2009 7DRLPC - Fruits of the Forest

I must admit, the more I play Fruits of the Forest the more I like it. Initially, I had some issues getting it to run on my main RL playing machine, a Samsung NC10 netbook running Fedora 10, but all seems to be working fine now.

FotF is really a nice and enjoyable roguelike. And challenging too. I'm still amazed that fully functioning games can be written in a mere 7 days.

Things I Like:
- Ability to run on Linux & Windows using the same executable, thanks to Java

- vi/vim key controls

- Challenging gameplay around the simple idea of: collect berries, kill bandits, feed villagers, repeat

Things I Don't Like So Much:
- There is a delay between when a directional key is pressed and when the character moves. This could be due to some issue with my system or just an issue with Java. Slightly annoying, but does not kill the gameplay experience.

- My NC10 has a funky display resolution (1024 x 600) and I need to 'cursor move' the window upward after starting each game in order to see the messaging at the bottom of the screen.

- If there are no Healberries near the starting location, you are pretty much hosed and don't have much of a chance in getting very far. This imbalance seems to exist in most of the games I've played so far.

It is easy to see how FotF can be expanded out a bit into a more robust game. I'm looking forward to a new version. Thanks to Ido Yehieli for a very nice roguelike.

2009 7DRLPC - DungeonMinder

I wrote about my first impressions of the 2009 7DRL entry DungeonMinder a few days ago, but wanted to post a more formal review of the game for the 2009 Seven-Day Roguelike Playing Competition (7DRLPC).

DungeonMinder is a very engaging roguelike with a twist on how the player interacts with the environment. The player's job is to control, not the adventurer, but a fairy in charge of ensuring that the adventurer is able to make his way through the dungeon safely. This is a bit of a challenge, as our hero isn't the brightest bulb in the pack. He's apt to swing his sword at anything he sees both near and far. In between his slashing and posing, he just needs to open two treasure chests, which are randomly located on each level. Once these chests have been opened and pilfered (oh, and the treasure stinks...but don't dare tell our hero), the hero will hopefully find the exit to the next level where new dangers await.

So how does our fine fairy keep that brave, yet clueless, hero alive? By mastering a total of nine spells that either directly affect our hero, his foul targets, or the dungeon itself. There are three different spell buckets, each controlled by a different mana type. There is plenty of strategy to be had here...enough, for sure, to keep the replayability at a high level.

One word of warning: This game is difficult. Initial reports on rgrd indicated this was the case and it seems they were dead on, but the game is winnable. Don't let the difficulty level keep you away from this fine roguelike.

The game has been released under the BSD licence and receives extra points for having both a Windows and Linux download available and also for supporting vi/vim key commands.

The hope is that the developer, Adam Gatt, will continue development on this title. It would really be worth the effort because this RL has so much to offer already. Some ideas for enhancement would be the inclusion of additional spells and mana types, varying levels of difficulty, and additional mob types.

Overall, this submission to the 2009 7DRL offers gameplay that is fun, humorous, filled with strategy options, and challenging. Great job on this one.