Decker

jack in, grab the file, get out before the red alert

Date of birth2001 last release 1.12, 2004

CreatorShawn Overcash

LanguageC++ (MFC) ~27,000 lines

PlatformWindows GPL

Lineage

Decker is not descended from Rogue. It borrows the decker of the Shadowrun tabletop game: a hacker who plugs a cyberdeck into the Matrix and fights ICE to steal data. The randomly built systems, permanent death (Ironman mode) and turn-based node crawling make it a roguelike cousin. See the family tree.

Played here: Decker 1.12, ported to SDL2 and WebAssembly with a small MFC shim.

Credits

Shawn Overcash	Design, code, graphics (2001–2004)
Players	User-submitted graphics, shipped in the source

Screenshots

Title — Start: Version 1.12, New / Load / Exit, and “Press F1 at any time for help.”

Available contracts — First steps: the only job on offer, activate an I/O node at Generic Genetics for 176cr.

Red alert — A fight: “Barrier BB6A … signals a red alert!” and “Grunt D4B0 hits for 45% damage.”

Cyberdeck — Inventory: the cyberdeck, its hardware and loaded programs.

Trivia

Target corporations include Bubba’s Discount Bait & Tackle, PETA’s Flaky Granolas, Black Mesa Research Facilities and Spacely’s Sprockets. (game data)
Planned but never built: a Trojan Horse ICE that looks like a valuable file, a Time Bomb program, and a “Garbage” state for crashed programs. (To-Do.txt)
The source ships with an UserSubmittedGraphics folder of player art. (SourceForge)
The author: “I wrote it for myself, so it may be a little confusing.” (source ReadMe)

What's unique

Cyberpunk hacking instead of a dungeon: every level is a corporate computer system of nodes.
Contracts: jobs with deadlines and pay; money buys hardware and software between runs.
Alarms: ICE raises yellow and red alerts; stealth programs (Hide, Deceive, Smoke) matter as much as Zap.
Projects: write your own programs and chips over days of game time.

Code dive

C++ with Microsoft Foundation Classes (Visual C++ 6), about 27,000 lines in 97 files. Dialogs, bitmaps and help are Windows resources.
Source released under the GPL on SourceForge.
This port: a small MFC shim plus an SDL2 frontend, built to WebAssembly. Source: memmaker/decker.

Stats

Thing	Count	Notable ones
Programs	26	Attack types, Slow, Weaken, Confuse, Virus, Medic, Armor, Hide, Deceive, Smoke, Relocate, Analyze, Scan, Evaluate, Decrypt, Reflect …
ICE types	6	Gateway, Probe, Guardian, Tapeworm, Attack and Trace ICE.
Node types	8	CPU, SPU, Coprocessor, Datastore, I/O controller, Junction, Portal in and out.
Hardware	9	Chip Burner, Surge Suppressor, Neural Damper, Trace Monitor, Bio Monitor, High-Bandwidth Bus, Mapper, Design Assistant, Proxy.
Skills	6	Attack, Defense, Stealth, Analysis, Programming, Chip Design.
Corporations	~100	Joke names, from bait shops to Black Mesa.

Manual

The original Windows help file, converted: read it here. Press F1 in the game for the same help.

Getting started

Open the game, click New, name your decker, pick a starting bonus.
View Contracts, take an easy one, then Enter the Matrix.
Move node to node with the arrows; run programs from the list on the left.
Finish the goal, leave through the portal, collect your pay, upgrade.

Help

No walkthrough exists; systems are random. The help file explains every program and ICE. Tips:

Load Hide or Deceive before moving; fighting raises the alarm.
Scan and Evaluate datastores; paydata sells.
Leave at a red alert: trace ICE ends runs.
Rest between runs to heal.

Cheats

No cheat or debug mode was found in the source.