Dungeon Hacks: How NetHack, Angband, and Other Rougelikes Changed the Course of Video Games

Length: 172 pages
Edition: 1
Language: English
Publisher: CRC Press
Publication Date: 2021-08-11
ISBN-10: 1032052406
ISBN-13: 9781032052403
Sales Rank: #0 (See Top 100 Books)

In 1980, computers were instruments of science and mathematics, military secrets and academia. Stern administrators lorded over sterile university laboratories and stressed one point to the wide-eyed students privileged enough to set foot within them: Computers were not toys.

Defying authority, hackers seized control of monolithic mainframes to create a new breed of computer game: the roguelike, cryptic and tough-as-nails adventures drawn from text-based symbols instead of state-of-the-art 3D graphics.

Despite their visual simplicity, roguelike games captivate thousands of players around the world. From the author of the bestselling Stay Awhile and Listen series, Dungeon Hacks: How NetHack, Angband, and Other Roguelikes Changed the Course of Video Games introduces you to the visionaries behind some of the most popular roguelikes of all time and shows how their creations paved the way for the blockbuster videogames of today―and beyond.

Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Books by David L. Craddock
Table of Contents
About This Book
Introduction: Rodney and Friends
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Chapter 1: The BAM-Like: Exploring Beneath Apple Manor
    Environmental Conditions
    BAM
    Going Commercial
    Great-Grandfathers
    Side Quests
        All in the Family
        Beyond BAM
        R&D
        Options
        Roguelikes and BAM-Likes
        Beneath Apple Archives
        Lineage
    Notes
Chapter 2: Procedural Dungeons of Doom: Building Rogue, Part 1
    A Thirst for Adventure
    Curses and Cursors
    Where Are You @?
    Procedural Creativity
    Forked
    Side Quests
        Make Your Own Adventure
        New School
        “@” Through the @ges
        An “@” Named Rodney
        Stages of Grief
        Save Scumming
    Notes
Chapter 3: Rodney and the Free Market: Building Rogue, Part 2
    Arbiters
    Keepers of the Code
    Widespread Distribution
    Typewriters and Mainframes
    Friendly Rivalry
    Legacy
    The Michael Toy
    Side Quests
        Like Father, Like Son
        Tactics
        Intellectual Property
        A Bite of Forbidden Fruit
        The Copy Protection Mafia
        Inked
        Black Magic
        More Than a Pretty Face
        Spice of Life
    Notes
Chapter 4: There and Back Again: Retrieving the Sword of Fargoal
    Creative Encouragement
    The Protectorate Sword
    The Sword of Fargoal
    Groundwork
    Side Quests
        All in the Family
        PEEKing and POKEing
        Automatic Convalescence
        Lost in a Maze
        Capulets and Montagues
    Notes
Chapter 5: When the Inmates Run the Asylum: Hack-ing at Lincoln-Sudbury High School
    No Official Status
    All Hands on Deck
    The Computer Gang
    Reinventing the Wheel
    Community
    Notes
Chapter 6: It Takes a Village: Raising NetHack
    Hack + 1
    Traffic Jam
    Curator
    Teamwork
    Cult of Personality
    TDTTOE
    Pioneers
    Side Quests
        Missing Data
        Man’s Best Friend
    Notes
Chapter 7: None Shall Pass: Braving the Mines of Moria
    Side Quests
        Koeneke’s Early Games
        Through the Curtain
        The Lost Moria 5.0
    Notes
Chapter 8: Neapolitan Roguelike: The Many Flavors of Angband
    Arcane Games
    The Years of the Lamps
    The Years of the Trees
    Simulating Virtual Reality
    The Years of the Sun
    Test of Time
    Side Quests
        Assimilation
        Deep, Dark Secrets
        Farming
        Feedback
    Notes
Chapter 9: Wish You Were Here!: Questing for Postcards in Ancient Domains of Mystery
    Decisions
    Preparing to Climb
    First Steps
    Corruption and Quests
    Magical Moments
    Lapses
    Crowd Support
    Looking to the Future
    Side Quests
        Creator’s Day
    Notes
Chapter 10: The Future of Play
    Notes
Rogue’s Gallery
Bonus Round: Reading, Writing, and Programming—An Interview with Brian Harvey
Bonus Round: Work and @Play—An Interview with John Harris
Index