I ported my A* pathfinding code from my 7DRL 2011 entry, GnomeSquad into "get ye axe".

Now that I have the channel code down, passing stuff back and forth between javascript and python is (relatively) simple.

My current game is a great example of why I love nethack. I am playing a healer and I have had really horrible luck with pets dying. What I needed was something... more powerful. Something that could eat those pesky shopkeepers and cross-aligned priests so that I can convert their stupid altars. 

Luckily, I found a polymorph trap. Since I don't yet have magic resistance this was a lucky find (last time I literally stumbled into it and turned into a queen bee for about 600 turns). As I have yet to find a magic whistle, leash, or any way of controlling my pet, I constructed a rather useful fort of boulders...

Before

After

The greatest part? This was after only my first try.

Thanks to liberal debugging via Firefox and the firebug plug-in, I have working two-way communication from the browser to the app engine via the channel functionality. I have almost no idea how it works... but it does!

Mostly just for test purposes, I made the same map (in HTML5) click-able and it now dynamically updates (ajax style I guess?) the terrain type at the bottom of the page. Seems a bit slow but at this point I have not done any kind of optimization or testing so no surprises there.

Onwards!

Google app engine is fun.
JavaScript... not so much.

Here's what 'get ye axe' looks like so far. I'm trying to use the HTML5 canvas element for the front-end since I have no desire to learn flash.

Keep looking...

Not much to look at yet but actually further than I thought I would be at this point. The idea is that a lot of the path-finding and dungeon generation and field of view code that I made for AarrrRL and GnomeSquad will carry over quite easily to the new game. It's all in python!

Experimenting with google app engine, and using it to make a game.

The idea is to use this space as a devblog, and track the game through it's life-cycle. Judging from my previous gaming attempts, this life-cycle will be extremely short.

Here's the idea:

scribbly ye axe

It's sort of like the slow-form simple strategy (and backstabbing) of  Neptune's Pride...

Neptune's Pride

plus the dungeons and random potions and scrolls of nethack...

Nethack

plus multi-player tactical gameplay ala shining force, or x-com, or GnomeSquad?? (just throwing it out there!)

Shining Force 2

GnomeSquad

plus the asynchronous nature of mobile games like wordfeud...

Wordfeud

Plus... oh hey did I mention the backstabbing? Anyways, that's it for now. Hopefully this spot will show the game as it progresses from "back of a letter scribble" to "hey this is a cool game you can actually play". Wish me luck.

Yeah I am trying out the android blogger app. For... some reasons that I'm sure will come to me later.

Also: new url!
Http://www.heroicfisticuffs.com

Apparently there is no way to add a link in this app?? Laaaame. Switching to tumblr NOW.

PM:theRL has a weird name. And a weird plot. But pretty soon after you start playing it, you figure out what is going on.

Look familiar? 

Needless to say, PM the RL is a roguelike version of a certain classic arcade game. It is short and to the point. I actually had a lot of fun playing this game. It is pretty nerve-wracking to not be able to see the enemy ghosts at all times. You never know when you are going to turn a corner and run into one of them. Then again, the turn-based nature of roguelikes makes avoiding the ghosts somewhat easier. It's also pretty excruciating in that often you can KNOW beforehand that you are screwed: e.g. if you are trapped in a corridor with two ghosts and can see that one of them will get to you in less than the number of steps you need to take to get to a side-corridor.

But that is the kind of excruciating that is fun! (Roguelikes might be the only genre where this is an acceptable statement.)

I also like that the author included the right-to-left-side level teleport as in the original game; that was a nice touch.

OR IS IT???

PM:theRL is an experimental take on a classic game. In this case, the experiment is a success. Short, fun, and mildly terrifying.

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You can find a list of all 7DR L2011 finishers on roguebasin or temple of the roguelike.

Dwarftown is the 2011 7DRL entry by hmp.

The game is a fairly traditional dungeon diver roguelike. Except without any actual diving. Instead, progress is made by progressing further and further into the more difficult areas of the world. You start out in a peaceful wood, with bears and squirrels running about and not bothering you. Eventually you will find the rat caves (rats, bats) and from there Dwarftown (goblins, ogres) and the Dwarftown Market (mimics!).

Don't poke the bear.

Like many entrants in this year's 7DRL challenge, Dwarftown uses the libtcod library. However, just using the library does not mean that a game automatically looks good. Dwarftown has a ton of polish in this regard. The colors are nicely done, and the lighting is both nice to look at and tactical. For example, when you first get to the rat caves it is hard to see what is going on and rats kept sneaking up on me. Your character starts with a torch (there are also torches to find in the dungeon) that can be lit. Once lit, the dungeon becomes much more manageable, but only until your lighting lasts!

Dynamic lighting. Also glowing fungus!

Dwarftown itself especially makes good use of the dynamic lighting engine.

The gameplay in Dwarftown feels solid. The monsters seem to take an appropriate amount of bashing to kill, and I was not surprised to be killed by the various things that killed me. (e.g. I would not expect to do well against a level 5 Ogre with my meager 1d6 sword)

The game itself is smooth and had no lag or errant pixels or anything on my windows XP machine. I know from experience that designing a scrolling map is a pain in the ass. Coupled with tons of bears and squirrels running around each step I expected some sort of slow down, but never saw any. Kudos to hmp for creating such a fine experience.

I never did make it out of Dwarftown alive, but I did find lots of cool stuff in the abandoned markets. (Just watch out for mimics).

"O" shit, indeed.

Dwarftown is a simple but polished classic roguelike. Certainly an awesome achievement for a 7DRL. Go play it for yourself!

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You can find a list of all 7DR L2011 finishers on roguebasin or temple of the roguelike.