NetHack

NetHack is a roguelike computer game originally released in 1987. It is an evolution of an earlier game called Hack (computer game) (1985) which was itself an evolution of Rogue (computer game) (1980). The name NetHack stems from the fact that its development was originally (and continues to be) coordinated through the Internet; it is not a multiplayer game.

NetHack is one of the oldest games still being actively developed, with new features and bug fixes regularly being added by a loose group of volunteer developers, commonly called the DevTeam.

The player takes the part of a dungeon-delving hero in search of the Amulet of Yendor. The quest spans more than 50 levels, most of which are randomly created. Each level contains monsters, items and much more.

NetHack is traditionally played using .

__TOC__

=Game=

Before playing the game, you are invited to select a race, class, gender, and alignment for your character, or allow the game to create a random character for you. There are traditional character roles such as knight, wizard, and rogue, but there are also unusual ones, including archeologist, tourist, caveman, and valkyrie. Your character s class and alignment dictate what god you serve in the game; if you keep your god happy you can receive aid and gifts.

After constructing your character, your task is introduced:

: After the Creation, the cruel god Moloch rebelled against the authority of Marduk the Creator. Moloch stole from Marduk the most powerful of all the artifacts of the gods, the Amulet of Yendor, and he hid it in the dark cavities of Gehennom, the Under World, where he now lurks, and bides his time.

Your character is initially accompanied by a pet animal, typically a kitten or little dog, although Knights begin with a pony. You can name your pet, and you can tame more pets along the way - domestic animals can be tamed by feeding them, and other monsters can sometimes be tamed by magic. Pets are very useful, not only for assisting you in combat, but also for detecting cursed items and stealing from shops.

This game is unparalleled in scope: hundreds of unique items, situations, monsters, and personages provide opportunities for interaction with the gameworld. Some interactions (and bugs) are rare and occasionally amusing. For example:

You fall into a pit! You land on a set of sharp iron spikes!--more-- The spikes were poisoned! The poison was deadly...--more-- Do you want your possessions identified

(This is referred to as YAAD or YASD, meaning Yet Another Annoying Death or Yet Another Stupid Death .)

The prompt Do you want your possessions identified , abbreviated as DYWYPI, is given at the end of any game, allowing you to learn any unknown properties of the items you had found.

It is often said that the DevTeam thinks of everything (acronym TDTTOE)- whatever you can think of for your character to do, they will probably have thought of a plausible response.

For example, attempting to dip a potion into itself would produce: That is a potion bottle, not a Klein bottle!

Or, being burdened while going down the stairs would produce: You fall down the stairs.

Bugs, funny messages, stories, experiences, and ideas for the next version are discussed on the Usenet newsgroup, [news:rec.games.roguelike.nethack].

To win the game, a player ascends and becomes a demigod or a demigoddess. This is achieved by sacrificing the Amulet of Yendor to a player s deity after surviving some of the hardest levels in the game. While Nethack is very difficult, veteran players often attempt conducts, or voluntary restrictions on their behavior tracked by the game. Some of the voluntary conducts include not wishing for objects, holding to a vegan or vegetarian diet, being an atheist, and the exceptionally difficult pacifist conduct, in which the player cannot directly kill any creature (such players often use a strong pet to fight on their behalf).

=Spoiler files=

Players over the years have compiled extensive documentation for every aspect of the game, from instructions on exactly how to navigate certain obstacles, to detailed formulae explaining the probability of in-game events. Gleaning spoiler information from the source code is known as source-diving . The documents are collectively known as spoilers .

Opinions vary on the use of spoilers. Nethack is widely considered one of the hardest games of all time, due to its intentional lack of a facility to reload a saved game after making a mistake. Even with complete access to all spoilers, the game still poses a considerable challenge. Many people have played for many years without ascending. Some consult spoilers extensively during the game, others only consult common information, and others choose to rely only on their own memory of reading spoilers.

It is not known whether anybody has ascended completely without the use of spoilers, although [http://roguelikes.sauceforge.net/pub/nethack/stories/ some have come close].

=Graphics=

The following is a sample from a typical game session with what would be considered improved graphics with extended ASCII symbols (often referred to as IBMgraphics or DECgraphics modes):

Key: *@ - you *d - your dog *dollar sign - money *Grave accent - boulder or statue *[[less than|