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41

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / AngbandTK - Nightshade Forest mod

« Last post by night on February 03, 2025, 02:56:24 AM »

NIGHTSHADE FOREST

In the Tolkien legendarium, Nightshade Forest was a region of haunted woods near the fortress of Angband. True to its name, the Nightshade Forest tileset for AngbandTK takes the fight against Morgoth outside the dungeon and into a lore-accurate open world setting.

Download:
github[dot]com/archaion/Nightshade-Forest
nexusmods[dot]com/angbandtk/mods/1


ABOUT

Based on the AngbandTK graphical roguelike, this mod introduces a completely revamped high-definition isometric tileset. It also changes the names of various monsters and races to be more appropriate for the setting, makes all classes playable for every race, and reconfigures a few of the sound effects. The game is optimized for viewing at 800 x 600 and most options are preset for convenience, but these settings can be changed in the Options menu or by adjusting them manually. For gameplay instructions, see the Help menu.

Credit goes to Tim Baker for AngbandTK, David E. Gervais for the original tileset, and the Angband team for inspiring this project.


CHANGES

- All environment graphics completely overhauled
- New sprites for six monsters using the wrong tileset
- Higher quality player sprites with better colors
- Lore-accurate races and character backgrounds
- Class restrictions removed for all player races
- Improved designs for shields, scrolls and staffs
- Realistic new sprites for most canines and felines
- A few minor changes to various other monsters
- More appropriate sound effects for townspeople
- Ambient sound effects for dungeon areas


NOTES

Included in this release is the latest version of OmnibandTK, which contains multiple variants of Angband. This mod has been created for AngbandTK specifically, and has not been tested with the other variants.


CONTACT

night@pointedulac.net


SCREENSHOTS

42

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn-based) / Re: 'Warsim: The Realm of Aslona' The best management rpg you've never heard of!

« Last post by huw2k8 on January 31, 2025, 05:38:40 PM »

Just released a new video dicking about in Warsim being a degenerate king!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgelMVaNrpc&ab_channel=Warsim%3ATheRealmofAslonaOfficial

43

Player's Plaza / Re: Ever felt weird playing a roguelike?

« Last post by WraithGlade on January 22, 2025, 09:21:37 PM »

This is an interesting discussion.

It's not too often that one finds roguelike threads discussing whether a game's design makes the player feel alienated in some subconscious way or not.

There are cases were I don't mind weird mechanics and game feel, but there are also other cases where it does bother me.

I think it is a nuanced kind of thing overall and depends on how all the pieces of the game fit together overall, like so many other things in game dev.

Games certainly don't need to correspond to reality, or even a fictional reality, but that doesn't change the fact that sometimes things can feel out of place and could have been done in a more natural feeling and compelling way.

This thread was good food for thought. I will try to remember it for my own upcoming roguelike project that I'm just starting but have been wanting to make for the past decade. It should be fun getting back into dev more tangibly!

And, even though this forum gets way less activity than it once did (like many forums), I am happy that this (and other forums) still exists and is alive. The more traditional forums remain active the better, because social media in contrast socializes far too much power of censorship and groupthink in the hands of just a few entities.

I've always loved traditional forums a lot more than social media and they are a lot less anxiety inducing and so it is good to be back after so long! 

44

Player's Plaza / Re: Looking for the next Roguelike

« Last post by WraithGlade on January 22, 2025, 09:04:29 PM »

Your (OP's) criteria are a bit broad/vague, but here's a few of my own favorites that might fit that you may like:

• Spirits Abyss (similar to Vagante, but more whimsical... I like Spirits Abyss more overall)
• Infra Arcana (perhaps my favorite horror-themed roguelike, elegant and compelling)
• The Last Stand: Aftermath (actual 3D roguelike game, closest to procedural Resident Evil I've found)
• 1-bit Survivor (feels like a very tight and minimalistic turn-based Resident Evil)
• 868-Hack (best ultra-minimalistic roguelike I've played perhaps, quick game sessions too)
• Moonring (interesting mist theme that reminds me of the setting (world theme) of Legend of Legaia (a PSX game), but as a roguelike)
• Brogue (awesome color effects and gameplay, traditional fantasy but imaginative and polished)
• Curious Expedition 1 (not 2 though, personally) (an awesome strategy game with wonderful pixel art and very fun)

These are all fun ones and I bet you'll love at least one of them, but probably more than one.

I hope that helps! Have fun! 

45

Early Dev / Re: MudGate: Heroes of the Sanctuary

« Last post by WraithGlade on January 20, 2025, 08:35:51 PM »

I went to try the game out, but when I saw that it required an account creation and login then I decided not to.

I imagine that many other players are likely the same way.

You may be losing a lot of prospective players by putting the game behind a login wall!

Changing that so that people can try the game before they make an account would likely substantially improve how many players you get, I'd imagine! 

46

Early Dev / Re: Feedback appreciated: a turn-based roguelike platformer: Clean Space Corporation

« Last post by WraithGlade on January 20, 2025, 08:33:38 PM »

The game's premise is unique and has potential. It reminds me slightly of Dust Force in that it is rare for janitorial services to be turned into the setting for a game.

I liked the CRT-like and chromatic aberration post-processing effect you used.

The music also had some good energy to it.

The splash screen art of the astronaut is also quite well drawn/painted.

However, it'd be good to have keyboard controls too and not just mouse controls.

Also, when I tried the game, your procedural generation system made the second level impossible to get through as far as I could tell. The terrain seemed impassible.

The game feels incomplete and I'm guessing that it indeed is and that you may have moved on to other things by now. I just felt like giving you some feedback anyway though, to be supportive of fellow creative people.

Good effort and best of luck!

47

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

« Last post by WraithGlade on January 20, 2025, 08:10:04 PM »

Thanks! Looking forward to it!

I'm going to break my cycle of self-sabotage and finally move forward.

I'm glad the forum is still up. 

48

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

« Last post by getter77 on January 19, 2025, 11:50:27 AM »

Welcome back, best wishes taking a crack at things as you can, how you can.   

49

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

« Last post by WraithGlade on January 18, 2025, 04:57:01 PM »

Hello everyone! 

I actually originally made this account way back in 2012, then wrote a couple of posts expressing my great joy for having found the forum (and also more broadly speaking the entire roguelike community) and also sharing my ambitions to create a 3D roguelike and to explore some associated prospective innovation ideas for procedural generation... and then I disappeared for over a decade.

You see, at the time I had no idea how bad my mental block on game dev and even programming itself would become. I was employed as a AAA game developer shortly after college but the experience so unsettled me (e.g. toxic office politics, unexpected work conditions, etc) and my creative outlook that ever since leaving that environment in ~2013 I've had difficulty actually doing anything whenever I tried to program and have been slowly trying to recover from that ever since.

During that entire decade though I have still been greatly yearning to make a roguelike and the lack of having done so yet even to this day has been one of the heaviest weights upon my mind these many long years. I feel like I have been waiting a decade for my life to begin (running around in circles in the form of analysis paralysis and anxiety) and I have immense regrets about not having done what I promised myself I would yet.

It may seem that I just appeared and disappeared all those years ago, as if it was not significant to me, but quite the contrary is the case: Procedural generation and roguelikes have been the center focus of my ambition and hopes for years now, but my (perhaps traumatized?) state of mind (e.g. "writer's block" for game dev) has been stopping me from doing so. I realize the self-sabotage and hypocrisy of that, but I have struggled to be able to function well at all ever since my AAA game dev experiences and how they contributed to conditioned me to fear every slightest potential flaw in game dev to the point of crippling me and much of my life in effect.

It has become the nemesis of my creative life (my struggle to break my bad pattern of creative stagnation). So, here I am at long last, reviving my profile from so long ago in the hopes of finally closing the circle on my broken dreams and fulfilling the promise I made to myself to make a roguelike game all those years ago in ~2012-2013!

I've wasted a lot of opportunity by taking so long about this, but I can't change the past but can only move forward now.

It means the world to me to finally overcome this somehow and I hope that perhaps participating here again and taking it seriously will help me to overcome the creative and emotional roadblock that has brought so much struggle and frustration to my life.

I am sorry for disappearing for so long and I hope I'm not too late to mend my own folly and to break the cycle that has stopped my life from moving forward how I've wanted it to the past decade.

Anyway, sorry for rambling a bit here too, but I wanted to get my thoughts off my chest.

I am glad the forum is still around and I hope to finally overcome my internal struggle and make peace with what I wanted my life to be and where to guide it next.

Here's to hoping for brighter creative and personal futures for us all! 

50

Traditional Roguelikes (Turn Based) / The Tomb of Naarumsin (new release)

« Last post by markemus on January 17, 2025, 01:34:10 PM »

 The Tomb of Naarumsin is a text-based roguelike with deep combat mechanics. Chop off your enemy's hands and they'll drop their weapons, slice off their feet and they'll fall over. Remove (all of) their head(s) and they'll die. Bleed them to death, poison them, light them on fire, it's up to you!

Each of the seven levels contains different types of foes, from vampire bats to limb regenerating trolls, entangling octopi, dangerous giant spiders with webs and poison, zombies, and mechanical enemies left over by the dwarves. You will need to examine your enemies closely to figure out their weaknesses if you want to survive.

Use magic to gain an edge on your foes. Some of the dozens of spells included are:

- Graft Limb: Lost a foot? Need an extra arm? Want a spare head? Simply graft an enemy's chopped off limb onto your own body.

- A Way Home: Opens a magical door to your apartment, with special rooms that you can decorate with the limbs and weapons of your defeated enemies.

- The Floor is Lava: burn off your enemy's feet, then burn up the rest of them once they fall over.

- Possess: take over an enemy's body and fight as them.

- Enthrall: force an enemy to fight on your side.

- Reincarnate: raise a dead enemy as a zombie! They can't hold weapons anymore but they can grapple very effectively.

- Summoning: summon creatures to fight on your side, each with unique abilities.

- Grow Fangs: grow vampiric fangs that heal you when they do damage (if the limb you target can bleed).

Download here: markemus.itch.io/the-tomb-of-naarumsin

Available for both Windows and Linux.