Improbable Island Message of the Day (MoTD)

Hurray for Patreon!
Fully synched Sessine – 2019-06-25 23:42:32 [Permalink]
Friend of absent-minded Monthly Memento collectors everywhere!

Big combat update
Admin CavemanJoe – 2019-06-24 21:10:36 [Permalink]
Hey, everyone! The first part of the Big Combat Update is now live!

The short version is that you've got to go to the Monster Research Lab in Pleasantville to re-enable the Puzzle Combat mechanic.

The long version is that I've been working on this since November last year! This started off as a simple bugfix and ended up in a massive rewrite of the combat system in general, along with aesthetic changes!

Here are some of the changes:

Hitpoint and timing bars are now displayed textually
Bold overflow on player KO corrected
New players below lv10 on their first DK no longer lose Req/XP on KO in the Jungle
Skin Selection page for mobile viewers appears on first login, asking you how retro you want it
Timed Strikes now works in msec to correct some funky floating-point-related rounding weirdnesses
Running from monsters in the Jungle is always successful if you have 3hp or less
New logic in combat replacing the existing logic that prevented stalemate situations
Puzzle Combat (this is the system that gives the Guarded and Vulnerable body parts etc):
* Complete cosmetic, mechanical and code overhaul
* Textual/HTML guarded/vulnerable/shock status display replaces old images, will not bork on mobile, look weird on different skins, or suffer problems like body part names not fitting in the image
* Fixed the bug where body parts would no longer change state after the creature was stunned once
* Strong Attacks are less frequent now, and there cannot be two Strong Attacks in a row
* Instead of treating every target as Vulnerable during a Strong Attack, the correct Guarded/Vulnerable status is now revealed and evaluated (making it easier to keep track of what's going on, and making Strong Attacks less obnoxious) - also, one Vulnerable body part will become Exposed, where it has a defence value of zero
* Mechanic for hidden body parts previously hid a body part for a round at random - now once a body part is hidden it remains hidden until the player strikes it, but body parts with any shock at all cannot hide
* Continuing a Secret Stun Combo Sequence all the way through will give one extra octuple-power strike at the end
* Puzzle Combat system is now opt-in via the Monster Research Lab in Pleasantville
* Monster Research Lab will buy and sell information about monsters, including:
** A way to see which part of the monster is most likely to do Strong Attacks
** A way to see which part of the monster is most likely to hide
** Information on the Secret Stun Combo Sequence
** An indicator for when you're one hit away from a stun

There's half a year's worth of behind-the-scenes changes too, little bugfixes and annoyance-corrections that you probably won't even notice. Please use the Problem link if you see anything that looks weird.

This is actually the first half of a much larger update, one that'll allow you some control over the game's RNG - but that's a story for another time.

In case you missed the news about our fantastic new text colour tool and Patreon support options, please check the previous MotD!

Have fun!

~CMJ

Happy June! EDIT: Patreon too
Admin CavemanJoe – 2019-06-17 04:18:00 [Permalink]
EDIT: Since folks have been asking me for it for years, we now have rudimentary Patreon support.
Click the coin slot for deets - I've also updated the Privacy Policy to reflect new info about Patreon, but you don't have to read it again unless you're planning on using Patreon. Original MotD follows.

Hey, folks! I'm nearing the end of a RIDONKULOUSLY HUGE update to the combat system, combat aesthetics, and apparently the underlying mathematics on which the game runs. Yup, this straightforward bugfix RAN THE HECK AWAY FROM ME.

In the meantime, it's June, and here is a new tool I made this morning to help make your text Extra Colourful! You can access it at improbableisland.com/tools_autocolour.php and I've put in a thing at the bottom of the page that'll give you a link to share your chosen palette with your friends.

Bear in mind that colours might not look the same on all display themes (dark text doesn't show up on dark backgrounds nor light against light, so on some skins shades of black/white/grey are inverted), but they should all be somewhat readable.

Here are some seasonally-appropriate palette cycles for you to try. Some of them aren't quite spot-on because we don't have the necessary colours (and we're running out of space on the keyboard...) but I hope you like them anyway. Please have fun but don't go completely overboard with them in Banter.

Expect big combat updates very soon!

Have fun!

~CMJ

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