v1.8 - Scrub-a-Dub-Sludge

Back again with a sizable update right before Halloween.

ALSO. This weekend is the 2021 Roguelike Celebration! I'll be giving a talk on Saturday, October 16th. Golden Krone Hotel is also featured in a Steam sale tied to the celebration. Check it out!

Highlights

• New sounds and music including 9 new songs by Christopher Loza
• Starvation rework with no more instant deaths
• New branches: Baths and Sewers
• New monsters: Harpy, Sludge, Samca
• New spell: UMBRA
• Hotel entrance rework
• Magical drinking fountains added
• YOU CAN PET THE DOG
• And lots more!

Sound

• Nine new songs by Christopher Loza
• "Classic" soundtrack removed (this was an alternative free music soundtrack, not good)
• Music selection is matched to intensity of current situation
• Music won't change if repeatedly and quickly switching floors
• New sounds like splashing, footsteps, and entering a portal
• Sounds now play in stereo (e.g. sounds far to the left only play on left speaker)
• Electric melee attacks now have a unique noise

Starvation rework

• Starvation has been reworked. No more instant deaths. You instead take continuous damage and no longer regen mana once completely starving.
• Lower starting satiation to offset the starvation rework

New content

• New branch: Baths. A random swap out for Greenhouse. Fight lightning fast Harpies and the entrancing Rusalki.
• New branch: Sewers. A random swap out for Grotto. This branch has an optional miniboss, the Rat King, and a new monster, Sludge.
• Sludges split into two when attacked and leave behind toxic sludge piles that spew poison gas when stepped on.
• New enemy: Samca. A weaker version of Moroi that is not easily struck.
• New status effect: Bleeding. When struck by repeated physical attacks from the same enemy in a single turn, some of the immediate damage is converted into slow bleeding.
• New spell: UMBRA. Become permanently more powerful with each cast, but at great cost.

Gameplay

• Drinking fountains that act like time limited, one use potions
• Commander disguise can convert potential allies that are equal to their level (as opposed to only greater than their level)
• BOMB allows you to choose a potion instead of selecting randomly
• Primer now transmutes a potion if you have no unidentified potions
• Brutemaster's pet wolf get stronger when they level up
• And you can pet the wolf!
• The Abberation status (provided by Flux potion) gives you double attacks in addition to random damage types.
• Fire Mother has been made flying
• Player speed can no longer drop below 4
• Antidotes are now a guaranteed potion and made slightly stronger
• Added a neutral Firefly monster
• Time crystals made slightly rarer
• Stained glass windows are visible during the day even if otherwise complete darkness
• Made a few good statuses last longer.

Map gen

• Reworked the hotel entrance with 11 new rooms that can appear on any side of the hotel. Each new entrance gives a significant and immediate boon.
• More level generation templates
• Templates are randomly rotated offering more level variety
• Branch stairs should now be guaranteed to spawn far away from bosses.

Graphics

• Reworked stained glass windows to look taller/better
• Humans/vamps hit by electric attacks have a cartoony skeleton animation
• Skeletons slightly redrawn and cuter
• Redrew stairs going down
• Monsters that spawn additional monsters (e.g. Wolf Spider) are more convincingly animated when producing those monsters
• Gallery and Baths now have columns instead of single wall tiles

UI and game feels

• Stairs and items are are shown at full brightness even in darkness. This turns out to not look particularly weird but is a huge accessibility win.
• XP displays as a percentage towards the next level instead of... whatever that was
• Revolver aiming now remembers your last target
• Status effects indicator appears directly above character when first granted status
• Special now appears on the character sheet
• Made critical hits feel meatier
• Hawkers display as green on the mini-map
• Autoresting now stops when mana is recovered and health is full
• Removed move confirmation when blind
• Moved note about numpad to diagonal section for clarity
• Changed unstable description to be more clear
• Fixed spacing on title screen menu for better hovering
• Changed "quenched" to "doused" in Burning description to avoid confusion with Quench ability
• Added tip to game over screen about magic/resting making hunger worse
• Status badges now fade in and initially glow
• Added note about full potion menu to quick potions
• Three new achievements related to Sewers, Baths, and UMBRA.
• Clarified Vulnerable status description

Bug fixes and tweaks

• MIASMA bug fixes including fixing a bug where diagonal casts sometimes missed their target completely
• Fixed a major freezing issue that occurred when ISPs blocked vulgat.com
• Fixed an issue where some animations were too fast
• Fixed an issue with branch names not abbreviating on the hotel map
• Fixed an Alchemist bug with potion icons
• Fixed a bug with husks getting permanently "stunned"
• No longer displaying character shadows over pits