0.21.00

It 2021, and  Dungeon  Train version 0.21.00. Thats right, major updates are  BACK!

In this update we cover

• Lore Update:   The Apeiron Enchiridion.
• Patreon Launched! - If you want to support the game, this is the best way!!
• More Things: Small Additions
• Bug Fixes
• Roadmap  - New Team    Member, Clem. Audio.
• Press
• People To Thank
• SideQuest 50+ Reviews
• Find My Phone App - The Game,  on App Labs

TLDR;

The big things are a new major update, and I have a patreon!

The Apeiron Enchiridion.

The Apeiron Enchiridion is a new tool that will help you to not only to explore, but to understand the many passages of the Dungeon Train.

As you enter the Dungeon Train to bravely assist me in my journey to explore and document every nook and cranny of every multiversal instance of the enigmatic Dungeon Train, I will be right at your side! 

Made of a network of different, sometimes disparate but often surprisingly interconnected fact nodes, sometimes the Apeiron Enchiridion, using my voice, seems to understand the train even better than I do! 

When the book isn't documenting information, it's relaying information, letting you know the names, titles and information behind over 2 BILLION already-documented items. We've already documented:

1 - Reaper Thomas, Lord of Love. Devourer of gods. 

2 - Anna Beheader, Queen of Plagues, Bone Crushing Carver 

3 - Storm Soul, Devourer of Men, Silencer, Butcher of the Beast. 

4 - Bert 

5 - Kalvin, Bringer of Happiness.

I will not go on to name all 2,865,874,812 of them, I'm sure you're starting to get the picture.

New Stories.

Our fantastic Narrative Director, Wilson  Taylor has two wonderful new stories to add to the games multitude of narratives. I love them, and you will need to find them for yourself to learn more!

Patreon

I launched a Patreon!

If you want to support the development of this awesome game, or show your love for it, this is the best way to do that! Every just $3, would be so awesome!

And in return you will get things like

• Special  DiscordRoles.
• Your name in the game  lore.
• An Important Voice in Design.
• Custom Items.
• A Protagonist Named After You or By You.
• Join me for a Game Jam.
• I will try to make your game idea!   A Private  Game Making, jam day with me to make your game idea.

Check out the Patreon here

If you already own the game, this doesnt change anything for you. Sales are still made via itch, and updates installed via SideQuest.

More Things.

I have also included some other items, like more varying scenery. Particularly for ocean landscapes.

Some mushrooms now grow on the interior of the odd nature cart.

There is a new landscape, where you are riding high up on a cliff. This is still early in development.

Bug Fixing.

In addition to this book, I have been working on address a number of bugs.

• Items should not disappear. 
• Items should not fall through ground
• Carts should be more stable, and not completely break as much.
• Falling off the train should happen less, and if it does, you should repsawn in the middle of the cart.
• Fixed bugs with random generation

Its worth noting that while i have made improvements to make all these things happen less, I may not have fixed it 100%, and they may still happen from time to time. Screen records of bugs you find are always appreciated in discord   #Bugs.

Roadmap

Things coming next:

• Audio  Design
• Train  Lore
• Combat
• Controls Options & Tutorial
• Bug Fixing

Other things on my mind

• Shopping Carriages.

Roadmap: Audio  Design

I recently brought Clemant Chan into the project. Clem   is an audio engineer and musician who will be composing music for Dungeon Train. He has an lot of inspiration ideas and visions for what we could do with music and sound to improve the game. Drawing inspirations from popular media such as Spirited Away (which I know will land well with a subset of this community), he has a vision for how we can use music to draw emphasis to the procedural beautify of the game and focus / reward enjoying particularly special moments with procedural music. 

I have been working with Clem for 6 months now at Equal Reality doing VA / audio / sound design, and can tell you his is incredible talented, hard working and a straight up professional. It is very exciting to have him on the Team for Dungeon Train. Please give him a warm welcome.

Roadmap: Train  Lore

I am back to working closely with our beloved Wilson Taylor. We are having weekly meetings and designing the lore, meta-story, and overarching plot . Expect to see some big and exciting things in this space soon, the book is just a glimpse of what is coming.

Roadmap: Combat

The current combat system is a placeholder, and later this year I will be redesigning the combat system entirely.

Roadmap: Controls Options & Tutorial

I plan to redesign the controls. Right now I am thinking moving teleport to X / A. So you can have teleport and walk both at the same time.

I will be making options, accessible from within the book. To change things like control settings (toggle grab vs hold), walk / teleport, volume.

This book will also help serve as a tutorial.

Roadmap: Bug Fixing

I will be dedicating some time later this year to focus fixing some bugs. Along with this I will likely be updating VRIF, Unity 2020, and other backend systems to results in a smoother more polished feeling interaction with the game.

Other things on my mind

There has been some talk about  shop carts recently in the discord. I am keeping my ear to the ground, and the more things are spoken about in discord the more I will think about them. Not promises yet, but thinking about it is a great sign. 

Press.

Thanks for the mention @Skeptic Party https://talesfromthedesk254402057.wordpress.com/2020/08/23/early-access-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/ Some great insights into pre-release development from our Narrative Director @MrFunkSandwich "Leaving yourself open for criticism on a work that is far from complete is… strange. You don’t have the excuse of “Okay but it’s not complete yet” because you’re showing it off and charging for it now. The excuse is absolutely… valid, of course. The game doesn’t even begin to resemble yet what our plans are for it, but we’re hoping that people like what we’ve got enough to believe we’re capable of seeing it through." "It’s a blast having someone who has no obligation to be nice to you looking at your unfinished work that you’re charging for and saying “Wow, this is great!”. One dude even compared the lore to Dark Souls? That might be my biggest compliment ever."

People to Thank.

A huge thanks to everyone on   discord     who has been so amazingly supportive over the last year. This is your game, and your names shall also be immortalized as names in the game. Huge thanks to those most active in the community leaderboards

Additionally, these wonderful people have been included in Brennan the  Apeiron Enchiridion's Database. 

Koli Drath, Bradley Sockington, Train Wolfy, Ben, Dan Mizu, Q (She/They), Dwal from the hobit, ImzGamer, Erin Jank, Harold, JJ-4, Meulen12, Mr. Bread, MrFunnkSandwich, Pickle, splderss, whoelsebutbino, -Phoenix-, 2tmb, BlitzVR, TaigethenShade, Alpha Questioneer, The Questioner, Auri, bc732, Beerdface, Dragowolf, Infinate0, Jay Best, LostLexyus, MasterOfBalance, Meow, Narwhaluto, Skeptic Party, Spacey, The Conductor, The_Wan, Ubiquitouz, testedDsf, uQt, Button, HKNR, Apple thing man person apple yum, Eleyon, TechTronic, Kai, Alextuxedo, sojistar, Shane Harris, Orla Harris

SideQuest Reviews.

I also want to celebrate hitting over 50 reviews on  SideQuest.

If you haven't already reviewed the game, it is a great way to show support for the game! 

The reviews that have been coming in are so excellent, and motivate me to keep making this game better & better!

It warms my heart, and sets a fire under my ambition.

Find My Phone App - The Game launched on App Labs!

We doubled our total downloads in the first day of launch! And are getting great reviews!

Cheers,
Brennan Hatton
Dungeon  Train   Dev  

Don't forget to Join the Discord, to be more involved in feedback and updates! And reviews on SideQuest are always appreciated.