Duration: 11:07

613 views

11

Into The Labyrinth, by badscribbler

I'm on the fence here. (Don't mind what little there is, it's early-alpha so I'm looking only at the core mechanics.) Multi-character roguelikes tend to be infamously difficult to design for, and some hardcore fans would even say that a game with more than one character is a point against it being a roguelike at all. Regarding the latter, I have no qualms so long as it doesn't disrupt the flow of the game, which brings us to the former point. As roguelikes are tick-based, where each action is one's decision to act, how should multi-character actions be portrayed? Is there more than one @ to move? What is the order of decisions? A great deal of depth is introduced and this is why such things can be a stumbling block, if not a development block altogether.

This game makes the bold choice to sacrifice a part of the non-modality inherent in many roguelikes to simplify combat interaction: bumping an enemy opens up a combat screen that lasts for exactly one tick. There's no sub-time units, so I don't know how fast and slow actions would be figured out (if they'll exist at all) but I'm very interested to see where this will go. It reminds me a little of the later "Might and Magic" games, where the party is a single unit and has its own turns to take (mostly real-time but allows you to pause and play as this does).

So... I'm interested. I don't think there's enough content to decide if I like it or not, mostly because I try to be as aware as possible when it comes to what I'm actually liking about a game. But I'm also interested what you guys think, so don't be afraid to put a few words down there in that comments box. Normally I don't push for them but this game felt so strange and am wondering if it's the same for others. So yeah!

Website: http://roguebasin.roguelikedevelopmen...