The Roadmap

Discussion in 'Dungeons of Dredmor General' started by Nicholas, Sep 12, 2011.

  1. Nicholas

    Nicholas Technology Director Staff Member

    I've been directed to post some interesting stuff on the forums about what we're doing next, in order to get as many new people using them as we can. So that said, here's the plan going forwards, courtesy of today's company meeting. (Which did, in fact, involve swords.)

    - 1.0.6: Linux support and a handful of the more interesting things that need to be fixed. I'd like to get this to the beta testers by Monday. I'd like to do it earlier, but the first part of the week is consumed by rubbish Real Life Stuff. So we'll see what happens.

    - 1.0.7: More fixes, and the introduction of a Super Secret Thing that we've... well, I may have talked about it before, and I wanted it to get in for the original game, but I didn't. So I think we'll put it in for 1.0.7. Again, I'd like a turnaround of about a week, a week and a half.

    - 1.0.8: If necessary, more fixes. This patch may not exist, depending on where we set our cutoffs for 1.0.6 and 1.0.7. Hopefully, we get the female character in by this point.

    - 1.1.0: Mod support, including bumping all the strings out of the EXE and into an XML file for the usage of various translation teams. (We have a *really* cool translation announcement coming up later this week, by the way.)

    and then various support patches for 1.1.0 moving forward.

    There is also the little matter of an expansion pack. Gaslamp as a company - and myself, personally - are universally opposed to charging you for things that should be in the core game. We're committed to fixing every single one of the one hundred and forty-nine issues in the bugtracker for Dredmor, and we will keep adding more Stuff to the core game every time we send out a patch, so that you always get a little something extra.

    We don't want to try to sell you 99 cent horse armour, either. That's just... lame.

    That said, people have actually *asked* us for an expansion pack, so we have to make one. We think we have a concept for an expansion pack that does justify being spun off to a paid expansion, as opposed to being Horse Armour or Eyebrow Wigs or whatever, and we will be moving on this front as soon as we are happy with the state of the core game. (That is to say, Not Yet. Not For A Long Time Yet.) In typical Gaslamp fashion, said expansion pack will probably be about the price of a package of potato chips. Crawl players will like it. It also won't be anything you couldn't put in yourself with the mod support, so in effect we will be putting up an Officially Sanctioned Mod and inviting you to buy it from us. I think this is a reasonable policy. I have no idea when this will be done, either. If I had to pull an estimate out of my posterior, I would guess six months or so. It'll mainly be frontloading on the art side and less on the code side, and will be something that the company will collectively move on after 1.1.0.

    There should also be an announcement about Merch in a few weeks. Buy Merch. BUY MERCH.

    So that's the roadmap going forwards. Questions? Comments? Let us know! That's what we're here for.
     
    Kyrie, Frelus, benbenben3 and 5 others like this.
  2. Marak

    Marak Member

    I like to think that people are begging for an expansion pack because, as with other really good and really underpriced Indie titles, only paying $5 for (literally) hundreds of hours of compelling gameplay feels like we are ripping you off. We want to see you succeed, and you can't do that and make new games without more money. Short of donating to something like a Gaslamp Games PayPal account (does such a thing even exist?), the only way for us to fatten your Make New Games With Me Wallet is if you make something you can charge us real moneys for. An expansion pack is a great way to do this; DLC is another option (I didn't say it was a good option); and Merch is another.

    I have this same dilemma with Terraria: literally hundreds of hours played, free updates, only $10. I almost with they'd charge us $5 for the latest update so I wouldn't feel so guilty. I feel the same way about Dredmor. I welcome an excuse to toss a bit more cash at you guys for making an amazing game that is satisfying an empty niche in the current market.

    Also, 2 week(ish) updates that fix bugs and add a few goodies here and there? Sounds great to me. In the meantime, I need to try 1.0.5 with some Caster builds and see how my Eyebrowed Compatriot fares.

    Keep up the great work guys, there's a lot of us out there that really appreciate it, even if we can't promote you via Let's Plays on YouTube, and even if the majority of us aren't constantly harassing you via IRC or Twitter or what-have-you.
     
    benbenben3 and Klokinator like this.
  3. Derakon

    Derakon Member

    Sounds sensible, though that's a pretty aggressive release schedule. How many of these patches do you estimate will have a noticeable effect on game balance? Each time balance gets tweaked, I'd say it'd be a good idea to give the patch some time to settle so you can figure out what further changes are needed.
     
  4. Haldurson

    Haldurson Member

    Amen.

    I am an old-timer, as computer gamers go, and have been a huge rogue-like game fan since, well, Rogue. I probably played it first on a pdp-11 at least a year or two before IBM came out with its first PC. Forgive me if my dates are off (memory is the first thing to slip as you get older).

    I am absolutely thrilled at your game's success among mainstream gamers and I really hope you will take some time to enjoy and appreciate your success (just not too much time -- I really can't wait to see what's coming next for DoD). You young'uns can now enjoy a type of game that us ol' timers have known about for years. Good Job and thanks for all the hard work and a great game.
     
  5. Will

    Will Member

    Sounds awesome, just wondering how the linux version is going to work. I recently installed Ubuntu 11.04 onto my netbook (It runs so much smoother than Win 7) and am having trouble getting steam working, will there be a standalone client or will it still be through steam since it has no official linux support? I'm fine with buying the game again if it means I can get it standalone on my netbook, would be awesome for train journeys! Keep up the good work!
     
  6. dbaumgart

    dbaumgart Art Director Staff Member

    @Haldurson : I don't think we'll have much time to relax but at least I'll be able to buy some new shoes finally. Success is sweet.

    @Will : I believe we'll try inserting something into the Steam distribution that you can take and run on Linux. We'll also be doing some alternative distribution platforms which play well with Linux, though we have not yet announced details.
     
  7. liamdawe

    liamdawe Member

    I can't wait for the Linux release of DoD :D

    I did suggest a couple of places before - gameolith, desura and indievania (Desura is in-porting to Linux, so not official yet, only weeks away though).

    Keep up the awesome work and thanks for supporting Linux :)
     
  8. 123stw

    123stw Member

    What is the link for the bug list again? It seems like the sticky post has been removed since the forum transition.
     
  9. J-Factor

    J-Factor Member

    http://glg.me/bugsheet
     
  10. RKade8583

    RKade8583 Member

    How would one become a beta tester and what would that entail? I'd love to help with this disgustingly awesome game.

    For reference, here's a disgustingly cute doggie That living emoticon is to cute as this game is to awesome... and if you can come up with a better abstract descriptive, let me know. :)
     
  11. Daynab

    Daynab Community Moderator Staff Member

    I don't know if Nvining's accepting any more testers at the moment, but send an email to contact@gaslampgames.com or alternatively ilovetocrash@gaslampgames.com (though I don't know if that one's going to be watched if they're not expecting any). or hop in the IRC until you see one of them and request it.
     
  12. 123stw

    123stw Member

  13. Jack Burton

    Jack Burton Member

    Great plans! Really looking forward to all the stuff.

    I would "suggest" that you increase the price of the game when you reach 1.1. or earlier (should have been 9,99 € in the first place) and after that go on sale when your first DLC is ready (if you can control that). That might be a good idea to get more players and with that more money.
     
  14. Warskull

    Warskull Member

    For an expansion, I would pay $0.99 for say 10-20 new skill lines. Yes, you could probably do it with a mod, but we pay you for the quality and creativeness. I would have never though of some of the things you did for the current skill lines.

    If you added a 2nd dungeon, more enemies, and a maybe a new boss I would pay more.

    Personally, my reasons for wanting an expansion:
    1) The game is good, quite good, I would pay for more content of this quality.
    2) The game seems to be designed in a way that makes it really friendly towards expansions. New mobs, rooms, and new skill lines and bam, expansion.

    The thing about the $5 price, I can tell someone "this game is great and only $5, buy it" and they will buy it without a second thought. You would pay $10 for it because you now know how good it is.
     
  15. Psiweapon

    Psiweapon Member

    I'd pay 3$ for:

    -Another row of skill lines

    -A crapload of items (but please no "expansion stuff trumps base game stuff" shit)

    -A dungeon branch / some new dungeon mechanic

    -Moar interactive dungeon furniture

    -Moar silly background!
     
  16. Godwin

    Godwin Member

    I'd pay another 5$ for a few new skills (+expansion of some skill trees?), 5 more floors, ergo finding the secret entrance to the demon that sends Dredmor out there again and again, new artwork, new items, and basically just to support you guys since this game is so awesome.

    Oh and definitely for a new higher difficulty level without this meaning there will be fewer items as it's a pain to find stuff for crafting already.
     
  17. liamdawe

    liamdawe Member

    I would gladly pay $5 for extra content as long as it's worth it, take Modern Warfare for example, $10 for a couple maps...very expensive for not much :/
     
  18. Despayre

    Despayre Member

    Marak nailed my feelings %100. I'd give $10 for more character sprites (or a 3d conversion) so equipment would change the appearance of a character but that doesn't seem like a 6 month project :)
     
  19. Miah

    Miah Member

    Just joined the swelling ranks here & I'd have to say that I'd happily pay .99 for whores armour.
     
  20. LonePaladin

    LonePaladin Member

    :confused: Did the subject change while I wasn't looking?