Retro Slasher is going to have rogue-like features! But what does that mean for this project?

For one, it means changing map layouts. Some of the important camp buildings – cabins, the office, and the barn, for instance – are going to be placed randomly each run. Important items can move, too.

For two, it means solidifying the “run” mechanic. The game’s original design was as a run-based, almost arcade-style horror game. The decision to include rogue-like features means we’re definitely going in that direction.

Other potential rogue-like mechanics you might see include changing AI traits, different items or buildings, etc.

Early in development, I was considering adding these features. I decided to write building placement in such a way that, if I did choose to implement them, I wouldn’t need to rewrite anything.

In the map creation code, I have a list of building objects, which accept a parameter for where on the map they should be placed. That parameter was originally hard-coded, but I took all of the values and put them in their own list, then wrote a function for removing and returning a random value from that list, and each building is now placed by calling that function.

It ended up only taking a few minutes to start placing the buildings randomly! There needed to be a few design touch-ups to make all of the spots fit all of the building types, but all in all it was fairly quick.

For more frequent news, check out the Retro Slasher twitter or the Silent Tower Games twitter.