Messages

91

Player's Plaza / Re: Looking for sci-fi or wild west roguelike

« on: April 21, 2017, 04:20:25 PM »

Will definitely announce releases here, thanks for the encouragement In other (old) news, for a western RL you might check out Abura Tan, although it was abandoned rather early. Also, I get the feeling that Gearhead might be down your alley.

As always,
Minotauros

PS. Yup, the wastes in LoSt just go on and on forever. One of the things I must do for the next version, is to make the game world bigger (but still enclosed by endless wasteland), including bigger houses with rooms and furniture, and just more space overall. I'm dreaming of a random train station where you can buy a ticket "out of here" and board a train that carries indefinitely on into the wastes as the screen fades to brown

92

Player's Plaza / Re: Looking for sci-fi or wild west roguelike

« on: April 20, 2017, 07:03:36 AM »

Wow love your game so far and the style is very unique!!!! I haven't played much yet i just got into it but thanks a lot and i look forward to your development in the future !

Thank you! Knowing there is at least a single person interested is highly motivational The current version (#10) is a bit meagre, with the next release planned to have more gamey features: in particular, bounties (quests) and skill advancement – but I also need to rewrite chunks of the world building code, which I'm not looking forward to. On the bright side, that'll probably leave me with a robust enough system that I can concentrate on adding fun content for a while after that.

As always,
Minotauros

93

Player's Plaza / Re: Looking for sci-fi or wild west roguelike

« on: April 19, 2017, 10:02:59 PM »

Thanks for the heads up. The download links on the blog should be working again now. I've been having very little spare time lately, but it seems I'll be able to pick up development again in a few weeks. And while riding isn't in yet, it's definitely very high on the todo-list (don't know about boats, but handcars would be neat).

As always,
Minotauros

94

7DRLs / Re: Sleeping Beauty (7DRL 2017)

« on: March 10, 2017, 06:54:14 PM »

+1 to what Publius said. The combat system was fun, if a bit on the easy side. Maybe if wounds had been more grievous, or if you didn't regenerate health/mana naturally, one would have to strategize more around potions, the order in which to engage enemies, and so forth. The thorns were a nice touch, and it amused me that the game has a kissing mechanism, although I felt a bit more could have done with that idea Overall, though, high marks in all categories (aesthetics, interface, RL-ness, fun, polish).

As always,
Minotauros

95

Programming / Re: Perma Death Independant Of Save File?

« on: March 09, 2017, 08:13:36 PM »

That's what I thought.

Regarding the topic: I use Pickle (the Python module) to make save files myself, because it's easy. It produces binary files, for better or worse. If I wanted to prevent save scumming, I'd look for a quick'n'easy solution, like trying to use the md5sum values of save files to prevent the same game state from being loaded more than once. I'm hardly an expert on the matter, so that in particular is probably not a brilliant idea. But a well-formed web search should probably yield some standard solutions to the problem.

Personally, I don't think it's worth putting a lot of work into preventing save scumming on a single player game like your typical RL, but all according to overall taste and design, of course As a player, I've enjoyed my moderate share of save scumming, especially to "break through" the middle game in larger games like ADOM and Caves of Qud. In my own games, I allow save scumming as an explicit menu option, but marking such characters as playing in "wizard mode", meaning they won't show up in high score lists, for instance (which has the added benefit of not spamming your high score with chars you're using to test the end game).

As always,
Minotauros

96

Design / Re: More Limited User Keys?

« on: March 05, 2017, 09:40:45 PM »

I have just the thing you need! Behold ... The Slimy Lichmummy!

Ooh, thanks for the tip. I did briefly try it some years ago, but after reading your inspired post I'll be sure to check it out again.

As always,
Minotauros

97

Design / Re: More Limited User Keys?

« on: March 02, 2017, 09:49:34 PM »

You're probably right about that (why traditional RLs have many keybindings). However, I was thinking more about the actual merits of such a system, ie. that it becomes very fast and easy to use once you learn it. And just to be clear, I do think the classic case of separate wear-commands for jewelry and armor is really just an example of sub-par design (but understandable since designers back then were mapping out some mostly unexplored areas).

As always,
Minotauros

98

Design / Re: More Limited User Keys?

« on: March 02, 2017, 08:21:05 AM »

The general consensus these days seem to be that simpler interfaces are mostly better. Each game/UI needs to find its own balance, of course. I guess one of the main selling points of a complicated key set is that it makes the game smooth to play once you've mastered the keys, so that it even makes sense (in a twisted sort of way) eg. to have separate commands for wearing armor, jewelry, and weapons. Also, having more involved commands may open up for more complex item interaction – although I'm still waiting for the game where you can eat a scroll.

Personally, I aim for a very simplified key set in my own game, but using context-sensitive menus, so that might make the UI less smooth to some tastes. Basically, there's an always visible list of available commands in a menu that you can enter and navigate, or use 1-9 as shortcut keys. If you're next to a door, your basic options might be (1. open, 2. bash), next to a person (1. attack, 2. chat). It has its charm, such as if you learn a skill to pick locks, that option will automatically appear in your menu at appropriate times. Less elegant the fact that it varies which key is used for which action[1]. I've tried to make up for this somewhat by having a shortcut key which always attacks, and one which picks the default environment interaction (open door, pick up item, etc). I'm even considering letting the player assign custom shortcuts to particular actions. That way, people who think it's a hassle to move their eyes from the map to the menu can elect to play with "o" for "open", "c" for "chat" etc.

At the end of the day, just design what best suits you and your game. If you have a gazillion keyboard shortcuts to memorize, though, a lot of people will think you're being old-fashioned.

As always,
Minotauros

[1] And consider that edible scroll I hinted at earlier. If I wanted that in my game, I'd have to explicitly display the option, effectively making the "puzzle" obvious. On the one hand, that takes away some opportunities to let the player be inventive. On the other hand, I guess that puzzle in particular would actually be bad RL design anyway, since it has zero replay value/challenge, and risks just putting unspoiled players at an arbitrary disadvantage.

edit: typo

99

Other Announcements / Re: Roguelike Radio podcast

« on: February 25, 2017, 09:17:59 PM »

Cool. Interesting theme, as well. I usually enjoy those more theory-minded episodes the most (although it was your ep. on Caves of Qud that first got me playing that fantastic game).

As always,
Minotauros

100

Incubator / Re: PTR: The Roguelike

« on: February 25, 2017, 09:15:03 PM »

Hi. I can't download from the link, because I'm on Linux (but was thinking perhaps your game works in Wine or something). The site gives me a greyed-out download-button and the text "This game does not work on your device." Best of luck.

As always,
Minotauros

101

Early Dev / Re: Soulblight

« on: January 23, 2017, 07:33:14 PM »

Nifty. I like that taints give a bonus as well as a penaly. It made me think of the system in Vampire and other World of Darkness-games, where each character defines an archetype as their Nature. If you managed to "live out" the trait defined in your Nature, you gained a Willpower boost.

In tabletop rpgs, I always thought such rules were a bit construed, since we were just roleplaying away, anyway (the archetype system in Vampire was a great aid for that, though). OTOH, I think it makes more sense in computer games to give a tangible boost for acting in character. I've actually been thinking on something similar for my game LoSt, but as "codes of conduct" which give you skills/bonus/reputation if you follow them (vow of poverty, duelist honor, lawfulness, chivalry, whatever).

Anyway, keep up the good work. The project seems promising, and I must say the art looks mighty nice (though I found the Paranoid icons a bit vague, placeholder-ish).

As always,
Minotauros

102

Programming / Re: Packaging a python script as an executable

« on: January 17, 2017, 08:49:37 PM »

True that. It is a privilege of tinkering in all humility, as you say, to make whatever you like however you want.

As always,
Minotauros

103

Programming / Re: Packaging a python script as an executable

« on: January 17, 2017, 08:17:23 PM »

A binary saves the player the hassle of installing dependencies, though. And I don't think Python is a standard component in Windows like it is in Linux (someone correct me if I'm wrong). So for many casual users, it's the difference between "click on the file" and "download and install Python and Pygame, then click on the file". For Linux users, of course, it's mostly hunky dory just to ship a Python script but I maintain a deb-file of my own project just for kicks.

As always,
Minotauros

104

Programming / Re: Packaging a python script as an executable

« on: January 17, 2017, 08:38:24 AM »

Hello. I used to pack Windows executables with Py2exe, but I switched to Pyinstaller a while back. Don't know if this may be a solution for you, but I thought I'd mention it. Pyinstaller is pretty nice overall, but the main draw for me is that I can use it in Linux to get Window exes. I wrote a short blot post about that. The short, not Linux-specific version is to install Pywin32, Setuptools and MS Visual C++. Then you get an exe by typing "pyinstaller --onefile main.py". Hope this helps.

As always,
Minotauros

105

Design / Re: Turn-based vs real time

« on: January 13, 2017, 02:31:51 PM »

The usual system for missiles in RLs is to have them reach their target instantaneously. Of course, not being able to sidestep arrows in Nethack doesn't necessarily make it the ideal system for any strategy RL. The classics all portray an adventurer on foot in a dungeon, so scale and time is bound to be different in your game. I don't know much about submarines, but if passably realistic, it might be cool with a game where you have to navigate to avoid incoming torpedoes and the like.

Also, here is an abandoned sub-based 7drl: http://forums.roguetemple.com/index.php?topic=4959.0

As always,
Minotauros