Roguelike Round-up June 2011

This is a new monthly article I’m starting, highlighting some of the goings on in the roguelike community and listing all of the releases from the last month, generally compiled from Planet Roguelike, Rogue Basin, the r.g.r.* newsgroups and the Temple of the Roguelike forums. If you have any suggestions of changes/improvements to the ongoing content, format or style then please post in the relevant thread on RogueTemple or in the comments below.

Major News

ARRP announcement
     The 2011 Annual Roguelike Release Party will take place on the weekend of the 18th of September. All roguelike developers are encouraged to release updates to their games on this date, and to bring their hidden projects out of the shadows and into the hands of gamers. To enter simply release your game on the 18th of September – feel free to also declare your intentions in advance by listing your name on the RogueBasin wiki.

Desktop Dungeons at E3
     The increasingly popular coffeebreak roguelike/puzzler Desktop Dungeons has appeared at E3 as part of IndieCade’s booth (following in the footsteps of Jeff Lait’s Smart Kobold last year). Pre-orders have now opened for the full paid version of the game at a discounted price. [Pictured on right: Desktop Dungeons is shown to the crowds at E3.]

New Roguelikes!

Infra Arcana – roguelike with a horror / Lovecraft theme
js-like – browser-based roguelike with inspiration from ADOM
Mysterious Castle – party-based game in beta for Windows, Linux, OSX and iOS
NarwhaRL – C++ roguelike at an early stage
tinyhack – a simple 8×8 square dungeon crawling game
Voyage to Farland – graphical roguelike for Android

Updated Games:

Upcoming in July:

JADE
     All signs suggest that JADE 0.1.0 will be publicly released on July 2nd. It has been joked in the past that Thomas Biskup’s long-awaited sequel to ADOM would be released after Duke Nukem Forever – how surreal it all seems now! However it has been stressed that this will be a very low content release, unlikely to initially live up to the expectations of fans who have been waiting 13 years. [Pictured on right: An example of a randomly generated world map in JADE.]

Dungeons of Dredmor
     Gaslamp Games have announced a distribution deal with Steam to release their game for $4.99, available June 13th. Dungeons of Dredmor will feature many roguelike mechanics (especially in its “Going Rogue” mode) with well-drawn graphics, original humour, unique ability and crafting systems, and very large eyebrows. The developers have also put up a number of teaser shots.

Legerdemain at Origins Games Fair
     The roguelike/interactive fiction hybrid Legerdemain will be featuring at the Origins Games Fair from 22nd-26th June in booth #130. Merchandise and info on a new project will be available at Roguelikefiction’s stall, as well as an opportunity to say hi to the creators.

Know of any other news? Got anything you’d like featured next month? Post in the comments!