100 Rogues

 
I am unimpressed with iphone games. There are a few exceptions, like canabalt, but you can play it for free on your computer at that link instead of buying it. Plus I spend a great deal more time in front of a computer then I do in front of my phone.

But the upcoming 100 Rogues has got me excited. It's a roguelike, developed exclusively for the iphone. If you don't know what a roguelike is, know that they are randomized dungeon crawlers and they are very difficult. You should read about them here or here. But as I said, 100 Rogues will be coming out soon, and it looks great. It has colorful hand-drawn sprites and a cute-ish art style that I think works for an iphone game. The game was designed to be short form compared to most roguelikes, which is suitable for the platform. But of course beating the game is going to be rare indeed.

I've read through the designer's blog a time or two, and he is certainly an opinionated guy when it comes to games. Hopefully his game will bring something new to the genre, and to the iphone. Still, from what little is available about the game, it seems a pretty standard roguelike. There are four classes, a goal item, and many many bad guys. Permadeath of course. There will be boss fights, which certainly has potential, and the designer has written about plans to move the inventory system away from the typical RPG system where most loot you find is useless. You can read about it in an article on his blog from the early days of development.

What's most exciting about this project is that 100 Rogues is being made for the iphone. Neither the interface nor graphics will be a bad port of the PC classics (as much as I love nethack, I can't play it on the iphone). The game is due next month, and it's the first iphone game I'm happy to pay for. Though the game doesn't have a website, there is facebook group you can find here.