2009 7DRL Challenge

By: Derek Yu

On: April 2nd, 2009

The annual 7-Day Roguelike Challenge ended last month, and there were a whopping 25 finishers this year (out of 45 participants). You can find a list of all the finished entries here, at Rogue Temple. Cymon has also written reviews for all 25 games, which you can access here.

Shown above is Jeff Lait’s entry, Jacob’s Matrix, which is a really unique and fun roguelike. The game is turn-based, but you are racing against a real-time clock. There are some other neat twists, too, like the orientation of the map, which is always changing, and your ability to change classes at any time. Jeff is best known for his more traditional roguelike, Powder, although I enjoy his 7DRL’s more!

Posted in Roguelikes

http://randomzoo.com/ Random

Doh – didn’t know about this compo. Sounds like something I’d have liked to participate in, and some fun looking games came out of it too. Now to clear my schedule so I have enough time to play them :)
Vanguard

I thought DDRogue and Dungeon Minder were the best in the competition. Be sure to check those out!
Jonny

I too missed this compo. Would have loved to have participated…

Looks great though!
ssid

Maybe roguelikes are before my time, but I just don’t see the appeal.

/Twenty-six year old who did indeed grow up with a 386, then a 486, then a Pentium and so on…
Skyleak

I tried expedition stocked up sailed to the new land, and then starved to death after finding nothing to fight, claim, steal, or conquer.

I’m 26 and love RLs. I don’t know what’s not appealing about them. If it’s the graphics or lack there of. It’s kind of like The Matrix code. After you watch it long enough, you don’t see ASCII anymore, you mentally picture the game happening. Almost like HollyWood Virtual Reality.
http://metanetsoftware.com/blog raigan

Can anyone explain what the hell is going on in Jacob’s Matrix? I even know what the hell a Jacobian _is_ and I can’t figure out what the deal is.

Underbooks and Pyro both look amazing but don’t play so well, but given 7 days that’s understandable.

ExcitableDigger and Decimation both have really cool ideas/mechanics.

FotF, Emperor Engine and Expedition seem super-interesting but I can’t do anything but die.
sinoth

Everyone should give Epic! Monster Quest: Hyper a shot :) It resembles a text-based Starcraft. Can be hard if you just jump into it, but the readme helps.
Stargoat

I only started playing Roguelikes last year (I’m 21), but they really appeal to me; it’s not a nostalgia thing at all…

I think what attracts me to them is the potential depth while at the same time, the… simplicity. They can be played in as complex a way as you like.
Xecutor

Latest version of my entry SpiritsRL can be found here:
http://max.eyeline.mobi/skv/spiritsrl.html
ran24

Looking at the title quickly, I thought it was a TLDR competition. Make games that have so much text and backstory that you quit the game!
Lava

The Jacobian of Jacob’s Matrix seems to determine which walls can have portals and which can’t, but i can’t figure out how..
Jotaf

RLs are awesome, especially since the Doryen library came out and you’re not forced to use a 16-color console anymore (not without some investment in coding the front-end). Just check out some screenshots from various projects:

http://thedoryenlibrary.appspot.com/projects
Leroy

The colours and the terrain generation in that screenshot are absolutely beautiful, will have to try this, and give Powder another chance.
Novichock

So what are the “must tries”?
Vanguard

Cymon’s Games did reviews of all of the entries in the competition, and they also had a vote for which ones were the best in various categories. I think they did a good job, so if anyone just wants to see what comes recommended, check here.
http://www.cymonsgames.com Cymon

Heh, I tip Derek off to it, and get a footnote.

The “must tries” vary. You can read the afore mentioned reviews, but at the moment DDRogue, Jacob’s Matrix, Pyromancer, Epic Monster Quest, Dungeon Minder, Domination and Fruits of the forest are leading the polls, in that order. (I wanted to at least recommend Dungeon Minder, but then I discovered that the last two were tied with it, so I had to mention them, technically, tho I like dungeon minder much better than either of them.) Just start at the top of the list there and check them out.
http://splotki5000.blogspot.com/ splotki

This and DungeonMinder are 2 of my favorites from this compo.