Yesterday, a slightly controversial commit got pushed:
Commit: #f2529f3
Rune lock.
You need a rune to go to D:15. Downstairs of D:14 could be recoloured
or replaced by a portal (maybe more consistent with D:27 zot portal).
This is a mandatory Vow of Courage I banner. The idea is quite old and was pushed after the 0.13 tournament so as to have as much time for testing as possible. You can read discussions about it on a old dev wiki page, or in several forum threads: here (locked), here (locked), here and here.
If the rune lock is considered to be good enough to stay for the next release, there will definitely be follow-up changes, cosmetic ones (locked staircase appearance, dungeon appearance before and after the lock) and balancing ones (unique generation springs to mind).
1. Comment by Pedroff
2/Nov/2013 at 15:12
It really seems like a good idea to set the pace of the game.
But its just me or I am the only one having terrible luck on the first few floors, the only guy that had worse luck than me was the dude that died at level one killed by a demonic crawler (spawn bugged).
2. Comment by dpeg
2/Nov/2013 at 15:26
No changes to early floors. Regarding rune lock, the Lair branch ends will now have easier uniques (Boris, Mennas, Xtahua and some others cannot spawn there anymore). Moreover, there is a guaranteed pre-identified shafat on D:14 — you can skip the lock, but at your own peril! (Need a rune to go back up, of course.)
3. Comment by tempor
3/Nov/2013 at 02:25
Bad idea.
. reduces player freedom
. breaks roguelike rule that you shouldn’t add content which requires almost no change in coding
4. Comment by dpeg
3/Nov/2013 at 11:49
Reduces player freedom, increases player decision space. I fail to see how “freedom” is an intrinsic value by itself.
Re: rules. I had no idea there was a rulebook by which to design roguelikes.
5. Comment by jpeg
3/Nov/2013 at 23:07
” reduces player freedom”
So does Trog hating magic. :)
Also, I’ve never heard of such a rule, and I’ve participated in quite a few IRDCs (international roguelike development conference) where I’ve met and talked to loads of other roguelike developers.
6. Comment by ebarrett
4/Nov/2013 at 01:02
Congratulations, mid D is even more boring now!
7. Comment by Nickajeg
4/Nov/2013 at 19:26
I hate this because I’m scared of major changes. Seriously though, I’m glad to hear that unique spawns are being taken into account. I was picturing having to take on mennas at xl 16 or whatever.
8. Comment by Streloks
6/Nov/2013 at 01:34
“So does Trog hating magic. :)”
Trog hates magic, but you can cast it anyways, and deal with the consequences. That’s a choice. What choice is there in this?
9. Comment by dpeg
8/Nov/2013 at 17:42
To the guys with the rhetorical questions: apart from the tavern threads mentioned already, the following reddit thread is relevant:
http://www.reddit.com/r/roguelikes/comments/1po1p7/dcss_runelock_is_in_trunk_what_are_reddits/
(And no, I don’t feel obliged to reply the ever-same question of every single player.)
The shaft was a bad idea, and will be replaced by better ways to circumvent the lock. In other news, the deeper part of the dungeon is seeing many cool changes right now.
10. Comment by BrocoLee
9/Nov/2013 at 04:54
Will this come with a rebalance of the lair branches?
There’s no problem getting a rune at lvl 13 with a MiBe, but forcing more difficult combos to do runes they aren’t prepared for is retarded. So far, it seems like a very lazy solution to a nonexistant problem.
11. Comment by dpeg
9/Nov/2013 at 10:16
BrocoLee: I just “approved” of your message but with your use of “retarded” you make sure it won’t be considered seriously. Thanks for telling us we’re stupid and lazy.
Yours, the developers
12. Comment by plaintextman
9/Nov/2013 at 12:39
Can’t say I’m unhappy with the change or the time at which it got pushed. I look forward to seeing how it will affect gameplay. I can’t imagine it being too restrictive, but neither can I imagine it being particularly interesting, so if it stays I hope the idea will be refined further.
13. Comment by plaintextman
10/Nov/2013 at 11:30
OK, I think there’s one definite downside if it stays: I’ll never be able to boast about doing a three rune ascension… without entering the Lair subbranches. That’s something I kinda looked forward to trying so I can freak out my friends who haven’t played Crawl as much :-P Oh well, I guess that’s how some other, more hardcore guys felt when the demonic rune was made non-repeating, and I don’t think that was a bad change.
14. Comment by dpeg
10/Nov/2013 at 12:55
plaintextman: It’s a minor downside because all what is lost is a conduct. Even so, there will probably be a way to play that challenge in the future. This part is not really crucial, so it’ll take a while until we get there.
15. Comment by Jeremy
10/Nov/2013 at 14:02
This ranges from completely inconsequential if you get the insanely easy branches (Snake Pit or Swamp) to probably causing a lot of people’s characters to suffer YASD (Shoals, Spider Nest).
If we’re going to push people into early runes, we should probably make sure one EZ-mode lair branch is enabled automatically. I vote Snake Pit, since the Swamp is both easy and tedious.
16. Comment by Blackskull
12/Nov/2013 at 15:22
What’s a rune? I’ve played a lot of levels, but only 1 rune ever. Don’t know what they are, how to get them, why they’re useful, the differences between them, etc. If runes become a more important part of the game please make documentation of them much more obvious, understandable, accessible. The initial Readme.txt does not contain “rune”, for example. The crawl manual says: “Runes, a particular item in this
category, have no function whatsoever except to open the endgame. You must
collect at least three in order to enter the Realm of Zot” What is the Realm of Zot? Where do I find the runes? Do they have anything to do with items which are described as “runed”, e.g. a runed short sword? Thanks!
17. Comment by Wimpy Ranger
16/Nov/2013 at 19:31
What is this change intended to correct?
All I see it doing is making the gameplay more linear, when non-linearity is one of the key appeals in Roguelike games.
18. Comment by dpeg
17/Nov/2013 at 02:20
Wimpy Ranger: I list a number of threads that explain what the change intends to do. Linearity is not necessarily a bad thing either (in this case, it is supposed to increase the number of tactical choices). And bringing up Roguelike games is a bit questionable, as games like Rogue or Brogue are extremely linear in the first place.
19. Comment by Wimpy Ranger
19/Nov/2013 at 06:34
The lair runes, while not necessarily harder than descending the dungeon, have very specific checks that less robust (more fun) characters with fewer intrinsics, spells, or narrower equip options may not possess. For example, the snake pit / spider den require poison resist, and shoals is foolish without levitate / clarity. Removing the option to descend will effectively be a dead end in many cases.
20. Comment by plaintextman
21/Nov/2013 at 19:53
@Blackskull: Runes of Zot are keys found in specific difficult places and are used to unlock the gateway on the deepest level of the dungeon which leads to the Realm of Zot. There you will find the Orb of Zot :-) And no, they don’t have anything to do with items that are “runed”. If you are not afraid of reading spoilers, see this: http://crawl.chaosforge.org/Runes_of_Zot