Posted by Derek Yu
Sat, 16 Feb 2008 14:15:00 GMT
I don’t usually post about each new DF release, but I wanted to point your attention to creator Tarn Adams’s post with the release. Recently, he’s been adding infrastructure to support religion for all the races, and he wrote a mini-story about one of his encounters at a goblin temple.
It’s not often that Tarn writes in length about his personal experiences within the game, so… I’ll transcribe it here for you, after the jump. It’s pretty awesome.
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Posted in Roguelikes, Community, Windows, Freeware | Tags TarnAdams | 12 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Wed, 30 Jan 2008 12:50:00 GMT
After what seems like an eternity of reticence, ADOM / JADE developer Thomas Biskup has revamped his website by adding a more community-friendly blog, and announced that he is resuming work on JADE, his spiritual sequel to the Roguelike classic, ADOM. Regular updates are to be expected in 2008.
It’s great to hear that he’s back at work, although one has to wonder… since the announcement of JADE many moons ago, Dwarf Fortress has taken the spotlight and already has many of the features that made JADE sound brilliant then (e.g. insane attention to detail in world generation and character interaction), and more. Especially now that Tarn is working on DF full-time, the race to create the most massive, detail-oriented Roguelike seems already won.
Not that there really is a race – if JADE can provide a great single character dungeon crawl and the controls and interface are both extremely intuitive (graphics, plz?), then I can make room for it in the tiny, black chunk of frozen garbage that is my heart.
(Source: Slash, via Rogue Temple)
Posted in Roguelikes, Community | Tags ThomasBiskup | 10 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Mon, 28 Jan 2008 19:38:00 GMT
History doesn’t always give credit where credit is due, whether by misinformation, opportunism, or just plain ol’ chance. Case in point: Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari, is often recognized as the “Father of Video Games,” when, at the very least, the honor should be shared by Ralph Baer, the creator of PONG. The battle for that claim of “FRIST! (LOL)” is often fierce, and, when it comes to internet comments, always sad. Many times, when the deserving party finally receives their credit, it’s too little, too late.
Rogue is a great game, and Roguelikes will probably always be called Roguelikes, but we should at least acknowledge Don D. Worth and his little dungeon crawl, Beneath Apple Manor, which predates Rogue by two years, and has all the game mechanics that are associated with modern RL’s: turn-based movement, randomized dungeons, and perma-death (of sorts – the game lets you re-use the stats of deceased characters, but the stats decline with each use). The game also features rudimentary shops, which you encounter between dungeons, a feature that is not present in Rogue.
BAM was originally released on the Apple II, but you can download the special edition of the game (which runs on PCs) at Don’s site (or click here). And head over to Psittacine Labs for more information about the game, including some words from Don in the comments.
Thanks, Cycle, via this thread! And, in the spirit of the post, I should acknowledge that Cycle also coined the term “BAM-Likes” (unless someone else did first).
Posted in Roguelikes, Community, Developers | 20 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Sun, 27 Jan 2008 17:28:00 GMT
Dwarf Fortress player sinoth has developed a great utility called “3dwarf” that lets you rip map data from the popular Roguelike, and then view them in 3d. 3dwarf lets you explore the maps via a floating camera, and has various helpful options for viewing the map, like “height map mode,” which colors each layer based on how high it is.
Now if only there was a “dwarf mode” to let you walk through your fortress FPS-style!
(Image Source: Dorten)
Posted in Roguelikes, Community, Mods / Hacks | Tags TarnAdams | 35 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:27:00 GMT
There’s a great podcast discussion with Tarn Adams on GeekNights. Tarn, as you may or may not know, is one half of the Dwarf Fortress team, and its sole programmer. The other half, Zach (also Tarn’s brother), develops stories which Tarn makes work within Dwarf Fortress’s intimidating game engine.
The podcast focuses on Dwarf Fortress, but Tarn touches on a variety of subjects, from his older games to his thoughts on gaming and game design in general. I found it to be pretty fascinating.
And, I gotta say, for a self-described introvert and the developer behind one of the most insanely detailed games ever made, Tarn is very well-spoken and sounds really down-to-earth. Respect!
Posted in Roguelikes, Community, Interviews | Tags TarnAdams | 11 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Tue, 15 Jan 2008 15:16:00 GMT
Legerdemain is an interesting Roguelike hybrid that eschews the typical fantasy setting and randomly-generated dungeons of the Roguelike genre in favor of a surreal storyline which you have to uncover piece by piece. The developer also states that the game is influenced, part, by Interactive Fiction.
The game opens by asking you questions to “shape your philosophy as a Manipulator.” Manipulation is the “magic” of Phenomedom, an ancient art that few understand and many are fearful of. Once your character is created, you awake in a Doobah prison cell, an amnesiac. Although your ultimate goal is to “uncover a vast conspiracy full of morbid secrets and ancient puzzles,” your immediate one is to escape the prison. Grabbing the prime brush laying next you (a tool used for manipulation), you set out on your quest.
The repetitiveness of the first dungeon put me off a bit, but once you emerge into the overworld, things definitely pick up. Examining points of interest (represented by ”?”), collecting “paragraphs” (large chunks of storyline), and talking to the various inhabitants of the world of Phenomedom is quite engaging – you can hail, chat, gossip, offer, or ask people about keywords that get brought up during conversation. Even though combat initially seems shallow compared to other Roguelikes, there’s no lacking in things to see or learn once you escape the Doobah prison.
All in all, Legerdemain is a bold experiment that runs the risk of alienating fans of RLs, RPGs, or IF because it’s not quite any of them. Still, the world of Phenomedom is a captivating one, and there’s obviously a lot under the hood that’s there to be discovered.
Note: The game is programmed in Java and requires a Java Virtual Machine (at least 1.4) to run. A link for this download is on the developer’s website.
(Source: Slash, via Rogue Temple)
Posted in RPG, Interactive Fiction, Roguelikes, Windows, Freeware | Tags NathanJerpe | 10 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Mon, 14 Jan 2008 16:18:00 GMT
For those that missed it, Mike Mayday has compiled various Dwarf Fortress graphics tilesets into a single package that includes the latest release of the game. The tilesets are already linked, so all you need to do is download it and run. So far, this is the easiest way to play DF with graphics, and even though it’s not perfect, it looks pretty darn good!
More screenshots: 1 | 2 | 3
Also, via Chris Hildebrandt, some wishful thinking for you.
Posted in Roguelikes, Community | Tags TarnAdams | 33 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Thu, 01 Nov 2007 12:42:00 GMT
Dwarf Fortress PSA #1: “Vomit Kills. The More You Know!“
The Great Toady One (aka Tarn Adams) has released a new version of the game that (hopefully) fixes a lot of the issues from the last release, including the lag caused by the weather.
Toady is a developer I really admire. Not only for his Herculean work ethic and dedication to craft, but because, as far as I can tell, he’s a genuinely nice fellow who lives simply and earnestly. He also takes serious care to listen to his fans. One in a million, this guy:
In any case, yeah, I did run myself a little thin here. I think what I’m going to do is put up at least one crash/lag fix release sometime soonish, then take a week. I’ll still be doing forums and email since I can’t afford to let pages of posts and pages of inbox to pile up. Of course, as for what I’ll do with that time… probably mess around with other game ideas I’ve been sitting on. Sad, but I don’t have to worry about bugs or responsibility with those projects, so it’s like a vacation.
What a frickin’ machine. From this thread.
I definitely urge anyone who gets a kick out of this game to send some bucks over to show your support! I’m sending over $30 today so that I can see what Dwarf Fortress is like in the year 2017.
(Thanks, Nikica!)
Posted in Roguelikes, Windows, Developers, Freeware | Tags TarnAdams | 14 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Mon, 29 Oct 2007 17:59:00 GMT
Version 0.27.169.32a of Dwarf Fortress, or, as I like to call it, “Bob,” has just been released. From the release notes:
Well, it has been a while. That means potential instability, so don’t get too attached to your fortresses at this point. I’ll be doing subsequent releases more often now as I solve problems. In any case, dwarf mode now has a z-axis and you can make fortresses that span several levels. Fluids behave much more reasonably, and you can walk across the world in adventure mode in the local view without having to step off of an artificial edge. And various other lots more stuff.
The z-axis is amazing. As you can see in the screenshot, my newly created human swordsman can peer into the bottom of the lake, as well as spy part of a second story in the building. Shortly after, he climbed some logs onto the second story and then promptly fell back down again, stunning himself. Pretty embarrassing thing to do right in front of the Mayor of the city.
Toribash 3.0 and now this. Pants officially esploded.
Posted in Roguelikes, Windows, Freeware | Tags TarnAdams | 37 comments
Posted by Derek Yu
Sat, 13 Oct 2007 14:30:00 GMT
Diavolo no daibouken is a simplistic graphical Roguelike that stars Diavolo, the main villain of part 5 of the manga JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. It has all the trappings of your average dungeon crawl, only the theme is incredibly… well, bizarre. I mean, look at that screenshot! It’s fantastic!
Since I don’t speak Japanese, I’ve only been able to figure out some of the basic gameplay mechanics through experimentation. But with our powers combined, maybe we can piece together a complete picture? Anyone care to translate the website?
(Source: Canned Dogs, via Shapermc!)
Hit the extended for what we know so far:
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Posted in Unique / Bizarre, Roguelikes, Windows, Freeware, Doujin | 12 comments
