Brogue video

And here is another NotEye video, presenting Brogue.

There are some glitches (Brogue draws some black letters on black background which are supposed to be invisible but are visible in NotEye; windows do not display very nicely and sometimes don't receive mouse clicks correcly) but I hope it shows something.

Have fun watching!

Hydra Slayer + NotEye video

Another video! This one presents Hydra Slayer as viewed through NotEye. It presents the various graphical modes available through NotEye (one important thing which is not shown on the video is that you can change to a bigger resolution to see a bigger part of the map), and Hydra Slayer's various geometries. Have fun!

Noteye version 5.0 released!

NotEye version 5.0 is released! This is a rather big release, with many new features:

• Isometric view.
• Mini-tiles view. This is similar to the roguelike's normal ASCII view, except that the ASCII map is replaced with tiles.
• Sound effects, based on messages from the game.
• You can now change fonts in NotEye. This also changes the resolution, so more tiles will fit if the font is larger. A nice VGA-like 32x16 font from VoI is included.
  
• A custom libtcod 1.5.1, so you will be able to connect to libtcod roguelikes.
• A config for Brogue. All graphic modes and sounds.
• More configuration options in config.lua.
• Objects in 3D no longer float over the ground.
• Additional optional input methods: Shift/Ctrl+Left/Right arrow for diagonal movement, and VI keys.
• Keypresses now know their "unicode" meaning, not only key symbol, which should make development easier, and more portable to different keyboard layouts.
  
• NotEye Menus (and webpage) now display a logo.
  
• Curses output. Could be useful to watch recordings of 16-color roguelikes on simple terminals, but not recommended for things like Brogue (the colors are very bad).
  
• Faster (SDL's blit functions are now used where they were not, much more efficient hashing of tiles, some additional hardcoded functions).

Also I have created a video showing NotEye in action (with DoomRL). 

Hydra Slayer itself has not been updated, but NotEye gives new options to it (sounds, new fonts, isometric and mini-tile views).

Plans for the future include finally writing the documentation (I suppose adapting NotEye for new games might be quite hard now due to the lack of docs), and probably improvements to the FPP mode (using OpenGL's hardware acceleration instead of drawing by own calculations should be much faster, also new ways of placing the 3D objects).

Good luck to all (B)Rogues and Hydra Slayers!

NotEye 4.0

Necklace of the Eye 4.0 is released!

The focus of this release is a streaming protocol. You can use it to record and view recordings (which you can also annotate with messages, or perform simple editing), or use it over network, allowing clients to watch you while playing, or share a game between two or more people. You can let the viewers use their own mode (plain ASCII, tiles or FPP) or make them use a specific one. I suppose that, for simple uses, it is easier to set up than a SSH server, although some care needs to be taken for safety.

My next goal will probably be to make libtcod able to communicate via the NotEye protocol, thus allowing NotEye to work with libtcod roguelikes, not only system console ones.

Have fun!

Vapors of Insanity 0.54

Vapors of Insanity 0.54 has been released!

The focus of this release is to try to become a bit more friendly to newbies. The right side of the main screen has been reworked, and it contains icons, which can be clicked to perform some action. You can also right click on objects to open an extra window about the given objects, which show actions available and contents for the given object. Also most common uses can be executed by simply dragging one object to another. As always, this is still a work of progress, but I want to release a version before Christmas to show what is being worked on.

As for more changes...

• You can now choose from several modes of movement input. There is still a VI mode for hardcore roguelike and VI fans, but you can also select two simpler modes.
  
• A 'Rogue' specialization is added. Rogues are good at hiding in shadow, striking from the back, and they know a simple teleportation spell. Overall, the facing mechanics used by VoI are supposed to allow a nice stealth-based game, and Rogues exploit that. (Although it seems it is quite hard to actually perform a backstab.)
  
• Mouse navigation of the main menu.
  
• Tooltips are shown when you are trying to use the mouse in an in-game menu, so you no longer need to guess what a click does. Anyway, when playing with a mouse, you probably won't need to use menus that much especially item selection menus).
  
• Widemap now covers fullscreen (and can be navigated with the mouse, of course).
  
• Spells obtained via concatenation now have icons which present what they do.
  
• Some new icons. Armor icons are mirrored now.
  
• Players no longer start with hooded cloaks (since they restrict vision, and I don't want to give bad impressions about FOV).
  
• Fixes with AI (to make backstabbing more playable).
  
• "Power of sight" can now be used to see the FOV of another creature.
  
• Items in the backpack no longer lose color (unless you want this).
  
• Some other minor bugfixes.
  
• Tutorial now has two modes, for keyboard and mouse users.
  
• "Spells" now shows mana, and "skills" shows XP and free XP pool.
  

So, not many gameplay chnages, but I have not had much time recently. And of course... there is not much time left, but fans are recommended to vote for Vapors of Insanity and my other games on Roguelike of the Year. Happy Holidays :)

Hyperbolic Rogue in action

This video by ortoslon shows Hyperbolic Rogue in action, and how to get a score of 138$. Thanks!

My current high score is 163$. Other scores I have seen posted in Internet seem to be around $60. Are there any better scores?

I am planning to write a bigger game based on Hyperbolic Rogue geometry one day, but it will have to wait (I am thinking about the next 7DRL challenge)...

Hydra Slayer 13.0 + NotEye 3.1

Hydra Slayer version 13.0 and Necklace of the Eye 3.1 are released!

This version of Hydra Slayer introduces bloody hydras, which are just like normal hydras, except that you don't know their type, resistances, or susceptibilities. Two of them should appear before the first boss, and more should appear randomly later.

Additionally, Potions of Knowledge can now provide "real" information instead of just hints: they can fully identify bloody hydras, and suggest three first attacks when you are under a shadow hydra attack.

The graphical (NotEye) version has been updated. Whole game should be mouse controllable now (this includes all the menus, and all gameplay actions). Also the hydra slayer picture is now displayed in the main menus, hydra list has been moved to the top left corner in the FPP mode, and the hex mode is centered better.

Also a bug with Ambidexterity + sword + axe has been fixed, and Trollish inventory now displays free keys even if the inventory is almost empty (potentially helpful for mouse users).

I have not tested it very thoroughly, but I hope there are no big bugs.

As a side result there has been a minor update to NotEye:

• NotEye menus now can be controlled with a mouse.
  
• NotEye no longer lags as a result of moving the mouse.
  
• drawtile function has been introduced, so you can now draw individual tiles without creating a screen.
  
• Some other minor technical changes.
  
• As mentioned above, Hydra Slayer 13.0 is included, and its noe file is updated.