Saffron - Stealth Puzzle Roguelike - Preview

[Robson]

Saffron is a stealth puzzle roguelike. The player is a thief, who works for the Blackrock Thieves Guild. S/he is given tasks, which allows them to progress up the ranks of the guild and tackle more rewarding, but more difficult tasks.

I thought I'd release a little advanced beta alpha pre test release-candidate preview of it, just for you ToTRians!

http://iceyboard.no-ip.org/files/saffron_v0_1.zip (newer version released, see below)

It's open source. It requires Windows and the VB6 Run Time Library, but that's included with most versions of Windows already.

There's only a test mission and a tutorial mission so far. There's no randomness, which is because I can create more focussed and interesting environments if I design them. It also allows me to create mission statistics, which the player could try to improve. It also allows me to create vidoes with tiny file sizes.

So far the game has a couple of enemies, some objects (doors, windows, lanterns, etc), mission stats, text/graphical output and videos.

I'm planning to add more missions (with varying degrees of difficulty and much less linearity), add more objects (so I can make areas that look like gardens, dungeons, kitchens, barracks, etc), have more interaction (levers, etc) and add more gadgets (tripwires, etc).

Comments and suggestions are very welcome!

[Adral]

Comments and suggestions are very welcome!

If you were to make it Linux-compatible, please, I'd very much like to try your game, sounds very original!

[Robson]

Hi Adral,

It's written In Visual Basic, so a real Linux version would be impossible. I'm pretty sure it would work fine using Wine though.

[corremn]

Cool demo,

This game/concept has great potential, your game enviromnent is also good.  How about colour in the text based version, you will probably need a look command when in ascii mode.

I love the fact that you are a member of a guild, progressing through missions.  The idea of non random missions is probably the best way for a puzzle based game, maybe you could add non-linear missions, or random missions. You would have to make a lot of missions though.  Maybe you could customise your player, so not all missions will be dealt with in the same way, i.e multiple ways to complete a mission.

Good work!

[Robson]

Cool demo,

This game/concept has great potential, your game enviromnent is also good.  How about colour in the text based version, you will probably need a look command when in ascii mode.

I love the fact that you are a member of a guild, progressing through missions.  The idea of non random missions is probably the best way for a puzzle based game, maybe you could add non-linear missions, or random missions. You would have to make a lot of missions though.  Maybe you could customise your player, so not all missions will be dealt with in the same way, i.e multiple ways to complete a mission.

Good work!

Hi Corremn. Thanks for your comments!

Colour sounds good. Would be useful in showing what is grass/stone/water/etc.  Which would be very useful later if I implement sound detection on footsteps. I especially like the way you spell colour correctly :)

I was thinking about having binoculars as one of the gadgets, which allows the player to examine things at a distance as though they were next to them. For example, if the player looks at a pile of coins in the distance, they would just see "a pile of coins". If they use the binoculars, they might get a more detailed description, like "about 10 gold coins".

The tutorial level is really linear, but the real missions will be much more open, allowing you to go different ways. The player will be given a set of gadgets and could collect more while on a mission, which allows them to play in different styles. I also hope that by having statistics for missions, people would play them again to try and beat their previous scores.

The mission data (see the 'misions' folder for examples) is reasonably straightforward and I could provide documentation on how the various things work. Maybe if the game was to progress a lot, people would want to make and share their own missions. That wont happen for a long while though, so I'm happy to make all the missions for now.

[Robson]

Version 0.2!

http://iceyboard.no-ip.org/files/saffron_v0_2.zip

Lots of updates:

• Added intro screen
• Added loot (works like Thief)
• Saving and loading
• Added stat screen (shows turns, loot obtained and minimap)
• Symbols in text-mode are shown in colour
• Previously visited tiles are shrouded (not in text-mode yet)
• Creatures can be heard, up to four walkable squares away
• Removed picture icons from messages in text-mode
• Added furniture
• Added look command
• Messages are saved to a file
• Messages no longer need to be dismissed
• Changed a lot of the controls
• Video file sizes are a bit smaller
• Can delete videos

I've also written in a new mission. The player must sneak around a dungeon, avoiding guards and collecting as much loot as possible.

[Gamer_2k4]

How does your lighting system work?  Do two lights add to each other, or does each just have their own light range that happens to intersect with the other?

[Robson]

How does your lighting system work?  Do two lights add to each other, or does each just have their own light range that happens to intersect with the other?

They intersect, because I want to keep light simple, so squares are either dark or light. If the player is in a square that can be seen by a creature, but it's in darkness, they don't get spotted. If it's in light, they do. I'm happy with how the light works, but if you have any suggestions, I'd be interested to know.

Version 0.3!

http://iceyboard.no-ip.org/files/saffron_v0_3.zip

• Guards chase the player
• Added levers (can open/close doors and remove/add walls)
• Main window position+size is saved
• Output mode is saved
• Input keys can be reconfigured
• Text-mode shows previously visited areas
• Added object handling code
• Conditional messages

Also written in a new mission: The thieves guild has been asked to steal the Chalice of Malice from Lord Vindelith's mansion. That means it's your job to sneak through the mansion, grab it and escape!

[Gamer_2k4]

How does your lighting system work?  Do two lights add to each other, or does each just have their own light range that happens to intersect with the other?

They intersect, because I want to keep light simple, so squares are either dark or light. If the player is in a square that can be seen by a creature, but it's in darkness, they don't get spotted. If it's in light, they do. I'm happy with how the light works, but if you have any suggestions, I'd be interested to know.

Well, I'm working on something like this myself, with varying levels of light intensity (0 to 100).  Whenever two beams intersect, the light is amplified somewhat.  I have a demo of the lighting system on my other computer; I'll post some screenshots and the binary as soon as I can.

It's not very complete right now, mainly because this is a side project, so it doesn't get a lot of attention from me.  However, I'm also stumped when it comes to three-dimensional lighting (I want you to be able to climb on roofs and the like; naturally, you should be able to see lights from below you), and since I want to get the lighting done before I implement anything else, the game is at a standstill.

EDIT: Here are some screenshots.  Watch the room on the left as the lights get put out, one by one.  Also, notice that you have a light meter on the lower left.

[Slash]

Hey Icey! cool game!

Just went through the tutorial, and have been trying on Lady Ricci's

Turns 165
Loot 4 of 7

Hope to do better!

Needs a key for quick restart the dungeon after your head has been sliced

Edit: Just made a 6 of 7... where is the last one? a mistery?

[Slash]

[Robson]

Well, I'm working on something like this myself, with varying levels of light intensity (0 to 100).  Whenever two beams intersect, the light is amplified somewhat.  I have a demo of the lighting system on my other computer; I'll post some screenshots and the binary as soon as I can.

Does the light affect how far away the player can be seen? For example, a player in 50% light could be seen from 5 squares away and a player in 70% light could be seen from 7? That kind of thing.

It's not very complete right now, mainly because this is a side project, so it doesn't get a lot of attention from me. 

Aye, same thing with me. Saffron was originally intended as a side project, because I was taking a while deciding whether my main roguelike should be class or skill based and how all that would work, so I thought I'd work on something else until I've decided.

However, I'm also stumped when it comes to three-dimensional lighting (I want you to be able to climb on roofs and the like; naturally, you should be able to see lights from below you), and since I want to get the lighting done before I implement anything else, the game is at a standstill.

I suppose making that work is the simple part, but representing it is the difficult part. At least, if there is only two levels (ground+roof) that makes things a bit easier. CastlevaniaRL has different levels, perhaps looking at that would be useful.

EDIT: Here are some screenshots.

Thanks for posting the screenshots, they're very interesting. Any chance of a binary so we can try it out and see what else has been implemented?

Hey Icey! cool game!

Thanks Slash!

Just went through the tutorial, and have been trying on Lady Ricci's

Turns 165
Loot 4 of 7

Hope to do better!

Edit: Just made a 6 of 7... where is the last one? a mistery?

One of them is in a locked room I had a quick go now and managed to get all of them in 127 moves, but that can probably be improved. I need to figure out a better route I've attached a video, just shove it in the videos directory and then go to Game > Videos... You can use + and - to change playback speed and space to pause. I'll be adding some stuff to the video functionality at some point, like a visible speed display, time bar thing and so on.

Needs a key for quick restart the dungeon after your head has been sliced

That's an excellent idea. *adds on to-do list*

[Gamer_2k4]

Well, I'm working on something like this myself, with varying levels of light intensity (0 to 100).  Whenever two beams intersect, the light is amplified somewhat.  I have a demo of the lighting system on my other computer; I'll post some screenshots and the binary as soon as I can.

Does the light affect how far away the player can be seen? For example, a player in 50% light could be seen from 5 squares away and a player in 70% light could be seen from 7? That kind of thing.

Yes, and there are view cones instead of a circular LOS.  Basically, the more alert you are, the farther you can see in front of you, but the less you can see around you.  That means facing is pretty important.  I'm attaching a file, LOStest, to sort of demonstrate the LOS cones.  It will prompt you for several things.
i: -1, 0, or 1; facing north, east or west, or south, respectively
j: -1, 0, or 1; facing west, north or south, or east, respectively
radius: self-explanatory
intensity: 1, 2, or 3; higher numbers mean smaller view cone

EDIT: Here are some screenshots.

Thanks for posting the screenshots, they're very interesting. Any chance of a binary so we can try it out and see what else has been implemented?

Actually, that's really all that HAS been implemented.  Remember, since lighting is so key to this game, I wanted to get it completely working before I did anything else.

But, I'll attach the binary (Windows only, sorry).  Basically, arrow keys move you around, and walking on a feature will destroy it.
@: you
*: light source
~: curtain (blocks all but the brightest light)
#: window or wall (walls block all light, windows block very little)

Oh, and there's no bounds checks right now, so don't walk off the edge of the map.

http://www.geocities.com/gamer_2k4/Downloads/AssassinRL.zip

[Altefcat]

Nice game ! I beat you Slash 

Turns: 335
Loot: 4 of 4
Times detected: 0

[Altefcat]

Can do better...

Turns : 174
Loot: 7 of 7
Times detected: 0