I haven’t written a roguelike in a long, long time. Last time, I used the traditional light-per-room model for lighting from the original Rogue; these days, I don’t find that at all satisfactory. It’s time for a proper shadowcaster.
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I’m working on a field-of-vision implementation for Southgate at the moment, which is both very fast and highly accurate. Read the rest…

Oh right, I’m supposed to be updating this thing. What month is it again?
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Why would I say that?

Because every time I develop a tool to make things easier, that just gives me an excuse to make a system triple as complicated. Every time I make something easier, it turns harder. This is something of an annoying habit of mine, though it’s also led to some of the best things I’ve invented. That said, it’s also led to a lot of wasted time and extra complexity – not that that’s exactly a terrible thing in a hobby project, but still. Whether this is going to turn out in that fashion remains to be seen.
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Dungeon Generators are strange creatures.

I’m discovering, since I haven’t attempted one in several years, that the older a programmer you are and the more strange tools in your belt, the more fun dungeon generators are to write. Back in the day, it seemed like a huge and painful task. Now that modularity is second nature, it’s turning into a joy to write. This is sort of a surprise to me; last time I wrote a Roguelike, the monster system was by far and away the most entertaining, and the level system something of a chore. I kind of wonder whether the new monster system is going to be as much fun.
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The roguelike is well underway, now, including a name.
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It’s time for the NDS to have a roguelike. I’m starting a moderately simple one for fun.
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