What’s coming in the next Dwelvers update, and when

Hi Dungeon Lords,

Last week I promised news in about a month. Development has moved faster than I expected, so here is an early look at everything coming in the next big update, and when you can play it.

Rival Wardens

• Play skirmish against 1–3 AI Dungeon Lords, each with their own Dark Mother. They dig, build, farm, trade and fish. They raid portals and the surface, and they wall themselves in when the heroes come.

• Destroy their Dark Mother to win. A defeated warden’s dungeon turns neutral, and you can claim their rooms, imprison their creatures and take their items.

(Here we can see three AI Wardens fighting each other for domination)

(AI Warden building its dungeon)

Smarter minions

• The movement system is rewritten: new pathfinding, collisions, ladders and crowding.

• Imps no longer freeze, get stuck behind enemies, or all crowd into one room.

• Hungry or exhausted creatures stop fighting to eat or sleep, so there are far fewer rebellions.

• Fixes for trading carts, wells, rally flags and how items are shared between rooms.

A new look

• New lighting, area lights and shadows under creatures and buildings.

• Sharper, color-corrected textures for every room and building, uneven and more natural terrain, new particles and ground fog.

• Armor for Cyclotaurs and Piggehs.

Easier to play

• A new build menu: first you get categories in a 3×3 grid, and after choosing category (such as Army) you get the actions. All buttons have number-key shortcuts, and counters so that that it is easier to see what has been built and what is missing.

• New messages, a new objectives window, status bars over creatures and sharper text.

• Higher FPS, faster loading and lower memory use.

A new first tutorial (arriving during the beta) Your imps have lost their Dark Mother. Dig through narrow caves to find her, free an imprisoned orc, and cross rivers of water and lava. Along the way you learn the basics one step at a time.

Roadmap

• Early November: public beta on a Steam beta branch. Everyone who owns the game can opt in.

• Late November: full release, if the beta goes well.

• Later: gamepad support and split-screen.

The beta is where you can help the most. Bug reports and feedback in the forums go straight into the release.

Thank you for sticking with Dwelvers. – Rasmus