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Other Announcements / IRDC US - Atlanta, GA - May 30-31

« on: February 20, 2015, 07:53:56 PM »

Hello!

Formally announcing the International Roguelike Developers Conference (USA Edition) 2015! Hosted by myself in Atlanta, GA, the weekend of May 30-31 (backup dates June 6-7). Featuring (currently) Mark Johnson, a handful of other mystery guests, local developers, and YOU!

I am trying to spread the word as much as I can. This would be the first-ever IRDC in the US of A. Please help if you can. So far we have Mark (URR) Johnson coming, and I am in the process of lining up a bunch of other speakers. It will most likely be held somewhere on Georgia Tech campus, in lovely (and sunny) Midtown Atlanta. Final location TBD.

I set up a general page for info here: http://irdc2015usa.tumblr.com/

If you are at all interested in attending (in person or otherwise) please help us gauge interest by filling out this very short google form: http://goo.gl/forms/Mqn1AgSXUT

Thanks so much, and happy rogueliking!


- Todd (aka Heroic Fisticuffs, sometimes?)

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Other Announcements / Re: "Let's talk about IRDC 2015"

« on: October 17, 2014, 08:46:20 PM »

Or reddit...which seems sliiiightly easier to deal with than the newsgroup!
http://www.reddit.com/r/roguelikes/comments/2jjqps/irdc_2015_vote_for_potential_locations/

Or..discuss below!

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Early Dev / Re: Roguelike Incubator

« on: June 12, 2012, 01:30:09 AM »

Hey, I do too look at the code!!

That one time.. with Brogue.

Yeah...

So who else do we got?

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Early Dev / Re: Roguelike Incubator

« on: June 12, 2012, 01:08:38 AM »

Agreed. I'm not interested in making money. I think asking for donations at this point is obviously a little premature, but I like the idea of doing that down the road. The obvious one is Child's Play, but the humble indie bundles have that well-covered. I'm sure there are plenty of others out there worthy of consideration.

As for open source... it's nothing against it, philosophically. It's more just that I don't want to have to maintain clean code.

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Early Dev / Re: Roguelike Incubator

« on: June 12, 2012, 12:34:40 AM »

I registered "andMyAt.com" because it was super nerdy and made me laugh.

I like the enthusiasm! And Darren's site looks like a good start. I also have webspace that I'm not really using and am happy to host downloads, or put up a site down the road. (I did http://roguelikechallenge.appspot.com/)

While I was not originally considering open source, I'll think about it. Since I am doing web-based technically all of the javascript/html is "open" anyways, but not the server side stuff. However, I think it does send a nice message when you can stick "100% open" on there.

Thanks guys!

- Todd

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Early Dev / Re: Roguelike Incubator

« on: June 10, 2012, 03:08:07 PM »

I was thinking "new" games. Or at least, games that may exist in some alpha/7drl stage, but desire to be bigger and better! So, we'd all help each other get to that point, instead of each individual developer flailing around by themselves.

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Early Dev / Re: Roguelike Incubator

« on: June 10, 2012, 01:07:39 AM »

Right. I wouldn't want ALL teams. But if the make up is say, 4 individuals, and 1 team of 2, I don't see the big difference. If we are talking a team of 5 working on one game, then, maybe that would be good for a different kind of bundle. Although if you have 5 guys making a game you hopefully don't have to try as hard to get feedback

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Early Dev / Re: Roguelike Incubator

« on: June 09, 2012, 06:27:49 PM »

@mariodonick:
> As I said, I am (basically) in, too -- but first (as you're the one who brought up the idea and should organize it  ) please clarify what exactly the cabal now will be:
> 1. Individual developers working on individual games, giving input and feedback to each other?
> 2. Teams, where each team creates one game?
> 3. Both is possible?

3 seems fine to me! The point is basically to 'guarantee' (as much as we can) a nice, friendly bunch of folk to test your game. You do the same to them. Honest feedback is all that is required!

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Early Dev / Re: Roguelike Incubator

« on: June 09, 2012, 06:24:45 PM »

In terms of the "bundle" theme, here are my ideas:

(1) "definitely a roguelike" -- obviously up to some interpretation but I think we all know it when we see it
(2) multi-platform -- no one feels left out
(3) new-player friendly -- no player left behind, Darren's guidelines are a good place to start, although I don't agree with 100% of them: clear interface, simplified key mappings, mouse (less Nethack, more Brogue)
(4) "lunch break" sized -- medium sized RL. Heftier than a 7DRL, but not super-dense. Not remaking Crawl or ADOM.

In terms of setting or genre, I don't think we need or want a restriction. (e.g. the 'space roguelike bundle!!' is not necessary, but would certainly be amusing)

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Early Dev / Re: Roguelike Incubator

« on: June 09, 2012, 05:23:40 PM »

Nice to see this idea has gained some traction! Obviously I brought it up for a reason. I do like Jeff's take on it, though. This IS a somewhat elitist proposal, but not in a bad way. The "cabal" is indeed beholden to each other. It should at MOST be 4-6 games, I think. A sub-forum would be great but I think the majority of it could be done over e-mail, chat, google docs, etc. The sub-forum would allow others not in the cabal to participate, at least with the playing and testing, and watching us fail miserably.

So, Darren is in. Obviously, I am in. Who else? Drop me a message here.

- Todd

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Early Dev / Re: Roguelike Incubator

« on: May 31, 2012, 11:05:25 AM »

@Krice, who said "Just don't play coffee break or 7DRL roguelikes. Wait until one of them becomes a real roguelike, which could happen in theory if the developer is interested to get real. "

That's kind of the point! We need more games to "graduate" from 7DRL or coffee break to a "real roguelike". 

@Jeff, for some reason Cabal sounds way too evil! But yeah, that's the idea I'm going for... less solitary, more collaborative. The problem is getting enough critical mass to make it worthwhile.

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Early Dev / Roguelike Incubator

« on: May 30, 2012, 01:41:27 AM »

Hey all!

Long time lurker on RT, first time poster. (Long time both on RGRD!) I have something I want to run past you guys...


I just finished listening to the last roguelike radio episode, on "coffee break" roguelikes. Great stuff as per usual. The part about smaller games and finding audiences really hit me though. I remembered having a similar conversation with Darren back during the 7DRL episode I did in March. I've been noodling on this problem ever since, but Darren's idea of a 'bundle' shook off some of the cobwebs.

My vision is some kind of roguelike "incubator" project. A handful of serious* developers looking to produce roguelikes that are medium or 'lunch-break' -sized games. My guess is Darren's Rogue Rage fits somewhere in this category, but there are no doubt plenty of others. Basically, we'd all be committed to being each others alpha testers. Sort of a give-and-get kind of deal. Since we are all bundled together, we share marketing (as much as anything done by amateur RL developers can be called "marketed") burdens and help spread exposure to other games.

All of this can be accomplished through something as simple as a rogue temple forum/thread, a google group, a simple deploy/comment website, or some combination there of. Non-bundle developers can be included or excluded... I'd feel weird turning away anyone that wants to help try a game, but on the other hand the crux of this project is the "incubator" part, which is by definition somewhat closed.

The goal of the project would be to release 4 or 5 new fun & playable roguelikes to the community. Roguelikes that are already (mostly) balanced and well criticized, and beta-worthy as a bare minimum. This relieves the average player of the burden of being an alpha/beta tester that goes along with trying out a brand new game (obviously plenty of people -- myself included -- find this fun at times, but probably not all the time). Sort of like a 'seal of approval' for the 5 games -- they are guaranteed to not totally suck (probably). The 7DRL judges scores serve a similar purpose. You can be fairly certain that the top 10-15 games are fun enough to be worth playing.

I realize some of this sounds a bit presumptuous and I assure you it is not intended that way. I have nothing but respect for my fellow roguelike developers. My goal is to foster the kind of atmosphere I see in other parts of the "indie" gaming community and form something that is very real and will have an impact.

That's all for now! Very curious to hear thoughts & feedback.

- Todd

* definition of this word considered too loaded for the current discussion

PS - I'm also aware of the Annual Roguelike Release Party (should be coming up this September?), and haven't figured out quote how (if at all) this idea relates to that.