Item management is too difficult. It’s hard to use traps in items in the middle of battle.

The Item UI has been reworked as part of a general controller rewrite. Instead of a single item displayed at the top-right, a set of four items is displayed. Instead of pressing Y, each DPad direction will use a different item in the set. The items are displayed in a cross pattern that corresponds to the appropriate DPad direction. Pressing the left or right bumper will bring up a new set of items.
With these changes, items are far easier to use. You’re never more than two buttons away from using an item (and those two buttons stay consistent throughout all games). With the item icons displayed on the cross, learning which buttons go with which item is much easier.

Combat is too simplistic and slow.

There’s two valid criticisms here. The first is that swinging the sword feels sluggish. The swinging isn’t actually that sluggish, but the delay after swinging the sword is. I’ve improved this by almost removing the delay. I’ve also lowered the delay after using items, so combat should have more of a flow to it in general.
The second criticism is that combat is too simplistic. Outside of any interference from traps or monsters, players just sit around and duke it out with sword swinging. There’s little to no tactical movement or defense. To address this, I’ve added dodging and rolling. By pressing the left or right triggers, a dwarf will go into a defensive manuever and be invulnerable for a short period of time. If on the ground and moving, the dwarf will quickly roll forward or backwards. An aerial dodge can also move the dwarf slightly in any direction, although a dwarf can only air dodge twice before needing to touch the ground.

The athlete is the only class worth using.

I’ve made some changes to the other classes which should make them more viable. The Warrior has had the length of his parry increased. The Theif remains invisible will rolling and dodging, making his stealth much more viable. Players can fall good distances without losing stealth and, with some skill, move upward as well. The Stone Priest’s power has been completely reworked so that he’s relevant ) He is now able to move through rocks, although he will start to suffocate if he stays in a rock without coming out for air.

Enemies are too simple and don’t offer enough challenge.

I’ve reworked each enemy so that they have ‘levels’ (read: sprite recolors :). The familiar crabs and spiders are still present as the weakest tier of enemies. However, upgraded versions of these now chase after you and have some other nasty tricks. The highest level crab will even start digging tunnels after you. I’ve also added two new enemy types: slimes and shrooms. Slimes will shoot out different projectiles (fire, confusing gas) and shrooms will either confuse dwarves or explode. Sometimes both. I’ve increased the amount of gold for each monster so that monster hunting is a viable way to make cash. It makes the tunnels much more interesting to explore.

I’ve tried to address most of the criticisms I’ve heard for the DBP version. I’ve updated the trailer to show off some of the new stuff.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get quite everything I wanted done for the DBP version. I had the basics framework for networking in place but didn’t have the time to polish it up to a playable level. I also didn’t get far with the single player challenges. But the game is definitely better – it’s faster-paced, items are easier to use, and, of course, things blow up. (I’ve added a new game modifier: Exploding Crabs.) I’ll discuss the changes later on, I’m pretty beat right now. I’ve been staying up far too late lately.

Today, I’m showing off… explosions! I’m not sure how I sold any copies of an underground mining game without any explosions. A mining game without explosions is like a beardless dwarf. It’s unsightly and slightly embarrassing. Seeking to remedy this, Dwarven Depths now has lots of things that go boom.

There are three main sources of explosions. Two of them are new items. Dwarves can drop bombs that will explode after a short amount of time. They can also lay a new trap, mines that explode shortly after another dwarf walks by. I’m calling the third source Rigged Rock. When the map is created, it will fill in parts of the tunnels with clusters and strings of Rigged Rock. These clusters are indistinguishable from normal dirt. Someone (or something) trying to dig through Rigged Rock will set off a chain reaction and the entire chain will explode, taking any nearby monsters or unfortunate dwarves with it. There’s only a second between a section of Rigged Rock getting ‘activated’ and the explosion. I figured it’s a good way to keep players on their toes when they’re just digging around :)

One of the ideas I’m toying with right now is letting the Stone Priest see where the Rigged Rock is. He already has a substantially better power than before, so it might not be necessary. I’ll be sure to talk about the class balance changes in an upcoming post.

Going for a run? Hitting the gym but need to get motivated? Looking for epic music to play while you do something in slow-motion? Need some sweet tunes to impress the ladies when pulling up to a nightclub? This music is appropriate for every one of these situations.

Anyways, I’m here to announce that Dwarven Depths will be getting an brand-spankin’-new update. I’m planning on entering it into the Dream-Build-Play contest in June and I want the game to be as awesome as possible. I plan to fix whatever bugs are found and put in some more content as well. I’m thinking this game should get online multiplayer. I’m also considering a set of ‘challenges’, some set levels and objectives that add something to the single-player experience.

Do you guys have any suggestions? Gripes? Rants? Sound off in the comments.

Keep on digging!

Dwarven Depths was released a few days ago on Friday. I’ve only just now recovered from the various celebrations and congratulatory drinks :)

For anyone who’s trying to figure out how to buy my game (Hi Mom!), I’m putting up this handy guide. I’m also including instructions on how to rate the game. Ratings are the lifeblood of the indie game community – a game rated 4.5 stars will sell orders of magnitude more than a game rated 3.5 stars.

If you already have an Xbox Live account, you can order and rate my game here

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Note that you can’t rate an unowned game online using a Silver account (the free Xbox Live account). Just a few weeks ago, someone created a program to create new Silver accounts and downvote other people’s games. Needless to say, I don’t condone this behavior – downvoting other games just to help mine – at all. If you don’t trust the Internet, you can purchase and rate Dwarven Depths through the Xbox. The old-fashioned way!

1) Sign in with an Xbox Live account.
2) Scroll up to ‘Game Marketplace’ and press A to select the first option, ‘Explore Game Content’,
3) Scroll up to ‘Games & Demos’.
4) Scroll to the right twice to ‘Indie Games’ and press A.
5) Scroll down twice to ‘Titles A-Z’.
6) Scroll to the right to ‘D’ and press A.
7) Press Up a few times to cycle to the bottom of the D list. Stop scrolling up once you hit Dwarven Depths and press A.
8) Buy and / or rate the game. Yay!

Thanks to all for the support!

I’m pleased to say that cheat codes will be featured in Dwarven Depths. God mode to crab mode and everything in between. Use them during a game – maybe you’ll learn a few new curse words from your friends :)