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CRAWL Update incoming (Gaben finally added)!

U

Unicorn

Member
An even newer update, detailed HERE

What to expect from next update
Just a little update to let you know where we're at with the next update.

Dave had a child, so he took a month off to figure out how to raise a baby- while he was away, I have been making content with a focus on adding more to existing systems (things where I don't need code support from Dave)

Dave is back at work today, so we will soon be able to package up the stuff I've been working on and put the update out :)

Here is a rundown on the main stuff I've put in since the last update:

-a new large rare statue monster "Gaben"
-a new environment "The Crypt"
-a new regular weapon type "The Battle Axe" which is slower than the swords but very powerful
-5 new "Challenge Gods" which you can select to up the challenge if Crawl is getting a bit too easy for you, or if you're playing against beginners
-a new Tier 3 monster for the Flying Eye chain, to make it a full 4-Tier chain like the others
-2 new types of Magic Staff: "Greater Ice Shards" and "Chain Ice Shards"
-a new "Flaming Magic Bow" weapon
-a new Artifact the "Toad Necklace" which halves all store prices, but intermittently turns you into a frog
-a new unique weapon property: weapons in the store can now randomly be "nauseating" which makes them much cheaper, but curses you to vomit regularly
-fodder blob colors tweaked to better fit the palette
-ghosts now have "spawn" animations where they rise up out of the ground- helps to stop you losing your position when being killed and becoming a ghost
-the first room of each floor now shows the stairs you came down from
-the "Flame Archer Skeleton" now has a flaming head to differentiate himself, instead of the ugly red tint
-new "door close animations" to make it a lot more clear when you are being locked into a room
-"Spell Runes" drawn on spell images in the store are redesigned to represent the effect of each spell instead of just being random runes
-countless tweaks and balance adjustments including:
-------faster projectiles for the hooded haunt
-------tribal shield tweaked to combat bad dominant strategies
-------vampric ring re-tweaked
-------mushroom slime damage increased
-------blobs shooting further, and move speed increased when inhabited
-------spider web attack tweaked to feel better
-------improved feel/funtion for fireball tome
-------improved effectiveness of tears tome
-------"acid blood" reworked to play a lot better
-------scorpion balance tweaks

I also did a lot of prototyping for broader tweaks which won't necessarily go in for this update, but I'm pretty happy with how it all went and can't wait to try some of these whole-game tweaks to make combat encounters more dynamic.

Over the next few days we'll be putting the finishing touches on and doing testing to get this out- if there are significant balance problems that have been annoying you, feel free to mention them here and we might be able to sneak a few more tweaks in if we can find fixes :)
Click to expand...
Here's a trailer for those that are unaware:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY0N12w3csI

CRAWL is an Early Access game that incorporates multiplayer and dungeon crawling in a unique fashion. You and 3 friends (or 3 bots) play together - 1 player is a lone adventurer and the other 3 players are ghosts attempting to fuck you over and then possess your corpse to continue on for their own gains. It has some Rogue-lite elements such as randomized dungeons, random loot and shops, boss creatures.

This seems like a pretty big update (Their last was in February). I have yet to play this game, but Saturday I am getting a bunch of friends together to play, so seeing this update got me even more excited. I doubt they'll get this update out in time for when I'm playing, but it sounds like it should be hitting within a week's time.

Anyone play this yet? It's been in Early Access for a few months now, but I haven't seen much on GAF about it.
jfC0jDc.gif
Click to expand...
 
P

PensOwl

Banned
I have this. It's been a great game from the start, though light on content. It keeps getting better and better with each update though, and has enough content by now that a few rounds with friends will have you seeing new things each time.

Unfortunately, a lot of things have to be unlocked by repeat playthroughs, so various amounts of content will be initially locked making it less suitable to immediate pick up and play, but its very fun still and with minimal bugs despite being in early access.
 
D

Deleted member 286591

Unconfirmed Member
Yeah GAF, if you're looking for a legit bros local multiplayer game, do yourself a favor and buy it.

I bought it a few months ago and played it with a friend, mixing it with some TowerFall and we always have a blast. It's a different pacing for sure, but the whole items shopping and light RPG component really adds. This game might seem pretty light at first, but it really grows on you especially after you start controlling your hero or monsters better.
Regarding unlockables, you get new portraits but also new weapons or items to buy from the dungeon's shop, which are random each time.

The devs are two brothers and super nice, updating the game regularly.

Also : god tier animated pixels like WOW.

And I agree, shouldn't even be in early access anymore.
 
S

Stopdoor

Member
First time I tried this about a year ago when it first came out, group wasn't too enthralled - monster players didn't seem to have much to do, controllable stuff seemed basic. Hoping it's improved.
 
drotahorror

drotahorror

Member
Yeah I think this looks awesome but no way i could get local friends to play it. Seen on giantbomb forever ago. On my wishlist, will grab if bots are implemented. *edit, unless it does have bots? I dunno will look into it.
 
U

Unicorn

Member
drotahorror said:
Yeah I think this looks awesome but no way i could get local friends to play it. Seen on giantbomb forever ago. On my wishlist, will grab if bots are implemented. *edit, unless it does have bots? I dunno will look into it.
Click to expand...
Does have bots.

When you are the last one to die you are "lost forever" and it deletes your 3 letter name but saves the rest. Nice touch
 
H

hokagespit

Member
its a fun game, excited for the update finally! its hard to get others who dont know whats going on to play with you at first. I hope more people learn about this game over time.
 
U

Unicorn

Member
Okay, I wanted to play some solo for a couple hour to get a feel for how most people will play this game. This is all prior to the new update (which should be here in the next few days, based on dev posting on Steam Forums):

This game is pretty damn amazing. Yes, it's early-access, but it feels incredibly polished and content-rich for a $10 game. I have roughly 7+ hours now and still am getting new unlocks. The only downside is that there are only two "final bosses" currently.

There are some really interesting features here that I hope get expanded upon. Players enter a 3-letter name that may create easter egg personas, such as the POO God I posted before. Gods are just "loadouts" that determine the 3 monsters you start with and vary some simple branching upgrade/evolution paths as you play. Most Gods also come with a special ability, such as added trap damage or starting with certain artifacts. There are also minibosses within the dungeons that ghsots can inhabit. Mostly these are just top-level evolutions of the minion chains, but there are some Easter Egg ones too, such as the Tax Man (and Gaben when the update hits).

The balance of ghost to hero play is smartly handled as ghosts are incentivized to constantly be moving about the environment to collect ectoplasm to spawn lowly slimes (weak on their own, but thrown in with the pentagram spawned minions leads to a much higher challenge for heroes). The shop is also super important as you cash in blood to gain coins to purchase weapons (base level and random permutations with spells and attributes), spell books (only one at a time), artifacts (these stack and seem to be the meat and potatoes of character progressions), and vials (stat changes).

The greatest detail, for me, was the Name game - if you lose to the final attempt on a final boss your name is struck from the player name base at the beginning of the game. Not a big thing, but I have ideas to improve this to make it a little more meaningful - still, it's a great little "haha" moment when you start to play again.

Additionally, after each playthrough you unlock new things for the next playthrough: new monsters, new Gods, new weapon types, artifacts, spells, etc. It is a nice feature to keep a group playing multiples times before getting bored.

This is certainly best played with a group. Like, worth it for a single night alone if you can get 3 other friends together to play.

Solo play with bots is a mixed bag. I'm not great, so medium setting feels just about right compared to how my friends were playing. There's no commentary or competition like with playing with real people, but it is still a lot of fun. Hard is borderline mind-reading.

For those that want to play this prior to online play, I think it is worth it to learn the mechanics and unlock a lot of the monsters and items in shops. Learning bosses and playstyles for minions is also super important. Bots are suitable and certainly provide challenge in learning the mechanics.
 
U

Unicorn

Member
eatures:
New monster "Gaben" added as a rare statue
New monster "Mini Beam Eye Bat" rounds out the Flying Eye evolution chain
Five gods can now be "taunted" to give a new challenge, or something extra to gloat about when you beat your friends
New "Battle Axe" weapon
New environment "The Crypt"
New spells "Raging Bull" and "Spirit Bow"
New weapons "Magic Flame Bow", "Chain Ice Staff" and "Greater Ice Staff"
New "Toad Necklace" artifact
New "Nauseating" weapon property
Tweaks:
Improved “aim-to-shoot” system for bows and some other ranged attacks
Spawn animation for ghosts
Added door opening/closing animations
Stairs shown in the starting room on each floor
Spell Runes in store redesigned to represent each spell
"Flame Archer Skeleton" art changed to have a flaming skull instead of red tint
"Acid Blood" artifact reworked
"Sun ray" magic lasts longer before being interruptible into run
"Magic Staff" can now be aimed by holding down the attack button
"Evil Princess" attack can now be aimed by holding down the attack button
"Fetid Discharge" reworked to spill outside the room less
Blob colors tweaked
Shield shaman palette tweak for readability
Balance:
Monsters gain blood for freezing or webbing the hero
Vampiric ring balance tweaked a little
Hero "Tribal Shield" spell tweaked: shields don't stay up as long
Arrow hitboxes tweaked to be more generous to archers
Damage increased for "Mushroom" slime attack
"Spider" movement quicker when dropping webs
Hero takes a little more damage when trapped in webs
Improved effectiveness for "fireball" and "tear" living tomes
"Scorpion" attack does more damage, with longer cooldown
Ectoplasm spawn rate increased during boss encounter
Blob projectiles travel further
Blobs move a little faster when inhabited
Gold payout from wishing well increased
Faster projectiles for "Hooded Haunt" monster
Price reduced for "Dwarven Cog" artifact
Damage reduced for “Beam Living Tome”
Tadpole balance tweaks: dodge more effective with less cooldown, projectiles faster
Bugs:
Muzzleflare for "Flame Archer" fixed to not penetrate walls
Fixed bug with wishing well healing players
Blob shadow no longer stays red if you uninhabit while it's red.
Bow aiming no longer occasionally gets stuck when holding down button
Fixed some props wrongly set as wall, preventing dashing through them
Camera tweaked to fix some 1 pixel gaps.
Some fixes for possible controller issues.
Click to expand...

Update is live.

MNblpH9.gif
 
T

Tenebrous

Member
98% positive user reviews, sizable prerelease updates... I know it has an emphasis on co-op, but is the single player experience worth the dosh?
 
U

Unicorn

Member
Tenebrous said:
98% positive user reviews, sizable prerelease updates... I know it has an emphasis on co-op, but is the single player experience worth the dosh?
Click to expand...
This supposedly improves bots. Read my post before the update for impressions from me. This is a total blast with friends. So going to just bots removes the social humor and competitiveness. But, the bots were good. If anything, it's like playing online with strangers. Bots know what to do. It is worth it to play single player before getting friends SD you do unlock content for each "game" you play. This includes gods, weapons, items, environment items, etc. This is my surprise game of the year. It's worth the $10 even if you can only get 3 friends together one time.

Also I tried playing with pure mouse and was surprised how well it worked. Some people on the forums "main" mouse an swear by it when using bow. I'm going to try using my arcade stick before work today.
 
bobawesome

bobawesome

Member
It sounds like it's a step closer to becoming a real game. I've played it a few times with friends and it felt like a decent proof of concept more than anything.
 
U

Unicorn

Member
MaLDo said:
Is it compatible with SweetFX or other CRT shader injection?
Click to expand...

MaLDo said:
Shaders to simulate CRT effects
Click to expand...

I just installed SweetFX and it autodetected as OpenGL. I haven't messed with any settings yet, but is there anything in particular you wanted me to test?


EDIT:

Just activated Advanced CRT and it works perfectly. it actually looks really good, but I don't think it looks right as a CRT on a Surface Pro 2 haha. Would totally work for a Arcade cabinet with an LCD monitor though to give that impression.
 
M

MaLDo

Member
Unicorn said:
I just installed SweetFX and it autodetected as OpenGL. I haven't messed with any settings yet, but is there anything in particular you wanted me to test?
Click to expand...

You can activate CRT effects in the settings file and test if it works. You can fine tune effect options while playing then. Thank you btw.
 
M

MaLDo

Member
Unicorn said:
Just a quick picture.
Click to expand...

Great. If you like CRT effects now you have to fine tune to the exact resolution of the game so scanlines will match pixel horizontal lines, and color aberration will match vertical lines and tone down the curve effect. Thank you very much. A new buy in the near future!
 
U

Unicorn

Member
GuitarAtomik said:
Really wish I had local video game playing friends so I could justify buying this :[
Click to expand...

Pixel Samurai said:
Is there any enjoyment to be had in this game for single player?
Click to expand...

Already been mentioned, but the Bots are very good in this game. I've spent half of my playtime just playing with bots and it is still enjoyable. Of course, playing with other people in the same room is just a magnitude more entertaining, but I am still building vendettas for bots and get satisfaction in denying them winning against bosses.

There is online multiplayer planned, but will probably come a lot later.


I do wish I could individually tweak bot AI. Right now you set all to be hard, medium, or easy. I would like to have 2 bots be easy and one be hard to better create an environment where one "player" is more skilled than the others, so I can gun for that mofo.
 
U

Unicorn

Member
Could a mod change the title to reflect this update is out? I PMd a mod yesterday, but title hasn't updated.



Some more impressions:
- Black Tadpole with spike dash B is pretty cheap. Needs slower move speed and or more cooldown for B ability
- Vampire God is pretty terrible. The life on hit isn't enough to balance out being at half health. A super luck reliant God to worship because of shop rolls
- battle axe and club need more animation. Club needs at least a weak upswing so we have the option to do a second hit if we want or just slam down. Axe needs a combo. One slam just makes it feel like a reskinned club.
- more bosses please. The 2 here are great, but I was expecting worshippable gods were going to be bosses too. I think there is opportunity to expand bosses a lot here.
- why is the hero in this place and why is he fighting these monsters? This is a neglible gripe in an arcade game but I'm interested.
- I don't know how else it could be handled, but it is frustrating for a friend that never gets to become human - anyone have suggestions on handling how someone gains possession of the human form?

+ so much of this game feels fantastic. Most weapons and special abilities are satisfying.
+ bows feel sooooo much better now.


Suggestions:

For the names being "lost forever" due to losing the 3rd time to a boss, I'd like a redemption mechanic. Typing the name again provides a bloodstained or decrepit script and that player starts with some sort of attributes, maybe they're forced to worship a specific god based on redemption? But just a funny way of getting that name to return to the list.

That, or create a graveyard in the background or in game that has the names.

For those that win, I think giving them gold text or something flashy would be interesting. Maybe do something for a name that wins multiple times?

Female heroine.



Also, my arcade stick didn't work (sf4 arcade stick - not tournament). Toggled to dpad had the stick doing inputs for 2 controllers. A button was multiple inputs. Don't know what that was about. Xbox and xbone controllers work flawlessly.
 
F

Femmeworth

Banned
Tried playing this with an acquaintance. The game is way too bloody chaotic for me. The visuals are a mess of pixels and the controls don't mesh well.
 
U

Unicorn

Member
New update launched yesterday that has made menus more flashy, rebalanced things, added a reputation system to names (skulls for each time you win with that 3 letter name), a couple monsters, and a other stuff :

Features:
New "Greater Spikewurm" monster for a more deadly twist on the burrowing worms
New "Horned Beast" monster adds another top-tier option to the Minotaur/Satyr evolution chain
New monster upgrade menu
New music for the mines
Hero Info GUI- Your Stats and equipment are now displayed when you're in the store. No more trying to remember what you have!
Weapon trade in - Your current weapon gives you a discount on a new one, so you can upgrade your weapons more.
Added option to disable easter eggs if you like to maintain the serious tone.
Boss kills tally- For every boss you've killed you get a skull on name select menu, and a different title on win screen.
Tweaks/Balance:
Hero stats overhaul - Vitality, Strength and Agility all handled properly now, affected by potions
If ghosts take too long to spawn, they'll now be sucked in and spawned forcibly by pentagrams
Devil juice is now an artefact instead of a potion. Doubled in effectiveness since it's rarer
Monsters now spawn with their special attack ready
Added a delay after encounter ends before hero can interact with props. Shouldn't be as easy to accidentally activate them now
Vitae renamed to Wrath to go with new menus
Wrath shown on in-game hud, and on ghosts when the hero levels up
Hero blood intermediary currency removed. You now get rewarded with gold instantly when you damage the hero
Statues that took "hero blood" before, now take some health from the hero instead
The store teleporter fountain now takes 5 gold instead of hero blood
Can now buy multiple haunted axes
Can now only buy one bleeder shield. (There was no advantage to having more than one)
Some coffins and cabinets now randomly spawn items when opened
Cracked bow does a bit less damage
Lowered bots aiming accuracy
Spider attack hitbox tweaked to line up better
Multiplier increased for one-room temporary strength modifiers (for hero and ghosts) from actionable props
Tweaked back walls in dungeon environment to have more random variety
Wishing well rewards improved
Hooded Haunt monster attack improved: Less anticipate time and more free movement while strafing
Prices reduced for some spears
Bugs:
Fixes for a number of controller issues - Now supporting more types of controllers.
Fixed ghosts not fading out over the hero
Powerups effects are no longer lost after long games
Store gui no longer displays over pause menu
Scorpion unlock now working properly
Mouse cursor no longer sorts behind pause menu tips
Intro scenes now fade in and out again
Hero no longer pauses at start of attract mode
Fixed Frog Necklace turning you into a frog way too often
Click to expand...

5hSXF2l.gif



No online multiplayer yet, though - for those that are waiting for that. I played a round last night alone and the overall experience is even smoother. The new weapon trade in mechanic makes it less of a monetary gamble to try new weapons as you progress in a game.
 
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