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I agree, and I think you've touched upon a critical point. One thing you'll notice about roguelike forums is the number of 'storytelling' threads where a playe
by AlexDanger 14y ago
I agree, and I think you've touched upon a critical point.
One thing you'll notice about roguelike forums is the number of 'storytelling' threads where a player recounts their adventure. The lack of explicit narrative is more than compensated by user generated narrative.
Much like emergent gameplay (ie Minecraft), good roguelikes create emergent narrative. The narrative is worth sharing because of the surprising random encounters and do-or-die decisions.
I suspect this partly explains why most roguelikes have such simple graphics. A friend remarked that FTL was 'good for the imagination'. Basic graphics leave much to the imagination which enriches the internal narrative of the gamer.
That said, I dont think AAA graphics exclude a roguelike experience, and are in fact a barrier of entry for some younger gamers.
- failrate 14y agoI think it would be reasonable to have a Rogue-like with a narrative if the death of your character did not mean the death of the world. Maybe dying would mean that you had a new character in the same world. Omikron: The Nomad Soul had a similar mechanic (although it was non-random). [edit] Shiren the Wanderer also has a notion of progress that is saved even though your character will die.
- AlexDanger 14y agoThats a cool idea. Havent played either of those games but will check them out.
- mercurial 14y agoIn Planescape Torment, your character wakes up after dying. In most situations in the game, dying has little consequences, you just wake up a little while later.
- rcfox 14y agoYes, this is the opposite of permadeath.