Random Encounters Ep. 2: Roguelikes!
May 29th 2008 20:31
((My apologies for the huge delay in the post - I've been helping a relative move into their house, and it's been very taxing on my time. Fortunately, with the added delay, I've prepared a fairly good new article!))
Rogue? What Rogue?
Back in the 80s, people using an educational computer called PLATO tended to make a lot of games for it - as early game programmers are wont to do. One of the first games made was a little thing called Rogue. Simple enough, it traced, using a random-generating algorithm, a bunch of small rooms, hallways, and the monsters/items inside them. All of it was done in ASCII-compatible text rather than graphics, with symbols and letters representing each object (@ for the player, Z for Zombie, etc.) on the grid. Also, it had a fairly simple plot, to just reach the bottom of the dungeon, retrieve the mythical Amulet of Yendor, and get back out.
Rogue was simple and popular during the days of PLATO, and later, as Unix systems started to spread among the computer-savvy, Rogue migrated to Unix, and from there entered history. A few budding programmers took note, and began to imitate the original random dungeon design.
Hacking Nets with an Angband in Moria... OF MYSTERY
Since then, a new genre of RPGs had been born. Like Rogue, they were often very difficult, similar to Dungeons and Dragons in mechanics (though not ALWAYS), and based on randomly-generated dungeons. Of all the various roguelikes out there, our good friend Wikipedia tells us that Nethack, Angband, Moria, and Ancient Domains of Mystery are among the most popular of them. And the variety beyond those four can get incredible - there's even some contests to make "7 Day Roguelikes", which are games in the genre that are coded start to finish in only 7 days.
But. Between the four famous Roguelikes, I've played NetHack the most, and so will cover it to show the genre. Nethack is among the short side, but is still fairly massive at up to 81 large randomized floors, split across 4 major dungeon branches and a number of minor ones. The player is allowed to choose most DnD standard races (your elves and orcs and such), and an array of classes from the mundane (Wizard, Knight) to the strategically challenging (Healer, Archaeologist), and even the slightly bizarre (Caveman, Tourist). Classes can grant some innate powers, like the Knight's chess-like jump, or the Monk's amazing martial arts.
Gear is often important in RLs, and Nethack is no exception. Classes have different starting items (of real note is the better armor and weapons of the fighting classes, or the wall-destroying pickaxe of the archaeologist), and there's a wide array of other items you can get. Further, most everything is unknown until identified by trial and error or magic. This means that you only know a potion is a potion, and it COULD be a healing potion, but it COULD be highly toxic. Which leads to a very impressive feature of Roguelikes - experimentation. In Nethack alone, people can do everything from mixing potions together to create new ones, to shielding themselves from Medusa's powers by blinding themselves with a cream pie.
A typical aspect of the high difficulty of RLs, though, is the seeming sadism that comes with the very high difficulty. It's easy to die by being surrounded, or simple overstepping one's bounds a little too quickly - there's a phrase for this: YASD, or Yet Another Stupid Death. Of course, sometimes, it's just a natural aspect of the game that you might could avoid with caution, but is usually random and beyond your control - like a water demon slaying you when you drink from a fountain in Nethack, or the myriad brutal door traps in ADOM - these are YAAD, or Yet Another Annoying Death. Add to that having to track food/hunger, and you begin to see why few characters survive to level up past, depending on the game, level 5-10 or so. Of course, if you can make it far enough to get past that point, your chances improve if only from sheer skill!
Diablo's Mysterious Dungeon
The Roguelike genre has also acted as inspiration for a few commercial games that would copy the random-dungeon idea... though few of these are as freeform or as brutal as true RLs. At the same time? They're usually also done up with advanced graphics and have a whole corporation backing them.
One many of you probably know about is Diablo (and its sequel) - Diablo takes an isometric perspective, and makes a fairly advanced skill tree for its player characters. However, Diablo also eliminates many subtle details like experimentation, food supplies, and the like. Even so, Diablo is a good example of a decently-hard random-dungeon RPG, and is especially remarkable for shifting the genre into realtime, and retaining somewhat more advanced mechanics like slotting gems into weapons, or blending items with the Horadric Cube.
Another one mentioned that's been around a lot is the Mysterious Dungeon series for various game consoles. Mysterious Dungeon does track food but has even simpler item/dungeon-feature mechanics than Diablo, and at least in my own opinion, is easier than Diablo, too. But! Various MD games take pages from other popular console RPGs - there's been some based on Pokemon recently, a few based on Dragon Quest, and even some starring a cutesy Chocobo from Final Fantasy. This cribbing of other series' mechanics does, to some extent, work to keep the whole series fresh despite its simplicity.
The Thinking Masochist's Game
In conclusion, Roguelikes are very rewarding to those who are willing to commit to a very, very strategic, and somewhat harrowing game experience. The learning curve is high, very high, but at the same time, it ends up rewarding even small victories (As it's so hard to achieve them!).
Rogue? What Rogue?
Back in the 80s, people using an educational computer called PLATO tended to make a lot of games for it - as early game programmers are wont to do. One of the first games made was a little thing called Rogue. Simple enough, it traced, using a random-generating algorithm, a bunch of small rooms, hallways, and the monsters/items inside them. All of it was done in ASCII-compatible text rather than graphics, with symbols and letters representing each object (@ for the player, Z for Zombie, etc.) on the grid. Also, it had a fairly simple plot, to just reach the bottom of the dungeon, retrieve the mythical Amulet of Yendor, and get back out.
Rogue was simple and popular during the days of PLATO, and later, as Unix systems started to spread among the computer-savvy, Rogue migrated to Unix, and from there entered history. A few budding programmers took note, and began to imitate the original random dungeon design.
Hacking Nets with an Angband in Moria... OF MYSTERY
Since then, a new genre of RPGs had been born. Like Rogue, they were often very difficult, similar to Dungeons and Dragons in mechanics (though not ALWAYS), and based on randomly-generated dungeons. Of all the various roguelikes out there, our good friend Wikipedia tells us that Nethack, Angband, Moria, and Ancient Domains of Mystery are among the most popular of them. And the variety beyond those four can get incredible - there's even some contests to make "7 Day Roguelikes", which are games in the genre that are coded start to finish in only 7 days.
It's a Nethack!
But. Between the four famous Roguelikes, I've played NetHack the most, and so will cover it to show the genre. Nethack is among the short side, but is still fairly massive at up to 81 large randomized floors, split across 4 major dungeon branches and a number of minor ones. The player is allowed to choose most DnD standard races (your elves and orcs and such), and an array of classes from the mundane (Wizard, Knight) to the strategically challenging (Healer, Archaeologist), and even the slightly bizarre (Caveman, Tourist). Classes can grant some innate powers, like the Knight's chess-like jump, or the Monk's amazing martial arts.
Gear is often important in RLs, and Nethack is no exception. Classes have different starting items (of real note is the better armor and weapons of the fighting classes, or the wall-destroying pickaxe of the archaeologist), and there's a wide array of other items you can get. Further, most everything is unknown until identified by trial and error or magic. This means that you only know a potion is a potion, and it COULD be a healing potion, but it COULD be highly toxic. Which leads to a very impressive feature of Roguelikes - experimentation. In Nethack alone, people can do everything from mixing potions together to create new ones, to shielding themselves from Medusa's powers by blinding themselves with a cream pie.
A typical aspect of the high difficulty of RLs, though, is the seeming sadism that comes with the very high difficulty. It's easy to die by being surrounded, or simple overstepping one's bounds a little too quickly - there's a phrase for this: YASD, or Yet Another Stupid Death. Of course, sometimes, it's just a natural aspect of the game that you might could avoid with caution, but is usually random and beyond your control - like a water demon slaying you when you drink from a fountain in Nethack, or the myriad brutal door traps in ADOM - these are YAAD, or Yet Another Annoying Death. Add to that having to track food/hunger, and you begin to see why few characters survive to level up past, depending on the game, level 5-10 or so. Of course, if you can make it far enough to get past that point, your chances improve if only from sheer skill!
Diablo's Mysterious Dungeon
The Roguelike genre has also acted as inspiration for a few commercial games that would copy the random-dungeon idea... though few of these are as freeform or as brutal as true RLs. At the same time? They're usually also done up with advanced graphics and have a whole corporation backing them.
One many of you probably know about is Diablo (and its sequel) - Diablo takes an isometric perspective, and makes a fairly advanced skill tree for its player characters. However, Diablo also eliminates many subtle details like experimentation, food supplies, and the like. Even so, Diablo is a good example of a decently-hard random-dungeon RPG, and is especially remarkable for shifting the genre into realtime, and retaining somewhat more advanced mechanics like slotting gems into weapons, or blending items with the Horadric Cube.
Another one mentioned that's been around a lot is the Mysterious Dungeon series for various game consoles. Mysterious Dungeon does track food but has even simpler item/dungeon-feature mechanics than Diablo, and at least in my own opinion, is easier than Diablo, too. But! Various MD games take pages from other popular console RPGs - there's been some based on Pokemon recently, a few based on Dragon Quest, and even some starring a cutesy Chocobo from Final Fantasy. This cribbing of other series' mechanics does, to some extent, work to keep the whole series fresh despite its simplicity.
The Thinking Masochist's Game
In conclusion, Roguelikes are very rewarding to those who are willing to commit to a very, very strategic, and somewhat harrowing game experience. The learning curve is high, very high, but at the same time, it ends up rewarding even small victories (As it's so hard to achieve them!).
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Comment by Robert Stadelhofer
on The New Adventures of World -1 and Friends
Minus World Gaming