Roguelike Radio podcast

[spelk]

Excellent show on tile art, looking forward to the next part.

I read John's article about his frustrations with producing indie art for an already established game. As a wargamer, I can really sympathise, because a lot of established wargames are still being pumped out with only slightly tweaked engines, and with the original art from the early 90's! On today's gaming systems, they just don't cut the mustard.

I listened to an early episode where Darren got really excited about a hex based RL, now you're talking, wargamers love the hex - so I'm fully in support there

Would love to see some sort of wargamey/roguelike hybrid based on historical settings. Not sure if thats ever been attempted in the RL genre before. I'm imagining a survival game, based around the Battle of Rorke's Drift in 1879

Getting my ASCII feet wet playing the rather elegant and accesible QuickHack at the moment!

[Krice]

Listened first 20 mins. Ido has quite low voice and at some point he was talking about 10 minutes in one long kafkaesque sentence.

[Darren Grey]

Part 2 now up:

http://www.roguelikeradio.com/2012/11/episode-52-graphics-and-tile-design.html

[jasonpickering]

so one thing you mention is the reuse of Tilesets. especially talking about the Oryx tileset. What do you guys think about reusing tilesets from one game to another?

For example reusing my Microgue tileset for a larger or different Roguelike, but it would not specifically be a sequel to Microgue.

[Darren Grey]

Well it might be odd to reuse the monsters if they don't do the same thing. But I'd personally say it's fine to reuse your own stuff as you're maintaining your own style. There's benefits to it even. I think the consistency across Jeff Lait's 7drls is quite nice for instance.

[getter77]

It seems to be the case that you can re-use a tileset all day long every day and all night riiiight up until it first makes it into the spotlight in a given project.  Then, save MAYBE if you also happen to be the original artist/dev,  all others using it in your wake are likely to be inundated with claims of thievery and general offputting nonsense.

[kraflab]

Just use ascii and no one will say you stole it

[st33d]

It depends on the project and how the UI develops.

A recent project I worked on (Turnament) required a few graphical fixes towards the end because players weren't understanding some of the basic concepts (like doors). This was because they weren't being communicated clearly enough.

A lot of programmers (and artists) seriously misunderstand what graphics are for. They aren't to make things pretty - they're there to communicate to the player. If you can't understand how to play just by looking at the graphics and the animations then it doesn't matter how pretty or ugly it looks - you've failed.

Reusing graphics is hardly an issue, we reuse animations and tiles all the time at work and our artists are considered to be among the best. But there's usually a need for the odd recolour or redesign to make sure communication with the player is taking place.

[Darren Grey]

New ep on a completely different theme: Game Design in Academia.

http://www.roguelikeradio.com/2012/11/episode-53-game-design-in-academia.html

Focus was mostly on PGC stuff.

[getter77]

Huh, that Trial by Spire game was totally unknown.

[Darren Grey]

Hrm, seems some catch-up is in order for this thread:

http://www.roguelikeradio.com/2012/11/episode-54-game-jams.html
http://www.roguelikeradio.com/2012/12/episode-55-strategy-games.html
http://www.roguelikeradio.com/2012/12/episode-56-interview-with-ftl.html

Happy listening 

[bailey4500]

Any way you can get the UnReal World dev on the show? I bet he has a great story with 20 years working on the game.

[Darren Grey]

A bit late, but here's our Roguelike of the Year discussion:

http://www.roguelikeradio.com/2012/12/episode-57-roguelike-of-year-2012.html

[Darren Grey]

New year, new Roguelike Radio!

http://www.roguelikeradio.com/2013/01/episode-58-resurrection-of-adom.html

This time looking at 2012's runner-up, with Thomas Biskup returning to the show.

[TSMI]

Hello Darren, first time responder, long time listener

I have no idea if you take "topic requests", but I'd love to hear the topic of overworlds in roguelikes discussed.  I think they add a lot to a game but I've only played a couple where any effort has been made to making them enjoyable.