Welcome to Roguelike Radio episode 24, where we look at Themes and Settings in Roguelikes. Talking this episode are Darren Grey, John Harris, Legend and Nicolas Casalini (aka DarkGod). The mp3 of the podcast can be downloaded here, played in the embedded player below, or you can follow us on iTunes.Topics covered this week include: - The lack of real setting in Rogue (apart from the text in the Epyx manual for Rogue) - Generic fantasy settings and what can be good or bad about them - Unexplored settings and genre-mixing - How to emphasise setting with tiles, colour schemes, music, sound, intro text, etc - Original setting ideas, from sex roguelikes to orcs in 10-gallon hats - Various games discussed, including ADOM, ToME4, Broken Bottle, Vicious Orcs, Hellband, SewerJacks, DoomRL, The Slimy Lichmummy, Cardinal Quest, Anquestria (the My Little Pony themed *Band)Join us in just over a week for a discussion on Permadeath.
Welcome to episode 23 of Roguelike Radio. Today we take a break from our usual schedule to interview David Ploog, former lead designer of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup. Joining David are Ido Yehieli, Keith Burgun and Jeff Lait. The mp3 of the podcast can be downloaded here, played in the embedded player below, or you can follow us on iTunes.Discussion covered this week includes: - How David got into roguelikes and into Crawl development - Highs and lows of acting as a pure designer - Why David gave up on development of DCSS - Of minotaurs and mountain dwarves - Responding to playerbases - Differences in design between big and small roguelikes - Several interesting anecdotes and insights from David's five years of Crawl designThis episode also features a couple of snippets of music - excerpts from Birdflesh's 'Dance on the Frozen Desert' and Threatener's 'Meth Crawl'. David was rather keen to have these in... Quoth he: "The second one was not just a gimmick -- there are some reasons why I chose it. Apart from the obvious (the 'Crawl' in the track title), there's more. To an outsider, roguelikes are (almost) as far away from 'computer game' as the noise (the genre is called grind core) is from 'music'. ... Originally, I had prepared a series of similar short pieces, which would range continuously from the bizarre/experimental (like the first tune) to the insane and mental (the second one). I love this kind of transition from normal/calm to twisted/insane. It's a reason why the Abyss is my favourite Crawl branch (together with Slime)."We'll be back in just a few days time to return to our usual schedule with a discussion of themes and settings in roguelikes.
Welcome to episode 22 of Roguelike Radio. This week we discuss Infra Arcana, a horror-themed roguelike with significant Lovecraft inspiration. Talking this episode are Darren Grey, John Harris, Legend and Infra Arcana's developer Martin Tornqvist (aka NON). The mp3 of the podcast can be downloaded here, played in the embedded player below, or you can follow us on iTunes.Discussion covered this week includes: - Lovecraft theme and other inspirations - How to pronounce "Cthulhu" - Insanity system as a food clock - ASCII vs tile mode - Dev fatigue - UI and keycommands, inc for laptopsJoin us next week for a general discussion of themes/settings in roguelikes.
Welcome to episode 21 of Roguelike Radio. This week we discuss procedural generation and how it applies to roguelikes. Talking this episode are Darren Grey and Andrew Doull. The mp3 of the podcast can be downloaded here, played in the embedded player below, or you can follow us on iTunes.Discussion covered this week includes: - Death of the Level Designer - The advantages of a room and corridor design - Sunk cost investment in procedural spaces - Whether tidying up is good game play - Procedural puzzles and quests - Can dynamic systems and AI make a game procedural? - Architecture vs. contentIf this interests you further, you should take a look at the PCG wiki, which has links to all things procedural.Join us next week for a look at Infra Arcana, a horror-themed roguelike.
