Frozen Depths 1.01 released
Glowie
I've finished the third public version of Frozen Depths. Enjoy!
The list of changes (VersionInfo.txt):
*Many tiny changes and fixes that are not worth mentioning
*Again changed some texts and tried to make them a bit clearer
*The changed keybindings work with the wand zap directions now
*You can see the experience % of your progress to the next level now
*Improved the @ screen's armor/weapon/cloth value calculations
*Fixed the fighting styles. They didn't... uhm... work
*You can't bind one symbol to many commands anymore and the game will
tell you that
*Changed the item randomizer slightly, you can see higher level items
earlier now
*Tried to balance some small rolls in the dungeon generator
*You can't create a charater with a saved character's name anymore
*The savefiles are a bit smaller now
*The player starts with 50 gold pieces from now on
*Increased and balanced the starting stats of the races
*Slightly adjusted the special skills
*The inventory's sorting algorithm handles potions, wands and
accessories a bit better
*Something fun happens when you kill a boss
*The starting skill has a maximum bonus and it doesn't drain all your
SP now
*Added some more info to the mortems again
*In the equip screen, you can see a * next to the None if you have
something to equip
*Changed the layout of the first boss level
*The game should be a bit easier and more balanced now
*Added some shiny ASCII effects
*Temporarily boosted stats are now shown as purple
*Added some new random special levels
*Added a new edible item, which is quite random at times, you have been
warned
*Balanced the bosses a bit more. They've undergone some dramatic
changes
*Changed some monsters to improve the atmosphere
*Added some new unidentified items
*There are now two types of weapons: crude and normal ones. You'll find
crude ones
earlier, but they're worse than the normal weapons. This balances the
game a bit
*The game uses 80x25 console size again. Windows users should use the
shortcut if they
have the bad colors! The game doesn't force you, but it doesn't mean
you shouldn't!
As you can see, I didn't add much new content. If you didn't like the
version 1.00 (and the reason wasn't balance, bug or polishment issues),
I guess you won't like this one either. But if you liked it or you
missed it:
Feel free to comment and/or send feedback.
pol
I have a bunch of linen mittens
bamc...@yahoo.com
> Hello fellow roguelikers!
>
> I've finished the third public version of Frozen Depths.
<snip>
Plays right after download on my Windows machine (that my brother just
built). I've tried several roguelikes recently, especially a lot from
this year's 7DRL comp, and too many require some separate download
(though it's 2006, I use dial-up) or just don't work. Your game is
snappy and good-looking and pretty complete right after extraction.
I like the skills system very much. The equipment interface works
without too much brain power or effort, too.
My only complaint - it isn't much - is the addition of several stock
roguelike tropes that could have been eliminated or changed with
something else particular to your game, including b/c/u status and
praying. You already have durability ratings for items, which are cool,
so why give them b/c/u statuses?
Your ice cave is suitably claustraphobic for its theme. How are you
making use of your dungeons' shapes and sizes?
If I remember correctly, the monsters have capitalized names. This kind
of breaks up the readability of your sentences.
More interesting writing during battles, etc., such as that seen in
Papaki, would enhance the flavor of your game. You already have some
flavor, even if it is also informative, as when the player learns that
many stalactites are hanging from the ceiling (this helps players with
a certain skill, right?). Populating the cave with a few benign details
(useless features or room descriptions) might keep the game from
seeming YARG at first blush. What I'm trying to get at is that I
sometimes start a new roguelike and it can seem sterile and modular and
sealed, and although I may be exploring a stage from left to right,
meeting new enemies, searching new rooms and grabbing new stuff, none
of it feels very new. I don't feel rewarded by each new piece of linen
clothing I get; when I encounter a new enemy, it takes my HP and I take
its HP, just like the other enemies; and the left side of the cave
looks and feels like the right side of the cave, with few special
features (special rooms or looping passages) and no interesting
groupings of enemies to run from or stand down. Maybe it gets more
interesting deeper in the cave, but, if that's the case, you should
maybe cut out the simpler introductory levels.
Regards,
Bryce
bamc...@yahoo.com
> can you drop stuff?
>
> I have a bunch of linen mittens
Yeah, you can drop stuff. Read the inventory screen for actions you can
perform while there.
pol
"pol" <p...@pol.net> wrote in message
news:scudna_aPtpEHkjZ...@comcast.com...
> can you drop stuff?
>
> I have a bunch of linen mittens
>
never mind... I found it one second after I posted this
Glowie
> Plays right after download on my Windows machine (that my brother just
> built). I've tried several roguelikes recently, especially a lot from
> this year's 7DRL comp, and too many require some separate download
> (though it's 2006, I use dial-up) or just don't work. Your game is
> snappy and good-looking and pretty complete right after extraction.
>
> I like the skills system very much. The equipment interface works
> without too much brain power or effort, too.
Thanks.
> My only complaint - it isn't much - is the addition of several stock
> roguelike tropes that could have been eliminated or changed with
> something else particular to your game, including b/c/u status and
> praying. You already have durability ratings for items, which are cool,
> so why give them b/c/u statuses?
When I started "designing" this, I didn't even think about it. "Almost
all roguelikes have b/c/u statuses and altars, so I'll implement them
too!". I don't think it was a mistake. Both of them add something to
the game, for example it's very hard to win the game without praying
and the b/c/u statuses add these small "ah damn, again a cursed item!"
or "yay, third blessed item in a row!". Have those two features done
anything harmful? Nope, at least if you ask me. My creativity is
limited so I wasn't able to make up anything cool and unique for this
game that replaces those two, I'm afraid. I hope this answer satisfies
you at least partly.
> Your ice cave is suitably claustraphobic for its theme. How are you
> making use of your dungeons' shapes and sizes?
I hope I understood this correctly, you're not asking how I create
them, but how I use them? (I'm not a native speaker). I guess I'm not
actively doing anything with the shapes and sizes. If the player finds
himself cornered in a dead end with a monster, it's his problem. The
relatively small rooms are meant to balance the game a bit. The player
doesn't want to fight with many monsters at a time when he's a bit
deeper in the dungeon. (And if you did mean 'how did you create the
dungeons', I just wrote a dungeon generator from scratch and improved
it later.)
> If I remember correctly, the monsters have capitalized names. This kind
> of breaks up the readability of your sentences.
Hmm. At first I thought that if the sentence's first word wasn't
capitalized (the sentence would begin with a item or monster name) it
would look stupid. But now that I look back, I didn't create that kind
of messages. I'll change that!
> More interesting writing during battles, etc., such as that seen in
> Papaki, would enhance the flavor of your game.
Not a bad idea, yeah, but after a few tries you don't (usually) read
the "You hit the monster" texts. At least I don't, and that's why I
didn't add too interesting writing during combat. Plus my English isn't
good enough to create beautiful flavor texts.
> You already have some
> flavor, even if it is also informative, as when the player learns that
> many stalactites are hanging from the ceiling (this helps players with
> a certain skill, right?).
It's a (random) special level and it partly helps with one of the
skills when used in that level, but there is more to it. Some random
chances, like a stalactite falling on you, are a bit higher.
> Populating the cave with a few benign details
> (useless features or room descriptions) might keep the game from
> seeming YARG at first blush.
In fact I thought of that. I really like ADOM's flavor texts, but when
I started thinking something for my rooms, everything seemed useless.
And when something feels useless, it's usually as good as nothing. Now
you've given me one good reason to add those, the first impression. But
I'm not sure... For those who have played it a bit longer it might be
annoying to find those (useless) special rooms over and over again.
I'll think about it.
> What I'm trying to get at is that I
> sometimes start a new roguelike and it can seem sterile and modular and
> sealed, and although I may be exploring a stage from left to right,
> meeting new enemies, searching new rooms and grabbing new stuff, none
> of it feels very new.
Not many things are really new and original in the 21st century. It's a
shame, really.
> I don't feel rewarded by each new piece of linen
> clothing I get; when I encounter a new enemy, it takes my HP and I take
> its HP, just like the other enemies; and the left side of the cave
> looks and feels like the right side of the cave, with few special
> features (special rooms or looping passages) and no interesting
> groupings of enemies to run from or stand down. Maybe it gets more
> interesting deeper in the cave, but, if that's the case, you should
> maybe cut out the simpler introductory levels.
Well those are some things to work on for your dream roguelike. ;)
There is a reason for the introductory levels, a game can't start
without a beginning. The (sometimes boring) beginning is a necessary
part of the game. The balance would probably suffer if you started with
a full leather gear, or if you started a bit deeper, because it would
be a beginning too. Just a bit harder. Unfortunately you can't have the
complexity of the deeper levels without suffering from the first boring
levels, that kinda "initialize" the complexity. (The game isn't very
complex, but at least a bit more of that when you're deeper.)
I'd like to point out one thing. I'm not trying to create a new major
roguelike or a perfect roguelike. It's too much for me and I know it.
I'm trying to keep things simple and working. At first this project's
only reason was to wrap up my C++ skills. Besides, I have other
non-roguelike projects in my mind too. Unfortunately I can't add all
the beautiful ideas, it gets too complex for this project. By the way,
I like the grouping monsters idea, but the balance of the game isn't
meant to be the player versus 100 monsters at a time. :)
I hope my post didn't feel offensive, I'm not trying to be like "your
ideas suck, I'm the best". I'm just trying to answer your comments.
Anyway, thanks for the comments! I appreciate it, even if my post
doesn't feel like that. :)
> Regards,
> Bryce
bamc...@yahoo.com
> Anyway, thanks for the comments! I appreciate it, even if my post
> doesn't feel like that. :)
I wasn't offended at all.
When I open a program and I see the array of ASCII I say to myself,
"Oh, it _is_ a roguelike after all," but I must play for a while to see
what distiguishes it from other roguelikes, to justify my time with
_that_ game and not trying to figure out a puzzle from a recent IF comp
winner. Sometimes a game succeeds on fidelity alone; that is, it works
and plays well, challenges, and progresses steadily without any serious
bugs - vanilla though it may be.
I've had good luck with some of the 7DRLs of the last two years. You
Only Live Once was a great example of a modest but compelling game that
draws a player in right away. Even a minimalistic game like The
Rougelike! offers a lot of wtf abstract weirdness that, I think, helps
encourage the player to improve his score.
Regarding the example in my previous post, Papaki's drawback is almost
the opposite of yours. I spent ten minutes climbing a tree - I had
never climbed a tree in a roguelike before! - that seemed endlessly
high. I was supposed to be killing monkeys (why?) and instead all
around me were angels, whom I quickly learned were much more powerful
than my character. The game hasn't enough focus or guidance or
boundaries - it's all Alphaman- or Omega- style zaniness.
I can see how some of my suggestions might be difficult to balance for
play. I often don't distinguish between a player like myself, who
focuses on detail and uniqueness of vision and approaches a game with
almost the same rigor he would a poem - and a player like my brother,
who can play a MUD ten times faster than he can read because he's
practically rubbing against the code, because he knows the game
mechanics intimately and doesn't need to think about them. (I play
NetHack this way, sometimes).
I look forward to your future projects (if they be games, which they
might not be).
Respectfully,
Bryce
Denis
Glowie wrote:
> Hello fellow roguelikers!
>
> I've finished the third public version of Frozen Depths. Enjoy!
> The list of changes (VersionInfo.txt):
>
I've tried the previous version and liked it quite a lot, good idea
with the frozen theme and warm clothes. This new update looks like it
adds more good things, I'll check it out.
Kornel Kisielewicz
> Glowie wrote:
>
>> Anyway, thanks for the comments! I appreciate it, even if my post
>> doesn't feel like that. :)
>
> I wasn't offended at all.
>
> When I open a program and I see the array of ASCII I say to myself,
> "Oh, it _is_ a roguelike after all," but I must play for a while to see
> what distiguishes it from other roguelikes, to justify my time with
> _that_ game and not trying to figure out a puzzle from a recent IF comp
> winner. Sometimes a game succeeds on fidelity alone; that is, it works
> and plays well, challenges, and progresses steadily without any serious
> bugs - vanilla though it may be.
That makes me wonder, how DoomRL looks like in your opinion.
--
At your service,
Kornel Kisielewicz (adminATchaosforge.org) [http://chaosforge.org]
"Invalid thought detected. Close all mental processes and
restart body."
bamc...@yahoo.com
> That makes me wonder, how DoomRL looks like in your opinion.
I think DoomRL is a monster success.
I don't mean to be rude, I just trip over my words sometimes. Too
garrulous, even on a page.