Stygia - some initial design thoughts

One of the things I'm planning to do with Stygia is to not overreach myself - something that sadly, Kharne suffers from. To get the game done in 3 months, I'm going to limit the initial version to something achievable:

• One main persistent dungeon, with around a dozen levels (with varying themes). Dungeons will be smaller than those in Kharne.
• No character classes.
• Characters will have fewer stats then Kharne. I'm currently thinking of only having Strength, Agility, Constitution and Intelligence as the main stats.
• Only a few skills, e.g. Fighting, Defense, Subterfuge and Spellcasting.
• Only a limited number of items and brands.
• A limited selection of spells (perhaps just over a dozen, giving just enough to initially make magic playable and no more).
• Around a dozen types of enemies.

By limiting the scope, I hope to get an actual game out, which some of us perpetual roguelike programmers seem to forget to do.

Beyond this, I have a whole spreadsheet filled with ideas I want to implement in both Stygia and Kharne, culled from other roguelikes and near-endless searching of a decade of r.g.r.d's archives.

Town Levels?

I've had a sudden crisis of confidence regarding my town level. It will probably be the last thing finished, but I find myself asking: do I really need it? Its very incomplete at the moment - no NPCs or plot-related items.

Here are some alternatives:

• Get rid of town levels entirely and adopt the Crawl approach.
• Get rid of town levels as such and allow their functionality to be inherent (for example the character has a device that can teleport him/her to an "extraplanar shop" at regular intervals)
  
• Implement regular "outpost" levels (that would be safe) that function as mini-towns.
  
• Implement an overworld (or rather oververse) map (almost like the old version of Kharne)
  

At this point I'm not sure what I want. Analysis paralysis ahoy.

Bah, I hate having existential crises!

7DRL and Cosmology

This year's 7DRL Challenge is fast approaching and I'm seriously interested in taking part. I have a (what I consider to be a) neat idea for a 7DRL that ties into my interests outside of programming. Any more than this, I'd rather not say at this moment. Although I considered writing it in a language other than Delphi, I'm going to stay with Delphi (for this one) and reuse some of the code I've already written for Kharne (e.g. FoV).

In other news, I've aquired a dead-tree version of the Manual of the Planes (an excellent tome, incidentally) and its quite alarming to see just how much the DnD Cosmology (here in its latest format) has influenced my vision for Kharne (the answer is, in case you are wondering, "a lot"). Not that this is a bad thing of course. Some of this perhaps is a legacy of the original Kharne being AD&D based, some of it because I've played the various incarnations of D&D for decades now. But it is interesting to step back occasionally and see how environmental and cultural influnces influence not only your own psychology but your output as well.

Of course, this may mean that, should Kharne ever get released and take off and turn into a multi-person effort, other people may have to suffer my idiosyncratic design desisions. Perhaps this a bridge best crossed whenever we come to it.

What can Roguelike Developers learn from MMORPGs?

My original post on the relationship between MMORPGs and Roguelikes seems to have caused a bit of a stir, judging by some of the comments. I've clarified my thoughts in the comments there. Meanwhile, I'd like to ask a few follow-up questions on the subject:

1. What can Roguelike Developers learn from MMORPGs?

2. Are there any features in an MMORPG that should (or could) be implemented in Roguelikes?

Or alternatively:

3. Are there any features from Roguelikes that would work well in an MMORPG?

There are a few features in MMORPGs that I'm considering adding to the (ever-expanding) todo list for Kharne once I restart development, but in the meantime I'd like to hear your thoughts on what you'd like to see in Roguelikes in general (not just Kharne).