Temple of Vengeance Roguelike version 0.1.31 -- first release

[dephbokks]

I would like to present my first roguelike project called Temple of Vengeance. It was developed in about 7 months, with the last month of just me sitting on it, testing it, and thinking about it. It was written in c++ using MSVC++ 2008. This morning I finally made release builds for Windows as well as Linux. It took about 4 hours to fix some things and get it compiling for Linux machines but it seems to work so far.

It is still in development so I hope to improve what I already have completed as well as add more depth/better gameplay.

So here are the specifics for people who'd like to check it out:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Title: Temple of Vengeance (ToV)

About: ToV was mainly inspired by watching the movie Kill Bill one night. I liked the revenge theme along with the stylized violence and thought it'd be perfect for a roguelike.

Downloads:
--------------

Windows version 0.1.31 [41Mb]
Windows version 0.1.31 - no sounds [2.3Mb]
Linux version 0.1.31 [41Mb]
Linux version 0.1.31 - no sounds [2.3Mb]

Screen Shots:
-----------------

Title Screen:


Game Screen:


Features:
------------

+ martial arts maneuver system
+ rage attack system
+ character advancement system - after leveling up choose how to improve your character
+ particle system
+ violent blood splashes when killing an enemy
+ 90+ enemies
+ 90+ different items/weapons
+ martial art skill system - improving a particular martial skill requires performing that maneuver
+ weapon skill system - improving a particular weapon skill requires using that weapon
+ quick character creation
+ nutrition/hydration system controls how fast the character heals
+ mouse controlled inventory system
+ balance/encumbrance system - characters can lose their balance and become prone/move more slowly
+ mouse over items/monsters to read descriptions
+ perform and learn 37 martial art maneuvers in a variety of styles and configurations
+ each level has a boss that is trying to separate your head from your neck
+ intro movie in ascii that sets the story - not required to watch
+ many diverse sound effects to set the immersion
+ over 90 minutes of music - a good portion was created by me using psycle
+ animated fight scene in title screen
+ high score screen
+ comes with a manual and a screen shot image showing what the different parts of the game screen are
+ music/sfx are not required and can be muted or have their volumes lowered
+ can play in full screen mode
+ the game is meant to be quick casual fun: can be completed in a matter of hours - all at once or broken up into quick chunks
+ mini-map of the level
+ auto explore
+ mouse driven movement or use the numpad/vi keys to move the '@'
+ ranged combat
+ ranged melee combat ie some weapons can attack enemies more than one tile away


Things Needing More Attention in Future Releases:
----------------------------------------------------------------

- pressing F1/? goes to in game help. It is not complete and some things may be out of date. See manual for best information.

- Mouse is required. Sorry. I need to devote more time on this issue and make it so that one can play with mouse/without mouse/or a combination of the two.

- Game cannot be saved yet. Sorry. I need to finalize the game or at least get it close to finalization and then game saving will be implemented. But, it can be beaten in a few hours depending on how fast one plays so maybe it is not a big deal.

- In game tutorial has not been worked on yet.

- Game play should improve. I am still thinking about where to take it next to get it to the next level. All feedback / comments / suggestions will be considered.

- No tiled graphics. Also I am working on a procedural animation system for the martial arts. Maybe it will work. Still testing.



In closing, if you try it I hope you have fun. The game is beatable and can be finished. To my knowledge there should be no game breaking/crashing bugs but I cannot say for sure. All comments/suggestions/questions will be considered/answered. Take care.

[Krice]

One thing I noticed, it has keyboard codes that don't work in all keyboard types. ? shows character combat mode or something, not help screen. I can enter stairs with : key, but the key for entering stairs is not in the keyboard command list (or then I missed it).

The gameplay is ok I guess, a bit too fast and action filled in my opinion.

[getter77]

Wow...all these very advanced projects seemingly popping out at random here near the end of July really makes me wonder what will manifest for ARRP 2011!   

I'm especially hoping for this mysterious procedural animation system that is still cooking in general for the martial arts and such---getting that realized along with a good sound/music sense of feedback and mood would be a big deal indeed.

Good luck and definitely keep at this step by step!   

[dephbokks]

One thing I noticed, it has keyboard codes that don't work in all keyboard types. ? shows character combat mode or something, not help screen. I can enter stairs with : key, but the key for entering stairs is not in the keyboard command list (or then I missed it).

The gameplay is ok I guess, a bit too fast and action filled in my opinion.

I think I know what happened here. I took a shortcut with the SDL keys reading (ie did not do it the proper way) when using the shift key is involved; I will need to go back and fix it as a first priority. Thanks for pointing this out.

I kind of like fast action-oriented game play which is why I made it that way, but I agree it must be improved. I wanted the player to feel like he/she were in a kung fu movie.

@getter77: I have been working on the animation system and have thus far developed a rudimentary editor and a file format to save key frames. Whether or not I can get this thing in the game is another thing. It is still and the testing and development stage.

[getter77]

Is it possible to adapt the animation system to the ASCII characters themselves somewhat?  Triangle Wizard does a bit of simple animations on this at the very least, things like a Knight "K" actually galloping at you like a horse with the lower parts of the letter before smashing into you and sending you flying backwards into a spiked wall for Impalement damage.

Even in a turn based slate of things it could still make for some lively environs, hazards, and so forth.

I also greatly enjoyed the Kill Bill movies, so something along even roughly similar lines for martial Roguelike doings is especially nifty a prospect.

Given that you'd apparently advanced things a great deal in these past 7 months, where do you see the release timeline/pace going from here?  Waypoints reckoned?  Incremental or comprehensive releases?

[dephbokks]

Is it possible to adapt the animation system to the ASCII characters themselves somewhat?  Triangle Wizard does a bit of simple animations on this at the very least, things like a Knight "K" actually galloping at you like a horse with the lower parts of the letter before smashing into you and sending you flying backwards into a spiked wall for Impalement damage.

I could do that, but I was thinking of something different. I was thinking something along the lines of animated stick figures performing the various maneuvers. In this way, I could have the procedural animation of the maneuvers impact the game play. ie what you see is what you get. This is all very speculative though. Of course, I would keep an ascii mode and add a tiled mode with the animations.

Given that you'd apparently advanced things a great deal in these past 7 months, where do you see the release timeline/pace going from here?  Waypoints reckoned?  Incremental or comprehensive releases?

I am going to try and clean up the code base and address issues like the one Krice brought up as a first priority. SO those'd be incremental. Honestly, at this point I am thinking of where to go next, how to improve the gameplay type things. That'd be a more comprehensive update. I think a good goal would be to have something for that September mass release thing (I forget the acronym for it).

Best wishes.

[getter77]

Gotcha, and yes, the more the merrier for the ARRP of 2011.   

[Z]

Congratulations, this project looks very interesting! When I watched Kill Bill (I actually only watched vol. 2), I felt that it brings art into fighting scenes, in a masterful way. I thought that similarly one could also bring art into computer games which focus on fighting battles, such as roguelikes.

Wow...all these very advanced projects seemingly popping out at random here near the end of July really makes me wonder what will manifest for ARRP 2011!   

I have decided that I'll use ARRP 2011 as a deadline for VOI release, but while working on it, I felt a strong urge to release earlier. Probably I will release another, more complete version for the ARRP. I think ARRP works great as a motivating deadline, but it also makes easier to be lost in a crowd, if everyone releases on this date.