Starting Small

[Fenrir]

I've never managed to finish a roguelike project. I think it's because I never listen when told to "start small", so I would like to make something simple, like those 1kb roguelikes on the front page. Unfortunatly, I've no idea what to make. Can someone help me think of a very small roguelike concept?

[Slash]

Just do a simple dungeon diving adventure. A rogue ant which decides to kill the queen of his mound after achieving consciousness may be nice.

[Fenrir]

So I should just do dungeon generation and combat?

[Slash]

Yes.

And a insectoidical skill system

[Fenrir]

Many thanks, wise high-priest.

I'm not really sure about the "insectoidical" skill system, so I'll need to do some research on ants. TO WIKIPEDIA!

Ha, ha! I just noticed. Ants. Starting small with ants. Good one.

[getter77]

First you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women...

Also, nifty idea!  Go for one of those Amazonian ants with insane strength and abilities relative to normal ants.

[corremn]

I have quite often thought of ants as a base or part of a game.  It reminds me of a game I used to play called Entomorph, where you ate necter and mutated.

[Cymon]

You could always just do the lonely take of an '@' symbol trying to escape out the right side of a dungeon.

Code: [Select]

#include <curses.h>
#include <time.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
main() {
  char map[10][15];
  keypad(initscr(),1);
  int y=1;
  int x=1;
  int c;
  srand(time(NULL));
  for(int yy=0;yy<10;yy++)
    for(int xx=0;xx<15;xx++)
      map[yy][xx]=((yy!=0)&&(yy!=9)&&(xx!=0)&&(xx!=14)&&(rand()%4))?' ':'*';
  map[rand()%8+1][14] = ' ';
  while((x!=14) && ('q'!=(c=getch()))){
    for(int yy=0;yy<10;yy++)
      for(int xx=0;xx<15;xx++)
        mvaddch(yy,xx,map[yy][xx]);
      if(KEY_UP==c && ' '==map[y-1][x]) y--;
      if(KEY_DOWN==c && ' '==map[y+1][x]) y++;
      if(KEY_LEFT==c && ' '==map[y][x-1]) x--;
      if(KEY_RIGHT==c && ' '==map[y][x+1]) x++;
      mvaddch(y,x,'@');
  }
}
I should improve the dungeon generation. I can't take credit for most of that. I reduced a pre-defined map to three lines that make a random pattern, added a winning condition, and in the end reduced the game from 902 chars to 713. But there's no guarantee you can make it to the end the way it's written.

You may think this sort of thing is silly, but it's an excellent proof of concept sort of thing, gives you a little satisfaction. Something stupid you can show off that no one has much expectations for.

[Anvilfolk]

No offence there, but I'd still go for the ants!

Maybe with some weird sensory input! Like you'd have to poke stuff with your antennae to get partial views, and smell pheromones and stuff.

> 's'
You smell the pheromones in the air. An ant has farted here before.
> 'p'
You poke your antennae. There are mandibles here!

[Z]

Strange, I also thought about such a theme when I was young (well, it was actually about bees, not ants)... If so many people think about a game about insects, why there are so few such games?

(And another idea of mine was wolves.)