Grand Rogue Auto (now at 0.6.9)

[getter77]

http://grandrogueauto.blogspot.com/

Grand Rogue Auto is an attempt at writing a GTA themed graphical roguelike. The setting takes place in a procedurally generated modern city (populated with citizens, shops, buildings of several kind,…) and its neighborhood. The player will gain money by completing random missions, wreaking havoc, and working for different factions. This money can be used to buy ammo, weaponry, armors, items, locations and so on. The goal of this project is to mix the open-ended aspect of GTA with the complexity and replay value of roguelike games.

However, GRA is not only a game, it's an engine designed to handle a massive amount of NPC in an large environment. As a result, the game is easily modifiable using the Modding menu. Basically, all the content beside the game's rules can be altered. Custom-made weapons, objects, buildings and even NPC can be incorporated into new games with ease.

The following features will be implemented:

    Procedural generation of the city and its inhabitants
    Destructible Terrain
    Warfare between several randomized factions for the control of the city
    A police force able to deal with criminals
    Thousands of NPC living their own little lives
    Randomized quest and dynamic storyline generators
    Ability for the player to engage in lucrative activities (not limited to killing people)
    A ranged and melee combat system with the ability to aim shots
    A simple and efficient user interface (by roguelike standards)


GRA is written in Delphi/Pascal for Win32 systems available as a freeware. A test build is available  in the download section of this website. Can be used on Linux with Wine.

[getter77]

0.6.0

adds the Military Faction. This faction has a large base with multiple levels and several barracks, taking a whole sector. This is a passive faction at the moment (it won't invade sectors). However, anyone who isn't military himself will be shot on sight if he dares entering in one of the buildings. In the highest level of the base you'll find the Military Commander wearing an experimental and unique weapon. However managing to kill him or even getting access should be pretty damn hard.

This is a first basic and short (but hard) dungeon. A lot of work is still needed but all the major hurdles regarding such additions have been overcome. Don't waste time looting the various chests into the military base, loot tables aren't implemented in this release. More dungeon-type buildings and special locations will come in the next release (the military base itself will also be improved).

This version also fixes numerous AI related bugs, some of them were pretty major, and as a result actions and reactions from NPC should make much more sense now (behaviors like policemen and soldiers not doing anything while hell is breaking loose around them or people stopping in the middle of a fight because they want a snack should be much less common).
Other changes include several tweaks made to the gang warfare system and a new (largely untested) game mode where cops have been removed from the map. The full changelog is included in the readme.txt.

[getter77]

0.6.1

I added a list of currently active effects (like wounds) on the screen displayed as icons. Hovering the mouse will show a description. Also, when right clicking a npc, a nice looking and much more informative menu will popup. Moving the mouse outside of the popup window auto close it. Keyboard shortcuts are still working when this popup is active.

I also added 2 zombie types. They are a bit less common than standard ones, who have been tweaked too.

[getter77]

0.6.5

This release introduces the first proper dungeon (Necro-Tech building) and, of course, the dungeon editor. It also fixes numerous bugs and issues, mainly related to factions. It also add a new building size (very large 3x3). Currently, it is only used for dungeons and a place-holder factory, but more will come. However, the Military Base introduced in 0.6.0 doesn't have loot yet and isn't a moddable dungeon. I will see what I can do about that in the next version. Also, even if modding a new dungeon by yourself is possible, the process to do so isn't really intuitive. I will post a tutorial / video about that soon.

In other news : the code itself has been optimized, and as a result the game should take a bit less RAM and CPU than before; new weapons and objects have been added (to populate the dungeon); also, some older NPC had a facelift.

v0.6.5 - Dungeon Update [breaks savegames, modded bodies, factions]
- [AI] Prevent NPC who are in combat from dying of hunger while fighting
- [Engine] Large parts of the code regarding the game database have been optimized
- [Engine] CPU and RAM usage reduced
- [Engine] Added failsafe mechanisms to prevent crashes when the database is incomplete (by bad modding)
- [Engine] Added some info to aLife Spy and City Stats debug windows
- [Factions] Civilian in gang sectors zones may be converted into thugs on respawn
- [Gameplay] Dungeons have loot
- [Graphics] Added some sprites and added new ones
- [World] Added the NecroTech building / dungeon
- [World] Added "very large" building types (3x3 blocks)
- [World] All big enough buildings can be split in rooms
- [World] Hard limit on the max amount of money a NPC can have (until eco overhaul)
- [Modding] Dungeon Editor (with loot tables, chest lock settings, enemy lists)
- [Modding] Default weapon (fists) is now moddable like the others.
- Fixed : Random crash caused by incomplete NPC templates
- Fixed : Factions were unable to recruit if they don't score a victory
- Fixed : An issue causing people to respawn with the wrong faction in some cases
- Fixed : Bug causing faction HQ to be medium sized, no matter the data
- Fixed : Loading screen not displaying HQ locations properly
- Fixed : Civilian buildings weren't tagged as such
- Fixed : Factions trying to invade sectors with 0 available people.

[getter77]

0.6.7

This quick release fixes a few annoying issues introduced in v0.6.x. It also adds new features regarding thievery. First, a new NPC type, the thief, has been implemented. As the name implies, it will steal things from containers. A new building, the bank, has also been added. Coffers in the banks contains a lot of money. Also, containers found in houses may contain money, and may be locked. Alarms will also attract cops. None of those changes are fleshed out yet. I am mainly releasing this early to remove the (involuntary) money cap put on the player and to fix some annoying bugs in the map generator.

The next version will improve over this and should add the news system. I will also try to link the bank to the city economy.


v0.6.7 - Fixes and Thievery
[AI] Basic Thief AI implemented
[Engine] Zones can be individually set as 'private' (added to editor aswell)
[Gameplay] Triggering alarm has a probability of calling a cop if one is nearby
[NPC] Burglars added
[World] Some chests may now contain money
[World] Some low level locked containers into houses, useful for skill training
[World] Bank building added
- Fixed : Impossible to get money from containers
- Fixed : No faction assigned after multiple class change in creation window
- Fixed : Hard money limit was also applied to the player
- Fixed : Some of the generated cities may cause memory leak
- Fixed : The game may be unable to find a place for a Dungeon/HQ even if exists
- Fixed : Wrong default settings for some factions

[getter77]

0.6.9

As last year, it was summer so I wasn't around. However, I did produce some code, and even enough to publish a new version of GRA. This is kind of an important update because I am going to explain what is now going to happen to this project and to the next one.

So, first things first, let's explain the new additions.


Game objects like TV, containers, machines can now be targeted and broken. As a result, windows have been added to a lot of buildings and those can give an alternate entry point to players who haven't focused points into lockpicking. At the moment very few items are destructible because i don't have the willpower to produce the art assets, but the mechanism to do so is implement which is the most important part. The GUI has been updated, now the upper right panel shows HP and info about objects when you are targeting those. As a result, the "furniture editor" has been updated and allows to set a particular graphic for destroyed furniture.

So, right now, the whole gameworld is destructible. It is not yet handled by the NPC AI very well. If you allow beds to be destroyable and destroy a home, I have no idea how NPC will react, especially as there's no hotel at the moment.

I also fixed a few behaviors "bugs". Cops are now much more likely to patrol banks. The "call a cop" function called by civilians wasn't working, and it's now fixed. Area of Effect damage wasn't causing an appropriate response from the target(s) and it's fixed as well .

I am also in the process of adding customizable ammunition, this is visible in the Weapon Editor. It's not yet implemented, but in the next version, weapons will have modifiers / special FX that will be applied to the guy wearing the weapon, while ammo modifiers will be applied to the target. So, you'll be able to equip your AK with fire ammo, or shock ammo and so on..

I also fixed L shaped buildings so they are not so prone on blocking pathing with randomized clutter. I also added semi rare T shaped buildings.


This said. And that's both sad and good news. GRA is going to be discontinued. I still have to add the handling of lights and sound. The ability to stealth your way in and a few other gameplay related stuff. But once I am done with that, I will switch to Z-COM.

First, I literally don't have any money left, I am going to work in a few weeks and as a result my productivity will be going down. I'd love to become an Indie developer, but let's be honest this is not with something as vague as GRA that I am going to be a successful one.Secondly, even if writing a city simulator is fun. I am wasting a large part of what my engine is capable of doing because I can't put it into the game.

So yeah, you are going to get 2 or 3 new major versions of GRA (+ fixes) and then i will switch to my other project that I will detail in future posts. For those who are wondering: this is going to be a donate-ware. Free for everyone, but if you feel like I deserve a cent, well, you can make a donation through paypal.




v0.6.9 - Lazy Summer Edition
 (+) [AI] Cops much more likely to patrol banks
 (+) [Engine] Ability to break objects like windows and furniture
 (+) [Gameplay] when owned by a gang, alarms will call thugs instead of cops
 (+) [GUI] The 'Online Documentation' option in the help menu links to the wiki
 (+) [GUI] Info Panel shows detailed info about clutter/objects
 (+) [Modding] Furniture Editor updated to handle destructible objects
 (+) [World] Added T shape for large buildings
 (+) [World] Made L shaped buildings a bit larger inside (should fix unreachable items too)
 (+) [World] Added windows to buildings
 (*) Fixed : The "Call a Cop" function called by alarms wasn't working properly
 (*) Fixed : Not possible to fire at objects directly
 (*) Fixed : Container window was causing an error when emptying something already empty
 (*) Fixed : AoE damage doesn't trigger appropriate response / alert level changes
 (*) Fixed : Weapon Info panel wasn't showing weapon type for throw weapons
 (*) Fixed : Shopping window wasn't showing weapon count for throw weapons

It'll be interesting to see what sort of generally final plateau GRA will ultimately reach alongside whatever form the mystery project to come in the wake shall be...

[getter77]

Now actually available alongside a glimpse into the present and future:

For some reason, the download page has been put to rest. It's now fixed and Grand Rogue Auto 0.6.9 is now available for everybody. Like i said earlier, don't expect me to continue much further on this project. The engine behind it is now solid enough and GRA has always been a tech demo. I can now make a good game out of it while GRA was, let's say 'dumb fun'. It's still highly moddable, even if the process can be relatively hard to grasp. And people can right now add a ton of content through the "dungeon" system. I don't think that modding the engine myself would help very much.

I do know there's a few broken promises from the roadmap. So let me explain myself. I basically have ten unfinished artificial life related projects That's what i do, AL. I have a relatively accurate zombie outbreak simulator (yeah accurate and I stand by this word), I have a totally abstract 3D opengl darwinian life simulator, and so on. I'm interested in this kind of stuff, GRA has reached its limit. Well, not really, but being restricted to the GTA-RL genre is kinda a problem in itself.

So, the next game, based on the same engine, called Necro-Watch, will be relatively unique despite being based on the good old zombie apocalypse scenario. It will have a XCOM vibe, it will be moddable, procedurally generated, and difficult. This project will be, as usual, a freeware. But, as I obviously need to make a living, it will also be a "donate-ware". In other words, you'll be able to download the full game free of charge, and if you think it deserve some credit, you can donate a few cents/dollars/euros/whatever to keep me going. No copy protection in any shape or form. But of course, let's be honest, if I gain money building this simulator, I will continue doing so, otherwise, well, I'll get a boring job.

Cheers,
SK.