Allure of the Stars is a near-future Sci-Fi roguelike and tactical squad combat game written in Haskell; please offer feedback, e.g., after trying out the web frontend version at
Given the timespan of this game's development, there is a chance to get mainstream generic brain implants before 1.0.0.0. If that lets us bypass the eyes and even the visual cortex, this would once and for all solve the ASCII vs graphical tiles dilemma and build on the strength of the game, which is the density of discrete information, as opposed to overflow of fuzzy information in most "video games" that the brain's visual processing is designed to cope with.
Also, this would at once make it easier to grasp the play state and avoid disrupting the free flow of individual imagination, which happens whenever pictures suggest a particular visual representation of entities. The game would be effortless and fast and dense just as a movie, but spur creativity of unconstrained personal imagination just as a book. As soon as direct brain interfaces become widespread, it shall leave all the "video games" in the dust.
Edit: removed the special invitation to sight-impaired persons to try the game on a whole-screen Braille translator --- I'm guessing the variety of punctuation characters and room shapes and the multi-person party may make this particular game rather hard. Traditional 1-hero ASCII roguelikes with just dots as walkable tiles should at easier, at least for a start.
Given the timespan of this game's development, there is a chance to get mainstream generic brain implants before 1.0.0.0. If that lets us bypass the eyes and even the visual cortex, this would once and for all solve the ASCII vs graphical tiles dilemma and build on the strength of the game, which is the density of discrete information, as opposed to overflow of fuzzy information in most "video games" that the brain's visual processing is designed to cope with.
Also, this would at once make it easier to grasp the play state and avoid disrupting the free flow of individual imagination, which happens whenever pictures suggest a particular visual representation of entities. The game would be effortless and fast and dense just as a movie, but spur creativity of unconstrained personal imagination just as a book. As soon as direct brain interfaces become widespread, it shall leave all the "video games" in the dust.
Edit: removed the special invitation to sight-impaired persons to try the game on a whole-screen Braille translator --- I'm guessing the variety of punctuation characters and room shapes and the multi-person party may make this particular game rather hard. Traditional 1-hero ASCII roguelikes with just dots as walkable tiles should at easier, at least for a start.