Rogue Touch Version 2.0!

[Zaxxon]

After playing the new version for quite a few hours and reading the above posts, I think I have enough perspective to give some feedback:

1. Dragon hordes are a neat idea but they are far too common, creating massive GP inflation. I propose that there should never be more than one dragon horde per floor and that floors with dragon hordes on them should be both semi-random and exceedingly rare -- perhaps once every 50-100 floors (or more) and never occurring within the first 26.
   
   
2. The hard coded party rooms really switch the game into easy mode due to the increased equipment drops that accompany them. Although you are much less likely to find an "unwinnable" dungeon in 2.0, it's such a big change that I think it warrants the implementation of a difficulty selector (with only harder RT 1.0 style dungeons making it to the leaderboard). Regardless: While a case might be made for hard coded party rooms within the first 26 floors, I do not think they should occur after that. I also do not view reducing, eliminating or otherwise tampering with drops in these rooms as a "solution" because that would just push the difficulty in the opposite direction (and de-incentivize entering these rooms, making them almost as unappealing to explore as mazes).
   
   
3. Have Phantoms been lifting? They seem to both take and deal a lot more damage than I remember. Not a complaint, just curious.
   
   
4. Was the amulet's impact on your food consumption rate lowered/eliminated? If so, I'm not sure if this is a good change or not. A better way to handle it might be making food slightly more common on that first ascent from 26 to 0.

Overall a very positive update, thanks!

[CommanderData]

Zaxxon, Nighthawk,

Some really fantastic ideas and analysis of the RT 2.0 gameplay, I appreciate your input!

I did a lot of play-testing myself but it helps to have the eyes of players with different ranges of skill and knowledge. For you guys RT 2.0.64 appears easier than ever (which I tend to agree with). For others like NightOwl40, and a recent review from another player I got on the App Store, one of the largest struggles is still mostly about food.

Some tweaks I am considering for the next update would include:
1) Fix for the armv7 compatibility problem so older, 32-bit devices can run RT again
2) A chance that the party-rooms do NOT appear on their "scheduled" floor after all. It'll be more likely the room appears the deeper you go, and Floor 26 will always have one.
3) Force find/open a secret door wakes all monsters within, even if you're stealthy.
4) Dragon hoards start maybe only on Floor 25/26.
5) Some new / changed items. A few I've never been really thrilled with will get recycled to make room for new more interesting choices.
6) Several new secret characters, probably including one with twin rings of slow digestion and 3 food... which should be just about enough to run through an entire game to victory without finding any food at all

I should break this off into a new suggestions thread this weekend too!

[oldroguer]

Just got the update yesterday and just had to say, Wow! amazing new look!! I'm on my first run now (normal character) and will post later with any observations, along with any ideas for the suggestions thread.

Gameplay seems a little easier so far.

More later, but Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!!

[Jim2wheels]

Was on a great run with a frosted spear and a spare blessed hammer, loads of food and equipment happily approaching level 50. Decided to wield some daggers +0+0 and they we're cursed. How and when did this happen? Surely if you've thrown them and hit an enemy without any change to their stats then it's safe to assume there not cursed? Gutted as I was on a good run. Also managed to inherit knockback on my frosted spear, no idea how but it was an awesome combo!

[Zaxxon]

twin rings of slow digestion

This now seems to make you never need to eat again. Is that intended? I've made thousands of moves since putting on two of them and haven't needed to eat once.

[CommanderData]

Hi Everyone,

Some updates based on recent feedback:

1) Some people are noticing either more than usual of a certain kind of monster, or seemingly tougher than expected monsters. This is in reference partly to the Phantom-lifting note here, and also to a review in the App Store which complains about way too many Aquators.

To be clear, I didn't change anything on the frequency or distribution or strength of monsters (other than having guaranteed party rooms every X floors). I did add in some various strengths / weaknesses vs special weapons, and made it so undead no longer eat the food you throw at them and fall asleep (still works with other enemies). There are possibilities of finding tougher than expected monsters when playing as a secret character, and also when returning to the surface with the amulet, but those have been there for years.

Oddities here could be due to differences in random number generation in 64-bit vs the old 32-bit RNG. I'll keep an eye on things.


2) Jim2wheels, sorry to hear about the deadly run-in! I think I have an explanation of what happened to you. Some revisions back (possibly still in 2009!) I had made it so that stacks of ammo blended their abilities. This meant if you had a stack of flaming +2/+2 arrows, and picked up one that had shot at you from a trap, it would go into the flaming arrow stack and their magic would "rub off" onto it as well. Basically the attributes of the better item should always be retained. If you had a stack of normal arrows and added a bunch of flaming +2/+2 arrows to it, they'd all end up magical.

Daggers are a stackable ammo. What I think happened is you picked some cursed daggers (which were not officially identified as cursed yet), and these were added to your existing stack of dagger-ammo. At that point the +/+ values of the non-cursed daggers won out because even +0/+0 is better than the negatives in cursed gear. Unfortunately the "cursed flag" was retained for the stack, just as an elemental flag would be.

I'll investigate the code. This stacking feature is fun and keeps inventory clutter down, so I will probably keep it but always check for and clear the curse when stacking.


3) Yep, two rings of slow digestion would allow you to make thousands of moves before. I don't know the exact count off the top of my head but depending on how recently you ate before wearing them both it could seem like forever!

With that said, it is also possible the 64-bit update has things rounding a bit differently and causing the fractional food usage to drop to 0 per turn. Not sure if this is the case yet. If it is, I'm not sure that I will try to change it either... it could be an interesting "feature" for those lucky enough to find two rings of slow digestion!

I'd be very interested to know if you ever got hungry or weak after wandering with 2 of them on

[swhatley]

I really, really would like to play RT in landscape mode. Been wanting this since day 1. Hence why I wish RT ran natively on an iPad.

[CommanderData]

I really, really would like to play RT in landscape mode. Been wanting this since day 1. Hence why I wish RT ran natively on an iPad.

iPad support is something I'm really interested in doing! Won't be able to look at that until I get done with my current business projects and buy an iPad Pro (hopefully in the next two months).

No promises yet on timeline or whether it'll ultimately be feasible with Rogue Touch in its current form (there is some awful hack code I did while learning iOS back then!)... But I'll be learning about it either way so I might support the iPad and possibly even the Apple TV with games

[swhatley]

Really enjoying the higher res sprites!

RE: Too many of same monster: One game, I had Kestrels running outmy ears! I have noticed this with other monsters at times like with ice monsters, rattlesnakes, and auqators.

One feature req: PLEASE add a male/female switch to the Rogue Name prompt! Currently the only way to get a female rogue is to play a special character like Athena. Thanks!

[swhatley]

This was cool (literally!): On level 6, I opened a door to a party room. A rattlesnake was by the entrance. An ice monster was 3 squares further in. The ice monster shot an ice ball at me. Instead, it struck and KILLED the rattlesnake! First time I’ve seen that happen.