The Drop

Happy almost-April-1st! If you're reading this, The Drop Version 1.32 is now available for download! Why is this one so special? Well, an idea I've had for some time has finally come to fruition, and hopefully you can wring a few more hours out of The Drop while I'm still working on How Far. Maybe. Anyway, here are the change notes:

-Here comes a new challenger! Dehl Sikohlon is now a playable character! You can choose him from the second page of the "Special Characters" screen at any time.
-Magic Stitch now correctly heals Body health.
-Fixed an issue where it's possible to walk outside of the map in a certain area.
-Fixed a crash bug (again) that can occur after defeating the final boss.
-The final secret character now begins with some Soul-damaging magic as well.
-Removed all floor elements from the final boss' lair. Beware: it's an actual fight now!
-The spell "Calamity" now correctly inflicts Mind damage.
-The spell "Snowstorm" now correctly inflicts Soul damage.
-The spells "Thunderclash" and "Jolt" now has the correct icon.
-Hints should no longer get stuck on the screen after being defeated in Hardcore mode.

Dehl is a challenging character; if Xopi is defeated, he will fall too! Good luck!

Version 1.3 of The Drop is now up for download! There are only a few changes this time around - I've been distracted by other things lately. Here is a full list of changes:

-You can now rest for several turns by pressing the 'R' key. You will regenerate normally during this time. You cannot rest while an enemy is after you, and if an enemy surprises you while you are resting, its attack will do additional damage and wake you up!
-There is now a cap on the duration of stun, paralysis, blind, and confuse effects on enemies.
-Area-of-effect spells will no longer reach through walls.
-The custom human trait "Brave" now correctly modifies Soul and Mind defenses.
-Shortened the size of the verb list ("THROWABLE", etc.) on the inventory screen to keep them from running off the window.
-Fixed myriad typos and cut-off text pieces.
-"Stalker Fang" now has a proper equipping message.
-"Sea Crystals" now correctly grant Soul Essence instead of Mind.
-Added a handful of new hints to the rotation.

Ahoyhoy! Due to the discovery of a crash bug, I moved up the release of version 1.1 to RIGHT NOW ACTUALLY. You can get it from the downloads page, if you so desire. Here is a list of what's changed:

-Enemy stats now curve upward slightly as you gain levels to give a more consistent challenge.
-Enemy 117 can now be encountered in the post-game of any character.
-Spells on your hotbar that cannot be cast due to insufficient health will now glow red.
-Fixed a crash bug that could occur if the first item slot in your inventory held an unidentified item.
-Tweaked costs and damage for a few specialty spells.
-"Judgment" now inflicts Wither instead of Stun.
-Reduced the amount of essense gained from eating items. The reward still scales with level, but not as greatly.
-Smoke and fog effects no longer block the sound made by thrown items.
-Matterfiends have had their stats and rewards balanced.
-The Sap Tapper now correctly trusts "NOSCENT" instead of "DESCENT".
-"Armageddon" now correctly deals soul damage.

To normalize some balance issues, I've implemented the following changes. Please leave feedback on how it plays out for you:
-Adjusted the bonuses for several Challenge Traits:
---"Sacrifice" now bestows +1 Regen instead of 0.1 to all growth.
---"Burdened" now bestows +1 Regen and 0.1 growth instead of 0.2 to all growth.
---"Ascetic" now bestows +2 Regen and 0.1 growth instead of 0.3 to all growth.
---"Enlightened" now bestows +2 Regen and +0.2 growth instead of 0.5 to all growth.
---Note that these changes are NOT retroactive, and will only affect newly-created characters.

-For custom characters, growth rates are now capped at 1.5x.
-Bonuses to stats at level-up are now limited to one point assigned randomly (instead of one for each stat). However, the minimum chance to gain a bonus stat is now 10%, even if your growth rate is below 1.0.

It's been almost a year since The Drop was first announced, and I'm proud to proclaim that the beta is finally here! As such, I am looking for a handful of volunteers to test out the full game before I release it into the wild. If you've got several hours of free time coming up and a hankering for some merciless dungeon crawling, then read on!

I will make the beta available this Friday, July 26th. I am intending to release the full game in the middle of August, which is a pretty short time frame, so don't be shy about messaging me any issues as they arise, as opposed to collecting them and sending them all at once! (My free time thanks you for this.)

Here is a list of everything that's changed since the demo, including additions, fixes, and tweaks. In other words, these are the things to really watch out for:

CONTENT:
-All 8 playable characters (4 original, 4 returning from The Reconstruction) are available from the start. There are several more characters that must be unlocked.
-All playable characters have an introduction and an ending sequence (upon reaching floor 30). Player-made characters have a generic ending sequence.
-Post-game play is available: Enemies and rewards will scale up as you go beyond floor 30.
-Character creation is 100% functional.
-Completely randomized characters are available.
-Overworld "safe area" with merchants and other friendly NPCs is now available.
-Approximately 18 spells of each element are available to be learned.
-Floors can be one of 8 different "themes," each with their own graphic set, flora, and pools of items and enemies.
-"Regular" and "Hardcore" modes available. In the demo, it was a combination, where you could save your character at any staircase, but being defeated was a game over. In Regular mode, being defeated sends you back to the safe area with no items and half your Favor, and you can only save in the safe area. In Hardcore, your character is deleted when you load your game, and you can only save & quit on the stairs.
-Accomplishments can be earned for reaching certain milestones and unlocking certain characters.
-There is now a Bestiary that you can fill out. It's shared between characters, and gives some basic information about each enemy you've defeated. Visit the statue on the overworld to get rewards for collecting lots of entries.

GAMEPLAY:
-The targeting cursor will now "snap" to the nearest enemy automatically when casting a spell, throwing an item, or inspecting.
-You can now purchase a mini-map in the safe area. It is treated like an item in your inventory. Press the '9' key to open/close it inside a dungeon. You can also "use" it from your inventory window if you are without a keyboard.
-You can no longer convert items to Favor when you're under attack. This is to prevent "pump and dump" scenarios where you know you're going to die and want to ditch your inventory for Favor before it's lost. *whipcrack*
-You can now throw items to distract enemies. Any non-deaf enemies within earshot will turn to face where the item landed.
-You can now play in "interpolating" fullscreen mode by pressing the F5 key. This is a must for Windows 8 users, as the standard fullscreen mode is unplayable.
-The "lag" experienced when using a FORCE ability has been fixed.

MECHANICAL:
-You can now break through certain walls by using a spell/item with either the FORCE or WARP property! These breakable walls have a unique appearance and are scattered around every floor.
-Enemies distracted by an item they LIKE will return to their normal behavior after around 10 or so turns, instead of being permanently distracted.
-Added a "LOVES _____" property to some enemies. For instance, the hatchling enemy "LOVES GRASS", and throwing it a GRASS-type item will cause it to become friendly. (no weed jokes thx)
-Added a "TRUST _____" property to some enemies. If your player character has that property innately, then an otherwise-aggressive enemy will be docile.
-Enemies can now be befriended by using a "LURE" item, an item they "LOVE", or by having an innate property they LIKE.
-Friendly enemies will now fight for you. They will melee attack any hostile enemies in an adjacent square; note that they will not actively seek out fights. Also note than an enemy attacked by another enemy will give dimished rewards, and a defeated friendly enemy will give no essence at all. Hostile enemies will fight them back as long as your character is not within range of their special attack. Lastly, friendly enemies will not attack hostiles of types that they "like" (for instance, a friendly human might not attack other humans).
-Friendly enemies can be nudged out of your way by walking into them.
-Fleeing enemies will now make more of an effort to escape (as opposed to getting stuck in a corner).
-Some enemies' skills will create noise, causing other enemies nearby to look in your direction and potentially spot you.
-Some enemies are "social" and will seek revenge on you if you defeat one of their friends in their presence.
-"Restricted" line-of-sight mode is now available as a challenge trait for custom characters. You'll get a little bonus to growth rates if you take it. You cannot use the mini-map, however.

AESTHETIC:
-Enemies will no longer "twitch" when coming out of their "damaged" animation.
-Enemy names are color-coded according to how powerful they are (Blue-Yellow-Orange-Red-Purple).
-Item healing/harming icons on the inventory screen now show the multiplier amounts as well.
-Enemies who "BLOCK" a property will now give a warning message when the damage is resisted.
-New music for random floors and some special situations.

----------

I'll take the first half-dozen or so volunteers before Friday! Thanks for your continued support!

I scrawled out a little minimap script today and would like to get some feedback on how to go about implementing it, if at all. You can see it here: http://rpgmaker.net/games/4395/images/34963/

Right now, it shows the portion of the current floor that's been uncovered (walls and floors). Floor elements like grass and water are marked in blue. The player is marked white, and any staircases that have been revealed are green. I am not including enemies or items on the map to make it more of a map and less of a convenient method of clairvoyance.

My current plan is to have it toggled on and off with a keypress in order to conserve screen real estate and performance on lower-end machines. My real concern is how to implement it with some cost to the player, if needed. For those who played the demo: Would it make the game too easy to have a floor map available?

I was thinking of having a purchasable/collectible item that would let the player have access to the map just for the current floor when used, but the item would be used up and the map would disappear once the floor is exited. Does this sound like a reasonable trade-off? Or should the map be available all the time, as with many dungeon crawlers? Or does anybody have any better ideas for implementing a trade-off? I'm open to suggestions!