Suprise! Update!

 I got in touch with a writer to finish the final monster I was working on before the "I'm done" blog post.

 A couple new tiny mechanics, and one more transformations. It's not a huge deal but at least I don't have anything half-done anymore.

 Treasure Goblins:

 These mischievous little green gals use unique mechanics to change up the game play in a few ways.
They will loot any chests they come across, denying you important items! However, if defeated, they will reward you with any and all chests they looted, as well as 2 - 3 items that they collected before you arrived!

 While they do appear on all floors, they only appear in small numbers. A normal sized floor will only have 3 Treasure Goblins, so get hunting!

 Another way that they differ from most enemies, is that they will flee upon transforming you, and will need to be found elsewhere in the dungeon to be challenged again.

Extra Words

I'm shocked by the number of page views still popping up on Blogger!

Halls of Degeneration was defiantly a fun project.
I've been tempted to resume work on it, but every time I open up the messy code and remember how tedious it was to add more text,  any inspiration flows away from me.

 Sadly, I will not be releasing the source code for two key reasons:
1) I am very embarrassed by the messiness, and it's nearly undecipherable to anyone but me. There are values and strings hidden in all sorts of places. It isn't noticeable when you're playing, but I'm somewhat of a masochist I guess.
2) It was made with MMF2 Developer, so to edit it you'd not only need that $300 program, you'd also need the exact same extensions I used. Many of which I wouldn't be able to find again myself.


 But I'm not done making games. I've been tinkering and toying with things, and even harassing a few artists.
 I'd like to do something more graphical, to take advantage of the engine.

 I was thinking of something with a fairly large character graphic so the transformation could be drawn in detail. The whole system of having body parts change separately would be scrapped so that transformations could be more varied and more focused.

 But none of the people I contacted were interested, apparently. I imagine it's something many people get asked, and I just seemed like some crazy person.
 Maybe one will say yes and maybe something amazing will happen, but it has't yet.


 Thanks to everyone still reading this blog (for whatever reason)!

Final Words

 Still might get that final update out, but it's not looking like it will be happening.

 I figure I owe everyone an explanation as to why I am stopping the project.
 The problem being, is that I don't really have a reason.

 I simply lost interest in the project.

 I had this weird idea that people would go crazy to write for the game, which turned out false.
 The biggest issue is that importing writing took me FAR too long. I should have taken me minutes to copy the text in, not an hour or more.

  Crowd sourcing material turned out to be a horrible idea.
 I don't know how the other games manage it, but it is certainly not for me. Maybe it's because the game didn't ever get popular enough, but that would be my fault as well.
 If I ever do a new project, I am not doing it without a dedicated writer and a dedicated graphic artist behind me, so we can do it properly.

 Another issue I could never get over with HoD is the sexiness being do removed from the game play.
 An issue that I didn't consider when building the game, until it was too far along to be changed.
 This is another issue I'd fix if I ever take another crack at games.

 I hope the little content that was in the game already is enough for people to still think fondly of the game, but it's a project I am done with.

 I thank you all for your support, and apologies for losing interest in the project.

I'm back.

 I am back to working on the game.

  Already well into it.
 

 The sad news is that I can't see me continuing work on the game after this last update.
 Nothing final, but I don't have a ton of interest in the game. If this ends up being the case, a much larger blog post will be posted with more information.

Plans for free time.

I have a few ideas I would like to get rolling once I have some free time.

The first, is removing the randomly cycling tile sets, and instead having multiple exits per floor, each of them leading to a different tile set. Each of the tile sets would have unique themed creatures. Ideally they would all have decent item drops so there is an incentive to explore each tile set.
 Sporesluts will most likely be only in the grass tile set, and Slimes only in the Dungeon one.
 This will also effect Chaos Mode, however I will likely add a option that disables this restriction as well.

 If you have a creature that fits well with one of the tilesets, I'd love to get that submitted as soon as possible, even though I am on a break from working on the game.

 I'd like to put Chaos Mode and the unnamed Mode behind some sort of unlock wall, but have not decided how it will be handled yet.

 Another plan is the removable of Equipment Bags, and making them simply give you the equipment the moment they are picked up. They only exist to separate the equipment loot from the primary loot, but now I have means of making them automatic and there's no reason for them to stay.

 I'd like to also add a certain 'rare' enemy, that only 1, maybe 2 or 3, of spawn per floor. The idea is a Goblin gal that runs around with a bag of loot, and can take treasure chests. When defeated you get all the treasure chests they looted, as well as a base number of chests (probably 2 - 4 randomly). However they will scale in power for every chest they take. I have an idea for what they would Transform the player into as well, but I will keep that a surprise.

 There is of course the crash bug as well, but I have removed a good deal of old code related to the inventory, and I think I have fixed it. Time will tell.

 Anyways, just wanted to let you all know I am still around and still thinking about the game. Looking fore ward to not being dead tired every day because of the current craziness at work.

 PS: Chat removed until I am back to having enough free time. No one was using it anyways. This probably means after the first big update next year.

Overworked!

 Real life has me very busy during this time of the year.
 As such I don't have any time to put into Halls of Degeneration.

 I might tinker, and I may find some time to add any submissions if I get any (wishful thinking) but I won't be putting a ton of work in.

 Be back to full steam in January!


 On another note: Is anyone crashing in the newest update? I've been trying to fix it a bit more but really can't see any reason for it to happen, and can't narrow it down at all.

The Crash

I've had a few reports of the game crashing after 4 or 5 floors.

Unfortunately I have had zero luck isolating the issue.
If anyone gets the crash I'd love all the info you can possibly offer so that I can establish a pattern and find out what the issue is.

 Sadly, I have not gotten the crash at all on my own machine, so it does not happen to everyone it seems. (or every time)