Here be goats!

So it looks like we’re finally hitting a part of the development cycle that can be considered “sophistication”, or something along those lines. In a nutshell, we’re slowing down content generation and major gameplay additions while focusing a lot more on the stuff that makes everything cleaner.

Although you won’t be seeing much visual change just yet, we’re laying down the foundations for an important revision of DD’s interface (check out our previous post for a mockup of the new enemy panel). This includes in-dungeon as well as Kingdom stuff, so stay tuned for improved prettiness in the coming weeks.

We’re also slowly (but surely, ever so surely!) working towards a more balanced game in general. Runaway exploits are getting nailed, weaker elements are being brought up to par and dungeon mixes continue to be adjusted for maximum entertainment and on-the-fly decision promotion. As a bonus, we’re also thinking of some new and entertaining subdungeon situations to throw players into — give us a shout on the discussion thread if you happen to find any of them in today’s update!

And finally, in case you think we’ve forgotten: more puzzle dungeons will definitely be coming along soon. We just want to secure some of the broader game stats before investing in those too heavily. As veterans may well know, even slight adjustments to DD’s overall balance tend to break some of the puzzles just a teensy weensy tiny little itty bitty bit.

… damn wizardry tutorials.

We have a reasonably chunky changelog this week — you’ll notice a bunch of tweaks, additions and switcheroos in many areas of the game. Here’s a quick list, so go ahead and read it for supreme enlightenment:

Fixes:

  • Speech bubble top right anchor problem fixed.
  • Added class victory section to score screen.
  • Added new class victory bonus gold to economy.
  • Added new badge bonus gold to economy.
  • Started saving badge specifics with run data.
  • Set 5x dungeon to stay put until it is beaten.
  • Fixed some overflow issues on score screen.
  • Auto-advance button “x” now works like expected.
  • Might now crushes 5% resistances after a successful attack.
  • Quicksilver potion now predicts dodge at 100%, not one hit after.
  • Bet on Boss now awards gold properly.
  • Fixed issue with certain tilesets and effect flags messing up exact pattern matches.
  • Bloodsoaked Blade quest now only appears when you have unlocked Bloodmage.
  • Creeplight Contract quest now only appears when you have unlocked Assassin.
  • Bandits changed
  • Medusa is tougher
  • Monks now only have physical resistance
  • ENDISWAL is twice as effective
  • Bloodmages no longer have a health penalty for mana potions
  • Mystera’s stats and boons changed
  • Dungeon stairs will no longer spawn on blocks with other dungeon stairs
  • Tweaked some of the dungeon generators
  • Berserker Camp zombies no longer have any special properties
  • Unstoppable badge now only considers the primary dungeon level
  • Dracul’s Blood Tithe cost fixed (finally)
  • Dracul no longer sets XP to 999
  • Removed Spike Trouble, Chokebox — adjusted Grimm’s Grotto, Doubledoom
  • Added Zombie Dog and Crystal Ball
  • Item values adjusted
  • Tikki Tooki demands more gold for piety
  • New subdungeons added
  • All hail the lost Goat Lord. Our blood for your glory!