KeeperRL Alpha 36 is finally out! This update includes full support for Steam Deck, a number of UI improvements and massive gameplay optimizations and fixes.

Check out the patch notes below for more detailed information.

I’d like to thank everyone involved in crash testing this patch, sending bug reports and suggestions. Your help was invaluable!

As always, the update is already available on Steam, Itch.io, and Humble Store. You can also get the free version from here.

Gameplay

• Creatures will train 70% faster.
• AI will not throw healing and other potions at allies anymore.
• Added a separate command for removing torches and other wall furniture, “remove construction” will now only remove the “middle layer” furniture, such as training dummies.
• The “enemy aggression” difficulty setting will now also affect the aggression of Z-level enemies.
• Starting biome will now be chosen randomly by default.

Content

• Rebalanced distribution and aggression of Z-level enemies to that they pose more of a challenge.
• Animal pens can now be built outdoors.
• Added custom wall reinforcement sprites for dwarves and necromancer factions.
• Added custom library and training dummy sprites for the necromancer.
• Added custom floors and training dummy sprites for dwarves.
• Added custom throne, library and training dummy sprites for the white knight faction.

UI

• Full support for the Steam Deck console, including comfortable use of buttons and trackpads to navigate menus and control the game.
• New main menu graphics made with the help of the Midjourney bot.
• Reworked the mod menu.
• Turn-based mode map highlight and navigation paths will hide when the player moves until the mouse cursor is moved again.
• Fixed various issues with the “loading” dialog, made the “cancel” button actually work when downloading or uploading files or data.
• Map selection will now always select rectangles instead of single tiles.
• Removing map selection is done by starting the selection at an already selected tile, instead of holding the “ctrl” key.
• Reworked the “choose number” menu (for example when changing item count in the workshop menu).
• The “keeper is in danger” warning will now block the UI.
• Merged ransom demand dialog with attack information window.
• Moved all minion page actions, such as controlling or switching activity of a minion to the top of the page to improve clarity.
• It’s now possible to travel across Z-levels in other dungeons in the turn-based mode using the Z-level menu.
• Made it possible to navigate various menus such as world map, team leader choice and campaign setup, using keyboard arrows.
• Made various small improvements to the Z-level menu.
• Made team member icons smaller in the turn-based mode.

Modding

• All build menu items must now be in groups.
• Added a command line tool to generate an example z-level lineup and average enemy attack probabilities.

Fixes

• General optimizations in various gameplay processing code.
• Optimized handling of large item stacks.
• The game will not crash if item stacks contain more than 2^16 items. (not that shown item counts will be wrong though as they will “wrap”)
• Multiple FPS optimizations in AI code.
• Fixed an FPS issue caused by an NPC holding a potion of amok.
• Fixed a possibility to circumvent furniture limits such as throne, stone statues, etc.
• Made the game run more smoothly at given FPS by limiting single gameplay ticks to 20ms.
• Fixed an FPS issue caused by creates trying to pathfinding to different maps.
• Fixed start menu crash after deactivating a mod that adds a new sprite.
• Fixed a retirement crash related to steeds.
• Optimized the “show all messages” window.
• The game will stop loading sprites from old, incompatible mods.