Messages

46

Off-topic (Locked) / Re: roguelike idea - Ancestor Quest

« on: January 22, 2010, 01:20:32 PM »

If previous character was good, perhaps the spirits interaction with the ancestor is enough to release it.  Leaving uncursed booty.

I'd make it extremely hard to be good in the game.  For instance besides an attack command I'd have a fend off command that could be used with non intelligent, weak, animal monsters, that just shooed away the monster (only getting 1/4 of exp of killing).  Killing weak animal intelligence monsters would count as a small hit to alignment.  Killing dangerous animal intelligence monsters would be a neutral act.

Obviously killing a Good NPC or friendly wandering monster would be a big hit to alignment.  Killing an evil monster or character would likewise do the reverse.

47

Off-topic (Locked) / roguelike idea - Ancestor Quest

« on: January 22, 2010, 01:06:06 PM »

For each of the Races in the game the AI generates 3 or 4 previous ancestors.  Characters own a house with portraits scattered throughout.  Examining a portrait gives you the randomly generated background for each ancestor and how/aproxhowdeep they died trying to recover a lost family heirloom in the "bottomless caves outside of town".

Characters have a basic town (moria style) to equip and trade in.  If character dies (which they should, since it should be crazy hard) on quest attempt then the next time a player chooses that race they should be a descendant of the previous character, and another potrait should be added to the home with the previous characters info.

Ancestor levels should be similar to Nethack except there can be variations based on the aligment of the previous character.  If previous character was good, perhaps the spirits interaction with the ancestor is enough to release it.  Leaving uncursed booty.  If the previous character was neutral perhaps a randomly generated quest will release it's spirit.  Leaving mixed cursed/uncursed items.  But if the previous character was evil then perhaps combat is all that can set the spirit free.  Leaving cursed items behind.

Obviously you would have to set limits for the number of ancestor levels that could be saved.  Perhaps the last half dozen for each race plus the four originals for a total of ten.  As the ghosts are beaten, released, or pushed.  The portraits could be removed and their names permanently entered into the family geneology book, also located in the house.  If all ancestors for a particular race are dispatched then 4 new randomly generated ancestors can be added at the top of geneology.  So player characters follow the ancestry down, whereas computer generated get added at the top.

Other than that, throw in a kick ass batch of skills, monsters, items, magic system, etc, and you'd have a pretty cool roguelike.

Anybody with skills for progamming for the xbox360 want to work on this with me?  Dungeon Adventure has inspired me to give that console the roguelike it deserves.

Resume on request.  I've some commercial software to my name.

48

Off-topic (Locked) / looting my corpse

« on: January 22, 2010, 11:26:49 AM »

After playing Hack (it wasn't called nethack yet) for the first time in the mid 80's I was blown away at "how cool" the concept of BONES files were, and that the game allowed you to battle the spirits of your former persona's in order to retrieve your former self's belongings.  Granted all the items were cursed, but hey, if I can't take off my +14 cloak of invisibility for a few rounds, so be it.

What surprises me is that the roguelike world is famous for sharing/stealing/lifting/borrowing ideas.  Yet I can not remember a single other roguelike that had this feature.  Can anybody else think of another roguelike that has it?

49

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Dungeon Adventure released on XBLIG (360)

« on: January 21, 2010, 01:12:21 PM »

The part that perked my eyebrows the most had to be his first introduction, and seemingly only mentioned one, to be what I think was iRogue---the very first "Rogue" port/version the iPhone received and it was very....not looked favorably upon....and as it turned out the Roguelike slate on iPhone proper REALLY got started with RogueTouch a bit later and now there's so many more.

So, even if he was trying to stay in the, er, shadow of something that I don't know is capable of casting one, iRogue, wouldn't logic dictate that other iPhone offerings and perhaps PC offerings would've followed and colored his notions in a wee bit more?

I hope the developer comes to investigate Roguelikes a bit more conclusively as opposed to seemingly thinking he'd struck gold fomr iRogue and all others are just derivatives.  I mean, if he'd used Google even a single time I'm pretty sure the top many search results would've exposed a great deal more.  9 months on this versus many 7DRL's but to the latter's credit they've a more logical cohesion and vision going on.

Well said!

50

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / My high score

« on: January 20, 2010, 04:56:46 PM »

Lol, after reading the author of Dungeon Adventure's explanation, I set out to prove that he infact doesn't even know his own game.  As an added bonus I doubled my previous high score.  Here's how I did it.

I avoided as much combat as possible.
I avoided all items except the curse ring which lowers your Strength.

I took every set of stairs as soon as I found it.

With that strategy I was able to make Level 13 of the Dungeon.  5 levels deeper than all previous attempts.

Therefore I hearby rename this game.  Stair Search.  (with Ed McMahon)

51

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Dungeon Adventure released on XBLIG (360)

« on: January 20, 2010, 03:07:09 PM »

http://xblaratings.com/developer-qaa/1791-dungeon-adventure-developer-interview

Interview with the developer that should have everything make MUCH more sense in terms of his background and where he was coming from approach wise, at least this time around.

Clearer if it made any sense.  As I said on another board.  Saying "I designed the game to be simple, so non hardcore gamers could get into it" is complete nonsense.  Show me a roguelike besides Omega that has an overly complicated commandset for moving and picking up items?  Make suicide runs with ANY well programmed roguelike and you'll have a better game than this one.

Further how does making the game simple account for making it bland?  Previously I posted complete monster, item, weapon & armor lists.  That isn't simple.  That is simply early development.

What I have no trouble in believing is that the author's only experience with Roguelikes is a cellphone version of Rogue.  But, if he were SO addicted to it, why didn't he learn/understand that Leveling up in a Roguelike is supposed to make the game easier.  At least until you head to a deeper level and encounter new tougher monsters?  Not the same monsters that simply become stronger than you as you level up.

As I said I still want to support this guy, but I wouldn't buy anything else from this gamehouse until I see some proof that he has learned the true characteristics of a classic roguelike.

52

Off-topic (Locked) / Re: 26th year Roguelike statis report

« on: January 18, 2010, 06:52:17 PM »

For me I started with the Fushigi Dungeon series and have mostly beaten the ones I have/played----though never their ultimate challenges post-game.   I'm keen on pretty much any Tile/Graphical Roguelike I've spent time with and several I've not yet had the time for and just can't handle the ASCII ones period...well....save Triangle Wizard somehow.

One of these days if I ever figure out precisely how to play a graphical Umoria...or I guess the graphical Amiga port....or even more "not quite" am able to actually correctly run Mines of Morgoth on my new PC once it is situated----I really do need to spend some time with the whole lot and maybe some Angband variants as well.

Compared to virtually everybody here save a couple, I'm very much late to the party seeing as how I only came to discover Roguelikes a just a year or couple back.

Lol, yeah.  Shiren is a very recent roguelike for me.  It's not bad, but the food dungeon, trap dungeon, and final dungeons are insane.  I've managed to beat the rest.  I sent Sega a message asking for Shiren 2 nds which was 3 on the N64, with about as much success as my pleas to continue the Shenmue franchise.  You should definately pick up Ragnarok if you havn't.  You'll need dosbox or something similar, but it is a rather nice tilebased roguelike from the 90's.

53

Off-topic (Locked) / Re: 26th year Roguelike statis report

« on: January 17, 2010, 11:50:49 PM »

Moria was my first rl.  Managed to defeat it once, with a troll priest IIRC.  Nowadays I just play Crawl, it has great features and still is very reminiscent of those early games and extremely challenging.

I bow to you.  Defeating Moria legally puts you in that .000001 percentage group of Spelunkers that have bested that beast.  I on the other hand, after reading every faq on the matter was still unable to catch up to him, and when I did.  I wished I hadn't.

Ancient Multi-Hued dragon....  Please don't breath on me!

I have beaten lesser Balrogs and even a named Balrog in Angband, but I don't believe they had close to the strength of the Moria Balrog.

54

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Dungeon Adventure released on XBLIG (360)

« on: January 17, 2010, 05:38:50 PM »

It will be interesting to see how the direct competitor, ASCII Quest, does things differently with this extra month or so they've intentionally pushed release back in order to add polish and depth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Sz5dh8hQAM

From the early screens it looks about a billion times better.  But please god! at least give us an Ansi option!!

After seeing this, my guess is that Dungeon Adventure was released in it's developmental state in order to be first.  Probably assuming that once ASCII quest was released they'd probably get 0 sales.  Probably right!

55

Off-topic (Locked) / Re: 26th year Roguelike statis report

« on: January 17, 2010, 04:42:01 PM »

Congratulations From the games you mention, I have beaten Larn once (it was nice, but I moved to other games afterwards), had no interest in Moria and Angband, savescummed Omega and Nethack (and found them not fun enough to try legally... also Omega did not look like if it could be beaten legally, but maybe that's just savescummer's perspective),  and beaten ADOM several times. So my successes in these games were quite different. In my subjective easiest-to-hardest ranking, I would put them as follows: Larn, ADOM, NetHack, Omega (not sure where to put Moria variants).

Thanks.  Omega was beaten legally.  Err, sort of.  I generated my own character by answering questions, and had near 20 for all stats.  So perhaps not legally, but not by savecheat.   You can fluke an awesome character in Omega sometimes just by walking around.  I remember the game I won, I just created my character.  Joined the traditional guildhalls.  Equipped up.  Had a couple of Arena fights.  Got the Goblin Chieftan quest from the King.  Took one step outside.  Hit by a minor mana storm.  Survived and was leveled up to 10 or something insane.  The game was pretty easy for a while after that.

Also I need to add one significant Roguelike to the list that I forgot, but  beat.   Ragnarok!  Great game.

If you don't play Nethack, Moria, or Angband.  What roguelikes do you primarily play?

56

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Dungeon Adventure released on XBLIG (360)

« on: January 17, 2010, 02:00:16 PM »

I forgot to do a monster list.

Spoiler Alert (not)
---------------

Monster - Monster appears in the game with several names.  Bat, Emu, Vampire, Hobgoblin, Centaur.  Monster's stats are based on your stats, so monster can be killed easily at level* 2 or 3,  even if it's name is Vampire.  But by level* 5 or 6, monster named Bat can smoke your butt.  Monsters movement is one space per turn.  Monster has no special attacks, no special defenses.  Monster is rather stupid.  Monster can not figure out how to move SW if it's only exit is diagonal and I'm 1 space south and 2 spaces west.

*That's player level.  Dungeon level seems irrelevant at this point.  I started a game and had to head downstairs from single issolated rooms (a product of poor map generation), and ended up on Lvl 6 before having my first fight.  Level 6 seemed the same as Level 1 when I was Level 1.

57

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Dungeon Adventure released on XBLIG (360)

« on: January 17, 2010, 01:42:02 PM »

That being said I rated it a 4/5, and paid for it.

Why did you rate it 4 out of 5? Didn't you just say you hated it?

-Ido.

Hated it?  The author is attempting to make a console Roguelike.  I'm absolutely thrilled.  I'm not happy that the release was rushed out the door as soon as it started looking like a Roguelike.  But I still wanted to support the author and give it a rating based on how happy I am that it's being attempted by someone.  I did rate it a 1 at first, but felt that sent the wrong message.

But you're right.  It does sound like I absolutely hate it from my posts.  So let me take a second to tell you what I like about it.

The music and ambience is very good.
The way the game is laid out and the way the controler is used is good.
I like the attract mode which reminds me of the Angband borg.  If you don't pay too much attention.
Neat to see David Gervais's tileset on the xbox360.

Okay you might be right.  That is little to go on.  I noticed the game rating has gone from 4.5 down to 3.5.  I wonder if others are rethinking their high ratings.

58

Off-topic (Locked) / 26th year Roguelike statis report

« on: January 16, 2010, 06:40:14 PM »

I started my roguelike gaming with a little game called Dungeon on the Commodore Pet.  Since that time I've been an on again, off again, addict.  Here is my 26th year progress report.

Larn - Beaten several times
Moria - Never beaten (3 or 4 times fought the Balrog)*
Angband - Never beaten (Never seen Morgoth)
Omega - Beaten
ADOM - Never beaten
Nethack - Beaten once in the early 90's.

Show me any other game genre that can provide a single player that much challenge over a quarter century?

*I've actually seen the Moria/Angband borg beat Moria.

59

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Dungeon Adventure released on XBLIG (360)

« on: January 16, 2010, 11:22:43 AM »

SPOILER ALERT
=-=-=-=-=-=-=

On my 11th game of Dungeon Adventure I discovered a 5th potion.  Obviously there are still a couple of things I've yet to see generated in this game.  So here is my attempt to document a complete item list.

Potions
----------

Potion of Strength - Increases players Str stat.
Potion of Healing - 10Hps restored.
Potion of Great Healing - double strength healing potion.
Potion of Skill - Raises your Lvl by 1.
Potion of Sickness - Does some damage.

Scrolls
--------

Scroll of Identity - Identifies Rings, Potions, and Scrolls.  (Weapons and Armor have no magic attributes, curses or bonuses.)
Scroll of Sleep - Puts you to sleep for around 8 turns.
Enchant Armor - Puts the word enchanted next to your armor.  (Doesn't actually improve your armor stats.)
Magic Mapping - Shows you how buggy the games map generation is.
Remove Curse - Allows you to remove the Ring of Weakness.
Freeze Monster - Stops visible monsters for a while.

Rings
-------

Ring of Weakness - The only cursed item I've found so far.  Lowers Str by 5.
Ring of Strength - Raises Str by 5.
Ring of Agility - Raises Agl.  No noticeable effect.
Ring of Defense - Raises your Armor rating.  Works the same as EXP.  Tougher you are, tougher every monster is.

Weapons
------------

Mace - Starting weapon
Iron Sword - Found on Lvl 2 - 6.

Armor
--------

Leather Armor - Starting armor.
Ring Mail
Banded Mail
Chain Mail

That's it besides generic food and gold parcels.  If you've found something else, please add it to the list.

60

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / Re: Dungeon Adventure released on XBLIG (360)

« on: January 16, 2010, 10:53:50 AM »

If you know the history of roguelikes, you know that the ASCII graphics were not used because ASCII is cool.

Sure, but it ended up growing on a lot of people, and now there are some who prefer ASCII.  I'm not one of them, but they certainly exist, and they may well be the majority of roguelike players.

ASCII is dead.  Long live ANSI!  I remember when corridors used to be #.  Bleh!