Gnomoria Catch-all (Graphical Dwarf Fortress-like) [in Alpha]

0.8.3 is out:

General:
Peaceful mode option when creating a new world
Underground enemies no longer spawn in areas that don't have access to gnomes (ie no surprise monster closets)
Temporarily disabled rain
Right click cancels selection. Clicking again cancels action.
Holding shift while selecting locks the selection to the same plane
Dig ramp down selection is always locked to the same plane
Reduced audio file size

Art:
Added item tiles for pickaxe, felling axe, sword, hand axe, hammer and shield
Added equipped shield and hand axe
Added wood door, stone door, bandage, statuette and commemorative coin tiles
Updated wheat and strawberry

Bug Fixes:
Crash on alt tab and other windows drawing on top of the game window
Crash when a goblin dodges a trap
Crash when characters are missing in text
Crash with loading equipped items and resaving
Crash trying to butcher corpses that have decayed
Conflict when generating new nav graph IDs after loading a game
Bug when loading items that were created from butchering
Gnomes trying to use items they didn't have access to and no longer working
Items sometimes being on a different cell than it thinks
Digging stairs down on top of a mine job eventually mined out the stairs
Spawning golems of all material types instead of 1 random

Oh my, golems. No wonder everyone was having problems. It was spawning 7 stone golems at once everytime it wanted to spawn 1. Similarly, it was spawning both clay and dirt when it should have spawned one or the other. Those fixes combined with not spawning golems in areas that don't have access should help venturing down in the depths a bit. Also, it felt like as good a time as any to add in peaceful mode for those who would just rather not bother altogether.

Bugs - I'm out of coal, and have everything set up to make some more out of oak logs (Including 2 gnomes who are set with professions that include "Smelting" as one of the jobs). But both those gnomes are idle, and I've gone days waiting for them to get the hell to work. Anyone else finding stuff like this from time to time?

0.8.4 is out.

General:
Hide mouse cursor while placing jobs
Designation placement uses the solid diamond tile
Mining uses an alternate wireframe tile with a more emphasized top
Bone, skull, pet rock, puzzle box, commemorative coin, statuette, ring and necklace can be stored in crates

Art:
Added a border to the solid color tile
Added an alternate wireframe tile for mining
Added chiseled wall/floor
Updated table
Changed birch color

Bug Fixes:
Crash on save with items inside containers
Crash on save after not dropping items that should have been dropped in combat
Crash on save after armor has been destroyed in combat
Crash on save with missing items still in the stocks
Crash when stocking items
Crash when pathing to a bed
Items sometimes not existing on the map
Squad members dropping food before eating when the uniform didn't have a hand set to "any"
Merchants not showing up after loading

Debugging save crashes are time consuming, so that's mostly where this last week and a half has gone I'm thinking about making Tuesday updates more regular than Fridays so that the weekend won't delay a Desura update. The changes to mining are sort of an experiment, so let me know if this helps the perspective problems or not

boogle wrote:
Malor wrote:

Sure, but you're arguing, Tamren, that everyone should use vi.

What should we use? Emacs?

I'm no heretic.

Neither!

Feeank wrote:

I have mixed feelings about this, after watching the OP video; On one hand, the most common request people had after playing DF was a better user interface and a graphical upgrade of sorts. Tile sets helped a bit with the latter, while external tools and mods where made by enthusiasts that provided a way to interact with the game in a different manner to addres the former. This video here seems to take care of both of those concerns; it certainly looks really well, lots of sprites and variety, and it also has a fullly functional graphical interface that works transparently with the far more comfortable click/drag mouse mechanic. But, on the other hand...here be the cynical me thinking; I listen to the Dev describing the actions on the screen and I can't help to think that despite his good-natured initiative of basically creating a better looking DF, he's kidnapping Toady's work and, while not claiming any credit on the "fortress building genre" on the process, he'll be ripping its benefits for being the first one to launch a commercial title without having done "that much"... in a way.

Minecraft/Notch did something similar in the past, though he distanced himself so much from what DF is about that the only common element in both games are the metal working and the "building" part. But there's the germ in there at the core, and I think that's great, better games, indepent games...the more the better.

I remember saying that this would be the perfect game for me, a DF-like with a modern GUI and an isometric view style that would allow for it to retain some of the complexity the ASCII characters allow in its hyeroglyphical, non-representative nature. Now that it's finally here, I find it funny to realize that I feel guilty to think about paying for this product, deserving as it may be, for developing and improving on the idea that that other guy over there had first. The point is made stronger by the fact that, other than changing the protagonists to gnomes, there's really not much else in there to expect but the vanilla-DF experience. It is an Alpha and I'm sure the devs are making their best effort to enrichen the experience with whatever they decide to add on it, but from where I stand nothing stood up out of the videos other than the graphicals and improved interface.

As I said, it's the cynical part of me speaking here. The cool, non-judgemental me was all "look-it-that you have windows and drop-down menus HELL YEAH!!!!". I'll be following on its development, I just wanted to share those thoughts and probe the waters about them as it surprised me how dominant they got in my inner dialogue.

/clocking

It would be one thing if this looked to have much in the way of innovation or experimentation, but it really looks like a direct copy with somewhat better graphics. I'm somewhat uneasy with Towns, but at least that appears to be trying for its own flavor.

You could look at it another way. Its a direct copy sure. But its one that aims to remove most of the issues that plague the original to no end. Stability issues, especially those of scale. Control issues and providing better interfaces. Random weirdness issues. Oh god wtf issues. Biblical blood thunderstorm issues...

Is it less of a Dwarf Fortress game? Sure. But that doesn't matter as long as it can become more of a playable game.

The only thing that surprises me is that it took so long. The Minecraft clones came out rather quickly in comparison.

Tamren wrote:

You could look at it another way. Its a direct copy sure. But its one that aims to remove most of the issues that plague the original to no end. Stability issues, especially those of scale. Control issues and providing better interfaces. Random weirdness issues. Oh god wtf issues. Biblical blood thunderstorm issues...

Is it less of a Dwarf Fortress game? Sure. But that doesn't matter as long as it can become more of a playable game.

Well stated

0.8.5 and a quick 0.8.5.1 are out:

v0.8.5.1
Bug Fixes:
Restocking items when containers are added to stockpiles was including items already in containers

v0.8.5
General:
Optimizations for creating stock jobs (fixes performance problems with idle gnomes)
Cut clipping removes saplings
Trading with merchants no longer requires items to be brought to the merchant
Mine jobs select the top of the cell instead of the bottom
Added option in settings.ini to hide the mouse cursor when selecting. Default is off

Bug Fixes:
Gnomes favoring certain materials over others, ie stocking dirt before clay
Items not falling when digging ramp up
Gnomes not using bandages on severed limbs that were bleeding

Hauling items to merchants "fits" more in the game, but it was getting in the way too much and making use of merchants. When you hit trade now, it's instant.

[Edit] Apparently the bug "fixed" in .1 is still happening and it's causing gnomes to get locked up trying to stockpile items. There are some kludgy work-arounds to free them but it sounds like the best bet is to stay on 0.8.4 for right now.

And now it's safe to get back in the water. 0.8.5.2 is out.

v0.8.5.2
Bug Fixes:
Gnomes getting stuck continuously restocking

0.8.6 is out and sounds awesome.

General:
   Designations can be extended
   Reworked storage containers. Build storage on stockpiles to use.
   Added keybinds for most actions
   Added replace wall/floor action
   Added button to delete saves
   Added option to hide designations

Art:
   Added raw ore, raw gem, pet rock, gear, spring, hatch, spike trap, battle axe, warhammer, leather armor
   Added alternate hand version for all 1 hand weapons
   Updated cut gem, metal helmet

Bug Fixes:
   Eggs weren't stored in anything. They are stored in crates now.

I decided to switch it up a little and get some of the more requested things in instead of focusing on bugs this patch.  I was planning on having a little more in but I had to replace my HDD and lost some time reinstalling Windows and all that.

To extend a designation, just overlap one when creating a new one.  For example, if you want to extend your pasture, go to create pasture and then make sure the new area overlaps the one you want to extend.

Since there are so many actions, none of them are bound by default.  You can just go into options and bind the ones you would like to use

I'm trying out this storage change.  It might take a little getting used to, so give it a little bit before deciding.  Gnomes will no longer stock any storage containers (with the exception of dirt/stone piles).  Storage containers are now in the build menu and they can only be built over stockpiles.  They deconstruct if the stockpile is removed.  When loading a save from before 0.8.6, it will attempt to construct any container that is already in a stockpile.

I'm having a hell of a time keeping my gnomes fed. I've only got about 20 of them, but farms aren't yielding enough to keep them fed, and I've foraged the entire map to the point where there's nothing left to get.

It's been a while since anything grew to harvestable on the farm plots - does stuff grow in Winter?

Cannibalism!

0.8.7!

Version 0.8.7
General:
Added an action bar

Art:
Updated water, lava, fiber and rotated statue
Added claymore, clipping and puzzle box

Bug Fixes:
Crash on load with unbutchered corpses
Crash on load with held items
Crash when mining ramp up after the floor above has been dug out
Removing ramps not updating the navigation graph immediately
Attempting to find a path to under water items
Repair broken navigation graph when detected while pathing
Conflict with hot keys with the same key but different modifiers

The action bar is probably temporary, but I wanted to leave it in for you guys to see. It was partially implemented before, and now that it's working, I think it needs to work differently. Most likely it'll get updated to be customizable, with a few bars to cycle through. Instead of leaving it out in the mean time, I just threw it in with an option to turn it off in gameplay options.

Here's an interesting post on near term plans:

While Gnomoria is not exactly bug free, I think it's time to start adding in some new content along with the bug fixes and other changes.

For the next few updates, I'm going to focus on combat related changes. I'll try to stick to the roughly once a week updates, but some changes might require some more time.

Ranged Combat - Guns. First pass on this will not use ammo. I'm going to play test it and also see what the general consensus is on whether managing ammo will be interesting or just frustrating.

Military Tactics - I'm still working out some details here, but there will be more customization options for the formation and position parts of a squad.

Training Grounds/Shooting Range - These are built like workshops. Select a squad, and they will train to increase combat skills. Training Grounds is for melee combat and Shooting Range is for training ranged weapon skills.

Healing - There was a bug with using bandages that was fixed, but I see a lot of posts about gnomes not healing still, so I'll look into it. Currently, body parts can be "destroyed" as well as "severed" but there isn't really any feedback for destroyed parts. Gnomes will be unable to pick up items or walk but it looks like a bug because the limbs aren't missing. The health tab needs some updates, but I'm going to add in more ways to heal. To start, I will probably have it so that bandages repair destroyed body parts. Eventually, there will instead be a hospital for this kind of healing and a doctor skill to work the hospital and take care of gnomes that can't heal or feed themselves. Also, I'm going to add prosthetic mechanical limbs. Hospitals and prosthetics most likely won't be added right away.

Balance - Combat in general is a little too random. I'm going to be making some adjusts to help and take a look at combat formulas and values.

UI and usability - Announcements for discovering enemies with the option to autopause. The combat logs are going to get cleaned up. For uniforms, the "any" option for hands will choose weapons based on individual gnome weapon skills. The "any" option for materials for weapons and armor will pick the best material suited for combat. There are some fixes for the health UI as well.

Enemies - The enemy strength based on worth value will probably be adjusted a little. I'm also going to take a look at subterranean enemy spawns. I might add wild animal spawns back in. Wild animal behavior is to avoid gnomes, but they will attack if cornered. Goblins are currently missing bronze and will start to show up in between copper and iron. Doors will block enemies and can be destroyed. I'm considering adding in goblin spawns that include supplies so they won't die of thirst/hunger. I'm also considering adding goblin miners to some spawns.

Some things I'm thinking about but might not be added (or not added right away):

Squad management - Shifts for military stations (guard area and patrol route), so that squads can take a break to sleep/eat and are less likely to be separated while on duty. Assigning a squad to defend duty or adding defend as a formation option. A defending squad will engage any enemies that are in combat with your gnomes or livestock.
Alarm bell - This would be a construction that alerts squads to danger.
Hospitals - Doctors and hospitals for healing more critical wounds and healing gnomes who can't heal themselves.
Automatons - Craftable automatons that can be added to squads. Requires tinkering to unlock and mechanics to repair.

Not related to combat, but I plan on adjusting the build jobs a little. I'm going to change it so that building components are tied to the job instead of the gnome. Previously if a gnome goes to sleep or eat/drink while in the middle of the build job, it's possible that another gnome will restock those items. With this change, build progress won't be lost, but those items will be tied up until the job is completed or canceled.

0.8.6 "Added keybinds for most actions"!

Game changer.

Also Emacs.

0.8.8 came out a couple of days ago.

Version 0.8.8
General:
Training Grounds - Workshop that can have a stationed squad. Squad members will take turns sparring to train combat skills.
When "any" is chosen in uniforms, gnomes will find the best available. If two weapons are of the same tier of metal, gnomes will pick the one they have higher skill with
Added "any two-hand" option for weapons in the uniform
Notification for spotted enemies with option to automatically pause and move

Art:
Added blade trap tiles
Updated spike trap to animate

Bug Fixes:
Crash in workshop queue when pressing "Cancel" and then immediately pressing "Move Up" or "Move Down"
Crash in workshop queue when moving a job after the current workshop job has been suspended due to inaccessible components
Patrol Routes not loading properly
Not dropping non-weapon items when combat ends if the uniform has "any" weapon selected
Two-handed weapons not dropping properly
Torches being counted in every category in the stock totals overview UI
Some constructions being subtracted twice from total construction worth

I forgot some the last changelogs, and 0.8.10 just came out too.

0.8.9.0-2 wrote:

Version 0.8.9.2
Fixed loading games saved with 0.8.9.1

Version 0.8.9.1
Fixed crash with stock manager. This fixes the out of bounds crash with the market stall, crafting and stockpiles

Version 0.8.9
General:
Added ranged weapons. Ranged weapons are unlocked through tinkering and require ammo and ammo containers to use. Weapon and ammo materials both factor into final damage. Weapons are crafted at the Engineer shop. Ammo can be crafted at Stonemason and Machine Shop. Ammo pouch is crafted at the Tailor and quiver is crafted at the Leatherworker.
Added clear and save buttons for combat logs
Added dropdown box to filter combat logs by currently active combat and by date

Bug Fixes:
Knockback stat and blunt damage stat not loading properly
Fixes for detecting stop and end of combat for combat logs
Sausages not being allowed in crates

Some people were having trouble loading games that had tons of combat logs. Logs more than 12 days old are discarded when loading. Also, some combat logs incorrectly were considered active. These are fixed when loading but will show up as being finished on the current day. So there may be a lot of logs when the most recent day is selected.

Saved combat logs are stored in the "CombatLogs" folder in your Gnomoria save directory. They are named by kingdom name and date. Entries are prefixed with a combat message type for those who want to parse the log for any reason.

0.8.10 wrote:

Version 0.8.10
General:
Added an option to toggle recording combat logs while training. Default is off
Idle gnome count doesn't include sleeping gnomes

Art:
Added training dummy sprite

Bug Fixes:
Crash when sparring ends if the gnome had a job before being assigned to the training ground
Items appearing on the map that can't be interacted with.
Gnomads and goblins spawning inside walls
Digging down into ore/gems/coal not properly udpating "outside" status
Gnomes carrying a single pistol getting stuck
Guard Areas becoming unassigned after loading
Constructed walls disappearing when "Replace Wall" command is used on them
Training ground squad positions not orienting with a rotated training ground
Action bar not properly moving on resolution change
Pistols drawing in the wrong hand
Stocked and carried armor using stone instead of armor sprites

I didn't get a chance to fix very many bugs in the last patch, so I wanted to catch up a little this week. The "ghost" items bug should be fixed now but old saves will still have the items that can't be interacted with.

For version 0.8.11, I'm going work on hospitals. Severed limbs will stay severed, but broken limbs can be healed at the hospital. There will also be a caretaker skill, so that gnomes without arms can be fed and bandaged by another gnome. Prosthetics will come later on and will require a hospital as well.

Gnomoria is on Steam Greenlight so you (yes, you) should probably vote for it if you haven't already.

I just played the demo of this. The entire demo in one sitting even though I didn't intend to at all. I like this a lot! I voted for it on greenlight but I wish it would hurry up and get on Steam. I always hate setting up accounts/etc to purchase one game.

My life got much better once I figured out why my dude wasn't working on my workshops (not enough wood on hand). And next time I'm going to figure out how to better handle storerooms. No matter what I selected everything ended up in every storeroom. Lots and lots of little lessons learned during the demo. Which bodes well for the fun factor!

Threw my vote in on the Greenlight. Hope it meets with success.

0.8.11 wrote:

Hospital:
Designate hospital area
Build beds in hospitals for use by patients
Gnomes with the medic skill will treat patients with serious injuries or unable to heal themselves
Gnomes with the caretaker skill will feed others food and drink when they can't feed themselves

General:
Expanded the health information slightly to show injured and seriously injured body sections

Since this week was another "big" feature week, I didn't have time to fix bugs. Version 0.8.12 will be primarily another bug fix patch.

That sort of thing just makes so much more sense than the ridiculously over-complex layers of skin and organs and such in Dwarf Fortress -- a terribly intricate system that adds no actual fun. Hit points are good enough, fer chrissake.

And here's 0.8.12.1:

Changelog wrote:

v0.8.12.1
Fixed:
Crash on loading some saves from previous versions

v0.8.12
General:
Display dimensions of current selection
Tile info window updates while unpaused
Context menu stays up when the cursor is moved off
Build containers changed to a selection instead of single build
Gnomes prioritze jobs at workshop, farms, pastures and stockpiles by distance if they have the same priority
Save games are displayed in order by most recently saved
Added rain back in
Renamed oak to pine
Armor on corpses visually update as it is removed
Pillar -- Crafted at Stonecarver and placed like a statue

Art:
Updated chiseled floor tile

Fixed:
Replace wall over a constructed wall not properly updating the navigation graph
Bug that sometimes caused longer paths to be found
Mechanisms seemingly being linked after loading
Devices that have enough power not being powered after loading
Gnomes prefering items of a specific material over closest item
Rain sometimes going out of control
Hair/hats showing through helmets
"Fallen over" status not clearing after legs have been healed

"Renamed oak to pine" -- Huzzah! This bugged me more than it probably should have.

I'll give LM a break...

8.13.1

Changelog wrote:

Today's update expands on the Formation and Position parts of a Squad. They may have seemed a bit useless or overly complicated before. The goal has always been to have options and give control to the player where possible and so these have been long planned but missing until now. This is just the first initial bunch and you can expect these to get tuned and more added over time.

All of the options for Formations and Positions can be turned on or off independently, meaning you can have any option turned on or off at any time.

Formation Options
Perform attack orders - Squads with this option enabled will attack enemies that you have ordered. (This is the default behavior and what squads did previously)
Defend gnomes - When an enemy has been spotted by a gnome, this squad will rush to their aid.
Avoid enemies - When an enemy is in line of sight, move away instead of towards it. If attacked, members of this squad will still defend themselves.

Position Options
Pursue lost targets - If line of sight to an enemy is lost, move towards their last known position. (This is the default and was the only option previously)
Maintain distance - Squad members with this option will attempt to move to the maximum range allowed by their current weapon.
Retreat if bleeding - Attempt to disengage from combat and get to a bandage to stop bleeding.
Assist Squad Leader - Squad members with this option will always attack the same enemy as their squad leader. They will act as normal if the squad leader has no target. This option doesn't have an effect for the squad leader.

Each Formation and Position can also have 1 Perk selected at any time.

Formation Perks
On The Move - Increased movement speed for each vacant position in the squad.
Keep Your Eyes Open - Increased vision range for each filled position in the squad.
Shield Wall - Increased block chance and block rate per squad member that has a shield equipped.
The Best Defense... - Increased melee weapon damage per squad member with a melee weapon equipped.
Firing Squad - Increased ranged weapon damage per squad member with a ranged weapon

Position Perks
Highlander - Increased damage with two-handed weapons when no armor is equipped.
Frenzy - Increased damage with two one handed weapons equipped but decreased chance to defend.
Way of the Gnome - Increased attack speed, dodge chance and dodge rate when no armor or weapon is equipped.
Scout - Increased vision range with a torch equipped.
Guard - Increased block chance and rate with a shield equipped.
Marksgnome - Increased attack range and accuracy with ranged weapons.
Sharpshooter - Ranged weapon damage increases with distance.
Finish Him - Attack nearby enemies who have been knocked down and do additional damage. The Assist Squad Leader option will take priority over this Perk but gnomes will still do the additional damage.
Knock 'em Down - Increased chance to hit legs and feet.
Disarm - Increased chance to hit hands and arms.
Aim for the Eyes - Increased chance to hit eyes with ranged weapons.
Militia - Will perform jobs when not on duty.

I wanted to get the patch out today instead of pushing it back any further, so there were a few more Perks I had planned that didn't make it in. Along with these additions, I've adjusted the majority of combat to be less random. I didn't have as much time for balancing as I wanted, so combat will continue to be tuned over time.

I have such an immense fondness for pixel art and sprite-based games.

clever id wrote:

I'll give LM a break...

Ha! Thanks. I thought I might skip some so this thread wasn't just me quoting the change log. That one was worthy of noting though.

Gnomoria is the current deal over at https://indiegamestand.com/. Sounds like it's a $10 suggested, but it's pay what you want, so anything over a $1 nets you a desura code. There are about 52 hours left on the deal clock as I post this. Remember you could always just buy it direct for $7.99

I assure you I'm NOT a spambot.

0.8.16 is out! Doors serve a purpose!

Goblins
•Goblins have discovered how to make bronze. Bronze armored goblins will start to show up between copper and iron
•Goblins have enlisted the help of their ogre cousins to fight gnomes. Ogres don't wear armor but have thick hides that are resistant to blunt damage and vulnerable to slashing attacks.
•Gnomes have developed a taste for goblin meat (it tastes exactly like revenge) and goblins and ogres can now be butchered.

Wild Animals
•Honey badgers, monitor lizards and bears have been spotted
•Wild animals will avoid gnomes typically but will attack if caught by surprise or cornered
•Wild animals can be butchered for meat and hides. Bear hides are tougher than the other animals but weaker than ogre hide

Mants
•Mants are a race of ant people that have started to raid gnome settlements
•Mants will send a single scout to look for gnomes. If the scout returns to the colony, they will return with a larger attack force
•Mants will attack in greater numbers if the gnomes have an abundance of food or drink

Beetles
•Beetles can now be found underground in the dark
•If left alone, beetles will make cocoons. A cocoon can mature into a beetle and the process will continue.
•Typically beetles will stay near their nest but will attack if there are enough of them.

General
•Doors now block enemy movement. Enemies will attack and can destroy doors if they want to get through.
•Training doesn't use ammo
•If a gnome has higher Fighting skill than Brawling and they aren't currently carrying anything, they won't pick up random items to fight with.
•Yaks and alpacas will now kick enemies in defense

Fixed
•Crash on load in a rare case
•Golems spawning in light and goblins sneaking past gnomes
•Squad members getting stuck trying to pick up ammo with a full ammo container, when better ammo exists

I'd never played long enough to encounter any of the beasties, but some Mants just introduced themselves by wiping out "The Land of Teeth" on the 7th day of summer, Year 1. Brutal.