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[dwarf_reform]

This is the entry on RogueBasin's website about rogue engines..

"A roguelike engine is not a playable game but rather an underlying structure that can power many different games. Roguelike engines exist to allow people to easily write new games without the hassle of coding things like Line of Sight code, object handling, RNG, etcetera. The idea of a roguelike engine is a good one: roguelikes are too often forked. If an engine is used, this can decrease the likelihood of forking. Interactive fiction games, which are a non-roguelike type of adventure games, nowadays always use engines, the most common of which are Inform and the Text Adventure Development System.

The most popular roguelike engine is T-Engine, the engine powering ToME, made by DarkGod but which has other modules available.

Some other engines include:

    Carceri
    The Ng Java Roguelike Engine.
    H-World a pure game engine by Hansjoerg Malthener
    libtcod, which eschews engine development for a pure library approach and has seen widescale uptake among 7DRL participants.
    Tenney Level Generator .Net a new early stage library that is being written in C# for use in a Roguelike game. The author has decided to adapt the library to allow for more flexibility by other developers.
    The Neon roguelike engine.
    pYendor "

I was wondering which of these is absolutely simple to use without being awful/barebones.. Also curious how complete that list is, as well, if there are any others I don't know about or can't search out.. I basically can't code a drop, even things like RPG Maker on PS1/PS2 have thwarted me in their most complex functions Looking for an engine a below-average monkey-child can hammer a game out on with ease It probably isn't real, and if it is real it probably isn't free, but here's hoping! Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions, and if I do truly find an engine I can use I'll pay your kindness back with a crazy RL game :>

[freeformschooler]

Simply put: roguelikes are not popular enough a genre to get a super-easy Game Maker platform. Additionally, roguelikes are too complex (pathing/AI, generative algorithms) to hammer out easily in an existing "generic" game maker.

The projects you are describing are called game engines. They provide code for you to use but not necessarily an interface. I would suggest libtcod out of all of them simply because it already handles much of the complex stuff very elegantly, and tutorials exist for the rest. You still have to code.

[dwarf_reform]

You, good sir, are a crusher of dreams

Just don't think I could get the coding bit down AI and pathing are the most terrifying two, but everything else is pretty bad too.. And how generally picky most coding is, also.. Not error-proof in the slightest Just wish there was an engine you could plug a tile enemy graphic into, pick from fifty or so pre-made AIs (or an easy interface to tweak its actions and responses to certain things, and spawn rates, rare loot chances, and potential enemy birth "traits" or variations), and a nice interface for creating loot.. Overall it doesn't sound all that difficult to create, really, if they've already got these engines that cover most of the hardest stuff.. Seems like any one of them could put more effort in and achieve it..

If roguelikes aren't popular enough yet, I'll hope they get there soon enough (without the engine becoming commercial, at that).. With the coverage Dwarf Fortress has received coupled with all the commercial roguelike or rogue-lite releases we've seen go mainstream (on consoles and Steam both), plus general brutal difficulty (Demon's/Dark Souls) showing its fanbase, maybe something like this will be created eventually.. All I can say is I'd turn out one of the most majestic games ever played, given a true "for Dummies" toolset to do it with I generally have no self-confidence and not a bragging bone in my body, but I have no doubt in my sense of "playability" (and replayability) in a game Figure I'll croak before I ever get the chance, though :| REALITY!

I can dive into DF's files and alter things without breaking anything, but once you get down to the materails/layers setup it gets too complex for me :> I guess I need.. 5 or 6 coders with infinite spare time and 0 personal ambition to do my evil bidding towards the RL engine of my dreams.. That's not too much to ask!

Thanks for the response, regardless, and the saddening dose of chalky reality :>

[inEQUALITY]

I know it's not exactly what you're asking for, but I too once thought coding was beyond my grasp entirely. It really is daunting for some people, don't get me wrong, but it's doable. It just takes patience. Something that helped me TREMENDOUSLY was this: http://www.roguebasin.com/index.php?title=Complete_Roguelike_Tutorial,_using_python%2Blibtcod

It's a step-by-step tutorial in Python for coding a roguelike, using the libtcod library. I went from start to finish with it several times before I really picked up on what exactly I was doing and how it worked, but I'm now striking out on my own as a coder in python. It's an absolutely great place to start. It's not quite a fool-proof 'game maker', but it's never too late to learn.

[alexandertnt]

Just don't think I could get the coding bit down

You totally can! Anyone can learn to code, it just requires persistence. The first step is always the hardest but it gets easier the more you try.

AI and pathing are the most terrifying two

A simple AI in a roguelike might go something like:

if (can_see_player)
   move_into_player();

Pathing is somewhat more advanced, but it is something you learn when you are more familier with programming. Most roguelike frameworks should provide built-in pathing anyway.

[Chaos17]

roguelikes are not popular enough a genre to get a super-easy Game Maker platform.

Then I hope that this game will make it more popular


Link : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1460250988/darkest-dungeon-by-red-hook-studios

[LordBucket]

The most popular roguelike engine is T-Engine, the engine powering ToME, made by DarkGod but which has other modules available.

As someone who was badly burned by DarkGod, spent years developing T3 modules, providing feedback, submitting bug reports, and was eventually asked to take over development of the official ToME module...and was then left completely hanging when he decided to abandon the engine as a complete flaming wreck...I would advise caution when investing time into learning his engines.

[hemmingjay]

roguelikes are not popular enough a genre to get a super-easy Game Maker platform.

Then I hope that this game will make it more popular


Link : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1460250988/darkest-dungeon-by-red-hook-studios

These guys are my neighbors! Seriously, they are physically the closest game studio to my own @ 1.1 miles away. Of course there are roughly thirty others under 5 miles from me. I am really happy for their success.

Back on topic, some people have been using GameMaker to develop roguelikes. It's worth looking into. Even GameMaker involves coding though. There is no escaping it in the end. If you want to make games yourself, you have to learn to code or at least script. Otherwise, take some design courses and some project management courses and then lead a team. It's actually a lot harder and more of a commitment than learning to code, but if you have decided you have a block against code, it might fit you. It's not as easy as writing a bunch of ideas in great detail though, it involves a lot of mathematics and logic as well as design principles, psychology and applied science. Too many people think it's just something you can jump into.

[Fikes]

Random bump by hemmingjay, must be something in the works 

Anyways, to anyone still interested in dipping their toes into coding give the Warcraft 3 editor a try. I know it isn't what you are looking for, in the slightest, but it does give you a really good, straightforward taste of what it is to make something. It also tricks you into learning coding a bit. At first you say to your self, "I want heal to give 3000 health" and that is easy, with a couple of drop downs. Later you want units to swap positions with a spell and you realize that is possible, but you have to edit some code to do it. Poof. You have written code, and it really wasn't that scary.

[Zireael]

I've been using T-Engine for nearly a year and haven't been burned yet. Once T-Engine itself got out of beta, there's little or nothing to update as the engine changes and it's really easy to get into.

Take it from someone who didn't know anything about coding a year ago.

[Robsoie]

The only problem i see with the t4 engine is how very heavy it is for non obvious reason.

I don't know what it is doing "under the hood" but i always found very odd for that it had those constant loading time between world map and a dungeon both when entering or exiting (and with  a very likely memory leaks those loading time increasing the longer you played as by example after +/ 2 hours of gameplay you had to be really patient when entering/exiting a dungeon) while other graphic-based roguelike that had similar world map -> dungeon mechanics (latest ADOM, Elona, Omniband etc... ) have no loading time and immediate display .