Official development blog

Category Archives: Design

Map Intel: Information Warfare, Revisited

We’ve covered information warfare on the blog before, in terms of the wide array of components and UI options available to Cogmind. Those features are centered around information about robots and other objects visible, seen before, or detected via sensors. There is a separate category of useful information, and its source and presentation were the […]

Posted in Design | Tagged , , , | 8 Responses

Robot Hacking

(Update 180712: Robot hacking has been completely replaced by a much bigger system–you can find a summary here.) Many earlier posts have already covered hacking as it applies to various interactive machines, a feature that was implemented a year ago. Only now have we finally reached the tangentially related robot hacking mechanic. Robot hacking was […]

Also posted in Mechanics | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Responses

The Importance of Roguelike Food Clocks

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 […]

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Inventory Management

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 […]

Also posted in Mechanics | Tagged , , , , | 3 Responses

Information Warfare

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 […]

Posted in Design | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Responses