Welcome to Roguelike Radio episode 32. This week's topic is combat mechanics in roguelikes. Talking this episode are Darren Grey, Ido Yehieli 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.
Topics covered this week include:
- Original mechanics in Rogue and their D&D inspiration
- Realism in combat mechanics (and how it doesn't always work)
- The game of numbers, and how devs love bell curves
- Combat logs and other ways of relaying combat data
- Weapons flavours and damage types
- Movement and placement around the field of battle
- Area effects of weapons and special attacks
- Bump to attack and the unification of movement keys with other game functions
- Deterministic vs random systems
- Status and timed effects
Some games highlighted:
- IVAN
- Brogue
- ToME4
- DDRogue
- Zaga33
- Sword in Hand
Join us next time for more exciting and information roguelike discussion!
Welcome to Roguelike Radio episode 31, where we discuss the game that inspired our whole genre - Rogue. Talking this episode are Ido Yehieli, John Harris, Jordan Starkweather, Keith Burgun, Michael Brough and our very special guest Glenn Wichman, one of the co-creators of the original Rogue. 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 story of the original creation of Rogue by Glenn Wichman and Michael Toy
- How the game evolved and the different versions for different platforms
- Defining features of the game that arose from platform limitations
- The influence of Dungeons and Dragons on the Dungeons of Doom
- Glenn's 7DRL, The Seven Day Quest
- Rogue's influence on modern roguelikes and other games
- The source of the original name "Rogue"
- Why we needed this episode before Glenn dies (according to John)
A few relevant links to find out more about Rogue:
- Many many versions of Rogue and relevant materials (old manual etc)
- Browser-based Rogue by Donnie Russell - go play now!
- Glenn's history of Rogue
- Gamasutra's history of Rogue
- The C64 box art for Rogue (somehow I think they missed the point...)
Join us next time for more exciting roguelike discussion!
Welcome to Roguelike Radio episode 30, where we discuss identification systems. Talking this episode are John Harris, Keith Burgun, Ido Yehieli 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.
Topics covered this week include:
- The difficulties in developing identify systems
- Solvability vs. randomness
- Identification systems in Rogue and NetHack
- The importance of shorter games
- The Angband thread that Andrew mentions
Join us next week for more roguelike discussion. Feel free to post in the comments about more games you'd like us to feature or topics you'd like to hear discussed.
