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Topics Discussed:
- Various questions from reddit directed before IRDC. Includes development cycles, Robin Hood themed roguelikes, innovations, reverse hybridisation, and the future of procedural generation.
- Awesome bonus question on magic systems in roguelikes.
Crazy magic happenings and such comes down to hopes for an emergence from cold sleep for Vapors of Insanity. Ritual magic ala Darklands/Serpents of the Staglands and such along low magic/Hyperborean lines definitely holds untapped potential and should work well depending.
ReplyDeleteTwo comments:
ReplyDeleteI consider myself a skilled programmer, so I find the part about roguelikes attracting amateur programmers slightly offensive :) There is much more to it. Roguelikes are challenging, programming is challenging, and they are challenging in the same areas, so there is a high corellation here. Roguelike players are likely to become programmers if they want to create something of their own, and programmers are likely to become roguelike players if they see one. My personal perspective: programming 3D graphics is just boring, it has been done again and again (and programming user interfaces, even more so). While programming HyperRogue, most time is spent on the procedural generation of hyperbolic lands, and I am quite sure that this has not been done before :) (Maybe that's one of the reasons why I have stopped programming Vapors of Insanity, and concentrated on my other projects -- I think there are too many projects like that now.)
For a roguelike with pocket sub-games, I believe that HyperRogue is very strong in this area. Currently, there are 28 lands, and almost each of them has its own theme, and (especially the new ones) its own special mechanics. And moreover, the seamless structure of the world allows elements from different areas to interact. See the current Gallery of Lands: http://www.roguetemple.com/z/hyper/gallery.php
There was some talk of procedural magic systems and spells made by combining different components - I have to recommend Tower of the Archmage, which is the only roguelike I know of to have used that kind of system. You can find it at http://www.kongregate.com/games/SirCyanblue/tower-of-the-archmage .
ReplyDeleteAlso mentioned was the idea of alternative combat systems, and alternatives to the standard bump-to-attack, like those in DoomRL, DDRogue and PrincessRL. Another game following that line of thoght is my 2012 project Encircled ( http://forums.roguetemple.com/index.php?topic=2689.0 ), where you can hurt people if the pattern of walls surrounding you an your target matches the pattern on your weapon. I try to take some of the cognitive load off the player by colour-coding the terrain, and the controls are simple, but it's still very challenging. I've yet to hear any victory reports ;)
... actually this thread ( http://forums.roguetemple.com/index.php?topic=2625.0 ) might be a better link for discussion of Encircled.
ReplyDelete