Hey Keepers,
time for another mini-patch! I recently saw that some players would get very frustrated because their scores got removed. They could not see why and did not reach anyone as our channels are all in english, so naturally it was a unpleasant situation for them. Imagine playing hundreds of hours to get in a really good prestige run, only to have it deleted out of the blue - sucks!
The reason for the deletion was, that the runs used what we consider exploits. The problem was, that I never communicated properly what was acceptable for a prestige run and what was not. Because of this, I cleared the list of people banned from competing for prestige, and added a big section that explains this a bit. The section goes like this
Fair Competition (prestige only)
We love to see you prestige players compete for the highest scores and find better and better strategies. We want to keep this a fair and fun competition, so it is important that everyone plays on equal terms. Please understand that your runs might be flagged as inadmissible or might get deleted, if it seems like you are using cheat tools or exploits. We define exploits as anything that provides you a tangible benefit in your prestige run that is not intended through normal gameplay means. This includes things like savegame editing or viewing, excessive reloading, using mods that are not whitelisted or intentional and repeated use of bugs. You might get permanently barred from competing on the usual leaderboards, if your run appears to have made significant use of cheats or exploits. If you are unsure about whether something is considered illegal, please ask on our Discord or via e-mail at [email protected]. You can always appeal to us, if you got flagged wrongly. Have fun!
So, everyone is cleared again, but blatant cheating or excessive use of exploits will get you banned from normal competition quickly and decisively.
Please not that this only affects prestige runs, and only the highest scores. If you want to speedrun the game, you are absolutely free to do so.
Being Political
There is another topic that can be a bit touchy, but i want to discuss. Dome Keeper is a simple and fun game. It does not try to sell you any world views, opinions or politics. It is open to interpretation of course, which is part of the fun!
I very much like this part about Dome Keeper, that we can come together despite possibly conflicting world views, and enjoy a game and each others company. Because of this, I take care to keep very divisive topics and politics to a minimum, also on the Discord server. Recently I learned that using flags in a game, even if it is only for language selection, does make a political statement too. I do not want that for Dome, even if I as a private person have a opinion (on some things at least). Because of this, I removed the flags from the game and instead each language is now written in its own words, instead of all of them being in english.
I fear that not making a statement is also making a statement, but in this way I think we can have the least friction in and around Dome Keeper. So many things in todays world are dividing people and political or ideological views penetrate so many areas in our lives. My hope is that we can still have some places that are free of it, where we just can come together to have some fun, as that's an universally human thing.
Edit: thank you @poharani for linking this website in the comments. It also sheds some light on why languages and flags of countries are two different things: https://www.flagsarenotlanguages.com/blog/why-flags-do-not-represent-language/
Changelog V3.0.2
- removed flags from language select
- language names are now in their respective language, instead of all being in english
- cleared known cheaters list
- added a long panel about fairness, rules and exploits when you start a run in prestige mode while you also got pro mode unlocked
- fixed auto repair not working during the final relic hunt battle
- fixed shield's last stand not preventing the start of the relic bomb
- whitelisteda mod for prestige (Among Tick - AshAxolotl
This is an actual dome, situated in Stockholm - the Avicii Arena. Looks unreal, doesn't it? Definitely larger than our 1-person domes! Photo from the lovely Jakob K.
Thank you and a happy Halloween!
PS: i pushed another sneaky build fixing a broken font and making the fairness popup closeable, as some people found it distracting (including myself).