Author Topic: Working on new Roguelike (Sci-fi setting?)  (Read 19846 times)

Pueo

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Re: Working on new Roguelike (Sci-fi setting?)
« Reply #15 on: April 18, 2012, 05:34:44 PM »
Or crashed on an alien planet.
Exactly.  See? Way more sci-fi than me.
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Game Hunter

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Re: Working on new Roguelike (Sci-fi setting?)
« Reply #16 on: April 18, 2012, 07:46:50 PM »
I think what you need to do, before you figure out any of the plot or mechanics (or take any advice from us regarding those things), is if (and how) you want your game to differ from other games. There are pros and cons for both, so you can go either way, but you really want to determine that for yourself. More than anything else, you should try to envision where you want your game to be and what kind of ambition and effort you have for this game: roguelike is the type of genre that produces very short and very long games, both in development time and player time. Inevitably it is these principles that help design the game, and the plot and mechanics are mere afterthought by comparison.

This aside, it sounds more like you're aiming the plot to be "not fantasy" rather than science fiction. Certainly there are topics beyond these two, even if they aren't touched upon often. What about a modern setting, along the lines of Grand Theft Auto? You could also consider a wholly-abstract setting, in which all of the characters begin as "souls" and literally will themselves and their environment into existence. There's also steampunk which fits as a sort of sci-fi/fantasy hybrid, typically placed in an industrial era and involving technomagical devices (not even with literal magic, so to speak, but technology ridiculous enough to be thought of as magical). Or how about a "real but whimsical" setting, like insect worlds or aquatic habitats? There's a lot out there when it comes to designing a "universe" for your story.
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Lorik

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Re: Working on new Roguelike (Sci-fi setting?)
« Reply #17 on: April 18, 2012, 08:54:08 PM »
If you're still in search of a good initial premise, I'd suggest finding a few science fiction books/series/games that you enjoy the most and projecting some of the ideas that make them enjoyable into your roguelike concept, then designing everything around whatever premise you come up with.
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Kyzrati

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Re: Working on new Roguelike (Sci-fi setting?)
« Reply #18 on: April 20, 2012, 01:26:07 AM »
It'd be interesting to make it entirely item/inventory dependent. Inventory restrictions determine how many classist-type of abilities the player has available to switch on and off. Effectively giving them a dynamic character. The tough questions revolve around what items to keep and which ones to give up. This way everything discovered is likely to be useful.
This is what I experimented with in Cogmind for this year's 7DRL, and it turned out to be a totally different way to adventure through a dungeon environment. Especially because your parts/modules can be damaged and destroyed with no way to repair/restore them unless you carry spares, so your character is constantly changing as you play through the game and find new items (all of which are potential parts you can attach, including those you take from destroyed enemy robots).

The player chooses to gain new slots of different types as they advance, which are capable of connecting to parts of certain types. So by the end of the game you can have a couple dozen different parts, and your abilities vary greatly depending on how you've decided to evolve and what you've decided to attach.

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Re: Working on new Roguelike (Sci-fi setting?)
« Reply #19 on: April 22, 2012, 06:27:40 AM »
  Shit. I still have to check out Cogmind. Heard it was good.

Ancient

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Re: Working on new Roguelike (Sci-fi setting?)
« Reply #20 on: April 22, 2012, 09:20:53 AM »
Ok, I enjoy roguelikes, and I enjoy programming, so I'm gonna make a roguelike.

This is going to be in HTML 5 and im currently getting the framework setup (movement, level generation etc etc).

Now, I quite enjoy the fantasy setting, but thats been done alot so I would like to make this a future/sci-fi setting... But thats the only real ideas I have so far.  This is why I'm posting here, for feedback on what you guys (Roguelike players) would want in a Rogue like.

What I would want in such game? Make it cross-browser. In other words make sure it does not demand me to use only this-and-that browser or else the game is not going to work.


Yes, Cogming is good. Putting the robot together in various ways is heaps of fun. On the other hand combat is mostly deprived of feedback killing the depth of the game. I find it very difficult to know whether I am damaging other machine or not, if not it is because I miss or my weapon deals wrong type of damage. In short not enough clues what is going on. Targeted robot either blows up or you see no difference.
Michał Bieliński, reviewer for Temple of the Roguelike

Kyzrati

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Re: Working on new Roguelike (Sci-fi setting?)
« Reply #21 on: April 22, 2012, 10:29:49 AM »
Not to turn this into a Cogmind thread, but...

Yes, Cogming is good. Putting the robot together in various ways is heaps of fun. On the other hand combat is mostly deprived of feedback killing the depth of the game. I find it very difficult to know whether I am damaging other machine or not, if not it is because I miss or my weapon deals wrong type of damage. In short not enough clues what is going on. Targeted robot either blows up or you see no difference.
For players like you, Ancient, there's the 'q' key, which is only documented in the advanced players manual. You can use it to modify how much combat feedback you get in the log. There are 5 different verbosity settings of various levels of detail beyond the default, and at the highest level the game will tell you your chance to hit with every weapon fired, whether or not you hit, what part(s) you hit, how much damage you did, and more...

There's a lot to discover in the game, both in terms of gameplay and UI features not listed on the F1 screen, but much of it was hidden away in the manual since I didn't want to scare away players looking for a game that's easier to get into. There's enough complexity as is without throwing more numbers at people, but it's there if you want it.

  Shit. I still have to check out Cogmind.
I'm pretty much done with it, so now's a good time ;)