Now that Steam’s Going Rogue event is over (thank you to everyone who checked out our game!), I thought now might would be a good time to discuss a pretty important question: Is The Chaser’s Voyage a roguelike? The answer (and the history behind said answer) is a little complicated. For starters, neither of us set out to make a roguelike in the first place. When I initially pitched “Project: Space Captain” to Cameron, the word roguelike was never mentioned in the conversation. Looking back on it, there were definitely a lot of roguelike elements in the initial design, but we both were still rather unfamiliar with the term and our experience with the genre was limited to games like Spelunky and FTL: Faster Than Light. Instead of roguelikes, we looked at other sources of inspiration, such as the Disneyland ride, Star Tours. Particularly the modern incarnation that randomly strings together sequences to create unique experiences for the riders. I remember I pushed hard on the permadeath aspect because I was fascinated with the concept thanks to playing ZombiU, the only survival horror game that I really like, because of the actual fear it put into me (because of the permadeath mechanic, I actually felt a little sick after a particularly harrowing experience and I loved it). With these inspirations we created a game featuring procedural space encounters with a permadeath system. So in short, we accidentally reverse-engineered the concept of a roguelike, which I say is a testament to the appeal of the genre.

 

Since starting Bright at Midnight, Cameron and I wanted to be free from the constraints of genre labeling and in a way, we think that really helped shape what would eventually be The Chaser’s Voyage. This lack of focus on genres allowed us to think more deeply of the experience we wanted to create, rather than try and force in ideas that were common to a specific genre. For example, according to Wikipedia’s page on Roguelikes, some key features of the genre include making the game turn based, adding in resource managements such as health potions, or in the case of a sci-fi setting, fuel, repair material, and ammunition, as well as other concepts that neither us really wanted in our game. The freedom from genre also allowed us to add features that would be appropriate for the game were making, but maybe not what people would think of when you call something a roguelike. For example, our 100 day time limit and transporting clients who are willing to pay you (and have their own stories going on in the background) was particularly inspired by the scene in Star Wars: A New Hope where Luke and Obi-Wan meet Han Solo, who if you remember, is primarily motivated to pay off a debt to the notorious gangster Jabba the Hutt, just like how the player must repay a debt to the infamous pirate lord, Pirate Lady Styx. (What I’m saying is that The Chaser’s Voyage is a Han Solo simulator, okay?)

 

 

Thanks to this genre free development mindset, we were able to confidently cut a galactic map feature, which meant we removed any literal exploration from the game without ever having to think “wait, but isn’t exploration a key part of roguelikes?” Which thank goodness we removed it, because thinking about that idea again, it would have unnecessarily made the game way more  complicated. We also were able to implement one of our more unique features without a second thought, that being that after failing to repay your debt to Lady Styx on time, (Hover over for spoilers) you do not get a Game Over, but instead the game continues, giving you a new mission with new unique challenges. We remove the time limit and increase the money you need to pay to Lady Styx, but due to the bounty she placed on you, the difficulty of the game increases in unique ways.

 

So why are we calling our game a roguelike now? Because, while we don’t like the constraints of genre labels, marketing does. When it finally came down to putting our game onto Steam, we had to think of a label to call our game. Again, we didn’t even consider our game a roguelike, because we never set out to make it one. Before this, we had kind of been describing our game as a “sci-fi sidescrolling space based action game with real-time strategy elements.” While most of that was true (real-time strategy is true in only the most technical of aspects), it was also a mouthful. Once we were looking at genres to classify our game on Steam, it kind of dawned on us that our game might be a roguelike. Looking at the Wikipedia article (and finding out that what is and what isn’t a roguelike is a debated point) and this article on RogueBasin, we realized we hit most of the high value features in the Berlin Interpretation:

 

1) Random Environment Generation. Yep. If you want, you can think of each territory you jump into as a room filled with randomly generated obstacles, with many of them having randomized factors.

2) Permadeath. Again, yes. Though we eventually added a mode that removed this because we know that permadeath isn’t for everyone. We still have two modes where permadeath is very much in effect.

3) Turn-Based and Grid-Based. No. Here’s the reason why I said we hit -most- of key features. We never intended this game to be played in either of these fashions, even in the initial concepts.

4)  Non-Modal. Yes. One of the reasons we designed our UI the way we did was so that every action you take could be done in real-time.

5) Complexity. Absolutely. We invite players to find their own solutions to solve the problems each jump puts forth. The only challenge we give the player is to survive and earn their money within the time frame. This means the player can run away from bounty hunters rather than destroying them, tank asteroids with their shields at the cost of speed, communicating with pirates (if those scoundrels are open for it), etc. You could also vow off picking up any clients that are wanted by the Empire or risk it all by going with whoever is paying more.

6) Resource Management. Your money is a resource that not only do you need to win, but also to survive. Since all hull repairs deplete your money, taking too much damage puts you that much further from you goal. You also manage your power across your systems, which tie into the resources that are your shields and oxygen. We would argue that the game is primarily about resource management.

7) Hack’n’slash. This one could be a little contentious because we are more a bullet-hell esque side scrolling shooter than a Hack’n’slash (this is why we don’t like genres), but killing enemies is important to our game. It’s not necessary if you’re skilled enough and sometimes pirates can be talked out of fighting you, but I’d still argue we hit this marker in spirit, if not in perfect practice.

8) Exploration and Discovery. Again, this might be contentious because, yes we don’t have literal exploration in our game, but we do encourage a kind of narrative exploration that helps players decode our system to help them make better choices. For instance, while I spoiled it a few weeks ago, pirates being more common in UGS territories is not told to players outright. It’s revealed through the crew journal in an entry that talks about how the UGS has a pirate problem.

 

 

So why did I feel like it was necessary to tackle this question? What other game devs feel like they need to justify their own genre labeling? After all, if someone calls their game a Metroidvania, nobody really questions that. Part of the reason was because I wanted to acknowledge that our game doesn’t have the usual trappings one might expect in a roguelike. It’s something that’s always been in the back of my mind when talking about our game, because I’m worried someone might say “this isn’t a roguelike, because there’s no items or upgrades” or something like that. So, it just makes me feel better to have all my thoughts laid out here. The other reason though, was to encourage any developer or aspiring developer out there to really do away with the notion of genre. The Chaser’s Voyage was born not out of the idea to make a space-based roguelike in the same vein as FTL, but to make a game where you felt like a daring space captain. Where you felt like Han Solo making your Kessel Run. A way to create unique and cinematic moments where you can later brag to your friends how you narrowly avoided that bounty hunter just off of Wohza by racing her through an asteroid field. Really focus and make your game in such a way that best serves the experience you want to deliver to an audience. Then later, for marketing or to just easily describe your game to your friends, shoe horn it into a genre.

 

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