Web Link: http://www.kongregate.com/games/Justin_wang123/the-rogue-fableHi everyone, I'm getting pretty close to finishing my second attempt at a rogue-like and I'm looking for some feedback from fellow developers. There are no in game instructions yet but I hope its intuitive enough that experienced rogue-like players like yourself can figure most of it out. The game is entirely mouse driven. Clicking your character will wait a turn. Clicking any item in your inventory will either use it (potions, food, scrolls etc.) or equip it. Spell casting is a little different in that each scroll has a mana cost, if you have sufficient mana, the scroll is not consumed. Clicking the character portrait in the bottom right of the screen lets you select skills each time you level up.
Features:- 16 main dungeon levels.
- 2 themed branches with 4 levels each (not required to win game).
- Melee weapons, ranged weapons, armor, amulets, potions and scrolls.
- Spell casting system based on scrolls.
- Classless, skill based advancement.
- Shops to spend gold.
Some of my thoughts that went into designing this:
DeterministicThe game is almost completely deterministic. Weapons always hit, all damage is constant (though mitigated by armor and resistances), healing recovers a set amount of hit points etc. I placed both the remaining hit points and damage directly on enemy sprites as I want players to know exactly what will happen in the next turn. In general I've tried to make the game as tactical as possible with the player given perfect information regarding the state of the game and the results of his actions.
No Health or Mana RegenerationThe player either needs to consume items in his inventory or consume resources in the level to regenerate mana and health.
Character DevelopmentI've tried to strike a balance between allowing the player to define his character build and allowing the RNG to define it for him. The items in you find are the major way in which your character build is defined with skills playing a lesser role. Furthermore I included shops so that the player has some control over which items he carries. I intentionally made the inventory small in order to force players to drop items.
No Useless ItemsEven though players will generally be specializing in some variation of melee, ranged, caster or stealth build, I wanted all items to always be useful. For example when a scroll is used, if the player has sufficient mana, then only mana is consumed, otherwise the scroll is consumed. In this way I hope that non caster characters will still feel it useful to carry around scrolls for emergencies.
Multiple EffectsI tried to make most items and spells have multiple effects. Healing potions can be drunk at full hp to increase maximum hit points, food also restores health, fire spells can ignite vines, ice spells also freeze enemies in place. There is generally no best weapon type: swords hit multiple enemies, pole arms have increased range, daggers can back stab unaware enemies. Heavier armor reduces maximum mana.
FeedbackAny feedback is greatly appreciated. I'm particularly interested in the difficulty level as I'm afraid to admit I haven't beaten the game yet (my friend has though so its definitely possible).
