Screenshot from old times!

Ha! Vadim found build of old Fallen. Well. I think we made some progress since then.

How to fail a roguelike development (Guide from the Evil Wizard) #2

Hail to you!
It is me again, your best friend, the Evil Wizard!

I have second, very important advice for you:
never use any tools, algorithms or libraries!

There are a lot of them all over the Internet. Beware, the only purpose of their existence is to rob you! Steal your creativity progress.
Don't listen to weaklings, who say that using engines will save your time and will let you to start the gameplay itself.
Oh no, see through their intentions. They want to take a year of fun from you!

The only way to make roguelike is to write your own engine from scratch!
Because roguelike development is valuable itself and the final result isn't really important.


Your humble servant, the Evil Wizard.

How to fail a roguelike development (Guide from the Evil Wizard) #1

I have read enough articles how to succeed in roguelike development, how to create nice roguelike, but never heard about the dark side of the development.

The receipt of failure.

Of course, I don’t expect you to follow my «advises» and intentionally try to fail your project!

No and no! But maybe, just maybe, these articles could be helpful to my dear readers, the fellow roguelike developers and players!

So, my little boys and girls, you decide to fail a roguelike?

It requires some effort and dedication, but with the counsel of Evil Me, you will succeed to fail. Mu- ha-ha-ha.

Sorry..

My first admonish: never ask yourself about the purpose of the features, just add them!

You want to create great roguelike of all ages and all us know, rogueliks are about features.

A lot of them!

Foodclock? Never hurts! It served well in generations of the roguelikes! It would shine in yours!

Poisons and potions? Great stuff! Add them before you even planed your creatures.

Scrolls? Every roguelike has scrolls, add scroll as first item ever!

And so on..

I repeat again, the question: «why do we need it?» is stupid and disastrous!

Never question the features, simple add them to your game from the very beginning of the development.

Keep them coming and you’ll fail successfully!

Your humble servant, the Evil Wizard.