The Gaming Philosopher

Let's play Kerkerkruip again. This time, I attempt a devious strategy using blood magic, reflection, throwing grenades into adjacent rooms, and sacrificing as many powers as possible to Chton, the god of death. Will it succeed? You can find out here .

Partly inspired by a discussion I had last weekend with someone who loved watching "let's play" videos, and partly by a recent roguelike radio episode on such videos, I have decided to start recording such videos of me playing Kerkerkruip . You'll see the game, and you'll hear me explaining what I do and why. In later episodes, I might also discuss the design thoughts in some more depth. Here is episode 1 . It should open in HD, but if it doesn't, please set it to HD, or you won't be able to read the text. Let me know what you think, and if anything can be improved! (I've already recorded a second episode, but something went wrong with the video quality when I uploaded it to Youtube. I might not be able to get it up before I leave on a week of vacation tomorrow.)

Wade Clarke has almost finished the main theme for Kerkerkruip , which will play in the main menu and the rogues gallery. You can download a preview -- or prehear, I guess -- here . (It's a 6 minute, 10Mb .ogg file.) I hope you like it as much as I do. Wade has also just released a new EP of his Aeriae project, called Nurse 2 Alyssa Type . Check out his website if you have any interest in electronic music!

All of the last few releases of Kerkerkruip have made improvements to the game that make me unable to go back to the earlier versions. I have the same feeling with Kerkerkruip 9 . So let me share some of the stuff you can look forward to! Music. Wade Clark has been working on a track for the main menu screen, and it is turning out awesome. Perhaps it won't impact your game experience much, but it certainly adds a lot of polish. Religion. The "pray" command, which allowed you to get some special effects when in temples, was never very interesting. I never used it, except when I had the power of Aite. So we've redesigned the religion system, making it more complex and much more fun. You can now sacrifice powers that you have acquired to the gods, and will get benefits for doing so depending on the total levels of powers you have sacrificed. Since you necessarily lose powers when you gain new ones, this is something you'll want to take advantage of ... though act...