Roguelike development tips
Reddit’s /r/roguelikedev is a great place for discussing roguelike development. One of its most valuable resources is FAQ Friday, a bi-weekly post where developers share their insights about a specific topic.
There’s a huge amount of useful information locked away in these posts, and they’re well worth reading through even if you’re not building a roguelike.
Highlights
Below are a couple of my favourites from the archives. There’s so much good stuff I’ll probably be updating this list a lot.
- #5 - Data Management
- Detailed discussion on how different games get data into the game. There’s examples of different file formats and how objects are represented internally in the game.
- #10 - Project Management
- A look at how people organize their projects and how files are structured. There’s also some discussion on what tools are useful for getting things done on time.
- #24 - World Structure
- How worlds are laid out, what kinds of environments are used and how things are all connected.
- #40 - Inventory Management
- How different games manage their inventories, challenges along the way and some UI discussion.
/r/roguelikedev/ “FAQ Friday” archives
Last update: 2017-04-13
- 2017-03-31 - #61 Questing and Optional Challenges
- 2017-03-17 - #60 Shops and Item Acquisition
- 2017-03-03 - #59 Community
- 2017-02-17 - #58 Theme
- 2017-02-03 - #57 Story and Lore
- 2017-01-20 - #56 Mob Distribution
- 2017-01-06 - #55 Factions and Cooperation
- 2016-12-23 - #54 Map Prefabs
- 2016-12-09 - #53 Seeds
- 2016-11-25 - #52 Crafting Systems
- 2016-11-11 - #51 Licenses
- 2016-10-28 - #50 Productivity
- 2016-10-14 - #49 Awareness Systems
- 2016-09-30 - #48 Developer Motivation
- 2016-09-16 - #47 Options and Configuration
- 2016-09-02 - #46 Optimization
- 2016-08-19 - #45 Libraries Redux
- 2016-08-05 - #44 Ability and Effect Systems
- 2016-07-22 - #43 Tutorials and Help
- 2016-07-08 - #42 Achievements and Scoring
- 2016-06-24 - #41 Time Systems
- 2016-06-10 - #40 Inventory Management
- 2016-05-27 - #39 Analytics
- 2016-05-13 - #38 Identification Systems
- 2016-04-29 - #37 Hunger Clocks
- 2016-04-15 - #36 Character Progression
- 2016-04-01 - #35 Playtesting and Feedback
- 2016-03-18 - #34 Feature Planning
- 2016-03-04 - #33 Architecture Planning
- 2016-02-19 - #32 Combat Algorithms
- 2016-02-05 - #31 Pain Points
- 2016-01-22 - #30 Message Logs
- 2016-01-08 - #29 Fonts and Styles
- 2015-12-25 - #28 Map Object Representation
- 2015-12-11 - #27 Color
- 2015-11-27 - #26 Animation
- 2015-11-13 - #25 Pathfinding
- 2015-10-30 - #24 World Structure
- 2015-10-16 - #23 Map Design
- 2015-10-02 - #22 Map Generation
- 2015-09-18 - #21 Morgue Files
- 2015-09-04 - #20 Saving
- 2015-08-21 - #19 Permadeath
- 2015-08-07 - #18 Input Handling
- 2015-07-24 - #17 UI Implementation
- 2015-07-10 - #16 UI Design
- 2015-06-26 - #15 AI
- 2015-06-12 - #14 Inspiration
- 2015-05-29 - #13 Geometry
- 2015-05-08 - #12 Field of Vision
- 2015-04-24 - #11 Random Number Generation
- 2015-04-10 - #10 Project Management
- 2015-03-27 - #9 Debugging
- 2015-03-13 - #8 Core Mechanic
- 2015-03-06 - #7 Loot Distribution
- 2015-02-27 - #6 Content Creation and Balance
- 2015-02-20 - #5 Data Management
- 2015-02-13 - #4 World Architecture
- 2015-02-06 - #3 The Game Loop
- 2015-01-30 - #2 Development Tools
- 2015-01-23 - #1 Languages and Libraries