Categories
Official Development State classification
Categorized by the extent to which the came has been completed:
- See also: category:roguelike games
Development State classification
- Talkie Talkie Projects have been talked about to the point where they develop a well known life onto their own. However, no actual release of a functional game has occurred.
- Alpha Projects are roguelike games which, while released, are not yet playable. This means you should not be surprised if there is no win condition, or no monsters, or things generally go bad after the character creation screen.
- Beta Projects are roguelike games which, while available to the public, are not yet ready to judged as finished products. Unlike alpha projects, they have progressed to the point where they are fun and enjoyable games if you can handle a few sharp corners.
- Defunct Games are roguelikes that are both no longer being developed and are not considered finished by the authors.
- Stable Games are roguelikes that the authors have believed reached a level of maturity that allows them to be judged as games in themselves. Often, development is still ongoing, as roguelikes are hardly ever finished. (Except for those that were developed in a definite amount of time, like Dungeon Monkey and the 7DRLs, of course.)
- 7DRLs are stable games created within a seven day window.
- Major games are stable games that have provided significant influence to the roguelike genre.
Master lists
- List of Angband variants, of recently updated roguelikes, of handheld roguelikes and of roguelikes based on existing IPs
Evolutionary Branch Classification
These are the two main evolutionary branches taken from Rogue. Of course, many roguelikes belong to neither, especially more recent games which often borrow from other genres, such as simulation and strategy.
- Hacklike: these games take inspiration primarily from Hack and its descendants. NetHack is the most advanced in this genre. ADOM and Crawl may also be considered hacklikes.
- Band: these are games which take inspiration from Moria and its descendants. Properly, this term would only refer to Angband and its variants, but one can extend it to other games with similar playstyle. Many consider Diablo to be a band.
See Tree of roguelike evolution
Special Categories
- Handheld roguelikes - for cellphones, Game Boys, etc.
- RogueLike Engines, which in and of themselves are not games, offer the means to construct new games.
- Coffeebreak roguelikes - extremely short, but fun
- Console roguelikes - for video game consoles
- See also: category:roguelike games
Development State classification
- Talkie Talkie Projects have been talked about to the point where they develop a well known life onto their own. However, no actual release of a functional game has occurred.
- Alpha Projects are roguelike games which, while released, are not yet playable. This means you should not be surprised if there is no win condition, or no monsters, or things generally go bad after the character creation screen.
- Beta Projects are roguelike games which, while available to the public, are not yet ready to judged as finished products. Unlike alpha projects, they have progressed to the point where they are fun and enjoyable games if you can handle a few sharp corners.
- Defunct Games are roguelikes that are both no longer being developed and are not considered finished by the authors.
- Stable Games are roguelikes that the authors have believed reached a level of maturity that allows them to be judged as games in themselves. Often, development is still ongoing, as roguelikes are hardly ever finished. (Except for those that were developed in a definite amount of time, like Dungeon Monkey and the 7DRLs, of course.)
- 7DRLs are stable games created within a seven day window.
- Major games are stable games that have provided significant influence to the roguelike genre.
Master lists
- List of Angband variants, of recently updated roguelikes, of handheld roguelikes and of roguelikes based on existing IPs
Evolutionary Branch Classification
These are the two main evolutionary branches taken from Rogue. Of course, many roguelikes belong to neither, especially more recent games which often borrow from other genres, such as simulation and strategy.
- Hacklike: these games take inspiration primarily from Hack and its descendants. NetHack is the most advanced in this genre. ADOM and Crawl may also be considered hacklikes.
- Band: these are games which take inspiration from Moria and its descendants. Properly, this term would only refer to Angband and its variants, but one can extend it to other games with similar playstyle. Many consider Diablo to be a band.
See Tree of roguelike evolution
Special Categories
- Handheld roguelikes - for cellphones, Game Boys, etc.
- RogueLike Engines, which in and of themselves are not games, offer the means to construct new games.
- Coffeebreak roguelikes - extremely short, but fun
- Console roguelikes - for video game consoles
- See also: category:roguelike games
Development State classification
- Talkie Talkie Projects have been talked about to the point where they develop a well known life onto their own. However, no actual release of a functional game has occurred.
- Alpha Projects are roguelike games which, while released, are not yet playable. This means you should not be surprised if there is no win condition, or no monsters, or things generally go bad after the character creation screen.
- Beta Projects are roguelike games which, while available to the public, are not yet ready to judged as finished products. Unlike alpha projects, they have progressed to the point where they are fun and enjoyable games if you can handle a few sharp corners.
- Defunct Games are roguelikes that are both no longer being developed and are not considered finished by the authors.
- Stable Games are roguelikes that the authors have believed reached a level of maturity that allows them to be judged as games in themselves. Often, development is still ongoing, as roguelikes are hardly ever finished. (Except for those that were developed in a definite amount of time, like Dungeon Monkey and the 7DRLs, of course.)
- 7DRLs are stable games created within a seven day window.
- Major games are stable games that have provided significant influence to the roguelike genre.
Master lists
- List of Angband variants, of recently updated roguelikes, of handheld roguelikes and of roguelikes based on existing IPs
Evolutionary Branch Classification
These are the two main evolutionary branches taken from Rogue. Of course, many roguelikes belong to neither, especially more recent games which often borrow from other genres, such as simulation and strategy.
- Hacklike: these games take inspiration primarily from Hack and its descendants. NetHack is the most advanced in this genre. ADOM and Crawl may also be considered hacklikes.
- Band: these are games which take inspiration from Moria and its descendants. Properly, this term would only refer to Angband and its variants, but one can extend it to other games with similar playstyle. Many consider Diablo to be a band.
See Tree of roguelike evolution
Special Categories
- Handheld roguelikes - for cellphones, Game Boys, etc.
- RogueLike Engines, which in and of themselves are not games, offer the means to construct new games.
- Coffeebreak roguelikes - extremely short, but fun
- Console roguelikes - for video game consoles
- See also: category:roguelike games
Development State classification
- Talkie Talkie Projects have been talked about to the point where they develop a well known life onto their own. However, no actual release of a functional game has occurred.
- Alpha Projects are roguelike games which, while released, are not yet playable. This means you should not be surprised if there is no win condition, or no monsters, or things generally go bad after the character creation screen.
- Beta Projects are roguelike games which, while available to the public, are not yet ready to judged as finished products. Unlike alpha projects, they have progressed to the point where they are fun and enjoyable games if you can handle a few sharp corners.
- Defunct Games are roguelikes that are both no longer being developed and are not considered finished by the authors.
- Stable Games are roguelikes that the authors have believed reached a level of maturity that allows them to be judged as games in themselves. Often, development is still ongoing, as roguelikes are hardly ever finished. (Except for those that were developed in a definite amount of time, like Dungeon Monkey and the 7DRLs, of course.)
- 7DRLs are stable games created within a seven day window.
- Major games are stable games that have provided significant influence to the roguelike genre.
Master lists
- List of Angband variants, of recently updated roguelikes, of handheld roguelikes and of roguelikes based on existing IPs
Evolutionary Branch Classification
These are the two main evolutionary branches taken from Rogue. Of course, many roguelikes belong to neither, especially more recent games which often borrow from other genres, such as simulation and strategy.
- Hacklike: these games take inspiration primarily from Hack and its descendants. NetHack is the most advanced in this genre. ADOM and Crawl may also be considered hacklikes.
- Band: these are games which take inspiration from Moria and its descendants. Properly, this term would only refer to Angband and its variants, but one can extend it to other games with similar playstyle. Many consider Diablo to be a band.
See Tree of roguelike evolution
Special Categories
- Handheld roguelikes - for cellphones, Game Boys, etc.
- RogueLike Engines, which in and of themselves are not games, offer the means to construct new games.
- Coffeebreak roguelikes - extremely short, but fun
- Console roguelikes - for video game consoles
- See also: category:roguelike games
Development State classification
- Talkie Talkie Projects have been talked about to the point where they develop a well known life onto their own. However, no actual release of a functional game has occurred.
- Alpha Projects are roguelike games which, while released, are not yet playable. This means you should not be surprised if there is no win condition, or no monsters, or things generally go bad after the character creation screen.
- Beta Projects are roguelike games which, while available to the public, are not yet ready to judged as finished products. Unlike alpha projects, they have progressed to the point where they are fun and enjoyable games if you can handle a few sharp corners.
- Defunct Games are roguelikes that are both no longer being developed and are not considered finished by the authors.
- Stable Games are roguelikes that the authors have believed reached a level of maturity that allows them to be judged as games in themselves. Often, development is still ongoing, as roguelikes are hardly ever finished. (Except for those that were developed in a definite amount of time, like Dungeon Monkey and the 7DRLs, of course.)
- 7DRLs are stable games created within a seven day window.
- Major games are stable games that have provided significant influence to the roguelike genre.
Master lists
- List of Angband variants, of recently updated roguelikes, of handheld roguelikes and of roguelikes based on existing IPs
Evolutionary Branch Classification
These are the two main evolutionary branches taken from Rogue. Of course, many roguelikes belong to neither, especially more recent games which often borrow from other genres, such as simulation and strategy.
- Hacklike: these games take inspiration primarily from Hack and its descendants. NetHack is the most advanced in this genre. ADOM and Crawl may also be considered hacklikes.
- Band: these are games which take inspiration from Moria and its descendants. Properly, this term would only refer to Angband and its variants, but one can extend it to other games with similar playstyle. Many consider Diablo to be a band.
See Tree of roguelike evolution
Special Categories
- Handheld roguelikes - for cellphones, Game Boys, etc.
- RogueLike Engines, which in and of themselves are not games, offer the means to construct new games.
- Coffeebreak roguelikes - extremely short, but fun
- Console roguelikes - for video game consoles
Related categorizations:
- It is somewhat contentious what exactly separates major roguelikes from stable games. We should not be suprised about this. The major roguelikes list is seen as a type of canon formation, and thus everyone wants to ensure that their interests are not displaced.
Historical approach
One option may be to approach this historically, and thus list here the roguelikes that have been historically popular/influential. The problem with this approach is trying to find the cut off for "popular" and/or "influential". Nonetheless, we could build a list by adding any roguelike which anyone to believe meet that threshold, and see if the result become unmanageable. (Thus, please use extreme reluctance when adding to this list.)
- 3rd generation roguelikes:
- ToME (1998)
- Crawl (2006)
- Dwarf Fortress (2006)
USENET hierarchies
Roguelikes with USENET hierarchies (rec.games.roguelike.*) are one candidate.
This categorization, however, is a frozen slice of time. The hierarchies are unlikely to change again, regardless of the influence or popularity of any new roguelike. Furthermore, they include roguelikes which, while still played, have been eclipsed by more recent incarnations. The Moria newsgroup is quiet compared to the Crawl related discussions in rec.games.roguelike.misc, or ToME specific discussins in rec.games.roguelike.angband.
The list of roguelikes with USENET hierarchies is:
- ADOM (rec.games.roguelike.adom)
- Angband (rec.games.roguelike.angband)
- Moria (rec.games.roguelike.moria)
- NetHack (rec.games.roguelike.nethack)
- Rogue (rec.games.roguelike.rogue)
Related topics
- Categories
- Category:Roguelike games
- Commercial Games: Commercial roguelike games.
Master lists
Following are quite large lists of roguelikes:
Evolutionary Branch Classification
These are the two main evolutionary branches taken from Rogue. Of course, many roguelikes belong to neither, especially more recent games which often borrow from other genres, such as simulation and strategy.
- Hacklike: these games take inspiration primarily from Hack and its descendants. NetHack is the most advanced in this genre. ADOM and Crawl may also be considered hacklikes.
- Band: these are games which take inspiration from Moria and its descendants. Properly, this term would only refer to Angband and its variants, but one can extend it to other games with similar playstyle. Many consider Diablo to be a band.
See Tree of roguelike evolution
Special Categories
- Handheld roguelikes - for cellphones, Game Boys, etc.
- RogueLike Engines, which in and of themselves are not games, offer the means to construct new games.
- Coffeebreak roguelikes - extremely short, but fun
- Console roguelikes - for video game consoles