Been a busy two weeks!


All 256 achievements have been decided! The number is a complete coincidence, and I will be sad when further on down the line I add yet more achievements and ruin the count (or I'll just have to jump straight to 512, but I don't think I'm quite that crazy :P). I've recently been working on final icon passes and here we have the entirety of the more basic "Mechanics" category, which makes up about a quarter of all achievements:



I'll be showing more of these as Beta 6 progresses, and you can maybe guess what's what ;)

While the framework is coming along nicely, though, I still have to actually start implementing all these things. 256 is... a lot xD. Just look at all this data!



That's a shot of the post-startup achievements data as seen in the debugger, but the code behind them will be a little bit more involved than some lists...

Of course we also have the built-in achievement browsing UI, with which I've so far only reached the mockup stage. Remember, achievements will be available to both Steam and non-Steam players, and both will be able to take advantage of the better browsing features I have planned, as you can see here (open at full size so it's clearer):



I like the way the design turned out--lots of control, accessible to both mouse and keyboard players, includes both filters and sorting...

Now notice again this is a MOCKUP, so these icons don't even match the achievements next to them, and there are even duplicates. Little details like that don't matter when just trying to figure out colors, layout, and functionality :).

I normally don't share mockups before actually implementing a feature, but in this case I wanted to ask real quick for any opinions on which style of icon to use for locked achievements--see the ones with question marks in them. Designing icons in isolation I originally started with the "dark" versions seen in the second mockup below, but once I put together the full mockup it seemed that brighter versions as in the mockup above are probably better since they're generally more clearly distinguishable from unlocked achievement icons that way. Obviously there are other indicators to tell whether something is locked, but it's nice if all possible vectors are equally effective. Said dark version of locked icons:



I dunno, still kinda torn... What do you think?


For Beta 6 I've added a fourth way to pan the map: RTS-style. Funny enough it took years for anyone to request this on top of the existing methods, but I'm happy to oblige! Here's a demo of the new feature in action:



This type of panning will of course only be available in true fullscreen mode, though according to the latest Cogmind stats that's the mode two-thirds of players are using so coverage is decent. I find it clunkier to use than the precision offered by other methods, but everyone has their own needs!

This is actually the first time I've implemented a feature like this, so I had to figure out the best way to do it. The diagram below shows what I'm doing, calculating a line from the center to the cursor and just panning along that:



I'm not 100% sure if this is the best approach, but we'll see what those who actually need it have to say once it's live :D. Technically with some more work I could probably improve on the same method, such as having it accelerate slightly at the start? In any case, the panning speed is adjustable in the options menu as well.

While we're on the subject of RTS, here's a glimpse of what a Cogmind RTS might look like, zoomed out tactical view!



I made that as an April Fool's joke a couple years back, and talk about unexpected results: last year the official Twitter account for RT used this image for their coverage of cyberwarfare in the Middle East o_O




By request, I've added yet more map ASCII variants at even smaller sizes.

These include Terminus 12:



Terminus 14:



And my personal nostalgia-inducing favorite, IBM VGA 14:



That's one I would love to add at all sizes, but it really only works at the traditional size it was designed for. (Unlike, say, a modern fixed width font like Terminus which is pretty awesome at all sizes.)

Here's a fully-revealed map section using the IBM font, because IBM font:




We've got a lot of runs and other stuff to check out this time.

I still haven't been streaming and unfortunately won't for a a while yet (well, no Cogmind but I might stream my 7DRL for a bit after it's done!), but I did play a decent seed run you can read about here. I didn't win, but did manage to get far, beat my Beta 5 high with a new score of 35k, and had a lot of fun despite clearly making some bad calls along the way xD

b_sen, on the other hand, shared an excellent writeup of their first win. A very detailed account including screenshots and spoiler tags for all the spoilery stuff in case you want to avoid that.

We actually had two first wins in one week, another by Laida who shared a quick account in another thread.

nuzcraft shared an account of his seed run, too, one that just barely didn't win but on the way got to play with some cool tech that not a lot of people see. Very spoilery though, that one :) (he doesn't have the videos for that run up yet, but says they'll be available over the coming weeks)

nuzcraft also just added a short new tutorial video to his ongoing series, this one on Core.

fpsbossfight took a short break from dominating Cogmind to fire up the new Stellaris expansion, in which he role-played Cogmind lore <3



On the Discord we got to hear of the exploits and fates of the various robots named after us in Derelict fashion.

We also have some new fan art.

Laida drew a Tinkerer:



And also showed how to use a paint bucket to disguise yourself as an Unaware bot :P



Following up on the Cogmind-DF mashup art from earlier, b_sen created a New Game sequence mockup as if it were a prequel to the Cogmind story (note: text contains some lore spoilers)




7DRL is here! It's that time of year when hundreds of us roguelike devs bury our heads in our IDEs to produce some new stuff.

I'll be taking the week off to work on my 7DRL entry, so there won't be a SITREP next weekend. That said, seeing as this is a fairly Cogmind-related roguelike I'm planning, it's both relevant to progress here and will benefit Cogmind in a number of ways. Stay tuned for that release--I'm sure it's something you folks will enjoy!

It'll be announced on my dev blog first, at the conclusion of the event.

Also to update: The amount of features and work left for Beta 6 is rather staggering, so... a reminder that this one's going to take longer than usual! But as usual I also want to ensure it's the best it can be :D

I noticed Cogmind hasn't been getting many reviews in the past couple months, hovering just within or outside the threshold for even having enough recent reviews on Steam to show a recent total xD. It's been a while since I asked so we maybe have some newer players here who haven't left a review yet but want to? Reviews are appreciated and really helpful, so leave one if you can, thanks <3

Been a busy two weeks!


All 256 achievements have been decided! The number is a complete coincidence, and I will be sad when further on down the line I add yet more achievements and ruin the count (or I'll just have to jump straight to 512, but I don't think I'm quite that crazy :P). I've recently been working on final icon passes and here we have the entirety of the more basic "Mechanics" category, which makes up about a quarter of all achievements:



I'll be showing more of these as Beta 6 progresses, and you can maybe guess what's what ;)

While the framework is coming along nicely, though, I still have to actually start implementing all these things. 256 is... a lot xD. Just look at all this data!



That's a shot of the post-startup achievements data as seen in the debugger, but the code behind them will be a little bit more involved than some lists...

Of course we also have the built-in achievement browsing UI, with which I've so far only reached the mockup stage. Remember, achievements will be available to both Steam and non-Steam players, and both will be able to take advantage of the better browsing features I have planned, as you can see here (open at full size so it's clearer):



I like the way the design turned out--lots of control, accessible to both mouse and keyboard players, includes both filters and sorting...

Now notice again this is a MOCKUP, so these icons don't even match the achievements next to them, and there are even duplicates. Little details like that don't matter when just trying to figure out colors, layout, and functionality :).

I normally don't share mockups before actually implementing a feature, but in this case I wanted to ask real quick for any opinions on which style of icon to use for locked achievements--see the ones with question marks in them. Designing icons in isolation I originally started with the "dark" versions seen in the second mockup below, but once I put together the full mockup it seemed that brighter versions as in the mockup above are probably better since they're generally more clearly distinguishable from unlocked achievement icons that way. Obviously there are other indicators to tell whether something is locked, but it's nice if all possible vectors are equally effective. Said dark version of locked icons:



I dunno, still kinda torn... What do you think?


For Beta 6 I've added a fourth way to pan the map: RTS-style. Funny enough it took years for anyone to request this on top of the existing methods, but I'm happy to oblige! Here's a demo of the new feature in action:



This type of panning will of course only be available in true fullscreen mode, though according to the latest Cogmind stats that's the mode two-thirds of players are using so coverage is decent. I find it clunkier to use than the precision offered by other methods, but everyone has their own needs!

This is actually the first time I've implemented a feature like this, so I had to figure out the best way to do it. The diagram below shows what I'm doing, calculating a line from the center to the cursor and just panning along that:



I'm not 100% sure if this is the best approach, but we'll see what those who actually need it have to say once it's live :D. Technically with some more work I could probably improve on the same method, such as having it accelerate slightly at the start? In any case, the panning speed is adjustable in the options menu as well.

While we're on the subject of RTS, here's a glimpse of what a Cogmind RTS might look like, zoomed out tactical view!



I made that as an April Fool's joke a couple years back, and talk about unexpected results: last year the official Twitter account for RT used this image for their coverage of cyberwarfare in the Middle East o_O




By request, I've added yet more map ASCII variants at even smaller sizes.

These include Terminus 12:



Terminus 14:



And my personal nostalgia-inducing favorite, IBM VGA 14:



That's one I would love to add at all sizes, but it really only works at the traditional size it was designed for. (Unlike, say, a modern fixed width font like Terminus which is pretty awesome at all sizes.)

Here's a fully-revealed map section using the IBM font, because IBM font:




We've got a lot of runs and other stuff to check out this time.

I still haven't been streaming and unfortunately won't for a a while yet (well, no Cogmind but I might stream my 7DRL for a bit after it's done!), but I did play a decent seed run you can read about here. I didn't win, but did manage to get far, beat my Beta 5 high with a new score of 35k, and had a lot of fun despite clearly making some bad calls along the way xD

b_sen, on the other hand, shared an excellent writeup of their first win. A very detailed account including screenshots and spoiler tags for all the spoilery stuff in case you want to avoid that.

We actually had two first wins in one week, another by Laida who shared a quick account in another thread.

nuzcraft shared an account of his seed run, too, one that just barely didn't win but on the way got to play with some cool tech that not a lot of people see. Very spoilery though, that one :) (he doesn't have the videos for that run up yet, but says they'll be available over the coming weeks)

nuzcraft also just added a short new tutorial video to his ongoing series, this one on Core.

fpsbossfight took a short break from dominating Cogmind to fire up the new Stellaris expansion, in which he role-played Cogmind lore <3



On the Discord we got to hear of the exploits and fates of the various robots named after us in Derelict fashion.

We also have some new fan art.

Laida drew a Tinkerer:



And also showed how to use a paint bucket to disguise yourself as an Unaware bot :P



Following up on the Cogmind-DF mashup art from earlier, b_sen created a New Game sequence mockup as if it were a prequel to the Cogmind story (note: text contains some lore spoilers)




7DRL is here! It's that time of year when hundreds of us roguelike devs bury our heads in our IDEs to produce some new stuff.

I'll be taking the week off to work on my 7DRL entry, so there won't be a SITREP next weekend. That said, seeing as this is a fairly Cogmind-related roguelike I'm planning, it's both relevant to progress here and will benefit Cogmind in a number of ways. Stay tuned for that release--I'm sure it's something you folks will enjoy!

It'll be announced on my dev blog first, at the conclusion of the event.

Also to update: The amount of features and work left for Beta 6 is rather staggering, so... a reminder that this one's going to take longer than usual! But as usual I also want to ensure it's the best it can be :D

I noticed Cogmind hasn't been getting many reviews in the past couple months, hovering just within or outside the threshold for even having enough recent reviews on Steam to show a recent total xD. It's been a while since I asked so we maybe have some newer players here who haven't left a review yet but want to? Reviews are appreciated and really helpful, so leave one if you can, thanks <3

This week I finally finished taking care of all the personal issues I needed to catch up on after neglecting and letting them pile up for the past couple months while I worked on getting the past couple releases out to you all. Now all that stands in the way of Beta 6 is 7DRL and... of course all the remaining Beta 6 work itself xD

So what have I been up to in my travels through the endless world of Cogmind dev...

For one I hadn't played for a bit and it's always good to stay familiar with the experience and mechanics while designing more of them, so I took on last week's seed run and wrote about that on the forums. It was a wheels-only conduct run on which I successfully fought my way into the late-game, but ultimately doomed myself by splitting my long-term strategy between multiple disparate approaches based on some interesting (spoiler) parts I found. It would've been nice to have streamed this one since it was great fun, but I was still over here in Japan. I'm actually heading home today (if you recall I've been working from Japan), though it'll still be a while before I can back to streaming with all this work to do.

If you're interested in the commercial side of things, last week I also posted an article over on Gamasutra about the most recent Steam Winter Sale and the effects of being featured. Lots of data and graphs to pore over :)


A good many hours since the last news were spent coming up with the initial achievements list. Cogmind will start with at least a couple hundred achievements, so it's important to get the categorization right from the start and have everything nice and organized.

I also had to decide how to handle the icons, so I started doing some sketches in REXPaint and came up with a style that will work nicely. Preliminary tests:



Still more work to do there, including the final pass (and then also automating the creation of JPGs required by Steam--would much prefer PNGs...). And of course I'm using ASCII. Though naturally I want to (:P), there's also not much of a choice anyway since these aren't just Steam achievements--they'll also be displayed in game and must fit the theme and UI. Cogmind also doesn't use the Steam overlay so when you earn them they'll have to be rendered via its own terminal display.

It's been fun working with the symbolism, drawing on characters, colors and more aspects utilized in the creation of Cogmind to convey the idea of an achievement in a little 3x3 grid.

My current intention is to have all achievements available across all difficulty levels, avoiding the bloat of having separate versions for every difficulty. Almost everyone plays the default difficulty the game was designed for anyway, and for the rare case of players who want to move up from a lower difficulty level I'll add a way to reset your achievements. Unfortunately this particular feature will only be available to offline players because Steam does not support it.


In case you didn't notice (you've probably noticed xD), Cogmind can take a while to start up. This is because pretty much all data is loaded right at the start, which for years was fine, but it's continued to grow all this time and sequentially loading everything was starting to be quite a drag, made all the more noticeable by the fact that I have (and prefer to keep) a blank screen while the game starts. Windows might even decide pop up a nice little "this program is not responding" notice.

I'll deal with that message separately later, but more important is that it shouldn't really take so long to get into the game, so I took the three largest chunks of data and multithreaded them. Fortunately this was quite easy to do since each is mostly raw data that in this case really doesn't care about the existence of the others. The three chunks are GUI particle scripts, map particle scripts, and sound effects. (The only exception was particles that needed to reference sound effects, so for that I added some code to link them up after all the threads completed.) Highlighted profiling data for some potential optimization candidates:



So what kind of savings are we looking at? In my test build scenario, startup took 19.13s, including 6.27 for GUI particles, 3.98s for sfx, and 2.31s for map particles. That's 12.56 seconds for three things that can essentially be loaded in parallel. Post-multithreading profiling:



The main thread sleeps for 6.81s, meaning that basically the steps that previously took 12.56s were instead crammed into 6.81s. So startup time on many machines has been cut by approximately one-third... Nice :D

Here's a graph demonstrating what Beta 6's multithreading looks like, the first such case in Cogmind:



There's more optimization that could be done, but this was the easy stuff and most other work would have significantly diminishing returns so isn't worth it right now. I also left all the old sequential loading code intact so that I can switch over to that with a debugging option in order to properly debug any loading issues, just in case. It's not the kind of thing that usually has issues, but if it does it'll be nice to keep it single-threaded because multithreaded debugging is just asking for trouble and confusion.


You might have noticed among the guides that we have a new one! Last week Suizin/tamagotaso helped translate Cogmind's manual into Japanese. Quite a feat considering it's currently 60 pages / 17k words. Many thanks there <3



I've also made the TXT version available next to the English version on the site.

This week Jazzer reported finding a special Storage room that had no access from the rest of the floor, so I'll take this opportunity to point out that you can find rare instances of the map generator doing stuff like this. It won't affect your progress, can be a fun discovery to make by blasting in there (or via sensors/hacking), and can reflect "glitches" in the 0b10 system, either benign or perhaps intentionally influenced by crafty enemies of the Unaware. Or maybe they're just not done remodeling :P. As another example you'll sometimes find hidden doors that lead nowhere--they haven't gotten around to digging out the target room yet.

Here's Jazzer's Storage room as seen in the debugger:



The left one was built first and originally connected to a corridor, but later they decided to add another at the end of the corridor and filled in part of the corridor when they shifted the room rightward. Again this is quite rare, and not something I'll be addressing so you might just come across it one day :)

Another find by fpsbossfight, something which is definitely a bug but unfortunately not really worth the amount of time it would take to address considering how pointless this is during normal play: If you fill an entire map with Dirty Bomb Traps and set them off in a one-turn chain reaction, the game will crash around the 400th explosion xD

Rather than show the image here, I'll just link to it because it's spoilery if you have yet to find Zion. (Yes he was finding creative ways to murder everyone...)

Once again I'll schedule the next SITREP for two weeks from now, so March 3rd, while I continue forging ahead with the Great Achievement Update and also spend some time finishing up my plan for the upcoming 7DRL. I haven't had any time to think about that for a while, and I prefer going into a timed project with a clear plan so none of that precious time is wasted :)

Also notice that Cogmind is on sale both on my site and on Steam to coincide with the Lunar New Year sale. After this one ends in a few days, the next sale should be the Beta 6 release, for which I'm thinking I'll do an out-of-event one and some promotion since we're getting all these achievements :)

This week I finally finished taking care of all the personal issues I needed to catch up on after neglecting and letting them pile up for the past couple months while I worked on getting the past couple releases out to you all. Now all that stands in the way of Beta 6 is 7DRL and... of course all the remaining Beta 6 work itself xD

So what have I been up to in my travels through the endless world of Cogmind dev...

For one I hadn't played for a bit and it's always good to stay familiar with the experience and mechanics while designing more of them, so I took on last week's seed run and wrote about that on the forums. It was a wheels-only conduct run on which I successfully fought my way into the late-game, but ultimately doomed myself by splitting my long-term strategy between multiple disparate approaches based on some interesting (spoiler) parts I found. It would've been nice to have streamed this one since it was great fun, but I was still over here in Japan. I'm actually heading home today (if you recall I've been working from Japan), though it'll still be a while before I can back to streaming with all this work to do.

If you're interested in the commercial side of things, last week I also posted an article over on Gamasutra about the most recent Steam Winter Sale and the effects of being featured. Lots of data and graphs to pore over :)


A good many hours since the last news were spent coming up with the initial achievements list. Cogmind will start with at least a couple hundred achievements, so it's important to get the categorization right from the start and have everything nice and organized.

I also had to decide how to handle the icons, so I started doing some sketches in REXPaint and came up with a style that will work nicely. Preliminary tests:



Still more work to do there, including the final pass (and then also automating the creation of JPGs required by Steam--would much prefer PNGs...). And of course I'm using ASCII. Though naturally I want to (:P), there's also not much of a choice anyway since these aren't just Steam achievements--they'll also be displayed in game and must fit the theme and UI. Cogmind also doesn't use the Steam overlay so when you earn them they'll have to be rendered via its own terminal display.

It's been fun working with the symbolism, drawing on characters, colors and more aspects utilized in the creation of Cogmind to convey the idea of an achievement in a little 3x3 grid.

My current intention is to have all achievements available across all difficulty levels, avoiding the bloat of having separate versions for every difficulty. Almost everyone plays the default difficulty the game was designed for anyway, and for the rare case of players who want to move up from a lower difficulty level I'll add a way to reset your achievements. Unfortunately this particular feature will only be available to offline players because Steam does not support it.


In case you didn't notice (you've probably noticed xD), Cogmind can take a while to start up. This is because pretty much all data is loaded right at the start, which for years was fine, but it's continued to grow all this time and sequentially loading everything was starting to be quite a drag, made all the more noticeable by the fact that I have (and prefer to keep) a blank screen while the game starts. Windows might even decide pop up a nice little "this program is not responding" notice.

I'll deal with that message separately later, but more important is that it shouldn't really take so long to get into the game, so I took the three largest chunks of data and multithreaded them. Fortunately this was quite easy to do since each is mostly raw data that in this case really doesn't care about the existence of the others. The three chunks are GUI particle scripts, map particle scripts, and sound effects. (The only exception was particles that needed to reference sound effects, so for that I added some code to link them up after all the threads completed.) Highlighted profiling data for some potential optimization candidates:



So what kind of savings are we looking at? In my test build scenario, startup took 19.13s, including 6.27 for GUI particles, 3.98s for sfx, and 2.31s for map particles. That's 12.56 seconds for three things that can essentially be loaded in parallel. Post-multithreading profiling:



The main thread sleeps for 6.81s, meaning that basically the steps that previously took 12.56s were instead crammed into 6.81s. So startup time on many machines has been cut by approximately one-third... Nice :D

Here's a graph demonstrating what Beta 6's multithreading looks like, the first such case in Cogmind:



There's more optimization that could be done, but this was the easy stuff and most other work would have significantly diminishing returns so isn't worth it right now. I also left all the old sequential loading code intact so that I can switch over to that with a debugging option in order to properly debug any loading issues, just in case. It's not the kind of thing that usually has issues, but if it does it'll be nice to keep it single-threaded because multithreaded debugging is just asking for trouble and confusion.


You might have noticed among the guides that we have a new one! Last week Suizin/tamagotaso helped translate Cogmind's manual into Japanese. Quite a feat considering it's currently 60 pages / 17k words. Many thanks there <3



I've also made the TXT version available next to the English version on the site.

This week Jazzer reported finding a special Storage room that had no access from the rest of the floor, so I'll take this opportunity to point out that you can find rare instances of the map generator doing stuff like this. It won't affect your progress, can be a fun discovery to make by blasting in there (or via sensors/hacking), and can reflect "glitches" in the 0b10 system, either benign or perhaps intentionally influenced by crafty enemies of the Unaware. Or maybe they're just not done remodeling :P. As another example you'll sometimes find hidden doors that lead nowhere--they haven't gotten around to digging out the target room yet.

Here's Jazzer's Storage room as seen in the debugger:



The left one was built first and originally connected to a corridor, but later they decided to add another at the end of the corridor and filled in part of the corridor when they shifted the room rightward. Again this is quite rare, and not something I'll be addressing so you might just come across it one day :)

Another find by fpsbossfight, something which is definitely a bug but unfortunately not really worth the amount of time it would take to address considering how pointless this is during normal play: If you fill an entire map with Dirty Bomb Traps and set them off in a one-turn chain reaction, the game will crash around the 400th explosion xD

Rather than show the image here, I'll just link to it because it's spoilery if you have yet to find Zion. (Yes he was finding creative ways to murder everyone...)

Once again I'll schedule the next SITREP for two weeks from now, so March 3rd, while I continue forging ahead with the Great Achievement Update and also spend some time finishing up my plan for the upcoming 7DRL. I haven't had any time to think about that for a while, and I prefer going into a timed project with a clear plan so none of that precious time is wasted :)

Also notice that Cogmind is on sale both on my site and on Steam to coincide with the Lunar New Year sale. After this one ends in a few days, the next sale should be the Beta 6 release, for which I'm thinking I'll do an out-of-event one and some promotion since we're getting all these achievements :)

Hope you're all enjoying the latest Beta 5! I'm of course already getting busy with Beta 6, but there's plenty of other stuff to cover today, too...


As usual following a major release, the leaderboards were reset. We're already seeing a lot of good runs this Beta, including a ++ extended end-game win which we didn't get to see last time:



Old leaderboards and scores have been archived, accessible at the bottom of the page, e.g. the final top scoring runs at the end of Beta 4:



Overall we're seeing significant improvement among newer players. I've also done a lengthy summary of stats for Beta 4, including highlighting certain achievements and an overview of general player performance and meta data.



(If you're interested in this kind of data you can also scroll back through the thread for stats on previous Betas since I don't always cover the same things.)


So right now I'm in Japan to visit relatives for Chinese New Year (my son's on holiday so we can get out of town). We've been here for the past week and will remain for the next couple weeks, but it doesn't have much of an impact on progress. In fact, my workstation here is pretty much identical to my home setup.



That said, for a number of reasons Beta 6 will definitely take longer than the last couple releases. I have a bunch of family/personal stuff I've been neglecting lately to get Betas 4 and 5 out, so I'll have to work on that, but more importantly this year's 7DRL is coming up and I'm planning to participate. I could try to rush out Beta 6 before then, but double rushing (my normal speed is rush :P) is usually a bad idea, plus this particular release is going to add a rather big new system so it needs to be done right! I also shouldn't push my head too hard--I'm still spending 8 hours on treatment each week (when at home) for that concussion back in April, but it's stopped improving.

As for 7DRL, which is technically optional, I've already skipped the last five years worth of them as I focused on creating Cogmind, but I'm really interested in putting some new projects out there, and this time even though it'll slow down the Beta 6 release this particular 7DRL idea is something I know fans of Cogmind can get into so it'll definitely be worth it :D

Also with regards to progress in general, recall that in a past SITREP I talked about Beta 5 giving us a "clean slate" by finishing up all the near-term must-have features. Well, in the latter weeks of Beta 5 work I kept piling on so much new stuff and pushing others further down the list that it'll take another release or two to finish off those things after all :P. At least that's good in that we'll have plenty of little things to work on, too! In any case, the next release will of course be mostly about moving ahead with major features...


As per the roadmap, up next is... Achievements!

Yes, we're finally doing one of the things listed there rather than all the other secret/unlisted stuff I'm always throwing in xD

I've marked this one feature alone as taking three weeks, and I've heard some surprise at that number so may as well take this opportunity to give a rundown of what's involved. It's quite a lot of stuff!

On the surface it appears quite simple, and technically if you're just adding a handful of achievements for Steam it's really quite easy, yeah, but Cogmind's particular situation is going to include a lot more achievements, and a lot more moving parts, than your average game.

Here's a high-level TODO list of what it'll take to bring Achievements to Cogmind:

• Research Steamworks docs for achievement specifications
  
• Create and organize a list of achievements
  
• Do an achievement UI mockup
  
• Test how Steam achievements work in other games, and how they're presented on the player and community side
  
• Create the achievement data, including names and descriptions
  
• Implement an achievement handler, and check for each achievement at relevant points in the source code
  
• Implement the Cogmind-side dedicated achievement interface
  
• Decide how to integrate achievement notifications into several different existing UI systems
  
• Find solutions for a number of tough achievement-related issues
  
• Create icon art for every achievement (in both acquired and non-acquired form)
  
• Test a selection of achievements in a non-Steam build
  
• Build a system to communicate with Steam regarding achievements (prioritizing game-side data, rather than Steam-side like most games do it)
  
• Add achievement data to Steamworks backend
  
• Live test the achievement system on Steam, including syncing of old data on either end
  
• Fix the inevitable oversights and bugs in the system before they reach players
  
• Actually release it :P (after adding a whole bunch of other stuff that should go in the release, too!)

Oh my I've only barely started working down that list and writing it all out like that is making me go O_O. Heck there might be items I overlooked... Many of these steps certainly include numerous fine details, so the overall workload is not to be underestimated, but in the end we'll have a system that's robust, works for both Steam and non-Steam players, and can be easily expanded further in the future with even more achievements.

At least the art needs will probably be relatively easy to deal with. Because the achievement icons must be displayable in game (not just Steam), they must conform to the game's grid-based style, meaning the only real choice is ASCII like the rest of the in-game art. These icons also have to meet Steam's dimension requirements (64px), so this means they'll probably be fairly small and simple in order to still be somewhat readable at that size. I have yet to do any tests so we'll see. I'm still working on the achievements list at the moment.

I'll have more to share on this topic over the next month. Note that we have an ongoing achievements suggestion thread on the forums from which I've been taking a number of ideas to combine with my own.


nuzcraft, one of Cogmind's most prolific Let's Players, got his first win recently and shared his writeup over on the forums (he plays all the seed runs so you can play along as well if interested).

Over on r/Cogmind, GDFKTT shared a writeup on their first win as well, and a pacifist run no less.

Yesterday over on r/RoguelikeDev I shared some of Cogmind's debugging features that I use for development, so check that out if you're interested in some more behind the scenes sort of stuff. Some examples:

Highlighting map encounter prefabs, colored by their type (fluff/reward/danger/risk-reward...):



Visualizing squad routes:



Visualizing ambient sfx propagation:



Watching entity (robot) time values:



Checking cellwise cave-in factors as affected by explosions:




The next SITREP will be February 17th so that I have more to show for it, since a lot of the current work is behind the scenes, but as usual I'll be hanging out on the Discord every day. Stop by!

(Note that also around that time there's the annual Steam CNY sale, so for those few days expect a 10% discount.)

Hope you're all enjoying the latest Beta 5! I'm of course already getting busy with Beta 6, but there's plenty of other stuff to cover today, too...


As usual following a major release, the leaderboards were reset. We're already seeing a lot of good runs this Beta, including a ++ extended end-game win which we didn't get to see last time:



Old leaderboards and scores have been archived, accessible at the bottom of the page, e.g. the final top scoring runs at the end of Beta 4:



Overall we're seeing significant improvement among newer players. I've also done a lengthy summary of stats for Beta 4, including highlighting certain achievements and an overview of general player performance and meta data.



(If you're interested in this kind of data you can also scroll back through the thread for stats on previous Betas since I don't always cover the same things.)


So right now I'm in Japan to visit relatives for Chinese New Year (my son's on holiday so we can get out of town). We've been here for the past week and will remain for the next couple weeks, but it doesn't have much of an impact on progress. In fact, my workstation here is pretty much identical to my home setup.



That said, for a number of reasons Beta 6 will definitely take longer than the last couple releases. I have a bunch of family/personal stuff I've been neglecting lately to get Betas 4 and 5 out, so I'll have to work on that, but more importantly this year's 7DRL is coming up and I'm planning to participate. I could try to rush out Beta 6 before then, but double rushing (my normal speed is rush :P) is usually a bad idea, plus this particular release is going to add a rather big new system so it needs to be done right! I also shouldn't push my head too hard--I'm still spending 8 hours on treatment each week (when at home) for that concussion back in April, but it's stopped improving.

As for 7DRL, which is technically optional, I've already skipped the last five years worth of them as I focused on creating Cogmind, but I'm really interested in putting some new projects out there, and this time even though it'll slow down the Beta 6 release this particular 7DRL idea is something I know fans of Cogmind can get into so it'll definitely be worth it :D

Also with regards to progress in general, recall that in a past SITREP I talked about Beta 5 giving us a "clean slate" by finishing up all the near-term must-have features. Well, in the latter weeks of Beta 5 work I kept piling on so much new stuff and pushing others further down the list that it'll take another release or two to finish off those things after all :P. At least that's good in that we'll have plenty of little things to work on, too! In any case, the next release will of course be mostly about moving ahead with major features...


As per the roadmap, up next is... Achievements!

Yes, we're finally doing one of the things listed there rather than all the other secret/unlisted stuff I'm always throwing in xD

I've marked this one feature alone as taking three weeks, and I've heard some surprise at that number so may as well take this opportunity to give a rundown of what's involved. It's quite a lot of stuff!

On the surface it appears quite simple, and technically if you're just adding a handful of achievements for Steam it's really quite easy, yeah, but Cogmind's particular situation is going to include a lot more achievements, and a lot more moving parts, than your average game.

Here's a high-level TODO list of what it'll take to bring Achievements to Cogmind:

• Research Steamworks docs for achievement specifications
  
• Create and organize a list of achievements
  
• Do an achievement UI mockup
  
• Test how Steam achievements work in other games, and how they're presented on the player and community side
  
• Create the achievement data, including names and descriptions
  
• Implement an achievement handler, and check for each achievement at relevant points in the source code
  
• Implement the Cogmind-side dedicated achievement interface
  
• Decide how to integrate achievement notifications into several different existing UI systems
  
• Find solutions for a number of tough achievement-related issues
  
• Create icon art for every achievement (in both acquired and non-acquired form)
  
• Test a selection of achievements in a non-Steam build
  
• Build a system to communicate with Steam regarding achievements (prioritizing game-side data, rather than Steam-side like most games do it)
  
• Add achievement data to Steamworks backend
  
• Live test the achievement system on Steam, including syncing of old data on either end
  
• Fix the inevitable oversights and bugs in the system before they reach players
  
• Actually release it :P (after adding a whole bunch of other stuff that should go in the release, too!)

Oh my I've only barely started working down that list and writing it all out like that is making me go O_O. Heck there might be items I overlooked... Many of these steps certainly include numerous fine details, so the overall workload is not to be underestimated, but in the end we'll have a system that's robust, works for both Steam and non-Steam players, and can be easily expanded further in the future with even more achievements.

At least the art needs will probably be relatively easy to deal with. Because the achievement icons must be displayable in game (not just Steam), they must conform to the game's grid-based style, meaning the only real choice is ASCII like the rest of the in-game art. These icons also have to meet Steam's dimension requirements (64px), so this means they'll probably be fairly small and simple in order to still be somewhat readable at that size. I have yet to do any tests so we'll see. I'm still working on the achievements list at the moment.

I'll have more to share on this topic over the next month. Note that we have an ongoing achievements suggestion thread on the forums from which I've been taking a number of ideas to combine with my own.


nuzcraft, one of Cogmind's most prolific Let's Players, got his first win recently and shared his writeup over on the forums (he plays all the seed runs so you can play along as well if interested).

Over on r/Cogmind, GDFKTT shared a writeup on their first win as well, and a pacifist run no less.

Yesterday over on r/RoguelikeDev I shared some of Cogmind's debugging features that I use for development, so check that out if you're interested in some more behind the scenes sort of stuff. Some examples:

Highlighting map encounter prefabs, colored by their type (fluff/reward/danger/risk-reward...):



Visualizing squad routes:



Visualizing ambient sfx propagation:



Watching entity (robot) time values:



Checking cellwise cave-in factors as affected by explosions:




The next SITREP will be February 17th so that I have more to show for it, since a lot of the current work is behind the scenes, but as usual I'll be hanging out on the Discord every day. Stop by!

(Note that also around that time there's the annual Steam CNY sale, so for those few days expect a 10% discount.)

Beta FIVE brings us interesting changes to your potential Zion allies, new NPCs, items and mechanics, and color customization along with lots and lots (and lots) of QoL.

It's another big one.

• NEW: 9 new unique named NPCs
  
• NEW: 13 more unique items
  
• NEW: 1 new wheel variant
  
• NEW: 3 new types of resupply dispatch
  
• NEW: 1 new 0b10 terminal record, along with several random lore dialogues available in the usual places
  
• NEW: 25 new score sheet entries (total = 662)
  
• NEW: Several additional special encounters
  
• NEW: 3 new optional map styles for ASCII mode players at size 16: Terminus, Verite, Kaypro (see manual under Advanced UI > Fonts)
  
• NEW: Some methods for tweaking colors/brightness/saturation/etc (advanced.cfg for now: renderFilters, see manual under Color Customization)
  
• NEW: Roster dispatches potentially include allies from a new category
  
• NEW: Mechanic for automatically locating nearby terminals (spoiler)
  
• NEW: Operators reset their terminal under a certain condition (spoiler)
  
• NEW: Special animations for connecting to Z-hack-capable terminals
  
• NEW: First connection to a Z-hack-capable terminal gives instruction regarding intel retrieval
  
• NEW: Added EM damage spectrum class "Fine"
  
• NEW: Enforced projectile spread mechanic for certain weapons
  
• NEW: Line-of-fire for volley including a spread-enforced weapon highlights entire potential spread area
  
• NEW: Option to always display the edges of the current map (advanced.cfg only: showMapBorders)
  
• NEW: Option to completely disable the standard printing/text sfx (advanced.cfg only: muteTextSfx)
  
• NEW: All Launcher Guidance Computers prevent launcher misfires otherwise caused by system corruption
  
• NEW: Robots sending distress signals to alert nearby allies display the range of that signal
  
• NEW: Effect description for matter/energy storage utilities explicitly states their ability to collect resources while in inventory
  
• NEW: Active Particle Accelerators show modified damage values for applicable weapons in inventory and part list info mode ('q')
  
• NEW: Effect of current momentum on melee weapon damage is shown directly next to applicable weapons in inventory and part list info mode ('q')
  
• NEW: Discovering exits purely via Terrain Scanners in easiest difficulty mode reveals their destination as if sighted
  
• NEW: Advanced quickStart option also available in easier difficulty modes
  
• NEW: "Trapped" challenge mode prevents gaining trap knowledge from hacks, Zionite intel, 0b10 Decoders, and friendly Operators
  
• NEW: Prototypes and other unknown parts identified by attaching them accompanied by explicit log message
  
• NEW: Component Analysis Suite identification effect log message also specifies name of utility doing the identifying
  
• NEW: Manual includes additional subsection explaining overload mechanic for some power sources and energy weapons
  
• NEW: It's safe to hold a wait key while a nearby Fabricator or Repair Station is processing (autoblocks command for two seconds on task completion)
  
• NEW: Manual includes additional subsection on Key Holding, under Key Commands
  
• NEW: Starting position in Scrapyard will never overlap with an item
  
• NEW: Map areas discovered via Terrain Scanners and other methods but never actually seen displayed in greenscale rather than color
  
• NEW: Active Garrison Access dispatch countdown timers now visible on map when using a Signal Interpreter
  
• NEW: Heat transfer damage may outright melt struck part of an already overheating robot (chance matches weapon's heat transfer value)
  
• NEW: Filter mass item labels by applying an integrity percentage cutoff via itemLabelIntegrityPercentCutoff (advanced.cfg, currently defaults to 26%)
  
• NEW: Filter mass item labels by applying a minimum depth-relative rating cutoff via itemLabelRelativeRatingCutoff (advanced.cfg)
  
• NEW: Known faulty and broken items not labeled on map when using mass item labeling (can change behavior via advanced.cfg)
  
• NEW: Mass labeling items a second time within 5 seconds ignores all label filters
  
• NEW: If exiting a map will fail to bring some allies due to their distance, shows dedicated warning message and puts a longer block duration on the move
  
• NEW: All Alpha supporter names registered since Beta 4 added to in-game list (see Credits menu)
  
• MOD: Imprinting prevents direct and indirect hacks at most 0b10 terminals (special manual hacks okay)
  
• MOD: Z-hacks can no longer be detected, traced, nor blocked across an entire floor
  
• MOD: Some items may appear in more than one type of resupply
  
• MOD: Cave seal disengage behavior different if imprinted
  
• MOD: Mak. Sword uses regular melee impact sound rather than heavier sound
  
• MOD: Updated color of Centrium wheel variant art to match other items of same material
  
• MOD: Potential cave-in areas on map are always highlighted (tactical HUD mode not required)
  
• MOD: Rocket Arrays and Scatter Rocket Arrays significantly improved, though can no longer be focused via targeting
  
• MOD: Hero class renamed to Knight, ASCII changed from 'O' to 'K'
  
• MOD: Hvy. Hardcell Cannon resource costs reduced
  
• MOD: AM-PH4 propulsion tweaked
  
• MOD: Behemoth cannot appear on top of cave exit stairs, and much less likely to be too near any cave entrance
  
• MOD: "Trapped" challenge mode trap count multiplier upped from 5 to 10
  
• MOD: Hack given by the so-called "annoying derelict" in caves causes the victim to follow instead of remain stationary
  
• MOD: "Armor Coverage" best state entry in score sheet refers to raw total coverage of attached armor instead of percentage value
  
• MOD: "Suicide/Restart" button on Game menu renamed "Self-destruct"
  
• MOD: Robots sending distress signals to allies out of view only reveal that ally's position in easier difficulty modes
  
• MOD: Robots calling for help or reinforcements from a garrison only reveal that garrison's position in easier difficulty modes
  
• MOD: Removed Game menu, Save/Restart/Quit buttons now appear on Basic commands page
  
• MOD: Removed tutorial message explaining how to save and exit
  
• MOD: Removed "Show Non-FOV Color" from options menu, always on by default
  
• MOD: Removed Ctrl-` command for toggling non-FOV color display
  
• MOD: Weapon Cycler and Quantum Capacitor effect descriptions reworded for specificity, no longer refer to "projectile weapons"
  
• MOD: Alarm Traps in Garrisons no longer trigger an investigation, they simply alert any nearby hostiles
  
• MOD: Mechanics that clear robot memory (e.g. the Reconstructor) now also clear off-turn partial spot records
  
• MOD: Melee momentum damage bonus applies to all melee weapons, not just I/S/P damage types (piercing still gets its double bonus)
  
• MOD: Melee damage type modifiers on Status page merged into a single "Melee" value (extra piercing damage bonus only displayed by the weapon)
  
• MOD: Only non-zero values are listed under the Status page's resistances and damage modifiers
  
• MOD: Data Miner dispatch redirects no longer occur during late-game wars
  
• MOD: With Label Supporter Items option on, the few items not applicable for gallery collection show standard description at bottom of info window
  
• MOD: Easiest difficulty mode puts Med. Storage Unit in Scrapyard, rather than Sml.
  
• MOD: A certain Exoskeleton's overweight penalty reduced from 30 to 20
  
• MOD: Robot core damage popups in Tactical HUD mode default to showing actual remaining integrity rather than as a percent
  
• MOD: Replaced advanced.cfg preciseCorePopup option with its opposite, percentCorePopup
  
• MOD: "No X in view" message displayed when there is no applicable object for the given label type instead shows "No X to label"
  
• MOD: Targeting will not autosuggest a previous target whose relation with you has changed since you last attacked it
  
• MOD: Super Gauntlet challenge mode keeps the lone target Garrison Access available even under high security lockdown
  
• FIX: Crash on right-clicking directly into second robot info while analysis or traits of first robot still open [Valguris]
  
• FIX: Overloaded weapons did not apply damage bonus again walls [Valguris]
  
• FIX: Walls/doors not applying damage resistances correctly [Valguris]
  
• FIX: Schematics for items only available by special means did not display fabrication info when opened via fabricator/schematics list [Valguris]
  
• FIX: Credits list contained some duplicate supporter names [zxc]
  
• FIX: Insufficient energy for overloadable propulsion upkeep might overload the propulsion instead of autodeactivating it [zxc]
  
• FIX: Typo in options.cfg (fix resets your calculation log setting; if you want a non-default option you'll need to redo) [zxc]
  
• FIX: Penetration values missing from gallery export data [Raine]
  
• FIX: While on-map combat log active, any visible messages could partially overlap an open Status window [Raine]
  
• FIX: Typo in screenshot tags and filenames for game over screen [johnicboom]
  
• FIX: Advanced quickStart option could also be activated in tutorial mode despite lack of Storage Unit in that layout [Zoticus]
  
• FIX: New corrupted AI misfire mechanic could in some cases affect player UI target recall [Happylisk]
  
• FIX: Could continue hacking record queries at a locked terminal prior to closing window by using number keys if keyboard mode active [neutral]
  
• FIX: Pressing 'f' during the exact frame a major NPC enters view and opens dialogue window blocked commands once window closed [nuzcraft]
  
• FIX: STAY command issued to ally with a previous destination allowed them to reach it before returning to intended stay location [GJ]
  
• FIX: Subatomic Replicator used without effect then dropped into inventory remained unidentified until inventory redrawn due to another interaction
  
• FIX: A certain type of derelict log could reveal exit to Zhirov's location, which they shouldn't know
  
• FIX: Moving multi-cell robot sensor scans not displayed correctly in tiles mode
  
• FIX: RMB on robot then opening Analysis or Traits and closing again prevented further right-clicks on other robots until info window closed
  
• FIX: "Max Gunslinging Chain" entry in score sheet was not being tallied

Our namesake feature for this release has some major implications, and got even more fun.

Getting "imprinted" has always been a great power boost, and at its inception was intended as such--basically a low-effort way to make a run both easier and more interesting by offering a wider array of tactical options, especially for combat builds which generally have no significant hacking capabilities. But that 1) made it feel like this option has way too much potential to pass up when planning a route to the surface (even more so for extended end-game runs!), and 2) is a pretty big waste of a design opportunity :P

I've been planning to revisit it for a while, and now that the rest of the experience is pretty balanced, its time has come!

(Note: If you have no idea what this section is talking about, dare to venture deeper into the caves and you shall see :))

Whether or not you imprint is now a long-term strategic choice rather than a pure no-brainer bestowing permanent benefits. It's true imprinting carried some minor drawbacks before, but these only came into play at a couple plot points that an imprinted player in particular probably wouldn't need quite as much anyway.

On the downside, being imprinted now removes the ability to use 0b10 terminals in a regular fashion. In fact, you won't even be able to hack open doors! (of course there are still the usual number of alternative ways to get through them)

Beta 5 is not, however, a straight up nerf. While lack of terminal access is a big change, yet more varieties of \\ZION hacks were added, some quite powerful, and they can no longer be detected, traced, or blocked, among other new imprinting benefits. That you had access to them was also somewhat easy to forget about before, whereas now there are three different types of reminder instead of just one. You won't forget :P

In short, rather than an occasional "get out of jail free" card, z-hacks now enable (and in a way, enforce) other unique ways to play. This makes imprinting a much more interesting decision, and it's not always going to be the right choice for every build or style!

Some imprinted-related gifs:







The "Zionic Revolution" is not just mechanics, either--it also comes with some new personalities, and new special items. For example:





No more details there because it's all quite spoilery and best discovered on your own one day :D


For December's Beta 4 I added the mechanic revealing locations of non-visible combat bots receiving distress calls from visible non-combat bots:



This is a great feature for new or struggling players, basically a way to learn how robots are reacting even without any sensors of your own, so I think it serves a good purpose in easier difficulty modes. But in the default Roguelike mode it removes some of the suspense and tactical challenge, unnecessarily lowering the difficulty of the average encounter. This is why I was on the fence about adding it back then, but instead of letting the feature incubate for a while and testing it out on my own, I thought I'd put it out there as an experiment for everyone to try out.

So now, as prior to Beta 4, you'll know victims alerted a hostile, but won't know where they are or precisely where they're coming from (other than what you can inference from map knowledge and other factors, or outright sensor data). Instead, the distress call now animates the range at which a given robot can alert allies. This was something you could figure out via meta knowledge over time anyway, and counting cells is annoying so adding this is more of a QoL feature to make it explicit and save on that time/effort.

Seeing a Watcher emitting its signal in Beta 5:



On a similar note, garrison location pings during reinforcement calls have been removed from the default difficulty mode, though there is no range shown there because it actually depends on the garrison itself and can even occur at longer ranges. That will continue to be a challenge to players who don't have relevant intel.


Beta 5 comes with a range of new or slightly adjusted mechanics.

Back in SITREP #9 I introduced an "enforced projectile spread," a weapon characteristic that can't be overcome by simply stacking more targeting computers. See the SITREP for more notes on this feature, but basically you'll now see this reflected in the targeting display for the few weapons that are affected by it:



This mechanic also meant I could rightly buff rocket arrays to allow them to come into their own as a cool niche weapon:



One of the other bigger mechanics changes is that all melee weapons benefit from momentum damage bonuses (not just impact/slashing/piercing), as the system is now handled by weapon category rather than damage type. So where damage modifiers are concerned, the Status page only needs to list a single "Melee" entry:


(notice another change: that page also only lists non-zero resistances and modifiers)

While we're at it, in 'q'/INFO mode both the parts list and inventory display melee weapon damage as modified by bonuses from current momentum. This helps make it much more clear just how much damage you can do without requiring extra calculations, especially when considering whether to try chopping through a stubborn door.



While it probably won't come into play all that often, overheating robots hit by thermal weapons now may have their parts melted.



Launcher Guidance Computers now block launcher misfires caused by corruption. Being able to more safely keep a launcher equipped while corrupted could occasionally come in handy.



Also, it might take a while to discover but there is now an EM weapon out there using a new "Fine" spectrum with a 100% chance to set off engine explosions :)


By request, Beta 5 gives you a way to adjust visual attributes like brightness, saturation, contrast, and more.

There are also some presents that change multiple variables at once, like the low-contrast mode "SLEEPY":



ASCII combat in Sleepy mode:



UI interaction in another low-contrast mode, "AUTUMN":



There are other extreme modes like the "SWAP" filter:



Combine multiple modes and filters, like SWAP + AUTUMN:



For the details on how to get the most out of this set of features you'll want to check the latest manual, under the new "Color Customization" section, which explains all eight of the render filter functions and how to apply them to the UI or map.

See additional demo images on my dev blog here.

Although I try to encode as much information using additional methods beyond color, there might be some areas where I could allow further adjustment to benefit certain players' needs. If you have some type of color blindness or other color-related request that I might be able to solve via a filter or some kind of correction formula, let me know and I'll see what I can do.


Our favorite category :). Lots of feature requests fulfilled with this release, plus just more ideas I had to make your [Cogmind's] life easier.

Terrain revealed via scanners or other means before visiting it now appears in a monochrome "greenscale" rather than color like all other areas outside your field of vision.



This helps remember where you've actually been. And looks cool :D

Like the real-time melee momentum damage calculations mentioned above, 'q'/INFO mode also also displays which weapons are affected by an active Particle Accelerator and how:



There are now a number of ways to filter on-map item labels, described in the manual and adjustable via the advanced config. By default broken and faulty items won't be labeled, and you can also opt to exclude items below a certain integrity or relative rating threshold. Without any changes to the settings, Beta 5 automatically skips items with only 1~25% of their integrity remaining.


(Notice the repeat command at the end there which then includes all items in the labeling, regardless of filters.)

This is a first step of potentially several on the road to an even more effective label system.

Map edges can now be revealed via a setting, but this is recommended only for advanced players who are already familiar with most of the world since it can be somewhat spoilery. It's also somewhat immersion breaking, but it's decent QoL because without it those who really do know how all the systems work will pan around and find the approximate borders in advance anyway.



This feature uses a different style if you're playing with a swap filter:



Don't go looking for the "Game" menu buttons on their own page, since they've now moved right under the Basic commands and are accessible as soon as you press Escape!



quickStart (the option that automatically attaches and collects all items in the starting area for you) is now available in easier difficulty modes as well, with the easiest mode starting gear getting upgraded to a Med. Storage Unit:



Active garrisons now display their dispatch timer countdown directly on the map as long as you have a Signal Interpreter.



There's now a log message specifically for identifying unknown parts. This'll help both when you're reviewing a log later, and perhaps more importantly when that faulty prototype melts on you and you're left wondering what it actually was xD



When attempting to exit a map, the confirmation specifies how many allies you will be leaving behind if you leave immediately.



Potential cave-in areas are always highlighted, even without Tactical HUD mode. I originally thought it was active in all modes, but apparently not and I think it should be both obvious and helpful to even beginners to know what areas will collapse. It's an important mechanic to learn early on, and will seem more fair if those areas were marked to begin with rather than requiring a mode used by experienced players :P



The precise core integrity popup feature added in the last release is now the default behavior in Tactical HUD mode, with an advanced option to revert to percentage displays.



There's even more QoL listed in the changelog, so read through that to catch them all.


I'm continuing to add optional map ASCII styles by request, where I can put together something suitable, and Beta 5 in particular comes with three more size 16 options.



The above example is the new size 16 Terminus option, and you can see the others in the last SITREP. This brings Cogmind's total number of custom font bitmaps to 112! Don't worry, it's not a magic number or anything and I won't be stopping there ;)

Setting these currently requires an edit to the game files themselves, as described in the manual's Advanced UI > Fonts section. For now that also means this feature is incompatible with Steam cloud, and you'll also have to repeat the same modification manually if you update to a new version, as it's not a part of the regular user settings. I'll be doing something about this later, but it's rather involved and requires a number of changes as deep as the engine level, so it can't happen too quickly/soon and I'd like to combine the related adjustments with other new features we'll be seeing down the line.

Beta 5 saves are not compatible with previous versions, but even if you're on Steam and have autoupdates enabled, Beta 4 is still available via its own branch and you can roll back to finish a run in progress first if you like.

Beta FIVE brings us interesting changes to your potential Zion allies, new NPCs, items and mechanics, and color customization along with lots and lots (and lots) of QoL.

It's another big one.

• NEW: 9 new unique named NPCs
  
• NEW: 13 more unique items
  
• NEW: 1 new wheel variant
  
• NEW: 3 new types of resupply dispatch
  
• NEW: 1 new 0b10 terminal record, along with several random lore dialogues available in the usual places
  
• NEW: 25 new score sheet entries (total = 662)
  
• NEW: Several additional special encounters
  
• NEW: 3 new optional map styles for ASCII mode players at size 16: Terminus, Verite, Kaypro (see manual under Advanced UI > Fonts)
  
• NEW: Some methods for tweaking colors/brightness/saturation/etc (advanced.cfg for now: renderFilters, see manual under Color Customization)
  
• NEW: Roster dispatches potentially include allies from a new category
  
• NEW: Mechanic for automatically locating nearby terminals (spoiler)
  
• NEW: Operators reset their terminal under a certain condition (spoiler)
  
• NEW: Special animations for connecting to Z-hack-capable terminals
  
• NEW: First connection to a Z-hack-capable terminal gives instruction regarding intel retrieval
  
• NEW: Added EM damage spectrum class "Fine"
  
• NEW: Enforced projectile spread mechanic for certain weapons
  
• NEW: Line-of-fire for volley including a spread-enforced weapon highlights entire potential spread area
  
• NEW: Option to always display the edges of the current map (advanced.cfg only: showMapBorders)
  
• NEW: Option to completely disable the standard printing/text sfx (advanced.cfg only: muteTextSfx)
  
• NEW: All Launcher Guidance Computers prevent launcher misfires otherwise caused by system corruption
  
• NEW: Robots sending distress signals to alert nearby allies display the range of that signal
  
• NEW: Effect description for matter/energy storage utilities explicitly states their ability to collect resources while in inventory
  
• NEW: Active Particle Accelerators show modified damage values for applicable weapons in inventory and part list info mode ('q')
  
• NEW: Effect of current momentum on melee weapon damage is shown directly next to applicable weapons in inventory and part list info mode ('q')
  
• NEW: Discovering exits purely via Terrain Scanners in easiest difficulty mode reveals their destination as if sighted
  
• NEW: Advanced quickStart option also available in easier difficulty modes
  
• NEW: "Trapped" challenge mode prevents gaining trap knowledge from hacks, Zionite intel, 0b10 Decoders, and friendly Operators
  
• NEW: Prototypes and other unknown parts identified by attaching them accompanied by explicit log message
  
• NEW: Component Analysis Suite identification effect log message also specifies name of utility doing the identifying
  
• NEW: Manual includes additional subsection explaining overload mechanic for some power sources and energy weapons
  
• NEW: It's safe to hold a wait key while a nearby Fabricator or Repair Station is processing (autoblocks command for two seconds on task completion)
  
• NEW: Manual includes additional subsection on Key Holding, under Key Commands
  
• NEW: Starting position in Scrapyard will never overlap with an item
  
• NEW: Map areas discovered via Terrain Scanners and other methods but never actually seen displayed in greenscale rather than color
  
• NEW: Active Garrison Access dispatch countdown timers now visible on map when using a Signal Interpreter
  
• NEW: Heat transfer damage may outright melt struck part of an already overheating robot (chance matches weapon's heat transfer value)
  
• NEW: Filter mass item labels by applying an integrity percentage cutoff via itemLabelIntegrityPercentCutoff (advanced.cfg, currently defaults to 26%)
  
• NEW: Filter mass item labels by applying a minimum depth-relative rating cutoff via itemLabelRelativeRatingCutoff (advanced.cfg)
  
• NEW: Known faulty and broken items not labeled on map when using mass item labeling (can change behavior via advanced.cfg)
  
• NEW: Mass labeling items a second time within 5 seconds ignores all label filters
  
• NEW: If exiting a map will fail to bring some allies due to their distance, shows dedicated warning message and puts a longer block duration on the move
  
• NEW: All Alpha supporter names registered since Beta 4 added to in-game list (see Credits menu)
  
• MOD: Imprinting prevents direct and indirect hacks at most 0b10 terminals (special manual hacks okay)
  
• MOD: Z-hacks can no longer be detected, traced, nor blocked across an entire floor
  
• MOD: Some items may appear in more than one type of resupply
  
• MOD: Cave seal disengage behavior different if imprinted
  
• MOD: Mak. Sword uses regular melee impact sound rather than heavier sound
  
• MOD: Updated color of Centrium wheel variant art to match other items of same material
  
• MOD: Potential cave-in areas on map are always highlighted (tactical HUD mode not required)
  
• MOD: Rocket Arrays and Scatter Rocket Arrays significantly improved, though can no longer be focused via targeting
  
• MOD: Hero class renamed to Knight, ASCII changed from 'O' to 'K'
  
• MOD: Hvy. Hardcell Cannon resource costs reduced
  
• MOD: AM-PH4 propulsion tweaked
  
• MOD: Behemoth cannot appear on top of cave exit stairs, and much less likely to be too near any cave entrance
  
• MOD: "Trapped" challenge mode trap count multiplier upped from 5 to 10
  
• MOD: Hack given by the so-called "annoying derelict" in caves causes the victim to follow instead of remain stationary
  
• MOD: "Armor Coverage" best state entry in score sheet refers to raw total coverage of attached armor instead of percentage value
  
• MOD: "Suicide/Restart" button on Game menu renamed "Self-destruct"
  
• MOD: Robots sending distress signals to allies out of view only reveal that ally's position in easier difficulty modes
  
• MOD: Robots calling for help or reinforcements from a garrison only reveal that garrison's position in easier difficulty modes
  
• MOD: Removed Game menu, Save/Restart/Quit buttons now appear on Basic commands page
  
• MOD: Removed tutorial message explaining how to save and exit
  
• MOD: Removed "Show Non-FOV Color" from options menu, always on by default
  
• MOD: Removed Ctrl-` command for toggling non-FOV color display
  
• MOD: Weapon Cycler and Quantum Capacitor effect descriptions reworded for specificity, no longer refer to "projectile weapons"
  
• MOD: Alarm Traps in Garrisons no longer trigger an investigation, they simply alert any nearby hostiles
  
• MOD: Mechanics that clear robot memory (e.g. the Reconstructor) now also clear off-turn partial spot records
  
• MOD: Melee momentum damage bonus applies to all melee weapons, not just I/S/P damage types (piercing still gets its double bonus)
  
• MOD: Melee damage type modifiers on Status page merged into a single "Melee" value (extra piercing damage bonus only displayed by the weapon)
  
• MOD: Only non-zero values are listed under the Status page's resistances and damage modifiers
  
• MOD: Data Miner dispatch redirects no longer occur during late-game wars
  
• MOD: With Label Supporter Items option on, the few items not applicable for gallery collection show standard description at bottom of info window
  
• MOD: Easiest difficulty mode puts Med. Storage Unit in Scrapyard, rather than Sml.
  
• MOD: A certain Exoskeleton's overweight penalty reduced from 30 to 20
  
• MOD: Robot core damage popups in Tactical HUD mode default to showing actual remaining integrity rather than as a percent
  
• MOD: Replaced advanced.cfg preciseCorePopup option with its opposite, percentCorePopup
  
• MOD: "No X in view" message displayed when there is no applicable object for the given label type instead shows "No X to label"
  
• MOD: Targeting will not autosuggest a previous target whose relation with you has changed since you last attacked it
  
• MOD: Super Gauntlet challenge mode keeps the lone target Garrison Access available even under high security lockdown
  
• FIX: Crash on right-clicking directly into second robot info while analysis or traits of first robot still open [Valguris]
  
• FIX: Overloaded weapons did not apply damage bonus again walls [Valguris]
  
• FIX: Walls/doors not applying damage resistances correctly [Valguris]
  
• FIX: Schematics for items only available by special means did not display fabrication info when opened via fabricator/schematics list [Valguris]
  
• FIX: Credits list contained some duplicate supporter names [zxc]
  
• FIX: Insufficient energy for overloadable propulsion upkeep might overload the propulsion instead of autodeactivating it [zxc]
  
• FIX: Typo in options.cfg (fix resets your calculation log setting; if you want a non-default option you'll need to redo) [zxc]
  
• FIX: Penetration values missing from gallery export data [Raine]
  
• FIX: While on-map combat log active, any visible messages could partially overlap an open Status window [Raine]
  
• FIX: Typo in screenshot tags and filenames for game over screen [johnicboom]
  
• FIX: Advanced quickStart option could also be activated in tutorial mode despite lack of Storage Unit in that layout [Zoticus]
  
• FIX: New corrupted AI misfire mechanic could in some cases affect player UI target recall [Happylisk]
  
• FIX: Could continue hacking record queries at a locked terminal prior to closing window by using number keys if keyboard mode active [neutral]
  
• FIX: Pressing 'f' during the exact frame a major NPC enters view and opens dialogue window blocked commands once window closed [nuzcraft]
  
• FIX: STAY command issued to ally with a previous destination allowed them to reach it before returning to intended stay location [GJ]
  
• FIX: Subatomic Replicator used without effect then dropped into inventory remained unidentified until inventory redrawn due to another interaction
  
• FIX: A certain type of derelict log could reveal exit to Zhirov's location, which they shouldn't know
  
• FIX: Moving multi-cell robot sensor scans not displayed correctly in tiles mode
  
• FIX: RMB on robot then opening Analysis or Traits and closing again prevented further right-clicks on other robots until info window closed
  
• FIX: "Max Gunslinging Chain" entry in score sheet was not being tallied

Our namesake feature for this release has some major implications, and got even more fun.

Getting "imprinted" has always been a great power boost, and at its inception was intended as such--basically a low-effort way to make a run both easier and more interesting by offering a wider array of tactical options, especially for combat builds which generally have no significant hacking capabilities. But that 1) made it feel like this option has way too much potential to pass up when planning a route to the surface (even more so for extended end-game runs!), and 2) is a pretty big waste of a design opportunity :P

I've been planning to revisit it for a while, and now that the rest of the experience is pretty balanced, its time has come!

(Note: If you have no idea what this section is talking about, dare to venture deeper into the caves and you shall see :))

Whether or not you imprint is now a long-term strategic choice rather than a pure no-brainer bestowing permanent benefits. It's true imprinting carried some minor drawbacks before, but these only came into play at a couple plot points that an imprinted player in particular probably wouldn't need quite as much anyway.

On the downside, being imprinted now removes the ability to use 0b10 terminals in a regular fashion. In fact, you won't even be able to hack open doors! (of course there are still the usual number of alternative ways to get through them)

Beta 5 is not, however, a straight up nerf. While lack of terminal access is a big change, yet more varieties of \\ZION hacks were added, some quite powerful, and they can no longer be detected, traced, or blocked, among other new imprinting benefits. That you had access to them was also somewhat easy to forget about before, whereas now there are three different types of reminder instead of just one. You won't forget :P

In short, rather than an occasional "get out of jail free" card, z-hacks now enable (and in a way, enforce) other unique ways to play. This makes imprinting a much more interesting decision, and it's not always going to be the right choice for every build or style!

Some imprinted-related gifs:







The "Zionic Revolution" is not just mechanics, either--it also comes with some new personalities, and new special items. For example:





No more details there because it's all quite spoilery and best discovered on your own one day :D


For December's Beta 4 I added the mechanic revealing locations of non-visible combat bots receiving distress calls from visible non-combat bots:



This is a great feature for new or struggling players, basically a way to learn how robots are reacting even without any sensors of your own, so I think it serves a good purpose in easier difficulty modes. But in the default Roguelike mode it removes some of the suspense and tactical challenge, unnecessarily lowering the difficulty of the average encounter. This is why I was on the fence about adding it back then, but instead of letting the feature incubate for a while and testing it out on my own, I thought I'd put it out there as an experiment for everyone to try out.

So now, as prior to Beta 4, you'll know victims alerted a hostile, but won't know where they are or precisely where they're coming from (other than what you can inference from map knowledge and other factors, or outright sensor data). Instead, the distress call now animates the range at which a given robot can alert allies. This was something you could figure out via meta knowledge over time anyway, and counting cells is annoying so adding this is more of a QoL feature to make it explicit and save on that time/effort.

Seeing a Watcher emitting its signal in Beta 5:



On a similar note, garrison location pings during reinforcement calls have been removed from the default difficulty mode, though there is no range shown there because it actually depends on the garrison itself and can even occur at longer ranges. That will continue to be a challenge to players who don't have relevant intel.


Beta 5 comes with a range of new or slightly adjusted mechanics.

Back in SITREP #9 I introduced an "enforced projectile spread," a weapon characteristic that can't be overcome by simply stacking more targeting computers. See the SITREP for more notes on this feature, but basically you'll now see this reflected in the targeting display for the few weapons that are affected by it:



This mechanic also meant I could rightly buff rocket arrays to allow them to come into their own as a cool niche weapon:



One of the other bigger mechanics changes is that all melee weapons benefit from momentum damage bonuses (not just impact/slashing/piercing), as the system is now handled by weapon category rather than damage type. So where damage modifiers are concerned, the Status page only needs to list a single "Melee" entry:


(notice another change: that page also only lists non-zero resistances and modifiers)

While we're at it, in 'q'/INFO mode both the parts list and inventory display melee weapon damage as modified by bonuses from current momentum. This helps make it much more clear just how much damage you can do without requiring extra calculations, especially when considering whether to try chopping through a stubborn door.



While it probably won't come into play all that often, overheating robots hit by thermal weapons now may have their parts melted.



Launcher Guidance Computers now block launcher misfires caused by corruption. Being able to more safely keep a launcher equipped while corrupted could occasionally come in handy.



Also, it might take a while to discover but there is now an EM weapon out there using a new "Fine" spectrum with a 100% chance to set off engine explosions :)


By request, Beta 5 gives you a way to adjust visual attributes like brightness, saturation, contrast, and more.

There are also some presents that change multiple variables at once, like the low-contrast mode "SLEEPY":



ASCII combat in Sleepy mode:



UI interaction in another low-contrast mode, "AUTUMN":



There are other extreme modes like the "SWAP" filter:



Combine multiple modes and filters, like SWAP + AUTUMN:



For the details on how to get the most out of this set of features you'll want to check the latest manual, under the new "Color Customization" section, which explains all eight of the render filter functions and how to apply them to the UI or map.

See additional demo images on my dev blog here.

Although I try to encode as much information using additional methods beyond color, there might be some areas where I could allow further adjustment to benefit certain players' needs. If you have some type of color blindness or other color-related request that I might be able to solve via a filter or some kind of correction formula, let me know and I'll see what I can do.


Our favorite category :). Lots of feature requests fulfilled with this release, plus just more ideas I had to make your [Cogmind's] life easier.

Terrain revealed via scanners or other means before visiting it now appears in a monochrome "greenscale" rather than color like all other areas outside your field of vision.



This helps remember where you've actually been. And looks cool :D

Like the real-time melee momentum damage calculations mentioned above, 'q'/INFO mode also also displays which weapons are affected by an active Particle Accelerator and how:



There are now a number of ways to filter on-map item labels, described in the manual and adjustable via the advanced config. By default broken and faulty items won't be labeled, and you can also opt to exclude items below a certain integrity or relative rating threshold. Without any changes to the settings, Beta 5 automatically skips items with only 1~25% of their integrity remaining.


(Notice the repeat command at the end there which then includes all items in the labeling, regardless of filters.)

This is a first step of potentially several on the road to an even more effective label system.

Map edges can now be revealed via a setting, but this is recommended only for advanced players who are already familiar with most of the world since it can be somewhat spoilery. It's also somewhat immersion breaking, but it's decent QoL because without it those who really do know how all the systems work will pan around and find the approximate borders in advance anyway.



This feature uses a different style if you're playing with a swap filter:



Don't go looking for the "Game" menu buttons on their own page, since they've now moved right under the Basic commands and are accessible as soon as you press Escape!



quickStart (the option that automatically attaches and collects all items in the starting area for you) is now available in easier difficulty modes as well, with the easiest mode starting gear getting upgraded to a Med. Storage Unit:



Active garrisons now display their dispatch timer countdown directly on the map as long as you have a Signal Interpreter.



There's now a log message specifically for identifying unknown parts. This'll help both when you're reviewing a log later, and perhaps more importantly when that faulty prototype melts on you and you're left wondering what it actually was xD



When attempting to exit a map, the confirmation specifies how many allies you will be leaving behind if you leave immediately.



Potential cave-in areas are always highlighted, even without Tactical HUD mode. I originally thought it was active in all modes, but apparently not and I think it should be both obvious and helpful to even beginners to know what areas will collapse. It's an important mechanic to learn early on, and will seem more fair if those areas were marked to begin with rather than requiring a mode used by experienced players :P



The precise core integrity popup feature added in the last release is now the default behavior in Tactical HUD mode, with an advanced option to revert to percentage displays.



There's even more QoL listed in the changelog, so read through that to catch them all.


I'm continuing to add optional map ASCII styles by request, where I can put together something suitable, and Beta 5 in particular comes with three more size 16 options.



The above example is the new size 16 Terminus option, and you can see the others in the last SITREP. This brings Cogmind's total number of custom font bitmaps to 112! Don't worry, it's not a magic number or anything and I won't be stopping there ;)

Setting these currently requires an edit to the game files themselves, as described in the manual's Advanced UI > Fonts section. For now that also means this feature is incompatible with Steam cloud, and you'll also have to repeat the same modification manually if you update to a new version, as it's not a part of the regular user settings. I'll be doing something about this later, but it's rather involved and requires a number of changes as deep as the engine level, so it can't happen too quickly/soon and I'd like to combine the related adjustments with other new features we'll be seeing down the line.

Beta 5 saves are not compatible with previous versions, but even if you're on Steam and have autoupdates enabled, Beta 4 is still available via its own branch and you can roll back to finish a run in progress first if you like.

Beta 5 is mostly done! This was the last full week of prep work, focused on handling as many feature requests as I could fit in (including some of my own :P) while also fixing any new bugs discovered in Beta 4.


One player requested that, as a memory aid, terrain discovered via scanners (or other means) could be displayed differently than that which had actually been visited and seen before. I went ahead and used monochrome "greenscale" to draw those areas rather than the usual darkened colors used everywhere outside FOV.

I like how it looks, plus it's a good excuse to use the old green style I originally used (it was the only/default style before Alpha 13 a year ago!).

Momentum damage modifiers are now precalculated directly next to the melee weapons they affect, so you don't have to do it :P. This is especially helpful when trying to smash, slash, or stab your way through a stubborn door.


Similarly, active Particle Accelerators now show exactly how they affect the damage of your energy weapons (including those stored in inventory in case you want to pull them out for maximum fearsomeness).


I removed the separate "Game" menu page, simply putting its three buttons on the Basic commands page so they're accessible immediately as soon as you press Escape, also making them easier for new players to find.

There are a number of other changes still coming to the Escape menu system, but this was a relatively easy adjustment that was worth making now.

Thermal/heat transfer weapons that hit overheating robots may now melt their parts as well.


The advanced quickStart option is going to be available at easier difficulty modes, too. I knew there might be minor issues regarding implementation and hadn't looked into them since I previously didn't have much interaction with players not using the default difficulty, so I didn't know whether anyone would actually use it. During Beta 4 I did hear one voice on the matter, though, so here it is! Adding quickStart to Easiest Mode did require swapping out the Sml. Storage unit for a Medium one, but I'm sure there won't be any complaints there :P. Here's a sample quickStart exit from the Scrapyard in Easiest:


While reworking some aspects of melee damage I went ahead and simplified the resistance and damage modifiers on the status page by only listing those which are non-zero values.


By request, active garrisons now display their dispatch timer countdown directly on the map as long as you have a Signal Interpreter. This information has been available for a while, but previously only by actually inspecting the Garrison Access terminal itself.


Launcher Guidance Computers now block launcher misfires caused by corruption. Being able to more safely keep a launcher equipped while corrupted could occasionally come in handy.


There's now a log message specifically for identifying unknown parts. This'll help both when you're reviewing a log later, and perhaps more importantly when that faulty prototype melts on you and you're left wondering what it actually was xD


Last but oh most definitely not least, robots sending distress signals now animate the range at which they are capable of alerting friendlies. This'll be important because in (only) the default Roguelike difficulty mode I'm removing the position-revealing feature added for Beta 4. I'll talk more about that in the release notes next week.



Another player needed alternative map ASCII at size 16 to more easily distinguish characters on their smaller display, so I added several new options there.

The first is the great Terminus, which I think looks really nice but as a fully sans-serif font may not be that great for the state purpose in particular.


I'm not sure about the other two, but I'll have to get some feedback from those who actually need this feature :). In looking for some size-appropriate serif options I picked these old system fonts from the 80s:

Kaypro


Verite



The wiki now really is chock full of spoilers. Raine's been doing a great job with it and all the items are in there. I mentioned this last time but the data is even more complete now, including even comparison tables.

Robots, machines, walls, lore and whatnot still need to be added manually, so if anyone with the info and know-how is interested in helping out you can email me at gridsagegames@gmail.com to get an account. Ideally you'll also be in our chat so we can coordinate things.

Raine also has the Beta 1~3 score sheets in a database you can use to make pretty graphs here, for anyone curious about stats. (It scrapes all the data, but the publicly available fields are limited unless there are requests for others.)

AND she's also working on a bot for the chat channels <3


In between stories of epic runs, players have been sharing some cool Cogmind-related art over on Discord.

We have a couple images by MojoPoop depicting a Cogmind-DF mashup:




He also created a "Proton Cannon but not" in the style of Cogmind item art:


"Vigilant" - A Hunter by Rylan:


All of these were drawn in my free editor, REXPaint.


Early this week I did a couple more streams, and won this run :D

It was another combat run (of course!), only this time focusing on legs and stronger offense. There's a summary with images on the forums here. The entire run is in two parts on YouTube, -10 to -3 and -3 to the end.

That'll probably be my last stream for a while, since I'll be away from home for most of the next month (but still mostly working on Beta 6) and in early March I'm planning to do a 7DRL I think you'll all enjoy :D. More on that stuff in future updates, though.

Some top players have been thinking of streaming their runs, though, so if you hang out in the Discord you might find out about that. Most of the Cogminds you see high up on the leaderboards are in our chat, and in some cases I'm sure that's how they got up there so fast--there's a lot of wisdom to be found within! Come hang out :D (I'm there every day, too)


The next big thing is around the corner. Beta 5 is another huge release that I'll have out for you by mid-week. It's not quite done as I'm still trying to pack in as many last-minute features as possible and there are a few requested features on the shortlist. Most recently I spent a while on an RTS-style panning option, but doing a good one takes a lot of time so I don't think that'll make the cut (already tons of stuff planned for Beta 6, too xD).

I appreciate if you could leave a review if you've been getting into the game for Early Access and know your way around!

See you with the full Beta 5 announcement before long :D

Beta 5 is mostly done! This was the last full week of prep work, focused on handling as many feature requests as I could fit in (including some of my own :P) while also fixing any new bugs discovered in Beta 4.


One player requested that, as a memory aid, terrain discovered via scanners (or other means) could be displayed differently than that which had actually been visited and seen before. I went ahead and used monochrome "greenscale" to draw those areas rather than the usual darkened colors used everywhere outside FOV.

I like how it looks, plus it's a good excuse to use the old green style I originally used (it was the only/default style before Alpha 13 a year ago!).

Momentum damage modifiers are now precalculated directly next to the melee weapons they affect, so you don't have to do it :P. This is especially helpful when trying to smash, slash, or stab your way through a stubborn door.


Similarly, active Particle Accelerators now show exactly how they affect the damage of your energy weapons (including those stored in inventory in case you want to pull them out for maximum fearsomeness).


I removed the separate "Game" menu page, simply putting its three buttons on the Basic commands page so they're accessible immediately as soon as you press Escape, also making them easier for new players to find.

There are a number of other changes still coming to the Escape menu system, but this was a relatively easy adjustment that was worth making now.

Thermal/heat transfer weapons that hit overheating robots may now melt their parts as well.


The advanced quickStart option is going to be available at easier difficulty modes, too. I knew there might be minor issues regarding implementation and hadn't looked into them since I previously didn't have much interaction with players not using the default difficulty, so I didn't know whether anyone would actually use it. During Beta 4 I did hear one voice on the matter, though, so here it is! Adding quickStart to Easiest Mode did require swapping out the Sml. Storage unit for a Medium one, but I'm sure there won't be any complaints there :P. Here's a sample quickStart exit from the Scrapyard in Easiest:


While reworking some aspects of melee damage I went ahead and simplified the resistance and damage modifiers on the status page by only listing those which are non-zero values.


By request, active garrisons now display their dispatch timer countdown directly on the map as long as you have a Signal Interpreter. This information has been available for a while, but previously only by actually inspecting the Garrison Access terminal itself.


Launcher Guidance Computers now block launcher misfires caused by corruption. Being able to more safely keep a launcher equipped while corrupted could occasionally come in handy.


There's now a log message specifically for identifying unknown parts. This'll help both when you're reviewing a log later, and perhaps more importantly when that faulty prototype melts on you and you're left wondering what it actually was xD


Last but oh most definitely not least, robots sending distress signals now animate the range at which they are capable of alerting friendlies. This'll be important because in (only) the default Roguelike difficulty mode I'm removing the position-revealing feature added for Beta 4. I'll talk more about that in the release notes next week.



Another player needed alternative map ASCII at size 16 to more easily distinguish characters on their smaller display, so I added several new options there.

The first is the great Terminus, which I think looks really nice but as a fully sans-serif font may not be that great for the state purpose in particular.


I'm not sure about the other two, but I'll have to get some feedback from those who actually need this feature :). In looking for some size-appropriate serif options I picked these old system fonts from the 80s:

Kaypro


Verite



The wiki now really is chock full of spoilers. Raine's been doing a great job with it and all the items are in there. I mentioned this last time but the data is even more complete now, including even comparison tables.

Robots, machines, walls, lore and whatnot still need to be added manually, so if anyone with the info and know-how is interested in helping out you can email me at gridsagegames@gmail.com to get an account. Ideally you'll also be in our chat so we can coordinate things.

Raine also has the Beta 1~3 score sheets in a database you can use to make pretty graphs here, for anyone curious about stats. (It scrapes all the data, but the publicly available fields are limited unless there are requests for others.)

AND she's also working on a bot for the chat channels <3


In between stories of epic runs, players have been sharing some cool Cogmind-related art over on Discord.

We have a couple images by MojoPoop depicting a Cogmind-DF mashup:




He also created a "Proton Cannon but not" in the style of Cogmind item art:


"Vigilant" - A Hunter by Rylan:


All of these were drawn in my free editor, REXPaint.


Early this week I did a couple more streams, and won this run :D

It was another combat run (of course!), only this time focusing on legs and stronger offense. There's a summary with images on the forums here. The entire run is in two parts on YouTube, -10 to -3 and -3 to the end.

That'll probably be my last stream for a while, since I'll be away from home for most of the next month (but still mostly working on Beta 6) and in early March I'm planning to do a 7DRL I think you'll all enjoy :D. More on that stuff in future updates, though.

Some top players have been thinking of streaming their runs, though, so if you hang out in the Discord you might find out about that. Most of the Cogminds you see high up on the leaderboards are in our chat, and in some cases I'm sure that's how they got up there so fast--there's a lot of wisdom to be found within! Come hang out :D (I'm there every day, too)


The next big thing is around the corner. Beta 5 is another huge release that I'll have out for you by mid-week. It's not quite done as I'm still trying to pack in as many last-minute features as possible and there are a few requested features on the shortlist. Most recently I spent a while on an RTS-style panning option, but doing a good one takes a lot of time so I don't think that'll make the cut (already tons of stuff planned for Beta 6, too xD).

I appreciate if you could leave a review if you've been getting into the game for Early Access and know your way around!

See you with the full Beta 5 announcement before long :D