MageGuild 1.0

By: Derek Yu

On: November 13th, 2008

A couple of neat roguelikes went 1.0 recently. One is Legerdemain, which we covered previously on TIGSource. It’s a story-based, IF-influenced RL, and is definitely worth checking out.

The second is MageGuild, which, as you may guess, is a magic-centric dungeon crawl. My experience playing wizard classes in roguelikes is that it’s generally too complex for my tastes. Reading books, having spells fizzle, getting my ass handed to me by weak enemies – I like sorcery about as much as Conan the Barbarian, which is to say, put that staff away and give me a sword to cleave a mage in twain with!

So it was a pleasant surprise to find out that MageGuild is one of the more easy to get into RL’s that I’ve played. The interface is clean, the controls are simple, and there’s a tutorial. The game also supports mouse control and graphical tiles (I may make a tileset, actually!).

What makes the game interesting is its focus on mixing spells and potions. At the beginning of the game, you pick up to two schools of magic that will decide which spells you can learn. Then during the game you can combine potions with a variety of objects to create new ones. Want to become a werewolf? It’s as easy as mixing a Potion of Change with some Hair of Wolf.

Having only made a few runs into the dungeon, I can’t comment too extensively on this system, but my initial impression is quite favorable. It’s a pretty fast-paced roguelike that encourages experimentation without being too overwhelming to beginners. I recommend trying it. (Keep in mind that it requires the .NET framework!).

TIGdb: Entries for Legerdemain, MageGuild

(Source: Slash, via Temple of Roguelike)

Legerdemain

By: Derek Yu

On: January 15th, 2008

Legerdemain is an interesting Roguelike hybrid that eschews the typical fantasy setting and randomly-generated dungeons of the Roguelike genre in favor of a surreal storyline which you have to uncover piece by piece. The developer also states that the game is influenced, part, by Interactive Fiction.

The game opens by asking you questions to “shape your philosophy as a Manipulator.” Manipulation is the “magic” of Phenomedom, an ancient art that few understand and many are fearful of. Once your character is created, you awake in a Doobah prison cell, an amnesiac. Although your ultimate goal is to “uncover a vast conspiracy full of morbid secrets and ancient puzzles,” your immediate one is to escape the prison. Grabbing the prime brush laying next you (a tool used for manipulation), you set out on your quest.

The repetitiveness of the first dungeon put me off a bit, but once you emerge into the overworld, things definitely pick up. Examining points of interest (represented by “?”), collecting “paragraphs” (large chunks of storyline), and talking to the various inhabitants of the world of Phenomedom is quite engaging – you can hail, chat, gossip, offer, or ask people about keywords that get brought up during conversation. Even though combat initially seems shallow compared to other Roguelikes, there’s no lacking in things to see or learn once you escape the Doobah prison.

All in all, Legerdemain is a bold experiment that runs the risk of alienating fans of RLs, RPGs, or IF because it’s not quite any of them. Still, the world of Phenomedom is a captivating one, and there’s obviously a lot under the hood that’s there to be discovered.

Note: The game is programmed in Java and requires a Java Virtual Machine (at least 1.4) to run. A link for this download is on the developer’s website.

(Source: Slash, via Rogue Temple)