Cult - a game that aim to proceduraly generate..well.. everything

[burningpet]

Hello good RPS folks, i am trying to help a friend get his kickstarter funded. its for a game called Cult, awakening of the old, which aim to be a roguelike more akin to Dwarf Fortress than to say, Adom.

The developer states he intends to procoderaly generate everything from complete monsters, characters, cities, nations, religions and even languages and Although i am not objective, i think this is a beautiful looking roguelike, i even dare say the most pretty of them all.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...f-the-old-ones

some pictures to back my statement:

[Duckee]

More screenies would be helpful. Right now I am staring at what appears to be primordial ooze. Is it a roguelike in the RPG sense, and not the RTS sense like the Dwarf mode in DF?

[Kodeen]

Pledge $2,000 or more

0 Backers • Limited Reward (3 of 3 remaining)
Deity: In addition to everything above, you will be invited to a Caribbean cruise with myself (and any other backers at this level)

Wonder where the money for the developer's cruise is coming from.

[burningpet]

ill just quote the developer:

Cult is a multi-genre RL (roguelike) variant game that is currently in the early development stages. It is coded almost entirely in Python (although some processor-intensive parts of the code are replaced by C/C++ extension modules in order to increase speed) and utilizes the excellent libtcod library for roguelikes.

While many of the individual aspects of the Cult player experience are still being planned, some of the eventual goals of the project will include:

Customizable user-generated worlds replete with their own rich, unique procedurally generated histories
Procedurally generated races, creatures, spirits, and gods
Procedurally generated and identifiably unique languages
Procedurally generated religions
The ability to join or found nations and religions
The ability to recruit and maintain both a traditional ‘party’ for small-scale exploration/battle and a larger army for wide-scale conflict (with situational restrictions on the uses of both)
Unique dungeons, dungeon guardians, and artifacts to explore and pillage
Construction of both small-scale and large-scale settlements according to play-style
Strong focus on main character customization and development
Free-form, highly open-ended gameplay
Because the combination of these goals makes for an inarguably epic scope of gameplay, Cult is intended to be a long term project which will hope to one day combine all of the above aspects of play into a single gaming experience that will deliver an incredible amount of replayability and customization to the player.

In the short term (and probably far more practically), the main developmental goal is to establish a functioning (and hopefully interesting) world for the player to explore and to add features piece-by-piece which will gradually allow the main character to influence their world in new and exciting ways.

About the Author
David M. Hagar (a.k.a. ‘Old One’ and ‘Lord Dullard’) is a twenty-something game enthusiast who considers code to be a productive (and often cathartic) hobby. He also enjoys playing guitar and cooking.

It is not a simulation game like Dwarf fortress, fortress mode, but it will be possible to build things.

i was wondering my self where the money for the cruise is coming from... well, maybe for 2,000$ he can get two tickets and still profit..

you can get more info in the developer's blod here
http://cultrl.wordpress.com/

there are also additional screens and videos there.

[Nalano]

More screenies would be helpful. Right now I am staring at what appears to be primordial ooze.

Which is a pretty good description of the game, too.

Wonder where the money for the developer's cruise is coming from.

Hrm, spend $2k and you can go on a cruise with a pasty-faced nerd you've never met at the dates he specifies, or spend $2k and go on a cruise of your choice with the people you want...

...tough decision!

[NathanH]

It only says he'll invite you, not necessarily that the cruise will actually take place :P

[Nalano]

It only says he'll invite you, not necessarily that the cruise will actually take place :P

So $2k and he'll tell you what cruise he's going on, and you still have to buy a ticket?

Bahahahahahaaahaaa

[burningpet]

apparently, a cruise cost something like 300$, so he profit from it.

its true that it seems the developer might try to achieve too much, but also worth noting is that he is planning it as a long term project that might span over several good years. whether he can do it or not, i'm not sure. i backed him up with a few dineros but still decided not to take part in developing it as i am partial about it myself.

[Nalano]

apparently, a cruise cost something like 300$, so he profit from it.

Where the fuck does a cruise cost -- oh, you mean one'a those two-day numbers (first day: boarding the ship, second day: unboarding the ship) that goes from Miami to Miami, gotten on discount, not counting flights, food, or fees. Yeeeeeeah. That's about as much of a cruise as taking the Staten Island ferry.

[Kodeen]

apparently, a cruise cost something like 300$, so he profit from it.

That's not really the point. If I was very excited about the game and had more money than sense, than maybe I would contribute $2,000. But I would still want all of that to go to development, and none of it to go to a cruise or anything else like that. One can argue that the guy has enough money from his day job or whatever to afford his own cruise, but since he's only asking for $5,000, I'm assuming that's not the case.

[CSGrimey]

I'd rather play a well designed game than one that is procedurally generated.

[Nalano]

One can argue that the guy has enough money from his day job or whatever to afford his own cruise, but since he's only asking for $5,000, I'm assuming that's not the case.

If he had enough money to afford a cruise, why would he be asking for any money at all?

[Kodeen]

Maybe if he had some savings, but not enough to cover the living expenses of the 2+ years of development time that this game might need. But $5,000 isn't that, so that's why I'm a bit of a loss for this whole thing.

[burningpet]

Where the fuck does a cruise cost -- oh, you mean one'a those two-day numbers (first day: boarding the ship, second day: unboarding the ship) that goes from Miami to Miami, gotten on discount, not counting flights, food, or fees. Yeeeeeeah. That's about as much of a cruise as taking the Staten Island ferry.

Seems like a 4 day cruise.
http://www.carnival.com/BookingEngin...t=N&StateCode=

not counting flights or food.

And well, i believe he just thought that would be attractive to those that can spare 2000$.
Personally, i hate all perks, from t-shirts to every other shitty merchandise or reward. kickstarter money should go 100% toward development. but the reality is, people are basing their contributions over those idiotic perks.

[burningpet]

I'd rather play a well designed game than one that is procedurally generated.

A matter of presonal prefernces, there are some, like dwarf fortress that the procedural generation is an important and contributing aspect, and others, such as a valley without wind that it killed the game for me.

[Nalano]

Seems like a 4 day cruise.

December 2013? Hey, maybe it'll be on time to celebrate the release of the game. :P

[Web Cole]

That seems like a really unfortunate detail to include on a kickstarter page, making people question the way you spend your business funds is not a clever way of getting them to throw down some cash and back your idea.

I would assume its probably an ill judged jest? Shame, because the game sounds interesting otherwise.

[burningpet]

I agree, yet, slightly disappointed it even got in the way.

[Harlander]

It's funny that people mention Dwarf Fortress - the first Slaves to Armok was basically an attempt at doing what's described here.

[pakoito]

I you are Swedish you can go in a 3 day all party trip from Stockholm to Taillin for less than 400€, plus the plane to get there.