Grimrock

Are the lurkers affected by the light emitted by the guards?

I wonder what less difficult enemies could actually be. Maybe something that's actually killed by light? Or something slower? Something that won't kill you upon contact but add a status effect (confusion, making you step in the wrong direction from time to time...)?

Another way to lessen the difficulty could be to give the player some external help. Like friendly creatures to help you... teleport scrolls... "zone protection" scroll... invisibility potion... speed potion...

Still, a sample of two is small and may mislead you :p. You can add variety with harder enemies too .

A big part of the joy I get from Roguelikes is finding new enemies / items / things. I like variety, as it's part of exploring the world and the game mechanics. Ideas for different mechanics you can use for enemies and light...

1. An enemy that simply freezes in the light (but can move again after N turns of being in the dark again).

2. A monster that dies in too much light.

3. A monster that has a cloud of darkness around it (1-space radius) that blocks light from going further.

4. A monster that is blinded by light and simply moves randomly in the light.

Of course, there are other mechanics that you can use too other than light. Like the usual status effects from enemy attacks such as slowing the player, poisoning the player etc. how about enemies that can emit a wall of fire that kicks around for a few turns with a 3-4 square range (but the fire wall emits light of course).

Just some random thoughts. If you want someone to alpha or beta test and give feedback and/or ideas - just PM me!

FlashSoul wrote:Are the lurkers affected by the light emitted by the guards?

Yes. And other light sources, too.

FlashSoul wrote:Another way to lessen the difficulty could be to give the player some external help. Like friendly creatures to help you... teleport scrolls... "zone protection" scroll... invisibility potion... speed potion...

Player empowerment isn't exactly a good idea when you're trying for a survival horror game.. any help would need to be strictly temporary, and most of the effects you list are pretty much already covered by the flashbangs.

FlashSoul wrote:Still, a sample of two is small and may mislead you :p. You can add variety with harder enemies too .

Well, true. Making harder enemies would be easy, but making harder enemies that are still fair isn't.

JohnWordsworth wrote:A big part of the joy I get from Roguelikes is finding new enemies / items / things. I like variety, as it's part of exploring the world and the game mechanics. Ideas for different mechanics you can use for enemies and light...

1. An enemy that simply freezes in the light (but can move again after N turns of being in the dark again).

2. A monster that dies in too much light.

3. A monster that has a cloud of darkness around it (1-space radius) that blocks light from going further.

4. A monster that is blinded by light and simply moves randomly in the light.

Of course, there are other mechanics that you can use too other than light. Like the usual status effects from enemy attacks such as slowing the player, poisoning the player etc. how about enemies that can emit a wall of fire that kicks around for a few turns with a 3-4 square range (but the fire wall emits light of course).

Just some random thoughts. If you want someone to alpha or beta test and give feedback and/or ideas - just PM me!

Some interesting ideas there, even some I haven't thought about =) There's a couple of things I'd rather not do if I can get away with it;
1. player empowerment (ways to fight back, basically)
2. more items to use (too many buttons as is, and I'd rather not use menus)
3. blatantly unfair things (like invisible trapdoors)

How is your Roguelike coming along Sol_HSA?

JohnWordsworth wrote:How is your Roguelike coming along Sol_HSA?

Been distracted by writing this little audio engine for a while..

Oh cool - your library looks neat. I've been playing with SDL quite a bit lately, so I'll definitely check this out!