Malastro v1.0 Released

[RogerN]

Greetings 'banders,

After a bit of a hiatus from these forums I'm back with a new release! I present to you Malastro, which admittedly doesn't bear much resemblance to Angband anymore, but believe it or not there's some Angband-derived code in there somewhere.

Welcome to Malastro, where your goal is to survive ten levels of monster-filled, post-apocalyptic anarchy in your search for rescue. On each level you must find your way to the next safe house and then close the door (without any monsters in side).

Malastro Screenshot

Feedback is much appreciated! Balancing is difficult as just one player - without a lot of data it's hard to differentiate poor balance from statistical anomalies. But the balance is good enough now, IMO, for some other players to take a stab at it. As the description implies, this game is a departure from my previous one (Cryptband) in that it's not a fantasy setting. Some of the traits may seem familiar, though, and I went back to a system of awarding XP for monster kills. Make no mistake, this is a game about killin' the monsters

Finally, I haven't made the source code available yet mostly because I'm very self-conscious about the state of my code (i.e. it's never as good as I'd like it to be) and because I ran out of web space over at Verizon But if you're interested in the source just let me know - I'm happy to provide it.

EDIT: Download link updated for v1.1
Windows - Download Malastro v1.1 - Requires Microsoft .Net Framework v4.0

[buzzkill]

Ohhh, terrain graphics. I like it.

[Nick]

Very cool. My first game was fairly quick, as it took me a while to realise I had a pistol...

[Mikko Lehtinen]

The screenshot very much reminds me of one of my favorite games of all time, the Amiga classic Lords of Chaos.

[debo]

This looks so fun! Sadly, it's going to take me a while to play it -- Windows

[fizzix]

Let me know if you want me to craft a news item for Malastro.

[getter77]

Congrats on getting yet another spiffy looking variant out there!

Where do you see the roadmap and dev pacing for it going from here beyond any grievous balancing woes?

[RogerN]

Malastro After Action Report

I thought I would share a first-hand report of how I play the game. After a few untimely deaths I finally had a run worth reporting. Warning: this one doesn't end well

Character Creation

Not much to say here... I went with Execution as my first trait just as a matter of preference. I hope to do a lot of shooting this game. On to the story...

Day One

The first town proved to be quite lucky. Near my starting house I found *two* alarmed buildings (note: alarmed buildings are similar to vaults; semi-rare rooms which are guaranteed to contain several weapons, though not necessarily good ones). Given that I was fairly naked yet I decided to scout out the surrounding area before doing anything about the vaults. Fortunately I found exactly what I needed in nearby houses: two fuel cans and an improvised explosive.

At this point I decided to do something somewhat risky that I hadn't attempted before, and certainly not on day one: crack both of the vaults simultaneously. What could possibly go wrong?

The alarms were certain to draw plenty of attention once the vaults were opened (or the windows shot out) so I laid a trap. I poured a fuel can near the primary vault, and then used my second can to pour another fuel spill along my planned escape route (there will probably be too many monsters to kill with just one fire). I then armed my improved explosive at the site of the first fuel spill. Explosive timer set to 30 seconds: plenty of time to duck out of view before it detonates. The explosion will simultaneously ignite the fuel spill and draw nearby infected into the fire.

I backed up a few paces and then cracked the vaults open with a couple quick shots to the windows.

The timer is still ticking as I retreat down my planned escape route when - crap - I'm attacked by a pack of rot hounds that caught my scent earlier. If I can't finish killing the hounds before the trap is sprung then the infected will see me and ignore the explosion entirely. Bad timing.

Fortunately I survived the fight (barely), and - even better - I was able to duck inside a vacant house just before the explosives went off. I used my only first aid kit as I waited for the screams of my enemies to subside. The second fuel spill outside my hiding spot ended up being a life-saver; there were still about a dozen infected that didn't burn up in the first trap. They came straight for me when I stepped out to investigate.

The vaults contained pretty good loot for a day one encounter: some more fuel cans, lots of 9mm ammo, and an OOD light body armor! But the best find of the day came shortly after. At the outskirts of town I stumbled upon a fenced camp site with a machine pistol.

I ended up at character level 3 during all of the above action. For my next traits I chose Resourceful (to hold more ammo) and Long Pb (for even more ammo).

At this point I'm feeling pretty confident, which is frequently a bad omen in any roguelike. Sure enough I was walking around carelessly and ended up taking several unnecessary hits from a rot hound. That blunder brought me down to 12% HP.

Needless to say, I had a nervous time trekking across the wilderness to the next town. With all the random infected wandering around I was very hesitant to fire a weapon; frogs started chasing me at one point, and I dodged between tight clumps of trees until they lost sight of me.

I located the safe house shortly afterwards. With 12% HP, though, I didn't want to exit the level just yet. I explored the area a bit and found a small cavern with a luminescent pool that was visible from the mouth of the cave. Healed to 100% heath, returned to safe house, closed the door.

Day Two

A very nice start to the day: shotgun on the floor of the starting house along with a first aid kit for emergencies.

I stepped outside and saw a couple of half-infected. These guys carry pistol ammo, which is much needed for my machine pistol, so I dispatched them with a couple bursts from the machine pistol. Crap... infected started coming out of the woodwork to investigate the noise. Lots of infected, including a few more with pistols.

With a fuel can and plenty of gunfire I cleaned up the monsters; earned another level, and chose the bait and switch trait so that I could switch quickly between the shotgun and machine pistol. Unfortunately I also took a few too many hits from half-infected, so I used the recently-acquired first aid kit to heal.

After that I found the safe house without much trouble. I didn't bother to explore much more because I was already sitting on an inventory full of ammo, and I didn't expect to find better weapons on day two.

Day Three

I started out in a sewer this time. Sewers are more difficult when you're trying to use stealth, but since I'm armed to the teeth (for day three anyway) I didn't anticipate any difficulties. Sure enough, the level went quickly without incident. A few more gun-toting half-infected ensured that my ammo stockpile stayed intact. I was eager to close the safe house door with a full pack of supplies.

Day Four

Stepping outside the door, I could already see that the starting area was heavily populated by infected. Time for another trap... just outside my starting house I poured some fuel. I set an alarm clock with the timer for 30 seconds to draw in monsters, and then I armed an explosive for 45 seconds to ignite the spill and blow up the first arrivals.

This time the trap was a complete success; no survivors to clean up.

I was looting nearby houses when I found a rocket launcher! Rocket launchers have several uses: obviously you can blow stuff up with them, which is nice, but they can also ignite fuel spills and create loud noises from a distance. So I definitely wanted it... but with no extra rockets would it still be worth an inventory slot? The launcher was OOD on day four, so I wasn't likely to find more rockets for a while.

I dumped a stack of pistol ammo and took the launcher.

At this point I got careless again. "That's right, who's the badass with the rocket launcher? I'm invinci - oh crap." I walked too quickly into a dark room and got surrounded by a couple ghouls. The door was three steps away, so I couldn't run away without a fight... I had no choice but to tank the damage while I killed them off.

I was at 32% hp at this point and had no first aid kit. Got a level up, chose survival instinct to hopefully find a first aid kit in a nearby house. Major mistake... no such luck; the nearby buildings were picked clean of consumables.
A little more exploring revealed another vault. Vault crackin' time again! I set my usual vault-cracking trap with an explosive and a fuel spill. I backed off several paces before shooting out a window (triggering the alarm), then proceeded to make my escape. It was at this point that things started to go badly, as I was sighted by some half-infected before I could duck out of sight.

I didn't want to shoot them for fear that the gunshots would draw the just-summoned horde of infected away from the trap. Instead I ducked inside my original intended hiding spot, knowing that the couple half-infected would be beating down the door soon.

The door burst open and I engaged with melee; the fight brought me down to 10% hp. There were a few tense moments as I waited to see if more infected were coming to investigate. Finally the trap detonated, and I felt a bit safer as the explosion ought to draw any remaining monsters away from my current position.

Eventually I poked my head out to clean up the stragglers. Oops, a half-infected immediately took a pot shot at me (which missed or it could have killed me). The near-death experience made me nervous enough that I used my one-shot rocket launcher to kill all of the visible monsters. Major mistake #2. Thinking I got them all, I headed toward the vault.

I got ambushed by three more half-infected near the vault that had apparently come to investigate the rocket explosion. RIP.

Alas, that survival instinct trait ended up being completely useless. Had I gone with run and gun (my first instinct) I probably would have survived that final encounter, as it would have allowed me to side-step the half-infected shots while shooting back at them.

Character dump is below:

--- Summary ------------------------------------------------------------------

On July 29th, 2017 RogerN emerged from his shelter to search for rescue.
Three days later the level 5 survivor was killed by a Half-infected.

--- Achievements -------------------------------------------------------------

Mighty Blow

--- Game Stats ---------------------------------------------------------------

     4,698 player turns
     1,682 points scored
       150 damage received
     1,842 damage inflicted
       207 kills (46%)

--- Kills --------------------------------------------------------------------

         2 Armored infected
         8 Bloated infected
        19 Blood fly
         3 Bog rat
         4 Ghoul
         7 Giant spider
        25 Half-infected
        92 Infected
        33 Rot hound
         5 Screamer
         9 Spitting frog

--- Traits -------------------------------------------------------------------

Execution -> Resourceful -> Long Pb -> Bait and switch -> Survival instinct

--- Events -------------------------------------------------------------------

On day one he set off an alarm!
On day one he set off an alarm!
Massacre in Madison!  26 monsters were killed in quick succession by acid,
fire, and other monsters.
On day one he found a machine pistol (1d6x5) [9/20]!
On day two he found a shotgun (8d3) [1/1]!
Massacre in Elberton!  15 monsters were killed in quick succession by a
machine pistol, a pistol, a shotgun, and fire.
Massacre in Birmingham Sewer!  16 monsters were killed in quick succession by
a machine pistol and acid.
On day three he found a combat knife (1d6)!
On day four he found a rocket launcher (6d6) [1/1]!
On day four he set off an alarm!
On day four he was finally killed by a Half-infected.

--- Equipment ----------------------------------------------------------------

[a] Weapon    : machine pistol (1d6x5) [20/20] (SL)
[b] Armor     : light body armor [2] (71%)
[c] Tool      : beater light <466>

--- Inventory ----------------------------------------------------------------

[a] combat knife (1d6)
[b] rocket launcher (6d6) [0/1]
[c] shotgun (8d3) [1/1]
[d] 9mm bullets <x50>
[e] 9mm bullets <x50>
[f] 9mm bullets <x9>
[g] shotgun shells <x16>
[h] lighter
[i] (empty)
[j] (empty)
[k] (empty)
[l] (empty)

--- Messages -----------------------------------------------------------------

The Half-infected shoots. <x2>
The Half-infected shrieks in pain.
BANG!
The bullet strikes the Half-infected.
You have killed the Half-infected.
BANG!
The bullet hits the Half-infected.
The Half-infected squeals in pain.
BANG!
The bullet strikes the Half-infected.
The Half-infected shrieks in agony.
BANG!
The bullet hits the Half-infected.
You have killed the Half-infected.
BANG!
The bullet hits the Infected.
The Infected squeals in pain.
BANG!
The bullet hits the Infected.
The Infected cries out feebly.
BANG!
The bullet strikes the Infected.
You have killed the Infected.
BANG! <x2>
The bullet hits the Half-infected.
The Half-infected shrieks in pain.
The Half-infected flees in terror!
BANG!
The bullet hits the Half-infected.
You have killed the Half-infected.
BANG! <x2>
The bullet hits the Half-infected.
The Half-infected grunts with pain.
BANG!
The bullet hits the Half-infected.
The Half-infected shrieks in pain.
BANG!
The bullet strikes the Half-infected.
You have killed the Half-infected.
BANG!
You reload your machine pistol (1d6x5) [20/20] (SL).
The Infected hits you.
*** LOW HITPOINT WARNING! ***
The Half-infected hits you.
*** LOW HITPOINT WARNING! ***
The Half-infected shoots.
You die.

[RogerN]

Version 1.1 has been released! Download link updated in the first post. This version includes a few bug fixes and several new features. Saved games from the previous version ought to be compatible.

Major changes:
* Added two "special" levels (i.e. static content)
* Added several rare weapons
* Added large propane tanks (new terrain) which explode when shot
* Added prerequisites for three of the more powerful traits (Run and gun, Bait and switch, Kill 1 get 1 free)
* Added tin foil hat trait and associated achievement

See changes.txt for the full list of changes.

[debo]

I want to play this so badly :/

[RogerN]

A play-through of the game (incomplete at this point) has been posted at YouTube: Malastro play-through playlist

Be sure to watch in 720p. Roguelikes are bad enough with lossy video compression without having to also deal with blurry text

Four parts so far; the reminder will have to wait until after Thanksgiving. Enjoy!

[debo]

OT: You an SC2 fan as well? I don't ever play the game, but I love watching the tournaments

[debo]

I'm surprised more people haven't commented on this. This game looks really fucking epic. It's like Sil and Fallout had a baby.

I don't have a spare windows machine kicking around right now, but I'm actually thinking of spinning up an XP VM just so I can play this lol

How long did this take you to create?

[getter77]

Fantastic set of videos---definitely looking forward to the next round of them after the holidays and would also LOVE to see some for your last big project in these parts Cryptband.

This is just shaping up so well....lots of common ground it looks like in terms of notions that you share with the X@COM RL project and that can only be a good thing indeed.

[RogerN]

OT: You an SC2 fan as well? I don't ever play the game, but I love watching the tournaments

Same here... I haven't played in months but I still enjoy watching tournaments. I'll probably pick up Heart of the Swarm when it comes out, though.

I look forward to completing the video series but the machine I've got for the next week isn't powerful enough to do real-time video encoding