Messages

196

Other Announcements / Re: What are the biggest possible turn-off in a roguelike?

« on: November 07, 2011, 03:48:03 PM »

Difficulty (3)
When I play RLs, I want it to be hard enough to be interesting. Too easy games are no fun, but some games seem expressly designed to kill off any player except a few experienced gamers. It's not challenging, it's just frustrating.

vi-keys (2)
It's not that they are unintuitive (which they are for non-vi-users), but they're not even all in one place on non-QUERTY keyboards (QUERTZ, for example, which is common in middle and eastern europe, switches the position of y and z).

Stats are not explained (1)
If I start a game, I want to understand what goes on. Some games have complicated stat systems designed to make games more interesting and complex, but it backfires when the effort necessary to understand it equals that of reading a DnD rulebook.

Uses a scripting language like python without offering a .exe version (1)
Too many requirements and different versions etc can make it extremely fiddly to get running

The problem with that is that it kind of defeats the purpose of scripting languages - to have the written code be platform independent. The good thing about java, python et al. is that they run on every platform that has a vm/interpreter. Compiling them removes that advantage. Nevertheless, it is the duty of the dev to make sure that the game runs 100% provided that the installation instructions are followed. 

197

Programming / Re: Realtime or semi-realtime turns

« on: October 31, 2011, 04:03:48 PM »

I haven't played Albion yet, but I personally like the way pyromancer does it - complete realtime, but the monsters are rather slow windshield kills. Until they're too many and themselves become the windshield, lol. But I think this only works with weak enemies, because a single enemy is very hard to keep track of (that especially applies to pyromancer's lighting, but to other games, too).
And that is a major problem with realtime-based RLs, I think. You have rather weak and rather powerful enemies, and the problem with more diverse monsters is to capture the player's attention early enough to make him realize that a powerful monster is there and to give him time to think about how to defeat it. Otherwise it will just walk up to him and kill him dead. One thing that is done in RTSs or RPGs is size, but that doesn't work in RLs due to obvious reasons. Another way that can be done in RLs is preattentive colors, but that of course limits your options on the variety of monsters.
That applies to both realtime and semirealtime RLs. The only question is - what do we understand as semirealtime? Is it waiting a specified time for the player to make an input? That is the only way to do it I can think of. Then we have the question: How much time should we give the player? Enough to think? Or barely enough to react? It depends on the granularity and intended difficulty of the game. In a simple game, say, DoomRL, you really don't have many options - either walk or fight. Both doesn't take much time to think about. A shorter time would be optimal here, I think. Do we have the complexity of Nethack or Crawl? More time should be given. I don't think you could turn these into realtime or semirealtime games at all, but I dislike the idea of speedchess, too, so that might be just me.

Anyway, these are my ideas. 

198

Temple of the Roguelike / Re: Welcome to Temple of the Roguelike Forums! (a.k.a. Introduce Yourself Thread)

« on: October 23, 2011, 10:37:48 AM »

Hey everyone! I'm a CS student who spends waaay too much time playing RLs. I have programming experience and a pet project RL, which I've been putting some work into recently. Been lurking here for quite some time and joined up a while ago.

199

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Infra Arcana r7

« on: August 27, 2011, 08:09:37 PM »

WTF? Keziah is in there? I never get to THAT level... 

Awesome game, btw. Dedicated Lovecraftian here, I luvs this kind of atmosphere.   

200

Off-topic (Locked) / Re: Foreigners

« on: August 24, 2011, 01:45:56 PM »

Inhospitable climate, drunken bear-fighting men, short and hairy women, and useless, annoying immigrants?

O my gods—

Finland is a dwarf fortress.

This. Quoted for epic win! 

201

Off-topic (Locked) / Re: RealityRL

« on: August 16, 2011, 06:29:07 PM »

Well I have to say it's pretty buggy in terms of balance...  Some of the races and classes are virtually unplayable, and it's damn easy to get pwned even in the higher levels.

202

Other Announcements / Best place to put a RL dev site?

« on: August 08, 2011, 06:53:06 PM »

Hi, everyone!

I was wondering what the best place for a dev site is. Basically, I've been doing some work on my pet project - although it's still far from a releasable state right now - and thought about putting a little dev site up at a later date. Is it better to put the development details on a blog or WP site and the actual files on a file hoster? Or would it be better to get some webspace and put everything into that one?  What do you recommend?

(note: wasn't sure where to post this. if misplaced, please relocate.)

203

Classic Roguelikes / Re: Arg.

« on: August 07, 2011, 09:46:28 PM »

I suck at roguelikes. I've only made it to about dungeon level 5 in Nethack. It probably doesn't help that I hate Nethack's gameplay. In fact, I was just about to quit roguelikes... until I discovered the granddaddy of all roguelikes, Rogue. I've been playing it on Hexatron for some time now, and I'm hooked. As I said, I suck at roguelikes. So when I made it all the way to level 8, it was a big deal for me. Until I got stuck between an orc and a rattlesnake, forgot to check my HP total, and... well, you know the story. Suffice it to say that I never made it to level 9.

My next play, I was still doing really well. I had made it to level 5 or 6 and cleared the entire level. I had hundreds of GP. Then I forgot to equip my plate mail and my ring, and descended the staircase. And promptly hit a treasure room. I even survived 2 more turns before dying. I read an unidentified scroll: it was a scroll of identify. I identified one of my potions: it was a potion of healing. Then the monsters got to go. 1 HP left. 0 GP left. I stupidly read a scroll instead of drinking a potion. My armor glowed a bright blue. Then I hit rigor mortis. Another Rogue bit the dust. With 0 GP. To add insult to injury, I got the "the graveyard isn't for paupers" message.

ARGHH!

The next two games, I got creamed on level 3 and 2, respectively. So I've got two questions for you guys:

1. When do I read scrolls and drink potions and zap wands to identify? Virtually everything I had was unidentified when I went down the fatal staircase.
2. Is there a really, really, easy roguelike?


EDIT: Immediately after writing this post, I played another game of rogue. Creamed on level 1, room 1 by a Hobgoblin, with 1 gold. At least I didn' t die a pauper this time. And then I played another one. And died on room 1, level 1 by an Emu, of all things. A pauper.

Heh, everyone has to start somewhere. It was the same for me. I think the deepest level I ever reached in NH was 26 or 27 (but I don't play it much nowadays). So be aware that this may not necessarily be the best advice out there, but it worked for me.

1) A lot of stuff unidentified? Completely normal when you start. Me, I just use stuff on low-level monsters. Throwing potions at them is huge fun. And if it is a beneficial potion, at least it's not something that can rip your head off (though this may depend on your character). Okay, the stuff may have been wasted that way, but it's not that important when you start. Things may look different a few levels farther down. Most of the time, I bump into the same stuff later in the game, when I really need it. I don't know what the pro's do, but I prefer not to test stuff on myself. Just in case it's a Potion of "Trolling the Player". 

2) Easy to win, or easy to understand? For the latter one, I can recommend DoomRL. Huge fun, loads of blood. Not 100% pure RL (it does have space marines instead of Elf Wizards ), but very easy to get into. Easy to win.. is rather uncommon. I can't think of one right now.