Messages

1

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Legerdemain 10th Anniversary

« on: July 25, 2018, 10:27:31 PM »

Hello,

The Phenomedom Tourist Bureau is looking for new visitors.

I noticed the other day that I was coming up on ten years since I first announced Legerdemain 1.0 to Usenet (and probably here as well) so I wanted to do something to celebrate. I came up with the idea of hosting a source code ransom:

https://www.gofundme.com/legerdemain-source-code-ransom

Legerdemain is what I like to call a work of roguelikefiction: it is inspired by roguelikes but seeks to invoke a story & atmosphere that is inherently nonrandom. I'm under the impression some people still like to play it, but its presence online these days is rather dim. I figured a ransom would be a way to stir things up & maybe give something back to the developer community.

I have other roguelikefiction projects that have all fizzled or been held in abeyance for various reasons, but I suspect my enthusiasm for the form will last a lifetime. I wanted to say thanks for the reviews, emails, and criticisms over the years, they've all added up to an experience for which I am very grateful.

Cheers,
Nathan

http://roguelikefiction.com

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Programming / Re: Ye Olde Roguelike Grimoire

« on: May 19, 2012, 03:02:47 PM »

Me too, Junicode might be just the thing too. Maybe add some wiggling or crawling effects for particular glyphs that you target or stare at too long...

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Programming / Re: Ye Olde Roguelike Grimoire

« on: May 09, 2012, 12:57:03 AM »

Cool thanks for the suggestions, I didn't know about any of these.

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Programming / Ye Olde Roguelike Grimoire

« on: May 08, 2012, 04:34:01 PM »

Hello,

Wanted to bounce an idea off you guys here - imagine a screen where the player is looking at the yellowed pages of an old musty grimoire. The book is full of recipes and magic formulae but with proper training the reader can make the text come alive, can make it move and rearrange itself at the behest of ahem, keystrokes typed from his, umm, magic keyboard. (This part of the metaphor needs work) Anyway this interplay between the reactive text and the player's decisions results in a little scene or a battle which feels like a roguelike game.

For the moment I'm bringing this up just to focus on whether this kind of interface would *look* good. Almost all roguelikes I've encountered use a black background. For something like the grimoire you'd want the color of old pages and text that was black or at least dark enough to show up well against parchment. Fonts and so forth would reflect Renaissance moods, Arthurian, Gothic, etc.

So are there any text-centric games out there (bonus points if it is a Roguelike) that look like this? MUDs could conceivably fit but they typically look like Telnet consoles. Browser-based text games are typically too modern, full of buttons and menus and combo boxes. Kingdom of Loathing comes close but it isn't really a text-centric game imo.

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Off-topic (Locked) / Roguelike Business Ideas and Indie Press Revolution

« on: December 07, 2010, 12:28:49 AM »

Those of you familiar with Legerdemain (http://roguelikefiction.com) may be interested to know it has been picked up by Indie Press Revolution. These guys specialize in pen-and-paper roleplaying books produced by small publishers, and more often than not the content is creator-owned. They've been established in business for a few years now and evidently provide distribution services for over a hundred such companies.

You can check out the link here: http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/product.php?productid=17432

They sell PDFs as well.

In the case of Legerdemain they've gone outside of their comfort zone with, in their mind, a very retro-styled CRPG offering. I'm pretty sure the reason they've done this is because when you order the game it comes with physical stuff. If you package together the CD, map, and cluebook and put it on a shelf, the form factor is very similar to many of their pen-and-paper products. If I had just handed them a video game on a CD I don't think they would have been able to sell it.

One reason I thought I'd mention this here is that, well, if they are interested in one product it stands to reason they'd be interested in two. I personally don't have another roguelike-ish/CRPG game with a printed book waiting in the queue, ready to be shipped, but I figured there might be folks at Roguetemple who'd consider shooting for that. The physical stuff needn't be a cluebook, of course, or even a book, but I think the key is to have something tangible that can sit on a shelf.

Anyhow, this could be an opportunity for a roguelike developer out there, and I'd be interested in participating or even just being a sounding board if the right project came along. I've had experience pitching Legerdemain to folks at gaming conventions, and even though I've yet to achieve the measure of psychedelic Boogadah domination I had originally hoped for, I have learned a few things.

And I think it would be fun to brainstorm, at the very least.

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Other Announcements / Re: Internationale Spieltage 2010

« on: September 03, 2010, 03:30:17 AM »

The tile version is going great, stay tuned for some news about it on my website in the next week or so.

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Other Announcements / Re: Internationale Spieltage 2010

« on: September 02, 2010, 01:28:10 PM »

Hey thanks jim, I've got another game cooking, quite a bit different as it takes some of the RPG design elements in a new direction.

Still a strong emphasis, though, on the "roguelike + fiction" formula.

Unfortunately I can't seem to find the time or resources to make much progress on it at the moment. Maybe in 2011 things will clear up a bit.

Cheers,
Nathan

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Other Announcements / Re: Essen Spiel 2010

« on: September 01, 2010, 09:55:11 PM »

You got it, here's a link for more info:

http://www.internationalespieltage.de/e000.php4

There are some electronic games there but you are right, the main focus is boardgaming.

The funny thing is I've attended boardgaming-centric conventions in the USA (GenCon, Origins) and, despite the relative lack of computer game companies, the roguelike buzz there has been quite strong. For one thing I think the genre may appeal to boardgamers (top-down view, heavy on strategy, etc.) and for another thing you aren't competing with hundreds of other computer game companies.

In general we get three types of customers: people that *get* roguelikes and are on-board right from the start, people that have heard of roguelikes and are willing to give one a try, and folks that have no clue what it's all about. The first group is the most supportive and most likely to buy your product, but the experience is most rewarding when you're able to win over a member of the third group

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Other Announcements / Internationale Spieltage 2010

« on: September 01, 2010, 07:31:42 PM »

Hello,

I'll be promoting my game Legerdemain at Essen Spiel in Germany from October 21-24. It is one of the biggest game conferences in the world and I imagine it will be a blast.

For those who don't know, Legerdemain is a roguelike/IF style game with a paid version that comes with a cluebook, the game on a CD, and a printed map. I've promoted it at several conferences in the USA and the response for the game in particular (as well as Roguelikes in general) has been very encouraging.

I'm posting here because I don't have anybody helping me run the booth at Spiel and I could use the assistance. I've rented a two-bedroom flat so you'd have a place to stay about ten minutes from the con as well as a free badge to get in. A lot of the work merely involves engaging with customers and telling them about the game, although there is some set up and teardown involved (but really, not much).  

It also happens that I don't speak German, so if you do that would be a huge plus.

Anyhow if you think you might be interested PM me or send an email to legerdemain at bellsouth dot net. I'm looking for folks well-versed in roguelikes and not unaccustomed to talking with strangers.

And if you have any questions just ask!

Cheers!
Nathan

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Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Legerdemain 1.0.2 now released

« on: September 29, 2009, 01:53:07 PM »

A convenience for the Roguetemple crowd:

- 0000060: [Feature] Conversation search
- 0000215: [Concern] Can't pick locks when a monster is on the other side of a glass wall...
- 0000259: [Defect] Monsters hide under magically detected traps
- 0000252: [Concern] Should a roundstone weigh 1 instead of 2?
- 0000249: [Improve] Support for a smaller font?
- 0000245: [Defect] Getaway spot in (2,101) of White Vertigo doesn't trigger?
- 0000247: [Defect] Some highlighted words don't respond to player's keywords
- 0000269: [Improve] Imp-imp one-off square in Academy
- 0000255: [Improve] Minor tweak in the [M]editation command interface
- 0000267: [Improve] Opening/closing doors shouldn't prompt for direction if there's only one...
- 0000265: [Improve] Memorable paragraph 30 is possible to miss
- 0000266: [Defect] Jumjum is inaccessible!
- 0000257: [Defect] Secret rooms you are right next to reported incorrectly?
- 0000264: [Chore] Digital signature expired 2/26/09
- 0000243: [Defect] Using "et dub dubble" scroll in inn causes strangeness
- 0000244: [Defect] Random merchants sometimes appear in unhealthy terrain
- 0000263: [Feature] Support for doing a character dump at any time
- 0000261: [Defect] Crash when enchanting items past divine
- 0000262: [Defect] Crash in response to message toggling cmd (Painter's Rim)
- 0000248: [Defect] Offering someone an empty equipment slot...
- 0000260: [Concern] Divinity apothecary still won't let me in?
- 0000246: [Improve] Tattooist conversation doesn't have an important keyword highlighted

Thanks for your interest!

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Programming / Re: Would fans of Roguelikes play a roguelike no matter how it was made ?

« on: May 13, 2009, 01:40:11 AM »

I have no idea how flexible inform is but if it can do a RL, why should i mind? I've heard some folks even look at RLs programmed in freebasic

I have heard rumors of an implementation of Rogue in Z-Code, which would be pretty much proof positive that it *can* be done, since Inform 7 -> Inform 6 -> Z-Code.

But I've no clue whether that's a practical approach or not.

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Programming / Re: Would fans of Roguelikes play a roguelike no matter how it was made ?

« on: May 13, 2009, 01:32:58 AM »

I think the most common pitfall in this admittedly very unexplored area, is to add fixed IF content to the procedurally generated RL dungeons. What I feel, instead, is that the roguelike genre is so great because of the randomness/replayability, and to really take advantage of IF-like features (such as a storyline, or puzzles), you should ideally tie it up with the principle of randomness, in a meaningful way.

What if this principle of randomness or infinitely generated worlds was itself a part of the plot?

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Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Legerdemain v1.0.1 now available

« on: December 08, 2008, 06:15:00 PM »

Hey thanks for your support, your package shipped today!

There's more game development in GA than you might think. Check out www.ggda.org for more info, they have regular meetings and you can become a member for networking, info on local cons, etc.

So far I'm the only vocal roguelike afficionado of the group, but it would be great to have some others

You can also check out Legerdemain on Facebook at:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Legerdemain/37915379497?ref=share

Quite a few of the fans on there are situated in and around the Metro Atlanta area.

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Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Legerdemain v1.0.1 now available

« on: October 30, 2008, 11:04:23 AM »

Tiles: they seem to be a rite of passage for any roguelike wishing to obtain some semblance of popularity. So yes, I've been thinking about it.

I'd want original ones though, and I'll need several hundred of them since the character set is so large. Several sizes too, preferably. And I'll need to find someone with artistic ability who is willing to draw them.

It might be too early to send out a call for tiles, but if there's lots of interest then that would encourage me to speed up the process.

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Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Legerdemain v1.0.1 now available

« on: October 29, 2008, 04:04:35 AM »

Sure, ordinarily you can retrieve them via Mantis, available here:

http://roguelikefiction.com/mantis

But for convenience I've listed them below:

- 0000240: [Defect] Conversation history cites incorrect paragraph numbers (njerpe) - resolved.
- 0000242: [Defect] Raising crooked wand reveals in duplicate messages (njerpe) - resolved.
- 0000241: [Defect] It is possible to get stuck in the top half of the fens. (njerpe) - resolved.
- 0000238: [Defect] Unable to access fungal caves in Sewers of Zor III (njerpe) - resolved.
- 0000239: [Defect] Bedrethorn highlights *memory* but has no response for it (njerpe) - resolved.
- 0000236: [Defect] Repeat voyages to White Vertigo strand the character (njerpe) - resolved.
- 0000237: [Defect] Gossiping about Filloughby does not unlock his 'knock name' (njerpe) - resolved.