The mp3 of the podcast can be downloaded here, played in the embedded player below, or you can follow us on iTunes.
- The evolution of 100 Rogues
- Game design essentials
- Cinema and roguelikes
- Ido trapped by a stone kitten
Next week we'll be breaking from our usual format to take in some general discussion on character progression systems in roguelikes. Also keep your ears open for some 100 Rogues themed bonus content mid-week!
I don't think randomness is always necessary for a good game. For instance, I've played Ketsui and Dodonpachi games (they're arcade style games like Roguelikes) hundreds of times because they're so marvelously designed, intense and action packed, with cool visuals that makes playing them more than once enjoyable!
ReplyDeleteWhy so much focus on "lite" roguelikes? Any chance that you'll do a show on some of the classics, like Crawl or ADOM?
ReplyDeleteWhen we figure out how best to approach them, we'll be doing a show (or, I suspect, a few) on the major roguelikes.
ReplyDeleteThink of these 'lite' roguelike shows as warm ups for something bigger.
I think the "big ones" are a lot harder to discuss simply due to their magnitude.
ReplyDeleteI also think they are less interesting as a topic, as they tend to be more conventional - smaller roguelikes often have something unusual going for them and we can focus on that particular element and how it pertains to roguelikes in general.
Also you need to play them for years to really appreciate them. I'm not sure we could do all of them real justice.
ReplyDeleteAny chance of 100 Rogues making its way to other platforms?
ReplyDeleteBurzmali: Asked and answered on the podcast - at least for Android.
ReplyDeleteWhen? Hmm, I must have missed that bit when I went into a blind rage at the mention of Minecraft in a roguelike podcast ;)
ReplyDeleteMaybe we will become an inspiration for someone to do an RL specific podcast (like Crawl Radio :P), due to the magnitude of these "monsters"...
ReplyDeleteWe're averaging one Diablo mention a week now, so Minecraft is the next sacred cow on the list...
ReplyDeleteWell, I can certainly appreciate that the classics are huge games and I don't think anyone expects you guys to do an 8 hour podcast, but I'm sayin that this is the 800 lb gorilla in the room. Maybe you could just focus on one aspect of one, or compare contrast that aspect with how its done other games?
ReplyDeleteAs far as "less interesting" goes, that's hard to believe. One of the reasons the classics still have so many fans, and still draw so many new players, is the vast depth of their gameplay. There has got to be something interesting to say about that. In contrast, while a lot of these "lite" roguelikes have some kind of neat quirk in their mechanics, oftentimes the conclusion that you guys seem to come to (while leaving it unsaid), is that it makes the game feel like it is based on a cheap gimmick - and that it gets boring fast.
I dunno guys. I mean, being a Crawl fanatic, I can appreciate a game with tightly tuned mechanics. A game that is both challenging to win and fair is one that is fun to me. However, I don't think that's all there is to a good rouguelike. Think about ADOM... from a modern game design perspective, it does nearly *everything* wrong. The balance is horrendous, there's loads of mind-numbingly repetetive tasks, the "quests" are stiff and often nonsensical, there's some horribly unfair monsters and situations and a bunch of totally overpowered spells, items, and abilities. And yet the game is still undeniably fun and undeniably a classic... a game you still crawl back to every once in awhile even if you've swore that you're *done* and will never play again. Even the cruel reviewers of insomnia.ac gave it a rare 5/5 and dubbed it a masterpiece. There's gotta be something "interesting" there if this can be the case!
Well, I should have said "more interesting to me" I guess...
ReplyDeleteAlthough I've played plenty of crawl and ToME2 I generally play more of the smaller roguelikes than the classic, to a large extent because I feel the major ones have lost their appeal to me.
I guess I just don't understand the point of this if you don't find roguelike games interesting.
ReplyDeleteYou guys are *really* overstating the importance of randomness in this episode. Procedurally generated content has it's advantages, but handcrafted levels from good (keyword) designers are always going to allow for constantly interesting scenarios and guaranteed balanced challenges. Lacking replay value isn't going to be an issue for a casual gamer if the game is long enough to begin with, and afterwards they can just play a different game for different content. And let's not forget that movie sequences in video games can function well as breaks between intensive gameplay, or a reward for successfully completing a level, or immersing the player in the setting, or ...
ReplyDeleteAnyway, let's maybe try and not let our own preferences drift fascinating roguelike discussion into whining about the video game industry, okay?
I think you're forgetting that we're roguelike devs, so we're all in love with procedural content. Roguelikes need it for replay value when they have permadeath. But check out the latest ep on Procedural Content for some discussion about how it compares with handcrafted levels.
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