Monsterland

Short description

A commercial action shooter with appealing DOS-like appearance by developer Second Variety Games.

Showcase and Basic Data

Developer granted permission to use these screenshots.

  • Project name: Monsterland
  • Author: Second Variety Games
  • Latest version: 1.15
  • Release date: 12/14/2015
  • Pascal compiler: Free Pascal 3.0.0
  • SDL Version: 1.2
  • Further libraries: sdl_image, sdl_mixer
  • License: commercial product
  • Open source: no
  • Official website: none except Steam page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/406920

Interview with Aleksey from Second Variety Games

Could you please give a short description of Monsterland for those who have never heard of it?

Aleksey: Monsterland is a 2D realtime shooter portrayed entirely through ASCII characters. This includes blood, lighting, particles, etc. Its only gameplay mode is a 3-hour story campaign, which has voiceovers, triggers and scripted sequences. The gameplay of Monsterland was heavily influenced by original Doom games (1 and 2).

Why did you decide to choose Pascal as a programming language and SDL as a library for your projects?

Aleksey: Pascal is an underrated, well-rounded programming language. It has good diagnostics and strict syntax, which removes ambiguity from error messages. It also helps that I was first introduced to it in 1992.

SDL was chosen because I’ve also been writing an engine tied to DirectX, and given where Windows is heading, it was a mistake I didn’t want to repeat. SDL 1.2 didn’t have accelerated 2D though, so I had to do it via OpenGL manually.

What do you think is the most interesting Pascal/SDL/SDL2 project out there (besides your own, of course :-D)?

Aleksey: If Dwarf Fortress still used Pascal, I’d name that. Otherwise, DoomRL I guess.

Are there any further steps planned for the Monsterland series? What will they be?

Aleksey: Aw, you flatter, but Monsterland will not be continued.

Are there any new projects planned?

Aleksey: I’m starting to work on a new type of IF (interactive fiction) game. I clearly have an obsession with text visuals.

There’s also the ambitious isometric RPG I’ve been writing in C for years, the “magnum opus”, but it’s too ambitious at the moment, even though a lot of work has been done. I wish I wrote it in Pascal instead – it would’ve been easier to debug.