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[UristMcDwarf]

What's a good language to write it in? Are there any good guides? I'm not gonna even think about making the next indie-smash hit Spelunky-BoI hit, but I'd like some comprehensive guides that explain what I'm doing and why it's being done and how it works. What would be a good language to use, also?

[BigD145]

I would have a look at RogueBasin and Roguetemple. RogueBasin lists the language used in each entry. Both have forums.

[itg]

What would be a good language to use, also?

I'm partial to English.

[alexandertnt]

I recommend posting over in the Roguelike Development Megathread

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=30113.0

[Uronym]

The most common language for making roguelikes is probably C++.

That said, you should probably learn to program before trying to make a game. There's a suitable curses/graphics library available for almost every language, so it doesn't really matter which you use, especially if you're not worried about publishing it or making something real-time (like Dwarf Fortress). If you already know any programming languages, they would probably be completely fine.

[BoredVirulence]

C or C++ is, or should be, a standard for most desktop applications.

That being said, integrating into a graphics library is going to be a nightmare if you haven't ever programmed, and you will need to even for a roguelike.
I can't think of any tutorials though. There are plenty of resources for C and C++, although they may not be roguelike related.

[inEQUALITY]

If you've never learned a programming language before, I suggest Python over C or C++ because it's a bit easier to understand at first for the uninitiated. There's a nice tutorial for it utilizing the libtcod library on RogueBasin. Great place to start.

[penguinofhonor]

I recommend posting over in the Roguelike Development Megathread

http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=30113.0

There's also a programming thread over here.

[blue sam3]

The best language to use is whichever one you're most comfortable with. Start with learning the basics of procedural generation, and go from there.

C or C++ is, or should be, a standard for most desktop applications.

This is utter garbage.

[Armok]

For roguelikes absolutely python. A roguelike doesn't require perfection, and processing power is not much of an issue, to the ease of learning and using of python pretty much dominate other factors.

[BigD145]

Use whatever language easily converts to x86, 64, and ARM based devices. For a light turn based roguelike, mobile devices are completely viable. They can be mobile consoles of a sort. On screen keyboards work and bluetooth hardware keyboards are cheap ($20 US or less). Some have F keys for Windows users.

[catpaw]

C or C++ is, or should be, a standard for most desktop applications.

In 2014 you shouldn't go for C(++) anymore unless you really, really need the last etch on speed or memory usage - which is generally not true for the average rogue like.

Personally if' I'd start a roguelike today, I'd go for drawing on a HTML-Canvas in Javascript and have it running in browser. This is easy enough for a beginner, good to debug (Google Crome is awesome) and the result is easily distributable, just post a link where you are going to host it*. The main drawback is either No Savegames at all (good enough for a starter and for a rogue like). Cope with the size limits you get by HTM5L localStorage (still doable) or go through saving online through AJAX - which is not newbe friendly and requires a special hosting.

Especially when doing all output via a Canvas object I can testify from a hugh project I'm currently doing that does exactly that - the differences between the latest versions of the commonly used desktop browsers are nowadays neglieable. This has historically been a big issue on javascript. Right now the mess restarts on mobile devices tough

Which brings me to the second option one might go for in 2014. Aim for running on a iPad or Android Nexus. Whatever native language (Objective C or Java) or there are some wrapper packages as well for higher level language design - for example i heared that the famous Angry Birds are coded in Lua. But I'm not knowledgeable about mobile development. My webbased Canvas-App also runs in the browser of the iPad, but on the other hand I can't simply sell it that way via iTunes. But I don't care about that.

(* About hosting, I'm paying mere 12$ per month for a virtual private server, but there might be free services for static content)

[Armok]

I were not sugesting browser based mainly because it's untraditional, and *good* JS is difficult to write for a beginner. If you're going for browser, no need to use something as elaborate as canvas; just mess around with CSS until just setting the innerHTML text of a div looks good. Also, I STRONGLY recomend http://jsbin.com/

[catpaw]

I were not sugesting browser based mainly because it's untraditional, and *good* JS is difficult to write for a beginner. If you're going for browser, no need to use something as elaborate as canvas; just mess around with CSS until just setting the innerHTML text of a div looks good. Also, I STRONGLY recomend http://jsbin.com/

Right. Good anything is difficult to write for a beginner. JS is not better or worse than most other stuff in that regard. Its only on JS we can easily see what people wrote (unless they uglify it)

I agree, a white-space: fixed DIV will work well enough for a beginners rogue like.

The choice for such a thing is pretty subjective I just wrote what I would do. That may be due to to fact I spent the last 3 years writing a big javascript application.

[Sizik]

The main drawback is either No Savegames at all (good enough for a starter and for a rogue like). Cope with the size limits you get by HTM5L localStorage (still doable) or go through saving online through AJAX - which is not newbe friendly and requires a special hosting.

If your savegame size is small (which it is likely to be for a first-time roguelike), you could get away with using cookies.