Traditionally a majority of roguelikes include some sort of food system. Hunger management does seem like a natural part of role-play adventuring, but it also serves a much more important function: Pushing the player along is an integral part of [most] good roguelike design. All but sandbox games present the player with a specific goal […]
Cogmind’s ASCII art has drawn a lot of attention where it’s been shown on Reddit and Twitter, but I haven’t been showing much of it here on the blog. I suppose it makes sense to accumulate enough of it for a grand one-place-to-go-to-see-Cogmind-ASCII-art type post. This is that post ;) ASCII art style is traditionally […]
Inventories are almost a staple component of any roguelike, and as such there is usually some amount of inventory management required to play them. Deciding what to carry for contingencies is an important part of roguelike strategy (plus it’s fun! …or cause to kick yourself later). For these decisions to be meaningful, games almost always […]
Knowledge is king in roguelikes. I’m not talking meta knowledge–that’s important, too, but this is about situational knowledge at a given point in any single run. Roguelikes are all about exploring and confronting the unknown (see intro to old fog of war post), and success is all that much closer if you can uncover as […]
A while back I mentioned a design initiative based on the concept of “map dynamics,” aimed at increasing player focus on the map area as opposed to the message log or other windows. After the initial spate of related features and animations, this part of development was put on hold as the rest of the […]
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