The past month saw a big number of small improvements added to KeeperRL. Below is a brief rundown.

Z-level variations

Implementing Z-levels doesn’t end with simply adding a Z-axis, the levels themselves need to have some interesting content. Besides the obvious mineral veins, you’ll find enemies, whole settlements and sometimes even special levels. For example, you may encounter the following situation after digging down:

Temples and ruins

I’ve added new locations that are scattered around the maps randomly. They have some interesting interactions, but I won’t spoil them for you. I realized that this is something that KeeperRL is missing very much, so I’ll be adding many more in the future. Including bigger, multi-level ones.

Crafting upgrades

In one of the recent updates I’ve added the ability to craft magical equipment, but the system was very basic – it was totally random and the types of items were predefined. With this change you’ll be able to craft unique items by combining multiple upgrades. These upgrades can be found in the form of glyphs while exploring the world.

Modding

In Alpha 27 you’ll be able to modify and add new creatures to the game. They can be used for keeper and adventurer characters or as immigrants. For now it’s not possible to add new creatures to world generation (although you can modify existing ones), and you also have to reuse existing sprites. I’ll work on these two things in the next update.

I’ve also made it possible to switch between mods in the game’s settings, and they can be simply placed as subdirectories in data_free\game_config.

I’m planning to release a testing build on Steam some time next week, so stay tuned!