Stealth roguelike

I have a game idea which need some further improvement: A stealth roguelike with turn-based gameplay, grid movement, tile-based graphics and high difficulty. The player character navigates through random generated levels, avoid guards, gather loot and find an exit to the next level. If player gets detected by a guard, the game is over. After finishing a level, player can buy various new upgrades with the gathered loot. Also, the game is pure stealth game, so no any kind of combat system.

The idea of the game is that the guards have Field Of Vision and the player character has not. Surrounding tiles of a guard are lit up by the FOV of the guard. The player character needs to avoid tiles lit up by the guards otherwise the player is more likely to get detected. Also, the game has only very small amount of colors: white for guards, light grey for lit up tiles, dark gray for non-lit up tiles and black for the player.

I would like to know what others think about this kind of game idea. I have already made a prototype of this kind of game with ASCII.
Sorry for my English.

 

This sounds like a pretty cool idea right as you describe it above.

Another interesting angle might be to include some additional complexities for later levels:

NOISE:

- when you move you make noise
- noise spreads out in all directions
- some types of guards might be deaf, or have really good hearing
- some guards might be completely blind, but hear really well

COSTUMES/CAMOUFLAGE:

- ability to pick up certain costumes or camouflage that lets you pass closer to guards than otherwise possible
- certain guards might be immune to it.

GUARD COOPERATION:

- blind guards who hear you might blow a whistle to attract other guards who can see
- vice versa

GUARD ANTAGONISM:

- some guards might hate other factions of guards
- or maybe there is a sound you can make to make them hate each other
- if you can get them together, they might start fighting and let down their guard

The above might be best communicated with colors, or else with shapes or patterns.

Kurt

 

Adding on to that.

- when you throw an object it makes noise
- when you hit an object with the one you threw it might make more or less noise depending on what it is

 

Good ideas, especially costumes and camouflage. Reminds me much about the game Commandos.
I have considered having a minimalist approach, so the lit up adjacent tiles of the guard are supposed to be both FOV and the hearing distance.
I have also been thinking about some supernatural abilities like teleporting, invisibility, permeation, possession and cloning.