I am shocked and disappointed that my journal hasn't achieved sentience and updated you all on what I've been doing. Clearly, Dreamwidth is a failure.
Actually, things have been pretty busy the last few weeks, at work and at home, and I haven't had much time to update. So let's go into a more active posting rhythm. Starting now.
This weekend, I saw two recommendations for Desktop Dungeons. The first was from![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
yeloson on Deeper in the Game, the second was from baf at The Stack. I guess it's experiencing a bump in popularity following a new version (and a bugfix for the new version).
It's a roguelike RPG, but not in the more common senses. You're fighting monsters in a dungeon and picking up treasure and gaining experience (RPG) and the dungeon is randomly generated (roguelike), but the game is an exercise in planning and preparation, but beyond that, randomness has less to do with things than you'd expect. All the monsters wait patiently for you to begin combat, and everyone's stats are available for viewing at any time. Knowing the outcome of a battle is usually just a matter of simple math.
It's most similar to DROD RPG, which is the non-roguelike (that is, human-designed instead of random) version of the same mechanic. I played DROD RPG for a while before I really understood what was going on, then I set it aside to start fresh. I never got back to it. I imagine I'll be all set for it once I'm done with Desktop Dungeons. Both games share a common ancestor in Tower of the Sorcerer. The influence of an intelligent designer makes DROD RPG (and Tower of the Sorcerer) much more puzzly and mazy. You fumble your way through the maze, then you go back and find ways of increasing your score, trying to grab the treasures that require special planning. But where DROD RPG is more intricate in layout, DD has a wider variety of monster and player abilities to keep the player involved.
Baf's article does a better job of describing DD's relation to DROD RPG and to another casual game, Oasis. I also had loads of fun playing Oasis, and now I kind of want to break that one out again too. The quick play of DD is actually making me feel like if I go back to either DROD RPG or Oasis, I'd be a stronger player.
DROD RPG is available for a free download. It comes with a demo for the premium dungeon, a level editor, and the ability to download user-created dungeons from the forum. Oasis has a trial version available. And Desktop Dungeons is a free download, and I recommend also picking up Derek Yu's custom tileset.
Between those, I'm sure you have no more time left.
Actually, things have been pretty busy the last few weeks, at work and at home, and I haven't had much time to update. So let's go into a more active posting rhythm. Starting now.
This weekend, I saw two recommendations for Desktop Dungeons. The first was from
yeloson on Deeper in the Game, the second was from baf at The Stack. I guess it's experiencing a bump in popularity following a new version (and a bugfix for the new version).It's a roguelike RPG, but not in the more common senses. You're fighting monsters in a dungeon and picking up treasure and gaining experience (RPG) and the dungeon is randomly generated (roguelike), but the game is an exercise in planning and preparation, but beyond that, randomness has less to do with things than you'd expect. All the monsters wait patiently for you to begin combat, and everyone's stats are available for viewing at any time. Knowing the outcome of a battle is usually just a matter of simple math.
It's most similar to DROD RPG, which is the non-roguelike (that is, human-designed instead of random) version of the same mechanic. I played DROD RPG for a while before I really understood what was going on, then I set it aside to start fresh. I never got back to it. I imagine I'll be all set for it once I'm done with Desktop Dungeons. Both games share a common ancestor in Tower of the Sorcerer. The influence of an intelligent designer makes DROD RPG (and Tower of the Sorcerer) much more puzzly and mazy. You fumble your way through the maze, then you go back and find ways of increasing your score, trying to grab the treasures that require special planning. But where DROD RPG is more intricate in layout, DD has a wider variety of monster and player abilities to keep the player involved.
Baf's article does a better job of describing DD's relation to DROD RPG and to another casual game, Oasis. I also had loads of fun playing Oasis, and now I kind of want to break that one out again too. The quick play of DD is actually making me feel like if I go back to either DROD RPG or Oasis, I'd be a stronger player.
DROD RPG is available for a free download. It comes with a demo for the premium dungeon, a level editor, and the ability to download user-created dungeons from the forum. Oasis has a trial version available. And Desktop Dungeons is a free download, and I recommend also picking up Derek Yu's custom tileset.
Between those, I'm sure you have no more time left.