Author Topic: [7DRL 2018][Success] Dr. Hallervorden  (Read 5139 times)

irskep

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[7DRL 2018][Success] Dr. Hallervorden
« on: March 12, 2018, 12:56:11 AM »
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!