[MPRDB] Martin's Dungeon Bash v1.3 released!

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Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.announce,rec.games.roguelike.misc (More info?)

Version 1.3 of Martin's Dungeon Bash has been released. It may be
downloaded by HTTP from
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~mpread/dungeonbash/dungeonbash-1.3.tar.gz

This release is substantially different to version 1.2; saved games are
not compatible between versions.

Bounteous Bashing!
--
Martin Read - my opinions are my own. share them if you wish.
My roguelike games page (including my BSD-licenced roguelike) can be found at:
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~mpread/roguelikes.html

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.misc (More info?)

In rec.games.roguelike.misc Martin Read <mpread@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
> Version 1.3 of Martin's Dungeon Bash has been released. [ ... ]
> This release is substantially different to version 1.2; [ ... ]

Indeed, there were some surprises... What the - ? They're in the
corridors! The horror, the horror! Damn, I can't shake them... I like the
changes, and the game seems to be much more balanced now. Good job!

Before I start with my observations and bug reports, I think I'll include
some spoiler space...
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I was fighting a thug who reduced my hit points to zero, yet I didn't die.
(savegame is available)

It would be nice to have a damage report for missile attacks ('You do x
damage.') as well.

You receive regeneration feedback even for monsters out of view, which is
somewhat confusing, unrealistic and should probably not be the case.

I don't know whether this is a bug or a feature, but sometimes the dungeon
generator creates corridors two spaces wide, with two doors next to each
other at each end. (savegame is available)

I like the food system, which makes the game considerably more
challenging. Food rations seem to be too frequent, though. I've always had
a massive surplus so far. There should be some sort of message after eating
one, by the way, or at least a display update to the food counter.

Aggravating scrolls are generated randomly, yet there's no code for them
yet.

Wraiths seem to be stupid and smart at the same time.

There seems to be some trouble with black magic messages. While fighting a
lich, I got the following messages sequence: "the [sic] snake points at you
and curses horribly. Your armour seems suddenly no stronger than dust!"
Later, when facing another lich, the game displayed a bad elf as the black
magic caster.

Speaking of black magic, does Armour Melt do anything yet, apart from
scaring me horribly?

Then there is something strange about identification. I'm quite positive
that in one game, I found an identified frost ring, even though I thought it
was the very first frost ring encountered. The same seemed to have happened
in another game with a potion of poison. I found an identified one on the
floor without remembering quaffing one previously, and certainly without
having read an identification scroll before. I'll pay more attention to this
in my next games.

Well, that's all for now. Thanks for the game!

Cheers, Gero

--
Gero Kunter (gero.kunter@epost.de)

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.misc (More info?)

Gero Kunter <gero.kunter@epost.de> wrote:
> I was fighting a thug who reduced my hit points to zero, yet I didn't die.
>(savegame is available)

This isn't exactly a bug, but I'll change it anyway. (Death comes at -1,
like in Angband; in retrospect, death at zero does feel better.)

> It would be nice to have a damage report for missile attacks ('You do x
>damage.') as well.

Yep, I can do that.

> You receive regeneration feedback even for monsters out of view, which is
>somewhat confusing, unrealistic and should probably not be the case.

Bug. Fix written for release in v1.4.

> I don't know whether this is a bug or a feature, but sometimes the dungeon
>generator creates corridors two spaces wide, with two doors next to each
>other at each end. (savegame is available)

I observed this behaviour in 1.2 as well, and decided to declare that
although it looks like a bug, the new AI turns it into a feature.

> I like the food system, which makes the game considerably more
>challenging. Food rations seem to be too frequent, though. I've always had
>a massive surplus so far. There should be some sort of message after eating
>one, by the way, or at least a display update to the food counter.

OK, this pair of bugs has been fixed for release in v1.4.

> Aggravating scrolls are generated randomly, yet there's no code for them
>yet.

Bug fixed for release in v1.4.

> Wraiths seem to be stupid and smart at the same time.

Bug fixed for release in v1.4.

> There seems to be some trouble with black magic messages. While fighting a
>lich, I got the following messages sequence: "the [sic] snake points at you
>and curses horribly. Your armour seems suddenly no stronger than dust!"
>Later, when facing another lich, the game displayed a bad elf as the black
>magic caster.

Bug found and fixed for release in v1.4.

> Speaking of black magic, does Armour Melt do anything yet, apart from
>scaring me horribly?

No, but it should. Bug has been fixed for release in v1.4.

> Then there is something strange about identification. I'm quite positive
>that in one game, I found an identified frost ring, even though I thought it
>was the very first frost ring encountered. The same seemed to have happened
>in another game with a potion of poison. I found an identified one on the
>floor without remembering quaffing one previously, and certainly without
>having read an identification scroll before. I'll pay more attention to this
>in my next games.

I'm not quite sure how this happens, but I've found a potentially related
bug that could do some strange things (by causing a negative off-by-one
error) and fixed it for release in v1.4.

> Well, that's all for now. Thanks for the game!

You're very welcome! Thank you for the bug reports (and for the
compliments
--
Martin Read - my opinions are my own. share them if you wish.
My roguelike games page (including my BSD-licenced roguelike) can be found at:
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~mpread/roguelikes.html
NP: Cuboctahedron - Primary Initation

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.misc (More info?)

On 20 Mar 2005 22:06:34 +0000 (GMT), Martin Read
<mpread@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:

>Gero Kunter <gero.kunter@epost.de> wrote:
>> I was fighting a thug who reduced my hit points to zero, yet I didn't die.
>>(savegame is available)
>
>This isn't exactly a bug, but I'll change it anyway. (Death comes at -1,
>like in Angband; in retrospect, death at zero does feel better.)

Actually, I like dead at negative HPs better. If "hit points" are
taken as "the amount of damage I can survive", then zero is where your
survival margin has run out and one more hit, no matter how small,
will kill you, but you aren't dead yet. It's arbitrary either way, of
course, but I'd call them something like "life points" instead if
being out of them meant you are dead.

R. Dan Henry
danhenry@inreach.com

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.misc (More info?)

Some further observations:

- Item selection doesn't catch all invalid inputs. When you start a new
character and chose 'd'rop, if you press the letter 'c' (which is unassigned)
the game states to drop a dagger (which isn't generated on the map after all).

- The MORE prompt when gaining a level should probably be displayed after
a map refresh, because currently the monster that awarded you with the
required experience is still visible on the screen while the program is
waiting for RETURN or SPACE. A couple of times I thought for a second that
the game had frozen.

- It might be that the threshold for snake venom is too high. I've yet to
get poisoned by a snake, even after facing quite a couple of them. At the
depth that they appear, they just don't manage to inflict enough damage to
trigger poisoning, it seems.

Cheers, Gero

--
Gero Kunter (gero.kunter@epost.de)

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.misc (More info?)

Gero Kunter <gero.kunter@epost.de> wrote:
> Some further observations:

And some more...

- Aggravation scrolls seem to be always labelled 'grem pho', but that name
may also be given to other scrolls: in my last game, I had (e) 1 scroll
'grem pho' (which turned out to be aggravation) and (f) 1 scroll 'grem pho'
(which was protection) (no savegame, though).

- As your starting inventory contains a dagger, I can't imagine a
situation where a goblin dropping one, or finding one in the dungeon might
be helpful. Is this intended?

- About snake poison: given that Body of my current character is 30,
but Agility is 45, it might be that I didn't notice the messages indicating
a body drain caused by snakes. This is another instance where a prompt might
be useful, I think.

Cheers, Gero

--
Gero Kunter (gero.kunter@epost.de)

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.misc (More info?)

Gero Kunter <gero.kunter@epost.de> wrote:
> Some further observations:
>
> - Item selection doesn't catch all invalid inputs. When you start a new
>character and chose 'd'rop, if you press the letter 'c' (which is unassigned)
>the game states to drop a dagger (which isn't generated on the map after all).

Found and fixed for v1.4; a very closely related bug has also been found
as a result, and fixed for v1.4. (Bug 1.3-11)

> - The MORE prompt when gaining a level should probably be displayed after
>a map refresh, because currently the monster that awarded you with the
>required experience is still visible on the screen while the program is
>waiting for RETURN or SPACE. A couple of times I thought for a second that
>the game had frozen.

OK, I think I agree with you there about how it should be.

> - It might be that the threshold for snake venom is too high. I've yet to
>get poisoned by a snake, even after facing quite a couple of them. At the
>depth that they appear, they just don't manage to inflict enough damage to
>trigger poisoning, it seems.

It's their to-hit rating that matters; the snake has to beat your
defence by at least 10. I need to reconsider this as part of a general
re-evaluation of how melee attacks with special effects work.
--
Martin Read - my opinions are my own. share them if you wish.
My roguelike games page (including my BSD-licenced roguelike) can be found at:
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~mpread/roguelikes.html

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.misc (More info?)

Gero Kunter <gero.kunter@epost.de> wrote:
> - Aggravation scrolls seem to be always labelled 'grem pho', but that name
>may also be given to other scrolls: in my last game, I had (e) 1 scroll
>'grem pho' (which turned out to be aggravation) and (f) 1 scroll 'grem pho'
>(which was protection) (no savegame, though).

Protection and aggravation weren't getting their titles initialised.

> - As your starting inventory contains a dagger, I can't imagine a
>situation where a goblin dropping one, or finding one in the dungeon might
>be helpful. Is this intended?

.... Not really. I need to re-evaluate items at some point, but probably
not for v1.4.

> - About snake poison: given that Body of my current character is 30,
>but Agility is 45, it might be that I didn't notice the messages indicating
>a body drain caused by snakes. This is another instance where a prompt might
>be useful, I think.

Mmm, yes. Especially since body drain is currently permanent.

Your bug reports are greatly appreciated; thank you for your efforts!
--
Martin Read - my opinions are my own. share them if you wish.
My roguelike games page (including my BSD-licenced roguelike) can be found at:
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~mpread/roguelikes.html

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.misc (More info?)

Martin Read <mpread@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
[ ... ]
> Your bug reports are greatly appreciated; thank you for your efforts!

Well, it's nothing. After all, the effort is combined with fun playing your
game.

And here's another bug -- in summon_demon_near(), the summoned demon is
apparently created on the same sell as the summoner, causing "Program
disordered: monster(s) misplaced." and the disappearance of both demons.

Cheers, Gero

--
Gero Kunter (gero.kunter@epost.de)

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.misc (More info?)

Martin Read <mpread@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
[ ... ]
> Your bug reports are greatly appreciated; thank you for your efforts!

Well, it's nothing. After all, the effort is combined with fun playing your
game. And while doing this, I noticed two other things:

- In summon_demon_near(), the summoned demon is apparently created on the
same sell as the summoner, causing "Program disordered: monster(s)
misplaced." and the disappearance of both demons.

- If I'm not mistaken, the level threshold for level 19 and 20 is exactly
the same, namely 100,000 (a threshold which I've just passed, by the way).

Cheers, Gero

--
Gero Kunter (gero.kunter@epost.de)

 

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On Mon, 21 Mar 2005 10:21:59 -0800, R. Dan Henry
<danhenry@inreach.com> wrote:

>On 20 Mar 2005 22:06:34 +0000 (GMT), Martin Read
><mpread@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
>
>>Gero Kunter <gero.kunter@epost.de> wrote:
>>> I was fighting a thug who reduced my hit points to zero, yet I didn't die.
>>>(savegame is available)
>>
>>This isn't exactly a bug, but I'll change it anyway. (Death comes at -1,
>>like in Angband; in retrospect, death at zero does feel better.)
>
>Actually, I like dead at negative HPs better. If "hit points" are
>taken as "the amount of damage I can survive", then zero is where your
>survival margin has run out and one more hit, no matter how small,
>will kill you, but you aren't dead yet. It's arbitrary either way, of
>course, but I'd call them something like "life points" instead if
>being out of them meant you are dead.

Oh, and I also like death at negative HPs betters because it's much
more dramatic and scary to be left standing there at 0 hit points than
at 1 hit point.

R. Dan Henry
danhenry@inreach.com

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.misc (More info?)

Gero Kunter <gero.kunter@epost.de> wrote:
> - In summon_demon_near(), the summoned demon is apparently created on the
>same sell as the summoner, causing "Program disordered: monster(s)
>misplaced." and the disappearance of both demons.

Curious... ah, I suspect I know what I've done wrong.

> - If I'm not mistaken, the level threshold for level 19 and 20 is exactly
>the same, namely 100,000 (a threshold which I've just passed, by the way).

Aha, yes. Thought I'd fixed the experience thresholds, but clearly I
hadn't
--
Martin Read - my opinions are my own. share them if you wish.
My roguelike games page (including my BSD-licenced roguelike) can be found at:
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~mpread/roguelikes.html

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.misc (More info?)

Quoting Martin Read <mpread@chiark.greenend.org.uk>:
>Mmm, yes. Especially since body drain is currently permanent.

Moan moan piss whine etc.

I'd rather have it much more likely, but temporary.
--
David Damerell <damerell@chiark.greenend.org.uk> Kill the tomato!
Today is Second Leicesterday, March.

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.misc (More info?)

damerell@chiark.greenend.org.uk wrote:
>Quoting Martin Read <mpread@chiark.greenend.org.uk>:
>>Mmm, yes. Especially since body drain is currently permanent.
>
>Moan moan piss whine etc.
>
>I'd rather have it much more likely, but temporary.

So would I, in fact. I just haven't got round to doing the necessary
work yet.
--
Martin Read - my opinions are my own. share them if you wish.
My roguelike games page (including my BSD-licenced roguelike) can be found at:
http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~mpread/roguelikes.html