Tweet
Since we seem to be posting about our ideas for roguelikes lately, and since I'm in a bit of a coding slump now that the first push for finesse/prowess combat is out, here's the basis for a roguelike that I've kinda-sorta wanted to write for awhile. It's called Pyrl, because my project name was originally PyRL, a.k.a. "Python Roguelike". The setting is tentatively future fantasy (a.k.a. soft sci-fi) but does it really matter?
The main goal would be to mix modern 3D tactical RPG combat with roguelikes*. Thus there'd be a procedurally-generated grid-based map with each tile having both elevation and terrain in addition to the usual monster/items/traps/etc. Terrain manipulation and abuse should be vital to succeeding at combat; each class would have several abilities to alter terrain for defensive and offensive purposes, and terrain would also have significant impacts on combat calculations. For example, growing hedges to provide cover (reducing enemy hit chance), or setting a region on fire to damage incoming enemies, or even hopping into lava (for particularly advanced or suicidal characters!) to get a temporary fire attribute on your attacks.
The secondary goal is to encourage risk-taking. To give some context, some of my favorite moments in videogames have been when I've been wandering around in dangerous territory for a long time, I've made serious progress, but I'm also getting low on health and supplies. Somewhere on the path ahead lies a safe zone where I can recover and save my progress; otherwise, the only other option would be a fighting retreat all the way back where I came from**. That uncertainty, combined with the risk I'm having to make (of losing all the progress I made since I last saved) is what I want to replicate that feeling in Pyrl.
I have three main mechanisms for this: elimination of traditional recovery mechanisms, biasing risk/reward calculations based on how long you've been in the dungeon, and removing easy escapes from the dungeon. I'm sure Mikko's going to chime in now with how he's already done all this.
Anyway, in order:
* Recovery should happen only by two mechanisms: instant-use items that monsters drop, or one-shot fountains. That is, when you kill a monster, it drops "orbs", healing or mana or whatever, and when you walk over them you pick them up and use them, automatically. Likewise, if you encounter a fountain you can use it to heal, and then it's used up and never recovers.
* Risk/reward: the longer you stay in the dungeon, the better the stuff you find. So even when you're on your last legs, you should be wanting to stick it out just a bit longer in case you get lucky. Every time you leave the dungeon, you're reset to a baseline, though of course the baseline scales with how difficult of monsters you're facing. But if you've never been to town, then the level-20 monsters you're fighting might be dropping level-40 gear -- once you go to town and then come back, they're dropping level-20 gear instead.
* Removing easy escapes: basically, this means no Word of Recall or "give me a new level, please" escapes. If you can't handle a monster, then you have to either run away the hard way, or block it off so it can't reach you. Actually returning to town requires finding portals in the dungeon.
Given all that, I don't actually envision Pyrl as being predominantly a permadeath game. Of course, it could be played that way if you wanted to, but I feel like that would end up making the player too cautious to really get the good risks going. If you find a portal to the surface, whether or not you're going to risk ignoring it to continue the dungeon dive is going to be strongly influenced by if you're risking the last hour's worth of play, or the last ten hours' worth.
Anyway, that's about all I have in my brain at the moment. Don't expect Pyrl to ever see the light of day, but it's fun to think about.
Footnotes:
* Except that I find most tactical RPGs these days to be incredibly dry, focusing more on character building than on combat. The only ones I've really enjoyed have been the Disgaea series, where you have the ability to rapidly move units about the map, and, more importantly, to skip combat animations.
** Probably the best example of this I can think of is the Phazon Mines in Metroid Prime 1, though it happens with the better Castlevania games as well.
The main goal would be to mix modern 3D tactical RPG combat with roguelikes*. Thus there'd be a procedurally-generated grid-based map with each tile having both elevation and terrain in addition to the usual monster/items/traps/etc. Terrain manipulation and abuse should be vital to succeeding at combat; each class would have several abilities to alter terrain for defensive and offensive purposes, and terrain would also have significant impacts on combat calculations. For example, growing hedges to provide cover (reducing enemy hit chance), or setting a region on fire to damage incoming enemies, or even hopping into lava (for particularly advanced or suicidal characters!) to get a temporary fire attribute on your attacks.
The secondary goal is to encourage risk-taking. To give some context, some of my favorite moments in videogames have been when I've been wandering around in dangerous territory for a long time, I've made serious progress, but I'm also getting low on health and supplies. Somewhere on the path ahead lies a safe zone where I can recover and save my progress; otherwise, the only other option would be a fighting retreat all the way back where I came from**. That uncertainty, combined with the risk I'm having to make (of losing all the progress I made since I last saved) is what I want to replicate that feeling in Pyrl.
I have three main mechanisms for this: elimination of traditional recovery mechanisms, biasing risk/reward calculations based on how long you've been in the dungeon, and removing easy escapes from the dungeon. I'm sure Mikko's going to chime in now with how he's already done all this.
Anyway, in order:* Recovery should happen only by two mechanisms: instant-use items that monsters drop, or one-shot fountains. That is, when you kill a monster, it drops "orbs", healing or mana or whatever, and when you walk over them you pick them up and use them, automatically. Likewise, if you encounter a fountain you can use it to heal, and then it's used up and never recovers.
* Risk/reward: the longer you stay in the dungeon, the better the stuff you find. So even when you're on your last legs, you should be wanting to stick it out just a bit longer in case you get lucky. Every time you leave the dungeon, you're reset to a baseline, though of course the baseline scales with how difficult of monsters you're facing. But if you've never been to town, then the level-20 monsters you're fighting might be dropping level-40 gear -- once you go to town and then come back, they're dropping level-20 gear instead.
* Removing easy escapes: basically, this means no Word of Recall or "give me a new level, please" escapes. If you can't handle a monster, then you have to either run away the hard way, or block it off so it can't reach you. Actually returning to town requires finding portals in the dungeon.
Given all that, I don't actually envision Pyrl as being predominantly a permadeath game. Of course, it could be played that way if you wanted to, but I feel like that would end up making the player too cautious to really get the good risks going. If you find a portal to the surface, whether or not you're going to risk ignoring it to continue the dungeon dive is going to be strongly influenced by if you're risking the last hour's worth of play, or the last ten hours' worth.
Anyway, that's about all I have in my brain at the moment. Don't expect Pyrl to ever see the light of day, but it's fun to think about.
Footnotes:
* Except that I find most tactical RPGs these days to be incredibly dry, focusing more on character building than on combat. The only ones I've really enjoyed have been the Disgaea series, where you have the ability to rapidly move units about the map, and, more importantly, to skip combat animations.
** Probably the best example of this I can think of is the Phazon Mines in Metroid Prime 1, though it happens with the better Castlevania games as well.
Comment