Night City - a 1997 roguelike project

10 May 2010

I’ve been organizing folders on my HD, and ventured into the cellar storeroom of the ChaosForge — where abandoned roguelike projects long forgotten lie. Thanks to the magic of DosBox, and thanks to the fact that there were executables lying around, I managed to dust off some of them and take a pilgrimage to the past.

One of those projects was Night City, about which I would want to tell you about today…

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Night City setting

The setting of Night City was a blend between Vampire: The Masquarade and Cyberpunk 2020 roleplaying games. A futuristic city, where people walk loaded with cybernetics, yet the true masters of the night are Vampire clans that run the city from the shadows.

The player would be able to get a taste of both worlds — while he plays a Vampire, he can also load himself with cybernetics, and access the global Cyberspace. However, the Vampire’s humanity hence is endangered from both sides — from the Beast withing, and from the Beast from the metal in his body.

Creatures of the Night

Apart from the feuding Vampire families, other beings roam the night, Werewolves, Wraiths and even Demons. Contrary to modern times however, the humans are no longer so inferior to the creatures of the night — even a Ancient Vampire should fear a tank-loaded CyberPsycho.

Yet mostly, the Vampire would see the humans passing by as food. And feed he must to survive…

Walking on the edge of humanity and hunger would be a game in itself…

Gameplay

Apart of survival (which could be tricky sometimes) the game would be mission based — first running errands for the Vampire Princes, then getting to play more and more of a important role in local politics.

Apart from his own Kin, the Cyberpunk Vampire has a lot more enemies — fellow Children of the Night, technology packed Vampire Hunters, PsychoSquads…

Afterword

Somehow it’s hard for me to believe what I was thinking as a 14 year old — yet the concept doesn’t seem childish despite the time passed. Maybe some day I’d like to revisit the idea — there are many interesting mechanics that could be explored while writing it, and definitively you couldn’t call it a “common roguelike concept” :).

If you like this concept, be sure to comment here or on the forum!

Comments

getter77 · 10 May 2010, 10:44

Sounds nifty—-strongly in line of what I’d always hoped to see if, legally, somebody got a Roguelike of sorts going in the Shadowrun universe. The writeup on this couldn’t help but twang the strings of nostalgia for my time with the Genesis version as a young kid.

More souls for Neko!

MrSmiley381 · 11 May 2010, 02:28

Kornel, I would play this game like crazy. Hell, I’d even be willing to do some work on it. I’ve been meaning to put my half a college degree to work.

Fenrir · 11 May 2010, 18:04

I’m Fenrir, and I approve this project.

passing_by · 27 May 2010, 10:51

That’s totally amazing. Fusion of WoD and Shadowrun, gimme two!

Failbert · 31 May 2010, 10:04

The Night City screenshots already look nice! Impressive!

The setting vaguely reminds me of Bloodnet – unless You have tried it already, have a look at it someday, might we worth it!

Kornel Kisielewicz · 31 May 2010, 11:21

@Failbert, I did — actually BloodNet was one of the inspirations :)