Elveses!

[Egavactip]

Ah, I know Christmas is nigh. Perhaps I will see Father Christmas before this game is over (though he'd better come quick).

[fruviad]

Ah, I know Christmas is nigh. Perhaps I will see Father Christmas before this game is over (though he'd better come quick).

Yep...saw them a few hours ago and my immediate thought was "Why are there elven mages in town?"

[Grotug]

For some reason I thought it was Farmer Maggot dressed up for the holidays.

[AnonymousHero]

I'm not sure why, but this kind of date-based thing always felt "off" to me. It really feels too much like the gamification done by e.g. WoW where certain artifacts (or whatever) can only drop (or happen) on certain dates, thus "forcing" the obsessive players to play again and again (every single day) just to avoid "missing something". I should say that I'm mildly OCD, but it also feels incredibly unfair to players who don't play "all the time".

Obviously, I realize that as far as these things go, this particular instance is pretty benign[1], but it still makes me feel somewhat uneasy. Am I mad?

[1] I do note that it's pretty West-centric, but I don't think it's egregiously so. I have no idea how popular roguelikes are in non-Western countries, but I do think they're at least popular enough to have a few developers in Japan (Heng, Xangband, Shiren?).

[Patashu]

I'm not sure why, but this kind of date-based thing always felt "off" to me. It really feels too much like the gamification done by e.g. WoW where certain artifacts (or whatever) can only drop (or happen) on certain dates, thus "forcing" the obsessive players to play again and again (every single day) just to avoid "missing something". I should say that I'm mildly OCD, but it also feels incredibly unfair to players who don't play "all the time".

To me, the difference is that in a roguelike, you want to get a win playing by the game's rules (so no savescumming, cheating, etc). If playing at Christmas gets an advantage, it only gives you an advantage for THAT run, and if you win on it, you'll know that you had an unusual advantage and keep it in mind when talking about it/considering it later.

The only two roguelikes I know of where playing around Christmas gives you a tangible advantage are Sil and Dungeonmans, though.

(Also, if you're really THAT OCD, no one is stopping you from changing your system clock to Christmas to access Christmas content in single player games!)

[Derakon]

NetHack determines your character's base luck by the phase of the moon and date at which the game starts -- starting on Friday the 13th is detrimental, for example. And undead are more powerful when playing at night. That's the earliest example I can think of of the calendar having an impact on your game. The TAS of the game (still incomplete; these are the planning notes) therefore starts shortly after midnight on a Friday the 13th during the new moon, to make the game maximally difficult.

[Nick]

I'm not sure why, but this kind of date-based thing always felt "off" to me. It really feels too much like the gamification done by e.g. WoW where certain artifacts (or whatever) can only drop (or happen) on certain dates, thus "forcing" the obsessive players to play again and again (every single day) just to avoid "missing something". I should say that I'm mildly OCD, but it also feels incredibly unfair to players who don't play "all the time".

Obviously, I realize that as far as these things go, this particular instance is pretty benign[1], but it still makes me feel somewhat uneasy. Am I mad?

I take your point, but I think there is a balance to be struck here between your concerns and the enjoyment a bunch of people get from this fairly irrelevant Easter egg (as it were). Does it help if I say there won't be any more of these?

[Grotug]

With all due respect to AH, I think this easter egg is far too benign to be complaining about. I think Derakon's post about Nethack helps to put that into perspective.

[debo]

Doom was released on Dec 10, 1993. I think that, every Dec 10, townspeople should be replaced with shotgun zombies. Also, Farmer Maggot should be substituted with a Cyberdemon. The town already has lava, it would be perfect.

[takkaria]

Doom was released on Dec 10, 1993. I think that, every Dec 10, townspeople should be replaced with shotgun zombies. Also, Farmer Maggot should be substituted with a Cyberdemon. The town already has lava, it would be perfect.

I wish I'd asked you for Easter egg ideas before I stopped being maintainer.

[Nick]

Doom was released on Dec 10, 1993. I think that, every Dec 10, townspeople should be replaced with shotgun zombies. Also, Farmer Maggot should be substituted with a Cyberdemon. The town already has lava, it would be perfect.

That is so out of theme. Much better to have a zombie JRRT appear on Jan 3.

[Grotug]

Doom was released on Dec 10, 1993. I think that, every Dec 10, townspeople should be replaced with shotgun zombies. Also, Farmer Maggot should be substituted with a Cyberdemon. The town already has lava, it would be perfect.

omg I woulda loved this! If I was maintainer, I'm pretty sure I'd be lynched within a week.

[debo]

I wish I'd asked you for Easter egg ideas before I stopped being maintainer.

Maybe I'll add this one to rocketband.

[Derakon]

Maybe I'll add this one to rocketband.

Dammit, that's what I was going to say.

[luneya]

As long as there's no actual game advantage, there's no reason not to include this sort of easter egg. Perhaps make it so that the elves and Father Christmas are direct replacements for ordinary townsfolk and Father Maggot (weakening the elves to be no more dangerous or valuable to kill than townsfolk), so that the total number of uniques available is no higher during Christmas games. And then feel free to add other seasonal specials on the same equitable basis.