Tell your friends and pugs,

Dungeon of the Endless now has a multiplayer co-op mode!

Indeed, as we mentioned in a previous dev blog post, DotE will leave Early Access and officially launch on October 27th. This means that we are getting really close to the release and would like you to get a preview of the complete version with some of the following improvements in a test branch on Steam (instructions below):

  • Multiplayer co-op mode
  • Game interface improvements
  • Heroes balancing thanks to your feedback and survey responses
  • And more.

Hopefully, this will keep you occupied until the real launch!



Instructions

To access this [0.9.99] version, you will need to:
  • Right click on the game in your Steam library
  • Select Properties
  • Select the Beta tab
  • Select the version “Test branch – Work In progress” in the drop-down list

If you would like to get back to the regular version, simply select "NONE – Opt out of all beta programs”
To report an issue about this build, don’t forget to give the version number and follow the instructions on this topic.


Multiplayer

The co-op mode gameplay is very similar to a solo game but shared with 2 to 4 players. Players control 1 to 4 heroes each, but with a total limit of 4 heroes. They share the Dust, the Crystal, the built modules and the room powering. Food / Science / Industry, the Inventory and the Researches are split. Each turn, the FIS productions are equally divided between each player. You can use the chat below the log and by clicking on the FIS bar (top left), you can open a resource exchange interface.

The victory condition of the floor is still to put the Crystal in the lift. The defeat conditions still remain the Crystal destruction or the death of all the heroes or when the crystal carrier dies. A player without hero can continue to play (powering rooms, building modules and so on) and can hire an available hero encountered in the dungeon.

There is obviously no pause. The result is a game more intense and dynamic, especially if your team mates are out of control..!

We are still working on some final polish and the stability of the multiplayer mode. Some improvements are planned for the release, such as a chat log in start screen.


[0.9.99] Release Notes

General
  • Added the multiplayer co-op mode, with up to 4 heroes
  • Added more situational dialogues in game (door opening, repairing, crystal carrying etc.)
  • Added music tracks (ship selection, lift and ending screen)
  • Added sound effects (door, ambiance, hero death jingle, dismiss, events, tactical map etc.)
  • Improved normal map to enhance lighting surface
  • A lot of optimisations have been made in our animations and sprites system



Graphical interface
  • Added HD GUI with bigger fonts (automatically activated on big resolution)
  • Added Journal panel with your local high scores and game statistics
  • Improved the heroes and ship selection screen with 3D spaceships!
  • Added a new victory screen with our rescued heroes
  • Improved loading screen
  • Improved game over screen
  • Improved the transition between floors
    • Floor progression is displayed
    • Heroes are now in a lift and randomly commenting on the situation (some lines are conditioned by events in the last floor, with the loss or recruitment of new heroes)
  • Globally improved the user interface
  • Improved the tutorial which is now interactive
  • Added Controls panel (in system menu) to display all the shortcuts
  • Improved the tactical map:
    • Press T or scroll up above any room close the tactical map with the camera at the same position than before the zoom out
    • Ctrl + click doesn't close the tactical map but power / unpower rooms
    • Added door steps to clarify the paths
  • Added animations on Crystal (appearance, unplug, plug in, explode)
  • Added a new exit button to finish the floor (and potentially abandon heroes!)
  • Improved green arrow of hero destination to be always visible
  • Improved Stele interaction: you can now open it without moving your hero
  • Changed Stele health bar colour
  • Added gold colour on skill unlock items description
  • Improved red pulse animation on the widget



Balancing
  • Tweaked heroes who are globally slightly more powerful:
    • Increased the power of most skills (in particular FIDS relative and heal skills)
    • Modified some skills to be more coherent with the heroes (Paramedic, Recycling, Red Plume, Bad Company)
    • Added / Modified skills to obtain more Dust (heroes with these skills: Golgy, Max, Mormish, Sara, Nanor, Hikensha)
    • Replaced Sara Duellist skill by Pickpocket
    • Tweaked heroes stats (increased in particular: Defence and Power of Hikensha; Defence of Deena, Golgy and Mizi; HP and power of Skroig; HP and defence of Warden and Joleri (a lot for her + reduced Dust penalty) and reduced Defence of Ken and Elise)
  • Gork is now unlocked by default instead of Opbot
  • Tweaked mobs (in particular reduced number of hard mobs and power of hunters, supporter and hydra mobs)
  • Tweaked Spaceships:
    • Infirmary Pod:
      • Increased initial Industry and Food incomes
      • Reduced health cost
    • Drill Pod:
      • Increased artefacts in first floors
    • Armoury Pod:
      • Increased hero attack power
      • Increased items loot
  • Reduced rooms number (about 14%)
  • Tweaked too easy mode (slightly increased mobs power and Crystal defence)
  • Reduced research costs of production module first levels
  • Increased the amount of Artefacts (a bug reduced their number)
  • Increased the amount of Heroes (a bug reduced their number in first floors)
  • Increased the amount of Major slots
  • Increased Dust Factory loot
  • Added score modifiers on spaceships (20% for Infirmary and Armoury pods)



Bugfix
  • Fixed a lot of graphical issues on all environments of the game
  • Fixed a lot of animations (heroes and monsters)
  • Fixed a lot of issues with the user interface and localisation
  • Fixed several issues with the tactical map
  • Fixed an issue with the unlock of spaceships
  • Fixed Door opener and number of doors open issue



Enjoy!