Grid Sage Games

DECEMBER 22, 2023

Mockups put together in REXPaint some weeks ago during a dev stream in preparation for Cogmind’s new UI layout (open for full size). The ratio of direct work on Cogmind vs optional supporting work, mostly community-facing stuff. Shown another way: Net total item count in Cogmind, 2015-2023 and beyond. Numbers go up.

Beta 105

Beta Alpha Mechanics Build 105

Grid Sage Games

JANUARY 1, 2024

This marks the beginning of what will be the most significant undertaking in Cogmind’s UI development history: making everything bigger. Back in Cogmind’s early years I gave strong consideration to implementing it then--put together some mockups, discussed options with the community, and so on, but the time wasn’t right.

Tile 52

Tile Feature Console Content 52

Grid Sage Games

NOVEMBER 14, 2023

Beta 11 was a huge milestone in Cogmind development, having completed a comprehensive review of all items and their stats and mechanics in order to rebalance where necessary, a process I wrote about in detail last year. The results since then have been great, but what comes next? Lots and lots of fun. They’re that crazy.

Balance 52

Balance Mechanics Beta Alpha 52

Grid Sage Games

DECEMBER 3, 2022

Early this year Cogmind celebrated its 10th anniversary since it was first released as a 7DRL, and as the year comes to a close it’s once again time for an annual review to take a quick look at where we’ve been, and where we’re going! Cumulative hours of Cogmind-related work, 2013~2022. Development Time.

Beta 52

Beta Mechanics Content Art 52

Grid Sage Games

DECEMBER 9, 2021

I’ve described a few times (most recently when introducing Cargo Convoys ) how Cogmind’s world is divided into two primary types of maps: main areas and branches. In its first year of Alpha builds Cogmind gained two such varieties of what we could call “intermaps,” in the form of Waste and Garrisons.

Mechanics 52

Mechanics Content Build Beta 52

Grid Sage Games

MAY 8, 2022

Recently a player asked me a question regarding my game balance philosophy, and while I can often respond to queries by pointing to some previous article, despite all my writing and no doubt occasionally touching on related topics, I had yet to explicitly do any sort of summary of the philosophy behind my gamedev work. Cogmind 7DRL!

Game Design 52

Game Design Game Designer Balance Games 52

Grid Sage Games

DECEMBER 1, 2023

REX It had been a while since I’d done any serious tinkering in “Rogue Engine X” (REX), Cogmind’s underlying game engine. I also shared a larger diagram and some related ideas under the section “mixed fonts” in my Fonts in Roguelikes article.) It’s official: REX has quad support!

Engine 52

Engine Engineering Tile Console 52