Rogue Elements

~~~ This game is actively in development, see further below ~~~

Master the Terrain. Rewrite History. Survive the Elements.

Rogue Elements is a tactical ASCII roguelike written entirely from scratch without a premade engine, where the environment is as lethal as the monsters lurking within it. Navigate a living dungeon where fire, ice, and poison and other elements continuously shape the dungeon around you. 

Experience a deep, reactive environment system. Water grows lush grass, but fire will burn it away to scorched rock. Fire melts ice, turning it into traversable water, while shallow water can be evaporated into clouds of steam that carry the effects of whatever was mixed into it.

Fight through 10 levels of procedural chaos to defeat the final villain. Every terrain type has their own challenges, Ice will make you slide uncontrollably, water can ruin your equipment, grass will block your view,  Stones can hurt you and mud will slow you down. Discover other dungeon features, such as Sacrificial Circles that grant rewards for kills, Ancient Altars demanding health for blessings, and Summoning Portals that must be destroyed before they overwhelm you with reinforcements. 

Don't just settle for one effect. Discover the art of alchemy by mixing multiple potions to create devastating combinations. A mixed potion not only combines up to three magical effects but also increases its Area of Effect, allowing you to spread devastating effects to multiple enemies at once. How about throwing a Teleport-Poison-Fire potion bomb into a monster zoo and teleporting them into the mud while they slowly burn and poison to death without being able to move?

Every run is preceded by a 100-year history simulation. The engine simulates the lives, deaths, and cultural shifts of an entire village, generating a "History Chronicle" that defines the world's spirituality, fearfulness, and prosperity, that stays persistent over all your runs of that particular dungeon. Explore the dungeon to find ancient tablets that reveal the biographies and reactions of villagers who lived through great events a century before you arrived. By reading these accounts, you will also learn more about the abilities of the final villain at the end of your adventure. Be prepared.

Tactical Turn Based Grid Combat 

Master unique enemy archetypes like the Packwolf, which grows stronger when near its allies, or the Flame Golem, which erupts into a firestorm upon death. Use wands to cast ranged spells, but be careful: standing in high-intensity water might soak your scrolls, making them unusable until they dry.

Atmospheric ASCII Visuals

Watch as ripples move through water, smoke rises from burning tiles, and glints of light dance across frozen pillars with a custom ASCII animation engine.

Full Midi Soundtrack and Midi Audio Manager

Midi, Midi everywhere. Immerse yourself in a fully MIDI-driven soundscape that reacts to the chaos around you with retro-inspired music, adaptive music reacting to the situation.

Controls

Move / Attack: Arrow keys or WASD.
Inventory: I or Q.
Pick Up Item: Spacebar.
Item Options: Enter or E.
Full Log, Bestiary & History: L
Help Menu: H
Full Screen/Windowed: P
Hover over enemies in the sidebar for more information on them.

MIDI Soundtrack by continuum.mid (OpenGameArt: northivanastan, Bandcamp: https://ivanastan.bandcamp.com/)
Berggren-Malde-Complex written by continuum.mid & DCG Retrowave

Active Development

I have been programming different game prototypes for 25 years, never actually polishing an idea for long enough that it was worthwhile to publish it. The current version is what I was envisioning when I set out to make the game a year ago. A roguelike with tactical decisions, where every step and turn counts, no need to grind many levels just to find engaging situation. As such I published that as version 1.x

I will very likely never create a different game and only work on Rogue Elements, even if development might be slower occasionally when life gets busy, but I want to add to this over time. If you have ideas/suggestions/feedback, let me know here or via email to indietiative@gmail.com