Dungeon Deathball News

[h3]⚠ Save Data Reset[/h3]
First up, a reminder: your save data will be reset in this update!

This affects your game settings and any mid-game saves you may have left unfinished. This is due to some major changes which have made the old data obsolete. Apologies for any inconvenience this causes! I'll always avoid resetting save data whenever possible but the nature of Early Access makes it inevitable sometimes.

With that out of the way, here's the the good news...



[h3]📅 Daily Challenge Mode[/h3]
It's here!

• Compete against other players to be top of the daily leaderboard in a unique set of randomly-generated stages.
  
• To make it fair, everyone gets exactly the same challenges: the stage layout, the enemies you face, the player perks you're given... right down to the tiles your opponents decide to step on to!
  
• Replay Daily Challenge mode as many times as you like to figure out the best path to victory.
  
• Come back tomorrow for a whole new challenge and a fresh leaderboard to dominate.

[h3]🥇 Leaderboards[/h3]
You can now view the the Steam leaderboards in-game! No more switching out to your web browser to view them on the Steam page.

And, of course, you can see your performance in the Daily Challenge here too.



[h3]💀 New Trial System[/h3]
This update brings big changes to how the game's Trials work. Instead of randomly being dealt one enemy and playing through 3 stages heavily populated by that enemy, the stages you face are now much more shuffled. You may now face any combination of enemies in each trial.



Currently, Snaptors and Kappas will appear in Trial 2. Redhorns and Hatcheries populate Trial 3. Trial 4 is a combination of all the above, plus their savage ball-chasing versions. All 4 trials include mixtures of the basic Mad Lad enemy and sometimes Ticks too.

Of course, this enemy list is only going to get bigger before the game is finished so you'll see much more variety throughout your runs.

This change has no doubt impacted the game's difficulty and it will probably need further balancing. However, I'm making an effort now not to get too bogged down in fine-tuning the smaller details constantly and instead focusing on the bigger stuff that needs to be added. Polish can come later! 😀

[h3]🔙 Restart Stage[/h3]
Now you can do it! It's limited to once per stage though, so only use it when absolutely necessary.



[h3]🎮 Control Fixes[/h3]
Several players reported that using a combination of mouse and keyboard to play would cause issues where the cursor would disappear. This has now been addressed. Noice.

[h3]❤ Enemy Info Popups[/h3]
I've also added a shortcut button to view information popups for all enemies. These popups show every enemy's health and the order they will perform their next action (vital information in some situations!).

This is particularly useful when using a gamepad as you were previously unable to view information for enemies unless an attack was possible.

This new shortcut is mapped to the "i" key, or R1/Right Bumper on gamepads. Alternatively, just hover your mouse cursor over the new "Enemy Info" icon in the top-right corner of the screen.



[h3]🐤 Tweety Birds[/h3]
They're here too.



Here's the full list of changes in this update...

• Added Daily Challenge mode with a new leaderboard every day.
  
• Leaderboards are now visible in-game.
  
• Revised the Trial system and how stages are randomly generated.
  
• Switched to use a Seeded RNG system for reproducible random generation.
  
• Trial intro sequence now shows more enemies.
  
• Added option to Restart Stage once per stage.
  
• Savage Redhorns, Snaptors and Kappas and non-savage Ticks will now appear in some stages.
  
• Tier 3 Strength perk now boosts damage by 3 instead of 4.
  
• Disabled auto-switch to next player when you Pass the ball (this is due to a bug that's difficult to fix but could cause a lock up of the game. I'll try to fix it later!)
  
• Walls no longer spawn near the finish line.
  
• You can now view all enemy info (health & act order) by holding the "i" key or R1/Right Bumper on gamepad, or hovering your mouse cursor over the new "Enemy Info" icon..
  
• Changed enemy health bar popups layout for improved clarity.
  
• Added popup text when stamina is restored or characters are stunned.
  
• Changed stun effects to tweety birds.

[h3]🐛 Bug Fixes[/h3]

• Fixed crash when you pass the ball as the final action of your turn.
  
• Fixed crash that occurred when enemies were targetted by other enemies whilst stunned.
  
• Fixed aggressive Redhorn's attack animation showing the non-aggressive sprite.
  
• Fixed crash when turn par was above 16.
  
• Using keyboard controls will no longer hide the mouse cursor.
  
• 'How To Play' screen now shows correct keyboard shortcuts when using mouse & keyboard.
  
• Fixed enemy health bars being too low resolution.
  
• Fixed Windows mouse cursor becoming visible if you Alt+Tab out of the game then back again.
  
• Fixed tier 3 Powerball perk using same icon as tier 2.

I hope you enjoy this big update! It's been a lot of work but I'm really happy with the results.

For future updates I'm planning to expand the ways you can level up your players, and having another look at the way the scoring system works.

Now dive into that Daily Challenge and show the world how good you really are!



Matt

This is a quick warning to let you know that the next update to Dungeon Deathball will contain significant changes to the structure of the game data.

Unfortunately this means existing save data will no longer be compatible.

Right now, the only data that gets saved is:

• your mid-session progress (i.e. when you select "Save & Quit" in the middle of a game).
  
• your settings (volume levels, disabling pop-ups)

Therefore, now would be a good time to finish any games you have in progress.

I expect the new update to arrive some time in the next week. It's hard to say for certain right now.

[h3]Why am I making these big changes?[/h3]

I want to add a Daily Challenge mode to Dungeon Deathball. However, at the moment the game is using a bit of a scrappy 'generate-on-the-fly' system. I am replacing it with a seeded system which allows deterministic procedural generation, which will allow a Daily Challenge runs which are the same for everyone.

Along with this, I'm rolling out some high level changes to the structure of the game. I'm moving away from the 'Trials' format with a new enemy per trial and going for more a mixture of different enemy types.

Both of these changes will come in the next update, 0.17. Stay tuned!

And remember to finish your unfinished runs. 😉

[h2]🆕 Changes[/h2]

• Maximum number of Walls spawned on Small stages reduced to 2 (from 3).
  
• Player input is enabled sooner (i.e. less waiting before you can input the next action).
  
• Keybind for 'Confirm Action' changed to Spacebar.
  
• Keybind for 'Rest' changed to R.
  
• Keybind for 'Pass Ball' changed to T.
  
• Keybind for 'Shoot Ball' changed to Y.
  
• Enabled VSync by default. (An option to disable it may be added in a future update. Please let me know if this is important to you!)
  
• The par countdown board now says "Over Par" instead of "No Par".
  

[h2]🐛 Bug Fixes[/h2]

• Fixed crash when you push an enemy in such a way that it would intend to attack outside the field grid on its next turn (this only affected attacks, not movement).
  
• Fixed camera becoming stuck zoomed in if you used the Shoot command then the ball lands on another human player.
  
• Fixed players spending an additional Stamina point when they step on to the ball's tile.
  
• Fixed application running in the background (and therefore receiving keyboard input).
  
• Fixed ball becoming the wrong scale after being shot.
  
• Possible fix for crash after enemy is hit and stunned by another enemy (Unconfirmed, hard to reproduce. Please let me know if you experience this!).
  

[h3]New Backgrounds[/h3]
This week's update brings some much-needed improvements to the dungeon backgrounds. Check out the latest images to see how it looks.

You'll find backgrounds in...

• 3 different sizes (to match the stage sizes)
  
• 4 different colour palettes (as you progress through the 4 trials)
  
• More variation to be added in future updates.
  

[h3]Rocks[/h3]
A video game wouldn't be a video game without ROCKS, am I right??

You'll find these new obstacles scattered around every stage. They obstruct movement and attacks, but they can be pushed around like any other object in Dungeon Deathball and they're break if you punch them enough times (side note: I do not recommend punching rocks in real life).

This adds some small variation to each stage and gives you new options for intercepting enemy attacks. See what new tactics you can devise using them!



[h3]🆕 Changes[/h3]
Here's the full list of changes in this update.

• Added new background art.
  
• Added Wall obstacles. They can be attacked, pushed and destroyed like regular characters.
  
• Added several new hairstyles for more character variation.
  
• Enemies who have no actions queued are now skipped during the enemy turn (to make it quicker).
  
• When you pass the ball, your control will automatically switch to the recipient (provided they have Action Points).
  
• Camera during player input phase is now an overhead view that covers the whole field.
  
• Camera during enemy attacks now points down-field to mirror player attack camera.
  
• Changed 'stage intro' camera angle.

[h3]🐛 Bug Fixes[/h3]

• Snaptors no longer take a step backwards if their movement is fully obstructed.

[h3]Development Livestreams[/h3]
Also! Did you know I've been livestreaming development again recently? There have been two streams already this month! (1) (2)

Want to catch my livestreams when they happen?
✅ Subscribe to my YouTube channel
🔔 Turn on Notifications



That's all for this update! I hope you enjoy the new changes. 🙂 Same time next week?

Matt

Hi folks.

This is a quick update to let you know that the price of Dungeon Deathball will be increasing soon. I just wanted to give you a heads up before this happens so you can get it at the current, lower price if you wish.

[h3]New Price[/h3]
The new price will be: $9.99 / €8.49 / £7.99 (pending Valve's approval).

[h3]Why?[/h3]
I've thought long and hard about this, and ultimately decided than an increase in price as I head towards full release is the right decision. I don't take it lightly and I'm not doing it as some kind of quick money-grabbing tactic. I'm in this for the long haul.

To be completely honest, I originally opted for a low price because I wasn't particularly confident in my ability to deliver a game that justified any higher. I didn't want people to feel ripped off.

However, that was over 2 years ago. Now, I'm feeling much more confident in my own abilities having released 3 finished games on Steam.

Of course, I still don't want you to feel ripped off. I know we're all going through difficult times at the moment, and the last thing I want is for you to feel like you wasted your hard-earned money.

Therefore, I intend to expand the game so it will be larger and more polished than what I originally envisaged. This means more variation, more monsters, more modes and more ways to upgrade your players. And - if you've been following recent updates - you will hopefully agree that the overall quality is improving every week.

I hope you understand this decision and continue to enjoy Dungeon Deathball's updates leading up to version 1.0. It's been a bumpy ride at times but I'm truly optimistic about what's coming next.

Thank you.

Matt

P.S. Stay tuned for update 0.16 (coming this week).