Rogue
An early dungeon crawler with generated levels and permanent death.
Where Rogue comes up3 episodes and tests
Gcreator of Game Maker's Toolkit testThe 100 Games That Taught Me Game Design
Gcreator of Game Maker's Toolkit testThe Birth of the Japanese RPG | Design Icons
Gcreator of Game Maker's Toolkit testDo We Need a Soulslike Genre?Rogue let the computer place rooms, corridors, loot and enemies by rules, and death restarted players in a new dungeon, so rote learning could not beat it. Its idea spawned over 30 Mystery Dungeon games, yet direct followers like NetHack only tweaked it for decades. Lesson: copy the experience a feature creates, such as surprise and peril, not the feature checklist.
- 1Rules build the dungeonRooms, corridors, loot and enemies placed
- 2Player diesPermanent death ends the run
- 3New dungeon appearsRestart in a fresh layout
- 4Memory stops helpingRote learning can't beat the game
From Rogue page note (Toy and Wichman)
What was said about Rogue
1How Rogue paired generated dungeons with permadeath
Rogue built its dungeons by rules, so dying could not be beaten by memory. Michael Toy and Glenn Wichman had the computer place rooms, corridors, loot and enemies by rules. Dying restarts you in a new dungeon, so rote learning can't beat the game.
Procedural generation gave Rogue an effectively infinite supply of new dungeons, which is what made permanent death workable.
2How Rogue became the Mystery Dungeon series
Koichi Nakamura localised Rogue for Japan and created Mystery Dungeon. Nakamura had already struck gold with a Japanese version of a popular Western game. He repeated it with Rogue, which a colleague was obsessed with, and the result was the Mystery Dungeon series, now more than 30 games pairing random generation with permadeath.
The pairing then spread to Final Fantasy, Pokemon, Etrian Odyssey and Dragon Quest spin-offs, and Western indie designers remixed the core ideas too. The source says of Nakamura: "he sought to do the same thing again."
3Rogue's clones and what roguelikes kept
Rogue's followers only tweaked it, and a 14-factor checklist kept the genre small. NetHack, Moria and Angband only tweaked Rogue, so roguelikes stayed at the clone stage for decades. The 2008 Berlin Interpretation listed 14 factors, from permadeath to turn-based play, numbers and ASCII graphics.
The genre got interesting once developers cut it down to permadeath and procedural generation and mixed those with other types of game, such as the platformer and shooter roguelikes Spelunky and Downwell. The source says this "has given the genre an entirely new lease on life".
Spelunky copied the feeling of Rogue, not its features. Spelunky kept Rogue's random levels and meaningful death but dropped turn-based play, grids and ASCII art. It still captures Rogue's surprise and peril.
Copying a game's mechanics gives you nearly the same game. Asking why those features were designed that way and what experience they create opens up different ways to give players the same feeling.
The 100 Games That Taught Me Game Design
Michael Toy and Glenn Wichman had the computer place rooms, corridors, loot and enemies by rules. Dying restarts you in a new dungeon, so rote learning can't beat it.
Rogue built its dungeons by rules, so dying could not be beaten by memory. Michael Toy and Glenn Wichman had the computer place rooms, corridors, loot and enemies by rules. Dying restarts you in a new dungeon, so rote learning can't beat the game.
Procedural generation gave Rogue an effectively infinite supply of new dungeons, which is what made permanent death workable.
The Birth of the Japanese RPG | Design Icons
Nakamura copied it to make the Mystery Dungeon series, which pairs random generation with permadeath. It now has more than 30 games, and Western indie designers also remixed its core ideas.
Rogue built its dungeons by rules, so dying could not be beaten by memory. Michael Toy and Glenn Wichman had the computer place rooms, corridors, loot and enemies by rules. Dying restarts you in a new dungeon, so rote learning can't beat the game.
Procedural generation gave Rogue an effectively infinite supply of new dungeons, which is what made permanent death workable.
Koichi Nakamura localised Rogue for Japan and created Mystery Dungeon. Nakamura had already struck gold with a Japanese version of a popular Western game. He repeated it with Rogue, which a colleague was obsessed with, and the result was the Mystery Dungeon series, now more than 30 games pairing random generation with permadeath.
The pairing then spread to Final Fantasy, Pokemon, Etrian Odyssey and Dragon Quest spin-offs, and Western indie designers remixed the core ideas too. The source says of Nakamura: "he sought to do the same thing again."
Do We Need a Soulslike Genre?
Its followers NetHack, Moria and Angband only tweaked it, so roguelikes stayed at the clone stage for decades. The 2008 Berlin Interpretation listed 14 factors, from permadeath to ASCII graphics.
Rogue's followers only tweaked it, and a 14-factor checklist kept the genre small. NetHack, Moria and Angband only tweaked Rogue, so roguelikes stayed at the clone stage for decades. The 2008 Berlin Interpretation listed 14 factors, from permadeath to turn-based play, numbers and ASCII graphics.
The genre got interesting once developers cut it down to permadeath and procedural generation and mixed those with other types of game, such as the platformer and shooter roguelikes Spelunky and Downwell. The source says this "has given the genre an entirely new lease on life".
Spelunky copied the feeling of Rogue, not its features. Spelunky kept Rogue's random levels and meaningful death but dropped turn-based play, grids and ASCII art. It still captures Rogue's surprise and peril.
Copying a game's mechanics gives you nearly the same game. Asking why those features were designed that way and what experience they create opens up different ways to give players the same feeling.
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