Ok, I have been away for too long. pixalguildapproaches 0.1, but the most important news you will probably want to know about is my new roguelike project, my entry for the TIGSource procedural generation compo
Metal Gear: The Roguelike.
* Infiltrate a base as a FOXHOUND special forces operative * Explore the randomly generated multi-building jungle base complex. * Stealthy rescue hostages and increase your rank * Avoid guards, they are bad * Find stealthy and not so stealthy weapons (Knifes, Handguns, Machineguns, Explosives and Rocketry) * Destroy mass-destruction nuclear-warhead-armed gigantic Metal Gear mechas * Meet new people and make friends with your transceiver.
Well, although this is not entirely roguelike development related, here it goes, I have been working on this for some months, and its finally aproaching testing phase.
Pixalattack will be a persistant browser based game, you will have your own settlement, and your army of virtual fighters, you can buy stuff for your fighters, give gifts to your friends, assault their settlements to make your own one grow and duel your friends to make your fighters stronger
It will be available in multiple languages, initially Spanish and English, it will be free, of course.
Anonymous access can see the tracker and roadmap, if you want to report bugs or make request for enhancement, just create an account there (quick thing)
Work on my buddy and pixel fighter goes on; after 18 work journeys the project aproaches testing phase; you can now create buddies, buy stuff for them and soon you will be able to make them fight.
Aprox. Work Time: 53:00 hours Source Files: 72 Lines of Code: 6037 Logical Source Lines: 2774 Database Tables: 14
And for you all waiting for new roguelike development, I will resume work on metroidRL after releasing the test version, also, the 7DRL challenge draws near! :)
Those who have become accustomed to the previous heavy-on-colors looks of this website may be dismayed to see these recent changes. Before you complain, please consult your optic nerve, as it has been sending me angry pings for years now.
It is always a dangerous thing playing around with one's website change. While maintaining roguetemple I get a semi-weekly look at all too many end-stage websites. All too often the final message from a roguelike author is: "I hope you like the website's new look!" However, I have confidence in confidence and confidence in me, so I shall charge ahead and change the website, thumbing my nose at fate.
It was a pretty sucessful year as for game development. CastlevaniaRL advanced from a playable product to a stable and enjoyable game (although there is still work to do, see later); it got many positive reviews, it seems the Java requirements have somewhat prevented it from being widespread. Also, we had two website migrations, including a new domain (slashie.net) and while the community and the download count has remained small, I hope it will grow in the future.
DrashRL advanced from a pretty basic and boring 7DRL to a full, stable, finished game. The lack of an unique plot may have prevented the game from being enjoyed by more people (probably). This is the game I like the most from mine, but it hasn't had the reception I thought it would
MetroidRL got almost no attention all year long, saving end of year when work on a new revolutionary version (ehem) started. No releases were made though.
A 7DRL challenge left us with ZeldaRL, which scope was kind of what I wanted and in which I experimented with several ideas (randomly generated CA based overworld supporting randomly generated world distribution, Zelda-like roomed levels with keys and artifacts).
Guardian Angel was not really developed all along the year saving some minor efforts; all energy went to DrashRL, CvRL 1.26 and MetroidRL 0.8
The MyBuddy project was started and the first version is intended to be released real soon,
The Roguetemple and Roguetemple forums were created and have become increasingly popular as an information media about roguelikes.
So here go the plans for this year, as for development:
MyBuddy ( http://szdev.livejournal.com) Will be online for tests on January. If there is enough attention I may work back on it to release a stable first version by March
MetroidRL I will work on version 0.8 after myBuddy is on test; it will be released by February, if all goes well, all that is going into it has been discussed here
Guardian Angel This will be the year of Guardian Angel, I am putting all my energies back on it after MetroidRL 0.8 is released
CastlevaniaRL There is already a big and growing list of RFEs and BRs... I will find a space to work them out by March and thus release CvRL 1.3
And that's it for the goal list, I just hope I can get enough time and willpower to work it out.
All that is needed is a task list, decent feedback and time to spend ;)
*chime in* Hey guys, how are you doing? ;-) I just thought that I would drop a note, proving that I'm not dead yet (although with roguelikes, you may never know ;-)). Actually, I plan to play some roguelikes again soon, since I got a new computer with a REAL keyboard (instead of my ancient notebook without numeric keypad), so I can play now also during weekdays. Maybe I'll try to finish my last game of CastlevaniaRL I've left hanging in limbo...
Slash
