The third article in the Ultimate Morgue File series is up, in which I write about why and how to include accessible character dumps in Cogmind, including automated build classification and a situation analysis system.
I've embedded it in image form below, but you can also check out the text version here (which also animates any gifs). The...
2019-08-02 10:52:32 +0000 UTC View PostBeta 9 X4 is ready, with both tweaks and some new content.
Among other fixes and small tweaks, here are the highlights:
Parts in Cogmind have different rarities. There are a number of variables that factor into this aspect, defining how likely it is for a given part to appear at each depth (if ever, since some parts can only be placed manually via prefabs or other methods). These include the base rarity (common, uncommon, rare), the types of maps in which they can appear (essentially derelict-controlled, 0b10-controlled, or any), and the spread of depths where they can appear beyond the base depth for their ra...
2019-07-23 22:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostThe second article in the Ultimate Morgue File series is up, this one a more complete version of an earlier Patreon post as we continue exploring new scoresheets by taking a look at the ASCII maps being added to them.
I've embedded it in image form below, but you can also check out the text version here. The password for access is "asciiisbestscii...
2019-07-17 13:08:46 +0000 UTC View PostSo Valve is planning to update the layout and appearance of everyone's game library, which means all of us devs with a game(s) on Steam need to provide visual assets compatible with the new library. Reportedly for those games which don't manually do this Valve will try to automatically convert old assets based on what we've already got up there, but obviously games relying on that system aren't going to look as good since the formatting will be quite different. Lotsa devs gonna be spending ti...
2019-07-11 03:58:54 +0000 UTC View PostThank you all for your contributions to the Beta 9 prerelease progress. Bugs have been stomped, features are still being added, and the biggest feature of all, the online stat database, is now under (early) construction. As part of these processes I've been referencing prerelease scoresheets, and am attaching the 138 scoresheets we've collected so far if you want to check out other runs, or see where you stand compared to other prerelease players since we don't have any leaderboards for this ...
2019-07-08 02:53:50 +0000 UTC View PostI'm starting a new article series based on Cogmind's scoresheets, this first part more of a general overview. Some of the content has been posted here on Patreon before in more of a draft form, but now I've organized it all and also included sample images etc.
I've embedded it in image form below, but you can also check out the text vers...
2019-07-03 22:10:35 +0000 UTC View PostI've added some Wizard Mode features for Beta 9 but will hold off on updating the Wizard Mode How-to until Beta 9 officially releases.
Instead, if using Beta 9 X3 you can access Wizard Mode using the key attached to this post, and reference the new features below:
Beta 9 X3 is here, likely the last prerelease update for a while as I start work on the new leaderboards and online database.
Some highlights of X3:
X3 saves are not compatible with previous releases, so consi...
2019-07-02 05:29:56 +0000 UTC View PostAt the beginning of last month we voted for the top feature everyone wanted to see in Beta 9 from a list I'd put together. The final results of that vote, at least as of this week and the numbers I acted on, are here:
So manual machine hacking upgrade it is! And that's what I've been up to both yesterday and today, a...
2019-06-27 09:51:40 +0000 UTC View PostI just realized: Now that we have ASCII map sections exporting to stat dumps and scoresheets, it's possible to import those into REXPaint using the -txt2xp switch, and then edit them :P
Here I took a map area from one of my runs and messed with it using a C64 font:
Here's the original area that was dumped from in game:
2019-06-19 23:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Hot on the tail of last week's X1, we now have Beta 9 X2!
There are no significant changes, mostly some bug fixes and small adjustments here and there, but it's good to switch over as soon as possible so that your scoresheets in particular take advantage of all the changes I made there as that system becomes finalized, so we can look at them and see what else might need changed or added.
<... 2019-06-17 06:17:29 +0000 UTC View PostI've written up a complete look at the new RIF ability system and its permanent upgrades. Unlike previous articles, this one will be going public after just a day, so I'm not putting it on the blog just yet, instead embedding it below. You can find the non-image version on the blog tomorrow (a few of the demos are also gifs, so you'll be able to examine those more closely tomorrow as well).
If you want to try them out, all of these features are in the Beta 9 preview 2019-06-12 01:57:40 +0000 UTC View Post
Time for an early (early early) prerelease. Normally I'd do a so-called "prerelease" within a few days to a week before an official release, but this time is different because Beta 9 has an especially long dev cycle. There's simply too much to do that I don't want to separate out into different releases, specifically the new scoresheets and leaderboards, but doing them together (along with all the other stuff a release needs) is rather time-consuming xD
So I may as well let all you patr...
2019-06-11 05:32:37 +0000 UTC View PostWell this week I was going to get started on the manual hacking enhancements as per the earlier votes, at least planning it out and doing some mockups to share with you today, but I'm behind on that due to the unexpected server issue that took down much of the GSG site and still isn't completely resolved.
I've now got another more pressing deadline at the moment so the hacking thing will have to be put off for a bit longer while I make progress on the Beta 9 prerelease!
T...
2019-06-07 02:27:20 +0000 UTC View Post
I did this a little while back, so thought I'd drop another since I've just now finished tallying up the past couple weeks. (Normally I do this on a weekly basis, but since it's not super high priority, I sometimes end up doing it some days late. The data is all sitting on my desk anyway :P)
So that's what I've been...
2019-06-03 01:05:30 +0000 UTC View PostJust put something new on the blog for patrons, an article exploring the hows and whys of alternate modes of play for roguelikes, taking a range of mode types from Cogmind and other games as examples.
I've embedded it in image form below, but you can also check out the text version here. The password for access is " holidaymode "
2019-05-28 23:36:35 +0000 UTC
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FINALLY, that history log I've been working on for Cogmind for over a week, and introduced in the last update, is COMPLETE. Well, "complete," I should say, because it's not fully tested and I bet it's got yet more bugs than I've found in my quick test runs so far :P
It's just too huge to test every situation individually, and not as important as something like the achievements (256!) or robot ...
2019-05-28 12:50:44 +0000 UTC View PostHaving introduced the mostly complete new scoresheet format last week, I then started working on its last remaining section: the history log. Now I'm already six days into the task and, oh my, this job is massive.
A "History log" here refers to a list of important events and actions that took place throughout a run, and when (turn number) and where (depth/map) they occurred. E...
2019-05-20 12:52:54 +0000 UTC View PostLast month I gave a preview of our new upcoming scoresheet format, at which point it was just a mockup (including uncertainties and various other related notes of mine). Well now the format is not only finalized, but fully implemented!
I've attached a sample scoresheet, just a short test run up to -5/Factory, which is essentially spoiler-free. You can download that if you like to go along with my explanations...
2019-05-13 09:37:14 +0000 UTC View PostThe new scoresheet format is almost complete, but there are a few remaining bits to take care of. New bits. Being mostly done with the content I wanted to go ahead and get the in-progress character dump feature working (i.e. manually output a scoresheet for the current run before it's complete), and one of the main things I wanted to do specific to the dump is provide a short little one-sentence analysis of the current situation at the top, specifically where the "result" of a run is normally...
2019-05-08 12:52:50 +0000 UTC View PostOver the past week in our #patron Discord channel, once again discussion rolled around to the topic of "part sets," the idea of having a few standard kits/groups of parts that you switch between depending on what tactical mode you're in. For example among some players it's common to replace sensors with armor before going into combat, and switching back when ready to explore again. Or maybe even as a pure combat bot simply switching between two sets of weapons depending on whether or not you'...
2019-05-06 13:07:17 +0000 UTC View PostAs per the discussion in March when I called for "TODO list prioritization" suggestions, it's time to decide! Cogmind's Beta 9 release will include one of these features, whichever you all decide:
A number of times over the past couple years or so in various places I've written about Cogmind's turn/time system, and I've finally gathered all the info into one dedicated article covering the evolution and characteristics of the system I use.
I've embedded it in image form below, but you can also check out the text version here. The password for access is "chronowheel"
2019-04-23 01:27:23 +0000 UTC
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A number of roguelike morgue files include a little summary map of player surroundings at the time of death (or victory!). Although in text format it can never offer the same level of condensed detail as a screenshot or interactive map, even just a grid of characters can give a general idea of where Cogmind was and what was happening at the time.
One of the big limitations of exporting a text map is that it can't show Cogmind's machines properly. These are drawn with CP437 (extended ASC...
2019-04-19 06:00:02 +0000 UTC View PostA loooooooong time ago I explored morgue files in various roguelikes and wrote about a potential future for Cogmind's own scoresheets. Well as we march closer to 1.0 and a lot of the content and systems are already in place (the game is much more mature than it was back then!), plus we already have a lot more experience with run data and what people want to know, so it's finally time to b...
2019-04-16 10:43:00 +0000 UTC View PostBeta 8.1 comes with a few new Wizard Mode features, plus I've also gone and openly documented some of the ones you technically had access to before but that I hadn't mentioned (some people found them, though :P).
The Wizard Mode How-to has been updated to include the full list as it stands now. More will be coming in future versions.
Here are the brand new console commands:
As April 1st approached, I really wanted to do something like last year, a special one-day event that automatically activates a unique mode for anyone playing on internet fun day.
Well sometimes I like to just play as fast as possible, so I wondered what it'd be like if I redesigned the mechanics a bit to make Cogmind more arcade-ish with a bit of real-time factors thrown in. The core idea was to make it so that your parts would automatically degrade with (real!) time, forcing you to ac...
2019-04-03 10:01:00 +0000 UTC View PostPrereleeeeeeeease!!!! Now a normal prerelease I'd be doing a good bit before the public one, but this time is a bit different since it's got a very specific deadline (4/1!) and I spent longer on it than I maybe should have :P
This release includes a bunch of fixes and tweaks, but most importantly I spent several days this week building a new AFD mode, which alone added 752 lines of code, a +0.6% increase in the core Cogmind code base.
I haven't written the release notes yet (those...
2019-03-30 11:57:06 +0000 UTC View PostMy latest article discusses the advantages of static and procedural maps in a roguelike, naturally taking Cogmind as an example since it includes both for different reasons. (This is yet another extension of the original level design article.)
I've embedded it in image form below, but Patreon is actually terrible with images and formatting (which is why I also didn...
2019-03-28 02:10:29 +0000 UTC View Post