Friday, March 4, 2011

Going Roguelike

Well, so much for "we'll cover MP3s in a couple of days". I made the mistake of downloading the source for a simple Java Roguelike written by Will Thmbleby and then got completely engrossed in tinkering with it.

So, what's a Roguelike? Rogue was an ASCII dungeon-crawler written for Unix systems in 1980. Since then it's inspired literally thousands of similar games - genericly called Roguelikes. Every year there's a competition to see who can devise the most interesting new variant in 7 days - The Seven Day Roguelike Challenge.

One Roguelike in particular has been under continuous development since 1987. If you don't mind wrecking your grades/life/marriage/career, download The Greatest Game You Will Ever Play from the project's website [nethack.org].

Here's a dime-bag to give you a taste. Use the arrow keys (or "jkhlyubn") to move your intrepid explorer - "@" - around a dungeon. Type ">" to go down any staircase (">") you encounter.



Just reload the page to play again when you're killed.

(If you want to go deeper, play the version on the "Roguelike" page above.)

54 comments:

  1. That was very fun, but I kept typing > and it would not go down the staircase

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  2. @ A Hermit - you have to be standing on the ">" when you type ">" to go downstairs.

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  3. Always clever and I always learn something new. You just kept my brain alive on a Friday.

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  4. Neat game. Their is no "start over" button though.

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  5. Also, Don't go down the stairs!!! Never, ever go down the stairs.

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  6. dead & buried on level 1 with $20 =(

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  7. i just spent far too much time playing that game hahaha

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  8. I feel like I've been raped, possibly, but I don't know if it was a man or a woman, or both. I don't know what happened to me. I was kind of sad that it didn't keep going, honestly.

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  9. All I see is "error...click for details"

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  10. What a horrible ending to one of my old, favorite, classic games!

    Very, very cool app though, as a huge Roguelike fan (nerd).

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  11. One of my favourite apps on the iPhone is a rouge like game iHack...no fancy graphics, no safety of a save...just endless frustration and fun

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  12. thanks for not forgetting Lynnie:-)
    have a great weekend and i'll be back...

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  13. Thats pretty cool using just symbols to make a game, also thanks for making links in the header it makes things more easy.

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  14. @ Marlene - the "Java" page above has links to sites where you can test whether you have the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) installed. Unfortunately, there are a lot of reasons why your browser may not be able/willing to run a Java program.

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  15. I loved these games!
    I remember Castle of the Winds was a childhood favorite of mine!

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  16. Hello lovely :)!

    thanks so much for your comment :)!

    CHANEL iS THE BEST :)))))))))

    Wish you a great weekend :)

    with love
    Mariza
    http://mar-iza.blogspot.com

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  17. Bah it wouldn't load for me! Glad you're glad the fur is back- I missed it, too.. it was time for its return. And American coffee is "full-bodied", not burnt. ;P

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  18. esagaf your blog has been broken last couple of days, cant even leave a comment sometimes

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  19. Sucio is the person down the stairs waiting for you.

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  20. @ MRanthrope - couldn't resist.
    @ The Angry Lurker - every night.

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  21. I seem to be getting an error, won't work for me. Any1 got any idea why?

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  22. Hahaha. Love Roguelikes...although that one was a bit odd.

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  23. you totally have my support!

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  24. Thats kinda funny! I tried it a few times, really awesome work. Awesome!

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  25. Nice, very nice... Followed! alphabetalife.blogspot.com

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  26. Can't play on a Mac.

    Will try on PC.

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  27. this is awesome, always something cool on your blog :D

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  28. lmfao not sure what i did, but had a good time. got ya killed on the first level with 28 bux. winningest!

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  29. I came here to comment and spent like 45 minutes that stupid game

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  30. took me a while to figure out wtf I was trying to do. made me feel like an idiot

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  31. Sweet...thanx Sucio. Downloaded it.

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  32. I kinda killed you and buried you on Level 1... sorry dude... but you did have $18... but I'm not sure if you can bring that into the afterlife haha... Great work!

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  33. How dear you give me SORCE for a game, now I'm going to be playing with that instead of doing my work!!!

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  34. what did i just play, oh god

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  35. but I don't want to kill the dog :(

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  36. Its very well made, a played two times :)

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  37. where are you...*le sigh*

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