demo!

I've looked at games that offer similar experiences. Approaching Infinity is under-priced. So to support continued development (and my family!), the price will increase. (It will go up again before full release in August of 2025.)


[h3]This is your last chance to purchase at this discounted rate.[/h3]


But once you start your great space adventure, you'll forget all about that one supreme pizza or half-tank of gas you could have bought instead...

I listened to players, read articles, played crafting-centric games, and watched videos. Then I took what I learned and translated it into my universe.

There are only 14 crafting parts now, 9 are manufactured, and 5 are natural and obtained from various reliable locations throughout the galaxy. You can learn all about them on the new crafting menus with easy-to-follow rules right on the screen.

Here's a 5-minute demonstration:
https://youtu.be/o6eVeiSGnYc
(Warning: contains secret code)





If you need more convincing, check out my modified PARTICLE BEAM:






[h3]And if you have an existing game, don't worry! All your old parts and recipes will carry over to the new system. [/h3]

I got you.

[h2]With endless character and item progression as a core principle, Approaching Infinity was destined to participate in Steam's Turn-Based RPG Fest. [/h2]

Unfortunately, due to a conflict between the previous Space Exploration Fest and the upcoming Roguelike Celebration, the game could not be discounted.ːsteamsadː


[h2]Crafting[/h2]

The month of September was spent on completely reworking the crafting system, and it's almost ready. We're testing it in the beta branch right now, and everyone is welcomed to join.

[h3]As an incentive for beta testers, *this week only*, I'm giving you a Code for free crafting parts and essences:[/h3]

Go to Options > Enter Code , and type or copy/paste
free crafting parts

That will really come in handy for the latest exciting feature:

[h2]Item Modification![/h2]

Now you can use crafting materials to enhance and upgrade your existing gear!

Do you find that your prized disruptor blaster from 10 sectors ago just doesn't pack the same punch against the enemies you're fighting now, but you know you'll never find another one like it... MOD IT!


Every kind of item has a list of mods to draw from so you can customize your gear for some very specific builds. And the long-awaited ability to change the damage type (incendiary, cryo, corrosive, etc) of away team guns is finally here!

And that's not all... Cyber-Skills can be upgraded too!

Do you find "Cryo-Blast" underwhelming? Want to teleport more often? Level up your activated skills to increase radius and duration while reducing cooldown timers!




(My Particle Beam +87 does 5 million damage and is worth 1.8 BILLION credits!)

It's finally here, the crafting beta starts today!



https://youtu.be/ynff1lkY7DY

Major Changes:

• There are fewer parts, but each one is special ;)
  
• There are more recipes, allowing you to specialize
  
• You will see exactly what you're going to build
• before* you build it
  
• You can add extra parts or data to get a crafting level boost!
  
• Some recipes require essences (harvested from creatures and rare plants)
  
• There is plenty of built-in help!
  
• You can buy schematics and essences at stations
  

Crafting:


Salvage:


Essence Extraction:




The "Mods" system. This is where you will be able to upgrade the stats of existing gear, or change the damage type of your away team guns. Cool stuff. But I need another week to get it running, and this way you can test what I've done so far while I get mods together. It's another level of multi-tasking for me.




Re-writing the auto-explore!

• I really really fixed that monster image not found issue
  
• I discovered that pacified carnivorous plants are walking around! (fixed)
  
• I made DNA/essence drops from stationary creature not appear on their own tile 😉
  
• I fixed an issue where knowledge of alien ships wasn't being saved.
  
• I Fixed "art with no window" bug.
  

• I gave the extractor melee weapon its own sound.
  
• Clearcutting will not damage plants that are pacified by the naturalist
  
• I'm allowing the grappler to work on aquatic creatures 😄 (Fishing season!)
  
• Aquatic-only creatures will take damage if they are not in water.
  
• I made tooltip backgrounds fully opaque.
  
• Dead Vordalene now have a 50% chance to spawn some basic crafting parts. I hate to make them targets but it makes sense to me...
  
• Virologist skill is now twice as strong.
  
• I made diseases less prevalent in easy-difficulty games, and more in hard and insane.
  
• Some essences (mass, luster, shock) now spawn in space in appropriate locations.
  
• I created the salvage lab device which will give back more parts when salvaging items.
  

All of the about should be available for all players, version 1.9a6.


(Crafting is still disabled. It even says so on the title screen, in red.)

But even if you can't play it, check out these work-in-progress shots:

The new crafting screen, with a list of recipes, the ingredients that go into that recipe, a tooltip explanation of an ingredient, and a preview of the exact item you will craft. You can even choose among 3 versions, and use extra parts and data to increase the level of the item you'll make:

The salvage screen, with all available equipment, icons displaying whether or not you'll learn a new recipe and also how much your crafting level will increase, and the center column displaying exactly how much of each ingredient you'll obtain by salvaging.

There are still 2 more crafting-related screens that need to be made: "mods" and "extract". I'd like to release a crafting beta next Friday, but we'll see how it goes. I still feel good about completing this cycle by the end of the month.

And here is the art for the new "consumables" you'll be able to make and use:





Dr. Incompetent has been doing beginner guides for games for a few years now, and (unknown to me) during the space exploration fest, he started one for Approaching Infinity.

Today I was looking for the link (here it is), but what I found was even better: a video review, released just today!
https://youtu.be/Egqb_c62jD8?si=uSwUm0az3pkfAQgj

It really makes me feel like all my hard work is paying off. Take a look, leave a comment, maybe subscribe? He's got a very relaxing voice ;)