The Tombs of Asciiroth

So, yeah, here at PTT! we tend to be game design snobs and think about games from a design rather than implementation perspective (I spit on your novel and original visual effects! pfaugh! brainless eye-candy!). Yet occasionally, you run into something and say: Sweet! What a cool technical hack.

Asciiroth is, you know, a conventional Rogue-like, and while not a bad one, not the best either. BUT... It's developed using the Google Web Toolkit, which basically allows you to write in Java and compile it to Javascript, so it'll run in the browser without requiring the user to install desktop Java -- and then uses Adobe Air, which can take an AJAX application and turn it into a downloadable desktop app.

So you wind up with a Rogue-like that uses a host of AJAX-y features, like popups when you position the mouse over something on the screen that tells you what it is, the ability to use the mouse instead of directional keys for movement (should you so wish), etc.

Drawbacks? Yeah, some; the web version doesn't allow saved games, unless you install Google Gears (JavaScript can't normally save anything to your hard drive, and a good thing too, btw). And because the code is big (for JavaScript), and IE runs JavaScript absurdly slowly, it won't perform adequately except in Firefox.

And of course if you want to play the downloadable version, you have to install Adobe Air, which kind of sucks because you may very well never use it again for anything in your life (unless I'm totally wrong about how useful and universal it will wind up being, which I could be). On the other hand, Air is a cross-platform technology, so it'll run under Windows, OS X, and Linux as well.

As for the game? Pleasant enough Rogue-like, too many Sokoban-style puzzles and not enough good old monster-bashing for my taste, but then, that's my taste, which may not be yours.