Talk:The 7DRL Contest (Initial Manifest)

Neil: What are the technical requirements for entrants to this contest? Is one allowed to choose any language and libraries?

DarkGod: Yup Every language, everyting, even existing game engines.

Neil: Engines? Oh that's too easy. It'd feel like cheating to whip up a ToME module and call it a new game, heh. Good to know, though!

DarkGod: Why? If you start from scratch it IS a new game. I dont consider recoding a LOS code or object handling code anything to be proud of, it's just a basic necessity IMO :)

Neil: There are opportunities for innovation everywhere, with UI in particular. It's fair, though, to say that writing a monster list, an item list, a combat system, a full set of character attributes, a magic system, a calendar, a dungeon or set of dungeons, a town or set of towns, an artifact list, and an ego item list give plenty of opportunities already. I proved that with ToMK. I'm guessing that's the first roguelike to do powerups the way it did.

I think what's got me calling it "easy" is that most of the work in writing a ToME module seems to be in data, not code. That's always been easy but very, very tedious for me. I guess people who have spent time studying the various algorithms involved in writing an engine might feel otherwise, though!

Jeff Lait: I have often said the hardest part about roguelike writing is data entry.

DarkGod: Well there are lots of modules that create completly new code too, it's not just about data ;) I was thinking, maybe i'l ldo a kirsby like 7DRL ...

CapMango: When is someone going to organize another 7DRL contest? I'm keen to participate.

Gamer_2k4: There's one coming up in March: http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.roguelike.development/browse_frm/thread/893fd844ee274dc1/#