I have been playing a lot of Rogue clones lately. Since the original Rogue is all ASCII and keyboard controlled, it’s a bit hard to just jump in and play. I thought it would be useful to put together a list of the Roguelike games I played as I gradually learned to play. \u00a0If you’ve never played Rogue before, and you’d like to try it, this list should be a good starting point. \u00a0It will start you with full mouse control and work all the way towards full keyboard control.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I recommend playing the following games in the order presented. \u00a0Rogue by itself is a bit overwhelming for those who are used to Window interfaces, but the following list will get you started in familiar territory.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Desktop Dungeons is the first roguelike I played that held my attention for more than a few minutes. \u00a0It is very easy to play but it has a surprising amount of depth. \u00a0Note that it is still a work in progress. \u00a0Here’s why it’s a great introduction to Rogue:<\/p>\n This title is for iPhone, so it has a touch-based interface. \u00a0It has ASCII graphics in landscape mode, and graphics in portrait mode. What’s useful about it is the fact that the touch-based interface involves drawing “glyphs” in a 3×3 grid on the screen. \u00a0The glyphs are similar to the letter command that is commonly used on the keyboard. \u00a0It’s a great introduction to the keyboard commands, without forcing you to use a keyboard.<\/p>\n There is a nice help button that gets you into the list of commands pretty easily, so all the glyphs are pretty quick to pick up.<\/p>\n I also played\u00a0Rogue Touch<\/a> ($2.99) for iPhone, but it doesn’t help with keyboard commands so much. \u00a0It’s just for fun.<\/p>\n Castlevania Roguelike is an adaptation of Castlevania as a rogue game. \u00a0It’s graphical, and includes music and audio from Castlevania games. \u00a0Very cool if you’re a fan. \u00a0This is the first Roguelike on the list that\u00a0is all keyboard commands, but the graphics and menus soften the learning curve a good bit. \u00a0You can press F1 to get a list of commands.<\/p>\n There are multiple classes in this game. \u00a0The easier ones to play are the Renegade and the Knight. \u00a0The trick to surviving is to take your time<\/em>. \u00a0Most of the time I die because I played too fast and didn’t think. \u00a0It also helps to have a numpad so you can walk and jump diagonally without having to remap the keys.<\/p>\n At this point you should be very familiar with the keyboard command for Roguelikes. \u00a0You should be able to pick-up-and-play just about any Roguelike out there.<\/p>\n If you need help finding some Roguelike, here’s some links:<\/p>\n Roguebasin<\/a> – a nice wiki for all things Rogue. \u00a0I found this list of faves<\/a> useful.<\/p>\n My Rogue Timeline<\/a> – Highlight some of the older, more famous Roguelikes.<\/p>\n\n
2.\u00a0Rogue for iPhone<\/a> (free, graphical\/ASCII, touch-based) — [optional, but very useful]<\/h3>\n
3. Castlevania Roguelike<\/a> (free, graphical, keyboard only)<\/h3>\n
4. Anything you want!<\/h3>\n
Links<\/h2>\n