Roguelike. Most people have heard of the term, but few know what it is.
A roguelike is a game based on Rogue, a game developed in the 1980s. It is ASCII based, but some include small sprites as an optional feature. Rogue, and the games that followed, have some goal, whether it be to slay the Balrog of Moria (Moria), retrieve the Amulet of Yendor (Rogue and Nethack), slay Morgoth (Angband and ToME), or something similar. Diablo took the idea of a Roguelike and made it more aesthetically pleasing.
Here is a sample of gameplay of a Roguelike (from Wikipedia):
------ - Wall
|....| ############ # Unlit hallway
|....| # # . Lit area
|.$..+######## # $ Some quantity of gold
|....| # ---+--- + A door
------ # |.....| | Wall
# |.!...| ! A magic potion
# |.....|
# |..@..| @ The adventurer
---- # |.....|
|..| #######+..D..| D A dragon
|<.+### # |.....| < Stairs to the previous level
---- # # |.?...| ? A magic scroll
###### -------
However, different roguelikes have different graphical conventions. For example, Moria (and thus Angband) use # for walls and . for rooms and hallways, while Rogue and Nethack use # for hallways and | and - for walls.
Here is a screenshot of ToME (a variant of Angband), which uses graphics, and one of Rogue, which does not:


These are so simple that almost anybody can code them. Which is a good thing, because some Roguelikes are open source. Angband, for example, has spawned
a hundred variants, including ToME. Nethack is also open, though it doesn't have dozens of variants like Angband does.
Various Roguelikes
Different Roguelikes have different styles of gameplay, too. In my experience:
Rogue - Never played it, but I assume it's a simpler version of Moria
Moria - Hack and slash. Not very hard to figure out on your own.
Angband - Hack and slash, based on Moria. Harder than moria, but more detailed and more fun. Has lots of variants to choose from.
Nethack - Has hack and slash, but is more complicated than Angband, and includes puzzles (like a
Sokoban level).
In most Roguelikes, if you die once, you are dead. So think of it as hardcore Diablo.
Don't be ashamed to use spoilers, especially when you are just starting out. If you have no idea what level an item is found on, or what resistances you absolutely need, just look for the spoilers of whatever Roguelike you are playing. You only have one life; it sucks to get to a certain level, only to die because you didn't know whether or not Potions of Cure Critical Wounds cure blindness.
And what would a Roguelike thread be without a link to
the telnet nethack server, where you can watch and be watched as you or they play nethack.
My current character in the Angband variant
EyAngband is level 27 mystic (combines priest and mage powers), but just put on the "Iron Crown of Gorlim", a cursed artifact, by accident. A mystic needs both wisdom and intelligence to provide mana, so suffice it to say, this character is screwed:
[spoiler:bdc6214784]The Iron Helm of Gorlim [3,+10]
-5 to intelligence, wisdom and perception. It provides protection from the
effects of paralyzation and fear. It gives its wielder see invisible. it
burdens its wielder with aggravation. It is heavily cursed. It is
vulnerable to damage by disenchantment.[/spoiler:bdc6214784]
hehe, i just posted this in D&D by accident.
Posts
DWARF FORTRESS
It has two modes, one of which is a roguelike
http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/features.html
The Adventure mode is roguelike.
I was
The best thing in the game is to 'win' the game in dwarf fortress mode and return there as an adventurer and
[spoiler:d59cd96b1e] slay the demon that your dwarves released by digging too deep into the mountain[/spoiler:d59cd96b1e]
Angband for the win!
i can't figure out how to kill 11 poltergeists
Here is what mine looks like. That's right. I just drank a potion of Contemplation. And my Wallhacks (detect creature) are working well.
Did you choose a hard quest? Because those are impossibly hard until you've gained a few levels.
The only rougelike I've ever beaten
Wii: 5024 6786 2934 2806 | Steam/XBL: Arcibi | FFXI: Arcibi / Bahamut
fair enough
Nethack's source: http://www.nethack.org/v343/download-src.html
Nethack patch directory: http://bilious.homelinux.org/
http://www.dungeoncrawl.org/
IOS Game Center ID: Isotope-X
Also: Pokemon Mystery Dungeon for DS is a roguelike-lite. It's pretty fun.
I really wish Ivan would get going again.
http://ivan.sourceforge.net/
Sure, it's fun, but it forces you to pretty much spend hours upon hours to even get farther.
Yah might think, oh that's not so bad, but play it, and you'll see you can't pass a point without "training" your stats up higher. Bleh.
Fun body part system though.
Where should I begin? Any nice tutorials out there to help people get started on the process?
And those mushrooms that gave you amnesia. Fuck that, I quit.
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
Also, playing as a mage has soooo many perks.
either way, you're going to have to hunt down some tutorials or something. angband has some included, but you'll have to go to a nethack spoiler site to help you out.
Castle of the Winds
Pretty fun, although I'm mostly a dungeon crawl fan than anything else related. It can get pretty unfair at some points though (meeting your death by a low-level creature if your dexterity isn't up to snuff).
Brawl: 3265 4738 2973
DoomRL
CastlevniaRL
MetroidRL
IVAN
Wii: 5024 6786 2934 2806 | Steam/XBL: Arcibi | FFXI: Arcibi / Bahamut
Boooo! Hissss! (Well, you're the first to post in this thread. I'm sure there are more, somewhere.)
RIP
Ted the Cave Troll
the
Rookie
Warrior
Level: 3
Exp: 39
AU: 51
Killed on Level 2
by a Cave Spider
Well, that was hugely entertaining. I'm gonna make a new character.
(also, 10 points to whoever gets the name reference)
The ones linked here are mostly ASCII. Is there a place where I can find DOS based, non-ASCII roguelike games?