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Welcome to the RogueBasin!

The RogueBasin is a central knowledge-base for everything related to the Roguelike genre, as well as a detailed directory of Roguelikes.

What is a Roguelike?

A Roguelike is usually described as a free turn-based computer game with a strong focus on intricate gameplay and replayability, and an abstract world representation using ASCII-based display, as opposed to 3D graphics. Of course, as with any genre, there are deviations from the norm.

Roguelikes allow the player an indefinite amount of time in which to make a move, making gameplay comparable more to chess than to reflex-based games like first-person shooters. Since graphics are limited (if not completely shunned), the player's imagination must come into play - gameplay is more like reading a book than watching a movie.

Of course, the best way to understand what Roguelikes are is to download and play one.

Roguelikes

Many Roguelikes are freely available online. The most popular are:

• ADOM http://www.adom.de/
• Angband http://rephial.org/
• Crawl http://crawl-ref.sourceforge.net/
• NetHack http://www.nethack.org/
• ToME http://www.t-o-m-e.net/

Since the control systems of these Roguelikes are geared towards "expert" players, the novice player may be interested in trying a 'lighter' game like some of the coffeebreak roguelikes. The following may help you find out more:

• Categorized Roguelikes
• Lists of Roguelikes
• Major Roguelikes
• Roguelike Reviews
• Tree of roguelike evolution

Roguelike development

If you have some ideas for a new Roguelike and would like to give development a go (or are already a seasoned developer) the RogueBasin is here to help you expand the Roguelike genre. A complete list of articles is available, but here are some to get you started:

• Events
• 7DRL
• rec.games.roguelike.development Newsgroup
• Roguelike Dev FAQ
• How to Write a Roguelike in 15 Steps
• Articles about making a roguelike game

Contribute

One of the easiest ways to contribute is to add your name to the RGRD Wiki Project. Simply add your name there yourself, or post a message on rgrd stating that you'd like to participate, and what you agree to. If someone happens to see a relevant post by you, they'll upload it to this wiki as an article.

If you'd like to contribute to RogueBasin directly, simply create and log into an account. Feel very free to edit! We especially need more information added to the games pages and the lists - if you're a developer, consider updating your game's page, and making sure that it (and you) are included in the relevant lists. Have a look at the templates, category:main or the article requests.