Dr. Hallervorden is my third roguelike and my first 7DRL. My first one was
Rogue Basement for Ludum Dare 39, to try out Python as a language for RL development. The second, for Ludum Dare 40, was
Power-Q for iOS, to see if I could do something on the 868-HACK scale.
This time, I wanted to see if I could design a "full size" roguelike with lots of enemies and items, without it becoming a pile of spaghetti code. At the same time, I wanted to demonstrate some opinions I have about atmosphere in roguelikes. Specifically, I don't like how a lot of roguelikes just drop items all over the place as if the level generator were a messy teenager.
I did the whole thing in Swift using only BearLibTerminal as a dependency, so while it only runs on macOS right now, a Linux port should be straightforward, and probably Windows in a year or two as well. I spent a few weeks before the event working on the engine, getting up to a Rot.js or libtcod equivalent with my own twists.
For setting, I chose a mad scientist's laboratory. There are a lot of obvious enemies to add (doctors, henchmen) and a lot of room for creativity (laser raptors, piranhas in mech suits).
Successes- Pretty good UI and help
- Good enemy and item variety for a 7DRL
- I'm proud of the level generator's results - good layouts and distinct themes on each level
- It's definitely "done"!
Non-successes- I'm not completely happy with the combat system
- I shouldn't have had 3 types of damage; just one would have gotten the job done and cost less time
- The UI could do a better job of helping you swap equipment
So, please do try it out (if you have a Mac) and let me know what you think so I can do better next time!
