Kyzrati

1B-0RG, his Assimilator, and You

Play Beta 16.1

Unchained Theory

ALERT: Unchained "KY-Z71" authorized to operate in Patreon, avoid or assist as necessary.

So the last Beta 16 patch went out last month, and in the time since there's been lots of run data coming in, which interestingly also marks the first time I've ever actively monitored run stats. Like, in the past there were a small handful of releases for which I may have compiled stats to examine some individual new feature, mainly stemming from ongoing player discussions and pur...

Cogmind Beta 15 Stat Summary

Copied from the forums, where you can see this same content with alternative formatting, as well as stat analyses for previous versions. I am adding Patreon as a new outlet this time since it may be more convenient for some.

With Beta 16 released to kick off our futu...

Simpler Unchained wizardry with "uc"

A collection of new commands, but most importantly for Beta 16: manual Unchained dispatching...

I'd wanted to add this feature to wizard mode even during Beta 16 prereleases, but Unchained internal systems are naturally more complicated than usual and were still taking shape at the time, so didn't want to simultaneously have to figure out how best to implement a usable "unchained" summoning command while in the middle of building and debugging the systems themselves. For best usability ...

Beta_16_Final_Final (3)

I jest! This is clearly the first (and hopefully better be the last) final Beta 16 build, here and ready for you now :D

Kudos to all those confronting the Unchained menaces so far and in some cases repurposing their gear, though the Unchained have killed enough patrons--it's about time to send them off to find fresh steel to melt and bury... then do it some more in a near-term 16.1 with the likes of V4-D3R, BL-1NK, and perhaps 1B-0RG?

Don't worry, they'll get first dibs on you, to...

Beta 16 X2 Prelease: U-N-C-H-A-I-N-E-D

It begins. Our Beta 16 eponymous opponents are upon us.

So the Unchained are finally ready to make their appearance! Some time, somewhere, they're ready to toss an unexpected wrench into your plans, at least once they've deemed you a worthy enough target.

I've already given a general rundown of their design, so I won't rehash all that here.

Although ultimately the idea is to have Unchained be so...

Unchained 101

They've been alluded to for years, they've gradually crept into the lore, they've tickled your imagination and possibly haunted your nightmares, and now they're finally coming.

As you know from previous entries the final piece of Beta 16 is to start injecting the Unchained into Cogmind. Slowly but surely they're here, in the steel.

Again not all of them are coming right away--they'll be split over two releases, but in the current version we'll be establis...

Beta 16 X1 Prelease: Achievements+

It's time to buff your non-prototype parts via Scanalyzers, and you can start to go after the many new achievements NOW.

Although Beta 16 is officially dubbed "Unchained," you will find that the Unchained are the only thing not in this prerelease :P

Lots of bug fixes, a few tweaks and other features here and there, but the main mechanical draw for this version will be the new Scanalyzer tech, which turned out neat in practice (I streamed a recent run using it). You can re...

Complex 0b10 Scanalyzers, Upgraded

You've voted for expanded Scanalyzer functionality, and here it comes... enabling new or improved builds, especially those made of salvage!

As a player, given my normal play styles I mostly ignore Scanalyzers except for a few special situations. Although some players get quite a lot out of them already, relatively speaking they've always had somewhat narrower strategic use cases compared to other interactive machine types. Hence my thoughts some years ago on how to give them another int...

"Designing for Mastery" in Roguelikes

A deep dive into building roguelikes that leave room to demonstrate mastery even when facing extreme challenges in environments defined by RNG, procedural content, and permadeath.

We did another Roguelike Radio recording! Been a long while and the episode (recorded last week) is still in editing, but as we covered an inspiring topic close to my heart I also wanted to write about it for the blog.

At nea...

Hark! The new HARC cometh!

While we wait for votes... new Cogmind QoL features! Yes, Heavy ARCs are also a sort of QoL, as you'll see ;)

At the start of this week I prepared the minor feature list for Beta 16, and have been making very good progress chipping away at that, especially with the extra day available--I was supposed to stream the conclusion to my 0bPrime run on Tuesday, but postponed that since my son has the flu, and me shouting into a mic about my UFD allies early in the morning was probabl...

Cogmind Beta 16 Feature Voting

12 options up for voting this time--heat map overlay, bothacking expansion, more encounters, overmap view and more...

New version, new voting! Okay mostly the same topics, but time for another round...

So last time we got new legs, well received in Beta 15 and even came with a handful of those new melee features from another voting option thrown in to go with them (as well as on new related utilities, if late game). Good choice! One of the new enemies took advantage of the new leg...

Achievements + 222

Woohoo, they're done! Come Beta 16 release, Cogmind will have a new achievement total: 466.

Yeah we lose the funny 256 number, and no the new set didn't quite reach 512 as some hoped, but the precise count is also not entirely relevant since going forward with our new more flexible architecture for adding achievements we will be getting yet more after this batch, to encompass future content as it comes.

For now, the addition of 222 more achievements covers all the new stu...

Achievements Brewing, World Map Stewing

As you probably know, Beta 15 went out, and it was good! We've only had one patch and no need for more, though on my end I've already addressed several issues to be rolled into Beta 16, where we'll start to see... the Unchained?! More on them later since work in that area is still a ways off.

Instead as previous suggested I'm now indeed focused on new achievements, a decent-sized undertaking on its own which I'd been holding off for years for a better opportunity, but no longer!

T...

Cogmind Beta 15 "0bPrime" Release! Also: Achievements?

Public release of Beta 15 is imminent. Ideally it would've happened earlier this week but I was trying to get healthy again before taking the leap, and was finally on the road to achieving that personal goal but apparently that's suddenly headed in the wrong direction again... So unfortunately still no streaming, but release can wait no longer! It's time to forge 0bPrime!

Beta 15 will...

>> a iff parser

New wizard mode command! Wasn't going to announce it here yet, but it's in the latest Beta 15 X4 and is probably a bit of a time-saver (which is why I finally added it for myself in the first place :P), so probably worth announcing. From the latest How-to manual...

• "a [XXX]": A more advanced shortcut than "g", which first ...

  2025-04-23 09:07:00 +0000 UTC View Post

Beta 15 X4 Prelease: New Exterminations (RC)

The experiment is over, and results are good!

You may recall that Beta 15 began with the introduction of a new tracking system for extermination and assault dispatches, and that the initial implementation was a quick placeholder, just enough to see how the concept would play. The beginnings of that system, and what was still to come or at least consider, were described more in the subsequent article Welcoming O...

On Content Density

As of the latest prerelease Beta 15 now includes a whopping 97 new items since Beta 14, even more than the already huge 87 added with that version. Funny enough it's possible there's still a need for a few more coming up soon, though I don't anticipate breaking 100. But in doing all this work on primarily the Protoforge, which has now become one of Cogmind's more "content-dense" maps (especially among those controlled by the complex), I once again got to thinking about content density in gene...

Beta 15 X3 Prelease: Protoforge, now with V-Series!

The X-release that wasn't supposed to be, now is.

After slogging through other roadblocks (sickness, new dev machine, also actually a little sick again now xD) and pushing another back to who knows when (7DRL play) as yet another looms close (taxes, yay), X3 is done, and we're now all way up to 97 new items in Beta 15.

As stated the full extermination/assault update was postponed to get the Protoforge to an even better state, and you will now find the labs portion of...

Imp. Workstation

Well this has certainly been a March unlike what I'd envisioned!

I wanted to complete Beta 15 and get it out there so the ongoing work wouldn't conflict with my upcoming annual 7DRL streaming (not to mention a desire to finally release the polished version for everyone), then came the delays already discussed due to further exp...

Forging the Protoforge

The release of Beta 15's X2 version at the end of February marked the completion of the UFD story arc together with its new ending and related challenges. Many thanks to everyone who's been doing UFD runs and trying out the new content!

I'm pleased with the results on that and it was clearly worth all the design time, including the pages of math dedicated to calculating out progression and balance for d...

Beta 15 X2 Prelease: New map, new events... UFD COMPLETE

YES! The UFD is at last prepared to... do whatever it is they're out to do you'll just have to find out ;)

X2 is ready to play, and it even comes with a new ending, Cogmind's 10th and the first ending possible prior to even reaching -1. Now that doesn't mean it's easy... on the contrary, it offers a new set of challenges, and beyond that there are also even greater end-game challenges now that +++ is a thing you could choose to go after if you're truly insane.

At the same time, th...

Mapgen: Turning "Guaranteed" into GUARANTEED!

A rather well-known aspect of Cogmind's map generation among long-time players is that there are a handful of "semi-important" areas that may not actually appear in their respective maps even though you consistently encounter them across the majority of runs. They're not absolutely vital areas, and there aren't many of them, but they do get brought up in discussions when mysteriously absent since people expect them to be there, and see them there... most of the time.

While I generally l...

Happy New Year, it's Santa tracking time...

Welcome to the end of 2024, as the UFD prepares to boldly march its way into the new year with another major Cogmind release! Soon enough they'll be ready to show you what they can really do...

Looking back, though, as mentioned in my annual review over on the dev blog this week it's been a great year, and in no small part due to your support.

2024-12-25 00:21:24 +0000 UTC View Post

Welcoming Our Less Precise Programmer Overlords

We've had over a hundred X1 runs uploaded since it came out earlier this month, in the meantime having also released a couple updates to that build as reported via additions to the original release post. The first patch was mainly a pair of important bug fixes, the second however was a modified version of the tracking experiment we've been playing with to somewhat increase long-term pressure while still avoiding ...

Beta 15 X1 Prelease: Super Experimental?!

No, not the Z-kind of experimental, today we have a new build! And it's super experimental! Why? It changes a fundamental aspect of Cogmind that's been deeply rooted in the gameplay since the beginning, for better or worse... We shall find out soon which it is.

The change: Extermination and Assault dispatches no longer target you directly!

They do head to your general area, and they have somewhat different behavior (don't expect them to act like patrols), but they...

Stats for the Stat God

Scattered throughout my notes from over the years were some interesting possible stats to include in our scoresheets, though some were either of uncertain value or rather involved to implement, so as optional pieces of info they'd been left by the wayside for some time. Well, following the recent reorganization I picked out all those which from a modern perspective I can see being useful for both players and myself to add them now. There were also some basic stats that were missing, like Robo...

Legs++

Voting complete! Yesterday I ended the recent Beta 15 feature poll after a full week had passed, with most of the votes having come in the first few days, followed by a trickle and then just about one participant by the second to last day. You can see the description of each option in that post, but below are the final results (376 votes in all):

2024-10-14 00:53:41 +0000 UTC View Post

Cogmind Beta 15 Feature Voting

Feature voting is back!

I originally said I wanted to wait until getting past the UFD arc before doing this again, in the interest of focusing on completing that and its rather extensive related feature list, but Beta 13 and 14 together have already been a pretty big success, and already comprise a majority of that arc.

Even more relevantly, my recent foray into the 450-page-deep TODO list led me ...