Nov 9Permaconsequence and PermadeathPermadeath is the idea that, when your character dies, they cannot be brought back to life. Simple, right? Well, no. There are many flavors of permanence which feel very differently. This article aims to categorize and clarify them. Permaconsequence by Player Choice While the concept is most commonly referred to as “permadeath”, can we…Roguelike9 min readRoguelike9 min read
Jan 4Permadeath considered harmfulTypical video games take 10–100 hours to complete; when something bad happens, e.g., your character is killed, you can just reverse the bad thing by restoring a previously saved game. Permadeath means that this is not allowed: you have to play again from the beginning. This post argues that (the…Roguelike8 min readRoguelike8 min read
Apr 9, 2022What is the difference between Roguelike and Roguelite?Roguelike is a genre primarily defined by its immediate gameplay (just like genres such as platformer or first-person shooter). Roguelites can be of any immediate gameplay genre (many of them are platformers, but there are also top-down shooters,first-person shooters, etc.). Roguelites are run-based games, i.e., designed to be played in…Rogueilike5 min readRogueilike5 min read
Apr 6, 2021What to Say instead of RoguelikeInfluential games sometimes get genres named after them. However, such genre names tend to be unclear. Which feature of the influential game are you referring to? We have “metroidvania” that is sometimes misinterpreted, we had a genre of “Doom clones”, but now they are called with a more descriptive term…Roguelike11 min readRoguelike11 min read
Feb 14, 2021The Monty Hall problem, but differentSuppose you’re on a game show, and you’re given the choice of three doors: Behind one door is a car; behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say №1, and the host, who knows what’s behind the doors, opens another door, say №3, which has a goat. He then…Monty Hall Problem7 min readMonty Hall Problem7 min read
Jan 29, 2021H. P. Lovecraft and non-Euclidean geometryAfter creating the first versions of HyperRogue, I have learnt that people often associate non-Euclidean geometry with the works of H. P. Lovecraft (which I have not read by then). Later, I have also learnt that people say things like “non-Euclidean geometry is just the geometry on a sphere, Lovecraft…Hyperbolic Geometry10 min readHyperbolic Geometry10 min read
Nov 6, 2020What “Roguelike” MeantSeveral recently released games have rekindled the old discussions on the meaning of the word “roguelike”. This post is an attempt to document how the meaning of this term has changed historically. Roguelikes have evolved separately from mainstream video games: while mainstream games focused on features that sell well, roguelikes…Roguelike15 min readRoguelike15 min read
May 1, 2019Non-Euclidean geometry and gamesThe term “non-Euclidean” is often used by gamers (game developers, journalists, etc.) to mean any kind of game where the space does not work exactly as in our world. While such games typically tend to be amazing and very fun, this is not what “non-Euclidean” traditionally means for mathematicians, for…Mathematics19 min readMathematics19 min read
Mar 22, 2019Life, Complexity, and RoguelikesWhile two-player strategy games (Go, Chess) are very important in our culture, and puzzles (both pen-and-paper and computer-based) are quite popular, roguelikes are not as well understood by the gamers in general. I think this is because that, while at times they feel similar to puzzles or Chess, puzzlers and…Algorithms9 min readAlgorithms9 min read
