Ganymede Gate

Ganymede Gate
Futuristic Alpha Project
Developer	Chiguireitor
Theme	Science Fiction, Futuristic
Influences	DoomRL/Cogmind
Released	Alpha 2014
Updated	Sep 2015
Licensing	MIT Assets: CC-BY
P. Language	Javascript
Platforms	Browser
Interface	HTML5, Keyboard, Mouse
Game Length	?
Official site of Ganymede Gate

Ganymede Gate is a coffeebreak roguelike

Overview

Ganymede Gate is a multiplayer roguelike set in a solar system human base that has been invaded by a mysterious presence.

Downloads

Pre-alpha packages for testing:

• Windows 32 bits
• Windows 64 bits
• For Linux-Mac, download NW.js from their site, extract this zip and run "nw ." inside the directory.

Content so far

• 3 types of monsters: the drone (letter **d**), the monsta (letter **m**) and the tracer (letter **t**).
• Several classes with different start attributes and weapons/items.
• 3 types of level generators: crumbling base, caves and lava lake.
• Marine class starts with a randomly generated weapon based on the MP9 sub machine gun.
• Several powerups-weapons to explore.

Level types so far

Controls

You can use WASD-Cursor-Vikeys to move:

   q w e    HOME  UP   PGUP     y k u
   \ | /        \  |  /         \ | /
  a- x -d   LEFT-- 5 --RIGHT   h- . -l
   / | \        /  |  \         / | \
   z s c    END  DOWN  PGDN     b j n

The center keys are for waiting. Shift augments movement with jumping or bashing (if a monster gets on the way). Bashing knockbacks enemies.

• F: Fire. Hit again to pick the nearest target.
• Shift + F: Secondary fire. Hit f to pick the nearest target.
• G: Grab whatever is on the floor.
• R: Reload.
• Shift + R: Secondary reload.
• I: Toggle inventory.
• Space: Activate (levers and stairs for now only). Use item on inventory screen.

Glaring bugs

• Sometimes secondary fire doesn't gets correctly tigerred.
• Sometimes, with some configurations, the generated ascii arts for the weapons don't get loaded.
• Unsolvable levels. Reserve some explosive weapons for these cases.
• No look-describe function. Makes everything a guesswork.
• General bugginess you would expect from a pre-alpha release.

Features

• No need for downloads, play directly from browser
• Multiplayer possible but not required
• Different play modes: Turn-based, Deadline turn-based and Continuous turn-based

Recent developments

• Knockback
• New level generators
• Alternate fire for weapons
• Jumping, shoving with shift + movement
• Item generator with multiple variations for each one, ranging from a few variations for simple items, to thousands of variations for complex weapons.
• Changed the terminal renderer to a WebGL backend

Game architecture

The game was developed form the start to be server based. The client is just a dumb terminal with little to no logic whatsoever. All player and npc commands are processed on the server and then results are sent back to each player, but only if their Area-of-Interest (AoI) covers the results. Communication between the client and the server is all done via JSON messages (with the server->client channel being compressed with ZLib) with a very straightforward and readable format.

The reference client, implemented on HTML5, is meant to be one of the many ways to play the game, with a Unity-based port for Android and (if funds permit) iPhone.

Game modes

The game will include several game modes, so you can vary the experience you and the other players get from each of the servers:

• Players vs. NPCs
• Free-for-all deathmatch
• Capture the flag
• Domination
• Quest mode (with a random main quest line)

Screenshots

Title screen

Player selection screen, still needs stats and perks/abilities

Being ambushed by three strong enemies with a crappy weapon equipped

Memory lane (old screenshots)

Being ambushed by a "Monsta" and a "Tracer" NPC (Canvas rederer)

Leaving the game open for 2 days after dying, carnage ensues on a lava pool (Canvas renderer)

River with bridges (Really Old, table renderer)

Links

• Openshift based server
• Source on Github
• Developer's twitter
• Developer's G+
• ViciousRobotRodent, the dev's blog (updated ocasionally)