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Making a Roguelike

A roguelike game is one in which the player completes runs through a procedurally generated world. Each time the player starts a run, the world is completely new to them and unique to all previous runs. The player uses skill and knowledge gained from playing to overcome obstacles that ended previous runs. These games will often have multiple difficulties for the player to unlock and completing a runs, adding modifiers to the world to make it harder. Roguelite is a variation of the genre in which the player can unlock upgrades that carry over between runs (Dead Cells). 

Many roguelike games are adaptations of popular existing genres, for example:

  • Slay the Spire is a deckbuilding roguelike (like Hearthstone)
  • Dead Cells is a Metroidvania roguelike (like Metroid and Castlevania)
  • The Binding of Isaac is top-down action roguelike (Like The Legend of Zelda)
  • Spelunky is a 2d sidescroller roguelike (Not unlike the original Super Mario games)
Many genres can be and have been adapted into roguelike games. One thing I have noticedmany have in common is the maintenance of resources. As the player progresses through each run, they must make some sacrifices an decisions that will prove important. For example, they may choose to risk taking some damage in order to obtain an item, or spend some gold on an ability that increases their damage output. These choices are a key part of the genre because making the wrong choice is something the player can learn from and improve on their next run, allowing them to reach the next area and creating the sense of progression. The importance of resource management in roguelikes suggests not all genres can be adapted effectively into one. For example, puzzle games often have no HP system or currency system, meaning there would be few important choices for the player to make. However, if a puzzle game had some way of including resource management, it could be a fine roguelike. 

My idea for a roguelike is a genre that is quite popular but has not yet (to my knowledge) been made into a roguelike: strategy role-playing game / tactical role playing game. Examples of these types of games include XCOM and Mario and Rabbids: Kingdom Battle. The player controls a number of characters in a top-down area. The characters take turns to move and use abilities to attack enemies doing the same thing. This could work as a roguelike because the HPs of your character could easily carry over between levels, forcing the player to think carefully about how to play each one. There could also be shops and other non-battle levels.

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