roguelike-design

name: roguelike-design description: Design principles for a tactical, position-focused roguelike with short runs, permadeath, and fair difficulty. Use when implementing combat, enemies, items, levels, or game balance.

Roguelike Design Principles

This skill provides design guidance for implementing game features. These principles should inform decisions about combat mechanics, enemy behavior, item design, level generation, and overall game balance.

Core Philosophy

This is a tactical puzzle game disguised as a dungeon crawler. Every death should feel like a learning opportunity, not random bad luck. The player should always have agency.

Guiding Principles

• Positioning over stats: Where you stand matters more than your damage numbers
• Information enables tactics: Players need full information to make meaningful decisions
• Predictable systems, emergent complexity: Simple rules that combine in interesting ways
• Respect the player's time: Short runs, no tedium, every decision matters

Combat Design

Positioning is the Puzzle

• Design encounters where optimal positioning is the key to victory
• Damage numbers are secondary to spatial relationships
• Consider: flanking bonuses, backstab mechanics, zone control, choke points
• The question should be "where do I stand?" not "do I have enough HP?"

Telegraph Enemy Intentions

• Before an enemy attacks, the player should know what it will do next turn
• Show attack patterns visually (highlight threatened tiles)
• Enemies should have clear "tells" before powerful attacks
• No surprise one-shot deaths from off-screen enemies

Always Provide an Out

• Every combat encounter should have at least one escape route or defensive option
• No inescapable death traps
• If the player is surrounded, they should have had warning and opportunity to prevent it
• Consider: knockback abilities, teleport scrolls, smoke bombs, terrain destruction

Moderate Randomness

• Randomness adds tension but skilled play should win
• Avoid pure RNG damage ranges (e.g., 1-100 damage)
• Prefer: small variance (8-12 damage), guaranteed minimums, or deterministic combat
• Critical hits should be telegraphed or player-controlled (positioning, abilities)

Enemy Design

Distinct Behavioral Roles

• Each enemy type should have a clear, learnable pattern
• Avoid generic enemies that just "move toward player and attack"
• Examples of distinct roles:
  • Archer: Stays at range, telegraphs shots, vulnerable up close
  • Charger: Telegraphs a line attack, commits to direction
  • Summoner: Weak but spawns threats, priority target
  • Tank: Slow, blocks paths, high HP, low damage

Predictable but Not Trivial

• Enemy behavior should be learnable through observation
• Once a player understands an enemy, they should be able to counter it
• Complexity comes from combinations of enemies, not individual unpredictability
• A room with 3 simple enemy types can be harder than one complex enemy

Fair Spawning

• Never spawn enemies adjacent to the player without warning
• New enemies entering a fight should come from visible entry points
• Reinforcement waves should be telegraphed (doors rumbling, horns sounding)
• The player should never feel ambushed by the spawn system

Item and Equipment Design

Clear Effects, No Identification Mystery

• All items should have clear, known effects when acquired
• Tactical decisions require information; mystery undermines tactics
• No "unidentified potion" gambling
• Item descriptions should be concise but complete

Tactical Trade-offs

• Equipment should present meaningful choices, not strict upgrades
• Examples:
  • Sword A: High damage, slow attack
  • Sword B: Low damage, hits twice, causes bleed
  • Sword C: Medium damage, knockback effect
• "Which is best?" should depend on the situation, not item level

Limited but Meaningful Inventory

• Inventory constraints force interesting decisions
• Every slot should matter; no "junk" items
• Consumables should be powerful enough to feel worth using
• Hoarding should be discouraged by encounter design (use it or lose it)

Level and Encounter Design

Tactical Arenas

• Combat should happen in contained, designed spaces
• Small rooms with meaningful terrain: pillars, pits, doors, water
• Terrain should create tactical options (cover, choke points, elevation)
• Avoid large empty rooms where positioning doesn't matter

Spatial Constraints Create Puzzles

• The "puzzle" emerges from space + enemies + player abilities
• A room's layout should make you think before acting
• Consider: limited exits, hazardous terrain, destructible cover
• Movement should feel as important as attacking

Encounter Pacing

• Not every room needs combat
• Alternate tension and relief: fight, explore, find loot, fight harder
• Boss encounters should be positioning puzzles with phases
• Rest points should be earned, not random

Progression and Pacing

Short Run Design (15-30 minutes)

• A complete run should fit in a short play session
• No filler; every floor should introduce something new or escalate
• Death should feel like "I'll try again" not "I lost hours of progress"
• Consider: 5-7 floors, each with 4-6 rooms

Meaningful Build Choices

• Character progression should involve real trade-offs
• "Do I want more damage or more mobility?"
• Avoid mandatory upgrades; prefer lateral options
• The player's build should change how they approach encounters

Light Story, Strong Context

• Minimal narrative, but enough to give meaning to the journey
• Why is the player in this dungeon? What's at the bottom?
• Story beats can reward progress without interrupting flow
• Environmental storytelling over cutscenes

Fairness Principles

No Unavoidable Deaths

• If the player dies, they should understand what they could have done differently
• Every death should be a lesson, not a dice roll
• "I should have retreated" or "I should have used that potion" = good death
• "The RNG screwed me" or "I couldn't see that coming" = bad death

Information Availability

• The player should have access to all information needed for decisions
• Show: enemy HP, attack patterns, threatened tiles, status effects
• Hide nothing that affects tactical choices
• UI should surface danger clearly (low HP warnings, incoming damage preview)

Consistent Rules

• Game systems should behave predictably and consistently
• If fire hurts enemies, it should hurt the player too
• No "gotcha" exceptions that punish exploration
• Teach rules through gameplay, then test mastery

Anti-Patterns to Avoid

These patterns conflict with the design philosophy:

• ❌ Damage sponge enemies — HP pools that just take time to whittle down
• ❌ Instant death traps — without warning or counterplay
• ❌ Mandatory grinding — progress should come from skill, not repetition
• ❌ Hidden information — that affects tactical decisions
• ❌ Runaway difficulty — where falling behind means certain death
• ❌ Luck-based progression — where bad RNG blocks advancement
• ❌ Tedious backtracking — respect the player's time
• ❌ Generic enemies — every enemy type should feel distinct