Neohack progress report - I'm being chased by wolves!

[jlund3]

And, yes, I want smart play to be at least *AS* important as character level.

I'll admit that I haven't been following this thread very closely, but the game you just described in high level terms sounds awesome.

[mushroom patch]

Yeah, this sounds pretty ambitious. Of course, I'd be interested to see even a fraction of what you're contemplating in working game form.

With all the derivative/trademarked commerical property-themed roguelikes out there, I'm surprised no one's gone for a Wile E. Coyote v. Roadrunner themed one where you can use absurd weapons like your reply suggests.

[Bear]

Yeah, this sounds pretty ambitious. Of course, I'd be interested to see even a fraction of what you're contemplating in working game form.

Heh.  True dat.  I need to actually knuckle down and keep implementing things rather than playing it over and over while it's incomplete. 

I have the "nine keys" game almost ready at this point.  I just hacked the "death touch" attack and game over.  Still need to do scoring, high scores, and some progress mechanics before it's even a complete coffee break  game. 

But in the longer term, I think it's definitely worth remembering some things -- for example, that a lot of monsters are aligned chaotic hungry rather than chaotic evil, and that throwing them food is not all that bad a tactic if you just want to get by. 'Cos a pot roast is probably cheaper than a healing potion, right? 

[Rickton]

But in the longer term, I think it's definitely worth remembering some things -- for example, that a lot of monsters are aligned chaotic hungry rather than chaotic evil, and that throwing them food is not all that bad a tactic if you just want to get by. 'Cos a pot roast is probably cheaper than a healing potion, right?

I'm honestly surprised there are so few games (if any?) that let you do that. Most roguelikes have food, why couldn't you pacify (or at least distract) an animal enemy by feeding them? And of course then that opens up other possibilities...dosing the food with poison/tranquilizers/shrinking potion/polymorph juice/mind control serum....

[reaver]

I need to actually knuckle down and keep implementing things rather than playing it over and over while it's incomplete. 
I have the "nine keys" game almost ready at this point.  I just hacked the "death touch" attack and game over.  Still need to do scoring, high scores, and some progress mechanics before it's even a complete coffee break  game. 

I think that's ... dangerous. If you have any sort of love for what you're doing, it will never be complete, thus never be released. Bug-catching functionality and getting some people to play, interact and feedback to you think is done I think is much more essential to hi scores. If everybody hates your inventory system, do the high scores really matter?

But in the longer term, I think it's definitely worth remembering some things -- for example, that a lot of monsters are aligned chaotic hungry rather than chaotic evil, and that throwing them food is not all that bad a tactic if you just want to get by. 'Cos a pot roast is probably cheaper than a healing potion, right?

I'm honestly surprised there are so few games (if any?) that let you do that. Most roguelikes have food, why couldn't you pacify (or at least distract) an animal enemy by feeding them? And of course then that opens up other possibilities...dosing the food with poison/tranquilizers/shrinking potion/polymorph juice/mind control serum....

All these sound crazy and interesting in theory, but with flexibility comes tediousness and exploits. Would you spend 10 minutes real-time to find around ingredients to cook a stew for a bloody wolf? Also, if you have 100 options to deal with an adversary, if you find one that is always better than others, wouldn't you just always do that? Again, releasing early and testing these bits if they're fun or not would give a clue.

[Samildanach]

Again, releasing early and testing these bits if they're fun or not would give a clue.

Very good advice. There are things that sound good on paper, even to players, but aren't much fun when you actually play. The only way to know is to get it in front of an audience. Unless you're planning to sell the game, then the sooner you get it out to players the better, because changing something fundamental way down the line will be a lot more difficult than catching it early.

That's the sort of thing beta tests are for in major releases. These days 'beta' seems to be synonymous with 'pre-release access to a basically finished game' but historically a beta test is there to catch bugs and unpopular features while it's still early enough to change them.

[mushroom patch]

In case I came off as scolding in the first paragraph of my previous comment, I just want to say that's not my intention. There is something to be said for releasing early and often, but it sounds like this is a fairly new project still. I mean, it's not like you've been doing this for twenty years without a release.

On the other hand, in the second paragraph, if it sounded like I was scolding people who write TrademarkInfringementRL type games, that was my intention.