Roguelike Radio

This is episode 120 of Roguelike Radio, where Mark Johnson and Nicolas Casalini (DarkGod) speak to Michał Brzozowski about KeeperRL. Read more »

Nicolas Casalini (DarkGod), creator of Tome and veteran Lua engine designer. Josh Ge (Kyzrati), maker of CogMind, focused on simple, data-driven, testable systems. They discuss project structure and file organization. They cover data-driven content, separating engine from game, when to optimize, automated self-play testing and practical approaches to moddability and keeping secrets.

John Harris, author and longtime roguelike commentator known for the At Play column, reflects on the history and scope of his work. He revisits early Rogue and NetHack memories. He discusses genre terminology, preservation of fragile roguelike history, experimental procedural narratives, and challenges around modern ports, pricing, and keeping long-running projects alive.

Darren Grey, longtime roguelike analyst, and Rob Parker, editor and game researcher, dig into strategy versus tactics in roguelikes. They compare classics and modern roguelites, contrast twitch arcade play with turn-based tactics, and debate permadeath, post-mortems, item use, farming, and design choices that shape learning curves and player agency.

Diego Cathalifaud, a renowned roguelike developer known for titles like Powergrounds, and Santiago Zapata, aka Slash, a prolific 7-Day Roguelike participant, share their insights on designing roguelikes within a week. They discuss the importance of pre-jam planning, compact designs, and player testing. Slash emphasizes the challenges of adapting non-roguelike games, while Diego encourages refining mechanics through play. The duo also explores collaboration tips and the significance of embracing unconventional ideas for unique gameplay.

Riad Djemili, programmer and co‑creator who built systems and scripting. Johannes Kristmann, designer and co‑creator who shaped design and art. They talk Victorian expedition setting and procedural roguelike fit. Pixel art choices and evolving visuals. How iteration, community feedback, replayable exploration, and fantasy elements like dinosaurs shaped the game.

Jim Shepard, developer of Dungeonmans, discusses level design and embedding tutorials in level geometry. He talks about using rooms and cover to teach movement, making buildings readable for exploration, and how monsters and AI interact with environments. The conversation covers secret rooms, rhythm-based AI, modular level assembly, and using layout rules to guide player behavior.

Mark Johnson, roguelike developer and community organizer behind projects like Ultimate Ralf and the European roguelike meetup. Conversation covers 2015 highlights in roguelikes. They discuss surprising breakout releases, Early Access and community feedback, monetization choices for ports, design debates about unlocks and turn-based vs real-time tensions, plus tools and trends to watch for 2016.

This is episode 112 of Roguelike Radio, where Darren Grey interviews Kornel Kisielewicz, maker of Doom the Roguelike. Read more »

Jason Dreger, lead designer who prototyped Invisible Inc., and James Lantz, designer focused on procedural stealth systems, talk design evolution and inspirations. They trace the pivot to turn-based stealth, talk procedural level generation and guard placement. They cover vision, camera hacking, UI clarity, the alarm clock tension mechanic, and the limited rewind safety net.