Valley 2 alpha v0.703 released!

[x4000]

Figured I'd make a separate thread so more testers would be likely to notice it: http://arcengames.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Valley_2_-_Pre-Beta_Release_Notes#Alpha_.703

This is very close to the final beta, which we hope to hit tomorrow.  Mainly some little cleanup prior to beta so far as I know; if any testers feel there's something critical for before beta still hanging around, make sure and drop us a line at the email address that we gave you when you started testing!  We definitely want to know if there's anything like that, but things seem to be in pretty good shape.

This is a pretty major release in terms of balance in particular, though; lots of cool changes here.

[MouldyK]

Well I have decided to play it all day tomorrow looking for anything and actually trying to play the game on the lowest difficulty.

Hopefully the game controls fine on a laptop keyboard. Especially since I have lost hope in plaing with a controller.

Wish me luck people! XD

[madcow]

The rocket change was a lot more elegant than my suggestions, kudos on that one!  Did the melee caliber buff include whips as well?

Edit: Just realized that change will hit ocean spray too, I loved that ability - will have to test it to see how effective it is now. As that was the saving grace for that class (littorist I think it was called?)

[Gemzo]

These changes sound interesting to try out. The limited resistance movement mechanic is going to take a lot of getting used to, but I intend to figure it out and see if it plays well. Can they move through warps?

[Nanashi]

Thanks for the update!

Should we restart a new world? Actually, guess it wouldn't be much of an alpha test if we didn't.

Edit: Got a blackscreen bug when my character came into contact with a body of water. Entire screen turned black and lights up only when I hit the Print Screen button. Kinda weird. It's replicable when I load the world and the Message Log reads "ErrorsReportedByEngine" - Just move the character so it touches the blue water tile and the bug should happen again.

Attached the world file, it's a somewhat serious bug (the only way to restore normality is to close/reopen the game) , so it probably needs to be fixed before Beta.

Edit Edit: Sometimes the world doesn't freeze and I'm able to move the character away from the water and hit Print Screen to restore normality.

[madcow]

Should probably email that to the alpha email addy with the title "game crushing bug" to make sure they see it and have all the feedback in one place.

[Oralordos]

I've mentioned that bug before. It's not game crashing if it's an inland sea. It appears to make your character keep moving in the same direction as before until it hits a valid tile. Annoying, but not fatal if you're careful. I thought that it would be pretty important on the todo list though.

[Gemzo]

I tried using light rocket in the new version on a multiplayer server and it threw errors. It did not explode and was essentially a slider (that doesn't do damage). Here's the error that happens every time I shoot it.

FixedUpdate: System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
  at GameEntity.SerializeTo (.ArcenSerializationBuffer Buffer, Boolean IsForSendingOverNetwork) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at AbilityUseResult.SerializeTo (.AbilityTypeData TypeData, .ArcenSerializationBuffer ExternalOutputBuffer) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at QueuedAbilityUse.SerializeTo (.ArcenSerializationBuffer ExternalOutputBuffer) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at QueuedAbilityUse.TryExecute () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at Game.ProcessSimStep () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at Game.RunNextCycle (Boolean DoRendering) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at Game.RunFrame () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at MainCameraLogic.MainUpdateLogic () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
Stack Trace:   at GameEntity.SerializeTo (.ArcenSerializationBuffer Buffer, Boolean IsForSendingOverNetwork) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at AbilityUseResult.SerializeTo (.AbilityTypeData TypeData, .ArcenSerializationBuffer ExternalOutputBuffer) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at QueuedAbilityUse.SerializeTo (.ArcenSerializationBuffer ExternalOutputBuffer) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at QueuedAbilityUse.TryExecute () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at Game.ProcessSimStep () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at Game.RunNextCycle (Boolean DoRendering) [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at Game.RunFrame () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0
  at MainCameraLogic.MainUpdateLogic () [0x00000] in <filename unknown>:0


   at System.Environment.get_StackTrace()
   at ArcenDebugging.ArcenDebugLog(System.String Message, DebugLogDestination Destination, Boolean IncludeStackTrace, Verbosity Verbosity)
   at ArcenDebugging.ArcenDebugLog(System.String Message, DebugLogDestination Destination, Verbosity Verbosity)
   at ArcenDebugging.ArcenDebugLog(System.String Message, Verbosity Verbosity)
   at Configuration.WriteToErrorFile(System.String ErrorFile, System.String ErrorName, System.String ErrorText)
   at MainCameraLogic.LogWritten(System.String LogString, System.String StackTrace, LogType Type, System.Exception Cause, Boolean CameFromUnity)
   at MainCameraLogic.LogWritten(System.String LogString, System.String StackTrace, LogType Type, System.Exception Cause)
   at MainCameraLogic.MainUpdateLogic()
   at MainCameraLogic.Update()

[Nanashi]

I've mentioned that bug before. It's not game crashing if it's an inland sea. It appears to make your character keep moving in the same direction as before until it hits a valid tile. Annoying, but not fatal if you're careful. I thought that it would be pretty important on the todo list though.

It's an inland sea, and it freezes/crashes pretty consistently regardless of direction now. Mashing print screen while holding down a direction key shows me the character isn't moving at all. Maybe the bug got worse.

Edit: I must be the master of getting bad slices. This is like 5 minutes into the game, so there's absolutely no way to get out except poison pill/death. >_>



Except the game won't even let me die. I keep rezzing on the spot. Hahaha - So that's what Daemonica was talking about - a fate worse than death.

[Gemzo]

^That is an intentional death pit, almost certainly.

Yeah uh...This release is fairly broken. While playing as Forgician, if I hold down W the enemies do not attack me (they don't aggro). If I kill them they don't drop anything. If I use another attack, they start attacking even if they are already dead. This was on multiplayer, also.

All dialog seems to pause the game entirely now, including the music.

I remember hearing whips are supposed to be for shooting down incoming projectiles. Ice whip (and maybe others?) can't even destroy the swamp monster's projectile...

The stats shown for each spell in the class selection window doesn't have the ammo cost there, which is a very important attribute.

The whole limited mission range mechanic is very interesting and I like it a lot so far. It definitely makes things more interesting, but obviously the player has to be told about it, and that the first 2 turns don't follow that rule. I'd test it some more past the first few turns but this release isn't very stable, so I'll head to bed and see about this tomorrow (maybe in an actual multiplayer game rather than just me on a multiplayer server).

[c4sc4]

Edit: I must be the master of getting bad slices. This is like 5 minutes into the game, so there's absolutely no way to get out except poison pill/death. >_>

Yes, that is an intentional death pit. Those slices with death pits are designed so that you have to go through the building to continue right.

[Coppermantis]

I remember hearing whips are supposed to be for shooting down incoming projectiles. Ice whip (and maybe others?) can't even destroy the swamp monster's projectile...

No, that's melee/punch range spells. They work beautifully at that job; The land octopods are now actually fun to fight since I have a viable counter to their shots. Sea slider still seems to block the swamp monster's projectile though. I think that it should have its caliber reduced (or the swamp things' caliber buffed) since Water Punch fills the blocker role already. Maybe give SS a DPS buff to compensate.

[Misery]

These changes sound interesting to try out. The limited resistance movement mechanic is going to take a lot of getting used to, but I intend to figure it out and see if it plays well. Can they move through warps?

There doesnt seem to be an option to do this.   That's one thing that should probably get added with this new system.   Makes the warps have an actual point other than just allowing Daemonica to jump around the map!

From what I've seen of the new mechanic, well, the game just got even better.   I'd wondered why such a mechanic WASNT there originally.


On another note, them dang crawlers..... I think they actually got EVEN MORE GLITCHY.   Oh, the previous glitches are gone.... to be replaced with a blob of new ones.

And Ocean Spray definitely is in need of a nerf.   It can do nearly 8000 damage point blank in less than a second!

[Nanashi]

Edit: I must be the master of getting bad slices. This is like 5 minutes into the game, so there's absolutely no way to get out except poison pill/death. >_>

Yes, that is an intentional death pit. Those slices with death pits are designed so that you have to go through the building to continue right.

Wait, so the infinite resurrection loop that completely renders the world unplayable is intended? There's no way to get out of the pit short of divine intervention, and there's no way to tell if the pit is indeed a dead end without actually jumping down in the first place.

That seems unnecessarily harsh with regard to exploration.

[tigersfan]

We should probably do a better job of explaining it in-game, but, pretty much any building with a pit after it is meant to be gone through.

But, it does look like there is some kind of odd rez bug.