Rogue Touch Version 2.0!

Discussion about Rogue Touch for the iPhone and iPod Touch
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CommanderData
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Rogue Touch Version 2.0!

Post by CommanderData »

Its Happening! Pending release very soon...

Rodney has come back up from the depths of the dungeon with an update bigger and better than any I've ever made for Rogue Touch. Not just 64-bit compatibility, all the changes in this update should make everyone happy!

Here are the What's New notes for this update:
Version 2.0.64:
* ZOMG an update, after 4 years!
* WOW its a big update!
* HEY there's a bunch of new and cool stuff in this update!
* 64-Bit Compatible, Position Independent Executable (iOS 8.0 is the new minimum requirement). Portions of the game engine have been re-written to support this as well as the other new features below... You don't even want to know the massive number of deprecations I had to fix dating back to the original support for iOS 2 (º_o)
* Retina Graphics - The dungeon never looked better thanks to a ton of new artwork by Jake Woodruff and a bit of tweaking by yours truly. Everything has been re-imagined in Hi-Res detail.
* Retina Text - Fixed again what has been broken for several iOS revisions, all text is now silky smooth.
* Play Your Own Music - Finally, seamless automatic detection means you can explore dungeons without interrupting your jam (or streaming, or podcast, or audiobook!). Rogue Touch also respects your mute switch.
* Gameplay Improvements - In addition to the classic "Search" for secret doors, you can simply walk into / push on walls where you believe the door is hidden. If you're correct it will be revealed automatically! Secret Doors and Traps may have small but noticeable visual differences now to help clue you in ;)
* Gameplay Improvements Part II - Interesting tweaks for extra damage and/or elemental immunities when weilding special weapons like ice, fire, electric, and blessed.
* Dungeon Improvements - Subtle tweaks to dungeon generator for room sizing, treasure placement, and more. Secret doors should nearly always lead somewhere interesting now, rather than a potential dead end.
* Pinch Zoom Improvements - Now you can enhance your view by zooming anywhere from 25% to 200% size to appreciate the detailed graphics close-up and personal.
* Settings Improvements - Finally, it's super easy access to RT settings, just touch the gear icon found in the upper left corner on the Title Screen.
* BUGFIXES - Lots of little annoying bugs fixed to provide a better dungeon exploring experience! Fixes for various crash conditions, stair placement bugs, and game-lockup at item use during the last turn before death are included.

Really hope you all enjoy playing this newly enhanced version of Rogue Touch!

Please spread the word if you can, and of course if you can write a new or updated review in the App Store it would be greatly appreciated :mrgreen:
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Jim2wheels
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Re: Rogue Touch Version 2.0!

Post by Jim2wheels »

Done and done. Rogue Touch remains my most played iPhone game of all time, haven't played it for a year or so but it may well be time to revisit my old friend.

So pleased you found the time and effort to keep it going for a good while yet, huge thanks.
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swhatley
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Re: Rogue Touch Version 2.0!

Post by swhatley »

Looks great! Any new secret chatacters like Athena?

One Q: Is native iPad suppirt coming? Thanks!
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CommanderData
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Re: Rogue Touch Version 2.0!

Post by CommanderData »

Jim2wheels wrote:Done and done. Rogue Touch remains my most played iPhone game of all time, haven't played it for a year or so but it may well be time to revisit my old friend.

So pleased you found the time and effort to keep it going for a good while yet, huge thanks.
Jim2wheels, glad to hear it and you're welcome!

While the gameplay and design changes are fairly minor, when you combine everything with a fresh set of Hi-Res tiles & sprites it feels a lot like a new game.

swhatley wrote:Looks great! Any new secret chatacters like Athena?

One Q: Is native iPad suppirt coming? Thanks!
Hi swhatley, grateful that you like the new look too!

I really wanted to push a few new Secret Characters into V2.0 but ran low on time. Good news there are a number of Secret Character ideas (from a variety of comics, books, movies, and anime) I have in mind for the next update, which I can assure you is NOT 4 years from now :lol:

Native iPad support is also something I am interested in doing next. I haven't owned an iPad for years but plan to get one of the iPad Pro 10.5" models sometime after iOS 11 releases... Assuming the creaky codebase will bend to my will yet again I want to make it iPad native as well as support split-view and sidecar modes on iPad.

No specific promises on that timing yet. With my current business schedule its likely there will be only one minor update before the end of 2017, and that will contain more gameplay tweaks I had to hold back as well as a roster of new Secret Characters. Oh and probably a few more bug-fixes depending on what people discover lurking within V2.0 :geek:
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Re: Rogue Touch Version 2.0!

Post by Nighthawk »

Looks good, Kevin!

Won on my third run of 2.0. Was hoping for a new win screen. :P

Couple of things:

The pinch / pull zoom - bug's been around forever and is just an annoyance, but... sometimes when you let go your character will move / attack.

Please oh please oh please can I lobby for harkening back to Rouge's "the Amulet makes you float / can't fall into pit traps when it's in your inventory"? It just feels cheap... and happened to me four times on my win even with a ring of searching equipped. Maybe it's just fresh in my mind. :)

I like the new room type. Just curious: is the layout of floor 26 scripted, or did the RNG just happen to build a level that looked scripted? :ugeek:
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NightOwl40
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Re: Rogue Touch Version 2.0!

Post by NightOwl40 »

Liking the new update. Hadn't played in a long while, and forgot how difficult it is to stay alive. Starved to death on floor 9 with a bunch of nice items. There was food on the floor(got the "something smells good" message), but I failed to find it in time. :oops: I hope I can get that far on the next run...and survive the skeleton if it resurrects on me ;)
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Re: Rogue Touch Version 2.0!

Post by CommanderData »

Nighthawk wrote:Looks good, Kevin!

Won on my third run of 2.0. Was hoping for a new win screen. :P

Couple of things:

The pinch / pull zoom - bug's been around forever and is just an annoyance, but... sometimes when you let go your character will move / attack.

Please oh please oh please can I lobby for harkening back to Rouge's "the Amulet makes you float / can't fall into pit traps when it's in your inventory"? It just feels cheap... and happened to me four times on my win even with a ring of searching equipped. Maybe it's just fresh in my mind. :)

I like the new room type. Just curious: is the layout of floor 26 scripted, or did the RNG just happen to build a level that looked scripted? :ugeek:
Thanks Nighthawk!

Heh, you are a god among Rogues... Of course I've made the entire journey down and back a few times in the updated version but primarily with pretty good secret characters. Were you running a normal or special name? Difficulty levels may have dropped slightly due to the adjustments under the hood. I don't want it to be too easy though :lol:

About the Victory Screen (among other things)- With the limited time I could get from my artist we had to make some tough choices in order to have this approved by end of August (which I did just barely make, hence the Sept 1st release day). You probably also noticed some stuff like animations for example are also low-res still. Hopefully if this does well enough I'll commission the remaining images for overhaul too!



I totally agree about the Pinch Zoom annoyance. Adding these new zoom levels I was pinching quite a bit to see what stuff looked like at each % point from smallest to largest to ensure the best scaling filters applied. Inevitably I would take an accidental step afterward at random, sometimes with dangerous consequences :shock:

What I wasn't prepared for with the new zoom levels is how much I enjoyed seeing everything up close at 200%! It can be claustrophobic at times, but once the dark rooms are reached you generally only see those few squares light up around you anyway and have to rely on the mini-map more.

In any case, the Pinch Zoom / Step thing is a problem people may run into more now so I'll try to capture those stray inputs at both the start and end of the zooming in the next update.



Regarding the Amulet affecting pit traps, I think this depended upon which Rogue clone/variant you were playing... But I've been bitten by the annoyance of falling down a level or two in a row like that as well! Will look at the hovering while carrying the Amulet as a new feature, maybe for V2.1.



The 26th floor isn't strictly scripted, I assume you found the Amulet inside a party room? :lol:

I did make a fun little change which guaranteed a party room starting on the 6th floor, and again at regular intervals afterward. Two reasons for starting on the 6th is to throw people off the obviousness of every 5 or 10 floors, and to ensure there was a party room on the 26th floor!

The Amulet of Yendor does not have to appear within this party room (yet), but I'm thinking about forcing it to appear there :twisted:



Maybe we should make a new thread with suggestions for V2.1 and beyond? I know there's old suggestion threads around here but could be fun to start a fresh dialogue :D
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Re: Rogue Touch Version 2.0!

Post by Nighthawk »

NightOwl40 wrote: I hope I can get that far on the next run...and survive the skeleton if it resurrects on me ;)
Don't forget that *all* enemies except for vampires like to take a nap after a big meal. That includes bones-file skellies. :) :ugeek:
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Re: Rogue Touch Version 2.0!

Post by CommanderData »

NightOwl40 wrote:Liking the new update. Hadn't played in a long while, and forgot how difficult it is to stay alive. Starved to death on floor 9 with a bunch of nice items. There was food on the floor(got the "something smells good" message), but I failed to find it in time. :oops: I hope I can get that far on the next run...and survive the skeleton if it resurrects on me ;)
Hi NightOwl40, good to see you're still around too, hope all is well!

Food is a funny thing, I've had games where I'm near starving and scrambling to reach a new floor before I faint, and other times I'm swimming in food: like 12+ food in my pack! Of course I always die from something else.

Maybe try playing as the "Fat Bastard" secret character so you have plenty of food while you get the hang of stuff again. That or hope for the Staff of Cornucopia :D

Nighthawk wrote:
NightOwl40 wrote: I hope I can get that far on the next run...and survive the skeleton if it resurrects on me ;)
Don't forget that *all* enemies except for vampires like to take a nap after a big meal. That includes bones-file skellies. :) :ugeek:
I shouldn't spoil the surprise, but I may have closed that loophole for undead-types. Part of my hidden gameplay tweaks, some of which work for the player and some against :twisted:

Throwing your food trick does work on pretty much every other monster though!
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Re: Rogue Touch Version 2.0!

Post by Nighthawk »

CommanderData wrote:Were you running a normal or special name?
Just my normal Nighthawk.

Regarding godhood, I see nihilist ran off like 5 wins in a row... there's your god. :-)
CommanderData wrote:About the Victory Screen (among other things)
Just yanking your chain a little. ;)
CommanderData wrote:I totally agree about the Pinch Zoom annoyance. Adding these new zoom levels I was pinching quite a bit to see what stuff looked like at each % point from smallest to largest to ensure the best scaling filters applied. Inevitably I would take an accidental step afterward at random, sometimes with dangerous consequences :shock:

What I wasn't prepared for with the new zoom levels is how much I enjoyed seeing everything up close at 200%! It can be claustrophobic at times, but once the dark rooms are reached you generally only see those few squares light up around you anyway and have to rely on the mini-map more.

In any case, the Pinch Zoom / Step thing is a problem people may run into more now so I'll try to capture those stray inputs at both the start and end of the zooming in the next update.
I still always run @ 50%, especially now that the rooms show you what tiles you've already seen by "greying out". Also, movement when zooming is avoidable by making sure you're up against a wall when you pinch / expand.
CommanderData wrote:Regarding the Amulet affecting pit traps, I think this depended upon which Rogue clone/variant you were playing... But I've been bitten by the annoyance of falling down a level or two in a row like that as well! Will look at the hovering while carrying the Amulet as a new feature, maybe for V2.1.
Rogue 5.3 was always my Rogue jam, especially because I could keep it on a floppy, start it up, and then remove the floppy at places I was doing temp work for. ;) I *think* pit traps were disabled (or activated but you didn't fall through) when carrying the Amulet.
CommanderData wrote:The 26th floor isn't strictly scripted, I assume you found the Amulet inside a party room? :lol:

I did make a fun little change which guaranteed a party room starting on the 6th floor, and again at regular intervals afterward. Two reasons for starting on the 6th is to throw people off the obviousness of every 5 or 10 floors, and to ensure there was a party room on the 26th floor!

The Amulet of Yendor does not have to appear within this party room (yet), but I'm thinking about forcing it to appear there :twisted:
Yes, was in a party room, but luckily did not spawn beneath a monster (although the steps did).

The 26th floor in my game was laid out in an E connected shape. Spoiler (highlight to read): The middle left room was a dragon hoard room, with the dragon blocking the door to the east. The middle room was a maze room. The middle right room was the party room with a monster blocking the door. <end spoiler>

So it felt scripted... just got a "lucky" roll. Spoiler (highlight to read): Wasn't too hard to get the hoard room dragon and the... jabberwocky I think, blocking the entrance to the party room out of the way with a little "throw dart, food / paralysis" combo. <end spoiler>
CommanderData wrote:Maybe we should make a new thread with suggestions for V2.1 and beyond? I know there's old suggestion threads around here but could be fun to start a fresh dialogue :D
Yes, and pin it to the top of the list.


So, game mechanic question regarding being able to kick in secret doors. This new mechanic makes searching for secret door *way* more efficient than searching. And personally, I never search within a room unless I'm looking for a secret door (if I get nailed by a trap, so be it).

There doesn't seem to be *any* gameplay penalty balance for this. For example, kicking down a secret door in a party room full of sleeping monsters currently doesn't do anything at all; they all just continue sleeping like nothing happened. Perhaps using the kick search method (on the wall tile where the door actually is) should wake up all the monsters in the room to balance it out a bit?

Also, the player doesn't get charged a turn for attempting a kick search. Could affect speed runs. :ugeek: In the past, banging into a wall repeatedly did not charge the player with a turn, but maybe this should (again, only on the turn where they actually reveal the secret door)?
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