I've always wanted to participate in the official 7 day rogue-like competition, but something always came up. This year, I'm finally doing it, by promising myself I won't attempt anything challenging.
My idea was a stealth game where you sneak past werewolves and vampires in a creepy castle. The trick is, you can disguise yourself as one or the other. I've been working on the project since yesterday.
The current build (for Windows) is available at
http://www.eochu.com/dl/RL2015-5-altars.zipThe latest screenshot is
http://www.eochu.com/dl/RL2015-ss3.pngThe current build works. Move with the arrow keys and toggle between vampire and werewolf modes with SPACE. The close enemies of the opposite type will chase you. Don't try to attack; you never win. You must slip past the enemies and reach the exit square.
There are 10 levels, with different art, and each SHOULD have more monsters than the last.
Yesterday, it was too simple to hold much interest for long. So I've thought about what to add?
One answer is, collect items into an inventory, combine them into spells, and blast the monsters. More work, but the fun is well-defined.
Another answer comes from the code, where I made the exit square from an "Item" base class. This makes it easier to add more "items", of different types, that do something when the player steps on them. As it happens, the Crawl artsheet I've been using has loads of cool "altars".
SO that's what I've been doing today; adding altars to the game which trigger interesting effects when you step on them. Right now, the working altars are:
-a couple of altars you teleport between
-an altar that temporarily turns you into a monstrous killing machine
-an altar that destroys enemies that are near enough
-an altar that changes the dungeon map in some way
While in the bath, I came up with two features that could give depth to this system.
-a help dialog that would explain how the altar works, when you get within one square. I considered no help text at all, and I considered hover-text using the mouse. Both are still a possibility, but my hope is that the unique altar art + help text (when close enough) will feel good to the player. Keyboard players and mobile players both have issues with mouse-based UIs, so I THINK it's a good choice.
-a powerup bar that fills when you "scrape" an enemy. Borrowed from bullet-hell shooters, the idea is that getting close to an enemy (something you normally don't wish to do) can benefit you. The effects of some of the altars will be enhanced by the amount your "Rage" bar is charged. The closer the enemy (that is chasing you) the more gets added to the bar.
I'm also considering a "Restart" or "Resign" button.
Any feedback is greatly appreciated!
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