Nethack

[Bad^Hat]

Yes, I'm sure you've all stumbled across this game and one point or another, but you really can't emphasise enough just how damn good it is.

Use this thread to share tails of your journeys in the crypt, or if possible post your high score list! I would, but it's looking pitiful at the moment as I just re-downloaded.

For those poor souls who haven't tried it yet - http://www.nethack.org/

Download - http://www.nethack.org/v343/downloads.html

Go on, it's only 3mb, you owe it to yourself to give it a try. And yeah, there is a bit of a learning curve, and many will be turned off by the vanilla graphics, but once you get past that it's one of the most involving and addictive game experiences you're ever likely to have. And a great time killer

Man, someone really needs to bring this online. It is open source...

Edit - Oh yeah, once you've unzipped it, run it with "NetHackW.exe". The other one is just ASCII and it's hard to make out anything unless you're used to it.

 

[bliink]

There are add-ons to pretty up the graphics i think.

 

[Death.Trap]

That site is really ugly, so can someone explain what this game is?

 

[Bad^Hat]

Yeah, I just tried this one - http://www.hut.fi/~jtpelto2/nethack.html

Not bad but it's hard to see where you're going and the isometric view is confusing when using the numpad. I'll stick with the regular tiles

Fun quiz - http://kevan.org/nethack

|..%...
+..b)..
|.....%

If I were a NetHack monster, I would be an acid blob. It's amazing the things that people throw away. Are you going to eat that?

(If you weren't an acid blob, you'd be a unicorn.)

Edit - It's an old school RPG. There's a guide on the site but it's pretty hefty. Just experiment and check out the controls through help > list commands.

 

[Death.Trap]

While were on the subject of small games. This game has awesome graphics, especially considering it's size.


http://theprodukkt.com/kkrieger.html#dload

And no it's not a virus, it's clean. I was just playing it myself.

 

[gh0st]

Whew... Nethack is horrendous.

 

[Bad^Hat]

Haha, maybe I should've made this a poll.

 

[Brian Damage]

Damn. I know that this game is revered as the "Son of Rogue" and all... but... well, damn, it's like whoever programmed it never heard of user-friendliness.

At least give me some keyboard shortcuts that make sense, and some clickable buttons.

"Oh, and Mr Game? Me running up against a door after you've told me it's closed should give you the hint that I want to try and friggin' open it... one key press instead of two is always better, eh?"

Ragnarok was better.

 

[Bad^Hat]

Told you there was a learning curve. Plebs

 

[StardogChampion]

This is too old. Maybe it was good once upon a time.

It's one of those games that people who use newsgroups would like.

 

[bapoo]

No worries Bad^Hat.

I have many fond memories of running around for hours playing (and dying) in NetHack.

They had to be there to appreciate it.

 

[Brian Damage]

Oh, I remember playing it ages ago on an older computer... it was good then, I'll admit. User interfaces were just evolving then.

But now, it's like a... masochist's game.

It's open source, isn't it?

No. 1546 on my list of Things To Do: Improve the ease of use of Nethack.

 

[Bad^Hat]

After a few days the commands become second nature.

Anyway, check this shit out :x

 

[Brian Damage]

No. They don't. I've been playing Roguelikes for ages, and I still find the ones with built-in user-unfriendliness incredibly irritating. I think it's beacuse you have to memorise a whole new set of flipping controls each time, even though most of the Roguelikes have the same or similar functions. Apart from the functions for the stuff that was in the original Rogue, there's no standard.

Apart from that, they're okay.

Ragnarok R0XX0Rs.

 

[Bad^Hat]

Roguelikes? The hell? I was talking about Nethack and Nethack alone

 

[Brian Damage]

Nethack, and all of it's kin are based on Rougue, an carry over that game's imperfections, as well as its charms.

The point is, when you play as many as I do (Angband, Moria, Akalabeth, Wasteland, etc) you kinda lose the ability to easily remember the various nonintuitive key layouts.

And I especially hate "Q" for "Quaff". Great. Whoever programmed the original game was certainly up on their fantasy literature. Only, the thing is, "D" for "Drink" is much more sensible and straightforward.

One that had it downpat, though, was that one they programmed in Blitz Basic. That even had a primitive lighting system.