The current codename for this game is xenod, Xeno Defense. This is a very early look at the game. There is still a lot to do, but I wanted to share this out to show progression. xenod is a roguelike set in space as you try to make your way back home.

Crafted Dynamic Levels

Crafted Dynamic Levels – Each level is the wreckage of a ship in space. You fly to these ships and salvage what you came from them. Because of this, I can design ships, and then randomize the interior. Think of it like this. Each ship is designed and build. Think of classes of ships. In Star Trek, you have the Constitution class, or the Galaxy class, or the Olympic class. Those are classes of ships. However, internally, they have different configurations. I design the class of the ship, and the randomized portion works with the various rooms and modules in the ship. This means you’ll recognize different types of ships, and you’ll have a good idea of the layouts, but you won’t know precisely where everything is internally.

I like this because it means you can learn the different types of ships and what that means for your excursion. Ship layouts will be different: some might have larger rooms, some might have many small rooms, some might have long corridors, others might have few to now corridors. The point is, different types of ships will provide different challenge. At the same time, different classes of ships serve different purposes. You might come across a class of ships that are used for scientific study, where as the next ship might be a warship. This makes a difference in where you go. Are you looking for more ammunition? You might look for a warship, or a military cargo ship.

How is this a roguelike?

There are several key elements that I’m focusing on, and it happens that it fits into the roguelike theme. First and foremost, let’s talk about permadeath.

xenod is build with permadeath in mind. You have one life. If you die, it’s over. However, you are generally not playing directly as your character. Rather, your character is sending a robot into the hostile derelict spacecraft to scavenge the supplies. Your robot can die, but that’s not you. If your robot fails, you get nothing. You lose the parts used to make the robot, and anything you weren’t able to recover. While you can rebuild robots, fail often enough and suddenly you are stuck out there. No fuel, no food, nothing. And you die. This isn’t meant to be a way around permadeath. Rather, it’s the gameplay I wanted, and it happens to fit into this category.

This also gives you resources to manage. You need to balance where you spend your resources. Upgrading your robot means they have a greater chance of survival and success, but it also means diverting resources that might make it easier to reach the wreckage you need to get the resources you want. That food you need to survive? It’s just out of reach, and if you’d improved your engine efficiency, maybe you would have reached it.

I didn’t set out to design a roguelike. However, as I’ve worked on the game, I find elements traditionally associated with roguelikes can help improve the game. In future posts, I’ll talk more about other design choices that are informed by roguelikes.

It looks like a bullet hell

Yes. One of the inspirations for the game was Vampire Survivors. I want crazy weapon combinations, and I want the player to enjoy that while they explore and scavenge the ship. They can focus on dodging enemies and attacks, and target things they need to retrieve. All the while, the robot targeting system does the work, and your arsenal of weapons fires away.

Initially the idea was to allow you to point to shoot, but I found it cumbersome. And if you were pointing to shoot, it meant you were focused on that, and not the other elements of the game. I wanted you to be focused on getting in, getting what you need, and getting out. I want you to loot. However, the idea of shooting waves of enemies is fun, too. And since it’s a robot you are piloting, the robot can use its AI to shoot at the enemy. You, as the controller, can focus on moving the robot around, setup turrets to defend, and find loot that needs to be taken back to the ship.

This doesn’t mean you can’t fight. Quite the contrary, your arsenal is strong, and because of that, sometimes you might focus on clearing out a room, but in that space, you are focused on dodging and getting the best angles on the enemy, avoiding attacks, and looting items that drop on the ground.

It might be interesting to allow you to customize your AI on your robot, to change how it targets and what it targets. Some weapons will just shoot everywhere, and some will target enemies. However, I’m not sure if I’m ready to commit to that. Is that an interesting thing? It might be. Part of planning your attack, but that also means knowing what you will see before you board. How will I share that information with you? While it’s one thing to know the layout of the ships, how will you learn what kind of enemies you will face, and whether you should set the AI for targeting fast enemies, or hard hitting enemies? I want to avoid having to spell things out. I’d rather show you things, rather than tell you things. And I’m not sure if I can do that right with the AI setup.

Anyways, this is my first post on the subject. I’ll post more as time goes on. I’m considering making videos. Maybe I can do that? We’ll see.