The Encroaching Gloom

Edited January 16, 2023

In 2018 I made a roguelike game in 7 1-hour sprints, using QuickBASIC. This was before I discovered QB64, so there's not really a good way to play it. You can read the source code if you want, but the GIFs below probably deliver 99% of this thing's value.

Hour 1

Basic game structure is in place. Status area for showing messages and stats. Player can move around. 4 collectible treasures. Level has an exit, reaching it spawns a new level.

Hour 2

Keys and doors. Bombs that you can use to destroy everything near you. Spikes that hurt you. Spreading Gloom that damages you as you walk through it. Heart-shaped healing mushrooms.

Hour 3

Level generation. Create a grid of rooms, guarantee a path to the exit. Stamp templated layouts into each room. (Need way more of these.)

Hour 4

Refine level generation. Tear out some walls to create more open space. A bunch more room templates, now reversible. Treasures are worth points now instead of collected. Increasing Gloom spawns as you go deeper.

Hour 5

Bunch of small tweaks. Potions can now be kept and used later. Procgen treasure flavor. Further east = better treasure. Spikes do less damage. New icons for stuff. Polished status area.

Hour 6

Title screen and game over screen. Game now has name. High score tracking (stored between sessions.) More room templates. Tweaked level generation for better early Gloom propagation. Playtesting.

Because I had never done it before, I decided to spend the last hour figuring out how to publish the game on itch.io.

This whole thing was a fun exercise.