Mage Guild

[Vanguard]

I still think this game doesn't get nearly enough publicity.

For anyone who hasn't played this:

Mage Guild is a roguelike with a focus on magic.  The entire game takes place in a single dungeon filled with increasingly dangerous enemies.  The player grows in power not from killing monsters, but from finding orbs of power, of which one is hidden on every level.

The game features a strong character development system that lets you build your character however you like them, and an incredibly robust alchemy system where nearly any two items can be combined in some way to produce a new item.  It supports both ascii and a nice tileset.  Mage Guild has great tactical gameplay, and takes I would estimate about 2 hours to play through a successful game.

Check it out!

http://glistenimages.com/Lukos/lukosMageGuild.htm

[Anvilfolk]

I gave it a quick go, and should've done the tutorial, since I had no idea you could combine items

It looks nice, but the only downside here is that it runs pretty slowly. Even when just walking, you can feel the delay. It is especially visible when the whole map moves.

[getter77]

Tis a pretty good one while also being pretty difficult.  I need to give it a proper go one of these days amid all the rest...

[Vanguard]

I gave it a quick go, and should've done the tutorial, since I had no idea you could combine items

I believe that the command to combine items is 'm' for mix.

You just basically choose any two items and see what you get.  It's really intuitive, and you can get a good feel for what makes what with just a little bit of experimentation.

It looks nice, but the only downside here is that it runs pretty slowly. Even when just walking, you can feel the delay. It is especially visible when the whole map moves.

Yeah, I've noticed that as well with recent versions.  I don't think it used to be that way, so hopefully it gets fixed in a future release.

[jim]

Little bit of threadomancy here. Forgive me.

I've been playing Mageguild quite a bit over the last couple months. It's one of the best put-together roguelikes I've seen in quite some time. Everything about it fits into a pleasing aesthetic, from the intro screen, to the selection of mentors, to the layout of the dungeon, to the actual gameplay. It's really excellent.

But I've discovered that I don't find it all that satisfying to play. The overall experience isn't very gratifying, and I think I know why. Though I believe most people agree that grinding is a bit of a bore, its fruits can be the best part of a roguelike - or any RPG. When you finally come across that holy longsword so that you can take on the undead crypts, you feel stoked. It's in almost every successful roguelike, from DF's civilization or architectural milestones to Crawl's randarts. It's an awesome feeling to get to these points in a game - like great things are to come.

Overall, most roguelikes bring with them the implicit assurance that, with prudence, luck, and balls-out asskickery, you can turn your little @ into a formula-one symbol of coolness. Mageguild, with its intentional limitations on power, lacks this. I understand why the choices were made in this direction, but part of what I want in a roguelike is to sometimes get turned to stone and sometimes find that perfect item. Mageguild trades volatility for stability - difficulty is perfectly linear and items are fairly consistent.

There are SO MANY things about Mageguild that I like. In particular, the alchemy aspect of the game is just short of astonishing in its cleverness. I just have a hard time playing a game that I know ends just at the point where I'd really be excited about playing - at the point where my @ becomes !!@!!.

[Vanguard]

I think you're right on a lot of points about the game, but I have to disagree with your claim that the character progression isn't gratifying.

I find gaining the unique and flexible abilities granted by the game's spells and edges to be far more interesting than going from being a character with 100 hp fighting monsters that hit for 10 damage to being a character with 1000 hp fighting monsters that hit for 100 damage.

The difference in Mage Guild is that your power comes from utilizing what you have available to you in a resourceful manner rather than by getting through everything in your way with sheer force.  I guess in that respect it must just not be what you're looking for.

[jim]

Point taken. In no way, shape, or form did I wish to deride the game. It's a great game and every roguelike fan should play it and squeal with glee.

I also can easily agree that one of the best parts of any roguelike is versatile use of available means on the part of the player, and moreover agree that this definitely trumps the 10:100; 100:1000 alternative. Seat-of-pants ingenuity is a proud tradition dating back even beyond the days of unorthodox petrification cures in Nethack. Mage Guild's alchemy system is at least a worthy specimen in this respect and probably one of the most "meaningful" MacGyver-type systems in place, in any game, ever.

All I meant to express was my own confusion at why I wasn't enjoying a game (so pleasing in so many ways) as much as I thought I should be. The stringency of character progression within the limited scope of adventure offered was the best answer I could come up with. If the author takes our due praise at his obvious accomplishment in creating something as cool as Mage Guild, then uses his same alchemical sense of balanced creativity and parsimony in crafting a "wider" setting, I have no doubt that there'll be a new addition to the grand pantheon.

And, of course, my opinion was just my own, not intended to dissuade anyone else from thinking that Mage Guild is the cat's pajamas.

[Vanguard]

I look at Mage Guild as a refinement and perfection of the original formula that was created with Rogue.  A single dungeon with set limitations and known rules.

With that said, a Mage Guild followup that was a full length adventure rather than a coffeebreak type of game would be the greatest in Koridai.

Edit:  It looks like the site is being moved to http://lukos.x10hosting.com/, so that would probably be the best place to check for future updates.

[Psiweapon]

Threadomancy. Mmmmm 



I've played Mage Guild quite a bit too, and I like it a lot (I was hooked for some time ), BUT...

There´s some aspect of the game experience, which I can´t point my finger at, which feels quite dry.

It´s not the character advancement because it´s ace: cosmic school, elemental school, get black hole spell, get inversion status, NOVA spell, blast away the dungeon, profit. If that doesn´t fit your craving for obscene power, you´d be better off writing a Wall Street themed RL.

It´s not the items system because it´s awesome: potion of death, crystal ball, potion of permanence (the more the merrier), potion of duplication: (m)ix one of the death balls with your wand and save the other for the next potion of duplication: instadeath for everyone, for ever if you manage it right. Also potions of gain life and absorbed life increase.

It´s not the melee aspect of the game - not it´s main component but: light, dark, melee training, armor spell, drain spell and you´re an asskicking powerhouse.

So my only idea is that it´s not goofy enough - in fact it´s kind of serious (kind of). But perhaps goofing it up would break it´s personality, so I think what´s needed is a little bit more fluff´n´flavor. Perhaps some peaceful monsters (I´m not aware of any shops or any other non-fighting interaction in this game) or just flavoring up the mobs, and more "misc" messages.

[Amnekian]

Treadmancy ahoy!

I can't seem to find the game anyway. Any help?

[guest509]

http://www.lukossoftware.com/

Here's the developer's site, looks like it's down and being taken over by spam robots.

Here is the latest version. I happened to have it on my hard drive.

http://www.megafileupload.com/en/file/387894/MageGuildv2-0-3-rar.html

I'm not sure if mega is a crappy site or not, I don't upload many files. I can upload to where ever you'd like though if that site doesn't work.

[Amnekian]

Thanks Jo! Much appreciated. Though now I have another problem. I have found the stairs, but I can't descend. Any idea what's wrong?

[guest509]

  Gosh I don't. Is there in-game help? I haven't really played this game so much.

[Amnekian]

Well, it seems there might be some issues in using an european keyboard. At least that's what I think. The climb down command is _ instead of the classic >