Elderlore

Source: Nolithius.com » roguelike

With version 0.5.102, Dance of Death reached a stable point and is ready for its next major features: the world map and wilderness. I definitely have my work cut out for me for 0.6, and though the goals list below is short, it is a meaty one.

In addition to wilderness generation, v0.6 will begin to reflect the results of a recent discussion in r.g.r.d. regarding gender bonuses and the social responsibilities of game developers at large. What begun as a simple disagreement regarding gender bonuses evolved into a source of inspiration that helped me define where I want to take the gameworld as a whole, the fruits of which will be seen throughout the next releases.

The following are the goals for Dance of Death v0.6:

1. World generator.
2. Wilderness area generator.
3. Ability to move between wilderness areas.
4. Ability to move between a wilderness area and the world map.
5. Moving at the world map level.
6. Entering a wilderness area from the world map.
7. Entering a dungeon from a wilderness area.
8. Exiting from a dungeon onto a wilderness area.
9. Improved name generator.
10. Gender bonuses tweak.
11. New playable races.
12. Rework main quest to include the wilderness.
13. Saving the world map.
14. When the game loses focus, add a “Paused, click to continue.” overlay to ensure the keyboard focus is always correctly active.

Thanks again to everyone for your support and meaningful discussions; you have played a crucial part in keeping the development momentum strong!

Source: Random observations in a world of ones and zeros

It turned out that there were problems with the sewer level that I did not catch when testing... how sloppy of me... :-( Since I'm on my way on a one week vacation I had to release a patched version (1.0.2) with the sewer level disabled. I'll release a proper bugfix next week. Sorry for the inconvenience...

Source: Random observations in a world of ones and zeros

I released a new version of Dweller today. The new version comes packed with goodies, most notably a well deserved graphical overhaul, courtesy of Oryx. The graphics also comes with simple idle animations. In the next version I have plans for things like attack and spell animations.

In this version I have also decided to remove the ASCII version of the display completely and make the game more accessible to new players outside of the roguelike scene.

Another brand new feature is the merchant on the surface from whom you can buy and sell items. This should increase survivability quite a bit and make the game easier.

Download from:
http://roguebasin.roguelikedevelopment.org/index.php?title=Dweller#Download_and_Installation_instructions

Change log:

NEW Brand new graphics
NEW Simple idle animations
NEW Merchant on the surface to buy and sell from
NEW Scroll of Recall to move between surface and deepest dungeon level visited

CHANGE ASCII mode removed

FIX Null pointer on rare occasion when switching level
FIX Null pointer when viewing an empty inventory/ability category
FIX Runetime exception when restarting the game after it has been halted (Android)

Source: Rogue Wombat

This thread at the FreeBasic forums managed to elude my watchful eye, as I don’t often open the Beginners forum.  However, Rick Clark (rdc), the champion of FB Roguelikes, has managed to build an impressive online tutorial walking through the creation of a Roguelike game.  I’ll be reading through his posts and can commend what I’ve seen thus far to you:

http://www.freebasic.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15821

Source: Rogue Wombat

I don’t have time to post updated screenshots or gameplay notes, but the recent release of Brogue 1.3 is phenomenal.  If you haven’t played it before, it’s now fully cross-platform and is even better than the last time I reviewed it.  There’s new terrain, monsters, leveling, visual effects, and much more.  Check out the release notes in the forum (never knew that was there : ) and then download and get to playin’.

I’ve also found a stellar RL for the iPhone called 100 Rogues that I look forward to reviewing in full.  It’s the first RL that I’ve actually found enjoyable to play on the device, even though both the original Rogue and Nethack have decent ports to the system.  I’ll say why in a review down the road…

Source: Nolithius.com » roguelike

Announcing the Dance of Death v0.5.102 release, playable in your browser at www.nolithius.com/dod!

This development cycle was focused towards introducing an animation system and tidying up some loose ends with ranged combat and other recently added features.

The following to-do items from the goals were completed:

1. Added animation system for ranged combat.
2. When targeting, the color of the targeting trajectory now shows whether a shot is clear (green), unknown (yellow), or blocked (red).
3. When entering targeting mode, the last target, or the closest monster in your FOV is selected.
4. Saving now occurs at a slower rate (once every 10 seconds), as well as upon starting a new game, or changing levels. You may also explicitly [s]ave.
5. Corrected language when stepping over a stack of items: “are lying here” instead of “is lying here”.
6. Picking up a new stack of an item already in the inventory now merges stacks.
7. When keybinding, the system checks if the newly entered key is already bound. If so, it displays a message by the existing binding.
8. If an item with a long name is equipped, the equipment slot descriptors are shortened to allow for longer item names.
9. If a missile hits an obstacle or does not hit a target, it is automatically dropped on the ground. If it hits/misses an opponent, there is a chance it will be consumed.
10. Graveyard menu added, where old dead characters are listed.
11. Hall of Fame menu added, where characters that beat the game are listed.
12. The Continue screen now shows more character information (race/class/location).
13. Quick Character Creation has been further streamlined to only require the selection of gender, archetype, and name. Archetypes include race, optimal stats, and skillset.
14. Help panel now reflects the proper keys that have been bound in the options panel.
15. Output messages are now saved.
16. Bug fix: Looked into reported crashes or character misplacements after creating a character after a game has been won or lost. Was unable to replicate, will continue to monitor.

I also threw in the following in response to feedback, as bug fixes, and to add a bit more to this fairly light release:

1. Ranged animation polished to execute the ranged attack on the last frame.
2. The arrow animation uses the appropriate | – \ / characters, depending on the slope of the trajectory.
3. The input system now checks if there are animations running, if so, and the animations are “cancelable”, it forces them to complete and proceeds with the input. Otherwise, it blocks the input. All animations are currently cancelable.
4. Equipping a stackable item over an already equipped stack will automatically merge the stacks.
5. Starting equipment added, based on selected Skills and Techniques.
6. Maces added.
7. Male characters now receive stat bonuses, and female characters no longer receive stat penalties.
8. New monsters added.
9. Monster generator now generates more monsters per level.
10. Visible dungeon tiles have a bit more color now.
11. Saves from old versions are automatically removed to avoid conflicts.
12. Bug fix: The Continue menu is now properly disabled after a playthrough where the last active character dies or wins the game.
13. Bug fix: Arrows are now used up properly (1 per shot), they were being used 1 per tile for every shot.
14. Bug fix: Output buffer from the previous game is now cleared after a death/win.

I have got my work cut out for me in the next version, but nevertheless, please continue to send in your invaluable feedback!

Source: Random observations in a world of ones and zeros

hSince the initial release of the Android version of Dweller I have come to realize that the current graphics for Dweller simply wont work on higher resolutions. The 8x8 tiles will not look good when scaled to above twice their size and I need at least 24x24 pixel tiles for high resolution devices.

I decided to make a post on a few pixel artist sites like Pixel Joint and Pixelation. I was surprised by the number of replies I got and the quality of the sample artwork many of the pixel artists sent me. I finally made a decision to work with a really talented US based pixel artist who goes by the handle Oryx. I first saw Oryx work at TIG Source a while back and was struck by the retro style and the crispness and overall coolness of the graphics he makes. I'm happy to be working with him and hope to have a new version with Oryx' graphics ready in a week or two.

Here's a few screendumps from a dev. version of Dweller showing the new graphics:

The guy next to the warrior with the sword is a merchant. In a coming version of Dweller you will be able to buy and sell things to the merchant to get upgrades and means of improving your survivability in the dungeon.

Source: Nolithius.com » roguelike

The iterative development process has been a real blessing for the health of Dance of Death. Releasing early and often has allowed me to keep the project’s momentum going, as well as make tough decisions about what gets done for each section, and how.

One of these such decisions has been to move what was once the #1 item on this list, wilderness generation, to the next release after 0.5.

After having played UnReal World recently, I immediately knew that I wanted to take Dance of Death into a more wilderness-survival style of gameplay. Because of this, and because the list of changes for version 0.5 is already extensive, I plan on focusing the entirety of the next version release (v0.6) on implementing the wilderness and the goodies that come with it: an overworld map and its generator; outdoor area maps and their generator(s); moving into and out of areas and into the map; moving from one area to another through area edges and map stitching to support it; new monsters, items, and tiles; and a more colorful palette! I also have to rethink the main quest and deliver it in a way that works well with an open space as opposed to a closed-off dungeon.

The following is the list of goals for the version that is in the works at the moment, 0.5:

1. Animation system for ranged combat.
2. When targeting, change the color of the targeting trajectory to show whether a shot is clear (green), unknown (yellow), or blocked (red).
3. When entering targeting mode, select either the last target, or the closest monster in your FOV.
4. Saving no longer to be on-going in the background, but manually through a [S]ave or [Q]uit command.
5. Correct language when stepping over a stack of items: “are lying here” instead of “is lying here”.
6. Picking up a new stack of an item already in the inventory should merge stacks.
7. When keybinding, check if newly entered key is already bound. If so, unbind old binding and display message.
8. If an item with a long name is equipped, switch the equipment slot descriptors to shorter versions.
9. If a missile hits an obstacle or misses, drop it on the ground.
10. Graveyard menu, where old dead characters are listed.
11. Hall of Fame menu, where characters that beat the game are listed.
12. Show more character information on the Continue screen (race/class/location).
13. Streamline Quick Character Creation: gender, archetype, name. Archetype includes race, optimal stats, and skillset.
14. Help panel should reflect the proper keys that have been bound in the options panel.
15. Save output messages.
16. Bug fix: Look into reported crashes or character misplacements after creating a character after a game has been won or lost.

Your feedback has been invaluable in both helping to prioritize next steps and in keeping the development motivation strong. Please do keep it coming!

Source: Random observations in a world of ones and zeros

I'm happy to announce my first release of Dweller for Google Android! The version is a bit of a beta version, but is perfectly playable. I want to improve the UI and graphics much more before I can say that I have a proper version for Android.

Dweller for Android can be downloaded for free from the Android marketplace (do a search for Dweller and you should be able to find it), via this direct URL: market://search?q=pname:org.roguelikedevelopment.dweller.android or using the QR-code on this page.

New versions for J2ME and J2SE have also been released, but not much has changed since the last release. Changes and additions:

NEW All text now has a small drop shadow

CHANGE Locked the navigation keys completely from being redefined as it risks screwing things up if redefined the wrong way

CHANGE Added left/right commands as valid ways of navigating back and forth in menues (this used to work in old versions and is now back on player request)

Download from: http://roguebasin.roguelikedevelopment.org/index.php?title=Dweller

Source: Legend of Angband

I just heard about the Reddit Game Jam. This is a 48 hour period to write a game for a theme that is chosen at the start of the contest. It is sort of like a 2DRL with a lot more rules. In the end they use Reddit votes to determine who has the best game.

You cannot steal images for your game. They want you to make it cross platform. You cannot use any commercial libraries. If you use some personal libraries, you have to supply the source code to everyone.

Your game has to run on minimal hardware. When you are done, you must share all of your source code. That does not mean that you have to open source your code. But you must post it all out there. You get one extra day to package your code. This all sounds like a fun idea. Maybe I can unleash some kind of roguelike on them. It might be tough to get it all done in 48 hours though.