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[Clamp360]

So, I've been playing this since like 2012 casually on and off and it's been a really good time; it breaks my heart to come on here and see that the game seems to have died.  I mean I'm not surprised, given its age and the circumstances surrounding its development it realistically should have died years ago, but there is still something disappointing about the fact that we'll probably never complete every medal and challenge.  Anyways, I suppose my question is even if the forums aren't active anymore, how many of you guys still play the game?  Are you playing casually or still going for those insane achievements?  Personally I never grinded too hard or got too good, and my proudest achievement is just beating the game on UV.

[thelaptop]

I won't call it dead because there are still folks who are playing it.  But I will call it dead from a "new features/bug fix" angle.

I've been here since 2009.  Life grinds on, and with it, priorities.  The day that Kornel decided to launch the Kickstarter for Jupiter Hell is the day that DRL fades quietly into the background, partly because of the development time needed to get Jupiter Hell on the road, and partly because by declaring that project on Kickstarter (with references to DRL), it is a very public statement that would (and did) incur the C&D request of using the old name.

DRL is open source now, which means that folks can compile their own version and do the necessary bug fixes/development.  But in many ways, it is a hot potato situation from the IP perspective; yes, the name is changed to not overtly reference and potentially mislead the provenance of the game, but there are still many entities and objects that are heavily referencing the source material that are just time bombs in disguise.  Because of that, I believe that it is hard for anyone to take up the mantle to further develop on DRL.

That aside, the code base is old.  We're talking Pascal levels of old.  I can program in Pascal, and probably a few others who are around my age group.  But most developers are more into C++, Java, C#, Python, JavaScript and other fun stuff.  You might say, "but the game is mostly in Lua!"; yes, but some of the bugs are in the Pascal code itself, and it is not exactly obvious how to fix it.  Old code eventually reaches a point where it is hard to maintain, especially when there is no champion for it.

As for whether DRL is still played by me, it's a hard and sad answer to say, not as much, inasmuch as I am still the Chaos Fanatic!.  Remember what I said about how life grinds on, and priorities change?  Yeah... that.

Also at this stage, my personal opinion is that more focus is/should be placed on Jupiter Hell to ensure that it is successful enough to keep ChaosForge going.  It's a lot of eggs in one basket, but it is the choice of Kornel, and I believe most of us are trying to help him there.  As such, I think much of the effort of playing/testing is on JH than DRL.

Except Tormuse.  He's nuts (in a good way) and is always trying to win every dang medal/badge/achievement he can get.  I can't even remember what he hasn't gotten at this point.  =)

[Clamp360]

Yeah, I appreciate the response.  The game's development is absolutely dead, I was more wondering about the community.  I hope people like Tormuse prevail in their endless quest for 100%, It would be a damn shame otherwise.

[thelaptop]

Community-wise, ever since JH became a thing, most people started talking more about that on the Steam forums, which I am not a big participant of.

There used to be an IRC, but it was abandoned in favour of Discord.

All in all, I think in many ways, the community has "moved on with the times".

It's sad for sure, but well... it is the way it is.

I will keep lurking here though.  Steam forums are terrible to work with, in my opinion.  XD

[Tormuse]

Yeah, I appreciate the response.  The game's development is absolutely dead, I was more wondering about the community.  I hope people like Tormuse prevail in their endless quest for 100%, It would be a damn shame otherwise.

Heh, I was never going to get 100%.  I'm just not good enough to avoid taking damage 100% of the time to get the badges that require it.  (I mean maybe, theoretically, I could, but it would take more time and patience than I have)  Besides...  not that I do this for the fame or anything, but the fact that there's less interest in the game than there used to does dampen my enthusiasm for it a bit.  There just doesn't seem to be any demand for me to keep pushing on to get 100%, so it's hard to keep that motivation to keep going, especially after all these years.  I'm pretty pleased with my Everyman Angelic game, (and especially pleased that I recorded it!)  :)  but even that didn't get a heck of a lot of attention by the time I accomplished it, so it's probably just as well that I leave off on that high note.  :)

Anyway, like Thelaptop said, people have just moved on to other things.  (Especially Jupiter Hell)  I actually haven't played DRL in a while, but I've played a fair bit of JH.  (And got a few of the Diamond badges!)  :D

[mihey1993]

Mostly it is indeed JH this days. I too still lurk forum often enough, but i am nowhere good enough to post many wins here, and JH ones go mostly on discord.

[CrashGordon94]

Indeed, Jupiter Hell is taking the attention now, particularly since that's in active development and changing quite a bit.

I occasionally pop in here sometimes, though obviously less often now.

One thing I'd like to mention is that the Jupiter Hell Discord has a channel for this game. Not a very active one, but it's there at least.

[Sereg]

I still check in once in awhile.

I don't have the kind of free time these days to get involved with JH the way I did with DRL, unfortunately, but it's still interesting to see what others have been up to.

Hopefully I'll have some more time for JH some day, though.

[ParaSait]

Hey, who remembers me? :D I've lost count of how many years it's been at this point...

I was thinking of revisiting DoomRL today, and I was wondering about exactly this question. The answer is pretty much in line with my expectations (unfortunately).

It's pretty clear that the game's development is officially 100% dead at this point, but I'd love to see this childhood game of mine come alive and kicking again in some form. I was thinking, maybe it would be really awesome if a couple of hardcore fans from the old days were to band together and work on a complete rewrite of the game, in a language that's a little less archaic, and with all the references to IP protected content carefully stripped out and replaced with "close enough" alternatives, while leaving the core gameplay mechanics entirely untouched. (one big advantage that DoomRL has is that even though it has a Doom-like paint job, it does very much have its own identity in the way of gameplay mechanics...)

I develop software for a living these days (albeit business software, not games). Maybe this could be a fun spare time thing to work on if there's any interest...


Addendum: is the chaosforge chat room still a thing?

[thelaptop]

Addendum: is the chaosforge chat room still a thing?

I don't think so.  Heck, even I am not there.  Try looking in Discord though... but even then, it will be Jupiter Hell centric.

[LuckyDee]

Welcome back dude, for what there is to come back to...

[GrAVit]

Hey guys, been a while!

Seems like the DoomRL community has gone pretty quiet over time, huh. But that's just the way the cookie crumbles, people move on.
Nowadays I'm writing my bachelor's thesis in software engineering. I used to make video content for the game on YouTube, where I'd take on community-given challenge modes. It didn't last all that long, but it was pretty fun. I remember failing early on many times, in which case I'd just restart the whole recording session. haha
I think it's cool that this game's community inspired me to expand on my let's play career at the time... and I still sometimes look back at those old videos and see how I've grown as a person. lol

All in all, I gotta say I had a blast with this game back when I was really into it, and I still think it's an awesome game. Still gotta give Jupiter Hell a try.
Hope you're all doing well!

[scotherns]

DoomRL will be installed on every PC I own, forever! Playing Jupiter Hell at the moment, but I always come back to DRL eventually.

[Sylph]

Doomrl is always one of the first programs installed on a new device for me too!

I think it always will be.

Every few years, I tend to come back to it, and start gathering those badges to unlock game modes and increase in rank! I love the gradual progression, and the way you get to 'pick' which challenges you'll use to progress.

The strategy in doomrl is absolutely remarkable. The only game that comes close, for me, is the revamped xcom series.

I have enjoyed some jupiter hell, and it's my hope that, in time, it manages to accumulate the same depth with a wide range of unique feeling levels, weapons, and builds (both character and modpack! ;)) that doomrl has. I have confidence that it'll get there, but in the mean time doomrl is my go-to title for turn-based tactics!
I haven't visited the forums due to distraction for the last few months, but I'm always eager to read new player experiences, ideas, and mortems.

(Yes Tormuse, your everyman medal was incredible! I'm sorry you didn't get enough fanfare for it!! 🖤)

Regarding these forums: they *really* need the 'auto-lock function on threads to be removed. The traffic has got lower over time, which makes me visit less frequently. However, when I *do* visit, see a topic that interests me and try to join in on some discussion. .. NOPE, thread autolocked, every time!

I have a strong suspicion that this feature is contributing to the 'deadness' of the community.

[Sylph]

Ps... You know what I'd *really*, *really* pay to see?

Doomrl *exactly* recreated with the jupiter hell engine, and the id software ip content swapped out with functionally identical replacements.

That way, not only could I enjoy my favourite game with amazing graphics and sound and the most streamlined, beautiful roguelike engine I've ever seen; but the dev work could continue adding to it like the 'good old days' 10 years ago! 🖤

I remember reading that a doomrl mod for jupiter hell was 'almost inevitable', and it's one of the things that excited me most about it!

[thelaptop]

Regarding these forums: they *really* need the 'auto-lock function on threads to be removed. The traffic has got lower over time, which makes me visit less frequently. However, when I *do* visit, see a topic that interests me and try to join in on some discussion. .. NOPE, thread autolocked, every time!

I have a strong suspicion that this feature is contributing to the 'deadness' of the community.

Apparently I can do something about that, and I think I have done so with some of the settings just now.  Yay?

Edit: For threads that are already auto-locked, there isn't an automated way of unlocking them, but just PM me and I will unlock it.  I'm here, even though I'm not saying much.

[Sereg]

Hey, who remembers me? :D I've lost count of how many years it's been at this point...

I was thinking of revisiting DoomRL today, and I was wondering about exactly this question. The answer is pretty much in line with my expectations (unfortunately).

It's pretty clear that the game's development is officially 100% dead at this point, but I'd love to see this childhood game of mine come alive and kicking again in some form. I was thinking, maybe it would be really awesome if a couple of hardcore fans from the old days were to band together and work on a complete rewrite of the game, in a language that's a little less archaic, and with all the references to IP protected content carefully stripped out and replaced with "close enough" alternatives, while leaving the core gameplay mechanics entirely untouched. (one big advantage that DoomRL has is that even though it has a Doom-like paint job, it does very much have its own identity in the way of gameplay mechanics...)

I develop software for a living these days (albeit business software, not games). Maybe this could be a fun spare time thing to work on if there's any interest...

I remember you.

I'd be on board with a rebuild in a more modern language, if there was enough interest - I'm pretty solid with Java(I've even done a few small roguelikes of my own in it, one of which I've posted on these forums), and I'd be reasonably comfortable working with Python or C# as well, if those turn out to be more preferable among the pool of potential developers.

It would also be nice to have Kornel's blessing, of course.

Feel free to shoot me a PM if you like regarding this.

[Sylph]

The drive for a re-creation of doomrl without ip problems is amazing!
As I'd mentioned in my post above, I think it would be an awesome opportunity for the jupiter hell engine.

Being a career IT developer, I'd happily lend my talents where ever they could be of use, but it's worth mentioning that I don't currently hugely enjoy coding, nor find myself particularly gifted with it!
I have enough interest to tinker (like adding a 'run-wait' feature to jupiter hell for my own pleasure!), but I don't tend to have enough passion to push a project of any great scale as a hobby!
What I do love is writing and design, so at the very least I could offer documentation, lore, and even some game design ideas if further expansion on the title was intended.
I recognise, though, that doomrl is Kornel's baby, and he should ultimately be the overlord for any attempts to move it forwards.

TheLaptop: thankyou for the change to the forum autolock feature! I think I'll be very thankful to you in the future, when I get to reply to threads here!

[thelaptop]

TheLaptop: thankyou for the change to the forum autolock feature! I think I'll be very thankful to you in the future, when I get to reply to threads here!

Just try to reply within a year of the post to avoid massive necromancing.  🤣

[Tormuse]

Yeah, I've been periodically asking TheLaptop to re-open auto-closed threads when I wanted to post something, so it'll be nice that that stops being an issue.  :)

[Trar]

DRL has had a long life, and it gave birth to Jupiter Hell. If DRL never being actually finished is the price to pay for that, well...that's a price I can accept. I plan to keep playing this on and off for the foreseeable future, and while I'll never me good enough to get a lot of diamond or angelic badges, I'll be content to reach Brigadier General rank.