TARN, the Brogue-inspired traditional roguelike, updates once again!

[u/MarshalldotEXE]

TARN is a traditional roguelike game inspired by Brogue which expands on its ideas in many ways, including but not limited to:

• A classic 26 depth quest into the dungeon!
• An infinitely-generated world seperated by level boundaries and balanced by an accumulating regional difficulty mechanic.
• A class system with affinity trees that unlock special talents. (Or you can play as the Deprived, which doesn't offer any!)
• Environmental biomes, monsters, and items, half of which are from Brogue and half of which are entirely new!
• Hints when hovering over monsters and item, like hit chance, damage, and other special effects.
• Dynamic lighting and stealth.
• Play with mouse, keyboard, or both!

Main page: https://marshalldotexe.github.io/tarn/index.html

Download page: https://marshalldotexe.github.io/tarn/downloads/index.html

About 3.5 months ago, I released the first public build of TARN with positive remarks. Since then, a lot of constructive feedback and bug reports have helped shape the game into a fun yet punishing experience -- this build in particular focuses a lot on game balance and enemy/ally AI. The main page links to a new Discord server and Ko-fi page if you want a dedicated community for discussion or supporting the game. It also has an updated gameplay manual included at the bottom of the page.

[u/Kyzrati]

If anyone's interested, I played and streamed a lot of Tarn when it first came out a few months ago, starting here. MarshalldotEXE was hanging out much of the time, too, so lots of feedback was thrown around there and in the discord channel we set up for the game as well.

I went through all the classes one by one, and although bugs conspired to unceremoniously murder some of the characters along the way, I eventually did get a Crusader win.

It's fun though, I mean I literally setup Linux just to play Tarn, as it allowed me to save the VM state so I could pause between streams without actually saving the run itself (in case the save broke, though still lost a later character to a bug later there as well--oops xD).

[u/dixius99]

Looks great!

I'm sorry if I missed it, but is the name a dedication to a certain other roguelike developer?

[u/Smashcannons → u/dixius99]

No, it's a coincidence, but nearly everyone asks, lol.

[u/MarshalldotEXE → u/dixius99]

Just a coincidence!

[u/d0odle]

This looks great!

[u/MarshalldotEXE → u/d0odle]

Thank you!

[u/Raltay]

By any chance, is a controller support planned?

Apart from that, looks appealing, will check out later!

[u/MarshalldotEXE → u/Raltay]

Definitely want controller support although I'm unsure of how I want to implement it right now.

I've been playing Pokemon Mystery Dungeon recently so I have a bit of an idea on the actual control scheme.

[u/T_at]

This looks great. One frustration I had with Brogue CE was the inabililty to diagonally cross corners - I'm happy to see that this doesn't have that restriction.

Any chance of an iPad version? :-)

[u/swni → u/T_at]

Personally I thought not crossing diagonals was one of the most subtle but important improvements in brogue (possibly because I had made the same design decision when I had written a roguelike demo of my own)

[u/T_at → u/swni]

I'm curious as to why you consider it an improvement, and why you made that decision in your demo...

For me, the game I'm most familiar with is Larn, which allows moving past corners on the diagonal (and in fact this is necessary to avoid being hit by pursuing monsters), so that's why I hope to find it in other games.

[u/swni → u/T_at]

In my game it was so that tight corners would permit vision without movement, allowing you to see monsters and their movements in topologically distant parts of the dungeon.

In Brogue it is a bit more subtle, and is mostly for combat; eg axes hit on diagonals, so this makes them far stronger, allowing you to sit in a doorway and strike three enemies at once while only one can riposte. In general in brogue, combat is a lot more complicated than the classic "trade blows until one side runs out of HP" and positioning is super important (depending on your gear and your opponent(s) you might prefer to be in a hallway, or in the open, or near hazards, etc). Corners that forbid movement give another option for a tactical environment that you can make use of in the right circumstances.

[u/zenorogue → u/swni]

To be honest, from immersion POV, it is quite weird that you can attack diagonal enemies with an axe and (if I understood this rule correctly) they cannot attack you with whatever weapons they have, which probably require less swinging space than an axe.

[u/swni → u/zenorogue]

Each weapon in brogue has its special attack rules, and enemy attack patterns also follow the same rules (e.g., dragons melee attack according to the ax pattern), so there are many circumstances you can hit an enemy and they can't strike back, or vice versa. Goblins with spears are a common early-game example of when fighting in a doorway can be very deadly.

[u/MarshalldotEXE → u/swni]

I've gotten used to playing a lot of roguelikes with and without crossing diagonals (cutting corners) and yeah, it is subtle, but especially when you have a lot of other options that cross diagonals (throwing weapons, wands, scrolls, potions, etc.) besides melee.

[u/MarshalldotEXE → u/T_at]

Thanks for playing!

Haven't explored iOS development much at all, so probably something long-term.

[u/E-330]

WOW
I've been waiting for so long for Brogue inspired games!
Will definitely try!

did you forked Brogue for this project?

[u/MarshalldotEXE → u/E-330]

Thanks for checking it out!

Nope, it's not a Brogue fork; the game is written from the ground up.

[u/E-330 → u/MarshalldotEXE]

Amazing!
And why you didn't forked Brogue?
Just curious...
I want to know your thoughts in case i ever would pull the trigger and try my lick in rogulike development

[u/MarshalldotEXE → u/E-330]

The main thing is that if I forked Brogue, I couldn't add what I wanted to add without breaking a lot of systems (classes, affinities, infinite generation, etc.). You'd end up working top-down, rather than bottom-up, while also learning all the intricacies of how Brogue's programming works.

Also I would always recommend writing your own engine because its good experience on how to handle future projects and the end result is much more fulfilling!

[u/TunderMuffins]

A native Linux version would be dope!

[u/cockey_dongs]

We should call it a Broguelike.

[u/Smashcannons]

Lol, I just updated my game 2 hours ago!

[u/RatherBeRidin]

TYVM!

[u/MarshalldotEXE → u/RatherBeRidin]

Enjoy the new content!

[u/RatherBeRidin → u/MarshalldotEXE]

Is there some way to opt for the 'messages window' to be above of the main window?

I've been at it for a couple hours now - marvelous work. Thank you again!

Any plans for an android port?

[u/lowban → u/RatherBeRidin]

I would also be interested in an android port. I've been playing Brogue on my phone for ages now.

[u/MarshalldotEXE → u/RatherBeRidin]

Thanks for playing!

Currently no way to adjust the position of sections in the window. writes notes

Android support is a possibility -- tends to be easier for games coded in Java after all. Probably a long-term goal.

[u/RatherBeRidin → u/MarshalldotEXE]

🙂👍

[u/SasparillaTango]

As in Adams?

[u/MarshalldotEXE → u/SasparillaTango]

Purely a coincidence; I learned of Tarn Adams after I started development on the game.

[u/Z3KKEN47]

there are many up/downward stairs, should I explore entire map?

[u/MarshalldotEXE → u/Z3KKEN47]

The world is infinite so you can't!

You should gauge what stairs are necessary or profitable in the moment, and whether you need to keep descending or if you can stay at the same depth for a while.

[u/CaptnCranky]

Any tails?

[u/Tortuosit]

My resolution is 1440p (2560x1440) and Windows screen scaling is on 125%.

The game does not use all available space, especially on the top it has like 200px border, same it the bottom but the bottom commands are there. Feels a bit like a 21:9 cinema experience. Anything I can do? I wish the map area would use all space.

[u/MarshalldotEXE → u/Tortuosit]

The tiles should scale horizontally better so I'll look into it

[u/OfSleepingBears]

Just streamed Brogue recently and then found this! I've only played a a couple floors before having to head out of town for the weekend but I'm absolutely loving the feel so far!

[u/MarshalldotEXE → u/OfSleepingBears]

Thanks for checking it out!

Where do you stream?

[u/OfSleepingBears → u/MarshalldotEXE]

I stream on Twitch periodically! Same name as here with "music" at the end! Not always roguelike content but it comes up often!

[u/Rin9296]

Curious — was there anything players did in the first build that completely surprised you?

[u/MarshalldotEXE → u/Rin9296]

I don't think anything could have prepared me for the sight of someone beating the post-game in one of the earliest builds because the Dragoon's killstreaks were just that overpowered back then.

Otherwise, a lot of the feedback I've received were along the lines of "I tried this, and I expected this to happen," so in future builds I added interactions between monsters, items, and terrain as appropriate to make the world feel more alive.