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Interview with SLASH'EM Developers

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the alpha-means-never-having-to-say-you're-sorry dept.

MilenCent writes "The O'Reilly Network posted an interview with super-deluxe Nethack variant SLASH'EM's Warren Cheung and J. Ali Harlowe last month talking about the impending beta release of v0.0.7E2. (Don't you just love incredibly provisional version numbers? In development for years and not even a 0.1 yet!) There's another recent O'Reilly article on the game too."

96 comments

  1. In development for years and not even a 0.1 yet! by toddhunter · · Score: 0, Redundant

    well, I think we all know a certain game that's record is much better than that one.

  2. Re:Oh Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    If so, what animal does it have on the cover?

  3. Network Play! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    How hard would it be to make it have "network play", ala Open Battle.net with Diablo II? It would be a very neat feature, I think.

    1. Re:Network Play! by Tomble · · Score: 5, Insightful
      There have been multiplayer roguelikes, but not many, and they've generally not got that far. Because roguelikes basically aren't suited to multiplayer games.

      They could keep the gameplay the same, if you don't mind the possibility that you'll have to wait maybe a few hours (or strictly, forever) between each single step; otherwise, you have to fundamentally change it (eg, stop it being turn based). Then other gameplay details would start to look odd, and before you know it, you've changed it into Quake.

      --
      Be careful! New moon tonight.
    2. Re:Network Play! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Diablo and Crossfire are both realtime multiplayer roguelikes that are very recognizably roguelike. I don't think change anything from tired formulas necessarily means a slippery slope down into the oh-so-terrible genre of FPS.

      Roguelikes could use a good shaking up, for all the interesting stuff you hear about on rec.games.roguelike.development, there isn't really anything new or exciting around (dungeon crawl is pretty new, and IMO the best roguelike, but it's not all that innovative).

    3. Re:Network Play! by Requiem · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The nice thing about turn-based play is that it rewards patience and diligence. The problem I have with Diablo is that it's basically just click-click-click, all reflexes, which does not lend itself well to games like angband where two breaths from an ancient multi-hued dragon mean certain death.

    4. Re:Network Play! by a_n_d_e_r_s · · Score: 1

      There exist a networked graphical game inspired by nethack called Crossfire

      "Crossfire is an open source, cooperative multiplayer graphical RPG and adventure game. Since its initial release, Crossfire has grown to encompass over 150 monsters, about 3000 maps to explore, an elaborate magic system, 12 races, 15 character classes, a system of skills, and many artifacts and treasures. Crossfire is based in a medieval fantasy world and is similar to other games of this genre."

      Sadly it lacks Nethacks humor but othereiwse it is playable.

      --
      Just saying it like it are.
    5. Re:Network Play! by slux · · Score: 1

      Civilization was also originally completely turn-based but they changed it into semi-realtime with CivNet. M.A.X. is another strategy game that used this approach.

      In those games the players play their turns simultaneously and there is a timelimit for turns so you don't need to wait forever if someone can't decide or isn't at the computer.

      Maybe this could work for roguelikes somehow as well?

    6. Re:Network Play! by ShecoDu · · Score: 1

      When it stops beeing turn based it stops beeing a roguelike game...

      I guess the solution would be making each turn 1 or 2 seconds long, if you dont do anything in two seconds it is considered waiting, otherwise the action is performed, and there might be actions that take the entire turn or actions that let you perform some other quick actions in the same turn (neverwinter nights comes to mind, they do have the same roots, right? I'm not actually sure, so correct me if I'm wrong)

    7. Re:Network Play! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, it could work.

      One approach is to use surreal time.

    8. Re:Network Play! by mojotooth · · Score: 1

      you have to fundamentally change it (eg, stop it being turn based)



      Yeah, it had always struck me that games like Gauntlet was the extension of Rogue/Nethack type games into the multiplayer dimension.



      However, it is worth noting that multiple players playing Nethack on the same system can interact, albeit indirectly, with each other. If my character dies, there is a chance that the same map level will be reproduced in someone else's future game, complete with the ghost of my character and all his equipment. Though most of it will be cursed.

      --
      -- Mojo Tooth : exploring our world as only an idiot can.
  4. unjustified decimals are annoying by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Furthermore I believe that vaporware should use imaginary version numbers like v1.3*i.

    1. Re:unjustified decimals are annoying by weston · · Score: 1

      It's a great scheme, but SLASH'EM isn't vapor. It's up on this server, for example. I've played it a number of times when I get a little bored with vanilla nethack, and it's definitely playable and stable.

      --
      Tweet, tweet.
    2. Re:unjustified decimals are annoying by sharkey · · Score: 1
      I believe that vaporware should use imaginary version numbers

      Or high school mascots from cartoons as code names. Like Longhorn.

      --

      --
      "Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
  5. Re:In development for years and not even a 0.1 yet by roll_w.it · · Score: 1

    well, I think we all know a certain game that's record is much better than that one.



    sorry for my ignorance, which one
  6. Re:Oh Really? by thoughtcrime · · Score: 4, Funny

    Killer Tripe. Here's a picture: %

    --

    ____ _______
    Duty now for the future!
  7. Re:Oh Really? by Erik_the_Awful · · Score: 0

    Jason? Freddy? Edward Scissor Hands? Janet Reno?

  8. Re:In development for years and not even a 0.1 yet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    duke nukem forever or some such shite.

  9. One word by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny
    Don't you just love incredibly provisional version numbers?

    No

  10. Looks good... by kb3edk · · Score: 3, Informative

    Good to see that people continue to breathe life into Nethack. And I thought the graphical variants for the game had topped out with Falcon 's Eye. Well, time to download the alpha before the site gets /.'ed.

    1. Re:Looks good... by AndroidCat · · Score: 1, Funny
      Are you sure you want the Alpha?
      Version 0.0.7E2 is intended to be the last alpha release in the current development branch of Slash'EM. It is not really considered playable yet, but is provided for anyone who wants to play with the new ideas.
      And doesn't that dragon in the screen shot look a little like Jar Jar? Kill!
      --
      One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
    2. Re:Looks good... by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Oh, come on...slash'em is a hacky hack hack by twits for whom the One True Game is not enough. Anyone familiar with the archetypical "Monty Haul" campaign? Slash'em is just extra chrome for the "The Sims" crowd. It adds way too much crap to an otherwise uncluttered game. Just go get the Amulet of Yendor already. Bored with nethack? Well, you should be...part of being a serious nethack player is mastering the game, getting bored, and moving on. It's like at the end of "Yellowbeard" when Dan murders his father.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    3. Re:Looks good... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      SLASH'EM is not a graphical interface like Falcon's Eye. SLASH'EM adds in a shitload of new monsters, classes, weapons, magic, levels etc. to the "plain" nethack (which is already pretty complex and robust).

      I've played nethack, I've played SLASH'EM, I love them both. Everyone owes it to themselves to download and try them. It's also a great way to learn navigation in vi (how's that for fringe benefit).

    4. Re:Looks good... by RPoet · · Score: 1

      To avoid adopting the unholy habits of VI, I always play nethack with the number_pad option. Much more friendlier than hjkl.

      --
      "Oppression and harassment is a small price to pay to live in the land of the free." -- Montgomery Burns.
    5. Re:Looks good... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      vi hits! vi hits! vi hits! vi hits! -More-

      You die... -More-

      Do you want to see what you had when you vi'd? [y/n]

  11. super-deluxe nethack by aber · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    That's NWN. A nethack module should be really interesting...

    1. Re:super-deluxe nethack by Jaysyn · · Score: 1

      They still haven't got the autogenerating dungeons thing down yet.

      Jaysyn

      --
      There is a war going on for your mind.
  12. Not even .1 yet by Berylium · · Score: 3, Funny

    Well, one good thing about being version 0.0.7e is that nothing much can be expected from it which gives people alot less power to bitch. Example: /.1 "This program is a piece! It doesn't do a damn thing and my mom writes cleaner code! Booya!" /.2 "Sir, I think you've been misinformed. As this is version 0.0.7e you have no right to bitch, it's alpha code. If you want something better code it yourself. -1 troll." ...eh, or somethin' liek that.

  13. No wonder ... by DogIsMyCoprocessor · · Score: 2, Insightful
    it has been in development for years.

    The first major challenge has been to design a protocol which is independent of machine architecture and doesn't require much overhead. Harlow settled on RFC 1014. He says, "I'm still working on fine-tuning the protocol to reduce overhead. One obvious improvement would be to move to an asynchronous protocol, rather than the current, simple synchronous protocol."

    Look, nobody's going to care that you shaved 0.2ms off the average case in the protocol if you never release the game.

    "The process is complicated by the fact that we need to be flexible enough that future window interfaces will have everything they need, but not so flexible that an external window interface could be used to cheat when playing with an official binary," says Harlow. "I believe I have achieved the latter, but I'm still a long way off achieving the former."

    Jeez, how about you release the freakin' game already and worry about the future window interfaces as they come up (if ever). You can always do a major release if you need to change interfaces and break stuff.

    At some point, you got to quit dressin' up your baby boy and let him out into the big scary world to find his way.

    --

    "And this is my boy, Sherman. Speak, Sherman." "Hello." "Good boy."

    1. Re:No wonder ... by GoofyBoy · · Score: 4, Insightful


      This is a clear case of people programming purely for fun.

      Do deadlines. No end-users requirements. No political/checkpoint milestones. No office politics.

      Let them finely hone their program to the nth degree. It seems like they are more interested in the process rather than the end-product.

      And sometimes, thats a good thing.

      --
      The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
    2. Re:No wonder ... by aardvarkjoe · · Score: 4, Insightful

      As insightful as that was...

      Mr. DogIsMyCoprocessor is apparently unaware that SLASH'EM is already a finished, fully working game. Most open source software is "under development," that doesn't mean that it doesn't work. (Nethack has been under development forever as well; most of us consider that a good thing.)

      Think (or at least learn something about the subject) before performing knee-jerk moderation, people.

      --

      How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
    3. Re:No wonder ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      slash'em has been out for years, you dumb fuck.

    4. Re:No wonder ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "It is not really considered playable yet, but is provided for anyone who wants to play with the new ideas. This is an alpha release. If your aim is simply to play Slash'EM then you would almost certainly be better off playing the latest stable version. This release is intended for those who wish to try the new ideas out and report back on any issues found."
      So there.
      SLASH'EM is not yet playable, so it's closer to DNF than nethack. Still, nice graphics! I don't play graphical versions of nethack anyway, I prefer to be able to see all the level at once all the time, sincec I use telepathy a lot it does make a difference.

    5. Re:No wonder ... by orn · · Score: 1

      "Do deadlines. No end-users requirements. No political/checkpoint milestones. No office politics."

      I believe the spirit of this, but not the letter. Every human endeavor is laced with politics, including nethack. Just read a little more and you'll start seeing it.

      --
      1. 2.
    6. Re:No wonder ... by aardvarkjoe · · Score: 2, Informative

      That is referring to the alpha version that was just released. Like 2.5.x is not a usable kernel for most purposes, but 2.4.x is.

      --

      How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
  14. Easier install (please) by Charm · · Score: 3, Informative
    You think these guys would have heard of autoconfig or something similar. Their current build system for unix systems is terrible. I though the game looked good on the linux game tome but after downloading it and trying to install it you soon realise that not enough effort has gone into making building it easier.

    Other games can why not Slashem

    --
    -- RTFM:Slackware::Beer:Saturday
    1. Re:Easier install (please) by BJH · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Autoconfig didn't exist when Nethack was originally written. Since Slashem bases their releases on the latest Nethack source, it's not in their interest to screw around with the build system - it ends up being just more stuff they have to maintain outside the Nethack tree that provides no player-visible benefit.

    2. Re:Easier install (please) by Bilestoad · · Score: 1

      You think these guys would have thought about it before wasting their time making Nethack harder to play.

      Try it; first a game with ASCII graphics and then a game with any of the tile sets. In particular try the ugly abortion that is NethackW.exe, in the latest 3.41 windows binary release.

      Adding graphics to Nethack is just a waste of time - if it's an academic exercise fine, but please don't ask people to play it. You may as well take text adventures and make them "better" by adding pictures.

    3. Re:Easier install (please) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Also, the mainline nethack developers are resistant to autoconfig because the game's been ported to many, many non-unix platforms, not all of which have the auto* tools. Or at least that was the party line a few years back...

    4. Re:Easier install (please) by GeoGreg · · Score: 1

      Building and installing Nethack ca. 1990 taught me much about makefiles. At least I knew C before I started, though.

    5. Re:Easier install (please) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually I rather like noeGNUd and it plays nethack as well as slashem.

  15. Re:In development for years and not even a 0.1 yet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What about Stars! Supernova Genesis?

  16. OT -- how to kill Lichs? by digitalhermit · · Score: 3, Funny

    Nope -- haven't read the Slash'em article. I've been too busy trying to kill these damned lichs that are popping up in Nethack. I've been hitting them with a +2 Stormbringer, tried polymorphing them, tried cancelling them, etc.. Nothing works. Anyone have clues on taking them out? No scrolls of genocide unfortunately.

    1. Re:OT -- how to kill Lichs? by Tomble · · Score: 4, Funny
      Nothing works. Anyone have clues on taking them out?
      How about chocolates, or maybe flowers. Worth a try.
      --
      Be careful! New moon tonight.
    2. Re:OT -- how to kill Lichs? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do you have PK? [yn]
      I can't tell you how much that moves me.

    3. Re:OT -- how to kill Lichs? by Repton · · Score: 5, Informative

      It's a while since I last played nethack, so my sk1llz are probably out of date ...

      But the first advice is to make sure you are standing on the up stairs. Monsters which teleport at will (including the tougher lichs) always 'port to the up stairs when they get in trouble. And if you catch them there, they escape up to the previous level. So you need to make sure you're standing on the stairs...

      Other than that, I think you can just whack them until they die. It might help if you are using Magicbane (which absorbs curses) (preferably at +2). Otherwise, try to get hold of a decent artifact (Frost Brand and Greyswandir used to be the artifacts of choice) and enchant it up to +5, or +7 if you can manage it. If memory serves, Stormbringer isn't all that hot a weapon, and +2 isn't much of an enchantment.

      [generally, you should stock up on useless potions and scrolls in the early levels.. then, use boots of water walking and a moat to turn the potions to water and blank the scrolls. Bless the potions (you can #dip 10 potions of water into one potion of holy water and end up with 10 potions of holy water). Then get a magic marker, bless the magic marker, bless the scrolls, and write lots of scrolls of enchant weapon and of enchant armour. Modulo the disclaimer in the first line :-) ]

      --
      Repton.
      They say that only an experienced wizard can do the tengu shuffle.
    4. Re:OT -- how to kill Lichs? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      If it's a plain lich, stand back and throw darts or something at it. Use a stethoscope to see how well you are doing.

      Get a magic whistle and some means of taming monsters, and tame a minotaur or a mastodon -- something that can hit really hard. If you know where a polymorph trap is, tame some dags and magic-whistle them over the trap until you get a more studly pet. And if you have a wand of speed monster, your pets fight better!

      Get some gloves, a bag, and a fresh cockatrice corpse.

      If it's an arch lich, it can summon creatures faster than you can kill them. A cockatrice corpse is about the only way out of this one. Demiliches and master liches are somewhere in the middle.

    5. Re:OT -- how to kill Lichs? by God+of+Lemmings · · Score: 1

      Kill Liches? If you are having trouble with Liches, perhaps you are going down levels too quickly and encountering big monsters too soon. (Or just unlucky enough to run across a high level bones file) By the time I even see my first Lich I'm usually equipped well enough to easily take them down. There are of course easy ways to take them out, wield a cockatrice corpse (remember to use gloves), then hit them with it. Or just genocide as soon as possible, but I prefer to polymorph myself into an Arch Lich (don't try this if you're Lawful folks) .

      --
      Non sequitur: Your facts are uncoordinated.
    6. Re:OT -- how to kill Lichs? by weston · · Score: 1

      (1) Be tough enough that they're not killing you. Of course, if you leave a master lich or higher around long enough, it probably will summon enough meanies to do you in. But if you have at least AC -5 and magic resistance, preferably cold resistance too, you should be able to weather the worst.

      (2) Wield silver if you can. Silver saber, dagger, arrows. I can't recall the damage bonus, but it's more than most artifacts will give you. Stormbringer's level drain attack will do nothing.

      (3) Liches love to teleport away to the stairs to heal up, then teleport back to threaten you. The minute you see one, see if you can head for the up stairs, and occupy that square. The Lich will teleport around you and you can whack it 'til it's dead.

      (4) In general, Liches are good practice for fighting the Wizard of Yendor. He's like them, but meaner.

      --
      Tweet, tweet.
    7. Re:OT -- how to kill Lichs? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Blue jellies and violet fungi are jus perfect for that first date.

    8. Re:OT -- how to kill Lichs? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Open Source gaming will always blow because when you can just look in the code and see how the game works it really is no fun.

      Security through obscurity is bad for information security, but when you are just hiding where the treasure is or how many hitpoints a bad guy has, it works. I don't want to just go look it up in the code. Have some fucking mystery.

    9. Re:OT -- how to kill Lichs? by gl4ss · · Score: 2, Interesting

      well, first things first: you should have a decent ac(decent ac for wandering to the castle is -20 or so, in my opinion at least, you should have poison resistance, magic resistance and reflection too before going deep to minimize sudden deaths) and a decent weapon before wandering to areas where you can bump into them(because you can bump into many other things there too..). enchanted silver sabre is a nice choice(grayswandir is what some people regard as the best weapon in the game). and then you just kill them. you could keep wands of death around too.

      easiest way to get in trouble in nethack is to descent the dungeon levels too quick.

      now what's nasty is the arch lichs summoning some friends, though if you are enough of a badass mofo that just means free kills ;).

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    10. Re:OT -- how to kill Lichs? by Des+Herriott · · Score: 1
      A few points:
      • You can look in the code, but no one's pointing a gun at your head and making you do so.
      • Even knowing how NetHack works inside out doesn't make it easy to finish.
      • As for that little Open Source troll - EverQuest, that ultra-proprietary MMORPG, has been ripped to pieces by people trying to figure out how the numbers work. It's no more of a mystery these days than NetHack is. Everyone who wants to can find out just how many HP a fire giant has, or where the Amazing Sword of Slaying (tm) drops.
    11. Re:OT -- how to kill Lichs? by Pathwalker · · Score: 1

      Magicbane (which absorbs curses) (preferably at +2).

      Why on earth would you want Magicbane at +2?
      When you enchant Magicbane, you severely reduce it's curse absorbing ability.
      Magicbane is most effective for curse protection when it is at +0 - unenchanted.

    12. Re:OT -- how to kill Lichs? by cameleon · · Score: 1

      Nope. You only reduce its special attacks, and those are at an optimum exactly at +2. The curse absorption always works the same.

    13. Re:OT -- how to kill Lichs? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, and even more - certain attacks become more or less common with various levels of enchantment.

    14. Re:OT -- how to kill Lichs? by Repton · · Score: 1

      See http://www.steelypips.org/nethack/341/art2-341.htm l for more details.

      --
      Repton.
      They say that only an experienced wizard can do the tengu shuffle.
  17. Re:In development for years and not even a 0.1 yet by Gr33nNight · · Score: 5, Funny

    *lifts up the rock*

    Hey down there, some game called Duke Nukem Forever called, they want 5 years back.

  18. complicated Copyright issue by ramzak2k · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    doesnt SLASH in SLASH'em belong to SLASHDOT?

    --

    Siggy Say, Siggy Do
    1. Re:complicated Copyright issue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      doesnt SLASH in SLASH'em belong to SLASHDOT?

      Nah... it's probably more like slash-fiction. Green slime/kobold. Yeah, baby...

    2. Re:complicated Copyright issue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      no

  19. You call this news?! by teamhasnoi · · Score: 1
    I call this news!

    Actually, I don't know what this is. Is it a secret project?

    1. Re:You call this news?! by Jugalator · · Score: 1

      From a Google Search, it seems like it's a Slash'em variation of Falcon's Eye.

      --
      Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
  20. Vaporware Fortress 2 or Duke VaporizeEm Forever? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Both of those titles are fucking vaporous mysteries.

    We all saw the screenshots that looked good, but that was 5 years ago, so by today those games are mega-suck.

    Just pull a Daikatana and release it before it becomes a completely huge joke. I mean someone might still actually buy TF2 or DNF if they where released tommorow but another 5 years and it will just be a huge joke!

    Ya by the time TF2 comes out I'll be buying it for my kids for christmas! And none of my kids have been born yet!!

    Ya son, when I was your age I wanted to play this game so badly, now you can live my dream! (woohoo ya 10 year old engine and network code is sure to roxor me soxors...blech)

  21. Slash'EM History by Repton · · Score: 1

    The history document linked from the O'Reilly page isn't loading for me ... slashdotted, maybe.

    Anyway, there is an alternative link here. Also the Google cache, although you have to imagine the arrows yourself...

    --
    Repton.
    They say that only an experienced wizard can do the tengu shuffle.
  22. If this were a commercial product by rmarll · · Score: 4, Funny

    It would be 'ready to ship'.
    Slap a big 'ol 1 on the front and put it in a box.

    Considering the state of most MMORPG's these days. You could put a script on the CD that pops up a dialog "Content comming soon!". Label it Ultimate Online Origins Space Wars Online 2. No one will ever know the difference.
    Reviewers will gush with praise saying that it sure is promising and in time it may even become a game.

    1. Re:If this were a commercial product by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Considering the state of most MMORPG's these days.

      What are you complaining about? You don't even bother to finish your sentences before releasing them.

  23. /. Tech Support? by Jahf · · Score: 1, Interesting

    So I installed this latest alpha on a RH9 box. Got "gtkhack" working and fixed the (null) font issue. When "gtkhack" loads I get the radar and can play, but my dungeon is not graphical. In other words I get the GTK app (broken numlock keys and all) but I see myself as an "@" sign and not graphically.

    Anyone know how to fix this?

    --
    It is more productive to voice thoughtful opinions (reply) than to judge (moderate) others.
    1. Re:/. Tech Support? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I've got the same problem. It'd be totally awesome if someone could help ;)

    2. Re:/. Tech Support? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Install Gentoo GNU/Linux or Debian GNU/Linux.

      Red Hat GNU/Linux is not Free enough to use.

      Sincerely,
      RMS

  24. Subject by August_zero · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I like Slash'em, and I like their large tile grpahics set better than Falcon's eye, the 3d just slows the flow of the game down and makes it harder to play.

    While I appretiate all of the extra content that Slash'em intorduces, I still prefer NetHack over it's derivatives. There is something to be said about purity. Or I might just hold a little bit of sentimental value for the grandson of the first game on the PC that really stole my heart as a kid. Still though, Slash'em is a good change of pace.

    --
    On Wall Street they say "buy low, sell high" On the pad we say, "buy high, sell high" Isn't that somehow better?
  25. graphical variant by polaar · · Score: 3, Informative

    You might also want to have a look at Noegnud ("an alternate ascii/2D/3D UI for nethack and slash'em using SDL and OpenGL"). It seems to be more actively developed, and more playable than Falcon's Eye.

  26. Text adventures with pictures by fiontan · · Score: 1
    Adding graphics to Nethack is just a waste of time - if it's an academic exercise fine, but please don't ask people to play it. You may as well take text adventures and make them "better" by adding pictures.
    You're kidding, right? King's Quest, Space Quest, Hero's Quest (aka Quest For Glory), Police Quest? They rocked my world, back when they were still text adventures :-)
    1. Re:Text adventures with pictures by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Infocom probably means nothing to you. Ten years before your time adventure games required imagination to solve. I think you'll find all those Sierra *Quest games were called graphical adventures, although that was a generous name when winning the game meant hunting-the-pixel - always a challenge on an EGA display.

    2. Re:Text adventures with pictures by fiontan · · Score: 1

      Ten years before my time? There's a big assumption. Just for the record, I got started on text-only adventure games long before Sierra came into the picture (no pun intended).

      ...when winning the game meant hunting-the-pixel...

      There was no reason to hunt pixels in the original Sierra *Quest games... the entire interactive interface was still through typing, I don't think mouse was even supported! You just happened to have a visible avatar that you could maneuver through the traditional adventure 'room' by using the arrow keys. My comment in reply to the grandparent post, was suggesting that this particular addition of pictures to the adventure game was a far from academic exercise, and actually added a lot to the game. At least, IMHO.

      I agree with you 99% that today's graphical adventures are mostly an exercise in attempting to find the combination of clicks required to solve a particular 'puzzle'. Then again, some of the puzzles in the old days devolved into 'hunt the exact spelling of the exact verb/noun the game designer intended to be used in this situation', which was arguably more frustrating.

  27. Next step.... by Jaysyn · · Score: 1

    Just read my sig.

    Jaysyn

    --
    There is a war going on for your mind.
    1. Re:Next step.... by tiluki · · Score: 1

      Something of that ilk may be found yonder .

  28. "Single Player Role Playing Game" is this possible by sneakybilly · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Do you usually sit at home by yourself "role playing"? Wierd

  29. Re:Network Play = MANGBAND by aunchaki · · Score: 2, Informative

    The multiplayer networked version of the classic Angband is called Mangband and can be found at:

    Mangband Home Hage

  30. Nethack for mobile phones by Hast · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This is a bit off topic, but does anyone know of ports of eg Nethack to mobile phones? I've been considering to get me a mobile phone for a long time and if it would be possible to play a game like Nethack that would be a killer feature.

    From the research I've done there are a couple of mobile platforms which can be used for development. I'm not quite sure just how easy it is to do "for fun" development on them though. (Stuff like Mophun for Ericsson phones.)

    1. Re: Nethack for mobile phones by rekrutacja · · Score: 2, Informative

      Duncan Booth [1] has a Nethack port for Psion mobile machines. Since Nokia 7650 [2] and SonyEricsson P800 [3] are also built on the same Symbian OS [4] which is running Psion series 5 or 7, it's possible to port it. However nobody did it .

      [1] http://dales.rmplc.co.uk/Duncan/Nethack.htm
      [2] http://www.nokia.com/nokia/0,1522,,00.html?orig=/p hones/7650/
      [3] http://www.sonyericsson.com/P800/
      [4] http://www.symbian.com/

      --
      This Is Not a Sig
    2. Re:Nethack for mobile phones by SchroedingersCat · · Score: 1

      This is a bit off topic, but does anyone know of ports of eg Nethack to mobile phones? I've been considering to get me a mobile phone for a long time and if it would be possible to play a game like Nethack that would be a killer feature.

      There is an "experimental" version of Nethack for Smartphone 2002 (Windows CE based) or PocketPC Phone available on http://www.nethack.org