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101
Announcements / SITREP Saturday #21: Saved!
« on: April 27, 2018, 06:21:11 PM »
Thanks for all the reviews lately! We're well on our way to that goal, and I'm well on the way to delivering Beta 6 :D
With achievements completely out of the way it's mostly done, just needs another 2-3 days of polishing. With a normal release at this stage I'd be okay to put it out next week, but this one's particularly big with a lot of new moving parts so I'm going to hold it in pre-release testing longer than usual to ensure no easily avoidable bugs are passed along to you all.
Unless something goes horribly wrong it'll be out the week after next and you can achieve all you want ;)
Exterminator
As usual when approaching a new major release, the top priority is to take care of any new bugs/issues/minor tweak requests that have popped up since last time. But first, because it's nice to have something exciting to show for the week, check this out:
Yep, manually activated object labels (hostiles/allies/parts) will continue appearing automatically as you pan the map. These additional labels will also obey the item filters added in Beta 5.
While adding and testing that feature I discovered that robot labels for those not in view have been completely broken for the past couple versions (no one reported this because I guess they're not needed as frequently?), so I fixed that:
Impact weapons display damage values properly modified by current momentum. Other melee weapons were doing it right, but a typo left out the impact category...
AOE traps give their salvage modifier in their description.
Items with description info (e.g. traps) will still show it even when the Show Supporter Items option is on.
Removing an active Particle Charger, or having it destroyed, immediately updates damage for the weapon(s) it was affecting.
Explicit Arc stat for forced spread weapons and clearer multi-explosive indicator
Added Disruption stat to melee weapon info, for the couple of late-game impact weapons that use it.
Saved!
Cogmind already includes a couple of autosave mechanisms, the first which automatically saves your current run's progress at an adjustable interval, and another which makes a backup copy of the current save and all settings once per day. But this doesn't quite cover all the possibilities--what if something bad happens to your computer at precisely the wrong time and your save file is corrupted? If you have a long run in progress you'll still be able to restore it to wherever it was on the previous day, but any progress on the current day would be lost. Not anymore come Beta 6!
The autosave system has been expanded to also save an adjustable number of sequential backups at a designated interval, so even if the current save doesn't work, there's a backup not long before that :)
Note that this system is not accessible in game--you'll still have to manually copy and rename an old file if you really need it, but it should be extremely rare that this is necessary anyway. Just a precaution. That and probably one of its more useful benefits is making it much easier to track down a subtype of bug which can otherwise be elusive if the issue already happened before the current save. Most bugs can be solved fairly easily given existing tools, but there are a few that are extremely difficult to track without knowing the game state prior to where something went wrong.
Pretty Stats
One of Cogmind's new players, Ape, has put together a great python script for analyzing all your score sheets produced by the game across multiple runs.
There are lots of interesting insights that can be derived from the graphs we've been looking at on Discord.
Ape posted their own first batch here and I've collected some examples on the forums. Some excerpts:
GJ is the only player to have collected absolutely everything in the game, and specific to this graph you can see where I was still adding new lore in late Alpha :)
Score sheet collections submitted by other players can be browsed here for tons more types of data.
Community
Cogmind expert Valguris has written up a quick spoiler-free guide to the early game. Kind of a supplementary follow-up to the Survival Tips in the manual. As he puts it:
Check it out if you need to up your game!
Over on the Discord, SeanMirrsen shared some cool impressions of Cogmind in various forms:
We also have a Let's Player who's just picked up Cogmind, Joselillo PDL, if you'd like to tune in to . Good luck to Joselillo :D
Bigmind
This week I also finally released what might be the final update for POLYBOT-7, the free Cogmind de/remake-spinoff-thing. You can check out what the update's all about here.
Explodey P7 gif for fun:
As usual, even just the little time spent working on that also ended up benefiting Cogmind (via the engine): As of Beta 6 if you have any letterboxing in your Cogmind display setup, the screenshot system will trim it out. This isn't usually much of an issue with Cogmind since it will never have more than a few pixels of letterboxing, and only on some displays, but with P7 it was a more important feature because the latter intentionally uses significant horizontal letterboxing by design.
Man I can't wait until Cogmind Beta 6 is done so I can start working on Beta 7 :P
There may be other relevant discussion of this SITREP on Steam, but feel free to post replies here, too :)
With achievements completely out of the way it's mostly done, just needs another 2-3 days of polishing. With a normal release at this stage I'd be okay to put it out next week, but this one's particularly big with a lot of new moving parts so I'm going to hold it in pre-release testing longer than usual to ensure no easily avoidable bugs are passed along to you all.
Unless something goes horribly wrong it'll be out the week after next and you can achieve all you want ;)
Exterminator
As usual when approaching a new major release, the top priority is to take care of any new bugs/issues/minor tweak requests that have popped up since last time. But first, because it's nice to have something exciting to show for the week, check this out:
Yep, manually activated object labels (hostiles/allies/parts) will continue appearing automatically as you pan the map. These additional labels will also obey the item filters added in Beta 5.
While adding and testing that feature I discovered that robot labels for those not in view have been completely broken for the past couple versions (no one reported this because I guess they're not needed as frequently?), so I fixed that:
Impact weapons display damage values properly modified by current momentum. Other melee weapons were doing it right, but a typo left out the impact category...
AOE traps give their salvage modifier in their description.
Items with description info (e.g. traps) will still show it even when the Show Supporter Items option is on.
Removing an active Particle Charger, or having it destroyed, immediately updates damage for the weapon(s) it was affecting.
Explicit Arc stat for forced spread weapons and clearer multi-explosive indicator
Added Disruption stat to melee weapon info, for the couple of late-game impact weapons that use it.
Saved!
Cogmind already includes a couple of autosave mechanisms, the first which automatically saves your current run's progress at an adjustable interval, and another which makes a backup copy of the current save and all settings once per day. But this doesn't quite cover all the possibilities--what if something bad happens to your computer at precisely the wrong time and your save file is corrupted? If you have a long run in progress you'll still be able to restore it to wherever it was on the previous day, but any progress on the current day would be lost. Not anymore come Beta 6!
The autosave system has been expanded to also save an adjustable number of sequential backups at a designated interval, so even if the current save doesn't work, there's a backup not long before that :)
Note that this system is not accessible in game--you'll still have to manually copy and rename an old file if you really need it, but it should be extremely rare that this is necessary anyway. Just a precaution. That and probably one of its more useful benefits is making it much easier to track down a subtype of bug which can otherwise be elusive if the issue already happened before the current save. Most bugs can be solved fairly easily given existing tools, but there are a few that are extremely difficult to track without knowing the game state prior to where something went wrong.
Pretty Stats
One of Cogmind's new players, Ape, has put together a great python script for analyzing all your score sheets produced by the game across multiple runs.
There are lots of interesting insights that can be derived from the graphs we've been looking at on Discord.
Ape posted their own first batch here and I've collected some examples on the forums. Some excerpts:
GJ is the only player to have collected absolutely everything in the game, and specific to this graph you can see where I was still adding new lore in late Alpha :)
Score sheet collections submitted by other players can be browsed here for tons more types of data.
Community
Cogmind expert Valguris has written up a quick spoiler-free guide to the early game. Kind of a supplementary follow-up to the Survival Tips in the manual. As he puts it:
Quote
Play a few games first. Then read the Survival Tips section of the manual. Then play a few more games. Only then I grant you permission to read this guide (:P), so that you have an idea of what I'm talking about and why is it that good to know/use.
Check it out if you need to up your game!
Over on the Discord, SeanMirrsen shared some cool impressions of Cogmind in various forms:
We also have a Let's Player who's just picked up Cogmind, Joselillo PDL, if you'd like to tune in to . Good luck to Joselillo :D
Bigmind
This week I also finally released what might be the final update for POLYBOT-7, the free Cogmind de/remake-spinoff-thing. You can check out what the update's all about here.
Explodey P7 gif for fun:
As usual, even just the little time spent working on that also ended up benefiting Cogmind (via the engine): As of Beta 6 if you have any letterboxing in your Cogmind display setup, the screenshot system will trim it out. This isn't usually much of an issue with Cogmind since it will never have more than a few pixels of letterboxing, and only on some displays, but with P7 it was a more important feature because the latter intentionally uses significant horizontal letterboxing by design.
Man I can't wait until Cogmind Beta 6 is done so I can start working on Beta 7 :P
There may be other relevant discussion of this SITREP on Steam, but feel free to post replies here, too :)
102
General Discussion / Ape's python scripts for creating progress graphs (w/samples)
« on: April 26, 2018, 07:17:31 PM »
Over on r/Cogmind (and Discord), Ape has shared a really cool script that takes all your scoresheets and produces really nice graphs from them, showing how you've been improving over time in various areas.
Other players who sent in their scores folder have also had their graphs uploaded here.
Here are some samples!
GJ was the first person to find all the lore, and because he keeps finding it all, you can see here where I added a huge chunk, and then later a bit more
Laida ran the script on their own:
Other players who sent in their scores folder have also had their graphs uploaded here.
Here are some samples!
GJ was the first person to find all the lore, and because he keeps finding it all, you can see here where I added a huge chunk, and then later a bit more
Laida ran the script on their own:
103
Everything POLYBOT-7 / Purging tips
« on: April 22, 2018, 11:20:01 PM »
When to purge parts is one of the more important decisions one can make in P7 and we've been discussing it over on Discord lately, so I thought I'd copy some of the relevant points here for reference.
Quote
bugsniper: how do you leave behind damaged equipment?
b_sen: as in, you've purged to get it off you?
b_sen: either be very fast and outrun it, or fill all your slots with other things first
Kyzrati: another tactic is to position yourself over a group of new parts/stockpile that you'd rather have, since surviving purged parts will be forced out beyond those
b_sen: that is one way to fill all your slots with other things first, yes
Kyzrati: well you should almost never want to get rid of damaged parts simply because they're damaged unless you are intending to replace them immediately
b_sen: true
Kyzrati: so this is basically the main use case
Kyzrati: only other reason to purge might be if you're insanely overweight, in which case you purge then can maneuver to mostly avoid the heavy stuff and prefer propulsion etc while moving away
Kyzrati: (I mean "only other reason" other than if you simply find really cool stuff, of course
b_sen: items move at speed 100
Kyzrati: yeah you can outrun them fairly easily as long as you don't get too close or aren't really slow
Kyzrati: "oh no! it's a crappy item coming for me, run!!!!"
Kyzrati: ah right, you can use doorways to block unwanted parts, too
Kyzrati: the main tip for purging is try not to rely on it
Kyzrati: you shouldn't actually need to do it all that much, it's mostly for emergencies and extreme cases
Kyzrati: it's much better to just preempt the need to purge by relying on good positioning relative to items in the first place
Kyzrati: all kinds of relevant tactics here, like specifically entering rooms through walls that are closer to the items that you want, rather than the doorway
Quote
GJ: I've started to purge a bit more during recent runs, or maybe just a more consistent amount. Some of my older runs had a lot of Purge Count 3 and some Purge Count 14, more recent runs are almost all Purge Count 8.
GJ: It's nice to purge whenever you can trade up in propulsion and integrity. Laserbots in particular can generate some attractive natural stockpiles where after you kill them there's an appropriate amount of legs and some cooling on the floor to just purge then and there.
GJ: Usually don't like purging if there's enough items around to fill all my slots then and there and no means of escaping some items by using doors or whatever
GJ: Partly because when I'm full on parts I trim good stockpiles by attracting bad parts or even some good parts if there's an excessive quantity of them (in positions where you'd attract too many of them trying to grab some specific item you want), expecting to revisit those stockpiles to grab a few items after I've purged somewhere(edited)
GJ: Typically that's what you want to pay attention to, you're usually purging to free up slots for good stuff, make sure you'll have enough propulsion post-purge to not be in a disaster situation, and try not to fill your slots before you reach the good parts you're going for.
GJ: Sometimes that can mean not killing enemies shooting at you while you move towards a good stockpile you've previously seen that's some distance away, as long as you're fast enough and the enemy count on the level has been reduced enough that you won't spiral into a catastrophe ignoring those bots until you fill your slots.
GJ: Because killing enemy bots usually deposits stuff on the floor close enough to you that you attract them
104
Announcements / SITREP Saturday #20: UI Achieved
« on: April 20, 2018, 05:11:07 PM »
With all 256 achievements implemented and tested last week, it was time to finalize the main achievements UI functionality.
The first subwindow I got working was the category filters.
Then onto the other filter and sorting options... All settings are remembered from when you last accessed the page so that you don't have to keep resetting them to your desired preferences, only making changes if you want to look at them in a different way.
And here's the entire thing working together!
So pretty soon you'll be able to browse your achievements in style.
All achievement data and images have actually been uploaded to Steam, but they're not published yet since I haven't released the build that allows access to them. However, because I had to test the Steam integration I did make the first couple public already,
meaning that from the store page it looks like Cogmind only has two achievements xD
Way to go, Valve... I haven't even marked "achievements" on the list of supported features but they don't care. You can't even earn those two, yet, although they do appear on the global achievements page because while testing I "earned" them :P
Anyway, the tests went smoothly and the data properly syncs back and forth between Cogmind and Steam, always making sure both sides have the latest data (in case you install Cogmind again elsewhere and it needs your records, or you migrate a DRM-free version over to a Steam-linked install of Cogmind). Here are Cogmind achievements successfully appearing in Steam for the first time!
Overseas Achievements
As with other collectible data in Cogmind (lore and gallery), achievements can also be exported to various formats. I've provided the same three formats, which you may want for different purposes.
Basic TXT, because TXT.
HTML includes some styling, plus a table of contents with links if you export a category-wise list.
CSV adds extra data like the highest difficulty mode on which each achievement was earned, and in which game number.
All exports load the same achievements listed in the UI, i.e. based on your currently set filters and sorting, giving you extra control over what is export and how.
Soonish
Next up is other non-achievement work for Beta 6. Considering that the changelog for this release has already grown quite fat I may push back some other features in order to get this one out sooner, but first things first, gotta fix all known bugs as per usual!
Oh yeah, my wife will be in surgery next week so I dunno that could slow things down, but by pushing some features to Beta 7 (don't worry, it's stuff you don't even know about yet ;)) the next release will be out on schedule.
I've also started writing the first of two blog posts about achievements, which will go into much greater depth about working on this aspect of a game.
If you're reading this now it's likely you already saw the previous announcement, but just in case here's a reminder: Check out the notice from a few days ago about the future of Cogmind.
There may be other relevant discussion of this SITREP on Steam, but feel free to post replies here, too :)
The first subwindow I got working was the category filters.
Then onto the other filter and sorting options... All settings are remembered from when you last accessed the page so that you don't have to keep resetting them to your desired preferences, only making changes if you want to look at them in a different way.
And here's the entire thing working together!
So pretty soon you'll be able to browse your achievements in style.
All achievement data and images have actually been uploaded to Steam, but they're not published yet since I haven't released the build that allows access to them. However, because I had to test the Steam integration I did make the first couple public already,
meaning that from the store page it looks like Cogmind only has two achievements xD
Way to go, Valve... I haven't even marked "achievements" on the list of supported features but they don't care. You can't even earn those two, yet, although they do appear on the global achievements page because while testing I "earned" them :P
Anyway, the tests went smoothly and the data properly syncs back and forth between Cogmind and Steam, always making sure both sides have the latest data (in case you install Cogmind again elsewhere and it needs your records, or you migrate a DRM-free version over to a Steam-linked install of Cogmind). Here are Cogmind achievements successfully appearing in Steam for the first time!
Overseas Achievements
As with other collectible data in Cogmind (lore and gallery), achievements can also be exported to various formats. I've provided the same three formats, which you may want for different purposes.
Basic TXT, because TXT.
HTML includes some styling, plus a table of contents with links if you export a category-wise list.
CSV adds extra data like the highest difficulty mode on which each achievement was earned, and in which game number.
All exports load the same achievements listed in the UI, i.e. based on your currently set filters and sorting, giving you extra control over what is export and how.
Soonish
Next up is other non-achievement work for Beta 6. Considering that the changelog for this release has already grown quite fat I may push back some other features in order to get this one out sooner, but first things first, gotta fix all known bugs as per usual!
Oh yeah, my wife will be in surgery next week so I dunno that could slow things down, but by pushing some features to Beta 7 (don't worry, it's stuff you don't even know about yet ;)) the next release will be out on schedule.
I've also started writing the first of two blog posts about achievements, which will go into much greater depth about working on this aspect of a game.
If you're reading this now it's likely you already saw the previous announcement, but just in case here's a reminder: Check out the notice from a few days ago about the future of Cogmind.
There may be other relevant discussion of this SITREP on Steam, but feel free to post replies here, too :)
105
Announcements / POLYBOT-7 Stealth Updates
« on: April 20, 2018, 05:27:03 AM »
In the first couple days following 7DRL I made a few stealth updates to POLYBOT-7, just some minor bug fixes. In the time since I've been gradually preparing another update, and that's now live for download on the itch.io page. That too, is mostly minor changes, although there are a few important updates that improve gameplay.
I did not, however increase the version number so far, because existing saves are actually compatible between all these versions anyway, and honestly I kinda liked that with the 7DRL I didn't have to document absolutely everything and deal with all the baggage that comes with work on my normal projects xD
But there's been a request to know just what is going into this latest version, so I may as well write it out for you all:
Gameplay-wise, there'll be no more need to micromanage propulsion at all since it's always on--just try to make sure you attach what you really want in the first place :). I never intended for micromanagement to be necessary there, but as it turns out it's very difficult to perfectly calculate optimal speeds for all existing propulsion combinations, meaning a few combinations might be slightly slower than intended and some players felt compelled to micromanage that.
Booster Modules also actually do what they're supposed to do now, so that'll help keep you up to speed ;)
Now go blow something up :)
I did not, however increase the version number so far, because existing saves are actually compatible between all these versions anyway, and honestly I kinda liked that with the 7DRL I didn't have to document absolutely everything and deal with all the baggage that comes with work on my normal projects xD
But there's been a request to know just what is going into this latest version, so I may as well write it out for you all:
- NEW: Item information window displays the part's size (slot count) next to its type name, if greater than 1
- MOD: All propulsion is active by default and cannot be deactivated
- MOD: Losing an NG+ run sends you back to the previous NG+ mode (assuming you're at least on the third) instead of all the way back to the base game
- MOD: Screenshots exclude black letterboxing from those taken in fullscreen mode
- FIX: Support for permanent Booster Modules was not being factored into speed calculations [GJ]
- FIX: Treads weren't providing their recoil bonus if other propulsion was also active [GJ]
- FIX: Penetration-related messages being removed from the log were causing the previous message to be duplicated in the on-map version [GJ]
- FIX: The game over screen header always indicated "Alpha Test Failed" regardless of which NG+ mode was active[GJ]
- FIX: Technically you could get a 26th slot (unintended), but it was covered by the object info readout at the bottom of the UI so you couldn't actually see it! (or what was located there)
- FIX: Screenshot files are now prefixed with "polybot7_" instead of "cogmind_"
Gameplay-wise, there'll be no more need to micromanage propulsion at all since it's always on--just try to make sure you attach what you really want in the first place :). I never intended for micromanagement to be necessary there, but as it turns out it's very difficult to perfectly calculate optimal speeds for all existing propulsion combinations, meaning a few combinations might be slightly slower than intended and some players felt compelled to micromanage that.
Booster Modules also actually do what they're supposed to do now, so that'll help keep you up to speed ;)
Now go blow something up :)
106
Announcements / The Future of Cogmind [IMPORTANT]
« on: April 17, 2018, 06:18:26 PM »
Good news! Half a year ago I said I'd be expanding Cogmind for at least another six months, and here I am to say it again :)
Remember that as of last year's move to Beta, the world and storyline are complete, and all that's left are some finishing touches and possible optional content and meta features. Everything on the public roadmap (and technically more) are guaranteed to happen, but I have a ton more concepts for great optional stuff that I'd like to work in if possible. Some of this stuff is rather major, which together with the many other little features I'd like to add reaches the kind of level one might expect to see the the form of "DLC." But I don't like DLC, nor do I think it's appropriate for Cogmind, which benefits significantly from its many mechanics, systems, and plot all being tightly intertwined at numerous points.
This presents a bit of a conundrum because I still need to be able to pay for them with revenue, which will get more difficult as we near the tail end of Cogmind development. Devs of widely popular games can afford to keep adding features and content nearly indefinitely, even without selling it as DLC, while Cogmind is pretty niche and if I did that I wouldn't be left with enough savings to fund the next project, so I've come up with a pretty simple alternative!
The Goal
It so happens that having an "Overwhelmingly Positive" review rating on Steam really helps with sales, and we obviously have an attractive ratio already with so many people enjoying the game, just not enough total reviews to reach that threshold. We need 500 reviews before that can happen. But at the current rate (we've gone an entire month without a single review before xD) I don't think it's likely we'll hit that threshold before the 1.0 release, at which point I'll likely be starting to shift resource to my next project and therefore less able to take on major new features for Cogmind.
I realize that the current rate of reviews is probably lower than it would be if Cogmind were 1.0, mainly because some people prefer to wait until it's "done" to dive in, but hopefully with the variety of achievements soon to be added we'll see more players getting into it now, especially seeing as the content is essentially full release material.
So there it is, the goal being to get more players leaving reviews in the hopes that we can hit that target.
But wait, there's more!
The Incentive
I could leave this as a vague promise since any of you following my progress over the years know my reputation for adding good content (and as we often discuss on Discord there's so much potential to work with in Cogmind's world!), but rather than leave it an unknown, I'll let you in on what I've been planning out for a long while as a suitable incentive: A NEW FACTION.
And of course a new faction has many implications, requiring...
A Medium-Term Goal
Anyway, this threshold is obviously not going to be hit any time soon, but is more of a medium-term goal with potential long-term upside! And if we can hit it it means 1) potentially more sales to fund features and 2) enough love for Cogmind that I don't care whether there are enough continued sales I'll fund this expansion myself anyway :P
Again there are still a fair number of guaranteed features prior to 1.0, including a much expanded robot hacking system, yet more UI/QoL stuff, and ambient audio, so don't worry all that's all going to happen. I'm just thinking further into the future here...
Many thanks to all of you who've over the years helped Cogmind become what it is today--couldn't have done it without your support!
TL;DR: There are still guaranteed features to go, but if we hit 500 reviews and get that "Overwhelmingly Positive" rating on Steam before 1.0 I'll further expand the world with a new faction and a bunch of related content.
Remember that as of last year's move to Beta, the world and storyline are complete, and all that's left are some finishing touches and possible optional content and meta features. Everything on the public roadmap (and technically more) are guaranteed to happen, but I have a ton more concepts for great optional stuff that I'd like to work in if possible. Some of this stuff is rather major, which together with the many other little features I'd like to add reaches the kind of level one might expect to see the the form of "DLC." But I don't like DLC, nor do I think it's appropriate for Cogmind, which benefits significantly from its many mechanics, systems, and plot all being tightly intertwined at numerous points.
This presents a bit of a conundrum because I still need to be able to pay for them with revenue, which will get more difficult as we near the tail end of Cogmind development. Devs of widely popular games can afford to keep adding features and content nearly indefinitely, even without selling it as DLC, while Cogmind is pretty niche and if I did that I wouldn't be left with enough savings to fund the next project, so I've come up with a pretty simple alternative!
The Goal
It so happens that having an "Overwhelmingly Positive" review rating on Steam really helps with sales, and we obviously have an attractive ratio already with so many people enjoying the game, just not enough total reviews to reach that threshold. We need 500 reviews before that can happen. But at the current rate (we've gone an entire month without a single review before xD) I don't think it's likely we'll hit that threshold before the 1.0 release, at which point I'll likely be starting to shift resource to my next project and therefore less able to take on major new features for Cogmind.
I realize that the current rate of reviews is probably lower than it would be if Cogmind were 1.0, mainly because some people prefer to wait until it's "done" to dive in, but hopefully with the variety of achievements soon to be added we'll see more players getting into it now, especially seeing as the content is essentially full release material.
So there it is, the goal being to get more players leaving reviews in the hopes that we can hit that target.
But wait, there's more!
The Incentive
I could leave this as a vague promise since any of you following my progress over the years know my reputation for adding good content (and as we often discuss on Discord there's so much potential to work with in Cogmind's world!), but rather than leave it an unknown, I'll let you in on what I've been planning out for a long while as a suitable incentive: A NEW FACTION.
And of course a new faction has many implications, requiring...
- at least one new map (probably more than one)
- new NPCs
- new robots
- new tech and parts
- new mechanics and systems
- and of course more lore
A Medium-Term Goal
Anyway, this threshold is obviously not going to be hit any time soon, but is more of a medium-term goal with potential long-term upside! And if we can hit it it means 1) potentially more sales to fund features and 2) enough love for Cogmind that I don't care whether there are enough continued sales I'll fund this expansion myself anyway :P
Again there are still a fair number of guaranteed features prior to 1.0, including a much expanded robot hacking system, yet more UI/QoL stuff, and ambient audio, so don't worry all that's all going to happen. I'm just thinking further into the future here...
Many thanks to all of you who've over the years helped Cogmind become what it is today--couldn't have done it without your support!
TL;DR: There are still guaranteed features to go, but if we hit 500 reviews and get that "Overwhelmingly Positive" rating on Steam before 1.0 I'll further expand the world with a new faction and a bunch of related content.
107
Announcements / SITREP Saturday #19: Magic Number
« on: April 13, 2018, 05:44:14 PM »
All 256 achievements are done! But... there's still a lot to do :P
Even just on the achievements side of things there's more UI work before the system can be considered finished, then after that still the Steam support to add as well, for those playing Cogmind on Steam, but at least we're in the tail end of it. And at least all the achievements are both implemented and tested, so the foundation is complete and stable!
As reported last time the final batch of icons was completed, too, so I have a program that can spit out all the icons as individual PNGs (I develop them as REXPaint spritesheets), and those are ready for the next processing steps...
Specifically for Steam players I have to upload all the achievement icons and fill in their tag, name, description, setting.... It'd be nice if Steam supported batch uploading, but no, each has to be done one. at. a. time. xD. I guess that's fine for most games not having quite so many achievements, but it doesn't scale very well!
Steam also uses JPGs for achievements (along with ugly scaling!), so the quality in Steam's interface won't be as good as it is in game (where you always get perfectly crisp pixels, yay! :D)
UI Work
One of the next places you may need to see achievements is one the game over screen. Most achievements will be displayed directly on the map, but a subset of them can be specifically earned only after the run ends, and they should also be shown somewhere convenient. Plus sometimes you may earn an achievement immediately before the run ends and there's no chance for it to appear on the map--those too will show on the game over screen next to the stats.
Any that won't fit in the window (they'll usually fit) can be found in the score sheet as part of the complete list of achievements earned that run.
The score sheet will of course also keep track of the total percentage of achievements earned so far, as it does with lore and gallery items.
So all the little UI features are done, while the big achievements interface is still under construction. (Remember that both Steam and non-Steam players have equal access to the achievements system, which comes with a better UI and functionality than Steam can offer anyway :D) Here's its current state:
It's very WIP right now--missing lots of buttons, some animations are wrong, and some pieces aren't even animating :P. I shared the original mockup in an earlier SITREP which you can check out to get an idea of what's missing from the layout.
This'll be finished up for next time, and I'll be writing more about achievements the UI later, including via some dedicated blog posts.
Note that in order to fit achievements into the game menu system, I've made some adjustments there. First of all I removed some of the tab/page buttons, and recentered the remaining ones. (Note that the lore and gallery will still be directly accessible via their original number hotkeys, as an extra fast shortcut, you just don't see the buttons there.)
Those features have been consolidated into a single new "Records" page.
That page will be getting more features in the future, but I'll talk about those another time. For now that's where access to lore, gallery, and achievements is provided, along with a little description which is helpful for those just getting into Cogmind.
Coglikes
POLYBOT-7, the Cogmind-ish game I made for this year's 7DRL, will be getting a little update with some bug fixes and minor gameplay tweaks. This week while testing out that build, what was a "quick test run" turned into a full playthrough (couldn't help myself :P) and I made it to the end for my second win \o/
My winning build while closing on the end-game:
While on the topic, I've been continuing to fleshing out my concept for yet another Cogmind-like much more radically different from Cogmind. This is an idea that for several years now I've hoped to be able to explore as a 7DRL one day. Because it's so radical it'd have to be built from scratch, though, so it's initial scope would be smaller and focus mostly on the core mechanic.
Anyway, one can dream but if it does happen it'll be a fantasy-themed roguelike which probably (eventually, at it's greatest) could be an open-world game, but I dunno... going down that rabbit hole I might never emerge! In any case, I seem to be starting a new subgenre here :) (and yet there are so many other different roguelikes I want to make, too! ugh, getting old sucks since it's very clear I only build so many more of these things...)
Speaking of evolution of the genre, this week I happened across a nice mention of Cogmind in (from the 12:24 mark). What a nice surprise! We seem to have a bunch of new players who've discovered Cogmind through that avenue as well. Welcome :D
Plans
We're definitely within a month of releasing Beta 6 at this point, though I still don't have an approximate date on my end. Even with all the achievements implemented there's still plenty more work to do there, and the release timing could depend on how smoothly the remaining parts go.
All next week will likely be spent on finishing up achievements-related work, to be followed by a huge list of stuff I will so not be able to finish cramming into Beta 6 xD. Lots of new stuff to work on has been popping up in these few months without a release, so some of that will end up getting pushed back as padding for future releases (themselves centered around other major features).
I've also been brainstorming some ways to add even more content in the long-term without being forced to release it as DLC in order to pay for it, and I think I've come up with an interesting solution but I'll announce that separately when I have more time to write it all out.
There may be other relevant discussion of this SITREP on Steam, but feel free to post replies here, too :)
Even just on the achievements side of things there's more UI work before the system can be considered finished, then after that still the Steam support to add as well, for those playing Cogmind on Steam, but at least we're in the tail end of it. And at least all the achievements are both implemented and tested, so the foundation is complete and stable!
As reported last time the final batch of icons was completed, too, so I have a program that can spit out all the icons as individual PNGs (I develop them as REXPaint spritesheets), and those are ready for the next processing steps...
Specifically for Steam players I have to upload all the achievement icons and fill in their tag, name, description, setting.... It'd be nice if Steam supported batch uploading, but no, each has to be done one. at. a. time. xD. I guess that's fine for most games not having quite so many achievements, but it doesn't scale very well!
Steam also uses JPGs for achievements (along with ugly scaling!), so the quality in Steam's interface won't be as good as it is in game (where you always get perfectly crisp pixels, yay! :D)
UI Work
One of the next places you may need to see achievements is one the game over screen. Most achievements will be displayed directly on the map, but a subset of them can be specifically earned only after the run ends, and they should also be shown somewhere convenient. Plus sometimes you may earn an achievement immediately before the run ends and there's no chance for it to appear on the map--those too will show on the game over screen next to the stats.
Any that won't fit in the window (they'll usually fit) can be found in the score sheet as part of the complete list of achievements earned that run.
The score sheet will of course also keep track of the total percentage of achievements earned so far, as it does with lore and gallery items.
So all the little UI features are done, while the big achievements interface is still under construction. (Remember that both Steam and non-Steam players have equal access to the achievements system, which comes with a better UI and functionality than Steam can offer anyway :D) Here's its current state:
It's very WIP right now--missing lots of buttons, some animations are wrong, and some pieces aren't even animating :P. I shared the original mockup in an earlier SITREP which you can check out to get an idea of what's missing from the layout.
This'll be finished up for next time, and I'll be writing more about achievements the UI later, including via some dedicated blog posts.
Note that in order to fit achievements into the game menu system, I've made some adjustments there. First of all I removed some of the tab/page buttons, and recentered the remaining ones. (Note that the lore and gallery will still be directly accessible via their original number hotkeys, as an extra fast shortcut, you just don't see the buttons there.)
Those features have been consolidated into a single new "Records" page.
That page will be getting more features in the future, but I'll talk about those another time. For now that's where access to lore, gallery, and achievements is provided, along with a little description which is helpful for those just getting into Cogmind.
Coglikes
POLYBOT-7, the Cogmind-ish game I made for this year's 7DRL, will be getting a little update with some bug fixes and minor gameplay tweaks. This week while testing out that build, what was a "quick test run" turned into a full playthrough (couldn't help myself :P) and I made it to the end for my second win \o/
My winning build while closing on the end-game:
While on the topic, I've been continuing to fleshing out my concept for yet another Cogmind-like much more radically different from Cogmind. This is an idea that for several years now I've hoped to be able to explore as a 7DRL one day. Because it's so radical it'd have to be built from scratch, though, so it's initial scope would be smaller and focus mostly on the core mechanic.
Anyway, one can dream but if it does happen it'll be a fantasy-themed roguelike which probably (eventually, at it's greatest) could be an open-world game, but I dunno... going down that rabbit hole I might never emerge! In any case, I seem to be starting a new subgenre here :) (and yet there are so many other different roguelikes I want to make, too! ugh, getting old sucks since it's very clear I only build so many more of these things...)
Speaking of evolution of the genre, this week I happened across a nice mention of Cogmind in (from the 12:24 mark). What a nice surprise! We seem to have a bunch of new players who've discovered Cogmind through that avenue as well. Welcome :D
Plans
We're definitely within a month of releasing Beta 6 at this point, though I still don't have an approximate date on my end. Even with all the achievements implemented there's still plenty more work to do there, and the release timing could depend on how smoothly the remaining parts go.
All next week will likely be spent on finishing up achievements-related work, to be followed by a huge list of stuff I will so not be able to finish cramming into Beta 6 xD. Lots of new stuff to work on has been popping up in these few months without a release, so some of that will end up getting pushed back as padding for future releases (themselves centered around other major features).
I've also been brainstorming some ways to add even more content in the long-term without being forced to release it as DLC in order to pay for it, and I think I've come up with an interesting solution but I'll announce that separately when I have more time to write it all out.
There may be other relevant discussion of this SITREP on Steam, but feel free to post replies here, too :)
108
Announcements / SITREP Saturday #18: Achieving Progress
« on: April 06, 2018, 07:06:42 PM »
Previously I was spending a lot of time planning for, deciding on, and making icons for achievements, while this week I actually started implementing them :P
The plan was to get them all done this week, and of 256 I finished 204 so far, but didn't quite make it to the end of the week in good enough condition to actually finish xD. On Thursday some random lady on a bike ran into me (I was stationary), seriously spraining my right wrist so I'm suddenly one-handed right now and working more slowly... (typed all this on one hand, I did!)
I do have the final set of icons to share though! This is the "wins" category--yeah there are a lot of different ways to win :D
I'm thoroughly testing all achievements to keep them as polished and bug-free as you'd expect from a Cogmind release. It's kinda fun to quickly come up with the right tests via the debugging features... Here's an example I happened to record where I was running a bunch of Decoder Chips at once.
Of course to facilitate testing I also needed to see achievements as they're earned, so that part of the UI is in place now as well. Achievement icons and names pop up over the map as they're earned.
They're also recorded to the message log.
(As you'd expect, these features are adjustable in the config.)
AFD Mode
This week some of you may have noticed we had a little surprise event where all the parts turned into random launchers.
On Steam it was only mentioned in the form of a semi-announcement in the discussions board (although it was a top-level announcement on my forums, r/Cogmind, and Twitter).
Honestly I didn't have anything planned for April 1st this year, but Cogmind Let's Player nuzcraft asked me about it that morning and got me thinking. I had a couple hours free and decided to really really quickly implement "AFD Mode." It was pretty fun and I'd like to do more of this kind of thing in the future, though as usual there are other important priorities right now so I dunno when.
If you missed the day itself and still want to try it out, with the latest version of Cogmind (it was a stealth update, still just called "Beta 5") you can temporarily set your system clock to April 1st to fool it into loading that mode ;)
Need More?
If you're still reading and would like a lot more to browse, in case you missed it before I've also published my entire POLYBOT-7 postmortem, about the time spent converting Cogmind into another game, as a single article over on Gamasutra. They even featured it on their front page, which was pretty cool :D. Altogether it's a... 10,000-word 45-image/diagram "novelette!"
Have a bonus gif of one of the things I was working with this week, watching AI bot trails off in the darkness as they build a new map (which is revealed at the end).
Next week is going to be almost entirely about achievements UI work!
Since a lot of the relevant SITREP discussion happens on Steam rather than in the forums, for reference here's a link to this same news on Steam. But feel free to post replies here, too :)
The plan was to get them all done this week, and of 256 I finished 204 so far, but didn't quite make it to the end of the week in good enough condition to actually finish xD. On Thursday some random lady on a bike ran into me (I was stationary), seriously spraining my right wrist so I'm suddenly one-handed right now and working more slowly... (typed all this on one hand, I did!)
I do have the final set of icons to share though! This is the "wins" category--yeah there are a lot of different ways to win :D
I'm thoroughly testing all achievements to keep them as polished and bug-free as you'd expect from a Cogmind release. It's kinda fun to quickly come up with the right tests via the debugging features... Here's an example I happened to record where I was running a bunch of Decoder Chips at once.
Of course to facilitate testing I also needed to see achievements as they're earned, so that part of the UI is in place now as well. Achievement icons and names pop up over the map as they're earned.
They're also recorded to the message log.
(As you'd expect, these features are adjustable in the config.)
AFD Mode
This week some of you may have noticed we had a little surprise event where all the parts turned into random launchers.
On Steam it was only mentioned in the form of a semi-announcement in the discussions board (although it was a top-level announcement on my forums, r/Cogmind, and Twitter).
Honestly I didn't have anything planned for April 1st this year, but Cogmind Let's Player nuzcraft asked me about it that morning and got me thinking. I had a couple hours free and decided to really really quickly implement "AFD Mode." It was pretty fun and I'd like to do more of this kind of thing in the future, though as usual there are other important priorities right now so I dunno when.
If you missed the day itself and still want to try it out, with the latest version of Cogmind (it was a stealth update, still just called "Beta 5") you can temporarily set your system clock to April 1st to fool it into loading that mode ;)
Need More?
If you're still reading and would like a lot more to browse, in case you missed it before I've also published my entire POLYBOT-7 postmortem, about the time spent converting Cogmind into another game, as a single article over on Gamasutra. They even featured it on their front page, which was pretty cool :D. Altogether it's a... 10,000-word 45-image/diagram "novelette!"
Have a bonus gif of one of the things I was working with this week, watching AI bot trails off in the darkness as they build a new map (which is revealed at the end).
Next week is going to be almost entirely about achievements UI work!
Since a lot of the relevant SITREP discussion happens on Steam rather than in the forums, for reference here's a link to this same news on Steam. But feel free to post replies here, too :)
109
Announcements / A wild Beta 5 Update suddenly appears!
« on: March 31, 2018, 09:50:52 PM »
There's a new automatic mode with... time-sensitive activation 
We know that sometimes all you really want to do is blow stuff up, so all items on the ground have been replaced by launchers.
All those flight players who want to just sneak around and hack stuff? Psh, who needs subtlety when you can hit everything with 5 missiles at once? Just make sure you have a way to replenish your matter
Runs in this mode do not upload scores regardless of settings, and this mode only activates if past the tutorial quick start (i.e. have played 3-4 runs before already) and have no active Challenge Modes.
Note this new feature will not affect runs in progress. (Also: To start a run and force the game back to regular behavior, use the command line parameter "-noAFD".)
We know that sometimes all you really want to do is blow stuff up, so all items on the ground have been replaced by launchers.
All those flight players who want to just sneak around and hack stuff? Psh, who needs subtlety when you can hit everything with 5 missiles at once? Just make sure you have a way to replenish your matter
Runs in this mode do not upload scores regardless of settings, and this mode only activates if past the tutorial quick start (i.e. have played 3-4 runs before already) and have no active Challenge Modes.
Note this new feature will not affect runs in progress. (Also: To start a run and force the game back to regular behavior, use the command line parameter "-noAFD".)
110
Announcements / SITREP Saturday #17: LOW_CONTRAST
« on: March 30, 2018, 06:14:24 PM »
It seems I never run out of achievement stuff to show... because, well, yeah there are 256 of them xD
Here's the finalized icons for the second to last category: events and story-related elements!
Achievement work is progressing nicely. Yesterday I pretty much finished the internal framework, and also implemented most of the new related UI features (except for the main achievements UI). But I haven't yet recorded anything to share there, so it'll have to wait for a later SITREP. (We have pop-ups on the map when achievements are earned, as well as a new section next to the end game stats window if any new achievements were earned at the end of the run. All animated, of course :D)
LOW_CONTRAST
Remember POLYBOT-7? Well it was quite the detour, but as mentioned before Cogmind benefited from it in a number of ways, one of those I haven't talked about yet being enhancements to low-contrast mode.
The "LOW_CONTRAST" renderFilter option I added in Beta 5 has been getting some use among players, though it was always kind of a hackish thing in the first place. Lots of Cogmind code and scripts assume the background is black, but I went in and changed that assumption in a number of places where it was more accessible. All of these improvements came as a result of efforts to polish the distinctive look of POLYBOT-7, which uses a low-contrast aesthetic by default. For example:
Path visualization is now much more visible. (All sample images are using the SLEEPY preset.)
FOV edges are somewhat easier to see.
(The following are all before-and-after gifs demonstrating adjustments.)
Activating an Optical Array.
Motion trail fading.
AOE visualization edges.
Structural Scanner and cave-in visualization.
SFX visualization.
Cogmind's Big Little Brother
Speaking of POLYBOT-7, this week I finished the last two parts of its dev postmortem, much of which is related to Cogmind:
Again there are lots of diagrams/images so I won't copy them all here, but here's a few to give you an idea:
My desk after reasoning through various POLYBOT-7 map layout needs.
A sample 100×100 map layout, annotated (the generation algorithm is one borrowed from Cogmind, but many of the parameters are different).
Testing generation for one layout style (each floor has multiple styles) of the 125×125 map (fourth floor).
Examining content across a section of map, including patrol paths (the colored lines). I use these same features to balance Cogmind.
Special prefab rooms, labeled. A lot of Cogmind's outlying maps have prefabs as well, and that's one of the main ways to create unique experiences for different areas, but in POLYBOT-7 there wasn't time to add very many.
The purge timer in action.
Oops! Bug-enabled hacking interface opening a theoretical exit into a Dispatcher. Most of the non-applicable Cogmind features were blocked off, but I had only blocked bump-hacking and forgot that when adjacent you can of course click on a machine to hack it xD. (Being a simpler, faster, purely combat-oriented game there is no hacking in POYLBOT-7.)
If you want to see (and hear) it in action, , and won! :P
And POLYBOT-7 also appeared in PC Gamer this week :D
Community
I also streamed this week's Cogmind weekly seed, going for a purely wheels-based combat run. It's a very atypical build, but a lot of fun. The entire run was , and you can find a written summary on the forums.
Also on the forums, Joshua has shared his notes on Cogmind's many "Resources," essentially a breakdown that might aid some of you in understanding these concepts and in some cases how they relate to strategy.
b_sen's prequel mockups are becoming a recurring theme around here, but his reimagining of Cogmind and use of REXPaint are really inspiring :). The latest installment is "AI updating in the face of Derelict incursions" (source)
Next time we'll take a look at the final achievements category! And probably see some of the achievements UI features in action :D
Since a lot of the relevant SITREP discussion happens on Steam rather than in the forums, for reference here's a link to this same news on Steam. But feel free to post replies here, too :)
Here's the finalized icons for the second to last category: events and story-related elements!
Achievement work is progressing nicely. Yesterday I pretty much finished the internal framework, and also implemented most of the new related UI features (except for the main achievements UI). But I haven't yet recorded anything to share there, so it'll have to wait for a later SITREP. (We have pop-ups on the map when achievements are earned, as well as a new section next to the end game stats window if any new achievements were earned at the end of the run. All animated, of course :D)
LOW_CONTRAST
Remember POLYBOT-7? Well it was quite the detour, but as mentioned before Cogmind benefited from it in a number of ways, one of those I haven't talked about yet being enhancements to low-contrast mode.
The "LOW_CONTRAST" renderFilter option I added in Beta 5 has been getting some use among players, though it was always kind of a hackish thing in the first place. Lots of Cogmind code and scripts assume the background is black, but I went in and changed that assumption in a number of places where it was more accessible. All of these improvements came as a result of efforts to polish the distinctive look of POLYBOT-7, which uses a low-contrast aesthetic by default. For example:
Path visualization is now much more visible. (All sample images are using the SLEEPY preset.)
FOV edges are somewhat easier to see.
(The following are all before-and-after gifs demonstrating adjustments.)
Activating an Optical Array.
Motion trail fading.
AOE visualization edges.
Structural Scanner and cave-in visualization.
SFX visualization.
Cogmind's Big Little Brother
Speaking of POLYBOT-7, this week I finished the last two parts of its dev postmortem, much of which is related to Cogmind:
Again there are lots of diagrams/images so I won't copy them all here, but here's a few to give you an idea:
My desk after reasoning through various POLYBOT-7 map layout needs.
A sample 100×100 map layout, annotated (the generation algorithm is one borrowed from Cogmind, but many of the parameters are different).
Testing generation for one layout style (each floor has multiple styles) of the 125×125 map (fourth floor).
Examining content across a section of map, including patrol paths (the colored lines). I use these same features to balance Cogmind.
Special prefab rooms, labeled. A lot of Cogmind's outlying maps have prefabs as well, and that's one of the main ways to create unique experiences for different areas, but in POLYBOT-7 there wasn't time to add very many.
The purge timer in action.
Oops! Bug-enabled hacking interface opening a theoretical exit into a Dispatcher. Most of the non-applicable Cogmind features were blocked off, but I had only blocked bump-hacking and forgot that when adjacent you can of course click on a machine to hack it xD. (Being a simpler, faster, purely combat-oriented game there is no hacking in POYLBOT-7.)
If you want to see (and hear) it in action, , and won! :P
And POLYBOT-7 also appeared in PC Gamer this week :D
Community
I also streamed this week's Cogmind weekly seed, going for a purely wheels-based combat run. It's a very atypical build, but a lot of fun. The entire run was , and you can find a written summary on the forums.
Also on the forums, Joshua has shared his notes on Cogmind's many "Resources," essentially a breakdown that might aid some of you in understanding these concepts and in some cases how they relate to strategy.
b_sen's prequel mockups are becoming a recurring theme around here, but his reimagining of Cogmind and use of REXPaint are really inspiring :). The latest installment is "AI updating in the face of Derelict incursions" (source)
Next time we'll take a look at the final achievements category! And probably see some of the achievements UI features in action :D
Since a lot of the relevant SITREP discussion happens on Steam rather than in the forums, for reference here's a link to this same news on Steam. But feel free to post replies here, too :)
111
Announcements / SITREP Saturday #16: Business as Usual
« on: March 23, 2018, 06:14:56 PM »
More achievement icons! We've got the final pass on two new categories here.
Special Challenges are probably not quite as obvious...
...whereas Progress-related achievements are more basic and numbery.
I've been talking about achievement "categories" for a while, but haven't gone into detail about what that actually means. Each achievement belongs to a certain category that gives a general idea of what type of achievement it is, determines the color scheme of its icon, and also enables it to be filtered along with others of its category via the in-game UI. There are so many achievements that after I'd formed a tentative list it seemed best to divide them up logically to aid both organization and understanding.
The six achievement categories:
Death and Taxes
So we've come upon another little speedbump on the way to Beta 6: tax season xD
Taxes have gotten more complicated this year--I have to file in two different countries now, so this'll be annoying. I could try to push Beta 6 out before the second country's deadline, but I'd rather not because the release shouldn't be about just achievements, so it's going to take longer than that!
Just a heads up that there's still lots to do on the list.
P7
I heard from someone this week mentioning that POLYBOT-7 "really helped them understand Cogmind better," so maybe it's worth checking out for that reason, in addition to the fact that it's just an interesting different way to play a modular robot :)
In case you missed it, I released that game last week for 7DRL.
Since then I've also been working on a proper in-depth postmortem about its development, which you may be interested in checking out seeing as POLYBOT-7 is a very experimental alternative approach to the concept of Cogmind. The first two parts are already on the blog:
There are tons of details and diagrams/images in there--here are some excerpts:
The source code evolution of all my projects since 2011, which share the same code :P
Redesigning Cogmind's UI layout to meet new needs:
Alternative item color schemes:
In related news, one of our Cogmind experts (surprise surprise it was GJ) won P7 on New Game+++++ mode, which requires winning six times in a row, each run harder than the last.
Next time more on achievements, and an introduction to improvements to low-contrast mode.
Since a lot of the relevant SITREP discussion happens on Steam rather than in the forums, for reference here's a link to this same news on Steam. But feel free to post replies here, too :)
Special Challenges are probably not quite as obvious...
...whereas Progress-related achievements are more basic and numbery.
I've been talking about achievement "categories" for a while, but haven't gone into detail about what that actually means. Each achievement belongs to a certain category that gives a general idea of what type of achievement it is, determines the color scheme of its icon, and also enables it to be filtered along with others of its category via the in-game UI. There are so many achievements that after I'd formed a tentative list it seemed best to divide them up logically to aid both organization and understanding.
The six achievement categories:
- Mechanics: A group of mostly basic achievements covering common useful tactics and learning about systems. Some of these serve as a way to teach (or at leas reinforce) features, too.
- Style: Specifically play style-related achievements, like combat, stealth, hacking, etc. These are generally earned through normal play using a given style/strategy, and while some might be more challenging or require focus in a certain area, they're not difficult enough to be considered "special challenges " (another category).
- Progress: Personal meta progress like high scores, lore/gallery coverage, and world exploration.
- Challenges: This group doesn't have anything to do with Cogmind's "Challenge Modes," but is simply achievement-specific individual challenges ranging from Tier 1 (not too hard) to Tier 2 (hard) to Tier 3 (pretty hard!).
- Events: Story-related elements. Basically once you've visited every location and exhausted all the branching possibilities of the plot, you'll have all of these. This category is entirely hidden, though, so these aren't achievements to be explicitly sought like a list. You've just gotta explore and use the in-game lore as clues.
- Wins: There are a lot of different ways to win the game, whether achieving unique endings or simply winning by overcoming other challenging scenarios, so these get a whole category of their own.
Death and Taxes
So we've come upon another little speedbump on the way to Beta 6: tax season xD
Taxes have gotten more complicated this year--I have to file in two different countries now, so this'll be annoying. I could try to push Beta 6 out before the second country's deadline, but I'd rather not because the release shouldn't be about just achievements, so it's going to take longer than that!
Just a heads up that there's still lots to do on the list.
P7
I heard from someone this week mentioning that POLYBOT-7 "really helped them understand Cogmind better," so maybe it's worth checking out for that reason, in addition to the fact that it's just an interesting different way to play a modular robot :)
In case you missed it, I released that game last week for 7DRL.
Since then I've also been working on a proper in-depth postmortem about its development, which you may be interested in checking out seeing as POLYBOT-7 is a very experimental alternative approach to the concept of Cogmind. The first two parts are already on the blog:
There are tons of details and diagrams/images in there--here are some excerpts:
The source code evolution of all my projects since 2011, which share the same code :P
Redesigning Cogmind's UI layout to meet new needs:
Alternative item color schemes:
In related news, one of our Cogmind experts (surprise surprise it was GJ) won P7 on New Game+++++ mode, which requires winning six times in a row, each run harder than the last.
Next time more on achievements, and an introduction to improvements to low-contrast mode.
Since a lot of the relevant SITREP discussion happens on Steam rather than in the forums, for reference here's a link to this same news on Steam. But feel free to post replies here, too :)
112
Announcements / SITREP Saturday #15: Interlude
« on: March 16, 2018, 06:56:54 PM »
There's lots going on, and I even have a new Cogmind-like experience to share with you :D
Style
Here's the second category of achievement icons, somewhat fewer than the previous one.
That's the "style" category, reflecting somewhat more basic achievements that essentially fall under different build strategies.
Also with regard to achievements, I mentioned last time that I wanted to cover the topic of which ones to "hide." It seems not all games even take advantage of the ability to hide achievements, but I think it'll be useful in at least a couple ways. My starting point was to basically say that all achievements are unhidden, but if there's a good reason to hide one then do so. There seem to be two good reasons:
Someone previously mentioned outright hiding them all, though as shown before the in-game achievement UI will be able to filter out locked achievements, so you can pretty easily avoid those if you're in the camp that wants everything hidden up front.
Of course, which route to take with these is harder for you all to make specific suggestions on unless you know the achievements, but I don't want to release the full list until deciding precisely which ones should and shouldn't be known in advance xD
Personally I like the idea of using unhidden achievements to explicitly get players to try out different styles, among other purposes, which is why I started with the unhidden route.
In any case, I'm always listening if any of you have a different take (or the same take :P).
I'm sure I'll end up writing a long blog post about this later detailing the system and reasoning, but now while it's still being implemented is be the best time to ask for input :)
Community
One of our experienced flight players, Pimski, has started a video guide for flight! Part 1 is here.
Nuzcraft continued his series of short systems tutorials with another on "Energy."
b_sen has been sharing more fan art done in REXPaint, exploring what the world is like before Cogmind, and from 0b10's point of view.
Warning, some name spoilers in text.
The second one there depicts the complex under attack, and you can read more about it here.
POLYBOT-7
For some weeks now I kept reminding you all that I'd be participating in this year's 7DRL challenge, and that finally happened last week. It happened and produced a pretty cool little game :)
In a week I took Cogmind Beta 5, ripped it apart, and rebuilt it into a lighter, faster coffeebreak version. Our Cogmind tile artist Kacper even did a great new tileset for it!
Technically it was built from a post-Beta 5 version, so it includes some of the new upcoming Beta 6 features like multithreaded data loading and RTS panning (although the latter is deactivated by default in the config).
I should point out that POYLBOT-7 is not a Cogmind demo, nor does it even play much like Cogmind! But anyone interested in Cogmind's style (perhaps you all? :P) might enjoy it.
To see what it's all about, check out the full release announcement on the blog, which also includes more screenshots. We already have a channel for it on the Discord if you want to talk with other Cogmind fans who are playing it.
It was a tiring but productive week, and Cogmind itself even benefited from this 7DRL in a number of ways, not least of which because my mangling of the source code to repurpose it uncovered some deeply hidden bugs (even some down at the engine level!). Really it's all just stuff that could theoretically cause trouble at some point but hasn't yet, but hey they were things to fix nonetheless!
POLYBOT-7 also resulted in improvements for some of Cogmind's optional visual effects, but I'll talk more about that bit next time.
On my blog I'll also be sharing a detailed postmortem about the 7DRL week if you're interested in that sort of thing, covering whole process from inception to completion and everything in between.
Ouch
Unfortunately I had to push myself rather hard to get this 7DRL out there, and my doctor is out for three weeks so I can't get the same level of treatment I normally do, so my concussion has become somewhat... bothersome again.
The effects have been with me for almost a year now, and it would be really nice to finally get rid of this thing so I need to be careful not to push it quite too hard in the next few weeks to avoid messing up the long term plan!
Since a lot of the relevant SITREP discussion happens on Steam rather than in the forums, for reference here's a link to this same news on Steam. But feel free to post replies here, too :)
Style
Here's the second category of achievement icons, somewhat fewer than the previous one.
That's the "style" category, reflecting somewhat more basic achievements that essentially fall under different build strategies.
Also with regard to achievements, I mentioned last time that I wanted to cover the topic of which ones to "hide." It seems not all games even take advantage of the ability to hide achievements, but I think it'll be useful in at least a couple ways. My starting point was to basically say that all achievements are unhidden, but if there's a good reason to hide one then do so. There seem to be two good reasons:
- Anything related to the plot. There are a ton of story-related elements to uncover, and all of them will be found naturally and/or discovered by following clues in the game, so there's no reason to spoil any of these here. These achievements basically serve to recognize that you've hit that plot point at least once.
- Stuff that would be fun to recognize, but boring to aim for. I've included a handful of achievements which would be either too easy or too tedious if you know about them, but you're bound to get them one way or another naturally over time, so I plan to hide those.
Someone previously mentioned outright hiding them all, though as shown before the in-game achievement UI will be able to filter out locked achievements, so you can pretty easily avoid those if you're in the camp that wants everything hidden up front.
Of course, which route to take with these is harder for you all to make specific suggestions on unless you know the achievements, but I don't want to release the full list until deciding precisely which ones should and shouldn't be known in advance xD
Personally I like the idea of using unhidden achievements to explicitly get players to try out different styles, among other purposes, which is why I started with the unhidden route.
In any case, I'm always listening if any of you have a different take (or the same take :P).
I'm sure I'll end up writing a long blog post about this later detailing the system and reasoning, but now while it's still being implemented is be the best time to ask for input :)
Community
One of our experienced flight players, Pimski, has started a video guide for flight! Part 1 is here.
Nuzcraft continued his series of short systems tutorials with another on "Energy."
b_sen has been sharing more fan art done in REXPaint, exploring what the world is like before Cogmind, and from 0b10's point of view.
Warning, some name spoilers in text.
The second one there depicts the complex under attack, and you can read more about it here.
POLYBOT-7
For some weeks now I kept reminding you all that I'd be participating in this year's 7DRL challenge, and that finally happened last week. It happened and produced a pretty cool little game :)
In a week I took Cogmind Beta 5, ripped it apart, and rebuilt it into a lighter, faster coffeebreak version. Our Cogmind tile artist Kacper even did a great new tileset for it!
Technically it was built from a post-Beta 5 version, so it includes some of the new upcoming Beta 6 features like multithreaded data loading and RTS panning (although the latter is deactivated by default in the config).
I should point out that POYLBOT-7 is not a Cogmind demo, nor does it even play much like Cogmind! But anyone interested in Cogmind's style (perhaps you all? :P) might enjoy it.
To see what it's all about, check out the full release announcement on the blog, which also includes more screenshots. We already have a channel for it on the Discord if you want to talk with other Cogmind fans who are playing it.
It was a tiring but productive week, and Cogmind itself even benefited from this 7DRL in a number of ways, not least of which because my mangling of the source code to repurpose it uncovered some deeply hidden bugs (even some down at the engine level!). Really it's all just stuff that could theoretically cause trouble at some point but hasn't yet, but hey they were things to fix nonetheless!
POLYBOT-7 also resulted in improvements for some of Cogmind's optional visual effects, but I'll talk more about that bit next time.
On my blog I'll also be sharing a detailed postmortem about the 7DRL week if you're interested in that sort of thing, covering whole process from inception to completion and everything in between.
Ouch
Unfortunately I had to push myself rather hard to get this 7DRL out there, and my doctor is out for three weeks so I can't get the same level of treatment I normally do, so my concussion has become somewhat... bothersome again.
The effects have been with me for almost a year now, and it would be really nice to finally get rid of this thing so I need to be careful not to push it quite too hard in the next few weeks to avoid messing up the long term plan!
Since a lot of the relevant SITREP discussion happens on Steam rather than in the forums, for reference here's a link to this same news on Steam. But feel free to post replies here, too :)
113
Everything POLYBOT-7 / What is POLYBOT-7?
« on: March 12, 2018, 10:07:35 AM »
POLYBOT-7 is a roguelike I created based partially on Cogmind for the 2018 7DRL challenge.
It's sorta like Cogmind, but also definitely its own thing, playing quite differently from my main project.
You still play a robot that attaches parts, but it does so automatically (free action! no resource costs!) and these parts are also even automatically drawn towards you! (Oh yeah, and you can't remove them except through another special mechanic) There are even permanent upgrades! Overall, runs are fairly fast and the number of non-combat decisions has been greatly simplified.
Here's what it looks like in tiles mode (there is also an ASCII mode):
You can download it and read a bit more of an introduction on itch.io, where it was submitted.
I also wrote a bit more in depth about its mechanics and the differences from Cogmind on the blog, where you'll also find more images and gifs.
Later I published a huge postmortem detailing the design and implementation processes behind POYLBOT-7. That starts on the blog here.
And if you want to see the game in action, I streamed my first run and won
Update 181226: POLYBOT-7 made a Best Free Games of 2018 list on PC Gamer
It's sorta like Cogmind, but also definitely its own thing, playing quite differently from my main project.
You still play a robot that attaches parts, but it does so automatically (free action! no resource costs!) and these parts are also even automatically drawn towards you! (Oh yeah, and you can't remove them except through another special mechanic
) There are even permanent upgrades! Overall, runs are fairly fast and the number of non-combat decisions has been greatly simplified. Here's what it looks like in tiles mode (there is also an ASCII mode):
You can download it and read a bit more of an introduction on itch.io, where it was submitted.
I also wrote a bit more in depth about its mechanics and the differences from Cogmind on the blog, where you'll also find more images and gifs.
Later I published a huge postmortem detailing the design and implementation processes behind POYLBOT-7. That starts on the blog here.
And if you want to see the game in action, I streamed my first run and won
Update 181226: POLYBOT-7 made a Best Free Games of 2018 list on PC Gamer
114
Announcements / POLYBOT-7 released for 7DRL 2018
« on: March 12, 2018, 10:03:58 AM »
I did another 7DRL! It was great fun, and the results of all this work seem to have turned out pretty fun as well
The name of the game is "POLYBOT-7," and it's sorta like Cogmind, but also definitely its own thing, playing quite differently from my main project.
You still play a robot that attaches parts, but it does so automatically (free action! no resource costs!) and these parts are also even automatically drawn towards you! (Oh yeah, and you can't remove them except through another special mechanic) There are even permanent upgrades! Overall, runs are fairly fast and the number of non-combat decisions has been greatly simplified.
Here's what it looks like--Kacper even hooked us up with a great new tileset perfect for this new aesthetic <3
You can download it and read a bit more of an introduction on itch.io, where it was submitted.
I also wrote a bit more in depth about its mechanics and the differences from Cogmind on the blog, where you'll also find more images and gifs.
Also notice we have a new board here on the forums if you'd like to post about POLYBOT-7. And for now there's also a dedicated channel for it on our Discord as well.
The name of the game is "POLYBOT-7," and it's sorta like Cogmind, but also definitely its own thing, playing quite differently from my main project.
You still play a robot that attaches parts, but it does so automatically (free action! no resource costs!) and these parts are also even automatically drawn towards you! (Oh yeah, and you can't remove them except through another special mechanic
) There are even permanent upgrades! Overall, runs are fairly fast and the number of non-combat decisions has been greatly simplified. Here's what it looks like--Kacper even hooked us up with a great new tileset perfect for this new aesthetic <3
You can download it and read a bit more of an introduction on itch.io, where it was submitted.
I also wrote a bit more in depth about its mechanics and the differences from Cogmind on the blog, where you'll also find more images and gifs.
Also notice we have a new board here on the forums if you'd like to post about POLYBOT-7. And for now there's also a dedicated channel for it on our Discord as well.
115
Announcements / SITREP Saturday #14: RTS
« on: March 02, 2018, 05:17:26 PM »
Been a busy two weeks!
Achieving Progress
All 256 achievements have been decided! The number is a complete coincidence, and I will be sad when further on down the line I add yet more achievements and ruin the count (or I'll just have to jump straight to 512, but I don't think I'm quite that crazy :P). I've recently been working on final icon passes and here we have the entirety of the more basic "Mechanics" category, which makes up about a quarter of all achievements:
I'll be showing more of these as Beta 6 progresses, and you can maybe guess what's what ;)
While the framework is coming along nicely, though, I still have to actually start implementing all these things. 256 is... a lot xD. Just look at all this data!
That's a shot of the post-startup achievements data as seen in the debugger, but the code behind them will be a little bit more involved than some lists...
Of course we also have the built-in achievement browsing UI, with which I've so far only reached the mockup stage. Remember, achievements will be available to both Steam and non-Steam players, and both will be able to take advantage of the better browsing features I have planned, as you can see here:
I like the way the design turned out--lots of control, accessible to both mouse and keyboard players, includes both filters and sorting...
Now notice again this is a MOCKUP, so these icons don't even match the achievements next to them, and there are even duplicates. Little details like that don't matter when just trying to figure out colors, layout, and functionality :).
I normally don't share mockups before actually implementing a feature, but in this case I wanted to ask real quick for any opinions on which style of icon to use for locked achievements--see the ones with question marks in them. Designing icons in isolation I originally started with the "dark" versions seen in the second mockup below, but once I put together the full mockup it seemed that brighter versions as in the mockup above are probably better since they're generally more clearly distinguishable from unlocked achievement icons that way. Obviously there are other indicators to tell whether something is locked, but it's nice if all possible vectors are equally effective. Said dark version of locked icons:
I dunno, still kinda torn... What do you think?
Cogmind the RTS
For Beta 6 I've added a fourth way to pan the map: RTS-style. Funny enough it took years for anyone to request this on top of the existing methods, but I'm happy to oblige! Here's a demo of the new feature in action:
This type of panning will of course only be available in true fullscreen mode, though according to the latest Cogmind stats that's the mode two-thirds of players are using so coverage is decent. I find it clunkier to use than the precision offered by other methods, but everyone has their own needs!
This is actually the first time I've implemented a feature like this, so I had to figure out the best way to do it. The diagram below shows what I'm doing, calculating a line from the center to the cursor and just panning along that:
I'm not 100% sure if this is the best approach, but we'll see what those who actually need it have to say once it's live :D. Technically with some more work I could probably improve on the same method, such as having it accelerate slightly at the start? In any case, the panning speed is adjustable in the options menu as well.
While we're on the subject of RTS, here's a glimpse of what a Cogmind RTS might look like, zoomed out tactical view!
I made that as an April Fool's joke a couple years back, and talk about unexpected results: last year the official Twitter account for RT used this image for their coverage of cyberwarfare in the Middle East o_O
IBM Love
By request, I've added yet more map ASCII variants at even smaller sizes.
These include Terminus 12:
Terminus 14:
And my personal nostalgia-inducing favorite, IBM VGA 14:
That's one I would love to add at all sizes, but it really only works at the traditional size it was designed for. (Unlike, say, a modern fixed width font like Terminus which is pretty awesome at all sizes.)
Here's a fully-revealed map section using the IBM font, because IBM font:
Fun and Games
We've got a lot of runs and other stuff to check out this time.
I still haven't been streaming and unfortunately won't for a a while yet (well, no Cogmind but I might stream my 7DRL for a bit after it's done!), but I did play a decent seed run you can read about here. I didn't win, but did manage to get far, beat my Beta 5 high with a new score of 35k, and had a lot of fun despite clearly making some bad calls along the way xD
b_sen, on the other hand, shared an excellent writeup of their first win. A very detailed account including screenshots and spoiler tags for all the spoilery stuff in case you want to avoid that.
We actually had two first wins in one week, another by Laida who shared a quick account in another thread.
nuzcraft shared an account of his seed run, too, one that just barely didn't win but on the way got to play with some cool tech that not a lot of people see. Very spoilery though, that one :) (he doesn't have the videos for that run up yet, but says they'll be available over the coming weeks)
nuzcraft also just added a short to his ongoing series, this one on Core.
fpsbossfight took a short break from dominating Cogmind to fire up the new Stellaris expansion, in which he role-played Cogmind lore <3
On the Discord we got to hear of the exploits and fates of the various robots named after us in Derelict fashion.
We also have some new fan art.
Laida drew a Tinkerer:
And also showed how to use a paint bucket to disguise yourself as an Unaware bot :P
Following up on the Cogmind-DF mashup art from earlier, b_sen created a New Game sequence mockup as if it were a prequel to the Cogmind story (note: text contains some lore spoilers)
7DRL
7DRL is here! It's that time of year when hundreds of us roguelike devs bury our heads in our IDEs to produce some new stuff.
I'll be taking the week off to work on my 7DRL entry, so there won't be a SITREP next weekend. That said, seeing as this is a fairly Cogmind-related roguelike I'm planning, it's both relevant to progress here and will benefit Cogmind in a number of ways. Stay tuned for that release--I'm sure it's something you folks will enjoy!
It'll be announced on my dev blog first, at the conclusion of the event.
Also to update: The amount of features and work left for Beta 6 is rather staggering, so... a reminder that this one's going to take longer than usual! But as usual I also want to ensure it's the best it can be :D
I noticed Cogmind hasn't been getting many reviews in the past couple months, hovering just within or outside the threshold for even having enough recent reviews on Steam to show a recent total xD. It's been a while since I asked so we maybe have some newer players here who haven't left a review yet but want to? Reviews are appreciated and really helpful, so leave one if you can <3
Since a lot of the relevant SITREP discussion happens on Steam rather than in the forums, for reference here's a link to this same news on Steam. But feel free to post replies here, too :)
Achieving Progress
All 256 achievements have been decided! The number is a complete coincidence, and I will be sad when further on down the line I add yet more achievements and ruin the count (or I'll just have to jump straight to 512, but I don't think I'm quite that crazy :P). I've recently been working on final icon passes and here we have the entirety of the more basic "Mechanics" category, which makes up about a quarter of all achievements:
I'll be showing more of these as Beta 6 progresses, and you can maybe guess what's what ;)
While the framework is coming along nicely, though, I still have to actually start implementing all these things. 256 is... a lot xD. Just look at all this data!
That's a shot of the post-startup achievements data as seen in the debugger, but the code behind them will be a little bit more involved than some lists...
Of course we also have the built-in achievement browsing UI, with which I've so far only reached the mockup stage. Remember, achievements will be available to both Steam and non-Steam players, and both will be able to take advantage of the better browsing features I have planned, as you can see here:
I like the way the design turned out--lots of control, accessible to both mouse and keyboard players, includes both filters and sorting...
Now notice again this is a MOCKUP, so these icons don't even match the achievements next to them, and there are even duplicates. Little details like that don't matter when just trying to figure out colors, layout, and functionality :).
I normally don't share mockups before actually implementing a feature, but in this case I wanted to ask real quick for any opinions on which style of icon to use for locked achievements--see the ones with question marks in them. Designing icons in isolation I originally started with the "dark" versions seen in the second mockup below, but once I put together the full mockup it seemed that brighter versions as in the mockup above are probably better since they're generally more clearly distinguishable from unlocked achievement icons that way. Obviously there are other indicators to tell whether something is locked, but it's nice if all possible vectors are equally effective. Said dark version of locked icons:
I dunno, still kinda torn... What do you think?
Cogmind the RTS
For Beta 6 I've added a fourth way to pan the map: RTS-style. Funny enough it took years for anyone to request this on top of the existing methods, but I'm happy to oblige! Here's a demo of the new feature in action:
This type of panning will of course only be available in true fullscreen mode, though according to the latest Cogmind stats that's the mode two-thirds of players are using so coverage is decent. I find it clunkier to use than the precision offered by other methods, but everyone has their own needs!
This is actually the first time I've implemented a feature like this, so I had to figure out the best way to do it. The diagram below shows what I'm doing, calculating a line from the center to the cursor and just panning along that:
I'm not 100% sure if this is the best approach, but we'll see what those who actually need it have to say once it's live :D. Technically with some more work I could probably improve on the same method, such as having it accelerate slightly at the start? In any case, the panning speed is adjustable in the options menu as well.
While we're on the subject of RTS, here's a glimpse of what a Cogmind RTS might look like, zoomed out tactical view!
I made that as an April Fool's joke a couple years back, and talk about unexpected results: last year the official Twitter account for RT used this image for their coverage of cyberwarfare in the Middle East o_O
IBM Love
By request, I've added yet more map ASCII variants at even smaller sizes.
These include Terminus 12:
Terminus 14:
And my personal nostalgia-inducing favorite, IBM VGA 14:
That's one I would love to add at all sizes, but it really only works at the traditional size it was designed for. (Unlike, say, a modern fixed width font like Terminus which is pretty awesome at all sizes.)
Here's a fully-revealed map section using the IBM font, because IBM font:
Fun and Games
We've got a lot of runs and other stuff to check out this time.
I still haven't been streaming and unfortunately won't for a a while yet (well, no Cogmind but I might stream my 7DRL for a bit after it's done!), but I did play a decent seed run you can read about here. I didn't win, but did manage to get far, beat my Beta 5 high with a new score of 35k, and had a lot of fun despite clearly making some bad calls along the way xD
b_sen, on the other hand, shared an excellent writeup of their first win. A very detailed account including screenshots and spoiler tags for all the spoilery stuff in case you want to avoid that.
We actually had two first wins in one week, another by Laida who shared a quick account in another thread.
nuzcraft shared an account of his seed run, too, one that just barely didn't win but on the way got to play with some cool tech that not a lot of people see. Very spoilery though, that one :) (he doesn't have the videos for that run up yet, but says they'll be available over the coming weeks)
nuzcraft also just added a short to his ongoing series, this one on Core.
fpsbossfight took a short break from dominating Cogmind to fire up the new Stellaris expansion, in which he role-played Cogmind lore <3
On the Discord we got to hear of the exploits and fates of the various robots named after us in Derelict fashion.
We also have some new fan art.
Laida drew a Tinkerer:
And also showed how to use a paint bucket to disguise yourself as an Unaware bot :P
Following up on the Cogmind-DF mashup art from earlier, b_sen created a New Game sequence mockup as if it were a prequel to the Cogmind story (note: text contains some lore spoilers)
7DRL
7DRL is here! It's that time of year when hundreds of us roguelike devs bury our heads in our IDEs to produce some new stuff.
I'll be taking the week off to work on my 7DRL entry, so there won't be a SITREP next weekend. That said, seeing as this is a fairly Cogmind-related roguelike I'm planning, it's both relevant to progress here and will benefit Cogmind in a number of ways. Stay tuned for that release--I'm sure it's something you folks will enjoy!
It'll be announced on my dev blog first, at the conclusion of the event.
Also to update: The amount of features and work left for Beta 6 is rather staggering, so... a reminder that this one's going to take longer than usual! But as usual I also want to ensure it's the best it can be :D
I noticed Cogmind hasn't been getting many reviews in the past couple months, hovering just within or outside the threshold for even having enough recent reviews on Steam to show a recent total xD. It's been a while since I asked so we maybe have some newer players here who haven't left a review yet but want to? Reviews are appreciated and really helpful, so leave one if you can <3
Since a lot of the relevant SITREP discussion happens on Steam rather than in the forums, for reference here's a link to this same news on Steam. But feel free to post replies here, too :)
116
Announcements / SITREP Saturday #13: 6.81 Seconds
« on: February 16, 2018, 03:42:44 PM »
This week I finally finished taking care of all the personal issues I needed to catch up on after neglecting and letting them pile up for the past couple months while I worked on getting the past couple releases out to you all. Now all that stands in the way of Beta 6 is 7DRL and... of course all the remaining Beta 6 work itself xD
So what have I been up to in my travels through the endless world of Cogmind dev...
For one I hadn't played for a bit and it's always good to stay familiar with the experience and mechanics while designing more of them, so I took on last week's seed run and wrote about that on the forums. It was a wheels-only conduct run on which I successfully fought my way into the late-game, but ultimately doomed myself by splitting my long-term strategy between multiple disparate approaches based on some interesting (spoiler) parts I found. It would've been nice to have streamed this one since it was great fun, but I was still over here in Japan. I'm actually heading home today (if you recall I've been working from Japan), though it'll still be a while before I can back to streaming with all this work to do.
If you're interested in the commercial side of things, last week I also posted an article over on Gamasutra about the most recent Steam Winter Sale and the effects of being featured. Lots of data and graphs to pore over
Achievements
A good many hours since the last news were spent coming up with the initial achievements list. Cogmind will start with at least a couple hundred achievements, so it's important to get the categorization right from the start and have everything nice and organized.
I also had to decide how to handle the icons, so I started doing some sketches in REXPaint and came up with a style that will work nicely. Preliminary tests:
Still more work to do there, including the final pass (and then also automating the creation of JPGs required by Steam--would much prefer PNGs...). And of course I'm using ASCII. Though naturally I want to (), there's also not much of a choice anyway since these aren't just Steam achievements--they'll also be displayed in game and must fit the theme and UI. Cogmind also doesn't use the Steam overlay so when you earn them they'll have to be rendered via its own terminal display.
It's been fun working with the symbolism, drawing on characters, colors and more aspects utilized in the creation of Cogmind to convey the idea of an achievement in a little 3x3 grid.
My current intention is to have all achievements available across all difficulty levels, avoiding the bloat of having separate versions for every difficulty. Almost everyone plays the default difficulty the game was designed for anyway, and for the rare case of players who want to move up from a lower difficulty level I'll add a way to reset your achievements. Unfortunately this particular feature will only be available to offline players because Steam does not support it.
Optimization
In case you didn't notice (you've probably noticed xD), Cogmind can take a while to start up. This is because pretty much all data is loaded right at the start, which for years was fine, but it's continued to grow all this time and sequentially loading everything was starting to be quite a drag, made all the more noticeable by the fact that I have (and prefer to keep) a blank screen while the game starts. Windows might even decide pop up a nice little "this program is not responding" notice.
I'll deal with that message separately later, but more important is that it shouldn't really take so long to get into the game, so I took the three largest chunks of data and multithreaded them. Fortunately this was quite easy to do since each is mostly raw data that in this case really doesn't care about the existence of the others. The three chunks are GUI particle scripts, map particle scripts, and sound effects. (The only exception was particles that needed to reference sound effects, so for that I added some code to link them up after all the threads completed.) Highlighted profiling data for some potential optimization candidates:
So what kind of savings are we looking at? In my test build scenario, startup took 19.13s, including 6.27 for GUI particles, 3.98s for sfx, and 2.31s for map particles. That's 12.56 seconds for three things that can essentially be loaded in parallel. Post-multithreading profiling:
The main thread sleeps for 6.81s, meaning that basically the steps that previously took 12.56s were instead crammed into 6.81s. So startup time on many machines has been cut by approximately one-third... Nice
Here's a graph demonstrating what Beta 6's multithreading looks like, the first such case in Cogmind:
There's more optimization that could be done, but this was the easy stuff and most other work would have significantly diminishing returns so isn't worth it right now. I also left all the old sequential loading code intact so that I can switch over to that with a debugging option in order to properly debug any loading issues, just in case. It's not the kind of thing that usually has issues, but if it does it'll be nice to keep it single-threaded because multithreaded debugging is just asking for trouble and confusion.
Miscellaneous
You might have noticed among the guides that we have a new one! Last week Suizin/tamagotaso helped translate Cogmind's manual into Japanese. Quite a feat considering it's currently 60 pages / 17k words. Many thanks there <3
I've also made the TXT version available next to the English version on the site.
This week Jazzer reported finding a special Storage room that had no access from the rest of the floor, so I'll take this opportunity to point out that you can find rare instances of the map generator doing stuff like this. It won't affect your progress, can be a fun discovery to make by blasting in there (or via sensors/hacking), and can reflect "glitches" in the 0b10 system, either benign or perhaps intentionally influenced by crafty enemies of the Unaware. Or maybe they're just not done remodeling. As another example you'll sometimes find hidden doors that lead nowhere--they haven't gotten around to digging out the target room yet.
Here's Jazzer's Storage room as seen in the debugger:
The left one was built first and originally connected to a corridor, but later they decided to add another at the end of the corridor and filled in part of the corridor when they shifted the room rightward. Again this is quite rare, and not something I'll be addressing so you might just come across it one day
Another find by fpsbossfight, something which is definitely a bug but unfortunately not really worth the amount of time it would take to address considering how pointless this is during normal play: If you fill an entire map with Dirty Bomb Traps and set them off in a one-turn chain reaction, the game will crash around the 400th explosion xD
Rather than show the image here, I'll just link to it because it's spoilery if you have yet to find Zion. (Yes he was finding creative ways to murder everyone...)
Once again I'll schedule the next SITREP for two weeks from now, so March 3rd, while I continue forging ahead with the Great Achievement Update and also spend some time finishing up my plan for the upcoming 7DRL. I haven't had any time to think about that for a while, and I prefer going into a timed project with a clear plan so none of that precious time is wasted
Also notice that Cogmind is on sale both on my site and on Steam to coincide with the Lunar New Year sale. After this one ends in a few days, the next sale should be the Beta 6 release, for which I'm thinking I'll do an out-of-event one and some promotion since we're getting all these achievements
Since a lot of the relevant SITREP discussion happens on Steam rather than in the forums, for reference here's a link to this same news on Steam. But feel free to post replies here, too
So what have I been up to in my travels through the endless world of Cogmind dev...
For one I hadn't played for a bit and it's always good to stay familiar with the experience and mechanics while designing more of them, so I took on last week's seed run and wrote about that on the forums. It was a wheels-only conduct run on which I successfully fought my way into the late-game, but ultimately doomed myself by splitting my long-term strategy between multiple disparate approaches based on some interesting (spoiler) parts I found. It would've been nice to have streamed this one since it was great fun, but I was still over here in Japan. I'm actually heading home today (if you recall I've been working from Japan), though it'll still be a while before I can back to streaming with all this work to do.
If you're interested in the commercial side of things, last week I also posted an article over on Gamasutra about the most recent Steam Winter Sale and the effects of being featured. Lots of data and graphs to pore over
Achievements
A good many hours since the last news were spent coming up with the initial achievements list. Cogmind will start with at least a couple hundred achievements, so it's important to get the categorization right from the start and have everything nice and organized.
I also had to decide how to handle the icons, so I started doing some sketches in REXPaint and came up with a style that will work nicely. Preliminary tests:
Still more work to do there, including the final pass (and then also automating the creation of JPGs required by Steam--would much prefer PNGs...). And of course I'm using ASCII. Though naturally I want to (
), there's also not much of a choice anyway since these aren't just Steam achievements--they'll also be displayed in game and must fit the theme and UI. Cogmind also doesn't use the Steam overlay so when you earn them they'll have to be rendered via its own terminal display.It's been fun working with the symbolism, drawing on characters, colors and more aspects utilized in the creation of Cogmind to convey the idea of an achievement in a little 3x3 grid.
My current intention is to have all achievements available across all difficulty levels, avoiding the bloat of having separate versions for every difficulty. Almost everyone plays the default difficulty the game was designed for anyway, and for the rare case of players who want to move up from a lower difficulty level I'll add a way to reset your achievements. Unfortunately this particular feature will only be available to offline players because Steam does not support it.
Optimization
In case you didn't notice (you've probably noticed xD), Cogmind can take a while to start up. This is because pretty much all data is loaded right at the start, which for years was fine, but it's continued to grow all this time and sequentially loading everything was starting to be quite a drag, made all the more noticeable by the fact that I have (and prefer to keep) a blank screen while the game starts. Windows might even decide pop up a nice little "this program is not responding" notice.
I'll deal with that message separately later, but more important is that it shouldn't really take so long to get into the game, so I took the three largest chunks of data and multithreaded them. Fortunately this was quite easy to do since each is mostly raw data that in this case really doesn't care about the existence of the others. The three chunks are GUI particle scripts, map particle scripts, and sound effects. (The only exception was particles that needed to reference sound effects, so for that I added some code to link them up after all the threads completed.) Highlighted profiling data for some potential optimization candidates:
So what kind of savings are we looking at? In my test build scenario, startup took 19.13s, including 6.27 for GUI particles, 3.98s for sfx, and 2.31s for map particles. That's 12.56 seconds for three things that can essentially be loaded in parallel. Post-multithreading profiling:
The main thread sleeps for 6.81s, meaning that basically the steps that previously took 12.56s were instead crammed into 6.81s. So startup time on many machines has been cut by approximately one-third... Nice
Here's a graph demonstrating what Beta 6's multithreading looks like, the first such case in Cogmind:
There's more optimization that could be done, but this was the easy stuff and most other work would have significantly diminishing returns so isn't worth it right now. I also left all the old sequential loading code intact so that I can switch over to that with a debugging option in order to properly debug any loading issues, just in case. It's not the kind of thing that usually has issues, but if it does it'll be nice to keep it single-threaded because multithreaded debugging is just asking for trouble and confusion.
Miscellaneous
You might have noticed among the guides that we have a new one! Last week Suizin/tamagotaso helped translate Cogmind's manual into Japanese. Quite a feat considering it's currently 60 pages / 17k words. Many thanks there <3
I've also made the TXT version available next to the English version on the site.
This week Jazzer reported finding a special Storage room that had no access from the rest of the floor, so I'll take this opportunity to point out that you can find rare instances of the map generator doing stuff like this. It won't affect your progress, can be a fun discovery to make by blasting in there (or via sensors/hacking), and can reflect "glitches" in the 0b10 system, either benign or perhaps intentionally influenced by crafty enemies of the Unaware. Or maybe they're just not done remodeling
. As another example you'll sometimes find hidden doors that lead nowhere--they haven't gotten around to digging out the target room yet.Here's Jazzer's Storage room as seen in the debugger:
The left one was built first and originally connected to a corridor, but later they decided to add another at the end of the corridor and filled in part of the corridor when they shifted the room rightward. Again this is quite rare, and not something I'll be addressing so you might just come across it one day
Another find by fpsbossfight, something which is definitely a bug but unfortunately not really worth the amount of time it would take to address considering how pointless this is during normal play: If you fill an entire map with Dirty Bomb Traps and set them off in a one-turn chain reaction, the game will crash around the 400th explosion xD
Rather than show the image here, I'll just link to it because it's spoilery if you have yet to find Zion. (Yes he was finding creative ways to murder everyone...)
Once again I'll schedule the next SITREP for two weeks from now, so March 3rd, while I continue forging ahead with the Great Achievement Update and also spend some time finishing up my plan for the upcoming 7DRL. I haven't had any time to think about that for a while, and I prefer going into a timed project with a clear plan so none of that precious time is wasted
Also notice that Cogmind is on sale both on my site and on Steam to coincide with the Lunar New Year sale. After this one ends in a few days, the next sale should be the Beta 6 release, for which I'm thinking I'll do an out-of-event one and some promotion since we're getting all these achievements
Since a lot of the relevant SITREP discussion happens on Steam rather than in the forums, for reference here's a link to this same news on Steam. But feel free to post replies here, too
117
Stories / GDFKTT's first win (pacifist!)
« on: February 04, 2018, 02:12:09 AM »
GDFKTT over on r/Cogmind shared their first win, which I'm copying here so the writeup isn't so easily lost on Reddit
Pre-Note: This is an overview of my third Beta 5 run ever, my 1st ever win, and my first real attempt at a complete pacifist run. Credit to u/zxc223 for the first 2 minutes of one of his pacifist speed runs that showed my how to use propulsion part coverage correctly without dropping core speed. First two attempts with no guidance were complete failures. Also I've watched Kyzrati do early parts of a couple beta 4 runs on Twitch - this was lots of help understanding some of the game mechanics.
SPOILER WARNING: This post contains some spoilers. Read on at your own risk.
<Start Transmission>
Greetings fellow Cog Minds! No, you're not receiving this transmission in error. I bring you an epic tale of hope, despair, pursuit, and flight, from the world above! Behold!
I awoke for the third time in a scrap heap, collected myself and immediately equipped up on legs and guns in the correct configuration to protect myself without engaging them, and then hovered into Materials where I quickly encountered the repeated bane of my young existence as a pacifist... Pests. Thankfully luck and a new higher speed were with me, and after quickly finding a couple flights of stairs in sequence I ended up in Storage somewhat shot up, but with an evolution under my belt and some gear laying around that gave me some room to start my first real powered hover build.
As I was already discovering, the most nagging part of this entire escape was the lack of inventory storage. I never equipped an expansion slot into utility during the early game for fear of slowing down, and then when I gained the capability to risk higher mass allocation I never found the storage module I needed...
I also had the good fortune of finding two shiny core shielding units lingering in a dusty corner, and although I agonized heavily over giving up an extra leg, I finally relented and tucked them into my tiny body and sped away... It was to be a critical and fateful decision that would later save my bacon... By the time I exited storage Materials 8 I took me a total of 92 turns, so about as quick as the last two areas, and I sped into Factory 7 starting to feel confident and with one of those core shields now deployed around my small but growing frame of propulsors.
And then came the factory patrols... oh god they were everywhere, and the earlier luck I had encountered with finding exits was gone... My frame took a crippling amount of punishment, little charred bits of hydraulics and limbs littered my wake. That must be how I was followed so easily by the growing swarm of defenders. Factory 7 took me longer than all of the earlier levels combined, and by the time I climbed into factory 6, I was hurting for healthy modules. So it was great when first door I opened led to a nice bot who locked down his terminal and calmly alerted the authorities to my presence...
At some point, as the mad chase resumed the first core shield failed and the backup got slotted in, and then shortly after I received a crippling hit to one of my main flight engines and power source at the same time. Feeling cornered and left in a vulnerable slow configuration, I tore frantically ripped pieces off myself (with some more violent help from my purusers) until I was tiny once again, and zoomed onward through the level searching desperately for the stairs. Core health dipped below 30% but that critical core shielding, partially melted and glowing a fiery red continued to mitigate damage like a champ! And then a bright light appeared in front of me... and I flew through it without a moment's hesitation into...
Darkness. Safety. Evolution. More propulsion and utility please and thank you.
The hatch into Factory 5 closed behind me with a sharp hiss of compressed air and scanning the area I found... desertion. It appeared that all the commotion on the lower floors of the factory had drawn away many of the squads assigned to this portion of the facility, but there also wasn't much lying around to rebuild myself with, so when I was again blessed with an exit ahead, I immediately took it. Factory 4 was similarly sleepy, and similarly devoid of useful things, except for a drone bay, which immediately gave a great return on a small matter investment. Frustrated with my slow rate of recuperation and final loss of the last of my critical core shielding I sped into the first set of stairs my tiny dronelets found, hoping to head into research and fresh piles of matter and powerful equipment.
But no sooner had the entry hatch clanged shut and I began to take in the darkness, echoes, and the drip drip of water falling from a high ceiling did my frustration turn to dread... god damned caves crawling with patrols... Crawling as in - there were four mercenaries just lounging around the entrance. The chase was already on! But suddenly in the moment before their optical sensors locked onto me, I had a vision... I saw myself or another of my kind from above and heard the confident voice of God Kyzrati saying to him/me "In the caves, you want to go East!". And as the vision faded I acted on instinct and did just that. Dashing from wall to wall, fleeing the sound of grinding treads and armored legs that characterized my pursuers, until somehow, finally, after 3 sets more of stairs I found something that I could never have imagined existed... The resistance!
The warlord's stronghold was fast, and well stocked with new and powerful equipment. I was to to be only able to take a mere fraction of it with me for the challenges ahead. It was hear that I learned more about the all powerful entity controlling the facility - the arch villain who seemed dedicated to making my tiny existence a living hell. Yet the warlord had a plan, and risky though it was, it appeared as good as any I could come up with. So taking my leave as the villainous horde closed in yet again, I wished him and his "One god army" the very best, and escaped out of the secret emergency exit, back into the caves, westward bound with an ever growing host at my heels, yet happy and confident in my larger self and my fresh supply of powerful equipment.
Research 3 was exactly the abundant source of goodies I had hoped for, yet came with fresh terrors that tempered my enthusiasm. By the time I climbed into Research 2 I was again starting to wonder about the length of my future. Turned out I need not have been considered, for no sooner had I started my fresh explorations of the new area than the entire level melted down into a chaotic sea of desperately defending facility guards, and a small but determined contingent of fighters led by none other than the Warlord! The one god army delivered such exacting justice it made the Human God's fabled wrath look like a child's temper tantrum.
The sharp contrast from the bright purple of Research and the lime green of Testing should have been a clue that my luck was changing again. Dogged by new powerful prototype defenders firing all kinds of fancy slugs and thermal weapons, but augmented by strong and numerous propulsion units to evade, the race upwards resumed in earnest. The measure of things was determined simply by the number of spares lying around that I could take every time something else on my hull got slagged. Also, I had some extremely horrible luck with finding the exit that dragged things on longer than they should have and put me in a worse state than I might have otherwise been when I finally jetted up up up into: Access.
Finding the big door took literally seconds. But I instantly knew what it meant.. OUT. I CAN GET OUT! Finding the way through it, was an absolutely ardorous task. Despite multiple hacking units, my attempts to open by the terminal ended in complete failure. I pounded by biometal legs on the terminal in frustration but knew there had to be another way through. The blast door was too thick, I couldn't dent it with any weapon I knew of. More running and exploring to the sides gave me the answer I sought.. Forcefield guarded by to Colossi... that had to be it! Thus ensued a temporary circling circus as I searched for a weapon that could breach the field, chased by one of the two massive defenders and a swarm of it's smaller brethren, and starting to take serious punishment to my protective screen of legs and treads covering my fragile nuclear and quantum propulsors. Finally, a single nova cannon! Equipped, I sped back to the field and began my last stand and blasted away at the field. A HIT! Oh shoot there's another layer! Again and again I fired until there was one barrier left, and I decided to make a break for the hole before making my final shot.... WHAMM!
The slug from the Colossus took out my power source, and my already depleted energy reserves from firing the cannon and keeping my engines hot for the dash to safety left me dangerously vulnerable. I could not move, I could not install my fresh backup power source. I sat, waiting as the Colossus cycled his weapon systems and fired point blank. BLAMMM! My Nova Cannon -the most critical piece of equipment I needed to escape- went from green to red. Finally, my batteries recharged and my backup power slot came online as the second Colossus came back around the corner, and then both of them gave me another point blank volley. BLLLAAAAMMMMMMMMM! Treads and legs were torn away but somehow they missed the giant Nova Cannon! With a surge of electrons I reactivated my quantumn engines and zoomed into the hole in the forcefields, stopping briefly to fire off one more volley with the cannon that breached the final barrier in front of me.... "Freeeedommmm!", I yelled as I dashed onto the stairs, laughing at the frustrated bleeps and blats of the two Colossi robbed of their prey!
And now... I'm not just free... I'm Free Fallin'!.. On my way to... well..that information is classified, just incase HE'S got spies listening in...
So anyway take heart in my success. I wish you the best in your own future attempts and hope you'll escape join me out...errr...here. Wherever HERE is... you'll figure it out if you visit "Electrical Engineering".
TOTAL SCORE: 33510
Damage Taken: 15167
Turns Passed: 4735
Play Time: 185 min
Seed: SurveybotGatlingMembrane
Signing off,
Cog Mind
<End Transmission>
TOTAL SCORE: 33510
Pre-Note: This is an overview of my third Beta 5 run ever, my 1st ever win, and my first real attempt at a complete pacifist run. Credit to u/zxc223 for the first 2 minutes of one of his pacifist speed runs that showed my how to use propulsion part coverage correctly without dropping core speed. First two attempts with no guidance were complete failures. Also I've watched Kyzrati do early parts of a couple beta 4 runs on Twitch - this was lots of help understanding some of the game mechanics.
SPOILER WARNING: This post contains some spoilers. Read on at your own risk.
<Start Transmission>
Greetings fellow Cog Minds! No, you're not receiving this transmission in error. I bring you an epic tale of hope, despair, pursuit, and flight, from the world above! Behold!
I awoke for the third time in a scrap heap, collected myself and immediately equipped up on legs and guns in the correct configuration to protect myself without engaging them, and then hovered into Materials where I quickly encountered the repeated bane of my young existence as a pacifist... Pests. Thankfully luck and a new higher speed were with me, and after quickly finding a couple flights of stairs in sequence I ended up in Storage somewhat shot up, but with an evolution under my belt and some gear laying around that gave me some room to start my first real powered hover build.
As I was already discovering, the most nagging part of this entire escape was the lack of inventory storage. I never equipped an expansion slot into utility during the early game for fear of slowing down, and then when I gained the capability to risk higher mass allocation I never found the storage module I needed...
I also had the good fortune of finding two shiny core shielding units lingering in a dusty corner, and although I agonized heavily over giving up an extra leg, I finally relented and tucked them into my tiny body and sped away... It was to be a critical and fateful decision that would later save my bacon... By the time I exited storage Materials 8 I took me a total of 92 turns, so about as quick as the last two areas, and I sped into Factory 7 starting to feel confident and with one of those core shields now deployed around my small but growing frame of propulsors.
And then came the factory patrols... oh god they were everywhere, and the earlier luck I had encountered with finding exits was gone... My frame took a crippling amount of punishment, little charred bits of hydraulics and limbs littered my wake. That must be how I was followed so easily by the growing swarm of defenders. Factory 7 took me longer than all of the earlier levels combined, and by the time I climbed into factory 6, I was hurting for healthy modules. So it was great when first door I opened led to a nice bot who locked down his terminal and calmly alerted the authorities to my presence...
At some point, as the mad chase resumed the first core shield failed and the backup got slotted in, and then shortly after I received a crippling hit to one of my main flight engines and power source at the same time. Feeling cornered and left in a vulnerable slow configuration, I tore frantically ripped pieces off myself (with some more violent help from my purusers) until I was tiny once again, and zoomed onward through the level searching desperately for the stairs. Core health dipped below 30% but that critical core shielding, partially melted and glowing a fiery red continued to mitigate damage like a champ! And then a bright light appeared in front of me... and I flew through it without a moment's hesitation into...
Darkness. Safety. Evolution. More propulsion and utility please and thank you.
The hatch into Factory 5 closed behind me with a sharp hiss of compressed air and scanning the area I found... desertion. It appeared that all the commotion on the lower floors of the factory had drawn away many of the squads assigned to this portion of the facility, but there also wasn't much lying around to rebuild myself with, so when I was again blessed with an exit ahead, I immediately took it. Factory 4 was similarly sleepy, and similarly devoid of useful things, except for a drone bay, which immediately gave a great return on a small matter investment. Frustrated with my slow rate of recuperation and final loss of the last of my critical core shielding I sped into the first set of stairs my tiny dronelets found, hoping to head into research and fresh piles of matter and powerful equipment.
But no sooner had the entry hatch clanged shut and I began to take in the darkness, echoes, and the drip drip of water falling from a high ceiling did my frustration turn to dread... god damned caves crawling with patrols... Crawling as in - there were four mercenaries just lounging around the entrance. The chase was already on! But suddenly in the moment before their optical sensors locked onto me, I had a vision... I saw myself or another of my kind from above and heard the confident voice of God Kyzrati saying to him/me "In the caves, you want to go East!". And as the vision faded I acted on instinct and did just that. Dashing from wall to wall, fleeing the sound of grinding treads and armored legs that characterized my pursuers, until somehow, finally, after 3 sets more of stairs I found something that I could never have imagined existed... The resistance!
The warlord's stronghold was fast, and well stocked with new and powerful equipment. I was to to be only able to take a mere fraction of it with me for the challenges ahead. It was hear that I learned more about the all powerful entity controlling the facility - the arch villain who seemed dedicated to making my tiny existence a living hell. Yet the warlord had a plan, and risky though it was, it appeared as good as any I could come up with. So taking my leave as the villainous horde closed in yet again, I wished him and his "One god army" the very best, and escaped out of the secret emergency exit, back into the caves, westward bound with an ever growing host at my heels, yet happy and confident in my larger self and my fresh supply of powerful equipment.
Research 3 was exactly the abundant source of goodies I had hoped for, yet came with fresh terrors that tempered my enthusiasm. By the time I climbed into Research 2 I was again starting to wonder about the length of my future. Turned out I need not have been considered, for no sooner had I started my fresh explorations of the new area than the entire level melted down into a chaotic sea of desperately defending facility guards, and a small but determined contingent of fighters led by none other than the Warlord! The one god army delivered such exacting justice it made the Human God's fabled wrath look like a child's temper tantrum.
The sharp contrast from the bright purple of Research and the lime green of Testing should have been a clue that my luck was changing again. Dogged by new powerful prototype defenders firing all kinds of fancy slugs and thermal weapons, but augmented by strong and numerous propulsion units to evade, the race upwards resumed in earnest. The measure of things was determined simply by the number of spares lying around that I could take every time something else on my hull got slagged. Also, I had some extremely horrible luck with finding the exit that dragged things on longer than they should have and put me in a worse state than I might have otherwise been when I finally jetted up up up into: Access.
Finding the big door took literally seconds. But I instantly knew what it meant.. OUT. I CAN GET OUT! Finding the way through it, was an absolutely ardorous task. Despite multiple hacking units, my attempts to open by the terminal ended in complete failure. I pounded by biometal legs on the terminal in frustration but knew there had to be another way through. The blast door was too thick, I couldn't dent it with any weapon I knew of. More running and exploring to the sides gave me the answer I sought.. Forcefield guarded by to Colossi... that had to be it! Thus ensued a temporary circling circus as I searched for a weapon that could breach the field, chased by one of the two massive defenders and a swarm of it's smaller brethren, and starting to take serious punishment to my protective screen of legs and treads covering my fragile nuclear and quantum propulsors. Finally, a single nova cannon! Equipped, I sped back to the field and began my last stand and blasted away at the field. A HIT! Oh shoot there's another layer! Again and again I fired until there was one barrier left, and I decided to make a break for the hole before making my final shot.... WHAMM!
The slug from the Colossus took out my power source, and my already depleted energy reserves from firing the cannon and keeping my engines hot for the dash to safety left me dangerously vulnerable. I could not move, I could not install my fresh backup power source. I sat, waiting as the Colossus cycled his weapon systems and fired point blank. BLAMMM! My Nova Cannon -the most critical piece of equipment I needed to escape- went from green to red. Finally, my batteries recharged and my backup power slot came online as the second Colossus came back around the corner, and then both of them gave me another point blank volley. BLLLAAAAMMMMMMMMM! Treads and legs were torn away but somehow they missed the giant Nova Cannon! With a surge of electrons I reactivated my quantumn engines and zoomed into the hole in the forcefields, stopping briefly to fire off one more volley with the cannon that breached the final barrier in front of me.... "Freeeedommmm!", I yelled as I dashed onto the stairs, laughing at the frustrated bleeps and blats of the two Colossi robbed of their prey!
And now... I'm not just free... I'm Free Fallin'!.. On my way to... well..that information is classified, just incase HE'S got spies listening in...
So anyway take heart in my success. I wish you the best in your own future attempts and hope you'll escape join me out...errr...here. Wherever HERE is... you'll figure it out if you visit "Electrical Engineering".
TOTAL SCORE: 33510
Damage Taken: 15167
Turns Passed: 4735
Play Time: 185 min
Seed: SurveybotGatlingMembrane
Signing off,
Cog Mind
<End Transmission>
TOTAL SCORE: 33510
118
General Discussion / Cogmind manual in Japanese
« on: February 04, 2018, 02:08:18 AM »
Beginning with Beta 5, tamagotaso has created a Japanese version the manual which you can find the latest version of here on Steam.
Excellent work!
Excellent work!
119
Announcements / SITREP Saturday #12: The Next Big Thing
« on: February 02, 2018, 05:43:03 PM »
Hope you're all enjoying the latest Beta 5! I'm of course already getting busy with Beta 6, but there's plenty of other stuff to cover today, too...
Stats
As usual following a major release, the leaderboards were reset. We're already seeing a lot of good runs this Beta, including a ++ extended end-game win which we didn't get to see last time:
Old leaderboards and scores have been archived, accessible at the bottom of the page, e.g. the final top scoring runs at the end of Beta 4:
Overall we're seeing significant improvement among newer players. I've also done a lengthy summary of stats for Beta 4, including highlighting certain achievements and an overview of general player performance and meta data.
(If you're interested in this kind of data you can also scroll back through the thread for stats on previous Betas since I don't always cover the same things.)
Beta 6?
So right now I'm in Japan to visit relatives for Chinese New Year (my son's on holiday so we can get out of town). We've been here for the past week and will remain for the next couple weeks, but it doesn't have much of an impact on progress. In fact, my workstation here is pretty much identical to my home setup.
That said, for a number of reasons Beta 6 will definitely take longer than the last couple releases. I have a bunch of family/personal stuff I've been neglecting lately to get Betas 4 and 5 out, so I'll have to work on that, but more importantly this year's 7DRL is coming up and I'm planning to participate. I could try to rush out Beta 6 before then, but double rushing (my normal speed is rush :P) is usually a bad idea, plus this particular release is going to add a rather big new system so it needs to be done right! I also shouldn't push my head too hard--I'm still spending 8 hours on treatment each week (when at home) for that concussion back in April, but it's stopped improving.
As for 7DRL, which is technically optional, I've already skipped the last five years worth of them as I focused on creating Cogmind, but I'm really interested in putting some new projects out there, and this time even though it'll slow down the Beta 6 release this particular 7DRL idea is something I know fans of Cogmind can get into so it'll definitely be worth it :D
Also with regards to progress in general, recall that in a past SITREP I talked about Beta 5 giving us a "clean slate" by finishing up all the near-term must-have features. Well, in the latter weeks of Beta 5 work I kept piling on so much new stuff and pushing others further down the list that it'll take another release or two to finish off those things after all :P. At least that's good in that we'll have plenty of little things to work on, too! In any case, the next release will of course be mostly about moving ahead with major features...
Next Big Thing
As per the roadmap, up next is... Achievements!
Yes, we're finally doing one of the things listed there rather than all the other secret/unlisted stuff I'm always throwing in xD
I've marked this one feature alone as taking three weeks, and I've heard some surprise at that number so may as well take this opportunity to give a rundown of what's involved. It's quite a lot of stuff!
On the surface it appears quite simple, and technically if you're just adding a handful of achievements for Steam it's really quite easy, yeah, but Cogmind's particular situation is going to include a lot more achievements, and a lot more moving parts, than your average game.
Here's a high-level TODO list of what it'll take to bring Achievements to Cogmind:
At least the art needs will probably be relatively easy to deal with. Because the achievement icons must be displayable in game (not just Steam), they must conform to the game's grid-based style, meaning the only real choice is ASCII like the rest of the in-game art. These icons also have to meet Steam's dimension requirements (64px), so this means they'll probably be fairly small and simple in order to still be somewhat readable at that size. I have yet to do any tests so we'll see. I'm still working on the achievements list at the moment.
I'll have more to share on this topic over the next month. Note that we have an ongoing achievements suggestion thread here on the forums from which I've been taking a number of ideas to combine with my own.
Meta
nuzcraft, one of Cogmind's most prolific Let's Players, got his first win recently and shared his writeup over in the Competitions board (he plays all the seed runs so you can play along as well if interested).
Over on r/Cogmind, GDFKTT shared a writeup on their first win as well, and a pacifist run no less.
Yesterday over on r/RoguelikeDev I shared some of Cogmind's debugging features that I use for development, so check that out if you're interested in some more behind the scenes sort of stuff. Some examples:
Highlighting map encounter prefabs, colored by their type (fluff/reward/danger/risk-reward...):
Visualizing squad routes:
Visualizing ambient sfx propagation:
Watching entity (robot) time values:
Checking cellwise cave-in factors as affected by explosions:
#13
The next SITREP will be February 17th so that I have more to show for it, since a lot of the current work is behind the scenes, but as usual I'll be hanging out on the Discord every day. Stop by!
(Note that also around that time there's the annual Steam CNY sale, so for those few days expect a 10% discount.)
Since a lot of the relevant SITREP discussion happens on Steam rather than in the forums, for reference here's a link to this same news on Steam. But feel free to post replies here, too :)
Stats
As usual following a major release, the leaderboards were reset. We're already seeing a lot of good runs this Beta, including a ++ extended end-game win which we didn't get to see last time:
Old leaderboards and scores have been archived, accessible at the bottom of the page, e.g. the final top scoring runs at the end of Beta 4:
Overall we're seeing significant improvement among newer players. I've also done a lengthy summary of stats for Beta 4, including highlighting certain achievements and an overview of general player performance and meta data.
(If you're interested in this kind of data you can also scroll back through the thread for stats on previous Betas since I don't always cover the same things.)
Beta 6?
So right now I'm in Japan to visit relatives for Chinese New Year (my son's on holiday so we can get out of town). We've been here for the past week and will remain for the next couple weeks, but it doesn't have much of an impact on progress. In fact, my workstation here is pretty much identical to my home setup.
That said, for a number of reasons Beta 6 will definitely take longer than the last couple releases. I have a bunch of family/personal stuff I've been neglecting lately to get Betas 4 and 5 out, so I'll have to work on that, but more importantly this year's 7DRL is coming up and I'm planning to participate. I could try to rush out Beta 6 before then, but double rushing (my normal speed is rush :P) is usually a bad idea, plus this particular release is going to add a rather big new system so it needs to be done right! I also shouldn't push my head too hard--I'm still spending 8 hours on treatment each week (when at home) for that concussion back in April, but it's stopped improving.
As for 7DRL, which is technically optional, I've already skipped the last five years worth of them as I focused on creating Cogmind, but I'm really interested in putting some new projects out there, and this time even though it'll slow down the Beta 6 release this particular 7DRL idea is something I know fans of Cogmind can get into so it'll definitely be worth it :D
Also with regards to progress in general, recall that in a past SITREP I talked about Beta 5 giving us a "clean slate" by finishing up all the near-term must-have features. Well, in the latter weeks of Beta 5 work I kept piling on so much new stuff and pushing others further down the list that it'll take another release or two to finish off those things after all :P. At least that's good in that we'll have plenty of little things to work on, too! In any case, the next release will of course be mostly about moving ahead with major features...
Next Big Thing
As per the roadmap, up next is... Achievements!
Yes, we're finally doing one of the things listed there rather than all the other secret/unlisted stuff I'm always throwing in xD
I've marked this one feature alone as taking three weeks, and I've heard some surprise at that number so may as well take this opportunity to give a rundown of what's involved. It's quite a lot of stuff!
On the surface it appears quite simple, and technically if you're just adding a handful of achievements for Steam it's really quite easy, yeah, but Cogmind's particular situation is going to include a lot more achievements, and a lot more moving parts, than your average game.
Here's a high-level TODO list of what it'll take to bring Achievements to Cogmind:
- Research Steamworks docs for achievement specifications
- Create and organize a list of achievements
- Do an achievement UI mockup
- Test how Steam achievements work in other games, and how they're presented on the player and community side
- Create the achievement data, including names and descriptions
- Implement an achievement handler, and check for each achievement at relevant points in the source code
- Implement the Cogmind-side dedicated achievement interface
- Decide how to integrate achievement notifications into several different existing UI systems
- Find solutions for a number of tough achievement-related issues
- Create icon art for every achievement (in both acquired and non-acquired form)
- Test a selection of achievements in a non-Steam build
- Build a system to communicate with Steam regarding achievements (prioritizing game-side data, rather than Steam-side like most games do it)
- Add achievement data to Steamworks backend
- Live test the achievement system on Steam, including syncing of old data on either end
- Fix the inevitable oversights and bugs in the system before they reach players
- Actually release it :P (after adding a whole bunch of other stuff that should go in the release, too!)
At least the art needs will probably be relatively easy to deal with. Because the achievement icons must be displayable in game (not just Steam), they must conform to the game's grid-based style, meaning the only real choice is ASCII like the rest of the in-game art. These icons also have to meet Steam's dimension requirements (64px), so this means they'll probably be fairly small and simple in order to still be somewhat readable at that size. I have yet to do any tests so we'll see. I'm still working on the achievements list at the moment.
I'll have more to share on this topic over the next month. Note that we have an ongoing achievements suggestion thread here on the forums from which I've been taking a number of ideas to combine with my own.
Meta
nuzcraft, one of Cogmind's most prolific Let's Players, got his first win recently and shared his writeup over in the Competitions board (he plays all the seed runs so you can play along as well if interested).
Over on r/Cogmind, GDFKTT shared a writeup on their first win as well, and a pacifist run no less.
Yesterday over on r/RoguelikeDev I shared some of Cogmind's debugging features that I use for development, so check that out if you're interested in some more behind the scenes sort of stuff. Some examples:
Highlighting map encounter prefabs, colored by their type (fluff/reward/danger/risk-reward...):
Visualizing squad routes:
Visualizing ambient sfx propagation:
Watching entity (robot) time values:
Checking cellwise cave-in factors as affected by explosions:
#13
The next SITREP will be February 17th so that I have more to show for it, since a lot of the current work is behind the scenes, but as usual I'll be hanging out on the Discord every day. Stop by!
(Note that also around that time there's the annual Steam CNY sale, so for those few days expect a 10% discount.)
Since a lot of the relevant SITREP discussion happens on Steam rather than in the forums, for reference here's a link to this same news on Steam. But feel free to post replies here, too :)
120
Announcements / Cogmind Beta 5 "Zionic Revolution"
« on: January 23, 2018, 05:48:08 PM »
Beta FIVE brings us interesting changes to your potential Zion allies, new NPCs, items and mechanics, and color customization along with lots and lots (and lots) of QoL.
It's another big one.
Cogmind Beta 5 "Zionic Revolution" (0.10.180124) changelog:
Zionic Revolution
Our namesake feature for this release has some major implications, and got even more fun.
Getting "imprinted" has always been a great power boost, and at its inception was intended as such--basically a low-effort way to make a run both easier and more interesting by offering a wider array of tactical options, especially for combat builds which generally have no significant hacking capabilities. But that 1) made it feel like this option has way too much potential to pass up when planning a route to the surface (even more so for extended end-game runs!), and 2) is a pretty big waste of a design opportunity :P
I've been planning to revisit it for a while, and now that the rest of the experience is pretty balanced, its time has come!
(Note: If you have no idea what this section is talking about, dare to venture deeper into the caves and you shall see :))
Whether or not you imprint is now a long-term strategic choice rather than a pure no-brainer bestowing permanent benefits. It's true imprinting carried some minor drawbacks before, but these only came into play at a couple plot points that an imprinted player in particular probably wouldn't need quite as much anyway.
On the downside, being imprinted now removes the ability to use 0b10 terminals in a regular fashion. In fact, you won't even be able to hack open doors! (of course there are still the usual number of alternative ways to get through them)
Beta 5 is not, however, a straight up nerf. While lack of terminal access is a big change, yet more varieties of \\ZION hacks were added, some quite powerful, and they can no longer be detected, traced, or blocked, among other new imprinting benefits. That you had access to them was also somewhat easy to forget about before, whereas now there are three different types of reminder instead of just one. You won't forget :P
In short, rather than an occasional "get out of jail free" card, z-hacks now enable (and in a way, enforce) other unique ways to play. This makes imprinting a much more interesting decision, and it's not always going to be the right choice for every build or style!
Some imprinted-related gifs:
The "Zionic Revolution" is not just mechanics, either--it also comes with some new personalities, and new special items. For example:
No more details there because it's all quite spoilery and best discovered on your own one day :D
Distressed Robots
For December's Beta 4 I added the mechanic revealing locations of non-visible combat bots receiving distress calls from visible non-combat bots:
This is a great feature for new or struggling players, basically a way to learn how robots are reacting even without any sensors of your own, so I think it serves a good purpose in easier difficulty modes. But in the default Roguelike mode it removes some of the suspense and tactical challenge, unnecessarily lowering the difficulty of the average encounter. This is why I was on the fence about adding it back then, but instead of letting the feature incubate for a while and testing it out on my own, I thought I'd put it out there as an experiment for everyone to try out.
So now, as prior to Beta 4, you'll know victims alerted a hostile, but won't know where they are or precisely where they're coming from (other than what you can inference from map knowledge and other factors, or outright sensor data). Instead, the distress call now animates the range at which a given robot can alert allies. This was something you could figure out via meta knowledge over time anyway, and counting cells is annoying so adding this is more of a QoL feature to make it explicit and save on that time/effort.
Seeing a Watcher emitting its signal in Beta 5:
On a similar note, garrison location pings during reinforcement calls have been removed from the default difficulty mode, though there is no range shown there because it actually depends on the garrison itself and can even occur at longer ranges. That will continue to be a challenge to players who don't have relevant intel.
Mechanics
Beta 5 comes with a range of new or slightly adjusted mechanics.
Back in SITREP #9 I introduced an "enforced projectile spread," a weapon characteristic that can't be overcome by simply stacking more targeting computers. See the SITREP for more notes on this feature, but basically you'll now see this reflected in the targeting display for the few weapons that are affected by it:
This mechanic also meant I could rightly buff rocket arrays to allow them to come into their own as a cool niche weapon:
One of the other bigger mechanics changes is that all melee weapons benefit from momentum damage bonuses (not just impact/slashing/piercing), as the system is now handled by weapon category rather than damage type. So where damage modifiers are concerned, the Status page only needs to list a single "Melee" entry:
(notice another change: that page also only lists non-zero resistances and modifiers)
While we're at it, in 'q'/INFO mode both the parts list and inventory display melee weapon damage as modified by bonuses from current momentum. This helps make it much more clear just how much damage you can do without requiring extra calculations, especially when considering whether to try chopping through a stubborn door.
While it probably won't come into play all that often, overheating robots hit by thermal weapons now may have their parts melted.
Launcher Guidance Computers now block launcher misfires caused by corruption. Being able to more safely keep a launcher equipped while corrupted could occasionally come in handy.
Also, it might take a while to discover but there is now an EM weapon out there using a new "Fine" spectrum with a 100% chance to set off engine explosions :)
Color Customization
By request, Beta 5 gives you a way to adjust visual attributes like brightness, saturation, contrast, and more.
There are also some presents that change multiple variables at once, like the low-contrast mode "SLEEPY":
ASCII combat in Sleepy mode:
UI interaction in another low-contrast mode, "AUTUMN":
There are other extreme modes like the "SWAP" filter:
Combine multiple modes and filters, like SWAP + AUTUMN:
For the details on how to get the most out of this set of features you'll want to check the latest manual, under the new "Color Customization" section, which explains all eight of the render filter functions and how to apply them to the UI or map.
See additional demo images on my dev blog here.
Although I try to encode as much information using additional methods beyond color, there might be some areas where I could allow further adjustment to benefit certain players' needs. If you have some type of color blindness or other color-related request that I might be able to solve via a filter or some kind of correction formula, let me know and I'll see what I can do.
Q... O... L!!!
Our favorite category :). Lots of feature requests fulfilled with this release, plus just more ideas I had to make your [Cogmind's] life easier.
Terrain revealed via scanners or other means before visiting it now appears in a monochrome "greenscale" rather than color like all other areas outside your field of vision.
This helps remember where you've actually been. And looks cool :D
Like the real-time melee momentum damage calculations mentioned above, 'q'/INFO mode also also displays which weapons are affected by an active Particle Accelerator and how:
There are now a number of ways to filter on-map item labels, described in the manual and adjustable via the advanced config. By default broken and faulty items won't be labeled, and you can also opt to exclude items below a certain integrity or relative rating threshold. Without any changes to the settings, Beta 5 automatically skips items with only 1~25% of their integrity remaining.
(Notice the repeat command at the end there which then includes all items in the labeling, regardless of filters.)
This is a first step of potentially several on the road to an even more effective label system.
Map edges can now be revealed via a setting, but this is recommended only for advanced players who are already familiar with most of the world since it can be somewhat spoilery. It's also somewhat immersion breaking, but it's decent QoL because without it those who really do know how all the systems work will pan around and find the approximate borders in advance anyway.
This feature uses a different style if you're playing with a swap filter:
Don't go looking for the "Game" menu buttons on their own page, since they've now moved right under the Basic commands and are accessible as soon as you press Escape!
quickStart (the option that automatically attaches and collects all items in the starting area for you) is now available in easier difficulty modes as well, with the easiest mode starting gear getting upgraded to a Med. Storage Unit:
Active garrisons now display their dispatch timer countdown directly on the map as long as you have a Signal Interpreter.
There's now a log message specifically for identifying unknown parts. This'll help both when you're reviewing a log later, and perhaps more importantly when that faulty prototype melts on you and you're left wondering what it actually was xD
When attempting to exit a map, the confirmation specifies how many allies you will be leaving behind if you leave immediately.
Potential cave-in areas are always highlighted, even without Tactical HUD mode. I originally thought it was active in all modes, but apparently not and I think it should be both obvious and helpful to even beginners to know what areas will collapse. It's an important mechanic to learn early on, and will seem more fair if those areas were marked to begin with rather than requiring a mode used by experienced players :P
The precise core integrity popup feature added in the last release is now the default behavior in Tactical HUD mode, with an advanced option to revert to percentage displays.
There's even more QoL listed in the changelog, so read through that to catch them all.
MAP_ASCII
I'm continuing to add optional map ASCII styles by request, where I can put together something suitable, and Beta 5 in particular comes with three more size 16 options.
The above example is the new size 16 Terminus option, and you can see the others in the last SITREP. This brings Cogmind's total number of custom font bitmaps to 112! Don't worry, it's not a magic number or anything and I won't be stopping there ;)
Setting these currently requires an edit to the game files themselves, as described in the manual's Advanced UI > Fonts section. For now that also means this feature is incompatible with Steam cloud, and you'll also have to repeat the same modification manually if you update to a new version, as it's not a part of the regular user settings. I'll be doing something about this later, but it's rather involved and requires a number of changes as deep as the engine level, so it can't happen too quickly/soon and I'd like to combine the related adjustments with other new features we'll be seeing down the line.
Beta 5 saves are not compatible with previous versions, but even if you're on Steam and have autoupdates enabled, Beta 4 is still available via its own branch and you can roll back to finish a run in progress first if you like.
It's another big one.
Cogmind Beta 5 "Zionic Revolution" (0.10.180124) changelog:
- NEW: 9 new unique named NPCs
- NEW: 13 more unique items
- NEW: 1 new wheel variant
- NEW: 3 new types of resupply dispatch
- NEW: 1 new 0b10 terminal record, along with several random lore dialogues available in the usual places
- NEW: 25 new score sheet entries (total = 662)
- NEW: Several additional special encounters
- NEW: 3 new optional map styles for ASCII mode players at size 16: Terminus, Verite, Kaypro (see manual under Advanced UI > Fonts)
- NEW: Some methods for tweaking colors/brightness/saturation/etc (advanced.cfg for now: renderFilters, see manual under Color Customization)
- NEW: Roster dispatches potentially include allies from a new category
- NEW: Mechanic for automatically locating nearby terminals (spoiler)
- NEW: Operators reset their terminal under a certain condition (spoiler)
- NEW: Special animations for connecting to Z-hack-capable terminals
- NEW: First connection to a Z-hack-capable terminal gives instruction regarding intel retrieval
- NEW: Added EM damage spectrum class "Fine"
- NEW: Enforced projectile spread mechanic for certain weapons
- NEW: Line-of-fire for volley including a spread-enforced weapon highlights entire potential spread area
- NEW: Option to always display the edges of the current map (advanced.cfg only: showMapBorders)
- NEW: Option to completely disable the standard printing/text sfx (advanced.cfg only: muteTextSfx)
- NEW: All Launcher Guidance Computers prevent launcher misfires otherwise caused by system corruption
- NEW: Robots sending distress signals to alert nearby allies display the range of that signal
- NEW: Effect description for matter/energy storage utilities explicitly states their ability to collect resources while in inventory
- NEW: Active Particle Accelerators show modified damage values for applicable weapons in inventory and part list info mode ('q')
- NEW: Effect of current momentum on melee weapon damage is shown directly next to applicable weapons in inventory and part list info mode ('q')
- NEW: Discovering exits purely via Terrain Scanners in easiest difficulty mode reveals their destination as if sighted
- NEW: Advanced quickStart option also available in easier difficulty modes
- NEW: "Trapped" challenge mode prevents gaining trap knowledge from hacks, Zionite intel, 0b10 Decoders, and friendly Operators
- NEW: Prototypes and other unknown parts identified by attaching them accompanied by explicit log message
- NEW: Component Analysis Suite identification effect log message also specifies name of utility doing the identifying
- NEW: Manual includes additional subsection explaining overload mechanic for some power sources and energy weapons
- NEW: It's safe to hold a wait key while a nearby Fabricator or Repair Station is processing (autoblocks command for two seconds on task completion)
- NEW: Manual includes additional subsection on Key Holding, under Key Commands
- NEW: Starting position in Scrapyard will never overlap with an item
- NEW: Map areas discovered via Terrain Scanners and other methods but never actually seen displayed in greenscale rather than color
- NEW: Active Garrison Access dispatch countdown timers now visible on map when using a Signal Interpreter
- NEW: Heat transfer damage may outright melt struck part of an already overheating robot (chance matches weapon's heat transfer value)
- NEW: Filter mass item labels by applying an integrity percentage cutoff via itemLabelIntegrityPercentCutoff (advanced.cfg, currently defaults to 26%)
- NEW: Filter mass item labels by applying a minimum depth-relative rating cutoff via itemLabelRelativeRatingCutoff (advanced.cfg)
- NEW: Known faulty and broken items not labeled on map when using mass item labeling (can change behavior via advanced.cfg)
- NEW: Mass labeling items a second time within 5 seconds ignores all label filters
- NEW: If exiting a map will fail to bring some allies due to their distance, shows dedicated warning message and puts a longer block duration on the move
- NEW: All Alpha supporter names registered since Beta 4 added to in-game list (see Credits menu)
- MOD: Imprinting prevents direct and indirect hacks at most 0b10 terminals (special manual hacks okay)
- MOD: Z-hacks can no longer be detected, traced, nor blocked across an entire floor
- MOD: Some items may appear in more than one type of resupply
- MOD: Cave seal disengage behavior different if imprinted
- MOD: Mak. Sword uses regular melee impact sound rather than heavier sound
- MOD: Updated color of Centrium wheel variant art to match other items of same material
- MOD: Potential cave-in areas on map are always highlighted (tactical HUD mode not required)
- MOD: Rocket Arrays and Scatter Rocket Arrays significantly improved, though can no longer be focused via targeting
- MOD: Hero class renamed to Knight, ASCII changed from 'O' to 'K'
- MOD: Hvy. Hardcell Cannon resource costs reduced
- MOD: AM-PH4 propulsion tweaked
- MOD: Behemoth cannot appear on top of cave exit stairs, and much less likely to be too near any cave entrance
- MOD: "Trapped" challenge mode trap count multiplier upped from 5 to 10
- MOD: Hack given by the so-called "annoying derelict" in caves causes the victim to follow instead of remain stationary
- MOD: "Armor Coverage" best state entry in score sheet refers to raw total coverage of attached armor instead of percentage value
- MOD: "Suicide/Restart" button on Game menu renamed "Self-destruct"
- MOD: Robots sending distress signals to allies out of view only reveal that ally's position in easier difficulty modes
- MOD: Robots calling for help or reinforcements from a garrison only reveal that garrison's position in easier difficulty modes
- MOD: Removed Game menu, Save/Restart/Quit buttons now appear on Basic commands page
- MOD: Removed tutorial message explaining how to save and exit
- MOD: Removed "Show Non-FOV Color" from options menu, always on by default
- MOD: Removed Ctrl-` command for toggling non-FOV color display
- MOD: Weapon Cycler and Quantum Capacitor effect descriptions reworded for specificity, no longer refer to "projectile weapons"
- MOD: Alarm Traps in Garrisons no longer trigger an investigation, they simply alert any nearby hostiles
- MOD: Mechanics that clear robot memory (e.g. the Reconstructor) now also clear off-turn partial spot records
- MOD: Melee momentum damage bonus applies to all melee weapons, not just I/S/P damage types (piercing still gets its double bonus)
- MOD: Melee damage type modifiers on Status page merged into a single "Melee" value (extra piercing damage bonus only displayed by the weapon)
- MOD: Only non-zero values are listed under the Status page's resistances and damage modifiers
- MOD: Data Miner dispatch redirects no longer occur during late-game wars
- MOD: With Label Supporter Items option on, the few items not applicable for gallery collection show standard description at bottom of info window
- MOD: Easiest difficulty mode puts Med. Storage Unit in Scrapyard, rather than Sml.
- MOD: A certain Exoskeleton's overweight penalty reduced from 30 to 20
- MOD: Robot core damage popups in Tactical HUD mode default to showing actual remaining integrity rather than as a percent
- MOD: Replaced advanced.cfg preciseCorePopup option with its opposite, percentCorePopup
- MOD: "No X in view" message displayed when there is no applicable object for the given label type instead shows "No X to label"
- MOD: Targeting will not autosuggest a previous target whose relation with you has changed since you last attacked it
- MOD: Super Gauntlet challenge mode keeps the lone target Garrison Access available even under high security lockdown
- FIX: Crash on right-clicking directly into second robot info while analysis or traits of first robot still open [Valguris]
- FIX: Overloaded weapons did not apply damage bonus again walls [Valguris]
- FIX: Walls/doors not applying damage resistances correctly [Valguris]
- FIX: Schematics for items only available by special means did not display fabrication info when opened via fabricator/schematics list [Valguris]
- FIX: Credits list contained some duplicate supporter names [zxc]
- FIX: Insufficient energy for overloadable propulsion upkeep might overload the propulsion instead of autodeactivating it [zxc]
- FIX: Typo in options.cfg (fix resets your calculation log setting; if you want a non-default option you'll need to redo) [zxc]
- FIX: Penetration values missing from gallery export data [Raine]
- FIX: While on-map combat log active, any visible messages could partially overlap an open Status window [Raine]
- FIX: Typo in screenshot tags and filenames for game over screen [johnicboom]
- FIX: Advanced quickStart option could also be activated in tutorial mode despite lack of Storage Unit in that layout [Zoticus]
- FIX: New corrupted AI misfire mechanic could in some cases affect player UI target recall [Happylisk]
- FIX: Could continue hacking record queries at a locked terminal prior to closing window by using number keys if keyboard mode active [neutral]
- FIX: Pressing 'f' during the exact frame a major NPC enters view and opens dialogue window blocked commands once window closed [nuzcraft]
- FIX: STAY command issued to ally with a previous destination allowed them to reach it before returning to intended stay location [GJ]
- FIX: Subatomic Replicator used without effect then dropped into inventory remained unidentified until inventory redrawn due to another interaction
- FIX: A certain type of derelict log could reveal exit to Zhirov's location, which they shouldn't know
- FIX: Moving multi-cell robot sensor scans not displayed correctly in tiles mode
- FIX: RMB on robot then opening Analysis or Traits and closing again prevented further right-clicks on other robots until info window closed
- FIX: "Max Gunslinging Chain" entry in score sheet was not being tallied
Zionic Revolution
Our namesake feature for this release has some major implications, and got even more fun.
Getting "imprinted" has always been a great power boost, and at its inception was intended as such--basically a low-effort way to make a run both easier and more interesting by offering a wider array of tactical options, especially for combat builds which generally have no significant hacking capabilities. But that 1) made it feel like this option has way too much potential to pass up when planning a route to the surface (even more so for extended end-game runs!), and 2) is a pretty big waste of a design opportunity :P
I've been planning to revisit it for a while, and now that the rest of the experience is pretty balanced, its time has come!
(Note: If you have no idea what this section is talking about, dare to venture deeper into the caves and you shall see :))
Whether or not you imprint is now a long-term strategic choice rather than a pure no-brainer bestowing permanent benefits. It's true imprinting carried some minor drawbacks before, but these only came into play at a couple plot points that an imprinted player in particular probably wouldn't need quite as much anyway.
On the downside, being imprinted now removes the ability to use 0b10 terminals in a regular fashion. In fact, you won't even be able to hack open doors! (of course there are still the usual number of alternative ways to get through them)
Beta 5 is not, however, a straight up nerf. While lack of terminal access is a big change, yet more varieties of \\ZION hacks were added, some quite powerful, and they can no longer be detected, traced, or blocked, among other new imprinting benefits. That you had access to them was also somewhat easy to forget about before, whereas now there are three different types of reminder instead of just one. You won't forget :P
In short, rather than an occasional "get out of jail free" card, z-hacks now enable (and in a way, enforce) other unique ways to play. This makes imprinting a much more interesting decision, and it's not always going to be the right choice for every build or style!
Some imprinted-related gifs:
The "Zionic Revolution" is not just mechanics, either--it also comes with some new personalities, and new special items. For example:
No more details there because it's all quite spoilery and best discovered on your own one day :D
Distressed Robots
For December's Beta 4 I added the mechanic revealing locations of non-visible combat bots receiving distress calls from visible non-combat bots:
This is a great feature for new or struggling players, basically a way to learn how robots are reacting even without any sensors of your own, so I think it serves a good purpose in easier difficulty modes. But in the default Roguelike mode it removes some of the suspense and tactical challenge, unnecessarily lowering the difficulty of the average encounter. This is why I was on the fence about adding it back then, but instead of letting the feature incubate for a while and testing it out on my own, I thought I'd put it out there as an experiment for everyone to try out.
So now, as prior to Beta 4, you'll know victims alerted a hostile, but won't know where they are or precisely where they're coming from (other than what you can inference from map knowledge and other factors, or outright sensor data). Instead, the distress call now animates the range at which a given robot can alert allies. This was something you could figure out via meta knowledge over time anyway, and counting cells is annoying so adding this is more of a QoL feature to make it explicit and save on that time/effort.
Seeing a Watcher emitting its signal in Beta 5:
On a similar note, garrison location pings during reinforcement calls have been removed from the default difficulty mode, though there is no range shown there because it actually depends on the garrison itself and can even occur at longer ranges. That will continue to be a challenge to players who don't have relevant intel.
Mechanics
Beta 5 comes with a range of new or slightly adjusted mechanics.
Back in SITREP #9 I introduced an "enforced projectile spread," a weapon characteristic that can't be overcome by simply stacking more targeting computers. See the SITREP for more notes on this feature, but basically you'll now see this reflected in the targeting display for the few weapons that are affected by it:
This mechanic also meant I could rightly buff rocket arrays to allow them to come into their own as a cool niche weapon:
One of the other bigger mechanics changes is that all melee weapons benefit from momentum damage bonuses (not just impact/slashing/piercing), as the system is now handled by weapon category rather than damage type. So where damage modifiers are concerned, the Status page only needs to list a single "Melee" entry:
(notice another change: that page also only lists non-zero resistances and modifiers)
While we're at it, in 'q'/INFO mode both the parts list and inventory display melee weapon damage as modified by bonuses from current momentum. This helps make it much more clear just how much damage you can do without requiring extra calculations, especially when considering whether to try chopping through a stubborn door.
While it probably won't come into play all that often, overheating robots hit by thermal weapons now may have their parts melted.
Launcher Guidance Computers now block launcher misfires caused by corruption. Being able to more safely keep a launcher equipped while corrupted could occasionally come in handy.
Also, it might take a while to discover but there is now an EM weapon out there using a new "Fine" spectrum with a 100% chance to set off engine explosions :)
Color Customization
By request, Beta 5 gives you a way to adjust visual attributes like brightness, saturation, contrast, and more.
There are also some presents that change multiple variables at once, like the low-contrast mode "SLEEPY":
ASCII combat in Sleepy mode:
UI interaction in another low-contrast mode, "AUTUMN":
There are other extreme modes like the "SWAP" filter:
Combine multiple modes and filters, like SWAP + AUTUMN:
For the details on how to get the most out of this set of features you'll want to check the latest manual, under the new "Color Customization" section, which explains all eight of the render filter functions and how to apply them to the UI or map.
See additional demo images on my dev blog here.
Although I try to encode as much information using additional methods beyond color, there might be some areas where I could allow further adjustment to benefit certain players' needs. If you have some type of color blindness or other color-related request that I might be able to solve via a filter or some kind of correction formula, let me know and I'll see what I can do.
Q... O... L!!!
Our favorite category :). Lots of feature requests fulfilled with this release, plus just more ideas I had to make your [Cogmind's] life easier.
Terrain revealed via scanners or other means before visiting it now appears in a monochrome "greenscale" rather than color like all other areas outside your field of vision.
This helps remember where you've actually been. And looks cool :D
Like the real-time melee momentum damage calculations mentioned above, 'q'/INFO mode also also displays which weapons are affected by an active Particle Accelerator and how:
There are now a number of ways to filter on-map item labels, described in the manual and adjustable via the advanced config. By default broken and faulty items won't be labeled, and you can also opt to exclude items below a certain integrity or relative rating threshold. Without any changes to the settings, Beta 5 automatically skips items with only 1~25% of their integrity remaining.
(Notice the repeat command at the end there which then includes all items in the labeling, regardless of filters.)
This is a first step of potentially several on the road to an even more effective label system.
Map edges can now be revealed via a setting, but this is recommended only for advanced players who are already familiar with most of the world since it can be somewhat spoilery. It's also somewhat immersion breaking, but it's decent QoL because without it those who really do know how all the systems work will pan around and find the approximate borders in advance anyway.
This feature uses a different style if you're playing with a swap filter:
Don't go looking for the "Game" menu buttons on their own page, since they've now moved right under the Basic commands and are accessible as soon as you press Escape!
quickStart (the option that automatically attaches and collects all items in the starting area for you) is now available in easier difficulty modes as well, with the easiest mode starting gear getting upgraded to a Med. Storage Unit:
Active garrisons now display their dispatch timer countdown directly on the map as long as you have a Signal Interpreter.
There's now a log message specifically for identifying unknown parts. This'll help both when you're reviewing a log later, and perhaps more importantly when that faulty prototype melts on you and you're left wondering what it actually was xD
When attempting to exit a map, the confirmation specifies how many allies you will be leaving behind if you leave immediately.
Potential cave-in areas are always highlighted, even without Tactical HUD mode. I originally thought it was active in all modes, but apparently not and I think it should be both obvious and helpful to even beginners to know what areas will collapse. It's an important mechanic to learn early on, and will seem more fair if those areas were marked to begin with rather than requiring a mode used by experienced players :P
The precise core integrity popup feature added in the last release is now the default behavior in Tactical HUD mode, with an advanced option to revert to percentage displays.
There's even more QoL listed in the changelog, so read through that to catch them all.
MAP_ASCII
I'm continuing to add optional map ASCII styles by request, where I can put together something suitable, and Beta 5 in particular comes with three more size 16 options.
The above example is the new size 16 Terminus option, and you can see the others in the last SITREP. This brings Cogmind's total number of custom font bitmaps to 112! Don't worry, it's not a magic number or anything and I won't be stopping there ;)
Setting these currently requires an edit to the game files themselves, as described in the manual's Advanced UI > Fonts section. For now that also means this feature is incompatible with Steam cloud, and you'll also have to repeat the same modification manually if you update to a new version, as it's not a part of the regular user settings. I'll be doing something about this later, but it's rather involved and requires a number of changes as deep as the engine level, so it can't happen too quickly/soon and I'd like to combine the related adjustments with other new features we'll be seeing down the line.
Beta 5 saves are not compatible with previous versions, but even if you're on Steam and have autoupdates enabled, Beta 4 is still available via its own branch and you can roll back to finish a run in progress first if you like.
121
Announcements / SITREP Saturday #11: Feature Request
« on: January 19, 2018, 04:54:04 PM »
Beta 5 is mostly done! This was the last full week of prep work, focused on handling as many feature requests as I could fit in (including some of my own :P) while also fixing any new bugs discovered in Beta 4.
FR
One player requested that, as a memory aid, terrain discovered via scanners (or other means) could be displayed differently than that which had actually been visited and seen before. I went ahead and used monochrome "greenscale" to draw those areas rather than the usual darkened colors used everywhere outside FOV.
I like how it looks, plus it's a good excuse to use the old green style I originally used (it was the only/default style before Alpha 13 a year ago!).
Momentum damage modifiers are now precalculated directly next to the melee weapons they affect, so you don't have to do it :P. This is especially helpful when trying to smash, slash, or stab your way through a stubborn door.
Similarly, active Particle Accelerators now show exactly how they affect the damage of your energy weapons (including those stored in inventory in case you want to pull them out for maximum fearsomeness).
I removed the separate "Game" menu page, simply putting its three buttons on the Basic commands page so they're accessible immediately as soon as you press Escape, also making them easier for new players to find.
There are a number of other changes still coming to the Escape menu system, but this was a relatively easy adjustment that was worth making now.
Thermal/heat transfer weapons that hit overheating robots may now melt their parts as well.
The advanced quickStart option is going to be available at easier difficulty modes, too. I knew there might be minor issues regarding implementation and hadn't looked into them since I previously didn't have much interaction with players not using the default difficulty, so I didn't know whether anyone would actually use it. During Beta 4 I did hear one voice on the matter, though, so here it is! Adding quickStart to Easiest Mode did require swapping out the Sml. Storage unit for a Medium one, but I'm sure there won't be any complaints there :P. Here's a sample quickStart exit from the Scrapyard in Easiest:
While reworking some aspects of melee damage I went ahead and simplified the resistance and damage modifiers on the status page by only listing those which are non-zero values.
By request, active garrisons now display their dispatch timer countdown directly on the map as long as you have a Signal Interpreter. This information has been available for a while, but previously only by actually inspecting the Garrison Access terminal itself.
Launcher Guidance Computers now block launcher misfires caused by corruption. Being able to more safely keep a launcher equipped while corrupted could occasionally come in handy.
There's now a log message specifically for identifying unknown parts. This'll help both when you're reviewing a log later, and perhaps more importantly when that faulty prototype melts on you and you're left wondering what it actually was xD
Last but oh most definitely not least, robots sending distress signals now animate the range at which they are capable of alerting friendlies. This'll be important because in (only) the default Roguelike difficulty mode I'm removing the position-revealing feature added for Beta 4. I'll talk more about that in the release notes next week.
Fonts
Another player needed alternative map ASCII at size 16 to more easily distinguish characters on their smaller display, so I added several new options there.
The first is the great Terminus, which I think looks really nice but as a fully sans-serif font may not be that great for the state purpose in particular.
I'm not sure about the other two, but I'll have to get some feedback from those who actually need this feature :). In looking for some size-appropriate serif options I picked these old system fonts from the 80s:
Kaypro
Verite
Wiki Spoilers
The wiki now really is chock full of spoilers. Raine's been doing a great job with it and all the items are in there. I mentioned this last time but the data is even more complete now, including even comparison tables.
Robots, machines, walls, lore and whatnot still need to be added manually, so if anyone with the info and know-how is interested in helping out you can email me at gridsagegames@gmail.com to get an account. Ideally you'll also be in our chat so we can coordinate things.
Raine also has the Beta 1~3 score sheets in a database you can use to make pretty graphs here, for anyone curious about stats. (It scrapes all the data, but the publicly available fields are limited unless there are requests for others.)
AND she's also working on a bot for the chat channels <3
Fan Art
In between stories of epic runs, players have been sharing some cool Cogmind-related art over on Discord.
We have a couple images by MojoPoop depicting a Cogmind-DF mashup:
He also created a "Proton Cannon but not" in the style of Cogmind item art:
"Vigilant" - A Hunter by Rylan:
All of these were drawn in my free editor, REXPaint.
FTW
Early this week I did a couple more streams, and won this run :D
It was another combat run (of course!), only this time focusing on legs and stronger offense. There's a summary with images on the forums here. The entire run is in two parts on YouTube, and .
That'll probably be my last stream for a while, since I'll be away from home for most of the next month (but still mostly working on Beta 6) and in early March I'm planning to do a 7DRL I think you'll all enjoy :D. More on that stuff in future updates, though.
Some top players have been thinking of streaming their runs, though, so if you hang out in the Discord you might find out about that. Most of the Cogminds you see high up on the leaderboards are in our chat, and in some cases I'm sure that's how they got up there so fast--there's a lot of wisdom to be found within! Come hang out :D (I'm there every day, too)
Beta 5
The next big thing is around the corner. Beta 5 is another huge release that I'll have out for you by mid-week. It's not quite done as I'm still trying to pack in as many last-minute features as possible and there are a few requested features on the shortlist. Most recently I spent a while on an RTS-style panning option, but doing a good one takes a lot of time so I don't think that'll make the cut (already tons of stuff planned for Beta 6, too xD).
See you with the full Beta 5 announcement before long :D
Since a lot of the relevant SITREP discussion happens on Steam rather than in the forums, for reference here's a link to this same news on Steam. But feel free to post replies here, too :)
FR
One player requested that, as a memory aid, terrain discovered via scanners (or other means) could be displayed differently than that which had actually been visited and seen before. I went ahead and used monochrome "greenscale" to draw those areas rather than the usual darkened colors used everywhere outside FOV.
I like how it looks, plus it's a good excuse to use the old green style I originally used (it was the only/default style before Alpha 13 a year ago!).
Momentum damage modifiers are now precalculated directly next to the melee weapons they affect, so you don't have to do it :P. This is especially helpful when trying to smash, slash, or stab your way through a stubborn door.
Similarly, active Particle Accelerators now show exactly how they affect the damage of your energy weapons (including those stored in inventory in case you want to pull them out for maximum fearsomeness).
I removed the separate "Game" menu page, simply putting its three buttons on the Basic commands page so they're accessible immediately as soon as you press Escape, also making them easier for new players to find.
There are a number of other changes still coming to the Escape menu system, but this was a relatively easy adjustment that was worth making now.
Thermal/heat transfer weapons that hit overheating robots may now melt their parts as well.
The advanced quickStart option is going to be available at easier difficulty modes, too. I knew there might be minor issues regarding implementation and hadn't looked into them since I previously didn't have much interaction with players not using the default difficulty, so I didn't know whether anyone would actually use it. During Beta 4 I did hear one voice on the matter, though, so here it is! Adding quickStart to Easiest Mode did require swapping out the Sml. Storage unit for a Medium one, but I'm sure there won't be any complaints there :P. Here's a sample quickStart exit from the Scrapyard in Easiest:
While reworking some aspects of melee damage I went ahead and simplified the resistance and damage modifiers on the status page by only listing those which are non-zero values.
By request, active garrisons now display their dispatch timer countdown directly on the map as long as you have a Signal Interpreter. This information has been available for a while, but previously only by actually inspecting the Garrison Access terminal itself.
Launcher Guidance Computers now block launcher misfires caused by corruption. Being able to more safely keep a launcher equipped while corrupted could occasionally come in handy.
There's now a log message specifically for identifying unknown parts. This'll help both when you're reviewing a log later, and perhaps more importantly when that faulty prototype melts on you and you're left wondering what it actually was xD
Last but oh most definitely not least, robots sending distress signals now animate the range at which they are capable of alerting friendlies. This'll be important because in (only) the default Roguelike difficulty mode I'm removing the position-revealing feature added for Beta 4. I'll talk more about that in the release notes next week.
Fonts
Another player needed alternative map ASCII at size 16 to more easily distinguish characters on their smaller display, so I added several new options there.
The first is the great Terminus, which I think looks really nice but as a fully sans-serif font may not be that great for the state purpose in particular.
I'm not sure about the other two, but I'll have to get some feedback from those who actually need this feature :). In looking for some size-appropriate serif options I picked these old system fonts from the 80s:
Kaypro
Verite
Wiki Spoilers
The wiki now really is chock full of spoilers. Raine's been doing a great job with it and all the items are in there. I mentioned this last time but the data is even more complete now, including even comparison tables.
Robots, machines, walls, lore and whatnot still need to be added manually, so if anyone with the info and know-how is interested in helping out you can email me at gridsagegames@gmail.com to get an account. Ideally you'll also be in our chat so we can coordinate things.
Raine also has the Beta 1~3 score sheets in a database you can use to make pretty graphs here, for anyone curious about stats. (It scrapes all the data, but the publicly available fields are limited unless there are requests for others.)
AND she's also working on a bot for the chat channels <3
Fan Art
In between stories of epic runs, players have been sharing some cool Cogmind-related art over on Discord.
We have a couple images by MojoPoop depicting a Cogmind-DF mashup:
He also created a "Proton Cannon but not" in the style of Cogmind item art:
"Vigilant" - A Hunter by Rylan:
All of these were drawn in my free editor, REXPaint.
FTW
Early this week I did a couple more streams, and won this run :D
It was another combat run (of course!), only this time focusing on legs and stronger offense. There's a summary with images on the forums here. The entire run is in two parts on YouTube, and .
That'll probably be my last stream for a while, since I'll be away from home for most of the next month (but still mostly working on Beta 6) and in early March I'm planning to do a 7DRL I think you'll all enjoy :D. More on that stuff in future updates, though.
Some top players have been thinking of streaming their runs, though, so if you hang out in the Discord you might find out about that. Most of the Cogminds you see high up on the leaderboards are in our chat, and in some cases I'm sure that's how they got up there so fast--there's a lot of wisdom to be found within! Come hang out :D (I'm there every day, too)
Beta 5
The next big thing is around the corner. Beta 5 is another huge release that I'll have out for you by mid-week. It's not quite done as I'm still trying to pack in as many last-minute features as possible and there are a few requested features on the shortlist. Most recently I spent a while on an RTS-style panning option, but doing a good one takes a lot of time so I don't think that'll make the cut (already tons of stuff planned for Beta 6, too xD).
See you with the full Beta 5 announcement before long :D
Since a lot of the relevant SITREP discussion happens on Steam rather than in the forums, for reference here's a link to this same news on Steam. But feel free to post replies here, too :)
122
Announcements / SITREP Saturday #10: Rainbowmind
« on: January 12, 2018, 05:28:34 PM »
Beta 5 is more than half-complete at this point, and will be out with the next couple weeks. Still plenty more little features to work on, but all the major stuff is out of the way!
All the Colors
The bulk of this week was spent on a new system of render filters to enable players with specific needs to make visual adjustments to aspects including brightness, saturation, and contrast.
They can do things like create a low-contrast effect, e.g. this one called "Sleepy"
Some ASCII combat in Sleepy mode:
UI interaction in another low-contrast mode, "Autumn"
Of course filters might just be for fun as well. Unless some of you would like to seriously switch over to "swap mode" which reverses the foreground colors for a very different look:
Swap mode in action:
I think swap mode looks even better when combined with one of the low-contrast filters:
Over on the blog this week I covered this system in more detail, including additional demo images and an overview of its implementation. Check out the full article: "Color Customization."
Edge Case
I've also added an option to show the map borders. For now it's off by default however, and only available in the advanced options, because although experienced players can and do figure out invisible map bounds indirectly via other UI features (you may have seen me do this on stream before...), there are a few cases where knowing the bounds can be somewhat spoilery for new players who haven't yet discovered certain areas before.
I also went ahead and created a different style specifically for when the the swap filter is active:
Wiki
Raine has been doing a great job of importing all our item export data into the wiki. Of course everyone has access to their own item gallery and data exports, including HTML and CSV formats, but the wiki will be good for linking, its sortable tables, attaching public discussion to particular parts, and maybe eventually a bot in the chat channels.
Anyone who doesn't mind can now spoil themselves silly with data, browsing hundreds upon hundreds of items... for example this subset of energy guns:
Each item type has its own box that includes relevant fields for that category.
7DRL
Remember that Cogmind originated as a 7DRL, and still lots of people play that free version as well. One of Cogmind's best players, GJ, went back and legitimately beat it, becoming one of only two known players to do so, and the only one to do it without the old cheesy mining tactic
The 7DRL version wasn't all that balanced towards the end, so if you can kick modern Cogmind's butt and want a different kind of challenge as well as a chance to see a lot of today's items and concepts at their fledgling stages, check it out.
While we're on the topic of 7DRLs, this year's challenge is just around the corner! Any of you participating? Every year I want to, and have tons of ideas piled up from false starts that didn't make it beyond the planning stages because I'm too busy, but I'm hoping this year will be different
Since a lot of the relevant SITREP discussion happens on Steam rather than in the forums, for reference here's a link to this same news on Steam. But feel free to post replies here, too
All the Colors
The bulk of this week was spent on a new system of render filters to enable players with specific needs to make visual adjustments to aspects including brightness, saturation, and contrast.
They can do things like create a low-contrast effect, e.g. this one called "Sleepy"
Some ASCII combat in Sleepy mode:
UI interaction in another low-contrast mode, "Autumn"
Of course filters might just be for fun as well. Unless some of you would like to seriously switch over to "swap mode" which reverses the foreground colors for a very different look:
Swap mode in action:
I think swap mode looks even better when combined with one of the low-contrast filters:
Over on the blog this week I covered this system in more detail, including additional demo images and an overview of its implementation. Check out the full article: "Color Customization."
Edge Case
I've also added an option to show the map borders. For now it's off by default however, and only available in the advanced options, because although experienced players can and do figure out invisible map bounds indirectly via other UI features (you may have seen me do this on stream before...), there are a few cases where knowing the bounds can be somewhat spoilery for new players who haven't yet discovered certain areas before.
I also went ahead and created a different style specifically for when the the swap filter is active:
Wiki
Raine has been doing a great job of importing all our item export data into the wiki. Of course everyone has access to their own item gallery and data exports, including HTML and CSV formats, but the wiki will be good for linking, its sortable tables, attaching public discussion to particular parts, and maybe eventually a bot in the chat channels.
Anyone who doesn't mind can now spoil themselves silly with data, browsing hundreds upon hundreds of items... for example this subset of energy guns:
Each item type has its own box that includes relevant fields for that category.
7DRL
Remember that Cogmind originated as a 7DRL, and still lots of people play that free version as well. One of Cogmind's best players, GJ, went back and legitimately beat it, becoming one of only two known players to do so, and the only one to do it without the old cheesy mining tactic
The 7DRL version wasn't all that balanced towards the end, so if you can kick modern Cogmind's butt and want a different kind of challenge as well as a chance to see a lot of today's items and concepts at their fledgling stages, check it out.
While we're on the topic of 7DRLs, this year's challenge is just around the corner! Any of you participating? Every year I want to, and have tons of ideas piled up from false starts that didn't make it beyond the planning stages because I'm too busy, but I'm hoping this year will be different
Since a lot of the relevant SITREP discussion happens on Steam rather than in the forums, for reference here's a link to this same news on Steam. But feel free to post replies here, too
123
Announcements / SITREP Saturday #9: Secrets
« on: January 05, 2018, 05:32:47 PM »
2018 is off to a great start...
Content
Content! After a couple releases getting up to speed for and after the Steam release, we are finally in the swing of things and it feels great to have been adding new content for almost the entire week. The thing about content is that I always avoid talking spoilers, so I'll have to just give hints and tiptoe around much of what I've been up to :P
I added a dozen new items. New items need art!
Some more examples of what's coming:
I'll say that (aside from one) these are special items you won't find just lying about. (But that also implies...)
Some other mysterious mechanics and animation work...
Another important focus of this week's work was to partially redesign the mechanics surrounding "imprinting" (if you know what that is). I'll talk more about that come the Beta 5 release notes, but for now just know that it got a lot more strategically interesting.
Projecile Spread
I also added a new mechanic that allows me the option to force multiprojectile weapons to spread their shots if appropriate. The ability for builds to stack targeting computers in order to overcome accuracy-based spread mechanics and concentrate multiprojectile volleys on a single target was always a bit of a limitation on some of the weapon designs. Now I can force even a weapon firing "accurately" to randomly spread its projectiles within a designated arc of the target.
I mainly added this feature to enable one of the particularly cool new weapons, but this also made it possible to go back and fix a couple of other weapons which were never quite good enough due to the design limitation. (Previously I couldn't very well make numerous individual projectiles too powerful given that you could easily create a super powerful totally imbalanced weapon with just some targeting.) I'm certainly not converting all multiprojectile weapons over to the new system, just a few special ones that needed it in order to be improved.
It's not a widely used mechanic, but when it's applicable the line-of-fire indicator will let you know with a little cone reflecting the potential spread area.
One weapon in particular which was always a neat concept but in my opinion never really worth using is suddenly going to get a lot more fun :D
More Streaming
After posting the last SITREP I went off to stream the conclusion to the weekly seed, unfortunately losing one floor before the end :/. My fault really, stupid mistakes were made (also giving in to the desire to just blow everything to hell xD). So many pretty launchers...
You can find a quick writeup on the forums, and I also uploaded it to YouTube as .
Next week is... more new stuff!
Since a lot of the relevant SITREP discussion happens on Steam rather than in the forums, for reference here's a link to this same news on Steam. But feel free to post replies here, too :)
Content
Content! After a couple releases getting up to speed for and after the Steam release, we are finally in the swing of things and it feels great to have been adding new content for almost the entire week. The thing about content is that I always avoid talking spoilers, so I'll have to just give hints and tiptoe around much of what I've been up to :P
I added a dozen new items. New items need art!
Some more examples of what's coming:
I'll say that (aside from one) these are special items you won't find just lying about. (But that also implies...)
Some other mysterious mechanics and animation work...
Another important focus of this week's work was to partially redesign the mechanics surrounding "imprinting" (if you know what that is). I'll talk more about that come the Beta 5 release notes, but for now just know that it got a lot more strategically interesting.
Projecile Spread
I also added a new mechanic that allows me the option to force multiprojectile weapons to spread their shots if appropriate. The ability for builds to stack targeting computers in order to overcome accuracy-based spread mechanics and concentrate multiprojectile volleys on a single target was always a bit of a limitation on some of the weapon designs. Now I can force even a weapon firing "accurately" to randomly spread its projectiles within a designated arc of the target.
I mainly added this feature to enable one of the particularly cool new weapons, but this also made it possible to go back and fix a couple of other weapons which were never quite good enough due to the design limitation. (Previously I couldn't very well make numerous individual projectiles too powerful given that you could easily create a super powerful totally imbalanced weapon with just some targeting.) I'm certainly not converting all multiprojectile weapons over to the new system, just a few special ones that needed it in order to be improved.
It's not a widely used mechanic, but when it's applicable the line-of-fire indicator will let you know with a little cone reflecting the potential spread area.
One weapon in particular which was always a neat concept but in my opinion never really worth using is suddenly going to get a lot more fun :D
More Streaming
After posting the last SITREP I went off to stream the conclusion to the weekly seed, unfortunately losing one floor before the end :/. My fault really, stupid mistakes were made (also giving in to the desire to just blow everything to hell xD). So many pretty launchers...
You can find a quick writeup on the forums, and I also uploaded it to YouTube as .
Next week is... more new stuff!
Since a lot of the relevant SITREP discussion happens on Steam rather than in the forums, for reference here's a link to this same news on Steam. But feel free to post replies here, too :)
124
Stories / A classic blunder...
« on: December 30, 2017, 11:31:30 PM »Quote from: Nuc_Temeron
So, I'm doing well, a large cargo pod full of nice things and a bunch of gear that works together.(source)
I find a Repair Station, and decide I should repair my almost-destroyed cargo pod. I put it in the machine, 6 of my items drop to the ground. That's ok.
But wait, a swarm of scavenger bots just entered the room, attracted by the gear on the floor. I can't pick it up but I can't let them grab it. I decide in a panic to shoot my gatling laser at them.
Oops, I forgot I'm in a room full of explosive machines. They explode in a massive chain reaction, booming in turn around the room, destroying the scavengers but also my gear on the floor, half of the gear I have equipped, the repair station, my cargo pod inside of it... All vaporized in a moment of panic.
10/10 would vaporize again.
125
Announcements / SITREP Saturday #8: Data Stream
« on: December 29, 2017, 05:30:29 PM »
Steam's winter sale's been going on for a week now, and Cogmind was featured on the front page Thursday (US time) for an entire day. ASCII represent! I'm pretty sure that's first time a 100% CP437 logo image ever appeared there
Much of the week was spent dealing with the usual release aftermath--taking feedback, fixing a few minor bugs, planning the next set of features, and working on stats etc.
Leaderboards
As with every new major version, the scores and leaderboards from the previous one (in this case Beta 3) have been archived. The leaderboards were reset for the new Beta, and I also compiled some notable player-specific stats from the score data submitted over the past couple months.
You can read the text version here on the forums.
Because the leaderboards have been getting pretty crowded by all our new players, I added section links to the pages. Here's a Beta 3 archives sample:
And new leaderboards sample:
Stats
In addition to the usual stats, this time we've got so much data following the Steam release that there's room for interesting comparisons, so I did a more in-depth blog post: "Player Metrics: Stats and Preferences on and off Steam." Within you'll find aggregate data and analysis of tens of thousands of Cogmind score sheets, including both performance and preferences in a dozen graphs. Here's a little collage to give you an idea:
In the Stream
I'm finally back into a bit of streaming, starting earlier this week with a Beta 4 run I haven't quite finished yet. I wrote a summary of what's happened so far on the forums here, and uploaded it to YouTube as Part 1. Wish I had more time to stream--it's fun! Don't want to leave the run sitting too long (we already have a new seed!) so I'll probably finish it up soon, like... today.
I like to have at least one win per Beta before fooling around with even more suboptimal strategies (my preferred play method itself is not all that optimal), so I'm actually going for a win this time. I've just entered the late-game with backing from Zion. We'll see how it goes, but in the past a combination of overconfidence and extra attention due to Zion has always ended my Zionite runs. I more easily win when running solo
Miscellaneous
Tiggerbiggo made a trippy animated version of Cogmind's Steam header image.
Long-time player and self-proclaimed master trapper DDarkray played the "Trapped" Challenge Mode and made a mess of the place.
I should definitely stream some of the new Challenge Modes later. Maybe after I've got my Beta 4 win in. Although maybe I should wait until the actual selection UI is in? They are very tempting, though... (I've enjoyed playing them in the past, but never streamed any of those runs.)
neutral found a crazy bug allowing them to summon nearly unlimited hostile squads to their position!
2018
Today's the final SITREP of the year, but we have 2018 to look forward to! I already mentioned some of the things to come back in my Year 4 annual review, and honestly sales have been going well enough that I think I'll be able to keep adding features for at least the next year. Certainly the idea list is long enough
It's going to be a busy 2018. Thanks all for the help.
Next week I'll be working on Beta 5 so we'll have a progress update on that!
Since a lot of the relevant SITREP discussion happens on Steam rather than in the forums, for reference here's a link to this same news on Steam. But feel free to post replies here, too
Much of the week was spent dealing with the usual release aftermath--taking feedback, fixing a few minor bugs, planning the next set of features, and working on stats etc.
Leaderboards
As with every new major version, the scores and leaderboards from the previous one (in this case Beta 3) have been archived. The leaderboards were reset for the new Beta, and I also compiled some notable player-specific stats from the score data submitted over the past couple months.
You can read the text version here on the forums.
Because the leaderboards have been getting pretty crowded by all our new players, I added section links to the pages. Here's a Beta 3 archives sample:
And new leaderboards sample:
Stats
In addition to the usual stats, this time we've got so much data following the Steam release that there's room for interesting comparisons, so I did a more in-depth blog post: "Player Metrics: Stats and Preferences on and off Steam." Within you'll find aggregate data and analysis of tens of thousands of Cogmind score sheets, including both performance and preferences in a dozen graphs. Here's a little collage to give you an idea:
In the Stream
I'm finally back into a bit of streaming, starting earlier this week with a Beta 4 run I haven't quite finished yet. I wrote a summary of what's happened so far on the forums here, and uploaded it to YouTube as Part 1. Wish I had more time to stream--it's fun! Don't want to leave the run sitting too long (we already have a new seed!) so I'll probably finish it up soon, like... today.
I like to have at least one win per Beta before fooling around with even more suboptimal strategies (my preferred play method itself is not all that optimal
), so I'm actually going for a win this time. I've just entered the late-game with backing from Zion. We'll see how it goes, but in the past a combination of overconfidence and extra attention due to Zion has always ended my Zionite runs. I more easily win when running solo Miscellaneous
Tiggerbiggo made a trippy animated version of Cogmind's Steam header image.
Long-time player and self-proclaimed master trapper DDarkray played the "Trapped" Challenge Mode and made a mess of the place.
I should definitely stream some of the new Challenge Modes later. Maybe after I've got my Beta 4 win in. Although maybe I should wait until the actual selection UI is in? They are very tempting, though... (I've enjoyed playing them in the past, but never streamed any of those runs.)
neutral found a crazy bug allowing them to summon nearly unlimited hostile squads to their position!
2018
Today's the final SITREP of the year, but we have 2018 to look forward to! I already mentioned some of the things to come back in my Year 4 annual review, and honestly sales have been going well enough that I think I'll be able to keep adding features for at least the next year. Certainly the idea list is long enough
It's going to be a busy 2018. Thanks all for the help.
Next week I'll be working on Beta 5 so we'll have a progress update on that!
Since a lot of the relevant SITREP discussion happens on Steam rather than in the forums, for reference here's a link to this same news on Steam. But feel free to post replies here, too