Going Rogue

Dungeons of Dredmor... The Binding of Isaac... In the face of modern game design, why are roguelike games seeing a resurgence in mainstream popularity?

Around the year 1980, when the very concept of home computing was still science-fiction to the average consumer, a handful of students at the University of Berkeley in the United States set out to create a computer game. It was to be a new sort of adventure game; not like the one-off text adventure titles (like Adventure) that they had played before. They wanted to make a game that they could play themselves, over and over, without getting bored. They made a game called Rogue.

Rogue was groundbreaking for adventure games at the time, not least of all because it implemented the fairly new idea of using graphics, instead of text, to describe the action of the game to the player. In reality, this was no more than the use of ASCII symbols (letters, numbers, and punctuation marks) to represent the player, his environment, and the foes that he needed to overcome—but given the other sorts of game available at the time, this was itself part of an important step forwards in game design.

Rogue, as it would look in 1980. Via Wikipedia

Rogue’s other features—procedurally generated content, a punishing difficulty level and a fantasy setting—led to a surge in popularity amongst University students worldwide. Of course, as gaming began to diversify, and a console under the television became a normal part of family life through the 90s and beyond, games like Rogue eventually faded into relative obscurity.

Fast forward three decades. Video game production is a multi-million-dollar industry, and today’s major game releases are epic in scope. Cutting edge graphics and sky-high production values are the landmarks of the modern gaming landscape. The average person walks around with a computing device in their pocket several orders of magnitude more powerful than the enormous machines first used to play Rogue. And yet, across the world, you will still find people staring at rows of ASCII symbols, playing Rogue or games directly inspired by it—roguelikes—and what’s more, this sort of game is now seeing a surge in popularity even amongst mass-market game consumers.

The rise of the roguelike

The love of roguelike games never went away entirely. There has always been a certain sort of gamer attracted to the incredible depth and endless replayability of games like Nethack, Angband, or ADOM—games directly descended from Rogue in the gaming family tree.

And of course there have been mainstream titles that borrow heavily from the same school of game design. In 1996 Blizzard Entertainment released Diablo which, with its dungeon-delving structure and semi-randomly generated levels, was essentially a roguelike with a heavy facelift. Wisely setting aside some of the more unpalatable features of traditional roguelike design (such as permanent death) games like Diablo and Torchlight, or the Mystery Dungeon games such as Shiren the Wanderer, Chocobo’s, or Pokemon Dungeon, have seen significant commercial success.

But there is a trend developing, right now, in which we can see proper roguelike game design making a comeback. Indie favourite Desktop Dungeons has seen widespread acclaim during alpha testing, and is set to release to Beta this coming Monday to what will no doubt be great success; Dungeons of Dredmor was recently released via Steam and at the time of writing is enjoying pride-of-place marketing space on Valve’s delivery system (and sales to match, no doubt); and shortly, Super Meat Boy developer, Team Meat, will release The Binding of Isaac, a Legend-of-Zelda tribute with an explicit roguelike structure.

The Binding of Isaac, upcoming from Team Meat

How can these games thrive and succeed in today’s gaming marketplace? Here are a few possible reasons.

An Indie revolution

To begin with, we can simply look at the growing popularity of indie gaming in general. Free or cheap downloadable games have existed for as long as the Internet, but it is only recently that online delivery has become a major source of new titles for the average gamer. The Steam platform has been instrumental in this, as well as the commonplace online connectivity of this generation’s consoles and their respective online game marketplaces.

Today we think nothing of paying for and downloading a game online—and this means that small, independently-published games have a chance to make a mark like never before. Swedish developer Mojang will sell their 3-millionth copy of Minecraft in the very near future, demonstrating exactly how incredible an audience an indie game can find when it does everything right.

We love games that kick our arses, after all

There is a trend for increased difficulty in the games that we like to consume. For a long time, it seemed like games wanted to hold our hands when we played—and god forbid that we could become stuck without experiencing all of the premium content that the developer had laid on for us.

But we are an increasingly sophisticated gaming audience, with a safely-assumed history of gaming experience and skill behind the average player, and games are starting to recognise this. Titles such as Monster Hunter or Demon’s Souls take no prisoners and are uncompromising in their level of challenge. For some gamers, this sort of punishment is exactly what we’re after. And this provides a perfect audience for the roguelike—where sometimes one small error can mean permanent death and a complete game restart.

Random = replayable

Perhaps this a question of value in weaker economic times. Certainly the big growing economies such as China are prime markets for small, indie publishers who want to sell games for a few dollars only. Of course this audience still wants a lot of game for their cash. Randomly generated content is an easy way to deliver that.

Or perhaps it's just another symptom of an increasingly savvy consumer base. A game which is different every time we play it just sometimes seems like a better proposition than one which is the same over and over.

Whatever the reason, this is definitely a growing trend, and one being exploited heavily in the indie marketplace.

Strike the earth!

If these are indeed some of the reasons why we’re seeing a roguelike boom at the moment, we can just as easily sum them all up neatly by referencing a single game: Dwarf Fortress. Constantly in development, and with an ever-increasing spiral of complexity, Dwarf Fortress has been an adrenaline shot right into the heart of the roguelike community.

Dwarf Fortress using a graphical tileset

Not exactly a roguelike itself, the game nonetheless contains most of the features of one; from ASCII or simple tileset graphics, to a user interface only a mother could love, to a difficulty gradient that’s not so much a curve as an almost-insurmountable wall of sheer blinding terror. And yet underneath is an experience as rich and as varied as anything to be found within video games.

Dwarf Fortress’ motto is “losing is fun”—exactly the spirit engendered by the very best roguelikes. Developed by a pair of brothers from their own homes, and given away for free from their website, Dwarf Fortress has seen runaway success amongst the PC gaming crowd, and even those who haven’t played it directly have certainly felt its impact in the wider gaming community.

In a world where Mojang can sell 3 million copies of Minecraft, and the New York Times can run a 6-page feature on Dwarf Fortress, it’s really no surprise to see games like Dungeons of Dredmor or The Binding of Isaac being developed. They’re tapping into a growing desire for games that test us, punish our mistakes, and in return offer a rich and endlessly replayable experience.

In the meantime, traditional roguelike games themselves are continuing to be improved. Anyone interested in this type of game could do worse than checking out Tales of Maj'Eyal—a  roguelike that’s now moving away from some of the denser tropes of the genre and introducing decent graphical effects and (gasp) mouse control, whilst retaining the same deep gameplay that roguelikes are prized for.

Tales of Maj'Eyal, via te4.org

We may have come a long way from the computer labs of Berkeley, but the design principles behind Rogue remain some of the most relevant to gamers today. Random gameplay; deep complexity and immersivity; the presentation of a real challenge to the gamer and consequences for failure; these will be staples of some of the best games that we’re going to enjoy over the next few years.

Now if you don't mind, I've got a fortress to defend until my dwarves' last breath. Or until Diablo III comes out, anyway.