It’s hard to remember the last time that I played an ASCII RPG, let alone saw one that I was excited about. But here is SantuaryRPG from Black Shell Games, in all its ASCII-art glory.
Not only is he a game designer with two very good games under his belt
(Overture and SanctuaryRPG) but an impressive resume that features Software
Development and co-founding Black Shell Media.
SanctuaryRPG stands alone as the first video game rendered in ascii. How does this combination of roguelike, RPG, and text-based adventure game fare?
Thomas of Ghost Volta: "As with many indie titles these days, SanctuaryRPG (SRPG) attempts to simulate a nostalgic period in gaming. While most developers would jump to pixel art without a second thought, the 6-person team at Black Shell Media, LLC chose instead to take things back even further. That’s right, SRPG is an authentic ASCII adventure game. For those who weren’t born in the ’70s (myself included), a short explanation is probably required: this style of game uses the ancient technique of crafting symbolic pictures from ordinary text characters. Every enemy, item, weapon, and encounter is displayed in ASCII, along with an accompanying description to further cement the image. Speaking of those text characters, how much can Black Shell really make out of them? As it turns out: plenty. The game boasts over 1,400 weapons and armors, more than 160 possible class and race combinations, and hundreds of different enemies, which is nothing to shake a tilde at."
This reminds me of Pascal from College, great idea but not my cup of tea