Looks like it´s InfuriatedBrute's turn to beat that ;D I guess I´m first to reach level 21. I did the Maths... in theory you can get up to around 1400 points by getting up to level 138 and only having permanent speed upgrades spawn. Then in last level only $s. This way you will be first position all the time, you will be at times around 10 times faster than the computer enemies (in level 5-10). But there´s a downside: likeliness of only permanent speed boosts to spawn is low... that low actually that winning the lottery twice per round would be an equivalent... for 138 rounds. In case you beat that I bet you should start playing the lottery instead!
So as for strategy: Always get permanent spped upgrades. Use Nitros in earlier level to gain access to a permanent speed boost and still finish first. restart first level until you have at least 190% permanent speed after first level. This way you have plenty of room in the next 5 levels to get all the upgrades and still easily finish first. On this try I had been 3 times as fast as the enemies on end of level 3. That being said - I´m eager to see who is obsessed enough to get above 500 points or to level 25 first ;D
Steffen, thank you for writing this mathematical treatise about RunToTheStairs. I am sure you meanwhile understand my game much better than I do! I am also quite eager to see if anybody would manage to beat your awesome score! ;-)
I am sorry to tell you that you are no longer at position 1 of my High-Score-Table. :-(
Webmant just submitted a score that is slightly higher than yours!
But at least you have been on the top of the leader-boards for more than one month.
So maybe you just give my game RunToTheStairs another go and get back to the top of the ranking again. This time with the drill music by Dekkanoid! ;-)
I've been playing a lot the last few days, this is my best score so far. It's a very creative take on the roguelike mechanic to not be combat-based, but stays true to the spirit by maintaining all the high points of the genre like resource management, unlimited replayability, and "weighty" risk vs. reward choices - trying to decide if it's worth detouring for a power-up feels meaningful in the context of the game. The gameplay is also a lot snappier than you'd expect from a turn-based game, another departure from the norm that just works really well here. This is what indie games are all about for me; taking some risks, making some less-common design choices, leaving the beaten path and finding a fun little mechanic off in the weeds somewhere. If I could add anything, it'd only be an 'instant replay' feature; to be able to go back after the end of a level and rewatch the race in 'real' time. Thanks for sharing this with us!
I am very glad about your nice review. So It seems that my game just is what I intended it to be and that makes me very happy! :-) Thank you for your score and the screenshot to verify it. I added you to the high-score-table in the game description. Please tell me, if you want me to link your name in this list to a web-page of your choice.
Hello owlmoth, the official reviews of the jam-judges are public now. So I created a "Reviews"-section in my game-description and copied them there. But since I like your review so much I also created a subsection "Non-official reviews" and placed your review there. Thank you again for giving me this awesome feedback! :-)
Here's a video of my latest run, 148 points at level 21. Not the top of the leaderboard, but I'm pretty proud of it. The way I'm kind of mentally strategizing is while I'm faster than the other runners, saving nitros and getting boosts at all costs. Once the other runners are faster than me, I only burn nitros when I'm out of the top 6. I broke my own rules in level 9, though, diverting just before the finish line to pick up a boost that was way off track, and then burning nitros so I'd be able to catch up before the end of the race; I don't know if it was worth it.
Accepting less-than-first in the later races means a lower final point total, and I don't really prioritize coins at all. If I was just going for straight points those would both be mistakes, but I'm really trying more for levels - by playing that way, the nitros last longer and I can pretty reliably get to 20+.
Thank you for the funny fast-paced video. I also like the music. Are you really playing that fast? Of course I included your score and the video in the high-score-table. Congratulations you climbed up to rank 8.
what a fun game. My first try yielded 163 points and 26 nitros left on my first try... I guess I could have gotten further if I had already taken my current position into account and used more nitros ;D
strategy: get all permanent speed boost by any costs.
Strategy: Log stats, nitros -> 2$ is fine at any point, lategame go for $ over position, block enemies if they're faster than you, prefer open corridors as they give more opportunities for items (even if you can't see anything). Oh yeah, and restart until you get an upgrade in the first room.
Hello Steffen, I am sorry to tell you that you have only been at the top of the rankings for one night. InfuriatedBrute just accepted the challenge and has beaten you. But I know you can still do better. Keep going! ;-)
Just made an account to say that I got a score of 135 on level 17. This game is kind of addictive.
Main strategy was to go for any speed upgrade I saw on the earlier levels and most nitros, then I had about 550% saved up for when they overtook me in speed. Then I used up about 20 nitros to make it through the last few levels before I ran out.
Thank you for your comment, score and the screenshot to verify it. I added your name and score to the High-Score-Table in the game description. Congratulations, you are currently 2nd!
Since you do not host your own game, is there any web-page you want me to link to if people click on your name in the High-Score-Table?
Interestingly I had this issue on Firefox, so just the other way around than in your case. I increase the panel-size even further in order to fix this. Could you try it again please?
What an awesome score! I am amazed by how clever people just max out my game way beyond my own skill! :-)
Thank you for verifying your score with the screenshot. You are listed now on my high-score-table. Congratulation, you are first!
The source code can be found on GitHub. But don't expect good code since I used this challenge as an opportunity to learn JavaScript. Check out rot.js since this is exciting.
Thank you for playing my game and providing your score. I added your name and score to the high-score-table on my game-description. Currently you are in third place.
Meanwhile there are more than 20 entries in my high-score-table (5 of them by youtubers). So please consider to give RunToTheStairs another go and see how high you can climb on this table. ;-)
RunToTheStairs now plays music! The music was composed by Dekkanoid. I am absolutely blasted by what this amazing guy created in just few hours! You are invited to play a session RunToTheStairs and enjoy the new music!
Thank you for trying again! Congratulations, you nearly have beaten the developers score and are now ranked 8th. How did you learn about RunToTheStairs?
Thank you for playing my game and providing your score. I added your name and score to the high-score-table on my game-description. Currently you are in fifth place.
thank you so much for playing my game at your Youtube-channel and providing your score!
I added your name and score to the high-score-table on my game-description.
In the moment you are in third place which is better than myself! So your video is a great opportunity for me to get better at my own game since it's the first time I can actually watch someone playing it better than myself! It's interesting to see how you deviate from the proposed route quite a bit in order to get upgrades or to avoid the paths of opponents. I already learned some tricks since you do some overtaking moves I did not considered to be possible! :-)
Glad to offer some insight! It's fun how people approach situations differently. Also luck had a decent factor in mine since I blindly set off sometimes with mental coin flips to choose routes. Never get caught behind someone and was it using the nitros to sneak around corners that you hadn't thought about?
I actually never did it like you did it by cutting two corners at once. But as I saw you doing it a penny dropped inside my head that this is obviously possible when using a nitro!
But I have to say that I did only finished 2 complete games so far. While playtesting I always stopped playing once I saw something I wanted to fix. And after fixing it, I always started a new game from scratch. After the deadline was over I mainly played the other entries of the 7DRL challenge and watched videos about them. And of course I enjoyed to read the comments about my game.
Once the high-score-table has been settled, I will have another try to get listed as high as possible.
This is a fantastically fun idea for a roguelike. I haven't internalized the Vim keys and I'm playing on a laptop, so I don't have a numpad, so it would be really helpful to be able to just remap the keys, but even with my clumsy Vim-key playing, it was pretty fun and compelling. Great job!
Thank you for trying my game! I will try your game Battle Weary soon.
I am sorry that my game did not provide the appropriate controls. The configurable key-mapping is a good idea. But I think it is quite an effort to implement it properly.
What keys would you prefer for playing? Maybe you could use the arrow-keys for the cardinal directions (right hand) and name me your preferred keys for the diagonal movement (maybe left hand). If they would not interfere with the already existing controls I could easily implement them for you. Do you think [q], [w], [a], [s] could work for the diagonal movement?
Do you know if the rules of the 7DRL-Challenge allow me to update my game by additional controls after the deadline?
But I think it is quite an effort to implement it properly.
Yeah, it can be a bit of a pain to have keys be fully configurable. An easy compromise might be to have a set of keysets you choose from at the start of the game, and then you just read those to get the key you want. So, instead of doing something like:
// Checking for moving left:
if (event.keyCode == ROT.VK_NUMPAD4) { move( -1, 0 ); }
...in your code, you would instead do something like:
// Somewhere during startup:
var numpadKeySet = { keySetName: "Numeric Pad Keys", left: ROT.VK_NUMPAD4 };
var arrowKeysKeySet = { keySetName: "Arrow Keys", left: ROT.VK_LEFT };
// When the user selects a keyset:
var currentKeySet = arrowKeysKeySet;
// Checking for moving left:
if (event.keyCode == currentKeySet.left) { move( -1, 0 ); }
Then, you could set a different keySet depending on the type of key bindings you want, and the behavior is abstracted away. Later, you could have a functionality that would let players define a custom keySet.
Do you know if the rules of the 7DRL-Challenge allow me to update my game by additional controls after the deadline?
There's another thread in the 7DRL forums about this you can read for more detail, but the short version is that it's okay to update the game as long as it's clear and feasible how the 7DRL reviewers can play the end-of-compo release version. So you could update it, but be sure to leave the original release version up and clearly marked for reviewers.
Thank you for the very detailed explanation Lone Spelunker. Good idea to have the different predefined keysets to choose from. I will see if I could implement this during the next weekend. What could a possible alternative to the numpad look like. Do you think [q], [w], [e], [a], [d], [z], [x], [c] could be a proper choice? I do not want [s] to skip a turn since a lot of people are use to the [w], [a], [s], [d] controls and therefore would accidentally skip a turn when they want to move southwards. So my choice for skipping a turn would still be [.] as for the vi-keys.
Since my game is playable in browser, I cannot provide two different downloads in order to keep the original 7DRL-version. So I think I will need to host a second game page for the updated game and link to it from the original 7DRL-game-page.
Well, maybe you could do a keyset based around I-J-K-L as the cardinal directions? Or maybe I-J-L-comma? And I think W-A-S-D could actually work if you make space be the pauser.
You know, another option would be to just support screen clicks on the display. That would solve a lot of the issues for people using laptops.
I just learned that you also host a Youtube-channel. I would be pleased if you could record your next attempt to climb back to the top of the high-score-table just like Rogueliker and cubicDisco did.
If you do, I would also link your video and channel from the high-score-table in my game-description, just like I did with the others.
Actually, I first played this on twitch if you want to see a player's first reactions and commentary as I figure the game out :-) (I wouldn't link this to the high scores list, just thought you might like to see it.)
I like how you and that guy (Canight) in the chat are discussing and analyzing what would be the best strategy in different situations. I learned a lot about my game!
The idea behind having a limited view is that you have to weigh your risks in some situations. You always see the distance counters of all runners and know your speed and that of your opponents. So you should always be able to judge if a detour to an item is worth the risk or not. If the suggested path of your navigation system flips tells you that there is no dead end. If it does not flip you can judge that you are getting in trouble, even if you can not see everything. If the player could see everything, optimal play would often just involve a lot of counting of ground tiles in order to judge which way would work best. So I decided against that and implemented the navigation system instead.
Wow! This is surprisingly addictive. I haven't gotten too far, but diagonal movement is definitely key here. I'm interested in the pathfinding mechanics. It looks like the player path to the exit is pretty straightforward, but how are you determining the other characters? Is it based upon where they start in the level?
Thank you for playing my game and providing your score! :-)
I just created a High-Score-Table in my game-description and added your name to it.
The pathfinding of the navigation system as well as that of all the opponents is done with the A* algorithm of rot.js using a topology of 4, which allows only orthagonal movement. So if the player just strictly follows his navigation system, he will not be able to overtake anyone.
But you are right, the diversity of the paths is mainly achieved by a variation of the starting locations of all characters. The player always starts at the very west of the level (y-coordinate is randomized). Runner H starts a few steps to the east compared to the player (y-coordinate is also randomized) giving him a small advantage since the goal is always in the very east of the level (y-coordinate is also randomized). Runner G starts a even more in the east and so on. So the runner with the best starting position should be runner A in most cases. Since the dungeon and the y-positions are all randomized the starting position of player A is not always the best and that of the player is not always the worst, it is just a tendency.
Another mechanism to achieve route-diversity is confusion. Runners get sometimes confused if others in front of them are using the same path. In this case a new path is calculated trying to avoid the paths of the runners in front of the confused runner.
Thanks, this game is fun! I enjoy trying to figure out how to pass the other racers. Some limited wall destruction could be neat if you ever enhance it.
I consider to integrate this. Maybe I could introduce another collectible item called "drill" which enables you to remove one wall element by bouncing it. I think the drill must be consumed when being used. But analog to the nitros the player can collect many of them, allowing him to dig longer tunnels by investing the corresponding amount of drills.
Unfortunately I cannot implement it now since the deadline is over.
I will do the integration after the voting is accomplished.
RunToTheStairs got a new feature - the player may now dig tunnels! For this purpose a new collectible item called "drill" was introduced which enables the player to remove one wall element by bumping into it. The possibility of digging allows the player to take greater risks when taking alternative routes, since this will enable him to rescue himself by spending some resources (drills) if his route decision turns out to be wrong. Please check out the commented High-Score-Table on the games itch.io-page! Meanwhile there are more than 25 entries in this table (5 of them by youtubers). So please consider to give RunToTheStairs a go and see how high you can climb on this table. ;-)
Very nice! I like how the distance counter creates a feeling of tension even though the racing is turn-based, because you know you have to overtake someone as the distance to finish grows short.
RunToTheStairs now uses a graphical tileset and looks much better. The only problem is that it requires WebGL 2.0 which is not supported by all browsers yet. I would be pleased if you could test if it runs on your system. Please name your operating system and browser. Thank you! :-) If it does not run at your system you can still play the ASCII-only-version of RunToTheStairs.
Wow, you made quite a progress! The game is beautiful and really cool. :) And congratulations on the popularity, RTTS seems to be cropping up near the top of games playable in browser.
So far I got to level 15 with score of only 83, but hopefully that will eventually improve. ;)
Thank you for the feedback! I just found out that you are a member of the dev-team of IVAN so I am very proud that you played my game! :-) Of course I included your score in my high-score-table. You are currently 33th.
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I am getting closer...
New level record
Amazing! Steffen1337 cannot feel save any longer! :-)
I tried again - 7th try yielded new highscore!
Looks like it´s InfuriatedBrute's turn to beat that ;D I guess I´m first to reach level 21. I did the Maths... in theory you can get up to around 1400 points by getting up to level 138 and only having permanent speed upgrades spawn. Then in last level only $s. This way you will be first position all the time, you will be at times around 10 times faster than the computer enemies (in level 5-10). But there´s a downside: likeliness of only permanent speed boosts to spawn is low... that low actually that winning the lottery twice per round would be an equivalent... for 138 rounds. In case you beat that I bet you should start playing the lottery instead!
So as for strategy: Always get permanent spped upgrades. Use Nitros in earlier level to gain access to a permanent speed boost and still finish first. restart first level until you have at least 190% permanent speed after first level. This way you have plenty of room in the next 5 levels to get all the upgrades and still easily finish first. On this try I had been 3 times as fast as the enemies on end of level 3. That being said - I´m eager to see who is obsessed enough to get above 500 points or to level 25 first ;D
Steffen, thank you for writing this mathematical treatise about RunToTheStairs. I am sure you meanwhile understand my game much better than I do! I am also quite eager to see if anybody would manage to beat your awesome score! ;-)
JohannesvH is getting closer. He has already beaten your Dungeon Level record!
Okay... did not expect that to be possible... I will try eventually lol
I am sorry to tell you that you are no longer at position 1 of my High-Score-Table. :-(
Webmant just submitted a score that is slightly higher than yours!
But at least you have been on the top of the leader-boards for more than one month.
So maybe you just give my game RunToTheStairs another go and get back to the top of the ranking again. This time with the drill music by Dekkanoid! ;-)
I am very glad about your nice review. So It seems that my game just is what I intended it to be and that makes me very happy! :-)
Thank you for your score and the screenshot to verify it. I added you to the high-score-table in the game description.
Please tell me, if you want me to link your name in this list to a web-page of your choice.
Hello owlmoth, the official reviews of the jam-judges are public now. So I created a "Reviews"-section in my game-description and copied them there. But since I like your review so much I also created a subsection "Non-official reviews" and placed your review there. Thank you again for giving me this awesome feedback! :-)
Awesome!
Here's a video of my latest run, 148 points at level 21. Not the top of the leaderboard, but I'm pretty proud of it. The way I'm kind of mentally strategizing is while I'm faster than the other runners, saving nitros and getting boosts at all costs. Once the other runners are faster than me, I only burn nitros when I'm out of the top 6. I broke my own rules in level 9, though, diverting just before the finish line to pick up a boost that was way off track, and then burning nitros so I'd be able to catch up before the end of the race; I don't know if it was worth it.
Accepting less-than-first in the later races means a lower final point total, and I don't really prioritize coins at all. If I was just going for straight points those would both be mistakes, but I'm really trying more for levels - by playing that way, the nitros last longer and I can pretty reliably get to 20+.
Thank you for the funny fast-paced video. I also like the music. Are you really playing that fast?
Of course I included your score and the video in the high-score-table. Congratulations you climbed up to rank 8.
Hello owlmoth,
there is a new version of RunToTheStairs:
Please consider to play again!
Gerhard
I also finally managed to play it :)
A really nice game :)
Hi Gerhard,
what a fun game. My first try yielded 163 points and 26 nitros left on my first try... I guess I could have gotten further if I had already taken my current position into account and used more nitros ;D
strategy: get all permanent speed boost by any costs.
Hello Steffen,
wow, that's an amazing score - and still 26 nitros left! I wonder what score would have been possible If you just fired them up in time? :-)
I added your name and score to the High-Score-Table in the game description. Congratulations, you are currently first!
I will tell InfuriatedBrute that he is no longer leading. I hope he accepts the challenge and goes for a new high-score.
186 ;)
Strategy: Log stats, nitros -> 2$ is fine at any point, lategame go for $ over position, block enemies if they're faster than you, prefer open corridors as they give more opportunities for items (even if you can't see anything). Oh yeah, and restart until you get an upgrade in the first room.
Wow that score is absolutely amazing and you are also the first one reaching dungeon level 19!
Thank you for providing so much insight into your strategy.
InfuriatedBrute, I am sorry to tell you that your score has been beaten again by your rival Steffen1337!
He has challenged you directly in this post. So carry on and conquer back your place at the top!
Hello InfuriatedBrute,
there is a new version of RunToTheStairs:
Please consider to play again!
Gerhard
again - but less nitro, but a level further...
Wow, you just died while a nitro was burning and you had 1460% speed! I did not know you are such a daredevil!
Hello Steffen, I am sorry to tell you that you have only been at the top of the rankings for one night. InfuriatedBrute just accepted the challenge and has beaten you. But I know you can still do better. Keep going! ;-)
Just made an account to say that I got a score of 135 on level 17. This game is kind of addictive.
Main strategy was to go for any speed upgrade I saw on the earlier levels and most nitros, then I had about 550% saved up for when they overtook me in speed. Then I used up about 20 nitros to make it through the last few levels before I ran out.
Thank you for your comment, score and the screenshot to verify it. I added your name and score to the High-Score-Table in the game description. Congratulations, you are currently 2nd!
Since you do not host your own game, is there any web-page you want me to link to if people click on your name in the High-Score-Table?
Hello tcookiem,
there is a new version of RunToTheStairs:
Please consider to play again!
Gerhard
Side panel doesn't render correctly on Chrome. Works fine in Firefox.
Thank you for your report. I am wondering since I use Chrome myself and it worked for me.
I just increased the width of the panel by 10 pixels in the itch.io-game-settings to prevent this "line-break".
Could you please try if it is now working?
Hmm, still the same. If it matters I'm on Chrome Version 73.0.3683.86 (Official Build) Manjaro Linux (64-bit)
Sorry, I cannot test this since I do not have Linux. :-(
But I am glad you are still able to play using Firefox. :-)
Interestingly I had this issue on Firefox, so just the other way around than in your case. I increase the panel-size even further in order to fix this. Could you try it again please?
Hello "Missingno.",
there is a new version of RunToTheStairs:
Please consider to play again!
Gerhard
156! Very fun game, very polished and innovative. Is it okay to ask for source code?
My strategy is always go for upgrades, go for nitros that are <10 away (sometimes more), save the vast majority of them for lategame.
What an awesome score! I am amazed by how clever people just max out my game way beyond my own skill! :-)
Thank you for verifying your score with the screenshot. You are listed now on my high-score-table. Congratulation, you are first!
The source code can be found on GitHub. But don't expect good code since I used this challenge as an opportunity to learn JavaScript. Check out rot.js since this is exciting.
Hello InfuriatedBrute,
I am sorry to tell you that you are no longer at position 1 of my High-Score-Table. :-(
Steffen1337 just submitted a score that is slightly higher than yours!
But maybe you just give my game RunToTheStairs another go and get back to the top of the ranking again! ;-)
I got 113 points after 11 Races. Fun game!
Thank you for playing my game and providing your score. I added your name and score to the high-score-table on my game-description. Currently you are in third place.
Meanwhile there are more than 20 entries in my high-score-table (5 of them by youtubers). So please consider to give RunToTheStairs another go and see how high you can climb on this table. ;-)
I updated my score, 156 points after 16 races. Fun, but tough!
Thank you for updating your score. Congratulation you climbed up to 7th place! :-)
With this very good score you would have been ranked first if you had submitted it about 3 weeks ago!
RunToTheStairs now plays music!
The music was composed by Dekkanoid. I am absolutely blasted by what this amazing guy created in just few hours!
You are invited to play a session RunToTheStairs and enjoy the new music!
I got 187 points after 20 races. Maybe highest possible for me!
Thank you for trying again!
Congratulations, you nearly have beaten the developers score and are now ranked 8th.
How did you learn about RunToTheStairs?
Hello Aix0,
there is a new version of RunToTheStairs:
Please consider to play again!
Gerhard
Managed to get to Dungeon Level 12 with 91 points.
Feel pretty happy about that score. Probably could have scored higher if I didn't get greedy trying to go after power ups in the last level.
Thank you for playing my game and providing your score. I added your name and score to the high-score-table on my game-description. Currently you are in fifth place.
Hello Makeyejr,
there is a new version of RunToTheStairs:
Please consider to play again!
Gerhard
55 on level 10!
Hello Patrick Davison,
thank you for playing my game and providing your score.
I added your name and score to the high-score-table on my game-description. Currently you are in fifth place.
I am looking forward to play your game Ellipsis which will be one of the games I plan to play next
Hello patrickdavison,
there is a new version of RunToTheStairs:
Please consider to play again!
Gerhard
I tried. I failed to best Xecutor and Tone: https://gyazo.com/465a61773ab1f5257927513b21e28adf
I did however, record my efforts!
Hello Rogueliker,
thank you so much for playing my game at your Youtube-channel and providing your score!
I added your name and score to the high-score-table on my game-description.
In the moment you are in third place which is better than myself! So your video is a great opportunity for me to get better at my own game since it's the first time I can actually watch someone playing it better than myself! It's interesting to see how you deviate from the proposed route quite a bit in order to get upgrades or to avoid the paths of opponents. I already learned some tricks since you do some overtaking moves I did not considered to be possible! :-)
Glad to offer some insight! It's fun how people approach situations differently. Also luck had a decent factor in mine since I blindly set off sometimes with mental coin flips to choose routes. Never get caught behind someone and was it using the nitros to sneak around corners that you hadn't thought about?
I actually never did it like you did it by cutting two corners at once. But as I saw you doing it a penny dropped inside my head that this is obviously possible when using a nitro!
But I have to say that I did only finished 2 complete games so far. While playtesting I always stopped playing once I saw something I wanted to fix. And after fixing it, I always started a new game from scratch. After the deadline was over I mainly played the other entries of the 7DRL challenge and watched videos about them. And of course I enjoyed to read the comments about my game.
Once the high-score-table has been settled, I will have another try to get listed as high as possible.
Hello Rogueliker,
there is a new version of RunToTheStairs:
Please consider to play again!
Gerhard
Score 124, Level 16
That's more fun and addictive than one might think :)
Wow, we have a new high-score!
I added your name and score to the high-score-table on my game-description. In the moment you are in first place.
I am curious if someone could beat this!
Your game P.A.P.A. roguelike is on my list of games I wanna try next.
Hello Xecutor,
I am sorry to tell you that you are no longer at position 1 of my High-Score-Table. :-(
InfuriatedBrute just submitted a score that is slightly higher than yours!
But maybe you just give my game RunToTheStairs another go and get back to the top of the ranking again! ;-)
Please provide a screenshot for verification of your score (only necessary if your score would take you to first place).
Hello Xecutor,
there is a new version of RunToTheStairs:
Please consider to play again!
Gerhard
This is a fantastically fun idea for a roguelike. I haven't internalized the Vim keys and I'm playing on a laptop, so I don't have a numpad, so it would be really helpful to be able to just remap the keys, but even with my clumsy Vim-key playing, it was pretty fun and compelling. Great job!
Thank you for trying my game! I will try your game Battle Weary soon.
I am sorry that my game did not provide the appropriate controls. The configurable key-mapping is a good idea. But I think it is quite an effort to implement it properly.
What keys would you prefer for playing? Maybe you could use the arrow-keys for the cardinal directions (right hand) and name me your preferred keys for the diagonal movement (maybe left hand). If they would not interfere with the already existing controls I could easily implement them for you. Do you think [q], [w], [a], [s] could work for the diagonal movement?
Do you know if the rules of the 7DRL-Challenge allow me to update my game by additional controls after the deadline?
Yeah, it can be a bit of a pain to have keys be fully configurable. An easy compromise might be to have a set of keysets you choose from at the start of the game, and then you just read those to get the key you want. So, instead of doing something like:
// Checking for moving left: if (event.keyCode == ROT.VK_NUMPAD4) { move( -1, 0 ); }...in your code, you would instead do something like:
// Somewhere during startup: var numpadKeySet = { keySetName: "Numeric Pad Keys", left: ROT.VK_NUMPAD4 }; var arrowKeysKeySet = { keySetName: "Arrow Keys", left: ROT.VK_LEFT }; // When the user selects a keyset: var currentKeySet = arrowKeysKeySet; // Checking for moving left: if (event.keyCode == currentKeySet.left) { move( -1, 0 ); }Then, you could set a different keySet depending on the type of key bindings you want, and the behavior is abstracted away. Later, you could have a functionality that would let players define a custom keySet.
There's another thread in the 7DRL forums about this you can read for more detail, but the short version is that it's okay to update the game as long as it's clear and feasible how the 7DRL reviewers can play the end-of-compo release version. So you could update it, but be sure to leave the original release version up and clearly marked for reviewers.
Thank you for the very detailed explanation Lone Spelunker. Good idea to have the different predefined keysets to choose from. I will see if I could implement this during the next weekend. What could a possible alternative to the numpad look like. Do you think [q], [w], [e], [a], [d], [z], [x], [c] could be a proper choice? I do not want [s] to skip a turn since a lot of people are use to the [w], [a], [s], [d] controls and therefore would accidentally skip a turn when they want to move southwards. So my choice for skipping a turn would still be [.] as for the vi-keys.
Since my game is playable in browser, I cannot provide two different downloads in order to keep the original 7DRL-version. So I think I will need to host a second game page for the updated game and link to it from the original 7DRL-game-page.
Well, maybe you could do a keyset based around I-J-K-L as the cardinal directions? Or maybe I-J-L-comma? And I think W-A-S-D could actually work if you make space be the pauser.
You know, another option would be to just support screen clicks on the display. That would solve a lot of the issues for people using laptops.
Sorry for the delay but I finally managed to implement your idea with the different keysets.
Hello Lone Spelunker,
there is a new version of RunToTheStairs:
Please consider to play again!
Gerhard
Fun game! Made it to Dungeon Level 18 and Score 118 but in the end the other racers were too fast!
Wow, quite an impressive score!
I think I need to get a little more practice in my own game. ;-)
I added your name and score to the high-score-table on my game-description. In the moment you are in first place.
Hello Tone,
I am sorry to tell you that you are no longer at position 1 of my High-Score-Table. :-(
Xecutor just submitted a score that is slightly higher than yours!
But maybe you just give my game RunToTheStairs another go and get back to the top of the ranking again! ;-)
I see the gauntlet has been thrown :-)
Don't worry, I'll be giving RunToTheStairs another go soon. That score was only my second game, after all ;-)
U did this in your second try!! That sounds like you are a quite talented rogueliker and racer. ;-)
Hello Tone,
I just learned that you also host a Youtube-channel. I would be pleased if you could record your next attempt to climb back to the top of the high-score-table just like Rogueliker and cubicDisco did.
If you do, I would also link your video and channel from the high-score-table in my game-description, just like I did with the others.
I was already planning on doing a video for RunToTheStairs, I'll let you know when I upload it :-)
Thank you Tone. I am looking forward to see it! :-)
Actually, I first played this on twitch if you want to see a player's first reactions and commentary as I figure the game out :-)
(I wouldn't link this to the high scores list, just thought you might like to see it.)
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/396112426?t=3h3m55s
Thank you for showing me this. I really enjoyed watching it! :-)
I like how you and that guy (Canight) in the chat are discussing and analyzing what would be the best strategy in different situations. I learned a lot about my game!
The idea behind having a limited view is that you have to weigh your risks in some situations. You always see the distance counters of all runners and know your speed and that of your opponents. So you should always be able to judge if a detour to an item is worth the risk or not. If the suggested path of your navigation system flips tells you that there is no dead end. If it does not flip you can judge that you are getting in trouble, even if you can not see everything. If the player could see everything, optimal play would often just involve a lot of counting of ground tiles in order to judge which way would work best. So I decided against that and implemented the navigation system instead.
Hello tonehack,
there is a new version of RunToTheStairs:
Please consider to play again!
Gerhard
Wow! This is surprisingly addictive. I haven't gotten too far, but diagonal movement is definitely key here. I'm interested in the pathfinding mechanics. It looks like the player path to the exit is pretty straightforward, but how are you determining the other characters? Is it based upon where they start in the level?
My high score: 38 points after 8 races.
Thank you for playing my game and providing your score! :-)
I just created a High-Score-Table in my game-description and added your name to it.
The pathfinding of the navigation system as well as that of all the opponents is done with the A* algorithm of rot.js using a topology of 4, which allows only orthagonal movement. So if the player just strictly follows his navigation system, he will not be able to overtake anyone.
But you are right, the diversity of the paths is mainly achieved by a variation of the starting locations of all characters. The player always starts at the very west of the level (y-coordinate is randomized). Runner H starts a few steps to the east compared to the player (y-coordinate is also randomized) giving him a small advantage since the goal is always in the very east of the level (y-coordinate is also randomized). Runner G starts a even more in the east and so on. So the runner with the best starting position should be runner A in most cases. Since the dungeon and the y-positions are all randomized the starting position of player A is not always the best and that of the player is not always the worst, it is just a tendency.
Another mechanism to achieve route-diversity is confusion. Runners get sometimes confused if others in front of them are using the same path. In this case a new path is calculated trying to avoid the paths of the runners in front of the confused runner.
Hello shaddockh,
there is a new version of RunToTheStairs:
Please consider to play again!
Gerhard
Can you add vi-key support? I don't actually own a computer with a numpad :(
Hello samspot, thank you for the helpful feedback!
I implemented the vi-key support like it is described here. Like suggested I implemented the [.]-key to skip a turn.
Could you please test for me if the implementation is correct since I am not used to these controls myself.
(For QWERTZ-keyboard-layout users [z] can also be used for moving up-left. Don't know if this makes any sense, but it's possible now.)
Perfect! Thank you :)
Thank you for your help!
I will try out your game RERL soon.
Thanks, this game is fun! I enjoy trying to figure out how to pass the other racers. Some limited wall destruction could be neat if you ever enhance it.
Good idea!
I consider to integrate this. Maybe I could introduce another collectible item called "drill" which enables you to remove one wall element by bouncing it. I think the drill must be consumed when being used. But analog to the nitros the player can collect many of them, allowing him to dig longer tunnels by investing the corresponding amount of drills.
Unfortunately I cannot implement it now since the deadline is over.
I will do the integration after the voting is accomplished.
I finally implemented your idea! :-)
RunToTheStairs got a new feature - the player may now dig tunnels!
For this purpose a new collectible item called "drill" was introduced which enables the player to remove one wall element by bumping into it.
The possibility of digging allows the player to take greater risks when taking alternative routes, since this will enable him to rescue himself by spending some resources (drills) if his route decision turns out to be wrong.
Please check out the commented High-Score-Table on the games itch.io-page! Meanwhile there are more than 25 entries in this table (5 of them by youtubers). So please consider to give RunToTheStairs a go and see how high you can climb on this table. ;-)
Hello samspot,
there is a new version of RunToTheStairs:
Please consider to play again!
Gerhard
Very nice! I like how the distance counter creates a feeling of tension even though the racing is turn-based, because you know you have to overtake someone as the distance to finish grows short.
Thank you for your nice comment red_kangaroo! :-)
I would be pleased if you would post your score!
I will check out your game "Quest for Gore and Vengenace" soon.
I will, once I get a good one. :D
Thanks, it's not much but I had fun making it.
RunToTheStairs now uses a graphical tileset and looks much better. The only problem is that it requires WebGL 2.0 which is not supported by all browsers yet. I would be pleased if you could test if it runs on your system. Please name your operating system and browser. Thank you! :-)
If it does not run at your system you can still play the ASCII-only-version of RunToTheStairs.
Wow, you made quite a progress! The game is beautiful and really cool. :) And congratulations on the popularity, RTTS seems to be cropping up near the top of games playable in browser.
So far I got to level 15 with score of only 83, but hopefully that will eventually improve. ;)
Thank you for the feedback! I just found out that you are a member of the dev-team of IVAN so I am very proud that you played my game! :-)
Of course I included your score in my high-score-table. You are currently 33th.
RunToTheStairs got another big update!
Hello red kangaroo,
there is a new version of RunToTheStairs:
Please consider to play again!
Gerhard
My current high-score is 69 points on dungeon level 10.