History and Rationale
Roguelikes are traditionally procedurally generated RPGs in the mould of Rogue, with turn-based interactions in a grid-based environment, where levels are procedurally generated each playthrough and death is permanent.
In 2005, the roguelike community established a yearly event, the 7DRL Challenge, in which developers are challenged to create a roguelike in seven days. This allows one to have the shared misery of knowing you are not the only one tracking down a bad pointer at the 167th hour. The annual event occurs during a week in early March.
7DRL Challenges are NOT about being a fast coder, but rather proving you can release a finished, playable roguelike to the world. There is no winner of the challenge, but rather all those who finish are honoured for their work, the criterion is completeness.
There are many interpretations of what a roguelike is which may serve as a guidance. However 7DRLs may bend of even break these interpretations in the name of Innovation.
Event rules
- You CAN use external libraries, game engines, pre-existing code/algorithms, pre-existing art, etc. You can even start your game from an existing game, if you are planning to turn it into something unique. If in doubt, be clear what resources were reused.
- The goal is a finished and reasonably polished game: not the prototype of a game. Watch your scope!
- Likewise, the goal is a new game, not just another week of work on an existing game.
- It is allowed and recommended to have a rough design idea of your project before starting
How to participate
- Join the jam here at itch.io to show your intention to participate!
- Build a team (totally optional) at Crowdforge
- Pick a start time on Saturday or Sunday in your timezone. Start coding at this time! Note the countdown is likely before your possible start date: this is because we support all timezones.
- 168 (or less) hours after starting, submit your entry on the portal.
- You can mark your entry as Successful or Incomplete, based on your own judgement of how complete your game is. There is no prize for success or punishment for failure, so use your own judgement if your game is Done and Polished.
- The challenge window is always Saturday to Sunday; if you start after Sunday you will have less than 168 hours as in-challenge 7DRLs must be completed by the closing time.
Other info
- Stay up to date with challenge info by subscribing to the 7DRL mailing list
- Post about your development efforts on the 7DRL community blog, the 7DRL RogueTemple forums and the r/roguelikedev subreddit
- Join the Roguelike Discord for live discussion
- Check out this article by Darren Grey for a few pointers on how to succeed at the challenge
- Check also the 7DRL episodes of Roguelike Radio.
Previous Challenges
To date, there have been thirteen annual 7DRL challenges.