I've been building half-finished roguelikes for years. Something about the systems-heavy genre compels me to keep coming back to program them. I usually start by building the engine from scratch and end up with a very flexible game with no discernible gameplay and no 'fun factor'. From world generation, to AI, to emergent combinatorial item behaviours, there are way too many complex rabbit holes that a project can disappear down, never to be seen again.

So in that spirit, here I am back building Yet-Another-Roguelike. Here's how it's going so far!

The original idea for the game was 'what if treasure was a hindrance rather than a help?'. You would play as an adventure in a dungeon overflowing with treasure, far more than you could ever hope to carry and you'd have to find creative solutions to managing your accumulated loot without going gold-crazy.

As I started drawing up the prototype artwork, it occurred to me that there was already a good story about a gold-crazed individual who has gold turned against him with a misguided wish. The Phrygian King Midas. What about building a roguelike where everything you touch turns to gold?

Here's the very first screenshot from the proof of concept game. Every floor tile he touches, turns to gold, every block he walks into, etc.

The early stages of a game often involve spending a lot of time fiddling with the art style whilst I figure out the general aesthetic.

The rough idea that was forming was that you would manage his sanity, as every time you perform your golden transmutation,  you lose sanity, eventually going completely insane and losing the game.

Static blocks and tiles aren't much of a threat though and I didn't want to make a puzzle game, so the next step is some vaguely Greek denizens to hinder his journey!