Launch!

After a short preview launch earlier this year, I'm back!  Actually, I never stopped working on the game, but got too busy to post updates. Mainly I've been building up content to re-launch the game, which I've just done! Play it on itch.io, or over here:

https://swordhammer.net

Nothing to download, plays in the browser. Odds are, you haven't seen it before: S&H is a multiplayer, realtime blend of roguelike and MUD. Fighter and Cleric classes are implemented, and a few levels worth of content to explore.

Looking through my commit log since last time, there's a ton of recent updates:

• HTTPS support
• Line of Sight map view; I used Adam Milazzo's algorithm here: http://www.adammil.net/blog/v125_Roguelike_Vision_Algorithms.html
• Status affects are saved/serialized when the player quits, and re-applied on login.
• Item spawning/decay has been reworked. Items were sitting around too long before.
• Leader board! Those who collect the most XP achieve immortality on the leader board. (:leader command)
• And of course, building out the game world, which required all sorts of coding to support. You'll have to play the game to see what I've made. There's still plenty more to do, but I've been trying to make things feel colorful/alive and inviting to explore. Every monster has unique behavior.

I'm playtesting, hunting bugs now, and will start advertising my game on itch.io and various roguelike/MUD sites. Next major milestone is Patreon -- I'll make it possible to tie an in-game account to a patreon subscription, and provide in-game bonuses. No idea what those bonuses will be yet. I'd like to avoid pay-to-win type things. My goal is come up with bonuses that are beneficial for everyone: the reaction should always be, 'awesome they subscribed and got cool stuff, let's go do more things!', and never 'lame, they're going to go stomp everyone and break the game now'.