Congrats on the (imminent) Steam release!

[Happylisk]

Hi Kyzrati (and everyone else)!  Congrats on being 1 day and 7 hours away from steam launch.  I'm staring at the countdown on steam and wishing tomorrow was a Sunday instead of today so I could play all day. 

I took a break from Cogmind because I didn't want to burn out.  I played so much DCSS back in the day I can't go back to it and I didn't want that happening with this wonderful game.  The Steam release seems like a perfect time to jump back in!

Any chance we'll see an official steam release tournament??   The alpha tournament was ludicrously fun. 

[zill]

Congratulations!  Before I redeem my steam key, what are the implications for your bottom line?  Do you have to pay steam when you give out these keys?  I am not a big fan of steam, although it would be convenient to have the game update itself, if it would cost you any extra I will just continue to use the DRM free download link.

Any chance we'll see an official steam release tournament??   The alpha tournament was ludicrously fun. 

Amen to that

[DDarkray]

Hey Happylisk, welcome back! Just want to thank you for your awesome combat guide that you wrote years ago, which has motivated me to write my own guide. And I still like it. 

[Kyzrati]

It's... Happylisk!!! Man I've been wondering where you were--didn't realize you were simply avoiding burnout all this time. (Or recall, since I guess you did mention it before!) Just yesterday I was thinking about the fact that we're headed for Steam and Happylisk was still nowhere to be seen

You're going to love what Cogmind has become with all the content filled in.

Mmm, tournament... What the last tournament taught me was that it takes a lot of work to run a good tournament, and since I'm the only guy on this project it's really hard for me to do that without pausing development for a while. That's why we haven't been doing big events like that anymore (though I'm really glad we did that one!).

I was hoping that someone else / others could take the reins on that and handle it as a community-run tournament. In fact, Raine even has a database mostly set up that can run queries on our scoresheets on the site, so it's easier than ever for someone to get the data necessary. I'll talk to her about it.

I could do it myself after 1.0 and assuming my head is completely better, but certainly not now

I am not a big fan of steam, although it would be convenient to have the game update itself, if it would cost you any extra I will just continue to use the DRM free download link.

Nope won't cost anything extra, redeem away (automated updates are honestly a really nice thing to have--I never use Steam either but after my experience getting Cogmind set up with them, I admit that as a player I'd love to have games that automatically get new features as soon as they're released...)

[Happylisk]

I'm glad people like the old guide!  I felt bad not finishing it but I realized it was silly to put that much effort into something when the game was in so much flux.  Once things are more or less baked into the cake I'll update and finish it.  The real thing I want to do is a post with .gifs demonstrating how to fight - positioning, target selection, when and how to use explosives, etc.  Probably nothing ground breaking to anyone playing since alpha or beta, but I imagine we'll have new players coming in once steam is go.

it's really hard for me to do that without pausing development for a while

This caught my eye!  How much more dev do you envision between the steam release and cogmind 1.0?  I thought the game was basically finished once it hit Steam? 

And I'm really looking to see the all the new content.  I've still never even visited Command!  Though that's partly due to my refusal to play anything besides a full heavy tread combat run...

Man I miss the days when there were no garrisons and programmers dispatched from the stairs

[Kyzrati]

This caught my eye! How much more dev do you envision between the steam release and cogmind 1.0?  I thought the game was basically finished once it hit Steam?

Correct. The rest is basically adding optional stuff. Achievements, more challenge modes... And the story is done, but there is so much room for side stories, little branches, even some more mechanics...

The main thing I didn't do before release was implement the new robot hacking system--that's gong to be completely replaced.

1.0 is probably at least half a year away. I'll see what features get added by then and decide. And 1.0 might not mean done, either--I could still occasionally add small features after that, we'll see. Need to get the obvious necessary stuff out of the way first, and also a big factor here is how well it does on Steam. I mean I can't develop forever if it can't at least pay the bills! And technically I need to stop before revenue drops off too much otherwise how will I fund the next project xD

Though that's partly due to my refusal to play anything besides a full heavy tread combat run...

Doing that is now a lot more feasible with all the new combat mechanics to take advantage of. It's still going to be relatively more difficult than speed/stealth approaches, but you can reliably win with any major strategy now, including treads.

Man I miss the days when there were no garrisons and programmers dispatched from the stairs

Hahahaha, wow those days are so long gone... (also that was cheap!)

[underthemilkyway]

Congrats!

[Happylisk]

Me, irl, literally, right now, installing cogmind on steam:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J6-3l3hCm0

[Kyzrati]

Happylisk, playing StarCraft II while Cogmind installs

Really though, it is about time . Looking forward to you getting back into it!

[DanielCoffey]

I was stunned by how small the Cogmind Steam install was - 44Mb! That is seriously compact! I am on rural internet so really appreciated the tiny download, well done and thank you.

[Kyzrati]

Excellent

It'd be a lot larger considering all the SFX, but yeah I used both compressed and lower-quality sounds because they suit the atmosphere and style better anyway.

Technically the DRM-free download is even more compact, at 25 MB, but Steam bloats it a bit.

Future updates via Steam will pretty much always be less than 10 MB though, so got you covered

[DDarkray]

It'd be a lot larger considering all the SFX, but yeah I used both compressed and lower-quality sounds because they suit the atmosphere and style better anyway.

I want to know how it sounds like with all the awesome, high-quality sfx! 

[Shadowfury333]

Technically the DRM-free download is even more compact, at 25 MB, but Steam bloats it a bit.

I kinda noticed that earlier, since I like to play on the train on my laptop, so I tend to download it via my cell phone tether, and it's no problem. Thanks, Kyzrati.

[Happylisk]

Hardlight generators are my new favorite mid-game item in cogmind.  I have a cogmind currently sitting in research with an inventory full of goodies, and I attribute getting there and in such good state to the hardlight.  It made standing and fighting against hunters way less painful.

I've been going back and re-reading patch notes and blog/reddit posts to learn about the dev changes over the last year.  I noticed in one post you mentioned you tweaked force fields.  Was it just a matter of decreasing the energy drain, or something else?  I have a force field sitting in my inventory but I can't peep the new numbers since I'm currently at work 

[Kyzrati]

I wrote a quick summary of the shield changed back in the Beta 2.2 release notes. Costs were reduced for most (almost all stats were changed--not just tweaking, a near-complete remake), but yeah hardlights are brand new and certainly a favorite for combat bots!

[Stilgar]

Steam is a duel edged weapon.
(Can I attach that?)

Yeah, the updating is ASAP and on a well done network. You don't sit around waiting for your game.
What killed Good Old etc for me was a delay of more than a month to get an update and then to have that update segregate Steam players from the rest of the world.

Congratulations on your Steam debut.
And quite a fine game too.