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[CogentInvalid]

The game is done! See my latest post for commentary on this startling development.

Download the game here:
Windows version: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20159697/AnotherRoguelike-win.zip
Mac version maybe forthcoming.

Original post below.

Here's a little game I've been working on for the past two months. It's a rogue-like-like with obvious influences:



Gameplay consists of fighting hordes of enemies through the three layers, three levels apiece, of the dungeon. Each layer adds new enemy types and new challenges. You collect items along the way to improve your odds of survival, and collect missiles that make pretty explosions. The goal is to escape each level before it is flooded, and, ultimately, to defeat the final boss responsible for flooding you out (warning: final boss not yet implemented). And, most importantly, to have fun! (warning: fun totally implemented)

The name "Another Roguelike" is tentative, though dependent on my ability to actually come up with a better name.









Have fun! Or not, I won't judge you.

[Layl]

In the demo, I notice that when an enemy isn't in range you can just attack it without it fighting back at all. Also there's barely any communication of what shop items are and what things like green small squares are.
The shooting mechanic are interesting and fun, though it kinda feels like without variety this would get samey very fast. Are you planning to change the graphics later or will you keep to this style?

[CogentInvalid]

Thanks for the feedback!

I might play around with having an enemy's visibility range increase when they're damaged, so that you can't just hang back and spam at them without consequences. With regards to shop items, I think not knowing what they do beforehand adds to the "spirit of discovery" (although that might be a bit of a cop-out). I do want to change the icons to make them a little cleaner and more indicative of their effects, though. And I'm not too worried about the green squares, because anyone who plays for a long time is bound to figure out that they replenish your health eventually.

As far as variety goes, my goal (as with any procedurally-generated game) will definitely be to maximize the amount of variety it contains. Part of that is through adding enemy types as you progress through the game, which can sometimes play off of one another in interesting ways. There are also special level variants that randomly occur throughout the game, modifying things like the level generation or physics to give more "flavor" to individual levels. In addition, I want to have a boss at the end of every third level, so you'll fight two different bosses, plus the final boss, every playthrough.

I'm not much (read: any) of an artist, so I don't plan on changing the graphics. I welcome any feedback with regards to the color scheme, though.

[CogentInvalid]

Been working on a few things these past couple days. First, these sort of Metroid-y doors for shops:



Flooding is now in the game, so if you wait around for too long you will meet an exceptionally moist death:



In addition, I've been adding a new class of items to the game. Unlike the regular items, which are just basic stat upgrades, these special items will have more drastic effects on gameplay, and won't be stackable. Here's one for your projectiles:



And here's one that augments your shockwave attack.



Once I get enough of these items in the game to be interesting (four are already implemented), I'll upload another build for you guys and start working on bosses.

[CogentInvalid]

Another Roguelike version 0.5 is now out! Major additions include seven brand-new special items, one new level variant, two new enemy types, and, the most important addition of them all, the basis of all Western civilization as we know it: doors. Besides that I've got a couple bug fixes and balance changes, and some minor tweaks to the item graphics. Now I'm finally going to get started on the fun part- bosses- while continuing to add stuff to the game across the board.

I've updated the link in the OP, but in case you're too lazy to scroll all the way back up, here it is:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20159697/AnotherRoguelike_0.5.0-win.zip

And finally, here's another GIF, because where would mankind be without GIFs? They're practically the basis of all Western civilization as we know it, second to doors.

[mirrorfish]

This looks very cool! Will checkout the build!

M.

[beeglebug]

The flooding confuses me slightly, the game is top down, but the water seems to be rising from the bottom of the map, which makes it look side on?

[ｍａｓｏｎ]

loving the juice. add moooooore more more.

[CogentInvalid]

The flooding confuses me slightly, the game is top down, but the water seems to be rising from the bottom of the map, which makes it look side on?

The water comes in from whatever side takes it the longest time to go from the player's starting position to the end. Think of it as an encroaching tide rather than filling up a glass.

[CogentInvalid]

Getting started on bosses:



EDIT: Also, I've finally gotten around to making the Mac version of the game. I've updated the OP with the link.

[CogentInvalid]

So the game always tries to spawn the boss room as an attachment to where the level exit would be. Sometimes, though, the exit is in the middle of the level, making it impossible to spawn an acceptable boss room. To that end, I've created TELEPORTERS! Besides leading to the boss room in certain cases, they'll also appear randomly throughout the levels, making traversing them a little more interesting.

[CogentInvalid]

Haven't posted here in a while, but I've made... uh... reasonable progress on the game. I finally bit the bullet and decided to use quadtree collisions instead of the stupid and slow method I was previously using. Then, after finding that quadtrees actually made everything slower, I unbit the bullet and changed everything back. Painful memories. Finally, though, I've gotten started on basic menu stuff. Funny how much more it makes the game seem like an actual game. I've even got a "pink" button and everything. This is the cutting edge of menu design, folks. Even some high-budget AAA games don't have a "pink" button.



I should be uploading the next playable build of the game sometime soon, after I've gotten this menu stuff into shape. One favorable consequence of this is that there will actually be a proper "you died" screen after you die, instead of just leaving you staring at empty rooms forever. This is, perhaps, the most you can ever hope for in a video game.

[CogentInvalid]

Version 0.7.0 of Another Roguelike is finally out! This version has bosses, teleporters, and (the most exciting feature of them all) menus.
Download here:
Windows: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20159697/AnotherRoguelike_0.7.0-win.zip
Mac: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20159697/AnotherRoguelike_0.7.0-mac.zip
Feedback is, as always, appreciated.

This game is coming pretty near to completion, for my definition of "completion". All I really have to do is add the final boss, and maybe one or two mid-bosses, before doing some final polish and calling this thing Released. It should probably be done sometime in May.
It's been fun making this game and sharing it with you all, even if "you all" may very well only be four people!

[CogentInvalid]

Well... it's not exactly May, but nonetheless Another Roguelike is done! Full disclosure: this game has basically been done for the past three months, but I never got around to actually releasing it until now.

Windows version: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/20159697/AnotherRoguelike-win.zip
Mac version maybe forthcoming.

This final update includes the final boss, and... I forget if there was anything else. I did have an epiphany sometime in August that having the "special" versions of early-game enemies just have twice as much health as normal ones was boring and pretty dumb design-wise, so now each special enemy has modifications to its behavior to make it more challenging to fight.

All in all, even though the game doesn't have a ton of content, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I'm proud of the content that is there, especially the final boss. Making this game was certainly good practice for whatever I end up making next.