Version 0.800 is now out! (Holy moly lots of new stuff).

[x4000]

I don't even know what to say with this one.  We utterly dropped the ball with the release notes, because there was so much new stuff that was constantly coming that it didn't make it in: https://arcengames.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Starward_Rogue:Early_Alpha_Release_Notes#Version_0.800

Sorry!  We wouldn't do that on a released game, as you know.  And it's odd that we did it on an alpha even, but I suppose that's just a reflection of how much we've been rushing around.

Anyway, in general:
1. Tons of new enemies and items and balance on both.
2. Oh, and rooms.
3. Tons of new room features, most of which are not used yet.
4. Completely new floor generation logic for individual floors of dungeons -- way more satisfying to explore.
5. Some new sound effects implemented, way more curated for very soon integration.
6. Small parts of the real UI implemented, with most of the rest of it coming tomorrow and the next few days after that.
7. Tons of bugfixes.
8. A lot of new art.  Still more coming, though.
9. More meta progression stuff... oh, and a variety of new room types.  Some of the new shop types and item room types aren't set up correctly yet, just FYI.
10. The first minibosses and condemned (formerly challenge) rooms.  The condemned rooms right now are way over the top hard, sorry about that.  Balance for lower difficulties still needs to be put in for that.
11. We actually have both Final Bosses (the pretend one and the real one).  The secret ultra-final boss is still to come.  Here again, difficulty on the lower levels isn't set up correctly yet.
12. Uh... I can't even remember.  Oh, the control scheme changed again, for the better.  Man there's a lot of stuff.

It's incredibly late and I need sleep.  If you have feedback, please shoot it over to us on mantis.  We'll be going into hardcore polish mode next week and the week after, leading up to a release on the 22nd of this month.  We want to get the biggest stuff in this next week, and then the final stuff the week after.

On the one hand I feel like I've been running around with my hair on fire and I hate that rushing feeling... but on the other hand, WOW I am really pleased with how this is turning out.  It is taking a whole town, more than just a village, to bring this to life.  But wow is it ever coming to life.

[Pepisolo]

The potential of this game is pretty huge. The engine itself is becoming more and more awesome over time. I'm still not too sure about the mech change, heh, but it's probably no biggie. I just hope it polishes up nicely and sells well. Then the true potential can become unlocked post 1.0. Imagine if you had this game, and then you also added the outside space sections,  and multiplayer, too! Wow!

[TheVampire100]

The new Hunter boss looks cool, acts cool but is annoying as bubblegum that sticks on your thing on your foot. And since thelast patch I sem to have him always on the first floor. i simply cannot get past him, in the latter phase of the fight he just throws his lance attack too fast.
Also, suggestion: Rename him to predator because we all know what you did there.

[Pepisolo]

The new Hunter boss looks cool, acts cool but is annoying as bubblegum that sticks on your thing on your foot. And since thelast patch I sem to have him always on the first floor. i simply cannot get past him, in the latter phase of the fight he just throws his lance attack too fast.
Also, suggestion: Rename him to predator because we all know what you did there.

Lol, the name just came to me, didn't really get it from anywhere. There's a problem with The Hunter at the moment that means he's shooting his red attack all the time rather than just at close range... there's also a bug that means that it's stationary rather than moving, it's supposed to chase you down, actually. I'll look into toning him down a bit in the future, cheers.

[PokerChen]

The room you fight the Hunter miniboss in is a little small. Well, I had a lot of trouble until I learned there's a sprint key and you can run 100% of the time.

[Pepisolo]

The room you fight the Hunter miniboss in is a little small. Well, I had a lot of trouble until I learned there's a sprint key and you can run 100% of the time.

Only one miniboss room has been created so far, once a few more are in, I can put the boss into a larger room. You're definitely supposed to have a lot of room to run around in when fighting him.

[Castruccio]

Maybe this was mentioned somewhere else, but what do ability points do?

[Pepisolo]

Maybe this was mentioned somewhere else, but what do ability points do?

Ability points are sort of like a currency you can spend to unlock items each run -- it's a bit misnamed I think, if it were called Equipment points, or Gear points or something it'd be better I think.

In other news I will be toning tuning The Hunter down a bit ASAP, he's a bit tough.

[donblas]

- Banshee are flipping crazy, and probably need toning down. Like I'd rather fight half the bosses than one of these. I can take less damage.
- Grenade Launch feels much worse that default gun. Needs more damage or better ROF.
- Yeah, Hunter is rather annoying
- Love the improved sounds / graphic assets.
- I find that I significantly enjoy boss fights over normal rooms. They feel less twitch, since the bullets are slower but more packed.

[Misery]

Maybe this was mentioned somewhere else, but what do ability points do?

Ability points are sort of like a currency you can spend to unlock items each run -- it's a bit misnamed I think, if it were called Equipment points, or Gear points or something it'd be better I think.

In other news I will be toning tuning The Hunter down a bit ASAP, he's a bit tough.

Best way to tone that guy down, I think, is simply to make his attacks a bit slower.   Though, the lockdown from the web can be an issue regardless.  Can the actual slow effect be dropped down slightly?  I dont remember how it works and I dont have that gargantuan document open at the moment.

The big one to me though:  That shield.   This isnt really a problem with this specific enemy, but with that mechanic, since with "on hit" activated things, I dont think there's a way to force the game to put a minimum wait on it before being able to do it again, right?  I noticed that with the Banshee;  that thing overall to me is mostly fine, BUT, because of the special bullet forming on literally every single hit it takes, it can cause a tremendous amount of the things to form.  When it doesnt need to be dropping more than like, 1 every .5 or .25 seconds at most.    But yeah, with that shield it's basically the same, the TINIEST hit causes it to appear, and the next TINIEST hit causes it to shift.  It ends up just taking too long to damage the guy.   Me being impatient, I actually ended up dashing into the room and just sitting on top of it while firing.   This looks every bit as dumb as it sounds.

Are there three seperate versions of the Banshee, by the way?  Suddenly occurs to me that I think I've only seen one version.

- Banshee are flipping crazy, and probably need toning down. Like I'd rather fight half the bosses than one of these. I can take less damage.
- Grenade Launch feels much worse that default gun. Needs more damage or better ROF.
- Yeah, Hunter is rather annoying
- Love the improved sounds / graphic assets.
- I find that I significantly enjoy boss fights over normal rooms. They feel less twitch, since the bullets are slower but more packed.

For normal rooms feeling a bit twitchy at times, that's partly due just to the nature of the game.  It's difficult to create alot of those slower, denser patterns within a maze structure WITHOUT using bouncing bullets (which, you might have noticed, can have "issues" in small areas), and also, if EVERY pattern were like that, the game wouldnt be all that interesting in an overall sense, probably.  Hell, even I dont want them to ALWAYS be like that. 

How is the Banshee giving you trouble?  How are you attacking it?  The way to deal with it is to hit it a whole pile of times, and then dash away quite a distance before it flips out.   It's not the only enemy that's going to require you to take cover (there's something that just outright explodes in a huge wave in stages 6/7, which I doubt anyone has seen yet, as you have to beat the game 10 times via stage 5 first) , so it's not an isolated concept. 

I wonder, is it appearing in rooms that are too small for it?  That's been an issue with a couple of enemies in the past, most notoriously the Charger.

[Captain Jack]

condemned (formerly challenge) rooms.

(Pssst. They're called condemnation chambers!  )

[Endymion]

For the Hunter just making the nets not bounce from walls might make it lot nicer. (I assume it can't easily be made to see if you are already slowed and stop throwing nets then.)

[Pepisolo]

Thanks for the feedback all, I've already toned The Hunter a little, but gonna wind him down a bit more, the shield and web slow especially, cheers. I'll look into the bouncing nets, too. As for the Banshee, I don't think it's that hard you just need to approach the guy with a bit of caution. He never attacks you unless you attack him so you can sometimes clear a room and then deal with him. Having said that, this is the hard version of the guy, I think. There's going to be one version that is stepped down a bit and another one that is a little harder. Unless I hear a lot of feedback saying it's OP, in that case I might make this the hardest version, and do two more stepped down versions.

Edit:

Are there three seperate versions of the Banshee, by the way?  Suddenly occurs to me that I think I've only seen one version.

 nah, there aren't three versions of The Banshee yet, just one. I pretty much know what I want to do with the other variations, though.

[Endymion]

Oh, I have a run button! It makes The Hunter a lot easier. XD
Most of the time using it seems like a bad idea so took me a while to realize I should use it there.

[crazyroosterman]

Oh, I have a run button! It makes The Hunter a lot easier. XD
Most of the time using it seems like a bad idea so took me a while to realize I should use it there.

yea I remembered that my self after getting analy eviscerated by that thing multiple times using I don't use it most of the time since I prefer to move at a controlled pace.