The Darkness Below: a retro CRPG in the making - now available on Early Access

[ERYFKRAD]

I always wondered what Gulliver's Voyage to Lilliput RPG would look like. Careful, wizard, don't step on that castle!

Pfft, it's a wizard, the ?dude? probably has -8 to step on it in the first place.

 

[vlzvl]

You were able to teleport beyond that to the next city?

Got teleported to a place out of bound. So I recorded a video to show the problem. I played in fullscreen but switched to this mode only to record as I could't record in fullscreen.,

Thank you for the video footage

Hmm, that chain of events shouldn't happen.. I mean, the game should end "gracefully" with a congratulation message and transfer the control on title screen.
I updated the game in the last version to transfer control, based on the build you're playing i.e. the "Prelude" or the "full release".

The specific events you've seen (the wizard in the end and the teleport) are belonging to "full release" or the "development" builds.
You basically teleported to a place that wasn't baked on the current content..

However, it might be that you already visited the "Tomb of the Dreamer" on previous version and then updated the game, then used the same save?
Because the event system makes use of these "builds".

I can't think of something else, it seems one of these cases where you need to re-play the game to get the "graceful" ending (although you won't really miss anything)
I will try to replicate that with a fresh build.

BRought the game. Good but how I can open a door with a lever in a dungeon? I literally pressed every single button in my keyboard, tried to click in lever and ... Nothing.

Could you also get me a screenshot and details of the resolution used to have this behaviour?
I can't seem able to replicate the issue.

Thanks!

 

[Cryomancer]

Hmm, that chain of events shouldn't happen.. I mean, the game should end "gracefully" with a congratulation message and transfer the control on title screen.
I updated the game in the last version to transfer control, based on the build you're playing i.e. the "Prelude" or the "full release".

The specific events you've seen (the wizard in the end and the teleport) are belonging to "full release" or the "development" builds.
You basically teleported to a place that wasn't baked on the current content..

However, it might be that you already visited the "Tomb of the Dreamer" on previous version and then updated the game, then used the same save?

Nope. I played everything in a single sitting as an non lifer and reached that tomb in my first run. IDK why the bug. Any way to fix it?

 

[luj1]

Loving the look of this game. The 2D backgrounds for adventure screens are awesome too. This normal mature artstyle is so rare nowadays, everything is hyper infantilised. I mean just look at the stuff posted on the front page.

 

[vlzvl]

Hmm, that chain of events shouldn't happen.. I mean, the game should end "gracefully" with a congratulation message and transfer the control on title screen.
I updated the game in the last version to transfer control, based on the build you're playing i.e. the "Prelude" or the "full release".

The specific events you've seen (the wizard in the end and the teleport) are belonging to "full release" or the "development" builds.
You basically teleported to a place that wasn't baked on the current content..

However, it might be that you already visited the "Tomb of the Dreamer" on previous version and then updated the game, then used the same save?

Nope. I played everything in a single sitting as an non lifer and reached that tomb in my first run. IDK why the bug. Any way to fix it?

Hmm, I tried to reproduce this with a full walkthrough, up to the throne, from my own development build and also the steam one (last version).
I am always getting the "graceful", congratulatory ending.

Could you please share your game's folder zipped (and the save.dat, just before the throne) through say file.io service or something, and share the link in a DM?
I feel something is still off and want to investigate some contents, even though I updated the game recently to respect the different build types.

Loving the look of this game. The 2D backgrounds for adventure screens are awesome too. This normal mature artstyle is so rare nowadays, everything is hyper infantilised. I mean just look at the stuff posted on the front page.

Thanks man, I so appreciate it
It's still taking a lot of effort all these years and I feel the real effort is yet to come, meaning handling the feedback and full release content.
I am also kinda stubborn and really sticking to my initial premise, vision and details, as I am after way older titles and way older styles of programming.. (also older myself with a good working memory)
I feel grateful that all the above really seems to work, as many players are liking the game so far... even with a number of bugs and other nitpicks

 

[luj1]

I am also kinda stubborn and really sticking to my initial premise, vision and details

The only way

 

[covr]

vlzvl could you share some sort of a roadmap for 2024 for your game?

 

[Cryomancer]

game's folder zipped

Where is the save location in Linux?

 

[vlzvl]

vlzvl could you share some sort of a roadmap for 2024 for your game?

Sure, although there's nothing similar to a "roadmap" at the moment, since the game is on "early access".
This alone means that development time is shared between

1. fixing based on people's feedback (bugs, features, usability etc.)
2. adding new content
3. *testing targeted builds
4. repeat

when the backlog of feedback is reduced (its kinda big at the moment, with some things that needs prioritisation), the "3. testing targeted builds" will start happening, through a number of testers, against newer maps, content, features etc.
So, nothing is set time-wise as a proper roadmap would show, as priorities are changing.
However, the ETA is still set to Q3 2024, which might move slightly towards the end of it or Q4 2024, but nevertheless 2024.

game's folder zipped

Where is the save location in Linux?

Just fired up my Linux Mint and it seems it was found under /home/vlzvl/.local/share/Steam/steamapps/common/The Darkness Below
You can also get to the local files from Steam through: Steam Library -> Right click on game -> Manage -> Browse local files

However, there's no need for that as I found the issue.
It seems the Linux binary isn't behaving correctly against the build type on last version, meaning:

• not showing the introductory message when entering the "Silkmoor" (you can check that quickly with 4 prebuild characters)
• not showing the ending message on "Tomb of the Dreamer"

Which is not something terribly missed though, as the game basically ends there, there's no more content on "Prelude" build.
It was also a busy update and something messed up on linux (windows binary is fine).

I just build quickly a linux binary with "prelude" build type and tested again on my steam linux mint version, on last update, which shown the introductory message this time on "Silkmoor", which means it respected the build type this time and I believe it will do the same on "Tomb of the Dreamer".

Added a note to double check that thing when I upload the next update, but it seems the wrong build made it to Linux, instead of the "Prelude" one, which caused these two (2) event messages to not be shown / handled correctly.

Thanks for your efforts on this one