What is this?
In an attempt to get used to C#, and hopefully actually finish a game development project for once, I've decided to create a 2D graphical Rogue-Like game for the PC/Xbox360 using the new-ish XNA Framework. A Rogue-Like is essentially a 2D dungeon crawl with random elements, for those who are unfamiliar. I have no idea when this will be finished, but I've decided to pseudo-blog it's progress here. Planned features can be found here.




Download alpha version here: Download Link (3/30/08 release)


4/16/08:
-Updated some of the tiles to look a bit more "tower-ish". This confirms once again that I can't draw
-Content is now streamed from the wycks.net webserver every time you play. This allows me to balance the game on the fly without continually releasing patches.



4/6/08:
-The world has become a much darker place...


3/30/08:
-A new spell/item effects system has been added, allowing special properties to be attached to objects
-A potion hotkey has been added
-Some minor bugs were fixed
-Monsters are no longer very nice and now tend to hunt you down if they can see you...
-Monsters can no longer walk through each other


Jerks...



3/29/08:
-Basic menu screen framework added
-Character archetype framework expanded
-Monster drops added (4 drop slots per monster with configurable odds)
-Player images moved over to a sprite sheet
-Support for player direction facing added, code updated to make direction changes when appropriate
-You can now change directions without consuming a turn
-A bug where changing floors sometimes resulted in the player spending their first turn with the entire map unexplored has been fixed





3/26/08:
-Finally got the chance to work on this some more
-Basic website integration framework added
-Item framework added
-Weapon damage calculations added
-Equippable weapons added
-Items can be picked up and added to inventory (Action key)
-Threw in a quick dummied image for the message box
-Added some music and sound




3/19/08:
-With my brilliant artistic abilities, I drew a "stairs" tile
-Added an opened door tile
-Randomly generated the exit for a floor, and you can now move on to additional floors
-Doors can now be closed by both the player and monsters
-The "Act" command has been added, it is used to perform an action on the tile you are standing on. For example, pressing it on stairs would move you to the next level. (Enter on Windows, A on Xbox)
-The player can now attack and kill monsters. (A key on Windows, X key on Xbox)
-Monsters now award experience upon dying
-A level-up system has been implemented (Currently growth formulas are of course dummied)
-God Mode and Explored Map Mode have been added to the Options Menu for testing purposes
-All Sprites and Textures have been moved to the Sprite Loader class, and are now Singletons
-The player can no longer walk through monsters.
-Screen size increased
-Monsters no longer render while outside of the camera range
-A basic GUI representation of player stats has been added to the right side of the screen
-A display of recent game events (attacking, defending, leveling up, killing monsters, etc) has been added to the bottom of the game screen




3/17/08:
-Cleaned up more code in MainScreen.cs
-Added more global features to GameManager.cs
-Monster AI now allows for attacking, and generally prioritizes it over moving. In short, the Monster will actually make an attempt at killing you
-Basic stats were added to both Player and Monster superclasses
-You can now rest to skip your turn and recover HP (Spacebar on Windows, B on Xbox)
-Some bastard flipped Celes upside-down!
-Minor drawing optimizations
-Moved SVN to wycks.net repository!


3/16/08:
-I hate the Xbox360's garbage collector
-Internal code structure optimized, multiple static controller classes now handle variables and sub-controllers
-Basic monster classes implemented
-Monster AI structure implemented (currently Guard, Random, and Aggressive. Aggressive needs work)
-Monsters now have the ability to open doors
-Monster placement added to dungeon generation
-Timing/turn manager working






Before Time Began:
-Procedural random map generator finished. Even on decent machines it generates even 1000x1000 maps in a matter of seconds. On the Xbox360, it's pretty much instantaneous
-Basic character movement implemented
-Camera implemented
-Doors work
-Pathways through the dungeon loop properly now
-Implemented basic game state management
-SVN server up (if you want access, contact me)



To-do List:
-Add functionality to dungeon generator that procedurally increases difficulty
-Add random item generation
-Implement a GUI for character stats/items/equipment
-Implement a character selection screen
-Add sounds/music
-Add character archetypes
-Create reasonable monster AI
-Add magic
-Add more monsters
-Improve graphics
-Finish Item types
-Fully integrate website (stat tracking, online character saving, leaderboards, etc)
-Create full installer package (XNA/Direct X/.Net/Game)
-Improve balance
-In the future, implement a more fleshed-out RPG mode with multiple dungeon types, towns, etc



-Dan
dan@wycks.net