Hey Rat Punchers, happy new year once again!
After a bit of a holiday break, I’m back to work on Shattered Pixel Dungeon, which includes laying out some plans for the coming year! This post starts with a year in review, and then lists the major changes and additions that I have planned for Shattered Pixel Dungeon in 2025 and beyond.
The game’s a rougelike, not rougelite. You aren’t supposed to unlock game changing options by doing things.
I’m not asking for the kind of progression that give permanent upgrades or starting gold to heroes. The thing is, we are already unlocking tons of “game changing” options by doing things in Shattered. We unlock characters, alchemy recipes, challenges, seeded runs. The final boss unlock might as well be another 10th challenge.
Longevity and replayability are key aspects of roguelikes and roguelites, and superbosses create a new goal for players who finished the game once. More importantly, these will create online guides, discussions, gameplay videos and reactions. This is the key for growth and momentum, and it’s one of the reasons why some roguelikes and roguelites are so successful, they have this recipe jotted down.