There are a lot of updates waiting to be added to the game, but rather than keep delaying for a huge patch I’m going to start releasing things in batches. The update today includes: A friends list, new mobs, snake pit expansion, armor and dodge balance changes.

For those of you who only check the front page there have been a lot of development updates but I’ve been posting them on the forums as dev note threads. I’ll try to put more of that content on the front page, and you’ll find a short summary of those notes near the bottom of this post.

So some of you have already seen a couple of the new mobs:
Serpent: An upgraded snake for more variety in lower level ranges.
Ghost Blade: A high level enemy which can use disorient.
Mind Flayer: Dangerous ranged enemy which rapidly saps your defense.
More to come!

New basic friends list feature:
/friend – list current friends with online status
/friend add [name] – add a player to your friends list
/friend remove [name] – remove a player from friends
There is no need to accept and it will not notify people that you add them. Notifications will show you when friends come on and offline in the same way it does for tribes. May expand this feature later on.

Your armor class now has an affect on your dodge chance.
Heavy armor: -20% dodge
Medium armor: no change
Light armor: +10% dodge
Unarmored: +20% dodge

The minimum hit chance has been increased to 5% from 1%. So 1 in 20 hits will always land regardless of dodge and precision.

Shields now reduce damage to a range between 5% and 25% of incoming damage, rather than just reducing it to 1.

When using the /ignore command without specifying a player it will ignore the last person who chatted in broadcast chat.

Shroomies now show a heal direction indicator so you can tell roughly where they are located when they heal from a distance.

Kaylovespie has expanded the snake pit ‘hazard’ with spawn areas for leveling on serpents and leeches.

Fixed another case of the client freezing when logging in. Fixed a bug with stair creation. Fixed an issue where reapers could leave chests on doors. Potions can no longer be dropped if you are under level 5 with no reincarnations. Increased global chat flooding sensitivity for players under level 5. Thanks to everyone who helped test these features!

We have a new map server and a number of volunteers have been practicing their map making skills. I finished my map propagation system so new maps can be added rapidly to all servers. If you are creative and would like to apply to create new areas for the game please send a PM to Admin or Kaylovespie.

Lots of fun updates still to come. I’ll try to do smaller but more frequent patches going forward. Now here is a very compact summary of the last couple months of dev notes:

You can now build secure underground houses and cities, since floor tiles underground block stairs from being built above ground in Galebrook. Digging up floor tiles now takes longer depending on your digging skill.

A lot of time was spent rewriting server code to help with lag and crashes, and some more progress was made with Google Payments.

Due to some recent exploit abuse, a tracking system was developed to collect data on suspicious individuals. A punishment system was also created to allow for quick resets of a character’s progress. These aspects include skill experience(levels), myst, angel dust, upgrades, and even blue stars. Some players received punishments for abusing/hiding exploits.

That’s all for now. Thanks for playing!