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Show HN: Asterogue, my sci-fi roguelike, is now playable on the web

by chr15m on 11/8/24, 7:43 AM with 95 comments

  • by chr15m on 11/8/24, 7:49 AM

    Asterogue is a "juicy" graphical coffeebreak roguelike I made that is pretty much directly inspired by the original Rogue in terms of scope and features. You descend 17 levels into the heart of an asteroid to find The Orb and save the universe. There are a bunch of different monsters which get progressively harder as you descend. Instead of magic there is technology and you can pick up nanotech items and beakers of chemicals to buff your character (or hurt them if you get unlucky).

    I built Asterogue over the course of a couple of months while I was bored on a break from work due to illness. The game was always built with web tech but I only released it on Android and Windows at first because that seemed to be the right way to release a game. Well I recently realized maybe the right way is the wrong way. Maybe this web thing really is catching on. So now I'm trying out a web release to see if I can make it easier for more people to play Asterogue. So far this is working well and the game is getting more daily players than it ever did as a native app, which I'm very grateful for!

    For the web based version I am trying a new payment model. The original Asterogue was like most other games in that you simply buy it in the app store or on Itch and download the game. This time around I am trying a new experiment with this and instead of buying a downloadable binary, you can play the first few levels free in your browser and then you pay one-time to unlock the full game online if you want to continue. I think this strikes a nice balance for players as you get to try it out and only continue if you're actually into the game once you have picked up the vibe. I haven't really seen this done before with web based games so it's all a bit of an experiment.

    This release also includes a bunch of fixes and new features based on feedback I received from players after the native version was release.

    Anyway, I hope you enjoy my little roguelike game. Have fun!

  • by jbellis on 11/8/24, 2:39 PM

    On the subject of scifi roguelikes, I've sunk 700+ hours into Jupiter Hell. I've been playing roguelikes since the original Rogue in the 80s and I think JH is the GOAT: skill tree that rewards experimentation, learning curve that never feels unfair, and that "just one more level" itch propelling you forward. Add in a fresh take on ranged combat mechanics, a strip-it-to-essentials design (a winning run takes me ~3h on Ultraviolence), and a legitimately good custom 3D engine, and you have something that I think will be recognized as a classic for years.

    https://store.steampowered.com/app/811320/Jupiter_Hell/

  • by kemotep on 11/8/24, 1:16 PM

    Chris is also the developer behind rogule[0], a daily roguelike dungeon in a similar style as wordle or tradle type games.

    Absolutely been enjoying it the past year.

    [0]: https://rogule.com/game.html

  • by debo_ on 11/8/24, 1:14 PM

    I love the aesthetic.

    Couple nits:

    I have no idea how I expected the browser back button to work, but whatever it did do surprised me a bit. During gameplay, it might be nice to have an "are you sure you want to go back?" before it exits.

    I'd recommend running spell check on your in-game messages. I already saw "Weilding X" instead of "Wielding X"

    I'll give it a further go.

  • by johtso on 11/8/24, 5:29 PM

    Loving it so far!

    My only comment is that it feels like there are too many items for the amount of inventory space.

    There will be rooms completely littered with boots that you just walk past. Every time you see something interesting like a potion you have to first chuck away a pair of boots before you can pick it up and drink it.

  • by CatAtHeart on 11/8/24, 3:30 PM

    One suggestion is to allow for HJKL or WASD movement. Arrow keys are fine and intuitive, but not in the best location. I remember playing nethack years ago and it had the HJKL system.

  • by jamalaramala on 11/8/24, 5:06 PM

    One thing that I really liked was the "discoverability" of the user interface.

    I started to walk around, picking things up. Then, I noticed a little "i" on the bottom left. I typed "i", and it opened the inventory. Very good!

    Now, the "i" was replaced by an "x". I really expected that "x" would close the inventory... but it didn't. :-(

    Unless the "x" letter is reserved for something important, it would be nice if it could be used to close dialogs!

  • by pmontra on 11/8/24, 6:44 PM

    A nice game.

    But when I drop something by clicking on the red X button, the item should drop to my feet and not become permanently lost. If the game can't stack items, it could go in a random nearby space. If there are no empty spaces, I can accept that I can't drop it. Oh, I didn't check if monsters can step above items.

  • by hmcq6 on 11/8/24, 8:06 AM

    It was pretty jarring when the game stopped 3 levels in to ask me for money. I guess it technically says "3 free levels" on the splash screen. Perhaps OP could use the word "demo" somewhere in this post.

  • by bryceneal on 11/8/24, 4:32 PM

    I enjoyed it, though for my taste it was maybe a little too simplistic and easy. The original rogue is before my time, but at one point I got very hooked on brogue (https://sites.google.com/site/broguegame/) and this reminded me very much of that.

  • by cengen on 11/8/24, 1:14 PM

    Great game! I like to experiment with different game frameworks myself (currently on pico8). What "web tech" did you use to build it?

  • by philsnow on 11/8/24, 7:34 PM

    Thanks for this! Some notes:

    - food clock is kind of arbitrary (I went four levels without finding any food), or else I'm just not diving nearly fast enough.

    - game crashed when I descended from level 16

    - the only difference I can figure out between various monsters are: some are stationary, some wander, and some chase you. I can't tell whether they all steal money from you or steal items or just some of them.

    Fun overall, I'm happy to have paid the $5 just for the chiptune Holst.

  • by Rhapso on 11/8/24, 1:22 PM

    Sound settings should not wrap back around to max when you hit the "volume down" button a lot.

  • by jcalabro on 11/8/24, 1:12 PM

    Love the 8-bit Holst :)

  • by WesolyKubeczek on 11/8/24, 11:29 PM

    In Nethack, there is a command (i think under comma or semicolon) where you stand on an item and it tells you what it is. That is, what the character knows about the item. It helps when I run into an unfamiliar term.

    It was quite unexpected that a hatchet is used up after you kill a monster with it and you need to go find another one. Same with boots/mitts, they somehow disappear, and I’m not sure they should. There is no descriptive message to know when exactly this happens, too.

  • by davedx on 11/8/24, 1:12 PM

    I love rogue games and recently spent an unreasonable amount of time trying to beat Angband (and failing). This is refreshingly simple, very playable on mobile too. Good luck!

  • by AriyanWasi on 11/9/24, 8:21 AM

    I wake up, and go on hacker news to see what people are doing. With my coffee in hand I play your game, fingers still cold. I loved it. Reminds me of when I was younger. Fun names to all the monsters.

    Also, even other lightweight games like this that I've tried before sometimes stutter, or take forever to load in, this is amazing.

    If I can ask what kind of tech stack is used to make something this smooth, and run on the web?

  • by j_crick on 11/8/24, 5:37 PM

    I've been Rogule-ing for so long that I'll just buy it as a big thank you.

    Also, why the gear cannot be dropped and only destroyed? :(

  • by lairv on 11/8/24, 9:56 PM

    Spamming arrow keys makes you move faster than simply holding them down, this is pretty frustrating

  • by peteforde on 11/9/24, 7:24 AM

    Cool game! I just attempted to enter level 17, and there appeared to be an infinite loop which caused it to crash, and it no longer appears to remember my progress. Is this a really meta way to win, or just unfortunate timing?

  • by Unai on 11/9/24, 12:08 AM

    Cool game. I'm very interested in making web games in vanilla HTML/CSS/JS, so I'll take a better look at it when I have some time.

    BTW, you might be breaking the Geneva Convention by using the red cross for the medkits.

  • by cassianoleal on 11/8/24, 1:35 PM

    Probably not related to this game exclusively but whenever I click on the screen, Firefox selects the canvas and the entire map gets a blue screen on top. Is there some way to modify this behaviour?

  • by gavmor on 11/8/24, 6:30 PM

    Wow, wonderful! Love the rendition of "Jupiter". Really a delightful experience.

    On mobile, I'd prefer movement on the left, and inventory on the right.

  • by martinkallstrom on 11/8/24, 1:40 PM

    How do I descend after clearing a level?

  • by waihtis on 11/8/24, 3:11 PM

    Bought it after 5 minutes of play. Cool ambiance, great UI, will get a broader play in later!

  • by swayvil on 11/8/24, 2:37 PM

    Hey this is pretty nice.

    Played it on my phone.

    No minimap. Got lost. Starved.

    Controls were surprisingly ez.

    Catchy music. Good ui. Pretty graphics.

    I dig it.

    I assume that you are familiar with DCSS.

  • by imp0cat on 11/8/24, 3:33 PM

    Great use of "Jupiter" by Gustav Holst on the main screen! Strong Bluey vibes. :)

  • by IgorPartola on 11/10/24, 2:39 PM

    I am somewhat confused by the item stats. What does “+2 (x3)” mean?

  • by CodeWriter23 on 11/8/24, 11:03 PM

    The things we'd do back in the day to find a system we could play rogue on.

  • by blacktechnology on 11/9/24, 7:56 AM

    I really love this game! Is there any plan to make it open source?

  • by ktbwrestler on 11/8/24, 8:06 PM

    I love the 8-bit holst soundtrack. Great work and feel for the game!

  • by tunnuz on 11/8/24, 8:15 PM

    I'd love to be able to make stuff like this, very cool!

  • by xivusr on 11/8/24, 3:37 PM

    Love the music retro look and feel. Awesome work here!

  • by JorJDSNR on 11/9/24, 12:04 PM

    Finally, I have been waiting for this release :)

  • by atum47 on 11/9/24, 4:16 AM

    How are you selling it? If i put down my email and buy it, what do I get? A link to the complete version? Are you at all concerned that people would just copy the source code?

  • by JohnDeHope on 11/8/24, 1:56 PM

    It was fun :)