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[happymonster]

Looks a bit confusing to me.. Have you tried it with something like a building to see if that works as well?

[Netsu]

I think it might be more readable if the transitions between layers were less steep, so you always have a few tiles of the same layer in succession instead of having ledge after ledge. But that is just up to level design, not the height map system itself, which seems solid to me.

[eigenbom]

This is coming along nicely hope feature creeeeep doesn't set in though.

[sublinimal]

Hah, I wouldn't worry about feature creep quite yet. It barely even has features at this stage. In fact, right now I wish I had more courage to just go with the flow and experiment with my crazy ideas, but I'm too much of a perfectionist for that.

The height map is just supposed to make the flat caves more interesting and treacherous. If it doesn't work well, I'm prepared to take it out.

[sublinimal]

Don't you worry about me losing interest, I'd love to work on Panacea/Pangaea more, but I'm currently leading a busy life. "Spare time" is beginning to sound like sci-fi to me.

But I'd at least like to get some crude demo out eventually.

[Pineapple]

*anticipates*

[happymonster]

*Ascitates*

[Ashkin]

*Asphyxiates*

[Dakota.s]

This looks like it's going to be a lot of fun, I absolutely love rogue-likes. and this game definitely has a lot of potential.

[RayJack]

I usually hate rogue-likes, but yours looks so rad. I'm looking forward to a playable demo!

[happymonster]

We are all still interested in this. 

[:^)]

YEAH WE ARE. WE'RE ACTUALLY CHATTING ABOUT THIS RIGHT NOW.

Encouragement and crap... blah blah blah..

emotes depicting sorrow/neediness. 

that should do it.

We'll probably see this thing boot up again.

[sublinimal]

Right, so I'm getting my responsibilities straight, and I figure I'll have just a bit more personal time from now on. Before I even noticed, I was already rewriting most of the source (for libtcod compatibility and support for my new vision). The world editor Pangaea is also becoming much more flexible, and my goal is to be able to handle practically all design work through it.

Since I haven't had much time to spend on technicalities, I've used my head instead to visualize a clear overview of the project. The biggest change is that I've finally decided to be bold and let my experimental ideas flow even at the risk of alienating some players. Here's some major themes that keep popping up:

• The trinity of nature, magic and science. A really vast theme, but that's basically the underlying main plot here. There are two huge factions, both of which find it beneficial to work in secret. The Hermes Guild holds powerful alchemists, typically found in high positions. They're the ones who've developed alchemy, and currently science is what rules the world of Panacea. Meanwhile the Sophians are a deeply religious, magic-believing people living in primitive conditions. Their religion revolves around Eden, an ancient place where alchemy wasn't invented, magic thrived, and creatures lived in peace. Their view is that science - particularly alchemy, which they think corrupts nature - is the root of all evil and they wish to eradicate it. There is a psychological "cold war" going on between the two groups; the godlike medicine Panacea, made of pure concentrated life force, is like the "nuke" that could resolve the tension...
  
  The story is only gradually revealed to the player. A lot of the game consists of exploring the (good and bad) effects of alchemy on the world, without necessarily knowing about the forces behind. You're not a hero looking for a world to save, you've only set out to adventure because of personal reasons. But as you go deeper down the rabbit hole, you might just turn out to be the catalyst that gets the cogs moving. As you could expect, Panacea itself remains only a myth until the player really knows what they're doing.
  
• Experimentation. So like I said, don't expect a traditional, DnD-based roguelike; NetHack and such have just about perfected that formula, and I'm bursting with all sorts of original ideas. Experimentation is also what alchemy's all about. A lot of the potions you'll craft (and get thrown with) will have just plain strange effects, such as detaching your soul from your body into the lifestream only to be pulled into someone else's body on a strong pain or pleasure impulse. Effects should be carefully designed, but their combinations are what make things unpredictable, kind of like sampling whatever's in your medical cabinet before heading for an adventure. You just have to adapt to the cards you're given, and that's what makes roguelikes so replayable.
  
• Sacred geometry. Or, how things have the tendency to be arranged in patterns, and how the most effective forms in nature are inherently beautiful. This is of course related to farming and cellular automata, but also pops up when subjects like nature, chemistry and architecture are brought up.
• Equivalent exchange. Symmetry, balance, yin and yang. Something must be lost so that something can be gained, and every action has a consequence somewhere.
• Psychedelia. Besides the weekly alcohol, I have no experience with drugs, but I'm fascinated by the culture/art/music/spirituality of psychedelic users and hoping to integrate some of that.
• Morphic resonance. I think some of you can guess what's gotten me obsessed with it. It ties in well to the general philosophy of the game, and it's how nature and humans live together in the world of Panacea. Plants physically maintain life, and in turn intelligent creatures subconsciously process plant chemistry. A rather pantheist look on the world.
• Language. The way I see it, everything is information. I've had an idea that alchemy could actually use a regex-like "grammar" in deciding the effects of potions. What I'm thinking of is a lot like a compromise between the procedural/gene-based and pre-designed recipe systems. Plants would add symbols that alter the "syntax", and the equipment used to manufacture potions would be like a "compiler" with its rules. This is great because it has the potential to be understandable but complex enough to be interesting, and it gets the most out of the text-based medium.

I'm glad there's interest in this, and I'll try not to disappoint you guys.

[JobLeonard]

Ambitious, sounds like you need some . Don't worry, I've spiked with drugs, just for you.

[Netsu]

Language. The way I see it, everything is information. I've had an idea that alchemy could actually use a regex-like "grammar" in deciding the effects of potions. What I'm thinking of is a lot like a compromise between the procedural/gene-based and pre-designed recipe systems. Plants would add symbols that alter the "syntax", and the equipment used to manufacture potions would be like a "compiler" with its rules. This is great because it has the potential to be understandable but complex enough to be interesting, and it gets the most out of the text-based medium.

I find myself more and more interested in this project

[stef1a]

This is really interesting and inspiring. Haven't clicked on this thread in a few months, but dang, it still looks fresh.

I want to make a roguelike again...

[TheBreadCat]

This will be utterly awesome! I've been following this thread silently since it started. And with these new plans it is going to be amazing.

[sublinimal]

Not too spectacular to look at, there's just a simple text scroll going on. I spend too much time on graphical effects that I won't be satisfied with anyway. I know I should just get the damn thing to work first before polishing it.

I guess I want to create a handful of memorable characters rather than plenty of townsPerson_001s with one-liners. Since towns won't be randomly generated, it just makes sense. It creates depth, gives the player more to do in towns, and motivates to protect the characters during the nightly monster raids.

With the risk of sounding more authoritative than I really am, video game conversations should always be interactive. Otherwise you should just go and read a book. Pangaea's flag system will come in handy here; your actions and dialogue choices can enable/block dialogue trees, so it's not possible to see every response on a single playthrough. I hope this helps capture the "new game every time" feel people expect from roguelikes.

[VirusN]

  This has become my favourite thing on the internet.

[sublinimal]

I feel like a dam had collapsed in my head and ideas are just rushing out. Hence, I've been working on the creative content recently. This project and my increased reading have sparked my interest in writing again, and I'm really excited with how the plot's coming together. It starts out as a deceptively traditional revenge tale, but things take a turn for the surreal right after the first cave.



Not sure how much I should spoil at this point, but contracts with gods get broken, immortals ruling celestial bodies become mortals so they could have NDEs, humanity turns out to be a planetary computer for a sentient organic network... you know, just your usual Sunday afternoon.