Oooh. Looks very interesting.
Is this thread kaput?
No! Here are two new roguelike discussions in the past week.
First, a great episode of Three Moves Ahead.
Then, appearing one day later, an article on Gamasutra. Listen, read, discuss.
The podcast veers into the always-annoying territory of ‘define roguelike’ but otherwise is a satisfying discussion by knowledgeable folks. The coffee analogy, I thought, was perfect. And I am surprised that I like the term ‘roguelike-like.’
Yay for this thread! I was about to look for a roguelike thread because this amazing game called Cogmind just hit alphafunding.
http://www.gridsagegames.com/cogmind/
Basically you’re a robot who needs to escape an unknown facility who can only survive by taking equipment from the robots you kill and other places. It’s sooooooooo good.
I find it particularly annoying when roguelike developers / enthusiasts talk about their game preferences as if there is some philosophical goodness to them that other games lack (it happens a bit in that article you linked). Sure, the last few years have been great for the expansion of roguelikes, but they’ve also been great for a variety of experiments into games that eschew mechanics and systems almost entirely, and games as a whole are better for both directions. As someone who spends a stupid amount of his free time playing and making roguelike games primarily, I still love The Walking Dead, Proteus, and Thirty Flights of Loving.
I liked the point made in the podcast that the roguelike resurgence is probably more about a new found appreciation for mechanics, systems and consequences. It feels appropriate to lump roguelikes in with appreciation of clearly not-roguelike games, such as XCOM, Demon’s Souls and arguably even Paradox strategy titles since they all share what are arguably anti-AAA game development tendencies.
When Darren Grey started talking about minimalist roguelikes, I thought he was going to bring up Brogue! Sort of disappointed Brogue never came up (since it’s my favorite), but it’s great to hear those ultra elegant roguelikes like Hoplite get talked about as the current trend. I’m always happy to play more of those.
Cogmind is very likely a masterpiece and is a marvel of game engine… that is ASCII.
I wish the guy released the engine for public use, I’d be all over it. It’s like seeing Doom the first time when everyone was stuck with Wolfenstein at best.
He has to some degree, you can download X@Com RL and mod it to be a completely different game. If you go to the X@COM RL website and forum you can see some of the examples. It’ll be lacking most of the more recent UI improvements that got added to Cogmind, but it’ll be most of the way there.
It might even be possible to mod the Cogmind game in the same way.
That looks beautiful! The ASCII really pops unlike anything else I’ve seen. I know that’s not the draw here but it certainly makes a nice change.
Hmm…If I pick up a $60 pre-pack anyone interested in buying the other 2 copies?
Sure, why not.
Absolutely
OK - I’ll go buy it. I’ll take an amazon gift card as payment - seems easiest to deal with.
I’ll PM you your keys.
Well, Larn (XLarn) is now on Steam. I wish I could remember much about the game, but it’s been a couple of decades since I’ve played. According to Wikipedia, it’s possible to complete the game in one session. Nice!
EDIT: I’ve played it for a little bit now, and it’s one of the most primitive roguelikes I’ve played, really old-school stuff, but I kinda like it so far.
Hmmm, and we’re still waiting for Slash’em and UnNethack to be released for Vulture.
Good to see these old roguelikes on Steam.
A game that qualifies, but is in more of the Desktop Dungeons mold is Runestone Keeper. Uncover a floor’s map, fight things, hit up a shop, level and advance downward. You know how sometimes your patience and free time and a game’s mechanics all gel and a game clicks with you? Inexplicably, that happened with this game. I have now over 85 hours in it. I think I can count the games in my library I have put that much time into on 1 and 1/2 hands (That’s right, one hand has a half finger (2 halves actually)).
Someone asked me about it in Steam chat after the first 5 hours or so and I said it’s pretty good and is not as puzzle-y as DD and has a different, I think improved, feel, but maybe wait for a price drop. I am amending that statement to say if this description sounds good to you, pay the $10. :)
Speaking of which, the Three Moves Ahead podcast I linked to upthread made me aware of the podcast Roguelike Radio, and a recent episode of that focused on getting more roguelikes on Steam. It includes several guests who have done that.
The show notes includes a link to this list of roguelikes on Steam, though it has not been updated since last Nov.
Sproggiwood released on iOS and Android for ten bucks this week and I absolutely love it so far. I’m not sure I’ve really enjoyed a roguelike this much and found it as difficult to put down since Shiren the Wanderer on DS. It’s very attractive if you don’t mind the cutesy aesthetic. The story is light and humorous.
The classes I have played so far feel very distinct from one another. For instance, the archer can attack any target he can see. The fighter has a charge ability to help control where fights occur and excels against multiple opponents in melee range (he can hit opponents on the diagonal, which is awesome). The thief can turn invisible and use traps to create kill zones, but my favorite ability for the thief is probably the one that lets you swap position with a target in melee range while damaging them (awesome for triggering traps and staying on the edge of a crowd). When you gain a level, you get to pick a skill to unlock or upgrade.
EDIT: Forgot to mention that each skill has a stamina cost and you recover stamina by defeating enemies. Every class seems to have at least one (typically more) ability that is fairly spammable. But if you aren’t carful, you can quickly run out against tougher opponents, leaving you in a bad spot if you don’t plan ahead.
While there is no mid-save in a dungeon (and not even a suspend state) the dungeons are quite short. You always start at level one when entering a dungeon, with no skills. However, as you find gear, it becomes available to purchase in a shop. Once you purchase an item, you can select it when starting a new delve, so there is progression over time. Weapons and armor are character-specific, while consumables and accessories can be used by all. There is also a system of passive buffs you can purchase that apply to all characters (e.g. increases to xp gain and hp). Items don’t need to be identified. There is no time pressure (e.g. no food resource).
There are three difficulty levels. I am playing on the middle one (normal). I have found the difficulty well-balanced so far. I have yet to come across a scenario that seemed unfair or impossible (though a couple looked like they might be and required creative solutions). If you play wisely, the game can start to feel pretty easy, but it is definitely difficult enough that it will punish you if you get complacent.
I have completed 4 different quests a total of 12 times with various characters so far. There appear to be a total of 10 quests and 6 characters. Each character gets a gold bonus the first time they complete a particular quest, which is good motivation to revisit areas.
If I had one gripe so far, it would probably be that the gear for each class has a lot of overlap. Every class has a weapon that shoots fire in a line or in a circle around your target, for instance. Of course, that could change somewhat toward the latter parts of the game, but I suspect it won’t.
If you’d enjoy a rogue like that isn’t super-taxing, is broken up into bite-sized chunks, and is highly-polished, this one is definitely worth checking out.
I’ve had the PC version of Sproggiwood on my wishlist for a while now. Glad to hear it’s awesome.
I spent time yesterday reading up on this but ultimately decided against because 1) no mid-save in a dungeon, or suspend state (as you mentioned) 2) $10 price (that’s just my problem) and 3) cutesy graphics (also, just my problem). But now your detailed write-up has me reconsidering…
tyler, the cutesy stuff is pretty pervasive. There’s a couple of gamely videos in the TA thread. I’d check those out before buying a premium title you aren’t sure you can get into.
Oooo! This got my attention, as I loved Shiren on DS. But no mid-dungeon suspend? Are they patching that in?
Random question, are there a lot of roguelikes on the DS?