Alex Shopov: EcoDevGuy

Every summer, the community at r/roguelikedev hosts the RoguelikeDev Does the Complete Roguelike Tutorial, an eight week adventure in which devs of all experience levels build their own traditional roguelike game from scratch. The event follows the Yet Another Roguelike Tutorial, an excellent reference for developing a traditional 2D roguelike in Python and the TCOD library. During last year’s event, I adapted the Python tutorial to Godot. The result of that endeavor can be found on itch.io. 

I’ve named this project the Godot Roguelike Basic Set (GRBS) in honor of the Dungeons and Dragons Basic Set (aka the red box). This series follows the 13 steps of the TCOD tutorial, documenting the process of adapting it to Godot 4.6. A notable change is the handling of the save/load system. The TCOD tutorial waits until step 10 to introduce the concept, as the library includes saving and loading as a turnkey feature of its toolkit. Godot requires a bespoke solution to be developed, so rather than try to backfill saving and loading 9 steps worth of content in one shot, you’ll start working on the GRBS save/load handler right out of the gate in step 1. This is the first of several places where the nature of Godot’s engine required a different architectural approach than TCOD. I’ve documented these architectural decisions such that you should be able to continue to iterate them to suit your own project’s needs.

The D&D Basic Set provided me countless hours of dungeon crawling adventures as a kid. Whether you are new to roguelikes or just new to Godot, it’s my sincere hope that the GRBS will be the start of a new series of your own roguelike adventures.

The Basic Set homage is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC