What is your current favorite Roguelike? [Or all things roguelike]

Those are decidely Spectrum-like graphics - nice.

I generally have a strong negative reaction to retro-pixel graphics being in every other game, but if you watch the video for that, it looks good in motion and they carried the aesthetic to the sound effects too. Nice.

I discovered fairly recently that I’m fond of Spectrum-esque graphics. Free indie darling Princess Remedy in a Word of Hurt was more fun and nostalgic than it had any right to be. Not a roguelike, though.

Interestingly, its payware sequel/expansion felt only bland. Charm is a very flickering thing.

Mark Johnson, developer of Ultima Ratio Regum, finally posted an update. (Not of the game, just a status update.)

http://www.ultimaratioregum.co.uk/game/2018/01/10/2018-plans/

Almost Finished 0.8. So it didn’t get finished, but a lot of extra work did get done, and it is closer to release than it was a year ago. The NPCs are basically finished, the conversation system is basically finished; this release has been a huge task, and far bigger than I ever imagined, but I’m pleased with what I got done in 2017, even if it wasn’t as much as I hoped. In the extremely difficult circumstances throughout the year, I’m happy with the coding I managed.

2018

In previous years I’ve almost always met the lofty goals I’ve set myself, but for 2018, I’m going to tone it down a little, and focus on a small number of essential things. There are only really a few core “output” goals I have (I’m not including goals here like spending time with my new partner, keeping fit and healthy, that kind of stuff, and nor am I including publishing papers, as that’s just a normal part of the academic life). But, nevertheless, I have four major objectives for 2018:

Release 0.8. This has to be done. It has been 90% finished for a year now, and it’s just getting ridiculous. My intention is to dedicate a significant block of March and April to getting 0.8 done, polished, bug-fixed, and finally released, and then I’ll be taking stock of my longer-term game design goals after that.

Yep, these hopeless updates by solo developers still make me cringe.

Come on, the parts where they objectize their close ones are always fun!

Played Tangledeep anymore? Anyone else?

Coming out of EA on Feb 1, but I’m holding out for the Switch version which will be a bit later.

This looks like it goes live in a few days. I liked it a lot and am pleased it is coming out of early access - any word on what’s added in the last sixth months or so for release?

I’ve been too busy to play lately. It’s coming out Thursday so I’ll post some impressions after this gets out of EA.

I barely touched Tangledeep in EA so I can’t wait to see how it turned out.

I love roguelikes but am not thrilled that Tangledeep forces you to play as a female. Is it just the pixels (which I can probably live with) or is it more extensive/deeper than that with story elements as well?

No difference that I can tell. I made it to level 7 today on a paladin, didn’t notice anything gender-specific. But that’s as far as I’ve gotten.

If your character looks like anything other than @ then it ain’t a roguelike, I says!

/getoffmylawn

The main character is a female, ala Horizon Zero Dawn or Tomb Raider. You’re just picking her job/outfit.

Do people really have an issue playing as a female? Reasonable people, I mean. Clearly crazy people can take issue with anything.

The answer to this specific question is “no, not really”.

Yeah, a lot do. A lot also have an issue NOT being able to play as a female. Game devs really can’t win these days unless their games provide both options.

As for myself, I don’t have any issue playing as a female protagonist as long as it’s not a game where there are RP aspects of it where I would be expected to identify with the character. This is mostly MMOs for me. I’ve tried creating and playing female MMO characters but it’s just too weird for me to enjoy. I remember the GW2 forums once had a very long thread with people (both male and female) fighting both sides of this issue. It was clear from the posts there that a lot of people invest nothing of themselves into their MMO characters. They’re just pixels to look at. But others role-play a lot more and want something they can immerse into and identify with.

Both sides in that thread thought the other viewpoint was alien and it got kind of ugly there after some of them started throwing out terms like “crazy people”. But then the world we currently live in has truly become a world of intolerance. Differences in other people’s viewpoints or psychological makeup are no longer respected or tolerated at all for the most part.

As for Tangledeep, the most recent thread about this has been locked:

Fake News…
(JK!)
I like playing female characters on the screen in third person mode because starring at attractive @'s all day is much better then starring at male @'s…

I wasn’t directing that at you, I was trying to defuse the comments that derail these discussions where people come in and say, “people can take issue with anything! People are crazy!” and then pat themselves on the back and no one learns anything.

Thanks for the summary (both of your opinion and the back and forth at the forum you related). I didn’t even realize there was RP in that game. I thought it was just an avatar. Literally just “pixels to look at”. I can understand if you’re RP’ing that you want to identify.

Although getting into the character of people unlike me in games has led to some really good experiences and then maybe even further learning/empathy on my part. Gone Home is a really good example. (quick spoiler tag in case you haven’t played the game and don’t want to know anything about it) I’ve never been anti-gay or homophobic or anything, but it was informative to put myself in the shoes of a teen lesbian girl learning who she was. I never really had THAT perspective before. I like that there are games with diverse viewpoints I can expose myself to. I would be less of a person if I’d never experienced these other viewpoints. Of course every game doesn’t need to do what Gone Home does. I do a lot more gaming where I’m just escaping and doing fun things than gaming where I challenge myself.