Wednesday, December 17, 2014

ADOM R53 now available... for Steam beta testers

Hi everyone!

This is new: The first ADOM release (R53, version 1.11.0) available on Steam first. Mostly this happens for two reasons:
  • We want to get to Steam ASAP and thus need to receive as much feedback as soon as possible for that version.
  • The build process is getting more and more involved and thus it takes more time to build all variants. Prerelease testers will be next, promise!
Regarding the Steam version:
  • It's a closed beta available to everyone who donated $40 or more (in whatever partitioning) during our crowdfunding campaign.
  • All such donors have received a Steam key that is available through the ADOM self service portal. Follow the instructions there to log in.
  • I have created a new discussion group too discuss peculiarities regarding the Steam version.
  • We would like to get as much feedback as possible - please use our ticket system for any bugs you find and for any improvements peculiar to Steam you might want to see.
This very first Steam version definitely has beta character:
The real Steam release is going to happen when we feel that we have a very good first stable release. Lots of features didn't make it into the first Steam release (because that would delay it for even more weeks if not months) - see our advanced roadmap for those.

What we need: We are looking for all feedback we can get but some areas are of particular interest to us:
  • We want to get as many suggestions as possible on what to improve to make the Steam launch a huge success (naturally).
  • We would love to hear feedback on mouse-based play. What needs to be improved to make pure mouse-based play a better experience (we probably won't be able to all of that right away but we would like to cover the most important areas).
  • Please try the new message buffer modes (adjustable by Ctrl-nm), the various display modes (Ctrl-nd), the tutorial mode, the various other game modes, ghosts, achievements, etc. We want to hear your experiences with that, too!
  • And everything else you deem important.
We are on the verge of a new ADOM age and it's now or never... greatness or oblivion ;-)





29 comments:

  1. Is there a way to see the list of achievements? I would like to test that they are properly unlocked, but it's difficult if I don't know what they are.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Never mind - it seems that you can see the achievements in-game but they are hidden within Steam, presumably because the game is in closed beta.

      Delete
    2. Yes, you can only see your last achievement on Steam, the full list isn't available in beta mode.

      Delete
  2. I just read the part where you wanted mouse-heavy gameplay. I will do my best to play along with that. One question before I do, though...is it ready for "switch position"? That's where I'd be most paranoid. Secondly (well, firstly from my perspective) - I can't tell what level I'm on!! Am I missing a simple solution to that problem?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The level display issue has already been reported.

      We decided to go with a very minimalistic UI and expand from there based on feedback. Some interesting discussions are going on about hunger/burden/alignment too:

      http://www.adom.de/forums/project.php?issueid=3477
      http://www.adom.de/forums/project.php?issueid=3475

      Delete
  3. Wow, the game is SOOOOO nice. Even tutorial is awesome (however it would be nice to be able to re-display last tooltip/tooltips).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You can use ':h' to redisplay all hints you received. I seem to remember that this even is mentioned in some hint ;-)

      Delete
  4. You should add save 'S' button to GUI, new players would have no idea how to quit game other wise. First thing thet try is ESC and after that there's like... how do I save, how do I quit this game?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Herr Creator,
    Sorry to disturb, but I have to ask that in which state is the "Adom RPG lite"?

    You probably have your hands full, but just check that the post office hasn¨t lost my copy of the game. I checked that last post was 2014 January.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Please see http://www.ancientdomainsofmystery.com/2014/08/about-current-adom-development-progress.html

      It's the next task directly after the Steam release.

      Delete
  6. Steam Weekly chanlenge game freezed when I throud rock at large bat (White one) I don't know if that was my last rock or what, dont know what coused it, but my challenge is gone :( cant create issua on forum because I dont know what caused it...

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  7. Some feedback,questions:

    -lack of stats display in main screen
    -are monster animations goin to happen anytime? Because when you stand still, only dynamic part is background environment ( water, grass, torches etc) and gives the game very 'static' feel at least from the graphical point of view. Obviously for the regular rogue-players it won't be a big issue but i think it will for newcomers to the gendre.
    -south wall covers items in horizontal narrow corridors - only way to detect it to read messages 'xyz is lying here (x2).'

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lack of stats display is an intentional experiment. We're aiming for a minimal UI, and will expand it based on feedback.

      So far the lack of stats has raised rather few concerns :) Dungeon codes/hunger/alignment seem to be much more important for most players.

      Delete
    2. Oh, and you're 100% right about the animation part, but monster animations aren't planned.

      We have a way of tackling the issue, but Steam launch would have to be a roaring success for us to go down that path. Character animations are a time-consuming business.

      Hm...maybe some sort of highlight items thing could be helpful. Bit like diablo or other hack'n'loot isometric game. We'll wait to see if this raises further concern.

      Delete
  8. I'm a seeker level supporter. Should I get my steam key from somewhere or wait until Adom Deluxe is ready? From the wording of the post one gets an idea that seekers should get one now, but the "self service portal" seems not to be for us.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haven't used it, but according to the description the portal is for Seekers and above (= for you :)).

      Just enter your email you used in the indiegogo campaign, leave the password blank and click "request password"

      An email should arrive with your password (check spam folder just in case!). Now you can log in and recieve your Steam key :) Happy testing!

      Delete
    2. I can confirm it worked. Thanks Ravenmore.

      Delete
  9. Please release already, can't wait to play!! I want to be eaten by a grue :(

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hello

    Just simple question. I i donated 40USD in "buy into the closed beta program" am i eligible to receive steam key?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. After donating via PayPal you should send an email to Thomas. I assume he'll inform you what further steps to take to get pre-release access.

      Normally Thomas replies within 10 days, but please note that this is just before Christmas, shortly after Steam Beta launch and with a full Steam version coming soon. Things are incredibly hectic at the moment. It might take longer than usual to hook you up with a Beta key.

      Relevant paragraph from the Pre-Release program page:

      "Send an email to creator(at)ancientdomainsofmystery.com (and no other address!) containing the headline "Buying into the ADOM prerelease program", your first name, your last name, the email address under which you donated and your current email address.
      (replace the "(at)" with "@" in the text above). Once the money appears on my account I will give you access to the prerelease program.

      Please give me up to ten days of time to enable access as I'll be doing this only during my breakfast ADOM preparations and not all day ;-)"

      Delete
    2. Thank you for reply :)

      I did everything exactly as page say, thats not the problem... Im just asking if i as NOT indiegogo donator i am eligible to receive steam key... Im little confused about this subject thats all :)

      Delete
    3. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
  11. Steam release milestone was 81%, but is set back to 60% now? What happened?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bugs reported after the opening of the Steam Closed Beta :)

      Note that this is based on the # of tickets rather than actual manhour required to handle it, so it's a very rough estimates.

      A lot of those reports are UI related and should be an easy fix, but some concern some pretty tricky bugs.

      We'll see how this goes! But I guess a just-before-Christmas release is unlikely at this point.

      Delete
  12. I bought into the prerelease program over a year ago, paid $40 like MagicWalker presumably did. The page says that those of us who bought in should reset our passwords, so I did that, no problem. It then said to log in to "process the data required for your pledge rewards," whatever that means. I logged in, but there's nothing there about the rewards, just the usual secure portal and then the prerelease downloads page. I've gone over it with a fine-toothed comb - I'm very sure I did everything correctly. There wasn't that much to do, really. Even tried it from multiple computers, no luck. Help? :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi! I just tried the Steam version for the first time, and it's looking really good. A couple of questions:
    1. In the weekly challenge game, my score is the only one in the high score list. Is this supposed to include scores from all other gamers, or only friends, or is it not yet implemented?
    2. The weekly challenge game takes place in the ID, I presume, but the geek code mentions the number of vaults. Can the challenge game ever contain feautres such as altars and vaults that don't normally show up in the ID?

    ReplyDelete