SwashRL
Last updated 2021-04-13
– version 0.035
Website – Downloads – Source Code
SwashRL represents my longest-running project by far. It started out in 2015 as a simple programming exercise back when I was first learning how to use Linux and ballooned up into a combat-focused Roguelike written entirely from scratch. Although the game still has not reached a release state, it’s easily one of my most ambitious projects, featuring an inventory system, simulated dice rolls, basic combat mechanics, a map generator, and many other features that helped me learn a lot about project management and game design.
Over the years I’ve documented my work on SwashRL in detail, and a page has been dedicated to preserving this history on the website.
Design
Like most traditional Roguelikes, SwashRL uses text for the main
display, with an @ representing the player character, . and #
representing floors and walls, and letters representing NPCs or monsters.
Roguelikes are often designed this way because it allows the game to include a lot of on-screen objects without having to display them visually, which would otherwise take up valuable time with designing and drawing art assets. This is important because Roguelikes are typically solo endeavors undertaken by programmers, much like SwashRL.
Something that motivated me to make SwashRL was frustration at a lack of focus in RPGs that were coming out from the mid-2000s to 2010s. While there were a lot of Western RPGs that supported a number of gameplay styles, none of them were exceptional in a single core game mechanic. I wanted SwashRL to focus very strongly on combat, especially swordplay, because there’s a lot about sword combat that could make for an interesting game mechanic that most RPGs simply abstract out.
Before I get into that, however, I need to explain Roguelikes, because they’re a fairly niche genre of video games.
What is a Roguelike?
A typical Roguelike will have a core gameplay loop similar to an RPG, largely focused on maintaining your character and making them stronger by researching skills and gaining new items or abilities which assist a play style to which the character is specialized.
Roguelikes consist of randomly generated levels, typically made up of rooms connected by corridors, which the player must explore in order to find items to help them on their quest and do battle with dangerous opponents.
In most Roguelikes, an important gameplay mechanic revolves around identifying items, which will typically be described to the player with random names like “red spellbook” or “fizzy potion” so that they’ll appear different in different playthroughs. The goal of this is to force the player to identify the item before they can know for sure if it will be helpful or detrimental for their character, meaning the player has to analyze their predictament carefully before taking any risks.
Gameplay in a typical Roguelike is straightforward on the surface level but on close examination will require the player to take advantage of items and abilities that they’ve gained along the way, such as weapons, magic spells, cybernetic augmentations, mutations, &c. Roguelikes are usually very difficult to complete, because many gameplay elements such as the ones I just named influence every decision you make, and permanent failure means that the consequences of each decision are irreversible.
SwashRL
Although most of these features have not yet been implemented in SwashRL, a core decision I made early on was to focus largely on sword combat, and a big part of that was that I needed to find a way to make sword combat on its own a deep and influential part of the game. When combat is fully implemented, an important aspect of it will include learning and combining moves or techniques that the character will use while fighting enemies, requiring the player to decide which specific maneuver will most benefit them in their current situation.
For example, a lunge might help the player to reach an enemy that’s staying stubbornly out-of-reach, or a parry could help the player deflect an attack from an enemy that’s staying on the offensive. On the other hand, a half-sword maneuver might help them to more accurately target an enemy’s weak spot to compensate for an opponent that’s heavily armored, or a murder stroke could daze an enemy with a heavy blunted attack. Enemies such as bandits, soldiers, wizards, and monsters will all behave in different ways, requiring the player to think on their feet in order to survive.
I’m still pondering over the various ways in which these mechanics can be influenced by the player’s decisions, but I want to eventually implement player classes, or roles, which will mix up the basic gameplay formula by giving the player character different strengths. For example, a Swashbuckler is mainly concerned with martial prowess and technical skill, but a Burglar focuses more on stealthy movement and maneuverability, while a Knight can rely on armor and advanced weaponry but must keep this equipment maintained and well-honed.
Challenges
The complexity of working on a Roguelike means that SwashRL has been my most challenging project, bar none. Further complicating matters is that I opted to write the game entirely from scratch, using only limited third-party assets to help with elements such as field-of-vision which I had trouble implementing myself.
SwashRL was the first and so far only game I wrote for curses, a programming library which enables text-based user interfaces on a computer terminal. A big reason for using this library is that a text-based interface allows a project like this to include a lot of game objects without having to draw visual assets, which would otherwise consume a lot of time.
However, when supporting multiple operating systems became a priority, I opted to translate this display into SDL, which already supports multiple operating systems, allowing me to simulate a computer terminal in a graphical window. In its current form the game can run either in the terminal or in its own window which it draws itself, depending on the user’s preference.
These basic issues, combined with the difficulty of deciding on how to best manage game mechanics like the inventory system, combat, random map generation, and monster AI, are a big part of why SwashRL has not yet reached an official release state.
What I’ve Learned
One of the most important lessons I learned from SwashRL is that building a game requires a very solid foundation. Learning how to build an intuitive user interface in a text-based display was very difficult, but it was necessary in order to make any of the planned gameplay elements work, from moving around on the map to managing the player’s equipment.
Part of the reason SwashRL has taken so long to produce is that its novel core focus requires me to think about Roguelike design in-depth and consider very carefully which elements to adopt from games which came before and which to replace or improve upon. Roguelikes have existed since the 1970s and have maintained a consistent cult following ever since, with many very smart people modifying and examining them in detail, and that’s a lot of pressure for a first-timer to deal with.
Ever since SwashRL, I’ve opted not to build games from scratch anymore, because the challenges that come with taking on things like display and user input take time and effort away from focusing on core gameplay programming and design, so in more recent projects I’ve taken advantage of existing engines like Godot.
Nevertheless, I’m glad I opted to write SwashRL’s display and input code all on my own, because it means I have a lot of control over how the game behaves that I wouldn’t have otherwise. More importantly, I’ve gained an appreciation for the challenges that come with programming a complex project like a video game, and discussing challenges like these with my friends has taught me a lot about communication and working on a team.
In brief, my shortcomings while writing SwashRL have made me a better programmer by immersing myself in every element of a game’s design, and forcing myself to learn how to write code in a structured and organized fashion.
History
The name SwashRL is derived from the word “swash,” meaning “to swagger with a drawn sword.” You’ll know swash as one half of the word “swashbuckler.”
I named it this way because I was frustrated with RPGs like The Elder Scrolls suffering from a lack of focus, emblematic of a trend in the games industry of supporting a number of play styles but not excelling at any one core mechanic. I wanted Swash to focus very strongly on sword combat because there’s a lot of interesting mechanics to be found in swordplay. SwashRL was meant to be a prototype of this concept, though due to other obligations it hasn’t gotten far enough to fully explore it.
Another reason I chose the name SwashRL was that I wanted to pay homage to a classic Roguelike named Hack, which evolved into NetHack, which then birthed a spin-off called SLASH, now better-known as SLASH’EM. I felt that the name “Swash” would fit in rather nicely alongside Hack and SLASH, and represent a clear intent to make a game that would earn its place in its chosen niche.
When I said Swash represented my longest-running project, I meant that. The initial design, back when it was just a personal project, is derived from a much older game I wrote way back in high school called Crawl. Crawl was a much more basic game bearing little resemblance to a traditional Roguelike, but the concept of it has stuck in my mind ever since, to such an extent that for a while writing a Roguelike was just the way I learned new programming languages. A later version of Crawl written in Python featured a map generator and field-of-vision not too dissimilar to what SwashRL has now.
When I started working on the game in its current form I had to pick a new name for it to avoid confusion with another classic game called Linley’s Dungeon Crawl. Initially I named it Slumbering Dragon, which it turns out is also taken. After that I renamed it to FORRNIF1, Spelunk!, and finally SwashRL.
What SwashRL Means to Me
SwashRL in its current form began during a very hard time in my life. I was feeling unmotivated and disillusioned, and I was experiencing a lot of hardship that I was having difficulty coping with. By 2017 I had developed anxiety problems and started experiencing panic attacks.
SwashRL and other projects I dedicated myself to helped to remind me that my best years weren’t behind me, and that I could still do great things in the years to come. By taking on all of the challenges and throwing myself into the design of a complex project, I was able to prove to myself that I was capable of far more than I thought I was. The first step to making a positive change in your life is to take on a challenge and test your limits; this is something I didn’t fully understand until I undertook a project as complex as this.
Even though SwashRL has not yet achieved the grandiose ambitions I had in mind when I started it, I have done far more with it than I would have thought myself capable of before. I finally had something I could hold up and say “I did this. This is something worth being proud of.” It was a small accomplishment, but it meant that I could accomplish something, in spite of the hard times and the mistakes I’ve made along the way.
So influential was this to me that I adopted the name “swashdev” on GitHub and on my Discord profile, which eventually became “swashberry.” By making this game my namesake, I’ve connected my online identity with the intent under which SwashRL was undertaken:
I will not be stopped by self-doubt. I will accept great challenges and prove myself worthy, not because I want to be as good as other people, but because I want to be the best that I can be.
This is a principle that I’ve adopted as part of my personal philosophy, and it’s driven me to pursue excellence ever since.
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Filip’s Own Rogue Ripoff Named, Imaginatively, FORRNIF ↩
Nothing's worth doing that's not worth doing right.
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