Daemon the 7DRL

I'm going to be entering this year's 7DRL, starting this forthcoming weekend, writing Daemon from scratch using Libtcod and C++. What is Daemon? According to its description over at the 7DRL blog its:

Occult-themed rogue-like symbolising a journal through the Qlippoth (the dark side of the Tree of Life) using the dark arts of the Goetia to gain power and to know thyself.

I'll update this blog with progress reports as the week progresses.

Daemon

I've scrapped the idea of rewriting Kharne. I'm currently coding the occult-themed roguelike as a new game called Daemon using C# and the libtcod.NET library.

I'm aiming to get a first version out (under the GPL) by the end of the month or so. It will be a complete game with save/load and a win condition, as I've largely used the framework I wrote for my 7DRL, Stygia.

Have some gratuitous screenshots:

Enochian

Well, that's a function for rendering _Enochian_ on the fly using Libtcod.NET completed. I'm using Enonchian as a general purpose magical language to add atmosphere and mystique.

Welcome Kharne v3

So, I've decided to take my existing 7DRL, Stygia (which is a complete game) and use it as a framework to commence an in-parallel (and much less ambitious) rewrite of Kharne, using C# and Libtcod.NET. This one will have a slightly darker, less generic theme (with a magical system based entirely on Goetic magick) and will focus more on atmosphere and personal horror.

No doubt there will be extra-dimensional tentacles involved somewhere.

Don't worry, there will be another release of the existing Kharne (Alpha 24) shortly.

And this mysterious text below? Why the big bad himself, that you will have to defeat. Kudos and a hug to the first person to recognise the language.

A new beginning?

Hmmmm

I'm really tempted to start rewriting Kharne in C# using Libtcod.NET

BRogue!

A new version of BRogue is out and its now fully cross-platform courtesy of Libtcod!

I've downloaded it but not played it yet other than a cursory wander through to check that it works. But I'm really looking forward to playing it!

Stygia - day 3

Here's the main menu:


Before I start working on the @ moving round the screen (and does libtcod make it easy!) I think I'll look into setting up a quick music player API (probably OGG files from The Rogue Bard) as this will give me much-needed practise in using different assemblies and wrappers.

Stygia - weekend 1

So, weekend 1 of Stgyia coding completed. Time spent so far: 3 hours. Managed to get the title screen and a framework set up (albeit in a glorified hello world-esque application):

But this is the same as his previous hello world application, I hear you cry. Not really. This is using the new C# wrappers for libtcod. I pretty much had to rewrite from scratch all my code.

Next stop, a main menu framework and doing some more framework code, so I can progress onto Step 3.

Incidentally, as well as the sources mentioned previously, the plot will also be inspired by this old (and criminally underrated, IMHO, CRPG).

One other thing I'm intending to do within the three months is to write all my data maintenance tools in ASP.NET.

An experiment....

Using Libtcod.NET and C# with Visual Studio 2008. I shall have to ponder what this means.

C#/Libtcod.net revisited.

I never got very far in the end with using libtcod.net to write a C# roguelike. Mainly due to various issues with setting it up, and a general development ennui which had enveloped me over the winter (major personal issues & upheaval didn't help either).

I do see that there's a new version out now with improved C# documentation. I don't intend to start work on a C# roguelike until I get Kharne complete.

But after that I may end up writing some additional optional features (such as a hiscore/chat server in ASP.NET, which I have to learn soon for my day job.

Hello World Libtcod.NET Style

After quite a bit of unanticipated kerfuffle,I finally got the libtcod.net demo project to compile and run:

Its a start. :-)

An announcement.

My day job mainly involves using Delphi but the place where I work is moving to .NET and later this year, I'll will be taking the TS: Microsoft .NET Framework - Application Development Foundation Exam 70-536. As part of the learning process, I've decided to write a cut-down mini version of Kharne in C# (using the .NET 3.5 Framework) applying some of the lessons I'm currently learning in writing the main game. I intend for this mini-Kharne (I need a new name for it!) to be a prelude to the main game and to be something akin in size and complexity to Dweller.

I'm confident this won't affect development of the main game, as I've set myself limited goals and scope:

• A single dungeon with only a few levels.
• Only a dozen or so items with perhaps a half-dozen brands at most.
• A dozen or so different monsters.
• Only a few skills.
• Only two classes: Fighter and Mage.
• No Races and only four main stats: STR, DEX, CON, INT
  
• Only a few families of Spells.
• Traditional ASCII Display using libtcod-net.
  
• Simplified Inventory handling.
  

Effectively, in terms of effort, its a 7DRL spread out over a period of a couple of months. Eventually, I'd like to allow an export option to export characters from this mini-game to the main Kharne.

In terms of Kharne, the next tasks on the horizon (which have been partially implemented already but turned of in 0.02a) is to get skills, potions and scrolls working. When those are done, I'll release a 0.02b.