Dangerous reminiscence: the roguelike before Soulthieves.
I was thinking about how I want to eliminate flasks and vials in Soulthieves and just have potions, the way any other roguelike does. Why did I put in flasks in the first place?
Actually, the genesis of the idea was canisters, but the idea was basically that they'd be full of…dangerous substances and that you could make monsters' lives hell by throwing them. They'd shatter on impact and hilarity would ensue.
Lots of things have changed, though.
Before Soulthieves in the Shadows became Soulthieves in the Shadows in 2004, it was conceptually far different in many aspects. I don't think I actually had anything written down; I thought I had an old hand-drawn map, but I just found it and it's not quite that old (though still quite different). Reminiscing on the origin of the vial/flask distinction brought back some other old ideas as well.
The game was going to be very silly. Weapons would've included baseball bats and hockey sticks (you could've fired baseballs and pucks at range). The story was going to be idiotic, I'm sure. The goal would've been more traditionally roguelike-ish: in your violently selfish glory (and probably at your grandfather's goading) you would've gone out into the world to retrieve the legendary ambrosia pastry, the Pie in the Sky (or possibly the Baklava), somehow saving the world in the process, making it a push from an ethical standpoint.
There is satirical promise in such an idea.
Yes, I'm serious, and why not? The reason I started SouthLab was to simplify the development of the Soulthieves Labyrinth Engine. Soulthieves and SouthLab would've already had the same basic mechanics. With the SLE, bringing this older idea to life would be relatively simple; all three games would have the same innards.
This game would have an overworld with multiple locations, like Soulthieves (but unlike SouthLab). The overworld would be much, much smaller, though, and the population would be far less diverse. Just as SouthLab is intended to simplify the development of the base mechanics, this game could very well simplify the development of the universe mechanics demanded by Soulthieves.
SouthLab, as a more straightforward hack 'n' slash dungeon crawler, would be conceptually the least complex but probably the most brutal and unforgiving in terms of gameplay. Soulthieves would pretty much be the opposite. This old new idea would be a tweener, sacrificing much of the interactive complexity of Soulthieves in favour of the hack 'n' slash emphasis, but with a more involving (though still stupid) story than SouthLab.
If I ever get over this sinus infection I'll have many projects to contemplate.
Actually, the genesis of the idea was canisters, but the idea was basically that they'd be full of…dangerous substances and that you could make monsters' lives hell by throwing them. They'd shatter on impact and hilarity would ensue.
Lots of things have changed, though.
Before Soulthieves in the Shadows became Soulthieves in the Shadows in 2004, it was conceptually far different in many aspects. I don't think I actually had anything written down; I thought I had an old hand-drawn map, but I just found it and it's not quite that old (though still quite different). Reminiscing on the origin of the vial/flask distinction brought back some other old ideas as well.
The game was going to be very silly. Weapons would've included baseball bats and hockey sticks (you could've fired baseballs and pucks at range). The story was going to be idiotic, I'm sure. The goal would've been more traditionally roguelike-ish: in your violently selfish glory (and probably at your grandfather's goading) you would've gone out into the world to retrieve the legendary ambrosia pastry, the Pie in the Sky (or possibly the Baklava), somehow saving the world in the process, making it a push from an ethical standpoint.
There is satirical promise in such an idea.
Yes, I'm serious, and why not? The reason I started SouthLab was to simplify the development of the Soulthieves Labyrinth Engine. Soulthieves and SouthLab would've already had the same basic mechanics. With the SLE, bringing this older idea to life would be relatively simple; all three games would have the same innards.
This game would have an overworld with multiple locations, like Soulthieves (but unlike SouthLab). The overworld would be much, much smaller, though, and the population would be far less diverse. Just as SouthLab is intended to simplify the development of the base mechanics, this game could very well simplify the development of the universe mechanics demanded by Soulthieves.
SouthLab, as a more straightforward hack 'n' slash dungeon crawler, would be conceptually the least complex but probably the most brutal and unforgiving in terms of gameplay. Soulthieves would pretty much be the opposite. This old new idea would be a tweener, sacrificing much of the interactive complexity of Soulthieves in favour of the hack 'n' slash emphasis, but with a more involving (though still stupid) story than SouthLab.
If I ever get over this sinus infection I'll have many projects to contemplate.