Okay, time to start development :). This post is the basic design concept and a overline of major design goals.
Berserk! -- the roguelike of tactical bloodshedThe tagline states the two most important goals -- it will be bloody and it will be tactical. The inspiration for this little piece came from the great Anime and Manga "Berserk" (see
wikipedia entry). It bases on the dark fantasy setting of humans vs. demons, and the concept of a inhumanly strong berserker warrior fighting a doomed defensive battle of survival against the overwhelming demonic forces. There's only one goal -- survive. That's why the playing field is limited only to the battleground (running away is pointless...). Also, the capabilities of the main character will be based around Gutts from Berserk.
Contrary to DoomRL and DiabloRL, I wont be following the setting -- this is not a game for Berserk fans (who might be even angered by my reducing Berserks rich plot to pure slaughter), but a game for the general roguelike audience.
Berserk will be very short in gameplay -- thus there will be no saving -- mainly because the fact, that enemies will come in greater strength and numbers all the time -- in fact, there will be probably no way to "win" the game -- just take as many of them with you to oblivion!
There will be place for character development, though. The warrior will be able to choose from many DoomRL-like traits, and also learn additional "techniques". He will be also equipped with a few additional toys except for his sword (though there will be no inventory system at all -- only powerupish items to be used).
Considering that the game seems pretty dumb at first glance, combat needs to be very tactical. I summoned for this reason two combat enhacements from the GenRogue combat system -- the Pain system and the Energy system. I'll describe them in detail when I'll implement them :).
Duh, enough talk, time to get to work -- I'd like to release something remotely playable in 48-72 hours so it can be beta tested.
Comments, suggestions, questions -- all welcome.