Slashdot Mirror
Nethack 3.4.0
Dark_Nova writes "Nethack 3.4.0 - the latest version of the greatest game ever created - has just been released. See the release notes for details about what's new, or go here to download it."
← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)
Now I get to loose productive time as an adult. At least I'll get paid this time.
The game is amazingly deep. There's just so much you can do in it. There are tons of easter-eggs buried in there and lots of references to other works of fiction
I'm sure others who have more knowledge in Nethack will provide more info. I myself am not an expert on the subject.
Lesbian Nazi Hookers Abducted by UFOs and Forced Into Weight Loss Programs - -all next week on Town Talk.
Hopefully, this edition will have the Amulet of Yendor in it.
"It's the little touches that make a future solid enough to be destroyed" --William S. Bourroughs
Just divide the number of people who download the latest version of this game by the number of valid IP's on the internet and you can figure out exactly what percentage of people on the planet earth won't be contributing to the world's "population" problem ;-)
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -David Hume
When i first played Diablo all i could think was, "Hey this is just hack with a nice interface". All the same elements are there except that nethack has a depth and subtle complexity that Diablo lacks.
i'm being chased by the @ and the %. Well, at least its not the / and the .
An advantage that Nethack has over modern video games is that you use your brains, not your hand-eye coordination. It is, in fact, a strategy game. Also, you entirely determine its pace (it is turn based). This is useful if you want to play it while waiting for something else (e.g. a long compile) to finish.
Ne mæg werig mod wyrde wiðstondan, ne se hreo hyge helpe gefremman.
Tell me they've got rid of the horrible "configure the thing by editting config.h" and replaced it with autoconf or somesuch. I don't mind picking out the game options by hand, but making sure it uses the right term\(cap|lin\)/ncurses library is a pain in the ass.
(Anyway, I'm a slashem addict myself)
Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
nethack is one of the deepest, most complete games out. If you think it should be possible to do, then more likly than not you can do it in nethack.
If your given it a go for the first time, prepare yourself to be disappointed. Be prepared to spend the first ~hour or so dying many times mostly from starvation and YASD (Yet another stupid death. But if you get that through hour or so and last beyond around level 10, you will be hooked for life (not neccassarily a good thing!). I would recommend reading some of the many guides on the net, but avoid the spoilers at least for the first while, it will spoil the satisfaction of discovering things yourself (like #dipping your sword into a poition of poison will make your sword poisoned as a small example).
I think Nethack has a large following because it is a well-balanced, difficult, and elaborate game.
If you look at something like Diablo... One could argue that Nethack is a more elaborate game. You can be sure though that the Diable developers played Nethack before.
Sure, you don't have fancy graphics... even though some people got good results on that...
http://slashem.sourceforge.net
It is still turn-based... so what? A lot of recent RPGs are turned-based at least in part (Might and Magic, Wizardry...).
I'm surprised to read quite a few posts from people saying "What's Nethack?" ... well, here's some information to get you started on an answer:
So there you go. NetHack. What is it? The longest running, most amazing, coolest, open source game in the history of computers.... or something.-- null
Heres a game that has real playability. You could play nethack for 100 hours+ and still not "master" it. I consider this to be more entertaining than playing some shoot-em-up that can be solved in 10 hours or less. Other games may be pretty, but this game has SOUL.
... many hours of playability. If new game authors would make games with the same appeal and infinite replayability as nethack, I might *never* go outside again! :D
The infocom games were similar
[sig]you really dont want the answers, trust me[/sig]
Where can I get a reg code for this? Anybody got a good warez site for this one?
Oh wait, wrong game.
Nethack isn't perfect though. I think the Monk could use some tweaking (perhaps a slight improvement in fighting ability or the ability to advance beyond the basic skill level in attack spells in exchange for a stricter penalty for eating meat).
My only political goal is to see to it that no political party achieves its goals.
And at a size of 1.1 MB?!?!?! How am I supposed to download that on my dialup connection?
The NetHack DevTeam is pleased to announce the release of NetHack 3.4.0.
NetHack 3.4 is an enhancement to the dungeon exploration game NetHack. It is a distant descendent of Rogue and Hack, and a direct descendent of NetHack 3.3.
There are a great number of bug fixes in this release, as well as many changes and surprises beyond what you see listed below. Here is a brief overview of some new additions and changes in the game.
We've also included variations of enhancements contributed by members of the NetHack community at large. Among them:
A fuller list of changes for this release can be found in the file doc/fixes34.0 in the source distribution. The text in there was written for the development team's own use and is provided "as is", so please do not ask us to further explain the entries in this file.
The NetHack 3.4.0 source code supports many different platforms including most Unix versions, Windows, DOS, Linux, Apple Macintosh(tm), Apple Macintosh OS X(tm), OS/2(tm), Atari(tm), and Amiga(tm).
Also, note that the Gnome toolkit interface is still considered an experimental option. We have not enhanced the port ourselves, and so far we have not received any contributions doing so from the NetHack community.
-- Happy NetHacking! --
Win32
nh340win.zip (by HTTP)(about 1M)
nh340win.zip (by FTP)(about 1M)
Linux
nh340lin.tgz (by HTTP)(about 1.1M)
nh340lin.tgz (by FTP)(about 1.1M)
NetHack 3.4.0 Linux Elf with TTY and Athena-widget-based (traditional X11) graphics interfaces (including tiles). This version requires X11 libraries, which are installed on almost all Linux systems.
This binary has support for tty and X11 windowing systems, but not Qt. This means you will need to have X11 libraries installed on your system to run this binary, even in its tty flavor.
nh340linQt.tgz (by HTTP)(about 1.2M)
nh340linQt.tgz (by FTP)(about 1.2M)
NetHack 3.4.0 Linux Elf with TTY and Qt-based graphics interfaces (including tiles). This version requires the Qt libraries (version 2.2 or 2.3) which may or may not be installed on any particlar Linux system.
Note: Most Redhat installations do not include Qt by default; it must be specifically selected.
Note: If you have KDE 2 installed, you have Qt nstalled.README.linux Additional details about the Linux binary. If you are not running Redhat, check the System information in this file to see if you need to build from source, instead of using these binaries.
So don't do it. Nobody forces you to play a monk, and you can configure it so that RNG doesn't give you one. Experienced players hate Monks, but they're great for newbies to get a feel of the game, and the vegetarianism is a nice twist.
(Besides, IMHO its the slashem Drow whos unbalanced. But who cares, its a game.)
Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
The deal with NetHack is that is has been in development for ~15 years, and almost all of that work has gone into the gameplay. The interface hasn't changed at all in forever, there aren't really any graphics, so all of the work that is put into the game goes into how it plays, not how it looks.
Once I get really into a game, the graphics don't much matter (excepting maybe a few select games, such as Myst). Once I've been playing for very long, I stop really seeing the details of the graphics, and see more of the abstract concepts involved. If new graphical effects are slowly leaked out over time, I may continue to pay them some attention (in Black and White, for example, I continued to pay some attention to how my creature was growing, getting fatter or thinner, and looking nicer or meaner), but it's mostly at the level of mild amusement. As long as I'm just going to see the abstracted version of what's really going on, why waste a lot of time on the interface? Put the time into game play, because that's what I really care about.
The problem, though, is that people are initially attracted to a game by the graphics, even if the graphics don't ultimately have a big impact on how much they enjoy it. I've been playing NetHack since, uhhh, shit, I dunno when. Given modern standards for graphics, most people look at it and snort in derision. I know this happens all the time when I'm playing and someone wanders by and asks what I'm up to. I can try to explain that the gameplay is _way_ more important than the graphics, but it's hard to get people to sit down and put in the effort to learn it.
I'm still happy playing, but this makes me a little nervous. How many new people are finding NetHack these days? I'm guessing it's not many. If NetHack can't keep attracting new blood, it'll eventuall stagnate and die. _Man_, that would suck.
Arrr, it be the infamous pirate, No Beard Pete!
Has anyone checked out Falcon's Eye? It's a frontend for NetHack that has 3D isometric graphics and background music, and it's available for Linux, DOS and Windows. It looks fabulous, and I think it's a great way to get new people interested in the game.
There may not be a complete Palm Port yet, but for those interested, the project is well underway at http://nethack-palm.sourceforge.net/
Well, for one, the graphics of netHack have always been *so* much more advanced than Return to Castle Wolfenstein. I mean, just take one glance at the detail of a nethack shot and you'll fall in love. Avoid those things like Falcon's Eye, or X11 enhanced interfaces, the original ASCII is truly beautiful..
Plus, there are cute animals in nethack, can't beat that.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
...about the Nethack tournament here, starts on Halloween. I've never played the tournament, but all this hype here will probably get me started!
A few months back I listed by top three games of all time in regards to how much time I spent on them. (No indication if they were the "best" games I played, just the ones with the most hours logged.
#3 was the Diablo series and expansion.
#2 was the Civ series. Each one grabs me and doesn't let go. I've played for 24 hour blocks of time.
#1 was Nethack. It's so incredible, so in depth. And so easy to die and have to start again.
If you haven't tried this yet, and you have enough imagination not to need fancy graphics, give this a try. Then go read some strategies on the web, get completely overwhelmed by possibilities, and try again. 8) "Hmm, if I engrave Elbereth on the floor with this unidentified wand, what will that do..."
=Blue(23) a/k/a iamBLUEhearmeroar
LITTLE GIRL: But which cookie will you eat FIRST? C. MONSTER: Me think you have misconception of cookie-eating process.
It is not designed such that the player is ensured to eventually win. Almost every commercial game uses the same psychological feedback formula of "optimal" reward that essentially makes every game blend into each other.
Although Diablo/Diablo2 might perfect that formula such that playing all the way through is very engaging, the replayability is low due to the fact that you know the game is designed for you to win.
Nethack is a universe that is vast enough that winning is exceptionally difficult, even if you read all the spoilers. Yet you still have the impression that it is easy throughout.
Maybe though if there is one hint to take to heart it is to learn how to use and make holy water.
It takes far longer to get into and appreciate the wonder that is nethack. You can turn off autopick up and the game becaomes incredibly more complex as you go. I finished nethack a few times, my shortest overall time was around 19 hours. The first time it took me about 45 hours of playtime.
:)
How many other games can you do this?
Run from a pack of monsters you can't possible beat. So as you approach an open stretch of water you fire a wand of cold, or spell and freeze the top of the water. You skoot across the water (possibly slipping if wearing metal shoes) to the other side. Then you wait on the other side for the monster's to approach. After they are over the water, on the ice, you send them so fire. Okay boom it hits them. Maybe it hurts them a lot... but that doesn't matter because the fire melts the ice and if they can't swim then you can watch 'em drown. This is just one of dozens of cool things you can do in nethack.
My favourite nethack memory was wearing a ring of conflict and watching the four horseman of the apocolypse kill each other over and over again as I sacrificed the Amulet on the wrong alter and laughed as my god tried in vain to kill me for this blasphemy.
Nethack R00lz!@#!E
--- I do not moderate.
But you just haven't given it sufficient chance. It only seems clunky at first because people are not used to the game's key ideas:
A. You don't need flashy graphics
B. You only have one life
Perhaps you are frustrated by other things as well, but these two things seem to turn off the most people, as far as I can see. People who get hung up on the game's difficulty and/or interface often fail to notice the hundreds of things that can actually happen in the game that make you stop and say "I can't believe they thought of that!" My wife was playing one time; she read a scroll of Punishment and was outfitted with a ball and chain. Later, she fell in a pit trap, and while attempting to climb out, the ball rolled in and hit her character in the head, ending the game. I find that completely funny and cool. Or the fact that you can get rings from kitchen sinks. Makes sense, right? Discovery is everything in Nethack...
It teaches you vi!
"See, boss, I'm learning editor commands."
Can you imagine using a scroll of genocide in a realtime fight? "Uh-oh, the orcs are hitting me! Quickly, I'll a)pply my bag (item T), take out the scroll (item h), r)ead it (it's item n now), answer 'orcs'..." You'd be dead; there's no way you could do it in realtime. The interface would have to change greatly, and again, it would be a very different game.
If, on the other hand, you make it multiplayer but keep it turn-based, what happens if Joe the Barbarian decides to take ten minutes examining his inventory? What if somebody has to be AFK to go to the bathroom? Everybody just has to wait? It would scale poorly and it would go extremely slowly. (By way of comparison, a chess game has maybe 70 moves by each player; a NH game might have 70,000, so anything that extends the length of a turn gets greatly multiplied.)
Falcon's eye has some problems... there are some concepts that work fine with keyboard/ascii that just dont translate to a mouse driven game. For example; casting spells takes a directional parameter; instread of just clicking in the general direction you want to shoot, you have to click the arrow for that direction that pops up in a dialog box.
Worse, the keyboard doesnt behave like ASCII or tile nethack, which is offencive to habitual players.
monkeys.
The interface hasn't changed at all in forever, there aren't really any graphics
N SHOTS
Au contraire. http://www.hut.fi/~jtpelto2/nhfeatures.html#SCREE
Yes that is nethack. You can spew all you want about "gameplay is king", but I'm guessing even you don't play chess with scraps of cardboard with letters on them for your pieces. When I go to the symphony, I like to dress nice and see my date dressed nice, even though we're just listening. If you really wanted to cut out all the "irrelevant crap" in life, you'd just get a feeding tube and have your muscles electrically stimulated (something I fear I'll need after playing nethack, yes. I might pick up falcon's eye just for kicks though)
I've finally had it: until slashdot gets article moderation, I am not coming back.
That is why I started to play nethack.
I wanted to learn the vi movement keys.
Then my nethack skills outpaced my vi skills,
and I keep getting frustrated by trying to move
diaganally in vi.
My favorite dirty NetHack message:
"The nymph is covered with your goo!"
To get this you have to polymorph yourself in to an ochre jelly and attack a nymph.
- Have a picture
That reminds me of my favorite way to get rid of trolls as a monk. For those who don't know, trolls come back from the dead, over and over and over. Most of the time you keep them from reviving by eating their corpses. But monks aren't supposed to eat meat. The solution is to chuck them into a pool of water. When they revive they drown. The only problem is that pools of water aren't that common and this doesn't work on water trolls. I haven't tried it on Slashdot trolls, but I imagine it should work.
My only political goal is to see to it that no political party achieves its goals.
Tension? That's a bit of an understatement. It's brought me to tears on more than one occasion. Before anyone makes fun of me, I would like to see you get all the way to the bottom level as a vegetarian monk only to have your quest artifact stolen (thus removing my only source of magic resistance) and your robe vaporized (thus preventing you from successfully casting any spell which might help to improve your situation) and NOT cry. I've also died on the astral plane while holding a couple of amulets of life saving (I forgot to take off the amulet of magical breathing after the plane of water). This game isn't just tough; it will break you. You die hundreds of times and then you finally get a character that you think can make it, but all of a sudden, at the time calculated by the game to be most devestating to you, your character meets up with something that you're not quite prepared for, or that you wouldn't expect to give you any trouble and your character is dead.
My only political goal is to see to it that no political party achieves its goals.