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JS roguelike game: The Royal Wedding

ondras.zarovi.cz

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Re: JS roguelike game: The Royal Wedding

#34

Post by rcfox »

AlexDanger wrote: post #29
lucaspiller wrote: post #9

It looks very nice, and I'm pretty impressed with the effects. I do have to admit though that personally I just don't 'get' rougelikes, maybe I'm just too young, but they just don't really interest me.

Normal game: You pick up an unknown potion. Do you drink it? You save the game and drink the potion. The potion kills you. You reload the game, dont drink the potion, and move on to the next level. Roguelike: You pick up the potion. Do you drink it? Hmmm...too risky, it could kill you. You decide to visit a wizard who can identify it for you. Oh no! A monster. You fight! The monster is strong...You're down to 1 healt…

Permadeath only really works for games that don't have an explicit narrative. It's no fun to die and then have to sit through the same conversations and plot twists all over again. Roguelikes tend to be complex and random enough to allow the player to experience something entirely new each time they play. There's still an overall story, but every telling of it is unique.

Re: JS roguelike game: The Royal Wedding

#36

Post by ricree »

kbenson wrote: post #5

I just started playing Dungeon Crawl: Stone Soup the other day for the first time (I've played Nethack and Angband for years though), so I'm in a Rogue sort of mood. Thanks! This is wonderful.

Tome 4 (http://te4.org )is a really polished, modern take on roguelikes. It's also based on a pretty modular, GPL3 licensed engine, in case you ever feel like making your own.

Re: JS roguelike game: The Royal Wedding

#39

Post by AlexDanger »

rcfox wrote: post #34
AlexDanger wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Normal game: You pick up an unknown potion. Do you drink it? You save the game and drink the potion. The potion kills you. You reload the game, dont drink the potion, and move on to the next level. Roguelike: You pick up the potion. Do you drink it? Hmmm...too risky, it could kill you. You decide to visit a wizard who can identify it for you. Oh no! A monster. You fight! The monster is strong...You're down to 1 healt…

Permadeath only really works for games that don't have an explicit narrative. It's no fun to die and then have to sit through the same conversations and plot twists all over again. Roguelikes tend to be complex and random enough to allow the player to experience something entirely new each time they play. There's still an overall story, but every telling of it is unique.

I agree, and I think you've touched upon a critical point.

One thing you'll notice about roguelike forums is the number of 'storytelling' threads where a player recounts their adventure. The lack of explicit narrative is more than compensated by user generated narrative.

Much like emergent gameplay (ie Minecraft), good roguelikes create emergent narrative. The narrative is worth sharing because of the surprising random encounters and do-or-die decisions.

I suspect this partly explains why most roguelikes have such simple graphics. A friend remarked that FTL was 'good for the imagination'. Basic graphics leave much to the imagination which enriches the internal narrative of the gamer.

That said, I dont think AAA graphics exclude a roguelike experience, and are in fact a barrier of entry for some younger gamers.

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