Messages

1

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Moria video podcast

« on: May 15, 2014, 08:49:52 PM »

BenHorst, what software are you using to make these videos?

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Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Moria video podcast

« on: April 17, 2014, 04:32:05 PM »

Very nice production values! And good explanations too.

I would consider moving the wheel of source code to the end of the show, though. Now you start with two small features (a monster, a piece of source code) and then the main feature. I personally would prefer having the main feature in the middle with the monster as an appetiser and the source code as a more technical epilogue.

I'm interested in seeing what's going to happen. I'm not familiar with uMoria, and to be frank ... it seems a little bit boring after seeing one-and-a-half session. As far as I've seen, there's very little to pick up in the dungeon, the dungeon floors are very large without something handy like DC:SS's auto-epxlore fuction, the monsters don't appear to have much individuality, and the strategy for beating them seems quite constant. But of course I realise that a lot of that might just be because we're only on the first level, so as I said: I'm interested in seeing what's going to happen!

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Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Kerkerkruip 9 released

« on: April 13, 2014, 08:55:33 AM »

The Kerkerkruip team is happy to announce the release of Kerkerkruip 9, by far the most extensive update of the game ever made. Kerkerkruip is a short-form roguelike in the interactive fiction medium, featuring meaningful tactical and strategic depth, innovative game play, zero grinding, and a sword & sorcery setting that does not rehash tired clichés.

With over 700 commits to the code repository, the changes made in Kerkerkruip 9 are far too numerous to mention here. But the highlights are:

• Original theme music for the main menu, composed and produced by Wade Clarke.
• An entirely reworked reaction system allows you to dodge, block, parry and roll away from incoming attacks. Successful reactions increase your offensive or defensive flow, adding a new layer of tactical depth to combat.
• An entirely reworked religion system allows you to sacrifice absorbed powers to the gods. Worshipping gods grants lasting benefits, including divine interventions on your behalf; but losing absorbed powers makes you weaker in the short term. Religion thus becomes an important aspect of the player's overall strategy.
• Grenades can now be thrown into adjacent rooms, opening up new tactical options. However, your enemies may sometimes manage to throw them back to you!
• A powerful new grenade is the Morphean grenade, which puts people to sleep. If you become its victim, you'll find yourself drawn into one of several dream sequences: weird and dangerous adventures that have an effect on the real world.
• The hiding system has been streamlined, boosted and made far more transparent. Stealth has now become a viable option.
• The player now starts out with one of several starting kits, necessitating different approaches to the dungeon.
• New content includes the angel of compassion, a radiant being that loses its lustre as people die around it; Israfel, a terrible angel that can split into two smaller beings for increased combat effectiveness before reuniting to heal; and the Arena of the Gods, where you can defend your god's honour against other divine champions.
• A new Menu implementation which is both screen reader friendly and hyperlink enabled.

We are now also offering stand-alone installers for specific operating systems. While it's still possible to download the game file and run it in your favourite Glulx interpreter, there are also installers for Windows and Debian/Ubuntu. We will be supporting OS X in the near future.

Finally, we have a new website at http://kerkerkruip.org. That's where you should go for downloads, more information about the game and how to contribute, and a link to the wiki.

Kerkerkruip is presented to you by the Kerkerkruip team: Victor Gijsbers, Mike Ciul, Dannii Willis, Erik Temple and Remko van der Pluijm. We hope you enjoy the new version. If you've got any comments, or if you'd like to contribute to this free software project, please go the website for details and contact us!

Click here for an in-game screen shot.

4

Programming / Kerkerkruip is looking for a Debian sponsor

« on: May 22, 2013, 12:07:17 PM »

Kerkerkruip is an actively developed interactive fiction Roguelike. (See this topic for the latest release announcement.) While it is still actively improved and extended, it has been a finished, fully playable, non-beta game since October 2011.

We would love to make playing Kerkerkruip easier for Debian/Ubuntu/etc users by having it in the Debian repository. The game is free software (GPLv3 or later) and suitable for inclusion Debian; the gargoyle player, which is needed to run it, is already in Debian (package gargoyle-free).

While we can build the Debian package ourselves, we need a sponsor to get the package into the distribution. We tried finding a sponsor through the usual process (posting a bug report) in November 2012: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=694157 However, this didn't lead to any response. So I'm hoping that perhaps there is a Debian maintainer hanging around on this forum who would like to sponsor us!

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Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Kerkerkruip release 8

« on: May 15, 2013, 03:22:03 PM »

We've made a minor but significant update of Kerkerkruip 8, which you therefore might want to redownload.

* An optimisation of the windows drawing code makes some of the graphical operations *much* faster. This is especially notable when returning from the map to the main game window.
* Fixed a bug with how the psycholocation scroll worked in non-graphical mode.

Note that due to the nature of the Glulx virtual machine, this will break existing saved games; so if you're in the middle of a game, you might want to finish that first.

Have fun!

The Kerkerkruip team (Victor Gijsbers, Dannii Willis, Erik Temple, Remko van der Pluijm)

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Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Kerkerkruip release 8

« on: May 13, 2013, 10:06:41 PM »

We're working on music. Might happen in Kerkerkruip 9, though I make no promises. (Mostly because I'm not the one who's going to compose it. Luckily for all of us. )

If you play in graphical mode, the 'map' command will give you the automap. There's no 'minimap' in the sense of a smaller map than the full map.

7

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Kerkerkruip release 8

« on: May 12, 2013, 08:14:52 AM »

I hope you'll enjoy it!

If I recall correctly, both the new combat reactions and the always-visible inventory/status windows were developed in response to suggestions made on this very forum. So we apparently listen to feedback.

8

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Kerkerkruip release 8

« on: May 11, 2013, 11:50:12 AM »

The Kerkerkruip team is very pleased to release version 8 of the interactive fiction roguelike Kerkerkruip! This release brings some major interface changes, including:

* Introductory movies.
* A graphical main menu.
* After you defeat a monster, it will be added to your Rogues Gallery, a collection of trading cards with stats that summarize your history with each enemy.
* Side panels that allow you to see your inventory, status and granted powers at all times.
* A graphical map that is automatically updated as you explore the dungeon.

Don't worry: you can also play Kerkerkruip in non-graphical mode if you are using screen reader technology or a slow computer. The game will ask you for your preference when it is first started.

There are of course also many changes to the game itself:

* Several new rooms: the Hall of Raging Banshees, the Columnated Ruins, the Tungausy Sweat Lodge, the Zen Room, and the rare but powerful Arena of the Fallen.
* New items, including the dagger Giantbane; scrolls of mutation, mapping, and psycholocation; magical guides that allow you to identify scrolls; and the crown of the god-king.
* A new level 4 enemy, the overmind. It is weak, but it strengthens all its allies, and can call them to its aid when endangered.
* Two new combat reactions: rolling (a more dangerous but potentially devastating form of dodging) and blocking (a form of parrying in which you use your concentration for extra defence).
* Blood magic, which allows you to feed your own health to items in order to make them more powerful. Are you willing to take the risk? Of course you are. Are you willing to take it a second time, trading more blood for more power? What about a third time?
* A small but very significant tweak to the combat system: you can now snort ment during fights!
* And many other additions, tweaks and bug fixes.

As always, we hope you'll enjoy the new version! To play Kerkerkruip:

1. Download the zip file http://lilith.cc/~victor/kerkerkruip/Kerkerkruip-latest.zip , and unzip it in a location of your choice. It contains the game file and a .ini file for Gargoyle.
2. Download the latest version of the Gargoyle interactive fiction interpreter: http://code.google.com/p/garglk/downloads/list . It is available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux!
3. Open the game file Kerkerkruip.gblorb with gargoyle, and you're ready to go.

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Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Kerkerkruip 7

« on: February 19, 2013, 08:57:36 PM »

Awesome game!

Thanks!

Also, Malygris seems to have become my friend at some point and I can't horribly murder him. It's driving me apeshit.

Did you use the "enslave" power on him? That should win you the game -- if that didn't happen, there might be a bug. Otherwise, could you post the full results of an "x malygris" command?

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Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Kerkerkruip 7

« on: January 07, 2013, 05:57:13 PM »

Hey guys, just to let you know: there will be some additional combat actions in the next release of Kerkerkruip (I've already added two, though I still need to test them for balance), and we are discussing the possibility of having inventory and/or status in separate parts of the screen. I'm not promising that the latter will happen, but we're looking into it!

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Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Kerkerkruip 7

« on: December 31, 2012, 11:56:22 AM »

(Legend, I think that's a spammer who has just copied one of your earlier messages in order to generate a link to the website in his signature!)

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Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Kerkerkruip 7

« on: December 30, 2012, 11:01:47 PM »

The idea of only being able to keep the powers you have by defeating lower level enemies is a bit rough. Especially since, as far as I can tell, there is no way to know what level the enemy is.

If you examine the enemy ("x ..."), it will tell you what level it is! You can also scout out (some of) the dungeon using the retreat option, and then plan the order in which you want to take on your enemies to optimise your build. In fact, this is one of the main strategic challenges. If you do it right, you can end up with a very powerful character. So it shouldn't be taking away the feeling of progression; it just make progression non-automatic, but a strategic challenge. Which, in my book, is a good thing. (Of course, if you didn't find out how to check the levels of the enemies, I can imagine it didn't feel that way!)

I'm taking note of the other things you said, and will be thinking about them. Thanks!

13

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Kerkerkruip 7

« on: December 30, 2012, 09:06:17 AM »

Although when I ran into Fafhrd and Grey Mouser there, I really thought they were going to be friendly and we could have joined forces. :p (Nice to see the Leiber reference)

They are friendly. Unfortunately, they're also under the enslaving influence of the mindslug. But they won't be when it dies (hint, hint ).

It would be nice if there were more combat actions like different moves. Like roll, side-step, bash, slash, overhead swing, thrust, back-step, etc. I think this would make combat more interesting and add more flavor to it to make it more engrossing.

The basic idea is that there is a simple set of combat moves (based on the two tactical decisions "attack or concentrate?" and "defend or concentrate?"), and then the powers, grenades, scrolls, other items, room features, enemy's abilities, and so on, add the needed diversity and flavour. A tried-and-true recipe, of course: in most roguelikes, you'll have the basic decision between "attack enemy" and "move one square away from enemy", and then it's all the skills and items and terrain features and other monsters that make this interesting.

That said, I'm open to any and all concrete ideas. 

It would be nice if there was an option to turn off the roll results during combat. It's a bit distracting and takes away from the immersion in my opinion. I much prefer flavorful descriptions of whether the strike landed or missed instead.

I thought about that for a long time (the option is actually standard in my ATTACK combat system, but I specifically turned it off for Kerkerkruip), and decided against it. There is so much important information in those numbers, that playing without them is like playing the game blindfolded. ("Why does the mummified priest keep hitting me? Oh wait, it's getting a bonus from those unholy runes on the walls of this room!") While I find -- and I believe others as well -- that they stop being distracting after you've played a few games. You can just have eyes skip over them whenever you're not interested in the details, but it'll all be there when you are.

Had a couple more plays. I see now that there are eventually more move options, but it seems as though there is only ever one extra option besides the basic ones.

Ah, no! Understanding how powers work is crucial to winning the game, so let me explain. The dungeon always contains two level 1 monsters, two level 2 monsters, a level 3 monster, a level 4 monster, and the final boss Malygris, who is level 5. (Some of these monsters may be groups of monsters, and there can also be level 0 monsters like undead.) Whenever you kill a monster, you will get a power related to that monster; and you will lose all powers of the same or a lower level. But you will keep all powers of a higher level.

Example: you kill the blood ape (level 1), and now have a level 1 power. You then kill the demon of rage (level 2); you'll get his level 2 power, but you'll lose the ape's power. You then kill Miranda (level 1); you will get her power, and because the demon of rage's power has a power level higher than 1, you'll get to keep that as well. So you now have two powers.

So if you managed to kill, in that order, a level 4, level 3, level 2 and level 1 monster, you'd end up with four powers.

(And it's not just the powers in the sense of the special abilities that work that way, but also the attack, defence and health bonuses you receive from destroying enemies.)

So it is always good to kill high level monsters first! But, unfortunately, it is also most difficult to kill high level monsters first. 

As much as I have tried to, it seems none of the characters will actually talk to me and only end up attacking me.

Yeah, there's not a lot of talk. Though there are several ways to gain allies.

What's with the branches that kept growing, thorns, then fruit, then brambles, then another type of fruit, etc? Couldn't really figure out what was going on with that as I was fighting a druidess. Could I have picked the fruit?

Nope, you can't pick the fruit. The druidess has a special power to summon brambles, which then randomly grow thorns and fruit. She can launch these whenever she wants to. If you manage to kill her, you will get this same power -- the power to summon brambles, and launch whatever thorns and fruit happen to grow on them. There is a wide variety of fruits, ranging from the slightly to the very useful, but, alas, nature is unpredictable.

If I can't use the ment during combat, how long will it last if I take it in an empty room before I find someone I need to fight?

I'd have to look at the source code, but it is a random number around 15 turns, I think. (Defensive turns don't count.) Long enough that you have a fair chance to finish the fight before it wears off, but short enough that you're not guaranteed to finish the fight.

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Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Kerkerkruip 7

« on: December 29, 2012, 11:42:11 PM »

Sounds interesting. Does it only remember every time you beat it in a single session or between sessions too? Some sort of actual scoring system with a high score table would be nice though. I'm pretty familiar with interactive fiction, but not sure if that would actually be possible in Inform.

Yeah, the data are persistent between sessions. (Inform supports external files.)

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Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Kerkerkruip 7

« on: December 29, 2012, 08:29:39 PM »

There is a score in the sense that every time you win, the difficulty of the game is increased; and every time you lose, it is decreased. (Except when you're playing on the already-pretty-tough lowest difficulty level.) The game remembers the maximum difficulty you have managed to achieve, so that should count as a kind of score.

"Kerker" is Dutch for "dungeon", and "kruip" is Dutch for "crawl". Now you can't really put them together to form a single word in this way, but hey, it sounds and looks cool.