Elderlore

Here are the latest Mines of Elderlore source files, that should allow the game to be launched under Windows and GNU/Linux. You need Python 2.x and Numpy to be installed.

Have fun! The files are released under a GNU/GPL v2 licence.

I am still working on Mines of Elderlore, here are the new features:

• there are achievements that the player can accomplish, like his best hit, his best weapon combo, or the least rounds before winning
• a menu system has been added,to change player name, dungeon name, view your scores and achievements, and replay past games

Anyone wanting to beta test it is welcome!

I have been following Libtcod for a long time, since it is probably the most promising project related to roguelikes published on the past years. What I was missing was a good reason – and some motivation! – to dive in it and code my own Libtcod roguelike.

On the other hand, the next 7DRL is arriving; Mines of Elderlore, my 7DRL attempt some years ago, made me realize that coding under time pressure, with a common goal with some other folks, can be a really stimulating experiment and good way to produce something that simply works.

So I would really like to try to create a 7DRL roguelike under Libtcod this year. But what I need first is to improve my knowledge in this library, and, well yes, practice a little my oldy pythonic skills. And what better subject for this than my old 7DRL Mines of Elderlore?

Adding Libtcod was easier than I would have expected. The python files were already set to handle different displaying libraries (Curses and Pygame), and Libtcod is very well documented and supported by its author Jice, so only a few hours were necessary to provide this first version.

You can download the game there:

The state of the game is far from completed: it is just a work in progress, still playable from the beginning to the end (I hope…), but some features and details are lacking.

You can tweak the moe.ini file to change the screen size, set it to fullscreen, and some other more-or-less explicit parameters. F1 to F4 keys provide in-game help.

A roguelike of Mine

I have been developing a little roguelike during last weeks, named Mines of Elderlore. This game has been created for the 7 day roguelike challenge, the code was only one file. I wanted it to be full GNU/GPL v2, so that it may be of some help for anyone interested.

I started developing it with simple needs in mind: I wanted to create a little roguelike around the new dungeon generator I had just created for Lands of Elderlore, my other roguelike. And I wanted to test how I could implement those simple features:

Permanent levels

Well, not only permanent levels on your computer, but on every computer of every player! So that when you provide (automatically or by player input) a dungeon name, the same levels will always be created.

Python is a great language for this, and it is really easy to store dungeons in a dictionary and save games with the pickle module.

A common risk when creating permanent levels is to reduce the amount of space to explore for the player: once every level crawled, what can he do ? So I decided to create two downing stairs for every level, each one leading to a different -and permanent- level.

There are 9 floors in Mines of Elderlore. That may not seem a lot, but with this ‘two-stairs’ design, you can have as much as 1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + 16 + 32 + 64 + 128 + 256 = 511 different floors!

Having permanent levels provides a great advantage: player can compare their scores. I did not have time to implement it yet, but I plan to provide an online display of every player scores on landsof.elderlore.com. By sending their keymovie files, not only players will be able to compete with each other, but when published online their movies will inspire other players and challenge them to perform better! Some kind of Massively Mutliplayer Offline Role Playing Game .

Easy gameplay

Roguelikes can have a steep learning curve for new comers, and to my point of view every effort to ease their first roguelike experiment should be cherished.

First idea is to display symbols with two ascii characters. So that the player can see at a glance what weapon he is wearing, what level is the monster in front of him, and so on. Simple and effective. And with fonts twice as high as large, symbols are displayed perfectly squared!

Then I tried to add weapon special attacks based on the player movements rather than additional keys or over complicated RPG skills. Charging is maybe the simplest example: by moving in the same direction during several rounds, you increase your ‘charge’ amount, and if you manage to hit a monster at the end, you will inflict increased damages.

I think this enhanced gameplay based on player movement can really be developped very far; you can count on me to investigate further on this !