A browser roguelike in Dart: a town to rest in, a dungeon of a hundred depths, and heroes that keep their gear between dives.

About the game

Hauberk is a roguelike by Bob Nystrom (munificent), written in Dart for the browser and copyright 2000–2014 and still being worked on. You create a hero (race and class), start in a town with a home and shops, and pick a depth to dive to: up to one level deeper than you have been so far, a hundred in all. Every level is a fresh dungeon; leave it by an exit (q) to return to town with what you found. Experience is not automatic levelling: you spend it (Shift+E) on your stats and skills. The game is unfinished, but very playable.

Keyboard controls

The keys to remember

h: The game's own help screen
Shift+H: Auto-explore: walk to unexplored places (any key stops)
Enter: Menu of all commands
b: Inventory with a cursor: Enter = everything you can do with the item
q: Walk to the nearest known exit; press again on it to leave the level
Esc: Cancel, close a dialog

Essential keys

Moving

numpad/arrows/i o p k ; ,./: Walk / attack
Shift+direction: Run
Shift+H: Auto-explore
q: Walk to the nearest known exit; on it: leave the level
l/5: Rest one turn
Shift+L: Rest until healed

Fighting & magic

a: Use an ability
s: Cast a spell
Alt+direction: Fire the last ability that way
t: Throw an item

Items

b: Inventory with a cursor (Enter = item menu)
u: Use
e: Equip / unequip
g: Pick up
d: Drop
x: Swap back to the last unequipped item

Hero & system

Enter: Command menu
Shift+A: Hero info
Shift+E: Spend experience
Shift+S: Abilities and spells
h: Help
c: Operate a door or chest
Shift+F: Forfeit the level
Esc: Cancel

Complete key list (31 commands)

1-9 (numpad)Walk / attack (all eight directions)

Shift+1-9 (numpad)Run (all eight directions)

i o p k ; ,./Walk / attack (laptop keys, l is the centre)

Shift+i o p k ; ,./Run (laptop keys, l is the centre)

Alt+i o p k ; ,./Fire the last ability (laptop keys, l is the centre)

arrow keysWalk / attack (no diagonals)

Shift+arrow keysRun (no diagonals)

Alt+arrow keysFire the last ability (no diagonals)

l/5Rest one turn (in menus: choose)

EnterCommand menu

Esc/`Cancel, close a dialog

bInventory

uUse item

eEquip / unequip

dDrop item

tThrow item

gPick up

xSwap to last unequipped

Shift+HExplore

qStairs: walk to / take exit

cOperate door, chest

lRest one turn

Shift+LRest until healed

aUse ability

Alt+LFire last ability

Shift+AHero info

Shift+SAbilities

Shift+ESpend experience

hHelp

Shift+FForfeit level

sCast a spell

Saving your game

Hauberk saves your heroes when you leave a level (back to town or deeper), when you leave a shop or your home, and when you change items in town. The middle of a dive is not saved: closing the page then loses what happened since the last save.
In the browser the heroes, window layout and settings live in this browser's storage (IndexedDB). File ▾ → Export save downloads them (hauberk-heroes.json), Import save loads them back. Private windows and "clear site data" delete them: export first.
Death with the Stairs setting returns the hero to the last save; with Permanent the hero is deleted.

Tips

Bring a light: deep levels are dark, and auto-explore refuses to walk blind. Torches and lanterns are sold in town.
Spend experience (Shift+E) after every dive; unspent experience does nothing.
Take the exit (q walks you there) before the level gets too hot: forfeiting (Shift+F) loses everything you found on it.
Your home in town stores what you can't carry; sell the rest in the shops.
Run (Shift+direction) down corridors, but rest (Shift+L) to full health before opening new rooms.
Throw (t) spare weapons and flasks at monsters you would rather not meet in melee.

New player's guide

Your first hero

On the hero list press n for a new hero: pick a name, race and class. Death: Stairs means dying loses everything since you last took an exit or entrance; Permanent deletes the hero.
You start in town. Walk into the shops to buy (a light first!) and into your home to store items. b shows what you carry.

Diving

Step on the dungeon entrance (or press q twice: walk there, step in) and choose a depth.
Explore with Shift+H: it stops when a monster or item comes into view or a message appears; any key stops it too.
Fight by walking into monsters. Abilities (a) and spells (s) depend on your class and on the experience you spent.
When you have had enough, press q: the hero walks to the nearest known exit; press q on it to go back to town with your loot.

Growing stronger

Killing monsters earns experience. Shift+E spends it on strength, agility, vitality, intellect and skills.
Shift+A shows your hero, equipment and the lore you have gathered on monsters and items.
Better gear comes from deeper levels; the shops restock each time you return.

Playing in the browser

The whole screen is the game's own: map, hero sidebar, log, item panels and every dialog are drawn by the game in its own glyphs and laid out to fit the page. A− / A+ on the top bar switch between the game's glyph sizes (kept in this browser).
Keys: the numeric keypad, the arrow keys or the laptop keys i o p k ; , . / move you. The game has no mouse support.
Audio ▾: sound effects made for this port (synthesized, one per kind of action), off by default; the choice is remembered. Hauberk has no music.
Browsers keep a few shortcuts for themselves (Ctrl+W, Ctrl+T, Ctrl+N, and Cmd shortcuts on a Mac), so those never reach the game.
If the game ever crashes, a message appears at the top; reload the page to continue from the last save.

About this version

Based on Hauberk by Bob Nystrom, upstream commit munificent/hauberk @ 6c5c684c, MIT licence; compiled to JavaScript with Dart.
Sound effects synthesized for this port.
Our changes (auto-explore, exit walking, command menu, inventory cursor and item menus, sound, web page) are on GitHub: memmaker/hauberk (all changes).