Messages

16

Design / Random ship-dungeon

« on: November 17, 2016, 02:41:17 PM »

Hi!
I'm in the middle of revising/expanding my roguelike CryptoRL2 (more info here and here).

My next roguelike setting will be on board of spaceships and I'd like to hear some ideas how build random dungeons around this concept: ship-dungeons!


My "pillars" on this roguelike will be:

1) exploration: explore to find better weapons, find "exit" and collect stuff. No levels, only equipment to be stronger and survive
2) meta gaming: more you play, more you know about setting, dangers and so on and you can build tactics
3) permadeath: I'd like to use this concept creating a seed for dungeon creation, so it's possible for player to try different levels


In my mind I've found some methods for ship-dungeon generation:

1) random walk: works fine for cave-based dungeons (I've used this for CryptoRL2), but not so cool for ships, because is too unpredictable and can create small corridors with awkward turns. I think is fine for cave dungeons, but need more work on it. Pure cellular automata feel, at least for me, like I'm missing something, some "crucial points"

2) grid based dungeon: like in spelunky a dungeon is just a space divided using a grid (see here and here for an introduction). On random generation, there is a random walk between "start cell" (decided from one side of the grid) and "end cell" (decided from opposite side of the grid). After that "rooms" will be placed on each cell of the grid, taken randomly from a "pool" of templates (based on a theme).
Results here is good and can be realized easily with an high degree of randomness. I think this method is more suited for a random ship-dungeon, because you can create rooms for basic system (engine, dormitory, engineering bay, escape pods, etc..) mixed with "special rooms" (captain room, stargate room, alien nest and so on) on a grid with a specific shape (square, rectangle, ellipse, with wings, battlestar galactica and so on) and iterate on it

3) classic room/corridor: place rooms randomly and connect them using corridors. I don't really like this way for my theme, what do you think about it?

4) bsp: I think with my theme is fine, but I need to use "square splitting" strategy and will be become like grid based dungeon, more or less


Thanks for your time and thoughts!

17

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Cogmind (now at Alpha 11)

« on: November 11, 2016, 09:45:07 AM »

@Kyzrati there is also a demo for cogmind ?

18

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Cogmind (now at Alpha 11)

« on: November 10, 2016, 03:33:32 PM »

really cool posts Kyzrati, I can feel your passion and dedication on Cogmind!

19

Programming / Re: Dijkstra Maps... What have I done!?

« on: October 11, 2016, 10:26:30 AM »

hi! I've done something similar in the past (with Java), maybe can inspire you: https://github.com/Gornova/Wargame

20

Early Dev / Re: Looking for a place to share my game :)

« on: August 18, 2016, 09:15:05 AM »

solid start and nice post!! 

I'm looking for explanations and ideas for the 4x parts, because is really different from basic "creature" AI. My thoughts on that are with basic creatures you can use a fine state machine or a behavior tree to model a decent AI, using the perceptions/actions points and possible tasks, but how to model and create a decent AI for 4x empire/diplomacy/AI ?  I mean with that not only a simple rule-based system, so for example:

at turn 50 faction A declare war to faction B

but something like:

goal: faction A need to find food
plan: faction A decide to create a new colony, generate quests based on templates

what do you think about that ?

21

Player's Plaza / Re: RTS Roguelikes

« on: August 17, 2016, 07:01:43 AM »

hey thanks! Good luck!

22

Player's Plaza / RTS Roguelikes

« on: August 16, 2016, 11:32:19 AM »

I'm looking for some sort of RTS roguelike, with a lot of building placements, unit orders and so on, something like Command&Conquer or Starcraft, but turn based and with random map generation.
There is such game out there ?

23

Early Dev / Re: Souls Rescue

« on: August 16, 2016, 11:22:55 AM »

Thanks for your return 

 

Key bindings
- Fortunately [G] is still free, we can switch [R] to [G] or just add [G] without any problem
- In next version (alpha 7 or 8 ) I want to add the classic HJKL too
- The key for hero attribute is [P]
- Maybe we have to make a keybinding configuration (a basic file or a window in game)

a keybinding configuration is a good idea for me

Fireball
You have to select a target with [TAB] (you will see a target on the monster) and after press [1-8] shortcut. In the next version (alpha 6) if you don't select a monster I will add a "BEEP" and a message like "You have to select an enemy with TAB"

nice!

Item comparison
You can see equipped items above shortcut bar and you have a mouse tooltip to see what is it. I have to think if you play only with keyboard or gamepad.
In the alpha 5 (current new version) in your inventory, item with better stat than the equipped one has a green background. Actually it's easy only one attribute per item. With more attributes we have to redesign that one more time

I think most of the people here prefer keyboard only approach, but also a gamepad is a good idea!

Difficulty
In the current version we redesign the dungeon structure, so the difficulty is softer. With potion and good scrolls you can easily finish the 4 floors. Now my wife (who is pixel artist) think the game is too easy. Difficulty is a big theme for us. We already add details like when you get a level you get full life too.

okay, in my run was strange I was killed so easily by a rat

Traps
Wall trap shoot every 4 or 5 turns. Maybe I have to set more turns or a random value but greater than 5. Some traps are very annoying, but the goal is to think before move. Floor traps (pikes) are not too deadly . Now we have added lave or acid hole. If you fall into it you directly die. I don't know if it's a good idea.

I don't like a trap that kill me instantly, seems not so fair IMHO. I prefer also one-shot traps... and of course use traps as defensive weapons against monsters!

Options
I have to add some basic option like fullscreen, sound and music volume. I was thinking that I don't need it in the alpha, but that 's wrong. Clearly a goal for the next version (certainly sunday 21 august)

thanks!

I hope I have not forgotten anything.
-oldteen

Thanks! I like also graphics, kudso to your wife! If you have a good pixel artist on your side, invest more in building some sort of "lore" and "quest-like" systems, because can add a lot of fun and content on your game!

24

Early Dev / Re: Souls Rescue

« on: August 16, 2016, 07:09:39 AM »

hey thanks for answer!

I've tried the demo you provided (one before last) and find your game really well done in terms of graphics and gameplay. All seems to be in the correct way to build a solid roguelike experience. In my opinion, however, you should improve keybindings, because in roguelikes there are some "standard" or "common way"  to handle some actions. For example get actions in many roguelikes are do it with char 'g' not 'r'. I was able only one time to show character screen, with attributes, and after that lucky time in help there is no way to get it.
I've found the "scroll" writing with recipes really easy to do, but if use health scroll was not a problem for me, using fireball is a problem: I've assigned key 2 and then if I'm using in combat.. nothing happens!
And also player need a way to figure out what items are equipped and make a comparison with new items!
For the difficulty it's brutal, because I've found first two levels an introduction of your game, than third level I was killed by a rat I' missing something ?

Graphics is awesome.. maybe too dark for my taste, on my laptop is difficult to see traps, but I think is intended: about traps, why design them to act every time and not just first time ?

I've found lack of full screen options irritating, because on my laptop resolution (1600x900) cover taskbar, please add a full screen option!

25

Early Dev / Re: Souls Rescue

« on: August 11, 2016, 02:14:09 PM »

I really like your style and like the option to go back to classic view. I'm also interested in craft system you mentioned, can you elaborate a little bit about it ?

26

Off-topic (Locked) / Re: Thea: the awakening

« on: July 21, 2016, 08:52:39 PM »

what do you think guys ?

Don't advertise commercial crap on forums.

I'm not involved in any way and.. there is already a lot of commercial stuff around in this forum, so why this ?

27

Off-topic (Locked) / Thea: the awakening

« on: July 21, 2016, 11:55:03 AM »

Hi everybody,
  I'd like to share with you guys some thoughts about this game (free demo!):

http://store.steampowered.com/app/378720/

Its a little rough gem, with:
- random generated world
- lot of events
- civilization like map
- "east-europe folklore fantasy", not classic one

I've found it intriguing and difficult, but in the end a good example how to mix different genres, what do you think guys ?

28

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Traiteur: A colorful, detailed ASCII world... with emoticons going to WAR!

« on: July 15, 2016, 07:52:39 AM »

at first sight for me seems to be a shump or a bullet hell game.. I mean, only a gif is not enough to judge your game properly!

29

Early Dev / Re: CryptoRL2

« on: June 22, 2016, 07:17:48 PM »

I have released source code for CryptoRL2 here, if you are interested!

30

Player's Plaza / Re: Roguelike set in Might and Magic universe?

« on: May 18, 2016, 08:19:02 AM »

I really like the idea too!

If I remember correctly, Player controls a  group of heroes with minions and can upgrade both heroes and cities in order to conquer all game world. It's all turn based, right ?
I have found this good explanation of gameplay: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroes_of_Might_and_Magic#Gameplay