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+<html>
+ <head>
+ <title>Rogue (1980)</title>
+ <style>
+ body { font-family: sans-serif; width: 80%; margin-left: 10%; }
+ </style>
+ </head>
+ <body>
+ <h1>Rogue (1980)</h1>
+ <h2>Exploring the Cavern of Cuties</h2>
+ <div style="width: 70%; margin-left: 15%;">
+ <blockquote style="font-style: italic;">
+ With as much time as game designers and critics
+ think and write about the specifics of game interactions, it's
+ often useful to step back and look at the basics. Let’s ask a
+ simple question: why are there so many video games dealing with
+ social interaction and relationships, and so few that explore
+ violence and action-oriented gameplay?
+</blockquote>
+ - <a href="http://ludusnovus.net/2011/08/15/why-so-few-violent-games/">Gregory
+ Weir, <em>Why So Few Violent Games?</em></a>
+ </div>
+ <p>
+ This question is critical to understanding the value, despite
+ otherwise negative attitudes, of <em>Rogue</em>, a
+ roleplaying game from the early 1980s. <em>Rogue</em> is usually
+ noted at best as a historical anomaly, one of the first games
+ that visualized a sense of space but with otherwise uncompelling
+ mechanics; at worst, it has been called a "murder simulator" and
+ "training for psychopaths".
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Rather than try to adapt the existing dialogue and interpersonal
+ mechanics of text-driven fantasy adventure games to their new
+ interface for spatial navigation, the creators decided to add in
+ a variety of weaponry and offer exclusively utilitarian
+ fashion. In addition to the usual romantic options, the game
+ allows you to hit monsters with swords. This puzzling choice
+ might be related to its authorship - it was designed by college
+ students studying computer science rather than out of the more
+ usual fields like sociology or psychology.
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ <em>Rogue</em> was poorly received at the time of release. Historians
+ decried the mixture of weapons and armor from disparate
+ periods. Experts in weaponry were frustrated by its limited
+ tactics. <em>Drawing Room</em> magazine, a contemporary publication
+ for gaming hobbyists, said in its column "The Role of
+ Computers",
+ </p>
+ <blockquote>
+ The sweeping cinematic fight scenes found around the table in
+ games like <em>Counts and Courtship</em> are totally absent. The
+ difference between the precision of a duel, the chaos of a
+ bar-room brawl, or the stealthy preparation for an assassination
+ - all lost to a mush best described as "bumping and grinding"
+ that would have been better served to provide more variety to
+ the game's interpersonal interactions.
+ </blockquote>
+ <p>
+ Nonetheles, I think it provides an interesting view into the
+ world Weir hypothesizes - one in which games work with conflict
+ as often as cooperation, physics as much as politics.
+ </p>
+ <hr/>
+ <p>
+ The games controls are available by entering <kbd>?</kbd>, then
+ <kbd>*</kbd> for a list of commands. In addition to expected
+ ones like <kbd>f</kbd>lirt, <kbd>g</kbd>ift, and
+ <kbd>E</kbd>mbrace, the game supports <kbd>w</kbd>ield,
+ <kbd>z</kbd>ap, and other violent verbs. If <kbd>esc</kbd>
+ doesn't work to cancel a command, try <kbd>ctrl+g</kbd>; this
+ appears to be another artifact of 1980s code.
+ </p>
+ <p style="text-align: center">
+ Download Rogue (1980) for<br/>
+ <a href="rogue-1980-linux.zip">Linux</a>
+ - <a href="rogue-1980-win.zip">Windows</a>
+ - <a href="rogue-1980-osx.zip">Mac OS X</a>
+ - <a href="http://git.yukkurigames.com/?p=rogue-pphs.git;a=summary">Source</a>
+ </p>
+ <p>
+ Please note that this source code is from 1981 and written in
+ pre-standardized C. Only minor effort has been undertaken to
+ make it compile on modern computers, mostly related to 64 bit
+ cleanliness. It may crash, and it certainly will have security
+ problems if installed, as used to be traditional, with
+ setuid/setgid on a multi-user system.
+ </p>
+ <hr/>
+ <p>
+ If you're confused, don't worry! Everything above this line is a
+ half-truth at best. This was a game designed
+ for <a href="http://www.electricopolis.net/2013/03/29/pphs-jam/">♥♡♥
+ THE PULSE POUNDING HEART STOPPING DATING SIM JAM ♥♡♥ in
+ 2013</a>. <a href="postpartum.html">I've written some more about what it "really" is and why I made it</a>.
+ </p>
+ </body>
+</html>
projects / yukkurigames.com.git / blobdiff