KeeperRL -- a rogue-like Dungeon Keeper clone

[Bibbimbop]

I really ought to play this again. Probably been some changes in 7 years of active development.

 

[TheDiceMustRoll]

Bought it on a whim because I don't like War for the Overworld.

Anyway, how do you drop items from someone's inventory. My overlord has been lugging around 800 gp for weeks now

It's been a long time, but I think you have to build a treasure chest and they will use it for a GP drop point.

Yea. You can also directly control, click commamd, and theres a "drop everything" order.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/329970/view/4774365228869233960

Dwarves
What’s a dungeon building game without dwarves? Of course the little neckbeards have always been present in KeeperRL as an enemy, but a playable dwarf faction has long been due. As a rule I try to add unique gameplay with each new faction so that it’s not a mere reskin of existing content. The dwarves are no different.

The main dwarf characteristic is that you start with exactly twelve of them, and it’s impossible to gain any new minions for the entire game. This is accompanied by a promotion system that lets you specialize your initially blank dwarves with various combinations of skills. The promotions are awarded together with new available technologies, as your faction gains levels.

Together, these two mechanics will force you to take long term strategic choices, as well as to choose your battles very wisely. This is unlike most other factions in KeeperRL, where minions are quite expendable. From initial playtesting it seems like this will be a very ‘roguelike’ experience, which I’m super happy about.

New content is always fun, but I also remember about adding important quality-of-life features to KeeperRL. One that has been requested for a long time is item smelting. It allows you to get rid of unneeded equipment, while recovering some resources. Another such feature is the ‘unclaim tile’ order, which lets you remove parts of territory that you aren’t interested in.

To add some variety in the landscape, I’ve added a fog effect which simply obscures vision. Since KeeperRL has already had a similar poison gas effect, I decided to merge these two into a general gas system. This is of interest mostly to modders, as it’s possible to add custom gases with various effects, and they can be placed on the map permanently during level generation or temporarily, for example as the result of a spell or crashed potion.

These are only some of the new features that I’ve been working on in the last weeks. If you’re interested in finding some fun surprises, you can try out the Alpha 33 testing build on Steam, which I’m going to release right after publishing this blog post. Stay tuned for another announcement with the instructions on how to opt into the new build.

 

[Incantatar]

Awesome game. Just played the first time and already won. I guess that means it's too easy @ easy. Next game will be at hard difficulty.

Agesilaus said: ↑

It's fun, but it gets boring incredibly quickly. I finished it on hard and aggressive, and... yeah. Done.​

Exactly right.

But he's still working at it. Hope it will get more challenging soon.
​

6 years later and a lot changed. Still fun game but probably still too easy, I don't have a hard time winning. It's nice to try the different game modes.

 

[TheDiceMustRoll]

New races are fun too

 

[Storyfag]

Oh. This looks like what I've been dreaming of ever since I saw Evil Genius for the first time. A DK with a persistent dungeon.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/329970/view/3043862684191345080

Necromancer faction coming Oct 28th
After automaton crafting was added to KeeperRL last year, someone suggested that a necromancer could similarly craft zombies from the body parts of fallen enemies. This was the evilest thing I could imagine, so I started working on a playable Necromancer faction right away. Unfortunately even though the mechanics were super fun, I wasn't able to come up with enough new content to make something releasable.

Around the same time the prolific modder Swish released his Unholy Mod that contains a necromancer and a lot of interesting undead creatures. I've reached out to them recently and we decided to collaborate on an official Necromancer Keeper, to be released on Halloween.

As a Necromancer, you'll choose recipes from a fine bouquet of undead creatures and use special
balsams
to mold them to your liking. Two special minions will be, as mentioned above, assembled from severed body parts.

While designing the Dwarves I wanted to create a feeling that each minion is unique and irreplacable. The Necromancer faction will be completely opposite to this. Your undead will be created in large numbers (there are no population limits), will fall easily due to weak defense, and the available balsams will let you specialize them against specific foes or even explicitly shorten their life in exchange for stat boosts.

This craziness will be countered a bit with phylacteries, special constructions that can renew a chosen minion's life.

The Necromancer is currently undergoing polish, and balancing, and will go live (but smell funny) on October 28th. If you are super curious or want to help out with testing before the official release, drop by on Discord!

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

 

[Acrux]

The Alpha 34 update is out. It adds better z-level support and mounts!

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/329970/view/3114805792517728036

KeeperRL Alpha 34 is out!
KeeperRL Alpha 34 is released! The update includes the addition of steeds, an overhaul of the Z-level system, and numerous quality-of-life improvements. Check out the patch notes below for more detailed information.

I’d like to thank everyone involved in crash testing this patch, sending bug reports and suggestions. Your help was invaluable!

If you would like to continue your saved game from Alpha 33, you can opt-in into the "Alpha 33 save compatibility" BETA branch under the game's properties in Library. Make sure to opt-out of the branch to go back to Alpha 34 when you're done!

Gameplay

• New steeds mechanic, minions are automatically assigned steeds and mount them.
  
• Multiple stairs per level are allowed.
  
• Inter-level portals are allowed.
  
• Stairs can be removed.
  
• All Z-levels are aligned and stairs always lead straight up or down.
  
• Home base level has been made smaller in order to have the same size as all Z-levels.
  
• Simplified roof support mechanic that only requires ‘building interior’ to be designated.
  
• Automaton assembling now uses the same, simpler crafting logic as the morgue.
  
• All non-humanoids made from flesh can now be captured.
  
• Added a ‘resistant to capture’ trait to some bosses.
  
• Creatures won’t auto-equip infernite weapons without having fire resistance, player is warned when trying to equip.
  
• Animal pens now require an animal fence to be active.
  
• Wildlife respawns.

Content

• Some villains and bosses receive their own special steeds.
  
• Some immigrants receive special attribute boosts related to riding steeds.
  
• Added ridable horses and warhorses to the white knight faction.
  
• Added hay piles for non-humanoids to eat at.
  
• Added an infinite carry capacity balsam to necromancer’s lab.
  
• Removed all beasts immigrants, must be captured in the wild now.
  
• Merge multi-weapon and extra arms balsams.
  
• New chicken and cow breeding techs.
  
• Added special enemies to some mountain tops.
  
• Added worship tech requirement to white knight priests.
  
• Gallows and beast cages moved to prison menu.
  
• Greenskins faction gets coffins to be able to recruit vampires.
  
• Djinn lamp moved to a new location.
  
• Leather equipment crafting no longer costs wood.
  
• Imps no longer have a speed buff.

UI

• New menu for restricting equipment types for chosen minion groups.
  
• New moddable help system with images and links.
  
• Enlarging the minimap doesn’t block the rest of the UI.
  
• Item choice menu has an owner counter to improve clarity.
  
• Added a tooltip to the combat experience UI element.

Modding

• Made possible to add new farm creatures.
  
• Added SameTribe creature predicate.
  
• Added Frequency predicate.

Fixes

• Fixed a retirement crash caused by a captured minion being tied to a phylactery.
  
• Disabling an activity will stop minion from doing it right now.
  
• It’s now impossible to set an activity that’s disabled.
  
• Enemies that are stunned or unable to move are not considered for danger warning or preventing the player from travelling.
  
• Master artisan’s bodyguards are fighters instead of civilians.
  
• Archwood bow crafting requires archery.
  
• Amulet of life saving is preferred to using the phylactery when killed by Death.
  
• Fixed retired dungeons search box.
  
• Unsecured prison tiles don’t increase prisoner quota.
  
• Fixed forge material tabs for automatons.
  
• Limited population increasing furniture can not be built over the limit.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/329970/view/3114806614745690734

Some KeeperRL assets temporarily removed due to copyright infringement (updated)
It has come to light that some graphical assets in KeeperRL infringe 3rd party copyrights. I wasn't aware of this, as these were made by someone hired for sprite creation recently. This is very bad news and all assets made by that person have just been taken down from the game.
Unfortunately this includes the whole Necromancer faction, which is now unavailable in the game starting menu
. Saved Necromancer games will still load, but a majority of sprites won't be displayed. If you have a Necromancer game in progress I suggest waiting a few days until we sort it out. Other factions should be playable outside of an occasional missing sprite here and there.

In the next few days we will figure out exactly which assets are non-original and add replacements for them, and everything should be back to normal.

I am terribly sorry for this blunder and inconvenience to all players. From now on I will make sure to have a 100% certainty about the origins of new assets.

If you have any suspicion that a KeeperRL asset may be "stolen", please get in touch, but also keep in mind that some older sprites come from the 16-Bit Fantasy sprite pack by oryxdesignlabs.com and you may see them in other games.

Update: the Necromancer faction is back, a few "offending" sprites are still missing but will be replaced soon.

 

[Irata]

The guy who is doing the titeset for Dwarf Fortress's commercial release was a bit sloppy in keeping track of where he got some of his images from too. This was in regards to the free tileset he made before he got the job. I don't know if it impacted the set he was making for the Steam version.

 

[Galdred]

TurnBasedLovers rated the game 9/10.

Summary
The ultimate evil roguelike dungeon overlord simulator - KeeperRL offers you the chance to raise your own army of doom and personally lead it in a grand campaign to destroy all opposition.

FWIW, I really liked the game, but controling multiple creatures in rogue like mode was a bit tedious (ie, moving each 1 tile at a time). The amount of content added post release is quite impressive.

 

[Cyberarmy]

So how finished is this one? I think it's been in EA for 5 years already?

 

[Softmonster]

KeeperRL will leave Early Access with the next update

https://steamcommunity.com/app/329970/allnews/

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/329970/view/4030227267359139685

KeeperRL v1.0 will be officially released on February 29th 2024
I have important news for you today. KeeperRL version 1.0 will be officially released on February 29th! More details about the patch will follow, and for now let's celebrate this upcoming milestone with this short clip

 

[Gandalf]

Released on Steam, GOG and itchio and perhaps somewhere else. 25% off. Looking to read some impressions.

 

[AdamReith]

Spent a good amount of my weekend on this. For me it hits the perfect place between complexity and fun, I didn't find anything too esoteric or weird and was able to pick things up without referring to guides or whatever.

Core dungeon keeper gameplay of expoiting natural resources, raping and pillaging is here and well done. Food and creature pay however, not a thing. Your creatures don't rebel or anything like that, instead you'll spend a lot of time equipping them with gear and upgrading their quarters.

Most impressive thing (for a game like this which tend to be sandboxy and aimless) is how the campaign is structured. You'll form a crew lead by your strongest beast and sweep across the overworld in turn based mode killing all who stand in your way and enjoying the lamentations of their women.

After enough aggression or your dungeon growing too large, powerful enemies will mobilise and attack your dungeon. High level enemies will tunnel through rock to get to you and one shot you.

Overall, very fun game that manages to keep some of the DK magic while providing nice deep systems on the side. Definitely on easy side on default settings but that certainly suits me while I'm figuring things out.

Also, I completely disagree with any of those steam reviews that complain about the UI. I found it really smooth and intuitive.

 

[Gandalf]

I've played only tutorial so far and a little bit as a good guys and get bored, so I can't comment on the rest of the game. Feels like a mix between Dungeon Keeper, Dwarf Fortress and classic roguelikes. This time you're not the hand but represented as a character that can level up skills and spells. My guy learned magic missle and other stuff which was cool! Judging from the mode options there is even some kind of an adventure (pure roguelike?) mode in the game. Yeah, the game's UI is very easy to understand and it certainly clicked with me better than in the newest steam edition of Dwarf Fortress. I can also add that this game allows to kill children - haven't seen anything like this in a while.

 

[Galdred]

I've played only tutorial so far and a little bit as a good guys and get bored, so I can't comment on the rest of the game. Feels like a mix between Dungeon Keeper, Dwarf Fortress and classic roguelikes. This time you're not the hand but represented as a character that can level up skills and spells. My guy learned magic missle and other stuff which was cool! Judging from the mode options there is even some kind of an adventure (pure roguelike?) mode in the game. Yeah, the game's UI is very easy to understand and it certainly clicked with me better than in the newest steam edition of Dwarf Fortress. I can also add that this game allows to kill children - haven't seen anything like this in a while.

I played it ages ago, but when I did, the bad guys had way more options (in terms of creature builds) than the good guys who felt half backed.

 

[thesheeep]

I can recommend the game.
It's not crazy complex and a single run can be done in a few sessions (unless you want to dig endlessly, which would be... why?).
But replayability is plenty with the many available factions + way, way more of those from mods - some of which are fairly ambitious utilizing some unique resource mechanics or being "open terrain" instead of "dig into mountain".

I must've played it last time a year ago or so, so I'd guess 1.0 is even better than the impression I had back then.

High level enemies will tunnel through rock to get to you and one shot you.

This can be prevented by strengthening walls.
Basically, the AI will try and seek the easiest approach, so usually a 2-tile wide path with a lot of traps but no blocking doors leading into your dungeon will be a much better choice than closed doors at the entrance.
Strengthened walls are not impenetrable, but apparently sturdy enough to make taking a longer route (with unknown traps) more appealing.

At least it used to be like that.

 

[Bibbimbop]

Bought it again. Seemed the right thing to do as OP.

 

[DoWhocares]

Bros, after playing for a couple hours, this is the game I've been waiting for since trying the original DK way back in the day. Just in general, all these dungeon/colony managers and city builders have a thing in common where you just give vague directions to your dudes without actually controlling them. And I hates it. But here, at any moment you can take control of your guys and go into a classic turn-based roguelike mode. It works great, and you get all sorts of items, consumables, and loot from it. And I know you could possess your dudes in DK (or was it just 2?), and Dungeons has that tacked-on RTS system, but the way it's implemented here is way more fun for me.

Having lots of fun with it so far. Another plus is it generates an actual campaign for you, so you're not just digging for the sake of it. And all the different factions seem very unique in how they play.

Also, their one and only Steam award so far is chuckle-worthy - "Best Game of 2019 Featuring Child Slavery, awarded by RighteousSinner."

 

[AdamReith]

Keep this one under your hat, if the normo-fags find this and ruin it like everything else I'll be as pissed off as a horned reaper who hasn't been provided private lodgings.

 

[HeatEXTEND]

Been keeping an eye on this, guess it's time.

 

[DoWhocares]

Beat the game on my third "run" with the standard evil wizard. It's fun. Can easily lead to some neat emergent moments, like when I was feeling stronk, but then returned from a raid right into an invasion and a cavalry charge of knights in an open field with my base on the other side of the map. Had to employ super cheezy tactics like hovering over a lake with a harpy and shooting at them knights as they built bridges to get me. Survived with a single lizard dude in the end who carried me through the rest of the run until finally succumbing in the final battle.

Afterwards there was a retired dungeon of some other dude I could explore and pillage. And that shit makes you feel like ass for your genius base layout of - dig 1 level down, make a long tunnel, and build all the rooms to the sides. That dude had a proper pyramid castle with layered defenses and fancy stonework.

All in all, good times. And now there are all the other factions to explore too.

/