Andrew Doull on Permadeath

Andrew Doull analyses The Game Design Lessons Of Permadeath (with a followup analysis by Cuboidz here).

Refactoring for Persistance

Saving and Loading Games would be nice, but before I even attempt to implement that, I need to do a codebase-wide refactor. Currently I have numerous global variables that I have used to store various state data, e.g. the number of turns that have passed, the current level depth, and so on. I really need to store all these in a "game-state" object that is instantiated on starting a game (and this is one of the nice things about C# - that everthing is an object). If I do this, it will make saving and loading a heck of a lot easier to implement. In fact, it would make it decidedly trivial.

Additionally, this gets rid of all those nasty global variables that currently litter my code, and in itself this is a good thing, as they are (and I agree with this) "considered harmful".

(N.B. when I talk about saving and loading, I don't mean in the style of the old Kharne, where you could freely reload saved games, but rather in the traditional roguelike sense of "saving a game and then restarting it within the framework of permadeath")

Metaphorical Hydras Return

There's an old phrase: 'You can't keep a good idea down'. Or maybe its actually 'You can't keep a bad idea down'. The old argument over save-scumming has resurfaced again like some metaphorical hydra that periodically creeps from the unthinking depths back towards the light of discussion. And again, people are trying to slay all the heads with fire. This subject has in the past produced much more heat than light amongst devotees of roguelikes, and this time appears to be no exception.

Now, I have save-scummed in the past (years ago, mainly an early version of T.O.M.E. but also once on v4.0.0b26 of Crawl) but for various reasons I no longer do it (the primarily one is that I found that it takes the fun out of the game for me), but I'm firmly of the school of thought if that someone wants to save-scum, let them. As long as its all above-aboard. and out in the open Roguelike gameplay is generally not designed to be save-scummed, but if someone wants to, all I can do is shrug and not actually give a damn.

As long as they don't claim that they're a wonderful player, of course.

Thoughts on Permadeath

"You must pay for your mistakes and choices, sometimes at the cost of life. Restoring games is discouraged and only provided to allow continuing split games." - Roguetemple on Permadeath

As previously mentioned, one of the differences in this version of Kharne is that the game wil be balanced around the implementation of permadeath. However, I do want to extend to the player the possibility of getting around permadeath. Not as a buffer for gross stupidity (the penalty for that in a Roguelike should always be death) but rather as reward for additional preparation and careful play.

So what could be implemented that wouldn't be overpowered? Roguebasin lists many alternatives, but there are a few in particular I think could be easily implemented in Kharne. The first are powerful necromantic magical spells would give the player a chance of ressurecting. Of course, there would be a heavy price to pay for such twisting of fate (perhaps coming back as an undead, which would be a whole different game experience). Another is a powerful artifact (which should be unique, albeit randomly found) that allows a single resurrection under certain circumstances. Again, there should be a penalty associated with use.

What I haven't mentioned is resurrection by deity. The original Kharne had a half-implemented (and -arsed) deity system. Although I've not played it, the roguelike Incursion appears to have a textbook resurrection by deity system:

"...in Incursion...The basic theory is that if you're in good standing with your diety, he can ressurect you if you die, but (A) some of the gods don't do this, while others do it only at varying levels of favor, (B) you lose an experience level as well as a point of Constitution when you get raised, and move back to the start of the dungeon (or the local temple, when I get wilderness levels done), (C) you need to attain a certain minimum character level before being raised and (D) you have a ressurection survival chance that is nearly certain the first time, and grows worse and worse with each death -- so it's only "certain" the first time."

I'm not convinced about this, but perhaps if deities are implemented in the new Kharne, this sort of system might be worth considering. What do you think?