The Year's Most Popular (2012) - By Category

[guest509]

  Doull's Annual Roguelike of the Year poll is up and running here:
http://roguelikedeveloper.blogspot.com/

  Since you can vote for multiple games you like, the numbers can be useful to split games into categories. You can't do, like, best interface or something like that, but you can do the following.

Most Popular:
-Overall
-Big Game (ToME, ADOM)
-Medium Game (Brogue, Doom)
-Small Game (7DRL's and the like)
-Primarily Ascii Game
-Hybrid Game Play (FTL, Wrath of the Lamb, DF)
-Classic Sci Fi (prime, prospector)
-Post Apocalyptic Sci Fi (unreal, cataclysm, others)
-Sex Based 'game' (noxico, seduction quest, are there more?)
-Bandlike (there are a lot!)
-Hacklikes (fewer, but some interesting ones)
-Biggest Disappointment (Diablo III wins. Fuck that game.)
-Best New Game (First released this year)
-Best New Fork (Forkes released this year, like Unbrogue, some nethack ones, I may need suggestions on this one)

Any other ideas? I'll break down the numbers when the poll is over and post it here and we can all bicker over the results and my categorization ("zomg! DCSS is obviously an Ascii only game, the tiles are for noobs! And FTL isn't even a roguelike you traitor!")

I'll reduce the categories to just a couple of interesting ones, once the results are in and we can see the different subgroups more clearly.

EDIT: I planned on doing this last year, but sorta lost steam. That won't happen this year.

[guest509]

Okay. The poll as concluded. Here are some top lists for you!

OVERALL MOST POPULAR 20
Tales of Maj'Eyal (ToME)

1659

ADOM                                    

1445

ADOM II (formerly JADE)          

730

Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup  

687

Dwarf Fortress                        

605

FTL                                          

454

UnReal World                          

442

DoomRL: Doom, the Roguelike

393

Brogue                                    

349

Dungeons of Dredmor              

280

Sword of the Stars: The Pit      

180

Torchlight 2                              

175

Cataclysm                           

173

The Binding of Isaac                   

150

Caves of Qud                           

138

X@COM                                   

135

TomeNET                                   

133

Sil                                           

130

Diablo III                                     

95

Angband                                     

91

It was a tight race, but ToME4 mustered it's base and pulled it out. The big surprise here was ADOM II pulling in 3rd. Those ADOM guys made a good show. Note last year ADOM wasn't even on the list, and here it is 2nd. Look for ADOM to sweep next year, as development slows down on ToME and ADOM really picks up. [edit: DarkGod has no intent of slowing down! See below...]

The rest of the top 20 are the usual suspects, with some newcomers like FTL, The Pit, Torchlight, Diablo III and TomeNet. I'm pretty sure X@Com scored well last year, my memory is faded, good to see it in the top 20.


MOST POPULAR 5 MONSTER GAMEs (Huge games, long, complex)
-It's the same as above. All the top 5 games are massive, or at least meant to be massive. No coffee breaks in the top 5 this year.


MOST POPULAR NOT MONSTER GAMES (games not looking to be nethack, or even close to it)
FTL                                               

454

DoomRL: Doom, the Roguelike       

393

Brogue                                       

349

The Binding of Isaac                       

150

X@COM                                       

135

  A good mix of games in this category. Some nice hybrids in there, the new classic, a past winner and the great (but hard to play) X@COM.

MOST POPULAR 7DRL (After so much time since the 7DRL competition, what games have maintained their popularity, or at least are still memorable some 9 months later? This is different than the competition winners.)
Cogmind                 

70

Zaga-33                 

33

HyperRogue III      

23

I rule, you rule, we all rule old-school Hyrule   

19

SUN CRUSHER!!!    

19

*AliensRL 72 [Has expanded a lot since the original 7DRL version, so I didn't include it]

Those are some pretty sweet games on that list. Mine is on there, but I think we can assume that it was my post on facebook of VOTE FOR ME that got it so many votes. Many great ones just missed the cut. Like Drakefire Chasm.

MOST POPULAR ASCII ONLY
ADOM                                    

1445

ADOM II (formerly JADE)          

730

Brogue  [Their are tiles out there, but are they included in the game yet?]           

349  

Cataclysm   

173

Caves of Qud   

138

X@COM  [Is this ascii only? Close enough I say.]        

135  

Sil                   

130

TOP HYBRIDS OR REAL TIME (excluding Diablo, it has its own list)
FTL                             

454

Torchlight 2             

175

The Binding of Isaac     

150

Diablo III (h8)

95

Desktop Dungeons

83

Red Rogue

55

Spelunky (2 versions)

52

Din's Curse

39

Triangle Wizard

37

Zaga-33 (gets 33 votes? Is it hybrid?)

33

Teleglitch

28

Weird Worlds

22

TOP CLASSIC SCI FI
DoomRL: Doom, the Roguelike     

393

Sword of the Stars: The Pit     

180

X@COM                                     

135

AliensRL                                       

72

Cogmind                                       

70

TOP POST APOCALYPTIC AND/OR SURVIVAL GAME
UnReal World   

442

Cataclysm   

173

Caves of Qud   

138

Rogue Survivor

38

TOP HORROR (This is very hard to define...)
AliensRL   

72

Infra Arcana   

52

Cult: Awakening of the Old Ones   

28

TOP SHOOTER
The Binding of Isaac   

150

Triangle Wizard   

37

Teleglitch   

28

BEST SEX GAME
  There were only 2. Noxico and Seduction quest. Do your own research on that.

*BAND [if you aren't counting ToME and Diablo]
Sil                

130

Angband             

91

FAangband     

25

NPPAngband     

21

Halls of Mist

20

Quickband       

9

HACKLIKES
UnNetHack   

37

NetHack-De   

33

PRIME              

11

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE YEAR
-Diablo III. I curse at thee!

TOP NEW GAME  (First release was this year)
FTL                                           

454

Sword of the Stars: The Pit   

180

Torchlight 2                           

175

Sil   [Released this year, right?]                                        

130

Diablo III                                     

95

Cogmind                                     

70

TOP FORK
Sil                    

130

UnNetHack   

37

NetHack-De   

33

UnBrogue           

26

NPPAngband   

21

BIGGEST SURPRISE
-My biggest surprise were the games that just didn't do well. Like Prime, Infra Arcana, Slimy Lich Mummy and others. There are some high quality games on there that just didn't get the attention they deserved. It's okay. It's just a poll. Don't get down.


TOP COMMERCIAL GAMES (As requested by Darren Grey)
FTL

454

Unreal World

442

Dungeons of Dredmore

280

Sword of the Stars: The Pit

180

Torchlight 2

175

The Binding of Isaac

150

Diablo III

95

Desktop Dungeons

83

Spelunky XBLA

52

Din's Curse

39

*Note: Is ADOM now a commercial game? It's not been released commercially, but it's definitely a money maker now.

So there it is. Feel free to correct me if I made a mistake, I'll fix it.

EDIT: Had trouble with formatting, couldn't get rid of all the spaces between games while also lining up the numbers. Sorry if this post is too long due to that.

[Kyzrati]

Thanks for doing this Jo, it's nice to finally see an organized breakdown rather than that massive list of nearly 300 games. Of course I'm doubly happy to see that both my games are all over the place. That was no doubt in part because I did make sure my players knew about the poll, though it would seem like having the players in the first place is necessary to get results in that department, so the poll is still meaningful overall--I noticed that quite a few other games had similar calls for votes in their own outlets, so I suppose many are on the same playing field.

MOST POPULAR ASCII ONLY
Brogue           349  [Their are tiles out there, but are they included in the game yet?]
Cataclysm   173
Caves of Qud   138
X@COM           135  [Is this ascii only? Close enough I say.]
Sil                   130

The only non-ASCII characters in X@COM are the unit triangles/circles, since I needed an easily readable way to display facing in a single glyph.

Regarding past polls for comparison, I noticed a Korean site that has a full rundown of the poll in all previous years, though they jumped the gun and put this year's results up more than a day ago, so they're not 100% accurate. Check it out here. (EDIT: They've since fixed their numbers.) X@COM did get more votes than last year (whew , popularity going *down* might mean I was doing something wrong), but was pushed down a bit due to the increase in popular commercial games this year. At least everyone in the top 18 beat Diablo III (interestingly steep drop after that, actually), now why aren't we all millionaires ;p

[DarkGod]

Err Jo:

Look for ADOM to sweep next year, as development slows down on ToME and ADOM really picks up.

I have about no wish to slow down

[guest509]

Err Jo:

Look for ADOM to sweep next year, as development slows down on ToME and ADOM really picks up.

I have about no wish to slow down

  Oh! HAHA! I thought after releasing 1.0 you were going to do something else. My bad.

  ToME for the 4-peat!

[guest509]

@Kyzrati - That's a good website. Lots of links to games and a good graphic of the poll results. Too bad I can't read most of it. Still it's obviously well done.

[Kyzrati]

Yeah, I just browsed it through google translator, which helped... a little.

[Darren Grey]

A very nicely put together list, Jo!  Shouldn't ADOM and ADOM II dominate the ASCII only section though?

To line things up

Code: [Select]

use
the
code
tags.

[guest509]

While you were posting I fiddled with it a little.

And yes absolutely ADOM should dominate the ASCII only, for now...:-)

I'll change it.

EDIT: And if anyone wants a cleaned up excel file with everything, one that you can actually sort, lemme know and I'll send it out.

EDIT2: I added some categories and expanded some others. Shooter and Horror were added in order to throw some love out to Infra Arcana and Triangle Wizard.

[Irinka]

Nice list:)
I must try to play Sun Crusher again - when I tried it out the first time, it crashed, the second - it froze my computer... so I did not try it again. And here it is in top 5! Must be a good game if 19 people still remembered it after 7DRL competition... Shame Drakefire Chasm did not get many votes, I really enjoyed it.

[getter77]

Spiffy assortment!  I reckon Infra Arcana would've done better if not for the break in dev pace, even if it came back with all manner of goodies, as that probably had it drop off some folks radar.  Somewhat similarly, I expect PRIME to have a nice impact in 2013 as much of it has been done in the shadows of the Incubator and whatnot.

In way the event functions as sort of a mini-ARRP, as it is surely a good portend if a given game just so happens to have a release right around the time of polling.   

[guest509]

  About Sun Crusher!!! It was made with the Gamemaker program, which usually creates very stable .exe's. Sorry about the crash, that's the first I've heard of it. As far as the game play there wasn't too much depth. More arcade than Roguelike really. I think it was kinda fun but there are quite a few sharp edges. Don't let the vote counts fool you, it's not even close to being on the same level as Drakefire or Cogmind or those others.

  With some tweaks I think the engine has promise though, and I am thinking of basing my next 7DRL on it. It has a turnbased strategy game style turn sequence (move and shoot, pass the turn, repeat) and revolving planets. So I guess that's sort of original.

  Here is a play through:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=782O8LFoF9w

[NON]

Spiffy assortment!  I reckon Infra Arcana would've done better if not for the break in dev pace, even if it came back with all manner of goodies, as that probably had it drop off some folks radar.

This was a slow year for IA indeed. There's some really ambitious things planned/already implemented though, which will be released sometime during 2013.

Just look at this ongoing changelog (these things are already implemented), it's friggin huge. I'd say it's already bigger than two or three older releases combined
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hK73-apyw5XbK9QjKyCMIj_w12RFxfPlmv0ipL4qAL0

[getter77]

Fantastic!   

[Irinka]

  About Sun Crusher!!! It was made with the Gamemaker program, which usually creates very stable .exe's. Sorry about the crash, that's the first I've heard of it. As far as the game play there wasn't too much depth. More arcade than Roguelike really. I think it was kinda fun but there are quite a few sharp edges. Don't let the vote counts fool you, it's not even close to being on the same level as Drakefire or Cogmind or those others.

  With some tweaks I think the engine has promise though, and I am thinking of basing my next 7DRL on it. It has a turnbased strategy game style turn sequence (move and shoot, pass the turn, repeat) and revolving planets. So I guess that's sort of original.

  Here is a play through:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=782O8LFoF9w

Thank you for the link:) It definitely looks different and interesting.
Also, I really love the name- it sounds so... enthusiastic