Roguelike Round-Up

skavenhorde

Little BRO Rat
Joined
February 3, 2007
Messages
5,347
Location
Taiwan
We get a few visitors here that enjoy the roguelike genre so here is a roundup for all of your roguelikers out there. Some of the newbits are quite old, but I don't believe we have officially covered them:
Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup was updated to version 0.9 quite a while ago, but for those of you who didn't know here is a summary of the major changes within the game:
  • Ashenzari changes. We’ve finally nailed down Ashenzari balance! Most importantly, his passive XP boost has been replaced with a passive skill boost. This boost is based on how bound you are and what types of equipment you have bound – for example, wield a cursed weapon to improve your weapon skills, or wear a cursed ring to improve your magic skills. Other changes are listed in the full changelog.

  • Trog changes. The god of rage is also the god of antimagic, and his weapon gifts will now reflect this more prominently. He’ll also punish his followers for daring to even learn magic skills – and Trog forbid that they attempt to make use of them.

  • Reduce Berserk speed bonus. Previously, being berserk let you take 2x as many actions. That speed boost has been reduced to 1.5x, bringing it in line with the Haste status effect.

  • Implicit butchering. Characters are now assumed to bring a small knife into the dungeon with them. Cursed non-cutting weapons will still prevent them from butchering, but they no longer need to lose an inventory slot or risk throwing their butchery implements.

  • Adjust HP rules. Starting characters are now beefier, getting +3 HP across the board. On the other hand, raising Fighting skill now gives less of a boost to HP.

  • Rename Crusader to Skald. The Crusader starting book was hit hard by recent changes, and their flavor has always been problematic (as they have nothing to do with crusades or religion). Rather than scrap them completely, elliptic took this opportunity to give them a makeover. They are still focused on improving their fighting prowess with magic, but they have a different starting book and skill levels.

  • New spells added. We have our first Hex/Fire spell in Inner Flame, which curses a target to explode upon death. Larger targets may make for better fireworks! Shroud of Golubria, which appears in the Skald and Warper books, provides a barrier that will completely protect against some melee attacks. Any attack has a chance to tear right through the barrier, which will end the spell, but stronger attacks are far more likely to do so.

  • Major modifications to Tornado. The funnel cloud will take some time to spin up to its full size, and it cannot be cast multiple times in a row because of lingering turbulence. However, those caught in its winds will now be flung about wildly.

  • Old spells removed. Teleport Self, Berserker Rage, Resist Poison are no longer player-castable spells.

  • New monsters: The Lair is now home to basilisks, fearsome lizards that petrify with their gaze. They aren’t the only new beast to come out of the stonework, though. Thanks to Wensley, the deeper regions of the Lair may contain catoblepae. They are slow, but you’ll be slower than them soon if you can’t avoid their clouds of petrifying dust!

  • New unique: Ignacio, a powerful Executioner who remembered to bring his axe.

  • Many small balance changes. See the whole changelog for full details!

  • Also of note is the experimental release of a new game mode, Zot Defence. Those of you who played it on CAO/CDO should note that it has received significant changes since its debut; however, it should still be regarded as a work in progress.
The inevitable bugfix 0.9.1 for Stone Soup:
  • Fix missing portals to Zot on D:27 with restart_after_game after Sprint.
  • Fix most large special maps not being generated.
  • Fix mad amounts of divine gifts in certain cases.
  • Don’t duplicate monsters when exiting the Abyss.
  • Fix a lock-up on selecting a random character.
  • A number of crash fixes.
  • Some documentation amendments.
  • Don’t stop butchering on unimportant messages.
  • Add a command “show runes” (‘}’) that was documented but not implemented.
Whisper 'Farewell' When You Leave, Gimli:
This is blog post goes into the reasoning behind the controversial decision to get rid of Mountain Dwarves as a playable race in Stone Soup.

Rogue Suvivor Alpha 6.1 release:

This is really old news, like 7 months old, but for those of you with an itch for a roguelike set in a zombpocalypse then this one is for you. Here's a bit of info on the game:
Rogue Survivor is a free zombie survival roguelike sandbox game with unique features and modding support.

The game takes place in a town famous for being the headquarters of the powerful CHAR Corporation.You wake up amidst the chaos and you must find ways to survive.


Survive in the city
  • Play as living or undead.
  • Survive the zombies!… and the humans.
  • The undeads get stronger every day.
  • Find food and shelter… but you're not alone.
  • Reincarnate when you die and continue playing as another character.
  • Graphic tiles, mouse support and musics.
Interact with NPCs

  • Fight raiding gangs.
  • AI controlled survivors are trying to survive just like you.
  • Trade with other survivors.
  • Lead a band of survivors.
  • Get help from the National Guard.
  • Commit murders…
  • …but watch out for the police.
  • …and of course beware the undeads.

A dynamic game world
  • A dynamic procedural world.
  • A city with different districts, buildings, sewers and subway.
  • Push or destroy objects, build barricades.
  • Day/Night cycle.
  • Weather.
  • Things happen all the time, the world is not waiting for you.
Get tools, skills and friends

  • Learn skills by surviving to see a new sunrise.
  • Scavenge items and barricading material.
  • Various weapons and items.
  • Get followers and turn them into useful buddies

Last, but certainly not least, is a new roguelike in development by the name of Ultima Ratio Regum. It's a combination of roguelike, RPGs and strategy games. Think Dwarf Fortress, but without the dwarves. I've already posted about it in the indie forum and the developer was kind enough to say he'll keep us informed on his progress.

Here is some info on the game:

Ultima Ratio Regum is a middle-ground between roguelikes, RPGs and strategy games. As such, it has a number of unusual or unique features:



⇓ Over 170,000 spawnable weapons

⇓ Complex AI with their own motivations, loyalties and objectives

⇓ Dozens of factions and species to gather support from

⇓ No limit to the size of armies the player can equip and command

⇓ 300+ types of creatures, including name generator

⇓ 14 varied creature languages

⇓ Fully modelled sight, hearing, and stealth mechanics

⇓ No in-built quests; pick your own allegiances and objectives
 
Last edited:
Joined
Feb 3, 2007
Messages
5,347
Location
Taiwan
I'm looking forward to seeing what Ultimate Ratio Regum will be capable of. If he can pull off even half that list then I'll be a happy camper. The complex AI is what I'm most interested in.
 
Joined
Feb 3, 2007
Messages
5,347
Location
Taiwan
Thanks for that link. I never heard of it before. I know this is odd to say, but for a roguelike those ASCII graphics look pretty darn good. I'm going to have to give this one a whirl after my TES addiction has subsided.

Thanks again.
 
Joined
Feb 3, 2007
Messages
5,347
Location
Taiwan
Haha...

So you going to check it in 2 years ;)

Damn that Skyrim is addictive :D
 
Joined
Mar 15, 2010
Messages
481
HA! Probably because I have to play Morrowind again. Damn that music!!!

I figure in a year and a half I should be done, but then the good mods for Skyrim will be available and tested by thousands of people so I'll have to load Skyrim again with new mods and the cycle will repeat.

Maybe at work...yes, I'll play at work :D
 
Joined
Feb 3, 2007
Messages
5,347
Location
Taiwan
My recommendation is Tales of Maj'Eyal.
It has a modern engine and the UI is quite friendly.
 
Joined
Apr 21, 2007
Messages
67
Back
Top Bottom