How do you make an infinite roguelike RPG.. not boring?

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#1

Great, so I’ve had this little idea recently.

You advance through an endless, procedurally-generated tower fighting enemies that get stronger the further you go.

You would be able to improve your stats to fight the enemies and whatever.

Sounds like your average attempt at a roguelike. But my question is, how would I make it different and not repetitive, given this has infinite character progression?

Here’s a bit extra on my idea: It’s not your average fantasy game. It does have swords and that, but it has… Guns. Like, firearms. Yeah.

You may go further and receive buffs. You can die once, but respawn with a debuff that would make the game way harder.

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#2

It sounds like combat is the main gameplay element here. I think having a variety of enemies and ways to defeat them is the key to making it not boring. You could also add something other than combat to give the player a break occasionally like a puzzle, but that’d change the focus.

Maybe the means giving enemies and attacks types that are super effective or weak, like Pokemon. Enemies that heal are usually disliked by players, but that’s also an option.

My favorite game in the JRPG rougelike genre is Alchemic Dungeons. There’s different classes of characters, potions, armor with different stats, enemies, weapons, rings with stat boosts, and more. I recommend looking at games in the genre and see what you find fun or interesting. Leave out the annoying stuff.

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#3

add parrying

works every time

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#4

Quests. And maybe a story line that extends for a while and keep expanding for a while and then after you go further enough the quests are auto generated and get harder. So the map is set until a certain point

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#5

Add gambling. Simple.

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#6

Ultrakill makes it very fun to replay levels. It’s one of the first games I went back to 100%. I recommend introducing new combos and make it so it’s easy to learn, hard to master. Also make the gameplay super satisfying.

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#7

There is gambling.

I did intend for players to upgrade gear except there’s a character stat you depend on that determines upgrade chance/quality. I guess that counts?

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#8

That’s not gambling. Not even close to it.

#9

Yeah I was joking.

No, I didn’t intend to add anything related to paid chance.

#10

I think playing RPG games have taught me that there’s more than constant killing. Exploration would also matter, but in a randomized world, don’t know how I’d do that.

The first idea I had was themed floors. They could have unique loot, certain actions, places, NPCs and enemies, and things to explore.

Is that feasible? Does it even matter? Do I just stick to one theme, like an abyss? I don’t know.

I think I tried on that. I’ll see about classes and that, but there would be skills too, as in weapon skills, passives and that.

Quests for items? Sure…

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