Messages

1

Programming / Re: Which language and library to use

« on: July 04, 2014, 09:12:40 AM »

Because it's an utterly terrible language that delivers on none of the things it promises.

Wow, that's a strong opinion. I've worked on huge projects in Java, and highly regard it, even though I'm mostly a C++ developer. In fact, after two years of working with Java I probably wouldn't touch C++ again if not for the C++11 standard. Still, in many ways Java is light years ahead of C++.

What's your experience working with Java?

2

Programming / Re: Which language and library to use

« on: July 04, 2014, 05:23:16 AM »

Why not Java?

3

Programming / Re: Recursive portalcasting.

« on: July 04, 2014, 05:17:37 AM »

Neat   - I have portals in KeeperRL that you can shoot through, and thought it was pretty badass. I'm not going to copy your idea though

4

Programming / Re: FoV and LoS with obscurants (smoke)

« on: July 03, 2014, 08:44:38 AM »

Pardon my gimp skills, but this is what I meant, looks like not a tree to me. Maybe I didn't understand your algorithm.

5

Other Announcements / Re: Results for the 2013 Roguelike World Survey has been posted

« on: July 03, 2014, 08:22:07 AM »

Tiles have one big advantage over characters. You are able to see the terrain underneath items and creatures. Ever searched a whole level to find a staircase hidden below an apple?

Wow, I just realized, you don't even  play classic roguelikes!  I can't remember seeing a roguelike where it was possible to drop an item on a staircase.  Maybe my memory is more shot than I think but...

Wow, good one! I've won Nethack more than a dozen of times, and ADOM too. The only game I know where you can't do this is Brogue (?). And I was talking about things obscuring other things in general. Boy, it's difficult to get an argument across in here...

6

Programming / Re: FoV and LoS with obscurants (smoke)

« on: July 03, 2014, 08:11:14 AM »

Omnivore, I like your algorithm. I'm not sure though how it would work if it indeed generates a DAG a not a tree. I guess it depends on the specific line algorithm, but it's possible that two lines touch in one pixel and then diverge. It would add some not so nice ambiguity to traversing the graph.

7

Other Announcements / Re: Results for the 2013 Roguelike World Survey has been posted

« on: July 02, 2014, 07:07:03 PM »

And that's why I prefer character displays.  Specifically because they do NOT invite that kind of infinite variation in symbols.

How about mistaking a blue 'h' with purple 'h', i.e. a dwarf with a mindflayer?

Tiles have one big advantage over characters. You are able to see the terrain underneath items and creatures. Ever searched a whole level to find a staircase hidden below an apple?

8

Other Announcements / Re: Results for the 2013 Roguelike World Survey has been posted

« on: July 02, 2014, 01:30:51 PM »

Do you realize that using basic tiles is almost as easy as using ASCII? I believe the ASCII interface of DF are just unicode symboles rendered into sprites.

9

Other Announcements / Re: Results for the 2013 Roguelike World Survey has been posted

« on: July 02, 2014, 11:20:35 AM »

Well it did for me. But irrelevant, have a nice day.

10

Other Announcements / Re: Results for the 2013 Roguelike World Survey has been posted

« on: July 02, 2014, 11:15:40 AM »

Both of these games have both ASCII and graphical interfaces...

11

Other Announcements / Re: Results for the 2013 Roguelike World Survey has been posted

« on: July 02, 2014, 10:58:00 AM »

I'm glad that most developers don't agree with you on this

It's the players' loss.

Which players? Mushroom patch and a couple others? If I stuck to ASCII, admittedly that 10% of development time I spend on graphics could go into gameplay. But wait, the game would long be dead, because there'd be no chance to sell it, and I'd have to be back working at an office. Thank you, tiles!

12

Other Announcements / Re: Results for the 2013 Roguelike World Survey has been posted

« on: July 02, 2014, 08:05:57 AM »

I think tiles are okay as a fan add-on. I don't think it's good for people who produce actual roguelike game content (i.e. not tiles) to work on tiles, though.

I'm glad that most developers don't agree with you on this

13

Design / Re: Major moral controversial features in a game.

« on: June 26, 2014, 01:05:32 PM »

Yeah, that's funny, I will happily play a game where I kill human(oid)s, but not something like Deer Hunter. Even though in real life I'd kill an animal before a human. I guess that killing human(oid)s has gotten so neutral in the culture that it's treated outside of all other wrongdoings (talking about fiction and the media all the time).

14

Design / Re: Major moral controversial features in a game.

« on: June 26, 2014, 11:40:23 AM »

Good topic. I think Tome4 recently had a feature removed following players' request because of excessive killing of orc children (?)

Killing in games doesn't offend anyone because it's so present in everyday media. People don't pay attention to it as long as it's not happening in their immediate surrounding. Rape, on the other hand is much more dodgy, you rarely see it in the movies. Myself I would feel really uncomfortable to see it in a game, especially if I was to do it as a character. Similarly, I wouldn't put it in my own game. It's not that I think rape is any worse than murder, it's something else, maybe in the culture.

There are other things too, like slavery and racism. Both have been ever present in our culture. I wonder if there is any game, perhaps trying to be historically accurate, where the white race is dominating another race.

15

Design / Any roguelike point & click adventure games?

« on: June 26, 2014, 10:35:52 AM »

If we leave out the randomness and permadeath (or death altogether), a roguelike would turn into a weird point-and-click adventure game. It would feature rich interaction with the environment, heavy use of items and equipment, and possibly a big world to explore. Instead of hacking & slashing you'd be solving a big mystery, following a scripted scenario. Basically Monkey Island in ASCII. Are there any games like that?