RIF-idium (Patreon)

Life goes on! And so does Cogmind!

There's been big progress on the whole "gotta move out" issue, albeit having been dragged out even longer than expected, so that still hasn't happened yet. Fortunately our own landlady is quite nice, as is the the owner of where we're moving, though the former tenants proved incredibly problematic before leaving, threatening lawsuits which made no sense in the face of clear contract terms, and extremely favorable ones at that. Why can't people just be reasonable and nice about things xD

Anyway, no need to get into the drama, the important part relevant to ongoing development is that after taking care of pressing financial matters since April, and a surprising number of other unexpected issues, we're finally heading into the final stretch. As someone suggested, maybe this all had something to do with the timing of X0-1V1?! :P

I will be quite busy over the next month or so, including actually moving, but it'll be great to eventually have a return to stability after that. Working intermittently is probably best at this juncture anyway, having put out the earlier major release and update, and therefore moving on to preparation for Beta 18, allowing those growing plans to stew--and stewing and brewing they are :D

Anyway, it's time for the rest of this report to cover the GOOD side of things that have been happening!

Hexidium

As you know this new map is the primary focus of the next release, so I'll be sharing a bit about that now and in the future without spoiling most of it.

As usual we want to mix things up, making it an overall different experience from previous maps, even other "base" maps, so expect it to do new things in that regard. On that note I actually haven't yet decided whether it should have a vertical or horizontal layout, since I think it might lean towards a more rectangular structure and we generally do horizontal maps in that case, so vertical would have a different feel to it. Unfortunately the "optimal" way to handle such an environment is pretty much always horizontal, purely due to display aspect ratios suggesting that as the best experience for maximum map visibility. So I imagine it may not break new ground in that regard...

Obviously that's a very minor point in a bigger picture of what really makes a map unique :P. Towards that end we're going to be seeing new mechanical options and variety--new items, new builds, new enemies, new events, and so on...

The amount of content found there was originally going to be on the somewhat more limited/focused side of things, but you know how these things go, just more and more cool opportunities keep popping up as I think about it more, and I do my best to integrate these wherever possible.

Currently this remains in the planning stages, with the layout not even finalized since I started writing lore a while back, and then just kept writing and writing, as it's important to know how all this is presented in game because that in itself has a direct impact on the layout--what areas are accessible or not as easily accessible, how many types of areas we need in order to fit this stuff, and so on. Gotta know everything that's going to be in the box before you can create the best box!

It will be a mostly static map in terms of layout, reminiscent of Scraptown with some smaller generated areas to offer a portion of randomized content as well, but mostly offering a set amount of guaranteed content to expect there.

It'll be a big lore map, since there's a lot to say about this whole rather unique aspect of the world, giving us a great new window to peer into, and out of. While it won't quite be Scraptown levels of lore, right now it looks to have already reached about half that. As of yesterday the bulk of the writing is complete, though I know more will be added as necessary during the building process. Still, it's hard to fully compete with Scraptown on the lore front since Hexidium features much less on the dialogue side of things :P

RIF+

Now for the real meat of this post...

As many of you are probably aware, either because you were around at the time or it's been brought up again since, a long time ago there was a discussion about making the RIF Crosswire ability something that could be guaranteed in some way, rather than being both random and (due to it's exceptionally powerful nature) requiring many upgrades before even having a chance to acquire it.

While I like the concept, that would take some doing since we'd need it to remain balanced and also build suitable content around it, so I kept that on the backburner while eventually figuring Hexidium might just be an appropriate location, as that came into view on the distant horizon.

Hexidium has indeed been chosen as a way acquire guaranteed Crosswire, but also... more options :)

I have always been considering a lot of other RIF abilities, some of which could be pretty neat, some possibly on a similar power level as Crosswire, so I started thinking maybe this isn't a way to access Crosswire, but instead an opportunity to pick from a whole list of powerful new abilities.

This is something that ties in very well into Hexidium, and lore-wise can also take advantage of even greater freedom in what is possible because these "abilities" can be things that MAIN.C would definitely not want to exist, capabilities born far outside the system by way of not-necessarily-friendly actors.

Here is a list of semi-confirmed abilities on the list, though this is straight from my notes and implementation, while further balance work has a way of making changes to details:

Crosswire: The OG.

Code Intercept: If any 0b10-controlled bot dies while in view and you have a matching coupler attached, the highest-value matching coupler gets +2-3 value added to it. This works for [NC] couplers as well, but only +1. It will possibly also work on [REDACTED] couplers, depending on how those pan out. If needed, could balance it a bit more by adding a small amount to your alert for every such interception?

Advanced Relaying: [Proto] couplers even work on RIF-immune prototypes, e.g. those in FRG (forcing them into the system).

Remote Injection: Hack visible bots without using a Datajack at all, and at no time cost, and using couplers directly from inventory without attaching them. This can still draw from attached couplers, which are prioritized for this purpose. Programmers cannot remotely defend against hacks carried out in this way.

Tracking Worm: Essentially turn-based sensors that allow you to see all combat and NC 0b10 bots nearby, perfectly, no attached couplers required. Doesn't work on non-RIF bots though, so no FRG advanced prototypes.

Class Tracking: See the current locations of all bots of attached coupler-matching types across the entire map, in real time.

Support Dispatching: If none following you and currently on a map with a Fabricator, 0b10 automatically produces an 0b10 Mechanic and Protector that head to your location then join you (controllable upon getting close enough, thus safe from attack until then).

Layout Tapping: Tap into the engineering network, giving permanent terrain scanning around you. Walls and floors only (not earth), and only in 0b10 maps.

Recycle Tapping: Tap into the recycling network, giving permanent knowledge of all nearby item locations. This also identifies those items if possible (those recognized by 0b10/MC), giving their IDs. Only available in 0b10 maps.

System Flood: Each time a new coupler is attached, all visible bots of matching class immediately gain a significant amount of system corruption, based on a multiple of the coupler value. There is no defense against this effect.

Here are prospective names for some of the other powerful abilities in my notes that were temporarily rejected for various reasons, but listing here because some sound cool :P

Coupler Repackaging

Code Washing

Code Extrapolation

Coupler Programming

Fabrication Tapping

Note this is early dev plans, and things can change. We don't need wider discussion on this topic outside this group, but if you want to get into it on Discord, as usual use the patron channels.

I should add here that Hexidium is definitely not just about RIF, despite showcasing what is naturally a big reason for RIF builds to consider visiting. It's important that this map be part of a route considered by multiple different builds for multiple different reasons, and it will succeed in that goal. Although yeah I admit RIF is going to probably like it the most, by default :)

Sunlorn

Shout out to the new open-world fantasy roguelike I've been playing and streaming over the past month, Sunlorn. It's quite well done already despite having relatively little time put into playtesting yet, so I've been happy to continue providing feedback on that, feedback that has been quickly adopted by the dev and rolled into updates. I've already got quite a few archived videos on it, starting with the intro here, and my main character is currently approaching the end game...

Sunlorn is ASCII only, though, so that's going to significantly limit the potential audience xD

Fortnight

The second annual Roguetemple's Fortnight has come to an end, a 14-day roguelike development jam that this year resulted in the creation of 24 new traditional RLs. So maybe check those out if you want to explore some new options to play :)

Many of the devs also hung out in the RoguelikeDev Discord (same as Cogmind Discord :P), so there you'll find additional progress info and discussion from throughout the event, in a dedicated channel.