How many years?

This is how long I've been without regular internet access. That's why. That tells you approximately how long it's been since I last visited that website.

I'm guessing he put those graphics in circa 2012? Ah, well.

It's academic, now. I didn't mean that last paragraph to be a slam against Germans, by the way. I just meant that Thomas may have difficulty understanding what's "cool to Americans"-- culture shock, and whatnot.

It was pretty much just the cutesy, pig-faced goblin that looks like a reject from fairyland that bothers me.

--Erebor

Those graphics have been there for years. Why the outrage right now?

Yeah, man, it's about the graphics.

Like I said, I had mixed feelings about it.
I actually learned to play NetHack in a QT interface, rather than the classical ASCII, so I can appreciate the appeal.

[Weirdly, I cannot stand Angband with graphics, or NetHack without, so I'm sure it's a matter of what you're used to...]

That wasn't even the whole issue, though. They didn't just put graphics in it. They put cutesy, *anime-style* graphics in it, (reminiscent of the online AdventureQuest which is so easy that it almost makes it un-worth playing.

Granted, Thomas Biskup is a German, so he may have a tenuous grasp of what's cool, and what isn't, but god damn.
The graphics look like they were intended for 13 year old girls. I mean, why not just use an easily adapted freeware QuickTime interface, a la NetHack, or just ask the guys over at RandomThoughts.net what cool RPG graphics look like?

I mean, I know everybody's jumping on the free-money-through-social-media bandwagon, but bastardizing a creation like ADOM for money is like sacrificing one of your children on an altar hoping some Aztec god grants you some gold. And to my knowledge, Thomas only has the one child. This is his *only* child, ADOM.

One of the seminal RPGs, that make up one of the three main branches of Rogue-like descendants, all derived from the original, "Rogue": ADOM, Nethack, and Angband.
Possibly four, if you include "Crawl."

I... just... think the graphics could have been done a hell of a lot better. I don't object to the graphical interface on principle-- even though I think ADOM is cool enough as is, in it's freeware version.

I feel like Thomas is pandering to the moron-verse, by trying to make something palatable to the iOS crowd, most of whom know nothing about OS X or Unix or anything remotely related to real computing.

And on top of that, he's releasing a version that reduces the permadeath rule. That just flies in the face of all Rogue-like RPGs. It has all new features and extras, and bells and whistles for paying customers... Challenge Mode, for instance.

I don't know. The freeware version is still the freeware version. Maybe a 21 year old game does deserve a makeover. Maybe I've just gotten old enough finally that I feel like I have a license to bellyache. Bear in mind, he didn't create a Universal binary for his new version, so that I could check it out. It requires an Intel Mac, OS X 10.5 or higher. Mine is 10.5, PPC.

That's pretty much how I feel about it.

--Erebor

Dayum! Is this about them putting all the new graphics in that game?

I am all for it. It's on Steam for 13 or 14 bucks now. You can try to put a game with text graphics there but there's so many haters I am sure it would give it that orange "Mixed" reviews flag or whatnot.

That said -- and I don't doubt the work for a second -- due to the marketplace it is in, and due to the lack of time I've got, I'd wait for it to come down a little in price in a future sale. Not that developing a game for, what, 20 years isn't worth what they are asking!

Robb,

You have to see what's going on with ADOM.
When I first saw it, I couldn't make up my mind whether it was awesome, or a nightmare. The anime-style graphics have me leaning toward nightmare.

People here may not care about this... I'm pretty sure you all like RPGs too, though, considering your latest efforts to make Cyberganked a bit like "Return to Zork," (in principle) and the fact that you said so.

Anyway, this is truly worthy of one of your JC posts. I don't really have the forum to bring this to public attention, or I'd do it myself.

--Erebor

P.S., Also fiends.com has died, (for good this time) and appears to be in post-mortem status, as near as I can tell. So long to more awesome free internet content that I loved circa 15 years ago.