Cryptband looking for testers

[RogerN]

One bug I found early on though - the shop "leaks" item flavors when you examine the items! That is, I examine some item and it tells me the flavor, so I'll know (but my character doesn't know) when I encounter one in the dungeon what it is!

Good catch, will fix.

edit: Also, I can't pick up items I find... I get a message saying "press RETURN to pick up this item", but nothing happens when I do so!

edit again: hmm, now it's working... weird!

edit 3: seems to only work when it's the first action I take when moving onto the tile... also, why is takeoff capital T, unlike in Angband?

It could be that I forgot to clear the prompt in some circumstances. Normally you must use the wait command (5 or .) to pick up an item if you decline to pick it up when entering the square.

The T vs t issue for taking off equipment is a mistake. I usually play with the laptop / roguelike commands, so I sometimes forget the original keys

[RogerN]

At first look due to unability to regen HP over time in dungeon melee combat seems underpowered. In angband when player kills a monster he generally do not care about being wounded, but here every lost HP counts, so why go melee unless you run out of all ranged attacks. This may be cool, after all nobody goes melee in real life, if he have some means of shooting.

Melee characters ought to be using ranged weapons frequently to kill or at least soften targets. The melee skill tree by itself, though, is pretty good. I've progressed at least as far as level 14 (that I can remember) with warriors. Warriors survive because they can kill or terrify many opponents on the first blow, and with improved melee speed they frequently get two blows before an opponent can attack. Parry and Fury are also key skills for a warrior.

[RogerN]

Version 1.1 has been posted. Download links have been updated in the first post of the thread.

Cryptband v1.1
--------------
* Fixed:	Character dump only displays the last trait purchased
* Fixed:	Weapons of Accuracy weren't generated properly and the
		associated descriptions were wrong
* Fixed:	Ranged ego weapons were not displaying their ego names
		properly
* Fixed:	Description of Magic Missile damage was incorrect
* Fixed:	Ranged weapon labels were missing the ) after damage modifier
* Fixed:	Wand, rod, and staff flavors were spoiled by examing items
		in the magic store.
* Fixed:	Characters without the assassin trait had a 1-in-100 chance
		to find mushrooms

* Changed:	Stores stock more low-level items for low-level characters
* Changed:	Accuracy modifier labels changed to <+X> so as to not be confused
		with damage modifiers
* Changed:	Armor description no longer explicitly mentions affecting
		armor level.  The description was redundant.
* Changed:	Recent message history added to character dump
* Changed:	Ego weapons are easier to completely identify by using them.
		The item will automatically be identified when what you know
		about the item narrows the list of potential egos to just one.

[Donald Jonker]

Really enjoying this variant so far - a breath of fresh air.

It wonder if it would be worth investigating limiting SP regeneration the same way you do with HP. Complement it with potions of restore mana. Just an idea.

My only real quibble with the UI right now is the inability to assign macros, especially since the game relies so heavily on missile combat.

Hopefully I'll soon hone my skills and be able to give some feedback on balance issues.

[Donald Jonker]

Crash report. Wasn't doing anything unusual, just walking I think. Here's the report it gave me:

It was version 1.1.

See the end of this message for details on invoking 
just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.

************** Exception Text **************
System.NotImplementedException: The method or operation is not implemented.
   at Cryptband.MonsterActor.CastSpell(GameEngine engine, DungeonLevel level, Player player)
   at Cryptband.MonsterActor.Process(Player player, GameData data)
   at Cryptband.GameEngine.ProcessEntities()
   at Cryptband.GameEngine.Dungeon()
   at Cryptband.GameEngine.MainLoop()
   at Cryptband.MainForm.loadTimer_Tick(Object sender, EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Timer.OnTick(EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Timer.TimerNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)

& then the list of assemblies. Let me know if you want the rest of it.

[RogerN]

That's enough to start hunting. Do you remember what level you were on?

Warning! Monsters which have air-based breath weapons (Air beast, Air vortex) can crash the game in version 1.1. I strongly recommend that players remove these monsters from the game until the next bugfix is released. You can open Data\monster.txt using any text editor and just delete the entries for these monsters.

[Donald Jonker]

That's enough to start hunting. Do you remember what level you were on?

Methinks it was level 6, possibly 7.

[buzzkill]

Healing in the dungeon is something I'd really like to avoid. If it becomes necessary then I might just make it painfully slow so that you burn through your food quickly if you rest too much.

You might want to consider a 'wound point' system similar to steamband. Hit points regenerate, wound points don't.

[Arendil]

Barely playable. Some random thoughts:

1) No map.

2) Lack of reasonable helpfiles.

3) Can't retire/quit/suicide the character. Tried to delete savefile manually, but can't find it.

4) Crash after attacking glutton ghost.

5) No health regeneration? Sucks. I think I'll pass then.

[Sirridan]

You might want to consider a 'wound point' system similar to steamband. Hit points regenerate, wound points don't.

I agree, this way Melee becomes a viable choice. It feels like the game encourages Melee (having the blacksmith, and a lot of melee weapons available in shops, and the skill trees for it). In practice however, pure or high melee is suicide. It honestly does get quite frustrating.

[RogerN]

1) No map.
2) Lack of reasonable helpfiles.
3) Can't retire/quit/suicide the character. Tried to delete savefile manually, but can't find it.
4) Crash after attacking glutton ghost.
5) No health regeneration? Sucks. I think I'll pass then.

1) Windows > Mini Map. The map is also clearly visible in the screenshot attached to the first post.

2) Yes, this is a valid complaint. However, as the game is currently in a state of flux, I didn't want to spend too much time documenting stuff that was likely to change.

3) I will add a suicide command for the next release. In the meantime, you can find your savefile in the following location:
C:\Documents and Settings\<your user name>\Local Settings\Application Data\Cryptband

For Vista or Windows 7 users (and this may not be 100% correct):
C:\Users\<your user name>\AppData\Local\Cryptband

4) Will investigate.

5) Your opinion is noted (and added to the stack of others that agree with you), but as I can consistently reach level 10+, even with pure melee characters, I'm not yet convinced that this is an issue.

Thanks for trying out the game, I appreciate the feedback.

[Sirridan]

So I'll keep trying, maybe more avoidance with melee.

In any case, I'll try and keep testing as is, and when the game is more stable, we can always make our own melee friendly version right?

But beyond all the issues and quirks, I love the concept, great job so far!

EDIT:

It's still a bit alien, and it's been a bit hard to break away from how I usually play V, so maybe once I'm further from that I'll do a bit better here.

[Arendil]

1) Windows > Mini Map. The map is also clearly visible in the screenshot attached to the first post.

2) Yes, this is a valid complaint. However, as the game is currently in a state of flux, I didn't want to spend too much time documenting stuff that was likely to change.

3) I will add a suicide command for the next release. In the meantime, you can find your savefile in the following location:
C:\Documents and Settings\<your user name>\Local Settings\Application Data\Cryptband

For Vista or Windows 7 users (and this may not be 100% correct):
C:\Users\<your user name>\AppData\Local\Cryptband

5) Your opinion is noted (and added to the stack of others that agree with you), but as I can consistently reach level 10+, even with pure melee characters, I'm not yet convinced that this is an issue.

Ad. 1) I missed that. I use map quite often so standard Shift-M to show and Esc to hide would be useful. At the moment it is rather a nuisance.

Ad. 2) I mean in general. Are those Stealth, Search and other skills similar to those in Vanilla or not? Few words about mechanics would be handy.

Ad. 3) The paths may vary, ufortunately. I've managed to find the savefile manually, but for some reason Windows search didn't find anything named Cryptband.

Ad. 5) It's not a question of something being doable or not. For me that feature is rather irritating and not fun. That sort of things may work in Doom roguelike, but not necessarily in Angand...

New:
6) Cleared, somehow, the first level, and although there is a portal back to town, I couldn't find the stairs down.

[RogerN]

6) Cleared, somehow, the first level, and although there is a portal back to town, I couldn't find the stairs down.

Please send me your save file if you still have it: rogercnorris at gmail.com

[ekolis]

Warning! Monsters which have air-based breath weapons (Air beast, Air vortex) can crash the game in version 1.1. I strongly recommend that players remove these monsters from the game until the next bugfix is released. You can open Data\monster.txt using any text editor and just delete the entries for these monsters.

Hahaha, you are definitely the same RogerN from the Space Empires community... I see that "Name := Giant white rat" stuff in monster.txt