HyperRogue facts for kids
Quick facts for kids HyperRogue |
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| Developer(s) | Zeno Rogue |
| Composer(s) | Shawn Parrotte Will Savino Lincoln Domina |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, iOS, Android, OpenPandora |
| Release date(s) |
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| Genre(s) | Roguelike |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
HyperRogue is an independent video game created by a developer named Zeno Rogue. It's a special type of game called a roguelike, which means the world is randomly created each time you play, and if your character dies, you have to start over from the beginning.
What makes HyperRogue unique is its world, which is built on a strange and fascinating type of math called hyperbolic geometry. This makes the game feel like you're exploring one of the mind-bending drawings by the artist M. C. Escher.
Contents
How to Play HyperRogue
HyperRogue is a turn-based game. This means you take a turn to move, and then all the enemies take their turn. The world is made up of tiles, but not a normal square grid like in chess. Instead, the tiles are arranged in a special way that follows the rules of hyperbolic geometry.
The game world is huge and made up of 72 different "lands." Each land has its own look, treasures, enemies, and special powers you can find. As you travel, you'll cross "Great Walls" that act like borders between these lands. The world is created randomly as you explore, so you never know what you'll find next!
Your Main Goal
The main goal is to explore the world, collect as much treasure as you can, and try not to get trapped by monsters. There are also bigger adventures to complete, like the Yendor quest, the Prince(ss) quest, and finding the Holy Grail.
Fighting Monsters
Fighting in HyperRogue is like a puzzle. You and most basic enemies can be defeated in a single hit. The game helps you by not letting you make a move that would get you defeated instantly, similar to the "check" rule in chess.
While beating one enemy is easy, you'll need to think carefully to defeat groups of them. There are also many types of monsters, including fast ones, giant ones like sandworms and dragons, and monsters that you have to attack in a special way.
Special Game Modes
HyperRogue has many special modes to change how you play. For example, "Chaos Mode" makes the lands change very quickly as you travel. There is also a "Shoot'em Up Mode" that plays in real-time instead of being turn-based.
A World with Weird Rules: Hyperbolic Geometry
The most special thing about HyperRogue is its world. It doesn't follow the normal rules of space that we're used to (called Euclidean geometry). Instead, it uses hyperbolic geometry, which changes the game in cool ways.
Escaping Monsters
In a normal game, if a monster is chasing you, it stays the same distance away. In HyperRogue, the curved space helps you. Any monster following you will slowly get farther and farther away, unless it's directly on your tail. This lets you escape from situations that would be impossible on a flat map.
Art and Graphics
The game's art style is inspired by the artist M. C. Escher, who made famous woodcuts of repeating patterns that seemed to shrink towards a circular edge. HyperRogue looks a lot like these artworks, making the game beautiful and strange to look at.
A Huge World
In hyperbolic space, the amount of room expands exponentially as you move away from your starting point. This means the world of HyperRogue is incredibly large. After walking just 1,000 steps from where you start, there are trillions and trillions of possible places to be.
Because the world is so big, the game had to be balanced differently. You can't just wander around defeating weak monsters to become powerful. The more treasure you collect in a land, the more monsters appear, keeping the game challenging.
Clever Level Design
The game features shapes and paths that can't exist in our normal world. You can find things like infinite trees and straight lines that run side-by-side but never cross. There's even one land where, if you walk in a circle and come back to where you started, the world will have rotated around you!
If you're new to these ideas, don't worry. The game has a tutorial that teaches you about hyperbolic geometry as you play.
Release History
The first version of HyperRogue was made in November 2011. At first, it had only one land and simple monsters.
A new version was created in March 2012, which added more lands and magical items. In January 2015, HyperRogue was officially released on the Steam platform for computers.
More recently, a version released in June 2021 added support for virtual reality (VR), allowing players to explore the strange world of HyperRogue in a whole new way.
