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Author Topic: Cogmind (sci-fi robot-themed roguelike) - BETA RELEASED  (Read 285158 times)

UristMcDwarf

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Re: Cogmind (sci-fi robot-themed roguelike in development)
« Reply #30 on: October 06, 2013, 11:15:46 pm »

Oh, how much will it be?
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Kyzrati

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Re: Cogmind (sci-fi robot-themed roguelike in development)
« Reply #31 on: October 06, 2013, 11:30:44 pm »

Good question. That won't be decided until later on, but standard indie PC game pricing would most likely put it at $10 or less.
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Cogmind - Sci-fi Roguelike (devblog) | X@COM - The X-COM RL | REXPaint - ASCII art editor | Patreon

UristMcDwarf

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Re: Cogmind (sci-fi robot-themed roguelike in development)
« Reply #32 on: October 06, 2013, 11:42:09 pm »

That is reasonable.
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Xantalos

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Re: Cogmind (sci-fi robot-themed roguelike in development)
« Reply #33 on: October 06, 2013, 11:46:21 pm »

Love this. Watching with interest.
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Kyzrati

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Re: Cogmind (sci-fi robot-themed roguelike in development)
« Reply #34 on: October 09, 2013, 08:23:47 pm »

Multi-tile Robots. They won't be too common, but they're now possible.
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Cogmind - Sci-fi Roguelike (devblog) | X@COM - The X-COM RL | REXPaint - ASCII art editor | Patreon

UristMcDwarf

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Re: Cogmind (sci-fi robot-themed roguelike in development)
« Reply #35 on: October 09, 2013, 09:09:27 pm »

Will there be randomly genned levels or will the whole game be pre-made?
Also, wanted: pixel artists? I'd give it a shot.  :P
« Last Edit: October 09, 2013, 09:11:21 pm by UristMcDwarf »
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Kyzrati

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Re: Cogmind (sci-fi robot-themed roguelike in development)
« Reply #36 on: October 09, 2013, 09:27:28 pm »

All maps are randomly generated. I do plan to add a certain amount of prefab content for the generator to incorporate into some layouts, but that will be limited mostly to special areas. I won't be posting any details about map design for a while as that is still several months away. However, the first thing I did before even re-starting this project was write a new generic map generator that will, when the time comes, be modified to build Cogmind-specific maps.

Also, wanted: pixel artists? I'd give it a shot.  :P
Are you a professional pixel artist? :P
Even if not, the game will be moddable so you could always replace whatever robot icons you want.
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Cogmind - Sci-fi Roguelike (devblog) | X@COM - The X-COM RL | REXPaint - ASCII art editor | Patreon

UristMcDwarf

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Re: Cogmind (sci-fi robot-themed roguelike in development)
« Reply #37 on: October 09, 2013, 09:43:20 pm »

Actually, I'll have you know, I am very professional.
Enclosed is some of my work.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
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Steelmagic

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Re: Cogmind (sci-fi robot-themed roguelike in development)
« Reply #38 on: October 10, 2013, 12:53:58 am »

Actually, I'll have you know, I am very professional.
Enclosed is some of my work.
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
10/10 would hire.
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Kyzrati

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Re: Cogmind (sci-fi robot-themed roguelike in development)
« Reply #39 on: October 13, 2013, 04:41:23 pm »

Introduction to the main gameplay element besides "robots" in Cogmind => machines.
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Lap

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Re: Cogmind (sci-fi robot-themed roguelike in development)
« Reply #40 on: October 16, 2013, 04:03:06 pm »

Super mega post below:

I've had a lot of ideas ever since I first played Cogmind, but I never fleshed any out since there wasn’t any active development. Now that there is I’m just going to present as many as possible and see if any stick.

Game Mechanics
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
UI Changes
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Rooms/"Vaults"
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Machines
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Hazards
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
New Enemies
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Universal Traits
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Weapons Traits
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Propulsion Traits
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Battery Traits
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Equipment:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Corruption Effects
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
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Kyzrati

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Re: Cogmind (sci-fi robot-themed roguelike in development)
« Reply #41 on: October 17, 2013, 01:28:23 am »

Super mega post, indeed. This'll be fun.

First off, as much as I'd love to make this into a "dream game" and continue improving it for a good long time, I'm not really sure how popular it will be beyond the rather niche core audience, or whether it will be able to earn much revenue at all, so I'm kinda torn between trying to keep a tight feature set and making the gameplay even deeper by adding more options. My plan is to finish a nice set of features in time for a 2014 release, then expand and tweak the game after release assuming there is enough support. So anything simple that obviously adds a lot to the game will go in sooner, while other features may get put on the back burner.

Game Mechanics
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
I like how targeting subsystems could increase the tactical options, but it would also be rather easy to abuse the system and trivialize many combat situations. Enemies are essentially helpless if you destroy their weapon(s), so if that became easier than destroying their core you'd generally choose that option, or if it's easier to destroy the core you'd never use the weapon destruction option. Seems like another option that doesn't add much real decision-making to gameplay. Perhaps a compromise on this would be to add specific targeting utilities that raise your chance of hitting certain types of parts, but even then when would you really use those? Also, difficulty is currently fairly easy to balance because your goal in combat is to destroy the enemy's core and I can directly control that one factor for each robot.

Thermal damage: Overheating is only a problem if you use a lot of energy weapons, when it can become a serious issue (I've definitely encountered it)--if you rely on ballistics, then all you have to worry about is maintaining a supply of matter.

EM damage: How far have you progressed in the game? EM damage serves a special purpose that may not be apparent at first. The game has no hunger clock, but corruption was introduced as the mechanic used to "push the player along" in the later levels. Earlier on your core is weak so integrity is the limiting factor there. By the end you can have up to *26* attached parts, and a much stronger core, so your core is much safer. There needs to be another way to get at the player; that's where corruption comes in. Once you reach 4/Factory, the only class of robot that carries EM weapons starts to show up, and will appear in greater numbers and track you down until you leave the level. The corruption side-effect from their weapons generally builds up only gradually, but it bypasses your parts completely and does add up, especially in the later levels (it's also difficult or impossible to get rid of without evolving, so you can't ignore it). That said, I do want to add even more negative effects from corruption. (One that didn't make it into the 7DRL was misfires--imagine walking down a narrow corridor and having your missile launcher suddenly arm itself and fire into the wall next to you ;p)

Modifiers: With Cogmind I wanted to do away with explicit "levels" and minimal stat differences entirely, giving most items a unique purpose. With all the new weapon mechanics that are being added, I'll be able to move the item set closer to my origin plan by eliminating some redundancy. But then there are also a lot of players who just like to see the numbers go up and get better versions of similar items, so the items kind of take a middle ground in that respect by adding the handful of generic modifier prefixes. I may add a trait-like system in the future, but it will probably only be used for special cases and scripting rather than basing the entire item system on it. We'll see how that turns out. If anything, the data is highly moddable so alternative sets would be possible if someone's interested.

UI Changes
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Weight/Movement: I agree that's the hardest part to understand. The best practical solution would probably be inserting a context-sensitive tutorial-like notice/message for new players when this is happening. This and other rules/mechanics are also accessible directly in the game by clicking on UI elements (there is also keyboard access, as with all commands).

Energy: That's a great idea. The new UI has a new open area to the right of the items where you can choose what kind of additional data you want to show. In the mockup I showed, it's currently set to show relative coverage, but energy production/consumption should be one of the other options.

Rooms/"Vaults"
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I love DCSS. The maps will have special prefab areas just like that; right now I'm thinking these will be designed using a special mode that can be activated in REXPaint. In the same vein as DCSS there will also be side "branches" off the main "dungeon," though they'll be implemented slightly differently. I'll talk more about that in the future when beginning map design. (You may have found a few preset rooms in the 7DRL, too. I added a few, but didn't have any time to make it a huge feature.)

Machines
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I like these ideas. I'll be covering each machine in its own post in the future, since there are a lot more details to share.

Your power conduit idea echoes another poster on TIG, and is something I considered a while back since it would ideally be implemented earlier if at all, but I spent a long time trying to come up with a simple way to animate these that is compatible with the engine. No luck. I think the environment may end up being rather simple. Mostly just robots, machines, and parts. Not that the highly focused design is not without its benefits. I'd like to see power conduits in some form as well, so maybe if I can find an efficient way to add conduits I'll still do it.

Hazards
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Snickered a bit as I imagined your sole remaining flight unit getting blown off as you fled across open lava ;)

While I think the environment may be a bit more static at first, we'll see what the atmosphere and gameplay are like then possibly add some of these things as necessary if it's not good enough. In any case, it will probably be necessary to find more ways to improve the apparent "theme" of each section. Ambient sound should help a lot.

New Enemies
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Will probably use some of these. (There are already more than 10 new classes of robot to add, each unique.)

Universal Traits
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Not sure if I want to go the trait system route, but even if not, many of your trait ideas in these sections are useful for items in general. Some can only realistically be implemented as traits though, and provide a compelling reason to seriously consider adding that mechanic. I'll have to compile a list of possibilities and see whether adding it would be worthwhile overall.

"Unstable" is already reflected in the stability rating of overloadable energy weapons. If I added traits this would still be a good one, though.

I really like the idea of "deteriorating" parts. They would add a lot of new gameplay options since, as you say, they act somewhat like temporary power-ups. The game (intentionally) lacks consumable items, which normally fill that role, but "deterioration" seems to satisfy nicely...

Weapons Traits
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Lots of love for weapons ;)

Ramping: This is a cool idea. The only problem I see with a mechanic like that is then any kind of ballistic gatling weapon is more or less obliged to use it rather than the normal firing mechanic, otherwise the disparity doesn't make sense.

Heat/Energy Ramping: Another neat idea. This could be implemented fairly easily and used for certain/special weapons. The harder part would be to integrate it into the UI in an easily comprehensible manner. I second the cool potential for high initial-cost energy weapons.

Burst: In practice this doesn't seem much different from a cooldown mechanic (the latter being much easier to implement). Some players are naturally against cooldowns, and having ramping costs would sufficiently cover this need, anyway, since then the decision whether or not to use the part again within a short time span is still up to the player and how they want to utilize their resources.

Ricochet: I was just thinking of ricochet weapons yesterday! Not sure if I'll add these yet.

Propulsion Traits
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Boostable: This is definitely worth considering, though it could make some builds potentially too fast. If I recall correctly, with the maximum number of the best propulsion in the original game, you could move 21 spaces before anyone could even react! We'll see how the math works out.

Transforming: Because the movement/weight system isn't complicated enough, already ;)

Battery Traits
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Self-sufficient batteries is an interesting concept, though if X=0 they essentially become power generators without any of the other power source mechanics. Wouldn't want to introduce a duality like that. Batteries and matter storage were slightly underused in the 7DRL, so the new version will be using them in new ways. Unlike the original, batteries and matter storage can also be set to load and retain the resource, so you can actually carry around extra full containers. Just added that functionality last week. Matter containers can be fed to fabricators to produce things, and there will likely be super powerful weapons that can actually consume an entire full battery (rendering it useless)--haven't added those two yet, though.

Equipment:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The thermal converter would probably be better implemented as a mock power source utility that generates energy based on your current heat, rather than applying a modifier to each of your weapons individually, since the effects are less visible in the latter case.

I left out energy->matter conversion intentionally mostly because I wanted matter to be finite, with the only supply being salvage. While it's true you could raise the cost so high that only high-energy builds could make use of it, it almost seems not worth adding such a utility if it has to be restricted so much. If added it would have to been fairly rare, too.

Corruption Effects
Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Targeting errors would be easy and fun, for sure.

Misidentification would be fun, though non-trivial to implement so we'll have to see on that one.

Sudden "component rejection" is another good one.


Whew, that took a while! Lots to consider... Tomorrow I'll be posting about the state of melee combat.
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Kyzrati

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Re: Cogmind (sci-fi robot-themed roguelike in development)
« Reply #42 on: October 17, 2013, 05:05:27 pm »

As promised, the latest update covers melee combat. Check out the new damage types, ramming, and close-up fighting.
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UristMcDwarf

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Re: Cogmind (sci-fi robot-themed roguelike in development)
« Reply #43 on: October 17, 2013, 07:59:18 pm »

I would be interested in designing a few vaults, though.
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Aoi

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Re: Cogmind (sci-fi robot-themed roguelike in development)
« Reply #44 on: October 18, 2013, 12:18:26 am »

Regarding component rejection-- I rather have the image of your core receiving a hash of each component you equip that includes serials, condition, etc. As damage and corruption increase, the less what you remember the hash to be and what the component responds with coincide. Beyond a certain degree of tolerance, your system just goes 'Nope!', recognizes it as a foreign threat and detonates it. While attached to your own body.

Whoops.
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