Indie Rogues Don't Cry, a roguelike/strategy game

[Fun Enters The Chat]

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Update: Demo available on Steam!

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Rogues Don't Cry is a strategy game with roguelike mechanics and real time combat, inspired by Heroes of Might And Magic and Battle Brothers.

You build a team, venture into the harsh world, get destroyed and die... then get back up and persevere until you win big and dominate your enemies.

It's got a unique feel and it's a challenge, but it's fair.



Typical roguelike elements

-Permanent consequences: if you lose you lose
-Procedural world with replayability
-Relatively short runs (3 to 7 hours)
-The goal is to beat a strong final boss
-Challenging
-Not much meta progression, so no grinding

Things that are different/more strategical

-You control a party/army instead of 1 character
-Battles are in real time with total controls of units
-Exploration is more like a strategy game, with enemies guarding treasures, and you having to choose what to attack
-There are some towns with simple building mechanics


I'm a solo dev who has been working on this for years. The game should launch in 2024 in Early Access (but a fully playable version like a beta).

Spoiler

Exploring

Setting up formation before battle

Spider web

 

[Darth Canoli]

If the rogues won't, someone else will certainly cry over the lost gameplay after checking this...

 

[Jermu]

Procedural world
Battles are in real time

anyway looks quite interesting

 

[Fun Enters The Chat]

Added a couple more pics in the top post. Plus one extra here

 

[buffalo bill]

so now tower defense games are roguelikes apparently

 

[xuerebx]

It's not a roguelike (turn based is bare minimum) like you were told on the roguelike subreddit. Perhaps a rogue-lite, or an arcade-y game.

 

[Fun Enters The Chat]

So the gameplay goes like this.

You enter your town, there is some simple town building. Then you choose who to recruit for your army. Units can have good and bad traits which can affect their abilities.
Every unit has its own stats and equipment.

Then you got out and explore. Before you start a battle, you choose which units to field and pick their formation / position, as well as change their behavior settings when needed.
Equipment can be changed right before battle to minimize inventory hassle. When battle starts, you have full control of your units.

Now for the more roguelike part. Unlike most strategy games, there's one objective: kill the final boss.

If you die you lose the game. In addition it's not a typical strategy game where everything you do can lead to victory and all units are equal.

There's lots of risk taking and gambles that will remind you of the roguelikes you played. There are diseases that are similar to mutations, you can find special powers that might alter the game significantly, there are dungeons and traps, among other things.

Is it a roguelike? Is it a strategy game? It's really a mix of both, because that's where I got my inspiration, from games like HOMM and Age of Wonders and the many roguelikes I played. But regardless of the genre I hope it's just fun, because I love both genres.

 

[Fun Enters The Chat]

Demo is finally done!

You can try it on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2352820/Rogues_Dont_Cry/

In the demo you level up your hero, build an army, explore, find items and face the final boss.


Tips

• Choose your units wisely. Axemen are good all around, swordmen are fast and deal a lot of damage, pikemen are great for supporting your front line.
• Ranged units can save you from being hurt, but they cost a lot and are less effective against fast units.
• Animals are usually fast but they can't wear weapons or armor.
• You can use the hospital at the town to heal your units, but you have limited uses.

Feel free to ask any questions, you can also join the discord: https://discord.gg/B9qtzAFKW3

 

[Fun Enters The Chat]

Hi everyone,

I listened to your feedback and fixed the most important issues.

• Added popup message on how to buy units to make it more clear.
• QOL: you can now right click on items to pick them up or towns to enter them, if they're within range.
• Fixed an issue where worldmap tooltips would stay open after an item pickup.
• Fixed quiet sound effects and other related sound issues.
• Fixed rare bug where stationary guards would chase you.
• Fixed bug where you could trigger a roaming monster at the start the game.
• Many minor tweaks and fixes.

If you have any issues or feedback, you can report them in the Discord: https://discord.gg/B9qtzAFKW3
There's also a send feedback button in the game settings menu.

Have fun.

 

[Fun Enters The Chat]

Hi everyone,

I just made some quick video tutorials to explain the mechanics of the game since some players were missing them.

They are short and to the point: tutorials (youtube)

The playlist will be updated with new videos if players find them useful.