Broken Bottle

[Grey]

I have made a roguelike in 7 days using the T-Engine:

http://gruesomegames.com/broken_bottle-mod.rar

Copy the file into your modules directory alongside tome and bob.

It's a post-apocalyptic setting, following an alcoholic with a murky past as he tries to ascend to the surface. The game has a grim and dark theme, with story elements revealed through game progression, and through hallucinations or dreams induced by alcoholic abuse or withdrawal. Alcohol is a core element of the game - living without it is difficult, as it highly replenishes stamina which is used up in melee (fighting on very low stamina will make you miss most of the time). There are also withdrawal effects if you go without for a long time. On the other hand abusing alcohol too much can be bad for you, and can even send you into a immobile state.

The game was made in 7 days, and isn't as complete as I'd like. In particular it lacks a charsheet, there's been reported inventory bugs with a mid-game enemy, and it possibly needs more balance testing. It also doesn't have anywhere near as much descriptive text as I'd like. Any feedback is extremely welcome, especially details of bug reports.

[edge2054]

Pressing the d button gave me an error.

Randomized combat messages seem very appropriate considering how descriptive you are with the combat messages in the game some more variety would be nice to see

I didn't get a chance to play it much Grey but I loved the atmosphere. The game felt very dark, gritty, and best of all immersive.

[Grey]

Version 1.1 available!

http://gruesomegames.com/broken_bottle1.1-mod.rar

Fixed a fair few little bugs and made numerous tweaks:
- removed 'd' bug
- piranhas now steal without bugs
- fixed bugs with some alternative drunk text
- fixed log bug when killing self
- added extra alternative drunk descriptions for tooltips and the log
- removed health regeneration
- tweaked various enemy stats
- character sheets and dumps now work
- increased sobriety rate

I agree that more variety of text would be nice, but I only have time for bugfixes at the moment. Perhaps in future, but the short and simple nature of the game mean it isn't particularly replayable, so it may not benefit from extensive updates.

Anyway, some screenshots:

[Grey]

Oh, and I really should say a big thank you to DarkGod and Marcotte for their help on IRC - would have been impossible to make the game otherwise.

[darkgod]

Yay!

PS: Why did you enable transparency of ascii tiles ?

[Grey]

The transparency thing removed background colour from tiles - I wanted the areas in the last two zones to have background brightness.

[Grey]

All of the 7DRLs have been reviewed by a committee of veterans, and Broken Bottle has been ranked 4th overall (note I wasn't involved in ranking the game myself). Full results here:

http://www.roguetemple.com/7drl/2011/

I particularly like the summation of one reviewer: "Unlike many dark post-apoclyptic games, this one actually delivers what it promises: a bleak vision from the viewpoint of a drunken failure." I must say that much of the higher score for the likes of Completeness and Aesthetics is thanks to the T-Engine itself, which allows for an excellent interface with minimal effort and a really polished look. The "Fun" factor I claim entirely from my own merit though ;) Thanks again to DarkGod for making the T-Engine, and for everyone that helped or gave comments and feedback. I'm glad I ended up using the T-Engine to help showcase how good it is - alas that there were not other successes with it! Hopefully next year...

If you haven't played the game yet then now's the time to try :P There's also quite a few other excellent 7DRLs that you should check out.

[darkgod]

Yay !!! Well done!

[Nagyhal]

Bloody brilliant, I envy how you have created atmosphere with a clean, minimal front end and just a few deft literary strokes.

Will get into playing this properly in a bit.

[Grey]

New version out for beta 27:

http://gruesomegames.com/brokenbottle1.2-mod.zip

To play simply extract to /game/modules/ directory of your T-Engine beta 27 installation.

Mostly minor changes, including:
- Increased HP at start
- Junkies nerfed
- Many text elements tweaked/refined/expanded
- A few new kill messages
- Slight interface rearrangements (tried to do a major overhaul but somehow broke mouse support so I reverted)
- High alcoholism far less lethal now
- Slightly decreased withdrawal rate
- Flying numbers to show stamina or hp loss from alcohol/withdrawal effects

[darkgod]

Yay!

Need help for your UI improvments ? what did you try to do ?

[Grey]

I tried to move the log and minimap and player stats to the top of the screen (did nothing other than change the co-ordinate and size values on them) and for some reason it stopped accepting mouse input. I wasted a couple of hours fiddling with it before giving up and restoring my previous files.

[darkgod]

Uh, weird, we can check it out next time you're on IRC

[Grey]

Oh, and a new screenshot for those who need visual stimulus:

[darkgod]

I still think you should disable transparent backgrounds on tiles.
If you need it on your last level we can arrange that it enables only then