Links to up and coming roguelike(-like)s

Below is a collection of links for the roguelikes and roguelike-likes in the latest poll on the basis it is likely you won't have heard of them. I'll be adding additional ones as people suggest them:

• Auro: The Golden Prince
• Borderlands 2
• Cult: Awakening of the Old Ones
• Diablo III
• FTL
• Minicraft 2, or whatever Notch decides to call it (apparently Minitale - guess I missed that press release)
• Mysterious Castle
• Red Rogue
• Spelunky XBLA
• The Archive
• The Occult Chronicles
• Torchlight II
• Unnamed Team Meat Project
• Unnamed Terry Cavanagh Tigjam UK Project
• Wrath of the Lamb

Results for 'Which error handling method do you prefer'; new poll

Thanks to all 59 of you who voted (wow! That's a lot of developers). The results were:

Assert	18 (30%)
Try/Throw/Catch	41 (69%)

For the next poll, which up and coming roguelike (-like) are you the most looking forward to at the moment? I've deliberately picked games which are on the unconventional side; this isn't intended to be a JADE versus the next Incursion poll. Links to the games will be in the next post.

New poll 'How do you handle errors?'

Just put a quick poll up for roguelike developers out there: how do you handle error conditions in your code?

(Inspired by this discussion, which you should read after you vote).

Request for votes: Ascii Dreams Roguelike of the Year 2011

185 roguelikes have qualified this year: that's a different roguelike being released less than every two days, and yet again, another record number (116 last year).

How did the roguelikes qualify?

The list was taken from the roguelike releases announced on the Rogue Basin news section between December 16th 2010 and December 12th 2011 and from the list of Actively Developing Roguelikes maintained by Michał Bieliński. From this year, I'll also be including any roguelike which has been discussed on Roguelike Radio and released this year, but otherwise wasn't included in the above list. I've done this to include two notable games (Dungeons of Dredmor and the Binding of Isaac), which would not otherwise have qualified.

What about 'x'?

Make sure you announced your roguelike on Rogue Basin for next year.

What about the 7 day roguelikes?

I decided to exclude any 7 day roguelikes that weren't announced separately. However, most of them were on Michał Bieliński's list.

What's the prize?

Pride. And a sexy logo - if you want one. You can see the winning 2007 logo on the Dwarf Fortress links page. Other winners are free to request them, but haven't done so. Logo designs for this year are welcome.

Having a competition is a dumb idea/offensive/stupid when you can't police the results.

Yep. Doesn't stop it being fun. You can vote for multiple different roguelikes. The idea here is that you will be encouraged to go out and download a roguelike that other people consider interesting, not that there is any kind of real competition element involved.

Forumutterings

There's been some recent argument against and for forums as a medium of exchange between developers and their communities.

I decided against forums (in a tied poll) specifically for Unangband, on the basis there is already a well developed Angband forum community and I didn't want to splinter that base. I'd similarly not have the time committment for moderating an Ascii Dreams forum, but feel free to comment, or head over to Temple of the Roguelike for general roguelike development forum-ness.

I do have some thoughts on the issue, based solely on my recent experience trying to shepherd some changes through the TF2 beta process, but I'll leave these for another time. Instead, I'll offer up the best response I've seen to some of the needless rage and anger on community forums, from Chris King, the lead designer of Victoria 2:

You know I had to go and look at the Civfanatics forum to see how they were taking this new and my God there are some bitter people there. My favourite was as long as Jon stays away from Paradox I’ll be happy. With that in mind I would like to make the following public offer.

Jon, if you are reading this and if you do have some free time, would like to be our special guest programmer on the Hearts of Iron 3 patch?

Source.

Full Results for the Ascii Dreams Roguelike of the Year 2010

All I can say is wow!

For the fourth year running, there have been more roguelikes being written, played and voted for. Thanks to all 981 of you who voted this year - almost twice as many as last year. It's getting to the point where there are too many roguelikes for anyone to be able to sample them all, let alone give them the play time needed to explore their depths. I hope this list gives you the opportunity to play at least one roguelike you wouldn't have otherwise considered.

...transmission...	1 (0%)
100LEVEL	0 (0%)
100 Rogues	15 (1%)
aemoebaRL	0 (0%)
A Most Peculiar Adventure	3 (0%)
Angband	44 (4%)
A Quest Too Far	4 (0%)
AarrrRL!	1 (0%)
Adventurer	1 (0%)
Albion	3 (0%)
AliensRL	12 (1%)
Anonymous Roguelike	0 (0%)
Arcan Myth RL	0 (0%)
Arima: Desdemona's Fall	0 (0%)
Ascii Dash	0 (0%)
Ash of Time	0 (0%)
atrogue	0 (0%)
Bane of the Living	0 (0%)
Battlement	0 (0%)
BiddenRL	0 (0%)
BOSS	0 (0%)
Brogue	32 (3%)
Cardinal Quest	3 (0%)
CastlevaniaRL	11 (1%)
Cataclysm	14 (1%)
Caverns of Xaskazien	1 (0%)
chaosRL	2 (0%)
Chompy!	0 (0%)
Chronophase	2 (0%)
City of the Condemned	0 (0%)
Cracks and Crevices	1 (0%)
crashRun	0 (0%)
Cryptband	0 (0%)
CyberpunkRL	2 (0%)
DaJAngband	4 (0%)
Dance of Death	14 (1%)
Dawn of the Dead Roguelike III	1 (0%)
Demonhunt	3 (0%)
Destiny Rogues	0 (0%)
Dimension Dungeon	0 (0%)
Domination Empires	0 (0%)
DoomRL	95 (9%)
Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup	294 (29%)
Dungeonmans	3 (0%)
Dungeon Monkey Unlimited	2 (0%)
Dungeons of Craci	0 (0%)
Dungeon Sweeper	1 (0%)
Dwarf Fortress	171 (17%)
Dweller	7 (0%)
Earl Spork	1 (0%)
Exalt	0 (0%)
Expedition	8 (0%)
Exploring The Bleak	1 (0%)
FAAngband	4 (0%)
Fall From Heaven	2 (0%)
Featurecreeper	2 (0%)
Floating Eye: The Game	0 (0%)
Frozen Depths	17 (1%)
GartenRL	0 (0%)
GearHead-2	16 (1%)
Goblin Camp	34 (3%)
GhostbustersAscii	2 (0%)
Glacier	0 (0%)
Gumband	1 (0%)
HamQuest	0 (0%)
Harmless7DRL	0 (0%)
Hellband	3 (0%)
Holohoax	0 (0%)
Huma4DRL	0 (0%)
Hydra Slayer	14 (1%)
HyperSilence	1 (0%)
IfRL	0 (0%)
Interhack	3 (0%)
Infiniverse Lone Explorer	0 (0%)
Iso-Angband	1 (0%)
Jellies in a Jam	0 (0%)
KleinRL	2 (0%)
Kharne	1 (0%)
Labyrinths and Legends	2 (0%)
LambdaRogue	2 (0%)
Lanceran Reload	1 (0%)
Laser Spigot	0 (0%)
Last of candle	0 (0%)
Lost Labyrinth	10 (1%)
Madness	4 (0%)
Mage Guild	10 (1%)
Magecrawl	1 (0%)
Math: The Roguelike	1 (0%)
Mazeband	0 (0%)
Menace of the Mines	0 (0%)
MetroidRL	1 (0%)
Middlecrest	0 (0%)
Mines of Elderlore	0 (0%)
Monastery	0 (0%)
Muert: Racial Prison Riot Rape Mayhem	1 (0%)
Neon	0 (0%)
NLarn	8 (0%)
NPPAngband	5 (0%)
Pack-man	0 (0%)
Plains of Sedia	1 (0%)
Podziemia	0 (0%)
POWDER	31 (3%)
Portralis	4 (0%)
PrincessRL	15 (1%)
Privateer: Ascii Sector	21 (2%)
Prospector	28 (2%)
Puzzlerogue	0 (0%)
PWMAngband	3 (0%)
QuestFor7	0 (0%)
Quest for the Unicorn	0 (0%)
Ravenous	1 (0%)
Rayel	2 (0%)
Robobot	0 (0%)
Rogue Assasin	0 (0%)
RogueBand Hero	1 (0%)
Roguelike GCS	0 (0%)
Rogue Project 2	0 (0%)
Roguestar	0 (0%)
RogueUnlike	0 (0%)
Rogue Survivor	69 (7%)
RULER	0 (0%)
RunRight	0 (0%)
Sanctuary	0 (0%)
Sangband	8 (0%)
SewerJacks	6 (0%)
Sharplike	0 (0%)
ShopDoom	1 (0%)
SilverQuest OPL	12 (1%)
Smart Kobold	13 (1%)
Smash Arena	0 (0%)
So you think you can dance ... ON MY GRAVE?	0 (0%)
Spell and Spear	0 (0%)
Squirm	1 (0%)
Tartarus	0 (0%)
Teemu	1 (0%)
Teratogen	2 (0%)
Terraforma	0 (0%)
Tetris RL 2	0 (0%)
The cave	1 (0%)
The Hack of Life	0 (0%)
The Legend of Kalamakkara	1 (0%)
The rogue's quest	0 (0%)
The Slimy Lichmummy	0 (0%)
The Spy Who Rogued Me	0 (0%)
The Test of Inn	0 (0%)
Toby the Trapper	5 (0%)
ToME 4.0.0	384 (39%)
Traction Edge	1 (0%)
Transcendence	20 (2%)
TreeBurner	7 (0%)
Triangle Wizard	14 (1%)
Troll Slayer	4 (0%)
Umbra	8 (0%)
Unangband	17 (1%)
Underhall	0 (0%)
UnNetHack	34 (3%)
UnReal World	15 (1%)
UNSTOPPABLE	5 (0%)
Vapourtek Theatre	0 (0%)
Wayfarer	3 (0%)
WebRaid	0 (0%)
Wizard's Quest	8 (0%)
World of Roguecraft	0 (0%)
WWRL	1 (0%)
XIOTANK	0 (0%)
ZapM	19 (1%)
Zombie Swarm	2 (0%)

Just had a quick look at the votes so far...

And we have a tie for first place.

Over 500 people voted last year, so make yours count...

Request for votes: Ascii Dreams Roguelike of the Year 2010

166 roguelikes were released this year... this is, again, a new record for the number to qualify for this competition, up from 99 the last year.

How did the roguelikes qualify?

The list was taken from the roguelike releases announced on the Rogue Basin news section between December 16th 2009 and December 16th 2010 and from the list of Actively Developing Roguelikes maintained by Michał Bieliński [Edit: My sincere apologies for the oversight. It used to be Jeff Lait].

What about 'x'?

Make sure you announced your roguelike on Rogue Basin for next year.

What about the 7 day roguelikes?

I decided to exclude any 7 day roguelikes that weren't announced separately. However, most of them were on Jeff Lait's list.

What's the prize?

Pride. And a sexy logo - if you want one. You can see the winning 2007 logo on the Dwarf Fortress links page. Other winners are free to request them, but haven't done so. Logo designs for this year are welcome.

Having a competition is a dumb idea/offensive/stupid when you can't police the results.

Yep. Doesn't stop it being fun. You can vote for multiple different roguelikes. The idea here is that you will be encouraged to go out and download a roguelike that other people consider interesting, not that there is any kind of real competition element involved.

Poll results for "How do you find high level play in Unangband?"; new poll

This poll has been around a little while - thanks to the 21 of you who voted:

Too easy; make it harder	0 (0%)
Just right thanks	0 (0%)
Challenging	3 (14%)
Frustratingly hard	0 (0%)
Grindtastic	1 (4%)
Haven't made it to high levels	12 (57%)
Haven't played Unangband	6 (28%)

Next poll; it's that time of year again.

Poll results for 'What changes do you like in Unangband 0.6.4?'; new poll

The results for what changes do you like in Unangband 0.6.4? Thanks to the 28 people who voted.

Improved dungeon connectivity	8 (28%)
New room types: burrows	4 (14%)
New room types: caverns	5 (17%)
New room types: polygons	5 (17%)
Familiars	5 (17%)
Offering stuff to monsters	0 (0%)
Stealing stuff from monsters	2 (7%)
Monsters surrendering	3 (10%)
Magic book reorganisation	2 (7%)
Less bugs	9 (32%)
Improved documentation	11 (39%)
Improved spell regions	3 (10%)
Sneaking	2 (7%)
Neutral monster AI	2 (7%)
Interaction with allies	4 (14%)
New spells	5 (17%)
New monsters	4 (14%)
Other	2 (7%)
Haven't had time to play	6 (21%)
Unsure; there's so much stuff	3 (10%)
Unsure; still getting a feel for things	1 (3%)

The new poll follows on from the Level 40 post I just made.

Results for 'Should monsters surrender'; new poll

Thanks to everyone who voted (all 111 of you) and those perceptive enough to notice me giving up and putting a poll up was also an act of surrender.

The results were:

Always, instead of dying	2 (1%)
Sometimes, instead of dying	43 (38%)
Always, instead of fleeing	1 (0%)
Sometimes, instead of fleeing	39 (35%)
Always, if unable to flee	4 (3%)
Sometimes, if unable to flee	70 (63%)
Sometimes, if badly hurt and the player heals them	30 (27%)
If the player calls for surrender	47 (42%)
Never	13 (11%)

I'll be putting in the most popular result as a feature before the release of Unangband 0.6.4. Monsters will sometimes surrender if they are unable to flee: this will depend on a saving throw based on your Charisma, and whether you have the birth_evil option enabled or not.

Two other options: sometimes, if badly hurt and the player heals them, and if the player calls for surrender, are available through the existing 'O'ffer code. I'll add the ability to offer nothing, and have badly injured monsters respond in some way as well.

I may allow the option to hold back on delivering a killing blow, by attacking a monster to disarm. Hmm...

The next poll is a chance to tell me what features of 0.6.4 you like the most so I know where to polish things up for the final release. If you haven't had a chance to play, feel free to tell me what sounds interesting.

New poll 'Should monsters surrender?'

I give up. Have your vote.

Full Results for Ascii Dreams Roguelike of the Year 2009

I've got 99 roguelikes and a Dwarf ain't one...

For the third year running, there have been more roguelikes being written, played and voted for. Thanks to all 505 of you who voted this year. I am overwhelmed at the breadth and depth of competition, and look forward to a bumper crop again next year.

The full results were:

3069	4 (0%)
8rogue	1 (0%)
Agduria	1 (0%)
aemoebaRL	1 (0%)
Angband	24 (4%)
Angband/65	1 (0%)
Battlement	0 (0%)
Blast Tactics	0 (0%)
Brogue	8 (1%)
CastlevaniaRL	16 (3%)
Caverns of Xaskazien	0 (0%)
Chickhack	1 (0%)
Craftband	1 (0%)
crashRun	2 (0%)
CyberRogue	2 (0%)
Cypress Tree Manor	0 (0%)
DaJAngband	8 (1%)
Dawn of the Dead	1 (0%)
The Dawn of the Dead II	0 (0%)
The Dawn of the Dead III	3 (0%)
Dimension Dungeon	0 (0%)
Domination	3 (0%)
DoomRL	227 (44%)
Downfall	0 (0%)
Dreamhack	2 (0%)
Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup	170 (33%)
DungeonMinder	8 (1%)
Dweller	5 (0%)
Elona	32 (6%)
Epic! Monster Quest: Hyper	0 (0%)
Escape from Lab 42	3 (0%)
Excitable Digger	2 (0%)
Expedition	1 (0%)
Faerie's Lair	0 (0%)
First Age Angband	15 (2%)
Fortress of the Goblin King	3 (0%)
Fruits of the Forest	3 (0%)
FOTRW	0 (0%)
GearHead2	27 (5%)
G.O.R.E.	1 (0%)
Goblinhack	1 (0%)
GGRogue	1 (0%)
Gumband	3 (0%)
Grendel's Mother	0 (0%)
Gruesome	3 (0%)
HamQuest	0 (0%)
Hokuto-no-rogue	5 (0%)
Invader Tactics	0 (0%)
Ighalsk	0 (0%)
Incursion: Halls of the Goblin King	69 (13%)
Interhack	4 (0%)
Kharne	3 (0%)
Jacob's Matrix	7 (1%)
Legerdemain	15 (2%)
Liberal Crime Squad	12 (2%)
Lords of DarkHall	2 (0%)
Mage Guild	10 (1%)
Martin's Dungeon Bash	2 (0%)
MAngband	5 (0%)
MetaCollider	0 (0%)
Mines of Morgoth	2 (0%)
Minute Dungeon	3 (0%)
Nazghul	6 (1%)
Neon	0 (0%)
NLarn	5 (0%)
Nyctos	1 (0%)
Papaki	1 (0%)
PBR: Peleron's Briliant Rebirth	5 (0%)
Persist	1 (0%)
Plague	0 (0%)
Plains of Sedia	2 (0%)
PlantForce	0 (0%)
POWDER	48 (9%)
Privateer: Ascii Sector	19 (3%)
Prospector	17 (3%)
Pyromancer	9 (1%)
RealtimeRL	0 (0%)
Rogue Touch	2 (0%)
Sane Roguelike	0 (0%)
Settlement	6 (1%)
SpiritsRL	1 (0%)
SporkHack	11 (2%)
TetRLs	2 (0%)
The Tombs of Asciiroth	1 (0%)
Tomb of the Aztecs	0 (0%)
Tomb of Rawdin	0 (0%)
T.o.M.E.	17 (3%)
Tower of Druaga	1 (0%)
Triangle Wizard	18 (3%)
Tzar	1 (0%)
UnAngband	21 (4%)
Underbooks	2 (0%)
UnNetHack	12 (2%)
URRogue	0 (0%)
Warp Rogue	3 (0%)
Wayfarer	8 (1%)
When Zombies Attack!	0 (0%)
XAngband	1 (0%)
Z+Angband	11 (2%)
Zot Defense	11 (2%)