Messages

1

Programming / Re: Grouping the ASCII symbols?

« on: July 20, 2010, 03:41:59 PM »

I tend to lean towards something very similar to the list, with the exception being that I've replaced shops with letters, for clarity -- it's a lot easier to think "where's the blacksmith?" and look for a big blue letter B in a wall, rather than trying to remember if it's number 2 or 3.

I think the items/terrain/features sections tend to be fairly interchangable, though; I personally think there's nothing better than ~ to represent water, for example, though some RLs use that for items. And * is useful for some terrain features, though if I recall correctly it's also used in Angband/ToME (I forget if it's one, the other, or both!) to represent orbs of light, and also in ToME for alchemy essences; not such a big deal though, since the colour chosen usually makes it clear which is which.

So in conclusion, personally I just go for whatever seems appropriate at the time, with a few exceptions set in stone such as # for walls, . for floors, @ for the player (other humanoids are 'p' for person, rather than being confusing with multiple @'s), and so on. As long as things are used in a fairly clear context, then there can easily be some bleed-over between categories without adding confusion.

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Programming / Re: Are any of you familiar with certain rl sources?

« on: July 04, 2010, 12:07:38 PM »

I second that opinion. At first I tried to write my own pathfinding algorithm, which was clunky and horrible, moved on to Dijkstra, and finally settled on A* as the best trade-off of speed and accuracy. It's really not as daunting or complicated as it first seems; I got A* working from scratch within an afternoon.

Here's a great tutorial that covers it from the ground up, and explains pretty much everything you'd need to know. It helped me a lot. http://www.policyalmanac.org/games/aStarTutorial.htm

Edit: Personally I used a single vector of structs (containing details like X,Y coords, parent node, etc.) for both the 'open' and 'closed' lists, and a bool within the struct to specify whether the tile is open or not. If you're good with vectors, then it's very easy to make it work.

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Off-topic (Locked) / Re: Silly Americans

« on: May 01, 2010, 09:06:46 AM »

Heheh, nice parody there, two thumbs up.

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Other Announcements / Re: The Roguelike News Grab - A digest of news from the roguelike community.

« on: April 24, 2010, 03:17:54 AM »

Very nice! As someone who absent-mindedly loses track of things often and relies a lot on RSS to keep track of goings-on, this is a godsend to me. Keep up the great work!

5

Programming / Re: Some themes, have they been done before?

« on: March 22, 2010, 10:52:58 PM »

Well, in my (albeit limited) experience, it seems the vast majority of successful roguelikes are fantasy-based; which is to say, any idea that breaks from that and goes in another direction (such as sci-fi) is fairly original by default. That's not to say it's never been done before, but it's certainly a fair few steps further up the originality ladder than yet more orcs and elves. With that said:

Black Pope: Interesting idea, and I don't think I've seen horror done much in roguelikes, other than an attempt with CthAngband (is that still around?). I can't help but be reminded of the first Diablo game, which starts off with a descent into a demon-infested church, though that's pretty much where the similarities end. I definitely like the idea of a horror-themed roguelike though, that's something there hasn't been nearly enough of.

Escape Station: Gameplay-wise, I imagine this'd play much like a reverse ironman? I personally haven't seen much at all by way of space-themed sci-fi roguelikes, though I'm sure someone more knowledgable than me on the 'scene' may disagree. Still, I like this idea, it has a lot of potential.

Klingon: Probably the most original idea of the three, IMHO, and one that could work well if pulled off right, though I magine it'd be quite difficult to implement compared to the other two. Kinda like a roguelike version of Elite, in a way? I actually considered something similar myself, originally (though not Star Trek themed, much as I love ST) but scrapped it because it seemed far too complex and problematic to execute. My only real concern is that you say you're looking to develop "a more traditional roguelike", though something of this sort is anything but traditional -- it's a good idea and could be a lot of fun, but it's a long shot from tradition.

6

Programming / Re: Help me decide on an interface

« on: March 22, 2010, 10:33:10 PM »

I honestly don't have a preference on the borders, but I definitely vote for the thin text; IMHO, it looks a lot better.

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Temple of the Roguelike / Re: Welcome to Temple of the Roguelike Forums! (a.k.a. Introduce Yourself Thread)

« on: March 22, 2010, 10:31:03 PM »

Well, I've made a couple of posts here already, but I think I still qualify as new enough to say hi here.

I'm Tom, 28-year-old geek from England with delusions of grandeur, been playing roguelikes since I picked up a copy of Moria years ago on a 3.5" disk from a dodgy vendor at the local market. While I know it may not be the most popular of choices, I'm unashamedly more of a fan of Angband-style roguelikes than the NetHack-style ones, though really, it's all good. If it's a roguelike, changes are I'll play it.

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Off-topic (Locked) / Re: Favorite 7DRL so far

« on: March 22, 2010, 12:08:47 AM »

The main page of roguetemple.com has an article linking to the full list of entrants.

"2010 7DRL Challenge is over, results!"

Aha, so it does! Well, now I feel silly. But thanks

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Off-topic (Locked) / Re: Favorite 7DRL so far

« on: March 21, 2010, 06:40:00 PM »

I know this is going to sound terribly droll, but can any of you fine folks tell me where to actually find these oft-mentioned 7DRLs? I'm fairly new to the roguelike community, so I'm really not so clear on details like this.

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Off-topic (Locked) / Re: The scariest room in Roguedom!?

« on: March 21, 2010, 06:37:41 PM »

Believe me, I had the SAME feeling before trying it!
But now it's one of my favourite game EVER, and I just can't stop playing it once in a while.
Try it and have a good time with it

Seconded. It seemed like a terrible idea when I first heard of it, but it's actually executed quite superbly. It really surprised me.

Getting back on topic: I've never actually played Rogue (I know, I know...) and so being the reckless fool I am, I'm going to just vote for pretty much any of the monster pits in Angband. Nothing quite like stumbling blindly through a dungeon with a huge, stupid happy face before stumbling into a room full of bloodthirsty beasts. On the upside, I learned what it feels like to be a piñata.

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Other Announcements / Re: Project(?): creating a standard for keyboard controls in roguelikes

« on: November 08, 2009, 08:30:45 PM »

There was something like this .... ah here
http://roguebasin.roguelikedevelopment.org/index.php?title=Preferred_Key_Controls
And here
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.roguelike.development/browse_frm/thread/c4ebcb235cc275dc/?pli=1

Ahh, handy! I've started work on a new roguelike recently, and the dilemma of key layouts has been bothering me for some time now. This should come in quite handy, especially the first link.

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Programming / Re: "Extended ASCII"

« on: November 08, 2009, 08:09:25 PM »

Even very abstract graphics like wayfarer are much better than most ascii tweaks & workarounds imho.

I'm inclined to disagree there; while I mean no offense to the artists who make roguelike tilesets, I cannot stand playing them with, and tend to find ASCII much more appealing for the format. I'm sure I can't be the only person out there who feels this way.

There seems to be plenty of people on both sides of the line, but I for one will support ASCII in roguelikes (even rendered ASCII in a graphics windows) until the day I die.