General News - Roguelikes Developers should Study

@Gamasutra Stefanie Fogel writes about 7 roguelikes that every developer should study and take some influences from.

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Moria -- Building a world one kill at a time

Moria was first coded in VMS Pascal in 1983, and is now available to play on a profusion of platforms.

A roguelike based on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Moria is notable for a mechanic called "monster memory." As you battle enemies, the game records information about them. It would track how many times a monster was killed, what type of attack it has, and what levels it could normally be found on. If the player is killed, that information carries over into a new game via a save file. "Moria's monster memory was really unique, and brought out that roguelike tradition of subsequent plays making the world more rich," says Dwarf Fortress co-creator Tarn Adams.

The concept of transferring permanent information between saves would go on to influence other roguelikes, like Cellar Door Games' 2013 platformer Rogue Legacy, adding a little persistence to a genre built on impermanence.

Takeaway: Adding a little permanence to a procedurally generated world can enhance it.

Invisible Inc. -- A stealth roguelike that works

Hack-n-slash combat and randomness through procedural generation are both hallmarks of the Roguelike genre. Stealth games, on the other hand, generally rely on predictability and avoidance. Players are supposed to be patient, study enemy patterns, and avoid combat. So, you would think the two genres would mix like oil and water. But, Short thinks Klei's 2015 release Invisible Inc. is a great example of how the two can work well together. "I used to think that stealth gameplay couldn't really be procedurally generated in a satisfying way, due to the importance of pacing and "outsmarting" enemies, but Klei proved me completely wrong," she says.

"Invisible Inc. is a beautiful example of how its algorithm takes apart the optimal player experience and figures out which pieces can be modular," she adds. "In this particular case, stealth is broken down into various obstacles to overcome, and the game loop adds pressure between maps, along with new tools that expand your repertoire. In some ways, it is a very classical roguelike, and in other ways a visionary masterpiece that might shine the way for future procedural content that seems like it ‘just can't be done.'"

Takeaway: If that crazy game idea you have seems like it "just can't be done," it probably can be done.
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