Spelunky. I love this game.

[Epyo]

I've wanted to play a randomly-generated platformer for a long time, and this one is absolutely perfect. I played my first roguelike about a year ago, Shiren the Wanderer for DS, and loved it, but was annoyed by a few aspects, and I've played other roguelikes since, but all have had even more issues that were just annoying. I knew I liked the core idea of the genre, but didn't find the right roguelike for me.

Spelunky is awesome. Here, check out episode two of this guy's Let's Play Spelunky
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x_V9k9tonM&feature=related

Now download Spelunky
http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=4017.0

Unfortunately it doesn't work on my main computer because of issues with my graphics card and Game Maker games, or something like that, but whenever I get the chance I take my mom's laptop and play for 3 hours in the middle of the night. OMG so good. Last night I played all the way from level 1 to the ice stages for the first time and managed to bag $100,000; that last 2k was the closest to the edge of my seat a game has got me in years. PLAY THIS GAME

[Quasar]

While you're checking out Kiko, be sure to watch his in-progress LP of Doom 3 too :)

He and Necroscope are my fav LP'ers.

[Dreadopp]

Spelunky is, indeed, an awesome game. It's pretty addictive, too. I think I made it up all the way up to level 11 or something before I finally died.

I also recommend Spelunky to anyone who likes this type of game.

[Creaphis]

I've played it, after first learning about the game here. My only complaint is that there aren't more random level features, to break the monotony of playing the first couple levels and dying a zillion times... (I'm not very good at it.)

[Mithral_Demon]

Too Indiana Jones like, don't like Indiana Jones.... But it does look fun.

[Mechadon]

Looks really awesome, actually. I could find myself playing this for hours on end.

[Super Jamie]

That looks really cool, hard to believe artificial logic can generate levels which are beatable and include puzzles, without making them too easy or too hard.

If you're looking for good roguelikes, most are crap. NetHack was the main one throughout the 90s, but I find Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup to be better to be better these days. POWDER is also quite popular, especially for mobile devices as it was developed primarily for GBA. If you have a flash cart like an EZ Flash you can play it on an actual GBA too.

Alot of people go nuts over Dwarf Fortress however there's just SO MUCH to the game - world generation, godgame people management, strategy resource management, construction, game interface including recording functions - the learning curve seems massive and I seriously just cbf.

[Epyo]

Thanks for the informative post Jamie!

I've heard of NetHack and Dwarf Fortress, although DF seems like a waste of time, I've been meaning to get around to trying NetHack, since it sounds like a more polished Shiren the Wanderer. (Although Shiren was so goddam charming I know I'll miss that. POWDER sounds pretty cool, I'll try that one too as soon as I need a new fix.

Oh wow looking at a screenshot of Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup, looks effin amazing.

"Wayfarer" is a pretty cool-looking flash roguelike but it's still in very early versions and doesn't have too much content yet, so it's not that cool.

Creaphis said:

I've played it, after first learning about the game here. My only complaint is that there aren't more random level features, to break the monotony of playing the first couple levels and dying a zillion times... (I'm not very good at it.)

I dunno if you know this but the game looks different every 4 levels. Like, level 5 looks more grassy and has very different level elements. And as soon as you get to level 5 a second time, you can start giving all your money to a guy, and if you keep giving the guy money every time you get to level 5, he'll eventually let you start the game at level 5 whenever you want! But maybe you already know this.

Quasar said:

While you're checking out Kiko, be sure to watch his in-progress LP of Doom 3 too :)

He and Necroscope are my fav LP'ers.

Yeah I'm on episode 16 ish of the doom 3 let's play :)

[Da Spadger]

Super Jamie said:

- the learning curve seems massive and I seriously just cbf.

Something like this, yes? (Replace EVE with DF)

http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/4462/learningcurve.jpg

[Snarboo]

I've always wanted to see a Doom mod with rogue-like gameplay, but short of generating everything with Oblige every time you play, it wouldn't really work.

[Lord_Z]

It is a fun game but it is also quite hard to get far. One of these days I'll be able to get past level 6.

[Creaphis]

If you're looking for Roguelikes I'd recommend ADOM, which had me hooked for a good while. It's the first Roguelike I played, and I was never able to find another one that appealed to me, as ADOM apparently outdoes all other Roguelikes in terms of making the gameworld feel like a gameworld. Almost all locations are permanent after generation, as opposed to disappearing the instant you leave them, so you can actually feel like you're exploring something significant as you walk through the dungeons. There's also a large body of well-written monster descriptions and other lore that puts flesh on the game's bones. The gameplay is fun, and the learning curve isn't bad. There is a lot to learn, but I was already enjoying myself as a noob, when I did little more than run around, enter a random area, equip a cursed weapon by accident and then die.

Epyo said:

I dunno if you know this but the game looks different every 4 levels. Like, level 5 looks more grassy and has very different level elements. And as soon as you get to level 5 a second time, you can start giving all your money to a guy, and if you keep giving the guy money every time you get to level 5, he'll eventually let you start the game at level 5 whenever you want! But maybe you already know this.

Yeah I knew that. But I felt safer in level 5 and below when bolstered by a few levels' worth of resources. "Felt" because I really don't have interest in playing more Spelunky; it's one of those games that I appreciate from afar.

Da Spadger said:

Something like this, yes? (Replace EVE with DF)

http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/4462/learningcurve.jpg

So, who else here is nerdy enough to notice, and then be angered by the transposed axis labels?

[Technician]

I thought we were going to talk about that Price is Right game when I first read the title.

[david_a]

Transcendence is a 2D roguelike space game that is pretty fun.

[andrewj]

Creaphis said:

Almost all locations are permanent after generation, as opposed to disappearing the instant you leave them

Which game does that? (disappearing levels)

[Creaphis]

Oh, Zangband does that, which is one of the very few other Roguelikes I've tried. I thought that was standard practice.

[Nomad]

Creaphis said:

Oh, Zangband does that, which is one of the very few other Roguelikes I've tried. I thought that was standard practice.

I'm fairly sure that DoomRL does that too, but it's been a while since I played.

However, I think Nethack and Dwarf Fortress at least do have persistent worlds as long as you continue the same game.

[Super Jamie]

Yeah, they do. I've found persistent worlds are more common than not in the various roguelikes I've played.

[SFJake]

Oh god, thanks for linking stuff I enjoy. The game is so lovely, and watching a funny guy playing it is even better. I really needed something to waste time.