[HN Gopher] Shattered Pixel Dungeon is an open-source traditiona...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Shattered Pixel Dungeon is an open-source traditional roguelike
       dungeon crawler
        
       Author : notamy
       Score  : 699 points
       Date   : 2024-03-21 00:21 UTC (22 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (github.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
        
       | JoshTriplett wrote:
       | Highly recommended. It's a fork of the original Pixel Dungeon,
       | and quite a bit more fun than the original.
        
       | Borealid wrote:
       | I'm not really sure what this is doing on Hacker News, but the
       | game (Shattered Pixel Dungeon) is fun.
       | 
       | One of the nicest features is that whenever you observe an effect
       | that unambiguously tells you what a potion/scroll does - such as
       | throwing a potion - that type of object is automatically
       | identified for you. In more "traditional" hack games you'd have
       | to write notes yourself even though obviously a thrown potion
       | exploding into fire means it's a potion of liquid fire, right?
       | 
       | Shattered Pixel is a good way to kill some time on public transit
       | or similar.
        
         | ToValueFunfetti wrote:
         | Nethack identifies objects once you've observed their effect as
         | well
        
           | Pwntheon wrote:
           | Only in the most obvious of cases. Your cat reluctantly steps
           | on an item? Cursed. Grey stone moved less than X tiles when
           | kicked? Loadstone. Hundreds of these.
        
           | schoen wrote:
           | Some, but not all. For example, "Call a white potion:" or
           | "Call a scroll labeled VE FORBRYDERNE:" prompts. These often
           | appear after observing an effect where an experienced player
           | or one consulting spoilers knows what the potion or scroll
           | must be, but the game didn't auto-ID it.
        
         | notamy wrote:
         | > I'm not really sure what this is doing on Hacker News
         | 
         | Incredibly fun game, open source, and in a genre that likely
         | fits well into many HN users' interests. I rediscovered it
         | recently and remembered it was open source, so why not submit
         | it?
        
           | DrSiemer wrote:
           | The title should include a [year], to save people like me
           | from needing to check if anything significant changed in the
           | game that made me miss half of a trip to Thailand in 2014.
        
             | 12345hn6789 wrote:
             | The game has regular updates, so sort of.
        
           | matt_s wrote:
           | Thanks for submitting it, I have never heard of it. Maybe
           | because I exist in the iOS "walled garden" and generally game
           | on console only.
           | 
           | Do you know what game engine its based on? Or is it a custom
           | thing?
        
             | bru wrote:
             | Custom AFAIK. There's an iOS version:
             | https://apps.apple.com/us/app/shattered-pixel-
             | dungeon/id1563...
        
           | SkyBelow wrote:
           | I think the open source part is the main justification.
           | Getting kids into tech and programming seems a HN sort of
           | article, and an open source game is one way of doing it. Much
           | more advanced than the entry level things like Scratch Jr.
           | and not nearly as wide spread an audience, but a great step
           | around the high school level for the few who wants to get
           | deeper without committing to some formal education.
        
         | klik99 wrote:
         | I saw this post and immediately thought "there's probably a lot
         | of potential trad roguelike fans on hacker news", for one thing
         | it's probably the genre with highest percentage of fans are
         | devs or have dabbled into game dev.
         | 
         | SPD is a good gateway to brogue, DCSS, cogmind, qud, etc
        
           | aireo wrote:
           | I've already mentioned Cogmind, but Brogue is a beautiful
           | game with tight gameplay. Another great recommendation.
        
             | IggleSniggle wrote:
             | It's not a roguelike really, but Brogue was my gateway to
             | CDDA (Catalysm: Dark Days Ahead). Not sure if I've lost
             | more of my life to one of those or to Slay the Spire. I
             | don't regret it one bit.
             | 
             | Been meaning to get into Cogmind (which seems even more
             | aesthetically appealing than Brogue) and Caves of Qud, but
             | I have children now, and must wait until they are of age
             | before re-engaging with such things.
        
               | aireo wrote:
               | Brogue was my introduction to the genre. I also tried
               | Golden Krone Hotel, a beginner-friendly title (and the
               | first one I beat)! I played CoQ for a while, too, but
               | there's something about Cogmind that clicked with me. I'm
               | not very good at it, but it's a _total_ blast.
               | 
               | And I agree with you -- it is, imo, the most beautiful
               | roguelike that I've seen or played. And it's got hundreds
               | of unique sound effects, too, which makes a huge
               | difference.
               | 
               | I've thought about CDDA, but honestly, the amount of
               | material there is intimidating. But it looks very cool.
               | 
               | These games are indeed dangerous! I don't have kids, but
               | I'm still in school, so I have to be careful. When you
               | have some time, definitely give Cogmind a try. Hope you
               | enjoy it!
        
               | klik99 wrote:
               | You probably know all this, but for others:
               | 
               | Cogmind is a lot of really thought out small touches that
               | sum up to an engaging experience despite at first glance
               | looking like any other roguelike. It's got great
               | animations/explosions and an intuitive UI.
               | 
               | The developer is the main mod of r/roguelikedev, has been
               | running a great blog for years where he dives deep into
               | aspects of roguelike dev
               | (https://www.gridsagegames.com/blog/), and is also just a
               | wonderful human who genuinely loves supporting the
               | community and playing roguelike games.
        
               | zenorogue wrote:
               | Sure, CDDA is a roguelike -- the word was supposed to
               | mean primarily a specific way of controlling the
               | character, introduced in Rogue. Everybody in the
               | roguelike community calls it a roguelike.
        
               | fho wrote:
               | I spend some time in Cogmind and can confirm that it is
               | one of the most aesthetical pleasing ones.
               | 
               | But these days I don't really have the time to really get
               | into games and after discovering only little of the lore
               | I lost interest :-/
        
         | II2II wrote:
         | The fun part is trying to identify certain items before
         | actually using them. (The guesses won't always be perfect, but
         | you can greatly improve your odds.)
        
         | jasonjmcghee wrote:
         | Game dev is historically pretty popular on hn.
        
         | uaserussia wrote:
         | Skyrim had that mechanic. You could eat ingredients for potions
         | and if you had a duplicate it would tell you the effects, and
         | the next time you found the ingredient again you would know
         | what it was.
        
           | zelphirkalt wrote:
           | Good that they also have potions, so that no poison in the
           | world is strong enough to kill you in Skyrim (or is there
           | one?)
        
             | wishfish wrote:
             | There is one raw ingredient in Skyrim which will kill the
             | player. But it can't be found in the wild. It's given to
             | you for a Dark Brotherhood quest. But you don't have to use
             | it in the quest. Can keep it for later use.
        
         | mminer237 wrote:
         | Don't Nethack and DCSS do that as well?
        
           | schoen wrote:
           | DCSS does; NetHack _sometimes_ does but there are very many
           | cases in which you observe some effect and are then asked
           | "Call a milky potion:" or "Call a scroll labeled ANDOVA
           | BEGARIN:".
        
         | mock-possum wrote:
         | I can also recommend POWDER as a solid not-many-frills classic
         | roguelite.
        
         | lupusreal wrote:
         | It would be nice if you could manually identity items though;
         | sometimes the context you get a potion from tells you what the
         | potion is but you have to remember that until you use it. Using
         | the stones of intuition for this kind of seems wasteful.
        
         | axus wrote:
         | It's reminding me I need to rebuild my very-slightly-modified
         | version to keep my Google Play developer account active!
         | 
         | Shattered Pixel encourages variants and branches, though
         | sometimes Google tries to block the blatant clones that want to
         | publish on Google Play, even though the license and developers
         | want that outcome.
         | 
         | On the other thread of "brutally punishing", there is the "Too
         | Cruel" variant of an earlier version of Shattered for those of
         | us who need more difficulty. PD is more like a long game of
         | chess than a dungeon crawler.
        
       | whalabi wrote:
       | I was aware of Pixel dungeon but didn't realize it was available
       | on PC, Mac, and iOS.
       | 
       | Particularly impressed that it builds for iOS when written in
       | Java - turns out the game is built on libgdx which builds for all
       | these platforms.
       | 
       | Also, it's fun if you like roguelikes.
        
       | bilekas wrote:
       | This is cool, I love a good roguelike especially on my phone for
       | flights and other time sinks.
       | 
       | I am curious though, why is the iOS version EUR4.99 but the
       | Android version is free ? I've seen this a lot actually and have
       | always wondered, I figured it might just be Apple's annual
       | developer license fee but not sure.
        
         | sphars wrote:
         | Yep that's exactly the reason, plus not wanting to compete with
         | Pixel Dungeon. The developer talked about it when first
         | announcing it was coming to iOS
         | 
         | > Shattered Pixel Dungeon will cost $5 US when it fully
         | releases on the App Store. I'm charging because of a mix of
         | Apple's higher platform fees, not wanting to undercut Pixel
         | Dungeon, and because Shattered is releasing in a much more
         | finished state.
         | 
         | https://shatteredpixel.com/blog/shattered-pixel-dungeon-is-c...
        
         | chongli wrote:
         | I'm on iOS and I paid for it without hesitation. Evan deserves
         | it, just read his blog for the game [1] to see how much he puts
         | into it!
         | 
         | [1] https://shatteredpixel.com/blog/
        
         | awelxtr wrote:
         | I guess it is the same reason Anki isn't free either on iOS:
         | you must pay Apple's dev account whether you make a profit or
         | not
        
         | grodriguez100 wrote:
         | And also because historically iPhone users have been more
         | inclined to pay for apps than Android users.
        
         | Biganon wrote:
         | Last time I checked, having an app on the Android app store
         | costs $14 a year, vs $99 a year on the Apple app store
        
           | tecleandor wrote:
           | Isn't it that the Google Play store is a one-time $25
           | registration fee (and never again) but the Apple App store is
           | $99 every year?
        
       | Townley wrote:
       | Excellent game, I lost an embarrassing amount of time last year
       | getting all of the badges.
       | 
       | The mobile versions are great because they're ad-free, and work
       | without internet access when on airplanes. And since it's turn-
       | based, it's very interruption-friendly. The Reddit community is
       | also a lot of fun: equal mix of strategy and memes.
        
         | boothby wrote:
         | All of them? I gave up on that goal partway through the
         | pandemic; I spent about a year's worth of occasional games
         | without seeing Tengu and eventually accepted that I wasn't
         | interested enough to get that 6-challenge badge.
         | 
         | Strategy on Reddit, you say? Perhaps that could help. But,
         | perhaps it's better if I don't spelunk that particular
         | rabbithole.
        
           | Townley wrote:
           | For the last badge, it wasn't masterful strategy: I played
           | until I got lucky with an overpowered Ring of Wealth run, and
           | farmed the dwarven floors for like 3 days before breezing
           | through the demon halls and ascending. That one and only six
           | challenge run landed with 1,050,700 points, which was just
           | enough to get the final "Over 1 million points" badge.
           | 
           | That was the last round I played, almost a year ago. I
           | consider myself free from the game now, but look back on it
           | fondly :)
        
       | PlunderBunny wrote:
       | I love roguelike games (still miss you 100 Rogues), and I played
       | Shattered Pixel Dungeon 77 times before finally winning with a
       | Rogue class. Once I'd done that, I never had the urge to play it
       | again.
        
       | rjmill wrote:
       | Well, there goes the rest of the week. I don't install games on
       | my phone, but I always give SPD a pass because open source. The
       | first time I installed it, I almost lost an internship because I
       | was too focused on the game. The most recent time I installed it,
       | my wife thought I was cheating on her because I was acting so
       | shady and obsessive about my phone. Don't say I didn't warn
       | y'all.
        
         | Quiark wrote:
         | If you only play open source mobile games and are afraid of
         | wasting your time, make sure you avoid the factory tower
         | defense game Mindustry which presents itself at
         | https://mindustrygame.github.io/
        
           | subtra3t wrote:
           | Was on my way to suggest this game to avoid, which is also
           | available for free on desktop.
        
             | rizky05 wrote:
             | Man, anyone will do what you are suggesting to avoid! we
             | will bear the sin together.
        
           | rjmill wrote:
           | Oh no, it's on f-droid, my hands are tied! I'll have to
           | _ahem_ contribute my free time to this important open source
           | library.
        
           | epiccoleman wrote:
           | Honestly though, Mindustry is so much better with
           | keyboard/mouse controls. It's a shockingly good mobile
           | factory/automation type game, but I'd just rather play it on
           | PC. (Or Mac, which runs it fine)
        
             | IggleSniggle wrote:
             | Sure, but it's much harder to hide your laptop screen under
             | the covers at 2am, back to spouse, shielding the light,
             | keeping your secret safe. Plus, a screen tap is much
             | quieter than a laptop k/m.
             | 
             | ...What? Nobody else is doing this?
        
           | pjmlp wrote:
           | I have tried multiple times to play Mindustry, but always end
           | giving up, it doesn't seem that well tested on touch screens.
           | 
           | On one of my phones it doesn't even render whole the items on
           | the screen, making some actions unselectable.
        
             | jasonjayr wrote:
             | The item box is scrollable. I didn't realize that till
             | later in my game play. (I had been playing desktop version
             | for some time)
             | 
             | Also, the small activation regions for some
             | items/blocks/selections suggest it may be easier to play
             | with one of those touch-active styluses.
        
               | pjmlp wrote:
               | Thanks for the hint.
        
               | Quiark wrote:
               | Yeah I finished all of Mindustry on mobile, around half
               | of it with stylus (it has a rubber ball)
        
           | ComodoHacker wrote:
           | And if you play on PC, also avoid Tales of Maj'Eyal
           | (https://te4.org/), because of its depth and almost infinite
           | replayability.
        
             | indigochill wrote:
             | The crazy imaginative class selection in ToME (special
             | shoutout to the chronomancer) easily makes it my go-to
             | roguelike, but I do find I have trouble really feeling what
             | the impact of my build choices are, although this is a
             | common feeling with roguelikes - I probably feel it more in
             | ToME because it feels like every level-up has a much
             | broader decision space than most other roguelikes. Also
             | that most enemies (at least early game) aren't a major
             | challenge until you hit one that wrecks you.
             | 
             | Most of the time I go with "rule of cool", blaze ahead, and
             | die somewhere around the time I get to the sandworm
             | tunnels.
             | 
             | The farthest I ever got was what felt like the first real
             | boss who just teleports you to <FUN> which came out of left
             | field and my character in that run was _not_ prepared to
             | handle that.
        
               | ComodoHacker wrote:
               | I'm still trying to beat it on _normal_ difficulty. The
               | farthest I got was first floors of the necromancer 's
               | tower, which is about 1/4 of the game AFAIK. I resist the
               | temptation to try any add-on, there's so much fun without
               | them.
        
               | eek2121 wrote:
               | That is why I am a fan of games that buff your character
               | over repeated runs.
               | 
               | If more games did this, the difficulty slider could go
               | away. As an added bonus, there is a satisfaction of
               | getting to the point where you are so overpowered the
               | game essentially breaks (see: vampire survivors)
        
             | mdaniel wrote:
             | the "open source" part https://git.net-core.org/groups/tome
             | (GPLv3)
        
           | ativzzz wrote:
           | Couldn't play it on mobile. The UI just did not feel mobile
           | friendly at all
        
             | remram wrote:
             | What does that mean?
        
               | ativzzz wrote:
               | The complexity of the game's interface was not converted
               | to a high quality mobile interface. It work, sure, but it
               | was not pleasant to use
               | 
               | It's like viewing a desktop version of a website on
               | mobile. It's usable, but kinda sucks and made me not want
               | to play
        
           | Fnoord wrote:
           | How does it compare to They Are Billions [1]?
           | 
           | [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They_Are_Billions
        
         | ronyeh wrote:
         | They should put this review on their repo README. It's making
         | me want to play it. But it's also making me scared to play it.
        
           | jcul wrote:
           | I don't play any computer games these days and haven't since
           | I was a kid.
           | 
           | But I can confirm that pixel dungeon is an exception, I have
           | lost many hours to it, but it has been years since I've
           | played it.
           | 
           | IIRC shattered is a fork with slightly different game play.
           | 
           | I do love rogue like games.
        
         | suprjami wrote:
         | Make sure you don't install Caves then, it's even better.
         | 
         | https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=thirty.six.dev...
        
           | sspiff wrote:
           | Contains ads, hard pass.
        
             | INTPenis wrote:
             | I'd pay a one time cost of 20-30 dollars just to get rid of
             | the ads.
        
             | suprjami wrote:
             | Haven't seen an ad in many years.
             | 
             | https://f-droid.org/packages/org.adaway/
        
               | sspiff wrote:
               | Me neither, because I don't install apps which have ads
               | :)
               | 
               | I've never had much luck with system wide VPN-based ad
               | blockers, and I don't have a rooted phone.
        
             | stavros wrote:
             | I made a relevant thing: https://nobsgames.stavros.io/
        
               | sspiff wrote:
               | I've been on this page before! Thanks!
        
               | suprjami wrote:
               | Neat! For a brief time there was that "Honest Android
               | Games" and I've wished for a replacement ever since.
        
               | mrgoldenbrown wrote:
               | Sites like yours are a welcome addition to the web. Thank
               | you! I've been using a similar one:
               | https://www.darkpattern.games/
        
               | stavros wrote:
               | Thank you! Dark Pattern Games is great as well.
        
               | Toorkit wrote:
               | I remember in the Play Games app specifically, you can
               | filter games by ads. It turns thousands of games into a
               | dozen or so!
        
         | katzenversteher wrote:
         | I had the same issue and my solution was: I modified the code
         | of the game to add cheats (make my character super durable),
         | compiled it myself and loaded the apk onto my phone. Then I
         | finally finished the game and my addiction ended.
        
           | vector_rotcev wrote:
           | I like this. Both for the astute problem identification and
           | the self-empowered solution.
        
             | katzenversteher wrote:
             | Usually I try to avoid cheats but I use them it in
             | situations where I either get badly addicted or where I
             | notice that I'm losing a lot of time with repetitive
             | grinding
        
           | lupusreal wrote:
           | I just play as an archer/warden. It's a pretty easy class, I
           | can beat the game maybe one in five times. Once you get the
           | nature footwear artifact you've as good as won, and if you
           | get a blooming weapon then it's a cakewalk.
        
             | nataliste wrote:
             | Sniper is easier in my opinion. If you find a ring of
             | marksmanship, it becomes pretty trivial with the sniper's
             | armor bypassing and tier upgrades to the bow.
             | 
             | I think anyone hunting for a first win should play as a
             | huntress or mage. Ranged attacks are pretty overpowered in
             | comparison to melee and don't require as much position
             | play. And since both classes begin with their final weapon,
             | you don't need to rely too much on the RNG to survive.
        
         | brightball wrote:
         | Well, that's a pretty solid endorsement.
         | 
         | I never tried World of Warcraft years ago until that South Park
         | episode came out. Currently about the only games I still play
         | on my phone are chess and Plants vs Zombies 2, which for some
         | reason has had me hooked since the very first one came out.
         | Luckily, my wife likes it too.
        
         | haloboy777 wrote:
         | I can confirm everything he's saying.
        
         | Spellman wrote:
         | Free Open Source???
         | 
         | Unciv
         | 
         | https://github.com/yairm210/Unciv
        
         | raffraffraff wrote:
         | I spent way too much time playing xonotic
        
       | KirinDave wrote:
       | If you like these kinds of games but find SPD to be a little too
       | mechanically simple and lacking in build diversity, you may also
       | enjoy DCSS (dungeon crawl stone soup) and my personal favorite:
       | Frogcomposband.
       | 
       | You can play the later at angband.live, and it's an exceptional
       | game with incredible depth and variety.
        
         | AtlasBarfed wrote:
         | And BTW, if _I_ can figure out how to do Eclipse CDT and get
         | the source code running in an IDE, so that I can do LOTS of fun
         | things with class skills, you can to! Because the last time I
         | did C /C++ was 1998.
         | 
         | Also, Remnants of the Precursors (java) you can do some fun
         | things. I got "doomstars" half-implemented, a race skill that
         | marks planets with resources or artifacts (archaeology bonus),
         | and lots of other fun things.
         | 
         | I really like open source games, half the fun is hacking them.
         | 
         | I have yet to download nethack from the net and hack it though.
        
         | Al-Khwarizmi wrote:
         | I agree about SPD. While it's great for a mobile game and looks
         | gorgeous, I find the gameplay somewhat shallow for a roguelike.
         | 
         | If I have a monitor and keyboard at hand, I prefer to play the
         | likes of ADOM (classic version, not Ultimate), Brogue,
         | Legerdemain, Sil, DCSS, etc. which offer more depth, strategic
         | complexity and meaningful choices, IMHO.
         | 
         | Haven't tried the frog one, will do at some point.
        
         | plagiarist wrote:
         | There was a Nintendo DS port of Stone Soup that I really loved.
         | Had some great times provoking monsters into fighting each
         | other while I hid in the shadows.
        
       | johnsillings wrote:
       | This looks sick. Can't wait to try!
        
       | codetrotter wrote:
       | So after reading the positive comments here I went ahead and
       | bought a copy for iPhone in the App Store.
       | 
       | I was hoping that it supports controllers, as i recently bought a
       | pretty neat controller that you plug the phone into the middle
       | of, and you get buttons and thumb sticks on each side of the
       | screen. Kind of similar to the joycons you have with a Nintendo
       | Switch. This controller is PlayStation branded, but produced by a
       | different company that has licensed the right to brand the
       | controller that way.
       | 
       | Anyway, I am happy to report that yes indeed this game works with
       | my controller. Left thumb stick moves the character around, and
       | right thumb sticks moves a sort of aiming square around!
       | 
       | Edit: the pointer sensitivity was a bit high for me, but it is
       | adjustable in the game settings and after adjusting it it is
       | comfortable
        
         | nihilist_t21 wrote:
         | Backbone One? I recently got the non-PlayStation branded one
         | for my iPhone and I love it. I had been wanting one for a
         | while, and finally jumped when they released the Gen 2 version
         | with swappable mounts to support cases.
         | 
         | It's been fantastic for playing SNES games on mobile. I can't
         | recommend it enough. Only downside would be the included app is
         | hot trash. Always tries to sell you some subscription. Luckily,
         | I haven't found the need to ever use the app.
        
           | codetrotter wrote:
           | Yep, Backbone One.
           | 
           | I was waiting a bit too, because it's not exactly cheap.
           | 
           | Eventually I found one that was brand new that someone was
           | selling second hand because they had bought the wrong
           | version. They had the latest iPhone which has a USB-C port,
           | but they had bought the Backbone One with lightning
           | connector. I have a slightly older model. The iPhone 14 Pro.
           | So mine has lightning connector. He got most of his money
           | back that way, and I got a discount compared to buying one in
           | the store. Everybody wins :)
           | 
           | Anyway yeah, I've been enjoying mine too. I've mostly been
           | using it with Nvidia Now or what it's called. Via the
           | Backbone app. This way I can play some of the games I have in
           | my Steam account on a computer in the cloud using my phone
           | and my Backbone One. I only play at home on WiFi, and I'm on
           | the free plan so I have to wait in a queue and each play
           | session lasts 1 hour and then I have to start a new session.
           | Been re-playing one of the modern Tomb Raider games this way
           | and have been quite enjoying it so far.
        
         | jeffhuys wrote:
         | Oh I know those! I had one for the iPhone 6s, but now my 12 Pro
         | is obviously bigger, so it doesn't fit.
         | 
         | So, I 3D-printed one of those holders that holds an XBox
         | controller and your phone above it. A bit heavy, but works
         | perfectly for all controller-enabled games! And worthy of
         | mention, Geforce Now also works! So I'm "PC-gaming" from my bed
         | with this, and all for "free" (if you don't count the cost of
         | the plastic, phone, or controller lol).
         | 
         | https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2553522
        
       | demondemidi wrote:
       | Ohhhh this is perfect. I hit the wall with BG3 because it got
       | mind numbing by the end of Act 2, so I totally needed something
       | fast and easy.
       | 
       | NICE.
       | 
       | (Desktop)
        
         | Loughla wrote:
         | Got most of the way through act 3 and uninstalled bg3. I like
         | that game, but just didn't feel compelled to complete it. At
         | that point, it has been so long since the characters leveled up
         | that gameplay was just sort of repetitive. There weren't really
         | any new tactics to learn and employ.
         | 
         | The level cap killed that game for me, it turns out.
        
       | IgorPartola wrote:
       | So I used to play Pixel Dungeon and then saw a bunch of clones
       | that looked like it. Is Shattered Pixel Dungeon the original
       | project or a clone of a closed source game? Or completely
       | unrelated?
        
         | romanows wrote:
         | "It's based on the source code of Pixel Dungeon, by Watabou." I
         | also played the original Pixel Dungeon, great game and bonus
         | points for being free and open source!
        
         | davewasthere wrote:
         | original creator: https://twitter.com/watawatabou
         | 
         | Was always free... now people have gone to town with the source
         | code.
        
         | blacksmith_tb wrote:
         | I've played a fair number of PD spin-offs / remixes and
         | Shattered stands out as the best. It get regular updates that
         | sometimes add or substantially change large chunks of the game.
        
         | knodi123 wrote:
         | It's a variant, with lots of quality-of-life upgrades, some
         | very well thought-out new mechanics, and new biomes and
         | missions.
        
           | iCarrot wrote:
           | I always found the game becoming easier with more
           | mechanics/weapons/potions added (in other variants). Is this
           | the case with SPD?
        
             | knodi123 wrote:
             | I don't necessarily think so. Evan puts a LOT of effort
             | into balance. But even so, I've gotten to where I have 5
             | challenge modes turned on to make it a challenge, so maybe
             | you're right.
        
         | flexagoon wrote:
         | The original Pixel Dungeon was closed source IIRC, but then the
         | developer stopped working on it and released the source code.
         | Now there are many forks/mods of PD, all with different
         | features (the Pixel Dungeon wiki has a great list). Shattered
         | PD is the most popular and polished one, it adds a ton of stuff
         | and is very actively developed.
        
           | bjconlan wrote:
           | Yeah, I was looking though the code wondering what java based
           | rendering library this was using but all of these support
           | classes come from "PD-classes" (which was sighted in the SPD
           | readme... just never joined the dots) but also pointed me to
           | the creators itch account and relevant "Generator" artworks
           | which are all very impressive
           | 
           | https://watabou.github.io/ https://watabou.itch.io/
           | 
           | Some really great work here
        
             | grodriguez100 wrote:
             | The original Pixel Dungeon uses a homebrew "engine" (that's
             | the PD-classes stuff). Shattered uses libgdx.
        
       | FrostKiwi wrote:
       | Was absolutely obsessed with it couple of years ago. Hard, deep
       | mechanics for its genre, super fun. First finish was quite the
       | ride. What a win for FOSS.
        
       | aireo wrote:
       | I hadn't played games for a long time, mostly because of school,
       | but recently I picked up Cogmind, a fantastic sci-fi roguelike.
       | Basically, you're a robot that can attach and replace different
       | items, including utilities, propulsion systems, weapons, and
       | power sources. It's some of the most fun I've had playing a game
       | in ages.
       | 
       | The developer, Josh Ge, is also very kind and deeply engaged with
       | the community, which is great.
       | 
       | Highly recommended!
        
       | eadmund wrote:
       | This does look really neat, but IMHO ASCII art is one of the keys
       | to being traditional.
       | 
       | Nothing at _all_ against Shattered Pixel Dungeon, just that a
       | quick look through the site didn't reveal a terminal version.
        
       | hubblesticks wrote:
       | Check out YAPD (Yet Another Pixel Dungeon) if you're on Android
       | for a nice variant of the original. I found I like the mods in
       | YAPD better.
        
         | gaudystead wrote:
         | I (perhaps mistakenly?) started with YAPD but then got my
         | friend hooked and he went for SPD. I love how active the SPD
         | dev is, but the mechanics are juuust a tad too different for me
         | to want to learn them all. Both are great games though!
        
       | jpsouth wrote:
       | I've played this for a while, and not to brag, but I've got to
       | chapter two on a warrior AND mage.
       | 
       | I love the identification process and relatively quick, albeit
       | very tactical if you want, gameplay. It's my go to iPhone game
       | when on short journeys, mostly because I can just save where I am
       | and pick up whenever without having to remember dungeon layout or
       | potions/food etc.
        
       | desiarnezjr wrote:
       | DO NOT DOWNLOAD THIS.
       | 
       | I downloaded (not Shattered) Pixel Dungeon and then Shattered,
       | and nearly a decade later I'm still playing. In fact it's 70% of
       | my non-work computing time.
       | 
       | Not only that Shattered's dev updates often with sometimes great
       | changes.
       | 
       | You've been warned.
        
         | Graziano_M wrote:
         | I've never seen a game, or software for that matter, with a
         | better version history screen.
        
         | metadat wrote:
         | Glad to know I'm not the only one.
        
         | GolfPopper wrote:
         | Thank you for the warning.
         | 
         | I am going to download it. But I'm not going to touch it until
         | I'm on vacation next month. :) I've got a lot of work between
         | now and then.
        
         | smaddox wrote:
         | I feel your pain. I've spent more time playing Dungeon Crawl
         | Stone Soup than I care to admit. The fact that this can be
         | played on Android makes it even more dangerous.
        
         | wredhyn wrote:
         | Same. It's really the only mobile game that I keep coming back
         | to.
        
       | Graziano_M wrote:
       | This game is so good. It's probably the thing I miss most from
       | having an Android phone.
        
         | notamy wrote:
         | It is available on iOS!
        
           | Graziano_M wrote:
           | It wasn't at the time, and I didn't need to know that! I have
           | it on PC but luckily that's easier to avoid.
        
       | zem wrote:
       | this is far and away the best roguelike i've played on mobile.
       | indeed, it's pretty much the _only_ roguelike i 've ever seen
       | that has a decent mobile user experience. you can tell that the
       | dev team has put a tremendous amount of work into making it look
       | and feel good.
        
         | prirai wrote:
         | You should try Dead Cells.
        
           | zem wrote:
           | i looked it up, and it looks like more of a metroidvania than
           | a roguelike. also the play store reviews say the controls
           | aren't great on mobile. might pick it up for steam deck
           | though, it does look fun :)
        
       | LelouBil wrote:
       | 6 or so years ago I wondered why they were so much Pixel Dungeon
       | versions on the Play Store.
       | 
       | Now I know why ! The game was Open Source !
        
       | wanderingmind wrote:
       | Any reason this is not provided for download through F-Droid. I
       | trust apps on F-Droid more than Google Play and helps with
       | installing in degoogled phones.
        
         | sphars wrote:
         | There's a thread on GitHub where the dev explains why:
         | https://github.com/00-Evan/shattered-pixel-dungeon/issues/13...
         | 
         | Downloading the APK direct from GitHub is the official way to
         | get it without the Play Store. App updates take a bit more
         | work, but you can set up notifications through GitHub to be
         | notified for new releases.
        
           | depingus wrote:
           | Just FYI, there's an Android app called Obtainium that lets
           | you add Github (and a few other VCS) repos to it. Obtanium
           | will then check those repos for updates and install the new
           | APK for you. Its pretty slick for people that prefer to get
           | their APKs direct from the dev.
           | 
           | https://github.com/ImranR98/Obtainium
        
           | wanderingmind wrote:
           | I like Fdroid because it automatically compiles from source
           | and does vulnerability scanner. Its not a safe practice to
           | download random binary blobs from github. Its a shame it
           | looks like a nice implementation but I will have to give it a
           | pass.
        
             | pests wrote:
             | It looks like another commentor posted the Fdroid link.
        
             | yorwba wrote:
             | Well, you _can_ get it from https://f-droid.org/en/packages
             | /com.shatteredpixel.shattered... if you don't mind the
             | vulnerability scanner having a false positive occasionally.
        
         | iCarrot wrote:
         | Is this not it? Built and distributed by F-Droid
         | https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.shatteredpixel.shattered...
        
       | monetus wrote:
       | It has been neat watching this game change over the years. Every
       | year or so, enough new updates have been had that it feels like a
       | new "season"; similar to online games. It keeps getting better.
        
       | howenterprisey wrote:
       | You gotta check out Yet Another Pixel Dungeon too! I like it very
       | much.
       | https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.considered...
        
       | mproud wrote:
       | It's available on Homebrew:
       | 
       | `brew install shattered-pixel-dungeon`
        
       | flykespice wrote:
       | I see they accept donations (and it's probably the only way they
       | keep themselves financially supported), does it need to go
       | through Play Store's billing system?
       | 
       | Afaik, Google takes down open-source apps that link to their
       | donation page without going through their billing system because
       | it falls on their "no circumvention" policy.
       | 
       | [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21268389
        
       | magicalhippo wrote:
       | Semi-unrelated but this reminded me of the countless hours I
       | spent playing Castle of the Winds[1] as a kid.
       | 
       | Based on this thread I went searching for it and, as it turns
       | out, the original author is working on porting[2] it to Unity!
       | 
       | [1]: https://www.mobygames.com/game/842/castle-of-the-winds/
       | 
       | [2]:
       | https://www.reddit.com/r/CastleOfTheWinds/comments/172ckn6/i...
        
         | jd3 wrote:
         | While imperfect, I nevertheless adored Reign of Swords/Clash of
         | Kingdom on my old iPod touch back in ~2008.
         | 
         | I've looked for a replacement for years but 99.9% of similar
         | games on the App Store are spam/pay to win/microtransaction
         | hell with the typical cheap ugly "international" art style.
         | 
         | https://www.ign.com/articles/2008/10/06/reign-of-swords-revi...
         | 
         | https://www.ign.com/articles/2009/08/03/reign-of-swords-2-re...
         | 
         | https://www.ign.com/articles/2008/02/07/mobile-battles-reign...
         | 
         | http://web.archive.org/web/20111001213349/http://www.mobileb...
        
         | FranOntanaya wrote:
         | So many hours trying to farm cube slimes to get rare items in
         | that game. I loved it.
        
         | stavros wrote:
         | Oh man, that reminds me of my childhood in rural Greece, where
         | the only software I could get was from magazines, where they
         | downloaded demo/shareware versions of stuff and put it on a CD.
         | 
         | Obviously there was no way for me to pay or get the full
         | software, so I spent hours and hours playing the same levels
         | over and over in the demo.
         | 
         | I loved Castle of the Winds, and another turn-based games with
         | pirates. There was also a similar one with tanks and such,
         | called Metal Knights maybe?
        
         | Loughla wrote:
         | Holy fuck I completely forgot about that game. I spent hours
         | and hours and hours playing that game as a kid.
         | 
         | I probably logged 50 hours just in the free demo level.
        
       | system7rocks wrote:
       | I think you are the best. Period. End of story.
        
       | thejarren wrote:
       | I've been stuck playing Pixel dungeon and now Shattered Pixel
       | Dungeon since ~2014.
       | 
       | Fantastic game, highly replayable.
       | 
       | I've not been heavily committed, so I've only really "won" about
       | 2-3 times total.
        
       | sspiff wrote:
       | My 5 year old son got REALLY into this a few months back. He
       | played up to the first boss and then had me take over. We had a
       | lot of fun with it.
        
       | worksonmine wrote:
       | I've only played the original Pixel Dungeon and never tried any
       | of the forks. How does this compare?
        
       | notorandit wrote:
       | You die a little bit too often when compared with old school
       | rogue, nethack and moria. But it is very nice.
        
         | chongli wrote:
         | You don't have to die often. Winning streaks of 20+ (with 6
         | challenges active) are completely doable. This guy
         | RunningFromCake [1] has some nice tutorials on how to get
         | better at the game. He also has videos showing his winning
         | streaks and how he accomplishes them.
         | 
         | [1] https://www.youtube.com/@runningfromcake
        
       | nurettin wrote:
       | This is the only game I ever donated to. I open it up almost
       | every time I recompile and run. My previous build was an
       | experimental corrupt mage with corpse dust. I wanted to see if I
       | can balance charges and corrupting an army of wraiths that spawn
       | all the time because of the corpse dust. Current build is a plain
       | old assassin with +10 assassin's blade and anti-magic armor.
       | Trying out the badder bosses challenge this time.
        
         | Loughla wrote:
         | Doesn't corruption require you to hit the enemy? How does that
         | work with wraiths when they die after one hit?
        
           | nurettin wrote:
           | Via wand of corruption. But you need a lot of recharge. Ring,
           | ability and armor needs to be able to recharge your wands.
           | Wraiths become very resistant to wand towards the end, so you
           | will need those charges.
        
       | lambdanil wrote:
       | For those who enjoy SPD I recommend checking out some other
       | popular roguelikes, many of them are also open source.
       | 
       | Some of my personal recommendations would be brogue (probably the
       | most beginner friendly), DCSS (friendly, tons of content), ADoM
       | and Cataclysm DDA (a sandbox survival roguelike, quite a unique
       | mix)
        
         | sandspar wrote:
         | What do these acronyms mean?
        
           | bananicorn wrote:
           | DCSS = Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup
           | 
           | ADoM = Ancient Domains of Mystery
           | 
           | Cataclysm DDA = Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead
           | 
           | I swear I didn't make the first one up ;) Edit: ah well, you
           | got your answer already^^
        
             | zenorogue wrote:
             | "Stone Soup" refers to the Stone Soup folk story, where
             | people contribute their supplies to make a great soup for
             | everyone (it is developed by many people who contribute to
             | the open-source project started by Linley Henzell as
             | Linley's Dungeon Crawl).
             | 
             | Still a better name than NetHack (which is not a game about
             | hacking networks... "Net" just refers to collaboration over
             | net to improve the game Hack). There is also BrogueCE
             | ("Brogue Community Edition").
        
           | lambdanil wrote:
           | I should probably have used the full names for clarity,
           | either way the acronyms mean, in order: Dungeon Crawl Stone
           | Soup, Ancient Domains of Mystery and Cataclysm Dark Days
           | Ahead.
        
           | zuik wrote:
           | Shattered Pixel Dungeon
           | 
           | Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup
           | 
           | Ancient Domains of Mystery
           | 
           | Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead
        
         | rjbwork wrote:
         | Currently hung up on CDDA. Probably the most complicated
         | hardcore game I've ever touched. Learning curve like a brick
         | wall. Incredibly rewarding to master though.
         | 
         | Really love that it's FOSS. I've got a bunch of scripts I run
         | to scan the game files to learn things that are hard to get
         | just from the in game menus.
        
       | VagabundoP wrote:
       | ha never knew this was open source.
       | 
       | Awesome game! When my kid was young I'd have this on my phone to
       | keep her busy for a few minutes if she was melting my brain.
       | 
       | She was always killed by a rat at some point.
        
       | hiergiltdiestfu wrote:
       | It's a great game, and feels very very close to crawl, aka
       | Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup. It's also fair regarding the payment
       | model (cosmetics only, otherwise completely free on the mechanics
       | side).
        
         | nottorp wrote:
         | Oh. Lost me right there.
         | 
         | Are you sure you're rich enough to afford games with IAPs?
        
       | rkagerer wrote:
       | This is one of those games I wish I could play on an emulator or
       | VM or something where I could take a snapshot and subsequently
       | undo my inevitable, catastrophic mistake.
        
         | Grangar wrote:
         | That's called save scumming
        
         | pid-1 wrote:
         | Like DF, this sort of game becomes terribly boring after you
         | have won / seen all things. You don'y want to win quickly.
        
       | pjmlp wrote:
       | Oh well, now I now what I should add into my phone.
       | 
       | Being in Java and a roguelike dugeon crawler with cute graphics
       | already makes it for me.
        
       | zeograd wrote:
       | It's an awesome game, I'm playing it non-stop since last summer
       | and embarked my 9-years old daughter along. We're sharing games
       | and exchanging bits of information (yes, she's thinking out of
       | the box, and it sometimes works :) )
       | 
       | The author, Evan, is maintaining a fediverse community for all
       | mods of the original Pixel Dungeon, accessible via
       | https://photon.lemmy.world/c/pixeldungeon for instance, after the
       | Reddit troubles from last year.
        
       | JyB wrote:
       | What is gameplay/control like on mobile? Is the crawling and
       | combat engaging?
        
         | sandspar wrote:
         | As of my reply there's 120 other comments raving about it.
        
       | normaler wrote:
       | I have been playing Pixel Dungeon and then Shattered Pixel
       | Dungeon since ~2016.
       | 
       | Such a great game.
        
       | afatc wrote:
       | The original Pixel Dungeon isn't available in the iOS App Store
       | in Portugal, anyone know how to get around it?
        
       | lensi wrote:
       | But it requires you to login with your Google account. Weird for
       | an open source game.
        
         | lupusreal wrote:
         | No such requirement if you get it from F-Droid, which you
         | should.
        
         | tgkudelski wrote:
         | This is not true. Probably you installed it through the Play
         | store?
        
         | gaudystead wrote:
         | From my experience, you can just skip it and still play the
         | game.
         | 
         | Most of those Google prompts can just be bypassed by hitting
         | the "back" button (on android, at least).
        
         | whitehexagon wrote:
         | I dont have google account, but noticed they release apk builds
         | directly on github, side-loaded and running, I may be gone a
         | while...
        
       | hamilyon2 wrote:
       | How does it get around apple GPL ban?
        
         | richardwhiuk wrote:
         | If you own the rights to all of the code, you can dual license
         | under GPL and non-GPL, and then you can post on the appstore.
         | 
         | They don't accept code requests, so that might be their
         | strategy
        
       | luckyshot wrote:
       | If you like Magic The Gathering card playing game, avoid Forge
       | (Desktop + Android) because it is open source (made in Java) and
       | it has all the cards, gameplays, you can build your deck or
       | choose from a huge list of ready-made ones and play against the
       | AI and online up to 4 players in the same game I believe.
       | 
       | https://github.com/Card-Forge/forge
        
         | mdaniel wrote:
         | recently: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38651346 and
         | XMage is usually submitted alongside them when any M:TG makes
         | the front page, including the quarterly(?) "M:TG is Turing
         | complete" paper thread
        
       | 6mian wrote:
       | https://pixeldungeon.fandom.com/wiki/Shattered_Pixel_Dungeon is a
       | great resource if you are new to the game and genre, although I
       | suggest first trying discovering everything by yourself (prepare
       | to die a lot) and start reading the wiki after getting through
       | the first boss on lvl 5.
       | 
       | I've been playing SPD for years now and for me the best strategy
       | to win the game is to keep Scrolls of Upgrade until you get a
       | hold of a weapon of at least tier 4, same goes for armor. This
       | makes the initial levels much more risky, but if you survive it's
       | a matter of not making mistakes or getting yourself into high
       | risk situations. Using this method I get to the Amulet in about
       | 30% of the runs. Since the recent updates getting back to the
       | ground has become a much more fun challenge.
       | 
       | Besides postponing the use of Scrolls of Upgrade, here are a few
       | things that work for me:                 * You don't have to
       | identify potions and scrolls right away, often you can keep them
       | until you gather more information. For example, killed flies
       | sometimes drop health potion and they are on early levels, so you
       | can learn the color without using it.            * Before you get
       | the Scroll Holder that protects the scrolls from fire, it's a
       | good idea to stash all the scrolls in water at the beginning of
       | each level and retrieve them back before going to the next one.
       | * Scrolls of Mapping are absolutely crucial on levels >20 because
       | of the traps and they are relatively cheap in the first two
       | shops.             * Summoning trap rooms are great to gather a
       | lot of xp if you have potions of paralytic gas and fire/toxic
       | gas. After the level is cleared, you just open the doors by
       | throwing something at it, go as far away as possible, throw
       | paralytic and then fire/toxic potions. And run to the next level.
       | 
       | If you like the game, consider donating to the project, you can
       | do this directly in the game, at least in the Android version.
        
         | ourmandave wrote:
         | _(prepare to die a lot)_
         | 
         | No thanks. Repeatedly punishing you for stupid shit isn't a fun
         | game.
         | 
         | Like the Sims will _burn you alive_ for not buying a smoke
         | detector and then having the audacity to make toast.
        
           | ohwellhere wrote:
           | This may not be the genre for you, then. And that's fine!
        
             | ourmandave wrote:
             | No, it's my genre.
             | 
             | Just some have a dial where the default isn't Ultra
             | Nightmare mode.
        
               | skyyler wrote:
               | I don't say this to be mean but if you think Pixel
               | Dungeon is "Ultra Nightmare" mode, games like Nethack or
               | Caves of Qud would probably cause you actual physical
               | pain.
               | 
               | Pixel Dungeon is one of the most beginner friendly
               | roguelikes, widely considered the "next step" in
               | difficulty after the Mystery Dungeon series. (I often
               | recommend it to people that enjoyed Pokemon Mystery
               | Dungeon but find Nethack and DCSS too intense)
        
           | 6mian wrote:
           | I see it as a different model of building knowledge about the
           | game than most other genres. Dying early is part of the
           | process, because each time you die you got to this point in a
           | bit different way, learning other things on the way.
           | 
           | If you were hand-held to the very end you'd only see a a
           | narrow path you went through, which is also ok. It's just a
           | difference in the journey, similar to Breadth-First Search
           | and Deep-First Search in graphs.
           | 
           | Another thing is game fairness. In my opinion, SPD is fair,
           | there's no "you stepped on something you couldn't detect if
           | you tried and died". If you pay attention you will see enough
           | information to identify threats after the initial die-a-lot
           | period :)
        
             | Cerpicio wrote:
             | Sounds like Elden Ring. I started playing it recently and
             | got annoyed at how often I died. But I realized that's part
             | of the learning process. It's still annoying but at least I
             | can see it for what it is.
        
             | plagiarist wrote:
             | The traps just happen randomly throughout. The best run I
             | had going ended instantly when I hit an alarm trap. It's
             | impossible to recover. I cannot even escape lone enemies
             | without a ring of haste.
             | 
             | Yeah, I could have detected that on a search, but I'm
             | usually struggling to stay fed in the first place.
        
               | chongli wrote:
               | If you're struggling to stay fed, try these tips:
               | 
               | * Don't eat right away when the game says you're hungry.
               | Wait until you're starving and below 50% health. This
               | makes each food ration last way longer!
               | 
               | * Don't eat pasties or meat. When you find an alchemy
               | pot, use the recipe that combines one food ration, one
               | piece of meat, and one pasty to make a meat pie. The meat
               | pie is way more nourishing and gives you a "well fed"
               | health regeneration buff.
               | 
               | * Try to be efficient with your movement and exploration.
               | If you're not careful you can end up wasting a huge
               | amount of time wandering around not accomplishing
               | anything. This also leads to more monsters being
               | generated which means you take more damage, taxing your
               | resources.
               | 
               | * Along those same lines: always try to fight dirty. If
               | you see an enemy coming towards you try to hit them a bit
               | at range (throw stuff or zap wands) then retreat behind a
               | closed door or around some tall grass. When the enemy
               | comes through the door or around/through the grass, hit
               | them with an attack. You should see a yellow ! mark on
               | the enemy indicating a surprise attack. Now retreat
               | behind another obstacle and repeat. As long as you keep
               | breaking line-of-sight and then hitting the enemy
               | immediately when they reestablish line-of-sight (this
               | also works with ranged attacks) you'll get guaranteed
               | surprise hits. This lets you defeat enemies more quickly
               | without taking as much damage standing there missing all
               | the time.
               | 
               | * Don't overdo it though. After you've gained some levels
               | and find you easily outclass an enemy then kill them
               | quickly. Leading enemies all over the place takes more
               | time (costing food) and can end up getting you
               | surrounded, causing even more damage!
               | 
               | * Throw stuff down pits instead of carrying it around.
               | This applies mostly to weapons, armour, and scrolls
               | (before you get the scroll holder). Anything you throw
               | down a pit will show up on the next level. This is a
               | great way to avoid running back and forth swapping items
               | when you're low on inventory space and you want to sell
               | things or do alchemy. Don't throw potions though, they
               | break (but do throw them at enemies or obstacles when the
               | situation calls for it!)
        
               | plagiarist wrote:
               | I've been trying many of those but the meat pie is new to
               | me! Thank you, I'll give it another go some day soon :)
        
               | lupusreal wrote:
               | In addition to brewing pies, you can also prepare excess
               | meat easily by freezing or burning it. Throw it at traps,
               | use wands, or even potions if you're using one anyway
               | (otherwise don't waste a potion like this.) If you can
               | easily kill fish (archer class) then you can get a lot of
               | excess meat.
        
               | 6mian wrote:
               | Yes, traps are put in random places. At least they can't
               | be placed on water, grass or ash, so are safer sections
               | to go through without doing search before each step.
               | 
               | That's why it's a really good idea to collect 4 Scrolls
               | of Mapping for levels 1-24.
        
           | nottorp wrote:
           | Dying is not dying in computer games. Think of it as a game
           | mechanic.
        
           | devit wrote:
           | With the exception of NetHack, which is famous for it,
           | current roguelikes generally don't end the run for stupid
           | shit (e.g. instead of killing you if you accidentally step
           | into lava, they just don't let you do it), but more for wrong
           | strategy or tactics.
        
       | berkeleynerd wrote:
       | Love this! I purchased both the iOS and Steam version. Completely
       | happy to support indie game devs willing to open source their
       | software.
        
       | gamblerrr wrote:
       | https://github.com/00-Evan/shattered-pixel-dungeon/blob/mast...
       | 
       | This is such a useful document. It details how to get your own
       | fork up and running. I've seen a lot of open source software go
       | in the other direction.
        
       | thurn wrote:
       | Interesting that this project seems to contain a bunch of sprite
       | assets released under GPL3. How does GPL apply to something like
       | an art asset?
        
       | rlonstein wrote:
       | I started an opinionated and still incomplete guide for new
       | players https://spd-huntress-guide.pages.dev/guide. I didn't put
       | it out there and was going to take it down because I couldn't
       | finish it let alone maintain it. It's impossible to keep up with
       | the pace of Evan's updates so the walk-throughs with seeds
       | probably don't work, but someone might find it useful.
        
         | EduardLev wrote:
         | I can't seem to load the page, would love to read.
        
           | rlonstein wrote:
           | I don't know why that would be, but someone archived it:
           | https://web.archive.org/web/20240321134120/https://spd-
           | huntr...
        
         | nonethewiser wrote:
         | As someone who was intrigued by this post but felt a little
         | overwhelmed starting out, this is awesome. Thank you for
         | sharing, whether its incomplete/outdated or not.
        
       | bastawhiz wrote:
       | By sheer coincidence I'd installed this a few weeks ago. It's
       | really well made, but I ended up uninstalling it because--unless
       | I'm really missing something--it is _punishingly_ difficult.
       | Maybe I don 't know all the controls? Or there's some sort of
       | mechanic I'm missing? Or maybe my expectations are wrong?
       | 
       | This very much seems like the kind of game I'd enjoy, but I find
       | myself getting absolutely obliterated by the first snake or two
       | that I encounter. I've yet to figure out how to sneak up on or by
       | them. I've yet to find or earn any early loot that might help.
       | 
       | If anyone knows what I'm doing wrong, please let me know. I'd
       | love to just crank the difficulty down by 50%.
        
         | untech wrote:
         | Coming from classic Pixel Dungeon and a bit of Nethack, I can
         | suggest the following heuristics:
         | 
         | - Don't leave a level without finding a ration
         | 
         | - Identify scrolls and potions as early as possible by using
         | them in a safe context
         | 
         | - Use doorframes to fight one enemy at a time
        
           | bastawhiz wrote:
           | I'm rarely even getting to the end of the first level let
           | alone leaving it unprepared!
        
             | chongli wrote:
             | The real trick to surviving the early game is to abuse the
             | heck out of surprise attacks. Do not fight enemies in the
             | open early on! Throw/zap stuff at them from a distance and
             | then retreat behind a door. As soon as they step through
             | the door, hit them! You should see a yellow ! indicating a
             | surprise attack (guaranteed hit). Now retreat and do it
             | again!
             | 
             | This trick works with anything that breaks line of sight.
             | Doors and tall grass are my preferred options. It even
             | works if you step through a door (closing it behind you) or
             | around a patch of tall grass (to the opposite side of the
             | grass from the enemy) and the enemy immediately opens the
             | door or otherwise follows right behind you.
             | 
             | See my other reply [1] for more tips!
             | 
             | [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39779664
        
         | kaibee wrote:
         | Are you making full use of the items you find, or are you dying
         | with an inventory of wands/scrolls/potions that you were saving
         | for a rainy day? One of the things to do is to identify items
         | when you have some safety. One way to do that is to use the
         | wands on enemies. Sometimes you do end up wasting a charge or
         | empowering the enemy, but then you know what the thing does.
         | And after a few runs you'll have a sense for something like
         | "I've identified a lot of the 'good' scrolls, so its more
         | likely the unidentified ones are 'bad' ones"
        
           | bastawhiz wrote:
           | I'm not getting past the second or third room in most cases,
           | so I don't even have an opportunity to hoard items
        
         | lupusreal wrote:
         | Get the snake to follow you through a door and hit the snake
         | when they step into the door. This counts as a sneak attack. I
         | think if you inspect the snake with the magnifying glass it
         | will give you this hint (always take your time and do this with
         | new enemies.
         | 
         | Alternatively, play as a mage (wands always hit snakes) or as
         | an archer and shoot the snakes when they're still asleep.
         | 
         | Most of the game's difficulty curve is in learning tricks like
         | this to cheese enemies. For instance, always fight flies (or
         | any large group) in chokepoints.
        
         | WaitWaitWha wrote:
         | Playing it for over a decade.
         | 
         | I primary play the huntress, so all these are from that
         | perspective:
         | 
         | * only eat when necessary, that is starving or early on level
         | and likely lot of enemies.
         | 
         | * your first upgrade scroll is for your permanent bow, upgrade
         | the scroll, then apply it to the bow
         | 
         | * there is a specific path for enemy's approach, always
         | 
         | * use the seeds with statues and mimics in there presumed path
         | 
         | * ranged attacks where possible
         | 
         | * before walking into a well of health, put on all the cursed
         | items, they will become uncursed
         | 
         | * in the shop order of buying is next bag/satchel, then food
         | (even with horn of plenty), ankh (unless you are super
         | confident), thereafter as augment your weaknesses with potions
         | of healing, scrolls, rings, wands from the store
         | 
         | * when picking up things make sure you pick up in order of most
         | preferred to least preferred. Items last picked up get stolen
         | first.
         | 
         | * always try to "trap" enemy in a door. i.e. they stand in the
         | doorway
         | 
         | * if you get a plate armour, dump every, single, upgrade into
         | it. No questions.
         | 
         | * drink potions early, standing near door and water
         | 
         | * a broken honey pot & health potion brewed is worth more than
         | individually
         | 
         | * upgrade potion of experience and scroll of transmutation,
         | then use it to pick and improve a tiers of abilities.
         | 
         | * the frost and fireblast wands can turn your raw meat into
         | good food. With frost, the meat needs to be against a wall or
         | something. Fireblast just torches everything.
         | 
         | * rooms with traps - if they are single target traps, go to the
         | furthest spot, then rest or make noise to bring the enemies in.
         | Throw stuff on the trap triggering attacks on the enemy. for
         | the avalanche rooms, drop something in the doorway, step back
         | then throw stuff on the traps.
         | 
         | * enraged gnolls, just walk away. There is no arguing with
         | someone who lost self-control :)
         | 
         | Good luck! You will need it.
        
       | TalEs wrote:
       | Just got hit with a wave of nostalgia, I remember playing it in
       | 2015, and I opened up the link to Google Play, and I still see my
       | comments there, that the dev even responded too. Great game that
       | I will have to pick up again!
        
       | tacocataco wrote:
       | As a super fan of roguelikes I appreciate the recommendation.
       | 
       | I found a doom roguelike recently, maybe yall would be interested
       | to.
       | 
       | https://drl.chaosforge.org/
        
       | max_k wrote:
       | Why does the Android app require access to my location? I
       | wouldn't expect open source apps to spy on me.
        
       | metadat wrote:
       | An open-source multiplayer version of this would be pretty sweet!
       | 
       | I've been playing on and off for about 3 years now, I'm not even
       | very good, have never beat it yet.
       | 
       | In the past week or two I've learned about better strategies,
       | e.g. max out your weapon so you can one-hit most enemies. Trading
       | blows is a death sentence.
       | 
       | This play guide has more helpful knowledge information:
       | 
       | https://old.reddit.com/r/PixelDungeon/comments/4tthsy/shatte...
       | 
       | Ome additional note: Don't let thieves get too far away after
       | they steal from you, else This stolen item will disappear
       | forever. This just happened to me a few minutes ago.
        
         | skulk wrote:
         | How would multiplayer work with the turn-based aspect? Do you
         | have to wait for other players to take their turns? This would
         | be terribly boring IMO. Do you instead allow anyone to take a
         | turn whenever? That turns the game into an RTS. I've thought
         | about this a lot and I don't really think it's possible.
        
           | metadat wrote:
           | Yeah it'd have to be a RTS/ Diablo type of mechanic, although
           | if you keep food as a number-of-moves-limiter, the turn-based
           | aspect may be less critical.
           | 
           | Maybe a game could work where each player explores the map
           | independently but when a creature is encountered, the other
           | player is teleported in, and then returns to prior spot after
           | the fight? Could be fun.
        
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