Topics

1

Other Announcements / 7DRL Reviews!

« on: March 16, 2008, 11:28:29 AM »

Hi,

I figured I'd start a topic for reviewing the several 7DRLs that are being done this year. Feel free to add your own reviews!

I'll start with Fatherhood, by Jeff Lait:

As part of the review I must say I couldn't make the game work via the linux executable, nor I could build it properly, so I had to play it via wine.

The game is about you being a father who must save his homeland from the environment, which provides challenges in the form of floods and fire. There is no combat per se in this roguelike. You have to pile stones to stop the different dangers, the more land you keep clean, the better your score.

As a father, you have three sons, which you must keep an eye into. You can make them help you (with a fair bit of work), or you can just let them play about, risking your deaths because of the lack of support.

The game is really interesting, more akin to a turn-based strategy game than a roguelike. You have to place barriers into the path of the flood/fire, so the danger stops there, so you have to look for the better places to cut it quickly and without putting yourself to danger. Every move you make really counts, since the environment doesn't stop, so you'd better have a good plan.

Managing your children is a pain: they almost always do what they want, and help little. Just before, a child pushed one of my rocks out of its place, making the flood kill us all. Oh, the youth of today!

Anyway, the game is really imaginative and interesting, and worth checking out. Please do keep in mind that it'll feel more like a strategy game than a traditional roguelike, but it's nice to see new, original ideas, being worked.

Good work, Jeff Lait!

2

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Incursion 0.6.5B Released

« on: March 03, 2008, 08:51:58 PM »

Quoting from the author at r.g.r.m:

  I've just released a new version of Incursion, 0.6.5B,
which corrects several issues with the game. There's
executables for Win32 and Linux up on the main
website, as well as the full change log.

-- Julian Mensch
    http://www.incursion-roguelike.net

Go download it now!

3

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn-based) / 7DRL: Mines of Elderlore

« on: February 17, 2008, 01:22:57 PM »

So, I have found this neat little game which I find pretty fun, Mines of Elderlore.

It is a 8DRL (as of now ) which consists on exploring the Mines to find "your true nemesis" (quoting the creator).

What is really original about this one is that every object is represented by 2 characters. This way, a level 1 monster is a M1, and a level 2 monster is a M2. Quick important info available at a glance! It's a really cool idea, in my opinion. Also, the movement is only orthogonal, but I find it suits the way of looking at the game much better than the classical 8-way movement.

There are different weapons with different properties, and you auto-select the best possible weapon of a certain class by pressing a number. You still have to figure out which weapon is best for every occassion, so that is really great as it makes you try different tactical decisions, but it makes it easy for you since you don't have to search for 28 different weapons to find the best of every class. Good stuff indeed.

Also, the game features a "random persistent dungeon". The dungeon is *always the same*, it only changes if you change the name on the .ini file. It is really great for doing a competition, or comparing your score to friend's, as the opportunities for everything have been the same. It is possible to share names to play in different dungeons.

The game is almost monochrome, but it gives it a certain old-school look which I find appealing. It can certainly get better with colours, though.

It has some gripes, though:
* There is a bug that makes you lose a turn if you bump against a wall.
* The random seed for fighting is the same of the dungeon, so you can always get the same outcome of a fight. In my opinion they should be 2 totally different seeds, to increase replayability even if the dungeon layout is the same.
* The game should come with a help file, which also should be accesible in-game. It has a really great UI (in my opinion, since it has very few keys to remember), but it's always good to have it. A "press 'h' for help" should be visible in-game too, for the newbies.

And that's all I can think as of now. Thanks for the release, Altefcat, and keep up the good work!

4

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Dwarf Fortress

« on: October 30, 2007, 10:10:06 PM »

New version of Dwarf Fortress released! Go to the game main page and grab it while it's still hot!

Lots of new features implemented, like z-axis, more AI, etc.

5

Programming / Lina, or Linux in Windows

« on: October 03, 2007, 01:42:45 PM »

Copying from Lina main page:

LINA | Open Source Everywhere

With LINA, applications written for Linux run with native look and feel on Windows, Mac OS X and UNIX operating systems. LINA is a thin virtual layer that enables developers to write and compile code using ordinary Linux tools, then run that code on a variety of operating systems. For users, LINA runs invisibly in the background, enabling them to install and run these Linux applications as if they were native to that users' operating system.

I thought this might interest the people who want to make their game multiplatform without installing Linux (Yeah, not installing Linux is a bad choice, but still... ).

Having said that, I don't think Linux is really that hard to use, but to each his own .

6

Classic Roguelikes / Crawl - tips & strategies

« on: June 19, 2007, 04:58:18 PM »

Following this idea, which I find quite nice:

Speaking of which, more experienced players should start a topic referring to their game-of-choice, and give us newbies tips&tricks. I'm the kind of guy that plays a lot. Of the first few levels. I never really get anywhere. That's true for nethack, ADOM, and Crawl so far. I might just be missing on a few things, I dunno.

I decided to start a Crawl thread, since I know some tips which have helped me survive. That way also we don't pester the other threads which should have nothing to do with this.

I'll start with what I know:

Heheheh!

In view of all the votes that have been put here, I've decided to give Stone Soup a try. I obviously still suck at it, I've only played around a dozen games. Trying a magic-user, I've found I die really, really often because first-level spells really don't do much damage at all. The only way I got a little further was by using a Mountain Dwarf Earth Elementalist to get initial spells, and then just bash at the enemies. However, whenever I put some heavier armour, all the spells fizzle (kinda like nethack).

* Start with fighters, as they usually have an easier time at the start. Since class does not restrict what you can do, you can always learn spellcasting later to have some spells ready. Good races to "evolve" into spellcaster are Mountain Dwarf (to start learning Earth magic), and I think High Elves and such. Look at the .txt's that come with the game, in one of them there is a experience needed/skill for any race (in that table, the lower the number the better)
* Use dodging instead of heavy armour to cast spells. I cannot remember now which armours are for Dodging and which for Armour, but I think it was Dodging for any armours with EV = 2 or higher.
* If you *really* have to play a spellcaster, I think Deep Elf Conjurer is one of the most powerful. Just remember to train fighting when you encounter easy monsters to have more HP.

I have personally have success with Mountain Dwarf Fighters. If you get armour high enough, it doesn't hinder spellcasting as much, and at the start they are pretty good. Just remember to choose Axe or Mace for the weapon choice, as Swords depend on Dex and Axes and Maces on Str, which the Dwarves get pretty high at their advancement tree (again, look for some tables on the advancement path for the races). If you want to focus on spellcasting later, you'll have to sink up some of the advancement points you get on Int.

Anyway, apart from that, those evil Ogres usually get me. And I've never gotten past the Orc Warrior.

Darts are your friends early on. Dwarves have a good skill rate for darts, so you might want to spend some early experience on rising it up (at least, until you can upgrade to either crossbows or Earth Magic). Also, the most successful strategy against Ogres is throw them a poison needle and run away. If they survive the first, shoot them one more and repeat. They'll be down on some turns. Failing that, just run the hell away

About Orcs, they are not that hard if you actually manage to avoid them until you are stonger, and always remember to pick them one by one. Avoid Warriors and Priests, specially if your level is low. Also, poisoned needles or darts can really help here too.

Another tip is that healing potions are the most common in the dungeon, so if you have a pile of 6 or 7 un-id'd potions, chances are they are of healing, so remember to use them when things start to get bad. Dead men need no potions . I think the most common scroll is identify or blink, I am really not sure.

Speaking of which, save identify scrolls for thing you really cannot identify for yourself (artifacts, strange rings or amulets, etc). Do not spend it on potions or scrolls.

A good tip to identify bad potions and scrolls is to buy one at the shops. They cost very little and in that way you'll recognize all of them. You can also buy a scroll or potions you *really* want to be able to identify later, but the better the item, the higher the price.

And that's all I know, as I am a newbie too. I hope it helps you!

7

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn-based) / -POWDER- 085 Barbarian YASD

« on: June 09, 2007, 11:07:31 PM »

Also posted on r.g.r.m.

I have been playing a bit of POWDER lately, and I have found it to be an
excellent game, it's really fun! It is really one of the greatest
roguelikes out there. Also, thank you very much Jeff for doing a Linux
version! Now I just need a loader to get it on my DS too... :>

Anyway, I was in barbarian mood, so I ran several (mostly poor) barbarians,
worshipping H'ruth right from level 1. But then, there came a very
interesting one, whom which I made my personal record on the game (yeah, I
am not a very good player ).

I knew this character's fate was high when, just when I start the game, an
artifact warhammer appears *right beside my starting tile*. And me, always
liking blunt weapons in general, thought it was divine providence

So I started with a manual of guile, and decided to not spend any skill
points right from the start. Equipped my Evil crystal platemail (which I
wore the entire game), some boots and I got going.

Shortly thereafter, exploring the first level, I found the ring of
invisibility I also wore the entire game, although it was cursed on the
start, but I didn't care much. I *did* care, though, when trying to ID a
ring it happened to be an evil ring of teleport, which made advancing
through the dungeon a pain.

I started the classical clear level -> down stairs approach all the way,
and, besides some Quizar punishment invoking lots of enemies, I tried to
tackle baddies one on one, showing them how much did my warhammer rock :>.

Speaking of Quizar, when he started sending hordes of monsters and I was low
level, I really suffered. He invoked snakes, rats and an imp, but I knew I
wouldn't be able to handle them all at once. I quickly killed one enemy
which was beside the door, ran away at 5 o 6 HP and quickly closed myself
into a cleared room, and waited there for HP regen, to get my revenge
shortly thereafter.

As I said, I worshipped H'ruth all the way, but it was Klaskov who kept
being nice to me. He uncursed all my stuff, so I finally got rid of that
stupid teleporting ring, gave me a +3 boots, uncursed then +1'd my crystal
platemail, and unpoisoned (does that word even exist? ) me shortly after
fighting a green dragon. H'ruth just looked from far away, and the only
present he gave me was a *short sword* which I didn't even pick up ,
although if I recall correctly he healed me once or twice too.

I found very amusing the "fight" between Pax and Klaskov. Pax would get
angry at my violence and start cursing my stuff, and like 10 turns later,
Klaskov would uncurse everything again. The other gods, besides Quizar who
gave me a nasty surprise with some invocations, did not bother me much.

Since I do not know much about what intrinsics give which monster, and since
I was kind of fearful of dying of starvation, I kept eating all that came
into my hands. However, I eated so many demons I finally became vulnerable
to silver, so I had to get rid of my cold-resistance silver ring, and I
could not try those silver spears I planned on trying.

I found a cockatrice there on the dungeon and... I got "Hardening" on my
screen. Since I didn't know what to do, I just kept playing, and when I
turned to stone, luckily my amulet broke and saved my life (although I
didn't know it was a AoLS).

Since I saw I was not getting any other books, and I got another book of
Guile, I decided to spend my skills on those I found most interesting.
Later, I did find an armour book, but I had some skills still left and I
learned the first 3 kinds of armour, then the book dissapeared.

Anyway, later on, after bravely fighting some liches, dragons and such
(luckily, I was cold resistant at the moment I found liches, and that plus
my massive health plus the love Klaskov had to me kept me alive), I found
another cockatrice... and, stupid me, I did not ran away. You can guess
what happens next. I got turned to stone, and desperately I quaffed two
potions or so (although I do not know which they were - I think blindness
and heal) but to no avail, so there is now a big, beefy statue with a
massive warhammer on the corridors of the maze.

Here goes the mortem:

Code: [Select]

POWDER 085
Name: Adral
-----------------------------
Physical: 119/23 (max 147)
Mental: 17/0 (max 17)
AC: 16
X: 565
Depth: 255
// I think it was level 16 or so when I died.
Total Moves 7526
-----------------------------
Intrinsics:
- Turning to stone
// :(
- Poison resistance
- Regeneration
- Invisible
- See invisible
- Dodge skill (1)
- Moving target skill (1)
// These two were for aiding me survive.
- Search skill (1)
- Evade trap skill (1)
// I figured I really didn't like traps, so I picked this first.
- Endure hunger skill
- Butchery skill
- Clean kill skill
- Dual wield skill
- Cloth armour skill (2)
- Leather armour skill (2)
- Iron armour skill (2)
// The book dissapeared before I could get Exotic for my crystal plate
- Medium weapon skill
- Large weapon skill
- Edged weapon skill
- Blunt weapon skill
- Pointed weapon skill
- Impale skill
- Knockback skill
// Knockback was the last one I got.

// 1 - From manual of guile, 2 from manual of armour, the
// others were presents of H'ruth at leveling up
-----------------------------
Equipped Items:
- +1 Iron helm on head.
- Warhammer Amyamy in right
hand.
// Go warhammer! This really helped me lots, as you can
// guess. I finished all monsters with relative ease.
- +1 Crystal platemail over
body.
// This was my beggining evil crystal platemail
- Ring of invisibility on
right finger.
// Found on level 1
- +3 Iron shoes on feet.
// Klaskov present
-----------------------------
Artifacts:
The holy potion of
enlightenment Smashwhizamy
This artifact grants fast. 
Melee: 1d2+0 (physical)
Thrown 4: 1d2+0 (physical)

The evil cure potion
Treyshockshock
This artifact grants walk on
water. 
Melee: 1d2+0 (physical)
Thrown 4: 1d2+0 (physical)

// When I saw there were artifact *potions* I
// really couldn't believe it.

The warhammer Amyamy
This artifact grants
regeneration. 
Melee: 1d8+0 (fire), 2d4+3
(physical)
Thrown 2: 1d2+0 (physical)
// Talk about OOD :P
-----------------------------
Inventory Items:
- +1 Crystal platemail.
- Plate mail.
- Scroll of identify.
- Holy heal potion.
- Manual of guile (3).
- Wand of slowness (5).
- Holy +3 fur-lined boots.
- Evil scroll of light.
- 4 Empty bottles.
- Tome of necromancy (5).
- Tower shield.
- Evil potion of
enlightenment.
- 2 Maces.
- Scroll of remove curse.
- Evil heal potion.
- Wand of light (3).
- Wand of polymorph (6).
- Cure potion.
- Ring of cold resistance.
- Wand of sleep (5).
- Wand of nothing (2).
- Torch.
- 2 Acid potions.
- Evil scroll of teleport.
- Holy potion of enlightenment
Smashwhizamy.
- Bottle of holy water.
- Evil -3 helm of warning.
- Helm of draining.
// I wore this for a while, until I found the +1 helm
- Evil smoke potion.
- Heal potion.
- Mana potion.
- Evil mana potion.
- Scroll of teleport.
- Scroll of fire.
- Holy +1 mithril chainmail.
- Evil cure potion
Treyshockshock.
- +1 Iron helm.
- 2 Scrolls of light.
- Holy wand of teleport (6).
- 2 Scrolls of enchant weapon.
- 2 Potions of enlightenment.
- Smoke potion.
- Ring of teleportation named
Teleport.
- Ring of invisibility.
- Warhammer Amyamy.
- Evil tome of acid (4).
- Crystal platemail.
- +3 Iron shoes.



So, any advice on dealing with cockatrices, please? How do I get rid of
that "hardening" status? Any help is appreciated.

And Jeff, thanks again both for the great game and the Linux binaries!

8

Classic Roguelikes / Vote for your favourite Major roguelike ;)

« on: June 08, 2007, 07:51:37 AM »

What is your favourite major roguelike? I am not talking about newborn ones, but the grand ones of the genre. Please vote and, if you do not mind, specify which one you did vote and why

For my vote, I love them all, but ADOM is the game that actually got me started on roguelikes at all, so my vote goes for it. Yeah, nostalgia...

9

Early Dev / Lands of Elderlore

« on: May 20, 2007, 05:13:00 PM »

I started this thread so the author of Elderlore, if he is willing, explains to everyone features of the upcoming game.

You know, since it's aiming to be a big roguelike, it has quickly gotten my interest, so I hope you, Altefcat, can say why your game will be unlike others, as well as a little explanation of planned development

10

Other Announcements / What does your dream roguelike have?

« on: May 12, 2007, 09:22:19 AM »

Hi all,

I want to start a thread to share everyone's ideas about what his/her dream roguelike should have, you never know when a developer can come here, look and take some ideas . Also, we can share information about existing roguelikes which have/plan to have that ideas implemented.

I'll start with some of mine:
* Random realistic overworld with sites, caves, mountains...(ala Dwarf Fortress). That is just so much cool, to get your character and start exploring the world at your leisure...
* Possibilities to interact with NPCs (of all kinds) other than "hit, hit, miss, cast magic bolt". Incursion is planned to do this...
* Multiplayer capabilities (Yeah, I know it's *very* difficult).
* Melee not being the worst combat option of all times. There is a trend in roguelikes that in almost all of them, melee is just "bump and hit" and very risky and not very rewarding, while using ranged weapons (of all kinds, including magic) is always a superior option. Well, for what it's worth, I *enjoy* using melee, so I'd like a bit more complex melee system which would let the player choose some kind of option to exploit disadvantages of the monster to still make it worthwile with some tactics (e.g: Hitting a giant's legs so it falls over and you are free to kill him while he is on the floor).
* More things I'll probably post about later

So, what does people think? What are your ideas?

Edit: Obviously, it also needs to run on Linux for me to play it