View source for User:Icey/MainIdea

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<div style="font-size:200%;">Welcome to [[RogueBasin:About|RogueBasin]],</div>
the Roguelike information resource, that you can edit.
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* [[Articles|Articles]]
* [[:Category:Roguelike_games|Games]]
* [[RogueBasin:Community_Portal|Community]]
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* [[Roguelike_Links|Links]]
* [[RogueBasin:Requests|Requests]]
* [[Special:Wantedpages|Unfilled Pages]]
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* [[Special:Allpages|Alphabetical index]]
* [[:Category:Main|Categories]]
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= What is a Roguelike? =

<div style="float:right;margin:0 6px">http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z213/IceyIceyIceyIcey/roguelike.gif</div>

A Roguelike is usually described as a free turn-based computer game with a strong focus on intricate gameplay and replayability, and an abstract world representation using ASCII-based display, as opposed to 3D graphics. Of course, as with any genre, there are deviations from the norm. 
 
Roguelikes allow the player an indefinite amount of time in which to make a move, making gameplay comparable more to chess than to reflex-based games like first-person shooters. Since graphics are limited (if not completely shunned), the player's imagination must come into play - gameplay is more like reading a book than watching a movie. ([[What_a_roguelike_is|continued...]])

= Roguelikes =
Many Roguelikes are freely available online. The most popular are:

<div style="text-align:center">[[ADOM]] '''Â·''' [[Angband]] '''Â·''' [[Crawl]] '''Â·''' [[NetHack]] '''Â·''' [[ToME]]</div>

Since the control systems of these Roguelikes are very complex, the novice player may be interested in trying a more accessible game like [[DoomRL]], [[CastlevaniaRL]] or [[POWDER]]. The following may help you find out more:

*[[:category:roguelike games|Categorized Roguelikes]]
*[[list of roguelikes|Lists of Roguelikes]]
*[[Major roguelikes|Major Roguelikes]]
*[[Roguelike Reviews]] 

= Roguelike Development =
 
If you have some ideas for a new Roguelike and would like to give development a go (or are already a seasoned [[developer]]) the RogueBasin is here to help you expand the Roguelike genre. A [[articles|complete list of articles]] is available, but here are some to get you started:

* [[rgrd|rec.games.roguelike.development Newsgroup]]
* [[Roguelike Dev FAQ]]
* [[How to Write a Roguelike in 15 Steps]]

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= Current News =
* 28 May - [[The Sewer Massacre]] 1.0 [http://common-lisp.net/project/lifp/sewers.htm released]
* 14 May - [[MazeCrawl]] version 0.9.1 demo [http://mazecrawl.com released]
* 12 May - [[Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup]] 0.2.5 [http://crawl-ref.sourceforge.net/ released]
* 09 May - [[Temple of the Roguelike]] opens [http://www.roguetemple.com here]
* 02 May - [[DoomRL]] 0.9.8.7 [http://doom.chaosforge.org/ released]
* 26 April - [[Deep]] 2.20a [http://sloth.xmark.us/ released]
* 26 April - [[permissive-fov]] 1.0 [[permissive-fov | released]]
* [[Old_news|Older news]]

= Featured Roguelike =
[[POWDER]] is a traditional Hacklike. Players of NetHack will not be unduly surprised with a lot of the setting and interface. 

The goal is to get to the 25th level of the dungeon, retrieve the Heart of Baezl'bub, and then return to the surface world. What makes this difficult is the requirement to not die on the way.

=Contribute=
One of the easiest ways to contribute is to add your name to the [[RGRD Wiki Project]]. Simply add your name there yourself, or post a message on [[rgrd]] stating that you'd like to participate, and what you agree to. If someone happens to see a relevant post by you, they'll upload it to this wiki as an [[articles|article]].

If you'd like to contribute to RogueBasin directly, simply create and log into an account. Feel very free to edit! We especially need more information added to the [[:category:roguelike games|games pages]] and the [[list of roguelike games|lists]] - if you're a developer, consider updating your game's page, and making sure that it (and you) are included in the relevant lists.

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