Development Info Gearhead 2 plots up version .240

Tags: Gearhead 2

<A href="http://gearhead.roguelikedevelopment.org">Gearhead 2</a> has reached <A href="http://gearhead.roguelikedevelopment.org/gh2-0240-sdlwin.zip">Version .240</a> of the megarobot roguelike. Apparently Mr. Hewitt's been busy plotting. Here's the list of changes:
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<ul><li>TargetUI will now show module and other info (targetui.pp)
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So, you can get the module display for opponents in ASCII now.
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<li>Fixed a serious bug with metascene element search (playwright.pp)
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The serious bug was that it didn't work at all. When a metascene was requested the game would always create a new entry point rather than selecting one of the existing ones.
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<li>Characters used by remnants won't be selected for other plots/stories (narrative.pp)
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<li>Fixed bug in core story palette definitions (series/corestorystub.txt)
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The enemy faction element wasn't working.
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<li>Removed the mission-giver xxran palette entry (narrative.pp)
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Also, I've done quite a bit of editing to the core story components. Several near-identical components have been combined. Persona fragments are used to individualize the different cases.
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<li>GSkillLevel will now select a renown-appropriate mecha (arenascript.pp)
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So, there's no chance that your first duel opponent will be piloting a Chimentero...
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<li>Added !Okay search criteria (playwright.pp)
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Two elements are !Okay if they aren't enemies of one another.
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<li>Added xxran story debug option (ui4gh.pp)
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Right now all it does is report if a state is encountered in the core story for which there exists fewer than five components.
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<li>Plot/Story Element IDs stored as NAtts rather than stats (narrative.pp)</ul>
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That arena thing is an example of level scaling design done right. It's a controlled environment for combat so it makes sense. It's also based on your reputation rather than level.
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I haven’t played this game yet, but I am playing another rougelike called ADOM. I'm pretty new to these types of games, and since this thread is on the topic of 'roguelikes', I am wondering what some of the best ones are.

I've played some Nethack, but I am having a hard time getting into it. ADOM is pretty fun; I just wish that you could pick your own characteristics in the beginning of the game. I know that it's just roleplaying, but every time I pick the human race I get a red headed, green eyed, pale skinned guy. That makes it really hard to get into the game when your character is described as a ‘ginger’. I’m more of a tall, dark, and handsome kind of guy. :twisted:

Also the controls are pretty hard to memorize. Have any of the roguelikes created a UI (User Interface), or does that defeat the purpose of the game?

Anyways, anything I need to know? Which games do you guys prefer? etc. etc.

 

I'm gald there is verion 2. Gearhead is among my favorite kind-of-like-RPG games. (And I don't even like roguelikes.)

 

I played Gearhead 2 for a couple of minutes and stopped.

Anyone else find it incredibly stupid?

 

"Kind-of-like-RPG"? Gearhead is one of the best RPGs I've ever played. It puts the majority of RPGS out there today to shame.

 

ADOM is one of the greatest games of all time and imo the best roguelike ever.
Try to endure through the interface-learning phase, it's worth it. Here's a good guidebook.

I also liked the original Moria and Crawl.

 

Can you or anyone explain why? I would like to enjoy these games but it seems like they are too cumbersome and slow to be any fun. If I am going to spend hours playing a game I don't want half that time to be spent going through interface screens.

 

Well, keep in mind you're playing version .240, which basically means it's still in development infancy. I downloaded it, but haven't tried it yet.

You can download Gearhead 1 from the same site, which is version 1.xx. It's basically "done", but there's some changes still going on with it. Gearhead is the kind of game that gives you a hell of a lot of freedom. You can be good or bad, and corporations that you join have good and bad factions within them.

What I thought was really cool about Gearhead is all the skills you can get. You can basically be a super duper ninja type. You can be a animal lover who charms animals in to joining his group. You can be a wacky engineer who heavily tweaks his mechs, builds robots who are smart enough to be NPCs, etc.

Also, Gearhead features a story generator, so it's not the same general game twice. There are a few exceptions to this, and the locations don't change, but where and why you're travelling around is often different. That includes what you do when you get to certain places.

It also has some great features like being able to call up an NPC on your cell phone to pick up a quest and then call them back when the quest is over in order to get your reward. If your skills are high enough, you can also take apart cell phones and such and combine those bits with other items to make armor and such with communications abilities. Pretty neat stuff.

 

I really think the Codex should cover roguelike games news.

 

what interface screens? what other *good* game does not have it?
looks like you just asked the question without even knowing what type of interface the game has or how hard it is to learn it.

PS. ADOM rullz. I've lost a lvl 50 DarkElf Necromancer, cause it became corupted, then create another one, went up te lvl 62, and almost finised the game, but i got stuck and i did not know what to do next. that was like 5 year ago. heh fun times.

 

I agree. Roguelike games are RPG's too. My only problem with them is they tend to be very similar to each other, so they get boring pretty fast. Gearhead is one exception though.

 

I can understand why you would consider GearHead an RPG, but NetHack and ADOM don't have much role playing.

 

Not counting ADOM and Gearhead, you've got stuff like
Steamband - Angband variant set in a Victorian steampunk setting with plenty of literary references.
Iter Vehemens ad Necem (IVAN) - A pretty neat roguelike that has some features rarely seen in roguelikes (with the dismemberment and material systems being the most interesting ones).
Nethack - If you don't know this one, you're probably French.
Slash'Em - Nethack with some extra stuff.
Unreal World - Great roguelike that's set in Iron Age Finland. Focuses on wilderness survival.
Dungeon Crawl - Somewhat similar to Nethack, but still worth checking out.
The Doom Roguelike - Doom, the roguelike. Has to be experienced first-hand.

 

Sure they do. They take a bunch of stats into account, hell, the entire game is basically stat-based. The roleplaying is more of the dungeon-crawl variety, but they are nonetheless RPGS and rather good ones, too. I've never seen another game where you can kick a beehive to get more wax to put in your ears to protect yourself against the wail of banshees.

EDIT: Gearhead and UnReal World are the best roguelikes out there.

 

UnReal World is very difficult and has many bugs. Specially the new windows version.

 

Vulture's 2.0.0 released

Omega - last time i read about it it had horses...

@Naked_Lunch: i friend of mine quickly got next to the banshee on the lvl 24 (right?) and kill it, after some days we figured out what that damn beewax was for....

 

Which role did you play while going through NetHack dungeons?

So does any soccer sim. Heck, if I'm not mistaken GTA3 also has stats.

 

I played several. I played a sneaky guy who summoned monsters to do most of his bidding. I played an all-out ass-kicking barbarian, hell, I even tried playing as a tourist (friggen hard, lemme tell ya). Nethack is a roleplaying game through and through. If you want even more proof that roguelikes are RPGs, just play Gearhead.

 

Anyone know anything about JADE? It's a new roguelike that's being created by the guy who made ADOM, but there hasn't been an update since 2004 (I think). It's basically ADOM but bigger and better.

 

The JADE project sounds pretty dead to me. Just like the 'retail ADOM' project.

 

Meh, somehow I don't have high hopes for new versions of ADOM or a playable one of JADE in near future. It seems Biskup's real work doesn't let him continue his hobby...

 

I consider these to be strategies, not roles.

"Willful, highly intelligent, but a bit arrogant person. The one that tends to break opposition, rather then search for consensus. The one that tries to be honest with various degrees of success. The one that tries to be fair, which usually ends up badly for other people." This is what I call role. (Played it in PT)

 

about JADE, there were some news about 4 months ago, looks like the development is continuing, slowly...

@Gambler: (in) what game do you RP?

 

Lately I try to RP in any RPG, but degree of my success varies. It was very easy with Planescape. It was possible in Arcanum. I'm trying to act as my character would in Pathologic. Etcetra.

The good thing about GearHead is that it feels meaningful. It's not just dugneons, dungeons, dungeons... There are people to speak with, and a lot of scripted sequences, plus the world of the game has a history.

 

So far, I am enjoying ADOM immensely. I have been playing as a Troll Barbarian in berserker mode and it's been a blast. In my first run-though I was sacrificing monsters and pulling them from across the dungeon into an altar. I happened to cross over the altar as I was pulling a Gnoll or Kobold or something from across the room, and it sadly ended up sacrificing me to its god instead. It seems that creatures that can speak have the same privilege in using the sacrifice pit as I do. It was a very funny death, and I haven’t experienced such involving gameplay in a long time.

Hopefully JADE becomes complete because it sure sounds promising coming from the creator of ADOM.

I played some gearhead the other day, and at first, it seemed kind of dumb, but I never judge a game until I get some decent playtime. After maybe an hour of playing it started to become pretty enjoyable. The only thing I didn’t enjoy was the graphics, so I switched to the ASCII mode. Is the graphical version more enjoyable or do most people play in ASCII? I enjoy ASCII because it leaves more to the imagination, but I would hate to miss out on some things that can only be seen in the graphical mode.

Anyways, roguelikes are fun. I’m glad I heard of them. :wink: