doctorfrog on 13/11/2009 at 17:27

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I wonder if you can alter the map generator with TorchEd. I eagerly downloaded the demo, not because I'm a huge fan of the gameplay, but because I was interested to see how the map generator played out. For me, one of the most compelling things about roguelikes is exploring vast, mazelike spaces.

The original Diablo did this pretty well (for its time), with dungeons with twists and dead ends, but that weren't too complex or senseless. Would Torchlight's random level generator create interesting levels, while avoiding the "scattered" and empty feel of other level generators?

I played through about three levels of dungeon, and I was mostly impressed. This game is filled with little details that really give the game a designed feel. Stalagmites, train tracks leading through the main of the dungeon, desks, random miners: these could easily all be hand-placed, and they look great.

After a while, though, I became a little disappointed. Maybe it's because I was in the upper levels of the dungeon, but the levels were really quite straightforward, with one main path and few diversions. Without a sense of exploration, it's not much more than an A-to-B minmax clickfest.

Sadly also, the visuals began to wear on me. Lots of blue, for three straight levels? Why not add a texture generator to your level generator? Level 1: bluish textures. Level 2: push same textures through a couple graphics filters, increase shadows, tint very slightly red. Level 3: Repeat on textures for level 2. Increase the brightness of stalagtites, etc.

Overall, I was still very impressed by this game, but hope it becomes less generic and more interesting with the release of a free editor (also, I just played the demo).