Universal Cavern (by Sami Sierla)

I'd like to see a duel-wielding feature, where someone with a ranged weapon can equip a sword instead of a shield in the left hand slot.

 

Wow... I'm flattered; for some reason I though that just displayed whatever username. Cavern is a blast and I'm proud to be featured as a entry statue. Thanks to the developer for including me! Kudos to the developer for making a game good enough to talk about.

 

Very nice ,I really like it.

 

Yeah, I first thought maybe it was a public achievement type of thing - showing the people who had finished the quest. But I think it's a "permanent" fixture.

Eh, that wouldn't really make sense - you can't really wield a sword and fire a bow at the same time... Even wielding a shield while firing a bow is a big stretch, but at least you don't need a hand for the shield, just an arm. I've never seen a game that allowed you to dual-wield a bow with another weapon.

 

There are lots of games that let you "equip" a ranged weapon and a melee weapon at the same time, so that you automatically use one or the other, as appropriate, with no switching cost. Angband, for example.

 

I prefer to play as the adventurer/archer and enjoy the balance of trying to take out foes in advance of their approach albeit with a weaker attack. In my opinion allowing an alternate melee weapon or shield to be concurrently equipt would take some of the strategy out of that class and impair balance in Cavern. Otherwise; it would seem to impede any advantage there would be to playing as just a brute force warrior class. To me this is the beauty of diverse character classes and customization forcing users to craft a precise character suited to a specific playstyle with it's advantages and disadvantages.

 

Two more things:

For chain of knowledge, the description should read "coarse" not "corse".

A way to shoot in a door - door will be destroyed (can't be opened and closed again). This would allow me to open a room with an enchanter in it without being instantly killed

Building off of this, maybe doors can be temporary shields?

Edit: to clarify, the door destruction mechanic would be a way for ranged characters to open a door at a distance. The temporary shield could be a strong, yet limited hit defense.

 

Those games typically have two weapon setups, such as Diablo 2. But Cavern doesn't have that - it has 2 hands, and you explicitly decide which item gets assigned in each hand. There is no weapon switching (and I agree with undeadcow that this adds to the strategy of the game). You can't equip something with a bow for the same reason you can't equip something with a two-handed sword. I could see a throwing dart in one hand and a sword in the other but not a bow and sword.

 

Have you even played Angband? No, it doesn't have two weapon setups. It's fine to prefer something different, but it's not true that "those games" don't let you equip both a melee weapon and a missile weapon. There are plenty that do. It's just a choice for the designer to make. I'm fine with this choice but the other choice is fine too.

 

I have played numerous rogue-likes, probably including Angband as well (though I don't remember). But we're splitting hairs at this point. Whether the weapons are equipped at the same time or the game allows for swapping doesn't really matter. I guess what I should have said is any game with a paperdoll equipment screen doesn't allow for it since that screen is more or less based on reality. Since Angband doesn't have a paperdoll equipment setup screen, it doesn't matter how the weapons are setup - it simply allows you to have both with no "real" explanation for how it works.

However, Cavern does have a paperdoll screen that does not have a multiple weapon system. So ThisIsAUsername's request doesn't entirely work, unless he was referring to throwing darts (or any other single handed ranged weapon, though I don't think I've seen any) as the ranged weapon. Then yes, that could work, though I think a penalty should be applied in that case to whatever weapon is in the "off-hand".

 

It's not any harder if you have a diagrammatic equipment display. You can just have a missile weapon slot and quiver slot next to the player. Angband doesn't have this kind of graphical interface, but it could and it would work fine. (A bigger problem is that it allows you to equip multiple stacks of missiles, too, which would be awkward in a graphical display.)

I don't see why you're so insistent on arguing this couldn't be done. Of course it could be done. I don't see any strong reason to change it (there are games that work both ways and they both works fine), but it would be easy to do.

 

I never argued that it couldn't be done. I was saying it didn't really make sense based on the design of the game, and more specifically, the design of the equipment screen.

However, I just looked back at the original statement, and it looks like he was simply asking for the option to dual wield single handed weapons. He never mentioned a bow - when I read "ranged", that was the first thing that popped in my head. So it seems he was simply asking for the ability to wield darts in the right hand and a sword in the left. I think that would be ok as long as a penalty was assigned to the left handed weapon.

 

Regarding equiptment arrangements, if it's not broke don't fix it I say.

Telekinesis sounds great; it would even be cool to have an entire psychic playable class catering to telekenetic abilities/attack. I too like to break things.

 

I think I'm missing something here. I made it down to gazers lair but the portcullis is locked? Tried searching for hidden doors to no avail and have no idea what to do. Any advice would be great.

Edit: nvm. Got it.

 

I just went to continue my game from last night and my adventurer is invisible while stationary, visible while moving, and the app crashes when trying to recall. I can go up and down stairs just fine. Will see if I can trek all the way back to town. Idk what other info to provide but will do my best if asked.

 

I noticed sometimes invisible stationary character happens if you immediately multitask out near death and Cavern auto-closes. I think it's just cosmetic although odd.

 

Seemed cosmetic but it was a pain running to town so I just sacrificed that toon. Got my first clear on the next run though so I'm not too upset.

The only thing I can add is that when I started up today I was full health, just as I left it last night. Some people discovered a similar occurrence try to cheat permadeath? Shame shame lol. I've lost enough toons in angband, zangband, moria, wazhack, and countless other roguelikes to get mad over a death.

 

Maybe the game needs to get a little harder. I finished the game with the adventurer on first attempt, ended up with 8k of gold. I don't think I am an exceptional player.

And the hall of fame needs some rework IMO. That is because having a look at the "best" players, it seems just the level matters. Should a player who kills every monster on his way back to the surface, grinding for level ups, get a higher score than someone who goes for a speed run? I don't think so.

 

How is progress coming on the update?