Encircled has a tutorial!

And the tutorial has text!

Something like 50% of the initial playtesters complained about being dropped in an abstract world with no instructions when they loaded the game. Quite understandable.

However, figuring out which mechanics need to go in a tutorial and writing terse, clear, easy-to-read prose that will explain those mechanics is a time-consuming task that I only just managed to finish now.

But now, Encircled is accessible to people who don't have me on the end of an IM system, don't like reading readmes or built-in help systems, and don't like to have to figure things out for themselves.

Hopefully that demographic includes some people who will enjoy the game.

Download: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6433222/encircled.zip

Next on the RL agenda: planes, Purkinje cells, normal vectors, and parallel fibres.

ARRP: Encircled and Mutant Aliens update 4

For this year's Annual Roguelike Release Party I've updated Mutant Aliens! and Encircled.

Mutant Aliens! update 4

Changes:
 * Draw bright colours for visible things
* Stop drawing things that are in LoS but out of visual range
* Don't generate aliens with identical representations
* Completely prevent player from being "trapped" (escape was still easy with explosives) when the ship crashes into a building (previous fix only prevented most such cases)
* Fix autotargetting so that it doesn't get confused when the previous target is alive and out of sight
* Allow player to close the door (but not fly away) when the transmitter is destroyed and an alien is in the ship
* Notify player when hit by an explosion
* Don't allow explosions at the corners of the map to break the program
* Choose transmitter location more carefully
* Notify when an explosion happens
* Monsters no longer spawn in player's visual range :3
* Ask for device time and delay before targetting throws
* Put transparent windows in buildings, make doors opaque, randomly turn some doors into floors
* Overhaul terrain destruction - different terrain types take different damage amounts
* Cannon shots can destroy walls and windows (walls unreliably)
* Add critical hits (shoot a monster several times to figure out where it's vulnerable)
* Hologram, sound, scent, and brain devices all give LOS to the player, so they now function as spy cameras as well as distractions
* Overhaul message display to allow partial messages in the message log.
* Include monster health/stamina descriptions, sense descriptions (don't need to be discovered) and finer stat descriptions from Mutant Aristocrats!
* Alter sound levels to allow movement to actually be heard
* Make monsters screech 75% less often
* Make monsters' decision about whether to run slightly more sensible
* Draw running monsters with capitals, draw near-death monsters in red
Download: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6433222/mutantaliens_update4_arrp.zip
Roguebasin: http://roguebasin.com/index.php/Mutant_Aliens!
Roguetemple: http://roguetemple.com/forums/index.php?topic=2255.0

Encircled, version 0.4.1

Changes:
* Menu system, including online help
* 6 play modes: standard, tutorial, two quick modes, unlimited mode, and munchkin mode
* Much more interesting level generation
* Offer to dump (very minimal) character stats on death/victory
* Flash damage amounts (like in Sil), remaining HP, and culprit of each attack.
* Option to change animation delay for damage flashing.
Download: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6433222/encircled.zip
Roguebasin: http://roguebasin.com/index.php/Encircled
Roguetemple: http://roguetemple.com/forums/index.php?topic=2689.0