Roguelike Radio Roguelike Radio ep 166: Jupiter Hell Classic, with Kornel Kisielewicz
Jul 26, 2025
Kornel Kisielewicz, indie dev and founder of ChaosForge behind DoomRL and Jupiter Hell. He talks about building Jupiter Hell Classic, modernizing old roguelike engines, control and UX upgrades, backporting fixes to DoomRL, and design choices that balance crunchy tactics with modern conveniences.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
From DoomRL Origins To Jupiter Hell Classic
- Kornel recounted evolving from DoomRL and smaller licensed roguelikes to a successful Kickstarter and full release of Jupiter Hell.
- He explained Jupiter Hell Classic is a ground-up total conversion of DoomRL rules and engine, reskinned into the Jupiter Hell world with improvements.
Platform Ports Hurt By Timing And Dev Kit Access
- Kornel notes porting a custom engine to Switch was technically hard and sales were muted due to console lifecycle timing.
- He plans a future patch for Switch 2 but dev kits for indies are hard to obtain.
Use Regular Streaming To Stay Focused And Connected
- Kornel streams development weekly to stay accountable, force focus, and improve public-speaking for talks.
- He uses streams to showcase progress, prevent distracted work, and involve community feedback on design.