Roguelike Radio podcast

[PTrefall]

New episode out covering Spelunky. Can't wait to have a listen!

[Darren Grey]

Yep, and we have Derek Yu on:

http://www.roguelikeradio.com/2012/08/episode-43-spelunky.html

[Artran]

First, I would like to thank for some really inspiring podcasts (especially an episode about Diablo was mind-opening; when I played Diablo II I was killing one boss over and over again more than one hundered times only because of some certain piece of armour, so the term 'slot machine' is absolutely precise - addictiveness of Diablo is rooted in this constant waiting for better prizes). And second, I would like to suggest if it wouldn't be possible to make an episode about Angband variant named Sil (it was mentioned in an episode about winning also). It has some quite neat features and it differs from Angband quite a lot (no town, stairs to upper levels disappear for certain amount of time to reduce level scumming etc.). The game is even possible to win without killing any monsters, just by sneaking. I'm not an Angband enthusiast, but this game got my attention. And I'm not the only one, it's generally considered as a leading Angband variant nowadays. So it should probably deserve one episode on Rogulike radio.

[Darren Grey]

Thanks for the suggestion - I'll add it to our long list of games to cover :-)

I'll also note that we're looking at making a 1st anniversary episode about the podcast itself. Any fans or haters interested in taking part to ask us questions? Alternatively note here things you'd like us to discuss.

[st33d]

An episode on Mercury would be good. I find it a bit pointless to play, but it's fun for a quick dip in dip out. Since it changes regularly it tends to stay fairly fresh. I find myself playing it not for the score but for just a quick and simple dive without all the frills.

-

Regarding yours and Andrew's discussion on cardinal/diagonal/hex - pillar dancing is irrelevant. In a cardinal movement system, if you are a multiple of two tiles away you will always be hit first unless you can perform a wait action. Thus if you are an odd number of tiles away you will always hit first.

Therefore: if you only have cardinal movement and no wait action, your distance to one monster is irrelevant. It is whether the distance is a multiple of 2 that matters. Try it for yourself on paper.

With diagonal movement you get to jump back and forth each side of the binary system. Distance now matters.

I thought that with hex you would have the same issue with cardinal grid movement, but on trying it out on paper I'm not getting the same result. I can spend a turn but still be the same distance from the enemy - thus distance does matter in hex, yet it doesn't have the binary system that grids impose.

Not that the binary system isn't fun. But it does have a big impact on AI and on survival.

edit: multiple of 2 not factor of 2 

[Darren Grey]

Just had an episode on Steam Greenlight, with a few hopeful devs on:

http://www.roguelikeradio.com/2012/09/episode-46-steam-greenlight.html

[Darren Grey]

Two more episodes I really enjoyed recording:

http://www.roguelikeradio.com/2012/09/episode-47-ftl.html - FTL, which I can't stop playing
http://www.roguelikeradio.com/2012/10/episode-48-designing-for-visually.html - designing for the blind / visually impaired

[sushant125]

I played the demo of Cardinal Quest while listening to the podcast and pretty much everything you said was spot on.

Love the accents too, except that Australian-buggerised kiwi accent

Its great that 3 grown men can talk about roguelikes for over half an hour and stay on topic.

[Darren Grey]

Andrew's accent is my favourite 

Any requests for future episodes and games we should cover?  We have a few quite nice things lined up, but more suggestions are always welcome.

[guest509]

  Have you guys stayed away from Dwarf Fortress for some reason? I'd bet that podcast would be pretty popular. You'd likely have to find some people that are experts in the game, I'm not sure the regulars are big DF players.

  I can hear it now, "But is it a roguelike?" and "are you talking about adventure mode or fortress mode?"

  Did you guys ever cover Terreria? I forget.

  Maybe an episode on finishing a game. Why aren't they often finished? Labors of love for many, not meant to be finished, open source nature leading to new developers taking over etc...end with the question. Is Nethack finished? Then watch your comments section blow up.

  That might be a good general suggestion, ending the episodes with a question. "So, what do you guys think? Tell us in the comments? Is Nethack over? Does it matter if a game is finished as long as it's fun?"

-Jo

[Z]

Maybe an episode on finishing a game.

There has been a recent RogueTemple thread on this. Why ask us for suggestions? Just look at the popular threads (I have suggested some topics some time ago)

[Alex E]

I'm not quite sure if this has been discussed before or not, but I'd be interested to hear about "real-time roguelikes". Can a roguelike be real-time? Well, FTL feels like a roguelike, and it is real-time (except that you can pause and think things through at anytime). Still, I'd love to hear some discussion about it.

[getter77]

Much the same as the eventual Re-Biskupening to come, it would seem a prudent idea to get ahold of the Sword of Fargoal II devs somewhere down the line.

[Paul Jeffries]

I agree with Mosenzov that it'd be nice to see an episode on real-time roguelikes (mainly because I'm currently working on one myself, so it's something I've been thinking about a lot and it would be interesting to see some other perspectives).  Although, that said, most of the decent real-time roguelikes that I can think of (Spelunky, BoI, FTL, Red Rogue etc.) have all already had their own dedicated episodes, so perhaps there's not much more to be said!

Since I've been playing the new XCOM for the past two weeks, it'd also be good to see an episode on X@Com (maybe when its finished) or even the original X-Com (or UFO: Enemy Unknown, to give it its proper name) itself, since its basically a roguelike anyway (at least, it is the way I play it).

[Darren Grey]

  Have you guys stayed away from Dwarf Fortress for some reason? I'd bet that podcast would be pretty popular. You'd likely have to find some people that are experts in the game, I'm not sure the regulars are big DF players.

A good suggestion, and we did indeed find an expert on the game:

http://www.roguelikeradio.com/2012/10/episode-49-interview-with-tarn-adams.html

Enjoy