Infra Arcana - An H.P. Lovecraft/Horror based Roguelike

[non]

The next release has been delayed because I've been implementing sound. There won't be sound in next release though because there's too few, but I can tell it's gonna be great when it comes together.

I've done sneaking and backstabbing (and had super fun playing with it), and a "prepared weapon"-slot.

Atm I'm implementing saving (which of course is boring as hell, but it was time to bite the bullet). I should be able to finish it this evening or next.

After that, I'm gonna do some new insanity events. There needs to be serious long-term conditions. What I have in mind to begin with, is compulsions and phobias (Example: "Sadistic Compulsion", your stress/shock-level goes down when hurting others, but goes up more rapidly with turns passing).

I intended to do potions too, but I'm gonna have to postpone it since it's due for a new release.

 

[DwarvenFood]

Allright, looking forward to it.

This might me a nice read for you, as mentioned somewhere else already:

http://rpggeek.com/thread/687972/here-i-am-reviewing-my-own-game

 

[non]

Yeah I did read that, quite interesting.

This part gave me a thought:

At the moment they completed the spell, the players suddenly chimed in with comments like "I’m covering my eyes." "Turning my back." "Shielding my view so I don’t see the monster." I had never seen this kind of activity in an RPG before - trying NOT to see the monster? What a concept.

How about a command to close (or cover) your eyes? It does the same thing as blindness, but you can toggle it any time you want. Some cool scenarios could emerge:
*Player character is heavily stressed, and while escaping to the stairs hears monsters coming. He could choose not to look at them to escape without falling into a stupor or something.
*A spell that summons a very strong allied monster, which is mind-shattering to look at. So you must "avert your eyes" while it takes care of business.
*It can be used to safely step on "blinding-flash" traps.

I don't know, it could also turn out to be just tedious work for the player.

 

[Elwro]

That's a good idea. And while he covers his eyes the level map would only be updated when he bumps into a wall, and of course all creatures would disappear from view?

 

[non]

Exactly.

 

[non]

Saving is as good as done.

 

[Mayday]

Closing your eyes?

Not sure about it. Which of the Alien movies is the scariest? The one where you don't get to see the alien.
I imagine looking at a horror AND standing right next to it would have an equally devastating effect on your sanity.

 

[zeitgeist]

That's a good idea. And while he covers his eyes the level map would only be updated when he bumps into a wall, and of course all creatures would disappear from view?

It could be neat if there were two layers you could toggle between while blind(ed) - the known state of the map before losing sight (the accuracy of which could possibly be influenced by various stats and skills related to perception and memory), and a guess as to what the current state of the map was like - again derived from stats and skills (such as listening to monsters/NPCs move, predicting their movement by various means etc).

 

[non]

New version available!

http://infraarcana.wikispaces.com/

Release 7 (August 25, 2011)

New features
*Save function
*Sneaking (unaware creatures are marked with an underscore)
*Backstabbing ("You stab the Cultist covertly with a dagger")
*Entry for sneaking and backstabbing in the manual
*Three new level-up bonuses to choose from
*Slot for prepared weapon (for fast switching)
*More insanity effects (including permanent effects)
*The back-story is written in the game
*Some text (e.g. insanity events) is shown in a pop-up box instead of the message log (they were too easy to miss)

Fixes
*Lower monster spawn rate
*Removed hunger (the sanity system made it redundant)
*Animals listen for sound
*+1 or 2 HP when levelling up (randomly)
*More HP restored when levelling up
*Using the 'fire' command while aiming at yourself cancels the aiming mode
*Scroll of corruption can not take you to 0 HP
*Removed the "It was a scroll of" message when reading unknown scrolls
*Much higher shock from reading and identifying scrolls
*Toughness increases HP instead of decreasing damage taken
*You can no longer use the throwing attack while "Terrified"

 

[Excidium]

Got down to level 5, ghouls are a severe sanity rape. Switching weapons, killing cultists to get their weapons, lots of good changes.

Also:

Smallest level ever?

 

[non]

I can say with 100% certainty that there is secret doors in that level. One leading out from the very room you stand in in that screen shot.

 

[Excidium]

Secret doors! I forgot that.

 

[Castanova]

Very nice work so far. Did you do the engine yourself? The tileset/look of the menus remind me of DoomRL for some reason. It definitely feels like a "classical" roguelike.

- I enjoyed the Keziah Mason/Brown Jenkins encounter (I found them on dlvl 3). I read a random scroll when I first found them which turned out to be teleportation. I came back and found Brown Jenkins separated so I threw a molotov cocktail on him and hacked him apart with my +2 axe. A little later I found Keziah again, lit her on fire as well, but she perma-terrified me and I ended up dying to a rat. Fun times. Is there a way to prevent/cure being terrified?

- I would suggest making the game windowed by default. I doubt many people are looking to play an ASCII roguelike fullscreen.

- It appears that the game thinks every melee kill is a backstab. At least, according to the message. Every time I killed anything it said I did it covertly.

- I thought the first two dungeon levels were too easy. I was never in danger of dying and I rested any time I took too much damage and my sanity was never in danger of dropping too low before I fully explored the entire levels. The rats/wolves aren't really that interesting to fight against by themselves (obviously, they're more interesting when you're terrified of Keziah Mason).

- Perhaps more importantly is that I didn't feel a sense of dread in any of the levels, even once I found some supernatural enemies. Since we're dealing with an ASCII game, you can't use graphics to convey atmosphere. Music might help but, as something of a roguelike purist, I wouldn't rely on that either. Perhaps this could be solved with more unique dungeon features that aren't dangerous but give the player some color? Like, you could have a room generated with pools of blood and rotting corpses or something, I dunno. Maybe there are rooms with strange stuff in there and if you examine the strange stuff you get creepy descriptions. Just some random, stupid suggestions.

- Your LOS algorithm feels a little bit wonky. A lot of the time, it doesn't light up walls that I'm expecting it to light up. Sometimes I'll go through a room and every tile is revealed except for the corner wall tiles, for example. Or when you're walking down a hallway, you can see 10-ish tiles away of the floor but you can only see like two or three wall tiles away.

- the f command should remember the last enemy that you targeted. Right now, you have to re-aim at what you want to shoot if that enemy doesn't happen to be enemy #1 on the game's internal list.

 

[non]

Very nice work so far. Did you do the engine yourself?

Yes, I did everything except the implementation of the random number generator

- I enjoyed the Keziah Mason/Brown Jenkins encounter (I found them on dlvl 3). I read a random scroll when I first found them which turned out to be teleportation. I came back and found Brown Jenkins separated so I threw a molotov cocktail on him and hacked him apart with my +2 axe. A little later I found Keziah again, lit her on fire as well, but she perma-terrified me and I ended up dying to a rat. Fun times.

I love reading stories like this. :D

Is there a way to prevent/cure being terrified?

Only way now is to put ranks in Fortitude. Next version will have potions, so there will be some sort of potion of boldness.

- It appears that the game thinks every melee kill is a backstab. At least, according to the message. Every time I killed anything it said I did it covertly.

Hm, I'll test this as soon as I get a chance.

- I thought the first two dungeon levels were too easy. I was never in danger of dying and I rested any time I took too much damage and my sanity was never in danger of dropping too low before I fully explored the entire levels. The rats/wolves aren't really that interesting to fight against by themselves (obviously, they're more interesting when you're terrified of Keziah Mason).

There were people who never got past lvl 3 in the previous versions. I also get complaints that sanity drops too fast.

Perhaps this could be solved with more unique dungeon features that aren't dangerous but give the player some color? Like, you could have a room generated with pools of blood and rotting corpses or something, I dunno. Maybe there are rooms with strange stuff in there and if you examine the strange stuff you get creepy descriptions. Just some random, stupid suggestions.

I have been itching to add things like furniture, statues, torches, altars, pools, pits et c. Is there any ascii Roguelike that I can check out that does these things well? Only ascii game I've played that doesn't just mostly have empty rooms and corridors is Dwarf Fortress.

- Your LOS algorithm feels a little bit wonky. A lot of the time, it doesn't light up walls that I'm expecting it to light up. Sometimes I'll go through a room and every tile is revealed except for the corner wall tiles, for example. Or when you're walking down a hallway, you can see 10-ish tiles away of the floor but you can only see like two or three wall tiles away.

It's rather unpermissive, which requires you to fidget around a bit to explore corners. I'll have a look at using a different line drawing algorithm.

- the f command should remember the last enemy that you targeted. Right now, you have to re-aim at what you want to shoot if that enemy doesn't happen to be enemy #1 on the game's internal list.

I am aware of this.

 

[non]

Ok I tested the backstabbing thing.

It is only the message that is bugged. The actual damage and hit chance mechanics seem to work fine.

 

[Castanova]

I have been itching to add things like furniture, statues, torches, altars, pools, pits et c. Is there any ascii Roguelike that I can check out that does these things well? Only ascii game I've played that doesn't just mostly have empty rooms and corridors is Dwarf Fortress.

Incursion has a bunch of unique rooms that can generate and when you first walk in you get a pop-up box with a text description to set the mood/flavor. The rooms look unique too -- some have ice floors (blue ASCII tiles), some have smoke/mist, some have gravestones, etc. Many of these rooms have objects in there that don't really do anything but you can examine them and get more flavor.

I notice you've already got altars. So maybe when you generate a room, there's some chance that the room has a theme? If it's a cult-themed room, maybe stick in an altar, some bloody corpses, maybe a couple potions, and a cultist or two? A scary monster themed room might be darker (your LOS range goes down) or something along those lines? Maybe your sanity goes down even more in such a room but there may be some reason to go in there anyway... good loot is always the easiest carrot on a stick.

 

[non]

Very cool ideas!

I'll check out Incursion.

 

[non]

Uploaded a small fix for the following issues:

*Every melee attack was presented like a back-stab (only the message was bugged though)
*Fixed a horrible horrible bug that prevented the player from dodging melee attacks
*CPU usage % should be much lower
*The inventory can store more items
*Windowed mode is now the default

http://infraarcana.wikispaces.com/file/ ... .1_win.zip

 

[non]

Version 10 is out.


http://infraarcana.wikispaces.com/Downloads


Release 10 (November 19, 2011)
*The game is winnable
*New armor system:
~Armors provide different amount of protection from different damage types (physical, fire, electricity, etc)
~Armors can be damaged, which makes it less effective
~Armors are named "Name [D%, AP]", where D=Durability, AP=Damage reduction (vs physical)
~Armor stats are shown in the character info lines
*New armor type: Asbestos suit (very good against certain damage types, bad against physical)
*New magic system:
~Scrolls (now called manuscripts) can be studied to be identified or memorized (to cast them at any time)
~Chance to identify or memorize depends on the language ability
~Casting spells from memory drains Spirit Points, it can also cause miscasts with negative effects
~The 'R'-key is used for studying texts, 'x' for casting from memory, and 'X' for casting from manuscripts
*The melee abilities are merged into one again, and vice versa for firearms (the split didn't add anything to the game)
*New abilities:
~Spirit - increases max Spirit Points
~Arcana - gives better chances to cast spells from memory without failure
~Technique (melee) - Chance to get free turn (light weapons), full damage (heavy), or random bonus (medium)
~Reloading - Chance to get a free turn when reloading firearms
*7 new monsters
*6 new potions
*"Treasure rooms" with armor and ammo, or scrolls and potions, that are usually secret.
*First aid can not be started if a monster is seen, and is automatically aborted if one appears
*Special rooms occur less often
*Less pop-up descriptions when entering special rooms (I found them extremely repetitive once you know them)
*Mi-Go electric guns cause paralysis
*Added missing messages for wielding and wearing things
*Attacking an unaware monster in melee makes it aware even if you miss
*The Incinerator's dmg description is "?" (less misleading than showing the projectile impact damage)
*Removed some stuff from the character info lines to make room for new things
*Pools no longer slows you down (it didn't work very well)

 

[Excidium]

Hey man, just downloaded the latest version and the game seems to have improved a lot since the last time I played, p. cool.

I wish spot traps/spot hidden doors were merged into a single skill. Would make it more attractive. Same with the evasion skills.

I also don't like the idea of spirit points much, I find it a bit redudant when you can just deal with insanity levels and effects.

 

[non]

I wish spot traps/spot hidden doors were merged into a single skill. Would make it more attractive. Same with the evasion skills.

True. I never pick some of those traits. Might as well merge them.

I also don't like the idea of spirit points much, I find it a bit redudant when you can just deal with insanity levels and effects.

It's not entirely redundant, since spirit is a short term limit, and sanity is a long term limit. There's also monsters which can drain your spirit which I think is cool. Oh -- I just had an idea: Both the player and the monsters should be able to have spells that drain spirit from enemies, could be a cool battle between the player and a caster monster.

On the other hand -- It is a bit redundant too, and it may be annoying to surround spell casting with too many resource limits.

 

[DwarvenFood]

Might put this shit on the top-3 2011 games FFS.

 

[non]

 

[non]

Go vote! :D

http://roguelikedeveloper.blogspot.com/2011/12/request-for-votes-ascii-dreams.html

 

[Excidium]

Voted.