Topics

1

Incubator / Auro: A Monster-Bumping Adventure(Steam)

« on: April 07, 2016, 08:12:26 PM »

I've posted about the old mobile version of Auro on here before. But now the game is coming to Steam with a massive, massive update. Almost all of the art has been replaced, there are new rules, and basically a revamped main gameplay mode. We also got rid of the annoying tutorials, but other than that, everything that got us a 91% on metacritic is still there. Would love to hear what you guys think of the game.



Some stuff to know:

- Basic premise is that the game is all about pushing monsters into the water. It gets extremely complex though, with slippery ice floes, air vortices that bounce actors, and monster abilities that all synergize with your own to create huge combos.
- The game is played on a "win/loss" basis. So it's not just "get a 'high' score" but, get exactly X points. The game dynamically adjusts the difficulty as you win/lose more games.
- Combat is 100% deterministic, there's no dicerolls involved.
- It took us 6 years (and counting) to balance and polish this game
- Extremely deep and tactical. Don't let the cutesy art fool you.

It'll be coming out on the 12th! I'll post about it here again once it's out.

Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHxydc4oaxM

2

Design / Issues with Rogue-likes from a Rogue-like dev

« on: February 01, 2016, 06:57:11 PM »

Hello, all! You might have heard me on the Roguelike Radio podcast a few times and talking about some of my issues with Rogue-likes. I have a new podcast now and the last two episodes talk a lot about Rogue-like design, and I thought you guys might like to check that out.

Episode 16 - A Conversation about Rogue-likes with Black Shell Games:
http://keithburgun.net/cgd-podcast-episode-16-a-conversation-about-rogue-likes-with-black-shell-games/

Episode 17 - Rogue-likes and Other "Bar" Games:
http://keithburgun.net/cgd-podcast-episode-17-rogue-likes-and-other-bar-games/

Let me know what you think.

3

Early Dev / Auro - A Monster-Bumping Adventure

« on: June 28, 2014, 03:59:12 AM »

Hi fellas. I'm Keith Burgun. You might know me as a frequent guest on the Roguelike Radio program, or as the creator of 100 Rogues, or perhaps more recently EMPIRE: The Deck Building Strategy Game.

Anyway I've been working on this game Auro for almost 3 years now (had a modest successful kickstarter back in 2012), and we plan on releasing it in a couple of months. I'd love to get some of you guys involved in the testing now that we're in the home stretch. Website: http://www.auro-game.com

It's a really tight tactics game about using abilities to bump monsters off the level and into the water - efficiently, which usually requires some real skill and creativity.  There's really a ton to say about the game... It's really all about synergizing these abilities in an almost rube-goldberg type way. Like, you flatten a slime, a rat walks on it and bounces into the air, landing on a bat's head, the bat gets dunked into the water, and the rat lands in fire causing an explosion, sending 2 more monsters into the drink. That sort of thing. But it also has a lot of other huge innovations, like the way we're doing the single player mode, or how we distribute skills randomly, or how we de-sync animation from gameplay (I hate waiting for animations to play out before I can make another input!), or like ten other things like that.

Here's some screens from the game in progress.











If you have an Android device or an iOS device, we'd love for you to come join us. Most of our discussion currently takes place over at the dinofarm forums here (http://www.dinofarmgames.com/forum/index.php) so I would love if people could come by there to discuss it, but if you'd like to post your thoughts here, that's OK too. Either way, I need your email address and which platform you're on if you want to check the game out. You can put that info on the Dinofarm boards, put it here as a post, or PM me with it. Looking forward to having you on board.

Here's some links:

Auro Site (INCLUDES A MANUAL!) http://www.auro-game.com

Dinofarm Forums http://www.dinofarmgames.com/forum/

Follow us on Twitter at @dinofarmgames

Thanks!

4

Development Process & non-technical / Why I hate the term "Permadeath"

« on: May 10, 2013, 03:25:07 AM »

This is bound to get some interesting responses from my fellow roguelike developers... but, I hate this term, "permadeath".  I explain it fully here, and I'd love to hear some of your responses.

http://keithburgun.net/why-i-hate-the-term-permadeath/

5

Early Dev / AURO Gameplay footage (alpha)

« on: August 11, 2012, 07:28:33 AM »

Hey guys!  I just posted a video of some early AURO alpha footage.  What do you think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nHeE7Ye-wo

6

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / AURO Kickstarter

« on: May 30, 2012, 10:47:48 PM »

Auro is not a roguelike, but it evolved out of roguelikes from the creator of 100 Rogues.  It still is pretty roguelike-ish, and I certainly think roguelike players will find it interesting at the very least.

Further, this one, UNLIKE 100 Rogues, isn't trapped on iDevices.  It's available for Linux, Windows, OSX, Android and iOS (and maybe more).  Check it out!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dinofarmgames/auro

7

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / "Auro: The Golden Prince" (Kickstarter went up today)

« on: November 19, 2011, 01:30:59 AM »

Hey guys.  Firstly, Auro won't qualify, I think, as a roguelike by most of you.  However, I sort of see it as like the "future roguelike".  Here's the kickstarter page with a video and stuff:  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dinofarmgames/auro-the-golden-prince

I designed 100 Rogues (http://www.100rogues.com), and it definitely is a roguelike (albeit, a graphical one).  For this game, here's what's radically different:

- No experience points.  you simply take a new skill each dungeon level

- No health scaling or any of that.  Monster encounters get harder because you fight more monsters, and more different TYPES of monsters, mostly.

- No equipment system.  This is all expressed in the skills system.  If you want "armor" you invest in a defensive ability, etc.

- No "items".  Well, there are some, but not how you think.  There are two item types:  potions (which heal you immediately when you pick them up), and scrolls (which are skills, which are one-time use unlike the ones you know)

- You have 10 HP, deal 1 damage.  Monsters have (usually) 1 or 2 HP, and deal 1 damage.

- The game is hex-based, rather than squares.  This is for a few reasons, not the least of which is that it's a really happy medium for touch-screens.

The game is designed primarily for Android and IOS but it's also coming out on desktop computers so ALL OF YOU WILL BE ABLE TO PLAY!   And it'll be cheap.

Hope you guys like it.

-Keith Burgun, Lead Designer @ Dinofarm Games.
http://www.dinofarmgames.com

8

Early Dev / An article about dropping "skip turn" from roguelikes

« on: October 23, 2011, 05:21:44 PM »

It definitely is NOT an idea for the normal roguelike like Crawl or Nethack, but some more experimental roguelikes may want to try dropping the "skip turn" ability altogether.  Here's an article about it:  http://www.dinofarmgames.com/?p=399

9

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Cardinal Quest + 100 Rogues developers working together on AURO

« on: October 13, 2011, 10:32:03 PM »

Disclaimer:  AURO isn't exactly a roguelike, but it's closely enough related that I think anyone who's interested in roguelikes will definitely be interested in it.  Check it out:

http://www.dinofarmgames.com/?p=386

10

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / "100 Rogues", new indie Roguelike RPG (iPhone)

« on: February 03, 2010, 07:48:51 PM »

Hello Temple of the Roguelike!  My name is Keith and I'm lead designer at Dinofarm Games, where we're working on a roguelike called "100 Rogues".  There's a lot that is different and new about this game and I thought you guys might appreciate it.



(Yes, that is a flying baby with bat wings in the above illustration by our lead artist, Blake Reynolds.  And yes, that man is wearing a bucket for a helmet.  He is the Crusader, a paladin-type who is at once both outrageously pious and also very childlike.)

EDIT:  Added this YOUTUBE trailer:  (very early)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6eLHvThE-E

* Unlike most RLs, this game has full animation, all original effects, music, and content.

* This isn't a game inspired by a RL (like Diablo), this is a roguelike.  We've got permadeath, random item & map generation, starvation, turn based combat, etc.

* We're doing a few things which are innovative for roguelikes beyond just looking pretty.  We've got huge, SNES-style bosses for example which are a big puzzle of a battle.  We've got online leaderboards, with the ability to connect with your friends on Facebook.  We've got several unique classes each with their own set of skills.  We've got cutscenes that give a glimpse into the character of the world and the PCs.

* The entire game is comprised of hand-made pixel art - done the old fashioned way, pixel by pixel.  Every pixel on the screen was placed there by an artist, not approximated by a computer.


(The Crusader with his ability WHACK OF GLORY, which knocks enemies back, or if they cannot be knocked back, deals big damage)

* It's designed from the ground up to be great on the iPhone.  The controls, the way you use abilities, how you access your inventory, is all designed with this console in mind.

* We will have updates, updates, updates.  From balance patches to new content updates (two more playable classes are planned for soon after release), we will be supporting this game like crazy.  It is our baby.

* This game has been in development now for a FULL YEAR.



I've worked really hard as designer to make this game balanced, with strong feedback for all of your actions, and a feeling that you can be creative with your play.

There's a lot more info about the game in this Gamasutra interview I did awhile back:

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/24717/Interview_Dinofarm_Gets_Whimsical_On_iPhone_With_100_Rogues.php

Also, if you want to get updates on this game, join our Facebook group, or follow us on Twitter.

FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/pages/100-Rogues/109776630046?v=photos&ref=ts#/pages/100-Rogues/109776630046?v=wall&ref=ts

TWITTER: http://twitter.com/DinofarmGames

Our official site is www.dinofarm-games.com

Thanks for your time, and I really hope you enjoy this game as much as we do.