[HN Gopher] How to Make a Roguelike ___________________________________________________________________ How to Make a Roguelike Author : metadat Score : 58 points Date : 2022-10-24 19:54 UTC (3 hours ago) (HTM) web link (www.gamedeveloper.com) (TXT) w3m dump (www.gamedeveloper.com) | kelseyfrog wrote: | As mentioned in the article, the r/RoguelikeDev summer code-along | event[1] is a fantastic way to complete a basic roguelike. It | provides both a bit of a push and group accountability that some | people need to get started and maintain momentum. Unfortunately | it takes place just once a year during (northern hemisphere's) | summer break because that's when a bunch of young people have | more time on their hands to do stuff like this. :) | | 1. Disclosure: I'm the host | swayvil wrote: | What do you like about the turn-based mechanics? | | What do you dislike? | justinlloyd wrote: | Sudden feelings of guilt as I think "I should really give a few | weeks of love to my unfinished roguelike." Maybe I'll get to it | over this year's holiday season. Need to finish the multiplayer, | the vendor buy/sell system, and compose the music score and I can | say "done." | candiddevmike wrote: | After finally purchasing RimWorld, I don't see the point in | playing most other games. The vanilla game is incredible, but | with mods and scenario customizations I can basically create any | kind of top down game I want: start a game playing it one way | (super peaceful like the Sims) and flip on a zombie mod once I | get bored. | jawr wrote: | Although a great game, I'm not sure it can be considered a | roguelike. | MrLeap wrote: | It has the procedural generation and permanent death. I'd say | it shares many characteristics, enough to be called a cousin | at least. | Sohcahtoa82 wrote: | When I think of a "roguelike", I think of a game that is | played in "runs" where a run is typically 60 minutes or | less, but completing a game round is not completing the | entire game, as it will take several runs to unlock all the | features and content. You are also generally not expected | to be able to complete a run to the final boss in your | first several attempts. | | Hades, FTL, Vampire Survivors, Gunfire Reborn, and Crypt of | the Necrodancer all satisfy these. | | RimWorld is not at all a roguelike because a "run" can | _easily_ last hundreds of hours. | jiggawatts wrote: | It's pretty much a Dwarf Fortress clone. | dan-g wrote: | Steve Losh has a great series of blog posts on creating a | roguelike in Clojure: https://stevelosh.com/blog/2012/07/caves- | of-clojure-01/ | postalrat wrote: | Another good roguelike tutorial: | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnY7Inp74dw&list=PLea8cjCua_... | | Great gameboy translation: https://github.com/binji/porklike.gb | wchar_t wrote: | The original article is here: | https://www.gridsagegames.com/blog/2018/10/how-to-make-a-rog... | | The author is the creator of the popular commercial roguelike, | Cogmind. | riidom wrote: | Recently I wondered what the name of the site formerly known as | gamasutra is. Maybe it's just my bubble, but it feels just dead | since the renaming :( A pity. | justinlloyd wrote: | I feel the same way, and I think it was the point at which the | physical hardcopy magazine stopped being published. | skocznymroczny wrote: | I miss devmaster and flipcode, both coming from the age of | people writing their own engines. Unfortunately ever since | Unreal and Unity went mainstream, the community of amateur game | engine developers shrunk considerably. | guzik wrote: | > I need that feature over there, and this one, and what about | that one! | | This hits me hard as I am always 2 days before releasing my first | roguelike game on Steam since 2021 (shameless plug: | https://store.steampowered.com/app/2053250/Hellway/). | | > Release early and often | | Uhh, I really don't think it's a good advice for gamedev. | | I really miss the times when games were polished since v1.0. | Random crash on boss fight? Hey, it's an early access / beta / | v0.0.1 / we were in rush, forced by some non-sense deadline set | by our kickstarter campaign (or ego). Wait for the updates! | kelseyfrog wrote: | >> Release early and often | | > Uhh, I really don't think it's a good advice for gamedev. | | It is, but it leaves out a crucial bit of information, namely | who is the audience to whom the game is released. It's | important to get feedback early, especially gameplay feedback. | At the same time, failed releases to the general public do | little to inspire confidence or provide the valuable kind of | feedback required in the early phases of development. | xeromal wrote: | Roguelike games are one of those major events that happened that | I completely missed. It's hugely popular and I still don't know | what a roguelike game is. lol | pavlov wrote: | Rogue is actually one of the oldest computer games, the | original is from 1980: | | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_(video_game) | TulliusCicero wrote: | These days it usually refers to games that have permadeath + | procedurally generated levels, so every time you die you start | the whole game over (but an entire 'run' isn't very long, less | than two hours definitely, often less than one). Sometimes | there's "meta progression" that does actually persist some | unlocks or upgrades in between runs. | | Originally rogue likes were that, but specifically in the | gameplay genre of turn-based dungeon crawling RPG's. These days | they can be in other genres: twin stick shooters, card games, | action platformers, etc. | bbreier wrote: | I _think_ that the meta progression is the sticking point | that determines whether the game is a roguelike or a | roguelite, roguelite being the one with the meta progression. | WastingMyTime89 wrote: | As the name suggests, rogue likes are games like rogue which | generally implies a procedurally generated dungeon, aerial view | which might use ascii graphics, a gameplay loop involving going | through floors killing monsters while collecting objects and | levelling up a character and permanent death. They are fairly | obscure games and not really popular. | | What has become really popular and was introduced by roguelikes | is using procedural generation in games. When it's done well it | does wonder for replayability. | swayvil wrote: | Procedural generation is the wild frontier. It's like a visit | from aliens. | haunter wrote: | > They are fairly obscure games and not really popular | | Nah come on. They are incredibly popular since the indie | revival age (~2005). Arguably one of the most popular indie | genre. Spelunky, FTL, The Binding of Isaac, Rogue Legacy, | Slay the Spire, Darkest Dungeon just to name a few. Hades, | which is pretty much an AA rougelike. | | Recently the biggest hit is Vampire Survivors [0]. Top 50 | game on Steam with 20-35k players. | | 0, https://store.steampowered.com/app/1794680/Vampire_Survivo | rs... | henryfjordan wrote: | Vampire Survivor and others like it are starting to form | their own sub-genre. There are so many bullet-hell | roguelikes just like it coming out these days. Making a | clone seem like a great first game project. ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2022-10-24 23:00 UTC)