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[HeroOfFire]

So after several months working quietly, I've got a new build of DDD to show off.

This version was developed in 2.55 Build 92. I try to limit my development to publicly released builds, so it's easy to find the relevant version.

A big milestone has been reached! All 250 main items are implemented and sorted into the inventory. The Expanded Weapons count comes close, with only a handful of slots still open. This means future versions will be fairly stable with things like character codes or default item locations. I do need to start filling out the default item locations again, maybe next version will have those sorted out.

With more and more areas being expanded into their "final form", the item location total is now 658! This means you can collect more items than OMEGA. In addition, the final area is now mostly finished, minus the placeholder final boss. Now having the Magical Key unlocks the second half, a minor gauntlet with some more items to find off to the side. However, you loop around to make a shortcut between the boss and Safe Spot. I may consider adding an NewGame+ option in the future that has this shortcut open by default, meaning you can reach the final boss without the Magic Key.

Several quality of life changes. To list a bunch...

When using the Warping system, you can now see where all the connections in that area go, if you've taken them. This can help track if you've explored all the connections out of an area, or maybe spot an area you visited but did not get the Warp Destination for.

Holding down a direction scrolls through the weapon inventory faster.

General sanity additions / extra details for the Area Theme Randomizer and Weapon Shuffler

More information for the player to learn the mechanics unique to this quest. The tutorial room has been expanded into a small area, with a few interactive rooms to test things like level of pushing ability and if weapons have certain interactions with the environment. In addition, the Character Tutorial gives a list of the weapon types (before you need to choose a character), and a chart for these Weapon Types is also available in the starting house.


A few fun additions for NewGame+ content

Pre-Built characters load a bit differently now. These improvements in the background led to a new option - Parallel Characters. This is the fusion of the Pre-Built characters option with Composite Characters. You get to choose from all the Pre-Built chars, but they get combined with another Pre-Built character. This is done by a simple offset... "Parallel Universe 1" would combine a character with the next one in the list. So, there are almost as many possibilities as there are characters.

(also there might be 280 Pre-Built characters now)

Added another Expanded Weapons option, renamed the others to clarify what each does.

Expanded Weapons - You still get 250 different weapons up to Level 3, but it picks 250 of the total weapons in the Expanded Pool to show up.

All Weapons - All weapons show up, but only upgrade to Level 2 to have the space to place them all.

All Weapons Test - You start with Level 1 of all weapons, and can find all the weapons in item locations to get them to Level 3.

Random Dungeon Themes - This was shown off new in the Expo build, but has gotten some refinement to make the more of a screen adapt to the random theme.

Crazy Warps - Now adds in Warp Zones and Warp Space, which are functionally 3 stair warps added into the pool of warp connections. Sometimes they connect to each other for even more options. As these are one-screen areas, you won't get a map or warp point for them.



Alright, now the Big Thing. A Requested Feature...

With the Warp Randomizer, you can select Shorter Mode

This generates a world that is about 40% the normal size, picking a handful from all the areas to appear. The rough layout of area connections is the same (for now), and there might be a funny thing I did at the end. This also picks either 100 weapons or 150 weapons, depending on the item randomizer option chosen. The total number of locations will vary right now, as it can pick from areas that are not yet expanded along with expanded ones. You might see as low as 266, or as high as 304. When all the areas are complete, this mode with either get you 100 Level 3 Weapons, or 150 Level 2 Weapons. There are a few small scaling changes to reflect this overall shorter length. I also cannot promise being able to fully complete a shorter seed with Shuffled Weapons, as it could prevent the chosen key items from being able to solve their intended puzzles.

Hopefully this option will ease concerns of playing such a long quest. An average 100% of Shorter Mode is about 3 hours, but can be faster if you try to go straight for the Final Boss.


So, for now the Item Randomizer is forced to on. With a lot of new item locations being added, plus the recent final sort for the main items, I need some time to plan out the default locations of all items. Most likely the default item locations option will return next version.

I still want to add another character select option that is a library of player "discovered" characters. This is what the Character Code in the starting house will be used for. Also, now that the last main sort of items has occurred, I can consider adding in an option to load a character from a code.


I don't plan on posting updates too often, so it is very likely the next version will be in a few months when I should be done expanding all the areas... or I implement a major change that needs further testing. Whichever comes first. I've got a handful of other improvements to make, like fancier area minimaps, the bosses, something something Weapon Header Update, more complex rando logic, or something unexpected but fitting.

But have fun!

[SkyLizardGirl]

It's looking good.