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Game Design Theory / Roguelike terrain properties

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Devonps
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Posted: 21st Aug 2010 13:30
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I'm currently compiling a list of tile properties for my Roguelike game and have identified the following properties and included some examples so people can see my thoughts, can anyone think of any other useful properties?



Thanks in advance,

Steve.

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Frank C
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Posted: 23rd Aug 2010 19:37
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I'm using most of those also, you might want DamageType (i.e. Fire for Lava or just a Firewall, Ice, Water, Acid, etc...), especially if you plan to have any magic or resistance ability in your game.
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BearCDP
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Posted: 23rd Aug 2010 19:41 Edited at: 23rd Aug 2010 19:42
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For TileExitDirection, what do "into" and "out of" mean? I've only played a couple of roguelikes, so I'm not an expert, but it seems like if you're exiting a tile, you would always be going "out of". What about "left" and "right"?

Other than that it looks robust to me.

Do you know the extend of what sort of things will happen in the game? If you wanted to leave room for expansion, you could have a generic "TileEvent" field, and that could indicate a massive range of possibilities.

Similar to how your TileTrapID field works, as the game develops you could assign events to IDs such as displaying descriptive text "You hear something big and hairy breathing in the darkness", or even make one event indicate a TileTrap, which then references TileTrapID to get info about it.

It could be a joke in that if your TileEvent value is set to "ActivateTrap", but the TileTrapID is zero, it could say, "You've stumbled across a trap! But it wasn't put together very well so nothing happened."

I don't know how you feel about the descriptive text displays, but you can do anything wit hit. That's just what I happened to think of.

[EDIT] Ooh yeah! Ditto on the damage type.

Check out this WIP flash game from the Global Game Jam!
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Devonps
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Posted: 23rd Aug 2010 19:51 Edited at: 23rd Aug 2010 19:52
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Quote: "you might want DamageType (i.e. Fire for Lava or just a Firewall, Ice, Water, Acid, etc...)"


To allow for future expansion of the terrain, e.g. mutation I'm inclined to have the damage applied based on the Covering parameter, then I can have rivers that "dry out" and become normal terrain.

Quote: "For TileExitDirection, what do "into" and "out of" mean?"

Typically in a Roguelike you either go "up" or "down" stairs/levels - "into" & "out of" are there to represent moving to a different "zone" on the same level such as a cave system or a tower inside a castle.

Quote: "If you wanted to leave room for expansion, you could have a generic "TileEvent" field, and that could indicate a massive range of possibilities."


Actually that is a very good and yet simple idea (typical that I should miss the simple approach).

@Frank C - magic is the single most important element in my game

Thanks to both of you for replying.

Steve.

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BearCDP
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Posted: 24th Aug 2010 00:44
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Ah I get it now, I was thinking about exit as in moving away from the tile to another one, instead of transitioning between zones.

Good luck with the project

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Plotinus
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Posted: 26th Aug 2010 22:36
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What about damage taken if you just stay on the tile for a turn?

Might some tiles destroy objects if you drop them there, or move the objects to somewhere else (perhaps move them in a particular direction - like dropping them in a river?) Perhaps they only do this to some objects (you might give objects a flag to specify whether they float).

Also, might some tiles move the player in this way?

Noise? Maybe some tiles are loud when you walk on them (e.g. marble) and alert nearby monsters.

Also, don't forget that tiles might do any of these things to monsters too - or at least to some monsters.
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Devonps
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Posted: 27th Aug 2010 09:35
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Quote: "What about damage taken if you just stay on the tile for a turn?"

I have this covered via my traps.

Quote: "Might some tiles destroy objects if you drop them there"
Not really considered that, good idea.

Quote: "(perhaps move them in a particular direction - like dropping them in a river?) Perhaps they only do this to some objects (you might give objects a flag to specify whether they float)."

Now that's something I certainly didn't think of that and it has a good game mechanic/plot hiding behind it.

Quote: "Noise? Maybe some tiles are loud when you walk on them (e.g. marble) and alert nearby monsters."


This will be catered for with my Covering property.

Quote: "Also, don't forget that tiles might do any of these things to monsters too - or at least to some monsters."

All entities that can move (PCs, NPCs, mobs, objects, spells) will be subject to terrain conditions as they move through them, if applicable.

Thanks for the extra ideas.

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Frank C
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Posted: 27th Aug 2010 17:05
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I like some of the ideas from the others also, but there is something I missed I have in mine but will not implement yet due to my current simplified movement algorithm. You could put in a speed factor for different terrain types. I don't know what your movement code is based on so this may or may not apply.
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Devonps
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Posted: 27th Aug 2010 17:21
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I do have a speed property attached to the Player model but I'm not currently looking at that part of the game, I'm currently looking into how to modularize my spell design into reusable code/components.

When I get round to speed/movement I believe my terrain Covering properties should take care of the calculations between the desired speed (taken from the player model) and the actual/applied speed (taken from the terrain covering).

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