Zorbus - a Fantasy, Living Dungeon Roguelike

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Zorbus - a Fantasy, Living Dungeon Roguelike

zorbus: Feb 12, 2020

ZLogic posted:

Yea I thought about that. My preference would be assuming melee for auto-attack, and then using F if you want to throw the weapon, since melee attacks seem more common than throwing a weapon, which can only be done once per weapon. You could make F-F be equivalent to F-Enter, so that it feels almost as quick as pressing R.

There are returning throwable items in the game (that return to thrower after thrown). Even scrolls which can make any throwable item a returning item.

If there was an Auto-Approach / Auto-Attack command, it could be used no matter what weapon you're wielding, and it would only make melee or reach attacks when in range. The R command could be left as it is.

# ? Jul 15, 2020 20:15

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# ? Apr 23, 2024 21:10

Victory Position: Mar 16, 2004

this looks like someone got really pissed at the direction Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup was making, so decided to make their own roguelike

also, they also seem to be a huge fan of Beogh, since one of the main systems appears to be commanding and communicating with dungeon denizens

hell yeah, I'll give this a shot

# ? Jul 15, 2020 21:21

Victory Position: Mar 16, 2004

zorbus posted:

Not in the near future. The game is programmed in Pascal (not the best choice, I know), and quite tied with Windows. In theory, you could compile it to Android, but in practice these things never go smoothly.

oh yay, another roguelike in Pascal :v:

# ? Jul 15, 2020 21:23

ZLogic: Feb 14, 2006; THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD IS HIGHLY SUBJECTIVE

zorbus posted:

There are returning throwable items in the game (that return to thrower after thrown). Even scrolls which can make any throwable item a returning item.

If there was an Auto-Approach / Auto-Attack command, it could be used no matter what weapon you're wielding, and it would only make melee or reach attacks when in range. The R command could be left as it is.

Oh, I didn't consider returning weapons. That sounds like a good solution.

# ? Jul 15, 2020 23:39

ZLogic: Feb 14, 2006; THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD IS HIGHLY SUBJECTIVE

My gnome was having such a good game. Finally had enough gold to buy items in the shop, found the secrets on every level, had the robe and ring of wizardry. Knew all the best spells and all the companions were fully geared badasses. Was using possession to send enemies against each other.

Then the game tells me "0 is out of array range! Shutting down" and I lose my character

# ? Jul 21, 2020 03:17

zorbus: Feb 12, 2020

Do you remember any details? What type of creature you possessed, did it happen during the possession or after it?

Check if there's a file called "Error-log.txt" in the game folder.

zorbus fucked around with this message at 07:51 on Jul 21, 2020

# ? Jul 21, 2020 06:30

ZLogic: Feb 14, 2006; THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD IS HIGHLY SUBJECTIVE

code:

  Release 38     2020-07-20 21:10     Being 0 is out of array range! (max 449)

  GAME_Main, handle_rounds ->
  GAME_AI, ai_act ->
  GAME_AI, ai_attack ->
  GAME_Combat, melee_attack ->
  GAME_Being, damage_being ->
  GAME_Being, update_being ->
  GAME_Being, is_being_ok

Turns out is_being was not ok!

It was the Duregar King's level, me and my companions were running from an ice dragon and the king back towards the stairs. No possession was active. Had some skeles up I think...

EDIT: Ah yes, I remember that I used the map to manually order my companions to travel to the stairs right before the crash happened.

ZLogic fucked around with this message at 20:03 on Jul 21, 2020

# ? Jul 21, 2020 17:09

ZLogic: Feb 14, 2006; THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD IS HIGHLY SUBJECTIVE

This game is very good fun, good job. I like how you can realistically see enemies past the screen and how strategy and tactics are more important with advanced AI. Much more like actual D&D. I also really like the writing. Adds a nice touch of flavor, and it seems to be esoterically or mystically inspired which is interesting.

The darkness for stealth gameplay could stand to be made a little brighter just so the user can see.

Let me know if you include some kind of save recovery feature, because I'm not particularly interested in my save evaporating for a third time. It also might help you debug errors like this. Other games keep a save file that gets deleted upon a legit death. You could make it a debug option that needs to be enabled, with a file that's difficult to edit, include some kind of encryption or file authentication, nestle it in the game files, and/or make a notice that the game is not intended to be save-scummed.

ZLogic fucked around with this message at 17:34 on Jul 21, 2020

# ? Jul 21, 2020 17:15

Motherfucker: Jul 16, 2011; I certainly dont have deep-seated issues involving birthdays.

The gamefeel of this game is incredibly good. A lotta roguelikes get mired in wanting to feel like rogue and don't really go for tone setting options like sound or dialogue but it really adds a ton to the game for very cheap considering its just a buncha stock sound effects and text.

# ? Jul 21, 2020 18:38

zorbus: Feb 12, 2020

Release 39 (24-Jul-2020)

By pressing A you automatically approach and attack nearest seen hostile creature with a melee- or a reach-weapon. You can use autoattack just for approaching so you can use it to chase down a creature or to narrow the range to it for a ranged attack, spell, etc. If no openly hostile creature is seen, a target creature is selected from those who get gradually more hostile against you. Autoattack ignores creatures in areas blocked from autopilot. Autoattack is disabled if your current Health is under 30% of max Health (the percentage can be changed from the settings).
The default keybinding for autopilot changed to P. Blocking autopilot areas changed to O, clear all blocks to CTRL+O. If you use the game updater, it's best to reset keybindings because of these changes.
If the game crashes, it tries to save the game. A crash report is created into the Crash-folder.
Settings: Option to disable log top add (new messages added on top of the log instead of the bottom, on by default).
The game is saved if you select "Return to main menu" from the game menu and the setting "Save on exit" is on (on by default).

# ? Jul 24, 2020 05:18

Helical Nightmares: Apr 30, 2009

Found some good Zorbus tactics chat on Reddit. I've edited out the endgame spoilers at the beginning.

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/roguelikes/comments/hvpth3/i_completely_beat_zorbus_twice_rambling_guide/

All credit to ObnoxiousVRtuber. Bolding mine.

quote:

...

In less anime terms, overspecialize in a skill, and make every challenge a test of that.

There are four main skills of note; melee, magic, bow, and friendship. Melee specialization means you can thwack everything to death frightfully easily as long as its right next to you, magic means that you can shoot lasers or do anything till you need a breather, bow means you can plink things farther away than melee, and friendship means friends. 6-8 of them, when normally you fight alone. And they can have friends(summons)of their own.

An important note is that most enemies and companions are balanced, and the d20 system. That is, they are equally passable at most skills(offence and defence), but do not truly excel in any, and combat checks are resolved by skill amount+1d20 opposed checks. Thus, someone with just 10 points more in a skill will win it 90% of the time, and twenty points difference is a skill gap that guarantees victory every time. You should aim for 20-30 points endgame for magic/melee/bow builds.With the power of friendship, give everyone the biggest sticks that can be spared, and anything that increases their numbers.

The main problem is that your glaring weaknesses will be exploited. Constantly. Which is why you need to force enemies to confront you on your own terms, ones on which you will win.

Melee: You hit things up close. In 1v1's you are nigh invincible, in group melee's you are still highly resilient and can murder dozens if your cards align. But you can't hit things from afar except very early game or with godly high modifiers. Everything else probably can, so get creative. Don't charge across a brightly lit hallway filled with wizards or stand still when 3 archers are pelting you during a duel. In fact, you probably shouldn't engage with melee guys until at the end of an engagement, when victory is already assured. You are assuredly lethal towards anyone who comes into contact with you, so kill the people damaging you first. Use charge with spears to oneshot casters that blink away on low health. Reposition often.

Bow: You plink someone for 2 damage. And again. And again. And again. And then they keel over. You are more reliant on enchantments to deal good damage than near everyone else, but in return you can pull all sorts of shenanigans, mostly "you can't touch me" and "shoot everyone on screen, meatshields be damned" In return, shields block you and ammo is constantly changing until you get an everlasting bullet. Upgrade ammos and bows either with a super elemental damage array, or focus on just pluses and vampiric scrolls. Run away often and preemptively. Kill enemy archers and web spewers first, as they can put an end to your shenanigans.

Magic: You're a wizard. Shoot lasers. Fart acid. Summon meatshields. As soon as you run out of stamina, you're boned. Before that happens, blink away, turn off the lights, and pray nothing comes near while you rest. Alternatively, play the game like you're a one man S.W.A.T. team. Slowly clear out areas, establishing escape routes and dangerous areas before even initiating combat. Use radar (True vision and clairvoyance) obsessively to never be taken by surprise. Possess enemies/summons and use them as recon drones/trap absorbers. Be jumpy around every corner and open each fight with crippling the opposing side. Completely ignore the hack and slash and turn the game into magic spy sim.

Friendship:You kinda suck. But you and your companions suck together. And no matter your stats, your companions will be decent enough. And if you care for them and outfit them enough, then you will outnumber your foes both in power, numbers, and friendship. And eight guys with clubs whaling on one guy will, due to the games flanking mechanics, kill them in short order. The problem is that all of them are idiots, all of them need weaponry and equipment, and you're the only one competent enough to function on your own, let alone survive against overwhelming numbers. Which they will throw themselves upon and promptly die. And without friends, you'll promptly waste a bunch of potions and or die. So micromanage them, clothe and arm them, and make sure none are being gnawed on before resting. Only then will you have power, and only through the willingness of others will it be maintained.

Edit:Also, there is one spell of note that every build would benefit from, and it requires just two levels of magic to get. Summon 2-3 animals.

Exactly what it says on the tin. Summons 2-3 animals, of varying quality. When you can consistently cast it, enemies can kill them in 2-3 blows each, 1 for the lucky competents. It costs six stamina, being one of the cheapest talents in the game to use. And its one of the most effective from start to end due to the sheer versatility and utility offered. Punch way above your melee weight with flanking allies, each of which can also deal damage. Summon meatshields of your own, which you can fire over with multishot. Maul a wizard while you deal with meleers. Summon endless waves and laugh as the sheer cost efficiency of the spell utterly depletes the stamina and arrow reserves of the gods themselves while you're still fresh. Post other shenanigans below.

# ? Jul 25, 2020 22:06

Malabolg: Apr 21, 2010

So, played a dwarf Lone Wolf spear-and-shield grinder through to the final plane, challenged and lost to the all-rounder god. Thoughts:

The level generation is great - lots of environmental storytelling. I guess I need to go stir up trouble in Carillo to find out more about the Company

Monster AI, for the most part, is pretty fun. Spellcasters use their spells properly, they'll loop around and come at you from the rear if you try to hole up in a corridor, good stuff. But the fleeing is unbelievably annoying - Charge can only do so much, summons melt past a certain point, ranged weapons were terrible because to keep my melee capabilities on par, I couldn't spare many points for Ranged. This was exacerbated by damage resistance being all over the place.

The shops pretty quickly became useless for anything past buying potions. It would be nice if the items refreshed as you went deeper to offer more level-appropriate gear. Some kind of crafting would be nice, to allow for filling out holes in the equipment. Also, the percentage limits on enchanting are a bad idea - if you want to cap enchanting gear at a certain level, then hard cap it. Enchant scrolls are a precious resource, committing one should not have a random chance to fail.

Elemental damage properties feel a bit underwhelming, particularly given that you're giving up getting a plus to-hit to take them (to-hit isn't trivial to come by).

The final fight with the all-rounder god was a deeply disappointing waste of time. No interesting tactics at all - just limitless stamina to spam spells and abilities, and more raw stats than me in every way. And with significant regen and damage reduction on both sides, it became a pointless slog to see if my potions would last. Summons just melted, Orb of Anchoring couldn't pin her down for anywhere near long enough to get anywhere. Getting her to 15%, then having her blink clear across the room, regen away everything I'd achieved in the last five minutes, then blink and regen twice more on top of that?

I assume she's supposed to be a hard counter for a defensive grinder - but she's insufferably boring to fight. If that's how god fights are meant to go, I don't think I'll bother with trying any more. Stacking up enough demigods in the final plane to take one of the gods down assumes this game can keep my interest that long, and frankly, I don't think it can, particularly if the god fights are all going to be like that.

I want to try a mage next, and an ally-focused character. And maybe a version of Ol' Stabby that sacrifices some melee to keep ranged vaguely up to speed. Fun game, though I'm hoping I just got a bad first impression of the god fights.

# ? Jul 26, 2020 03:09

Sundae: Dec 1, 2005

I haven't gotten very far yet (only survived to floor 6 I think?), but for the most part I really like this. The only things that bother me are:

(1) Enemies fleeing is a complete pain in the rear end. God drat, it's just such a time-waste chasing kobolds down the halls in the early floors, which you have to because...

(2) The difficulty increase from floor to floor means that you can't really leave stuff behind and come back later.

I think that number two I think is the bigger concern, at least from my limited skill at this game. If you get a bad RNG floor where there are substantial challenges that just don't fit the build you're running, you can't jump down to the next floor and then come back after you've leveled because the next floor is likely harder than what you're running away from in the first place. You need the experience from the previous floor to keep pace with the challenge of the next floor. I spent probably 3,000+ turns chasing a Troll around Floor 4 or 5 because he'd flee, trigger Die Hard while fleeing, and then escape into the night healing up while I chased him. I needed that ~600 exp, though; the next floor had several purple wizard enemies in a group with shitloads of demon summoning and fireballs that melted my life bar. The first floor or two become a kobold footrace for melee classes unless they find nice ranged ammo, because they're the prime EXP source before next floor. It doesn't play like (as an example) Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup where you can skip a D:2 Sigmund and fight competently on D:3/4 before coming back to finish him.

I have to agree with the overall feel being awesome otherwise - really top notch atmosphere, and the environmental plot stuff is great.

EDIT: Also, I loving loved (and hated) that Worgs and other wolf-related enemies can sniff you out across multiple floors. I used a wand of sanctuary to escape a worg room, went up two floors, and they all found their way up two levels of the dungeon to murder me on D:2. I just sort of stared at them coming up the stairs and was like, "Okay, yeah that makes sense. Good boys have good noses."

Sundae fucked around with this message at 21:24 on Aug 5, 2020

# ? Aug 5, 2020 21:21

zorbus: Feb 12, 2020

Release 40

New setting: Never flee. If on, creatures other than companions never flee. Some creatures, usually those using ranged attacks or spells, still try to maintain distance. Character obituary will not be sent to the leaderboard if this setting is on or turned on during a game. Off by default.
New setting: Death splash animation. Procedurally generated death splash animation instead of the "skull on red square" animation on creature death. Off by default. Thanks to Lagi for the idea.
New setting: Brighter darkvision. If on, the tiles seen with darkvision are a bit brighter, but only if your lightsource is unlit. Off by default.
Fixed a bug where you could auto reach attack a creature behind another creature. Other autoattack tweaks as well.
Buffs are listed when you inspect creatures with the target cursor. Previously only harmful effects were listed.
Small tweaks here and there.

# ? Aug 21, 2020 23:44

zorbus: Feb 12, 2020

A new gameplay video showcasing some of the special areas, ambient sound and sound effects:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E37BrD6Wz_0

# ? Aug 26, 2020 17:13

zorbus: Feb 12, 2020

Release 41 (09-Oct-2020)

(Regular, not Greater) Amulet of Health was bugged, it didn't protect against disease. (thanks to Zero for reporting this)
Fixed a bug where the game unnecessarily created crash saves into the Crash-folder. You can delete your existing Crash-folder.
Duration listed in descriptions of items with duration effects.
New item: the Orb of Withering. This orb creates a necrotic field that prevents all creatures on the dungeon level from regenerating Health or Stamina (naturally, by talents, or by items) for the duration of the effect. Also affects vampiric attacks.
Added archetype characters (warrior and wizard) to character creation. These are pregenerated, quickstart character types.
Some new sound effects.
Small fixes and tweaks here and there. Some typos fixed.

www.zorbus.net

# ? Oct 9, 2020 00:38

zorbus: Feb 12, 2020

Release 42 (17-Oct-2020)

Fixed a bug where you would not get experience points from a creature (that you have damaged) dying outside of your view. A log entry is now also made in the style of "x dies elsewhere. (n XP)". (thanks to Robsoie for finding the bug)
Autoattack now functions on blocked areas if you and the target are already on that blocked area.
Two charm effect related bugs fixed.
Added mass loot function to level loot. When you press [CTRL] + [ENTER] on an item, all items of that same type are picked up. Autopilot automatically pilots you through the items and picks them up. Mass loot can be used with ammunition, devices other than books (potions etc.), keys, and trapkits. Most of these items are normally autopicked, but autopick isn't used when hostile creatures are seen. It's best used after the level is cleared of hostile creatures, and you want to collect the remaining coins, potions, etc. Remember that you can use "0" on level loot to filter coins, special or unique items and devices (potions, wands etc.).
Level loot now shows the distance to the item directly in the list.
New setting: Always bright Health bars. Normally Health bars under creatures are dimmed depending on the light amount of the tile. If this setting is checked, health bars are always drawn at full brightness. (off by default) (thanks to BenightedAlizar for the idea)
Added Archer and Leader quickstart archetypes to character creation.
You can now change the gender of archetype / random / past characters by pressing [G] in the first character creation screen.
Small fixes and tweaks.

# ? Oct 17, 2020 05:30

Falcon2001: Oct 10, 2004; Eat your hamburgers, Apollo.; Pillbug

Wanted to pop in and say I played for a few minutes and really enjoy it so far!

# ? Nov 23, 2020 22:07

zorbus: Feb 12, 2020

A tournament with Amazon eGift Card prizes is active from Friday 27-Nov-2020 to Thursday 31-Dec-2020.

For the rules and leaderboard check http://tournament.zorbus.net.

Release 43 (27-Nov-2020)

A tournament version of the game is included (Zorbus_Tournament.exe). You can not save the game in this version. The "hostile creatures never flee" setting can not be used in this version.
When you are about to use a Flask of Poison or a Flask of Slime, the item description shows which item it will affect.
The wiggle effect of partially seen multi-tile creatures was bugged. Fixed. (thanks to lemon10 for reporting)
If a default character name is set in settings, it is now used for archetype characters as well.
As usual, small tweaks here and there.

http://www.zorbus.net

# ? Nov 27, 2020 16:49

GorfZaplen: Jan 20, 2012

I'm finally really starting to get into this game. I like how when a run starts going south you really feel a mad scramble like a wild animal. It's like you're being eaten by the dungeon and becoming part of it instead of fighting your way above it. I also love the feeling of turning the tables on an ambush, a bunch of adventurers ambushed me and I blinked out of there, went back to their room and turned off all the lights and got them one by one in the dark. I'd turn my lantern back on right before going after one, it made me feel like Batman.

# ? Dec 3, 2020 22:38

Motherfucker: Jul 16, 2011; I certainly dont have deep-seated issues involving birthdays.

This game fuckin' owns. My go-to strategy is to start out as a gnome with low rear end body and speed, but tons of mind and a minor in spirit. Three talents, Natural leader, team spirit and animate dead.

Basically playing team mom to skeletons giving them all the weapons and armor you cannot use as a squishy wizard, gathering a horde of pals and rolling around as essentially a neurotic dog in the middle of a ball of meat works really drat well.

# ? Dec 4, 2020 16:25

zorbus: Feb 12, 2020

Release 44 (05-Dec-2020)

Target mode renamed to examine mode.
New setting: Furniture animations. Teleporters, lightsources and crystal formations are animated. On by default, can be disabled from the settings.
In the autopilot-screen (P command) you can move the target cursor by 10 tiles with CTRL + arrows / numpad. Same works in the examine mode. (thanks to ZXC for the idea)
Recruitable creatures no longer pick up devices (potions, wands, etc.). You can still give them devices, but can not transfer devices from them to you, so you can no longer recruit creatures just to get their potions. Companions may also have equipment that can not be removed.
Changed weapon autoequip so that only thrown weapons are re-equipped (if you're still unarmed). Thrown weapons are also autopicked if no hostile creatures are seen. The notoriously buggy autoequip is hopefully finally fixed. (thanks Masterox and others before for reporting)
Keyboard help screen is color coded: movement, combat, resting, items. The screen is quite crowded and couldn't really fit any description for the colors.
Keybindings menu has presets for DCSS-style keybindings. Might need more tweaking.
If mouse is disabled but mouse tooltips are enabled in the settings, you can now see tooltips of items / talents in the panels of the main game view. This makes it possible to quickly see descriptions of items / talents without risking accidentally using them. (thanks to ZXC for the idea)
Mouse hovering over the current weapon set in the main game view shows the same extended info as the equipment screen.
Fixed the behaviour of creatures animated / summoned by a charmed creature so that when the charm is broken they stay friendly with the animator / summoner. (thanks to Adam Skinner for reporting)
Dismiss no longer affects multi-tile creatures. Some creatures are now immune to dismiss. (thanks to Adam Skinner for reporting)
Fixed a bug related to Arrow of Dismiss / Bullet of Dismiss.
Fixed a bug with the ability point-buy method in character creation. (thanks to Pieter Kirkham for reporting)
Fixed a bug where CTRL or ALT + NUMPAD 4 / 6 didn't adjust item amount in inventory. CTRL pressed adjusts the amount by 10, ALT pressed adjusts the amount by 50. (thanks to Adam Skinner for reporting)
Fixed several bugs related to multi-monitor setups. The game now remembers which monitor it was played on. (thanks to ZXC for help)
Removed the penalty to Search-skill check from having your lantern turned off when using autoexplore to detect secret doors. (thanks to ZXC for reporting)
Several typos fixed. (thanks to Tone and YARD, noticed them while watching / reading their let's play of the game)

http://www.zorbus.net

# ? Dec 5, 2020 21:00

GorfZaplen: Jan 20, 2012

drat, I made it to level 4 for the first time and got killed by a bugbear of all things. Thankfully there was an update waiting for me in the afterlife!

# ? Dec 5, 2020 22:16

beer gas canister: Oct 30, 2007; shmups are da best come play some shmups they're cheap and good and you like them; Plaster Town Cop

i really appreciate the combat focus of this game. minimal inventory, no identifying, just tactics. excellent maps too.

# ? Dec 7, 2020 05:16

Gooch181: Jan 1, 2008; The Gooch

It's really good.

# ? Dec 8, 2020 04:37

Veryslightlymad: Jun 3, 2007; I fight with
my brain
and with an
underlying
hatred of the
Erebonian
Noble Faction

I gave this a try. Are allied NPC companions supposed to attack non hostile animals? Because I walked into a room full of friendly gorillas, my NPC fired an arrow at one, and then we were both torn apart by gorillas, and I feel we could have avoided this fate.

# ? Dec 8, 2020 05:33

beer gas canister: Oct 30, 2007; shmups are da best come play some shmups they're cheap and good and you like them; Plaster Town Cop

animals gradually aggro towards seemingly whatever is around them

# ? Dec 8, 2020 05:41

GorfZaplen: Jan 20, 2012

Do all of them? I feel like I've never aggroed elephants, dogs or other recruitable animals

# ? Dec 8, 2020 06:26

fadam: Apr 23, 2008

This game looks cool as hell. Any Youtube/Twitch playthoughs you'd recommend?

# ? Dec 8, 2020 16:26

zorbus: Feb 12, 2020

After all this waiting, it's out! It's finally out! Yeah, probably the worst day ever to release a game update...

Release 45 (10-Dec-2020)

Autoexplore now picks up items that you would normally autopick, first from the current area that you're in, then after nothing to explore is found on the dungeon level, any remaining items from the whole level.
As the autoexplore in the game works in bursts, area by area, it may look like it skips nearby items, but those items are then likely located on a different area number.
If you press CTRL + ENTER in the level loot list when the selector is on the top position, it will automatically pick all items from the explored areas on the level that would normally be autopicked. Pressing CTRL + ENTER on an item in the lists picks up all items of the same type (only works with ammunition, devices, keys, trapkits and coins).
Negative modifiers from equipment to Search-skill are not taken into account when autoexplore is used to detect secret doors. So you don't have to unequip your helmet even if it has a negative Search-modifier. This only applies to searching with autoexplore, not to normal searching during movement.
You'll get no experience points from animated or summoned creatures that are created after initial level creation. These can be identified from blue Health bars if the setting "Blue Health bars" is checked.
The inventory encumbrance bar now has slots for better encumbrance level visualization.
Items show the price that they can be sold for. Items that can be sold are in green in loot lists.
Buy / sell price adjustments now use modifier from the base, unadjusted Spirit-value.
You can no longer transfer books or scrolls to companions.
If you have an everlasting ammunition in your possession, same type of ammunition of equal or lower enchantment won't be autopicked. Branded and coated ammunition will always be autopicked. If the setting "Pick all ammunition" is disabled, then only ammunition for your currently equipped weapon will be automatically picked up.
Changed a bit how Elixir of Experience works: now you get the needed for next level minus needed for current level xp added to your current xp amount. Previously it just set xp to needed for next level amount.
Trapkits are now autopicked.
Current dungeon level is shown in the corner of the minimap.
Added color group descriptions to the keyboard help image.
Keybindings menu now has some help text. Binding conflicts (same binding used twice) are in red. Changed the DCSS preset a bit as it had some conflicts.
Obituary files now have more detailed dungeon level statistics (kills, xp total, xp from combat / skill use / exploration / other).
Talent descriptions now list their speed.
You can autopilot to containers which are mimics. Note that if some destination seems unreachable in autopilot mode, try moving the cursor around a bit.
Fixed a bug where some creatures (guardian ghosts etc.) would forget their hostility against the player.
Hopefully finally fixed a visual glitch where a map cloud effect like web or slime could stay on the map forever.
Fixed a bug where enchantment chance to succeed was negative with some items. If chance is 0%, enchantment is automatically aborted. (thanks to ZXC for reporting)
Fixed a bug where last log lines in obituary files would be wrong when "Log new messages on top" setting was no checked. (thanks to ZXC for reporting)
If your base Mind-ability increases, the talent counter will be recalculated properly. Previously it was reset when you got a talent-point.
Fixed a bug where taking the Lone Wolf talent didn't set the talent counter properly at the start of the game. (thanks to ZXC for reporting)
Fixed a bug where using hoopak and the Dualshot-talent at an enemy in reach attack range resulted in a reach attack instead of two ranged attacks. There's still the problem that you can not make a normal ranged attack at that range, it always makes a reach attack. Sometimes you might want to make a ranged attack in that situation with special ammunition. (thanks to Cookedpoo for reporting)
Fixed a bug where you could not reach attack using the mouse. (thanks to Cookedpoo for reporting)
Fixed descriptions of the Silver Spoon talent and the Wand of Fireball. (thanks to Tone for reporting)
Manual updated with some clarifications (experience, critical hits).
Several typos fixed.

For videos, check Tone's stuff:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caLMlfWsmms&ab_channel=tonehack
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/826908423

# ? Dec 10, 2020 04:12

ThermosAquaticus: Nov 9, 2013

Got a win on my fourth character, a lone wolf gnome wizard. Only went for a demigod victory for this one. Magic may be a little OP! Great game though, liked the AI.

I couldn't find a way to alter what autopickup was working on, nor could I split stacks of items - as a wizard I don't need 30 blink pots, but I'd like to carry a couple just in case I mess up my stamina management. Are these features in the game and I just missed them? Late game I had some carryweight issues as a result.

Also is everything in the dungeon evil? It seemed like Holy Burst worked on everything I tried it on.

# ? Dec 11, 2020 21:57

zorbus: Feb 12, 2020

Congrats!

You can not alter autopickup. You can adjust the item amount when the selector is on item and using movement keys left/right. You can drop selected amount to ground or move to a container in the shop hub level.

Need to check that Holy Burst. Animals are mostly neutral, other creatures are mostly evil.

# ? Dec 11, 2020 22:44

ThermosAquaticus: Nov 9, 2013

Cool, good to know.

Yeah, it was working on spiders, slimes, and I think summoned wolves. Also golems, and creatures that guard areas, all of which you could make a case for not actually being evil. Obviously it's up to you how strong you want it to be, I found it to be the strongest lategame damage spell due to hitting everything, party friendliness, and low cost.

# ? Dec 12, 2020 08:49

ThermosAquaticus: Nov 9, 2013

Some thoughts, now I have won a few times, including one overgod victory (and one failed attempt at the same in the tournament).

So, I think the difficulty of the game needs a little work. The beginning of the game, levels 1-3, feels about right, with an easyish start (that's hard if you don't take any combat skils or damage spells) that then ramps up. The endgame, and the very late game (around the portal to Zorbus) also feel appropriately challenging. But in between that, it feels a little easy to find a strong piece of armour - I bought my endgame armour in Carillo more often than not - and be relatively unchallenged by the midgame. Part of this is probably me using the reroll chargen option, which is imo too strong as it isn't hard to start with meaningfully better stats than point-buy allows, and part is also playing a couple of centaurs, whose movespeed bonus is super powerful. But still, I think there is an issue there.

I'm not sure I can offer suggestions on what to do though - difficulty seems hard to get right. Maybe flanking should come with penetration bonuses, but that would also make companions stronger, and they are pretty strong as is. Perhaps make stealth more relevant when disengaging from fights - I didn't feel i needed any to just run away and hide in the darkness successfully.

Just to be clear, I enjoyed the game and will return to it.

# ? Dec 17, 2020 16:52

zorbus: Feb 12, 2020

Thanks for the feedback ThermosAquaticus!

You're absolutely right, something needs to be done with the midgame difficulty. Balancing is just so difficult with a wide variety of player types. For roguelike veterans, powergamers and minmaxers the game might be too easy, some players never get past dungeon level 5. I've lately received lots of good feedback from DCSS players who tend to be powergamer/speedrunner -types of players, but I also want to listen to players that are more used to traditional RPGs.

Release 46 (18-Dec-2020)

After character death, a new statistics table and maps of visited dungeon levels are shown. The maps show unexplored areas in blue. The statistics table shows "actions/s" which is a sum of keypresses and mouseclicks per second. You can switch between the tables with up/down or mousewheel. In the "game over"-dialog there's also a new button for opening the character obituary file (opens in system default text editor).
New setting: Never blink. If on, creatures other than you or your companions never blink (teleport away). Off by default. Character obituary will not be sent to the leaderboard if this setting is on or turned on during a game.
Autoexplore now picks up items that you have thrown. (thanks to Boomaye for reporting)
Autoexplore now picks up items from nearby areas if the tile they're on is explored and near enough to current location.
Autoexplore should now find a path to secret doors that are blocked by immobile creatures such as fungi or plants.
If one of your companions has a higher Search-skill than you then it is used with autoexplore to detect secret doors. You can give equipment to companions to boost their Search.
When you examine a creature the description now says if there is no XP awarded from killing it.
You can press W in the autopilot screen to cycle between wells, thrones and switches.
You get XP from killing a creature after its charm effect has ended (if the creature awarded XP in the first place). (thanks to Cookedpoo for reporting)
Fixed a bug where the max distance for a ranged weapon was calculated wrong. (thanks to Cookedpoo and Boomaye for reporting)
Fixed a bug where autopickup didn't pick up items with no weight when you were encumbered. (thanks to ZXC for reporting)
You can only have one clone (or simulacrum) at a time, a second clone will go berserk and attack you. Some update broke this, the clone would not turn hostile. (thanks to Dynast for reporting) Added warning about several clones to elixir and talent descriptions.
Fixed a bug where some unlikely creatures (golems, statues, etc.) were stealthy in darkness. (noticed from Tone's stream)
Creatures that follow you to another dungeon level are now ready to act faster after arriving. (thanks to Boomaye for mentioning) Their distance to you determines in what order they arrive on the new level. Companions still follow you from anywhere on the level, but that might change in the future.
Companions now react faster to creatures who slowly turn hostile against you. (thanks to Cookedpoo for reporting)
Shop restocking is now tied to several values, not just game rounds spent away from the shop level. (noticed from Tone's stream)
Skill tooltips in character sheet show the related key ability. Same for Zorbupedia skill descriptions. (noticed from Tone's stream)
In the level loot list, the "0" filter now also shows weapons with at least 3 enchantments.
Holy-damage now affects only evil-aligned creatures.
Fixed a bug where 1.5 x negative Body-modifier was added to damage with two-handed and versatile weapons (negative modifier should be added as is).
The visited dungeon levels table in the obituary files now show actions (keypresses / mouseclicks) per second per dungeon level.
Added some clarifications to skill descriptions.
Added examples of weapon combinations / sets to the manual. Also basic explanation of how the action queue in the game works.
There's now support for smaller patches that only replace the executable files. These patches are much smaller to download (below 5 megabytes). Autoupdate informs if a patch is available. Save files should be combatible but I wouldn't risk it so it's best to update only after you don't have any unfinished games.

http://www.zorbus.net

# ? Dec 18, 2020 20:22

GorfZaplen: Jan 20, 2012

I find stealth really useful for getting out of tight spots personally. A couple of games ago on level 4 all of my companions were horrifically murdered one by one by a group of bugbears and adventurers. I slipped out back to the Carillo portal on the level above where I rerecruited some followers I left there and returned for revenge. Enemies with lanterns are very tense to me in this game because they're usually stronger than enemies without which is some nice signposting I think. I'm one of the gamers who hasn't gotten past level 5 but I'm comfortable with the difficulty I think, when I die it's always because I got too cocky or impatient and if I had been more sensible I would have pulled through. That's a really tough balance to find in a roguelike and it's something I really enjoy about this game!

I feel like my only issue with the game is that mobility and mind are definitely the most valuable stats since skill points and perks are super valuable and the majority of skills are governed by mobility. A high body means you can kill stuff faster but even with a 10-12 body you can kill stuff reliably so it's usually the stat I use least. Consequently races that have mobility or mind penalties are less attractive because they'll effectively advance slower for the same amount experience gain. Of course people seem to have no trouble with these races on the leaderboards so perhaps I have a lot to learn still.

# ? Dec 18, 2020 23:39

Motherfucker: Jul 16, 2011; I certainly dont have deep-seated issues involving birthdays.

yo dawg what the gently caress is with these dudes and mushrooms??

# ? Dec 18, 2020 23:49

Helical Nightmares: Apr 30, 2009

Zorbus now has a channel on the Roguelikes Discord.

https://discord.com/invite/S5F2H32

# ? Feb 1, 2021 22:59

zorbus: Feb 12, 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEyJ-p9Hbug

Release 47 (21-May-2021)

You can no longer return to the previous dungeon level. The reason for this was to remove tedious gameplay, where you returned to previous levels to find remaining secrets, and cheesy gameplay, where you returned to previous level to rest safely.
Support for game controllers. I've only tested it with Microsoft Xbox Wireless Controller, hopefully others will work too. Controller needs to be enabled from the settings, and you can configure / test various things from there. The last page of the tutorial shows the controls, and the same page can also be seen if you enter the game menu with the controller.
Replaced old raycasting-based field of view -routine with an algorithm by Adam Milazzo (http://www.adammil.net/blog/v125_Roguelike_Vision_Algorithms.html). If you are creating a game yourself, check it out. It's absolutely brilliant!
Removed the Map-command (V). Autopilot-command (P) can now be used for map. It can now be opened even when hostile creatures are seen.
Removed the map note- and journal note -commands.
Creature AI changes:
- Some creatures can now track you by scent. Races have different odour intensities, shown in character creation.
- When you blink away, creatures might spread around to nearby areas to search for you.
- When searching for you, some creatures may lit a lightsource (if they have one), even if they have darkvision.
- Creatures can now set up traps when they're fleeing from you.
- Some creatures may enter a berserk-state if wounded enough. A wardrummer drumming may also trigger this state. In the berserk-state creatures get combat bonuses and never flee.
- Lots of other small AI tweaks.
Challenge ratings for creatures.
- When you see a creature type for the first time, its name is shown on top of it for a few game rounds.
- The color of the name indicates its challenge rating, ranging from "harmless" (yellow) to "deadly" (red).
- Examine-mode and fire-mode show the ratings of all seen creatures. Also shown in creature description in the right side panel.
- A creature's rating is updated when its or your stats change.
- Just remember that while there are quite a lot of calculations behind the rating, it still is just a rough estimate.
New effect: Tracking. Available as ammunition, flasks and as a talent.
- Tracking forms a mental link between the attacker and the target. The attacker knows exactly where the target is for the duration of the effect (the target is marked on the navi- and autopilot maps). The target also glows as if wielding a lightsource, making hiding in darkness impossible. Only one creature can be tracked at a time. The latest hit creature always becomes the target. The tracking link to a creature breaks if the attacker enters another dungeon level or Carillo.
- There's also a talent ("Teleport to Tracked") and potion ("Potion of Stalking", needs a better name?) which teleports the tracker near the tracked creature.
- Monsters can use tracking too. One might shoot you with a tracking arrow and know your exact location for the duration of the effect. And of course it will also inform its friends of your current whereabouts.
- This effect might not be as usable or fun for the player as I envisioned it to be, but at least the monsters seem to like it a lot.
Character sheet has some changes. Some new stats on the 1st page, 2nd page redesigned, now showing the weapon sets with stats. Equipment and talent lists now have tooltips.
Weapon and talent speeds are hidden from the player. Action Cost and APR (actions per round) are used instead.
Weapons now have APR (actions per round) and DPR (damage per round) calculations.
- This was a UI nightmare since you can use some items one-handed, two-handed or dualwielded which changes the stats.
- Attack and defense values include all current ability-, skill- and other modifiers. Separate values are calculated for melee / throw / shoot attacks and melee / ranged defense. Ranged defense is only used with shields.
- Inventory item statistics for one-handed and versatile weapons are calculated with an (imaginary) off-hand shield in use. The actual statistics can differ when weapons are dualwielded or when a versatile one- handed weapon is used two-handed. Second character sheet page shows the actual in-use values.
When you now blink, your companions are also teleported near you. Tweaked the algorithm behind blinking as well.
The Health-bar and UI frame flash in green when you're poisoned.
Autoattack target is now marked with two red triangles.
Autoattack automatically swaps to the other weapon set if it has a melee weapon and the active weapon set does not, and there's a hostile creature next to you. This can be disabled from the settings.
Attack marked -command (R) automatically swaps to the other weapon set if it has a shooting weapon and the active weapon set does not, and the nearest hostile creature is at least minimum distance away. Minimum distance can be adjusted from the settings.
Throwable weapons are no longer thrown with the Attack marked -command (R) unless the weapon has the returning-property, so you no longer accidentally throw your weapon. You can make throw attacks with the Fire ranged -command (F). Why didn't I do it like this from the start?
If you for some reason end up being unarmed, a warning text is displayed on the top of you character tile.
Removed the extra 1.5 x speed duration for returning thrown items.
Off-hand thrown attacks get 1/4 of positive Body-modifier added, full if the modifier is negative.
Fixed various problems with the Multishot-talent:
- You no longer shoot at creatures that are blocked by other creatures.
- You shoot at creatures next to you if you have the Close Combat Ranged talent.
- In gameplay, the talent is enabled when your current Ranged-skill is high enough for at least 2 targets, and there are at least 2 hostile targets that can be shot at (the lines of fire to them must to be clear).
When a large creature hits a smaller opponent, it's now possible that the opponent is pushed backwards by the strength of the blow.
You can bump into furniture that has a noted-indicator ("!") on them to "wake" up the creature (mimics, statue, etc.)
Autoexplore tries to struggle free from a restraining map effect (slime / web).
You can now try to escape a map cloud effect into the direction where your companion is standing. With (CTRL) + direction you can try the same with a hostile creature.
The inventory screen is no longer opened when you bump empty containers.
Empty barrels and barrels with only corpses or bones are automatically opened and marked as looted. Same with cauldrons.
Changes to quickslots:
- The "F1" slot is automatically reserved for the lantern even if you have it turned off when clearing the quickslots.
- Trapkits can be quickslotted for easier use, but they will never be automatically quickslotted.
- A quickslot is dimmed if there's no sense of using it at that moment. Disabled if you can not use it at that moment.
- (CTRL) + (D) clears set quickslots in the quickslot manager, but preserves player set quickslots.
- You can toggle allow/disallow quickslotting of a device/talent with (DEL) in the quickslot manager.
- You can lock a slot to certain item, which keeps it reserved even if you use the last of its type.
- Related new setting "Hide corpses and bones". Hide corpses and bones from the "items on ground" side panel. This has the benefit that the "items on ground" side panel won''t be displayed when there are just corpses and bones on the ground, so the quickslots stay visible.
- Remember, you can set up quickslots from the quickslot manager (F12), but also by pressing a quickslot-key that isn't yet binded to anything. For example, if the "5" slot is free, press it, and directly choose what to bind to it.
Some renovations in Carillo (the shop hub level):
- Limited the amount of visits to Carillo per dungeon dungeon level. There's a chance that the teleporter is destroyed after you have visited Carillo 3 times.
- The Tomb Raiders Guild has opened a shop in Carillo. Their prices are double to standard unless you have a guild membership card. No, you can't actually join the guild, but have to obtain a card somehow else.
- The bouncer and the shopkeepers will tell you if they've added new items to their inventories. You can press (F10) when checking the shop inventory to filter only items that are new since your last visit.
- Speech bubble from a friendly creature in Carillo no longer stops autopilot.
- When browsing a shop inventory, the item description states how many of those items you already have in your inventory (devices only).
Hiding (in darkness) near plants and fungi now give bonus to Stealth-checks. Each neighboring plant/fungus gives a +1 to Stealth. This is not shown anywhere, but is used in calculations. Mentioned in the skill description.
The amount that "Health Surge" talent will heal is listed after its name in parentheses (in quickslots panel and talent list).
Two new switch rooms: anchoring and withering.
You can no longer use teleporters when you're anchored or when there's a level-wide anchor effect active.
Sound effects revisited, again. Even after removing and replacing many, there are now over 4000 sounds effects. Main menu now has music. It can be volume controlled from the settings, disabled if you set the volume to 0.
There's now a name for the currency used in the game, instead of just "coin". It's now called "zorbit", of course.
New settings:
- Closing doors by bumping at the wall tile right of them is now an option that you can disable from the settings (on by default).
- Option to require (CTRL) + direction to be pressed to interact with furniture, instead of just bumping at them. Does not affect bumping at doors to open them. You might want to turn this setting on if you constantly keep accidentally bumping at map objects.
- Option to pick up trapkits, on by default. Trapkits have no weight, but you may feel that they clutter the inventory, especially if you don't use them.
Keybindings-menu can now be filtered with a keyword.
Clairvoyance-talent didn't work when you used it from the talents-menu with a hotkey (happened in Tone's stream last year).
Animal bones and corpses removed. I had an idea for them to rise as animal skeletons and zombies when animated, but don't have proper tiles for those.
Life saving items (Amulet of Life Saving, Plot Armor, etc.) always save life even when you don't have any Stamina left. They also save you from death even if you're withered.
Potion of Antidote cures poison, but now also gives immunity against poison for a duration.
Potion of Extra Healing / Potion of Superior Healing give immunity against disease for a duration.
New potion: Potion of Life. "This powerful potion restores 100 Health-points, cures disease and poison, and removes withering effect targeted against the drinker (map-wide withering effect is unaffected). The potion also grants regeneration and immunity to disease, poison and withering for the duration."
Trapkits can now be set even if you see hostile creatures, as long as they don't see you. Trapkits can be quickslotted for easier use. Some new trapkits added.
Summoning items (horn, figurines, etc.) have a longer duration.
Small changes to the playable races. Odour listed in race descriptions (hostile creatures can track by scent).
Talent progression changed. You now need Mind-ability of at least 18 to gain 1 talent per experience level.
Lone Wolf -talent gives +1 to all abilities (was +2).
New ASCII-mode setting: "ASCII wall / floor color adjustment". Random adjustment to wall / floor base color.
Huge amount of tweaks here and there.
Game balance has probably changed a lot, so the leaderboard has been reset.
There's an external tool, "Zorbus Dungeon Generator", available at http://dungeon.zorbus.net. It's a random dungeon generator to create tabletop RPG -style maps. You can run it in step-mode to see how the algorithm creates the map.

http://www.zorbus.net

# ? May 21, 2021 12:19

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# ? Apr 23, 2024 21:10

Helical Nightmares: Apr 30, 2009

These are really awesome changes and updates!

zorbus posted:

You can no longer return to the previous dungeon level. The reason for this was to remove tedious gameplay, where you returned to previous levels to find remaining secrets, and cheesy gameplay, where you returned to previous level to rest safely.

Creature AI changes:
Some creatures can now track you by scent. Races have different odour intensities, shown in character creation.
When you blink away, creatures might spread around to nearby areas to search for you.
When searching for you, some creatures may lit a lightsource (if they have one), even if they have darkvision.
Creatures can now set up traps when they're fleeing from you.
Some creatures may enter a berserk-state if wounded enough. A wardrummer drumming may also trigger this state. In the berserk-state creatures get combat bonuses and never flee.

Some renovations in Carillo (the shop hub level):
Limited the amount of visits to Carillo per dungeon dungeon level. There's a chance that the teleporter is destroyed after you have visited Carillo 3 times.

These are strongly changing the gameplay for me. Certainly makes things more tactical, which I imagine was the purpose.

zorbus posted:

Sound effects revisited, again. Even after removing and replacing many, there are now over 4000 sounds effects. Main menu now has music. It can be volume controlled from the settings, disabled if you set the volume to 0.

I was streaming Zorbus the yesterday and the audience was very impressed at the sound scape and the multiple different sound for the skeleton and the zombie for example. You may have gotten a few new fans.

zorbus posted:

There's an external tool, "Zorbus Dungeon Generator", available at http://dungeon.zorbus.net. It's a random dungeon generator to create tabletop RPG -style maps. You can run it in step-mode to see how the algorithm creates the map.

Yeah this deserved top billing because of it's widespread usefulness. Sharing it with the traditional games crowd.

# ? May 26, 2021 01:49

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Zorbus - a Fantasy, Living Dungeon Roguelike

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