The Many Dangers of Cogmind....

So for several months I have been following the development of Cogmind (here and elsewhere) and watching pretty much all of the game play videos on YouTube. I do that a lot with roguelikes nowadays because it lets me get my fix without having to sink so much time into actually playing the games. (I know...sacrilege.)

Anyway, I was hesitant to actually buy Cogmind because I suspected it would become a distraction from my own roguelike development work. However, today I broke down and bought the game. I just finished playing through a few levels and wanted to share my thoughts...on its many dangers:

First, it is just unbelievably good. Danger #1 is that I can clearly see that this is, in fact, going to become a major time sink, taking away valuable development time on my own roguelike. In fact when I finish this post, I promised myself I would get back to work on my own game, but I think I'll go play some more.

Danger #2: Despite being only in alpha release, it is unbelievably polished. The atmospherics, the story (far as I can tell so far), the UI, the game play, and the overall execution are excellent. This game clearly shows that I have a long, long, long way to go with my own work.

I have played most of the major roguelikes for some time, and my favorite has always been the classics like Cataclysm DDA, followed closely by DCSS, TOME, and Brogue. Another danger is that it won't be too long before Cogmind comes to dominate the sci-fi-roguelike genre, where my current development efforts are focused. I think Cogmind will quickly become the standard to which other sci-fi roguelikes will be compared to. I find that intimidating. Way back when I started on my game, I considered doing a post-apocalyptic game but then decided it was a bad idea since CDDA clearly dominates the genre and I didn't think I could do the genre justice in the shadows of that classic. Instead, I chose sci-fi because it has always seemed under-represented to me (other than perhaps FTL and games I consider roguelites rather than roguelikes). Well, I think the sci fi standard bearer has arrived.

Since Josh Ge has done a lot to support not only his own game, but also roguelike develop here and elsewhere--seriously? when does he possibly have the time to write all those great posts, AND move his game along as fast as he does?--by all means pick up a copy right away. And then put it in a drawer and never play it.