In this installment of "The Linux Game Box" we are going to talk about Madness, a roguelike game that demonstrates how it's still possible to give the player a fun experience only with the scarcest need of technology.
Title: Madness
Genre: Roguelike
License: MIT License
Installation requirements --> 9
There's no need for installation in Madness. Windows users must double click on madness.exe. Linux users just have to open a terminal and run python madness.py
Gameplay fun --> 8
In madness you control an adventurer that must explore 10 dungeon levels and defeat the evil dungeon master. Each level is dark and packed with monsters and objects like armor, weapons and potions. Like in a skeletal rpg your character will level up and get stronger. Unlike many games, the most precious resource in Madness is sanity. The sanity level will constantly fall no matter what the player does. When it reaches the level or forty or so a message will inform you that the colors around your character are getting more vivid. Then imaginary monsters like butterflies and ponies will begin to appear in increasing numbers. As the game help states "not all what you see is real. And not all of what isn't real is harmless...". This is an intriguing mechanism that gives the game a clear touch of fun.
Graphical appeal --> 7
Graphically the strongest point of Madness is its originality. As it happens with roguelike games, the graphics is all made of ASCII symbols. Walls are made of #, your character's a @ and the monsters take the shape of their initials like the r rats, B bats and colored b butterflies.
Sound delight --> 0
Sound is non existent.
Story enchantment --> 3
The story has no practical use for this kind of game though is almost non existent. You don't know who you are nor why you're stuck in a dungeon and can only descend through levels to fight an unknown and unexplained enemy.
OVERALL SCORE --> 5.4
Madness is a skeletal game that manages, after all, to supply a fun experience. It will not last for long though because the mechanics are to simple and the graphics too scarce to keep a player busy for long. However I suppose this wasn't the intent of the creator. As a matter of fact Madness was made by hmp (humpolec[at]gmail[dot]com) in seven days during the 2010 seven-day roguelike challenge
No comments:
Post a Comment