A look at Rogue Touch, and the future of Rogue-Like gaming

[GriffinBait]

I'm an old Nethacker and there are strategies and experiences there that I miss playing Rogue Touch. I'd like to suggest a few little ones that won't ruin the experience for Rogue purists:

1) The monsters need to be subject to traps just like us characters. It's nice when a Troll finds trapdoor or a rust trap for me. If you want to be cute, you can let the flying monsters hover above the hole and come after me.
2) Speaking of traps, how about leaving a stash of darts or arrows behind when I disarm a trap. It's a great motivator for trying to disarm them and a payback for all of that self inflicted pushment.
3) I'd like to pillage more loot from my kills so I think the probability of getting something from a monster with hands should be higher. As a suggestion, Centaurs should be a good source of bows, arrows, crossbows and bolts; Trolls, Orcs and Goblins might be good for swords, axes and hammers.
4) Let me zap myself with wands, like speed monster, make invisible or teleport away. You can let the spell expire when I change levels.
5) I gotta have a dip command so that I can use potions of blessing to bless my weapons. I realize this would give players access to a very powerful upgrade, but the potions of blessing are pretty rare and I don't think it will lead to runaway score inflation.
6) A small nit on a special character: Buffy should start with better than average strength (at least 18) and the character had healing powers so she should start with a ring of regeneration.

Otherwise, I love the Rogue lite version for building up a character. I think it gives us diehards a way to change up the game and keep it fun. I'd like to have the ability to shop (gotta do something with all that gold) but Rogue Lite is a good compromise. And good luck with your other endeavor--I'll keep busy with Rogue Touch while I wait for it.

GriffinBait

[oldroguer]

I've been playing Rogue-likes for decades and I love Rogue Touch. I agree that Dip would be great. If Blessing is too much, maybe just confusion, blindness, poison, etc. Arrows of confusion would be very handy at times.

As for PUT, one aspect I like from other games is the concept of skill points. As you level up you receive a certain number of skill points which you can apply to develop various skills. Range, melee, spell casting, etc. Let's you develop your character along whatever line you want. While we're on the topic of spell casting, would love to find offensive and defensive books of spells that I could learn and cast instead of using a weapon.

Keep up the great work...can't wait to see what you come up with.

OldRoguer

[CommanderData]

Just wanted to let everyone know I'm still here and reading and looking! This week I am looking to contract an additional artist to really get things moving on "PUT", as my current artist has a full plate juggling other projects. Of course mine is the most important one (to me anyway)! There are some impressive talents out there, just got some samples from an individual who's worked on some very high profile commercial Nintendo DS games among other things

I'll comment a bit more on Rogue Touch updates soon too. The suggestions Griffin Bait has (as a Nethack player) are of course very interesting, but all of those actions were invented in 1987 for Nethack. Adding these to Rogue Touch would start moving it away from classic Rogue too much I think (I am teetering too close to that already with my elemental weaponry). With that said, I DO think there are things like this that can be implemented in "PUT" for interesting effects. Dipping is definitely a possibility. Zapping yourself in PUT was something I already had in mind, although the action may not be easy to accomplish all the time!

Anyway, more info will be shared as regularly as I can, and I will post definitely when an update has been submitted for RT so we can all count down the days.

[aggrome]

Just chiming in to say I love Rogue Touch and have played it way, way more than any other iPhone game.

That said, I am very excited to hear about the new project and extremely happy that it will be turn-based and a rogue-like type game!

Nothing substantive to add except I can't wait!

[swhatley]

CD,

Remember the complaints folks have made about not being able to track how many turns the game has taken? In the RT new features thread, I suggested tapping or double tapping the gold count indicator to have it toggle between gold count and turn count. I had also suggested similar toggles for Str/Dex and level name/Exp # indicators. The latter would free up room in the bottom indicators I don't have any idea what you could toggle with HP.

Thanks,
Steven

[Jim2wheels]

Jim2Wheels, I'm glad that you agree with the game-balancing changes I listed. You're correct that the leaderboards should probably be reset as well... maybe I'll alter the score submission system a bit so that it will only accept data from the most recent copy of the game too, so that people who do not upgrade won't pollute the board with unfair advantages

On action RPGs - I have played Dungeon Hunter through twice now. The second time was extremely tedious since the areas and stories are identical though... spoiled a bit by my own creations That and the *loot avalanche* you get through the game makes gold and virtually any item useless in the big picture. There's no real way to gain advantages through clever use of equipment. Just continuous little bumps of +2% to this stat or that stat. I found myself missing that awesome feeling of being particularly clever when I survive a "party room" in RT... It is an extremely beautiful game, but I think the replay value and challenge are lacking.

I have not played Demon's Souls, unfortunately I don't have a PS3 or know anyone with one. I'll try to get a feel for what the game is like by looking up some video and checking Gamefaqs... Care to share any other thoughts on what makes it special in your view? What draws you in to try just a bit harder next time?

*******

A few more details about the next game planned- it will still be a top down view, but the graphics will be layered a bit, everything will be larger and more detailed, and of course it will be fully animated. Basic control will share similarities to Rogue Touch (including fast-play, touch and D-pad modes), but will have some other improvements to streamline gameplay... one of those changes will make those of you who hated searching in RT very happy

Overall this new (still untitled) game will show obvious nods to the rogue-like genre, but will have many new twists. You can expect to see a new cast of monsters, but a few of your old favorites (or mortal enemies) may return as well.

Sorry for the slow reply, been a bit busy at work and home!

RE the Demon Souls game: the looting system is quite unique in that you gather souls for each kill rather than loot. The souls are spent on upgrading your stats (classic action rpg style such as strength, dexterity etc) and buying ammo if you wield a bow and such like, so careful spending is necessary - ammo or stats? However you cannot sell anything at all, so you can grind kills for currency/upgrading stats but you cannot sell what you find for loot as there is no loot. The level layouts and the way you progress through these is also unique (to me anyway ) as you have multiple levels with stages set within. Every time you die you can restart from any checkpoint and make you way back through areas you have already cleared once before, so creatures you have already killed always respawn no matter how many times you have gone through, so you can tackle any level at any time you wish. However if your character is not up to strength then it is practically impossible to go to a higher level (with bigger rewards) too early, but the choice is still there. If you die you lose all your unspent souls but have one chance to hack your way back through and rescue your loot via you bloodstain/point of death - but if you die on route then they are lost forever!! If you read a few reviews I'm sure it will explain it better than i have!

Also have recently completed Dungeon Hunter and i totally agree. It really is far too easy and feels quite repetitive

Anyway it is good to see you active in the forum again will be keeping a close eye on events