Feature Requests for Rogue Touch - Part TWO!

[Boco_T]

Just got the game on Friday, love it!

I just have a small feature request.

Throw Slot - basically just a third square down at the bottom where you can "equip" an item that you want to throw. When you touch that spot, it changes the D-pad to red and asks what direct to throw it. That way, I don't have to keep going into the menu 5 times in a row when I'm across the room from an enemy and throwing arrows at them. Could/should probably be optional in the Settings.

That's the only thing I can think of that would make game be more smooth for me than it already is. Great job! Thanks.

[ohbejuan]

I would like you to change as little as possible. But I do like the selectable avatars suggestion.

[swhatley]

1) I don't think Leprechaun's should be as aggressive as they are in this version. It used to be ...

I have a suggestion to make the current situation more realistic. How about replacing Leprechauns with Lawyers! You can even user the same letter to represent them.

Enjoy life!
Steven

[acadian3]

I would like to see:

• A Nethack-style quiver you can put items into and fire from (just another equipment slot). When wielding a bow it would contain arrows for that bow. Otherwise it would contain arrows / darts / daggers to be thrown.
• A gesture to fire item in quiver (tap with three fingers?). With the "tap icon to fire" enabled I find myself accidentally clicking near it a LOT when I try and move down/down-left.
• Toggle in settings to increase size of directional attacks to a size close / identical to movement hotzones.
• Get rid of pinch/pull resizing. I think most people find their perfect screen size and never touch it again (because it's hard to get "just right" again).
• Add in gesture to pan the screen around (drag with two fingers?). If you move when panned it should snap back to the player.
• Monsters able to trigger traps if they walk across them.
• Identify items on death.
• Tapping screen during "death" screen hurries it up. Maybe tapping instantly shows the whole death screen and you can swipe up/down to scroll it?
• In-game way to suicide and get back to the main menu (like when you run out of food).
• New trap types - squeaky board (wakes up close monsters), polymorph monster trap (triggered by monsters).
• Change/fix walking in "wide" hallways so if I fast walk in one it does not pause at the next square in the wide hallway.
• Add a new color to show unexplored dark squares. It is hard to remember where you have not been yet in hallway mazes or dark rooms. Another option is showing room walls in a different color after they have been seen.
• More ways to discourage the need to search, which is an awkward gesture to do. See the following few suggestions.
• Lockout of "search" button after successfully finding a door. Search is re-enabled after moving or attacking.
• Auto-search when moving towards a dead-end in a hallway.
• Higher chance to detect traps when walking adjacent to them, even if not actively searching.
• Higher chance to disarm traps without a disarm traps ring when walking onto a known trap (no change to an unknown trap).
• Higher chance to find a door when walking by it if the square has already been seen. The idea is that walking along a north-south wall a few times should guarantee finding a hidden door, without the need to do the awkward "search x3, move two squares (because search examines 9 squares around you), search 3x, move two squares).
• Don't make it possible for a teleport trap (or pitfall) to spawn in front of a door when the room has no other entrances.
• Codex / Main Menu journal for secret characters. After using a secret character's name it appears in the Codex with a list of its starting equipment / perks and a one-two sentence description of them, plus a button to start playing as that character (pre-enters the name and starts the game). Zakia's "Discovered Secrets" thread has a good model. "Buffy's blessed weapons increase her vision and make her ideal for facing creatures with supernatural attacks in the mid to late game. She is a well-balanced character ideal for newer players that is easier than the default hero, but still challenging."

Other features that are worth talking about:

• Leprechauns / Nymphs teleport intra-level instead of disappearing with your gear (so you can chase them down and recover it, at the cost of food).
• Pray gesture. Lets you pray to your god. If hungry has a chance of making you full (high base chance of success). If low on hitpoints has a chance of healing you (low-medium base chance of success). Otherwise it could randomly uncurse you / enchant your weapon / enchant your armor / protect your armor / restore strength / whatever (low base chance of success). On failure nothing happens (high base chance) or you are smote (low base chance) - percentage reduction in max hitpoints / percent reduction in current hitpoints / strip protection from armor / reduce max strength by a few points. Prayer success becomes more likely as your step counter increases. After successful prayer the step counter is reset and being smote becomes much more likely.
• Alternate weapon set (melee for close, ranged for far). Gesture to switch between the two, and switching takes 0 turns so monsters cannot move / hit while you are doing it.
• Less / no pitfall traps, or move to lower levels, or make only possible during ascension. These feel really common at mid-levels.
• New ground item - statue. Can be Attacked by player and has chance of containing an item when destroyed.
• New trap - statue trap. If a player comes close it can come to life as that monster.
• New monster - gremlin. Multiplies when it gets wet (like with a water trap).

[acadian3]

And one other small feature - if you log back in to a level with something special ("you sense a great magic") then display the message again after the "welcome back <name>"

[CommanderData]

Acadian3, you have quite a thoughtful list of suggestions here!

I can't promise that many of them will make it into Rogue Touch, certain things that make the game even more playable without changing the nature of the base game of "Rogue" are the most likely candidates to include though! Some of the more interesting thoughts will almost certainly make an appearance in my next game which is in the early stages of development.

I'll be opening up a forum section specific to that game soon, with plans to solicit some more ideas and feedback, and perhaps start airing out some concept art so that everyone can see where this is heading!

[hefalumps]

Hello,

Long time Rogue fan, first time poster.

I have really been enjoying RogueTouch, even though I get so frustrated I want to throw my iPod across the room when I have a good character going that takes a quick and unfortunate turn (usually medusa or griffin).

I like a lot of the suggestions here, but I have one addition that I was hoping would be easy enough that it could make it into 1.6.

A lot of the old Rogue games had the "D" key, which would show you a list of things you had discovered about rings, potions, scrolls, etc. I would like to see this make its way back into RogueTouch (unless it's already there and I just haven't found it!). I find that if I have to stop mid-game and am not able to come back for awhile, I won't remember if I've already found a potion of demolition, so I don't know whether or not I should risk drinking this unknown potion in hopes it will help heal me! If I haven't found demolition, poison, blindness, or some of the other nasty potions, then I'm less likely to take the risk. But if I have found all those potions already, then bottoms up!

Hope this is something that wouldn't be too hard to add. Either that or an in-game journal so I could make my own notes about things I had discovered.

Thanks for the great work - love the game!

[nater]

I'm another person who played this game a great deal as a kid and couldn't be happier to see it come to the Iphone. Firstly as a general comment, I notice that this version is much easier than the original. The first game I played I got the amulet but died on the way out. The second game I actually made it out. This was something that would only happen once in about a hundred games in the original version. There is good and bad to the current approach. Fun to win, but not as big a triumph when it happens.

Suggestions:

Regarding the Scare Monster Scroll: Admittedly you should not be able to pick a scare monster scroll up again and use it a second time, but in the original game (or at least the Mac version I played) allowed you to step onto a square without picking up an object, or at least if your inventory was full you could step onto the square and use the scroll again without having it turn to dust. Also in the version I played, monsters would refuse to step on the square with the scare monster scroll on it even before you picked it up. If you saw a monster dodging around a square with a scroll on it you would know it was scare monster before you picked it up.

Discernment: In the Mac version I used to play, you could get a potion of "discernment" which, if drank (drunken?) would give you a little warning everytime you were about to put on or wield a cursed item or drink a bad potion or read a bad scroll. This system was one way to give you a hint about the identity of objects without identifying them either.

Scroll of Wild Magic: Remember that scroll? Extremely rare but it was great. You never knew what it would do but always something interesting. Sometimes it would say "Your pack grows yellow for a moment" and everything would be identified. Sometimes everything in your pack would get scattered all over the level. Sometimes you'd lose your memory and forget what all the objects were etc.

Love the new Battle Axe, War Hammer and other weapons. I notice that, unlike the original game, you can hurl these at monsters and then pick them up after the monster is defeated. This is a huge advantage and makes it far easier to deal with Medusas for example when you are confused by them. Just chuck your artillery at them and then pick them up for the next Medusa!

Those wands of paralysis are just too good. Get one of those with 7 charges and you're laughing.

Keep up the great work!!

[chyatt]

Such a great game!

Any chance of an update soon for iOS 4? Game play really lags with the new OS.

thanks!

[Pugachov]

I don't think you can change much without messing with the simple fabric of the game and making in non rogue like. With that said I do think there are a few simple things you can do to enhance the gameplay experience. 1) More noises, please 2) missile attack weapons for some monsters , the humble orc might be pretty scary throwing darts or shooting a bow if you are trying to fight off a centaur 3) vibrate or give a more clear warning before fainting. Fainting then getting p0wned by an opportunistic monster is my #1 cause of death 4) more character images to choose from. I don't think you need character classes that can be (effectively) accomplished with secret characters. If you did go for a character class you should increase the possibility of finding items useful for that character. So if I am playing potion master severus snape I should be slightly more likely to get a potion as an item instead of something else. 5) more and different stuff of course, like a cursed ring of hunger and other goodies 6) power mode. More of an option then a level of difficulty, this would greatly in case the chance of finding powerful magic items. The intent is not to make the game easier just that it is fun the have powerful stuff. Maybe you can mix in some super powerful monsters and extra deadly cursed items to balance it out. Love the game, you have made clothes shopping with my wife something to look forward to and I never thought that would have happened.