Fellow adventurers,

First and foremost, with the most recent update we added Load & Save function as well as the ability to adjust the animations speed and fixed a couple of other bugs. Full Changelog here

Today, we would like to address your comments about the state of the Early Access content-wise, including our plans for future updates.

We have a long road ahead of us and being in Early Access brings its own challenges with it. We are fully aware that our game lacks certain features that one might expect at Early Access start. Surely, this can be partly attributed to us working much longer than anticipated on the Load & Save feature as stated in our first statement. But theres more to the story. We went into Early Access, knowingly that the game was missing certain features. Our goal was and will always be to include the community as closely as possible to the development of the title. This has proven to be a great success for ADOM and we are certain, in the long run, this will also prove to be true for Ultimate ADOM. You may think So, why not wait a couple of months? This time, we dont want to be in a situation, where people ask for features and we cant add them anymore, because the games code prohibits it at one point. For example, in the original ADOM we would have loved to add more features, but since the code is in parts very confusing and prone to bugs and errors, we thought we do it right from the get-go this time. This means involving the community as early as possible and presenting a development roadmap, so we stay more flexible when it comes to feedback. We really want to encourage you to share your feedback with us, we are listening on Steam, on the forums, on social media, everywhere! So please keep it coming. Additionally we spent a long time longer than anticipated to develop a fantasy physics engine that will allow us to rather easily add features rarely if ever seen in most roguelikes: animating anything in the world and imbibing it with life based on its physical properties is one such example, being able to graft body-parts to gain special powers bestowed by the body of the original monster is another one and we dont just want to stop there. Being able to combine these things (e.g. animating a plate armor as a living construct, attaching orc arms wielding axes to it and sending it onto a rampage after coating it with poison) will create unique moments for the player. Not to mention the more mundane stuff like being able to burn any wooden thing, freeze liquids or have things float down a river. And thats just the start. Now that the basics are in place, we will focus on adding more content. Experience with ADOM taught us that you, the community probably is going to have a ton of wild and crazy ideas wed never be able to come up with. Thats what we are looking for. Finally, we decided to try a new user interface approach. We strongly believe that roguelike games should not be confined to a niche. But classical roguelikes utilize convoluted UIs and are very hard to get for mainstream gamers. So, we decided to deviate from my established roguelike standards in order to widen our audience and the attention for roguelikes in general. We knew that the hardcore fans of ADOM initially probably would disagree with some of our more aggressive changes (diagonal movement, I hear you) but we still believe that the combination of a number of features (four-way movement, automatic detection of secret doors, 90% transparency regarding monster and item stats, etc.) deserve to be tested in-depth. As well as a user interface that really tries to work for keyboard, mouse and controller or any combination thereof. Such an endeavor requires constant feedback. And thats yet another reason why we didnt want to start in a much more complete state: Late changes cost a lot more time and money than changes based on early feedback. We understand that the initial lack of content might feel underwhelming. The underlying game engine now is in a state that allows for very quick progress and creative ideas delivered by the community are one of our great motivators. Rest assured, you can expect more content, more bug fixes and more quality-of-life improvements within the next couple of days and weeks, as we work tirelessly to deliver an ADOM worthy experience. Thank you for your support and patience so far. Thomas Biskup (Ultimate) ADOM Maintainer

[ 2021-02-24 11:02:52 CET ] [ Original post ]

The Story so Far

Evil has been vanquished. Peace has returned to Ancardia, and the peasants dare to dream once more of prosperity. Seven very different factions vie for control over the cataclysmic aftermath left behind by Andor Drakon’s defeat. And somewhere, deep down in an inhospitable cave, ChAoS is stirring again.

Pick up your blade, prepare your spells, check your daggers and ready your bow, for you are about to enter the ominous Caverns of Chaos. Choose your allegiance carefully, for you are nothing more than an expendable asset to the masters you choose.

Fight for a mercenary's glory and purse, for the justice of a folk in decline, for the light of purity or even for ChAoS itself. Every choice you make will determine how you approach the ever-changing Caverns of Chaos before you.

Features and Gameplay

• Ultimate ADOM is a modern reimagining of traditional rogue-like dungeon-crawling.
  
  
• Endless procedurally generated dungeons, countless monsters, items and a grand selection of very different skills allow for unlimited replayability
  
  
• Intuitive control system will get rid of the need to memorize hundreds of keys. Though you can still do so, if you're into that. We are not judging.
  
  
• Your chosen class, gender, race and allegiance will change the way the game challenges you. NPCs will react differently, new quests will be open to you and the world may change completely based on your performance.
  
  
• A deep magic system with several unique schools of magic and dozens of spells per school. Flaming auras that damage nearby enemies, cold snaps that freeze rivers, animating the very walls of the dungeon to aid you - everything is possible.
  
  
• A stealth system introduces a totally new way of playing the game: Instead of hacking or blasting all opposition to pieces you now can sneak past adversaries and avoid conflict by silently sneaking out of deadly situations.
  
  
• Interactive items! Topple braziers to spill their burning oil on unsuspecting enemies. Push coffins to block passage ways, or smash them in hopes of loot. Lock doors, smash them, open them or turn them into wooden golems to (hopefully) serve your bidding.
  
  
• Turn yourself into an abomination and graft your enemies’ body parts on yourself. They won’t need them any more, and what is better than wielding two swords? Two swords and an axe to harvest more bodyparts than ever before.
  
  
• Choose or toggle between graphic mode and traditional ASCII at any time. Toggle between 3d mode and top down view, in ASCII or in the graphic mode. Toggle everything you wish, we probably have a game mode just for you.
  
  
• “Play the way you want” – countless options of how to tackle the dungeons awaiting you. Befriend or tame creatures, slay monsters, delve deeper or keep exploring and expanding the cavern levels you have already found. Set traps and smash doors, or unlock them with the keys you found. Push coffins and other objects!