Yeah, I took out two Griffins, then two Jabberwocks, and had to retreat when I realized there was a third Jabberwock, then I got surrounded by vampires! Managed to confuse one and evade the other, but the Jabberwock had by then caught up with me and delivered the death blow. It was pretty epic, would have made Robert E. Howard proud. Hey, who is "Gareth?" I just started a game with him, and I have no idea what he is from. And what's this about something that's not completely game-ruining? I hope it's not remotely game-ruining...I have a hard enough time resisting the special characters as it is. Do you foresee implementing leaderboards directly into the game in this update, by chance?
Nice to hear of an update coming with a few new feature at that. Something to look forward to. (And the new game too!)
Gareth Dragonsbane, Paladin from the Forgotten Realms. You'll note that your sword is blessed, just like his I've been very resistant to altering the balance of the game, so anything I change or add will be well thought out, I promise. Funny that you mention secret characters AND leaderboards in this post... that was my sole balance for them- prevent people from showing up in the main leaderboard when using them. The bigger change I make this time will likely have the same stipulation- using the feature means you get shoved into a separate board. It may be possible to bring the leaderboards directly in-game with some work. I'd left them as web pages so that I could mess with them (adding and removing categories, etc) without having to update the game. Worst case, maybe I could reformat the web pages and just display them within RT I wanted to put in some new stuff to say thanks to the loyal players of Rogue Touch! Plus it will help boost awareness of roguelikes again before Spirit Hunter Mineko is released, so it'll be good all around
I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what this is going to be. I'm not really sure what blessings do, actually, as I've rarely gotten them. I found some blessed daggers once and they allowed me to automatically pick up every bit of gold that I came across from the cracks of floors, but haven't had that ability again since then. With the leaderboards, even just a way to launch the safari link to them from something in-app would be pretty cool in my book. By the way, I am digging that poster for Spirit Hunter Mineko on the Chronosoft forums. I know that maybe not everyone is into the manga-style artwork, but I think what you have done so far looks really sharp.
Hey, a couple of other things I recently encountered--what's up with a monster in the Hall of Fame being displayed with a star? A Medusa confused and killed me and she's got a big yellow star next to her. Also, do Leprachauns steal weapons? I threw a war hammer and a +2 +2 mace of phantom slaying at him and when he teleported away with about 1,000 gold I also couldn't find either weapon. I didn't think war hammers at least would ever disappear after being thrown the way that, say, an arrow does when it's been shot. I assumed that with an arrow it could get lodged in the monster or break. Do all weapons behave in this way but some with less frequency? And, since I'm in such a questioning mood, what is the equation for how decreased strength effects your attacks? I assume it doesn't affect anything else? Oh, and I finally starved to death for the first time ever! Man, it takes a reeeeeaaaally long time! Edit: Last one--what's with the local guild 342? Why do they keep donating monuments to the Dungeons of Doom?
So, is it my imagination or are the centaurs immune to the status effects like slow and confusion? Also, how prevalent are aquators after levels 8-10? Kind of a bummer, being unable to use a plate armor once they enter the scene, for fear of them ruining it.
First, let me say thanks for your Spirit Hunter Mineko comments! The game's graphics and other poster art are really coming along well. As you said, it's not everyone's thing but I think the art style will compliment the game well. Stars seen on your games are just a "marker" to show that you used a secret character for that run through the dungeon. If you hit a monster with an item, you must kill them to reclaim it. This is true of arrows, and actually true of any weapon you hit them with up to and including that War Hammer. Since the Leprechaun was able to steal your gold and vanish, he took the weapon with him. Sorry, that's the rules! Strength has some small effect on your ability to hit, as well as doing damage. The base strength of 16 is equal to +1 damage, and basically every few points up or down you go in strength will add to or remove some damage capability. The range is something like -3 to +7 damage. There isn't an exact "equation" for this, but a sort of lookup table for damage, so it isn't quite linear but hopefully you get the idea. The monument was meant to be a teaser that would show the top 3 adventurers that died that week. It would have functioned much like a mini in-game leaderboard, but I was never quite happy with the thing. Centaurs don't have a specific immunity to those things, maybe you've just gotten unlucky? These effects can last for a variable number of turns, and you might just be getting the bare minimum effect for a turn or two. Sometimes these things happen a few times in a row and look like a pattern. Part of the fun is trying to figure out if that immunity or effect is real or perceived Aquators should thin out by floor 15 or 16. Ideally you want to have a Scroll of Protect Armor, or a Ring of Maintain Armor, or a backup suit that is not capable of rusting to be on the safe side. I agree that Aquators and Rattlesnakes have very punishing effects on the player. Mineko's effects will be a bit less permanent and game ruining than Rogue Touch. It's not going to be TOO EASY mind you, you'll still want to avoid certain monsters like those, but it wont be a crippling effect for the rest of your game
Really looking forward to the update CD! if I'm to hazard a guess, will gold now have another use besides scoring? I realize this is a total pipedream, but after you're done with Spirit Hunter I would love to see you work on Nethack Touch! I appreciate Dirk's effort but the menu interface is a bit clunky (I still play it at times regardless). Your work on RT makes it the best out of every other rogue-like in the App Store, even the more recent efforts. Keep up the good work!
This: Would make my head explode. I don't know if Nethack could ever be really streamlined in the way RT is, but I would love to see CD give it a try! Still, I think Mineko is going to be pretty much the ultimate game. No pressure, CD!
How about: Aquators don't attack you for n turns because you're so hydrated that they think you're one of them. Maybe you have to drink 3 in a row to get that effect...
The way it happens for me is that I do wear leather armor because of aquators and then I run into a troll + a couple of other monsters and that's all she wrote, because there is no time to switch into better armor, unless I am lucky enough to have items that help me to get away and switch. I probably just shouldn't linger on the 14th floor, it is distinctly unhealthy for me. Oh, and I have yet to see a scroll of armor protection or the ring either. All part of the fun, though. BTW, I have noticed that dart traps sometimes reduce Str, do normal darts also do this to monsters? And LOL, it is unfair for the sceleton of my previous run to have _cursed_ items on it!
I've been playing this game pretty extensively for a few weeks now, and I'm stuck. I can pretty consistently get down to floor 20, but then I always die. The monsters just get so tough! Any advice would be appreciated. Should I avoid all monsters and run for the stairs? I use up all my items pretty quickly, then die every time. Looking forward to your help!
I can't speak for anyone else, but at a certain point I just avoid monsters at all costs. Unless you get really lucky with item spawns, monsters can just screw you over in so many ways. Even if they don't have some kind of status attack, towards the end, they do so much damage you don't even stand a chance. I tend to just run like hell for the stairs.
Nafkert, Entropic has mentioned one good strategy here! In roguelikes, unless you got REALLY lucky with some powerful random items, you reach a point where it's simply better to avoid rather than take on monsters. As you've seen, attempting to go toe to toe with the beasts that appear in floors 18-26 is incredibly tough to do. You are ahead of many players though who often die well before floor 20! That means you've got a good handle on food usage, searching, and item management in general. If you want to try out other people's strategies a bit or discuss the tough monsters with some other deep divers I'd suggest this thread in my forums for good reading!
Ok, one more round of responses here since I missed so many! You'd be correct in your assumption about gold, but not quite in the way most people would expect it to work. I don't have this one fully functional yet, but it's an interesting idea that I hope many of you will enjoy See the next comment for more about NetHack... It'd be great fun to tear into an existing game like NetHack or Angband and give it the treatment! The possibility of my doing a project like that increases greatly if/when I have a couple of successful, decent selling games of my own design. The thing about those games is the open source licensing, which does not strictly prevent me from selling my completed product, but means that anyone else could download my code from a repository, compile and give it away! That means potentially no compensation for many months of hard work I could use to make another of my own game ideas (On a side note, not only does Rogue have different licensing terms, but I'm under no obligation to them either way, since the rules of rogue are simple enough that I was able to build Rogue Touch completely from scratch! A game like NetHack is so complex I pretty much have to use the current source to ensure all the features of the game are there ) Still Dirk Z. should be applauded for his efforts to make NetHack (and Slash'Em, which should be available in iTunes soon) more accessible. He and I have not spoken for a while, but did plan to have an in depth UI discussion at some point. Maybe I could give him some new ideas to implement on the short term until I become a developer-rockstar... I do have some hope that Spirit Hunter Mineko and a few of my unannounced game plans will capture the hearts of many people here. So anything can happen! That sir, is an interesting idea. Logical, and humorous too Sorry if I missed anyone, have to catch up in the Spirit Hunter Mineko thread... don't forget to join in the fun there too!
So, are the guild monuments just there for show? Is there any practical use to them? Also, can anyone suggest the best secret name to use in an attempt to beat the game? I'd like to see the end of it, even if I can't do it without assistance.
Monuments are just for show at the moment. At some point I do want to make them pull the top 1,2, or 3 names off the leaderboard server and have them listed on the monument as a sort of in-game tribute to those who have died or succeeded before you As far as secret characters go, there are a few that people really love to play more than others, and the Rogue Touch leaderboards for secret characters give away the most powerful ones: 1) Neo- double speed at all times, with the ability to see monster and treasure locations (like permanent haste and clairvoyance potions!). He is The One. 2) Drizzt- Elfin Chain, a Freezing Sword, Stealth, and Night Vision make him a very versatile character. 3) Thor- Starting strength of 25, Rustproof heavy chain armor, A powerful warhammer that electrifies enemies. Playing as a minor god- what's not to love? Honestly you should try out all of the secret characters at some point... The variations in game play and strategies make them all fun and interesting! Oh, and anyone experiencing trouble with slow gameplay on iOS 4- an update has been submitted to Apple that dramatically improves the speed of the game on iOS4 as well as a bit more on older devices/OS versions. In addition there are a couple of old minor bugs fixed and a couple of minor new features added. Watch for it to appear this coming week if all goes well
So, playing as Neo, should I avoid potions? I always end up un-hasting myself. Drizzt sounds pretty fun. I think I'll try that next.
Finally got to the Amulet of Yendor. However, out of habit I took the next stairs I saw, which went down to level 27. I can't find any stairs up! Am I screwed? Also, would there have been stairs going up that appeared if I would have looked further around level 26? Thanks.
