7DRL 2011 Reviews

Gridfolk was initially classified as a successful 7DRL entry. However, the author has since reclassified it as a failure. Either way, I started looking at it.

After playing the game (I had no problems getting it running, personally) I tend to agree with the author’s own comments. It is an interesting tech demo, but not a game.

That being said, it is a very interesting tech demo. The multiplayer roguelike is an elusive holy grail for developers. The concept for this game was a good one. I would certainly be interested in playing the end result.

The fact that the author got a fully functioning client/server realtime roguelike working in 7 days is impressive in itself. Although I have a lot of experience with python, I have never done any networking code beyond a few simple socket listeners.

Also the screen is nice. I like the presentation and the colors and the weird enemies.

Digging Mode definitely needs to be a toggle. Having to hit ‘D’ every time you want to dig is a super-pain. I didn’t go down very far.

So, great concept. Interesting tech demo. Looking forward to next time. 🙂

You can find a list of all 7DR L2011 finishers on roguebasin or temple of the roguelike.