Amongst all the interesting and lively discussion surrounding the value and the meaning of the Roguelike Of The Year poll in the first place, somebody somewhere made a really nice suggestion that people should actively use the poll to find some promising Roguelike games and try them out.
http://roguelikedeveloper.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/full-results-for-ascii-dreams-roguelike.html
So that's what I've done, but using as the basis the performance of my own 'roguelike' in this particular poll. My own game did phenomenally well, scoring a total of 11 votes (one of them was me) and I mean that sincerely (totally exceeded my expectations). So I thought I would try and get a feel for games that are apparently as popular as mine, and it's fair to say that so far (for whatever reason) I appear to be in some very nice company.
I have chosen to have a closer look at all the games that were within one vote of mine, which are listed below, with my first impressions also below. Whilst I wouldn't consider myself an expert or authority on roguelikes, I'm a little disappointed that I haven't already played any of the roguelikes that made my shortlist, but at least that means this little exercise is doing what it is supposed to be doing :).
I'll be using subsequent posts in this blog to post some thoughts on these games as I get to grips with them in the early stages, and hopefully it will encourage people to check these games out (if you haven't already) or maybe try and devote some time to some of the other strange and wonderful sounding games that are out there on the list.
100 Heroes - 11 votes <- My game
PRIME - 11 votes
Steam Marines - 12 votes
Rogue's Tale - 10 votes
LambdaRogue - 11 votes
Castle Dungeon - 11 votes
Cargo Commander - 10 votes
First Impressions
PRIME
http://arcywidmo.republika.pl/prime/
An extension and reworking of a roguelike called Zap'm, summarised as NetHack in space. I'm certainly intrigued, and the ASCII interface looks recognisably NetHack. I notice there appears to be a character class called a toilet scrubber, and my interest is piqued even further. Can't wait to dive right in.
Steam Marines
http://www.steammarines.com/
Procedurally generated spaceships, gorgeous looking graphics reminiscent of a SNES, and the promise of controlling a squad of up to four marines in a 'steam punk spaceship'. I'm sure I've seen that concept before, but this game looks like it has a genuine character all of it's own. I really am looking forward to playing this one, as well.
Rogue's Tale
http://rogue.epixx.org/
I'm actually slightly confused at first glance as to what I am looking at. This game is another cracker to look at, clearly, but there is some sort of online registration thing that I can do to make a high level character. Apparently this game follows the Berlin Interpretation closely, so I should be expecting some classical Rogue gameplay. I'm less excited to actually start playing this, as I've not been suckered by a USP or some easy on the ears catch line, but I remain intrigued to see what this game has in store.
LambdaRogue
http://lambdarogue.net/
Amaterasu, oh wise and munificent god - why have you held this knowledge back from me all these years? Did you really try and hide this from me?
This game sounds awesome, and another beautiful looking thing whether it's compared against the grotesque form of the Roguelike or anything else. This bills itself as a Roguelike with an intuitive interface and a strong concentration on story, and has been in development for 6 years.
Castle Dungeon
http://goldenhammersoftware.com/castledungeon.html
Castle Dungeon is a roguelike for Kindle eInk devices. I won't get a chance to playtest this, as I don't have a compatible Kindle, but I'm really happy that somebody has gone ahead and done this. The game looks simple, as would be expected on a monochrome Kindle device, but I can't really gather too much more without playing it.
Cargo Commander
http://playcargocommander.com
A commercial roguelike, available on Steam, and looks to consist of some really nicely done procedurally generated levels consisting of large interlinked cargo containers floating about in space. You get to control a 'working class hero' zapping things within these containers, floating about in space, or destroying the environment as you see fit. The game is presented in full, glorious, rotating 3D and it looks like a lot of fun. At the time of writing it is available on sale for just under two quid on Steam (normally retailing at £6.99).
Also see http://roguebasin.roguelikedevelopment.org/index.php?title=Main_Page for some further descriptions of the games, provided generally by the developer's or the relevant community in wiki form.
Crikey, my silly little game is in some really good company, and I feel a little bit like a fraud. Oh well, onwards we go.
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