Beta 10 "Surround Sound" Early Prerelease (X1); Plus the new Audio Log!

Yay, a huge milestone finally reached! I'd been putting off the remaining ambient audio content for quite a while for various (good ;) reasons, but now it's reached a mostly complete stage, and the results seem to be pretty sweet. I just streamed my first run Beta 10 today, and felt that for the most part these new sounds do a pretty good job of building up the atmosphere without being too overwhelming.

Here's the current Beta 10 changelog as it stands now:

• NEW: 117 new sourced ambient sounds (total = 134)
• NEW: 24 new mapwide ambient tracks (total = 26)
• NEW: 5 more derelict encounters
• NEW: 3 new items (multiple with new mechanics or special effects)
• NEW: 9 new types of drones (some with new mechanics/behaviors)
• NEW: Drones require Cogmind to have an attached functional matching type of bay to operate (does not need to be active)
• NEW: Drones shut down due to lack of matching bay have new Unconnected status
• NEW: Drones can RETURN to an available matching bay in Cogmind's inventory if attached matching types already full
• NEW: All drones can detect traps in their FOV, at the same base rate as Cogmind
• NEW: Cycle through, center on, and follow controlled drone FOV via view centering command (Enter / Alt-KP5 / CMB)
• NEW: Centering on a controlled drone highlights its FOV
• NEW: Blue 'n' marker appears to indicate the direction of each active drone's position when offscreen
• NEW: Dedicated intel markers record locations of drone destruction when it occurs outside remaining FOV
• NEW: Combat drones automatically RETURN if disarmed
• NEW: Fleeing drones always RETURN automatically
• NEW: Fleeing controllable allies appear differently in allies menu, explicitly refuse orders with a warning message
• NEW: Ordering an ally order list via the Allies console centers display on that ally if they are outside the map view
• NEW: Spotting a new interactive machine automatically plays intel acquisition sfx
• NEW: Multirail weapons have new, slightly different sound effect
• NEW: Optional audio log to list all ambient sounds, as well as non-ambient sounds originating outside FOV (advanced.cfg: showAudioLog)
• NEW: Option to have audio log include non-ambient sounds within FOV (advanced.cfg: audioLogIncludesFovSounds)
• NEW: Option to decide whether fluff machine ambient sounds appear in audio log (advanced.cfg: audioLogIncludesFluffMachines)
• NEW: Option to adjust maximum length of audio log  (advanced.cfg: audioLogMaxLength)
• NEW: Option to adjust the duration of non-ambient sounds in the audio log (advanced.cfg: audioLogDuration)
• NEW: Log messages for allies and enemies affected by part severing, sabotage, and thievery now also specifies the robot affected
• NEW: Manual "Alternative Rules" section explicitly indicates that multiple special modes cannot be combined
• MOD: Drone bays never autoactivate on attach, regardless of part autoactivation settings
• MOD: Drones no longer benefit from Cogmind's Structural Interface RIF ability
• MOD: Increased mass of Mapping Drone Bay and Adv. Drone Bay
• MOD: Reduced coverage of Mni. Drone Bay
• MOD: Accessing the ally order list via keyboard displays it adjacent to the ally rather than below Allies console
• MOD: Removed GOTO order for allies
• MOD: Unarmed allies following Cogmind will slightly trail behind rather than gathering around
• MOD: Releasing a drone directly from a bay on the ground (e.g. with '>') can only be done if a functional matching type of bay is already attached
• MOD: Zionite Recon dispatches now arrive as a Z-Drone Bay
• MOD: Loading a saved game containing intel displays all intel immediately even if Intel console not active on startup
• MOD: Map-wide ambient audio volume lowered dynamically based on volume of nearby machines
• MOD: Increased base volume of map-wide cave ambiance
• MOD: Weapon salvage context help clarified to indicate the value is applied each time target is hit
• FIX: [Player 2 mode] Attacking a machine then a wall on the same floor would encourage Player 2 to attack that wall [Valguris]
• FIX: One or more known traps installed at positions completely blocking the output of a Fabricator prevented it from producing items [Valguris]
• FIX: Spotting a new interactive machine while other machine intel active but Intel console not visible caused all machine intel to deactivate [Valguris]
• FIX: Earlier fix for part info comparison mislignment due to manual tagging had broken gallery item comparisons [alice_fexa]
• FIX: Opening schematic list via keyboard when inventory part info already open could only close new window via mouse rather than Escape key [alice_fexa]
• FIX: [Player 2 mode] A new AI system in Beta 9.6 prevented Player 2 from attaching more than one tread part [CaptainWinky]
• FIX: Scoresheet history log messages for core heat dissipation and energy generation adjustments did not properly display the amount [lsend]
• FIX: Clicking on any special mode's unique on-map window button with a pathable cell behind it will immediately path to that cell [Cmdr Jslin]
• FIX: Machine intel obtained via 0b10 Decoder Chips and robot hacks now glows like other intel for undiscovered machines
• FIX: Machine and stockpile intel obtained via 0b10 Decoder Chips and robot hacks wasn't immediately applied to Intel console
• FIX: YI-UF0 encounter recorded wrong message to history log
• FIX: Crash on attaching AS-neutralizer No. 17b while within 16 cells of a map edge
• FIX: Ambient sound for large interactive machines was not always originating from the terminal section

As you can see, aside from all the new audio, one of the major new bits to play around with in this release is the drone content you voted to include in Beta 10, so all those new drone types and AI behavior changes that I described before are in! Enjoy :D (naturally you may be less likely to actually see that part of the new content unless you play a lot, though, because it's not front-and-center like the audio is)

Note this update has increased Cogmind's download size by about 15 MB, leaving it still relatively small as far as games go (and downright tiny compared to other games with this much audio content), although no longer quite as compact as we had before :P

This prerelease was meant to be out for last weekend, and everything was well ahead of schedule for that, then I decided it was time to add what I'm calling the "audio log"  so you can get a list of many of the sounds that are playing...

Audio Log!

This little project ended up taking almost a week to complete on its own, pushing the schedule back a bit, but it was worth it to finally have this. There are several new advanced.cfg options associated with this feature (which is off by default), so I'll let this manual excerpt do the talking via the option descriptions:

• showAudioLog: List sound effects at the top-right corner of the map view. Ambient sounds are always listed, while non-ambient sounds are only shown when the origin is outside Cogmind's FOV. Ambient sounds are listed first, followed by a separator, then any non-ambient sound effects. The audio log is meant to be an accessibility feature akin to closed captions, allowing anyone who keeps their volume low or muted to be able to retain access to important audio knowledge (alongside the visual sfx feature). A given sound's volume must be at least 10% to be included in the log, since anything lower is not generally audible anyway, and it keeps the log cleaner and more focused. In choosing what sounds to report in the audio log, in most cases it was geared towards information that is strategically helpful to know when out of view, rather than providing an exhaustive list. That said, almost no door actions are reflected, since even if out of view they are clearly displayed via the visible sfx system, and their frequency is often rather high. An exception was made for phase doors, since those are strategically important but do not reveal their precise location as a visual sfx source. Other sounds that have clear visual alternatives are also generally excluded to avoid adding unnecessary "noise" in the audio log, for example dispatch alerts, and the EMP charging and discharging in Waste (which come with their own graphics and messages). Note that weapon sounds do not necessarily list the specific weapon name, but instead the base name for the sound. For example there are a number of railgun variants that use the same sound, and the audio log will not differentiate between them, simply listing each as a "Railgun," but any weapons with unique sounds are indicated by their specific name where applicable.
• audioLogIncludesFovSounds: Include all non-ambient sound effects even when the origin is currently in view. Note that even when included, the audio log still excludes non-ambient sounds emitted from Cogmind's position, as these are generally Cogmind's own actions and attacks.
• audioLogIncludesFluffMachines: Include even ambient machine sound effects for those that are mostly fluff, as in they are non-explosive and serve no other special function.
• audioLogMaxLength: Determines the maximum number of sound effects listed at once, where if the list is full when a new sound needs to be added, the oldest non-ambient sound will be removed to make room. The value must be between 5 and 48 (inclusive).
• audioLogDuration: Duration (in milliseconds) before a given non-ambient sound effect entry will disappear from the audio log.

Some demos of the new audio log in action:

Ambient sounds from nearby machines listed in the log, orange for explosive, grey for fluff.

Non-ambient sounds coming from a nearby battle out of view.

A combination of visual sfx and the audio log describing the battle outside the room.

Right-edge intel markers displaced by the audio log window rather than having it cover them up, so you can still reference them.

Off-screen exit labels similarly avoiding the audio log (although shifted downward instead).

Overall the audio log system ended up being a huge undertaking to get it working in all cases, not to mention I also had to write hundreds of new front-facing text bits for both the ambient and non-ambient sound effects, which until now had largely been an internal affair.

Again though, I think it's a really nice feature that will help those who need it, or also just those who want to better enjoy the ambient sound system, especially now that it has so much more content :D

Get Beta 10

On Steam, Beta 10 X1 is located on the beta branch "beta_10_x1" accessible with the code "SupremelyAmbient", or if you don't have Steam and would like to try the DRM-free version, send me an email at gridsagegames@gmail.com.

Beta 10 saves are not compatible with previous releases, so consider first finishing up any in-progress run, or keeping a separate copy of your save while you play this one in the meantime. If you're interested in using the new audio log, you'll have to run the game at least once first to get all of the new advanced.cfg options to appear in the file, unless you want to add them yourself from the list above.

What's Left?

We'll definitely be having additional prereleases here before this major version goes public--it's a big one (essentially like Beta 9). Among the tasks remaining are, in the near term, possibly a few more ambient sounds related to late-game branches, lots of fixes and tweaks, then further out I'll be adding some more new mechanics and content. No details on that yet since I've been focused on the guaranteed audio content and still have to organized a final Beta 10 todo list from the remaining possibilities.

It'll be next week before I get started on all that, though, since the first order of business is to do some writeups about all this audio business I've been working on lately.

Many thanks for your support!

Addendum: r/Roguelike Does The Complete Roguelike Tutorial

Quite a lot of roguelike players go on to make their own roguelike, even if only a 7DRL or little hobby project to chip away at. Still, many more want to but haven't yet started their own roguelike, because even just taking those first steps can seem like a daunting hurdle.

Wait no longer!

While we've always had a welcoming, helpful community over at r/RoguelikeDev, it's often still up to individuals to drag themselves over there and get started, often with help from the resources in our sidebar. For the past several years /u/aaron_ds has been helping organize a multi-week code-along event to jump start yet more roguelike projects. It's gone really well for the past couple years so we're back to do it again this year :D

"RoguelikeDev Does The Complete Roguelike Tutorial" is a weekly event starting June 16th and continuing through the summer. It's basically a bunch of interested people starting from scratch to build their own roguelike by following one of the more popular tutorials. By the end you'll have your own basic roguelike, including any extra features you might have added along the way.

(If you have some experience or want to use another language/engine/tutorial that's fine, too!)

It's fairly slow paced, and there are plenty of people around to help, so consider joining in! Check out the preview/announcement thread for more info.

I won't be taking part myself, but I do help organize and advertise the event, and will be around throughout. It's a great community, with many participants (or others just around to lend a helping hand) also found on the same Discord server we share between Cogmind and many other roguelikes, so you can also find me there as well.