roguelikedev

Jetpacks! Chasms to fly over! Also melee weapons with special attack patterns! Also flying enemies! Also ammo-based guns!

Melee weapons are a bit different from systems. They take up a coveted slot, but you can carry them around when they aren’t in use. When activated, the current weapons all have special attack patterns (ala brogue). The blade will pierce multiple enemies, the flail will damage all surrounding enemies, and the hammer will temporarily stun your target.

Coming soon: radiation, fire, exploding barrels, and upgrades. And recharging. And rockets. And…

PS – I will need beta (alpha?) testers at some point this month. Shoot me a comment or e-mail (twpage AT gmail) if you are curious and want to help.

Just wondering if anyone still actually has this blog in a dusty corner of their RSS reader?

I dusted off my old 2011 7DRL RoboCaptain a few months ago and have made steady progress. The new engine utilizes the wonderful rot.js and is fully re-coded in CoffeeScript.

It looks kind of like this:

For the first time today I actually spent time “playing” the game for more than testing purposes. There are already some interesting tactics arising from having to utilize different systems. There is a lot of work to be done on balancing this mechanic. I think the original 7DRL struck a chord with lots of people, but having to constantly switch between systems in order to recharge them seemed very fiddly to me by the end.

The current mechanic modifies the original one. You don’t have to worry (as much) about recharging your systems, but instead you need to pick which one is currently ACTIVE. 

Some systems function whether or not they are active, but being activated makes them better. Active lasers will have 2x change of critical hits. Active shields will recharge over time. Active melee weapons will perform special attacks like shoving enemies back or piercing through multiple enemies (thanks Brogue).

Other systems only function while active. The cloak is an obvious one. The promised jetpack also makes an appearance (jet-punch is a must-have feature). When activated, the Armor system makes your melee attacks do double damage and allows you to smash through walls — very satisfying.

I’m still working out how to balance the two different kinds of systems with things like melee weapons, limited ammunition weapons, and rockets. I think melee weapons will become systems. Since you are limited to 5 or 6 systems, this will become a strategic choice. I may also add ammo-based weapons that are designed to be disposable, but have special features when compared to the default laser. In theory you could even drop your lasers and do (for example) a melee/cloak-only build. Or even leave your shields behind and stack your robo-suit with 4 weapons systems.

Currently I decided that you can’t “carry” systems around to install later, so the strategic choices around which 5 (or 6) to keep installed is an important one.

Anyways, if you are still listening, drop me a line. I will need beta testers soon enough.

Cheers.

HF

Traditional roguelike games are restricted in what they can display graphically. Restrictions are part of what make roguelikes great (this is definitely true for the original rogue), but graphics no longer have to be one of them. While troubleshooting the firing logic for robocaptain I found myself stuck in a “traditional” mode of thinking.

In the original 7DRL version of the game, firing took two steps: ‘f’ to confirm target, and ‘f’ again to fire. Alternatively, once ‘f’ was pressed the first time, the player could hit ‘g’ to cycle between targets. This is mostly fine, but can be improved. While I mostly play with the mouse, I want the keyboard controls to be just as good.

The thing that ‘unstuck’ me was realizing I wasn’t limited to conventional roguelike graphical restrictions. The restriction being ‘1 tile, 1 character’. Why not just add another indicator over top of the existing character?

I came up with a simple ‘targeting’ overlay that constantly tracks the closest (or last hit) enemy. This targeting overlay can be cycled at any time by hitting ‘g’. Hitting ‘f’ will automatically shoot at the currently targeted enemy.

This kind of ‘passive tracking’ saves the player an extra keystroke, since most of the time you are shooting the only/closest enemy. The rest of the time you can use ‘g’ to cycle between targets just as before. The game will remember the last enemy you shot at and always keep them as the default target.

Work on robocaptain continues. My goal is to transform it from 7DRL into a “lunch break” roguelike. Which is a phrase I just made up after listening to the first 20 minutes or so of roguelike radio (who I noticed has a slick logo now!).

Somewhere between coffee break and a full roguelike. Shooting for 30 or 40 minutes of playtime to finish the game. Maybe less.

In the meantime here is some proof of progress! Anyone reading this interested in alpha/beta testing, drop me a line.

Still working on some less-aggressive color schemes, but for now it is easier for me to design things this way.