Castle Paradox

[Rya.Reisender]

I made a new game, but it's made with pure programming rather than with the OHRRPGCE. I just post it here because some people here know me and might be interested in all kinds of indy developed games. Also TMC was involved as well. He helped me to write the prologue and tested the game and gave suggestions. :-)

Anyways here's the game info:


Alright it's finally done. My new game. An arcade roguelike puzzle hybrid you could call it. It puts an emphasis on easy controls "You only need one button" and a simple idea "roguelike with the least possible features" but also on an arcade-like feeling with a complex point system and high score tables.

You can download the current version of the game here: http://www.file-upload.net/download-1850674/RoguePlanets_v13.zip.html
(click on the download button with the white on green arrow, for older versions see below)

Everything is explained in the readme file. But I'll explain it with some screenshots.

First of you can select a planet. Each planet will have different characteristics. While one has many unwalkable places, another one has very little food and another one is crowded with monsters. At first you can only select two planets, but you can unlock many more.


After having selected a planet you can start the game and will find yourself on a random location on the planet (you are free to randomize your location again at the start point but all points and food will be reset).

Now your objective is to reach the bottom floor and find the treasure there (or just walk around and aim for the high score). You can pickup food, fight monsters and go stairs down and up. Yes you are also able to go stairs up again, in fact some planets require you to go up a lot if you want to get to the treasure eventually. When you find the treasure on a planet the first time you'll get a key item and points. If you beat the planet continuously you'll just get points from the treasure (but those points are important when aiming for a good high score).
Monsters are all immobile and you can just walk over them, but each time you step on their tile they'll damage you. If you are on their tile you are free to kill them for a little energy and then they're gone and you can walk on their tile without taking damage again (deciding whether to kill a monster or not is very important on harder planets).


The main challenge in the game is to find the correct path on the huge maze-like planets, without running out of food or dieing from a monster (running out of food won't kill you but it will make your energy reduce every step). You have the possibility to check up on a map which shows you the area around you, but only will show you the places you've already explored. On some planets you can distinguish explored tiles from walls while on others you can't.


If you die or leave the planet (you can do so after picking up the treasure), your score will be added to the high score list. The high score list itself can be accessed from the planet selection screen and you can even sort it by planet names or parts of planet names (if you enter "r" it will display all planets that have an "r" in their name).
You get points through 4 different ways:
- Exploring tiles
- Killing monsters (with combo chain bonus)
- Using stairs down the first time on a specific floor aka clearing the floor
- Finding the treasure
The speed of your actions will also affect the amount of points you get, so if you play really fast and never lose the orientation (thus don't need to open the map which costs time) you'll get a lot points.

Here are my high scores of the first two planets, try to beat them!



A friend of me who loves roguelikes said it's addicting and I got quite a bit addicted to it as well. Wish I could fight with someone over the best high score.

Oh and the game itself has intentionally no music, as most people I know never listen to game music to begin with. Most prefer to listen to a CD or some MP3s on Winamp while playing, I do so too. So just put on the songs you like to listen to while playing it.


Version 1.1 adds two more features that I got inspired to add thanks to the feedback here.
One is that you are able to mark one tile. So if you have a bad memory you can for example mark the stairs from which you came or a narrow path that leads to a dead end. The marked tile will be displayed yellow. If you mark a new tile the old mark will get removed.
The other feature is that the combo counter is now displayed on the right sight below the speed (the combo counter affects how much points killing a monster gives you).
Also the version number will now be displayed in the planet selection window.


Version 1.2 adds some more features that got suggested.
Here's the list of the changes:
- You can now additionally move with the WASD keys similar to the arrow keys. This got added so it's possible to play the game with one hand.
- You can now mark a tile by right clicking on it; same rules apply as when you press Ctrl; this also allows you to mark tiles that you can't reach by walking. This got added so you can use your keyboard for moving only and do all actions with the mouse (pressing the button, opening the map and placing the marker is now all possible with the mouse).
- Greatly reduced the chance of an unreachable treasure to occur; it never happens on most planets now. If the algorithm doesn't manage to make a beatable stage after a certain amount of time it will tell the player that the treasure is unreachable; you are then free to change your position.
- "Dead" will now be called "Leave Planet" as you keep your items when you do it. If your energy runs out it basically means that you can't go on and have to return to the ship and not that you actually die (but I'll call it dying here anyways).
- The square indicating your current position will now be orange as long as you can step on a monster and survive. If you still have food you can even step on a monster and kill it. This makes it easier to see when you can actually hunt monsters without dieing. Be aware that if you have no food left you might not be able to kill a monster even when you're still orange because you might die from the hunger.
- Added a fixed world multiplayer feature that allows playing on the same world as a friend. One computer is required per player. You can also play alone on a fixed world, however your score and progress will not be saved in this case.


Version 1.3 adds a few more mainly cosmetical improvements.
On the planet selection screen the planets will be connected with each other, so you can see which coordinates / items lead you where.
The values on the game screen are now shown in categories. This makes it easier to find the value you're looking for easier.
Also it's now possible to close the map with a double click just like you open it.

As the changes from version 1.0 to version 1.3 don't directly change the gameplay or point system all versions are compatible with each other. You can use the same *.dat files for all. If you just want to update your game just overwrite the RoguePlanets.exe file and readme.txt and keep your *.dat files.

All released versions:
1.3
http://www.file-upload.net/download-1850674/RoguePlanets_v13.zip.html
1.2
http://www.file-upload.net/download-1806946/RoguePlanets_v12.zip.html
1.1
http://www.file-upload.net/download-1800795/RoguePlanets_v11.zip.html
1.0
http://www.file-upload.net/download-1794321/RoguePlanets.zip.html

Enjoy!
_________________
Snippy:
"curt or sharp, esp. in a condescending way" (Oxford American Dictionary)
"fault-finding, snappish, sharp" (Concise Oxford Dictionary, UK)
1. short-tempered, snappish, 2. unduly brief or curt (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

[Bob the Hamster]

Interesting! Minimalist rogue. In spite of the extreme simplicity, it does indeed have an element of addictiveness. I had a hard time tearing myself away. I like my rogue games complex, but I thought it was interesting how the simplification emphasized exploration and food gathering. In fact, playing Tera I found myself focusing on food above all else. It soon ceased to be "exploring" and became running around in a panic trying not to starve :)

What language did you program it in? I was able to get the exe to run just fine on my Linux box using Wine.

[Rya.Reisender]

The game is partly something I wanted to prove about game design. Because I always complained that modern games require the player to use more than 6 buttons, but most of older ones only required one or two buttons and still could be pretty complicated with their system. I mean a game that's easy to control, but not easy to beat. The difficulty should lie within the game system and not within the game controls.

Either way, the game might seem simple, but if you give it enough time you'll also understand that there's some kind of complexity about it. The way to determine what path to take, the decision on whether to walk to the food item or go directly to the stairs, etc.
They all made the game depend a lot on your skill and knowledge of the game, even the it really only has minimalistic roguelike features.

And yes every planet puts an emphasize on something different. Vinel is about finding the correct path, Tera is about conserving food and other planets are about conserving energy. And some combine different things which each other.

I programmed it with the C++ Builder which is a combination of C++, Delphi and Pascal (I used C++ bcc32 compiler for the model code and Delphi VCL for the graphical interface).

If you get a good score make sure to tell me. :-)
_________________
Snippy:
"curt or sharp, esp. in a condescending way" (Oxford American Dictionary)
"fault-finding, snappish, sharp" (Concise Oxford Dictionary, UK)
1. short-tempered, snappish, 2. unduly brief or curt (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

[Rya.Reisender]

New Version 1.1:

Changes:
- You can now mark a tile by pressing Ctrl; this won't consume a turn; you can only have one mark at a time
- Your current combo count is now displayed in the game window below the speed
- The version number is now displayed in the planet selection window

Download here: http://www.file-upload.net/download-1800795/RoguePlanets_v11.zip.html
_________________
Snippy:
"curt or sharp, esp. in a condescending way" (Oxford American Dictionary)
"fault-finding, snappish, sharp" (Concise Oxford Dictionary, UK)
1. short-tempered, snappish, 2. unduly brief or curt (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

[Rya.Reisender]

New Version 1.2 released. See opening post for more information.
_________________
Snippy:
"curt or sharp, esp. in a condescending way" (Oxford American Dictionary)
"fault-finding, snappish, sharp" (Concise Oxford Dictionary, UK)
1. short-tempered, snappish, 2. unduly brief or curt (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

[Rya.Reisender]

Added probably final version 1.3 with a few more cosmetical improvements.
_________________
Snippy:
"curt or sharp, esp. in a condescending way" (Oxford American Dictionary)
"fault-finding, snappish, sharp" (Concise Oxford Dictionary, UK)
1. short-tempered, snappish, 2. unduly brief or curt (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)