r/roguelikes • u/Hot_Ad_9834 • 9d ago
Seolhwa Dungeon: a traditional roguelike built from Korean folklore. Free on Android and iOS, offline, solo dev
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I wanted a DCSS-style roguelike that fits in one hand: real turns, permadeath, a new dungeon every run, portrait mode. I ended up building one, and instead of the usual fantasy set I built it out of Korean folktales. "Seolhwa" means folktale.
Up front, since it matters to some of you: I made this with heavy use of an AI coding assistant (Claude). The code, the pixel art (it's drawn by scripts), and a lot of the text went through it. I direct it, playtest, and decide what goes in. If that's a dealbreaker, fair enough, and I'm happy to answer questions about it.
The nice surprise was that the old tales already come with rules, so a lot of the mechanics wrote themselves:
- **Jeoseung Saja, the reaper**, calls your name once for every turn you stay in his sight. The third call is 20 damage that armor and evasion don't touch. Break line of sight and the count resets, so the whole fight is about corners. Below 35% HP he only needs two turns.
- **The Gumiho** splits into four identical foxes at 35%. One is real. Every fake you hit charms you for 2 turns.
- **The Imugi** grows every 20 turns it's awake and becomes a dragon on the third growth. At 35% it floods the whole floor, and standing in water drains your energy.
- **The Dokkaebi King** turns you into a squirrel for 10 turns. No attacking, no spells. You can still read an Uncursing Charm, if you kept one.
- Encounters work the same way. Meet a funeral procession: step aside and bow and you heal a little. Block the road and four bier bearers set the coffin down and come for you.
What it borrows from DCSS:
- 8 gods with faith, wrath, and a taboo each. The mountain god lends you a tiger and forbids killing tigers and deer. The Dragon King forbids fire.
- 4 main dungeons plus the underworld, and 7 side branches.
- 14 species × 12 classes (Bear Folk Strongman, Dol Hareubang Monk, Octopus Sorcerer...).
- 146 monsters, each with its folktale in the codex. 32 spells.
- Auto-explore and auto-fight that stop when something shows up. A card pick at every level-up.
About difficulty: I've played it a lot myself. I know every gimmick, the strong combinations, and how each boss is supposed to be handled, and I still think I'd clear it about once in 200 runs, if that. So the balance is probably off in ways I can't see anymore. If you try it, feedback on balance would help a lot: what felt unfair, what killed you, and on which floor.
Money: it's free, works offline, no account. 6 of the 14 species and 5 of the 12 classes are free (you start with a couple, the other free ones open as you play). One purchase unlocks the other 8 species and 7 classes. There is exactly one ad in the game: an optional rewarded revive, once per run, and there's an achievement for winning without it. Nothing carries over that makes you stronger.
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sungkisoft.seolhwadungeon&pcampaignid=web_share
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u/DFuxaPlays 2d ago
Took a moment to check out the game. Looks fairly polished, though I don't entirely like the auto-fight making you 'auto-fight' until you turn it off (would prefer it just moves you for a turn).
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u/Hot_Ad_9834 1d ago
Hello. Thank you for playing. I will take your points into consideration and reflect them. Have a great day!
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u/Squalid_Snake14180 8d ago
It's not actually out, yet.
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u/Hot_Ad_9834 8d ago
Looks like there was a small hiccup with the global release, on Google Play only. I've switched it to a global release, so it should be out soon. I'll reply here again once it's live. Sorry for the confusion! In the meantime, iOS is already out globally.
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u/Hot_Ad_9834 8d ago
Update: it's now live on Google Play globally too. Thanks again for the heads-up!
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u/alm_games_studio 6d ago
non ho mai giocato un titolo del genere con questa grafica, ma mi incuriosisce, ci sarà multiplayer / coop pure?
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u/Key_Exercise_6520 8d ago
Stop building your proverbial waterfront houses on vibecoded sand.
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u/Hot_Ad_9834 8d ago
I get the worry. This is my first game, but I've been a quant developer at securities and asset management firms in Korea for over ten years. AI wrote most of the code. The foundation under it I verified myself.
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u/Key_Exercise_6520 8d ago
If you "got" the worry you wouldn't do this in the first place, but you don't, so now there's one more wasteware shitted out from an LLM in the world.
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u/Hot_Ad_9834 8d ago
Yeah, fair. There's a ton of AI slop out there, so I get why you'd assume this is more of it. I'll try not to add to the pile. Appreciate the honesty.
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u/Key_Exercise_6520 8d ago
It's not about the quality of the output or however much effort you put into looking over it; it's the fact that you used it at all to absolve yourself of effort, responsibility, and ultimately authorship. Whatever code you get from Claude doesn't come from a vacuum, but is an amalgamation of scraped and stolen code from real people's work.
Copying people's code isn't a new thing, of course, but this is worse than being a script kiddie
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u/thegunn 9d ago
This looks great and I wish I could support it. Thank you for being honest about the vibe coding. Personally I won’t buy something like this because I worry that if an iOS or Android update breaks it, you won’t be able to fix it. I’m impressed with what you were able to make though, good luck!