iRogue

iRogue is a game for the PalmPilot. It is open-source freeware available under the GPL. It is derived from rogue, with some bits of other random rogue-like games thrown in. If this interests you, keep reading.


ok, but what is rogue?

Rogue is old, for a computer game. This means that either (a) you have never heard of it or (b) you get all misty-eyed and nostalgic when reminded of it. Its many descendants are known as "rogue-like" games. Perhaps you have heard of moria, omega, nethack, ularn, or angband.

Here are some links with more information if you really don't know what I'm talking about.


Status of iRogue

The current version is: 0.30 (alpha 3.0.) It has undergone a "major revision" since the two-mumble version; see installation notes below if you have an old version.

If you would not tend to describe yourself as an Alpha-Testing Pilot-Crashing Lab Rabbit, you probably do not want to install this game on your PalmPilot. You have been warned --- in the worst case, a buggy application could force you to hard-reset. If you know what that means and are unfazed, you may continue reading.

Installation

Hello lab rabbit!

You should download and install the two ".prc" files from this zip archive. (Even though iRogue is puny compared to other roguelike games, it is too big to fit in 64K. So it is split into multiple files.) You can expect the entire game to occupy around 110K.

NOTE to people who have visited this page before:
If you installed an earlier version of this game, i.e. before I changed the name to iRogue, you should delete the old "Rogue" and "Rogue Library" from your PalmPilot before installing the iRogue files. (fyi, I also experienced some problems with SwitchHack and LauncherIII due to the name change. Turning off SwitchHack and similar hacks during this process, which I forgot to do, would probably avoid that fun little soft reset I had. I also deleted and reinstalled LauncherIII to get the "right" name to show up, though there's probably some simpler way to do that.)

My current test platform is

Let me know what you have installed iRogue on (successfully or unsuccessfully.)

How to Play

See the instructions, which should be more or less up-to-date.

Source?

"iRogue" is a derivative work based mostly on rogue 5.3-clone and urogue (they are also freely available and you should be able to find them from The Rogue Home Page.)

freeware

iRogue is "freeware". I wrote (constructed, ported, swiped large parts of) this game solely for my own amusement, though I am pleased if it happens to amuse someone else (other than my fiance whose idea it was.)

On the one hand, anything "free" is of course immediately more interesting than if it were not free, just like anything "on sale". Freeware! Must download...

On the other hand, you get what you pay for. I will fix any bugs/misfeatures that particularly bother me and, if I have time and am able to do so, I will try to fix any bugs/misfeatures that you report. (If you have problems just installing it, I will sympathize but may not be able to help much.) No guarantees.

On the gripping hand, iRogue is also "open source". If I fall off the face of the planet and something is particularly bothering you, theoretically you can fix it yourself.

open source

The iRogue source is freely available under the GNU General Public License. The code is not a pretty sight, but you can have a copy if you want it.


Notes

What's new in this version

I've changed the name and added a bunch of things. If you really want, I could make a list.

If you have an old version, you must delete "Rogue" and "Rogue Library" before you upgrade to "iRogue" and "iRogue_Library".

Things I need to do

I've added a bunch of monsters, weapons, and armors. The game is probably not "well balanced" at the moment. Basically I need to tweak a lot of numbers (monster hit points, damage, etc.). If something seems particularly unfair at the moment, let me know.

Infecting others

Because iRogue requires two files, you can't beam it to someone using just the Applications 'Beam' option: that won't allow you to transfer iRogue_Library.prc.

I have successfully beamed a previous version by using the fabulous free ZarfCatalog 1.0, a.k.a. Z'Catalog (which every Alpha-Testing Pilot-Crashing Lab Rabbit should already "own" anyway.) I'll let you know when I've tried this with the current version of iRogue.

The whole process takes a couple of minutes. As long as your friend has enough memory, and hasn't previously installed a version of this game, I think that there should be no problems.

a note on using xcopilot

iRogue.prc is now so large that, if you want to try iRogue out under unix using xcopilot, you have to use hotsync and the pilot-link tools to load it. If you've never done this before, it goes something like this: Load iRogue_Library.prc as usual using the right-mouse-button method.
Bridget Spitznagel
Last modified: Sun Jul 18 22:32:00 EDT 1999