At this stage of development I wasn’t planning on adding new mechanics, but projectile penetration has been hovering around on my to-do list ever since early playtesting showed the game would really benefit from a way to shoot through objects. The ability to simultaneously hit an entire line of enemies, or even fire through obstructions […]
Non-interactive machines were first discussed in the context of the object placement algorithm of the previous post. But there is plenty more to cover. Distribution We can’t simply pick random machines for any and all maps. The types of machines on a given map should reflect the theme of that map, be it storage, factory, […]
Most traditional roguelikes are pretty barren, especially those of the subterranean variety where a map is composed of rooms empty except for monsters, items, and a small selection of interactive props or obstacles (e.g. altars, plants, pools of some liquid). This reflects, and highlights, the genre’s focus on tactics and strategy. If an object doesn’t […]
Procedurally generated maps are great, but even with variety factored into an algorithm it naturally won’t produce anything outside its parameters. This is good in that it keeps the style consistent, but individual areas sacrifice character as a result. Hand-crafted map pieces can restore some of that character where you really need it, be that […]
Rarely will an algorithm produce a perfect procedurally generated map, and even if it does, some degree of post-processing will still be necessary to analyze the layout. When we look at a map produced by a generator, we can determine pretty quickly whether or not the layout is sufficient for our purposes; we can also […]
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