Gauging interest in a Dominions Roguelike...

[Ed Kolis]

Just wondering... how many of you would be interested in a Dominions-based Roguelike game, with all the magic schools and nations from Dom2? I've barely done anything and I never finish projects this big (I've started writing at least half a dozen roguelike games and given up on them after a few days ) but if there's actual interest in the Dominions community (especially if someone wants to help) maybe I'll be inspired to continue...

[Kristoffer O]

Ha!

That's the best news in ages!

I would definitely play the game and I wouldn't mind doing some beta. I would like to aid in the development of such a game, but unfortunately I have other more urgent projects

Finish it (that's an order)!

[Esben Mose Hansen]

It's hard to determine if I can help without any details.
What do you plan for the first few Versions?

Language?

Libraries?

Features?

[Cohen]

What's RogueLike?

[Alneyan]

A rogue-like is a game based on Rogue. *Ducks for cover* In such games, you incarn a character, whose purpose is generally to delve into a dungeon to seek *something* (Master of Orion 3, evil monster, great artifact). A Diablo with much more details would be the closest example I can think of.

I would be interested by such a project Ed, but you know you should not expect me to be able to do anything to help you (as if I could program or drawn anything). So, I guess my role will have to be the one of slavemaster. *Picks whip and barks at Ed* Do it! Stop stalking! Go!

[PDF]

I dream of a Dominions RPG ... a Roguelike could be something close, uh ?

[Crandaeolon]

What's RogueLike?

Here's an overview:

http://www.hut.fi/~eye/roguelike/intro.html#definition

A "Domhack" is a great idea, there would be a lot of stuff to work from!

[Endoperez]

I would be! I might not be able to help you with the actual coding, but I can throw around some ideas if you want to... You might want to check the nwesGroups of rec.games.roguelike.developement and r.g.r.misc, DomII has been mentioned at least once in the latter.

Could you tell us what you have planned? Especially these three questions are rather important for me. I have dreamed about Dominions-based roleplaying game a few times myself, so I have some of my own ideas to post too.

What language are you going to write the game in? If you want help others have to know if they can help...

What kind of system are you going to use?

My answer: Dominions RPG system. With DomRPG I mean system with Att, Def, Str, Prot, etc. that are compared with open-ended 2d6 roll, like in the game.

What kind of magic system are you considering?

My answer: Schools and Paths. One way to cover the Schools and Paths is to give the character knowledge in the first and power in the second and use DomII spells. This would highly unbalance the system towards Evocation and away from Conjuration and Blood as all kind of summons would be very expensive, so we would have to make a workaround.
One possibility is to use Rules of Magic from Ars Magica, pen&paper rpg that IW team plays/played. In it, no magic or magical effect is permanent without use of Vis, magical power found in _gems_ and few other forms... With this even beginning Conjurors without gems/vis would be able to create a Vineman, but it would dissipate after a while.
4th edition of Ars Magica can be legally downloaded from somewhere, I don't remember the exact place but can look it out if you are interested.

[Nagot Gick Fel]

I'd expect religion to play an important role in a Dom roguelike, just like in Crawl or even more. Blessings, etc. Eg, worship a Son of Niefel and get effects like:

<p>ray
You feel yourself speed up.

[Edit: what about worshipping a Green Dragon and getting:

<p>ray
A red film seems to cover your vision as you go berserk! ]

[Gandalf Parker]

Will you start with an open-source rogue game?

Thinking of something like Dungeon Odyssey?
(available at Shrapnel)

Any consideration toward doing something marketable?

I wonder if we could arrange to read the same maps and play them in an expanded view.