Your parting comments about "gameplay FIRST" intrigued me, especially pertaining to Rogue and it's brethren/spawn. While "gameplay first, then audio/visuals" makes general sense, I wonder if the appeal of the "Rogue" genre is their LACK of audio/visuals!
I wonder if piling slick audio-visuals to the "Rogue/Nethack" experience actually IMPEDES on the fundamental appeal of Rogue? Some of the variants actually have much slicker graphics, yet are generally less popular than the basic "Nethack" that seems to persist to this day. For example, "Falcon's Eye" had a graphical 3/4 perspective, yet remains one of the more obscure variants of Nethack. Personally, I disliked the barren graphics of the original (and even updated 16-bit) Rogues, yet found the 3/4 perspective of "Falcon's Eye" off-putting.
In order to test my theory, I put to you the example of the SLICKEST variant of Rogue, audio-visually, that I have come across (unless you count "Diablo" as a Rogue variant). This variant is called SECRET OF ULTIMATE LEGENDARY FANTASY UNLEASHED, or "SoulFu" for short, as it is popularly called.
"SoulFu" is freeware, and is available on Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms. The game's definitely worth checking out, so here's the link to the homepage:
(There are screenshots and cool gameplay videos on the homepage, but I couldn't figure out how to embed "Google Video" format here, so you'll have to go there to see them).
"SoulFu" has most (if not all) of the base gameplay elements of Rogue/Nethack, but adds a modern, slick, full-3D cel-shaded polygon graphics interface to the game. The game is smooth, inviting, and attractive, and would look right at home on the Nintendo Wii, especially with the "anime" graphics style. By going real-time 3D, though, it turns the Rogue-style combat to an almost arcadish slash-fest, not unlike Diablo.
The game lacks a "save game" feature, which KILLS it as a long-term addiction classic in my book, and is a serious omission. But otherwise, I like it!
But does this make "Rogue" more accessible, or does it kill the appeal of "Rogue" by adding "slickness" to it? Maybe the primitiven interfaces of the old-school "Rogue-alikes" are their primary appeal!
(P.S. I downloaded "Dwarf Fortress," which is probably the most hardcore variant of "Rogue" I've come across, and found it impenetrable. The primitive ASCII graphics made the game even more impenetrable. And this game is, by most accounts, an astounding accomplishment, gameplay wise.)
Great episode, Matt.
Your parting comments about "gameplay FIRST" intrigued me, especially pertaining to Rogue and it's brethren/spawn. While "gameplay first, then audio/visuals" makes general sense, I wonder if the appeal of the "Rogue" genre is their LACK of audio/visuals!
I wonder if piling slick audio-visuals to the "Rogue/Nethack" experience actually IMPEDES on the fundamental appeal of Rogue? Some of the variants actually have much slicker graphics, yet are generally less popular than the basic "Nethack" that seems to persist to this day. For example, "Falcon's Eye" had a graphical 3/4 perspective, yet remains one of the more obscure variants of Nethack. Personally, I disliked the barren graphics of the original (and even updated 16-bit) Rogues, yet found the 3/4 perspective of "Falcon's Eye" off-putting.
In order to test my theory, I put to you the example of the SLICKEST variant of Rogue, audio-visually, that I have come across (unless you count "Diablo" as a Rogue variant). This variant is called SECRET OF ULTIMATE LEGENDARY FANTASY UNLEASHED, or "SoulFu" for short, as it is popularly called.
"SoulFu" is freeware, and is available on Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms. The game's definitely worth checking out, so here's the link to the homepage:
http://www.aaronbishopgames.com/
(There are screenshots and cool gameplay videos on the homepage, but I couldn't figure out how to embed "Google Video" format here, so you'll have to go there to see them).
"SoulFu" has most (if not all) of the base gameplay elements of Rogue/Nethack, but adds a modern, slick, full-3D cel-shaded polygon graphics interface to the game. The game is smooth, inviting, and attractive, and would look right at home on the Nintendo Wii, especially with the "anime" graphics style. By going real-time 3D, though, it turns the Rogue-style combat to an almost arcadish slash-fest, not unlike Diablo.
The game lacks a "save game" feature, which KILLS it as a long-term addiction classic in my book, and is a serious omission. But otherwise, I like it!
But does this make "Rogue" more accessible, or does it kill the appeal of "Rogue" by adding "slickness" to it? Maybe the primitiven interfaces of the old-school "Rogue-alikes" are their primary appeal!
(P.S. I downloaded "Dwarf Fortress," which is probably the most hardcore variant of "Rogue" I've come across, and found it impenetrable. The primitive ASCII graphics made the game even more impenetrable. And this game is, by most accounts, an astounding accomplishment, gameplay wise.)
qoj hpmoj o+ 6uo73q 3Jv 3svq jnoh 77V