GwaRL

[Elystan]

Edit: Current address: http://www.gwarl.xyz/

Once upon a time I decided I should try writing a game as a way to improve my programming. Then I discovered DC:SS and it was the game I'd want to make, so I just played that instead. Eventually I did begin work on my own roguelike, as a native web app. Link:

http://ilmyrn.site88.net/

Probably won't work on mobiles yet.

Obviously it's still in the very early stages such that it barely qualifies as a game or a roguelike, but it's fairly close. Level generation and LOS checks are working well enough and monsters are acting almost as I expect them to. The inventory is functional but not entirely complete, and I haven't settled on a way of defining the different sorts of items. Moving up and down dungeon floors, leveling up, recording high scores etc are things I can imagine how to implement but haven't gotten round to yet, likewise with varying character classes, ranged combat, spells - there's an awful lot to do, besides the fact I have only a minimum of placeholder content to check that my code is working.

It should be pretty trivial to hack the thing at present, please don't.

Well my motivation dwindled a little recently but I feel I should get back to it - I've just been spending my time playing DCSS instead, and indeed, when that already exists, why would you ever play my roguelike?

Honestly I don't like their browser engine. I play offline tiles for the ability to use the mouse and the screen becoming animated during autoexplore - as much as I enjoy roguelikes I'm not a purist. And this is fine, and doesn't seem to be a problem for their many players, but I'm not attempting nor intending to be providing any serious competition to a game of such complexity and depth. I'm developing this as an exercise in self improvement, but I do think the project could have some merits of its own.

If anyone likes the thing so far/the idea of the thing and wants to see it grow into a real roguelike, let me know and I'll be encouraged to keep working on it.

[Avagart]

Firts thing to fix - numpad keys works weird. Left (7, 4, 1) keys makes player move to right, and right keys (9, 6, 3) moves player to left.

[Elystan]

I've been working on this again lately, I now have dungeons 5 floors deep with some placeholder combat/progression mechanics and artwork for 7 different monster types. I recommend using the mouse (you will have to to descend staircases and pick up items). 'climb staircase' wipes your minimap even if you're not over a staircases, but the minimap is a hack right now anyway. Pick up items by clicking the player tile while standing over it. Drink potions by clicking on them in the inventory. "Generate new level" starts a new game.

There's a new address:
http://gwarl.esy.es/

And I'm also hosting a blog about the game on the same site:
http://gwarl.esy.es/blog/

Clearly there's still a long way to go but progress has resumed.

[Elystan]

A month on and things have come a long way. I have an artist on the project now and things are generally shaping up - equipment is functional (though so far only rings are included) and there are a few animations. There should be plenty of updates in the coming days. Most of the artwork is still my own but monster tiles are already being replaced. I feel like the alpha phase is nearing completion and it's quite exciting.

[Lord_Mork]

I've just been spending my time playing DCSS instead, and indeed, when that already exists, why would you ever play my roguelike?

This is funny. I am essentially in the same situation with DCSS and all.
But this is a good game. The aesthetics are very nice and I played the two different versions, seeing that the second, later one is far improved :-)

I don't have many negative comments. Obviously an ID system and character creation would be nice, but I recognize that maybe that is not the first priority right now.

[Elystan]

Thanks for taking a look. I've grown attached to the little dudes I drew but my new artist is fantastic and definitely an improvement, even considering the kitsch value of my own tiles. There should be a completely new tileset in the game by tomorrow I've added/updated/fixed a few things already, and there's definitely more to come.

I have ideas about how to handle identification/descriptions, and character creation won't be until I've added enough spells/types of armour/weapons to justify a distinction between warrior and mage. But when that does happen, there will be a leaderboard

[Elystan]

New address again, with better hosting:

http://www.gwarl.xyz/

Magic is in, equipment is in, more artwork is in. Maybe getting close to a beta. Another half dozen monsters will be populating the dungeon soon, as well as loading/saving games and scoreboards.

Here is an ensemble cast of the dungeon's inhabitants:

[Lord_Mork]

The sprites look great. Just curious: are you planning to add a hunger system to the game?

[Elystan]

Truthfully I haven't decided. Someone completely new to roguelikes told me they thought there should be a cost to using the rest command - the obvious solution being hunger.

On the other hand, I've spent a great deal of time playing roguelikes which do have a hunger system and I have never found it to add anything much to the game except pressing an extra button every time you get hungry. I'll consider it in more depth later but for now there are lots of other priorities.

New since my last post, monster placement has been reworked, six new monster types are in the game, most monsters are slightly stronger and give less experience, the dungeon is now accessible as far as the 9th floor, and some code changes have made the update cycle smoother.

There's an awful lot still to do but I'm starting to actually have fun playing it. A few weeks longer and I might move out of Early Dev and start posting in announcements   

[Elystan]

Autoexplore is in!

Besides that, lots of fixes, new enemies, monsters with equipment, monsters with ranged attacks - but most importantly autoexplore!

With that step most of the planned functions of my engine are in (there are still some important bases to cover). There will be a period of cleaning up and consolidating, and then things are going to get interesting.