Game News LambdaRogue ascends patch 1.5.3

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Tags: LambdaRogue

LambdaRogue - also known as <a href="http://www.rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=42355">Dudebro: My Shit is Fucked Up So I Got to Shoot/Slice You II: It's Straight-Up Dawg Time</a> - gets <a href="http://lambdarogue.net/patch.html">patched</a> again!
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://lambdarogue.net/patch.html">LambdaRogue</A>

 

[betamin]

Anyone played this? How was it?

 

[thesheeep]

The graphics seemed a little awkward to me.
Other than that, I found it to be a pretty standard RogueLike. Not especially good or bad.

 

[mariodonick]

The graphics seemed a little awkward to me.

What especially do you consider to be awkward? Perhaps I can improve it (within the tile-based, non-animated roguelike constraints, of course).

 

[Elzair]

The graphics seemed a little awkward to me.

What especially do you consider to be awkward? Perhaps I can improve it (within the tile-based, non-animated roguelike constraints, of course).

Why do they have to be within the constraints, anyway? Is a little animation all that hard?

 

[mariodonick]

Why do they have to be within the constraints, anyway? Is a little animation all that hard?

Yes, it is, because, basically, the whole SDL-based output engine is just a terminal emulator that displays ASCII characters, using a "font" where the ASCII chars look like colored graphical icons.

This way, I can keep large potions of the code identical, regardless of the display mode -- the output in the real text mode which uses a Windows/Linux console window uses identical functions as the graphical output in the SDL window.

Of course, it _could_ be possible to have real animation when a character moves, but then I had to create animation phases for each character and each monster, and this is above my abilities, my available time and therefore my priorities.


And afterall: for a non-commercial roguelike, the game has rather good graphics and doesn't need to fear comparison with DCSS (nice tiles) or even CastlevaniaRL (imo the best graphics ever used in a RL, even with real animations).



But anyway, within the roguelike constraints, I still want to know how I can improve the awkwardness.

 

[thesheeep]

Well, my problem was not with the animations, more the "art direction".
It's just not very well drawn, with most images not fitting most others, etc.
I don't blame you. I mean, you're most likely not a professional artist

"Usual" Roguelikes with ASCII art don't have that problem, obviously.

Another problem is the perspective. You have a top-down perspective, yet all things (except ground and, I think, walls) are depicted like lying on the ground.
It's like the ultima series, just a bit worse. I just can't stand it, but that seems to be pretty subjective.

Again, ASCII art is abstract enough so that this problem doesn't appear there either. But as soon as you start drawing something, you take the imagination, or a part of it, away from the player.
And for some players, like me, it is impossible to have the imagination do that much work as soon as "something" is drawn on the screen.

 

[mariodonick]

Okay, I get your point.

Of course, players of LR: The Book of Stars are not forced to use the big default tileset (which is, by the way, an enhancement of the Absurd Nethack tileset).

They can choose to select the small tileset, which is based on the Gervais Angband tiles.

And they can play in plain ASCII -- currently in true console mode, but 1.5.4 will also include a SDL ASCII mode.