Different Geyser Phases
As you can see, there are no geysers inside the game! These will be used for a variety of different things in the final game, such as recharging fuel cells, to propelling you to higher altitudes (if there’s a rock on top to protect you from the burst of fire hot steam that is!) Otherwise, they will cause you great pain if you touch them unprotected!
A series of geyser sprites
Well, this project is going in all the right directions, and since I have learned quite a bit of programming now I may ACTUALLY finish it! The unwritten goals for this projects are: randomly generated areas (pretty much all that this demo shows off so far) and high score via intense arcade like action (not yet added 
) Anyways, you can download the demo here (shows off the map generation I have going in a fancyish way) Also, you can hit ‘r’ while viewing the demo to generate a new random map. This has taken me about… 8-9 hours at this point (to make the generation algorithm, which I then ported from C++ to Java because I wanted to use graphics and I only know how to in Java thus far.) Here’s a screenshot for the only slightly curious:
This is only a portion of the screen, mainly since I wanted to retain the full zoom level and still show what the generator is capable of somewhat. Download the .rar file though to experience all that it has to offer (not much yet!)
I’ve been fooling around with the script some more. Here is the game with a very basic tileset I made.
Added a chance to generate a worn dungeon floor. These basically (for now) are rooms that have been carved away by time, and are less uniform than your average floor.
So, been continuing to fool with the source, and now there are doors and a recursive checker in place to make sure that each floor is of a desired size (to easily weed out floors that are too small.)
So, I’ve been twiddling my thumbs, so to speak, for the last month or so. However, I have been learning some VB.net and C++ in my classes, and today, decided to get pdcurses up and running. I managed to get a basic terminal output, and began working on a minor experiment of a roguelike map generator. I most likely won’t make a full blown roguelike, but it’s still fun to experiment!
The plus signs in the middle of each room are still left because I am using them as markers of where the middle of each room is. Right now I’m working on making a recursive function to determine if any rooms are disconnected from the main dungeon, so as to exclude down/up stairs from them, and perhaps make them vaults or other special rooms requiring teleportation or digging to get to them.
Well, I’ve been debating what to add to the game, and I realize now, I need a good planned outline for this to be a success. I’ve recently tidied up the map graphics, tweaked speeds a tiny bit, and you now have to explore to reveal the map / goal. My plans for this game are to make it somewhat of a roguelike but without the turn based attribute. This idea is pretty much inspired by Spelunky (which by the way is an awesome game), but I aim to combine the fast action that Spelunky is so good at a more long term aspiration (in detail further down), all with a zelda-like flavor of combat. This is quite an ambitious goal, I know, but that is the plan so far. Of course, for those who read this blog regularly, you know my commitment to projects isn’t the best, but I do aim to at least work on it to the point of there being some challenge to it.
That being said, I will most likely begin working on some sort of combat system today. I want there to be a sword, bow, and bombs in the game to start, and at least three monster types. The idea is that even though your character will die and be lost forever, that you will be able to constantly improve other things, such as stats that may unlock new game modes and features in the program. One such game mode may be multiplayer, but it would require unlocking most likely, and not be available from the beginning (to avoid new players not understanding the game) and it would be fairly easy to unlock, by simply getting to floor 3 or something in single player.
Now, there are a few major hurdles to overcome for this to be a success. Porting it to an applet is one minor concern, but shouldn’t be too hard. Also, learning to do real-time networking is a big hurdle to overcome. Here is the plan I have laid out thus far.
Keep in mind that this list of goals is subject to change at ANY time, and is in no way a guarantee. Also, the features mentioned are things that I plan to have before or at that version release, and therefore, they could come sooner. If they will come later, I will most likely make a new post about it, to let anyone who’s following the project know.
v10 – Implement a challenge (monsters, combat) into the game, and high scores
v20 – Increase the span of the dungeon to more than one floor worth of rooms, and redo the generator to produce more interesting results.
v30 – Implement statistic framework for achievements and rewards (though no rewards yet)
v40 – By this release I am 10 versions away from alpha stage, and I will basically be polishing off all the features added in the last 39 versions, and also preparing minor tweaks to get it ready for v50
v50 – Alpha release of the game. This is the first release that I will deem ready for play. Although I do promote anyone that wants to, to test out the prior releases (if made available) it would be mainly to help me with testing and not to just play for fun. So by this release, the game has to be fun to play.
v60-v100 – Mainly unplanned for now. Key features of these releases may include multiplayer, rewards, online high scores, applet version of the game with its own website, etc. This is the phase of the game from alpha to beta (v90) to release (v100 or 1.0)
Any comments on my outlining plan? Please leave them as a comment below or twitter me (Epitaph64) with them!
A chilling update
And with ice!
Report any bugs to me, please!
I reserve ALL rights to this program as of this release, and until notified otherwise. You may not use this program in any way other than to preview what I’ve created.
