The Kramora Times # 6, Ananias at the GDC, version 2.2

This is the sixth edition of The Kramora Times, you favorite and most reliable source for all Ananias-related information. You can now subscribe to receive this newsletter in your email too!

Lots of things have happened so let’s begin!

Version 2.2

A new version is available, it comes with important fixes and gameplay changes, as well as mostly complete keyboard support.

• Standard Edition
  • Any Device via the Official web version, just point your browser there and you’ll always get the latest version.
  • Android via Play Store
  • Windows/Mac/Linux via itch.io, IndieGameStand and GameJolt
• Fellowship Edition
  • Android via Play Store
  • iOS via the AppStore (Submitted for review)
  • Windows/Mac/Linux via Steam, itch.io and IndieGameStand

Following is the changelog:

Gameplay

• Make pets always obey commands.
• Make enemies check if player is waiting at the other side of the room before walking into it.
• Remove penalty for damage for ranged weapons and wands when low on ammo / charges.
• Reduce power up for boost elemental magic.
• Change MP cost of elemental spells

User Experience

• Remove force sound disable from mobile, make it an option on the launcher
• Preserve preselected layout on mobile if game saved
• Prevent casting spells when character has no magic power.
• Make Portrait be the default mobile mode for browser (Instead of Chibi)

Major fixes

• Prevent extremely long generation times for levels with twisted corridors
• Prevent inconsistent HP value when casting spells with no magic power

Keyboard UX

• Ranged attacks using spacebar
• Using, throwing and dropping items from inventory
• Mixing reagents on the inventory panel
• Scroll entity panel and book panel with arrows
• Use enter key to advance conversation or close dialogs
• Use ESC key to close entity panel, book panel and inventory
• Changing tactics and pet command with keyboard

Ananias at the GDC Expo 2017 in San Francisco

Last week I was at San Francisco at the GDC Expo, where I was able to join 11 other Colombian companies in the ProColombia booth and show Ananias to developers from all around the world.

I got some important feedback for the game and made some good contacts for potential future work. We also had a small roguelike developers meetup where I could share the current status of Ananias to other fellow developers and friends including Glenn Wichman, one of the original developers of Rogue, Tarn Adams of Bay12Games/Dwarf Fortress and Jim Shepard of Dungeonmans.

I also got to meet these people I have never seen in person:

• Kornel Kisielewicz: Developer of DoomRL and Jupiter Hell, and a great inspiration for all my roguelike projects.
• Ashton Morris: the composer of the soundtrack for Ananias
• Björn Ritzl: a long time collaborator for roguelike projects.
• Kike Fuentes: Teravision Games mastermind, lots of gamedev industry experience.

Lord British plays Ananias

I also had the chance to attend the Ultima Dragons 25th Anniversary Bash, four awesome days full of cool Ultima geekness including having Lord British play the game. He said it was fun!

First month on Steam and iOS

We keep doing well in Steam and iOS but we need more reviews! Please post a review there if you like the game, it’s really important in order for more people to notice the game.

Upcoming Features

• Full Keyboard support: We are almost there, following are the pending things which will be tackled in priority order
  • Using multiple selection dialogs
  • Checking player and pet stats
  • Navigating thru menus

Some stuff still pending from last update:

• Steam Achievements
• Detailed GFX for weapons and armor.
• Adding more plot and may be even random stories.

There’s been a lot of useful feedback! I keep integrating everything into the list of things to do so keep them comment coming!

First Boxed Edition

A limited run of boxed editions was done and some lucky individuals got to get their hands on them during my trip to California! there were two variants with one of them containing actual diskettes. Due to logistic issues I couldn’t get enough diskettes nor save the light Ananias edition on them.

Some of the persons who received this edition:

• Glenn Wichman: For creating rogue and thus roguelikes. Not much to say, Ananias is a roguelike so there’s a lot to be thankful for 🙂
• Richard Garriott: For creating Ultima which is an inspiration to Ananias and most of my games.
• Denis Loubet: Illustrator for most of Ultima covers and manuals, an obvious inspiration for out-game art for Ananias.
• Ashton Morris: For creating Ananias OST.

An enhanced second run of this boxed edition will eventually be produced.

New storefronts

GoG.com rejected the game again citing the same reasons as two years ago. I got some useful feedback from them but it seems the game definitively is not a good fit for their store.

On the other hand the game is now available on the Humble Store, where you can get the game and support charity at the same time.