Dome Keeper – Official FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Can the game be played on phone?

• No, and we don’t have plans for that. But we also don’t exclude that possibility. If so, it would happen way after release.

Will there be ports to console?

• Switch port looks likely, but that will really depend on how release goes. Ports are not cheap, but we think Dome would be great on Switch.

Will there be multiplayer?

• We’d love to add co-op, and i’m sure we’ll eventually have that in. For the initial release, it is too much, as we want to release not that far into the future and have a lot of content. So, if it’s not part of the release, it will be one of the bigger updates we’ll do, as far as i can tell now. Having it on release would be great, but i don’t want to cut content that would be dearly missed for it.
• Local coop is easy to implement, online coop not so much. A big part of the work though will be in the design, balancing and UI changes. There are some big questions there, like does eating a fruit affect both players equally? If not, we need two HUD’s now. Same for all the keeper upgrades, like jetpack.
• The coop i implemented and played with Anne, splits the controls of the laser: the first one to enter would move the laser, the second one would fire. That was a ton of fun, but also much ‘weaker’ than if you’d do it alone, because of all the inefficiencies. But it added a nice layer of communication+cooperation on that.
• There are other ideas for multiplayer, like having two domes but sharing a mine.

Will there be a meta progression?

• What we’ll never see in Dome is the grind that makes you stronger by default, like each run adding 1% max health. What we will have is you unlocking new content constantly. That gives you more options to create ‘build’ in the loadout. Over time you can also unlock more things to choose in the loadout, and maybe even permanent upgrades. A lot of it will form in the next months.

How is the map generated? Is it random?

• For the demo, the maps are basically static. Procedurally generated, slightly adapted but then fixed. They all have the same resources too, and a very similar distribution.

For map generation, there are basically two goals:

1. Have the maps follow a larger pattern that is understandable, but not predictable (like, you know you’ll find resources roughly in every larger area, but not where exactly)
2. Keep the difficulty very consistent (for the same base setup). That means similar amounts of resources in similar depths.

Base setup just means that there might be modifiers on worlds, that could result in sparse but rich deposits.

Is monster difficulty something that increases from time, depth, or wave count?

• The difficulty of the wave is influenced by a few parameters. Right now it uses time and progress – what that exactly means i don’t want to disclose, and it is changing a lot anyway. It’s challenging to balance, but the intention is to allow both faster and slower playstyles, with both being an equal challenge.

Does improving the max hp make cobalt heal more?

• Yes, it scales with max HP (but not 1:1, so double max HP is not double healing).

Are there plans to display monster health, either via health bars or sprite changes?

• Definitely no health bars. For smaller monsters with little health, showing changes in a sprite feels a bit unnecessary. For larger monsters with a ton of health like the Driller, that is something we’d like to do, as long as we can find ways to implement that efficiently. Remaking every sprite with every health state is too time consuming.

Will there be a peaceful/relaxed/sandbox mode?

• The ‘core game’ must be challenging of course, otherwise it won’t work for many. But i don’t see any reason why there shouldn’t be a relax/sandbox mode. It would also be cool to have something that leans more into that – removing the combat, having very large maps, more resource types, more automation and so on.

Will it be possible to switch between old and new graphics?

• As much fun as this would be, this would delay the release of the game significantly. We’d need to make every new content twice – once in the old graphics, once in the new. It has an impact both on the graphics and the physics.

Will we be able to choose a palette, or make our own?

• With the new color swap implemented, this seems very doable. Not for release though.

Will they’re be new enemies other than the ones we’ve seen in the menu and ingame?

• Yes, there will be plenty of monsters.

Will there be monsters in the mine? Can the keeper fight in the mine? Can you lose the game in the mine?

• The only way to lose the game is the dome collapsing from too much damage received. The two phases mining and defending are cleanly separated, with no fighting going on in the mine, or mining going on during a battle. This is very intentional, so you can get into a different headspace during mining, as a more relaxed and safe phase.
• What could potentially come for the mine are small hazards, that decrease your movement speed or stun you for a short time, but nothing serious.

Are there any plans to add different Keepers on top of having different Domes, or is the focus purely on the Domes?

• Absolutely! They’ll mine in a different way, maybe even carry or move. Like, a keeper that throws explosives.
• A lot of uncharted territory on that, and a lot of playtesting needed. For example, how would a keeper play who can’t carry anything themself, but relies on drones to do the lifting?

Why change the art?

• Art changed for two reasons mainly:

1. Increase the appeal of the game.
2. Allow us to do more in terms of graphical design.

For 1, this wasn’t our dream style, just the one that made most sense for making a game in 3 days (Dome Romantik was originally made for Ludum Dare 48). I appreciate that it is appealing, which doesn’t mean we are at the best we could do.

For 2, it would be increasingly difficult to add new things to the game that look different. Suppose we want to have 5 different keepers later in the game, from which you can choose one. It’s hard to make them interesting and distinc if you have 5×9 pixels to do so.

Gadget xy feels like it’s mandatory. Shouldn’t that be changed?

• We have a great situation with the gadgets, where we see different people loving different gadgets a ton. Some people love the orchard, some don’t use it at all. Everyone likes the lift, few like the probe. So, we feel good on every gadget that at least some people really enjoy.
• The interesting thing here is, that the experience is vastly different between people. We always try to get an as complete picture as possible, before taking balancing decisions – naturally they don’t work for everyone.

How to use the repellant?

• Wait for the bubble to fill and stop moving that much. Then go over there and press space/e. The repellent works if you see it spray particles that hang around in the air.

Is the shield meant to recharge during combat?

• No, battle pauses all the gadgets. So, no fruit or repellent or bomb will grow during battle, and shield won’t recharge.

How to use the teleporter?

• Take the teleporter from the base station by approaching it and hitting space/e. Take it with you into the mine and drop it where you want. Now you can teleport from the base station to the teleporter. To teleport the other way around, you have to buy an upgrade.