Bay 12 Games Forum

I lost the save file. I generated that map and did not take note of the map seed. The game crashed when I was fiddling around with screen resolution and the game did not get saved because when I fired up the game again I only had "New Game" in the menu.

BTW, great game, loving it already although it is still in alpha.

Aww, that's a bummer.  Sorry   I'm glad you're still having fun despite the crashing

Should I start a new Gnomoria thread focused on questions and stuff in the game?  This one started off more as a "what does everyone think" kind of thread.  I'm not totally sure on the etiquette for starting/continuing threads around here.

Quote from: Xinvoker on June 15, 2012, 05:30:52 pm

It's already in the next version, released about an hour ago 
It hasn't crashed on me yet either.

Does that apply to the demo yet?

Yeah, I uploaded the demo first

How do you handle orientation?  Is it automatic based on available walking space above/below or can you rotate all ramps you place by pressing R?

Ramps are automatic.  They look at the configuration of walls around them and destroy themselves when there are no walls.  I was thinking about having constructed ramps be free standing and rotatable in the 4 cardinal directions only, (ie no multi wall configurations like natural ramps).  I'd want to clearly label them as something else to avoid confusion.

The problem with ramps is that you have to designate them one at a time.

You're right!  I just changed it right now.  It will be an area select action in the next update.

Gnomoria dev here.

Wow!  You guys are awesome.  So many good suggestions.  I don't think I can answer all of them but I will try to touch on some.

The Incredible Machine type stuff.  Right now the mechanism system in game is in it's infancy.  There are 3 types of mechanisms.  Link, Power Source and Device.  Devices do stuff, power sources are required to operate them and you connect it all up with links. 

Currently in the alpha are:

Links:
gearbox
axle
lever
pressure plate

Power source:
handcrank
windmill
steam engine (requires coal to power)

Devices:
hatch
mechanical wall (think floodgate)

The mechanical wall acts as a way to block movement, a 1 story elevator or a crushing contraption of death.  The goal is to continue to add more devices and attempt to have them interact in a generic way to allow more freedom.  Currently in alpha, there are also your standard "self powered" traps that are spring loaded and have to be reset after going off.  The hope is that there will be some buildings for specific purposes and also the system has enough options that more advanced contraptions must be built out of the parts available.

Content aka Stuff!
I was focused on getting the basic parts in and working together and content is minimal for a lot of things. Adding more types of food and cosmetic building options at this point are just a matter of how fast art can be made.  There will of course be some things that require programming and more work but not everything.  Building stuff is pretty much the only thing I do in games like Minecraft and Terarria.  So I definitely want to add more visual options for things.  That's the only reason why there are multiple types of stone.  Colors!

Streamlining actions and controls
This is another important thing to me.  My big focus right now is fixing bugs now that alpha is released.  High up on the list after that is making performing actions more streamlined.  Aka hot keys.  I had a system in place where the right click menu was accessible with numbers but it felt clunky.  I'm gonna continue working on it and release something that speeds up playing the game for those already familiar with the context menu.

Oh, also Gnomes!  Maybe it's because I read too much Dragonlance in junior high but I picture these guys more steampunky and nowhere close to garden gnomes.  They wear goggles, leather aprons and like to take things apart and forget how to put them back to together.  They try putting valves on things that don't need them.  They're really nervous and talk too fast.  I don't have plans to implement travel by catapult but I would like to add individual life quests for each gnome that gives a permanent boost to happiness upon completing.

Keep up the great suggestions.  This thread is awesome!

I'd also love to have steam-powered mechanism in game.

There is a steam engine currently in game to power mechanisms.  It takes coal to run.  I haven't heard of anyone tinkering that far yet though

Thanks GlyphGryph!

Not going to buy it, of course, because I can't stand windows only developers. Foo to you!

Haha, I can't blame you   It's something I'll consider later, but I'm not sure how much I screwed myself with C#.

Well after my enjoyment of the game and seeing Robobob on the forum here, let's host a giveaway to promote it a bit. I'll put up a contest thread in a minute and I'll giveaway 10 copies. That should help Bay12 and also help SEO for Gnomoria.

Let the games begin!