New game options, presets and defaults including an Introductory preset and No Events mode
Grand Viziers can no longer be assigned manually and will only appear through events (Behind the Throne)
Design
Wonder rebalancing:
Ishtar Gate: increased growth per culture level in the city from 1 to 2
Necropolis: Now gives all cities 3 civics per pagan religion instead of 2 happiness per temple
Royal Library: increased science output from connection to other teams, but reduced output from own team (Wonders and Dynasties)
Al Khazneh: Now gives free silk, perfume, ebony, porcelain, and furs, and a Caravan every 5 turns. Removed money bonus and 3 instant Caravans (Wonders and Dynasties)
Mausoleum: increased culture modifier from 40% to 50%
Hagia Sophia: Now gives 2 happiness levels for every city on completion and 2 happiness per turn per culture level in the wonder city. Removed global happiness per turn
Via Recta Souk: Now gives all on-map luxury resources. Replaced wonder city growth by 2 growth per culture level. Removed happiness per luxury and Caravans
All improvements that produce units create one on the first turn they are built. Affects Holy Sites, Al Khazneh, Cothon and Colosseum
Al Khazneh and Royal Library disabled in FFA games with two or fewer human players and no AI nations (Wonders and Dynasties)
New crowning ambitions added.
These are the 10th and final ambition you will be offered in order to claim an ambition victory:
6 cities with a positive happiness level
8 Elder specialists in each Family Seat
Polytheism and 4 Elder Acolytes in each Family Seat
Stockpile 2000 of each resource
Send 20 luxuries
Added game option preset Introductory and made it the default. This sets low events, low mortality and no AI development
Added game option No Events. This disables all events except those necessary for game progression or for leaders' unique abilities.
Renamed newer Inland Sea map script to Mediterranean and made it the default initial map for single player games. The original Inland Sea map script is no longer hidden
Added game option to ignore premade map nation starting locations
AI player starting city numbers are now capped at twice the average for the AI Development level
Swapping the position of units now consumes a fatigue point for both units. Units that have used all their fatigue can use Force March to enabled them to be swapped
The Formation effect (Greek UU) now gives +20% strength from having the same unit adjacent, not just +20% defense
All retiring Generals now get the Retiring General trait, allowing them to become governors
Relaxed restrictions on ambition validity when there are no valid ambitions of the correct tier available
Improved east-west team starting location placement adjustment
Team contact is now always symmetric, no longer possible to not be able to change diplomatic relations with a nation that you have met but hasn't met you
Leader and heir now get an additional trait option that is not related to their current job when upgrading
Raging tribes will now get a centralized AI whenever they have at least one city in their possession
Doubled the effect of Righteous and Debauched traits
Increased Harbor net adjacency bonus from 40% to 60%
Units now always advance after kill when attacking camps that are not city sites
Lowered order amount demanded by the AI when giving tribute for truce
Grand Viziers can no longer be assigned manually and will only appear through events (Behind the Throne)
Autonomous Rule now overrules the Grand Vizier (Autonomous Rule cities do not build units but can spend resources) (Behind the Throne)
Ambushed by rebels trait no longer removes character job (Behind the Throne)
The Found Religion project will now preferentially found Zoroastrianism for the Shapur dynasty (Wonders and Dynasties)
Some dynasty starting characters now have the Rising Star and Power Hungry traits (Wonders and Dynasties / Behind the Throne)
Darius now takes a -5 Legitimacy hit if he lets Bardiya take the throne (Wonders and Dynasties)
Programming
Increased value AI places on gaining orders, AI value for garrisons lowered
AI now attacks tribe settlements with a higher priority than roaming tribe units
AI takes into account the strength of allies and enemies of both players when deciding whether to go to war or ask for truce
Tweaks to AI diplomacy with Ruthless AI set:
AI will not accept a player mission to declare war on a third party, if it would not consider doing so independently
AI will not accept truce from a player, if it has zero chance of initiating truce from its side
AI will not automatically accept peace or truce when another AI player offers it
Improved vizier city build management (Behind the Throne)
Steam now respects the DLC checkboxes in the Steam library, treating any DLCs disabled there as unowned.
Steam now uses rich presence and displays information about the current game state
Mod Browser change to ensure Mod.io website mod commenting is enabled properly on mods
Added the Behind the Throne XML files to the Reference folder
Added setsafe console command which sets characterID safe (not able to die) for numberOfTurns
Added SUBJECT_CHARACTER_WORLD_RELIGION for use by modders
AI is more mindful of danger when moving units from one location to another, if it can't get there on the same turn
Removed UI XML hotloading
Possible fix for occasional reconnection failures in MP
Added some logging to better identify reconnection failures
Mapscript mods consisting of a source file are now deprecated and will show warning message in Manage mods screen
UI
Added turn summary entry for new techs and consolidated some categories
Added loading hourglass cursor to menu screens
Game option positions in setup menu re-organised
Split "Show Single Objects" into "Show Single Units" and "Show Single Resources" in graphics options
Added "Increase Border Visibility" to accessibility
Unit effects now show both the general trait and promotion icons when the unit has the same effect from both
Notification reminder button now bigger and shine effect applied
Updated Learn by Playing scenario icon
Agent candidates are now shown on the Assign Agent tooltip even when they cannot be assigned due to no Spymaster
Revised description of traits that do not allow any jobs (e.g. Ascetic) to dynamically include all jobs
Changed the art for Shrine of Serapis (Ptolemy's unique shrine) so that the dynasties shrines art are unique (Heroes of the Aegean)
Border expansion preview now contains city territory information so that players know which city will get which tile
Updated display of rivers when using Minimal graphics setting
Border expansion now shown when hovering over the unit widget of a worker constructing an improvement
Changed 'Default Settings' Option Preset name to 'Standard Settings' to reflect it no longer being the default
City founding previews now update only borders, rather than all terrain. Borders now only update vegetation when "increase border visibility" is enabled
Ignore to-be-occupied tile for calculating potential bounces during attack preview
Tweaks to notification tooltip for Steam Deck
Bugs Fixed
Fixed a nested link issue with council characters
Fixed some AI issues where it had trouble getting out of its own way
Fixed particle sound effects firing too often
Fixed duplicate crest in notification text for units killed or captured
Fixed doubled pillage/burn buttons for allied tribe units
Fixed bug allowing fort or road construction in non-allied tribe city territory, including territory of cities being captured
Fixed resource improvement pings not always setting the location for resources for some events that add them
Fixed time victory not being disabled by default in some of the game option presets
Fixed mod browser tooltips not showing for picture & changelog edit boxes, and dependency/incompatibility/whitelist buttons on mod upload screen
Fixed unrevealed tiles being targetable with ranged units
Fixed bug with tile distance pathfinder that caused nations to be placed too close together
Fixed bug with SUBJECT_CITY_DAMAGED
Fixed unit combat animations pausing when offscreen and resuming when in view again
Fixed heir naming relation tooltip
Fixed autobuild governor not honoring items that it had previously queued
Fixed bug with events that remove citizens
Fixed gender prerequisites not showing in event options
Fixed locked tooltips causing issues on SP setup screen
Fixed issue where selecting things between turns could lead to UI issues
Fixed ask to declare war mission sometimes failing to lead to a result
Fixed resource display issue in the Map Editor
Fixed some traits causing the trait display to be inaccurate
Fixed Seaside map script help text (no longer default)
Fixed turn summary popup scrolling
Fixed raiders sometimes not finding the city they are supposed to raid
Fixed replay for server games
Fixed rare bug that could cause city sites to be joined on the Imperium Romanum map
Fixed game failing to start correctly when username can't be set
Fixed links breaking in turn summary
Fixed city health bars sometimes not displaying properly after undo
Fixed bug where Developing wonders would grant AI the Weak legitimacy bonus, +2 instead of +4
Fixed diplomatic status icon not being removed from city widget when city is no longer owned by a tribe
Fixed default setup options sometimes not displaying correctly
Fixed cloud game state being able to be changed by non-active players
Pharaohs of the Nile scenario 3 raider and unit bounce fixes
Fixed opinion boost from Opulence not showing in the Encyclopedia (Behind the Throne)
Fixed Heroes of the Aegean scenario 4 intrigue techs sometimes not triggering events (Heroes of the Aegean)
Fixed Nero wiki link (Wonders and Dynasties)
Fixed reform eras getting stuck from imprisoned or exiled viziers (Behind the Throne)
Fixed wine harvest goal not failing in event of death or divorce of spouse (Behind the Throne)
Fixed delay in victory triggering when final VP came from Opulence project (Behind the Throne)
Fixed Behind the Throne being unavailable in World Map and Barbarian Horde scenarios
Wilderness Survival: The Conservationist Playtest - IGS Ghost
Hello to all Conservationists.
If you are playing the Play test or considering playing the play test. We invite you to join us in Discord. We have been working hard to get another update out soon, until then you can come and see what we are working on for the update. We are excited and hope you are too.
Since the last update, I took a hard look at all the various systems and experiences of the game, considering all the great feedback I've received, and organized my future plans into three categories:
1) Good system, just needs more content. 2) Good bones, but needs iteration. 3) Uninspired, needs a full redesign. So here is the progress I've made in each category and what items still remain before the next update is ready:
Good system, just needs more improvements and content:
The Inventory Grid system
MAJOR FEATURE: When you level up, you now receive a 2x2 “Slot Unlocker”. Thus by level 40, your entire Grid will be unlocked. After level 40 you will start to receive a new item each time you level up, a 1x1 “Slot Empowerer” that lets you choose any slot to Empower which increases the Effectiveness of any Augments/Traits overlapping that slot.
QOL: Added Separate Gear tabs for each of the 5 Gear types, so now you can hold way more Gear and organize it better.
QOL: Added a button to remove all Unlocked Slots and give them back to the player so you can experiment with your builds more easily as you level. (As well as for the new Empowerer item).
Augments and Traits:
NEW AUGMENTS! Added three new powerful Major Universal Augments: Agile, Charge, and Channel. These are augments that have existed in some diminished form or another since the beginning because I really love how they change the gameplay potential, but they were so incredibly difficult to make modular and fix all the special cases, requiring massive changes to the Animation and State Machine systems. I finally nailed down all the major hurdles and have fully implemented them. There is still some jank in certain combinations due to how transformative they are, but overall I'm quite satisfied with the gameplay. Many new Traits and Gear are in design to compliment these powerful Augments.
DESIGN IMPROVEMENT: All Minor Traits are now 1x1 but can only roll 1 stat. This fixes the previous Minor power creep and allows the player to more easily fill the holes of their Major Traits in the grid.
Strike 3.0: The last iteration of Strike seems like it finally resonated well and I'm currently very satisfied with it. Here's some further improvements I've implemented:
Combo tracking on both the HUD and with a special visual marker on the player to much more easily track what combo number you're on.
Since many of the animations have movement built-in, I've added a new system which adjusts the distance of the movement based on how far the enemies are, in order to prevent moving through them while also ensuring you can take full advantage of gap-closing animations.
Previously the Blood Element had no implementation on HEALING abilities. Now, whenever you heal an ally or yourself with a Blood Healing ability, they will have “Ability Refresh” applied to them, which reduces the remaining Cooldown on all abilities by X seconds.
Good bones, but needs iteration:
Summon Ability: Weapon Element. Previously the Weapon version of Summons created ghostly images attached to the player that copied the player's Strike attack. I liked the unique playstyle potential but it had so many issues. Here's how I've redesigned it:
Weapon Summons are now individual minions just like normal Summons however they do not have their own AI. Instead, they move to whatever enemy the player is attacking, and use their attacks only when the player attacks with ANY ability. This subtle change fixes so many issues with other Summon Augments, such as Farcast, Totemize, Ranged, and a new LEAP Augment and just overall feels much better in my opinion. It's hard to explain, you'll just have to try it!
The visuals are much improved as well, reducing the weird ghosts to just a Sword with a nice crunchy swing animation/vfx, and a magic orb for the Ranged Augment versions.
Gear:
The role of Gear is very specific: provide MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE power. As opposed to Traits which you can try to shove as many of in your Trait Inventory, your Gear slots are much more limited and generally only fit one or two pieces in them, thus giving me the option to create very powerful transformative items that I know can't be abused since they can't be combined with other ones. Gear is the least developed of the three power systems (Augments/Traits/Gear) and so far I have not utilized its capabilities. But no longer!
I have designs for 125 different Gear pieces, each with their own powerful stats (and unique appearances of course). I will try to launch with as many complete as I can but some will probably be pushed to subsequent updates.
The overall design philosophy is as follows:
Blues and Yellows are “stat sticks”. Blues have up to two MASSIVE stat increases. Yellows have up to five less-massive stats.
Reds have an Augment that applies to ALL your abilities, and up to two small stats.
Purples have a powerful Trait that you either can't get via the normal Trait system, or has a more efficient version of it freeing up valuable Trait slots. And up to two small stats.
And lastly Orange gear always grants a new Ability, and up to two small stats.
In AnR, the colors are not to distinguish rarity, but rather Type, with my hope being that every Color can serve a role in end-game builds. If you have a build that scales really well with a certain stat, then perhaps utilizing the power of Blue gear to get a massive increase to that stat will be most effective. Or perhaps your build is very strong but lacks a bunch of baseline defenses, then you could use a Yellow or two to gain multiple defensive stats up to their Diminishing Returns. And then of course with the remaining colors it will be up to you to see how you can best utilize their unique aug/trait/ability.
Crafting: Overall I like the basic structure of crafting, where you obtain special crafting items through enemy drops that you can use on your Augments/Traits/Gear to improve them. But it needed a ton of refinement and additional features to really make it shine, and here's what I've come up with and implemented!
DESIGN IMPROVEMENT: All items now have a chance to drop with up to 4 Reforge Points, based on the Enemy level. Every Crafting Item costs Reforge Points to use, ranging from free for the “Stat Rerollers” to 3 for the more powerful items such as a “Gear Socketer”.
The goal of the system is to have meaningful choices on how best to adjust your items to increase your build's power. For example a “Reshaper” doesn't directly increase the power of an item, but allows you to change the shape of it which can unlock completely new builds and combinations. Alternatively for the same Reforge Point cost, you can use a “Socketer” which lets you put any Minor Trait into a Major (and is affected by the previously mentioned new “Slot Empowerers”!) And of course if your item drops with enough Reforge Points, you can do both actions!
You can “undo” a Craft using a special Crafting item to re-gain the Reforge Points on the target item.
I have so far implemented a handful of these types of Crafting Items, with more designs in the pipeline for future updates.
UI: Greatly improved the feel and flow of many of the game's UIs.
Icons, colors and cleaner panels.
Better tabs and button feedback and visuals.
The Hub's Atlas UI has been redesigned and improved.
Uninspired, needs a full redesign:
The World:
MAJOR REDESIGN: I've changed the world from linear paths into “open” zones. The current linear designs will be saved for a new End-game system outlined below: “Dungeon Builder”. I believe the open zones are more suited to the campaign and leveling up process, allowing for the joy of discovery and world-building. However this change comes with many new needs:
NEW FEATURE: Minimap has been added. The previous linear paths and campaign system allowed me to skip this feature since it was hard to get lost or miss quests, but now that's not the case so the we'll need more guiding.
NEW FEATURE: Region Map has been added. In addition to the minimap this helps mark quests and guide the player.
NEW FEATURE: Developed a Destructible Environment system which allows me to implement lots of various Destructible objects to the world to increase the feel and responsiveness of combat.
QOL: Added a Quest Tracker to the HUD
IN PROGRESS: Flushing out the new zones with more details, Points of Interest, Quests, and polish.
MAJOR FEATURE: “Discovery System”. Any time you pick up a new Augment or Trait, you will gain a permanent “Proficiency Bonus” in one of 10 categories depending on what type of Aug/Trait it was. You will also be able to re-craft that Aug/Trait anytime for very cheap.
This comes with a new UI to manage the system, accessed from your main inventory window.
The Goals of this system are several: For one it makes getting ANY augment/trait more exciting even if its not good for your particular build, since it will still at least grant some power. And then through the new UI, you can supply unwanted items and roll for a new random aug/trait from a category of your choice.
Throughout the new open-world you'll come across many Points of Interest which will grant you a new undiscovered aug/trait from a category of your choice.
ENDGAME MODE – FREELANCE:
With the new Open-zone design outlined above, I've been able to completely redesign the Freelance mode.
Now when you embark on a Freelance mission from the Hub, the zone you choose to go to can have one of several different scenarios randomly applied. Upon successfully defeating the scenario, you will be rewarded a specific predetermined Ingredient(s) based on the difficulty you selected.
Additionally, before you begin the mission, you can choose to input items into the Atlas inventory in order to increase the rewards.
I hope to launch with up to five different Mission types for each zone, and will continually add more and more with each update.
This mode is designed to be one of the primary End-Game loops. Thus it needs to be highly replayable and fun. To accomplish that, in summary I have implemented:
Randomness/variation generated from the multiple scenario types for each zone.
Randomness on the spawn locations of players/enemies/mission goals.
Multiple tiers of difficulty with increasing rewards and achievements.
Ability of player to modify their rewards through the Atlas Gamble system.
Timing and mechanics of the various scenarios: short and sweet but open to strategic decisions based on player build.
Special secrets for each scenario...more info may or may not be coming.
Open to further improvement with new scenarios/mission types and iteration.
ENDGAME MODE – DUNGEON BUILDER:
This mode is intended to be the PINNACLE content of Ash & Rust. It is designed to be tackled by a squad of friends (but will scale down for single player). When I dreamed of creating this game so many years ago, this mode was at the core.
It will replace the current “Build a Boss” mode where you re-open the Basement door and defeat the final boss for specified loot.
Instead it will generate a random “Dungeon”, aka a linear-designed zone with strong enemies and bosses.
The Ingredients you collect from the FREELANCE mode are the "keys" to generating the Dungeon and determine what type of loot/rewards you get.
Bug fixes and other Improvements:
NEW FEATURE: Random Elite Enemies. I know, I know, I'm very late to the game on this feature. Enemies can now spawn as Elite versions, empowering them with specific stat increases and/or unique extra abilities. They grant increased Experience and/or Loot when defeated.
NEW FEATURE: Hardcore mode! If your character dies, you cannot play that character anymore. The Off will not save you this time!
Massive load-time improvement by re-architecting the player, ui and manager load systems.
I *think* I finally fixed that pesky Gear Ability re-ordering bug where the Abilities granted from your Gear would get re-orderered on your bars when you reloaded.
When to expect this update? The main items I'm still working on is flushing out the new world and implementing all the new Gear items. I'm aiming to launch by September and I intend for this to be the final content update of Early Access. Following this update I will resume working on Multiplayer and when that's ready, that will be the last update of Early Access and I will begin preparing for 1.0 Launch!
Thank you to everyone who has supported this project and for providing feedback! I know it's taken a long time to progress but as a solo dev, slow and steady is the only path forward for such a massive endeavour. I'll provide another update when we get close to launching this patch!
We are thrilled to announce a major update to Dark Riddle! In the near future, Dark Riddle will be available to all players for free! As a developer at PAGA GAMES, I’m excited to share this change with our incredible community.
Our goal has always been to create fun, engaging, and immersive experiences for our players. By making Dark Riddle free-to-play, we hope to welcome even more players into our vibrant world. Whether you are new to Dark Riddle or have been with us from the start, we believe this change will enhance your gaming experience.
To ensure that the game remains enjoyable and sustainable, we are introducing a variety of in-game purchases. These purchases are entirely optional and are designed to enhance your gameplay without disrupting the core experience.
We understand the importance of a balanced game, so rest assured that all players, whether they choose to make purchases or not, will have access to the full game and can progress through the story and challenges.
What Does This Mean for Existing Customers? For those who have already purchased Dark Riddle, rest assured that your experience will remain unchanged. You will continue to have full access to all the content and features you enjoyed before, with the added opportunity to participate in the new in-game purchases if you choose to.
When Will This Happen? We plan to make this change within the as soon as possible. We want to give our community ample time to prepare, so we are making this announcement now. Please stay tuned for a specific date, which will be announced soon.
Thank you for your continued support and enthusiasm for Dark Riddle. We can’t wait to see how our community grows and evolves with this new free-to-play model. Your feedback and suggestions have been invaluable to us, and we look forward to continuing this journey together.
Levels have received various refinements based on player feedback for a better overall gaming experience. Adjust brightness for objects and scenes. Updated AI logic. Update camera and pick up item mechanics.
Hey everyone! If you have questions for the devs, here's still time before tomorrow's Dev Campfire session! Reminder to submit them to the thread in the events channel of the ViRo Discord
