Blind-friendly roguelike games

Sometime ago I’ve founded Russian MUD (text based multiplayer games) community in discord and there plenty of visually-impaired people. Some was interested to play roguelikes after listening my stream in Tangaria.

I’ve googled this topic a bit and found that actually atm there are 3 blind-friendly roguelike games. Good info about this topic could be found at roguelike radio podcast.

Also there is an option for text output description of objects on game screen in Nethack..

And finally I found a topic about Angband with this quote:

3. Introduce a “blind-friendly” option to Vanilla Angband. Drawback is that those maintaining Angband may not be keen on additional options and, again, that large changes may be awkward to implement / maintain.

Maybe it’s the time to start working on this option in Angband? As now the game went far forward in technical aspects.. What do we need:

the option to output text description of room – so player will be able to get information about surroundings when they change – in text format. For example.. Player got 0,0 coordinates. All objects around him got relative coordinates. So each turn player will get something like this in Message Window:

“Door 5N3W. Goblin 2S1W. Magic Wand 1N2E”

Also using ‘l’ook command player could  understand where walls and other static objects located..

Maybe there are better ways to represent surroundings.. Lets brainstorm!

As we already have ‘target-close’ monster macro which could help to cast spells or use ranged weapons without need to target precisely certain tiles – it’s possible to play even ranged classes.

 

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Tangaria update — 56 races, charisma and building random houses!

Hi! I’m developer of Tangaria (https://tangaria.com/) – free open-source multiplayer roguelike game loosely based on Tolkien’s lore and powered by PWMAngband (derived from MAngband, which derived from Angband 😉 It combines the complexity and unpredictability of roguelike genre and social features of MMORPG: kill monsters together with your friends, chat, PvP (on demand), build a house and open a store to trade your goods with other players… with advanced real-time gameplay – game become semi turn-based when your character is injured.

I was quite shy to promote my game, though in the past I’ve made plenty of promotion there for other great multiplayer roguelikes (MAngband, TomeNET , PWMAngband). It’s funny – but it’s much easier to tell something good about other’s people games than about your game 🙂 But I suppose I should find the courage to declare my multiplayer variant to rlg community too..

So.. I work on Tangaria for two years. PowerWyrm (PWMAngband developer) help me a lot in this – and PWMA became one of the best roguelike game engines where you could do amazing stuff. Recently I’ve finally started to code stuff and made 3 major updates:
1) addeded 18 new races: so now we got 56 races total; all of them are quite classic fantasy and each got it’s special flavours.

2) roguelike housing paradise: Now when you build house (yep, you can do it in this multiplayer game – to open your shop and put there items to trade with other players) – each house got it’s own unique random generated appearence by using hundreds of different walls and floors;

3) charisma: just finished this update 🙂 Recently I’ve returned CHR stat and now trying to make it interesting. Goes pretty well!

So.. I’ll be very glad to answer any questions about multiplayer roguelikes, it’s history (check my article about it).. and of course about Tangaria 😉

Cya in-game and welcome to our discord: https://discord.gg/zBNG369

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Developing roguelike is…

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Rage of Mages 2: new tier. Darkland and RandTomb

Added new tier of quest maps at server #8 – Tier 1 with Darkland and RandTomb maps. There you can complete tavern tasks which reward up to 18m experience. Also this maps contains special stuff:
1) set for mage: +18 to all elements
2) set for barbarians: body+2 equipment
3) sets of magic weapons and staves
Also you could increase there your character’s certain parameters up to 62 by buying special stat potions for 100m. Continue reading

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Darkfire Heroes GUIDE

Most important Darkfire Heroes secret:

1. Do not level up past lvl 15 too early. Stay at lvl 15 as long as possible. There are brackets >15, 16-25, 26+. If you go hier bracket – you meet much more powerful enemies in PvP and events. So transfer to 16-25 bracket only when you are ready. And do not ever transit past 26 – there are Continue reading

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Dungeon Crusher GUIDE

At this page I’ll post my guides for Dungeon Crusher game 🙂 Continue reading

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Rage of Mages 2: endgame is starting!

Portal to HARD Allod opened!

New maps on “hard”: Tier and Dragon Sand. For some time on hard there will be only two these maps, so they will be properly tested. Please report bugs, problems, issues, exploits etc

– Stat potions on “Hard” maps now could be aquired from 1.000.000 exp quest in tavern. Shop potions on “Hard” won’t raise your stats!
– Max. reward at “Hard” maps increased to 1.000.000
– necro4 leader HP 300 -> 1300
– necro4 leader at Middle map (3k hp) got 10 elven scrolls of curse
– The “horror” is live. There you can buy potions for 30,000,000. Each potion adds +1 to all parameters. Maximum character parameters at “horror”: 52 52 52 43
– max. reward for the quest in tavern there: 6.300.000
– on “horror” PvP allowed

Second update: Continue reading

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Rage of Mages 2: medium level difficulty

Medium difficulty started!

– dragon3 at medium difficulty now drop some parts of magic dragonhide armour which is better than tavern drop
(please note that you can ‘craft’ an armour from dragonhide not from the first attempt…)
– fixed problem with dropping cloth at easy-1
– revamped loot at easy-1
– nerfed acid stream at medium
– maps update

Update by kobik: Continue reading

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Rage of Mages 2: easy level difficulty

  • some groups and quests on ‘easy’ become more casual
  • Heal spell (and heal scroll) now restore ~50 hp at first server (only there!)
  • experience on easy-1 increased 2x (to compensate 15 stats)
  • experience on easy-2 increased 1.5x (to compensate 25 stats)
  • PvP turned off for both Easy
  • easy-2 got taverns with now (max reward 22k) – located closer to center
  • In all “big” mobs, as well as in some groups, potions have been added that restore 1hp and 1mana. Please note that their description in the game is crooked :slight_smile: also they are sold in the shop for 50g, not 500
  • Potions which drop from monsters now restore:
    – easy1 maps: 30 hp / mana
    – easy2: 20 hp / mana
  • the magic shield spell is nerfed (on easy-1 a little; on easy-2 more harsh – because there the skill is higher). In the future for each difficulty the magic shield will be scaled; as well as HP potions and other gameplay aspects. Each difficulty level will be balanced separately
  • Maps:
    – nival: spawn time undeads center
    – kids: move space near townhall
    – fury: removed harpy interception quest

Second update:

– Added shops for ‘easy-2’ for tired adventurers on the far outskirts of our Allod Island
– Now all magic on each difficulty level has its own parameters
– Removed all “advanced” magic on ‘easy 1-2’ (TP, stone curse, fire wall, spray lightning etc.). This magic will begin to appear on the medium and will work in full closer to ‘hard’
– On ‘easy 1-2’ attack scrolls are nerfed (normal from 50 to 10 skill; elven from 100 to 50)
– The magic shield is a little more nerfed
– Map Desert become easier on the bridge
– Fury: moved bats further to the forest
– Road: squirrels2 quest and bats
– Technical stuff: a batch file has been created for the convenience of managing server date editions and a php script has been configured for batch editing of parameters
– fixed problems on some maps
– shield duration nerfed

Third update:

  • added new easy-1 difficutly… old easy-1 become easy-2.. old easy-2 become easy-3. Please leave your feedback.
  • easy-1 it’s legacy ex-singleplayer maps which you are familiar if you played RoM campaign. atm we have there draft maps, which will be improved in future.
  • removed bags which spawns on map (‘free items’) – thanks @Kobik for implementation
  • please note that leather armour on easy-1 maps gives more defense that it’s written on item descriptions
  • shield spell effect on easy-1 prolonged
  • all monstes on easy-1 map drop leather armour (kill squirrels and wolfs to “craft” your first armour!)

Do you recognize this place? 🙂

To the left is RoM2, first campaign mission… and to the right – our new intro map… long years past from the moment when Skrakan’s Tower stood in that place.. but his ghost still dwells there. Maybe he’s got something to tell you?

– now new characters starts with 0 skill (thanks @Kobik for implementation)
– you do not loose exp upon death on first server
– you do not drop items upon death on thist server
– other player’s healing turned on on first map

tip: when you start a new warrior class you may find hard to playing him at the start. Try to buy scrolls of healing 🙂 They cost only 50g and will help you immensely

Please update client: download from the website or just unpack this archieve to game folder

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Rage of Mages 2: Renaissance (season four)

Start of a new season in Rage of Mages 2 at Tangar’s Hat! The top players of the last season can be found in the section “Ladder”.

Our server is one+ year old. During this time, we have more than 500 unique players (each account is confirmed by a phone number, since it is tied to gmail). What’s new this season:

– added a new tier of “easy” maps: easy-2. In the list of maps you will see them as medium difficulty maps with the description of Max stats 25. These are six new classic maps (well, not really new – they are from the 1999 classic Nival server, but we did not had them yet);
– everyone starts with every stat of 15. Later on you can drink special potions to increase your character paramaters permanently and do it not only at endgame, but actually ON ALL types of map difficulties – for example, on the “easy-2”, you can increase the parameters to 25; up to 35 in “medium”, up to 45 in “hard” etc;
– reworked taverns (now the value of the reward is limited by the difficulty of the map; on the easy one you can get only steel, the easy-2 mithril, on the medium – adamant, etc.);
– the spell of healing now only acts on yourself;
– some of initial spells are more expensive;
– shield spell become cheaper (100k -> 10k), but now cost 50 mana and lasts 1/3 time;
– some groups and quests on ‘easy’ become more casual;
– heal spell (and heal scroll) now restore much more hp at first server (only there!);
– experience on easy-1 increased 2x (to compensate 15 stats);
– experience on easy-2 increased 1.5x (to compensate 25 stats);
– PvP turned off for both Easy;
– easy-2 got taverns with now (max reward 22k) – located closer to center;
– In all “big” mobs, as well as in some groups, potions have been added that restore 1hp and 1mana. Please note that their description in the game is crooked :slight_smile: also they are sold in the shop for 50g, not 500g;
– game speed increased from 5 to 6;
– reduced experience penalty (on easy from 3% to 1% etc).

Now an important clarification regarding the new character’s stat potion system. There are now two types of easy maps:

  1. First tier: the maximum stats are 15. On these maps you starting your chat. These are maps from the previous season, 64×64. There are taverns on them, where you can take tasks, for which they reward equipment up to a steel cuirass.
  2. Second tier (easy-2). Maximum stats 25. Im map list it listed as “medium” (but it’s actually easy!). The thing is that on this map for 200k gold you can buy potions in the store, which will increase your parameters. Potions:
    life regeneration: strength and agility
    mana regeneration: mind and spirit
    The maximum value of the parameter on the easy-2 is 25.

Important! If you will increase the parameters on the easy-2 map and then enter on the map of the first tier, your stats will drop to 15. Therefore, if you decide to spend on drink a character, do not go to the map of the previous tier if you do not want to reset the stats! Likewise, don’t try to increase stats on lower tier maps – potions won’t work there.

Further difficulties will be introduced, where you can increase character parameters up to 35, 45, etc. For each level, only certain items from this particular difficulty level will increase stats. Those. regeneration potions will increase your stats +1 only on easy-2 maps! On medium map, these potions will work as usual – there to raise stats you will have to drink other potions (potions of life / mana for 2.000.000).

More info about stat potions see in table in Guide section.

Also, soon I will add taverns on “easy-2” maps, where you can get mithril equipment as a reward.


How it was created: https://www.instagram.com/p/CJldsgmjT1w/

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Limiting storage in houses @ roguelike games

Restriction to put items in a house – is very bad thing for multiplayer roguelike game. It’s wrong design. Roguelike compexity comes from “the dungeon” – not from item managament “on the surface”! There is a restriction for items which player could take with him. And it’s right. But storage restrictions won’t change game much, just make it more annoying and remove possibility for new players to trade between each other.

The idea of this restriction comes from Mang and TomeNET. But there are allowed several players on one account – so this restriction makes players harder to cheeze there by moving items from one char to another. This is outdated and wrong mechanics.

Take a look at T’s YASDs. There are plenty of them. They comes not from housing space, but from the dungeon roguelikish situations. Having restricted space outside of the dungeons doesn’t make game easier.

And regulation gold income for player by making player spend it on house – also outdated mechanics. We got gold table so we could perfectly balance gold income to make game ideally hard.

Please take a look on this aspect under new angle 🙂 There just no point to make item restrictions outside of dungeon. At the same time having a lot of space makes trading between player easier and also makes easier ‘item managment’ – the worst thing in keyboard-based games..

Also lets take a look into logic and world’s lore. House is huge. Having one item there on 1 spot is just silly. While character inventory is more or less realistic (weight of items and their numbers), house storage restriction is nonsense. You could put 100500 items in house, it’s huge 🙂 If your character could hold 23 items, why floor cant hold them?

So whole picture – game balance, game UI, usability and comfort; logic and lore; trading stimulation..

There are some MMO games with houses. Not any of them got such restriction. Eg in Ultima Online (the most famous housing-MMO) – there is 255 items restriction per container. 255, Carl! 🐻

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Battle Legion: Mr.Stinkins adventures

=== Mr.Stinkins, the second shieldbearer squad, Master’s Igroglaz army (#pgue). ===

Hi. If you read this diary – it means I’m dead.

Yep. No worries though. I’ll resurrect soon. Reincarnate I mean. It’s the way it is in the Eternal Battlefields.

So. If you find this diary – please return it back to me (address is on top of this manuscript) so I’ll be able to continue my notes. Continue reading

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Roguelike quest system

Quest system isn’t present in V because quests are not really good suited in *bands, good analytics about it there.

In addition in PWMA (and Tangaria) there are more problems:
– in PWMA quests influencing V-based economy (not too much though because of a lot of RNG in completing it/reward).
– quests to kill certain enemy are just boring.
– players often forget to take quests as it’s very rare to complete them and you got dull rewards; most just play without them

Those problems came because quests in roguelike games often implemented like in traditional MMO/RPG-quests (kill 5 chickens, bring 5 ribs), while it should have it’s own, roguelikish type of quests – to encourage players to have an adventure, with a proper risk VS rewards rate.

/rfe to improve quests and to encourage players to play in more roguelikish way – implement this minimalistic (and yet deep) system: Continue reading

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[Battle Legion] #oldwagonsystem and player’s cycle

With a new system devs shoot them selves in the *foot* (also shooting *Greenfoot*.. hold on, bro!) – instead of unique (compared to other games) wagon system they adopted common marketing-based timers. At first I wanna share some FAQ info for new players, who donno about past wagon system changes:

#oldwagonsystem movement

Previously, before 8 update there was wonderful system – you could open all 3 wagons at once, without waiting timer. Algorythm was:

1) fight several times to collect keys for wagons

2) right after you collected keys – open wagons (you could open 3 at once)

3) wait several hours so wagons will respawn; then you could enter the game anytime to fight a bit to open a wagon if it was respawned or could just enter once per 12 hours to open three wagons, to be sure not to miss any. Continue reading

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Roguelike song (guitar) – YASD (by igroglaz)

I’ve wrote a song-tribute to roguelikes 🙂 Hope you like it!

Text: Continue reading

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