Summer may be coming to a close, but version 3.0 of ROGUE-FP is on the horizon.
Each time the game hits a new major version number it means I've done a lot of work under the hood to make more things possible in the game. But I'm feeling that this will be the last time we hit a new major version. I may keep updating ROGUE-FP for many years and hit version 3.9999.99 but I don't think the game will ever hit version 4.0 or even need to hit it. I'm pretty satisfied with the way I have it set up now considering the scope of the features I have planned. At this point there shouldn't need to be any more extended periods where I need to slow down development for 2+ months to overhaul the game's underlying code.
After this it should be all new features and mechanics!
The thing about developing a roguelike (at least in my experience) is that adding new mechanics is never as simple as just tossing them in. For example, I've wanted pits in the game for a while now but the process ended up like this.
Want pits -> need to change floorgen to deal with them-> need smarter ai to deal with that-> need more efficient ai-> need multithreading and A* pathfinding
And then you work your way back to front. Put in the multithreading and pathfinding, tighten up the ai, make it smarter, changing the floor generation, then finally adding pits.
So when you go to add a big feature you often find that you're under equipped to implement it fully and have to spend a lot of time upgrading your underlying systems to get it working.
But like I said. I'm pretty happy with what I have now. I will still no doubt have to work on things under the hood to put in new features but it shouldn't be anywhere near what I've had to do for this update or the 1.14 -> 2.0 update.
The 3.0 update should (hopefully) be out this month. I still have a lot of work to do but I think I can make it.
It will be releasing on Steam and GOG simultaneously so if you want a drm free version of the game then you know where to get it.
I don't have a store page up for it on GOG yet since I need to redo the trailer because the current trailer doesn't really look like how ROGUE-FP currently looks. A lot of shots in the trailer are from before the game released and we've come a decent way since then.
But when it's up I'll let you guys know.
In other news, I've redone the first music track I ever made for ROGUE-FP. It will replace the older version when the update is out but you can check it out now here:
I'll keep updating the other older tracks and putting them out for you guys. When I'd done, I'll release the whole soundtrack lossless for around a buck or two. So look forward to that!
I'll leave you with some screenshots and a gif from version 3.0 I took while working on it.
Alright! I'll see you guys later!