Temple of The Roguelike Forums

Game Discussion => Classic Roguelikes => Topic started by: Lord Blade on February 02, 2012, 01:51:17 PM

Title: Good Roguelikes for beginners?
Post by: Lord Blade on February 02, 2012, 01:51:17 PM
So naturally I'd enjoy getting my girl to play ADoM, cause it's an excellent game (and I'm in it).
But it's a bit much for a beginner.

I was wondering what games (aside from the original of course) would be a good idea for someone to get their feet wet?

For me, I grew up gaming, so I can jump into anything without a thought and do well at it. But for those who haven't played much, it can all get rather confusing.
Title: Re: Good Roguelikes for beginners?
Post by: getter77 on February 02, 2012, 02:44:27 PM
Cardinal Quest, Dungeons of Dredmor, Dweller, DoomRL, Triangle Wizard, Spelunky, Binding of Isaac, Meritous, ToME 4 to an extent, several others that escape me.
Title: Re: Good Roguelikes for beginners?
Post by: Holsety on February 02, 2012, 03:14:13 PM
Try Brogue, The Slimy Lichmummy or Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup.
Title: Re: Good Roguelikes for beginners?
Post by: Darren Grey on February 02, 2012, 05:19:55 PM
ToME4 if she's played any graphical RPGs - everything will feel familiar to her, and she'll likely appreciate the story.
Title: Re: Good Roguelikes for beginners?
Post by: guest509 on February 04, 2012, 11:43:18 AM
  Yeah I'd say ToME4. Brogue, Crawl and Doom have a bit higher learning curve. And the Ascii of Doom and Brogue turns off the uninitiated. If she's comfortable with text and a slightly involved interface then she's good to go on just about anything really. If she digs ToME then the sky is the limit. Good luck.
Title: Re: Good Roguelikes for beginners?
Post by: Z on February 04, 2012, 12:02:44 PM
Spelunky, despite being a semi-roguelike, has the highest rating on IRLDb (http://roguetemple.com/irldb/index.php?i=5451b8&s=22.21.) (not counting games with only one voter), and is very good for beginners, assuming that they play platformers.

Other suggestions, well, probably it depends on what she likes...
Title: Re: Good Roguelikes for beginners?
Post by: dweller on February 05, 2012, 07:11:55 AM
I've introduced roguelikes to my girlfriend through brogue successfully. She plays it months now, trying to win. I've shown her also stone soup and te4, but brogue is best for her. Recommended.
Title: Re: Good Roguelikes for beginners?
Post by: Skeletor on February 05, 2012, 08:56:35 AM
A quest too far
The slimy lichmummy
Title: Re: Good Roguelikes for beginners?
Post by: AgingMinotaur on February 06, 2012, 08:46:22 AM
Regarding Spelunky: As much as it's a fun game, I wouldn't recommend it as a "gateway RL", it being a realtime platformer, and all. Liking Spelunky doesn't guarantee that you'll enjoy Nethack.

brogue is probably a good suggestion. Depending on personal tastes, Legerdemain might be worth considering. The interface is not too difficult, it has tiles and a nice setting.

Some quick games with a punchline: Teemu, Vicious Orcs. Lastly, let me mention that my own game Squirm, for all it's shortcomings, was developed as a coffeebreak RL with new players explicitly in mind.

As always,
Minotauros
Title: Re: Good Roguelikes for beginners?
Post by: Vanguard on February 23, 2012, 06:01:58 AM
Mage Guild is a good one.  It has an option for tiles, a nice tutorial, and it's not too long.
Title: Re: Good Roguelikes for beginners?
Post by: NeedsFoodBadly on February 28, 2012, 09:00:32 PM
My 9 year old son is playing both Dungeons of Dredmor and ToME4. 

My work on making my own roguelike in my spare time is also sparking some interest in programming for him as well.
Title: Re: Good Roguelikes for beginners?
Post by: guest509 on February 29, 2012, 11:45:40 AM
My 9 year old son is playing both Dungeons of Dredmor and ToME4. 

My work on making my own roguelike in my spare time is also sparking some interest in programming for him as well.

  Yes! Indoctrinate early. And often. I was hacking at that age.
Title: Re: Good Roguelikes for beginners?
Post by: NeedsFoodBadly on February 29, 2012, 06:06:57 PM
My 9 year old son is playing both Dungeons of Dredmor and ToME4. 

My work on making my own roguelike in my spare time is also sparking some interest in programming for him as well.

  Yes! Indoctrinate early. And often. I was hacking at that age.

I tried to start him on Vulture/Nethack but that was a little too much for him.  Hell, even I need to play that game with a reference sheet for commands.
Title: Re: Good Roguelikes for beginners?
Post by: ido on February 29, 2012, 06:28:37 PM
I tried to start him on Vulture/Nethack but that was a little too much for him.  Hell, even I need to play that game with a reference sheet for commands.

That's just cruel. At least go with a crawl if you absolutely have to introduce him to a "hardcore" roguelike (although I wouldn't go with any of the "classic" majors for a beginner - tome4 is probably a pretty decent choice).
Title: Re: Good Roguelikes for beginners?
Post by: NeedsFoodBadly on March 01, 2012, 06:37:01 PM
I tried to start him on Vulture/Nethack but that was a little too much for him.  Hell, even I need to play that game with a reference sheet for commands.

That's just cruel. At least go with a crawl if you absolutely have to introduce him to a "hardcore" roguelike (although I wouldn't go with any of the "classic" majors for a beginner - tome4 is probably a pretty decent choice).

Ha!  Well, at least I tried to get him to play the Vulture (graphic) version of Nethack.

Although he did surprise me the other day, when I was tooling around working on programming a prototype of an Ascii roguelike and he said, "Hmmm. That looks kinda cool. I might be interested..."

I've tried to work on getting him to see that it's gameplay not graphics that makes a game.  I've actually got a Mame cabinet in the house with full arcade sticks/buttons/trackball and the kids have a blast playing Pong and Warlords on it...although it usually devolves into fighting and arguing sooner or later...
Title: Re: Good Roguelikes for beginners?
Post by: ido on March 04, 2012, 02:50:32 PM
It's not about the graphics - I would much rather play the ascii version of doomrl or one of the newer ascii games like Vicious Orcs than nethack - the interface is just so arcane and hard to to use & the learning curve immense.
Title: Re: Good Roguelikes for beginners?
Post by: NeedsFoodBadly on March 05, 2012, 07:18:07 PM
It's not about the graphics - I would much rather play the ascii version of doomrl or one of the newer ascii games like Vicious Orcs than nethack - the interface is just so arcane and hard to to use & the learning curve immense.

You need a manual to read Nethack's manual. :/
Title: Re: Good Roguelikes for beginners?
Post by: Pueo on March 07, 2012, 05:34:16 AM
I would say Brogue, my little sister can play it pretty well, she's six.  Of course, she only gets around depth 5, then she gets overwhelmed with goblin conjurers. I keep telling her to run into a hallway, but, oh well.