Roguelike of the Year 2011

[darkgod]

Good then we are all friends and can do a group hug!
/grouphug !

[onyhow]

I just really want to put out comments that will dispel all those flawed arguments made by those commenters...although I fear that it might be too rude...and my argument here already started to flare up hard before darkgod put a brake on it...

I was more thinking out loud how nice/funny it would be if Dungeons of Dredmor ended up winning after having had such negative feedback from a bunch of people who clearly don't know any better.

I want to see that too, shame that there's not much chance anymore consider the current votes...

[darkgod]

ToME4 shall win, that's the natural order of the universe, obviously :>

[yufra]

Oooo /grouphug!

[edge2054]

I'm not a fan of the idea of a commercial roguelike being in the same poll as non-commercial ones but hey it's not my poll. But it does raise some interesting points, is Diablo a roguelike? Will Diablo 3 be considered a roguelike? Especially considering these games offer a hardcore mode that is basically roguelike mode.

Where's the line get drawn. Should small roguelike developers get drowned out in a sea of commercial games even with in the roguelike community?

I think that was the sentiments of the people who posted those comments. They just said it with a lot more piss and vinegar then I just did.

But yeah, it's not my poll and it's not my call. Roguelike of the Year is something neat and I'm glad Tome 4 took it last year. But it's about fun mostly along with a bit of prestige and getting noticed by new players (which you don't have to win to do, the poll itself does that). Judging from those remarks I think some people get a little competitive over the whole thing.

[andrewdoull]

Where's the line get drawn. Should small roguelike developers get drowned out in a sea of commercial games even with in the roguelike community?

You could equally turn this around to say 'Should small roguelike developers get drowned out in a sea of large roguelikes even with in the roguelike community?'. I mean, it looks like it'll be the 2nd year that ToME 4 wins.

[madmonk]

I paid for the Humble Bundle and got Dungeons of Dredmor.

Great stuff with a lot of cool ideas. Still has a way to go in terms of development.

[edge2054]

Where's the line get drawn. Should small roguelike developers get drowned out in a sea of commercial games even with in the roguelike community?

You could equally turn this around to say 'Should small roguelike developers get drowned out in a sea of large roguelikes even with in the roguelike community?'. I mean, it looks like it'll be the 2nd year that ToME 4 wins.

99% of Tome's code comes from one very dedicated coder. The fact that Tome is a large roguelike has more to do with Darkgod's commitment (and the fact that his wife is so understanding) then anything else. The guy also works full time.

So I don't really see the parallel. Part of the reason Tome is such a great game though is because Darkgod is willing to accept contributions, sure, both code wise and idea wise. But again most of the heavy lifting is done by one guy. It's not like Tome has a large development team behind it. Yes it has contributors but darkgod does the work of ten of the rest of us.

And I think that's really why Tome pulls ahead. It is a great game and well deserving of it's votes. But the player base has a deep love and genuine affection for the developer who spends 90% of his free time working on this great game and who still takes the time to listen to our feedback and accept contributions from the community.

I'm not trying to knock Dungeons of Dreadmor. I just think it opens up a lot of well what about this game and what about this game.

[getter77]

Both projects are very much a labor(You can't get much smaller than the core Gaslamp Team beyond being a one-person endeavor in practical terms) and going in different directions with amply good ideas that can be harvested from each and nigh all other Roguelikes---these are good things. More and more, thankfully, the Roguelike scene has been moving beyond the old standby of "Is it a Hack,*BAND, or ADoM?"

A commercial sea doesn't even exist, even if you factor in Japan, simply because the few commercial releases of this stripe that pop out yearly do not a sea make in terms of the rest of the gaming market, or even the Roguelike niche in terms of Roguebasin and whatnot. Not counting the few soldiering on in the mobile space, Din's Curse: Demon War, Diablo III(maybe?), Path of Exile(Also a maybe, but closer than DIII) with only one of those from a Big Player...Hack, Slash, Loot, 3079, Cardinal Quest and the forthcoming sequel, Binding of Isaac, Desktop Dungeons, JADE: The Ultimate Edition, Lost Labytinth Extended Edition 5.0 from the small 1-more than one outfits....and from there the list reaaaallly trails off into the distance to stuff like Tomes of Mephistopheles or the desktop Rimelands improved version that could be quite a ways off.

Plenty to go around to all, plenty to soak in, and no telling what the surprise releases and announcements of 2012 will turn out to be.

[darkgod]

While it can still look fair to pit free-time RL to "small team" commercial ones like DoD it would be fully silly IMO to pit any of them again a multimillion diablo3.

[darkgod]

Oh and thanks for the nice words edge

[Grey]

You can say the same about Dredmor - most coding by one guy, very attentive to community, etc. I think it's silly to try and distinguish games along such lines though. Should we ban Crawl for having numerous devs and being made over so many years? A roguelike is a roguelike and all other external factors are irrelevant.

Also you're rather missing the trick by suggesting Dredmor shouldn't be included. Shouldn't we be celebrating its success and the new players it brings in? And even more, shouldn't we be celebrating the fact that ToME is still beating it? The work of DarkGod is enough to rival and even beat the huge commercial success of Dredmor - hurrah, I say! Let's see if it can beat Diablo next year too :-D

[getter77]

While it can still look fair to pit free-time RL to "small team" commercial ones like DoD it would be fully silly IMO to pit any of them again a multimillion diablo3.

This is what makes the brewing competition between Diablo III and Path of Exile so very interesting as the gap is narrower than most would've believed possible on many fronts---perhaps if Blizzard hadn't taken so long amidst all their teasing. Between them, I generally expect more from Path of Exile despite my many hours with Diablo II: LoD back in time.

I recommend any who have yet to do so to check it out, and marvel that we are in an unprecedented age, save for maybe 15-20 years ago in some respects, where the small and hobbyist can seriously muddy the waters versus the top studios.

[edge2054]

I didn't know Gaslamp was so small and most of my comments were simply playing devil's advocate. I haven't played DoD and like I said in my initial post about it, it's not my poll.

I can just see where some of the quoted comments were coming from, that's all I was really trying to get at. I'm not saying DoD shouldn't be included, I'm just saying maybe there should be a line some where because in some respects Diablo 3 will be a roguelike, especially when you factor in Hardcore mode.

But again, not my poll.

Anyway, that aside.. if you haven't voted vote!! Preferably for Tome 4

[Grey]

And Dredmor! Ooh, and Broken Bottle too :P If you've already voted you can go back and choose "Change my Vote" and add more games to your vote.

Last day of voting by the way. And happy Christmas all ToME-ers!