The Gaming Philosopher

Introduction Where do roguelikes get their tactical and strategic depth? Perhaps the most important mechanism is that of trade-offs between short term en long term advantages. Here's a simple example: I'm facing a centaur in DCSS, and he has already damaged me heavily. Will I use my scroll of blinking to escape from him, or do I risk trying to kill him before he kills me? Here, using the scroll of blinking will give me an advantage now : I'll escape from the centaur and I won't die. But not using it, if I survive the fight, gives me an advantage later : I'll still have the scroll of blinking, which is one of the best escape options in the game. Of course, this is not the only kind of tactical/strategic choice that a roguelike player has to make. Another important category are choices between getting one of two advantages right now. Shall I wear a ring of poison resistance or a ring of negative energy resistance? But the short versus long term trade-offs a...

I did* some Linux command line magic on the log files of my server, and it turns out that Kerkerkruip has been downloaded from 365 different IP addresses in the past two weeks. Not quite AAA status, but not too shabby either! * Where "did" means "googled and copied".

The Kerkerkruip team is very pleased to release version 8 of the interactive fiction roguelike Kerkerkruip! This release brings some major interface changes, including: Introductory movies. A graphical main menu. After you defeat a monster, it will be added to your Rogues Gallery, a collection of trading cards with stats that summarize your history with each enemy. Side panels that allow you to see your inventory, status and granted powers at all times. A graphical map that is automatically updated as you explore the dungeon. Don't worry: you can also play Kerkerkruip in non-graphical mode if you are using screen reader technology or a slow computer. The game will ask you for your preference when it is first started. There are of course also many changes to the game itself: Several new rooms: the Hall of Raging Banshees, the Columnated Ruins, the Tungausy Sweat Lodge, the Zen Room, and the rare but powerful Arena of the Fallen. New items, including the dagger ...