STRAFE: Gold Edition

It’s time to put the BOOM back into boomer shooters as we fire up the hottest graphics of 1996* with Strafe! Another entry in our Devolver Digital review catalogue, the self-described “ worlds bloodiest roguelike first-person shooter” will put our pixel-perfect aim to the test fighting aliens, mutants, and … human experiments? Custom RSS Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube Music Transcript 01:02 - Game Stats 02:55 - One Sentence Description 6:25 - Strafe as 2017 Genre Forerunner 9:16 - Roguelike FPS Genre History: Eldritch, Ziggurat, Barony & Strafe 15:18 - Gun Modifiers 17:41 - 1996 Nostalgia Marketing & VHS Camcorder Tutorial 35:10 - Biome 1 Enemy Incoherence: Too Many Types, Generic Asset Look 40:17 - Simplistic Enemy AI: All Rush or Shoot, No Puzzle Strategy 1:03:18 - Mechanics Deep Dive 1:21:09 - Disposable Guns vs. Meaningful Build Choice 1:27:49 - Rankings & Final Thoughts 1:40:40 - Similar Games & Show Wind Down Next episode: Diablo 2: Resurrected Contact us at [email protected]! https://grogpod.zone Intro music: GROGPOD Theme 2 by Balatro composer LouisF - https://louisfmusic.com/ Outro music: Strafe OST - Paint It Red

It’s Christmas in August as we unload the sooty petro-rocks from our stockings and crack open the clean-burning Coal LLC! The quick action mining-themed roguelite version of Motherload, you are tasked to fill your quota of coal before time runs out. Hire employees to help dig, collect, and fly your mantle-shattering progress. Fulfill the quests of NPCs like Fiona Frog, Pippa Penguin, and Tabitha the Mermaid. But most importantly, follow the guiding principle of any good coal mining business owner: NUMBER GO UP! Custom RSS Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube Music Transcript 01:05 - Game Stats 01:50 - One Sentence Description 3:37 - Platforming & Youtubers 5:24 - MS Paint Art Style 7:15 - Core Loop: Mine Coal, Meet Daily Quota or Explode 12:02 - Going Deeper: Colored Coal Layers & Increasingly Valuable Resources 24:18 - Unlocks & NPC Quests 28:01 - Workers & Weapons 52:25 - Whats the Value of a $15 Indie Game These Days? 1:08:34 - Rankings & Final Thoughts (hidden gem new #10!) 1:20:44 - Similar Games & Show Wind Down Next episode: Strafe Contact us at [email protected]! https://grogpod.zone Intro music: GROGPOD Theme 2 by Balatro composer LouisF - https://louisfmusic.com/ Outro music: Coal LLC Theme 1

Roguelites belong to the Nords! This week we return to tower defense rogue land with Nordhold: the vaguely Viking-themed tower defense roguelite featuring tower synergy systems, work placement econometrics, and decisions about whether or not to sacrifice them to demonic gods. If careful optimization of numbers and slowly checking off metaprogression boxes is your thing, then Nordhold has got it in spades! We even have towers that shoot ravens at people, what more could you ask for here??? Custom RSS Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube Music Transcript 01:13 - Game Stats 02:24 - One Sentence Description 4:53 - Viking Tutorial Walkthrough 8:28 - Resource Economy 10:24 - Meta Progression Treadmill 15:24 - Rogue Tower Comparison: Limited vs. Open Tower Selection Debate 19:23 - Oracle Choices: 5-Wave Passive Modifiers 21:56 - Banner System & Tower Fusions 31:49 - Hero System 54:45 - Cosmetic Glory Shop 1:04:36 - Rankings & Final Thoughts 1:10:52 - Similar Games & Show Wind Down Next episode: Coal LLC Contact us at [email protected]! https://grogpod.zone Intro music: GROGPOD Theme 2 by Balatro composer LouisF - https://louisfmusic.com/ Outro music: Nordhold OST - Viking Layers 6

A dark presence surrounds you, whispering promises of stolen power! Our episode 100 mega special concludes with a mega special game in the traditional roguelike sphere: Brogue! Developed by a lawyer, Brian Walker sought to rewrite the state of roguelikes in 2009 from bloated checkbox-ticking, weeks-long RPG length games and bring the genre back to its coffee break length roots. Careful streamlining of systems, UI polish, graphical effects, and a much smaller monster pool make Brogue one of the most readily accessible roguelikes of the modern era. My, what a yummy mango! Custom RSS Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube Music Transcript 01:11 - Game Stats 06:15 - One Sentence Description 10:17 - Brian the Dev’s thoughts on Rogue vs Angband vs Nethack 16:38 - Modernized Design Philosophy 31:58 - Character As Items Design 37:18 - Lumen Stones: Optional Hard Mode & Going Beyond Floor 25 41:30 - Brogue as a First ASCII Game? 51:02 - ASCII Sprites 53:24 - Monster Roster: Dragons, Liches, Jellies & Hover Flavor Text 56:11 - Emergent Narrative 57:37 - Identification Meta-Game, Percentages & Risk 1:10:50 - Magic System: Staffs, Wands, Charges & Enchantment Synergies 1:16:39 - Brogue Fan Community Correspondence 1:31:09 - Rankings & Final Thoughts (new #1 hidden gem game for the podcast!) 1:43:53 - Similar Games & Show Wind Down See also: The Incredible Power of Dijkstra Maps Brian Walker - Procedural level design in Brogue and beyond Brian’s thoughts on Rogue vs Angband and Nethack Next episode: Nordhold Contact us at [email protected]! https://grogpod.zone Intro music: The Lord of the Chiptunes: The Return of The Chiptune - Minas Tirith Outro music: Sir Knight Beats - GELATINOUS CUBE (hexcore)

What is this new devilry? Part 2 of the GROGPOD100 extravaganza continues, this time with a focus on the first ever rogue-like games ever made! Following the part 1 format, Scott does a brief historical deep dive of the games with some community correspondence, followed by our in-person live first experiences playing these games. We’ll experience why Gandalf had no memory of dungeon floors in Moria, see the first draft of history with Hack, try to rescue our poisoned daughter in Larn, and try to survive longer than 10 turns in the city of Rampart with Omega! Custom RSS Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube Music Transcript 00:28 - Part 2 intro 02:23 - 1983 Moria 15:42 - Moria correspondence 27:31 - 1984 Hack 38:23 - Hack correspondence 47:31 - 1986 Larn 54:07 - Larn correspondence 58:13 - 1987 Omega 1:12:11 - Omega correspondence 1:14:11 - GROGPOD live first impressions Mentioned in this episode: Dungeon Hacks: How NetHack, Angband, and Other Roguelikes Changed the Course of Video Games Toma’s unedited 15 minute voicemail here Toma’s 130 traditional roguelike reviews Rogue Elements Scott & Dan talking Dwarf Fortress back in 2020 Next episode: EP100 part 3: Brogue CE Contact us at [email protected]! https://grogpod.zone Intro music: Shiryu - The Lord of the Chiptunes: The Chiptune of the Ring - The Council of Elrond Outro music: Shiryu - The Bridge of Khazad-dûm

The road to Rogue was paved with ascii, teletype, thousand-pound mainframes, and a hacker spirit only highschoolers and college kids and eminate. For our big 100th episode, we have for you a 3-part deep dive into the games that inspired Rogue, the first TRUE roguelikes, and the crown jewel of ascii games: Brogue. This being part 1, we focus on the biggest computer games of the 1970s and how those shaped the design of Rogue. For each game, Scott briefly talks about how its played and a short bit of history, followed by some community correspondence about the game. Finally we have the pod crew doing a first ever live in-person recording about our experiences playing these games for the first time. So use those podcast desription timestamps to jump around! You feel weak with hunger… a hunger that can only be satisifed by hitting that play button! Custom RSS Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube Music Transcript 1:00 - Intro to episode 100 parts 1, 2, and 3 05:30 - 1971 Star Trek overview 13:30 - Trek correspondence 20:22 - 1975 pedit5/The Dungeon overview 30:10 - 1976 Colossal Cave Adventure 41:12 - ADVENT correspondence 47:12 - 1980 Rogue 58:52 - Rogue correspondence 1:06:46 - GROGPOD live first impressions Next episode: EP100 part 2: The First Roguelikes (Moria, Hack, Larn, Omega) Contact us at [email protected]! https://grogpod.zone Intro music: Star Trek 1969 Outro music: Introduction to the PDP-11

Ball don’t lie! This week we’re dropping into the chasm filled with Arkanoid-inspired enemies in BALL x PIT! The fabled city of Ballbylon has fallen and evil monsters have dragged the metropolis into, you guessed it, a pit! Your quest is to rebuild the city by taking a ramshackle elevator down into the depths, huck balls at the rampaging hordes, and escape with resources you can use to restore the town brick by brick. Sure none of the residents have eyes in their sockets, are largely magical warlock outcasts and fallen kings, and in some cases look like haunted versions of an American Gothic painting, but we will rebuild! And upgrade our infrastructure via as many ping-pong mechanics as possible! Custom RSS Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube Music Transcript 1:58 - Game stats 3:35 - One sentence description 4:07 - The Fall of Ball-bylon in 46 Seconds 8:46 - Visual Style: Scrolling Enemies, Mobile Game Look & Art 13:49 - Ball System: Build Strategy Synergy 29:06 - Early Game & Metaprogression Treadmill 35:18 - Town Building: RTS Grid Base Builder & Worker Trajectory 43:21 - Character Variety: Turn-Based Mode, Twitch Voting & Unique Gimmicks 52:32 - Narrative Theme: Descending the Pit & Level Progression Arc 55:04 - Town Building x Ball Combat x Sound Design 1:11:22 - How’s it Compare with Vampire Survivors? 1:22:30 - Rankings & final thoughts 1:30:00 - Similar games & show wind down Next episode: Episode 100 part 1 - Rogue and Its Predecessors Contact us at [email protected]! https://grogpod.zone Intro music: GROGPOD Theme 2 by Balatro composer LouisF - https://louisfmusic.com/ Outro music: Liminal x Desert - Amos Roddy

Moon and Sun! Caves of Qud returns for our summer music episode, as I grabbed some time with the composer Craig Hamilton! Since Qud is a dramaturgical triad, we couldn’t NOT do a third episode talking with the creative mind behind the creative sounds of the game. We’re talking Digital Audio Workstations, sci-fi literature, flamethrowers, traditional roguelikes, and so much more! The torsion of an external crank drags a rosin-slathered wheel against a metal cable, whose protestations emerge from the wooden case in a low, melodic groan. Part 1 of our Qud Qoverage focusing on the story and soundtrack can be found here Part 2 focusing on the gameplay and mechanics of Qud can be found here Other topics discussed: https://www.craigoryhamilton.com/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/1247760/Caves_of_Qud_Soundtrack/ https://stumpyfrog.com/sfr24a-caves-of-qud-3lp/ https://eggplant.show/into-the-depths-caves-of-qud-finale http://www.decklinsdemise.com/mordor.htm https://store.steampowered.com/app/224500/Gnomoria/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultima_Ratio_Regum_(video_game) Custom RSS Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube Music Transcript 00:00 - Intro Premable 2:17 - Interview Start! 3:14 - Craig’s Musical Origins: Uncle’s Yamaha Keyboard & Early Life 6:22 - Mixtapes, High School Bands & College Hardcore Synth Work 10:10 - Childhood Dream: Astronaut, Video Game Maker or Musician 11:50 - Childhood Gaming: Diablo 1, XCOM & Cinematic Music Influences 17:38 - Film Score Influences: Arrival, Blade Runner & Disney Jungle Book 19:00 - How Craig Got Hired: Dropsy Tracks & Caves of Qud Audition 24:24 - Composition Process: Flavour Text Prompts & Dev Collaboration 26:43 - “Onward”: Multiple Versions, Melancholy Quality & New Keyboard 33:53 - Diegetic Sound Design: Golgotha Flamethrower & Theme Park Composition 38:45 - Craig’s Favorite Track: “Arrival” & Interstellar Inspiration 44:46 - “Bey Lah Heritage II”: Western Aesthetic, Harmonicas & Hindren Influence 47:36 - “Attack on Grit Gate”: Desperate Blown-Out Battle Sound Design 52:34 - Favorite Game Soundtracks: FF7, Nuclear Throne, Katamari Damacy 1:05:31 - Craig’s 40 Hours of Qud: Exploration Style & Mutant Builds 1:10:47 - The Caves Music: Danger, Oppression & Caving YouTube Inspiration 1:15:14 - Cozy Art Lulling Players Into a False Sense of Security 1:18:36 - Gnome Moria, Ultima Ratio Regum & Procedural Generation Discussion 1:25:21 - Show Wind Down Next episode: BALL x PIT Contact us at [email protected]! https://grogpod.zone Intro music: Caves of Qud OST - 3rd Spore Phase Outro music: Caves of Qud OST - Of Chrome, and How (Sultan’s Song)

“You don’t have the cards!” This week we deep dive the cyberpunk productivity app roguelike deckbuilder hybrid that our very own co-host Will has been developing since 2018! A unique spin on gamification apps, Hard Reset asks the ever-important question of: “what if we made the game part actually fun?” The capitalist oligarchs have taken over and you must stop them by upgrading your cybernetics as provided by a mysterious benefactor. Fight through mutant-filled cyber slums with the help of rocket arms, irradiation blasters, and a helpful hand or two. But don’t skimp on those tasks to practice your cello or take out the garbage! Being consistent rewards gameplay with bonuses, and missing days will add consequences to your deck. Find Will’s app at: https://hardreset.app/ https://discord.com/invite/VdqP5AWBnz https://bsky.app/profile/hardresetapp.bsky.social https://www.youtube.com/@HardResetApp Hard Reset has already been getting some coverage by other outlets that you can find below: ParadoxPort - Hard Reset: When To-Do Lists Meet a Dystopian Cyberpunk Game Sam Liberty - Hard Reset Is the Gamified Productivity App I’ve Been Waiting For Custom RSS Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube Music Transcript 1:13 - Game stats 2:28 - One sentence description 5:09 - Origin Story: Behavioral Therapy Work & Contingency Management 9:18 - Hard Reset’s Purpose vs. Previous Therapy App 12:07 - Habitica Comparison & Fun-as-Reward Design Philosophy 15:25 - Vesper-5 & Checklist-Game Symbiosis Discussion 23:52 - Boot Sequence, Node Map & Game Structure Walkthrough 24:34 - Hardware & Wetware System vs. Slay the Spire Relics 35:10 - Card Codex Stats: 71 Cards, 15 Hacks & Unique Mechanics 43:41 - Combat Animations, Eye-Opening Intro & Protagonist Identity 46:01 - Portrait Mode Innovation & One-Handed Mobile Design 59:50 - AI Art Ethics: Solo Dev Cost Reality & Moral Debate 1:09:43 - Story & Theme: Cyberpunk Anti-Oligarch Revolution Narrative 1:33:43 - Player Build Strategies & Community Discoveries 1:53:00 - Rankings & final thoughts 2:01:13 - Fan Write-Ins 2:05:10 - Similar games & show wind down Next episode: Summer music fest interview with Caves of Qud composer Craig Hamilton! Contact us at [email protected]! https://grogpod.zone Intro music: GROGPOD Theme 2 by Balatro composer LouisF - https://louisfmusic.com/ Outro music: Hard Reset trailer theme

It’s a special bonus episode this week! With Rift Wizard 3 launching in June 2026, I sat down with developer Dylan White to talk about the third game’s evolution, how its distinguished itself from Rift Wizard 2, and what it takes to make a traditional roguelike game stand out in the ever evolving morass of games being released on Steam these days. Come for the discussion on PyGame, stay for the discussion on metal music band names as monsters! Custom RSS Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube Music Transcript 1:51 - Interview Start 2:49 - Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup as Primary Design Inspiration 6:15 - Original Concept: Not a Wizard Game at First 9:06 - Core Design Goal: Every Encounter High-Pressure & Unique 13:11 - Rift Wizard 2: Items System Added to Fight Forced Builds 16:46 - Dominions 5 Influence & Knowing Your Game’s Identity 20:35 - Why Python/Pygame: Fast Prototyping & Fun to Code 22:38 - ASCII Prototype Origins & Discarded Pac-Man Mana Mechanic 32:22 - AI Coding Agents: Core Logic Hand-Coded, UI Outsourced 41:52 - Crafting System Design: Balancing Planning vs. Improvisation 47:31 - Rift Wizard 3 Art Direction: Ralph Bakshi & 70s Animation 56:36 - Grid Size Changes Across Versions & Rebalancing Challenges 1:02:14 - Sequel Philosophy: 75% Familiarity, 25% Novelty 1:07:17 - Switch & Steam Deck Portability: Mouse-Keyboard Dependency Problem 1:22:50 - Dylan’s Favorite Roguelikes & Final Thoughts on Genre Contact us at [email protected]! https://grogpod.zone Intro music: Rift Wizard 3 Title Theme Outro music: Rift Wizard 3 Boss Theme