Deep Roguelikes on iOS and Android?

[ianpwilliams]

I've seen lists online of some of the more popular Roguelikes for iPhone (I have an iPod Touch 4G) and Android (I have a Samsung Galaxy Ace 2). But most of them (particularly the iOS ones) seem to be very simple and basic i.e. you kill monsters, pick up stuff, and so on. I've played a few of the more shallow ones, and I end up getting bored and playing something else instead. So does anyone know of any Roguelikes on iOS or Android which have a bit more depth to them?

So far I've looked at these links:

iOS - http://www.cultofmac.com/221748/the-best-roguelike-games-on-mac-ios-feature/
Android - http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/Android/Top+10+Android+charts/feature.asp?c=48025

Brogue apparently has "deep environment effects", which I like, but that's iPad only I think. "Sword of Fargoal" apparently has an "excellent contextual action system" e.g. items like shields degrade over time (I would like degrading weapons, because it would keep things fresh having to keep finding new ones), but the game itself sounds fairly shallow. I could also be interested in quests (like ADOM apparently has). And I could also be interested in other genres. I'm loving the look of Rogue Survivor at the moment because I love the zombie apocalypse genre, but that's only PC, and I'm guessing will stay that way. So to sum up, I'm interested in:

Depth
Environmental effects
Contextual actions
Quests
Other genres

Also, does anyone know how things are going on the portable Roguelike front? Are people still making new ones?

[george]

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.disinterest.broguex&hl=en

[Samildanach]

I'm not hugely impressed with the top 10 list there. It includes NetHack, Angband, etc. These classic/standard roguelikes tend to work really badly on Android, and presumably the same is true of iOS. They're still controlled by keyboard, which means using the ridiculous on-screen keyboard on a touch screen. It's deeply uncomfortable and unwieldy to use.

[ianpwilliams]

Thank, Brogue bought and downloaded now.

And actually, I've found that many Roguelikes work pretty well on phones. The keys can quite easily be replaced by a menu, and the menu can pop up when you tap the character. And movement and attacking can be done by tapping in that direction. Admittedly an iPad would be better suited because of the larger screen, but I don't really want one of those. I may be picking up a super cheap refurbished old laptop though at some point, so I can play all the Windows Roguelikes, and with a keyboard. But until then it's iPod or Android.

[chooseusername]

I'm not hugely impressed with the top 10 list there. It includes NetHack, Angband, etc. These classic/standard roguelikes tend to work really badly on Android, and presumably the same is true of iOS. They're still controlled by keyboard, which means using the ridiculous on-screen keyboard on a touch screen. It's deeply uncomfortable and unwieldy to use.

BrogueX, like all Brogue versions, is open source given that Brogue is GPL.  You should be able to compile Brogue for either Android or iOS and make any user interface you want.

[ianpwilliams]

Yeah, BrogueX doesn't work well on an Android phone, because it hasn't been designed with the small screen in mind. It displays everything at once (map and character, messages etc), so if you pinch and zoom into the character, then you can't see the messages. Shame, because it looks like a good game. Might be time to buy a laptop.

[miki151]

I've played Nethack quite a bit on an Android phone (almost ascended one character). It's surprisingly easy to play. You can fully customize the layout of the keys, and have all the most common actions under your fingers. There is no need for an onscreen keyboard.

[Zireael]

I've played Nethack quite a bit on an Android phone (almost ascended one character). It's surprisingly easy to play. You can fully customize the layout of the keys, and have all the most common actions under your fingers. There is no need for an onscreen keyboard.

How do you customize the key layout? I couldn't find this option...

[miki151]

You might be playing a different version, but on the one I'm playing it's in options->advanced->command panels->command buttons

The author mentions this port was inspired by an iOS port, so I guess there is also a similar functionality there.

[Omnivorous]

Pixel Dungeon is the roguelike I play the most on my Android. I can't say exactly IF or HOW "deep" it is, but it is very well-polished, it recieves regular updates (by that I don't mean twice a year, but rather once a week), it is free, it is extremely hard.

If by "depth" you mean "many options, and complex customization" then no, it is not deep at all.
Please check it out.

And on the topic, I am considering starting a thread on this roguelike to share experiences - I am only playing mage, and I got quite far ONCE, but most of the time I just die against pretty early monsters while feeling I have been cornered and am forced to just trade blows. If it's something I'm missing, I'd love to hear that.

[Omnivorous]

So, having played "Pixel Dungeon" as a casual roguelike on the bus, where I haven't really cared about the result, I just wanted to drop it's name here last night - but after I did that I became curious about what is hidden "behind" the surface.

Read some on its' wiki, and it does indeed have quite a lot of depth.

[DaBeowulf]

On Android I can play:
DCSS
Adom
Nethack
Angband
GearHead 1+2
CataclysmDDA
+ ...
(all without emulation)

sadly, I cannot fire up my favs:
Incursion
UnReal World

nor can I fire up:
Slaves to Armok II

[hypocritelecteur]

On Android I can play:
DCSS
Adom
Nethack
Angband
GearHead 1+2
CataclysmDDA
+ ...
(all without emulation)

sadly, I cannot fire up my favs:
Incursion
UnReal World

nor can I fire up:
Slaves to Armok II

Adom on Android without emulation?  I've gotten the ASCII 1.2 running using DosBox... but thats it.

[Zireael]

DaBeowulf: how do you do it?

[DaBeowulf]

Adom: the official Raspbian (hence ARM) build likely works on your Android device as fine as on mine: http://www.ancardia.com/download/adom_linux_arm_1.2.0_pre23.tar.gz

The GearHeads (a little more work since you need a Pascal compiler for these which you may have to compile from source first) and Cataclysm can be built on your device in a proper GNU/Linux root.

DCSS has a ready made unofficial Android App with a nice UI (important if you are thinking a phone instead of a tablet).

For Nethack and Angband there are also apk files to litter your device with. :p