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"100 Rogues", new indie Roguelike RPG (iPhone)

keithburgun

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Joined
Nov 17, 2009
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40
Hi RPG Codex. My name is Keith and I'm lead designer at Dinofarm Games, where we're working on a roguelike called "100 Rogues". There's a lot that is different and new about this game and I thought you guys might appreciate it.

nZurx.jpg


(Yes, that is a flying baby with bat wings in the above illustration by our lead artist, Blake Reynolds. And yes, that man is wearing a bucket for a helmet. He is the Crusader, a paladin-type who is at once both outrageously pious and also very childlike.)

EDIT: Added this YOUTUBE trailer: (very early)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6eLHvThE-E

* Unlike most RLs, this game has full animation, all original effects, music, and content.

* This isn't a game inspired by a RL (like Diablo), this is a roguelike. We've got permadeath, random item & map generation, starvation, turn based combat, etc.

* We're doing a few things which are innovative for roguelikes beyond just looking pretty. We've got huge, SNES-style bosses for example which are a big puzzle of a battle. We've got online leaderboards, with the ability to connect with your friends on Facebook. We've got several unique classes each with their own set of skills. We've got cutscenes that give a glimpse into the character of the world and the PCs.

* The entire game is comprised of hand-made pixel art - done the old fashioned way, pixel by pixel. Every pixel on the screen was placed there by an artist, not approximated by a computer.

WHACK-of-glory.gif

(The Crusader with his ability WHACK OF GLORY, which knocks enemies back, or if they cannot be knocked back, deals big damage)

* It's designed from the ground up to be great on the iPhone. The controls, the way you use abilities, how you access your inventory, is all designed with this console in mind.

* We will have updates, updates, updates. From balance patches to new content updates (two more playable classes are planned for soon after release), we will be supporting this game like crazy. It is our baby.

* This game has been in development now for a FULL YEAR.



I've worked really hard as designer to make this game balanced, with strong feedback for all of your actions, and a feeling that you can be creative with your play.

There's a lot more info about the game in this Gamasutra interview I did awhile back:

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/2471 ... Rogues.php

Also, if you want to get updates on this game, join our Facebook group, or follow us on Twitter.

FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/pages/100-R...#/pages/100-Rogues/109776630046?v=wall&ref=ts

TWITTER: http://twitter.com/DinofarmGames

Our official site is http://www.dinofarm-games.com

Thanks for your time, and I really hope you enjoy this game as much as we do.
 

Zed

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is it iphone only or will you make it available for cool phones as well? Is it flash?
 

keithburgun

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Nov 17, 2009
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It's not Flash, it's all hand-done pixel art. And we'd love to get it on cool phones eventually, and also onto other consoles and even on PC!

-Keith
 

Unradscorpion

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What use are these puzzle bosses if the game is meant to be replayed countless times?
 

Castanova

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Sounds cool in concept, I suppose, but there doesn't seem to be much to go on yet. In your interview you mention that a win would only take 30-45 minutes, though. That seems far too short for a randomly generated game where content quantity is the least of your concern.
 

Black Cat

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Sounds cool and, like, stuffies, but only for that iPhone thingity thingie thing? Set interest and care back to zero, nya nya.
 

Gragt

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Serpent in the Staglands Divinity: Original Sin
Yes, if it's only for iphone I probably won't care much and stick with Stone Soup. It looks interesting at first glance though.

By the way, will you go for something like NetHack, wth a very extensive world that can be exploited with grind and likely requires spoilers to win, or will you go for a Crawl/Stone Soup model that may not be as vast but tries to avoid grind and spoilers, offers true choices with the religion system, and overal makes most part of the game random to keep things interesting (think of the artifacts)?
 

Zed

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keithburgun said:
Cool sprite action there. You've got a great pixel artist.

Aren't you worried you'll draw the wrong crowd with the graphics though (the conceptual/illustrations/cover etc - shit you'll use as promotional)? It looks like a casual-friendly adventure for the whole family looking at that art with the baby and skeleton... and then it turns out it's turn-based and shit and people (you know, them) will go "ah, waaaah, I don't get it, what's this, I don't even-" *permadead*.
 

keithburgun

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Nov 17, 2009
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By the way, will you go for something like NetHack, wth a very extensive world that can be exploited with grind and likely requires spoilers to win, or will you go for a Crawl/Stone Soup model that may not be as vast but tries to avoid grind and spoilers, offers true choices with the religion system, and overal makes most part of the game random to keep things interesting (think of the artifacts)?

I happen to be a HUGE fan of Crawl, and that's the direction this game would be taking as well. Also a huge inspiration is Shiren the Wanderer. Not much inspiration (directly anyway) from Nethack.

And yes, I recognize that the iPhone is far from the best gaming platform, but for any of you who may have it, definitely check it out! And we really want to get it on other platforms ASAP. Here's some Youtube videos of the action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6eLHvThE-E



Aren't you worried you'll draw the wrong crowd with the graphics though (the conceptual/illustrations/cover etc - shit you'll use as promotional)? It looks like a casual-friendly adventure for the whole family looking at that art with the baby and skeleton... and then it turns out it's turn-based and shit and people (you know, them) will go "ah, waaaah, I don't get it, what's this, I don't even-" *permadead*.

No, it will be marketed as a *real game* but a real game for really anyone. Tetris has "permadeath" and we will make it very clear that this is that sort of game, a pick up and play quick arcadey RPG. Perfect for the iPhone.
 

sheek

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Looks good but would probably wear out my shitty battery in ten minutes. Bookmarked though.
 
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I like my iPod Touch and I want to buy the fuck out of this. Right now the only roguelike to entertain me for more than an hour or two is Sword of Fargoal's iPhone version and this looks light years better.

(Though if I can ever get Forgotten Realms Dungeon Hack working again I may love that one now that I can "get" some Roguelikes.)

Love the old timey preview video too.
 

Bluegrazz

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Jul 4, 2008
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Sounds good- Until the Puzzle Boss, 40 min. "win" time, and I-Phone.

I would certainly give it on try PC but when I think Rougelike- I imagine a ton of depth and "meat" which I dont see possible in 40 min. I have played RLs where MANY hours into it your still finding new stuff.

Your pixel art is great and I wish you luck.
 

Black

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True Codexers are so oldschool that they barely know how to handle your regular mobile phone. Do you expect us to own an iphone?
 

keithburgun

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Forget the "40 minutes" thing guys, I completely made that up. Just ignore it =]

Also, when we first release it will only have 10 maps, when we're done with it it will have a lot more, at least double that, so the length will increase a lot.

And in terms of the "puzzle bosses" - they aren't like linear puzzles. Here's one example:

THE GOLDEN GENIE:

He has two parts, his body, and the lamp below him. He has about double the HP of the lamp, but the lamp has about double the armor. (magic damage pierces armor).

He shoots fireballs at you, and spawns golden beetles on this one spawn-tile thats about 5 tiles away from him. When his HP gets low he has a chance to go hide inside the lamp, in which he can heal every turn. Stepping on the spawn-tile brings him out of it.

Also, the golden beetles reduce your armor with their attacks and leave gold behind, but if you defeat the genie, all the gold disappears, so if you want any of it you have to get it before he dies.

Destroying the lamp doesn't kill the genie, you have to kill the genie himself.

Basically, it will be a different fight every time to an extent, especially considering you'll have different equipment, skills, spells, and items. It's in no way a "linear" puzzle. Hope that helps.
 

Melcar

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Looks cool. Like the art. Won't touch it though, not unless it can be played on PC and supports more than one OS.
 

keithburgun

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Nov 17, 2009
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Believe me, I hate the fact that it's only on one OS just as much as any of you. It's just KILLER development time even on only one OS - a whole year so far! And it's not even done! But don't fret, other OSes will be supported eventually.
 

Grunker

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Jim Cojones said:
Black said:
True Codexers are so oldschool that they barely know how to handle your regular mobile phone. Do you expect us to own an iphone?
I sure would love to play a roguelike using my telegraph. :cool:

My pigeon runs DosBox no problem.
 

Lord Rocket

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Feb 6, 2008
Messages
1,089
Why are you responding to these dipshits? They obviously don't know what the hell a roguelike is.
Here's a clue fuckheads (trust me, this isn't hard):
ROGUELIKES ARE RANDOMLY GENERATED SO EVEN IF YOUR 'FINISH' TIME IS REALLY SHORT - LIKE, SAY, 40 MINUTES - THERE'S STILL GOING TO BE PLENTY OF STUFF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN OR DONE YET. Because the computer hasn't made it up yet, see?
In fact 'short' roguelikes are a lot better since you'll get a better range of content, as opposed to the start and (some) middle game stuff most people are only ever going to see in Nethack.

Still, I'm a bit worried about this:

Also, when we first release it will only have 10 maps, when we're done with it it will have a lot more, at least double that, so the length will increase a lot.

What does that mean? There's ten dungeon levels, you're premaking 10 dungeon levels, or what? You said in your first post that shit's going to be random, so I'm confused.

Tell us more about character advancement too. I'm also suspicious about the whole 'your characters have personality and stuff' thing, which makes it seem like you're not going to have too many options for chargen etc. (which is not very Roguelikey).
 

Zed

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Lord Rocket said:
What does that mean? There's ten dungeon levels, you're premaking 10 dungeon levels, or what? You said in your first post that shit's going to be random, so I'm confused.
Probably meant 10 levels as in 10 "floors" or whateverthefuck.

Edit: Unless "generated" is the new term for randomly picked.
 

Multi-headed Cow

Guest
Or he's talking about tilesets.

We talked on Steam ages ago and you mentioned this, but at the time there wasn't anything out yet to look at. Now there's more info and the short movie, it looks neat. Definitely agree the pixel art is nicely done. I don't have an iPhone so it's a moot point for me, but I might grab it if you guys throw it on Steam at some point. Hope it does well for you.
 

keithburgun

Educated
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Nov 17, 2009
Messages
40
Yes, I'm talking about basically dungeon floors, which relates to tilesets.

Basically, every 5 floors, it switches to a new tileset and a new "theme" with completely different monsters and such.

And yeah, to be honest I have no idea how long it will take to beat by then, or even how long it will take right now, as I haven't personally beaten it yet (still balancing!).

But I agree, roguelikes are not at all about "beating it" or about being long. Our game is about coming up with strategic solutions to difficult problems.

One thing I forgot to bring up which makes us different than other roguelikes is a focus on "mob combat". You're generally fighting more than one monster at a time, sometimes up to maybe 6 or more at once, and you have to use your abilities - some of which affect several monsters at once AOE damage or debuffs or repositioning - to survive. As well as items, of course.
 

Castanova

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Lord Rocket said:
In fact 'short' roguelikes are a lot better since you'll get a better range of content, as opposed to the start and (some) middle game stuff most people are only ever going to see in Nethack.

Just because you see the end of a game an order of magnitude less often than the beginning of a game doesn't mean there's something wrong. In fact, I'd prefer that because then the end-game content is extra enjoyable given how rare it is to experience.

Porting this game is going to be a bitch though given that it must be written in Objective-C and, I imagine, OpenGL ES.
 
Joined
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10 floor types beat what Fargoal currently has. Which is like 4 currently.

(Tomb, 2 Normal dungeon sets, the Sword Level)

I'm not sure why hating on the iPhone/iPod Touch is the new big thing though. For old school gaming styled titles that don't cost much its pretty awesome.

You just have to dig through a lot of action RPGs and Tower Defense titles to get to the good stuff.

Plus holds music and shit. Hell, I have a PDF reader and a couple tabletop RPGs and a die roller on mine.

The thing is handy as fuck.
 

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