tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16871054357501784972024-03-14T00:53:54.031-05:00Caffeine OverdoseAndrew Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300518783398534868noreply@blogger.comBlogger127125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1687105435750178497.post-22490661383014875982018-03-11T16:03:00.002-05:002018-03-11T16:03:52.725-05:002018 7DRL: NauwheaHi all,<br />
<br />
I decided to participate in this year's 7DRL. Today I submitted my project, Nauwhea, to the official itch.io page. <a href="https://roocey.itch.io/nauwhea-7drl" target="_blank">Check it out!</a><br />
<br />
I skipped last year's 7DRL for a variety of reasons that I won't get into right now. It was my first skip since I began participating in the annual 7DRL challenge in 2013 with Dead Man Walking.<br />
<br />
My submission this year was originally going to be a Unity (2D) project based on <a href="https://github.com/st33d/broglike" target="_blank">this helpful Roguelike "template".</a> However, I decided the day before I started that my scope was quickly outgrowing my knowledge of that template and of Unity in general.<br />
<br />
Nauwhea was based on the source for Lotus, but incorporates design elements from across my Roguelike spectrum. It features a new version of the combo system from Grid, a new take on the double hit point system from Dead Man Walking, and a leaner & meaner take on the approach to character progression introduced in Lotus.<br />
<br />
Nauwhea is a decent game. Is it better than Lotus? Probably. I trimmed a lot of the proverbial fat off of Lotus. But is Nauwhea a truly original experience? Doubtful: the theme is good and rather unique for video games (Maori mythology), but it fails to shine through across the board. The combat is interesting, but balance was a rushed affair and it lacks the delicate polish of something like Grid.<br />
<br />
Most of what I like about Nauwhea is on the back-end. There's quite a few nice minor improvements that were technically tricky to pull off, but the player is unlikely to ever notice (and, in fact, should not).<br />
<br />
Let's talk about some of the bigger ideas I had for Nauwhea that fell through the cracks:<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>More engaging deities </li>
<li>Armor</li>
<li>Better environment involvement</li>
<li>Superior balance</li>
</ol>
<div>
There's a lot of great and untapped potential in using Maori mythology as the basis for a complex religious system in a Roguelike or RPG. Such a system was my original dream for Nauwhea, but the involvement of the deities was reduced to a thematic naming of skills (e.g., Rangi's Heart) and a handful of items (the ring of Haumi). I really enjoy complex religious systems in Roguelikes like DCSS or POWDER and achieving something along those lines was my intention, but I fell far short.</div>
<br />
<br />
Armor was completely removed from Lotus and is similarly missing from Nauwhea. This was an area I was aiming to improve on, but missed the mark. I started working on it in the final day, but ultimately decided I wouldn't be able to do it justice in the limited time and just cut it out.<br />
<br />
Nauwhea is intended to feel like a "natural" dungeon environment (as opposed to the cold, man-made dungeons typically found in games like Rogue). There's a lot of vegetation (that can be destroyed) and the walls too can be broken by combat. These are relatively neat inclusions, but I think this area of the game really could have been executed better (especially aesthetically).<br />
<br />
As mentioned, the balance of Nauwhea is really rather disappointing. I left it until the last minute and wound up guessing on most of my numbers and adjusting them after a couple of runs through the game. In the past, I have setup the final boss of my 7DRLs in the first few days so I would have a good target for balance. I did things differently this time and I regret it.<br />
<br />
Overall, I suspect Nauwhea will rank decently (top 50 or so), but it's going to go down as my least favorite 7DRL submission so far. To an extent, I think this is because I took an extended break from Roguelike development (and, in the past few months, a break from development in general). However, it has spurred me on to continue developing so I can put out something better soon (maybe a Nauwhea 2.0, maybe something else entirely).<br />
<br />
Peace and congratulations to all of you who participated in the 2018 7DRL Challenge.Andrew Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300518783398534868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1687105435750178497.post-48864294611835962662016-03-12T16:08:00.000-06:002016-03-12T16:08:23.201-06:00Lotus, a town for rogues...released!Hi folks,<br />
<br />
No time wasted: <a href="https://roocey.itch.io/lotus-a-town-for-rogues">here's the itch.io page where you can download Lotus, a town for rogues</a>.<br />
<br />
I'm going to write a real post-mortem later, but I will say for now that I am very pleased with how Lotus has turned out.<br />
<br />
After the post-mortem I'm going to throw the source code up on GitHub. I'd like to refactor the code over the coming weeks because it is a bit of a disaster.Andrew Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300518783398534868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1687105435750178497.post-18644300606672481912016-03-05T19:22:00.000-06:002016-03-05T19:23:17.189-06:00Lotus, a town for roguesThe annual seven day Roguelike challenge returns once more. Lotus will be my 4th entry. This post will go over a lot of my initial design plans for Lotus and what I hope to achieve within a week.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Insert coin?</h3>
<div>
Lotus is based on the (currently) private source for Revenge of the Starmen and will also be borrowing a number of improvements from Once An Hour (e.g., a config file).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The main addition to Lotus is a type of "home base" or town. The player begins her quest at the doorstep of a small trading post built on top of a labyrinthine maze full of traps, treasures, and monsters. By delving into the dungeon, the player can return to the surface and improve the lonely trading post into a full town.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Note that Lotus isn't trying to be Stardew Valley or Animal Crossing. The systems for interacting with the town are going to be fairly abstract. The player won't be chopping down logs and gathering stone to slowly build up a mountain home. Instead, she'll directly add new buildings to the town with gold and interact with those buildings with a small handful of other materials.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
Slice and dice</h3>
<div>
Lotus is not using the combo "step" system introduced in Grid and being refined for Revenge of the Starmen. Instead, it's using a more traditional system with damage ranges and hit chances - for both the player and enemies.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
One of the buildings the player will be able to acquire is the Forge. The functionality of the Forge is inspired by Dark Souls and a handful of other JRPGs. The player can bring certain types of minerals to the Forge to improve the raw quality of her weapons & armor. She can also apply and improve elemental effects on that same equipment.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
Stat trap</h3>
<div>
Lotus will feature 3 classic attributes: Agility, Dexterity, and Strength. Agility improves the player's chance to dodge. Dexterity improves her chance to land blows and Strength improves her ability to hit hard. Pretty standard stuff, right? Not quite.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Direct chance modification is left to the player's equipment. Attributes will scale up (and down!) as a percentage. For example, the player might have an AGI of 50%. In that case, there would be a 50% chance for the player's chance to dodge to be rerolled if it would have otherwise failed.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Attributes can be exercised by engaging in combat. An attribute can be exercised once per dungeon floor. When the player descends deeper into the dungeon with an exercised attribute, that attribute will be automatically improved and will no longer be exercised.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Back on the surface, the player can have a Training Ground built. By trading valuable minerals away, the player can have a specific attribute "super-exercised". An attribute exercised in this way will improve even faster than normal, if only for a short while.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
Praise the Sun</h3>
<div>
The last of the three purchasable buildings is the Temple. Here the player can commune with the various deities of the world and improve her magical prowess. This is the least complete element of the design "triangle" for Lotus so far. I'll make another post later in the week going into more depth on the Temple.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Andrew Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300518783398534868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1687105435750178497.post-84771644761534536072016-02-23T18:44:00.000-06:002016-02-25T00:39:08.541-06:00OnceAnHourHi folks,<br />
<br />
On Friday I decided I wanted a very simple timer for my desktop. Today I have an idle game with a timer as an added bonus.<br />
<br />
The "game" is quite simple. It's a barebones console window that will, at regular intervals, popup a window and progress you forward in the game when you "Ok" the popup away.<br />
<br />
The game features a config.txt file that allows you to modify most of the prominent values in the game. Like how long it takes for the game to update, if the game generates a popup at all, what the popup says, and a variety of strings.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/uk8nyqkdqdugbbt/OnceAnHour%203.0.zip?dl=0">You can download OnceAnHour for Windows here.</a><br />
<br />
The remainder of this post is about the source code for OnceAnHour.<br />
<br />
The game is written in Python 2.7 and uses a handful of builtin modules. It's wrapped into an .exe via py2exe.<br />
<br />
<strike>Most of what I'd like to improve with the game has very little to do with the game itself. It was written rather hastily and features a variety of anti-Python elements (notably, it's classless). I'm also working on exposing more of the game in the config file. The end goal is to rewrite it to fully integrate Class and expose as much as is reasonable to the config file.</strike><br />
<strike><br /></strike>
Edit: the crossed out paragraph is no longer as relevant as of 2/25/2016. A central Player class replaced the vast majority of globals and greatly improved the readability of the project.<br />
<br />
The game is not cross-platform because it uses "ctypes.windll.user32.MessageBoxA" to generate the popup window. I believe this is relatively easy to solve by using something like Tkinter instead, but I haven't Googled enough about it yet to be certain.<br />
<br />
<strike>You can download OnceAnHour's source here.</strike><br />
<a href="https://github.com/roocey/OnceAnHour"><br /></a>
<a href="https://github.com/roocey/OnceAnHour">Edit: you can now view OnceAnHour's source on GitHub.</a><br />
<br />
<br />Andrew Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300518783398534868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1687105435750178497.post-51086493900443141992016-01-23T00:08:00.001-06:002016-01-23T00:08:58.325-06:00The Windshield EffectThe <i>windshield effect</i>, as I've read about in the context of Roguelikes, is when the player can absently mindedly drift through enemies. This is akin to the passive mass murder of insects many people engage in on a daily basis thanks to the power of windshields. My games, at least starting with <i>Dead Man Walking</i>, have all been guilty of this windshield effect to a substantial degree.<br />
<br />
The substantial nature is important. Most Roguelikes I've played have something that could constitute as a "windshield moment". For example, the player might wade through a swarm of giant butterflies rapidly in Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup. This isn't necessarily the most engaging moment of gameplay within DCSS, but it happens rarely and has <i>some </i>tactical implications.<br />
<br />
Contrast the DCSS moment with something like the zombies in <i>Dead Man Walking</i>. Zombies are a constant nuisance and every single level of the dungeon is full of them. The least egregious game I've made in regards to windshield moments is probably my most recent release, <i>Lost Valkyrie</i>. There's a pretty large variety of enemies that can spawn on any given floor and thus there's never a swarm of any one particular foe.<br />
<br />
However, even <i>Lost Valkyrie</i> suffers a bit: while it avoids repeating the exact monster, the concept of slaughtering large numbers of mobs is still very much alive. Contrast this with some other Roguelikes, like <i>Nethack </i>or <i>Shiren the Wanderer</i>, where the player will encounter a few monsters on each floor, but the threat level of those monsters is considerably higher than the zombies of <i>Dead Man Walking</i>.<br />
<br />
One of my goals with <i>Revenge of the Starmen</i> is to embrace the idea of meaningful encounters. I don't want every instance of combat to be a windshield moment. Hell, I don't even want every other instance to be a windshield moment. My goals with this change are to emphasize the importance of exploration, treasure hunting, and careful consideration of each foe. When each floor contains only ~10 mobs instead of ~25 I suspect the player will be more invested in each individual encounter.<br />
<br />
In <i>Lost Valkyrie</i>, each room spawned between 1-2 mobs with a small chance to spawn a 3rd. In <i>Revenge of the Starmen</i>, each room spawns between 0-1 mobs with an even smaller chance to spawn a 2nd. Enemies have, of course, been tuned to be much more threatening in general.<br />
<br />
Peace!<br />
<br />
<br />Andrew Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300518783398534868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1687105435750178497.post-8946711911694031862016-01-10T17:35:00.003-06:002016-01-10T17:35:46.130-06:00Revenge of the Starmen: Combat Step SystemHi folks,<br />
<br />
A couple days ago I teased a new Roguelike, <i>Revenge of the Starmen</i>. I'm not quite ready to release the public alpha to the universe, but it does seem like a good time to reveal some of the mechanics key to the game.<br />
<br />
Today I'm going to give a quick overview of the combat system, at least as far as the player character is concerned. The system is derived from the combos in <i>Grid</i>. For the uninitiated, combos in <i>Grid</i> were a 1-2-3 build up where each successive attack dealt more damage than the last until you hit the maximum amount of damage.<br />
<br />
In <i>Revenge of the Starmen</i>, the idea of the 1-2-3 is preserved, but the player now progresses to the next link in the chain on each turn regardless of whether or not you make an attack. Unlike <i>Grid</i>, <i>Revenge of the Starmen</i> is constantly looping regardless of the situation (e.g., 1-2-3-1).<br />
<br />
The aim of the "combat step system" is to remove utterly random damage, allow for a deterministic approach to tactics, and still allow for a more complex approach to damage than simply always doing 2 damage or whatever.<br />
<br />
The goal of moving away from the chained attacks from <i>Grid</i> is to encourage the player to make clever use of movement and waiting. For example, if the player is at step 1, it might be best to move away from an enemy, wait a turn, and then turn around and smack the enemy for maximum damage potential.<br />
<br />
I'm going to post a few more of these mechanical previews over the next week or two leading up to the first public release.<br />
<br />
Peace!<br />
<br />
<br />Andrew Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300518783398534868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1687105435750178497.post-76649981579930133792016-01-08T20:41:00.002-06:002016-01-08T20:41:19.908-06:002015 in reviewHi folks,<br />
<br />
2015 was a big year for me in a lot of ways, including development productivity. I released <i>Grid</i>, <i>Iron Fist</i>, and <i>Lost Valkyrie</i> in the front half of the year. Later on I decided to break off from Python and learn Unity3D, which lead to the creation of CubeTV and several other mini-projects.<br />
<br />
It was a great year for simply learning stuff. The three Roguelikes are really a trilogy that isn't thematically connected. Each one of them was an attempt to push the mechanical envelope forward. Not surprisingly, I think <i>Lost Valkyrie</i> hit the nail on the head. Placing 10th place at 7DRL 2015 was a great confidence booster.<br />
<br />
One thing I've craved throughout much of the latter half of 2015 is something I can continuously work on. The three Roguelikes are solid games, but I think they work best as bite-sized pieces. Expanding on them feels wrong.<br />
<br />
CubeTV was meant to satisfy the aforementioned desire for a couple months, but unfortunately real life got in the way and I just haven't been able to find the motivation to return to it. It's a fun game and I've enjoyed my time with Unity, but now is not the time for it.<br />
<br />
In an effort to scratch that itch I've been working on a new Roguelike I'm not quite ready to fully reveal yet. It's working title is <i>Revenge of the Starmen</i> and I'm sure you can guess its thematic inspirations. It is being built off the remains of <i>Lost Valkyrie</i>, but is considerably longer and has more mechanical layers. It also has a title that shouldn't be horrendously hard to Google, unlike <i>some </i>games (ahem, <i>Grid</i>...).<br />
<br />
Blog content has been lackluster this year to say the least. I basically post here any time I'm comfortable in releasing something or when I want to have a meaningful discussion about something I've released. It's a little telling that there's been so few posts this year. I'm not going to promise more posts since I have a bad history of making false promises here, but I will say that if I stick to <i>Revenge of the Starmen</i> you can expect considerably more blog content.<br />
<br />
Peace!Andrew Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300518783398534868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1687105435750178497.post-78614780611398681662015-11-17T21:11:00.002-06:002015-11-17T21:11:53.945-06:00CubeTV Early AccessHi folks,<br />
<br />
I've released an early edition of my minimalistic platformer, CubeTV. It's not complete yet, but I'm aiming to finish it by the end of December.<br />
<br />
You can check it out <a href="http://roocey.itch.io/cubetv">here on itch.io</a>. I'll post some more insightful pieces about the design of it in the coming weeks.<br />
<br />
This isn't the end of my lengthy foray into Roguelike development. I've just decided to mix it up a bit and learn something wholly new. I'm planning to, at a minimum, participate in 7DRL 2016 in a few months, although I have no current Roguelike plans for before or after that yet.Andrew Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300518783398534868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1687105435750178497.post-80996478929280471532015-03-14T11:48:00.001-05:002015-10-19T15:17:31.910-05:00Lost Valkyrie [7DRL]<i>Lost Valkyrie </i>is my entry to the 7DRL 2015 Challenge.<br />
<br />
You can download it for <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/s13ldtr3wugpuk3/Lost%20Valkyrie%20%5B1.0b%5D.zip?dl=0">Windows here.</a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhksy8J3qxW38yToNS9gro0lZD-DRYiHP3WLQZ35e2x1M6t03BBLvRa6pT2a6_4bYeTeyondn11dVKLLVAVzfGbqZ_PGueEynnadUjKyszXM2iGBaeiGnpt8um_4YCnt_bKmRrIuWsCn7w/s1600/screenshot_lost_valkyrie.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhksy8J3qxW38yToNS9gro0lZD-DRYiHP3WLQZ35e2x1M6t03BBLvRa6pT2a6_4bYeTeyondn11dVKLLVAVzfGbqZ_PGueEynnadUjKyszXM2iGBaeiGnpt8um_4YCnt_bKmRrIuWsCn7w/s1600/screenshot_lost_valkyrie.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
The central idea of the game is the player's attack range. The weapon of choice throughout the game is a spear. The spear can be used to lunge (attack up to 2 tiles away) or throw (attack as far as the eye can see). Of course, throwing the spear will require the player to retrieve it if they hope to progress further.<br />
<br />
Other ideas explored: Nordic mythology, Lovecraft, interesting monsters, and status effects.<br />
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Peace!Andrew Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300518783398534868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1687105435750178497.post-4111513871211977402015-02-25T16:03:00.000-06:002015-02-25T16:03:05.081-06:00Designing SimpleThis year I've whipped out <i>Grid </i>and <i>Iron Fist </i>as my entries into the wonderful world of Roguelikes. By that virtue alone, it's been one of my most productive years yet and its nowhere near over. But before I march forward into the 2015 7DRL and beyond, I thought I'd look back at these two games. Painting a clearer picture of both their successes and failures seems important in improving my own skillset for future projects.<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It seems appropriate to analyze <i>Grid </i>and <i>Iron Fist </i>simultaneously as they share a great deal of design. They both feature the combo attack system, go out of their way to limit randomness, have the same type of character progression, and offer a limited set of items to discover.</div>
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<div>
The combo attack system is one of the elements I'm more impressed with. It has turned out to be an effective way to reward player skill and hide the lack of random damage rolls. In <i>Grid</i>, the combos allow for distinctive weapons to exist. In <i>Iron Fist</i>, combos are primarily changed by leveling up.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Ever since <a href="http://www.caffeineoverdose.me/2012/11/d6.html">this post</a> back in 2012 I've struggled with deciding how to implement randomness. This design uncertainty culminated with the release of <i>Android <3 Kitty</i> last year, which had no real randomness in the combat. Since then I've been riding the current and not bothering to break away from my own norm. Both <i>Grid </i>and <i>Iron Fist </i>offer very little randomness in the way combat goes down.</div>
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<i>Grid </i>is my first game to feature internal character progression that isn't just tied to equipment. <i>@Star Wars</i> attempted to have a similar kind of character development, though it was poorly implemented. In general I'm quite pleased with how the level-up skills work in both <i>Grid </i>and <i>Iron Fist</i>. It fits the more "arcadey" feel that both games tried to have.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
One of the major successes in both <i>Grid </i>and <i>Iron Fist </i>was the implementation of <i>Binding of Isaac-</i>style consumables. Players are only allowed to carry one consumable. This has worked out quite well because it mitigates the too-good-to-use syndrome that players often encounter and also allows for tighter balance.</div>
<div>
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<div>
In a game with consumables, players are often tempted to hold onto them until they really need them. Sometimes, in easier games, that situation never actually arises. However, in games where it does, the player having a treasure trove of potions trivializes otherwise challenging content. Of course there's always a middle-ground to take, but I quite like the extremity of only one consumable.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Equipment is a strange topic in regards to both <i>Grid </i>and <i>Iron Fist</i>. When I was designing equipment for them, I wanted to create a small set of items where every item is notably different. I'd say I succeeded in my own goal there, though I'm not convinced it was to the betterment of the games. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
All items are equally likely to show up in <i>Grid </i>and <i>Iron Fist</i>. There is no joy to be found in finding an item once you're reasonably familiar with the games as it will be something you've likely seen a hundred times before. To their credit, those items are generally pretty interesting, but there are so few and they have so little variance that I'm not actually sure it matters how interesting they are.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
While I can't verify this, I suspect that most people that play Roguelikes do so for the replayability. The parent of replayability, in my mind, is depth. The most popular of the traditional Roguelikes (NetHack, DCSS, ADOM, etc) have considerable depth and thus replay value. This depth is created by interesting interactions<i>, </i>mountains of content, and uncertainty. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
For all the positive things I can say about my own games, I think they have generally failed to provide interesting interactions, mountains of content, and uncertainty. In fact, looking back at it now, it appears as if I designed in such a way as to avoid those elements. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I'd like to change that moving forward and create more rewarding, in-depth experiences. This change isn't to spite <i>Grid </i>or <i>Iron Fist</i> or even <i>Android <3 Kitty</i>. Quite the opposite, really. Each of them has allowed me to learn about design and expand my coding skill. Now I'd like to take those self-improvements and apply them to a slightly grander project. My current plan is to have the 2015 7DRL serve as a springboard for that project. Until then,</div>
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Peace!</div>
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Andrew Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300518783398534868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1687105435750178497.post-2687385296127352762015-02-24T15:44:00.000-06:002015-02-24T15:44:23.298-06:00Iron Fist [24HR RL]<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/3v8xqxv6iw16ork/Iron%20Fist.zip?dl=0">Download <i>Iron Fist</i> [windows]</a><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Iron Fist </i>is a Roguelike completed in 24 hours. I chose to start the project yesterday at 3PM CST and ended today at 3PM.<br />
<br />
<i>Iron Fist </i>started from the final source code release of <i>Grid </i>and branched off from there. This is fairly apparent in some respects, notably the existence of the combo system and the UI.<br />
<br />
The aim of the project was for me to have a chance to experiment with two things I'd been bouncing around for a while: the usage of a world map and sound effects. <i>Iron Fist</i> succeeds in presenting both of those items, albeit on a small scale.<br />
<br />
I'll likely write a proper post-mortem for <i>Iron Fist </i>in the coming days. I'd like to get into more detail regarding my usage of time over the 24 hour period, the future of <i>Iron Fist </i>(if any), and how it will impact my future development of other games.<br />
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<br />
<br />Andrew Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300518783398534868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1687105435750178497.post-21157426565353498622015-01-16T15:22:00.001-06:002015-01-17T08:40:52.526-06:00Grid 1.1a + Source<br />
<ol>
<li>Shops are now guaranteed to appear on every floor.</li>
<li>The player can now only carry one program at a time. The carried program will appear on the UI and can be activated by pressing Q.</li>
<li>Durability of all armor has been reduced slightly.</li>
<li>The durability range for all weapons has been reduced from 25-50 to 25-40. Weaponmaster and Repair Bot are unchanged.</li>
<li>The size of the UI has been altered slightly to allow for better aesthetic spacing. </li>
<li>The Encryption skill now totally prevents enemies from tracking.</li>
</ol>
<div>
<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/0j4r14ubd8a2p34/Grid.zip?dl=0">Download the game for Windows here!</a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Beyond the above changes, the code has also gone through a significant clean up. 1.0b had ~4800 lines of code while 1.1a has ~3500. While I would hardly claim to be a great or educational programmer, I have chosen to release the source along with all the materials I used to create the game.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The game is made with Python 2.7 and libtcodpy 1.5. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/x8s916vlgqhakrn/Grid%201.1a%20Source.zip?dl=0">Download the source here!</a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Peace!<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3n3P8xzEfs9tX1DbOEPF5jz1-qULKbXA91xMoOpPuJAA-HbnE72vUwXd49km29Sl1FnIEJQZsnXdObnqklgahsEu662PzMrovCZtAS4LODrhWrvZiG1_RbSmXNGribUTRrlUoLGRIwyY/s1600/paralyz.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3n3P8xzEfs9tX1DbOEPF5jz1-qULKbXA91xMoOpPuJAA-HbnE72vUwXd49km29Sl1FnIEJQZsnXdObnqklgahsEu662PzMrovCZtAS4LODrhWrvZiG1_RbSmXNGribUTRrlUoLGRIwyY/s1600/paralyz.png" height="400" width="640" /></a></div>
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Andrew Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300518783398534868noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1687105435750178497.post-22498741603780021372015-01-15T14:37:00.002-06:002015-01-15T14:37:41.527-06:00Grid 1.0dHey folks,<br />
<br />
Since yesterday's launch of <i>Grid </i>1.0a I've released two minor patches: 1.0b and 1.0c. These just fixed a small set of bugs, including one game-breaking one. 1.0d has a tiny bit more meat to it, but is primarily still just geared towards fixes. Since it is a bit bigger it seems appropriate to provide a change log.<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Repair Bot now causes reconstruction nodes to restore 5 durability to your armor and weapon.</li>
<li>Anti-virus' effect has been reduced in half (2 to 1, 1 to 0.5 in Daemon of Lust challenge).</li>
<li>Items can no longer spawn on top of reconstruction nodes.</li>
<li>The color of sonic shivs is now a light violet instead of white. This should help distinguish it from the stairs.</li>
</ol>
<div>
<br /></div>
Andrew Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300518783398534868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1687105435750178497.post-86355917554533733352015-01-14T17:20:00.000-06:002015-01-15T14:05:25.255-06:00Into the GridIt's a new year and what better time to release a new game! This new game is the result of numerous Summer projects, <i>Dungeon Brawl</i>, and several new ideas that the foundation of the game. Combine all of that with a theme that is heavily inspired by great science fiction and cyberpunk and you end up with <i>Grid</i>.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/0j4r14ubd8a2p34/Grid.zip?dl=0">Windows Download</a><br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhJ_zMpiURmy4lOu6p1eMBIjH90DGHNugsUZjlF2Sis5DAoIh7JDxvga3NM2SMjmfYuKG2NzcdMIfKxUHA3LO4wP0wOnDan9P_rkDLS7ghzoXMBGsp40PJRtVaR6gOqwGFN-3kKj6OmCg/s1600/grid_ss1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhJ_zMpiURmy4lOu6p1eMBIjH90DGHNugsUZjlF2Sis5DAoIh7JDxvga3NM2SMjmfYuKG2NzcdMIfKxUHA3LO4wP0wOnDan9P_rkDLS7ghzoXMBGsp40PJRtVaR6gOqwGFN-3kKj6OmCg/s1600/grid_ss1.png" height="400" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
Here's some features of <i>Grid</i>:<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>A focus on intuitive gameplay and UI that allows the player to get truly immersed into the tactics.</li>
<li>Durability for equipment, forcing the player to frequently adapt to new weapons and play styles.</li>
<li>A simple character progression system that presents difficult choices for abilities that have serious impact.</li>
<li>Three classes each with a unique passive ability.</li>
<li>Seven floors featuring eleven different types of enemies.</li>
<li>Eight optional challenge modes.</li>
</ol>
<div>
Plus, this is not the end of <i>Grid</i>. I have plans to introduce unlockable content, additional challenge modes, three more floors, and alternative floors. </div>
<div>
<br />
If you want to communciate with me directly, feel free to hit up the comments here or <a href="http://twitter.com/roocey">tweet me</a>.<br />
<br /></div>
<div>
Peace!</div>
Andrew Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300518783398534868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1687105435750178497.post-66386339178025919642014-10-31T21:13:00.001-05:002014-10-31T21:13:44.022-05:00Dungeon Brawl - Alpha 7<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/wfdyclz3fsim6i6/Dungeon%20Brawl%20%5BAlpha%5D.zip?dl=0">Windows Download Link</a><br />
<ol>
<li>Added in brands for weapons.</li>
<li>Some minor bug fixes.</li>
</ol>
<div>
Bit of a shorter update, but with relatively significant impact. Should see the fruits of this update really come alive over the next few updates.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Happy Halloween!</div>
Andrew Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300518783398534868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1687105435750178497.post-46572825055524174932014-10-30T14:27:00.000-05:002014-10-30T14:27:14.810-05:00Dungeon Brawl - Alpha 6<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/wfdyclz3fsim6i6/Dungeon%20Brawl%20%5BAlpha%5D.zip?dl=0">Windows Download Link</a><br />
<ol>
<li>Added in two new pieces of equipment.</li>
<li>Added in a new enemy.</li>
<li>Setup the basic classes: the Berserker, the Explorer, and the Wizard. The player class currently determines starting equipment and grants a bonus to hit points and mana points.</li>
<li>Fixed a crash bug related to the monster spell <i>Warning</i>.</li>
<li>Several color changes for items to make it easier to differentiate between them.</li>
<li>Changed the dagger to a 1d3 (was 1d4). Changed the club to a 3d2 (was a 2d2+2, I think).</li>
<li>Raised the mana cost of all player spells.</li>
<li>Fixed numerous bugs related to the daily dungeon. It should now consistently recreate the same layouts. Note that direct attacks are not fixed to the dungeon seed (by design).</li>
</ol>
<div>
<br /></div>
Andrew Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300518783398534868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1687105435750178497.post-44337886710679516542014-10-29T15:12:00.000-05:002014-10-29T15:12:28.354-05:00Dungeon Brawl - Alpha 5<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/wfdyclz3fsim6i6/Dungeon%20Brawl%20%5BAlpha%5D.zip?dl=0">Windows Download Link</a><br />
<ol>
<li>Fixed a grievous misspelling of the word "rack".</li>
<li>Shops now have a 2 in 3 chance of appearing on non-special floors (was guaranteed).</li>
<li>Rooms can now generate with loot. The loot will typically be scrolls, but will occasionally be wands or equipment.</li>
<li>Doubled player hit points.</li>
<li>Hit points now regenerate (slowly).</li>
<li>The enemies' <i>Force</i> spell is slightly less obnoxious (was 0 to 8 tiles, now 0 to 4).</li>
<li>The enemies' <i>Warning</i> spell now always provides 50 points of tracking (was 33 to 100).</li>
<li>Enemies now properly use the xDy+z damage system.</li>
<li>Enemies no longer generate potions upon dying.</li>
<li>Equipment can generate with special tags (brands). These do nothing yet.</li>
</ol>
<div>
So the game has swung back around in the other direction and is now a bit too easy, especially if you're willing to use scrolls and wands. This isn't a big surprise: balance is going to be in constant flux until all of the core features are in place. I'm taking a general policy of avoiding balance concerns, unless it relates to something that is just annoying (e.g., the Alpha 4 <i>Force</i> spell).</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Since it isn't actually written anywhere: Tracking is a special enemy-exclusive property. Enemies gain it while they're in your line of sight and<i> </i>when certain spellcasters use the <i>Warning</i> spell on you. The pathing for tracking enemies is a little iffy. It's pretty common for enemies to be tracking you to just end up stuck somewhere 2 or 3 tiles out of your vision.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
On that note, enemies used to (before Alpha 4) exclusively go after you while you while they were in your line of sight or while they were tracking you. In Alpha 4 they gained a very abstracted form of "hearing" which allows any enemy to lock onto you within ~4 tiles, even if they're out of your line of sight.</div>
Andrew Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300518783398534868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1687105435750178497.post-63066255892392698852014-10-28T18:44:00.001-05:002014-10-28T18:47:28.994-05:00Dungeon Brawl - Alpha 4<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/wfdyclz3fsim6i6/Dungeon%20Brawl%20%5BAlpha%5D.zip?dl=0">Windows Download Link</a><br />
<br />
Another day another alpha push. Download above, change log below!<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Improved monster spellcasting significantly. </li>
<li>Replaced gnolls with something new.</li>
<li>Added in a new class of foes for later in the dungeon.</li>
<li>Added in player spells. Spellbooks can occasionally be found in shops (3 lines stacked on top of each other). Once a spellbook has been used, the spells can be cast from the spells menu (press <z> or <Z>).</li>
<li>Added in evasion and accuracy. Removed the shields.</li>
<li>The UI has been reorganized with the above changes in mind. Money is now on the left, hp is in the center, and mana is on the right.</li>
<li>Minor tweaks to the AI.</li>
<li>(Temporarily) reduced the HP of most enemies to make the game slightly less impossible.</li>
<li>Attacks can now only cause 1 tile of knockback. Certain enemies can cause an additional tile of knockback.</li>
</ol>
<div>
Peace!</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Andrew Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300518783398534868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1687105435750178497.post-77053671164679972722014-10-27T18:36:00.002-05:002014-10-27T18:36:23.839-05:00Dungeon Brawl - Alpha 3<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/wfdyclz3fsim6i6/Dungeon%20Brawl%20%5BAlpha%5D.zip?dl=0">Windows Download Link</a><br />
<br />
The third in the Alpha series of Dungeon Brawl is certainly the most content rich version to come out. Download is above and change log is below! Also some related ramblings even further down.<br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Roughly tripled the size of the bestiary.</li>
<li>Added in a static/special level. It's guaranteed to show up on floor 7.</li>
<li>Added in monster spellcasting.</li>
</ol>
<div>
Progress is coming along quite a bit faster than I expected. Still, the game is definitely still an alpha. It's broken in terms of balance and the content is heavily concentrated on enemies, but those are not exceptionally difficult issues to solve.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
There are some quirks worth mentioning with the latest version. For one, spellcaster enemies behave very passively. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, though I do think it's rather excessive at the moment. Secondly, enemies haven't been properly migrated to the xDy+z damage system that the player uses yet. Both of these should be fixed relatively soon.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Currently the monster pool is a bit of a Fantasy whirlwind, although this is hardly uncommon among Roguelikes. Still, I'll no doubt go through the bestiary again at some point and spice things up a tad. I've tried to unify monsters based on symbol and naming along the lines of something like NetHack, which should help keep information clear.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Peace!</div>
Andrew Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300518783398534868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1687105435750178497.post-10807227621156382612014-10-26T18:39:00.001-05:002014-10-26T18:39:32.576-05:00Dungeon Brawl - Alpha 2There were a handful of bugs in Alpha 1 (not a big surprise). Alpha 2 fixes those and adds in a couple of new things. Change log is below, along with the download link.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/wfdyclz3fsim6i6/Dungeon%20Brawl%20%5BAlpha%5D.zip?dl=0">Windows Download Link</a><br />
<br />
<ol>
<li>Floors have had their minimum room count increased by ~50%.</li>
<li>Added in two new scrolls.</li>
<li>Added in remaining "screen effects" (the wall flashes).</li>
<li>Made it so most enemies will keep spawning after floor 3.</li>
<li>Changed potions to restore 10 HP.</li>
<li>Changed piles of gold to be worth slightly more.</li>
<li>Fixed a bug that would prevent the player from opening their inventory.</li>
</ol>
<div>
Peace!</div>
Andrew Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300518783398534868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1687105435750178497.post-2228637054034397582014-10-25T19:57:00.002-05:002014-10-25T19:57:57.477-05:00Dungeon Brawl! [Alpha]Much has changed in the world of <i>Dungeon Brawl</i> over the past week. Much is left to be done, though many of the basic ideas of the game are written down (even if they aren't in the game yet).<br />
<br />
This first alpha release is a simple game that is meant to serve as more of a proof-of-concept than anything else. It is not an accurate representation of what I plan for <i>Dungeon Brawl</i> 1.0.<br />
<br />
Here's a list of stuff you can expect to find (and not find) in this first alpha:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>An example of what the UI might look in the final version.</li>
<li>The randomized, contextual wall coloring.</li>
<li>Functional, if somewhat barren, shops.</li>
<li>~8 enemies over an endless number of floors.</li>
<li>3 different character species.</li>
<li>The core of the Knockback system.</li>
<li>The core of the Momentum system.</li>
<li>No instructions. </li>
<li>No story.</li>
<li>Very little character progression.</li>
<li>No balance at all.</li>
<li>Kobolds.</li>
</ul>
<div>
As you can probably guess from a few of the elements listed above, I'm rushing this first alpha release out. This is because I said I'd release it and I have a bad habit of not following through with things I mention on the blog.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/wfdyclz3fsim6i6/Dungeon%20Brawl%20%5BAlpha%5D.zip?dl=0">Windows Download of Dungeon Brawl [Alpha]</a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I recommend checking out the readme if you have no clue at all what to do.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
My goal going forward is to try and push out at least one release per week, regardless of its significance. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Here's some stuff that's coming soon (1 or 2 releases away):</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Branded weapons and armor</li>
<li>Win condition</li>
<li>A static map or two (think DoomRL)</li>
</ul>
<div>
There's other stuff in the pipe too, but I'm not sure which release they'll come in and I don't want to make any promises.</div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Peace!</div>
Andrew Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300518783398534868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1687105435750178497.post-6158473461203285632014-10-19T22:24:00.000-05:002014-10-19T22:24:26.161-05:00Turn-based SpeedSpeed in turn-based games is a rather heavily abstracted concept. This isn't a big surprise in Roguelikes which are effectively defined by abstraction. Still, I think speed in Roguelikes has a tendency of being unusually spoilery for something that is relatively significant. This is because the way speed works is rarely something that is spelled out for the player and must instead be inferred through gameplay.<br />
<br />
Many Roguelikes that implement a speed system for movement essentially just make it so characters lose or gain a free turn based on relative speed differences. For example, in <i>Dead Man Walking</i>, a character with a speed value of 20 will get to move twice per single move of a speed 10 character. Some Roguelikes choose to take this even further and include numerous, less obvious speeds (like the difference between speed 11 and 13). Some also choose to incorporate an element of randomness into the movement (<i>Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup</i>).<br />
<br />
In general I do not have a problem with speed systems in Roguelikes as a player. But, as mentioned, I do find them to be relatively spoiler-y in many cases (i.e., understanding them fully requires external assistance). This is especially true if the game uses the aforementioned granular speed differences and random speed boosts.<br />
<br />
One of my goals with <i>Dungeon Brawl </i>(the now-official title of the new project) is to avoid unclear mechanics. Movement and positioning meant to be very important. In my mind that means a speed system designed for it would need to be so complex that it demands spoilers or so insignificant that it might as well not exist. Or it could instead be redesigned to become a much more explicit concept that also conveniently fits the theme of fighting games pretty well.<br />
<br />
The speed system in <i>Dungeon Brawl</i> is effectively an abstracted form of acceleration. Characters moving in a single direction for several turns will begin to move two tiles in that direction. Currently this just applies to player characters, though I intend to expand to apply it to enemies soon. The basic idea here is still the same as traditional speed systems in Roguelikes, but it is deliberately designed to function on a much more interactive level.<br />
<br />
In my (limited) playtesting thus far, the acceleration system offers a lot of intimate tactical decisions. For example, I might run into a room with full momentum. Now I have to face the decision of whether to keep that momentum alive or switching directions to improve my position or aim at an enemy. This is a fairly basic example, but hopefully it's clear how the new system can have definite applications in regards to how to retreat, how to approach enemies, and just generally how to engage in combat.<br />
<br />
As a teaser/example, here are the basic characters' "minimum momentum" scores:<br />
<br />
<b>Lily</b>: 1<br />
<b>Norm</b>: 2<br />
<b>Fat Mac</b>: 3<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn6ZUn0OnYlTrj1_8QyrllHwRGwMaTLew_JYjYM3AKExG4a4JlYILyuEM7bx6V073k5QWbgoIXm1eB283cJyWFTVpPJ1N8gUIR6t6YAaanCjpAEz2p__ks7zwb4MIciDp9gNMcWiErSQ4/s1600/4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn6ZUn0OnYlTrj1_8QyrllHwRGwMaTLew_JYjYM3AKExG4a4JlYILyuEM7bx6V073k5QWbgoIXm1eB283cJyWFTVpPJ1N8gUIR6t6YAaanCjpAEz2p__ks7zwb4MIciDp9gNMcWiErSQ4/s1600/4.png" height="412" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhADks62ovwRLwLFtpcO25Iq8qd-7qOKFaGB99rPARjAQxvaKwHw1BfjyH-Vm8zUGNLGq-6qYr4Q-qghH4mnzE_lhe6IbQK0wQsuacGFmh5b5OlpUSJhhlWDa0rDremD-kaBNjh42NrvOM/s1600/3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhADks62ovwRLwLFtpcO25Iq8qd-7qOKFaGB99rPARjAQxvaKwHw1BfjyH-Vm8zUGNLGq-6qYr4Q-qghH4mnzE_lhe6IbQK0wQsuacGFmh5b5OlpUSJhhlWDa0rDremD-kaBNjh42NrvOM/s1600/3.png" height="413" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
The number refers to the number of turns a character needs to spend moving in a direction before they start to move two tiles per move. The "last direction" arrow I showed off in a previous post will update to show when the player has surpassed that point (compare above, bottom left of the screen).<br />
<br />
Peace!Andrew Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300518783398534868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1687105435750178497.post-86054906897993724692014-10-18T18:31:00.001-05:002014-10-18T18:31:34.438-05:00Interface Intricacies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Working with the new game and trying out a variety of Roguelikes over the summer has made me far more cognizant of the importance of UI, colors, and the symbols themselves in Roguelikes. Thus, I've tried to incorporate a variety of new ideas (for me) into the new project that help create a more responsive, interactive dungeon crawling experience.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6vYihLjWE4cObDx8GFfqte88K6JhIr3X1Jo4A7662mHxmmqHdv1v6vnjIGPRUPmUB3uylBcXeTDCLjYmlfQTsRkoTuFi2M5W5VstEG9zj8e8qHWTUA3XhzhcMRkByYQGS0oG464mOvUQ/s1600/1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6vYihLjWE4cObDx8GFfqte88K6JhIr3X1Jo4A7662mHxmmqHdv1v6vnjIGPRUPmUB3uylBcXeTDCLjYmlfQTsRkoTuFi2M5W5VstEG9zj8e8qHWTUA3XhzhcMRkByYQGS0oG464mOvUQ/s1600/1.png" height="413" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
In the bottom left corner of the above screenshot is the core UI. The blue diamond represents the player's shield, the red heart represents the player's hit points, and the green club represents the player's ability points. The idea here is to create an almost Zelda style information depot that gives an accurate, quick report of the player's most important stats. This section of the UI is still undergoing constant revision to make it look better and include more stuff (without being bloated). Eventually it will support at least one more stat (cash on hand) and feature a status effects area.<br />
<br />
On the dungeon map I've been tinkering with the idea of using the wall colors to communicate information. By default the walls will display a limited variety of mundane colors that are deliberately designed to avoid calling attention to themselves.<br />
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However, when something interesting happens, the wall colors will shift to grab the player's attention. In the above screenshot, I got punched by a lonely gnoll and the visible walls shifted from mundane to bright pinks and purples. This is a consistent effect that occurs any time the player takes damage.<br />
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Other effects can occur too, although I'm still working on them and don't have screenshots. For example, some enemies can entangle the player and prevent movement. This causes the walls to take on primarily green colors while the player is stuck.<br />
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This is a relatively new system and I'm still trying to work out color values, frequencies, and what exactly should trigger it. It's worth mentioning that I plan on adding a toggle to disable the color shifts for players who'd rather not have them.<br />
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Peace!Andrew Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300518783398534868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1687105435750178497.post-19174886088210251032014-10-16T23:48:00.000-05:002014-10-16T23:48:01.376-05:00@ or @<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So, roughly last week (early October), I came back to Roguelike development with fighting games on the mind. Images and discussions of the new Super Smash Bros. began to overtake my regular virtual watering holes and it was hard to resist inspiration. And thus, my latest project was born. It's designed to be a kind of "zany", fast-paced Roguelike that takes a lot of cues from fighting games.<br />
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Each one of the player characters is being designed as a personality instead of as a class or race. Each one of these characters has unique stat distributions: speed, damage, weight, and hit points. Beyond that, each one of them comes with three unique abilities (ZXC) that are designed around a system of positioning and momentum.<br />
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I didn't want to make a game that was inspired by fighting games to feature an unhealthy level of menu surfing, so I needed a way for the abilities to work. Abilities in the game come in two flavors: aimed and dumbfire. Dumbfire moves can be tapped and they'll generally affect everything on the screen (or just the player character). Aimed moves look at the last direction the player moved or attacked in and go in that direction.<br />
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In the above screenshot, I'm the sea green "@" and I just punched the red "d" below me. The "d" (fightbot) is normally white, but has a simple animation to flip to red after being hit. In the bottom left region, there's an upside down triforce. This is not actually a triforce, but a directional arrow showing the direction that the player last acted. These two relatively basic (and still under development) features help the player keep track of the battle and aim abilities more easily.<br />
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If I tap "z" in the screenshot shown above, then I will use an ability based on my character. In this case, I'm playing Lily - a lightweight fighter with a plant theme. Lily's "z" just so happens to be an aimed ability called Flower Whip, which hits a foe "in front" of Lily and sends her backwards.<br />
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In total there are four "complete" characters available, one of which is a secret character. The other three characters are designed to fit into a fairly basic fighting game archetype.<br />
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<b>Lily</b>, the lightweight champ. Doesn't hit very hard, highly susceptible to knockback, and moves substantially faster than the other characters.<br />
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<b>Norm</b>, the jack-of-all-trades. Effectively the "human" of this game, Norm has no notable weaknesses or strengths.<br />
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<b>Fat Mac</b>, the heavyweight slugger. Moves slower than all of the characters, but is exceptionally good at throwing enemies around the battlefield.<br />
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<b>Jet</b>, it's a secret to everybody.<br />
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There's also a lot of more traditionally Roguelike-y stuff going on, even more than what I did with Dead Man Walking and AndroidLovesKitty. I plan to go over some of that stuff in the near future. I also have plans for at least two more cast members, some information about unlockables, and other cool things.<br />
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I'm going to push an alpha release out the door in a week or two when there's a bit more content. Currently I'm quite satisfied with the character designs, but I want to get some more items and enemies in before I go public. Keep an eye open!<br />
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Peace!<br />
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<br />Andrew Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300518783398534868noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1687105435750178497.post-87992290108671358842014-08-11T12:12:00.000-05:002014-08-11T12:12:15.115-05:00Resource ManagementManaging your resources is one of the core gameplay elements of most Roguelikes. Resource management in major Roguelikes typically involves keeping a close eye on one's hit points, spell/mana points, ammo, scrolls, and potions. Both of my previous games have featured very limited resource management and I think this is one of their major flaws. Thus, in WWRL, I'm working on creating more interesting and valuable resources.<div>
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In <i>Dead Man Walking</i> the only real resource to manage were hit points. However, thanks to a combination of passive regeneration and the willpower system, players could just simply retreat from most fights and the one resource solved itself. That was an interesting system, but overall flawed because it never really imposed a permanent cost on the player. Resource management in <i>Dead Man Walking</i> was very transient, its impact could only be felt for maybe 20 turns.</div>
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In <i>AndroidLovesKitty</i> I tried to make resource management slightly more interesting. There is no willpower and no passive health regeneration, so damage has a lasting impact. Unfortunately, <i>AndroidLovesKitty</i> was very generous in giving out health packs and it was very possible to avoid ~90-95% of all damage in the game. Both of those are arguably acceptable, but not when its the only real resource the player has to manage in the game. There was also the bombs "resource", but the player had 99 bombs for every level. The limitation was only really put in to prevent the player from blowing up every wall of every floor - it does not function as a resource nor was it really meant to.</div>
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In <i>WWRL </i>I'm trying to find a nice balance of both games plus adding in more resources overall. There are currently five core resources in the game: hit points, stamina points, money, bombs, and arrows. Hit points currently function pretty similarly to how they work in <i>AndroidLovesKitty</i>: no passive regeneration, health packs, and the player can avoid most damage with clever positioning. Stamina is a new resource for <i>WWRL</i> that is deliberately meant to be transient - the player can easily spend an entire pool of Stamina and regenerate it back in ~20 turns. Stamina is required to attack and the cost goes up as the distance between the player and the target increases (think of it as a cost for lunging). </div>
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Money will primarily be used at randomly discovered merchants that will sell bombs, arrows, miscellaneous things, and a variety of equipment. Bombs function as they do in <i>AndroidLovesKitty</i> - they can be used as a burst of high damage and as a way to destroy walls. Unlike in <i>AndroidLovesKitty</i>, bombs are actually quite rare and the player starts with few of them. Arrows (along with a bow) give the player an attack option if the foe is out of melee range. Because of the game's focus on positioning and melee arrows are incredibly valuable as they can simplify dangerous situations. Arrows are, deservedly, quite rare - players should not expect to be able to play as a fully ranged character.</div>
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The goal of resource management in <i>WWRL</i> is to reward the player for being adaptive and create unique situations for each playthrough. Consider the hypothetical player that has been playing quite well in melee until recently - they encountered a dangerous enemy they weren't prepared for and are now one hit from death. However, thanks to this player's melee ability and a bit of fortune, they have a considerable number of bombs available. If the player now adapts to the situation, they should be able to recover their run by defeating the next several foes with bombs while searching for health packs. Thus, the resource management in <i>WWRL </i>will allow for tense situations to arise and also allow for crafty players to defuse those same situations.</div>
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Peace!</div>
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Andrew Wrighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03300518783398534868noreply@blogger.com0