Episode 113: End of 2015

This is episode 113 of Roguelike Radio, where Darren Grey, Andrew Doull, Mark Johnson, Aaron Steed and Paul Jeffries. Apologies for the low audio quality.

You can download the mp3 of the podcast, play it in the embedded player below, or you can follow us on iTunes.

Topics Discussed:

• Andrew and Darren finally meet! Here's a reminder of the blog post that started it all.
• Does "peak roguelike" exist? Have we reached it?
• Highlights of the year - a book about roguelikes, new Nethack, new releases for other major and minor roguelikes of all ages (Angband, Sil, IVAN, Ultima Ratio Regum, DCSS, Larn, Incursion), ADOM on Steam, lots of other roguelikes on Steam (KeeperRL, Voyage to Farland, Pixel Dungeon, 868-HACK, HyperRogue, Caves of Qud, Cardinal Quest 2), lots of roguelikes Greenlit (Hydra Slayer, Golden Krone Hotel, MidBoss, UnReal World), new roguelikes like Cogmind and Sproggiwood, many new roguelites including more turn-based and experimental stuff (Invisible Inc, Crypt of the Necrodancer, Darkest Dungeon, The Curious Expedition). Wow!
• Effects of early access on roguelike development
• Developers maintaining both paid-for and free versions of their games, and how the community has reacted to commercialisation of roguelikes
• Aaron has been working on a new roguelike called Rust Bucket, and made the 7DRL Dead Blinger and updated Red Rogue
• Mark has added NPCs and much more content to Ultima Ratio Regum, is doing academic writing on luck/chance in games, and also organised an IRDC in the UK
• Paul made the cool 7DRL Space Hellion and played lots of roguelikes
• Some discussion of unlocks and metagaming in roguelikes, including Mark's controversial blog post on the topic and a promise for a full episode on this in future
• Andrew released a new version of UnAngband and played some of Diego Cathalifaud's cool iOS roguelikes
• Are new roguelikes being experimental enough? Is there too much of a checklist of features they include?
• Darren made FireTail, and has been playing a lot of graphical ADOM, Invisible Inc and The Curious Expedition
• 2016 is full of promise! 7DRL Call for Dates is now live - vote now. International Roguelike Development Conferences are expected in Paris and New York - details to be announced. ToME4 has a planned expansion involving steampunk orcs. Major Cogmind updates are expected, and maybe we'll see gameplay added to Ultima Ratio Regum! More news is expected on Jupiter Hell, the 3D spiritual sequel to DoomRL. Brut@l will be bringing ASCII roguelikelike gameplay to the Playstation 4, and we'll maybe see Below on XBOX 360.
• Upcoming Roguelike Radio - interview with the Curious Expedition developers, episode on gameplay-orientated procedural generation, interviewing the Nethack dev team, metagame/unlocks, and build-up to this year's 7DRL Challenge. Maybe also procedural universes, Aurora, world building, multiplayer, coding habits. What else would you like to see?
• Tools for developers and what can enable more people to make roguelikes
• Will the new restructured Angband cause a new wave of easily made *bands?
• Anything else you're excited about for 2016, or highlights from 2015 that we missed? Comment below!

(L to R) Aaron, Andrew, Paul and Darren (Mark had just left, alas)

Join us next time for more roguelike-y goodness!