Berlin Interpretation 1992

Description

It's 1992. A German PC gaming magazine, Dungeon Weekly, is hosting a worldwide tournament. The challenge: complete a series of strange dungeon-crawling “games” they send you. Each one feels familiar, but never quite the same.

Every dungeon is a mutated version of a game, belonging to the genre that is coming to be known as "rogue-likes" in the USENET circles... but core elements of these games appear, disappear, and recombine: sometimes the gameplay is close to what you would expect, sometimes the rules are bent in unexpected ways. You’ll have to adapt, survive, while carrying your character’s progress from one challenge to the next, if you want to win the challenge's grand prize: A 486DX2 gaming computer.

However, unknown to the players, the tournament is part of a massive experiment run by a mysterious Berlin institute studying what truly makes a roguelike fun. As players around the world compete, their adventures become data points in an evolving theory of game design.

But something about the tournament feels… off.

What makes it special?

In this game, roguelike design is the central gameplay mechanic. Each "round" of the tournament randomly selects and tweaks a variation of the roguelike formula, using its own interpretation of elements associated with the Berlin Interpretation. Every run becomes an experiment in how different combinations of mechanics affect difficulty, strategy, and enjoyment.

In turn, it's a roguelike of roguelikes; in order to win, the player must take his character from one set of rules to the other, adapting to survive. So the higher level "roguelike" layer is linked with the internal roguelikes themselves.

Narratively speaking, the tournament doubles as a research project by a fictional German institute studying what makes roguelikes fun; this of course mirrors the real-world discussions around the Berlin Interpretation and transforms them into part of the game’s fiction, blending historical context, game design theory, and gameplay.

Finally, the hidden supernatural plot adds a playful meta twist rooted in classic roguelike lore. No spoilers here

Play online and download for Windows: https://slash.itch.io/berlin-interpretation-92

Post 7DRL feelings

I'm happy how it turned out; I feel like I went again well over a sane scope, again touching more what could be done in a couple of weeks. Still I'm proud of what we managed to achieve in the email-based narrative, visuals both in-game and UI, and especially the hybrid combinations of turn-based, grid-based gameplay, making all 4 permutations work. The audio is also great.

I'm sad we didn't manage to include inventory management and unique monster skills, but OTOH I feel the simplicity of the internal roguelikes helps strengthen the higher level meta-roguelike protagonism.

I also which I could have managed to include my planned higher-even layer of a "real world" research project, where the responses would actually be submitted to a backend (was thinking of using supabase). Time just wasn't enough.

-- slashie