Rogue Descender --------------- A 10 Line Amstrad CPC BASIC RogueLike (c) 2017 Graham Briggs The Story --------- Well, you need some money, quick. You lost your job as a zero-hours tavern-hand, and you need to pay back the loanshark that lent you money to buy that motorbike. That you crashed. Whilst it was uninsured. So, rumours have said that deep beneath the city, there lies a series of ancient dungeons, just filled with gold! That is conveniently handy for our story ... anyway, you don't like the sound of that loanshark's thugs, so you set out to get as much gold as you can. So you descend down deep, to the grimness of the Northern Line, where you believe the entrance to be. And lo! There it is - a sign saying "This way to the deadly dungeons full of gold!" that everyone just ignores - they must think it's an advert for the London Dungeon! As you descend, you find a scroll, and upon it it says: +----------------------------------------------+ | These deep and deadly dungeons will sap your | | life away! This free complementary scroll | | will give you a rejuvenating teleport to | | the next level, should you get weak, or | | trapped! To invoke the scroll, say the | | following: 'N' | +----------------------------------------------+ Which is jolly handy, isn't it! Anyway, you find yourself in the dungeon, which is oddly well lit and without line of sight issues. You can move in 8 directions, using the QWEADZXC incantations. But, there are monsters, mean looking ASCII monsters. And they surely get stronger as you descend into the dungeons. Luckily, they move slowly, and you can see when they've moved - a hint of a flicker. But if they hit you, you lose energy. But you can hit them, to cost them energy - and you move a lot more often than they do. Monster Dex ----------- The Natural Denizens of the Deep Dark Dungeons. They will smell your blood and head straight for you. Slowly - it was a heavy night and they all have a bit of a hangover. You will have to descend to deeper dungeons to encounter higher level creatures. To be honest, there isn't anything special about them apart from their symbols. r - rat d - coyote k - kobold o - orc i - imp Z - zombie a - fire ant O - ogre N - dorset naga T - internet troll M - mummy g - gargoyle V - vampire & - balrog L - lich w - wyrm H - minotaur J - gibbering jabber A - fallen angel D - dragon q - mastodon % - banker # - politician * - prime minister Q - queen K - king E - the emperor that pulls the strings behind the scenes G - ghost of the emperors's favourite pet gnome The Screen ---------- Most of the screen is the map. You are a humanoid character. You will start anywhere on the map. If you are unlucky, you'll be trapped in a blocked off cavern, and you'll have to use that scroll. Otherwise, move around, collect all the gold lying around, kill or avoid the enemies, and then use the scroll when you feel the level offers no more to you. The bottom line provides the following information: - L: The current level - G: The amount of gold you have collected - E: Your energy - M: Enemy energy Running Instructions -------------------- In a CPC emulator, e.g., Arnold, but the best one depends on your platform, insert the disc image into the drive, and type: RUN"Rogue" or LOAD"ROGUE" LIST - to verify it is indeed 10 lines RUN There is also a working exploded listing, which shows how it would have been written if not a ten-liner!