Blog

IndieGameStand - Stolen keys

Hi All, sadly I had to revoke a lot of keys that have been activated recently. All those keys came from a batch of key supplied to IndieGameStand which is no longer operating. Those keys have been sold without my knowledge. If your key have been banned and revoked, please do get in touch with me and please tell me from which source you got your key.

Desura, Gamers Gate &  Indie Gala keys are not affected.

If you in the past bought Dark Gates directly from IndieGameStand please get in touch with me ASAP. If you prove that game have been legitimately purchased from there, I will issue you a new key. 

email: support@dfourgames.com

As much I would like you all to have Dark Gates, DFour Games will not allow for such things to continue.

Please contact your source for refund unless you purchased from IndieGameStand then DFour Games will look into this.

Free comic book, permanent price drop & Desura.

It's summer and I got some announcements to make. First one is that from now on comic book is available for everyone regardless do you own the game or not. Now you can download both English and Polish version from story page of Dark Gates website (click here). Enjoy !

Another big announcement is a permanent price drop across all the stores that Dark Gates is sold. Enjoy the new price which is 60% less than original starting price. Steam summer sale is over but new price is here to stay.

Many of you might heard about Desura. As the matter is still not resolved with the future of this platform, please do not purchase copies of Dark Gates or any game for that matter there as developers unlikely will see any money which has not yet been paid out. I have switched widget on Dark Gates page to IndieGameStand which also offers DRM free copy of the game, Gamers Gate also have DRM free packages. Please reedem all unused keys from Desura if you have them.

Dark Gates - Release 1.1

Release 1.1 is out and as promised, Dark Gates are now fully translated to Spanish. Apart from this there are few changes in the game that should make game more fluent.

Changes

First of them is a skull indicator for spells. If you select a hero to cast a spell and spell might kill him/her while doing so, there is a skull displayed near the spell icon. Also now, if spell cannot be used as it will cost more then a life of one who cast it, it will be greyed out.

Another change is in fight system. As one of the players pointed it out, there is lots of key presses when you fighting. This release makes it easier. If a hero have only one choice in which weapon can be used or there is only one monster to attach, selection will be automatic. This shortens the sequence and hopefully will make fight quicker.

If hero have more than one weapon to use (including magic), player will have to still select which option to go for. Same for more than one monster.

If you prefer to make all choices by yourself then you can do so by adding 'autoselect = 0' in settings.cfg

IndieGameStand

I'm happy to announce that Dark Gates are now available on IndieGameStand. Below you have a handy widget and shortly game will be visible in store.

Sale 40% off over Easter

From 4th of April till 6th Dark Gates is on sale across all the stores. Enjoy !!!

Release 1.1 (including 1.0.1)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
New: Spanish translation
New: In fight, if only one weapon can be selected and/or one monster can be attacked, game does selection for the player. Can be switched off by adding 'autoselect = 0' in settings.cfg 
New: Game can run without config fileNew: If spells are being selected while in fight, a skull left of spell icon, indicates that this spell can kill a hero if casted.
New: If spells are being selected while in fight, there is an indication which spell cannot be used ( no highlight, red text and fadeout spell icon)
bugfix: Game brakes if Fear spell is used

Steam release and more

Steam Release - It's available now !

On 13th of October 2013, Dark Gates has been greenlit for a release on Steam. After finally releasing version 1.0, now is the time that I have caught up with Steam as well. Steam version supports achievements, cards and cloud saves. I have to point out that if you still running a pure Linux 32bit system, achievements are not included (long story) but rest does.

Those who bought game directly or on Desura, Indie Royale, Daily Royale or Gamers Gate will receive Steam keys as soon this will be possible. Since 1.0 release a new bug has been found and Steam version is already patched but others are still pending. This is not a big one and will only affect players who found a Fear spell. If you did them don't try to use it :) 

Indie - Interview

I had a chat about Dark Gates with Indie on Twitch while he was playing the game. I had a great time trying to describe it to him and you can see an archive on YouTube too.  If you still don't know how to play Dark Gates, this video can be useful.

 

 

Dark Gates - Release 1.0

Dark Gates have finally reached gold! This is a road that have started almost five years ago. Developing a game alongside of full time job, being a dad/husband and everything in between was a challenge in it's own right but a great one. I would like to thank to all supporters who helped a lot in many aspects of development. So without further a do let's see what have been included in 1.0 release.

 

 

Story

Finally a background story has been added. 

Persistent stats for heroes.

This is a big one. From gold release now all heroes stats are persistent. Let's say you have managed to destroy Dark Gates. Now you can save the game after that and start a new adventure with all the stats carried over from the last game. That also means that who has been killed, stays killed.

Additionally if your whole current party have been killed, this no longer means Game Over. If you choose you can continue current adventure with brand new team, assuming you got some heroes still alive :)

Critical hits and maximum hit while using weapons

Each hero while using a weapon can now score a Critical or Max hit. Critical is a 2x damage hit where Max is a maximum amount of damage by given weapon. Each hit will be indicated by a star and a sound queue while hitting an enemy.

Italian Translation

I'm happy to announce an official Italian translation for Dark Gates done by Agata Gubernat.

Themes

You love to mod games or are want to see how good you are with your graphic skills? Well Dark Gates can help you here. Game now supports complete theme overhaul. All you need is to copy default theme and start moding. Remember that all filenames needs to stay the same. Game will detect your theme and you will be able to chose it from the options menu.

Bug fixes and other stuff

A big number of bugs have been fixed. Please see change log below to see what has been fixed. Also a new weapon has been added - Mace. Quite deadly if you know how to use it (hint: mastery). Post info fight window is also now added after each fight. Now you can see exactly how much XP each heroes gained and what is your loot.

Steam Release

As of 12th of Oct 2014, Dark Gates have been geenlit on Steam. It means that whoever bought Dark Gates before, a key will be available for you (on your platform of choice) as soon Steam version will be available. When you ask? Well, this is my main focus now to get it out on Steam.

New Dark Gates web page

Best way to see what Dark Gates is about is to go to new official games website at http:/darkgates.dfourgames.com

Changelog

Release 1.0

----------------------------------------------------------------------
New: Story Introduction 
New: Persistent stats for heroes.
New: Post fight info
New: Continue adventure even if whole team is lost. Pick a new team. Ultimate game over is when all available heroes in game are dead.
New: Themes are now supported from options menu
New: Italian translation
New: Critical hits and maximum hit while using weapons
New: SFX for claws attack
New: Mace weapon
bugfix: If config.cfg is missing game will not start at first run even if config file has been created.
bugfix: Text overlap on confirmation of exit to main menu from party selection menu in French translation.
bugfix: If you want to reset loaded state, item status does not reset.
bugfix: Melee weapon can be chosen even if three is no adjacent enemies.
bugfix: Correct weapon highlight in fight if first line hero don't have adjacent enemies.
bugfix: After fight if you attacked friendly or scared monster, it will not get removed from map until team will move.
bugfix: missing blank space for secondary weapon if weapon is two handed.
bugfix: If Dark Gates are already placed on the map and game is saved, on return to the dungeon a new Dark Gates can appear if Mirror is explored again.
bugfix: Game crashes when Resurrection spell is being used and no heroes died in current fight.

Road to 1.0

My goal is finally within reach. This journey started in 2010 and it is finally at the end and what started as proof of concept has become a game that I'm proud of. There is still few things that I want to do but game is almost done. Recent event in my life have delayed the release but all is on track and I would like to share what to expect on 1.0 release. Some of you can be disappointed that something is missing or not quite there. Well I must to draw a line where I stop adding, tweaking or redoing things. If this will continue, game will never come out of alpha. There is so much can be done on every game but there is a point - "We got to release it". That's why I on purpose don't say this is a final release. If gold  version will be popular enough I will continue to expand Dark Gates to make sure that this mouse support will be added or Android port will come to life or many other things that are on the wishlist.  To those who played Dark Gates, purchased alpha version I thank you. You guys made my dream possible!

Working concept of a maze generation - Nov 2009

As I will focus on promoting 1.0 release and less on change log this is an update on what to expect. First of all there is another major feature added. All stats for heroes and loot now will carry forward if you decide to save game after Dark Gates has been destroyed. You can start a new adventure and your experienced heroes are here to support you. Another major change is that death of all your team in the labyrinth no longer means game over. Now you can "Save and Continue", pick a new team and finish the fight. Game over will happen if all available heroes are dead.

Want more ? how about finally there is a introduction or story if you like that will shed some light on what's going on. Next big thing, if you are into mods is themes. If you got time and some skill you can change how the game looks or sounds. I plan a small tutorial on that post 1.0 release but trust me, this is very simple. There is a new translation in the works and I'm happy to say that the Italian language is being added in this release. Last but not least, some art is being redone. Check Facebook page to see the new Dark Gates art. Finally now after each fight there is a small post battle info on which heroes gained experience and how much loot has been found. Above stuff is already in. Potentially more to come but major focus now is on balancing the game and testing.

Dark Gates - Release 0.9.0

So here we are again. This it time for new release, last one before going gold. Finally some of the old issues has been tackled and whole game is now more consistent. Let's brake it down on what's new and what's changed.

How To Play

From the main menu you can now access a quick, crash course guide on how to play Dark Gates. This will explain the  most common questions about mechanics and what's the end goal. Such guide is a first part of adding more context in the game. While this is purely information for newcomers, second part will include story elements but that's left for version 1.0.

Revamped party selection menu

This is a big change on how you select a team. Grid with heroes avatars allows you for much quicker navigation and more clear selection of heroes. Scroll art assets also has been done from scratch to bring them up to 1080p resolution and to create more unified look with rest of the game. Some repositioning of navigation guides should help as well.

Dark Gates intro music

Błażej Grygiel - composed a Rock Edit version of Dark Gates original score done by Alex Perucci. Both versions you can hear on DFour Games Youtube Channel. You can also hear Rock Edit on the intro of Dark Gates.


Changelog - Release 0.9.0

----------------------------------------------------------------------

New: How to play section to teach about mechanics of the game

New: Dark Gates intro music

Change: revamped party selection menu

Bugfix: Added select button info in party stats

Dark Gates - release 0.8.0

As version 1.0 is finally on the horizon, DFour Games would like to show of our newest milestone - v.0.8. There is few changes so let's get to it:

Weapon Animations

This version introduces animations for each weapon available and also monsters attacks. Best thing is to see it for yourself but now every bite,swing, throw or flying arrow is now visible. Talking about weapons. Crossbow makes a debut as well.

New hero : Lorac

Lorac is our newest hero and she brings already mentioned crossbow to the arsenal. Crossbow is currently an exclusive weapon to Lorac but next release may bring some weapon swaps to other heroes.

Other Changes

From now on monster can only attack from second line if they have a projectile or can cast a spell. This brings 'reality of a fight' to be more inline and also changes team tactics. Main menu had a little revamp and you can now control music and sound separately in options menu. If you are into language packs, Polish and French languages are now put in their own files along with German. Bug introduced in version 0.7 where having Theregond ,Curvenol or Zareth in the team will break the game when attacked is now fixed. Save games from ver. 0.7 can be used unless you got those three heroes in your parties. Last think, If you not voted yet for DarkGates to be releases on Steam, now you have a single button, which will take you straight to Greenlight page :)

Changelog - Release 0.8.0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
New: Hero Lorac
New: Weapon - Crossbow
New: Weapon animations while in fight.
New: Sound and Music are now independent in options.
New: Steam Greenlight button in main menu
Change: Monsters from second line can't attack unless it's a projectile or magic.
Change: Polish and French language is now exported to separate files in lang directory.
Change: Main menu has been revamped
Bugfix : Game will brake if heroes Theregond ,Curvenol or Zareth are attacked by monster (introduced in 0.7.0 release)

1 2 3 4 5 >