Doing "Rogue Spelunky"

[Slash]

Most of us around here know about the great game made by Derek Yu: Spelunky,

Recently the possibility to mod it has been brought to my attention, and I thought... would anyone be interested into doing a more "classic" roguelike using the spelunky engine? May be a rogue remake?

[Krice]

Is that possible? It's a platformer, how much can you modify it? The source code was released I think, but I remember it's written in Basic. Besides, why remake Rogue when you can do better?

[Etinarg]

I thought it was made in GameMaker not Basic?

[Slash]

It was originally made on Game Maker, I don't know about the latest versions including the one whose source code was released...

Some mods have already been written, what I would have in mind is implementing a more traditional roguelike theme, including going for the amulet of Yendor and bringing it back to the surface, with a sword instead of a whip, no bombs, etc...

[Etinarg]

Maybe it would open the roguelike genre to the arcade gamers? (If there are still any left ...)

But in general I'd say that making rogue again with a more modern game system will not necessarily be much better than a traditional tile based rogue, or even the ASCII one. The more successful late roguelikes all picked up modern ideas and presented them in a more or less roguelike fashion ... so I'd think that new ideas are the key to success, not so much a new presentation of old ideas.

Edit: The Expedition project is a good example I think. The ideas were there, but not in a roguelike fashion. So for a roguelike game they are new, and the project already seems to be very interesting and attractive.

Also, look at the zombie survival games, and the space roguelikes. I think these are good examples to show that new ideas attract the players.

[getter77]

What has surprised me is that, after all this time, though maybe they are still in a holding pattern waiting on the HD version that was still in dev last I checked, there has yet to be the Spelunky equivalent of...er..."SLASH'EM++".   That is, expanding and kitchen sinking the daylights out of the base Spelunky.

[Bear]

New ideas can be any part of the game though.  There's no problem with making a "standard fantasy pseudo-medieval dungeon crawl with magic" if you bring something interesting to it.

I mean, consider Crawl.  It's a standard fantasy pseudo-medieval dungeon crawl with magic.  But its interface (with autoexplore, etc) is very different, and its skills system is very different.  This brings new things to the table in terms of roguelike gameplay and game mechanics.  And in my opinion, these things are more interesting - that is, they change gameplay in a deeper way - than a change in setting or monsters.

Bear

[Etinarg]

I'd say the Crawl example rather supports my point that new ideas are needed to make games interesting?

[Fenrir]

You all should stop worrying about whether it'll attract arcade gamers or whether it will be any better than the old rogue or whether new ideas are needed or even whether it'll be a roguelike. Make a game with features that you think might be fun. It might work, and it might not, but we can't play test a theoretical game to find out.

[Vanguard]

I'd definitely play something like that.  The world can never have too many action roguelikes.  Never.

[Skeletor]

I'd definitely play something like that.  The world can never have too many action roguelikes.  Never.

Same here.

[Krice]

The world can never have too many action roguelikes.

Can have if there is one or more of them.

[Skeletor]

The world can never have too many action roguelikes.

Can have if there is one or more of them.

 

[guest509]

Yeah Spelunky was written in Gamemaker. It is relatively easy to turn the gravity off and have your guy walking around in all four directions. Probably take about a half hour to get it all working once you understand the flow of the code.

For games that require collision detection in real time Gamemaker is great. For games with discrete steps like most roguelikes it requires some fiddling but not all that much.

EDIT: Just picked up the source code it is straight Gamemaker stuff. It's pretty complicated. Derek Yu is definitely a smart dude. You don't need to get rid of the bombs for a good RL. Destructible terrain is cool. BTW making the whip into a sword is just a sprite change in game maker. Collision is handled sprite by sprite and doesn't require any coding change really. When I get the time I'll try to slap a sword in there for you.

[guest509]

Hey Slashie were you thinking something on the lines of a top down zelda style game or sticking with the jumper style of Spelunky but adding tons and tons of pazzaz?

As for putting a sword in there I'm having some trouble compiling the source. Should have known it wasn't going to be as easy as I thought.

EDIT: Fixed it. I didn't have the sound files in the right dir. Me = Noob. But anyway here is Spelunky with a little sword replacing the whip. Kinda neat I guess. You can put any type of weapon on him you want. Great big battle axe might be fun. Here is the modded .exe.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=2WU23L3C