I have officially entered into the 4DRL (4-day roguelike) challenge as of yesterday, with a space-based roguelike, Chronophase. I have been kicking around the idea for a space-based roguelike for a while, and what better time to tackle it than a 4-day-cut-the-fat-and-focus-on-what’s-important challenge?

The game is loosely based on space shooters, but is turn-based, and movement is discrete across tiles, as in traditional roguelikes. The title, “Chronophase”, comes from the idea that you will be able to select the granularity of your movement turns: longer when cruising around, and shorter when in the middle of a battle, to be able to dodge enemy fire. That is the idea, at least! In truth, I am not certain whether that will make it in at all, as it is fairly low priority on the to-do list.

At this point, I have a ship moving around a seamless, wrapping, scrolling space. Next up: shooting, an interface, enemies, and enemy AI, likely in that order.

Time is precious, back to work!